TNA: 'Hardcore Justice' pay-per-view buys 'the same or slightly less than Destination X'
by Geno Mrosko on Aug 18, 2011 3:05 PM EDT
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TNA continues to falter under the weigh of its own creative direction, as more and more fans are distancing themselves from what the promotion is doing.
This can be evidenced, quite simply, by looking at the early estimates for the pay-per-view buys turned in by its latest effort "Hardcore Justice" on Aug. 7. Wrestling Observer has the numbers:
Based on early estimates, Hardcore Justice did the same or slightly less than Destination X, so probably in the 7,500 buy range. Pretty sad if you think about it because Sting vs. Kurt Angle was the main event and even in TNA, that was a match that at one point was good for 50,000 or so buys. And that's with a good final segment on the last show leading into the PPV. But they've managed to beat caring about the product out of almost all of their fans.
Indeed, TNA is desperate to stop the bleeding and one of the ways in which they are doing so is making yet another trip to the well and attempting to reincarnate a pair of feuds that were successful in the 90s but will fail, massively, in today's pro wrestling world.
As was alluded to previously by Keith, and I suppose I should warn you that this is a spoiler, the latest move by a creatively bankrupt booking team in TNA has seen the passing of the idea to bring back Ric Flair too early from his torn rotator cuff to set up a match between himself and Sting at No Surrender.
To make it even worse, current plans call for that feud to bleed over and Sting to take on Hulk Hogan at Bound for Glory in October. Will this result in an upkick in pay-per-view business? Sure, it will probably garner a few more buys than the pathetic numbers noted above but at what cost?
Things are not changing and it's only getting worse for TNA.
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Just let TNA die
Let WWE sign Sting, Angle, etc and let them go out with dignity
by Jonathan Loesche on Aug 18, 2011 3:08 PM EDT reply actions
WCW V2.0
only sadder this time around, because we’ve all seen how it ends
Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Jack Butler, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
CM PUNK IS MY HERO
Canal Chronicles resident Steelers Fan
I had just started to write a post about this! It’s notable that this show did less with all the stars than the Destination X show last month which just had X Division wrestlers and RVD.
The key to TNA’s future (how long they struggle along for) is in the hands of Spike TV. With them losing UFC the odds that they decide to rebrand their network in a way that TNA programming wouldn’t fit into their new vision becomes more likely. They’ve already gone in this direction from changing their target demo from male 18-34 to males and females 18-49, which is a problem for TNA as they don’t draw many female viewers. It’s an ominous sign that at a recent TV marketing conference they made no mention of TNA, even though it’s one of the highest rated shows on their network.
I agree with you
UFC leaving is a big deal. TNA always hung their hats on the fact that they got bigger ratings than UFC. They used that line as a defense forever and never explained why they get larger ratings and only get 1/10 of the PPV buys. They cut office staff and now UFC bolts Spike. This is not a good time for TNA. Jimmy Yang won’t see that check for quite a while.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
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