Why TNA's women's division is bad business...

This morning, instead of reading for class, I was reading on "Da Board," specifically in the "TNA comments" thread. There was an interesting discussion going on involving DK and SamoaRowe (who also has a blog on "Da Site") about the TNA Women's Division. It's a great discussion which you should get involved with, and it actually inspired me to write an entry for all my fan. While I agree with both of them, I have to agree more with DK. The problem is that at this moment in time, TNA needs to focus on itself as a business. It needs to MAKE money. How do you do this in wrestling? By putting out a product and MAKING names out of your wrestlers. Wrestling is a competition based industry, but it's still an industry.

I think this is a place where wrestling as a whole needs to learn from MMA. Make young stars in the undercard by putting them in quality matches, while you exploit the names of the older fighters to bring people in to watch. This is actually what WCW did right during the nWo era. The problem is, the older guys wouldn't let the younger guys step up to the next level. The fans then start to catch on that the business is a work because guys like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit weren't getting title shots in spite of the fact that they were more talented than guys like Randy Savage and Kevin Nash. You stop believing that your guys will make it to the top, and you give up on them. I think that Goldberg actually kept WCW afloat for an extra year or two just because he finally broke through.

Now as for TNA, they've botched this repeatedly. Multiple times with Raven, Rhino & especially Samoa Joe. Instead of saying "Hey, lets take this guy or any other star who really established themselves in TNA and make them a new household name" the way WCW did with Sting, Goldberg, DDP or Booker T, they decide "Hey, lets pay big money for a star from WWE or WCW" like Angle, Nash, Steiner, or Christian. They keep trying to import excitement instead of earn it. Sometimes this works (nWo anyone?), but most of the time it won't. Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey understand this, and that's why most of them have minor leagues or rely on College Sports. The guys they draft prove themselves at a lower level before becoming a true star. There are exceptions, but it's generally the rule. There are teams, like the Yankees, who don't have to live by this, but unlike TNA, they have actually MADE money.

Until TNA actually learns this and brings in their own excitement and by that make money, they really can't experiment with something like a women's division. Do you think the NBA would have started the WNBA if it didn't have a strong enough financial base to absorb the initial loss of capital that a new league would bring? No. Would Major League Baseball have welcomed the Marlins and Rockies, or the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks had they not had enough of a fanbase to expand to four new cities? No. TNA adding the women's division is like the NHL expanding to new franchises next year, in spite of the fact that the league can barely make it with what they have right now. It's bad business. It's risk that doesn't show any true sign of reward now or in the future.

I know it's true that SHIMMER is actually doing a decent job of putting on Women's based cards, and they are possibly making money, but what TNA doesn't get is that SHIMMER's success will not necessarily translate to TNA's success. That's like Court Bauer or Ron Black starting hardcore wrestling companies MLW & XPW respectively and expecting a rabid chant happy mutant fan base just because ECW had one. TNA's women's product is not SHIMMER's wrestling product, even with the same workers. It's not guaranteed success. Ask Bauer or Black. They'll tell you.

Honestly, until TNA can actually start creating their own stars consistently, I think they're wasting time and money with a women's division. I'm not saying that their female talent aren't good, because they have a better women's division talent wise than WWE. What I'm saying is, from a business perspective it's an investment that is way too much risk for the little reward it brings at the moment. Ironically, though, you could say that about the company as a whole.


You can tell JJ how you think TNA could improve here

Discuss TNA and their women's division here

Some suggestions for TNA

I spent two hours watching Impact this afternoon, and boy are my eyes tired. Okay, that's not the best way to start a blog entry, but it's something. I actually DVR'ed the show this week and made the effort this afternoon to review it, but I found the job near impossible because I wouldn't be able to write anything that would actually be worth reading. Especially since there wasn't that much worth watching.

I'll start with something basic. Build up your champion. TNA failed MISERABLY in that regard in this episode. First off, Kurt's WIFE goes to find out about Scott Hall for him. That's right, his WIFE is doing his dirty work. Not only is his wife doing his dirty work, but she's doing it in segments that make MAD TV look like good acting. Angle now looks as if his wife wears the pants in the relationship, and I'm forced to mention MAD TV in my blog. Thanks a lot, TNA. Then we go to yet MORE backstage segments involving Angle and his wife. Angle's wife propositions Scott Hall. Yeah, right. Then Angle finally gets the marbles to confront Hall, and he gets pinned to the wall by a guy who most casual fans won't remember. This makes me yearn for a Taz-like Champion who kicks tail and takes names. This is TNA, though. The only dominant champ in their history has been Jeff Jarrett. Think about that.

Here's an idea that helped make Nitro and Raw so successful during the Monday Night Wars: Don't run any out of the ring segment over 1 minute. Seriously. This includes the backstage segments, any interviews, and anything that doesn't have wrestling in a ring. Several times during the show I was tempted, nay, encouraged to fast forward my DVR through a segment just to watch some wrestling. Anything non competitive that lasts over a minute encourages people to channel surf and find something MORE interesting on another channel. Not something you want when you're producing a TV show.

One idea that's apparently been pushed by Kurt Angle lately is to make the matches end clean. SEVERAL matches tonight either had screwjobs or run ins. Take it easy. I've heard that they've been better about this lately, but I didn't see it in this episode. Every time I opened my eyes it seemed like someone was running in. AJ Styles, Tomko, 3 different chicks, Black Reign, Team 3D, Tomko AGAIN and Rick Steiner. What a mess. There ARE better ways to book wrestling than the run ins. Seriously, guys.

Finally, I'm going to say one last thing. This has been my greatest complaint about TNA over the past several years, and I'm not about to let up: The commentary is miserable. During the Christian-Kaz match, they talked about the PPV, the Road to Genesis special (Saturday Night on Spike TV), Scott Hall's return, and Sting's partner at the PPV. All that BEFORE the commercial break in the middle of the match. Not halfway through and they already talked about something else. This is unacceptable. You're supposed to sell the action in the ring, and then that action will sell the Pay Per View. No matter how much you remind that there is a Pay Per View this weekend, we're not going to want to purchase it if all you're doing is talking about it.

I'm not saying all this because I don't like TNA. In fact, I want to like TNA more than any other product out there. I just can't get into it because it's so miserable. Just working on these 4 simple things will greatly improve the product, in my opinion. It's just that simple.

You can tell JJ how you think TNA could improve here

Discuss Impact and the Pay Per View here