If TNA Can Survive This...

So BEFORE I go into today's subject at hand, let's do a bit of TNA history recap, shall we?

Genesis 2010- TNA begins their trainwreck year with a PPV that only had one bright spot....the debut of Mr. Anderson. What makes THIS PPV bad right out of the gate? It's the first PPV WITHOUT the 6 Sided Ring, thus ending the era of the standout product in terms of visual presentation. Couple THAT with the ring bridge and you've got a hot wet mess that cuts down the useable outside-ring space and makes working around it a complication at best.

Victory Road 2011- We all know the story.....Jeff Hardy comes out and loses his World Heavyweight Championship after a 90 second match in one of the WORST PPV events in their history, putting a benchmark in the history books that rivals December to Dismember of 2006, which ended with fans chanting "We Want a Refund".

Wrestling Networking 101

TNA officials have begun utilizing storylines that are "thinking outside the box". In the last column, I referred to the House of Hardcore show in New York, where Bully Ray issued a challenge to fellow ECW alum Tommy Dreamer for a match at TNA's December 30th One Night ONLY "Old School" PPV. The cooperative work amongst TNA's creative partners doesn't end there, though.

TNA: Please Make an Offer.....

I've been asked more questions about this subject than about any other in the past few months.....

"Is it true that the Carters are looking to sell TNA Wrestling?"

Some people close to the situation tell me the answer is "Conditionally, yes."

"Conditionally?" you say. Yes, conditionally. This means that the OPTION of the acceptance of offers is only open to a select group of investors and no one else. SO, sorry Vince, you are NOT on that list of potential buyers. It's been stated that the Carter family do NOT want to open the bid to Vince McMahon as they believe steadfastly that competition in the wrestling market is healthy for the business as a whole and to that end, Vince isn't on the list.

Now before I hear any "I told you so's" or anything to that tune, some of the stress came from the rising costs TNA was bleeding out from the traveling schedule. Combine that with the MASSIVE cost Hulk Hogan demanded as well as Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey as producers. With those costs now being offset and the show traveling back to the Impact Zone, some of the timeline stresses are moving off. I have been saying that marketing has been the biggest problem for TNA for YEARS. Brand visibility and reputation has been TNA's achilles heel since they made the jump from weekly PPV to Spike TV and the ONLY chance TNA has of reaching the masses is to put a product out that people KNOW exists.

Let me also remind you all that ALL of this stuff is speculative and dependent upon a multitude of factors outside my scope, at the moment. If the Carter family WERE to actually sell the company, which again is not yet fully confirmed, the list of potential buyers has been set by the Carters and wouldn't happen if those who bought the show had intentions of letting it simply fade. That list is of wrestling minded investors and television people who could cross brand and actually give TNA a fighting chance at striking while the iron's hot. That could mean Spike TV officials, it could mean representatives from Sinclair, who now own rights to Ring of Honor. The point is, it's not going to be made public knowledge that the company is for sale and if that sale goes through, as a proviso to the deal, TNA will move forward. The contract TNA Wrestling is under with Spike TV lasts until 2015, so even if a sale occurs, unless the contract is broken, incurring a hefty penalty, we'll see TNA on Spike for some time.

As far as a parallel goes to WCW, the best example I can give is the sale of Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner that CREATED WCW. If anything, TNA is in a BETTER position to succeed under a new group of business minded investors who have a more solid financial backing to front the start-up capital to kick into marketing and brand visibility.

So is it all true? If the research I've done and the people I've chatted with is any indication, MAYBE. I can say for sure that the next few months will solve a LOT of financial problems now that Eric Bischoff will be off payroll come January 1. There IS a name I intentionally left off this column up until now......Jeff Jarrett. What does Jeff Jarrett have to say about all of this? Jeff, as I understand it, is in the unique position of scouting buyers and selling the virtues of the brand. As a number 2 brand, and a strong one at that, TNA is in an interesting place in terms of how it looks in the brands available on the wrestling marketplace. The strong numbers as well as huge draws in the UK make TNA a sound business investment, provided it can be grown domestically as well. In any case, Jeff Jarrett, the founder of the brand, is determined to see the sale through IF it does, indeed, take place at all.

I want to draw attention to the FACT that TNA's sale is NOT confirmed, nor can it be verified until the Carter family name is no longer attached to it. SO, just as every rumor I post here is not confirmed until the debut or return is made, TNA being for sale is the same way.......UNCONFIRMED.

Written by Jerry Garcia of Tag-Teams, Knock-Outs & Wrestling

The Reset Button.....

Bound For Glory is coming and the question on my mind more than any other is whether or not this year's event will push the reset button and take the company back 3 years before the regime took over the reins of the look and feel of the product. Slowly, but surely, pieces of the regime have fallen away and faded into the background. Bruce Pritchard, Ric Flair, RVD, Orlando Jordan, the Nasty Boys, Ken Anderson, and the list goes on of those Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff brought with them from WWE exile who are now either back with WWE or gone from TNA.

Furthermore, Jeff Jarrett has come back from his position as a potential scout, looking for more opportunities for TNA to expand their influence on either the world market or the local market to aid in the day to day riggers of the company. Is his presence welcome? I'd like to think so. His face on TV would be a welcome sight, that much is for sure. But how much would return if his presence were re-exerted? Would we be welcoming back the 6 Sided Ring? How about Don West? King of the Mountain matches? Just how much from TNA past would return if and when Jeff Jarrett's influence were plugged back in?

How Do You Like Me Now?

Some of you may have skipped out on my spoiler column, which is fine, but now that MOST have seen last night's battle of words, any thoughts? I've got more than a few, so strap in and hold on to something!

Let me start with AJ Styles:
You did good, much passion, much bravado, but where in this mincing of words, was ANY mention of the TNA staple for nearly 7 years? Where is the 6 Sided Ring? I miss those X Division wrestlers as much, if not moreso, than the next guy, but if we're to miss the obvious, why not start there? You can talk about Williams, though he now, is under contract. You can talk for MILES about Lethal, and be right about every note. You can talk about Low-Ki, and have a compelling case. You can talk all night long about bringing in MMA guys and former WWE talents (like Christian, whom I'm guessing AJ was talking about most vividly), and anyone else in the mass of names without names and you'd be right on target. But why stop there?
It begins sounding like 2011, twisting the clock back, I remember a 7 minute long rant by a guy who was quickly swept under the proverbial rug and had, quite possibly one of the most forgettable long reigns in WWE history in no small part due to politics and retaliation. CM Punk came out and had his mic shut off as he went into his bullying portion of his talk and was never truly given a rebuttal. Dixie went that extra mile and GAVE AJ his foil, which brings me to Dixie.

Wrestling and Sports Competition....

On forums across the net, I hear predictions about the potential of TNA losing ground to NFL games as far as ratings are concerned. What strikes me as interesting is that on a night that pitted Impact against the very first NFL game in the season, there was precious little change in viewership. If there is a link between NFL and the viewing of Impact or Monday Night RAW, it SHOULD be fairly easy to predict which weeks in the schedule would pose a sizable change.

In any case, historically, RAW has rarely been faced with significant dips due to NFL play Monday nights, at least not in the time span I spent most of my time viewing (2002-2009). More recent years  may show something different, but those numbers would likely be attributed to the quality of the show, which despite what some fans believe, has become a shadow of its former "Attitude Era" self. That, however, isn't what this column is all about.