TNA & TNA PPV Chat/Discussion

Quote:There are a ton of changes going on behind the scenes. A lot of people who worked for the company in the past have been contacted and Jeff Jarrett’s big marketing idea is something along the lines of “Let’s Make TNA Great Again,” which did work in the Presidential election, but didn’t work as well for Darren Young. The idea is to present the idea of the good old days of TNA when Jarrett was in charge and with the idea that things went off the rails, perhaps not using that term, since he was gone. But on television they are going to bury Dixie Carter’s regime (whether by name or not) and essentially say the product went to hell. Bruce Prichard is being brought back for a role where he is to appear at the upcoming tapings as one of those people, and this may be as early as the 3/9 show, being taped on 3/2. Prichard is booked for that show. Right now Prichard is only coming in as a television character, and will continue his podcasts. He essentially got the gig because of how strong his podcast numbers were and Jeff Jarrett hoping that his podcast listeners would start watching TNA. Matt Morgan is being brought in to be a top star once again. They are also bringing Konnan back, also to bury former TNA (the funny part of all this is originally the lawsuit filed for racism against TNA had to do with Jarrett, but after the settlement, Konnan and Jarrett have long since made up and done business together). The belief is they will bring back LAX, but not sure who will be in it, as Homicide is still around, but Hernandez got TNA in trouble when he came back and Hernandez and Konnan had heat when they were in Lucha Underground. While Jeff Jarrett is not at this point going to have a television role, Karen Jarrett is also expected to be back. I would suspect Don West may be on television as well, although he’s not committed long-term and has been working to sell merchandise they have in stock

Morgan said that he would be returning in about a month to a televised wrestling promotion, but didn’t say which one. Morgan, who is 40, has been competing in bodybuilding contests and is preparing for a contest in June, so he’s going to look leaner and more muscular than when he was on TV before

The first show of the new regime, that will be taped on 3/2, will air on 3/9 and they will try and present it as the beginning of the changes, which, unfortunately, will also coincide with the departure of a lot of talent and no names of equivalent value that we’ve heard coming in. One of the big issues is that the last few years when TNA was struggling, that people like Evolve, Lucha Underground, WWE, New Japan and ROH all signed up all the best of the up-coming talents so while there are a ton of bodies who can work decently out there, there aren’t the standouts that there were when TNA got the Samoa Joe’s and A.J. Styles type guys in its early years

Jeff Jarrett’s idea is to do four days of taping and shoot six episodes of Impact at each taping, so they aren’t as far out of date by the end of the tapings

Right now there is a full commitment through August and the key things are to get a paying television outlet in the U.S. and to get a paying television outlet in the U.K. Financially, right now, they can’t work because the only real money coming in is from India, which isn’t nearly enough to run the company. When they had India, U.K. and U.S. money they were having problems and when it was India and U.K. money they were hemorrhaging money to the point they nearly went out of business a few times. I mean, it can go forever if the new ownership is willing to pump money in forever, but at some point there are going to be economic realities and the key to business is paying television contracts more than anything else.

Bill Banks, who has been with the company as a producer since 2003, is moving to Connecticut to help take care of his parents. He is remaining affiliated with the company working from home, working on digital and over-the-top ideas, but won’t be working full-time here

Matt Conway, who has been on the creative end for years, is also gone with the new regime in

For the talent not on a guaranteed contract, there has been a minor change in that the per day pay will change from per episode of Impact to per day. So if they tape parts of two episodes at the same taping, or you do a taped PPV match and an Impact match on the same show, you would have been paid previously per episode appearing, and now would only be paid once

The final match of the old tapings will be airing on 3/2, which includes the Bobby Lashley vs. Josh Barnett TNA title match.