For the people that don't know about it, this web page exists http://taimapedia.org/index.php?title=LOLTNA_History as it details all of TNA's failures in a timeline.
My real job has me working in minor league baseball. Last year the team had a post game show with the half pint brawlers and they drew a larger crowd than that.
54,700+ is by no means a small town. I travel for work regularly to towns that are sub-15000 people, and have been to many events that drew better than this in those towns.
I did some research, a FLAG DAY event featuring Sargent Slaughter drew 5000 people at that same venue that TNA could not get more than +/-300 people. No idea what the charge was or if it was free event due to the military promotion, but still. FLAG DAY.
The last minor league baseball game they hosted had over 3000 fans. The building has held 15,000 fans for all star games. People show up to events when they care about them. Don't blame a small town for the shitty wrestling promotion.
Why does TNA even bother doing house shows in small markets? This couldn't possibly have turned a profit.
As popular as WWE is, it's sort of amazing how unpopular professional wrestling is compared to the 1960s, 1970s, and even pre-Hulkamania 1980s. And most promotions back then toured the same half-dozen markets week-to-week and still outdrew what TNA typically draws with a once-a-year show.
I take no pleasure in seeing this nor does it make me laugh. It just makes me sad. I want to see the boys have a legitimate option other than the wwe so they have more leverage in their careers, and so seeing TNA slowly wither and die makes me feel for the guys (and gals) in the business. Vince having a monopoly is NOT what's best for business.
I think it's a little hypocritical that people know that TNA isn't drawing, and has some embarrassing crowds, but then get their panties in a twist when they don't re-sign Styles or Daniels or whoever. I'm sure if they could afford either at this point, for what the wrestlers feel they're worth, they'd have nabbed em.
It's really sad. I do like TNA but they aren't growing. They're not going to die tomorrow or anything but I can't see them being around forever like the WWE.
I'm not sure if it's "how can you not re-sign Styles and Daniels?" out of surprise for most people, it's more so "you're so broke you can't re-sign Styles and Daniels? Even after cutting costs by getting rid of guys like Hogan, Flair, and Sting?"
I'd be okay if TNA got rid of guys like Styles and Daniels if their intention was to push the new generation of talent, but TNA aren't even doing that. So they got rid of Styles to pay for Lashley? That's like one step forward, two steps back, but I'd be okay if they got rid of Styles so they could sign 10 cheap indy guys with potential.
My apartment complex has a swimming pool and a couple of BBQ grills and I'm sure the common area could fit 300 people. Maybe TNA should start holding events at my shitty complex in Austin. My rent is going up again and I could use a cut of those ticket sales.
Would you stop with the ROH comparisons. ROH literally has maybe 200,000 fans TOPS in the entire US. TNA has 1+ million viewers every single week. There is no comparison at all. You must be too naive to see it.
And if Impact is any indication, we're headed for Dixie vs. MVP II but with at least one role reversed. I'd almost die of laughter if Dixie becomes the top face.
And yet with only 200K fans, it's still profitable and draws larger crowds. ROH is doing pretty ok for itself despite Cornette almost running it into the ground. Imagine if they had access to TNA's resources or if the people running TNA ran ROH and what a dumpster fire that would be.
The complete lack of common sense in the decision making process from those in charge of TNA will always be funny, but as a fan who would love to have viable options without having to dust off tapes and DVD's from years ago, it's sad. TNA is dead with possibly the weakest roster it's had since the early days of Cheex and the Dupps, and it's constantly followed around by the stink of failure and delivering on those expectations.
I've been supporting TNA from the start, I wanted them to succeed, and I still do...but something changed in the last year or so where I'm just so frustrated in their stupid decisions. I'm not cheering for them to go out of business but I'm not pretending they're not horribly managed either.
I loved TNA because they had a world of talent at their fingertips. People WWE wouldn't use for whatever reasons. Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Low Ki, CM Punk, Christopher Daniels... the list goes on. It was like the All-Star lineups of what the Indy scene had to offer. For every good move TNA did, there's at least 10 that made no sense or were detrimental to getting the talent over for a sustained period of time. For every classic match, you had complicated gimmick matches that made you embarrassed to be watching the product. For every "got it right" moment, that moment was quickly killed (pointless title switches).
I feel really bad for the men and women putting their bodies on the line to perform for such a small crowd and weak paycheck. They all deserve a bigger crowd than this.
I'm not trying to be an ROH fanboy, but imagine if they had the TNA time slot and exposure. As it is, ROH is on the ghetto of TV and they're drawing better crowds. I don't know if that's a testament to how well ROH is run or how horrifically TNA is run, but my guess is it's a mixture of both.
I know what you mean. I was really excited about TNA at one point, too, for the exact same reasons. But then it all just went to Hell so quickly. I went back and watched the AMW v XXX fued a little while ago and was just wondering, "What happened??"
The worst part about this is it brings about delusional ROH fans that haven't grasped the fact that that promotion has been awful since Danielson left.
Who decides to have a wrestling event in a baseball stadium? It's outdoors so even a good crowd will have very little sound and then with fans just on one side of the ring (maybe it works out to 2 sides), it's even worse.
Was never really an AJ Styles fan but he is currently one of my favorites just because he told TNA to fuck off. They undercut him at every opportunity all throughout his run and then finally tell him to take a paycut. Now he is probably in the middle of his best run ever. lol TNAwful.
These "BaseBRAWL" shows are one of their main summer gimmicks. I went to one of these in Coney Island last year. They drew a pretty nice crowd, although a good chunk of the stadium was empty.
It's not just the lack of crowds they draw, but this year they've had zero relevance to the wrestling industry. If they did those year end awards tomorrow, they wouldn't be nominated for a single thing. They haven't produced a MOTYC in God knows how long, the best show they've done is no match to the other shows that have been produced this year and their top nominees of wrestler of the year are Eric Young and Magnus, which is just a joke. They could have at least strived for tag team of the year as they have American Wolves now, but even they've been horribly booked.
I'm like everyone else. I tried to support them even during the bad times, but something just switched in my brain where I'm now just thinking "fuck this company" now.
Knowing TNA, most people in the local community were probably not even aware that there was a show on. I remember the stories of AJ and others that said they'd show up in a town, people would see them, and wouldn't even know that a show was taking place.
Last time they were here (sometime in 2012, though knowing them they could have been here since and just no one knew about it) I didn't hear about it until after I saw the results online. And it was at a minor league stadium and didn't draw shit, despite the fact that you could watch it basically for free if you had tickets for the baseball game before the show.
Weird thing (or maybe not so weird) is that they used to do the Ballpark Brawl shows that drew pretty well using pretty much nothing but TNA talent, but didn't promote it under the TNA name. Shows what a stink the promotion has on it when you can use the exact same guys and draw as long as you call it something else.
Yeah, drew something like 30,000, which is pretty mind blowing. Could you imagine CZW drawing 30,000 fans? Hell, there's no way in hell WWE is drawing 30,000 for anything but WM.
I defended TNA for a long time but they are beyond ridiclious now. Forget about the house shows, their TV on Thursday had SEVEN MVP segments (technically nine if you count the two matches he ordered.) compared to a total of four wrestling matches. WTF is that shit? Coincidentally, Thursday's show drew one of the lowest ratings they have had all year.
It's like they don't even pay attention to that stuff. As long as they keep their core audience (which they seem to be losing) and Spike is happy with their numbers, they can just throw shit at the wall until something sticks. That is is an unbelievably stupid business plan.
After seeing Daniel Bryan main event Wrestlemania, I'm sure Samoa Joe lies in bed at night and cries, especially if he had to wrestle in front of that crowd.
Population of Bowie is 54,727.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good turnout considering it was at a baseball stadium in the armpit of America.
It's gotten to the point that you're googling a city's population. This is what we call, hitting bottom.
ReplyDeleteI think there were more people in attendance for when I lost my virginity.
ReplyDeleteFor the people that don't know about it, this web page exists http://taimapedia.org/index.php?title=LOLTNA_History as it details all of TNA's failures in a timeline.
ReplyDeleteMy real job has me working in minor league baseball. Last year the team had a post game show with the half pint brawlers and they drew a larger crowd than that.
ReplyDeleteWith just a SLIGHT editorial spin. Still funny as hell though.
ReplyDeleteMaryland is tight knit though. Other big cities nearby.
ReplyDelete54,700+ is by no means a small town. I travel for work regularly to towns that are sub-15000 people, and have been to many events that drew better than this in those towns.
ReplyDeleteI did some research, a FLAG DAY event featuring Sargent Slaughter drew 5000 people at that same venue that TNA could not get more than +/-300 people. No idea what the charge was or if it was free event due to the military promotion, but still. FLAG DAY.
The last minor league baseball game they hosted had over 3000 fans. The building has held 15,000 fans for all star games. People show up to events when they care about them. Don't blame a small town for the shitty wrestling promotion.
Why does TNA even bother doing house shows in small markets? This couldn't possibly have turned a profit.
ReplyDeleteAs popular as WWE is, it's sort of amazing how unpopular professional wrestling is compared to the 1960s, 1970s, and even pre-Hulkamania 1980s. And most promotions back then toured the same half-dozen markets week-to-week and still outdrew what TNA typically draws with a once-a-year show.
ROH ran Baltimore and drew 782. TNAwful.
ReplyDeleteI take no pleasure in seeing this nor does it make me laugh. It just makes me sad. I want to see the boys have a legitimate option other than the wwe so they have more leverage in their careers, and so seeing TNA slowly wither and die makes me feel for the guys (and gals) in the business. Vince having a monopoly is NOT what's best for business.
ReplyDeleteAn Eric Young show draws and Eric Young crowd.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a little hypocritical that people know that TNA isn't drawing, and has some embarrassing crowds, but then get their panties in a twist when they don't re-sign Styles or Daniels or whoever. I'm sure if they could afford either at this point, for what the wrestlers feel they're worth, they'd have nabbed em.
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad.
ReplyDeleteI do like TNA but they aren't growing. They're not going to die tomorrow or anything but I can't see them being around forever like the WWE.
Maybe when they put the belt on MVP they'll do a little better.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it's "how can you not re-sign Styles and Daniels?" out of surprise for most people, it's more so "you're so broke you can't re-sign Styles and Daniels? Even after cutting costs by getting rid of guys like Hogan, Flair, and Sting?"
ReplyDeleteI'd be okay if TNA got rid of guys like Styles and Daniels if their intention was to push the new generation of talent, but TNA aren't even doing that. So they got rid of Styles to pay for Lashley? That's like one step forward, two steps back, but I'd be okay if they got rid of Styles so they could sign 10 cheap indy guys with potential.
ReplyDeleteMy apartment complex has a swimming pool and a couple of BBQ grills and I'm sure the common area could fit 300 people. Maybe TNA should start holding events at my shitty complex in Austin. My rent is going up again and I could use a cut of those ticket sales.
ReplyDeleteWould you stop with the ROH comparisons. ROH literally has maybe 200,000 fans TOPS in the entire US. TNA has 1+ million viewers every single week. There is no comparison at all. You must be too naive to see it.
ReplyDeleteBaltimore has Bowie has a population of 54000. Baltimore has a population of 600000. What's your point?
ReplyDeleteThe 4/21 WWE RAW taping live in Baltimore, Maryland drew 6,000 fans.
ReplyDeleteOH NO WWE has hundreds of millions of fans worldwide and still only drew 6,000! It's all over for them! ROH is taking over!
Or that you deem a company doing bad as "humor" shows how bad your life must be.
ReplyDeleteThey probably get paid in booze. Just get 'em a case of Natty.
ReplyDeleteTNA can't even draw 6,000 fans in a year.
ReplyDeletelol what?
ReplyDeleteI'm done posting here. Some of you really need to invest in an education of sorts. Have a good one!
ReplyDelete411 might be more your speed.
ReplyDeleteThe guy who drove out Caliber gets driven out himself. Circle of life.
ReplyDeleteAnd if Impact is any indication, we're headed for Dixie vs. MVP II but with at least one role reversed. I'd almost die of laughter if Dixie becomes the top face.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet with only 200K fans, it's still profitable and draws larger crowds. ROH is doing pretty ok for itself despite Cornette almost running it into the ground. Imagine if they had access to TNA's resources or if the people running TNA ran ROH and what a dumpster fire that would be.
ReplyDeleteThe complete lack of common sense in the decision making process from those in charge of TNA will always be funny, but as a fan who would love to have viable options without having to dust off tapes and DVD's from years ago, it's sad. TNA is dead with possibly the weakest roster it's had since the early days of Cheex and the Dupps, and it's constantly followed around by the stink of failure and delivering on those expectations.
ReplyDeleteI've been supporting TNA from the start, I wanted them to succeed, and I still do...but something changed in the last year or so where I'm just so frustrated in their stupid decisions. I'm not cheering for them to go out of business but I'm not pretending they're not horribly managed either.
ReplyDeleteI loved TNA because they had a world of talent at their fingertips. People WWE wouldn't use for whatever reasons. Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Low Ki, CM Punk, Christopher Daniels... the list goes on. It was like the All-Star lineups of what the Indy scene had to offer. For every good move TNA did, there's at least 10 that made no sense or were detrimental to getting the talent over for a sustained period of time. For every classic match, you had complicated gimmick matches that made you embarrassed to be watching the product. For every "got it right" moment, that moment was quickly killed (pointless title switches).
ReplyDeleteThat TNA has that time slot and this is what they do with it actually pisses me off.
ReplyDeleteI think he just meant posting in this thread.
ReplyDeleteI feel really bad for the men and women putting their bodies on the line to perform for such a small crowd and weak paycheck. They all deserve a bigger crowd than this.
ReplyDeleteThis is just sad.
I'm not trying to be an ROH fanboy, but imagine if they had the TNA time slot and exposure. As it is, ROH is on the ghetto of TV and they're drawing better crowds. I don't know if that's a testament to how well ROH is run or how horrifically TNA is run, but my guess is it's a mixture of both.
ReplyDeleteI hate knowing there used to be multiple promotions all throughout america and now the 2nd biggest is only drawing this.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I was really excited about TNA at one point, too, for the exact same reasons. But then it all just went to Hell so quickly. I went back and watched the AMW v XXX fued a little while ago and was just wondering, "What happened??"
ReplyDeleteThe worst part about this is it brings about delusional ROH fans that haven't grasped the fact that that promotion has been awful since Danielson left.
ReplyDeleteWho decides to have a wrestling event in a baseball stadium? It's outdoors so even a good crowd will have very little sound and then with fans just on one side of the ring (maybe it works out to 2 sides), it's even worse.
ReplyDeleteWas never really an AJ Styles fan but he is currently one of my favorites just because he told TNA to fuck off. They undercut him at every opportunity all throughout his run and then finally tell him to take a paycut. Now he is probably in the middle of his best run ever. lol TNAwful.
ReplyDeleteI doubt they're even the second biggest promotion at this point.
ReplyDeleteThese "BaseBRAWL" shows are one of their main summer gimmicks. I went to one of these in Coney Island last year. They drew a pretty nice crowd, although a good chunk of the stadium was empty.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Either way its very sad.
ReplyDeleteDoes "Rockstar Spud" really deserve a better turn out than that?
ReplyDeleteI think I speak un behalf of all TNA fans when I say "No."
ReplyDeleteLashley probably costs more than Styles and Daniels combined.
ReplyDeleteYou might have to give away free food from the BBQ grills to fill it up though.
ReplyDeleteWe were talking about this last night, but I wouldn't even put them in the top 5. My local 2-bit indy does bigger crowds than that.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this, the AWF?
ReplyDeleteMid 90's garbage promotion that enticed homeless people with free food for showing up.
Probably, but their talentless and annoying "champion" doesn't.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the lack of crowds they draw, but this year they've had zero relevance to the wrestling industry. If they did those year end awards tomorrow, they wouldn't be nominated for a single thing. They haven't produced a MOTYC in God knows how long, the best show they've done is no match to the other shows that have been produced this year and their top nominees of wrestler of the year are Eric Young and Magnus, which is just a joke. They could have at least strived for tag team of the year as they have American Wolves now, but even they've been horribly booked.
ReplyDeleteDo you want them to go out of business too?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, TNA is only 300 fans away from becoming the new Lonely Virgil!
ReplyDeletehttp://24.media.tumblr.com/dde585736192430bcfa279418ab7adee/tumblr_mogdflwOOV1rs1f4ro1_1280.jpg
I'm like everyone else. I tried to support them even during the bad times, but something just switched in my brain where I'm now just thinking "fuck this company" now.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes it even worse. TNA's dumbfounderies never ceases to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteBut remember, Dolph Ziggler would TOTALLY be better off in TNA... #delusionalpeople
ReplyDelete"Who's this entering the Impact Phone Booth? IT'S ROLPH DIGGLER!"
ReplyDeleteUpvote for the Phone booth thing. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI'm now picturing Rowlf from the Muppet Show in a wrestling match. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Kawasaki a baseball stadium? That King of the Death Match thing drew pretty well, I think.
ReplyDeleteAt least he'd be on TV.
ReplyDeleteIf you're on TV and nobody watches it, did it really matter?
ReplyDeleteI don't do koans on weekends.
ReplyDeleteCrossing the line of irrelevance
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to ROH, The US's second-best drawing promotion.
ReplyDeleteAll indie fans (yes ROH is indie, deal with it) are delusional.
ReplyDeleteNeeds more caps and exclamations.
ReplyDeleteThe guy facepalming is so perfect for this.
ReplyDeleteHaters gonna hate. Just like the people who swear up and down that ECW was the no. 2 promotion at the end.
ReplyDeleteKnowing TNA, most people in the local community were probably not even aware that there was a show on. I remember the stories of AJ and others that said they'd show up in a town, people would see them, and wouldn't even know that a show was taking place.
ReplyDeleteZiggler would be world champ within 2 hours of showing up.
ReplyDeleteHaha. Which is even more sad because ROH is a tiny part of a small television network.
ReplyDeleteLast time they were here (sometime in 2012, though knowing them they could have been here since and just no one knew about it) I didn't hear about it until after I saw the results online. And it was at a minor league stadium and didn't draw shit, despite the fact that you could watch it basically for free if you had tickets for the baseball game before the show.
ReplyDeleteWeird thing (or maybe not so weird) is that they used to do the Ballpark Brawl shows that drew pretty well using pretty much nothing but TNA talent, but didn't promote it under the TNA name. Shows what a stink the promotion has on it when you can use the exact same guys and draw as long as you call it something else.
Yeah, drew something like 30,000, which is pretty mind blowing. Could you imagine CZW drawing 30,000 fans? Hell, there's no way in hell WWE is drawing 30,000 for anything but WM.
ReplyDeleteI don't want them to just because I don't want to see anyone out of work (expect Hardy), but by all rights they deserve to be out of business.
ReplyDeleteI defended TNA for a long time but they are beyond ridiclious now. Forget about the house shows, their TV on Thursday had SEVEN MVP segments (technically nine if you count the two matches he ordered.) compared to a total of four wrestling matches. WTF is that shit? Coincidentally, Thursday's show drew one of the lowest ratings they have had all year.
ReplyDeleteIt's like they don't even pay attention to that stuff. As long as they keep their core audience (which they seem to be losing) and Spike is happy with their numbers, they can just throw shit at the wall until something sticks. That is is an unbelievably stupid business plan.
They should just use real name except tweak it to Nick Namath. As a homage of Joe Namath the flamboyant former NFL star.
ReplyDelete"garbage promotion" as in "it sucked" or "garbage promotion" as in "tried to be CZW and failed"?
ReplyDeleteSadly, yeah. It's getting there.
ReplyDeleteI see what you did there....
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing Daniel Bryan main event Wrestlemania, I'm sure Samoa Joe lies in bed at night and cries, especially if he had to wrestle in front of that crowd.
ReplyDelete