wrestling / Columns

Truths & Lies: WWE Network Numbers, TNA-TV Deal, More!

November 4, 2014 | Posted by Justin Watry

I am going to let you all in on a little secret.

During the past week, I ‘gave in’ and trusted a news report online. Something I really should not have done and if you have read my columns for the past six years, you know how much legitimacy I put into that nonsense. Well, I plead guilty. I bit on the TNA Impact Wrestling television deal update. After months and months of pointless updates, I believed it was finally time: TNA was going to let the world know where they would be airing TV in January 2015.

Silly me. I should have known better. We are now in early November…and still nothing. First, it was the summer! Then it was an August taping! Well, then it was September. Oh no, it would be within 10 days. Or another 10 days. Or yeah, still nothing. Shame on me for buying into it all last week and going ‘all in’ with the story. Why am I telling you all this? Because I had a fairly lengthy column all ready to go on TNA and their new TV deal on Friday…but the announcement never came. Thus, I found myself throwing this thing together on Sunday during the Green Bay Packers bye week, as my big TNA-TV column sits for at least another week.

The one month free WWE Network offer for November is a desperate move.

Truth – In January 2014, WWE made their intentions clear. They wanted one million WWE Network subscribers by the end of 2014. That has been repeated over and over during the past nine months. Currently, the company is just under 75% of the way to their target goal with three months left, the UK launch to go, more exposure in Canada to be revealed, and now…a one month free trial including Survivor Series. Up to September 30th, the WWE Network had 731,000 subscribers. They need 269,000 more in the next three months, which they have actually gotten (971,000 unique subscribers WWE claimed)…but people also un-subscribed too which hurts big time. Call it panicking. Call it necessary. Call it drastic. Call it whatever you want. Offering up Survivor Series for FREE seems a tad bit over the top (no pun intended) for my liking.

Lie – I was watching the NBA last week on TNT, and there was an advertisement for a one week free trial to the League Pass. For those wondering, that is their pay service for all the NBA games. Hulu does the same, as does Netflix. Long story short, WWE is not alone with this type of thing. They gave away free one week trials in the past and have taken it one step further. Give viewers a small sample of the product and tease them in hopes of turning them into paying customers after the free time frame ends. There is nothing really wrong with that. As noted above, I think offering an entire month for free and Survivor Series as well is WWE grasping at straws in the final three months to hit their one million mark before 2014 ends. My idea: Why not do the FREE offer for the next live NXT special in December? That would seem fair. Deliver a spectacular live two hour show for free and then hope it leads to more sign-ups afterwards.

Either way, keep in mind the WWE Network was always going to be a LONG-TERM project. Boom or bust, this is not going away anytime soon. Calling it a success or failure after less than a year is ridiculous. Think of it as a sports team rebuilding for awhile. The losses will indeed pile up early on, but as long as the end goal remains in sight after a few years, it will be worth it in the end. Long-term means long-term.

Ryback will have a more successful run 2014/2015 compared to his dominant run two years ago.

Truth – I certainly hope so. I mentioned this on Twitter over the weekend, but when Ryback came out on WWE Raw last Monday, it was almost as if there was a time machine back to 2012. Viewers had forgotten AND forgiven Ryback for his 2013 run and went right back to 2012 when he was ‘cool.’ Great music, great look, great catchphrases, great high impact moves, great hook for live crowds to cheer on. Everything just fits, and it seemed like viewers were more than willing to move past his Curtis Axel pairing and his short lived run as a Paul Heyman Guy simply to accept him again as The Big Guy. Would be wonderful to see him stay on this path and be the main event star many saw in 2012 as he was mowing down the competition.

Lie – It is tough. The Ryback in 2012 felt like an original movie…but the 2014/2015 Ryback may end up being the sequel. Still fun and quality entertainment but just not the same. Once the genie is out of the bottle, you can not put it back in. He had a nice week on RAW and Smackdown, but will the next batch of audiences be as forgiving? Do the “Goldberg” chants return next week? Is he thrown back with Curtis Axel again? Does he lose in a month as fans lose interest with his act being a ‘repeat’ episode from two years? Time will tell.

Can Ryback recapture the magic from 2012 and make the most of it this time? Or has the damage been done? I am hoping for the best with him…

Ken Shamrock deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Truth – I have written about Ken Shamrock a few times during the past six years. It was never massive praise, yet it was never anything too negative. He was a good character, held his own in the squared circle, and one of the many unique stars during the Attitude Era. With the WWE Hall of Fame having a couple of questionable inductees already, why not Ken Shamrock? With his MMA career on top of his wrestling career, it would make for a fun ceremony. He may not be verrrrrrry well known by the WWE Universe in 2014, but his long-time fans will remember him and support the induction. Why not Ken Shamrock?

Lie – Why not? Well, there are two sides to every coin. I was a fan of the guy. I was, but his main run in WWE was not very lengthy. When discussing Hall of Fames (for any genre), a big selling point for me is longevity. Being amazing for three months means nothing. Being amazing for YEARS on a consistent basis matters. Being on top for a few months is not going to make much of an impact in the business. Being on top for a decade or more DOES make an impact. Ken Shamrock falls somewhere in between. With many other deserving inductees patiently waiting for a phone call from WWE early next year, it is easy to assume Shamrock is near the back of the line. Maybe he will have to wait a few years. Maybe even forever.

Ken Shamrock thinks he deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. It that a truth or a lie? Let me know.

TNA Impact Wrestling is in a good place right now, and all the rumors are simply overblown negativity.

Truth – Well, um, you see…ah, yeah.

Lie – No DVD distribution. No live events scheduled for the remainder of the year. You tell me why that is. No pay-per-view business to speak of, and that is AFTER cutting all but four of them last year. Never ending 80% off deals on their merchandise. Lower and lower television numbers, even AFTER moving off the dreaded Thursday night timeslot. Remember when that was the latest ‘saving grace’ for TNA ratings? Yeah. Oh, then there is the small, tiny, little issue of STILL having no TV deal for 2015 and are only on the air right now because Spike TV gave them an extension. All is not well with the company. There is no denying it anymore. Barring a UK tour planned in a few months, there is absolutely nothing (nothing) set for TNA going forward. Unreal. Even if/when they sign some cheap/low TV deal (and I have repeatedly said on a weekly basis in my Jay’s Ways columns they WILL sign somewhere), the problems will not go away. Live event business will not magically increase in 2015. PPV buys for TNA will not magically go up in 2015. Ratings will certainly not magically go up in 2015. Signing a new TV deal is just a part of the problem, and even when/if that gets done any day now, the fight to survive is only just beginning…

Assuming TNA gets a new TV deal, will anything actually change within the company come 2015? Why or why not? Voice your opinion below in the comment section.

Self-Promoting Finale

Everybody have fun trick or treating on Saturday? I know I did.

Thanks to everybody who joined me for my third ever live tweeting session a few weeks ago during WWE RAW! Not my cup of tea admittedly, but I said if I reached 600 Twitter followers I would live tweet again, so I did. When will I live tweet again you ask? Well, I will get back to you when I reach 650 Twitter followers. Only 40 away. Hey, if Frank Caliendo can follow me, so can you!

Follow me on Twitter @JustinWatry

Go check out my Jay’s Ways column over at the NoDQ website…

…and finally…

Click it. Read it. Love it: http://winifredjac.com/

article topics :

TNA, WWE Network, Justin Watry