Taken from the nwatna.com site from Jeremy Borash's column " From The Inside ".......
" A lot of people will be talking about our move to the Nashville Fairgrounds, which starts next week. We are moving for a number of reasons, first and foremost are the conflicts that would interfere with keeping our show live on Wednesday nights, including a P.O.D. concert later in the month. Secondly, the Fairgrounds do not require us to use union staff, which will save an incredible amount of the cost of the production. That building is probably one of the most historic wrestling buildings in the country, as the Rock, Hogan, Flair, Austin, and just about every name you’ve heard of has performed there. I think a smaller, louder crowd will be best for the product. As a fan, I have never experienced the magic like I’ve seen at shows in venues like the ECW arena, the Manhattan Center, and even the first Nitro at the Mall of America. Hopefully, this will have a similar feel. "
This is a very small venue , a whole lot smaller than the current venue . I've been there on several occassions , but I'm not sure of the numbers the Nashville Fairgrounds will hold , but I'm guessing a couple of thousand at tops , and I think that's being VERY generous . IMO , I don't think this is a good sign at all .
" You say heaven's for you , but I think it's hell that I see . You tell me your god is true , but I tell you MY devil is me ! " MSD 2002
Whoops! Sorry, guys, I didn't see this thread was already started when I made my post on the same topic. Anyway, to summarize what I said elsewhere, I agree with Pheadfred; if you're rooting for NWA-TNA to succeed, then this change of venue is not a good sign at all
I'm a big fan of NWA TNA so I hope nothing happens to this fed,look on the bright side, if it does go under Russo will probably never get a job in wrestling again.
Then again they are basing most of their income on hopes of strong PPV buys. They really can't charge a hell of a lot for a ticket when you can buy it at home for 10 bucks. They also have the fact that they are in the same place every night working against them. You're really only going to get wrestling faithfuls everyweek and hopefully a few curious folks. The live crowd makes a better apperance for the television show. So, I wouldn't say this is that bad of a sign of things to come.
Expect whoever the WWE just dropped to be picked up Post-Haste...
I could conceiveably see Steve Bradley, Ron Waterman, Mike Sanders and Jason Jett Show up in NWA:TNA...
EZ Money has X-Divison written all over him, Sanders would make a solid upper midcard heel, or even a face, while Waterman has the look to go straight to the top...
But where russo is involved, he'll bring them in as a group of ex-wwf'ers...
In order to stay alive they need a tv deal. Period. I only wish USA would have the brains to pick them up, but I don't see it happening.
Also, they're planning on changing their shows to a more "WWE style," whatever that means and are only flying in their top talent.
Personally this sucks, as NWA has really grown on me. Plus it's made me see the light on K-Krush as a future WWE star, because the guy's too talented. Lawler as a future returner (hopefully WITHOUT the Too Cool version of). And Scott Hall. I hope they find SOME way of succeeding.
An open letter to Andrew Gilkison from me: Sir, I am no longer pleased with your product and thus will not read it. I am the consumer and your product is not living up to my expectations. I could open up an Andrew Gilkison message board and cry about it, but that's a waste of my time. In the meantime, I would suggest you work on improving your product. Thank you.
Watching RAW and Smackdown doesn't cost anymore than your posts do. And so, like a good consumer, I'm tuning you out.
It's unfortunate, but I don't see this promotion lasting. Especially if they move to the WWE style. I mean, ratings for the WWE style are plummeting, and you want to charge $10 a pop for extra WWE-stuff? And that's a good idea?
I think I will let NWA:TNA make their own financial decisions and not try to second guess every move. Hell, even the WWE is making cost cutting moves right now (dropping a whole developmental fed seems like a lot worse of an idea than moving venues.)
I'm taking what they said at face value. If going non-union makes them more likely to succeed in the short term, I know they will go back to a union environment when they are putting up the kind of ticket sales that dictate it. I don't know that they are comping a lot of tickets right now, but I can only assume that they looked at their paid ticket base and realized that they wouldn't be turning away too many fans at the door by moving to a smaller venue.
I'm not sure this is a bad thing for me, the home viewer. Smaller crowds tend to lead to fewer guys sitting on their hands. Hopefully this will mean fewer children (When I went to the WOW PPV it seemed like all of the comps went to people with a ton of kids). I also hope that the crowd will seem more into it with the deadweight of the comped crowd out of the picture.
I embrace any move that NWA:TNA can make that will keep them on TV with a quality product. I think this is one of those moves.
As for the WWE style - Frankly I haven't seen it and I'll wait until I do.
"Expect whoever the WWE just dropped to be picked up Post-Haste...
I could conceiveably see Steve Bradley, Ron Waterman, Mike Sanders and Jason Jett Show up in NWA:TNA...
EZ Money has X-Divison written all over him, Sanders would make a solid upper midcard heel, or even a face, while Waterman has the look to go straight to the top...
But where russo is involved, he'll bring them in as a group of ex-wwf'ers..."
------
Most of the develepmental guys that were dropped have a 90 day no work clause on their contracts ... sadly, three months from now and NWA TNA could be as active as WWA and XWF.
I think the best chance for NWA TNA to survive at this point is to take the shows they've taped already, cut them down to an hour, jettison some of the lame material, and shop it around to the cable channels to use as a several-week-long pilot program. Then, if they prove there's an audience for it, continue production, but forget about the PPV stuff for the time being. They could tape three shows at a time, and rotate between two or three venues, so that they could attract a decent live audience without needing them each week.
They might be able to wind up with thirteen one-hour shows, if they run on PPV for two more weeks. They could cut each PPV show into two episodes, and with room left out for commercial spots, they could easily give a programmer a whole quater-year to test the waters.
Whether or not they could get the 200 grand that they needed each week to break even on PPV remains to be seen, but they'd at least be able to recoup some of what they've already spent, and raise the visbility of the NWA. Taping three shows at a time would slash costs to the bone.
I think it's clear at this point that they aren't going to make it as a PPV-only entity. Jerry Jarrett has already confirmed as much in recent interviews, and there's speculation that the "legal problems" that he's been making references to is a lawsuit that he may file against In Demand for failing to adequately promote his show.
Even though I thought the first show sucked ass, I'd like to see them survive. I plan to order this week's show just to see if they've improved any. From what I've read, it sounds like they have a viable wrestling product trapped in an unworkable programming situation.