... to make a difference in ratings and PPV buys?

A couple of stipulations to make it real:

1) John Cena isn't going to leave WWE under any circumstances, so he's off the table for this discussion. Nor is Triple H (or Stephanie), for obvious reasons, so leave Hunter and Cena out of it. And I don't believe there is any way The Rock or Steve Austin would go to TNA either, so they aren't part of this. And obviously not Vince McMahon to run the company, onscreen or otherwise.

2) Anyone brought in keeps basically the same schedule availability they have now -- so if Undertaker is your answer, it's pretty much one match per year and promos to build that up; if it's Brock Lesnar, he's going to do a few PPVs, a few TV appearances per year and that's it; HBK is retired and would just be a guest ref a couple of times a year at most and maybe show up on TV a few times.

3) Otherwise, that's it -- I could see Randy Orton being available if he got a third wellness strike, or Punk or Brian or anyone else: even if that may not be likely it isn't out of the realm of reasonable possibility.

So let's say you can bring in one person to TNA to try to provide a major boost in ratings and PPV buys, who would it be and why?

It's going to need more than one person to save that sinking ship. So whoever they brought in to save their product really wouldn't make a difference than what's already going on. I'd bring in someone like Jim Ross to try and fix what's going on internally.

TNA should really be raiding Ring of Honor's roster. Just like what WWE and WCW did with ECW. I'd let someone like Adam Cole gain more experience but why not grab at someone who's been there forever like Rodrick Strong, The American Wolfs or Kevin Steen?

Someone like Randy Orton could be a huge boost and it would be good for him to do something else outside WWE.

As for CM Punk I think he burned his bridge with TNA after The Rob Feinstein.

The problem is, no matter how big of a star they sign, chances are TNA would fail in promoting them and nobody but people who already follow TNA would know they jumped ship. Just look at how many people thought and still think RVD was retired from 2010-2013.

If they could get someone huge, like a Punk, Bryan, or Orton, then maybe they'd peak the ratings for a few months. It wouldn't last, though. If they can't make Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan and Sting get them big ratings, then the problem isn't the talent.

What they need to do is just be constantly creating their own stars. Just bringing in names all the time isn't going to get any ratings up. Make their own guys what people want to see, like people want to see AJ Styles, Aries, Storm, Roode, Daniels and Kazarian. Even if they bring say a former WWE guy in, re-establish who they are with a new gimmick etc.

But it's not just talent, it's the creative side. At the moment it seems to be a lot more stable creative wish than it has been for the last year or so. They need to get it right creatively, not take 2 years to reveal storylines and keep each show as entertaining as they can.

They also need to start marketing and promoting way more. They did it at first when they went on the road and got good numbers in the crowd, but they slowly stopped doing it. Not to mention Spike never promotes them on TV at all...

Honestly, I don't think any one wrestler would give them that major boost in ratings. They've signed Hulk Hogan, arguably the biggest NAME in wrestling ever, and Kurt Angle, arguably the best wrestler in mainstream wrestling at the time of his arrival (not so much now). Neither of those made a huge difference to the ratings when they were signed.

The Undertaker/Lesnar style star might boost ratings, but only for the shows that they're actually on. I could see most people saying "Oh, Undertaker is facing Sting at Bound for Glory?" then only watching BFG. Unless the rest of the show was absolutely brilliant, enough to make people want to watch the next Impact. Then the next Impact would have to be great as well to keep that attention. Can TNA keep that up for more than two or three Impacts? I don't think so.

If you want to bring someone in to boost the ratings, much as I hate to say it, you may as well just sign Justin Bieber as a ring announcer, because you know that you'll get hordes of teenage girls tuning in to see him. TNA kind of tried this when they brought in Bubba the Love Sponge as a backstage interviewer, forgetting that nobody gives a shit about him. (I know Justin Bieber will never join any wrestling company, his was just the first name I thought of when I was looking for popular pop stars).

I think that one guy is Paul Heyman -- but bring him in to run things with complete power to do what he wants. If he wants to include an on-screen roll, that's fine, but more in booking and taking the company in a better direction creatively.

I do NOT mean run the business side of things, because he isn't competent in that area.

Nobody could help Impact get a major boost in the ratings, not because its TNA, but because its on one of the worst days of the week as far as going up against sports and what not. Raw suffers greatly against MNF and the college championship games, and the other 3 big sports are going up against Impact almost weekly all year long.

TNA should go to Tuesdays or Wednesdays, and find someone who actually has good knowledge of the business (Heyman, Jim Ross...). Then again, I doubt Jim Ross will agree, let alone Heyman who currently has a "good status" at the WWE.

Only one person I think could help TNA, Jim Ross.

Dead wrote:

Nobody could help Impact get a major boost in the ratings, not because its TNA, but because its on one of the worst days of the week as far as going up against sports and what not. Raw suffers greatly against MNF and the college championship games, and the other 3 big sports are going up against Impact almost weekly all year long.

The hell is the 3rd big sport if you already mentioned football? Basketball, Baseball, and ???

Personally I think focusing on their guys is the way to go. I think that Sting needs to get out of the limelight and let someone else take the spot. I say let AJ be the man for the next year. Have great five star matches with daniels, kazarian, roode, storm and so on. Next is bring back stars that people liked and build up the knockouts division. Ms Chif is available I am sure she would be a welcomed addition. I think the problem is that they need someone that actually knows wrestling. I think Jeff Jarrett needs to be put back in charge and let things bake. I think Cornette should come back as well. He knows the wrestling business as well. Heck I could get them better ratings then what they have been getting.

Darth Nihilus wrote:

Dead wrote:

Nobody could help Impact get a major boost in the ratings, not because its TNA, but because its on one of the worst days of the week as far as going up against sports and what not. Raw suffers greatly against MNF and the college championship games, and the other 3 big sports are going up against Impact almost weekly all year long.

The hell is the 3rd big sport if you already mentioned football? Basketball, Baseball, and ???

Hockey

El Chupacabra wrote:

Darth Nihilus wrote:

Dead wrote:

Nobody could help Impact get a major boost in the ratings, not because its TNA, but because its on one of the worst days of the week as far as going up against sports and what not. Raw suffers greatly against MNF and the college championship games, and the other 3 big sports are going up against Impact almost weekly all year long.

The hell is the 3rd big sport if you already mentioned football? Basketball, Baseball, and ???

Hockey

Baseball, basketball and hockey play every night of the week.

In fact, Thursdays are best to go against baseball because there are less Thursday games and less Thursday night games because it's a travel day to set up weekend series -- teams either don't play at all so they can get to their next city for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday set, which is the biggest drawing; or in other cases they often play day games so they travel at night for the same reason. Thursday is getaway day.

Mondays would put them up against Monday Night Football (and Raw) as well as the other three sports; Tuesday and Wednesday would have MORE baseball competition as well as the other sports, and Friday through Sunday there's a whole lot more sports because it's the weekend.

TNA has a lot of problems, but Thursday isn't a worse day for them to air.

We need Ross. Not Easy E, not Hulk Hogan, ROSS. Jim "Slobberknocker" Ross.