The latest Observer said that the later replays for TNA are doing considerably better ratings than the afternoon slot. Early January late night replays saw .30 and .26 ratings.

The last PPV saw a crowd of 875 with about 400 people being turned away. That's pretty big news for TNA if they could pull a crowd of almost 1300 people.

Not too long ago I read news that Jimmy Hart had to beg people to come to the shows (OK, not beg, but you get the idea). That's pretty good news.

BTW, are you Salacious Crumb on the other board?

This is good news, but is it too little too late?

The Pandas (ahahaha...) gave Dusty Rhodes another 6 months to show signs of improvement.

Yes I would be.

I think six months is enough time for TNA. Because even if Panda dumps them it gives them plenty of time to find another backer financially.

I think if they can finally buckle down and get house shows started on the east coast by April that they can survive at least for another year or two.

The product has stabilized greatly since Dusty took over, but the problem now is, did they dig too deep of a whole?

Personally, I think if crowds and buyrates steadily improve, no company would pull the plug on them.

Yes, of course, TNA is shutting down in a couple months (repeat this statement every month). :rolleyes:

I agree. TNA could become an extremely valuable asset if the product continues to steadily increase.

Ah. I was un-aware of the six month thing. With that in mind I amend my previous statement and say this is great news. Plus I read, or perhaps was told, about RF offering TNA his PA promoters licence.... any news on that?

The only thing I heard was in the Observer about the RF situation and he didn't even make a big deal of it. He basically said that there are rumors out there that if TNA ever decided to go to Philadephia(Wow, would Philly shit all over them) that they would use him as the local promotor and work of his promotor's license.

Oh. Yea. Not really newsworthy.

I'm sure everyone would dance for joy with RF being a promoter for someone again, especially what happend last time.

I think if TNA started house shows that they should hit the Carolinas and hit the old Mid-South strongholds at first.

I say stay in the south and maybe work west into Louisiana or other hillbilly states. Going above The Carolinas would probably be death for a promotion like NWA-TNA (a.k.a every other wrestle is a redneck).

I remember talk, before the move, of Pittsburg and Dayton as possible choices.

Pittsburgh? Yikes... for weekly shows, that wouldn't be the best move. PA has enough Indy promotions as it is.

Not weekly. Every couple months for house shows.

And I agree with Kido. Stay in the south for now, then slowly move out.

If TNA did a show at my local venue ( I'm outside of Charlotte, NC) I would guarantee a sell out of 1500 - 2000 people if tickets were $10 to $20. Keep in mind, I'm talking paying customers. With their roster, the small towns in North Carolina would go crazy for it.

Pittsburgh does have it's indies, but they don't run often enough to interfere with the business of companies coming in. Hell, I went to an XPW show when they did their Pittsburgh show, and there was around 1,000 people there. Also, keep in mind that it was XPW.....which makes that number astro-fucking-nominal.

I think it would be smart of them to "co-promote" shows with some indies. Like NWA-Wildside, for example.

That wouldn't be a bad idea, but honestly I don't see Wildside giving up time on their shows for TNA matches. Also, I think the problem with that is that TNA wants to do it on their own.....

Oh, I know. But to be honest, co-promoting would be a great way to establish yourself in a new market.

And I agree with WMD that they would kill in the Carolinas.

Co promoting with other affiliates is the best idea I've heard. It may not happen because TNA wants to be big time, but it's a great idea. They could still do it as a TNA show "featuring NWA-FL stars or something." Make the main event World champ vs. local champ, and you could achieve several goals at once:

A) If the local NWA affiliate was drawing at all on it's on, it's guaranteed to draw more with the added star power.

2) Local stars would get a rub from working with national TV stars.

3,4 & C) Though the gate for the one show wouldn't benefit the local affiliate, having their stars showcased in front of the theoretically larger crowd should be an added draw to their own shows in the future. Plus, it's an added pay day for the local wrestlers, which I'm sure they could use.

Grand Finale) All of this goes to strengthen the NWA as a whole, which can only help TNA in the long run. Think about it, if each affiliates fanbase were bigger, there would most likely be a larger group of people willing to watch TNA. It also gives TNA the ultimate farm system of sorts, as future stars could get on the job training at regional shows, without the pressure of getting over on national television.

It's almost a no lose situation.

I like WMD's idea of running the shows in the Carolinas. It probably would help them if they had Dusty actually wrestling on the show, especially because the Carolinas always seem to eat up the old school stuff. It might even be a good idea if they throw some old school NWA themed stuff too, I'm sure that would draw even better.