The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

More TNA news...

Wrestling Observer wrote:It is believed that TNA Wrestling's May and June pay-per-view events, Sacrifice and Slammiversary, drew approximately 8,000 buys apiece. The gross sum per event would total to approximately $111,000 for the company, though that is before the expense of running a live pay-per-view event is factored in.

By comparison, TNA drew in the neighborhood of 25,000 to 30,000 pay-per-view buys when iMPACT! was airing at 11 p.m. on Saturday nights. And when World Championship Wrestling was on its death bed, the company was still garnering approximately 40,000 buys.

To draw another comparison, illegal live streams of TNA Wrestling pay-per-view events are nowhere near as popular as that of World Wrestling Entertainment and UFC. According to a source in monitoring, there are usually thirty to fifty unique live streams for wrestling pay-per-view events with an average of 1,000 viewers per stream prior to its termination. For last week's Victory Road pay-per-view, there were only five streams across the major live streaming sites — Justin.tv, Ustream.tv and freedocast.com). Victory Road garnered less than 1,500 viewers. Live streams for WWE events are in the triple digits with most averaging 60,000 viewers, and UFC events tends to have live viewers in excess of 200,000.

Wrestling Observer wrote:TNA officials have been quiet regarding creative writer Ed Ferrera's recent departure from the organization. In fact, those who would be aware of the details surrounding his departure have declined to comment on the matter. The early word on Ferrara's firing was that it was done due to budget reasons but it appears to be something more now. We're just not sure what that is as of this writing.

Ferrara's departure means that more work is being put on Vince Russo. Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan not appearing at recent TV tapings have also created more work for Russo these days.

One Last Stand :lol:

They are so desperate that it wouldn't surprise me if the plan was to get sued to drum up some publicity. Bischoff is there after all. Ecw is dead and this blatant copy of ONS will hopefully fail. It's worthless to blast WWE then outright copy what they did. If WWE had sense they would release a gooseberry fool load of old ecw DVDs so people can remember the real ecw not this latest imitation.

Rog wrote:One Last Stand They are so desperate that it wouldn't surprise me if the plan was to get sued to drum up some publicity. Bischoff is there after all. Ecw is dead and this blatant copy of ONS will hopefully fail. It's worthless to blast WWE then outright copy what they did. If WWE had sense they would release a gooseberry fool load of old ecw DVDs so people can remember the real ecw not this latest imitation.

For the Yanks, they're showing the first ECW PPV this month on Classics on Demand.

I wonder if TNA will recreate the look of ECW like the WWE did, flawlessly, in 2005 & 6.

KKLEIN wrote:
Rog wrote:One Last Stand They are so desperate that it wouldn't surprise me if the plan was to get sued to drum up some publicity. Bischoff is there after all. Ecw is dead and this blatant copy of ONS will hopefully fail. It's worthless to blast WWE then outright copy what they did. If WWE had sense they would release a gooseberry fool load of old ecw DVDs so people can remember the real ecw not this latest imitation.

For the Yanks, they're showing the first ECW PPV this month on Classics on Demand.

I wonder if TNA will recreate the look of ECW like the WWE did, flawlessly, in 2005 & 6.

PPV will be in the impact zone by the sounds of it :lol:

They need that cramped atmosphere with the rowdy fans up close, they won't get it.

Way I see it this will be a tna ppv but with old ecw stars. The real point of this for tna is to get people watching one of their ppvs and stick with them so the presentation will remain tna style to promote themselves.

Does Styles still work in the WWE office?

Rog wrote:
KKLEIN wrote:
Rog wrote:One Last Stand They are so desperate that it wouldn't surprise me if the plan was to get sued to drum up some publicity. Bischoff is there after all. Ecw is dead and this blatant copy of ONS will hopefully fail. It's worthless to blast WWE then outright copy what they did. If WWE had sense they would release a gooseberry fool load of old ecw DVDs so people can remember the real ecw not this latest imitation.

For the Yanks, they're showing the first ECW PPV this month on Classics on Demand.

I wonder if TNA will recreate the look of ECW like the WWE did, flawlessly, in 2005 & 6.

PPV will be in the impact zone by the sounds of it They need that cramped atmosphere with the rowdy fans up close, they won't get it.

Way I see it this will be a tna ppv but with old ecw stars. The real point of this for tna is to get people watching one of their ppvs and stick with them so the presentation will remain tna style to promote themselves.

Does Styles still work in the WWE office?

Yeah he does stuff for WWE.com still.

Khali.

Wouldn't somebody like Evan Bourne be better? Considering he has no feuds going on unlike Morrison and Truth.

I can see an angle where Kahli is 'taken' out before Summerslam ... to eliminate the Raw superstars 'biggest threat' you heard it here first

WWE RAW did a 3.4. The first hour did a low 3.1 & then the audience jumped to 3.7 for the second.

As shown last night, they're clearly trying to get the first hour up.

BTW, Chris Jericho's contract is up in September.

If Chris Jericho leaves, we riot!

Although he has come out and said that he isn't ready to retire yet and wants to carry on for as long as feels that he still has something to offer.

WWE Smackdown Tapings

strawberry float off Rey, just strawberry float off already.

More news concerning TNA's 'ECW revival':

Former WCW & ECW wrestler Johnny Swinger will be at TNA's Hard Justice. He is expected to reunite with former ECW tag team partner Simon Diamond in a tag team match.

TNA officials have also discussed using former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Justin Credible.

ProWrestling.net wrote:TNA have discussed the possibility of holding select house show events featuring former ECW talent in markets where the defunct promotion was most popular. The feeling amongst those pushing for it is that the ECW alumni will work cheap, thus resulting in a profitable venture for the company.

However, it doesn't appear that officials have mentioned the venture to those contacted for Hard Justice. It should be noted though that both Tommy Dreamer and Terry Taylor have asked ECW talents who have been contacted what their work schedules are like following the PPV. Tommy Dreamer is said to be the lead-man behind everything ECW in TNA these days.

Swinger and Diamond back together........pulling out all the stops :lol:

They weren't even a team during the ECW heyday. They were at the arse end when everything went wrong. We saw Diamond last week and he looked out of shape.

It's like stepping into a time machine and going back to exactly five years ago. All these ideas were mooted then on the wave of popularity that the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD created, but I have serious doubts that they'll get anything approaching the same success. I'm definitely going to watch the PPV though, although I might have to restart watching Impact first.

I would have thought that TNA are going to have to be very careful with this ECW thing so that they don't provoke WWE into suing them. I can just imagine TNA pushing it too far in referencing ECW so as to get the fans to tune in.

Even if the WWE had done the right thing & recreated ECW properly full time, there was no way the older roster was going to stick around & carry the programme beyond the first year. I believe the likes of CM Punk (who was already over huge in the Manhattan Center during an ECW on SciFi) would still have been ECW champion.

Plus, look at the great wrestlers the WWE used during both ONS shows (Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, Tajiri, Rey Mysterio, Psychosis, Eddie Guerrero, Masato Tanaka, Edge, Randy Orton, Kurt Angle et al.) & the environment they put the shows in. TNA have made a fundamental error in using the iMPACT! Zone. One of the major factors in getting the ECW feel was using the Manhattan Center. Are TNA going to gut the iMPACT! Zone for Hard Justice? I'm unconvinced. Plus, in regards to the original One Night Stand, you can't forget that WWE officials, while being in attendance, barely had anything to do with it. It was one of Vince McMahon's classier moments, actually. Yes, they forced a WWE invasion angle onto the show, but by their standards it was unprecedented for them to hand over so much control.

Corazon de Leon

Did the first one even have that? Some amazing matches in the first one, and a Rob Van Dam shoot interview, and seeing guys like Mike Awesome wrestling...amazing PPV. :wub:

Deadpool wrote:Did the first one even have that?

Have what, a WWE invasion?

PWinsider.com Elite wrote:The idea to make the TNA Hard Justice PPV an "ECW" themed event happened at the Monday tapings. There was a planned direction for the ECW crew, but they along with Tommy Dreamer pitched a new direction which Dixie Carter approved. Carter also signed off on Dreamer running the show, which at this time is planned to be a "one off" ECW show. Many are impressed with how much trust Dreamer has been given by management.

The August 8th PPV has been renamed "Hardcore Justice: One Last Stand" and a new commercial has been sent out to PPV providers. The commercial reportedly features an ECW chant, something the company will have to be very careful about using for legal reasons.

Talent expected to appear are Jerry Lynn, The Sandman, Sabu, Spike Dudley, The FBI, Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney and Swinger. No contracts have been signed and many people booked have asked that their name be kept quiet.

They plan is to headline the PPV with an RVD vs. Jerry Lynn match. The plan is to announce two or three matches ahead of time, and then fill the card out via surprise, like ECW used to most of the time.

Paul Heyman has nothing to do with the angle at this time.

The response of the former ECW wrestlers has been interesting. Some feel excited about the possibility, while others are just acting like it is just another show since they have been down this road before. Some have been extremely thankful for the chance to work the event, while some have tried to get as much as they can from the company for their appearance. One talent, who has been off of TV for years, is refusing to come in unless is was granted a multi-year contract by TNA.

TNA is trying to take the approach of the first One Night Stand show, booking who they can to make it an authentic feeling event, including referees and managers. There has even been discussion of honoring former ECW talent that cannot be there on the show.

Shane Douglas has been contacted to work the event, but he has not agreed to terms. Douglas is reportedly pushing the idea of wrestling Ric Flair on the show to play off of Douglas always calling him out in ECW.

That second to last point isn't going to mean gooseberry fool if they go on the air & everything looks the same as any other TNA show from Orlando Studios. The connected ramp can stay as ECW used it on PPV events, but the set is going to have to go.

I totally don't get this whole ECW rejuvenation. They did exactly the same thing for One Night Stand 5 years ago!??? The wrestlers were barely mobile then .... what the hell are they going to be like now!?

Corazon de Leon

Yeah, KKLEIN. I seem to remember the big WWE invasion being in the second one, although now that I think about it I do remember Vince getting hit with a 3D, a stunner and a 619 at the end of that PPV. My bad.

The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

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