Where did Kevin Eck go?

Everybody loves a trainwreck.

Good for TNA, though. As long as they settle down and start to distinguish main event talent from midcard talent they will be fine. Jarrett coming down to the ranks to work with Kennedy and Bischoff showing leverage over Foley helped answer the 'who's running this show' question, and The 8 Card Stud idea (which is a repackaged TCS) will be a good way to utilize all that talent TNA has recently signed until they get the green light for another show (Which I'm told will be entitled Hogan's Heroes LIVE!).

AJ Styles still sucks as a heel no matter how many on-screen whores creative uses to make up for his lacking heel charisma, and no matter how many 'Woo's' Ric Flair bellows to try to drown out Styles' underwhelming promos. But you can't win them all.

Short term fix, nothing more. When you bring in the likes of Hogan and Flair, more than usual will tune in. When those fringe fans catch the disgraceful product TNA puts out on a weekly basis, they will tune out. Eric Bischoff killed one wrestling company and will kill another, mark my words.

Why can't we be right about something for once?!

But then again, maybe it's people tuning in to see the car crash - it's bad, but you just can't turn away. In addition, the first quarter was the peak and then ratings fell after that, so they gained 0.2 additional viewers, and then lost them by the end of the night. People gave them a chance, and their booking (sorry Russo, ''writing'') let them down yet again.

In the long run, maybe we geeks will have the last laugh.

I haven't followed wrestling for years but when I did follow it rather faithfully was during the era of WCW. During the time of NWO Black and NWO Red. Hogan was "Hollywood Hogan" then. Bischoff was the Commissioner or something like that. The main thing was they had great storylines and made it very entertaining to watch. So I can TNA wrestling gaining popularity with those two running the show.

kev you know everyone loves a good train wreck or car accident you know you see 1 and no matter how hard you try to look you find yourself having to stop & look.

I have to admit, I watched Impact for the first time in months (excluding the Monday night episode via DVR). For me, it was pure curiosity and wanting to see a train wreck.

Always been a big fan of Bischoff. Not many have better mike skills than Easy E, and he's such a wonderful bastard! I was really hoping he'd be back in WWE, either as a permanent GM or a guest host.

WWE fans have become dispirited due to the watered down product presented by the WWE particularly on Raw. They are looking for a legitimate alternative much like fans who tuned into ECW during the Monday night era.

Fans are sceptical and do not want to invest time and emotion into a potential fly-by-night wrestling outfit due to past disappointments. TNA is offering a well financed alternative to WWE programming that may be different. The name recognition of the recent additions have given wrestling fans pause to give TNA a second look. The reason viewership is increasing is strictly due to word of mouth in wrestling fandom. Fans are telling each other to give TNA a look because it may become something that has the excitement that was seen during the Monday night era.

Bischoff Controversy does not Create Cash, it by and large Creates Crap. They are already beginning to make many of the same mistakes that killed WCW. I will tune in for a few weeks, but I will not become emotionally invested or purchase a PPV until I am sure that those two self-aggrandizing nincompoops, Bischoff and Hogan will not destroy another wrestling company. The Nasty Boys for goodness sakes? They were not relevant in WCW? Why in the name of all that is holy would they be relevant 10 years after they were not relevant? Someone should put the Nasty Boys out of their misery.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I wish someone would put the Nasty Boys out of my misery.

EB knows the key to success is to grab the casual fan, and generating controversy plus older known stars is one way to do it. TNA being a newer company doesn't have a built in transition to younger talent like the WWE does, not to mention marketing money and media connections.

Adding someone like Flair goes a long way to bridging that gap if used correctly.

Paul Heyman should be hired to run the shows. He has a proven track record of getting ratings and creating interest.

Eck, have you read "Controversy Creates Ca$H" before? There is a lot of information about the business-side of wrestling once you get past the catchy title. Unfortunately, I think TNA is too caught up in the title itself.

Starting on page 152, Bischoff explains that if you are a competing company within the same business, such as WCW was with the WWF (or TNA is to WWE now), then you will immediately be placed into one of three categories by the consumers (viewers, in this case)..... Different Than, Better Than, or Less Than.

TNA doesn't seem to be pursuing the "different than" avenue, which Bischoff employed in 1995, and TNA won't have the resources to compete with WWE to be "better than." That leaves "less than," and that's how I have viewed them since 2006.

Maybe in their current wisdom, they think TNA is "different than" WWE because they're marketing to the same viewers that stopped watching over the last decade, whereas WWE has moved back to family entertainment.

If Hogan-Bischoff direction in TNA does fail within the first nine months, then this book will be a great read!

RESPONSE FROM KE: I have read it.

I still think you're right, Kev. Relying on the ratings bump that comes from everyone telling their friends "You've got to watch this show, it's SOOOO bad!" is hardly a solid long-term strategy.

The "Internet Wrestling Community" is critical of EVERYTHING. I wouldn't put to much stock in it.

"Perhaps I really don’t know what I’m talking about after all."

Lets just say you appear to have a double standard when it comes to TNA versus WWE. Both are crappy pro wrestling companies going for two different demographics. Crappy in that pro wrestling is cheap entertainment provided by specially talented people, but not high art.

Having said that, I have enjoyed wrestling for as long as you Kevin. It either entertains or it does not. No need to over analyze anything, its all a work!

For better or for worse, I have found TNA much more entertaining than WWE as a whole of late. Maybe upcming WRestlemania and TNA Monday night challenge will change things...we'll see.

BTW I feel much the same as you about Hogan as a person and have never been a fan of his wrestling, but has been doing a good job of late on-screen and in promoting TNA.

Is Kevin's cousin now writing the column?? Who is the dude in the photo??

I'm going to be "THAT WWE MARK" and remind everyone that Superstars got a 1.0 and a .2 on the replay... So TNA's record is great for them... meaningless in the grand scheme of their "war" to dethrone Vince McMahon.

The thing we all need to remember is the Bischoff still has the same mentality that lead to failure last time. TNA always talks about crushing Vince, beating Vince, Vince, Vince, Vince.... They should put their goal as expanding ratings, house shows, and ppvs buys. The Impact Zone is free and they have trouble filling it with 3,000 people.. WWE shows have 10,000+ PAYING fans every time. When they focus their goals to specifics... besides just BEAT VINCE, they will find success much more easily.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Here's the thing with TNA wanting to "beat Vince." They will never beat WWE when it comes to PPV buys or selling out arenas. Bischoff and Russo only care about one thing: beating WWE in the ratings. If they do that but ticket sales and PPV buys don't increase, they will still be puffing out their chests and claiming they are winning "the war."

Impact is going in a bad direction, still a better direction then Raw's been heading since Jericho quit headlining it. For all the "past their primes" TNA has, no one should think WWE is immune to this problem.

Hard to say HHH, Taker, Michaels, Cena and others are at their peaks and aren't stale characters doing stale things. DX is doing very little to make me care. TNA and Spike's only mistake
was not moving to Monday earlier to capitalize on the Sheamus push no one wanted to see. WWF is vulnerable, they need TNA to take a "Bret Hart" off their hands to make them better, just like '97.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Ages aside, I don't think there is any comparison between guys such as HHH, Taker, Michaels and especially Cena, and guys such as the Nasty Boys, Hall, Nash and Morley.

My point was that while you may once in a while get a big rating... you won't be making lots of money or laying groundwork for long term growth. A lot of things the WWE p-----s the smarks off. I, for one, want to turn my TV off every time Hornswaggle comes on, but they are making huge profits and know how to get people to pay for their entertainment. In a terrible recession, the WWE increased its profits by 15% despite revenue being down 18%. They run their business... like a business. Hogan and Bischoff have always been good at spending other people's money... but that is also their downfall.

TNA would be much better if the Nastys would go back to the rest home and take spongbob with them. Oh take Towelman too. Another thing, does anyone notice Hogan's 29inch pythons are now 29 wrinkles?

Ok enough of the "tuning in to watch a train wreck" stuff. We come and lob the bombs at TNA here and we need to be man enough to admit we're wrong.

I highly doubt anyone watches because someone tells them "You'll never believe how TERRIBLE this show is!"

I'm not someone that takes huge stock in the ratings. However, it does give Bischoff and Hogan more leverage with Carter and Spike. They can point to the record ratings and get a little more of what they want.

I can't stand TNA....yet I can't look away!!
That sums it up!

Does me recording it weekly but just deleting it out of complete lack of interest count as a "view"?

Not a bad impact. But where is Suicide???
Does ric flair really need to say "woo" more than once in the same breath? He sounds like a child playing with a toy train. And its very annoying. And wasn't it just two months ago that AJ Styles was crying about leaving and talking about his FAMILY????
When Brother Ray calls you fat, it's time to go to Weight Watchers.
Get rid of this bubba guy and bring back JB. I personally think, in the words of Gorilla monsoon, think that Bubba does not know the difference between a wrist lock to a wrist watch.
Jeff Jarrett with no music and having to start out at the bottom......hmmmm.....at the bottom? Against mr Anderson is not what i would call the bottom. Would have been funnier if he wrestled Sharkboy or Consequences Creed.
Speaking of Creed, what happened to his open challenge with him losing to fat 90s wrestlers?
In closing, I really like the ramp to the ring. Reminds me of WCW from the Early 90s. I expect Missy Hyatt or Paul E Dangerously to run down.