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TNA will be taping Impact tonight and tomorrow as well at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
The word making the way around the wrestlers is that from those who saw the incident, the Awesome Kong beating of Bubba the Love Sponge was far worse than he presented it on his show this morning.
Jeremy Borash appeared on "Right After Wrestling" on SIRIUS Radio Channel 98 last night. He noted he would be doing his online appearances while he was off television, so I guess that means the Spin Cycle and the post-game shows. Borash was at TV yesterday.
So, uh, what happened to Samoa Joe anyway?
Lee Relph sent the following....As noted the Genesis PPV will air over here on BT Vision only which has approximately 436,000 subscribers since it is available to customers of BT's Total Broadband service only. Compare that to the nationwide availability of SKY which has approximately 9.5 MILLION subscribers and Virgin Media with approximately 3.7 MILLION subscribers- both of which carry the BRAVO 2 channel former home to TNA PPVs (which BT Vision does not) - I'm sure you can plainly see what a baffling and counter productive move this is for TNA and its UK fans. And with an imminent UK tour the timing is rather unfortunate too.
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A lot of readers have chimed in on the statements made to the fans at the Impact Zone last night, so here's my thoughts on that situation.
The reality is none of those fans pay to get in, but they are the most vocal and loyal fans the company has. So, TNA does need to tread lightly. What those fans don't bring the company in revenue, they do bring in passion and care about the company, and you can't put a pricetag on that. One of the primary complaints from TNA fans who watch the shows on PPV and TV is that those fans only care about themselves and getting themselves over. That is true to an extent, but at the same time, their antics, like the ECW Arena of yore, have helped make stars and have helped create an atmosphere that make some matches better than they actually are. You don't want to tamper with that if you don't have to and you don't want backlash from fans who have treated the company like their own for all these years.
I don't think it's unfair for the company to ask fans not to curse or use obscene gestures, but coming the day after Daniels threw the middle finger in Sean Morley's face, that request sends a really weird message.
I've never seen a "gang" sign tossed up in the Impact Zone crowd, but I don't think TNA is unfair in asking for that either.
In fact, the only thing in my eyes that anyone should have an issue with are the reports of staffers from Universal threatening to throw fans out for acting like fans and supporting who they choose to support. If that request came from TNA itself, someone there needs to tune into Reality FM, because that request is out and out stupid. It was only a few years ago that TNA was promoting their Wrestlemania 24 weekend tapings by telling fans they could support who they wanted, wear what they wanted and enjoy themselves because TNA was proud to have them as fans. To do a complete 180 because now it's the Hulk Hogan show and fans don't want to see their hard working regulars sacrificed for the Hulkamania tour brigade comes off as being absolutely silly and TNA putting their heads in the sand. Here's the reality - If fans want to boo Hulk Hogan and cheer Ric Flair, that is their call. I've been to New York Mets games where the team is booed unmercifully in their home stadium - that's life.
After five years of having that opinionated fan base populating the Impact Zone, TNA can't just change the rules because the "new regime wants that." To me, the freedom of expression is what's going to help TNA see what's getting over and what's not. No fan base will ever be 100% right but when you control them completely, you may as well run the shows in a plastic bubble and pipe in canned laughter and applause like an old TV sitcom.
It almost seems to me that in the long run, perhaps TNA would be far better served adopting the old WCW Worldwide taping model by taping an hour at a time in front of a different group of fans per taping.
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