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Post by tafkaga on Dec 7, 2005 4:59:25 GMT -5
Can someone who knows more than I do about TNA explain its organizational structure to me? I know that Dixie Carter is the president... Jerry Jarrett is an owner or co-owner or something like that... Jeff Jarrett is a booker... then there's Panda Energy that has some control. I'm having a hard time figuring out who really calls the shots in TNA. What is Dixie's job? And if Jerry is one of the head honchos, why was he on WWE.com a month ago?
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Post by LWPD on Dec 7, 2005 7:25:31 GMT -5
TNA is a good example of just how difficult it is to make money operating even a semi-full time promotion. It's the story of one failed business model after another. It started in May of 2002 when the Jeff and Jerry Jarrett used the financial backing of Heath South to market a purely PPV driven product. They charged $9.95 for each weekly 2 hour show. The production costs were astronomical and the buys barely broke five digits. Heath pulled out about five months in and it looked like they would close shop. Jeff had an ace in the hole...his old acquaintance Dixie Carter. BTW remember this relationship whenever you hear people complain about Jeff's positioning in the company, it's the key to understanding why things are as they are. Dixie is married to Bob Carter, owner of a private centi-million dollar energy company called Panda Energy. On deaths door Jeff convinced Dixie to have her husband Bob assume the Heath Financial money mark position and purchase 71% of TNA Wrestling. Dixie is officially the 'President' but in reality relies heavily on her friend Jeff to help her run things. Jeff is her most trusted colleague and if there was no Jeff there would be no Dixie (or Panda money). He's conveniently made himself indispensable.  Dixie has admitted publicly that loses have exceeded $15 million since TNA's inception. For what it's worth they are burning less cash now and are 'losing' less money than at any time in their history. With the Spike TV deal they don't shell out a dime for the exposure they receive. Dropping the weekly PPV's also helped since they lost money on virtually every one. They have more visibility than ever before and have even hit the Billboard top 20 charts with some of their videos. The last PPV did around 35k in terms of buys, which is around break even. It's not a money maker by any means, but the biggest losses have already been incurred. Can they tour profitably? Maybe overseas but I can't see it domestically. Vince can barely take his show on the road with all the expenses and lack of interest. Other than hitting break even and maybe making nickles and dimes I really don't know where they are expecting to go with this long term. Given what it is, I doubt they do either.
Like Watching Paint Dry (who's impressed at Jeff Jarrett's ability to make money in the pro wrestling business by selling others a bill of goods)
Link to a Dixie Carter Interview: tinyurl.com/dn7uc |
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Post by Chris Ingersoll on Dec 7, 2005 9:20:27 GMT -5
Like Watching Paint Dry (who's impressed at Jeff Jarrett's ability to make money in the pro wrestling business by selling others a bill of goods)
Isn't that just in the best traditions of the business...? |
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Post by Mad Dog on Dec 7, 2005 10:41:33 GMT -5
This will just be a tree with a basic idea for you:
Dixie Carter...
Booking team (D'More, Borash, couple of other guys)...
Jeff Jarrett...
wrestlers with creative control like Raven and Christian...
That's what the power structure looks like now. Jerry Jarrett essentially has no power anymore and even Jeff doesn't have what he used to.
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hawk
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Post by hawk on Dec 7, 2005 15:21:50 GMT -5
Rumors have said Jeff got promoted to head booker again, and recently? It sorta looks like it. Or it could be my bitterness at the news affecting my view of the shows...
The last few weeks haven't been the knockouts they needed to be, and Jeff has a storyline with two women fighting over him.
Sounds like he has the book again to me.
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Post by tafkaga on Dec 7, 2005 15:34:48 GMT -5
Thanks for the answers. LWPD doesn't paint a very rosey picture for TNA's future though. To be honest I sort of agree with him, but I hope that things get better for them. But with Spike behind him, anything could happen really.
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Post by Mad Dog on Dec 7, 2005 16:50:43 GMT -5
This is actually the brightest the future has looked for them. They've been creeping up on turning the corner financially. They've got a lot of extra revenue coming in with DVDs and foreign tv deals while cutting a lot of costs. It's still losing money but not like they were.
D'More is still the head booker as far as I've heard.
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hawk
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Post by hawk on Dec 7, 2005 17:26:58 GMT -5
It was just a rumor I guess, but it wouldn't surprise me. D'Amore has interests outside of wrestling, and the report said he got tossed for Jeffy.
Now, it probably isn't true, because I don't think Meltz or anyone confirmed it, but we all know Jeff has massive...stroke...in the booking.
Maybe someone should like, take a tire iron on his leg? Maybe then they'd put the title on someone sooner rather then later.
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Post by floydthebarber on Dec 7, 2005 18:24:34 GMT -5
I give Jarrett a lot of credit for getting TNA this far...they are at the break even point and while they will probably never rival WWE in terms of profitability and size, there is the possibility for bigger and better things. Touring in mid-sized venues with the right promotion and with iMPACT taping there, I could see them going to the old ECW arena for a couple of shows...maybe to a few other 5000-6000 seat buildings in New York, Michigan, Boston, Toronto if WWE doesn't already have a monopoly on all the venues in these cities. TNA may be a 'southern' promotion, but 2 or 3 'tours' a year to wrestling hotbeds with the right promotion could bring them money. Europe and Japan are also strong possibilities.
My big beef is that Jeff Jarrett is a totally lame wrestler and character. Arguments are made against guys like Rhino, Christian and other WWE 'castoffs' as being no better than 'mid card WWE talent' when that is all JJ ever was. In the right situation, JJ works as a heel...but at the top guy in a company, he's just not that guy. He's very smart for keeping himself in the spotlight all this time, as it makes it look as if TNA growth is linked with him having the NWA Title (a stable Champion)...but I just think that like HHH is some ways, he's too wrapped up in himself to see past some of his flaws...of which there are many.
Every time I watch TNA, I think to myself Jeff Jarrett sucks, and I can't escape that!
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Post by Big Bri on Dec 7, 2005 22:39:16 GMT -5
Maybe someone should like, take a tire iron on his leg? Maybe then they'd put the title on someone sooner rather then later. I like that line of thinking! Let's cross our fingers! |
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hawk
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Post by hawk on Dec 8, 2005 1:33:55 GMT -5
I wonder if good ole Double A would take some money. No one used a Tire Iron quite like him.
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Post by pikemojo on Dec 8, 2005 3:40:36 GMT -5
Tanya Harding hasn't been doing too much lately.
In all honesty I like Jarrett but he is so stale right now it is ridiculous. It is kinda like he isn't even all that dedicated to being a great heel.
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Post by leafar on Dec 8, 2005 9:57:48 GMT -5
TNA needs to do five things to go over with the fans.
#1) Jeff Jarret needs to stop wrestling and only work in the office.
#2) They need to get a major wrestler from WWE. Christian is not the guy to push TNA over. However, if they got someone like John Cena or Batista to come to them after their contracts expire it would put a$$es in the seats. By the way, Cena must be a heel in TNA; he totally sucks as a face.
#3) Get rid of the hexagon ring. I hate that ring! It just bothers me.
#4) Start developing young talent. They are not going to make it by taking "used" talent from the WWE.
#5) They I mention that Jeff Jarret needs to stop wrestling?
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Post by Vidtek on Dec 8, 2005 10:59:42 GMT -5
OK, here are some things...just pointing some out. TNA needs to do five things to go over with the fans. #1) Jeff Jarret needs to stop wrestling and only work in the office. Never going to happen, Jarrett has way to much of an ego to Stroke to do something like that. OK, that you make these two points in the same post is rather pointless don't you think? TNA does NOT need Cena or Batista becasue of your reason #4, and Chistian is a good thing for TNA. They are doing better at promoting mostly home grown tallent like Samoa Joe and ABYSS. The ring is cool, don't come to TNA boards and dis the ring! Did I mention not going to happen? |
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Post by Joe on Dec 8, 2005 12:28:06 GMT -5
I think that Leafar was trying to make a distinction between a guy that couldn't cut it in WWE and a guy who was a major star for the company.
Signing Christian was a major coup for WWE because he chose to come to TNA, rather than getting canned by Vince and seeking employment elsewhere. Now, if a major, top-of-the-card guy such as Edge, Angle, Cena or someone in that class was to make the jump by choice, then that could put TNA as close to being on equal footing as they are going to get.
Of course, I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell of seeing any of the aforementioned wrestlers choose TNA over WWE, but stranger things have happened.
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Post by leafar on Dec 8, 2005 17:09:22 GMT -5
OK, here are some things...just pointing some out. TNA needs to do five things to go over with the fans. #1) Jeff Jarret needs to stop wrestling and only work in the office. Never going to happen, Jarrett has way to much of an ego to Stroke to do something like that. OK, that you make these two points in the same post is rather pointless don't you think? TNA does NOT need Cena or Batista becasue of your reason #4, and Chistian is a good thing for TNA. They are doing better at promoting mostly home grown tallent like Samoa Joe and ABYSS. The ring is cool, don't come to TNA boards and dis the ring! Did I mention not going to happen? I am dising the six-sided ring. Jeff Jarrett has to stop wrestling. They can import big stars from the WWE AND develop young talent at the same time. |
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Post by Mad Dog on Dec 9, 2005 10:07:40 GMT -5
This is a poor argument. They've brought in more indy guys in the last year than they have guys the WWF released. The WWF castoff argument is a lazy one and not supported by the facts. There have been 50 some releases in the last year by the WWF and TNA has signed maybe 6 of them.
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Post by Joe on Dec 9, 2005 10:10:05 GMT -5
While it is true TNA has only a few former WWE guys on their roster, all of them are heavily featured, regardless of who they were, upon arrival.
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Post by Mad Dog on Dec 9, 2005 12:10:30 GMT -5
It's still a poor argument.
That's like bashing the WWF's run from 98-01 because they did it on the back of WCW guys.
It's not like they're signing up every WWF guy and then pushing him to the moon like people accuse them of. If you want to bash someone over that look no further than All Japan who's brought in like 20 WWF releases over the last year.
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Post by Joe on Dec 9, 2005 15:50:17 GMT -5
I wasn't bashing anything, but the way TNA brings in somebody and the way Vince brought in people during the Attitude era was two different things.
Don West and Mike Tenay sell the arrival of former WWE stars like Lou Thesz in his prime just made showed up.
In the late 90s, the ex-WCW guys who carried the company were not brought in like that. Steve Austin developed in Stone Cold and fans demanded he be placed where he was. Jerry Lawler didn't carry on about, "OH MY GOD! It's Terra Ryzing and he's taking over!" No, Triple H developed over a long period of time until he became the biggest heel in WWE since Roddy Piper.
The Radicals were brought in, but in all fairness, Benoit, Malenko and Guerrero were three of the absolute best wrestlers in the world at the time. All four of the radicals were begging for their releases from WCW, too, they weren't canned. Same thing with Chris Jericho.
What TNA is doing now and what WWE did then are two completely different things.
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