Darkside Ron Garvin
How to Regain a Loyal Fan - Pt 8 What's my Worth?
by , 06-28-2012 at 02:25 AM (2404 Views)
Let me set this blogs tone. I wrote this before taking my vacation this year. Slammiversary live was EPIC! I didn’t see the show through the big screen yet, so let me know how the show came across to those who bought it, or watched it online. I can tell you from being in the crowd; it was pure energy from the Joe/Aries match until Sting demolished Roode to end the show. Now, to the blog – This was written the Friday before the PPV so a few facts will have changed (i.e. Gail Kim holding the title, homegrown talent, main eventers, etc.) but the content was so passionate, I couldn’t justify re-writing the whole thing. So just keep that in mind while you read. –
DRG
First and foremost, I am a wrestling fan. I put up with the backstage scenes and the AJ/Dixie angles because it is part of the show. The promos are supposed to be used in a way to “Help me” understand why these guys are fighting. Even if the angle turns out as a flop, I am very forgiving so long as the matches they produce are worthy of the time spent on developing the angle. I do not care so much that Brodus Clay gets a 5 minute entrance. I care that his 2 minute matches are not entertaining. I should not be waiting for his match to be over to be entertained by his character. I state this because the current wrestling dynamic has shifted the wrong way. Too much emphasis is placed on selling merchandise, rather than entertaining fans. When I evaluate the “Greatest wrestlers of all time”, in no way do I rank them based on how many t-shirts they sold, or commercials they were in. The closest form of merch that could be used to help determine this would be DVD/Blu-Ray sales. This means that a wrestler put on matched that were so entertaining, I was willing to go out of my way to get a copy of a DVD containing his greatest matches.
I know I might be an exception to this rule, but I feel that the “E Universe” is not interested in pleasing me as a fan with Raw or SmackDown! I am not going to act like I would be able to book shows better or write better storylines. I do believe that what we see on Raw isn’t the best product they could give us. I honestly feel that their house shows blow RAW out of the water FOR ME. At the house events, I do not have to listen to Michael Cole and John Cena for 10 minutes before a 5 minute interruption by Johnny Ace, followed by a 4-5 minute intermission before I get the entrances before starting the first match. At the house events, once we get the intro, we get a 5 minute promo cut, and then the action we paid $50 to see.
So how much am I worth as a fan? The “E” doesn’t need me as a fan. The outcry for change by the fans will continue to go ignored because the “E Universe” has other obligations to meet. Stockholders, Sponsors, Government Officials… These are the people with whom the cry for alteration to the product actually has authority to register. The fans might be the ones paying for the tickets, but we lost a LOT of our power years ago. The IWC would have you believe that our power is completely gone, but I greatly beg to differ. Our worth is what kept Danielson from being buried. It is what has kept the title on Punk. Our constructive effort we fans put into the business is what increases our worth.
Granted our cries for Hogan to leave and Bischoff to be gone have not come to complete fruition, but TNA has been listening to us quite a bit as of late. We begged for them to give their titles credibility. We have the seven month reign of Bobby Roode, 250+ days of Austin Aries, and lord knows how long Gail Kim has had her belt. We told them to push more homegrown talent. 4 current champs are home grown and the main event of the past three weeks featured homegrown talent. We yelled at them to quit the tapings. As a result, they are testing the waters with Impact Live for the summer. We told them we wanted more in-depth storylines that have a longer arc and more direction. We have Parks/Bully Ray that has been building since before Genesis in January and is just now approaching climax… And it has been entertaining for the majority of the angle. AJ/Dixie/Daniels/Kaz, although not as interesting, has also been going for quite some time and it has given us many excellent matches in the process.
I know that giving Impact credit is often the unpopular way to go in the IWC, but in this topic I cannot help it. Many things I have asked out of this company I have gotten… So evident that even my wife jokingly questioned if they have been reading some of my blogs. I might not have the 6 sided ring, they might still be in the Impact Zone, and Hogan might still be in 4 segments too many, but at least I can say they have done SOME things to make me feel like my opinion matters. I feel that if I pay the $35.99 for a TNA PPV, I will get enough quality wrestling to justify spending the three-quarters of a tank of gas. If I pay the $50 for the WWE ppv, I feel that MAYBE 2 matches would go towards the full tank of gas I just spent. Personally, I but PPVs for the wrestling because I can catch the “show” for free on weekdays; Then again, that’s just me being the 29 year old, 25 year wrestling fan that I am… How about you?
As always, feel free to comment and I will reply as I can. Have a different opinion? Make your valid points as I always enjoy hearing them. If you feel like you’ve missed the direction of this blog, check out the previous blog archives and catch up a bit on where my opinions are based from(this will also help you understand why I choose the word “loyal”) and what the goal of this series truly is; How to regain loyal fans.
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