83 Weeks - Monday Night Impact 01.04.10 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Eric - as we do the show open - the launch of TNA on Monday night - is announced a few weeks prior with Hulk, yourself & Dixie Carter at the Ultimate Fighter finale…why the attempt to run on Monday against the WWE?

Were you for or against the move?

You’re working hand in hand with Vince Russo here right? How tenuous was that relationship between him, you & Hulk?

From the Observer 12/14/09:

“It’s a one-time deal at this point, but it is an experiment. If the rating for the show is good, most likely going two hours live on Mondays would be in the cards. The success will depend on a number of factors, including how much curiosity they can generate from people to see Hogan’s new role, and how much media attention and publicity Spike and TNA can garner for the date. If ever there was a time to try out this experiment, this was the time. It’s really hard to figure out whether this will be a success or not. If success is coming close to WWE numbers, as Nitro did from day one in 1995, well, no, it’s not possible. If success is doing a 1.4 rating and saying that’s better than the 1.1 on Monday, even though that would mean likely being beaten more than two-to-one, yes, that is possible. And if it’s not a success, then Spike knows to stick to Thursday.”

Was that the hope?

The show opens and it’s obvious that there are immediate changes with this show - with the move to the four-sided ring. That’s a Hulk & you decision am I right?

What is the X-Division?

WHY was Eric Bischoff the wrong guy for the job in TNA?

Hulk says this in an interview in the run up to the event: “He (Hulk) wants the commitment to go after top talent, with Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam being the big ones, going in with the idea of paying them good money for a five-day per month schedule at first. Even with Hardy’s legal issues ongoing, there are three promotions, including a major international group, all interested in giving Hardy big money for a limited schedule.”

Why were Jeff and Rob important to Hulk and were they important to you?

“Hogan also wants television taped outside the Impact Zone and in major arenas, thinking the only way to fight Vince is to present a product that looks as good. He’s correct in that it’s what is needed, but there is an issue about how even with papering, how is TNA going to run big arenas and make them look good without empty seats everywhere?

And if word gets out they are papering everywhere they run, that’s bad for long-term business.”

Meltzer would go on to write that this is where you would really miss the late Zane Bresloff. Do you think Zane could’ve helped TNA?

TNA really does a heavy marketing campaign - with the ads focusing on the debut of Hulk Hogan with the promotion but WWE is countering with some big time stuff. Bret Hart will finally return to Monday Night Raw for the first time since 1997 appearing in front of the crowd - you must’ve seriously lit a special fire under their ass to make peace with Bret right?

Hulk would continue to do publicity and say that he thinks the show will do a 3.0 rating. Was that a pipe dream do you think or did Hulk really think you’d be getting to that point?

Comparing Chris Jericho to Hulk Hogan

From the Observer: “Regarding the rating, TNA people are downplaying the importance of the first show rating. Even privately, TNA people are not expecting to do particularly well. Their hope is that the attention of doing the Monday special and publicity they’ve gotten will at least slightly build the Thursday number, and if they do a big number at least for the first hour, that perhaps Monday would be viable. But the company does expect Bret Hart on Jan. 4 Raw, and that the two hours opposed will be very tough to draw a good number in, even with Hogan. To me, just based on the fact the Thursday number, albeit going against NFL games hurts, hasn’t shown any real movement with the company getting the publicity of the Hogan involvement, isn’t a good sign. Still, they are buying ads on WWE programming in the top local markets based around Hogan, and in theory the first time for Hogan should lead to at least one or two weeks of curiosity.”

You made the right moves - you promoted it the best you could - now let’s see how the show goes…

If you’re watching along let’s count it down - 3-2-1!

As we get to the open - let’s discuss the strength of Hulk Hogan. It is 15 years from the time he walked into WCW to help rebuild the brand - and he’s not walking in as a World Champion type level player - was the hope to build off of Hulk’s back?

Was there ever talk of TNA getting better production?

From Meltzer:

“The face of wrestling has just changed.

TNA went head-to-head with Raw, and even though they got beat handily in the ratings, the gap was less than expected and they produced a riveting show, although certainly not one without a lot of questions.

Considering both groups were relying on wrestlers from the 90s, it was a weird night where almost every TNA star except A.J. Styles, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett, came across as secondary.

The show was reminiscent in many ways of Nitro, and garnered a lot of interest as one new character after another was shown. ”

Do you think this changed the face of wrestling? Did this have a feel like it was a Nitro?

“Impact opened with Bubba the Love Sponge (as opposed to Bubba the Dudley) interviewing fans all excited about Hogan coming in. The fans ripped on WWE, which was fun. I personally think the direct attacks at the leader by a secondary group work in wrestling.”

Bubba the Love Sponge - polarizing figure in the world of wrestling - what did you think of him and why do you think Hulk was such a big fan of his?

“1. A steel asylum X division match opened things with Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Homicide, Kiyoshi, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Suicide and Amazing Red. What a way to open things. Thick cage bars in the way of half the shots. A whole bunch of guys doing a whole bunch of moves going nowhere with far too much going on to focus on. And then Homicide pulled out a retractable baton and hit everyone, and it was ruled a no contest in 4:12. The place started with loud “bullshit” chants. Homicide then went to climb out of the cage, and this domed cage is where you have to climb upside down to get to the hole on top. Homicide got to the hole, and he was so blown up he couldn’t climb out. Here we are on live television, for 72 seconds as Homicide struggled, simply unable to climb out. Finally, all the wrestlers who were down selling tried to save him by climbing up to get him down. So he went out the door, only to be attacked by Jeff Hardy, with Hardy nailing Homicide with a chair to the head and a twist of fate. He then climbed to the top of the cage.”

My goodness Eric - what a way to open this show - why wasn’t this figured out ahead of time and how did anyone think this was going to work?

Was this just a sign of things to come with TNA?

“Later Hardy and Shannon Moore celebrated and there was another scene late in the show that looked so bad. Hardy and Moore were leaving and three teenage girls came out screaming like they had seen a rock star. During the show, Hardy did a painting and gave one of the girls the painting and kissed her on the cheek. She freaked and left, and he left.

It was reported Hardy signed a short-term deal, but others say this was similar to the original appearance of Bobby Lashley, where they put him on with no contract. One friend of Hardy’s noted to us that he was led to believe this was likely to be a one-time deal, and that Hardy had come home from Orlando and did not appear on the TV show taped the next day, and that he did not sign a contract. As coincidence would have it, Hardy’s appearance came on the same day that the grand jury in Moore County officially indicted Hardy based on his 9/11 arrest. Police came to Hardy’s home in Cameron, NC, and claimed they found 262 Vicodin pills, 180 Soma pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, residue of powdered cocaine and drug paraphernalia, with a street value of $2,500.”

Jeff has had a lot of demons and issues and even his surprise appearance was plugged on UFC right before the show that he would be on the show so you saw some value in at least promoting him - but on the same day as his drug charges - this doesn’t look great does it?

“They kept showing a limo driving down the interstate with a police escort as Hogan is on the way to the building, which led to some comedy later on. Kevin Nash did a promo noting that he’s (himself, not Hogan), the smartest man in wrestling (evidently he never watched those shows he booked) , but that Hogan was his mentor. He said every company Hogan has ever worked for has been No. 1. Another guy who slept through the entire period from 1998 to 2000.”

How important was it to have everyone put Hulk over as a big star and still get themselves over?

“2. ODB pinned Tara in 2:21 to regain the Knockouts title when ODB used a schoolgirl with trunks. Evidently she pulled too much of the trunks down because the camera wouldn’t shoot the pin. Tara used the Widow’s Peak on her after the match and put the Tarantula on her. I sure hope Hogan’s revolutionary booking plan isn’t that one guy wins, and then the loser lays out the winner after the match, causing nobody to get over.”

This…isn’t a great way to show the Knockouts is it?

“A limo came and Ric Flair stepped out. He shook hands with Eric Young and Beer Money, and then went to Styles’ dressing room. Who would have believed that in 2010, Flair came across on this show as a bigger star than Hardy.”

“Flair signed his deal a few days before the show. His deal was for 65 appearances over one year. It is believed he was working on a guaranteed money deal, plus he would be able to book his own outside appearances, whether they be public appearances for the various companies he works for, or outside business deals.”

Did you put the deal together with Ric? Was it Spike? Any issues from the past come up?

Within 30 minutes of this show you have Hulk, Ric & Jeff debuting with the company. Is it too much? Was this the statement and plan?

“Announcer Christy Hemme was outside the building talking to fans, giving TNA more of a good name. Mick Foley showed up and reminded Foley that he was banned. Foley said he had gotten the memo but came anyway, and then wasn’t allowed in.”

Was it hard to fit Mick into a creative plan like this?

“Bobby & Kristal Lashley came out. Kristal did all the talking, continuing the storyline where Kristal thinks pro wrestling is beneath Bobby and far more low class than MMA. She got tremendous heat doing this. Kristal said that Bobby wanted his release, because he had better things to do with his life. Bobby just stood in the back quiet.”

What did you think of Kristal as a character? She showed a lot of strength in terms of being a heel did she not?

“Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich did the first of several skits where they were backstage playing strip poker. Sky in fact, noted that they were doing it for ratings. Evidently nobody learned from the ratings of that mud wrestling deal. Then again, if these guys learned from their mistakes, we’d have never had WCW’s last few years.”

You know…I have to ask. For years now everyone on the inside of the business wants to know why fans worry about ratings. Is it because YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT RATINGS ON THE DAMN SHOW?

“Scott Hall and Sean Waltman wanted to get in, but they were denied entrance. Evidently, they have more experience sneaking into buildings because they were inside within minutes, while it took Foley more than two hours to figure out a way in.”

This is some high comedy when looking at things isn’t it?

“Hogan finally arrived, and came out for a promo. He’s the NWO Hogan with the black sideburns and the black outfit. He got a huge reaction from the fans who just a few weeks away when Styles and Daniels were tearing it up were chanting “Fuck Hulk Hogan.” Brooke and Jennifer were shown in the crowd. Hogan gave a pep talk about how TNA is going to be No. 1. He then talked about how he’s spent all day in the back talking to the talent. What? They spent the last hour building up that Hogan was in a limo on his way to the building. Hall & Waltman wanted to hop the rail. So Hogan not only told security to let them do so, but to give them a mic. Hall & Waltman acted like they wanted to relive WCW. Hogan was not going to allow them to ruin this company. I can’t believe they are still booking angles for 1% of their viewing audience. Hogan said that this time they have to do the right thing for business. Then Nash came out and said Hogan had been talking differently on the phone to him. Then out came Eric Bischoff. He talked about how all of us together changed the business, took on an 800-pound gorilla and threw him in a monkey cage. Have you ever seen a fight where one guy gets a lucky knockdown early, then gets his ass kicked and beaten so far past death to the point he’s unrecognizable? Okay, not past death, but past the point where he’d want to live. And then years later he comes back and talks about the fight like he was the one who won. Nevertheless, Bischoff is a great television performer and was awesome here. Hogan then asked for a format. He then tore up the script. Hogan then said that anyone here who can’t wrestle or can’t talk should go up North. Evidently, since they were advertising a barbed wire match for later in the show, Hogan and/or Bischoff was supposed to announce they weren’t doing stupid gimmick matches and it would be a wrestling match, but they forgot to do so. So we just didn’t have the match advertised earlier in the show. Well, it was also Rhino vs. Abyss and Rhino got laid out by a mystery guy. And as Hogan and Bischoff left, Sting was up in the rafters.”

This…ended up all over the place but you were tremendous in it! Was this how you ideally wanted to debut Hulk? Was the Hall & Waltman stuff too inside baseball?

“Then they came back early from the commercial break so we could hear Dave Penzer telling the crowd they were about to come back from the break and make noise.”

I mean no fault of Penzer’s but this is just a LOLTNA moment right?

“3. Awesome Kong & Hamada beat Sarita & Taylor Wilde to win the tag titles in 9:15. The first part was a little sloppy, but a very good finishing sequence, ending with Kong having Sarita on her shoulder. Hamada came off the top with a missile dropkick onto Sarita and Kong used the momentum of the bump to power bomb Sarita for the pin.”

My goodness Awesome Kong was just great was she not?

“More strip poker. Everyone was down to skimpy tops at this point when Val Venis, without a name at this point, showed up in a towel wanting in the game. More stuff with Foley unable to get in. He should hang around with Hall. The Nasty Boys showed up at this point, and they also couldn’t get in.”

Why Sean Morley here?

“4. Matt Morgan & Hernandez beat Dr. Stevie & Raven in :38 for the top contender ranking to the British Invasion’s tag titles. The Invasion was nowhere to be seen on this three hour show. Morgan pinned Stevie with a carbon footprint. Guess we had no time to waste.”

Under a minute. Doesn’t mean much huh?

“The Pope did an interview when Orlando Jordan showed up holding one of those little cans of Five Hour Energy. Jordan noted that Pope reminded him of himself. I don’t think Pope knew that meant he had no charisma and nobody cared about him. Dinero called him Whoopi Goldberg since Jordan was sporting a Whoopi hairdo. I’m guessing 95% of the audience had no idea who this guy was, but thankfully, Taz came to the rescue and mentioned his name was Orlando Jordan.”

Just trying to get through all the talent you have - how important was it evaluating the talent and seeing what their strengths and weaknesses are when you’re coming fresh into a company?

“5. The Pope pinned Desmond Wolfe in 2:37 with a small package. The crowd started chanting “This is wrestling.” What an easy crowd. So Desmond Wolfe, coming off two great PPV main events with Kurt Angle, is the set up man to get somebody over for a match with Orlando Jordan.”

TNA has taken a lot of criticism about Desmond Wolfe - the former Nigel McGuiness. Did no one coming in “get” him?

“Rhino was laid out by a mystery man, although it appeared the segment was written to show that Bubba the Love Sponge was the real deal announcer and Jeremy Borash is the flunky.”

Too much Bubba on the show?

“A.J. Styles did an interview pushing the PPV where he was defending against Kurt Angle. Bischoff showed up and said the PPV main event was canceled and would instead take place on television.”

How much access did you have to what was being planned and how much did you adjust?

“Jeff Jarrett, now all clean shaven, talked about how he started the company seven years ago with his own money, and all the critics said he’d be broke in six weeks. He said he’d been trying to get Hogan into the company. He talked about trying to get Hogan for years but the timing was never right. That’s Hogan’s words, which translated, means, I negotiated several times as a way to get back to WWE each time. Hogan then showed up on the screen as an apparent heel (he wasn’t supposed to be a heel, as Jarrett & Foley vs. Hogan & Dixie is in theory a feud of faces) and said Jarrett was telling a lie. Jarrett started the company, but ran it into the ground, and Dixie Carter saved the company and without her, it wouldn’t exist. Well, without her father. Loud “bullshit” chant here. The first time Hogan tells the truth he gets that chant. Hogan said Jarrett no longer had power, that he and Dixie were running the show, they’ve restructured the company and Jeff is out. But Jeff came to be a wrestler. Hogan said this will allow the younger wrestlers to have a chance. So far this show, that wasn’t exactly the theme.”

There’s a lot going on here. Was Hulk in favor of working with Jeff & Foley and being on the side with Dixie? What all went into this? Were you happy with how this all went down?

“Daniels was doing a promo, got out a few words and Borash came out and they basically treated Daniels like he was nothing because Foley was coming in.”

The focus on younger wrestlers Hulk just talked about goes right out the window doesn’t it…

“6. Samoa Joe beat Abyss with a choke in 4:41. This was billed as the first time these two had ever wrestled. Of course that was ridiculous.”

Very early on Hulk really gets behind Abyss. What was it about him that Hulk saw money in?

“Kristal Lashley confronted Bischoff and wanted to speak to Hogan. Bischoff told her to grab a number and wait her turn. She was mad, thinking she was above that, since her husband was Bobby Lashley, the biggest star in the company. Yes, they are scripting a character to play the wife who complains to management that every booker and talent relations director has to deal with.”

I mean…reality right?

“Beer Money was laid out. Bubba the Love Sponge said he knew who was doing it, but he didn’t bother to alert the authorities.”

When you look up and down the talent roster - minus the people you’re bringing in - was Beer Money high on the list of people you thought - that’s someone you can get behind?

“The Nasty Boys were trying to get in. Bubba told security they were friends with Hogan and they should be let in.”

Nasty Boys are more important than Foley right?

“Hardy and Moore were leaving the building. They each had envelopes. Apparently they were supposed to be new contracts. Three teenage girls came running up screaming. This was so low rent. Hardy gave one of them his painting and kissed her on the cheek.”

Moving on…

“The Nasty Boys went into Team 3-D’s dressing room and spray painted Nasty Boys all over the walls and photos. The Nasty Boys noted 3-D was in Japan. Some guys brought them donuts. They shoved the guys and donuts flew everywhere. They picked them up from the floor and started eating them.”

This…this is a lot…is it not?

“7. A.J. Styles pinned Kurt Angle to keep the TNA title in 22:05. Early on, the masked man who would later be revealed as Tomko, attacked Styles. Angle made the save and they ran the masked man off, and continued their match. This was a great match, although it seemed they were trying to do too much and there was a commercial break late just as the thing was building that really hurt the flow. They actually had three commercial breaks during the match. They do a whole hour commercial free before UFC PPVs, you’d think they could do one 22:00 match without a commercial. That and they had Flair come out during this match and everyone stopped paying attention to the match, and instead paid attention to Flair. Then Flair left and people again stopped paying attention to the match and watched him leave. Even with those handicaps, the match delivered. There was a “This is Wrestling” chant which at least was done during a great match. As the bout heated up, there was a “Who needs Bret?” chant. Angle kicked out of two Styles clashes. After a third one, Styles followed with a springboard 450 to get the pin. ****”

This is quite the contrast from the rest of the show but when you have two world class wrestlers out there…but Flair coming out kind of ruined the flow of the match?

“Hogan came out and said that Styles and Angle were the two best wrestlers in the world. Then Hogan stopped when getting the word Foley had arrived. Foley first showed up in the strip poker room. For some reason, even though it had been 75 minutes since we last saw them, nobody had apparently lost a hand since they were all wearing the same clothes. Foley then went into his own office, and it was all revamped and Bischoff was in his chair and all his stuff was down. Bischoff told him that he was no longer executive shareholder and if he wanted to stay, it would be as a wrestler. Foley said he came to grips that he would work for Hogan, but he would never work for Bischoff. He acted like he was going to slug him so at least he’d do something to get fired for. But Hall, Nash and Waltman laid out Foley, at which point Hogan showed up and the show ended.”

Working with Mick again like this…was the plan to work off of the previous heat?

There’s a lot of top talent here that have never worked together. I mean really Foley has never worked with Hall & Nash so it’s a fresh opportunity for a lot of different programs. You have to be excited about that…

“The show was built around what appears to be a three-way main program. Hogan and Dixie Carter are together as the babyface owners of the company. Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley are together as the former powers who in a company restructuring, no longer have any power or financial interest, and are only wrestlers. They are also babyfaces. The new power broker is Bischoff, who is something of a heel even though he’s aligned with Hogan. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman are the heels, partiers who want to relive Nitro, making a ton of money and having it be nothing but a big party, but Hogan and Bischoff in theory have learned from their mistakes and won’t allow them to ruin another company.”

Starting with this program - what was the goal?

Are you guys happy with how the show comes out? I know this is the first time you’ve watched it back but did you feel like you liked the show watching it?

Can you talk about the differences between your time in WCW and this show…and your exact role?

Regarding the viewership of the show Meltzer had this to say:

“For all the talk of Tivo, there was a tremendous level of channel switching. For example, the peak rating of Impact at 9 p.m., just as Raw went on the air, hit 3.36 million viewers, which is quite the tremendous sized audience for TNA. A full 18% (about 600,000 viewers) had tuned out while the skit in the ring with Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman was still going on. And once that skit ended, by the 10:15 mark (which was during a commercial), 63% of the people watching at 9 p.m. were gone (being left with 1.2 million viewers). But most came back after the break. For instance, at one point at the finish of the Taylor Wilde & Sarita vs. Awesome Kong & Hamada match, there were 2.9 million people watching while Raw had Miz hitting on Maryse.”

That’s a hell of a number is it not? You have to be thrilled about that…

“The final Raw numbers were a 3.62 rating and 5.62 million viewers. For total viewers, it was the most viewers Raw has done since the show the day after SummerSlam with Floyd Mayweather as guest host which did 5.86 million viewers, but that was also a show against preseason football as opposed to a highly rated bowl game, not to mention head-to-head competition from TNA. The show also did a 5.0 rating and 434,000 viewers in Canada, just under double what the show has been averaging of late.

The final Impact rating ended up as a 1.44 rating and 2.19 million viewers. The old record rating was a 1.34 and the old record audience for an episode of Impact was 1.97 million viewers. But it was also the most hyped episode of the show in history. The numbers were a 1.69 and 2.54 million viewers for the first hour, a 1.32 rating and 2.03 million viewers from 9-11 p.m., and the five minute overrun did a 1.26 rating and 1.83 million viewers going head-to-head with the Bret Hart-Vince McMahon segment.”

Do you analyze the ratings heavily back then to see what worked and what didn’t work? Minute by minute? Quarter by quarter?

How did you measure success ratings wise?