5 Reasons TNA Never Became WWE's True Competitor
2. TV Production
It is really hard to sit through an entire episode of Impact. It wasnt always this way, but the combination of the deteriorating production and uninteresting storylines have led to a rather underwhelming two hour wrestling show. The camera angles, the set design, the absent crowd participation, and the flat backstage segments are unbearable to the point that you often wonder how this final, edited product is what actually makes the air. It borders on incomprehensible that a wrestling promotion can manage to hide their strengths and emphasize their weaknesses, rather than the other way around.
The most glaring issue is how disinterested the crowd seems to be during the show. The set, lighting, and film direction can all be made up for if the crowd is hot and fired up for the wrestling action theyre watching. This just isnt the case on Impact. Furthermore, the production staff doesnt seem to take any measures to mask these things. WCW programming used to catch heat for piping audience noise into their TV shows, but really, what does that matter to the TV audience? The point is to sell the viewer at home on the idea that the wrestling action on TNA is exciting the live crowd to a boiling point. If it works, I should be pounding back my fun nuggets and wishing I was there live. If it REALLY works, then I absolutely feel like Im there with the live crowd. Instead, the show is at a flat line.
NXT's first episode of the New Year aired on Hulu the other week and the WWE developmental show is operating under similar conditions to how TNA films Impact. Theyre in a small, intimate studio setting and their talent is performing in front of a limited audience. Yet, that NXT show comes across as ten times larger than TNAs program and is infinitely more exciting. The filming is tight to emphasize how close the fans are to the wrestling action and the crowd is absolutely into every character that they watch perform in front of them.
It doesnt bode well for a company when their programming struggles to rival the competitors minor league online show. Whether the disinterest derives from a lackluster product or just from being a heavily-papered show with non-wrestling fans, the lack of energy bleeds through the screen and deflates interest in watching.