How TNA Impact Wrestling Can Stand Out From WWE in 2012
TNA have all the elements in place. A mix of talent old and young, a TV deal with a network geared towards the audience that loves the feedback MMA gives them, and 10 years of experience to build on. Add in proper championship rankings, less of a focus on bringing in names from other media and more booking like Aries/Joe and Impact Wrestling will really have a chance of making its own way in professional wrestling. Moving out of the Impact Zone in Orlando is also a must for the company in the coming year, the crowd size at Slammiversary made all of the TNA workers on the card feel 5 times more of a star than usual being on a grander stage. According to their corporate website, WWE now has an audience make up that is approximately 35% female and 21% under the age of 18. These are the demographics the current WWE product is being catered toward. The company began to get some of its older male fans tuning back in when they began to blur the lines between script and reality and take things in an edgier direction. CM Punk's promo in 2011, the Cena/Rock feud and the booking of the Cena/Brock match at Extreme Rules all ventured down this route. However, since the WWE have seemingly abandoned this approach and reverted to their normal easy to follow, no risk formula with the Cena/Big Show/Laurinaitis feud and adding Kane/AJ to the Punk/Bryan program, there's a visible gap in the market for a company to take wrestling in this direction and run with it. And that could be the direction Impact Wrestling needs to stand out on its own in 2012.