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Whats in a Name?

By TWF Dave

What's in a Name?

A few weeks back we started hearing rumblings that TNA were considering changing their name. Last Thursday night on Impact Mick Foley appeared as the "Networks" representative and confirmed that the show would now be known as Impact Wrestling. The following Sundays pay-per-view still prominently featured TNA branding but last night, at the Impact (Wrestling) tapings, pictures of the new set were leaked onto the net.

Obviously there has been a lot of opinion on why they've changed their name and the brand they're now pushing. I believe its a good thing and a wise move. You've probably heard this before but I wanted to get my opinion "out there".

Everybody reading this blog knows that in this instance TNA stands for Total Nonstop Action, in the wider world though it's widely understood to be an abbreviation of the phrase "tits'n'ass" - in fact Vince Russo purposely named the company based on that abbreviation way back when because it was "edgy" - or juvenile - depending on your opinion. Spike TV, for its part, has always been promoted as a male orientated channel. Can you imagine Hulk Hogan, Dixie Carter or anybody else from TNA going into a business meeting with a potential sponsor, say a McDonalds or a Walmart and opening up by saying "Hi! I'm from TNA wrestling on Spike TV!"?

If that potential sponsor hadn't been exposed to TNA Wrestling before (and given their ratings that's pretty likely) and didn't already know what TNA was, then the immediate and obvious assumption would be that it was some sort of softcore porn/semi-naked female wrestling. And even though it isn't and even though you're going to explain what it actually is, you've made a terrible first impression. A first impression that will stick in that potential sponsors mind and the chances are you won't be getting the sponsorship.

For that reason alone the re-branding to the more professional sounding and mature "Impact Wrestling" is a good move. Factor in the fact that Impact Wrestling is a far more descriptive name than TNA Impact when it comes to catching the eye of any casual wrestling fans skimming through a TV guide, and you can understand the reasons for the name change.

Will this one simple change solve all of TNAs problems? Of course it won't, they'll still have horrible storylines, they'll still have Bischoff and Hogan taking up TV time that would better served with a wrestling match and they'll still ignore the X-Division, but at least by changing their name they've shown an understanding that they have problems and a willingness to solve them.

So, whats in a name? Quite a lot as it turns out.

As for the new look arena? I've read it compared to Smackdown, for no other reason than the color scheme as far as I can tell... Check it out for yourself and make your own mind up:

-Dave

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