What do you think would happen if McDonald’s decided to temporarily remove their signature Big Mac burger 
and replaced it with the McRib, an old menu item that is fondly remembered, but in retrospect, wasn’t all that great to begin with?
Mutiny, right?
In essence, that it was professional wrestling outfit TNA is doing this weekend, as they have basically donated their annual “Hard Justice” pay-per-view show to some old “stars” of Extreme Championship Wrestling. ECW was a small, regional promotion that ran in Philadelphia in the mid 1990s, but gained industry acclaim for their progressive storylines, innovative wrestling and garbage brawls. It was eventually bought out by Vince McMahon’s WWE, who put on a true reunion show and eventually rebooted the brand as a mixture of veterans and young rising grapplers.
So, why in the world would TNA look to revive a brand that their biggest competitor not only owns, but put an end to?
And why would they spend a month promoting a dead brand, effectively pushing the pause button on their own?
From a PR perspective, here are the major blunders:
1) Pushing a one-night show involving talent now associated with your brand as being more important than your ongoing storylines and characters basically tells the audience not to care about your product.
2) ECW is dead for a reason. While they were ahead-of-their-time, the organization was never able to achieve widespread mainstream acclaim. In fact, when they had opportunities, they dropped the ball.
3) This was obviously done last minute, since long-lead advertising vehicles still don’t reflect the change. My cable carrier is showing commercials for the show as if it still had TNA’s core roster on it. So, they are creating confusion among their own fanbase.
4) TNA tapes two weeks of TV shows at a time. Because of the on-the-fly booking of talent, they were only able to announce two matches for Sunday’s show. What fan in a struggling economy will pay for a product when they have no idea what to expect?
5) And, most importantly, WWE’s corporate legal team is now ready to pounce on TNA. They have fiercely protected their trademarks over the years, even the dormant ones. Good luck with that, TNA.
So, even though I was a fan of the original ECW, I can’t support a company so clearly shooting themselves in their PR foot. I will not be watching.
I absolutely agree with your write up. Even the main event that was just announced on Thursday is lame. RVD and Jerry Lynn? Maybe in 1997 I'd get excited. Dreamer vs. an overweight Raven would be fun, if it wasn't one of the lead matches. Yes it's a fun idea to have a Sandman spot or a New Jack spot, or even a Sabu doing something insane and hoping he doesn't finally kill himself spot. But in the end, that's all this is. A one note, one spot, bordering on sad reunion. You hit on the head my #1 critique of TNA...they have NO IDEA WHO THEY ARE. They have a roster full of both VERY talented up and comers and "right nowers" and some good vets/past their prime-ers, yet they need their own Vince McMahon or dare I say it, Paul Heyman to guide the company. It hasn't happened and until they can do that, they will always be a 2nd rate federation. That's just my opinion, then again, I could be wrong.
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