But the best thing to do would be to bring back Goldberg...
This would only make sense ring capacity wise for a one time appearance at Wrestlemania. Honestly the only person they could even hype for that would be either Kevin Nash (to get his revenge for Nash screwing him out of his streak when he was booker) or the Undertaker to try to end the streak. He has no value as an on screen personality, because his entire character value was built around the streak. Once they ended that, they ended Goldberg value. Sure he came into WWE for a while but it wasn't the same. He was gone a couple of years later.
Goldberg's too old to work a full schedule, and really has no interest to go back to wrestling.
It would be a lose lose situation for TNA as he would want too much money and he really couldn't deliver what he did back in 98-99
Actually, WWE went PG because they landed a deal with Mattel to make action figures and whatnot.
Ehh, I mean there may be some truth to this, but its no coincidence that they started going PG right around the time Linda was considering her Sentate run. I think that probably played a bigger role. Numerous other superstars though have said they went that route to draw in a larger family audience, and I actually buy that too. Off and on though WWE has hit some rough patches with viewership and its really hard to tell if this move has improved this any as some weeks it seems like it shoots up, and others you read about how PPV buy rates for a show are in the toilet. I think they dropped or were considering dropping one of their themed PPVs because of poor buy rates although I don't recall which one.
So, how about that TNA PPV ending, eh? Sting and Jeff Hardy for the TNA world title, and Sting wins in 90 seconds. Many fans cried out "BS", and rightfully so. You don't build up the entire PPV for a match that lasts as long as a pee break! But on the other side of things, rumor has it that Jeff was visibly high and Sting knew it. Therefore, instead of working with a man that could potential hurt himself or others, Sting forced him into the three count.
I don't know about Hardy being high (although the shirt throw tease so many times was strange) but it sure looked like Bischoff called an audible there whispering to both Hardy and Sting. There was that one awful WCW PPV with Goldberg/DDP that the feed got cut due to time constraints before the match ended and they lost a boat load of money. I didn't keep track of the time of the PPV nor do I know off hand how much time TNA purchases for one. Maybe Bischoff knew the show was going to run long and told those guys they had to make it quick or something. Either way a very poor end, and it does show some of the booking woes still exist.
The ONLY real problem with TNA, is TNA. They're truly reinacting WCW right down to the oversaturating of old/established talent over the original cores of the company. Their old slogan "We Are Wrestling" changed for good reason, because they're no longer about what made them the best alternative to WWE. They've lost the albility to be objective, because Bischoff is praticing by the same principles that had made WCW a success. The BIG problem with that is, it's not 1996, & anyone that remembers the Monday Night Wars will not go through this wash rinse & reuse formula of wrestling. They just need to go forawrds instead of trying to reclaim lost glory. They've went through almost every former WWE Superstar that was ever in that compnay & they STILL can't go pass 1.1, or even 0.7 at times. If they go back to their old ways of working a crowd they'll succeed.
If the old ways and the core stars was the way for them to succeed, why'd they deviate from that? No, they never gained any ground for 7+ years doing it that way: promoting their guys from within. Sure the core fans loved it, but ECW was the same way. Play to the core fans, and never find a way to get mainstream. Different reasons, but the same philosophy.
I read an interview Kevin Nash did shortly after he re-signed with WWE where he gave TNA advice on how to get to a level to compete with WWE, and honestly his advice is the true root of TNA's problem: money.
Kevin Nash said TNA needs to open up the checkbooks, start at the top with John Cena, and find a way to get Cena, Orton and some other top guys over to TNA, and here's the kicker: in their prime.
They tried this with Kurt Angle, but the problem is Angle while still a great wrestler, was just coming off the top of the hill of his career. He was what 36 or 37 when they got him? Orton's about 10 years younger than that now.
The WCW comparison is legit, but for the reason of money that I stated above. Remember back to around the late 80s and early 90s. WCW had some draw guys: Flair, Luger, Sting, Steiners....but nobody that could touch Hogan. Heck Macho was probably a bigger draw than Sting and Luger. WCW really fell on hard times around 92 when Flair jumped ship. Aside from right before the company flopped, those were some of the lowest years in their history, as the top two draws in wrestling were both in WWE at the time.
What'd WCW do? They opened up the check books. First they got Flair back when his contract was up, then in 94 they got the biggest draw in wrestling: Hogan. WWE didn't immediately drop to #2 in ratings, but that started a tailspin that they really didn't start to see the light from until 96 when Austin became who he was and carried them back to #1 a couple of years later.
TNA has no Austin. They don't have anyone even close to being able to draw like Cena (even as much as you and I, the core fans, don't like him) or Orton. A lot of rumors have swirled around WWE not really having any young guys to take over for the likes of HHH, Undertaker, and Cena if they get hurt or when they retire, so now would be the most opportune time to steal away their bread and butter guys. If Cena and Orton go over to TNA who is WWE going to have headline their PPVs. Undertaker's only good for 3-4 a year including Wrestlemania. CM Punk? He's pretty good but I don't know if he's there yet. Bring back Jericho? That would help, but I don't know how much or how long he would stay. Miz? Morrison? Sheamus? Del Rio? Barrett? They might be diamonds in the rough, and if they really pushed him they could possibly recapture some of Shawn Michael's magic with Morrison....you never know. What if TNA really went all out and got 4 or 5 of those guys I just named? You'd have ratings reversal! THAT'S how TNA can compete.
Today you have to have someone that draws while you're trying to build up your own talent (it helps if you can pull over a couple of other top caliber guys in addition to THE guy like WCW was able to do with getting Luger back and also pulling over Macho Man around the same time as Hogan arrived). TNA has gotten some really good talent recently like RVD and Mr. Anderson, but nobody that can put 70k seats in an arena. The two top people who can main event a card and pull close to those numbers are Orton and Cena. If TNA wants to stand any kind of chance of ever threatening WWE, they need to open up the check book like Nash said, and poach from the top. Not the middle guys like Christian or the over the hill guys like Steiner or Nash...they've got to get the biggest draw in wrestling today the way WCW did in 94 when they got Hogan and paved the way to their successful run. Until they get some more financial backing or really open up Dixie Carter's pocket book....they'll continue to flounder in that 1.1 rating area unless and until a Stone Cold Steve Austin circa 1996 comes along, and that guy is not on their roster today.
I should write this for a wrestling column or something and title it "How TNA can overtake WWE by learning from WCW's success and mistakes"