Conrad Thompson and WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff discussed TNA’s decision to compete against WWE RAW in 2010 on the most recent episode of their 83 Weeks podcast. What was the expectation for TNA on Monday nights was a question posed to Bischoff.
“I didn’t have one. I had hope,” Bischoff revealed. “My hope was that by letting the world outside of our Thursday night little choir, because that’s what TNA really was at that point compared to WWE, compared to Monday Night Raw and SmackDown, Bischoff said. It had a very small audience. And it wasn’t marketed outside of Spike or certainly TNA wasn’t spending any money or time marketing the show, not in a meaningful way on a national level. So my hope was that, by launching and going head-to-head, there was a certain amount of inherent controversy in that move, right, it’s a move. It’s stepping onto the field and saying, okay, I could play this game, too.”
In addition, Bischoff discussed TNA’s signing of WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and a significant issue the company faced.
“And, by the way, we got Hulk Hogan and we are here to play. And I was hoping that statement by going head-to-head would at least get people to check out TNA, who haven’t previously,” he said. “You know, I use the term, preaching to the choir all the time and so does everybody else, that’s a common term. But it was such a prevalent situation in TNA because they preached really hard to their little choir every Thursday night. But they didn’t bother to talk to anybody outside the choir and this was our opportunity to kind of broadcast your way outside that choir by taking advantage of the controversy that it would create.”
A question about whether or not TNA’s competition with RAW was essential for TNA’s development was posed to Bischoff later.
“I don’t think it’s either,” Bischoff responded. “I think it was a move, and it wasn’t like we have to do this or this company will never grow. It was one of a series of steps I felt, Hulk felt was necessary if TNA wanted to reach the goals they suggested to us. That’s it. It wasn’t, if we don’t do this, it’ll never work. It was, okay, let’s everybody know that they we are here. We got to let the world know that TNA exist beyond the 1.5 million people that probably watched on average or whatever it was. We got to let people know other than that audience know that we are here. We’re going to do it in an entertaining way. Create as much buzz as possible. We need to let everybody knows that they are stars here know that weren’t here before. And in that respect, I think we checked every one of those boxes.”
The full “TNA Invades Monday” episode from Bischoff can be found below:
(H/T to Joshie Lopez and WrestlingHeadlines.com for the transcription)
