While WWE Is Capitalizing On Their Indian Market, TNA Is Literally Paying Indian Fans To Attend Their Events
Wrestling Observer Newsletter- While in India last week they taped in a TV studio that held 500 people. Everyone in the crowd was paid 250 to 400 rupee (between $3.80 and $7.60) to attend, so even in a small studio they not only didn’t charge for tickets but paid people to attend. That’s common for television shoots in India and wouldn’t have the same stigma if you did that in the U.S. Fans were instructed who to cheer and boo, and they were very good at doing so. They were told the villains would come from the left side of the stage and the heroes from the right side. The waves that may make the air were also instructed by the M.C. and not something the audience did spontaneously. However, EC 3 did have very legit heat when he came out as E Singh 3, and the crowd really loved Mahabali Shera and Sonjay Dutt. Jeff Jarrett was telling reporters that they are scouting more talent from India.
Pretty much since it’s inception, TNA has been trying to be WWE. It’s been the company’s biggest downfall when trying to compete with Vince Jr in New York, actually. To be competition, you have to be viewed as an alternative, not a shitty knockoff. My favorite case of TNA blatantly trying to be WWE is when Daniel Bryan won two matches in one night at WrestleMania 30 to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The next week on TNA iMPACT, Eric Young, the company’s shortest bearded wrestler, won the TNA Heavyweight Championship in his second match in one night. The characters had nothing in common, but Dixie Carter was CONVINCED that it’d work out and Eric Young would be a star. They loaded the warehouse with plastic EY beards that uhhh…still sit there, as it never panned out, and Young signed with WWE. 1499 plastic beards.
This time around, they’re ripping off maybe the worst thing the company’s ever done, disregarding what’s best for the product by catering to the Indian market in a flagrant cash grab. BUT, it’s not a cash grab. They just want it to look like a cash grab. So they’re paying fans to attend their events to boo and cheer the wrestlers according to their face/heel alignment. I generally don’t write about TNA because they’re an embarrassing failure not productive to anyone or anything in the industry, but this was too good to pass up on. Get it together, Slap Nuts.
