The KO division is obviously respectable. That is the atmosphere they love to sell. They have a lot of women with wrestling credibility. They can bring in female wrestlers for one night only or for a short period. Unlike the WWE, it is unlikely TNA will ever have serious depth issues when it comes to credible jobbers. Depth issues when it comes to legitimate stars is another issue.
That brings me to Gail Kim. She is the closest thing to a centerpiece that TNA's women's division has, although TNA does not push her the same way the WWE would a centerpiece. She obviously has wrestling credibility. She was a credible jobber both times she was in the WWE. And she also was a big deal during her first TNA run. She is still pushed as a big deal, but is she still connecting with fans in the same? If she can connect with the fans in a strong way, she deserves to be the centerpiece. If she cannot, she should be a credible jobber. Don't get me wrong, I like Gail Kim. If she was more charismatic, she would be my #1 favorite female wrestler. But if TNA wants to attempt to run a diva-like women's division, Gail Kim should be in the rotation of credible jobbers.
TNA is at a better position than the WWE to run with a solid diva centerpiece. They are in a better position than them to run with a better periphery. They are in a better position than them to run with better credible jobbers. All they have to do is not make the same mistakes the WWE makes. That includes overpushing a centerpiece that cannot get over. Taryn Terrell deserves a fair shot to be the top KO of that division, not just hold a title for a while. If someone like Gail Kim can connect better with the fans than her, then she could take back that top position. But TNA should continue to maintain a good balance between featuring female wrestlers and eye-candy performers. Maintain that respectability, build real stars, and beat the WWE at what they have not been able to do in almost a decade.
Since I am on the subject of TNA, that gives me an excuse to talk about their new network. They will be moving to Destination America next year. I had never even heard of that channel. I had to check if I even get it. I do. That doesn't mean I'll necessarily watch them regularly.
How successful will they be on this new network? Their numbers in recent weeks have been horrible. The ratings may not look so bad, but they are not even going against football competition on Thursdays anymore. Moreover, viewership has dropped below a million in recent weeks. Can't blame that on Thanksgiving. They are doing that badly and they are moving to a network I have seen many fans indicate they do not have. Even though I think their product has become more stable recently, it is still not drawing. I would expect bad numbers on Destination America next year.
Since I was talking about Gail Kim, let me also mention that she was mentioned in the press release about the new partnership between TNA and their new network. When listing some of the "biggest names" on the TNA roster, she is listed alongside guys like Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle. She is obviously their top star in the KO division. I just question her overness. If you are going to develop a centerpiece, you should care about overness. There is no clear sign that TNA definitely is interested in running the type of women's division the WWE runs, but if they did want to do it, they are in a good position. They just have to make the decision to push someone else other than Gail Kim as the top star.
I'm feeling lucky. I'm going to roll the dice. I'm going to do another aside. I have used the grading system to classify what type of careers some wrestlers are getting, critique their talent and potential, assess how over they are, and even grade the WWE on how they are pushing their workers. How about grading the fans?
I have said before that there is not one level of fans. You have your hardcore fans. You have your casual fans. You have so much in between. Can you create some kind of spectrum from A+ to F? I think so. You can also differentiate fans by what draws them to pro wrestling. The actual wrestling? The storylines and drama? Hot men and/or women? Will they tune in no matter what, even if just to complain? You can break it down like that, but you cannot grade that easily. This grading system is based on how interested they are in the product.
Your A-tier fans are your hardcore fans. A+ is more hardcore than A. A is more hardcore than A-. These are the fans that are extremely dedicated to the product or a particular wrestler. They go to see the show every opportunity they get. They spend money on what they love without a second thought. Tattoos. Shaving weird stuff in their head. They will name their firstborn child after their favorite wrestler. Super fans. To varying degrees, this is the kind of things that they do.
The B-tier fans are the ones that consistently follow the product and spend money on it, but they don't go insane over it. These are the regulars.
Casual fans are your C-tier fans. They watch the product, but are not likely to spend money on it too often. If something else comes on that they would rather watch, they will change the channel. Whatever they are C fans of, that is not something they are too interested in.
D-tier fans are even worse than casuals. Casual fans are at least somewhat consistent in watching or caring about the product. D fans are the ones that only tune in once in a while if something big is going on.
F fans? How can you have that? F is failure. These are the people interested in the product for all the wrong reasons. These are the haters. Haters do exist. They are interested in the product or a performer because they dislike whatever it is. They complain about it. They want to see it fail. This is what you don't want a lot of.
Both the WWE and TNA obviously have fans that fill out the whole range. Looking at it like a range like this might help someone consider how well they really are doing and plan on what they should be doing. Does it matter? Well, one of the reasons the WWE Network is not as successful as many people thought it would be is because not enough fans cared enough to subscribe. They look at their number of viewers or Twitter followers and think they can easily get subscribers. Those numbers do not actually tell you how many A-tier and B-tier fans are interested in your product. Those are the fans likely to subscribe. Moreover, right now, I get the sense the WWE is caring too much about what those A-tier fans are saying and wanting. I'm no expert, but they are losing their overall audience. That is a loss in casual fans. You need to interest those C fans more. TNA's problem is that they do not have enough C fans and cannot consistently do enough to draw in even D fans. They have a lot of F fans that view them as a joke. The regulars are solid. A-tier TNA fans? I don't know how many of those still exist, but they need do to better just drawing in an overall audience. Bring those C fans in and give them a reason to become B or A fans.
Let me end it on Gail Kim. I don't want to make it sound like she's not over at all. She has her fans and can help a women's division be respectable. I just do not feel she has the overness a centerpiece in a top wrestling promotion should have. Break down her overness a little. When I analyze how over someone is, I pay attention to the reactions she is getting, think about why she is getting those reactions, look at how consistently she is getting them, pay attention to what other fans are saying about her, look at polls and contests I come across, and things like that. As far as A-tier fans go, there are some fans that look at Gail Kim highly, but not too many. I think most of her support is C-tier. And that is not enough.
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