It should come as no shock that TNA Wrestling is by no means out of hot water yet. While rumors have come out that TNA has either signed or will soon be signing a new TV deal , news has not reached TNA talent. TNA has not spoken to wrestlers about much of the ongoing business in TNA. This has led to many questioning the status of the company. In fact, many do not know if TNA will be around next year or not.
TNA has repeatedly told talent, and even their office staff, that “everything will be fine.” The problem with this is that no one knows if it’s true or not, and talent more than anyone has a right to worry. Their futures are on the line. Many of them have contracts that expire next year, and others have contracts expiring in a few years. It is said that Panda Energy will honor any contract regardless of TNA being around or not, but that is unknown.
Kurt Angle was said to have signed a deal with TNA to stay, but that is likely not the case. Angle would only sign a contract when he could be sure a TV contract was in place. It is said that TNA will not sign anyone, even Angle, without a TV contract signed. So this could be why no official announcement has taken place yet for Angle’s re-signing… because he has not yet signed anything.
Without an American TV deal, TNA will not be able to last on its own. Panda Energy is reportedly done with trying to bail out TNA, which is why they were put on a strict budget this year.
Without the added TV deal money, they cannot survive on their own. Even with it, TNA has a financial issue. While Panda Energy could always continue to bail TNA out of any financial crisis, it is doubtful they would do so this time around.
That said, talent has every right to worry. To add more fuel to the fire, TNA is done with their TV tapings for the year. Yes, everything we see now from TNA was taped a while back. There is another rumored to take place in New York in January, but whether that happens now is up in the air. TNA would need a TV deal to tape for obviously.
TNA has not scheduled any live events for the rest of the year, which kills lower TNA stars as they get paid per appearance. Whether it be TV or live event, many are said to be “freaking out” right now about this. The lack of communication with talent is said to be very worrisome.
Bully Ray commented on this on Twitter, saying, “When Generals do not properly communicate with their soldiers, consider the war lost and the soldiers dead.”
When a former talent calls you out over issues, clearly things are coming from the inside and there are major issues that need to be addressed immediately. Not in the future, but as soon as humanly possible.
TNA Wrestling has been around for over 10 years. It would be sad for them to end. However, ratings are as low as their first run on Spike TV. The lack of big name talent, with the potential of the current flock leaving, puts TNA is in hot water. Knowing this, it is uncertain if they can survive. We will have to see what becomes of them, but I have a feeling we won’t know anything officially until the first of 2015.
[IMG Credits: TNANews.com, madaboutwrestling.com]