TNA Wrestling Expected To Announce New TV Deal In 24 Hours
TNA Wrestling is within 24 hours of announcing a new TV deal, according to a new report from the Wrestling Observer.
The rumors of TNA going out of business appear to be greatly exaggerated — at least for now — thanks to whichever channel picks them up following their final original Spike TV episode on Wednesday.
While the Inquisitr previously reported that the announcement could come sometime after Wednesday, this latest development makes sense. With all the negative press that TNA owner Dixie Carter has received for mismanaging the company over the last few months, this is a sign to talent that it’s now okay to start signing long-term deals.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether some of the talents that left — AJ Styles, for instance — will consider coming back on board now that Carter has the company’s proverbial feet back underneath it.
While the deal is good for the company, it’s not quite what they originally had with Spike TV.
As our own Joe Burgett reports, TNA will be the flagship show on the new network, which is a departure from what they were on Spike TV. They will also be key in helping the network grow and TNA will also end up being promoted far more.
One of the biggest issues TNA had with Spike was that the channel didn’t promote the company as much as Carter would have liked. In fact, most promotion happened during Impact Wrestling broadcasts.
So who will end up with the new series?
Anything before Wednesday is purely speculation, but some have said that it will be Velocity or Destination America, both of which are under the Discovery umbrella.
Neither network is particularly well-known nor are they in that many American households, so again, TNA is somewhat limited in what they can do from a talent acquisition standpoint.
While it’s somewhat easy to paint this as a step back for Dixie Carter and company, it’s head and shoulders better than where they were a month or two ago when industry pundits had all but written them off.
Still, with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling busy inking deals with stabler promotions, TNA does appear to be a third tier player now, and Jarrett, TNA’s former head, is now in a more enviable position.
He’s picking up steam and partnering with long-time companies like New Japan while TNA is continuing with a much smaller piece of the pie than they had before.
Do you think any TV deal that TNA announces is good, or if one of the Velocity/Destination America rumors turns out to be true, is it just delaying the company’s eventual collapse?
