There have been rumblings for months about TNA Wrestling and their status with Destination America. When Ring of Honor arrived on Destination America to the world’s surprise, many felt that this was the death-nail in the DA/TNA relationship. We heard a week or two before this that TNA was potentially going to lose their TV deal with DA by September. Since there has been no official announcement, this could not be confirmed, although letters to advertisers would say different.
Many feel that Destination America brought on ROH because they wanted a wrestling company on the network to grow with. On top of this, ROH has a much lower deal than TNA. Plus, advertisers seemed to hate TNA, but there hasn’t been an issue with ROH, it seems. The talk of TNA losing their deal declined until just recently, when word got out of more concern within the company.
According to Wrestlezone , numerous TNA Superstars and Knockouts are yet again concerned for the future of the company. Many feel this is the last set of TV tapings TNA will have with Destination America. TNA is set to begin filming yet again from July 22–29 in Orlando, Florida. An official email sent to talent says that two weeks worth of television will be filmed on many of the July dates.
This is on top of other upcoming content filmed, set to lead into Slammiversary, would lead TNA Wrestling into September with first run material. Interestingly, this is the same month as we noted above that Destination America is rumored to be cutting TNA from their network. DA has an “out-clause” in their deal with TNA. This means that if they feel the show isn’t working out for them in any way, they can eliminate the program from their network. This is a deal that many TV shows are under, so it is nothing new in television.
When ROH was added to the Destination America line-up, people online speculated what this meant. They weren’t the only ones, either. Many within TNA were and still are thinking the same thing.
The unusual amount of filming at the end of July is not the only worry talent has. TNA is yet again having problems with payment.
TNA talent was once again not paid when they were told they would be. Last Friday, an internal email was sent out saying that talent would get their late payments sent by FedEx in an overnight shipping. This did not end up happening.
The huge amount of tapings set to occur at the end of July have many worried that they won’t get paid for at least another month following the tapings. This is said to be unacceptable for talent, considering TNA has far fewer expenses due to the fact that they are no longer touring. The extra week of dates made talent cancel scheduled independent dates where they would have been paid in advance, or the night of, for.
When it comes to communication between talent and management, the management seems to be optimistic. They claim that the upcoming set of TV tapings are for domestic and international television. This is most likely TNA’s way of making talent believe nothing is wrong so that they do not just leave. Clearly, TNA is not doing well, and even the most hardcore TNA fan knows this.
On top of all of this, if TNA does manage to get cut from Destination America, that would be two TV networks that cut them within a year. This is obviously a huge mark on the brand that cannot be erased. Additionally, if Destination America cut them, there might not be a way for TNA to get a TV deal with any major network of note. Even if they do manage to find something, could they get the deal even DA offered them? That deal was a fraction of what Spike TV was paying up. So, if TNA does not have at least the kind of deal DA gave them, they cannot afford to run.
Many feel that TNA has a big international fanbase that easily could keep them going, which is both accurate and inaccurate. TNA has a big U.K. following, as well as other countries. However, TNA’s international deals aren’t enough for them to keep the doors open. While many do not want to see TNA go under, the fact is that if TNA loses their TV deal with Destination America, there is no way they’ll land another that would pay enough. If they cannot land one, they will not be able to keep the doors open. Panda Energy, with all of their money, will not want to take on that kind of loss on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis — which means TNA would be done.
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