TNA News: Company Willing To Sell If The Right Offer Comes Along, Panda Energy No Longer Funding Them

TNA Wrestling has gone through its share of high and low times. At the height of their television viewership, they were drawing near a 1.5 cable rating on Spike TV. This was not bad, but for a company that had been around for nearly a decade, it was not terrific. Eventually, Spike TV got fed up with low ratings, which were even under a 1.0, and they cut them.

Fast forward to Destination America, owned by Discovery Communications. DA took TNA in, and it seemed like a good home for them until the network realized TNA was not doing as much for them as they had hoped. TNA was their top program, but it was not doing enough to keep. That led to TNA losing its second American television contract in two years. That allowed them to end up on POP TV, where they began to broadcast in January of this year.

They have had up and down ratings since arriving on the network, and they have been met with many issues due to it. According to PWInsider, TNA is now looking for investors to help out financially. The idea is that TNA claims to be looking due to the fact that they want to expand the company and cannot do so at this time. With investors, they very well could do so.

It is said that Panda Energy is no longer supporting TNA financially, as they pulled out from this when Jeff Jarrett sold his minority stake in the company. That means everything we see being paid for today all comes out of TNA’s Nashville office. This is truly the first time TNA Wrestling has gone out publicly looking for investors. That could be due to the company no longer having Panda Energy to help them out.

They have played with Monopoly money for some time now, and it seems that this has gotten to Panda and they no longer wish to continue saving them. Therefore, investors make a lot of sense at this point. It has also raised the question: Is TNA Wrestling up for sale?

Sources have been trying to lean away from this and have tried to make sure they claim to only be seeking investors as of this point. Of course, that doesn’t mean TNA President Dixie Carter would not be willing to sell some of the company if not all of it. Cageside Seats reported that if the right offer came along, TNA would probably consider selling in a big way.

TNA Executive John Gaburick has claimed over and over again that TNA is looking for a “strategic partner” and not a new owner. Dixie has also turned down offers from people in the past who wanted to buy the company. That does not mean that she would at this point, as she had the room to back away before. Now, that is not the case. Some say that it would be smart for WWE to buy the company, but that is unlikely as of now.

WWE’s only true interest would be TNA’s video library, as they would be able to add it to the WWE Network as well as DVD/Blu-ray material for many TNA stars who have come in.

WWE would not want to take on the major debt TNA would have, nor would they want to take on all of the contracts. They would be more than happy having the name rights and everything that came with the brand, but TNA would have to sell without any debts like WCW did. Vince McMahon had the ability to take on WCW for a few million at a rate that many wrestlers could have afforded. TNA would not sell for so low as Dixie would be too proud to sell for a low figure like WCW did.

That said, Vince would have to desperately want the company, and it is unlikely he would take them on. That is unless he saw a partner coming after them that could match his media connections as well as financial ability. As of now, no one like that has come along. TNA Wrestling very well could end up in different hands before the year is up, or Dixie could lose a lot of talent due to not being able to pay people, which seems to be where things are leaning.

[Image via TNA Wrestling]