It is obvious by now that TNA Wrestling is not in a good place. Financially, the company has been suffering for quite some time. It is not as if wrestling companies have never experienced problems. In fact, Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and Owner, went bankrupt before becoming a millionaire. He has been a billionaire on more than one occasion as well. It took time to become a powerhouse, and today it is far tougher to reach the mountain top than ever before.
TNA went downhill fast upon the hiring of sketchy individuals who led WCW down the wrong path. Strangely enough, the person who actually helped the most in the 2009 year before he was let go in 2010 was Vince Russo. Russo ended up doing consulting work for TNA behind the backs of partners such as Spike TV, this leading to Spike executives to get angry.
TNA ended up changing their only show from TNA iMPACT to Impact Wrestling. This branding use was one of many mistakes as it took their company name out and made them brand all over again in the middle of their 12 year run. That would be like an egg company suddenly changing into a milk company. Yeah, we do understand animal work is involved here. Sadly, it’s two different animals and the egg company is known for it and chickens. So why rebrand for milk and only it when you were doing okay with the branding of eggs?
That essentially is what TNA did. It’s not a wonder that ratings never hit a 2.0 on Spike TV for TNA. TNA tried to go head to head against WWE RAW on Monday, during the Spring period, Possibly the stupidest idea yet. WWE is well known, far more than TNA. Thus, TNA was not in a position to compete. Not even close. WWE insured this by having good shows. Plus, this was the WrestleMania build up period when TNA planned this, the time WWE always does well. In the same year, TNA went back to Thursdays. Not only did they take away being live but also kept going on the road and literally wasting money.
TNA to most was never a profitable company in the Dixie Carter era. Jeff Jarrett saw his company crumble before his eyes, and it was sad to see.
TNA now is rumored to not be renewed by Spike for their show Impact Wrestling. There are also no major places that would want TNA and pay them well for their show. That means that even with months to go before being shut off, October. TNA still cannot be confident.
This has led to many wondering if WWE will buy TNA or part of it.
There is speculation that WWE could do so. WWE would be interested mainly in TNA’s library. They have valued all of the tapes to be around $500,000. everything else might lead them to go up to $1 million. If WWE wanted to buy TNA as a whole, they would compare it to the WCW buy in 2001, of which sold for around $2 million. Many wrestlers heard of it and felt that they could afford it and were sad they couldn’t get to it before Vince McMahon could.
AOL bought out Time Warner and did not realize WCW had a lot of weight to be sold for. So the morons at AOL sold it for a cheap sum, making it a steal for McMahon. The difference between WCW and TNA is that WCW was at the top of the mountain, once beating WWE in ratings. They also were profitable a lot before the end of their run. While they lost a bit of money in the end, they were no where close to the debts TNA has garnered over the years.
That would mean that TNA could not sell for higher than WCW sold for. Today the price for TNA could even up to a 2001 number that could relate to WCW’s would be around $3 to 4 million max. They would most likely sell for less because they have profited hardly a dime. Panda Energy would want millions more. This is why they’d end up selling to someone outside of WWE, however TNA’s video library up to that point easily could be sold to WWE who would pay the fair sum for it.
Panda Energy, knowing they could continue to lose money, might end up selling for a low price just to get rid of the debts. It is up in the air. I am sure that WWE would not take on the debt, and would have it part of the deal that any debts up to the point of sale are not WWE’s responsibility. That would mean WWE would absorb all contracts made through TNA. Most of the contracts are low enough for WWE to take on, and the high one’s would be former WWE names. Some like Kurt Angle would not be included as his contract ends in September. So he could negotiate another deal with WWE unlike most.
Obviously this is if and a big IF TNA wants to sell anything at all, especially to WWE. WWE simply does not want to pay top dollar for a glorified Indy company in their eyes. WWE also does not need TNA or it’s library, so that would be something WWE could negotiate with. They’d want it, but certainly not need it. TNA would be at the mercy of WWE at that point, and really, that is how WWE likes it.
[IMG Credits: Google, KayfabeNews]