When Jeff Jarrett came back into power at TNA Impact Wrestling , many wondered how that would work with Global Force Wrestling, but now, they shall wonder no more. A huge announcement was made on this evening’s episode of Impact which revealed that Global Force Wrestling no longer exists. Jeff Jarrett’s second wrestling promotion has merged with Impact Wrestling to form one professional wrestling organization.
It may be needless to say, but most of the wrestling fans around the world saw this coming as soon as Jarrett returned to Impact Wrestling. The merger ended up taking a good bit longer than expected, but it really isn’t a shocking revelation.
Impact Wrestling and Global Force Wrestling Merge. Shocking!
— Brian The Guppie (@briantheguppie) April 21, 2017
During tonight’s live episode of Impact , Karen Jarrett addressed the status of Global Force Wrestling and it wasn’t great news at first. As recapped by WrestleZone , she revealed that the two companies have indeed merged and that GFW is now a defunct wrestling promotion.
There was not a lot of information revealed tonight, as Karen simply stated that the two companies were going to merge. Details will likely be revealed in full over the coming weeks, but this really is the only logical move that could have been made.
GFW formed in 2014 and Jeff Jarrett has never been able to lock down a television deal for the promotion, which hurt it greatly. A lot of big names ended up signing with the company, but it could never gain any kind of momentum.
GFW mergers with @IMPACTWRESTLING now that’s making Wrestling great!! @JeffJarretTNA @karenjarrett #impactgreat #poptv pic.twitter.com/DDDmPWG4J4
— jeff hooligan (@italianpridejv) April 21, 2017
One of the biggest questions right now is figuring out what happens with the wrestlers who are currently champions in GFW. There are four championships in GFW, but the Tag Team Titles are vacant after the Bollywood Boyz signed with WWE.
- GFW Global Champion – Nick “Magnus” Aldis
- GFW NEX*GEN Champion – Cody Rhodes
- GFW Women’s Champion – Christina Von Eerie
- GFW Tag Team Champions – Vacant
The merger of GFW and Impact Wrestling was not the only big announcement on Thursday night, as Sonjay Dutt officially made his return to the company as well. The crowd popped huge for Dutt’s comeback and the announcement that he was joining the X-Division.
Sonjay Dutt was a member of the GFW roster before this announcement was made.
Scoop #13: Out comes Sonjay Dutt pic.twitter.com/HDtedkQxba
— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) April 20, 2017
Earlier this month, Wrestling Inc. reported that Dutt turned down a job offer from WWE to accept a full-time position with Impact Wrestling. Not only will Dutt appear on-screen as an in-ring competitor, but he will also be a producer and one of Jeff Jarrett’s main executives.
Dutt had recently appeared at the WWE Performance Center as a “Guest Coach” and also worked as a producer for the company, but he didn’t want to move to Florida, and that led to him rejecting the job offer. He also turned down a wrestling contract from Ring of Honor.
The management of Impact Wrestling won’t really change much with this merger, as Jeff Jarrett will continue to run the creative side with Dutch Mantell and Bruce Prichard. From here, the interesting thing will be to see which titles are kept and which wrestlers make it into TNA.
It is really hard to say that this merger of the two companies was a surprise, but no one can say they didn’t see it coming. Global Force Wrestling was a good idea, but in almost three years, it never really got off the ground. Impact Wrestling became Jeff Jarrett’s baby once he returned to power with the takeover of Anthem. Now, the promotion has a larger roster to work with, but there will likely be a number of cuts and releases to work within the company’s budget.
[Featured Image by TNA Impact Wrestling]