TNA/Impact Thread (Spoilers)

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- According to ShowBuzzDaily.com, last night’s TNA Sacrifice edition of Impact Wrestling averaged 332,000 viewers which is up from last week’s 312,000 viewership average. The previous week’s Impact Wrestling averaged 286,000 viewers.

This week’s show ranked #91 on cable TV for the night, and last week’s show ranked #107 on the Cable Top 150.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- Since the report on Tuesday morning, PWTorch has learned that Sinclair has renewed interest in investing in TNA. The company was not impressed by the initial offer earlier this year. However, a second set of talks has made Sinclair interested again after TNA submitted a better offer. The recent development makes them a key player in the mix along with SSI.

http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/04/26/ ... ny-afloat/

[Bandit]

If you are one of the very few people still wondering why TNA is so damaged as a brand, watch PWR host Dameon Nelson and David Herro talk about TNA’s problems on the Pro Wrestling Report. Herro is the founder of Great Lakes Championship Wrestling and he has a ton of contacts in the wrestling business.
In regards to TNA’s issues with paying talent and perception by fans, Hero said, “When they do pay their talent, they’re paying them nothing. Their biggest stars [are] Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy and EC3.” He added, “Their TNA Wold Heavyweight Impact Wrestling Champion is a guy that was doing 2-minute jobs on Monday Night Raw 2 and a half years ago.” Hero noted that Galloway is a stud and a great wrestler. He added, “You’re telling the wrestling world that was watching 3MB doing jobs to Hornswoggle, [that Galloway] is now the champion of your wrestling company.”
Hero pointed out that it’s not a dig on Drew and it’s the fault of the way he was booked. He also pointed out that EC3 was fired from NXT and is now one of TNA’s biggest stars.
Another interesting tidbit from the show came at the 11:35 mark. Apparently, Bobby Roode and Eric Young left the company because of issues with pay. Herro said, “Bobby Roode and Eric Young left because they were owed combined six-figures. How do you not pay those two guys? You let Bobby Roode go… a guy could have gone to WWE but he wanted to be loyal to the company. Thank God he left. He’ll be a big star in NXT. He’ll make the main roster in a year from now. Same with Eric Young.”
How can you fix TNA? Herro says, “you need to bury TNA.” He says that they need to write it all off and be done with it. He added, “I wish Ring Of Honor would buy TNA. They already have the infrastructure in place. They already have the TV deal alone. They’re already in more markets than Pop TV. TNA does not get paid by Pop TV. They bartered for time.”
Herro noted that TNA was running house shows in the cheapest buildings and the worst towns. Herro said that there was a time when he helped TNA for house shows in Racine, Wisconsin and Chicago, IL and they sent him the posters with Grand Rapids, Michigan printed on them. The problem with that is that Grand Rapids is a 6 and a half-hour drive from Milwaukee.
TNA has not run a domestic house show since October 2015 and there are none scheduled, according to their website. Herro also noted that none of these problems are the fault of the talent because they are so handcuffed on so many things.
Check out the show below. If you are in Milwaukee, then you can also listen to the show on 540 ESPN. It’s worth checking out.

[Bandit]

mariakanellisBroken. @impactwrestling @poptv #spongebaths #cast #ugh #doubleugh #wrestling #firstladyfashion #firstlady

I volunteer to give her the sponge baths.

[Big Boss Man]

Apparently Rebel vs Shelly Martinez from a recent Knockouts Knockdown PPV has usurped Sharmell vs Jenna as the worst match in TNA history.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

And here's the full review of it on the next B&V.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- There is apparently more bad news for TNA Wrestling. Pop TV has pulled the Saturday replay for Impact Wrestling off their schedule. The Saturday replays were drawing around 50,000 viewers each week. This past Tuesday’s show drew just 280,000 viewers, which has to be considered a major disappointment considering that the main event was the six sides of steel match between EC3 and Rockstar Spud and the follow-up to the Matt Hardy-Jeff Hardy storyline. It must be disappointing for Pop TV President Brad Schwartz since he had talked about TNA’s viewership numbers from when they were on Spike TV. Schwartz talked about wanting to get the show back up to 1.3 million viewers and Dixie Carter gave the impression that they could even surpass those numbers.

The replay was moved to Saturday’s just last month and the company line was that the move was done so they could grow a new audience on Saturday and help build the premiere episode.



As of now, Pop TV has paid programming (infomercials) scheduled from 9am to 11am on Saturday. A show called “Cize Dance Workout” will air at 11am and back to back episodes of “60 Minutes” reruns will occupy the Impact Wrestling replay timeslot.

[Ocelot]

I bet Cize Dance Workout is more smartly booked and more compelling than TNA.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Apparently it's been pretty good of late.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

-- TNA will be returning to Orlando in one month for Slammiversary and TV tapings with an upset and frustrated TV production crew if they do not catch up on payments.

PWTorch has learned from multiple sources that TNA is behind paying some production workers going back to January and March TV tapings.

After struggling to make payments on-time throughout 2015, TNA handed over the system to the Harris Twins through their production company Aroluxe, payable by TNA. Since then, payments have continued to be late. The situation has especially been exacerbated by TNA leaving their long-time office in Nashville and relocating to the merchandise warehouse.

Also, production workers have been met with resistance when inquiring about payments. PWTorch has also learned that some production workers have been told they will or might be replaced at the next tapings in June, likely in favor of independent production workers who do not have a history of late payments.

All of this comes while TNA is seeking an outside investor to pump money into the company. (Full Report from April) In the absence of a monthly live PPV, TNA’s main revenue streams right now are an Impact ad-share with Pop TV, international TV deals, and the “One Night Only” PPVs distributed in the U.S. and internationally.

TNA is also trying to reduce costs, such as moving out their Nashville office, and moving their TV post-production to the local Skyway Studios. The cost-cutting to make the company more attractive to investors is continuing to affect production workers who are vital to creating the content.

The next month will be significant for the company, both in terms of whether they get investment funds and whether they make right on paying production workers with the next PPV and TV tapings on the horizon.

[Big Boss Man]

There's been some OK to good stuff on Impact recently. I think EC3 has really stepped up to the plate although he's much better as a cocky heel. He'd be a great pick up for NXT, ironic than he started there in it's original incarnation. The Willow stuff was kinda out there and reminded me a little of something the mid 90s WWF would do with Taker. But at least they are doing something different. Matt vs Jeff ad-nauseum isn't something fans are chomping at the bit to see though. Maria's been good as the head of the KO division. Unlike with Steph, they need a payoff when she has to get in the ring, say with Gail or whoever so there's a whole point to the authority figure getting their comeuppance. I think if TNA still had ODB, Velvet, Brooke, Taryn et al they'd be more options for storylines. But in general TNA are running with a skeleton crew. Maybe they need Billionaire Ted to buy them and give Bisch a open check book and they have like 80/90 contracted talents on the roster again ala

and I'm saying that as a big JCP/WCW fan

[Dr. Zoidberg]

TNA will probably have to move nights again with SD going live on Tuesdays.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Why is he talking like that?

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

I'm guessing Billy Corgan came up this angle? Unless Vinny Ru is back, BRO~!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

The Hardys probably came up with it themselves.

[dreamkileer]

I want some land like Jeff has.....two houses, a dirt bike track, random art work cut in to the grass.....Matt is the one writing and scripting the whole thing.

[Bandit]