TNA News: Spike TV Extends Impact Wrestling Through 2014, Talk For After Ongoing
TNA has been talking with Spike TV about extending a TV deal for a few more years for their TV Show Impact Wrestling. Originally, Spike TV planned to drop the once promising promotion, and many did not see that as a bad idea due to the ratings loss over the past year. TNA has yet to really gain any major ratings boost since their launch on Spike TV nearly a decade ago.
It made total sense from a television perspective to drop them, especially with major names rumored to leave and the fact many have already done so.
TNA announced they were moving to Wednesday nights recently, which stars tonight by the way. Quick move guys.
The fact that TNA did this meant to many that Spike TV had offered them some sort of deal, and it appears that they have. TNA President Dixie Carter made the following announcement today regarding the Spike deal:
“IMPACT WRESTLING will remain a vital part of Spike TV’s programming on Wednesday nights, 9/8c, through the end of the year. Negotiations remain ongoing beyond this time frame.”
This is massive news for TNA and Impact Wrestling as a move to the end of the year will allow them to get into their biggest point of the year and make a case for why they should stay on the network. The issue currently is that TNA has lost so many people and will probably lose many others within the year as TNA has massively cut down on spending. The Carter Family realized that they were losing money every year with TNA and overspending was one of the main reasons. Naturally TNA had to cut back, but in doing so they have lost several major names.
Recently, Bully Ray left the company. While there are no hard feelings between Ray and management, the offer they gave him was said to be “insulting” due to the work he does both on screen and backstage. He has even trained people to be with TNA, so obviously it was an issue when they offered something so insulting. The same has been said by AJ Styles as well as Kaz and Chris Daniels. Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy see the writing on the wall and have contemplated jumping ship as well. Sting and Hulk Hogan are now with WWE, and TNA has yet to really do any of note.
These are just the facts and TNA has yet to do anything about it. So at the end of the day, Spike TV, if they sign TNA, won’t get a product worth keeping if it is run the exact same way it has been. It’s sad to say, as TNA used to be a top notch product. Sadly, that left in 2010 and has yet to come back fully. Ratings have never really increased in the near decade they have been with the network either. Spike TV could risk bringing in another show to see what they have. From a network perspective, it would be ideal for them to test another product more than keep one that has done nothing of note in years. We will see what it decided though come January 2015.
[IMG Credit: Google]
