TNA has been in a big point of craziness the last number of months. Spike TV decided to not renew their TV contract and they have lost several of their big names. It is said at least two to three other major names will be leaving soon as well. That being said, the company is not in a good way and was in need of some sort of good news, regardless of how big or small.
TNA seems to be confident that they have a TV deal in place. TNA President Dixie Carter met with TNA talent during the last set of TV tapings in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She reportedly told the talent that TNA was set for a new home come January. Spike TV decided to be nice to TNA and allow them to stay on the network until the first of the year, so no matter if a good deal was set in place or not for Television, TNA was going to be out come 2015.
There was no specifics regarding where TNA would be going, but the two big names floating around still are VELOCITY and WGN America. WGN might be the most likely now, as it was reported that Dixie Carter met with The Tribune Media Company in Chicago earlier this month. Tribune Media owns WGN, so if Dixie met with them as reported then the network executives had at least some interest in bringing TNA to WGN.
This seems odd to many as it was said that WGN was moving away from wrestling after their deal with WWE ended. Superstars managed to get relatively good ratings for the network. If they moved away from WWE, getting TNA wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Of course, similar things happened with Spike TV. Spike claims they walked away from WWE, even as WWE RAW on Spike getting the highest ratings of any show on the network at the time. Most believe WWE walked away after NBC Universal offed them a better contract.
Spike was transitioning into a male-focused channel, and WWE was perfect for them at the time. Once they lost them, however, they had to fill in that gap. TNA was the perfect solution to their issue at the time. Now they are obviously looking at other options. WGN taking on TNA still doesn’t make a lot of sense, but if it’s a similar Spike problem for them, then it would.
VELOCITY, owned by Discovery, has been confirmed to have offered TNA a TV contract. There is no such confirmation with WGN, so we will have to see what becomes of this. It is said that TNA may be making an announcement on where they are heading in the coming week. However, many expect it to be delayed until around TNA’s biggest PPV of the year, Bound for Glory.
At least TNA fans can rest easy knowing the company does have yet another chance with another network. Many hope TNA does not ruin anything with the opportunity they have been given. If one network can drop them, another easily can too. This also does not save TNA from other issues regarding contracts or other business such as marketing. So the company still has work to do.
[IMG Credits: TalkTNAPodcast.com, tnanews.com]
