IMPACT Wrestling Official Thread

[supersonic]

Observer:

Ethan Carter III’s contract expires in January

Aaron Haddad (formerly Damian Sandow) is expected to debut at this week’s tapings

[Brada]

Adios Dixie.

Courtesy of the Great Mike Johnson.

http://pwinsider.com/article/103990/bil ... s.html?p=1

[ShaunSperling]

I'd love to see EC3 in WWE, and see his hard work actually mean something.

TNA has done well with him to be fair, which as rare as anything for that group. But what is he supposed to do, spend his life in the minor leagues, or however long TNA has left? I hope he gets an offer and takes advantage of the opportunity.

[DXvsNWO1994]

So the TNA King of the Mountain Title has been retired, and is being replaced with.....the TNA Grand Championship:



http://www.sescoops.com/tna-grand-championship/

TNA taped another round of Impact Wrestling shows on Friday night form Orlando and the King of the Mountain championship is no more. The shake-up comes after the Billy Corgan has been promoted to the new President of Impact Wrestling.

TNA World Champion Bobby Lashley officially unified the KOTM title with the World Heavyweight Championship, effectively retiring the King of the Mountain title.

A new “Grand Championship” belt was unveiled – and the belt has its own set of rules unlike anything we’ve ever seen in pro wrestling. Similar to UFC and mixed martial arts, matches for the Grand Championship will go 3 rounds, with a team of judges choosing a winner based on points, if the match goes the distance.

The events that unfolded are expected to air next week on Impact.

[DBSommer]

A new “Grand Championship” belt was unveiled – and the belt has its own set of rules unlike anything we’ve ever seen in pro wrestling. Similar to UFC and mixed martial arts, matches for the Grand Championship will go 3 rounds, with a team of judges choosing a winner based on points, if the match goes the distance.
.

[/quote]

Sounds like the old AWF from around '95. All the matches had rounds of like 4 minutes each, and if it lasted 3 rounds the judges decided who won.

[TYFDK]

I like the idea of it. Can't wait to see it play out.

Bound for Glory is looking pretty good.

[yomadcool]

Who was the face of TNA after AJ Style's departure. I think it was either Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, Jeff Hardy, or Kurt Angle and they served as the face until EC3 won the world title in June 2015

[DXvsNWO1994]

In just a quick update, Dave Meltzer mentioned a few days ago (maybe a week or two, I can't remember specifically when) that Dixie Carter is pretty much done in terms of her involvement with TNA. Billy Corgan is now the lead guy.

Also, not sure if anyone knew about this, but "DELETE or DECAY" (the sequel to "The Final Deletion") is happening this Thursday on Impact Wrestling:

[Big Red Machine]

Yeah. Put it on free TV. This company has one thing they could possibly monetize and a PPV coming up in a month, but of course they're going to give this away on free TV.

[project161]

Who was the face of TNA after AJ Style's departure. I think it was either Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, Jeff Hardy, or Kurt Angle and they served as the face until EC3 won the world title in June 2015

They tried with a few people to set them up to be the new face of TNA, but did not go all the way with a lot of them (Bobby Roode, James Storm, Austin Aries, Eric Young particularly.) I would agree that Jeff Hardy has pretty much been slated in that position roughly since he beat Austin Aries at Bound For Glory in a very dumb decision.

[famicommander]

Yeah. Put it on free TV. This company has one thing they could possibly monetize and a PPV coming up in a month, but of course they're going to give this away on free TV.

Ain't nobody gonna buy a TNA PPV in 2016.

Probably less than 4,000 people would see it if they did in on PPV.

[Big Red Machine]

Yeah. Put it on free TV. This company has one thing they could possibly monetize and a PPV coming up in a month, but of course they're going to give this away on free TV.

Ain't nobody gonna buy a TNA PPV in 2016.

Probably less than 4,000 people would see it if they did in on PPV.

Well then they should at least do something where they sell this separately on the website and charge, like, $10 for it. There has not to be some way to make some money off of it, right?

[famicommander]

They have to earn back the trust of wrestling fans before people are going to spend any amount of money on their product. Whether that be PPVs, tickets (if they actually ran a venue that would let them charge for them, anyway), DVDs, merch, etc.

TNA struggled selling merch and PPVs when they were getting 1.5-2 million viewers weekly on Spike TV. They've been averaging 346,000 per week on Pop TV since they went back to Thursdays.

I just don't think there's a lot TNA can do to dig out of this hole right now. There's no quick way out of this mess. A short term payoff from BFG probably won't make much of a difference in the long run.

But you do have a point. Obviously they have to start monetizing the product somehow, and sooner rather than later would be better.

It's a tough situation because their main asset is their visibility on national and international television, but that's the toughest thing to monetize especially in a world where even WWE struggles with low ad rates. And yet without the exposure it's going to be tough to get a significant amount of people excited enough about the product to buy a ticket/PPV/etc.

[DXvsNWO1994]

From the New York Post:

http://nypost.com/2016/09/16/billy-corg ... wrestling/

Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan wants to be the new front man for a pro wrestling group.

Corgan is in talks to become the majority owner of cash-strapped Impact Ventures, the producer of pay-per-view TNA and Impact Wrestling, which also appears weekly on the Pop cable and satellite network.

His transition from rock star to wrestling impresario may not be as crazy as everybody thinks.

“There’s a rebel spirit in wrestling that has gone out of rock ‘n’ roll,” he told The Post.

Corgan, whose band has sold more than 30 million albums, joined Impact as a senior producer in May 2015. He upped his commitment last August by investing in the company and becoming its president.

On Oct. 2, the night of Impact’s banner pay-per-view event, “Bound for Glory,” he hopes to take that commitment to the max.

“I would love nothing better than to stand up in front of everyone and give a clear picture of where this company is and where it’s going,” he said.

While Corgan wants to make the presentation as Impact’s new majority owner, he admits there’s still “a lot of people at the table.”

WWE and Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of the Ring of Honor wrestling organization, are rumored to have made recent bids.

A complicated ownership structure also poses challenges in getting every stakeholder on the same page. In addition to majority owner and Chairwoman Dixie Carter, Corgan, Aroluxe Marketing and Canada’s Fight Network all have equity stakes.

Meanwhile, the Nashville, Tenn.-based company is so financially strapped that investor and working-capital provider Aroluxe has reportedly taken over its “TNA” (Total Nonstop Action) trademark.

Corgan says the relevant parties have agreed on a sale price. Although he can’t reveal the figure, an estimate based on publicly traded WWE’s market value of two times revenue would put it at around $40 million.

“You ultimately have to rely on your own calculus about what something is worth,” he said.

Ultimate Fighting Championship’s $4 billion sale to entertainment and sports talent agency WME-IMG factored into his math.

“After signing up MLB, the NBA and soccer, who do you call?” he said.

Corgan believes wrestling is under-appreciated in the digital era, particularly in light of its being a driver of traditional TV from the beginning.

“Our providing story lines in people’s lives is overlooked,” he said. “So is the multicultural aspect of wrestling as a perfect sell to advertisers.”

Corgan plans to use his celebrity to change that.

“I can get anyone I want to listen to my vision,” he said.

[JTCole]

"Corgan believes wrestling is under-appreciated in the digital era, particularly in light of its being a driver of traditional TV from the beginning."

Um, WWE Network?

[famicommander]

“After signing up MLB, the NBA and soccer, who do you call?” he said.

Um, the NFL, NHL, CFL, AFL, NLL, MLL, WNBA, UFC, boxing, tennis, golf, auto racing? All of those sports are more visible on TV than TNA.

Or, if you are looking for wrestling, at this point TNA is drawing fewer weekly viewers than ROH and only marginally more than NJPW on AXS or Lucha Underground.

The fact that TNA was booted off two networks in about a year's time should tell you their product isn't exactly in demand.

[DXvsNWO1994]

A lot of online speculation has fired back up in the last day or two. Apparently the post-Bound For Glory TV Tapings, and potentially Bound For Glory itself, are in danger if a sale of the company isn't finalized by the end of this week, as they need money to keep going. Billy Corgan is still a strong contender (there was a recent interview where he mentioned that if he bought the company, he would change it's name, and would stop hiring "WWE castoffs"), but supposedly WWE has reemerged as a potential buyer which, if that were to happen, would certainly mean the end of TNA (WWE would only see valve in TNA for their video library and potential wrestling talents).

I mean, the video library would be more valve to WWE now, considering current talents like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Austin Aries, and so on, along with others like Christian, Sting, The Dudley Boyz, and so on, all had significant tenures in TNA.

[JTCole]

Corgan said on Busted Open today that whether it's alive or dead, TNA is done completely after Sunday.

[famicommander]

Corgan said on Busted Open today that whether it's alive or dead, TNA is done completely after Sunday.

So I take that to mean he's either buying it and changing the name or it'll be sold off and gutted by WWE or someone else.

[JTCole]

Corgan said on Busted Open today that whether it's alive or dead, TNA is done completely after Sunday.

So I take that to mean he's either buying it and changing the name or it'll be sold off and gutted by WWE or someone else.

Yes