The problem is that people in charge of TNA seem completely clueless.

Dixie, just days ago, went on a rampage saying ratings are wrong and they're adding viewers with +3 and +7 data (people watching with DVR by 3 and 7 days after the original airdate), which is fine and dandy....if it wasn't for the teeny tiny small detail that people watching with DVR can skip advertising and therefore are completely useless to people buying ads to air on their freaking show, which is not that much to begin with.

I don't know if this out clause is true or not, but let's analyze facts here: Destination America began their relationship with TNA on a huge fanfare giving them TONS of time on their network. Impact reruns, Unlocked, Greatest Matches, hours and hours on saturday morning and friday night....and now it's all gone BUT Impact. Unlocked is gone, Greatest Matches hasn't aired in weeks, next week they're not even on the air with new stuff 'cause "people go out for Memorial Day Weekend" which has to be the stupidest reason for suspending a show I ever heard. Their audience is pretty much the same they had in January and it's HALF of what they had on Spike Tv.

The good news is they're moved on a Wednesday, which is a far better night than Friday. Unfortunately though they were supposed to go live 2 days before Slammiversary and now they can't 'cause they can't bring people 2 days earlier in Orlando, so either they pad out all the stuff they recorded with a lot more backstage videos or recaps to do another show on the wednesday before Slammiversary or they might have another problem.

Speaking of the UK they're doing fine but, correct me if I'm wrong, it's may and there are still no details about next year's tour, which has never happened before. It's still may, but maybe it's another sign of uncertainty.

The sad thing is that the product is really good lately, but no one's watching it 'cause they can't receive Destination America or because they gave up on TNA after all these years, which is a shame but can be understood.

Something is definitely going on as far as the relationship between DA and TNA is concerned. Whether this will lead to a split remains to be seen, but all these changes just months into the relationship are definitely odd at best.

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! shes back!!!

Tickets are on sale for next year's UK tour:

http://www.ssearena.co.uk/events/det...-impact-8-tour

I found this week's Impact fairly dull apart from the great ending. I wouldn't be surprised if Corgan was behind that. And the use of Hole's 'Doll Parts' obviously.

DA have been terrible partners for TNA. The show has pulled numbers in excess of even the most optimistic predictions, been by far the most watched thing on the network, and still they've interfered creatively, cut back programming and are now moving the show around. Their creative interference has been incredibly naive; Angle is not the right man to be champ right now.

I have no idea if DA will drop TNA in September. Nothing they do would surprise me; it seems the network is run by morons. If they do, I think it's probably the end for non-WWE wrestling on nationwide US TV (excepting LU I guess, which I must admit I've still not watched). A sad day, given what a sanitised, move-limited, star-free, corporate snoozefest WWE has become. With the UK wresting scene becoming resurgent, you've got to seriously wonder if things might be going full circle, and the UK might once again become the home of proper pro wrestling.

I'm in two minds about DA dropping TNA. On one hand, TNA simply can't survive without a TV deal but on the other, DA have been awful. I agree with you seibu, they have had an awful impact on creative, companion shows dropped, Impact moved nights.

I imagine their whole reason for picking up Impact was they hoped more of that one million solid core audience would jump with them and they didn't sadly. I remember questioning whether this deal meant TNA had survived or were simply prolonging the inevitable agony at the time.

If they get dropped, and I've seen nothing to suggest this clause exists (9 months is a very odd time frame to give IMO) TNA are going to struggle to find a new TV deal. Their core audience has halved and they apparently took a 50% cut in licensing rights to get onto DA. Can they afford a further 50% cut in revenue to possibly reduce their audience further?

Looking at it in black and white, half the audience dropped, tapings every 4-6 weeks in a venue they aren't allowed to charge fans to watch, no live events, 3 pay-per-views a year and potentially getting cut from their network, it doesn't look good.

I hope, sincerely hope, they pull through.

Meltzer says TNA Destination America viewership skews poor, uneducated & old.

Says NBC Universal wants wrestling because the desire for USA network to be the highest rated cable channel overrides wrestling's poor advertising potential, and Raw helps with that. Says Spike wanted wrestling because the audience could be used to build ratings for UFC/Bellator etc. Says pretty much no other channel would want wrestling because of the issues selling ads in it, regardless of the ratings.

To be honest I'm not convinced the issue with Destination America is entirely ratings driven. Looking at how they went all in on TNA (and then scaled back) my guess would be that DA was hoping that being the 'TNA network' would help increase their reach. The hope that wrestling fans would demand/request Destination America as part of their cable package in much the same way WWE encouraged audiences to do when they moved to then TNN. The problem of course is that TNA's general audience engagement is pretty low and there's not a huge amount of passion for their product which means there's not a huge number of people that absolutely have to see it.


September would be the start of the new season so a cut off point there makes sense (DA will need to know what their schedule is going to look like and what they're selling to advertisers). If it were going to happen then TNA would know in advance though and likely relatively soon.

I don't doubt it JCR. I think the wrestling ship has sailed long ago. It's no longer relevant and hasn't been since around 2001/2002. And with NBC, they are responsible for some great shows. You can't tell me that their executives don't watch WWE and shake their heads. WWE is just atrocious. Absolutely they don't have WWE because they like wrestling, it's not even wrestling, i don't know how you would describe WWE lol.


I also think for anyone even considering wrestling on their network, they immediately look at WWE and look at what WWE is doing which is garbage, just terrible programming aimed at kids and don't want tarred with that brush and it's like the old phrase said. If WWE does well, wrestling does well. If WWE does bad, the whole wrestling industry does bad. WWE has good ratings but the content of the shows tell you the real story. The same 40 year old and 50 year old performers doing the same acts from the 1990s, the no blood policy, everyone looks the same.


No one from any company or any dirstsheet or anyone who has any bit of fame or knowledge on the wrestling business can honestly say with a straight face the wrestling business today in 2015 is doing great. It's not. It hasn't been doing great for years. That is a shame for TNA who have been around a while now and provide a place for people to work, which is great, it's also a problem for Jeff Jarrett's GFW because no one cares about WWE and if TNA get dropped why would any network give GFW a chance? Look at WWE with USA, they didn't exactly have networks knocking their door down at the last contract negotiations. The interest in wrestling is so low right now and no one is willing to take a chance to get new fans. Every company is too scared to take risks. I've often said even WWE know the tide has came and went for wrestling and it's just a matter of keep making a profit for as long as possible.


The wrestling business will survive as long as there are kids around to believe in it just like they believe in many fairy tales at a young age and for as long as old time fans keep sticking around with their fingers crossed. Fake fighting has had it's time in it's currrent form i feel. It'll never gain new adult fans. Maybe TNA missed the boat on that and should have aimed the shows at kids and had spanish guys in masks and face paint and little bulls and midgets and all the other circus stuff from WWE lol.



I think wrestling is done.The people in wrestling now that run the wrestling companies have no clue what people want in 2015.

Yeah NBC shake their heads and then give WWE more money for their television shows then they ever had in the past.

And seibu that is the thing about this whole deal. Their other shows don't draw as much as TNA does but yet they will put those shows first. It's so silly.


You should give Lucha Underground a try. The only company doing things differently and then you look at who's funding it, who the camera crew are, who the producers are, who the director is, they are all from TV show backgrounds. The only wrestling people are the creative staff and the wrestlers. A 1 hour format which is ideal. If i was you i'd give it a shot, even on Youtube and see what you think.


Nothing will happen in TNA or WWE. TNA don't have the money to do anything different and WWE with the same characters from 1998 doing the same tired act, they not only have no idea how to present wrestling in 2015 but even if they did they would be too scared to try it because they rely on their young fans and they are scared of change. Change might cause them to not make as much money so it's back to the bad guys running the show, the white good guy is the big hero of the day and the bad guy is foreign and can't speak english properly and it's so hokey and pantomime and i love pantomime! I love the theatre! But WWE isn't even good theatre.


Indy feds over here have some good wrestlers. Vince Russo last week was saying how he was telling the wrestlers in Germany and England not to bother going to America for a tryout because there's no money to be made in TNA and WWE doesn't guarantee you success. At least in Germany and the UK there are indy shows every weekend and so most of the wrestlers over here have a steady job as a wrestler, a lot of the promotions here work together and no wrestler is tied down to one company and that's how he's been over a few times because several of the companies chipped in to bring him over and they had him doing different things each day. I think that's probably how the wrestlers work here aswell,they'll just go back and forth every week, a heel one place, face the other, different feuds in each town.

Paragon Wrestling has a TV deal with Pop which is actually available in more homes than Destination America.

Yet remains among the most highly rated cable programming year round. Not to mention being USA's best rated original show.


See above.


Yeah remember how good Seth Rollins was in the 1990s. And Roman Reigns, John Cena, Randy Orton, Rusev and Bray Wyatt. Those were the days.

For what its worth Kane is (as far as I can tell) the oldest regular wrestler on WWE television. He was around in the 90s but he absolutely isn't doing the same act he was then. Goldust is still around I guess but he's not a high profile act by any stretch and actually he isn't doing the same thing he was in the 90s either. So who are these 40 and 50 year olds doing the same thing they were in the 90s? The Undertaker (who hasn't actually been on a WWE television show in more than a year)?


See the first point again.


It isn't if you understand how the world works.

[quote]The only wrestling people are the creative staff...[quote]
Who I think we can all safely assume have nothing to do with the creative direction or content of the shows... oh wait...


1 - ECW didn't have money.
2 - Please cite multiple examples of all these WWE characters from 1998.


Firstly anyone taking career advice from Vince Russo needs to really re-examine their lives.

Secondly perhaps Vince Russo should spend less time giving career advice and a little more time admitting his at least partial responsibility for the apparently ultra shitty state of modern pro-wrestling. It was after all Vince Russo who booked the only (inter)national competition WWE has ever had into oblivion and then did the exact same thing with the only upstart to make any kind of headway since the death of WCW. Perhaps if he'd been better at his job and had any kind of idea on what audiences wanted to see things would look better right now.

TNA apparently being sued by Uncle Eric for $114,500.02 back pay they allegedly owe him and his kid.

Garett was apparently contracted for $2166.67 a month regardless of whether he wrestled or not, till March 31st this year, and is claiming they didn't pay him Sept 14 - March 15.

The more I imagine Dixie Carter the more I think about the Iraqi Information Minister saying "Everything is fine" while US troops were entering Baghdad.

Eric Bischoff, his son Garret and Jason Hervey have filed a lawsuit against TNA for breach of contract. PW.net reports that the suit was filed on May 15th in Davidson County, Tennessee and claims that the company owes them $114,500.02.

The site reports that Eric Bischoff and Hervey are listed under their production company that they co-own, alleging that they were hired on a “pay or play” deal. The two (along with Garret) state that TNA made payments to them in a timely manner until the end of September and that Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment notified TNA of a breach in the contract on November 4th due to a failure to pay their October payment. A second notice was issued on November 24th. TNA eventually payed $101,500 at some point before January 1st, but the company is seeking the same amount for the final three months of their contract, as it expired on March 31st.

Garret Bischoff was originally part of the company’s first agreement with the company and he signed his own separate contract with TNA on October 24th. His deal included $2,166.67 monthly on a “pay or play” deal along with $500 for paid performances. His deal also expired on March 21st; he claims that TNA still owes him $13,000.02 out of the deal.

TNA reportedly issued a response on January 12th claiming that they had paid BHE in full, a claim that BHE disagrees with. BHE’a attorney Bryan Lewis told TNA’s lawyer, “When the money was sent, you did not make it clear whether it was in connection with the settlement offer that was on the table or a reinstatement by TNA,” reads the letter from Lewis. “TNA did not make a request that BHE perform services when the money was sent…[BHE] stands ready, willing, and able to perform under the agreement in the event TNA is reinstating that agreement.”

Destination America has made the decision to cancel TNA Impact in September per Dave Meltzer.


Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

Well that didn't last long...

If true you have to wonder if TNA will make it to next years UK tour or not.

Maybe that is why they haven't booked it yet.

Aren't tickets for it on sale at the end of this week?

You really believe everything he says don't you? Again there are no paperwork or facts. Just like his claims on WCW losing $60 million. Never any proof or facts, never any lawyers or anyone to verify anything.


At the same time the wrestling business has been dead for some time. WWE can still sell their fake fighting to kids and make money but they have been around the longest. It doesn't get much faker and completely unrealistic than WWE but that's how it is. If it does indeed turn out to be true, it is a shame but at the same time the industry hasn't done anything to save or preserve wrestling. No effort to try and do anything different. Just like WWE on their Network just now. Regular guys pretending to be big tough wrestlers. I'm 5'9". I'm just as tall as them but that's their idea of wrestling in 2015. Everything is so outdated and the public just aren't interested. Just plain insulting to be honest. Kids show. Should be on CBBC not Sky Sports.


So if it's true it's sad. There should always be places for wrestlers to work and meet and learn and and learn from each other and places for trainers to work and places for the guys behind the scenes to work. It's always sad when companies close their doors. That was always the big plus point of TNA, even if they werent firing on all cylinders creatively, at least it was a learning ground, at least it was a place to go and wrestle and earn a living. From creative, to wrestlers, to announcers, to agents, it was always another place to keep making a living in the wrestling business. Just a sad day all around.

Must be new then someone mentioned few days ago they had no ads on Challege yet so I looked and no tour was announced.

They've got three shows announced for January in Manchester, Birmingham and London. Not a huge tour but they've announced something.

The irony of these sentences could crush an elephant.


Remind me who has been consistently booking the 'number two' wrestling promotion since 2000 until very recently?


Floyd Mayweather 5ft 8
Manny Pacquaio 5ft 5
Cain Velasquez 6ft 1
Jose Aldo 5ft 7
Demetrious Johnson 5ft 3

I could go on.

As I once said, if Meltzer told me grass was green I wouldn't believe him.

Anyway, TNA have multiple contracts worldwide so if this does turn out to be true then I guess they'd have to look at the financial viability of potentially producing impact themselves for worldwide distribution only.

The UK tour usually always sells out as well so it would also depend on how profitable that was to them to still do.

TNA have been asked to deny it for days and haven't.

So what would this all mean.

I got the impression Destination America cancelled TNA yesterday which means legally TNA can still air on TV up to the 3rd week of September then thats it for no more tv?