It's official, IMPACT moves to Destination America in 2015 In a multi-year deal.

First shows taped in January at the Manhattan Center in NY. They just have to hope their fans aren't situated in the 41.7m homes than DA doesn't reach that Spike does.

Good news for tna

From the press release-


I'm more interested in what Hillbilly Blood is about.

The highest ever rating for the channel was apparently 473 thousand, so TNA are likely going to face a massive drop in ratings. Still, hooray that TNA has lived to fight another day.

Good for them. I'm glad they've managed to survive. The press release also seems to suggest that Angle and Gail Kim have re-signed with them as well which, if true, is also a good thing.

Sure, they'll have to basically start from the bottom again but as long as they can accept that with the resources they have they'll never beat the WWE, they can actually start putting on a decent, watchable product and building on the last 4 or 5 months when Impact has been really good.

Ideally the dirtsheets won't place so much emphasis on the ratings they do, but i doubt that'll ever happen.

And another thing, if they can actually secure Alberto Del Rio to a deal as well then that'll give them some great exposure.

They have to talk about the ratings, they're going to a channel that is not on basic cable and is on nearly half the houses Spike is for far less money. How is that a positive under any circumstance is beyond me. Still, they found a tv deal and they deserve credit for that. Now the real question is: "Is this going to prolong TNA's agony or is it a real new beginning?" and only they can answer the question.

Couldn't TNA show Impact online (like they did for a few weeks in 2005), so that fans who watch TNA in areas which cannot get the new channel can still watch?

There might have to be a delay before it can be uploaded, but it would be better than losing a large percentage of their fanbase.

I would think DA will want those people to complain to their cable operators to get the channel added to their cable system.

Well, that's a relief!

It'll be quite exciting to see how the product is tuned for the new network and smaller budget. Pro wrestling lives on. Barely.

They problem is, most of the dirtsheets and the so-called "IWC" will still see any ratings that Impact gets as a comparison to the Raw ratings when it's really not remotely relevant.

Anyway, it appears that Destination America are actually fully on board with TNA, unlike Spike, and it appears that they'll much more scope to actually produce more programming, as well as having the channel help promote them as well - something which they've been pretty poor at in the past.

so what's the general consensus (on Twitter) regarding this new channel? (Are folk taking the piss?) ... I was on Destination America website afew days ago & they don't even have an on demand section like spike! ... Total Mickey Mouse!

(I used to like watching tna via spike.com (using my unotelly sub & playon) before chalkenge aired it!) 👍

Final IMPACT on Spike will go out on December 24th. Assume it will be a best of edition as they have nothing taped

Not Doooommmmeeeddd after all then heh, bet this thread is so disappointed as you all wanted TNA to die so much.

please get rid of the blue ropes.

Some production guy apparently tweeted there'll be new logo, set, visual identity, the lot.

Some guy on another thread suggested they go with purple ropes. What do you guys think? I *think* I like the idea.

If we assume GFW go with green there aren't that many other colours left. Personally I'll always associate red ropes with RAW (even though they don't use them anymore), so I'd avoid red.

I suppose with a reduced budget, they'll have to essentially re-launch and re-establish a new "smaller" identity from the start.

Taping the shows they did in the smaller venue in New York could actually turn out to be an unintentionally smart move as it'll give them the perfect platform to base their new style on that as people will already be used to it.

As long as i still get to see Velvet, i don't care what they do

Just a shame shes going with Bully Ray

She is?

red=big time for me, nitro used them too sometimes

blue=secondary show

green ropes with grey ring is what id use if i ever set up my own company lol

purple could work.

Its nowhere near as interesting as it sounds.


Surely as an alternative to not being on television at all its a pretty positive development. And really that was the choice here. Destination America or no television output.


Although Spike were fully on board with TNA (weren't they at one point helping to cover the salaries of the big name guys?) until they weren't. The issue here will be what, exactly, Destination America expects to get out of this deal and whether TNA can deliver that or not. The problem at Spike was that they wanted a WWE replacement and TNA was just never able to grow into that so it became increasingly expendable especially as other content on the network started to grow. The potential issue that's going to crop up with this Destination America deal down the road is are Discovery expecting the TNA content to help drive growth and awareness of the channel? I would assume the answer to that is most certainly yes which then prompts the obvious follow-up of can TNA deliver on that? I'm not convinced they can but we'll see.

Sure, Spike helped out financially but that's it as far as i'm aware. D.A. appear to be more willing to let them expand their content and have additional programming on the channel. If they're also going to be treated as the most important commodity on the channel, as seems to be the case, then they'll most likely also get a lot of promotion and publicity from the channel as part of the deal as well.

Simply not true

I hope they do change the look up. I think although it seems like such a small think, it will help to freshen up the set. I actually don't mind the TNA logo (except for when they used that blue one which I agree in wrestling terms has come to mean secondary show) and I like the idea of going purple. Grey and purple would look quite smart I think.

I think though all of that is worthless if they don't sort out their production. At times, it looks really unprofessional. I just hope it works out for them as there is a feeling for me of wondering whether TNA has survived or whether the agony is just being prolonged.

I think what's going to be important for TNA going forward is how they embrace (or not) their new normal.

By that I mean do they embrace the fact they have a smaller budget (and now available audience) and begin to fashion those things into advantages and positives rather than negatives or do they just continue to try and present a business as usual front. The business as usual front is quite possibly the worst thing they can. I think they absolutely have to accept that they aren't now or never were going to be able to out produce the WWE. For all the many, many flaws the WWE product has as a piece of production its actually a rather remarkable thing and trying to compete with WWE on those terms or even just mimic WWE on that ground is a losing strategy. They have to start finding their own way forward on these things and in theory a smaller budget and less pressure to deliver bigger audiences frees them up to start experimenting a little more with style and how they're producing and presenting their content.

I'd also add that I think more than anything else that might be the competition that the WWE needs right now. Part of what I've found most impressive and refreshing about Lucha Underground is that they aren't trying to compete with the WWE on WWE terms. They creating and presenting their own product in their own way and that's the kind of kick the WWE needs. Companies finding success away from the WWE model of doing things. That more than anything else is where ECW and WCW excelled back in the 90s. ECW in particular.

Let me also say that for me the biggest stumbling block I've always had with TNA is that its a company without identity. Or at least without a unique identity. It just feels like another WWE brand that WWE never talks about at this point. And that's not good. The only time I've ever really connected with the product in any meaningful way is back when they were doing the weekly PPV model. That at least felt like they were trying to forge their own way. Since landing on television they've just increasingly morphed into WWE-lite and I have no interest in that. In many respects the changes this move of network can bring about could make this the best thing to happen to TNA ever. Its just whether they embrace that or not.

But of course all the above will be meaningless if they don't actually start presenting a coherent and interesting show. Right now they're in the exact position I wish WWE were in. Namely they've now got a lot of time off where they aren't having to book weekly shows and they can just focus on working out what their product is going to be and how their creative team is going to move forward. They absolutely have to take advantage of that.

sacking tenay would be a start

Spike gave them money for contracts, live tv costs, venue bookings as well as publicity, additional hours of TV, multiple moves in prime time and kept them on air in order to allow them to find another channel. Very few wrestling companies in history have had that sort of help from a TV station.

DA will get behind TNA, as they have nothing on the network to stop it. Problem is the channel isn't anywhere near the profile or availability of Spike so it's going to be much harder to build a following and on a lower budget.

I see Bully Ray is taking shots at TNA. I hope he's not trying to work an angle.


He's out of contract before the end of the year. I think they will try and resign him.