Category: Global Force Wrestling

Global Force Wrestling Network Briefly Goes Online, Details On Monthly Cost And Archived Content

GFW officially launched their Global Force Wrestling Network on Tuesday night at GlobalWrestlingNetwork.com but it appears they have had some technical difficulties as all pages under the domain are now password restricted. It’s also possible that the link got out before the official launch as there’s no mention of the service on the GFW website or social media.

The site featured a video with Josh Mathews announcing that the service would include archived content from GFW/TNA/Impact, an ad-free experience, discounts for live pay-per-view events, discounts on merchandise and content from international promotions that are partners of GFW, which would be coming soon.

The archived content featured TNA pay-per-view events from 2004 through 2017 including One Night Only events, old episodes of Impact Wrestling, British Bootcamp Season 1 & 2, the TNA Legends series, the TNA Greatest Matches series and the Unfinished Business pay-per-view series.

The $5.99 service is currently available via Android and iOS but the video from Mathews noted that they will launch soon on X-Box, Roku and FireTV.

Source: WrestlingINC

Backstage Updates On Rey Mysterio, What GFW Had Planned For Him, Recent Injury, Training His Son

No word yet on where Rey Mysterio is headed but it won’t be Global Force Wrestling, according to PWInsider and The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Rey had an offer from GFW after negotiations between the two sides but he opted not to take it.

Rey was also in talks with WWE over the summer but those talks stopped as Vince McMahon did not want to work with Rey’s representation, mainly Konnan, among other reasons. It was also noted that while Rey and WWE were talking, the talks were said to be overblown in the first place as Rey was actually looking at signing with GFW because of the easier schedule and because it would allow him more freedom to do other projects. When word first got out about Rey talking with WWE, Dave Meltzer was told that it was actually GFW Rey was talking with, and that there was nothing significant to the WWE reports.

While his in-ring future with a major company is up in the air, Mysterio is said to be focused on training his son Dominick and preparing him for a pro wrestling career. Rey is also heavily involved with The Crash promotion in Mexico.

GFW wanted Rey to wrestle against Alberto El Patron at the November 5th Bound For Glory pay-per-view, according to The Observer. We’ve noted how Jeff Jarrett vs. Alberto El Patron was in the works for Bound For Glory but is likely off the books now that Jarrett is taking an indefinite leave of absence from GFW. The Observer notes that the storyline would have had Alberto blaming Jarrett for his recent GFW suspension. Jarrett vs. Alberto was to be teased until they pulled a big swerve on the night of the show and had Jarrett introduce Rey as Alberto’s opponent instead. When the talks with Rey fell through, plans changed back to Jarrett vs. Patron for Bound For Glory. There’s still no word yet on what Alberto will be doing at Bound For Glory, if anything at all.

On a related note, Rey suffered an ankle injury while working for the Catch Wrestling promotion in Austria during an eight-man single elimination tournament in four cities from August 30th through September 2nd. Rey defeated Alofa on August 30th and Apolo on September 1st to make it to the finals of the tournament. He then appeared at the finals on September 2nd in Vienna and apologized for the injury, promising to return to Vienna to make up for it. His opponent for that night, Joe Doering, then attacked him but Rey made a quick comeback to hit the 619 and roll him up for the win. He went to the hospital after the match to get the ankle checked out and while there was an injury, it was not serious and he’s expected to be back in the ring soon. The Observer noted that Rey suffered the injury because he’s been worked several dates in recent weeks.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter via WrestlingINC

Karen Jarrett Thanks GFW For Supporting Jeff Jarrett

Image result for Karen & Jeff Jarrett GFW Impact

As noted, GFW announced Jeff Jarrett would be on an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons. Reportedly, his “erratic behavior” and condition at TripleMania led to a lot of people wondering if he needed time off. Last night, Karen Jarrett tweeted out a message thanking the fans and to GFW/Anthem/Ed Nordholm for “giving Jeff the time he needs.”

Source: WrestlingINC

GFW Vice President Comments On ‘Rumors’ About GFW’s Status

A fan asked Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports and Entertainment, Ed Nordholm, about if he would buy Lucha Underground, if their fourth season didn’t happen. Nordholm responded, “I’m sure rumors of the demise of Lucha Underground are no more valid than those about GFW.” This comes on the heels of Global Force Wrestling Vice President of Production, Kevin Sullivan, ripping Sports Illustated’s report about GFW “hemorrhaging funds.” Nordholm continued that he would be thrilled to have Lucha Underground as a partner in their new Global Wrestling Network. It should also be noted his tweet about the rumors was retweeted on the Impact Wrestling Twitter account.

Source: WrestlingINC

GFW Executive Rips Sale Report, Update On If Anthem Has Been Discussing Selling GFW

Global Force Wrestling Vice President of Production Kevin Sullivan took to Twitter to blast the Sports Illustrated report from earlier this week that stated that Anthem Sports was looking to sell GFW. According to the SI article, “GFW is hemorrhaging funds, and sources close to the situation have confirmed that Anthem is ready to withdraw itself from the wrestling industry and sell GFW.”

Sullivan called the story “BS” and tweeted the following:

PWInsider reported that the discussion at this week’s GFW meetings centered around the company’s plans going forward. It was noted that there “was no inkling of plans to shut down or sell off the video library.” The report added that that there has been no indication from the WWE front that there have been discussions to purchase the tape library.

Source: WrestlingINC

Steve Austin Comments on the Sexy Star/Rosemary Incident

Below is audio posted on the WrestlingInsiders YouTube channel of Steve Austin Commenting on the Sexy Star Incident with Rosemary.

GFW Impact Preview 9/7/17

* Footage from AAA’s TripleMania

* GFW Champion Eli Drake defends against Matt Sydal

* Allie & Gail Kim vs. Sienna & Taryn Terrell

* DJ Z Returns

* Trevor Lee & Caleb Konley vs. Petey Williams & Sonjay Dutt

* LAX in Action

Davey Richards Explains His Decision to Leave GFW

Davey Richards

Davey Richards recently spoke with USA Today’s For the Win, here are the highlights…

On His Decision to Leave GFW: “I’ve done a pretty good of trying to juggle the very high demands of wrestling and school, but it’s gotten to the point where my school load would be so much that I couldn’t do both. The last little while, I couldn’t give 100 percent to wrestling or to medicine because I was being pulled in both directions. I didn’t think it was fair to anyone who pays to see me not to be able to give 100 percent. I can still wrestle a part-time schedule, but it’s not really right to expect TNA to pay me a salary with my hopefully being able to commit to a schedule. School needs to come first. That’s the point where I am.”

On Becoming an EMT: “Emergency medicine has always been my main source of interest,” he said. “The adrenaline rush I get from that is in some ways the same that I get from walking through that curtain because you never know what’s going to happen in a match.”

On The Demands of His Schedule Leading to Him Making The Change: “I’ve always been the kind of wrestler, nine times out of 10, I would take a booking, no matter how much the travel is because I like to wrestle,” Richards said. “I want to get out there, and I want to stay on the top of my game and compete against the best people. The more bookings I take, the more I have to travel. It got to be too much. We’d fly to Seattle to leave David with my mom and then fly to Florida to do tapings and then fly from Florida to Seattle to get David. Then fly back home to St. Louis. Add in my school schedule, and it just became impossible. This is definitely for the best for right now. Maybe when I’m done with school, that will change.”

Source: 411Mania

GFW On Another TV Deal

GFW issued the following:

For Immediate Release – September 7, 2017Global Force Wrestling Announces Deal with 7Sports to Bring IMPACT Back to Screens in Germany

NASHVILLE | TORONTO – Global Force Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., announced today that it has reached an agreement with 7Sports, the sport business unit of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, to bring its flagship weekly show IMPACT back to screens in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via ran FIGHTING.

Showcasing top professional wrestling stars such as GFW Champion Eli Drake, Bobby Lashley, the high-flying X-Division, the lovely and lethal Knockouts, including Sienna, Rosemary and Gail Kim, plus talent from international partner promotions such as Johnny Impact, Naomichi Marufuji and El Hijo del Fantasma, IMPACT will be available as part of the ran FIGHTING BLACK PASS for €3.99 per month starting on September 8th, available at ranFIGHTING.de on-demand via web, smartphones, tablets and Smart TVs, including Samsung, as well as over-the-top (OTT) devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Google Chromecast. IMPACT will be available on ran FIGHTING’s VOD service on Friday mornings in Germany and it will air on Fridays at 8 p.m. on ran FIGHTING’s 24/7 web channel. ran FIGHTING’s BLACK PASS will also include access to GFW’s One Night Only specials.

“Our fan base in Germany has been vocal about the demand for Global Force Wrestling and IMPACT content, so we are thrilled to announce a new distribution deal in the territory,” said Ed Nordholm, president of Global Force Wrestling. “As the leading provider of high-quality combat sports content in Germany, ran FIGHTING will be an excellent partner for us as we continue to expand the brand globally, making our product available in more international households than ever before.”

“We are pleased to further extend the offer of ran FIGHTING with Wrestling. In GFW and IMPACT, we have found a strong partner on whose return the German fans have been waiting for a long time,” said Zeljko Karajica, CEO of 7Sports.

In addition to weekly episodes of IMPACT and monthly One Night Only specials, customers can purchase GFW’s premium annual pay-per-view events, including Bound for Glory and Slammiversary, individually and exclusively. This is part of ran FIGHTING’s Live Pass, which is available without being subscriber to the BLACK PASS – live and on demand as pay-per-view.

ran FIGHTING boasts Germany’s largest combat sports archive, including UFC, Sauerland and Matchroom Boxing, all available through the ran FIGHTING BLACK PASS subscription.

For more information, visit http://www.impactwrestling.com and http://www.ranFIGHTING.de.

Jeff Jarrett Teases Projects & Is Taking Bookings

Jeff Jarrett has not issued any public comments since his indefinite leave of absence from GFW was announced, but he did edit his bios on Instagram and Twitter. Jarrett is already teasing new projects to come soon.

His Twitter bio now reads, “Husband! Father! Family Man! Love to quote Scripture and Quotes that mean something 2 me… Several new projects on the way…Bookings, email JJ4Jarrett@gmail.com” His Instagram bio now reads like this, “Really looking forward to things to come…”

Source: WrestlingINC

Jarrett also posted these comments to Instagram: