James Storm Talks About TNA Impact Wrestling Cancellation Reports

James Storm was recently interview by the v2 Wrestling Podcast and he talked about the recent reports that Destination America is canceling TNA Impact Wrestling.

“I’ve been told by the higher-ups that there’s nothing to worry about,” Storm said. “TNA is owned by a billion dollar company, Panda Energy, so the money is going to be there. They talk about the network saying this and that. Every network wants great ratings, but the problem is that it takes time for the casual wrestling fans and viewers to find Destination America. A lot of people don’t have the channel, or it’s a premium channel and they have to pay for it. My mom actually couldn’t find it until like a month ago. So it’s just taking people a little longer to find the Destination America channel.”

“Nobody really knows except for the network and Dixie Carter, that’s how I look at it. Dixie cares about the wrestlers like they’re her own kids. If something’s going to go down, she’s going to have a meeting and talk about it with all the guys, so that’s how I look at it.”

You can listen to the podcast interview at this link – http://v2wrestling.com/5/post/2015/05/the-big-v2-interview-james-storm.html

TNA Wrestling Issued Statement Regarding Cancellation Rumors, Billy Corgan Responds

Source: WrestlingINC.com

TNA Wrestling issued a statement regarding the rumors that Destination America is planning to cancel Impact Wrestling:

“It has come to our attention that several internet news sources have falsely attributed statements to TNA, its executives and broadcasting partner. These false statements constitute defamation and if necessary we will seek all legal remedies available to us.”

Wednesday, Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Destination America planned to cancel TNA Impact Wrestling, with the source being an internal e-mail among employees at the channel. On Wrestling Observer Live yesterday, Bryan Alvarez said the e-mail was dated several days prior to Destination America announcing Impact would be moving to Wednesday nights, and Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer noted that this was very much an ongoing situation.

 

Former ECW star Lou “Sign Guy Dudley” D’Angeli went on twitter to address fans celebrating the news and Billy Corgan responded to him indicating that Dave Meltzer was being worked by “a sloppy angle”:

https://twitter.com/Billy/status/601496615103426561

Destination America Cancelling TNA Impact Wrestling

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that before it was announced last Friday that Impact Wrestling would be moving to Wednesday nights beginning June 3, 2015, Destination America officials made the decision to cancel the show and all other TNA programming.

It was noted by Meltzer that all TNA programming will cease to air on Destination America at the end of the third quarter, which is around the last week of September.

There was two major reasons for the cancellation. Destination America officials considered the ratings for Impact Wrestling to be good, but not good enough to justify the cost of the programming. The other problem was that a number of the cable network’s advertisers specifically did not want to advertise during Impact Wrestling.

The decision from Destination America to cancel TNA programming was meant to be kept secret. A public acknowledgement is expected to be made when the station reveals its 2015-16 television prime-time lineup.

Following the March 13, 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling, which saw viewership sink to a new low, Destination America officials made the decision to cancel Saturday morning programming under the belief that eliminating the replay would help the Friday numbers – the only numbers they cared about. Although there was a slight increase, all first-run programming with the exception of Impact Wrestling airing multiple times of Friday nights was axed due to the cable network’s difficulty in selling advertisement time. For the May 8, 2015 live episode of Impact Wrestling, Destination America purchased an advertisement in the USA Today newspaper to promote the show, believing that additional advertising and it being almost live would lead to an increased rating. Instead, Impact Wrestling did its second lowest number on Destination America, and the replay, which is primarily watched by viewers on the West Coast, drew a record low. Days later, Destination America executives made the decision to cancel all TNA Wrestling programming.

TNA President Dixie Carter was made aware of Destination America’s decision early last week although it doesn’t appear that most of the talent knew anything since word of this had not gotten around. Her knowledge of the cancellation may have played a role in Impact Wrestling moving to Wednesday nights, but that is uncertain. Carter didn’t respond to any questions on the subject from Meltzer.

Meltzer noted in his report that Destination America’s decision has not been finalized. Employees at the station, however, not been told anything new since a memo was issued to them, informing them of the cancellation. Meltzer noted that “this story is very much ongoing.”

Meltzer noted that because the cancellation was announced before the move to Wednesdays, the cancellation isn’t definite, although he noted that it wasn’t a good sign that people at the station haven’t been told anything new since being informed of the cancellation.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

 

TNA Confirms Impact Wrestling Moving To Wednesday

TNA Wrestling sent out a press release confirming that Impact Wrestling will be moving to Wednesday nights on Destination America, beginning June 3rd.

The June 3rd show will feature, The Wolves VS The Dirty Heels competing in match 3 of the Best of 5 Series for the vacated TNA Tag Team Titles. The Rising VS BDC in a 6-Man Tag Match. TNA World Heavyweight Champion will compete in the main event. Plus, the Knockouts will be in action featuring the Dollhouse and Brooke.

TNA Impact Wrestling Moving To Wednesday?, Impact Pre-Empted Next Week

PWInsider reports that there was talk within TNA at the offices in Nashville last week that Impact Wrestling may be moving to Wednesday nights at 9pm ET, possible as soon as June.

There has been concern lately about how Impact viewership on Destination America will hold up on Friday nights during the summer months.

Dave Meltzer noted on Wednesday nights Wrestling Observer Radio that TNA did a fresh taping for May 22nd, but it will only air internationally. Destination America did not want to air a show for Memorial Day so the 2014 Slammiversary will air instead. TNA filmed the show knowing this, so the May 22nd show was filmed without a lot of storyline advancement. Meltzer affirms that Destination America has lost interest in the product in recent months.

More On Bully Ray’s One-Off TNA Return, Destination America Unhappy With TNA

Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer appeared on last night’s Live Audio Wrestling to talk about current issues in TNA. As noted earlier Bully Ray’s return was apparently a one-off deal. Meltzer noted that any long-term return hinges on TNA being able to give Bully a good financial deal which the company may not be in position to do right now. Bully’s big surprise return was done to help with ratings.

 

Meltzer noted that Destination America is having “buyer’s remorse” with their TNA deal, with the issue being with ratings and ad sales. While TNA programming does good ratings for the network, Destination America was expecting to get far more of the Spike TV viewership and thought TNA’s loyal fan base would follow them to another channel.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

Destination America Becoming A Problem Within TNA

Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Destination America is becoming a significant problem within TNA. The network is reportedly calling a lot of the shots in TNA these days with the idea that they are paying TNA and running so many hours of TNA programming.

Destination America reportedly doesn’t like Impact Wrestling being taped from the U.K. They don’t know the pro wrestling business at all but they didn’t like the idea of TV taped outside America airing on their Destination America channel. Destination America may not have a problem with TNA running a yearly tour overseas but they made it clear they want Impact taped in the US most of the time.

Destination America officials wanted Kurt Angle to be the World Champion because they liked the idea of the champion on their network being an American gold medalist. They are also high on Taryn Terrell as the Knockouts Champion because of her looks.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

Discovery Praises TNA Impact Wrestling Viewership On Destination America

Discovery Communications issued the following press release praising viewership for TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America during the month of January.

DESTINATION AMERICA SCORES BIG WITH FIRST MONTH OF PREMIERES FOR IMPACT WRESTLING

More than four million viewers tune in during first four weeks of premieres

(Silver Spring, MD) – Destination America recorded its best January ever in Prime HH delivery with premieres of Impact Wrestling. The all-new season kicked off on Wednesday, January 7th, with Impact Wrestling LIVE, ranking as Destination America’s best Wednesday evening in network history delivery of M25-54. The show also ranked as the 6th most social television program for the evening with #Destination IMPACT reaching a collective 73M impressions on Twitter.

Premieres of Impact Wrestling settled into their regular Destination America timeslot on Friday, January 16th. For the month of January, Impact Wrestling ranked as the #9 series in ad-supported cable for delivery of M25-54 on Friday nights. On Friday, January 23rd, the network garnered its highest rated and most watched Friday evening in network history for delivery of P25-54 and M25-54, ranking as the #3 sports telecast in cable (behind only NBA Basketball and the X Games on ESPN) and out-delivering networks including A&E, NGC, ESPN2, TNT and FXX among M25-54.

Throughout January, Impact Wrestling posted record-breaking numbers, delivering an average of 276K viewers among P25-54.

Continuing to build momentum, Destination America’s Impact Wrestling recorded its best premiere to date on Friday, February 6th, delivering an average of 345K P25-54, while earning a 0.85 rating among M25-54. Since premiering on the network in January 2015, 4.2M viewers have watched Impact Wrestling on Destination America.

TNA Making Changes To Impact Wrestling

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It is being reported on PWInsider Elite that TNA is making some big changes to Impact Wrestling. Reportedly Impact Wrestling will have a reality TV theme to show when it premieres on Destination America. The idea is to have cameras filming everything from wrestlers walking around backstage, entering the building and even being out of character.

Dixie Carter is said to be a big fan of reality TV and Destination America has a lot of reality-type programming. TNA will be changing the format of Impact some to better fit Destination America.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

TNA Impact Wrestling’s New TV Series – Unlocked

TNA Impact Wrestling

TNA issued the following announcement on their new TV series:

IMPACT WRESTLING BECOMES “UNLOCKED” WITH BRAND NEW TELEVISION SERIES

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Dec. 16, 2014) – TNA Entertainment will deliver a new concept in professional wrestling with the premiere of IMPACT WRESTLING: UNLOCKED, Saturday, January 17 at 10/9c on Destination America. this new weekly series hosted by “The Professor” Mike Tenay will dive deeper into the most recent episode of IMPACT WRESTLING with exclusive content and never-before-seen footage.

During IMPACT WRESTLING: UNLOCKED viewers will get an enhanced experience as the screen comes alive with match facts and stats, as well as bonus commentary and exclusive footage taking fans deeper into the intriguing characters, captivating stories and fascinating personal lives of the TNA Superstars.

“Fans are constantly asking me what goes on behind the scenes,” said Tenay. ” The appetite is strong for interesting factoids and an insider’s perspective. We will explore everything from why World Champion Bobby Roode uses his Roode Bomb finisher to how Taryn Terrell uses her stuntwomen background when defending her Knockouts title. IMPACT WRESTLING: UNLOCKED will offer a distinctive and stimulating viewing experience unmatched in professional sports.”

In addition, each week during IMPACT WRESTLING: UNLOCKED, Tenay will reveal the IMPACT WRESTLING Top 5, a power ranking of the top five heavyweights in TNA. This new ranking system is sure to spark controversy, debate, and most importantly, competition.

IMPACT WRESTLING debuts on Destination America with a special LIVE broadcast on Wednesday, January 7 from 9-11 PM ET, televised from New York City’s legendary Manhattan Center. IMPACT WRESTLING will move to it’s permanent time slot on Fridays from 9-11 PM ET beginning January 16 on Destination America.