TNA World Heavyweight Championship – I Quit Match: (C) Kurt Angle VS Eric Young
Knockouts Championship – Six Sides of Steel: (C) Taryn Terrell VS Gail Kim
X-Division Championship – Gauntlet Match: (C) Kenny King VS Rockstar Spud VS Tigre Uno VS Manik VS Crazzy Steve VS Argos VS Mandrews VS DJ Z: As Champion Kenny King will have the advantage of entering the match last.
TNA World Tag Team Championship – Best of 5 Series (Match 2): (1) The Wolves VS Dirty Heels
Destination America announced that Ring of Honor will debut on their network on Wednesday, June 3. They confirmed that ROH will be followed by a new episode of TNA Impact Wrestling.
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
PWInsider reports that Christy Hemme has given notice to TNA and will be leaving soon. She will reportedly be working a great job outside of pro wrestling. There was some speculation that she may still work a role at TV tapings but that’s not confirmed and most believe she’s leaving altogether. Hemme has been with TNA since 2006.
Source: WrestlingINC.com
TNA announcer Josh Mathews, who used to work for WWE, blasted WWE for their “hypocrisy” after Samoa Joe made his NXT debut Wednesday at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable. Mathews tweeted:
https://twitter.com/realjoshmathews/status/601629711563755521
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”:
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
10-Man Hardcore War: Team Angle VS Team Young: with each competitor bringing a weapon of choice.
TNA Tag Team Championship Best of 5 Series Match 1: The Wolves VS Dirty Heels (Austin Aries & Bobby Roode)
The Dollhouse (Jade & Marti Bell) vs Brooke & Rebel
Ethan Carter III continues his EC3 for Champ campaign
BroMans return to find out what the future has in store for Jessie, Robbie E & DJ Z
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.
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.
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