With all of the turmoil surrounding TNA in recent months
(talent not being paid in a timely manner, filming post-PPV episodes before the
event, a lack of house shows), nothing has grabbed more headlines than the
possible cancellation of “Impact Wrestling” from Destination America. The rumors began in mid-May when there were
allegations of an e-mail sent from TNA President Dixie Carter that spoke of the
network in a very low light that was also sent to a Destination America
executive. As a result, a memo was
allegedly leaked that spoke of the network dropping the show after the third
quarter of 2015, even going so far as to say that it would delight their “DNA”
sponsors (standing for “Do Not Advertise,” meaning they have certain sponsors
that do not want their commercials to run during TNA programming). Destination America would also cancel their
Saturday morning recap show (hosted by Mike Tenay), where they would also
reveal the Top 5 contenders for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship as well
as a deeper look into the matches and storylines featured on “Impact Wrestling”.
Some saw the move of the show from Friday night back to
Wednesday as a sign of some faith from the network because Friday night has
always been seen as a “death slot” for programming. Most people do not watch television on
weekend nights, so many shows are sent to those slots to fade into
obscurity. With the advent of the DVR,
the damage here has lessened and the reliance on the “+3” rating (meaning the
number of people that have watched the show within three days of it airing on
their DVRs) has helped more than one program stay on the air, albeit still on
Friday nights. Carter herself would tout
these numbers on the Steve Austin Podcast recently, almost wearing it like a
badge of courage. There were many people
that heard that interview, as well as her posts on social media, as rhetoric
and spin to keep her talent happy and sticking around. This may have been futile.
After the recent Slammiversary Pay-Per-View (which was
POORLY attended last year in Arlington, Texas and took place in the Impact Zone
in Orlando, Florida this year holding about 1,000 people), a number of stars on
the roster including mainstay James Storm, strong performer Magnus, up and
coming personality Gunnar, and superstar Austin Aires left the company after
their contracts expired, leaving larger questions of the company’s
stability. The rumors of trouble become
even stronger with the departure of Storm, who has been there since the company’s
inception and even was rumored to turn down an offer from World Wrestling
Entertainment to make the jump a couple of years ago hot off of the very successful
run of Beer Money, a tag team he was in with Bobby Roode and could be argued to
be one of the greatest tag teams of the last two decades of the business.
In early June, Destination America made the announcement out
of nowhere (and with little fanfare) that Ring of Honor would start airing a
weekly show directly before “Impact Wrestling” on the very night that TNA would
move to Wednesday nights. There are two
distinct schools of thought on this move: 1 – It was done in order to help
boost ratings for TNA, as the two promotions have a long-standing relationship
of talent swap and even full-time movement, or 2 – Ring of Honor was brought in
to outshine TNA and therefore give Destination America sufficient reasoning to
cancel “Impact Wrestling” and do its best to save face for the network. Whether they would keep Ring of Honor after
that can be left to speculation.
Where the fatal flaw in this plan lies is within the Ring of
Honor organization. For a time, their
show aired on what used to be HDNet (currently known as AXS TV). They had a little over a one year run on the
premium cable network, and really knew how to focus on the wrestling aspect,
letting the storyline aspect organically work its way out of the matches
themselves. It was wrestling for the
sake of wrestling without having to try to beat that into the heads of its
audience (reference the TNA campaign of “Wrestling Matters,” which it really
did not seem to). Once HDNet cancelled
the show, ROH would bounce around here and there until landing a syndication
deal with Sinclair Entertainment. This
would get them in some markets, but not enough to really give them the spark to
get things moving. For instance, there
was no affiliate in the Dallas/Fort Worth market until recently, and now it is
local, on the NESN channel through the cable sports package, and now
Destination America. The show still has
the quality that it had before. ROH
seems to get it right: keep your shows in small arenas, focus on both your
established talent and up-and-comers, do quality talent trades with promotions
like New Japan and feature them on your programming as much as your partners
feature your talent. It does not have
the big-time feel that WWE has, or the sitcom production vibe that TNA has; it
is its own element.
But here lies the problem.
When Destination America aired the first episode of Ring of Honor on its
network, IT WAS THE SAME EPISODE THAT NESN SHOWED THREE DAYS EARLIER. The new episodes usually air on Saturdays and
re-run throughout the week. Some
attributed that week to the short notice that ROH had to get SOMETHING on the
air for 8 Eastern on Wednesday night (the announcement came down about four
days earlier to those who pay attention on the Internet), but when it happened
the next week, and the next, and the next, concern has started to set in. It could be understood if the deal that ROH
made with Destination America was more of the second school of thought two
paragraphs ago, but this could also be seen as a golden opportunity.
By showing an episode that has been aired a half-dozen times
before it hits Destination America lessens your chance of going out there and
truly making your mark. It would seem
like ROH would treat Destination America like WWE treats the USA Network: as
the flagship. Make that the show where
you make your moves and shakes, and work with Sinclair and NESN to do shows
like WWE used to do with its syndicated affiliates with the lesser shows like “Wrestling
Challenge” or “Superstars”. These were
one-hour shows that did not necessarily move any storylines forward (mostly
main roster guys getting wins over a combination of local wrestlers or guys on
the roster that would be the Washington Generals to the star’s Harlem
Globetrotters, known as “jobbers to the stars”.
This would give the audience on Destination America the opportunity to have
something truly for themselves, and ROH would have a show to develop any main
angles that they want to but give their whole roster more time to get the
exposure that they need.
To take it one step further, ROH could even use NESN for a
B-show, as WWE uses SyFy for “SmackDown!”.
(That show will be moving to the USA Network in January of 2016, but
they are both under the NBC/Universal umbrella, so it’s more like a lateral
move for the network.) This would give
them another outlet to expand a bit more, and given that all of their
programming are one-hour blocks, they could even get an entire week of
programming in one or two nights per week by staying in the same venue and
taping the Sinclair matches, followed by the NESN and Destination America
shows. Live shows may not benefit them
at this point, but they also tend to tape a bunch of episodes in advance as
well, evident by the episodes that have aired since they had their latest
Pay-Per-View, “Best in the World,” that do not really deal with any fallout
from the show.
Ring of Honor have a true opportunity here to show the
strength of their promotion, as long as they do not squander it in the manner
that they currently are. Even the rumors
of them getting a deal with Spike TV after “Impact Wrestling” was let go could
fire back up in a strange reversal of fortune.
