The release said that TNA Impact! will move to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on Spike TV. The new time slot is set to begin April 13.
In the press release, Dixie Carter (No relation to the actress in the old series "Designing Women"), President of TNA Wrestling, said, “The move to prime time on Spike is the most significant event in TNA Wrestling’s short history. I am very proud of our entire team and all their hard work in achieving this milestone. Spike has been a fantastic partner, and we have accomplished so much together in just four months. We look forward to continuing to work with them to grow the TNA brand during this exciting time.”
At this time, the plans are to keep the show a one-hour series but the company is hoping to expand to 90 minutes, according to several sources.
A conference call was made to the entire TNA roster to inform them of this change, although most already knew of the tentative plans. There will be a replay of the show on Saturday nights at 11 p.m., the same time slot they are in now. This is very good for the company because fans who may not know about the switch in nights will tune in on Saturdays and, if the show isn't on, may think it is cancelled and not look for it.
I assume the push will be on very soon, telling fans of the new night and time during commentary on Impact!.
TNA had more good news in the way of pay per view buy rates. The Final Resolution pay per view, with Sting & Christian Cage vs. Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown as the main event match, had the highest buy rate in company history. Those in the company who felt bringing Sting in for a one year six-figure contract was futile have been proven wrong. Fans want to see Sting and he definitely was a big reason why the show did so well.
Lastly, TNA will also make a webcast available in the future on their website, www.TNAWrestling.com for those overseas who can't get the weekly Impact! shows. Many potential fans have been frustrated about the lack of availability of TNA in their countries and the webcast will certainly help build up an audience abroad. TNA obviously hopes to air their shows on television in more countries but, for now, this is very positive step in exposing the company and the work rate to the fans with no access to the weekly shows.
TNA's move to weeknight primetime will give WWE a little bit more competition and that's a very healthy thing. WWE does its best work when competing with other wrestling shows as evidenced by their low, then very high points during the "Monday Night Wars" when World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and WWE were going head to head on Monday nights.
WWE had been slacking off when WCW exploded onto the scenes in the form of Monday Nitro and were taken off guard. Eventually WCW was pulling in much higher ratings than WWE, causing great concern for WWE's top brass. WCW's Nitro beat WWE's Raw for over 80 weeks in a row before WWE was able to gain back control of the battle and, eventually, the war. WWE ended up buying WCW in 2001.
It wasn't unfathomable that WCW could have bought out WWE if the McMahons hadn't finally stepped up and given the fans high quality and very creative programming which eventually won them over once again.
While I don't see TNA as a rival to WWE like WCW was, I do see TNA as a reminder to WWE that there are other wrestling companies with weekly shows on the air and that, if they don't keep up creatively, those fans could switch loyalties. This also gives wrestlers who may be unhappy in WWE a viable alternative if they choose to leave the company.
Christian Cage (Jay Reso, formerly WWE's Christian) left WWE for TNA even though he was offered a larger contract in WWE than in TNA. Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, two of the biggest stars in TNA, both turned down WWE in favor of TNA, and several other former WWE stars have found a home with the newer company. Sting chose TNA over WWE as well.
The prime time Thursday Impact! time slot is good news for TNA, fans, wrestlers, and even WWE. The more buzz about wrestling, the better and, right now, there are some exciting changes on the horizon that will affect both TNA and WWE.
I will be back soon with lots of news including more on Vince McMahon's alleged groping session at a Florida tanning salon.
See ya on the forum!
Patty
Not familiar with the Monday Night Wars? Catch up on all you missed with this DVD. While the truth is slanted somewhat in favor of WWE who produced it, this DVD delves into the highs and lows of WWE and WCW and how WWE managed to pull the rug out from under "Billionaire Ted" Turner's feet and, eventually buy out the company that was beating them in the ratings for a year and a half straight.
