This week, Impact! Wrestling will air their 1000th episode. As an old cigarette ad once proclaimed, "You've come a long way, baby." Many have compared this promotion as a cockroach. No matter what you do to this company, you can't kill it. For over 20 years, Impact! Wrestling gave fans a different look when it came to the industry. They had a six-sided ring and was able to lure big name superstars to join the company in a smaller fan base. They were about to take on the big boy corporation up north.
So, what happened? Well.......
IT'S HARD TO FIND IMPACT! WRESTLING
When you watch or listen to anything that covers professional wrestling, you get information from WWE and AEW mostly. You do get a little bit of information from New Japan, MLW and maybe NWA. Impact! gets some sort of recognition, but it mostly comes with laughter or the words, "I don't watch Impact!" To be fair, not many people do watch the show due to the company's wandering around on different channels through the years. At one point, they were on Destination America, a network that specializes in the outdoors. They were also on Pop TV, the channel famous for Schitt's Creek. AXS TV is a good home, but not anyone has it or any way to get AXS TV.
PUBLICITY IS PRETTY PUTRID
Did you know that Victory Road was on Friday? Because I sure as hell didn't know. When it comes to advertising Impact!, it's a gamble for them. To be fair, they are doing more on their YouTube channel to promote the company, but other than that, not so much. Bound For Glory is their biggest event and it is a month away. Hopefully, they can do better advertising the event.
THE VENUE HOLDING EVENTS ARE SMALL
In 2012, BFG was here in Phoenix at Grand Canyon University Arena, a venue that houses around 2,500 people. For TNA/Impact!, this has been a handcuff to them. I realize that they tried to that in 2013 and 2014 and it didn't work. You could have one show in a bigger venue and if it doesn't work, then go back to smaller venues. It's not going to hurt them, right?
ANTHEM COULD DO MORE
Remember Reby Hardy and her infamous "(Bleep) that owl" tweet at Anthem? The company wanted to hold the rights to the Broken Matt Hardy character, knowing he created the character and that it gave the promotion credibility. The US Trademark Office denied the company their request. This is not the way to do business with your employees. Like Sinclair broadcasting did with ROH, Anthem tends to focus more on their other ventures than the Impact! product. Something could help this promotion break out of the mold.
JEFF JARRETT'S DOWNFALL
Since its inception in 2002, Jeff Jarrett and his father, Jerry, created a promotion that was headquartered at a wrestling haven in Nashville, Tennessee. The first few years were a work-in-progress, but seemed to find its footing in 2005/2006, when TNA was signing stars like Christian, Sting and Kurt Angle. However, he and a main financer didn't get along and it was made worse when Jarrett became involved with Karen Angle, Kurt's ex-wife. Jarrett tried his failed Global Force Wrestling in Impact! to lackluster results and was out.
THE INVOLVEMENT OF VINCE RUSSO
Reverse Battle Royal was one of his ideas. Watch the match and see how ridiculous it is. Russo tried to install his "magic" when he was employed by TNA. Sometimes he was golden, but most of the time, he wasn't. It was to the point where the president of the company hid the fact from the network executives that he was secretly employed by the promotion. There are times when I'm ponder how this company is still running after his tenure.
HOGAN/BISCHOFF, NOSTAGLIA!
TNA was securing the most influential performer in history to battle WWE head on......and he was bringing Eric Bischoff with him. Sigh. Like Russo, both wanted to go back to a simpler time when they were in a war with the WW(F). Well, technically, they were competing with them at the time. The "Immortal" faction was trying to replicate the NWO and it didn't work. Well, they still had those 83 weeks.
WILLIAM PATRICK CORGAN TRIES TO SAVE THE DAY
After Impact! was going through money issues, mega wrestling fan Billy Corgan, from the legendary group Smashing Pumpkins, wanted to put some capital in the promotion and be an authority figure. The actual president did not want that, and Corgan eventually sued the company to get his money back, which he and Anthem reached an agreement. This (bleep) is a frustrating reminder that someone wanted to help this sinking ship and Anthem wanted to let it sink.
And finally,........
DIXIE CARTER, THE MONEY MARK
Before there was Tony Khan, there was Dixie Carter. She and her family have tried to keep TNA/Impact! afloat. However, the promotion kept losing money to the point where Dixie's parents had to cut her off. She tried to be an on-screen character. The key in that was tried. Then, the bills were due, and Dixie couldn't pay up which led to lawsuits. With all of this piling up, Anthem drew up their hands and just took power from her. She tried to take on WWE for another Monday Night war. It failed and was short-lived, thankfully. At least Tony has the funds to recover from a huge loss, Dixie wasn't that lucky.
Impact! Wrestling has one thing going for them, the talent tends to rise to the occasion whenever the front office shenanigans show their ugly faces. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christian, Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, Kurt Angle, Eli Drake, Beer Money, the list goes on and on. TNA/Impact! have been able to be the talk of wrestling during its prime and had wrestling "experts" actually think that this company would overtake WWE. Ah, simpler times. The Ultimate X match was revolutionary which produced insane bumps and their constant use of former WWE talent made TNA/Impact! the alternative that every wrestling fan needed since ROH was starting to pick up stream.
Alas, those days are gone and Impact! is still hanging around, but they're on the outside looking in. Don't believe me? Bound For Glory, Impact!'s version of WrestleMania, doesn't even have a Wiki page for the event. Go to Google and type in Bound For Glory 2023 and see for yourself. (Side note: I wasn't able to upload the pic of it to this blog.) This is sad.
Here is some advice, if you need a break from watching WWE and AEW, but still need your wrestling fix, give Impact! a gander. The product is exceptional and needs a bigger attendance to prosper. I watched the Bound For Glory PPV a couple of years ago and came away impressed with how the performers and staff did their best to put out a good show despite several situations that would hold a smaller company back.
As much as "experts" will laugh at the notion of watching or mentioning Impact! on their various platforms, the company saw many highlights......and lowlights during its history that had people interested.
Ah, simpler times.
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