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Well, that sure came out of nowhere, huh?
In case you missed it, Destination America announced today that Ring Of Honor will be airing on their network, starting June 3 at 8 p.m. Coming off of last week’s “Will TNA be gone from that Network in October” drama, this is a delicious, exciting twist in that story. Well, for everyone but TNA at least. I am sure they find it to be more of the poisonous variety.
For the folks down in Nashville, this is not the best day that they have had, not by a long shot. The early word we have gotten is that it took everyone there by surprise. And at a staff meeting yesterday, no mention was made that they would go from being the exclusive wrestling company on their network, to part of a wrestling block. So while I wouldn’t be shocked to hear claims of “we knew that was coming” after the fact from people in TNA, I would be hard pressed to believe that to be true. In fact, Dixie Carter is addressing her talent as I type this and will finally do something she should have done weeks ago: Address the Network situation. She has been very negligent in doing so thus far, so it's hard to feel any sympathy for the position she is in. On the other hand, I do feel very badly for the good, hard-working people in TNA that are affected by this.
On the other side of the table, there were two definite winners today, ROH and the Network. And then, there was TNA. Their best case scenario seems like a bit of a reach at this point. Let’s take a look at how everyone fared today.
Ring Of Honor: Obviously, they are the slam dunk, no-brainer winner here. They have a great product and finally have a national outlet to use to show the country what they have to offer, or at least the chunk of the country that gets Destination America. They will bring their excellent product to the masses, and get to do so in the 8 p.m. hour, which as we have seen on Raw lately is a lot better than being on in the 10 p.m. hour. They also get to start the show during the summer, with less similar competing options. They incur no added expense and get revenue and exposure. It's a classic win-win. Also, if Destination America chooses to cut ties with TNA, they could easily add a second hour of Ring Of Honor to Wednesday evenings. ROH also gets to expose their product to a massive audience that they have not been able to reach before. It’s a great deal for the company and for Joe Koff. Congrats to them for pulling it off. There are so many good, hard working people there it makes me feel great for them to get this break. They now have half a year to secure their spot on the Network, which I have a strong feeling they will do. Best case scenario, they do really well and can then shop the show in six months, or get a nice raise from the Network.
Destination America: They are also winners here as they have no created a block of Wednesday programming that has great synergy. The big question is how long will it last? As Dave Meltzer reported last week, Destination America, at one point, made the decision to not renew TNA’s Impact after September. Then a few days later, Network executives were down in Nashville, talking about plans into next year. And, the move to Wednesday was announced. What seemed like a huge positive for TNA’s position then may now be viewed as a way to get TNA’s existing fan base over to Wednesday nights…..and sample the new product that the Network has brought in, the possible replacement to TNA. This could be a situation like when an NFL team brings in a young stud QB to sit a year behind an aging veteran. Or, it could be that the addition of ROH to Wednesday brings in more viewers and TNA can stay a part of the evening. Either way, it gives the Network options. If the ROH and the TNA audience are roughly the same, TNA loses a lot of leverage and will largely have to take whatever they can get from Destination America, if the Network even chooses to keep dealing with them. Even if ROH draws a smaller audience, if the product is more cost efficient and DA finds working with Koff much easier than working with Dixie Carter, they can still part ways with TNA. The Network is a big winner today as well.
Wrestling Fans: Fans across the country, who only could view ROH online, now can watch on them cable every Wednesday on TV. This is huge. Destination America reaches almost 60 million people and ROH will get the chance to show them the great product that they deliver. And, for as long as TNA stays on the Network, there is a three hour alternative block of wrestling for those fans who don’t want to watch the WWE product, and also for those that do. It’s a huge win for fans.
TNA: If there are winners, there is usually at least one loser. A few weeks ago, things seemed good for TNA. They were moving from the graveyard of Friday to the much better Wednesday time slot. They got some mainstream publicity with Billy Corgan coming on board. And while their audience had definitely taken a hit since their move from Spike TV to Destination America, they were still in business and they were still bringing in revenue for their flagship show, Impact. Plus, overall their shows were very good. Now, after being blindsided by the Network bringing in another wrestling company, things don’t seem so rosy. In fact, the outlook doesn’t look so good. When I heard the announcement, I was reminded of when WWE found out that Smackdown was moving from their great time slot on Thursday to the graveyard of Friday when it was announced at the upfronts. BAM, blindside shot to the head. That is what happened to TNA today. They went from being THE company on their Network to just another one. And now they are also in a position where they have lost all of their negotiating power and are even more beholden to the Network than they were before. For those that say, “Well if Destination America lets them go, they can sell their show elsewhere,” well yes, they can. But at what price? When two different Networks walk away from a program, the television business takes notice. If they stay on the Network, and ROH is successful, they lose a lot of their negotiating power as well. And even if ROH fails, which I doubt will happen, the Network was already reportedly ready to walk away from TNA. When they best spin you can put on it is, “They are still on Destination America and they have a chance to show they deserve to keep their spot”, it’s a loser of a day for you.
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