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NewsReports Say TNA Sent An Email To Their Entire Roster - What...

Reports Say TNA Sent An Email To Their Entire Roster – What Was Said & The Latest On Their Future

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Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer

UPDATE x 11: TNA officials have
reportedly told the talent that the rumors that Spike TV canceled Impact are not
true. TNA’s acting the same now as when the sale rumors began last year. They
emailed the wrestlers to tell them not to worry about the rumors. They are
expecting good news and will update the roster when they know more.

Meanwhile, it was previously reported that TNA was
losing around $45 million three years ago. While that number is lower now and
the loss has slowed down, they are still losing money.

UPDATE x 10: During the latest
edition of WOL Radio, the possibility of WWE buying TNA’s video library (if they
can’t get picked up by another network) was discussed.

An interesting note from that discussion was that TNA
has over 1,000 hours (approximately 1,400 hours) of footage and the going rate
from the WWE is about $500 per hour of footage. The word is that the offer from
WWE would be at around $500,000 for the entire TNA video library. This is of
course a worst case scenario situation, and again, is only
speculation.

Meanwhile, TNA is currently having issues shopping
the product because Hulk Hogan is no longer with them. Many networks view Hogan
as a big draw in wrestling. Since TNA doesn’t have Hogan anymore, it’s hurting
their reputation.

UPDATE x 9: Spike TV informed us
today that there are “ongoing negotiations” in regards to TNA iMPACT. They
refused to comment any further.

UPDATE x 8: As previously
reported, Spike TV will apparently not renew their contract with TNA and iMPACT!
Wrestling will be canceled if the company can’t find a new TV deal. Now Dave
Lagana, a former WWE creative writer and current Director of Creative Writing
for TNA, has allegedly approached Ring of Honor for a job. He reportedly wants
to produce future live PPV events and manage ROH’s online and social media
presence.

He has worked for TNA since October 2011. However,
after he left WWE (where worked as a writer and producer for six years), he
worked in Ring of Honor as a backstage producer. He gained some recognition of
the internet with the “I Want Wrestling” podcast in 2011. There appears to be
early interest from ROH in bringing him back.

UPDATE x 7: According to sources,
when asked for a comment on the story, a Viacom (the parent company of SpikeTV)
representative stated the following…

“Per Viacom company policy – we don’t
comment on ongoing negotiations.”

UPDATE x 6: Following the news
that Spike TV is not renewing TNA’s TV deal in October, Dixie Carter and TNA’s
Bob Ryder posted the following on Twitter today…

UPDATE x 5: Late Sunday night,
news broke that Spike TV has canceled TNA iMPACT! Wrestling and will not be
renewing their TV deal, which expires in October.

As noted earlier, TNA
held a major company meeting on Friday and dropped the bombshell news on her
staff. According to sources close to the situation, she attempted to spin the
situation in her favor, saying that TNA decided to leave Spike TV because they
failed to promote the company effectively. While she might have a point there,
all indications are that Viacom and Spike TV made the decision to end their
relationship with TNA for a variety of factors.

Spike’s decision to not
renew TNA’s TV deal was made immediately after news of Vince Russo working for
TNA became public. It was rumored for months that Russo was working as a
consultant for the company, which he and TNA vehemently denied. Earlier this
month, Vince Russo inadvertently CC’d Mike Johnson on an internal email intended
for Taz and Mike Tenay, essentially confirming that he was in fact working for
TNA.

There were many reasons that TNA did not want that knowledge made
public. First, Russo’s reputation speaks for itself and the majority of
wrestling fans would not have a lot of faith in TNA’s decision to rehire one of
the most infamous and controversial writers in the industry. There was also an
issue of TNA’s relationship with The Great Muta and his Japanese Wrestle-1
promotion, which currently has a partnership with TNA. Muta has very negative
feelings about Vince Russo due to his negative portrayal of Japanese wrestlers
over the years. It’s believed that he was assured Vince Russo was not working
for TNA when he agreed to partner with TNA and host Bound For Glory in Japan
later this year.

However, the main reason TNA did not want Russo’s
involvement made public was because Spike TV executives despise him. There are a
number of reasons Spike did not want anything to do with Russo, many of them
related to the type of programming Russo presented during his previous run with
the company.

TNA is obviously in a very bad spot right now. With just two
months before iMPACT! Wrestling is dropped from Spike TV, there is not a lot of
time for them to find another cable network willing to pick them up.
Additionally, it’s highly unlikely they will be able to negotiate a new contract
that will earn them anything close to what they were getting from Spike. TNA’s
current International TV deals are not lucrative enough to keep the company
going and the company will have a very hard time doing live shows in the Untied
States without a national TV clearance.

UPDATE x 4:
The Wrestling Observer notes that a number of media sources are now confirming
that Spike TV will not be renewing iMPACT! Wrestling when the contract expires
in just over two months.

There were reports that Carter positioned to her
staff at a meeting on Friday or Saturday that they were leaving Spike on their
own volition due to a lack of promotion, but others have confirmed Spike had
told Carter they were not going to offer a new deal.

The decision came
days after Spike found out that Vince Russo was still working for TNA.

At
this point direct sources at Spike did not respond to questions from just after
the meeting and most within TNA, including talent, were not aware there was any
issue until today when rumors started flying.

This puts the company in
grave position. They have UTA representing them in an attempt to get a new
television deal, but unless they could get a deal that pays similar to what they
were earning on Spike, financially, the company that had been struggling
financially with the Spike payments, would not be in good shape.

This
past Thursday’s episode was the highest audience for the series since April of
this year.

UPDATE x 3: Here is the full TMZ.com
article regarding the split between TNA and SpikeTV:

TNA
Wrestling’s flagship show “Impact Wrestling” could soon be without a home —
Spike TV quietly let the league know it’s not renewing their TV contract … TMZ
has learned.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the deal … tell
us Spike execs contacted TNA President Dixie Carter this week to break the news
— and the following day Carter informed members of her inner
circle.

TNA’s current deal with Spike reportedly runs through October.
It’s unclear at this point when “Impact Wrestling” will stop airing on
Spike.

We’re told there’s no bad blood, and Spike gave TNA such advance
notice so it would have time to shop for a new TV deal.

TNA’s show
debuted on Spike TV in October 2005 — and helped the league rise to #2 on the
wrestling scene … behind the WWE.

We’ve called TNA and Spike for comment
… so far, no word back.

UPDATE x 2:
According to TMZ, Spike TV “quietly” informed TNA that they would not be
renewing their TV contract. Sources close to the situation state that Spike TV
executives that contacted TNA President Dixie Carter this week to break the
news, with Carter breaking the news to members of her inner circle the next
day.

TNA’s contract reportedly runs through October, but at this time it
is not clear if they will run episodes through then or not. Spike TV reportedly
told TNA of the news now to allow them to shop for a new TV deal.

TNA
iMPACT! debuted on Spike TV back in October of
2005.

UPDATE: WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross sent out the
following very interesting tweets on Sunday night:

ORIGINAL: Okay so
take this as a rumor for now, but it’s a pretty big rumor and is getting some
traction around the internet, thus our reporting it to you. Dixie Carter held a
meeting at TNA headquarters in Nashville on Saturday and it concerned the
results of a meeting with Spike TV representatives on Thursday
afternoon.

According to sources, multiple people close to both TNA and
Spike TV have told them that Spike doesn’t want to renew its contact with TNA,
which would mean that iMPACT! would be cancelled if they can’t find a new
network very quickly. There’s no word on whether the negotiations are still
trying to work out a last-minute deal or not.

TNA’s deal with Spike is
reportedly set to expire in October. It’s important to note that the show is
still under contract to air in other countries, but whether that would be
economically feasible without the revenue from an American cable network or not
is up in the air.

More on this story, obviously, as we learn more.

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