— TNA released the following today…
TNA TO BROADCAST GENESIS ON SPIKE TV LIVE FROM HUNTSVILLE, AL., THURSDAY, JAN. 16
TNA is kicking off the new year with a new beginning as for the first time ever, the Genesis Pay-Per-View event will be broadcast free on SPIKE TV live from Huntsville, Ala. Fans will be part of four hours of history-making television as the Superstars of IMPACT WRESTLING bring the hard-hitting, high-flying action of Genesis to two epic IMPACT WRESTLING LIVE! broadcasts scheduled for Jan. 16, and Jan. 23, at 9 p.m. ET, on SPIKE TV.
TNA’s “Genesis” will be a special two-week event on SpikeTV, airing on Thursday, January 16 and Thursday, January 23! Both “Genesis” episodes will feature your favorite TNA superstars competing in high-stakes matches! Featured matches over the two weeks – and more to be announced – include the following:
– “The Icon” Sting vs. Ethan Carter III
– Cage Match: Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode
– Bully Ray vs. Mr. Anderson
– Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Madison Rayne
– Briefcase Match: “Cowboy” James Storm vs. Gunner
— WWNLive sent out the following today…
Everyone is talking about the WWE Network, and rightfully so. It is an out-of-the-box, game changer. WWE is basically sacrificing it’s DVD and PPV revenue in an effort to gain leverage to negotiate sky high TV rights. They believe their future business model will depend on TV right fees and not the traditional DVD/PPV market. They might be right, this might backfire on them, but either way this is the gutsiest thing they have done since the late 90s and the biggest game changer since Vince McMahon wiped out the territories and went national in the 80s.
So where does this leave independent wrestling?
Promotions like Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE, SHINE and Full Impact Pro are as mom-and-pop as it gets. WWE is Walmart. The WWNLive Family are the neighborhood grocery store that prides itself on delivering the highest quality and more personal service while adding to the community.
We are dependent on your DVD, iPPV and ticket sales. There will never be a huge TV deal in our future. You can see what happens when networks get involved. Then we wouldn’t be who we are. So we are not in a position to take the gamble WWE is sucking us all into with the WWE Network.
Just like Walmart did to the mom-and-pop, WWE is giving you a product at a price that the small guy can’t compete with. WWE’s goal is to use all this content for $10 a month to bump up the subscribers and then leverage that into more TV fees. In the process, they are lowering the price expectations consumers have for DVDs, PPV and iPPV, similar to what Walmart did for a loaf of bread.
Now we can whine and cry, beg for your business cause we “deserve” it because we bring you good wrestling, or we can do something about it. We can get fired up and figure out ways to produce a more interesting, exciting and creative product to you. This is our attitude going into EVOLVE tonight, tomorrow and Sunday nights.
Whether we like it or not, WWE just aggressively changed the game. They are taking a major risk and doing it balls-to-the-wall. We must adapt to keep your support and interest.
Evolve or die.
We invite you to witness it all begin tonight. You can attend this weekend’s cards by getting tickets at www.DGUSA.tv or at the door on the night of the show. There will be tickets available at the door for all three cards. If you can’t be there in person, we urge you to watch at www.WWNLive.com on worldwide live iPPV in HD widescreen.
