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JR's Blog: SPIKE/IMPACT WRESTLING THOUGHTS...JR'S 'SPIN.'

Posted: Jul 29th 2014 By: Jim Ross

Crazy Monday on what could well be a unique week in the world of pro wrestling. Let's grill it.....

So, Sunday night TMZ reports that Spike TV isn't renewing their current TV rights fee arrangement with Impact Wrestling. I assume that to be true based on how TMZ presented the story but I'm on the outside (luckily) looking in. Today TNA/Impact says that negotiations are still on going with Spike while Spike says that they don't comment on "on going negotiations."

I knew the 'spin' on this matter would be prevalent once I heard the news Sunday night and whether or not this info is 'spin' or merely an update to settle things down, I don't know.

In the world of negotiations, Spike may simply be trying to pay a much lower rights fee to TNA than in the past and have made their position clear by saying that we are not renewing the deal at the current numbers.

Could Spike be thinking like TBS, Turner Broadcasting Systems, when Jim Crockett Promotions found themselves in financial trouble and TBS bought WCW and perhaps be looking to add a pro wrestling brand to their list of properties? Spike/Viacom recently bought out MMA company Bellator....which definitely needs a new name...BTW.

Those would be two fresh, first run programs that appeal to a primary male demo and that seems to be the Spike profile or so it seems to me based on their current programming more often than not.

Why would Spike want to get rid of one of the few shows on their network that garners over 1M viewers per week in prime time? That makes no sense to me but Spike negotiating to keep TNA at a lower dollar does.

Every once in a while many businesses have to hit the reset button and essentially start over with their infrastructure. Simply from what I hear it seems as if that is a timely thing to do for TNA and that process seemingly has already started. 'Crisis Management' was practiced daily by my department in WWE back in the day because we were always only a key injury, etc or two away from being in a dilemma.

Many of today's corporations are too fat and produce too much waste including having multiple people seemingly doing the same tasks. WWE has stated that they are reducing their overhead in a significant way much like we did in the mid 90's and that down sizing seemed to work out well for WWE over time.

Even though the news of TNA 'leaving' Spike is startling to many, especially those that take care of their families via the monies that they earn from TNA, I have a gut feeling that this is a matter that is still in play and that there well could be other cable networks who will have an interest in a TV show that 's first run and can bring a solid audience with them if they change networks.

The key to that last sentence is IF Impact changes networks.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 9 pm eastern my first of a two part interview with Sting drops on podcastone.com and iTunes on our Ross Report Podcast. I recorded this with Sting a few weeks ago and it's a two parter with part 2 dropping next Tuesday evening.

Also tomorrow night I will be catching up with Vince Russo, whose name has been linked to the ills of the TNA/Spike relationship. I am looking forward to catching up with Vince and talking Attitude Era Wrestling and more including TNA for a future podcast.

Finally WWE has their scheduled financial conference call set for this Thursday which will likely include an update on the WWE Network which continues to be the top priority within WWE. That particular call is greatly anticipated and for WWE's sake I hope that the number of subscribers to the network are growing significantly.

Lastly, the wrestling business needs to catch a break and get it's feet squarely back under them. Producing better and more believable, quality, athletic entertainment is a good place to start as we are seeing the results of bad acting, never ending promos and short, meaningless wrestling matches that many fans are not enjoying with the passion that was once the order of the day. Attendance at live events is down in many instances and that was and will always be one of the prime indicators of how popular the specific brand is to their fan base.

I'm pulling for the 'boys'....all of them!

Boomer Sooner!

J.R. @JRsBBQ