There’s been a lot of talk lately about what’s up with Impact Wrestling, the company formerly known as TNA, who despite having a good year in terms of the quality of their wrestling product, continue to struggle to get that product in front of people’s actual eyes. First they announce their move from an undesirable time slot on the Pop Network to an even worse time slot on the Pursuit Channel, a cable station that even fewer people get. Then there were rumors that parent company Anthem Entertainment was looking to sell off Impact, including a reported offer to All-Elite Wrestling, which the new company supposedly turned down.
Following this weekend’s Impact Homecoming PPV, there was a backstage meeting before TV tapings in Nashville, according to PWInsider, at which Anthem President Ed Nordholm addressed these recent concerns and encouraged the roster to take a positive attitude about Impact’s future.
Nordholm said that 2017 was a “learning year,” but that 2018 was all about getting Impact in a good position for the future, which Nordholm claims that they’ve done. Nordholm says that things are set up for a great 2019, including the move to the Pursuit Channel, which represents synergy for Anthem, since they have a stake in that channel as well. When a wrestler asked about the rumors Anthem has recently tried to sell Impact, Nordholm claimed any such rumors were false, and that nobody should expect Impact to be sold anytime soon.
Obviously a lot of what Nordholm said was pure spin, particularly the idea that moving to the extremely obscure Pursuit Channel is a good thing, regardless of who owns it. However, the decision to also stream the episodes for free on Twitch means that more people will potentially be able to watch than when the show was only on Pop. It’s also undeniably true that Impact’s product got a whole lot better over the course of 2018, so for those of us who still enjoy the company, it’s worth seeing how things go in 2019.
PWInsider also addressed the appearance of Scott Steiner at the TV tapings, and reported that Steiner was just doing a guest spot to celebrate the first Pursuit episode, and this shouldn’t be considered a full return by Steiner to Impact.
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