Welcome to another edition of The Wrestling Post. In this post, TNA finds a new TV deal and New Japan comes to America.
TNA finds its Destination
Last week, TNA Wrestling announced a multi-year TV deal with Destination America. TNA ends it run with Spike TV at the end of the year.
Destination America, which launched in May 2012, is owned by Discovery Communications and is in almost 60 million households. The question is will most people know they have the channel. TNA Wrestling will move to Destination America in January 2015.
Via TNA press release:
“Our partnership in this uniquely entertaining franchise with TNA IMPACT WRESTLING provides a significant addition to Destination America’s programming strategy,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President of Destination America, Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel, Discovery Fit & Health and Discovery Family Channel. “The enduring, cross-generational enthusiasm of pro wrestling is felt by millions of fans around the country, from coast-to-coast and throughout the heartland. We are delighted to bring this beloved American pastime to the one and only network dedicated to celebrating the unique spirit of the U.S., Destination America.”
Payout Take: TNA goes from being in 98.7 million homes (Spike TV) to 60 million. The good news is that it found a television home. We shall see how it will do on its new home and how it will market itself so that viewers will want to find it.
New Japan to AXS TV
New for 2015. New Japan Wrestling on American television. AXS TV has acquired 13 episodes from New Japan Pro Wrestling and will air on Friday nights at 9pm ET/6pm PT according to a press release.
More from the press release:
“With this acquisition, AXS TV FIGHTS now offers one of the most diverse combat sports and sports entertainment programming line-ups on television,” said AXS TV FIGHTS CEO Andrew Simon. “There is a strong relationship and influence between professional wrestling and MMA, and with the addition of Josh Barnett and Mauro Ranallo as our commentators, we’re confident this new venture will be a crossover hit with wrestling and MMA fans alike.”AXS TV’s NJPW episodes were produced by and purchased from TV ASAHI CORPORATION.
NJPW will serve as the lead-in to the weekly Friday night live MMA, Muay Thai and/or kickboxing broadcasts. Josh Barnett and Mauro Ranallo will provide commentary for the series. It’s an interesting acquisition and will draw the eyes of many wrestling fans that have heard about NJPW but have never seen entire matches.
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