Ring of Honor to Destination America Benefits Everyone (Even TNA!)

Introduction: Earlier today, it was announced that Ring of Honor would be debuting on Destination America on June 3rd at 8 pm EST. The initial speculation for many was that this was the final nail in the coffin for TNA after cancellation rumors emerged last week. And while that may still be the case, Destination America’s press release paints a different picture, with network apparently looking to use RoH and TNA as a one-two punch against El Rey’s Lucha Underground, which started airing on Wednesday nights last October, and the WWE Network’s NXT, which moved to Wednesday nights back back in January of this year. Whether Destination America is truly intent on building a weekly wrestling block on Wednesday nights or if they signed Ring of Honor as TNA’s eventual replacement, one thing is certain: the current setup should benefit both promotions as long as it lasts.

Since rumors of SpikeTV canceling TNA leaked last July, the near-constant cries for the promotion’s demise have reached deafening levels, and that was only exacerbated by Dave Meltzer reporting last week that Destination America would exercise an out clause in their contract with TNA to terminate their agreement to air the promotion’s weekly flagship program, Impact, effective in September of this year. Since that time, multiple sources affiliated with TNA have refuted the rumor, with Destination America staying silent on the matter. When a Tweet from Destination America announced that Ring of Honor would begin airing on the network on June 3rd, the same night that Impact was scheduled to move to Wednesdays, many believed that this signalled the end of TNA’s tenure on Destination America. Shortly after the Tweet was posted, Destination America issued a press release that established that Ring of Honor would not be replacing Impact, but acting as a lead-in for the show, but that did little to silence TNA’s naysayers.

And while this could certainly be a case of Destination America using TNA, which is already established on the channel (albeit on another night), to familiarize their audience with the promotion’s eventual replacement, it could also be as simple as Destination America executives seeing WWE run a three-hour RAW every week and looking to match the most successful weekly wrestling show, at least in quantity. With no sources inside Destination America or either wrestling promotion, we’re left to speculate on what motivated the network’s decision, but I’d prefer to take another tact – looking at how this relationship between Destination America, Ring of Honor, and TNA can benefit all three parties.

For Destination America

If you’ve ever looked at Destination America’s schedule, it’s essentially a barren wasteland of shows you might linger on if you were flipping through the channels, but nothing is really “Must See TV”. For instance, today’s schedule, a week before the Wednesday premieres of both RoH and Impact, was filled with a 9 am to 5 pm block of a Haunting, followed by a 5 pm to midnight marathon of BBQ Pitmasters (which, as VicVenomBytes will be quick to tell you, beats Impact in the ratings, though I believe that’s for live airings and not marathon blocks like this). That’s a fifteen-hour block of second-run content, and regardless of how Destination America feels about TNA, replacing even three hours of that with first-run content (whether live or taped) is good business for the network, as advertisers can refuse to pay full price for ads that air during rerun episodes of shows.

Perhaps more importantly, though, adding Ring of Honor to its stable of first-run content allows Destination America to promote itself as “the home for wrestling every Wednesday evening”. Their strategy is a solid one, one that has been used for years by television executives – while the fanbases for Ring of Honor and TNA almost surely overlap in some capacity, by putting them together into a three-hour block, Destination America hopes to grow the audiences of both brands. If Ring of Honor fans tune into Destination America for that broadcast, there’s the possibility that they won’t change the station once Impact starts, and if TNA fans tune into Impact a few minutes early and see another wrestling program on, there’s a chance that they’ll make it a point to tune in earlier the following week and learn more. To that end, expect to see DA-sponsored advertising for TNA during RoH’s broadcast, and advertising for Ring of Honor during Impact.

Lastly, if Destination America really has soured on TNA, signing Ring of Honor potentially gives them a bargaining chip, especially if the newcomer to the network outperforms what was once the fledgling network’s top-rated show. Not only would that scenario give them the justification for opting out of their deal with TNA in September, it also gives Ring of Honor a trial run on their new network before possibly moving to TNA’s 9 pm timeslot in the fall. Regardless of how the next few months play out for TNA and their relationship with their current network, barring Ring of Honor being a major failure, Destination America should find themselves in an advantageous position come September – either they will have two successful wrestling shows, or they will have a new show to replace one that they have perhaps given up on.

For TNA

Aside from the aforementioned (hypothetical) scenario of Ring of Honor fans sticking around to watch Impact after their show is over, TNA should also benefit from the addition of another program to Destination America that doesn’t feature ghosts, cryptozoology, or barbecue. Just as Destination America is able to better brand itself as a wrestling-oriented station (at least for one night a week), Impact becomes (for now) the crown jewel of the network’s wrestling block, rather than an outlier from the usual glut of pseudo-reality programming that the network usually runs. Plus, with Destination America refocusing on wrestling, it stands to reason that they will air more advertisements for both wrestling promotions during airings of other shows on the network. While that has not necessarily proven to be a boon to TNA thus far, free advertising is free advertising, and it is certainly not something that the promotion should turn down.

And, unless Ring of Honor severely outperforms TNA in terms of both ratings and advertiser confidence, it gives the promotion a measure of vindication as it relates to both of those metrics. If Ring of Honor is also outperformed in the ratings by shows like BBQ Pitmasters and Mountain Monsters, then what many of TNA’s critics have referred to as a failure on the part of the promotion instead looks more like a poor fit between the network and professional wrestling, especially if Destination America does step up their in-house advertising for both promotions. And considering TNA’s struggles to generate the ad rate that Destination America was expecting, I doubt a show that has only previously aired on syndication, with commercials for DUI lawyers and phone sex lines, is going to fare much better with major advertisers. (Although I could be completely wrong if advertisers were scared off after Spike opted not to renew TNA’s contract last year.)

For Ring of Honor

Obviously, the biggest benefit for Ring of Honor is a true national television deal, with exposure in major markets where Sinclair may not yet have a foothold. In an appearance in Fact or Fiction Wrestling a while back, I mentioned that RoH’s syndication deal with parent company Sinclair’s networks essentially gave them a national television deal with similar household penetration to El Rey or Destination America. Initially, commenters scoffed at that notion, but further research into the market penetration of each network actually bore that claim out, with the Sinclair Network stations reaching an approximate 87 million homes, compared to Destination America’s approximate 57 million and El Rey’s nearly 25 million. So, on paper, if Destination America is available in less households than Ring of Honor’s current broadcast deal, how does this benefit the promotion? Simply put, it gives them the same timeslot nationwide, as well as access to major markets where Sinclair does not have a presence. The icing on the cake for Ring of Honor is that they aren’t being forced to give up their current deal with Sinclair either, as this deal with Destination America is reportedly a 26 episode “trial run”.

In my opinion, Ring of Honor is more likely to benefit from the three-hour programming block than TNA, at least as far as attracting new fans from the other promotion’s fanbase. As I mentioned before, TNA fans who tune to Destination America a few minutes early are going to see at least part of Ring of Honor’s main event for that particular week. And for all of the justified criticism Ring of Honor has received over the years for homophobic, misogynist, or otherwise offensive booking, the one area where they’ve almost always been unassailable is their in-ring product. This was proven once again a few weeks ago with their co-promoted shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling. To me, that means there is a good possibility that TNA fans who may not have heard of Ring of Honor or who had no way to watch it previously would be more inclined to tune in the following week. Plus, if Destination America is in fact grooming Ring of Honor to replace TNA in September, this gives them at least three full months to try to get fans to subscribe to (or at least tune in to) Destination America.

For the Fans

Finally, and for what should be most important to anyone who is a fan of wrestling, it certainly appears that Destination America has doubled down on their commitment to airing professional wrestling. It has been said more eloquently by far better writers than myself, but the mantra remains true: the more professional wrestling available to the average fan, the better off the fans are. Ring of Honor is now going to be more widely available to fans who may have wanted to tune in for years but didn’t get Sinclair channels in their area, TNA now has a lead-in that is more fitting than a show about barbecuing, and, as mentioned, Destination America can now claim to provide “a one-two-punch to professional wrestling”.

With RAW and Smackdown treading water more often than not over the past handful of years, Wednesdays should now be the night that wrestling fans are looking forward to, as the combination of Lucha Underground, NXT, Ring of Honor, and Impact should provide something of interest for every fan. The only real downside that I can see is that fans are going to be forced to choose between Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, and NXT, all of which air at 8 pm EST. Thankfully, because of DVR (and NXT available on-demand literally as soon as the new episode starts on the Network), it’s not as difficult a decision as it would have been during the Monday Night Wars. Realistically, a fan could watch three hours of wrestling on Mondays, three hours on Wednesdays, and four hours on Thursdays (or vice versa) and still be caught up on all of the major American promotions. I said it before in a column about my disappointment with the WWE’s booking leading up to Wrestlemania, but it bears repeating here – even if you’re tired of the WWE’s booking since their purchase of WCW allowed them to grow complacent, 2015 is a great year to be a wrestling fan, and Ring of Honor joining TNA on Destination America is another fine example of that.

Wyatt Beougher is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling who has been writing for 411 for over three years and currently hosts MMA Fact or Fiction and reviews Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.