Truths & Lies: Breaking Down The TNA-POP TV Deal

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and “WWE Should Send John Morrison Down to FCW Right Now.”

Today, I will be writing about TNA Impact Wrestling signing with POP TV.

Don’t worry, it will be an accurate look at the situation – VERY accurate!

Reader Feedback

JSawyer80: Shera should be #33.

Let’s wait until after the India tour. If TNA Impact Wrestling is truly going to expand all over the globe soon, then give it a shot. Even if you dislike him on television, you have to understand the logic. Given this is TNA though, I expect it to go nowhere real fast. You know, the usual.

CS 22: I’ve refrained from criticising Roman for months now, but last night’s Raw showcased why he has to work harder. It’s not because fans are prejudiced in favor of “indy darlings”. It’s because some “indy darlings”, like Cesaro on this occasion, prove themselves to be more deserving of a push. The match wasn’t booked to make Reigns look strong (don’t know why) and it was clear who looked like the bigger star. I guess not everyone will be as giving for Reigns as Bryan was at Fastlane.

So IMHO, fans will start accepting him more when 2 things happen: a) His matches are booked more to his strengths and b) He only talks when he has to.

I’d argue Roman Reigns looked like the bigger star because he won and is all over the main event advertisements for the upcoming WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view and NOT Cesaro but whatever. Agreed on your last two points, however that goes for anybody. Focus on the positives, while hiding (and improving on) the negatives. Simple enough.

Street Robbery: “Huh? Who? What…What is this?” – Justin Watry described in six words.

…so says anonymous screen name user “Street Robbery.”

Carl Rood: The main problem with this World Title Series is that everything has come to a screeching halt. First, they brought Galloway’s momentum to a screeching halt with the hometown booking of Matt Hardy. Look, I never much liked Galloway being the standard bearer for TNA during the whole GFW thing because he hasn’t been there long enough to be in that role. However, if you’re going that route, you have to follow through.

The other titles are completely left out. OK the X-Division championship has been back burnered before and really is only relative in the month before Destination X. The Legends/Global/Television/King of the Mountain was really more about Jarrett and GFW, anyway. However, the Knockouts title actually had a little juice around it and the whole Dollhouse/Beautiful People thing had potential. Now, only one person involved will have been on TV for months.

Assuming they have a TV contract for 2016, TNA needs to get themselves a permanent home where they can tape at least monthly. They’ve made mistakes over the years, some of which were things fans were clamoring for (live Impacts on the road). Now they need to reset and start building from scratch.

Good stuff as always Carl. Appreciate hearing from you again.

Bubbles: It is amazing how many “accidental” clicks you get. Not me. I enjoy most of your articles. I have to question this one, though. If you’re as anti-TNA as you’ve made yourself out to be, why dedicate an entire article to ranking their wrestlers?

Fair is fair. As I was ranking everybody in my WWE World Title tournament column (on another website), it hit me: “TNA Impact Wrestling is also doing a tourney! I should rank them too.” Boom, column created.

Juan Jimenez: Come on the Knockouts have a better chance of winning the title than Mark Andrews and the X Division guys

Yeah, you are right. Last week, my column went into many directions, which was not my intention. This week, I will stick to one direction…

The triumphant return of Truths & Lies! Yay. Probably just a one week thing. Either way, I did it for the previous TNA Impact Wrestling television deal and felt it was fitting…

I was right about TNA and Destination America crumbling back in November 2014.

This is a TRUTH statement every step of the way. On November 25th, 2014, my column was posted. It covered the departure from Spike TV all the way to their impending arrival on Destination America and how things would fall apart within months. Needless to say, it all happened. Despite the overconfident press releases, all the promises, all the hoopla, blah, blah, blah. I saw through it all and predicted doom six weeks before they even premiered on the network. If you want to re-live what I wrote nearly one year ago, Google it.

Dave Meltzer was right.

Another TRUTH to the surprise of his critics (guilty as charged…sometimes).

Back in May 2015, it was reported that Destination America was planning to cancel ALL TNA programming by the end of the third quarter of the year. Another timeline said the end of 2015. Regardless, an internal memo leaked, and all heck broke loose. TNA, of course, denied denied denied denied denied denied, which usually means it is the opposite. Sure enough, rumors persisted, and here we sit.

Another new TV deal. Another great group of quotes from Dixie Carter, and executives about how exciting times are ahead!

Nearly word for word everything said about Destination America last November too.

Long story short, I have absolutely been a critic of Meltzer in the past and still am. Even so, he has been in this business longer than just about all of us and does indeed break major stories on a regular basis. He nailed this one back in May.

For all the TNA fans crying about the cancellation reports for the past six months:

TNA signing with POP TV was a shock.

I will go with LIE because the night before the announcement I wrote a column (on another website) discussing it as if it were a done deal. Barely spent time on WGN America or any other network because it never made too much sense. Fact is TNA is nowhere near a high end level, so every time a huge TV channel was brought up as a possible landing spot, I would just laugh.

Like last time, there were not a lot of options. NBCUniversal was out because of WWE. Sports networks were not happening. Spike TV, despite what their executive told me earlier in the summer, felt like a long shot as long as the Carter family refused to sell the company. That left POP TV, MyNetwork TV, ION, and other places with low viewership as realistic opportunities.

Low viewership places? Well, TNA it is then!

Changing nights for the 374th time will matter.

Yawn.

This is a LIE and goes for every show on every network.

The night is not the problem. The time slot is not the problem. I say this each time TNA moves their schedule and attempts to spin it as some sort of ground breaking move. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Friday, Monday – now Tuesday is supposed to be the saving grace for viewers watching TNA.

Good grief.

If viewers want to watch, they will watch.

Over two million viewers watched Thursday night on Spike TV in late 2011.

Heck, didn’t a Friday edition earlier this year draw over 500,000 viewers for a Lockdown special or something?

Last week drew barely 200,000 viewers on Wednesday.

You know, Wednesday…the big night of the week that was designed to ‘pop’ ratings.

Yeah.

I look forward to rumors of yet another night change for TNA in a few months…hey, maybe we can try out Mondays again?

I get POP TV.

This is a LIE for those wondering.

I also did not get Destination America.

POP is in more available homes than Destination America.

Believe it or not, this is the TRUTH but does not tell the entire story.

Why?

The prime time average viewership is actually higher on Destination America. Unreal, huh?

More people watch Destination America than POP TV, so who cares about availability?

A few days ago, a rerun of Dawson’s Creek made the Top 150 cable shows ranking for the main demographic in television listings from POP TV with a mind blowing 88,000 viewers!

Now that is a pop alright….

TNA did not make the Top 150 list last week.

Spike TV is in 95 million homes, and one of their new shows just got only 193,000 viewers in prime time last week.

WWE Tough Enough was LIVE on freakin’ USA Network and had all the backing in the world, yet still was a dud.

ESPN (and ESPN 2) shows routinely get only a few hundred thousand viewers in prime time, all the while being a monster on cable.

Bottom line: TNA will dress up the fact that POP TV is available in a lot of homes…but if people don’t care to turn on the station, it is irrelevant. They could be in 300 billion homes. It is still TNA not being watched.

TNA is a good fit for POP TV.

I lean TRUTH here believe it or not but fear it becomes a LIE over time.

Reruns of old 1990’s shows. A few original series shown…and Big Brother After Dark! Oh yeah baby.

My gut says TNA will slide into the schedule with ease next January and do just fine. My prediction for viewership is the same I predicted for their Destination America run – about 500,000 viewers each week more or less.

The problem is that POP is centered around female viewers and that demographic. Soap opera reruns do relatively well for the network and currently air on Tuesdays (before TNA). Right off the bat, that is worrying. Females will not watch a soap opera episode and then stay tuned for wrestling. Even worse, a show called “TNA” Impact Wrestling. Unless the schedule shifts or TNA moves nights (again!), I’m not sure the connection works.

PWTorch had the full breakdown, but the numbers do not add up. POP TV has a massive 70-30 split favoring female viewers, but TNA is a completely reversed trend with a very small female demo. That doesn’t bode well…but is not the end of the world I suppose. Overall, POP TV seems to be welcoming TNA with open arms and a whole ton of hype.

Just remember – Destination America did the same.

TNA will last more than a year on POP TV and enjoy a lengthy run on the network.

Flip a coin on this one folks.

Last year, I called it all pertaining the laughable deal with Destination America, even when it appeared all was rainbows and sunshine leaving supposed terrible Spike TV and FINALLY finding a good partner to air programming.

This time around, I’m stumped. The female demo thing is a concern. The low viewership average is a concern, despite the availability nonsense. However, there is always a sense of optimism in the air whenever you start anew. TNA has that right now, love them or hate them. I have referred to them as wrestling’s cockroach before and stand by the term. They do nothing but exist and survive without actually doing anything. Well, 2016 is coming TNA…

Do something.

Anouncement

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Teaser

I wrote this column before WWE Survivor Series and Raw, so unless something was announced about her on Sunday or Monday, I am glad I never posted anything specific on my big exclusive dating back to October.

*whew*

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