wrestling / Columns

Is TNA Impact About To Be WWE Impact?

September 29, 2016 | Posted by RSarnecky
Dixie Carter TNA Wrestling Impact Credit: Impact Wrestling

“Live from the Impact Zone, it’s Shane McMahon!” Will we hear this stunning proclamation on Sunday night at Bound for Glory? If you asked me this a year ago, I would have said that there was no chance that the WWE would be able to do the same thing to TNA that they did with World Championship Wresting. It’s not that I had a hard time believing that Vince McMahon wouldn’t have interest in purchasing the Orlando based wrestling organization. They have fifteen years work of video that features some of the top stars to ever grace the WWE. That’s gold for the WWE Network, and the WWE Home Video collections. If the WWE produced a blu ray documentary on Kurt Angle, they would be missing a huge part of his career without including some of his classic TNA matches with the likes of Samoa Joe. Same holds true if they ever wanted to produce a Samoa Joe or AJ Styles documentary. I just thought that Dixie Carter would never sell the company to Vince McMahon, because then she knows the company would be disbanded.

PROBLEMS


Fast forward a year later, and it seems that the WWE has a very good shot of becoming the new owners of TNA wrestling. The favorite still has to be Billy Corgan. Corgan has been putting a lot of money into TNA to fund their television tapings. So much, that he owns a great deal of it’s minority stake. According to Corgan during an interview on ESPN, a deal between Dixie Carter and Billy Corgan is weeks away from being complete. This is where issue number one comes into play. Dixie Cater doesn’t have the capital to air this Sunday’s pay per view, nor does she have the money for the next set of television tapings. Unless Corgan wants to dip into his bank account yet again, TNA needs to sell the company by Friday. It’s possible that Corgan gives the money for the pay per view and TV tapings in order to extend their negotiating window. He could probably have that money included as money already paid when he purchases the company from her.

Another issue has to do with the company’s debt. Whomever purchases TNA also purchases the debt that the company owes. They will then be responsible for paying off that debt. If the company sells for $4 million to $6 million, then the new owner will also have to cough up any additional money to TNA’s numerous creditors. According to Dave Meltzer, the number that they owe out is actually higher than the amount that the company is worth. So, the new owner would actually be paying at least double the price for the company in order to purchase TNA and to pay off the debt. Would Billy Corgan really want to pay that much for a company that is currently dying off?

WHAT CAN BE DONE?


At this point, Billy Corgan and Vince McMahon both sit in the best position possible. By waiting it out, they can both probably get what they want from the remnants. Corgan has already stated that if he purchased TNA, he would change the name amongst other things. If Vince McMahon isn’t going to purchase TNA, why even bother to purchase it if you are Corgan? Wait for Dixie to declare bankruptcy, and then build your own company that doesn’t the failed stigma of TNA on it. Corgan already has the connections with Pop-TV, so I don’t think he would be in danger of losing what was TNA’s television time slot. He can then sign the “former” TNA wrestlers to deals himself. I’m sure that Vince McMahon would raid some former TNA talent, but he isn’t going to grab every one. That would probably be the biggest negative for Corgan waiting for Cater to declare bankruptcy, and then starting his own company. The biggest benefit would be that he wouldn’t have to pay Dixie Carter for the company, nor would he have to pay the creditors that she owes.

For Vince, it is smart to wait it out, because then he can do what he did with ECW. He can pay pennies on the dollar for the tape library, and any important trademarks that he may want to use. By waiting Vince doesn’t have to purchase a company that he doesn’t want. He only needs to purchase the parts that interest him. Also, by waiting, he can cherry pick the TNA wrestlers that he wants to bring to the WWE under WWE contracts. He will not have to honor their TNA deals. That’s important for the WWE because they wouldn’t want to hurt the moral of their current roster, and their own salary structure, if the WWE was paying a high salary to a midlevel TNA wrestler just because Dixie overpaid to get them. That’s why the Invasion didn’t include the likes of Hulk Hogan, Sting, Bill Goldberg, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. Vince McMahon was never going to bring them in, and pay them the money they were making from their inflated Turner deals.

BUYING TNA


For the WWE, purchasing TNA, instead of waiting it out, would be smart on so many levels. First, the WWE is worth over one billion dollars. Paying $5 or $10 million to the people that TNA owes money to is not a problem. The creditor issue would mean nothing to them.

Secondly, by purchasing the company they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else buying it. Therefore, they would be guaranteed to get the TNA video library and trademarks that they would crave in the deal. The WWE showed that owning a video collection of certain promotions can bring back much more profit for the company then what they spent to acquire it.

Finally, the WWE needs to acquire more talent- desperately! If anything this latest WWE brand split has shown us is that the WWE has very little talent depth on its roster. The WWE needs more bodies. Not only does their main roster need more performers, but NXT is starting to lack depth as well. Once Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, the Revival, and Asuka move up to the main roster, NXT will be officially depleted of talent. Purchasing TNA will allow them to bring up big names like Matt and Jeff Hardy to the main roster, while younger TNA performers continue to progress in NXT before being called up to the main roster.

If possible, Vince can also do what he was going to originally do with World Championship Wrestling if he wanted. He could keep TNA alive, and hand the keys over to Shane McMahon to run. This way, he would have his daughter and son in law pretty much running the WWE, while his son runs TNA. If he really wants his children to both take the reigns of the wrestling business, this will give both an opportunity to run a promotion while still be under the corporate umbrella of the WWE.

What will happen is anyone’s guess? Will Corgan purchase the company that he has invested enough money in already? Will Vince McMahon purchase the company to run another promotion or to cherry pick what he wants from it before closing it’s doors forever? Will Dixie declare bankruptcy for TNA? Will TNA even air Bound for Glory 2016 and their latest set of television tapings? By the time you read this article, many of these questions may already be answered. Regardless of what happens, we are about to witness the most interesting time, from a behind the scenes standpoint, in wrestling history since WCW and ECW closed it’s doors in 2001. Let the games begin.