From the 12/22/2014 issue:
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The TNA Best of show on 12/10 did 746,000 viewers, which explains why it was moved out of prime time, since the Cops reruns beat it out. Plus, the ratings again declined from start-to-finish.
TNA made another play for Alberto El Patron of late. It was said to be a very serious money offer (the number we heard was $400,000 for a one-year deal, and considering we don’t even know if TNA will be running house shows or how many, and they tape in bunches, and who knows about PPV going forward, so that could be a couple of dates a month) but the impression I have is they will either have to up the money or drop asking for exclusivity (in regard to things like PPV and the like). Plus El Rey has offered a substantial guaranteed money deal and the expectation is he’s going there. John Gaburick worked closely with him in WWE so that’s why they are hot to get him. TNA is pushing the idea that he’ll have more U.S. TV exposure than with anyone else, which may or may not be the case in comparison with ROH. It’s not even a lock (but it is probable) that TNA will beat the Unimas numbers for Lucha Underground, but for the demo he’d be strongest with, Lucha Underground on Unimas would hit it far harder. The reason why every wrestling promotion wants him and MMA groups want him as well is that everyone is looking for a Latin superstar. The feeling is that Latinos carry boxing, and they should be stronger in MMA, but aside from Cain Velasquez, nobody has really mobilized them as a fan base and even Velasquez, because he doesn’t work hard at promoting himself, hasn’t pulled big numbers out of that demo past his fight with Brock Lesnar and his first fight with Junior Dos Santos that he lost. TNA has constantly looked to make a Latin star and Bellator and other groups are looking at things the same way.
[/HIDE]Destination America has decided in its infinite wisdom to move TNA to a Friday from 9-11 p.m. time slot. Given that Smackdown lost 20% of its audience moving to Friday and never got it back, it shows almost an incredible lack of understanding of wrestling history to make this move. For all the talk of Destination America wanting TNA as its flagship show, you don’t put your flagship show on one of the two lowest viewing nights of the week. TNA will get a big push with a 12-hour marathon leading to the final Wednesday show on 1/7. The show is billed as being live, but will actually be on a two-hour delay, being taped at 7 p.m., but airing from 9-11 p.m. that night. Bobby Roode vs. Bobby Lashley for the TNA title will headline. The other names promoted for the debut show are Kurt Angle, Gail Kim, Jeff Hardy and Ethan Carter III. One would also expect a James Storm & Abyss vs. Hardy Boys match on the first set of tapings, since the Hardys won the tournament for a title shot in one of the last episodes on Spike. The move to Friday, from 9-11 p.m., comes in week two. The show will go head-to-head with Bellator, Glory and whatever other products Spike is offering as Spike’s idea is weekly Friday night combat sports from a variety of promotions in that slot. It also goes head-to-head with New Japan on AXS as well. They will also replay the show immediately, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., and have a third show on Saturday morning airing from 10 a.m. to Noon (which is 7 a.m. on the West Coast). The Saturday show will be called “Impact Wrestling: Unlocked.” It’ll have the same matches as the Friday show, but some of the interview segments will be removed and there will be a feature segment where Mike Tenay does investigative stories. Tenay will be back to being “The Professor,” and as noted before, will no longer be the lead announcer on Impact, with Josh Matthews in the spot. TNA wanted to keep Tenay. There will be backstage segments, personality profiles, as well as the top five ratings each week. The only thing we know is that Destination America made the decision to go with the Friday time slot and the Saturday morning for the replay show. There may be a second airing of Unlocked version of the show as well. Those in TNA were expecting the first-run Impact to remain on Wednesday. The only thing I can perhaps give as an explanation is that maybe they felt that there were two to three million wrestling fans used to watching wrestling on Friday nights, and, suddenly that’s open with Smackdown moving to Thursday.
An important note for those on the West Coast. Unlike Spike, Destination America only has one feed, so if you are on the West Coast, all those times are three hours earlier. The idea is that the replay show will be in prime time on the West Coast. . The last two Impact shows on Spike are 12/17 airing from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. and 12/24 from midnight to 2 a.m. There was no more point putting it on in prime time. There was nothing to build and rerunning Cops would do better numbers than they figured TNA would do in the slot. On 12/10, Cops from 8-9 p.m. saw both episodes in the top 100 in the demo, while TNA, in the more advantageous time slot, was not in the top 100 for the night.