WWE ALMOST HAD A
DEAL TO AIR IMPACT WRESTLING ON THE WWE NETWORK
WHAT'S THE STORY?
Recently Dave Meltzer revealed as part of his Wrestling
Observer Newsletter that the rumored new promotion from Cody and
the Young Bucks, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) turned down the opportunity to
purchase Impact Wrestling, however they weren't the only notable wrestling
company that were approached!
IN CASE YOU DIDN'T
KNOW...
Impact Wrestling have gone through a tumultuous few years
but now seem to be stabilizing under current owners Anthem. Their recent
television product and pay-per-views have been critically acclaimed and the
promotion definitely seems to have turned a corner. Despite this, however,
their viewership on Pop TV was falling. This has seen them move to the Anthem-owned Pursuit Channel after
reports of them looking for a new network to call their home.
There was also some buzz created a few months back when news
of a meeting between Impact Wrestling officials and WWE officials hit
the internet. The subject of this meeting has not been officially revealed with
Impact officials stating that it was not about the sale of the company or its
library to WWE.
THE HEART OF THE
MATTER
Immediately, after the news of the meeting between Impact
Wrestling and WWE officials
broke I was told that the meeting was about something potentially huge, but my
source couldn't reveal the extent of what that was at the time.
Time went on and nothing happened and it all seemed to
fizzle out. My source then revealed that the meeting was about Impact and WWE
working out a deal where Impact Wrestling would run on the WWE Network.
The deal would have seen Impact airing weekly on the WWE
Network on a long-term basis with WWE owning a proportion of the company and
gaining access to Impact's library. Impact would be able to run shows on PPV
weekends that were promoted on the network. However this fell through because
the two companies couldn't agree on how big a share of Impact WWE would own.
I wasn't going to publish this as I have been unable to confirm
it with multiple sources, but as Dave Meltzer is reporting that they tried to
sell to a company that doesn't exist yet, I thought why not. Please do take
this with a heavy pinch of salt though!
WHAT'S NEXT?
Things aren't looking good for Impact Wrestling, but they've
been written off before and are still here so I'd definitely not be foolish
enough to bet against them. Especially when they have a great roster, are
putting out great content and simply just need wrestling fans to get behind
them again.
If you are reading this and are on the fence about investing
time into watching Impact Wrestling then don't be. I can tell you now, that
it's decent and worth watching!
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