TNA on WGN? Panda want to put TNA on the map and more

[GODSON]

TNA NOTES & NEWS
by Mike Johnson @ 10:12:00 AM on 4/18/2005


According to a number of sources, don't be surprised if Dusty Rhodes is out as booker sooner or later. At this point, it appears both sides will be happy when that comes to pass. There are some who say Rhodes is unhappy that his legs are being cut out from under him (one source noted that Chris Candido, who Rhodes pushed hard for, has yet to be signed to a deal) and there is also a feeling that Rhodes is taking the heat for ideas that aren't his (such as the all Cage PPV, which he distanced himself from on radio appearances last week) when others were responsible for the ideas. One of the main complaints of those working in the company about Rhodes was that he would tune out suggestions and ideas from others and simply do what he wanted. There was a feeling that Rhodes told the X-Division he would focus on them (which gave morale a huge boost) and then did the exact opposite (which sent it plummeting), although he did give Christopher Daniels his biggest singles push to date. A lot of Rhodes' ideas were taken out of the equation at the last Impact! taping.

Another major change over the last week was a new Vice President for the company, Frank Dickerson, who is said to have been a major higher-up executive for Panda Energy with a legal background. A number of people have commented to me over the last several days that his appointment to the position is a sign that Panda is serious about finally making major moves to put the company on the map.

The internal word is that the company is hoping to get on Spike TV, with WGN as a backup plan. There were some in the company who were positive about their presentation to Spike several weeks ago, although others are taking a "wait and see" attitude. The feeling is that something needs to be signed soon if they are going to take advantage of the fall season.

As of right now, there are no dates announced beyond this June's Third Anniversary PPV at Universal Studios, but there is said to be an announcement on a July PPV event coming shortly.

Expect a huge push for AJ Styles over the next several months.

Sonjay Dutt has been added back on the TNA Superstars page on their website. His deal had expired sometime back, but with the new emphasis on the X-Division, it appears he'll be returning soon enough.

Some notes from Bill Banks' new column: Lockdown is planned as an annual event. If that is the case, they should never (and I mean NEVER) break out the cage except for that show....Weapons are legal in the Team Jarrett vs. Team Nash six man tag....Dustin Rhodes vs. Bobby Rude will be a "Prince of Darkness" match (blindfold match)....Apolo vs Lance Hoyt has been added to the show....Footage from the IWA Puerto Rico events over the weekend will air on this Friday's Impact!....The Best of Raven DVD will be released this week.

Pwinsider.com

TNA out of business? You still believe that bull if you want.

Dusty is about to be fired, YEA!!!

Styles is about to take over the wrestling world. He deserve it, when you see him wrestle you can tell he bring something different among the big two.

[Kane Knight]

This article are sayz that the will is on Spike too. Spike am blow likely.

You report mean nothing in term of actual save TNA.

[Loose Cannon]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Dave Youell]

Well Spike annoucned yesterday that they wont pick them up so WGN would be good. Being english i of course have no idea who WGN are but still, good for them

[Kane Knight]

Also, you are report old new.

[Kane Knight]

Well Spike annoucned yesterday that they wont pick them up so WGN would be good. Being english i of course have no idea who WGN are but still, good for them
Being American, I've never heard of them either.

[Loose Cannon]

WGN is the shittiest cable channel on.

[Dave Youell]

So in other words GODSON...You suck. Sorry

[Dave Youell]

if WGN is rubbish why would they want to go there instead of FOX Sports Net which i asume has a bigger audience?

[Loose Cannon]

I think WGN has the bigger audience, but it's lineup is just pure shit.

[Kane Knight]

WGN is the shittiest cable channel on.
And TNA is the shittiest wrestling on.

Does WGN have a wide market?

[Loose Cannon]

I never heard og WGN until I moved to NC, so I don't think it plays in the North East. Basically, it's Chicago based station that plays WB and UPN shows. It doesn't reach a lot, but it reaches more then Fox Sports I would imagine

[Loose Cannon]

Actually, it's not as bad a station as I made it out to be. I guess

[Kane Knight]

I never heard og WGN until I moved to NC, so I don't think it plays in the North East. Basically, it's Chicago based station that plays WB and UPN shows. It doesn't reach a lot, but it reaches more then Fox Sports I would imagine
WGN is apparently national on comcast. I'm considering switching anyway, since Adelphia's being a bitch.

[jerichoholic169]

did i just see dustin rhodes vs bobby rude will be a blindfold match?!?! this PPV is gonna be stupid.

[Kane Knight]

Come on, blindfold matchs kick ass!

[Kane Knight]

:shifty:

[PullMyFinger]

WGN is shitty indeed, but TNN was just as shitty too at first. The Nashville Network :rofl:

[PullMyFinger]

Why don't they just go on TBS or TNT and give half the company to Turner? LOL

[DaveWadding]

WGN is basically the Chicago version of TBS.

[The Mackem]

You know, the American television/cable network is really confusing to an outsider :D

[Kane Knight]

You know, the American television/cable network is really confusing to an outsider :D
Or anyone.

[PureHatred]

What DW said. Because of their ironclad deal to to broadcast the Cubs and ChiSox they actually do appear in quite a few homes. But they show some incredibly bland shows (Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman for example) and I think its a huge if that they would pick up pro-wrestling in any form. It just doesn't mix with their "family first" approach.

[Kane Knight]

What DW said. Because of their ironclad deal to to broadcast the Cubs and ChiSox they actually do appear in quite a few homes. But they show some incredibly bland shows (Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman for example) and I think its a huge if that they would pick up pro-wrestling in any form. It just doesn't mix with their "family first" approach.
Come on, the family that oils up and grapples one another homoerotically, stays together. Look what it did for the McMahons.

Buuuut seriously.

Family values are subjective. ABC family just aired "Blazing Saddles." Because nothing says family programming like "up yours, nigger!"

[PureHatred]

True....but this is a network that seems to air an episode of 7th heaven whenever they have a hole in thier schedule. I'm just wondering how quickly they'd sign up after they see an episode of Impact.

If the booking doesn't turn them off, the caged go-go dancers might.

But, honestly, for the sake of competition, I'm wrong. I hope TNA ends up on WGN and in an incredible bit of cross-promotion Joss Whedon becomes the head booker.

Jeff Jarrett would still be the 'Chosen One' but he'd spend hours bitching about how he just wants a normal life and can't concentrate on his next match because his parents are getting divorced.

[James Steele]

WGN is some fucking channel out of Chicago (it even airs the local Chicago news here) and I LIVE IN FUCKING TEXAS. Why would I give a fuck about Chicago. Seriously. Also, they have the shittiest line up ever. It is like TV Land's dorky less cool cousin.

[DaveBrawl]

Last time I watched WGN all they were airing was Fresh Prince of Bell Air and Cubs games, and like JamesSteele said the Chicago news, which really appealed to me in Virginia.

[James Steele]

The fact I hate baseball doesn't help their case either for me. :lol:

[Boondock Saint]

LOL Joss Whedon

[SuperSlim]

yeah WGN is a piece of crap channel

but what the blue hell? blindfolded in a cage match? There is retarded but this is beyond retarded.

[tucsonspeed6]

OK, ok....so let me get this straight:

WGN plays Cubs games and possibly TNA wrestling, blindfold matches, although they only have one possible finish where the ref gets distracted and the heel peeks to do his finisher, are awesome (might have been some sarcasm there...), and GODSON owns a nail sallon.

Or is it a dry cleaner?

[Kane Knight]

Vaccuum cleaner. He sucks.

[donley100]

There are technically 2 WGN's.

WGN-TV/9 Chicago
WGN Superstation which is what we recieve on cable/satellite.

WGN 9 is the WB affiliate for Chicago. WGN Superstation runs a movie in place of primetime programming from The WB. Or any programming from The WB. Since most of the programming is the same, that's why WGN News appears on both feeds. TNA would likely do the same thing.

[DaveWadding]

I like WGN though, maybe because I'm a diehard Cubs fan :$

[PullMyFinger]

Those lovable losers hahahaha

[BloodRiotZero]

What the fuck is WGN!?!? Is that the same channel that TNA was going to pay a shitload of money to be on Sunday mornings before their FSN deal?

I guess Time Warner/Cablevision subscribers don't get that channel. TNA should get on WLNY-TV, NY 55!

[Amaroqwolf]

I can't watch WGN and I live in the Chicago Area, (shakes head) Well I can watch it if I can kick my mom off the TV with Cable. (Shrugs) Oh well

[Loose Cannon]

Don't know if you guys saw this news anywhere, but I Chris Murray over at Between the Ropes posted this. It's Interesting

-------------------------------------

For possible clarification, Meltzer reported in this week's Observer that UFC will be moving to Saturday nights on Spike after Raw jumps to USA. So beginning on 9/24 or 10/1 (whichever week Raw makes the move), The Ultimate Fighter will air Saturday night at 9:00pm ET. Prior to the reality show will be a one-hour taped show of old UFC bouts at 8:00pm ET. Meltzer said they also plan to show another one-hour show of past fights at 10:00pm ET, thus making Saturday night into UFC night on the network. That contradicts Keller's report of a two-hour 10:00pm - midnight ET slot for TNA, but it's not a big deal because Spike could have since decided to skip a third straight hour of UFC in favor of two hours of TNA. Meltzer reported in the same issue that Spike is definitely not out of the equation for TNA and most of what we've heard this week has Spike as the leading destination for TNA, although that seems to change every hour.

On a related note, should TNA and Spike make a deal imminently, there's a good chance the company could go dark for several months while waiting to start up on Spike. They couldn't start on Spike until Raw leaves in October. Their FSN deal expires in a couple of weeks and FSN wants a six-month minimum commitment, which would run into November or December and overlap with an October start date on Spike. So there's a very good chance if the Spike deal gets done, TNA could go hiatus for several months before a fall relaunch on a top ten cable network. I'm sure Fritz and Dickerman will discuss this a great deal tonight and also with Mike Tenay.

----------------------------------

Now I'm hearing that WGN is possibly offering TNA a primetime Monday Night slot from 8-10.

Spike is possibly offering them a Sat night timeslot as seen in the post.

Now, if you were TNA, which one would you go with? Spike has the bigger viewership/market and the UFC to help promote TNA, but WGN gives them that slot on Monday Night that wrestling fans have been dying for since death of WCW.

Personally, I hope they get that Monday Night slot.

[Nervous Ferret]

never heard of WGN. New Jersey represent

[The One]

UFC to help...

More potential viewers...

No WWE competition (well besides Velocity, but who watches that anyway?)...

I would go with Spike...though on a personal note I am not 100% sure I get WGN, or if I do I certainly have never watched it before...what type of programs do they run currently?

[Loose Cannon]

You know, Mike Tenay was on the BTR show this week and was saying how it would be dumb for Spike to put the UFC stuff on Saturdays. And I completely agree with him. He brought up the UFC demo is the 18-34 Males and that Saturday night is usually a night where that demographic is out doing stuff. Who would want to sit home and watch UFC from 8-10 or whatever the time? I don't see it doing great numbers on a Sat night at all, especially since it's probably going to be and is Spikes #1 show.

[SuperSlim]

well if they go with SPike sure they could be viewed by more people but that is a bad time. I mean 10 til midnight?

at least on Monday despite the competitiion(heavy competition) they would have a better timeslot, just a worse channel to be viewed on.

I would probably go with the Monday Slot.

[Xero]

I'm in New Jersey and just got WGN recently (on Comcast). It's mostly shitty sitcoms and shittier movies.

I'd go with the Monday Night time slot, if only because of the chance of a second Monday Night War. Although the Saturday one would probably be smarter to get their feet wet on a network that has been the flagship wrestling station for the past four years or so.

I'm wondering, could TNA actually come to Spike while WWE is still there? Is Spike's contract with WWE a WWE-exclusive deal? How does that work?

[Loose Cannon]

No, they can't do that. There is talk of TNA shutting down for a while because I think here deal with whomever they have now is running out soon. And since they can't go to Spike until the Fall, they may need to go on hiatus.

[The One]

WWE has a deal with Spike that their's is the only wrestling program allowed on Spike while they are under contract.

[Xero]

No, they can't do that. There is talk of TNA shutting down for a while because I think here deal with whomever they have now is running out soon. And since they can't go to Spike until the Fall, they may need to go on hiatus.
Yeah, I read that, I was just wondering...

[Xero]

WWE has a deal with Spike that their's is the only wrestling program allowed on Spike while they are under contract.
I thought so...

[Nervous Ferret]

Where in New Jersey XERO LIMIT 126?

[Loose Cannon]

Pine Barrens

[Nervous Ferret]

WHAT A FAGGOT

[Nervous Ferret]

kidding :shifty:

[Xero]

Where the fuck's Pine Barrens? I live in Woodbridge Township...

[Nervous Ferret]

really. Toms River here. WE ARE NEIGHBORS XERO.

[Loose Cannon]

you live in Jersey and never heard of the Pine Barrens and the whole Jersey Devil story? That's what Jersey is known for...well that and the Shore

[Nervous Ferret]

haha Pine Barrens is pretty terrible place. BUT YES I KNOW THE JERSEY DEVIL STORY. Only faggots don't know about it. My English teacher in 8th grade proved that he is real.

[Xero]

you live in Jersey and never heard of the Pine Barrens and the whole Jersey Devil story? That's what Jersey is known for...well that and the Shore
I've heard of the story, I just never knew the exact location.

And yeah, New Jersey, the poor man's Florida and the poor man's Las Vegas are two of our biggest attractions.

[Nervous Ferret]

lol. BUT WE HAVE THE BEST SIX-FLAGS.

[Xero]

Indeed.

Anyway, at the chance of this turning into casual, yeah, TNA on WGN wouldn't reach many homes but would probably be the better station.

Thinking about WGN, they have a news program at 9, which would conflict with the TNA show. I guess they could move it up one hour, though...

[Kane Knight]

lol. BUT WE HAVE THE BEST SIX-FAGS.

[6to1]

just think wgn was one of the 1st cable stations it tbs and wor, there best deal is 3 hours on wgn.

[freerock1.com]

I'd be kind of surprised if you don't get WGN. As mentioned earlier, they're kind of the Chicago version of what TBS is for Atlanta; WGN carries reruns of shows like "Will and Grace," syndicated shows like "Andromeda," quite a few action movies, plus Bulls, White Sox and Cubs games and Chicago news. The over-the-air programming that WGN carries in Chicago is somewhat different from what cable/satellite subscribers get; in Chicago WGN is the WB network affiliate, but the rest of the country never sees the WB on WGN.

In terms of cable coverage I think WGN is carried on pretty much all of the same cable and satellite systems that Spike is. However, Dish Network has Spike in their 60-channel and up packages, whereas WGN starts in the 120-channel package.

Tough call on which network to go with. Spike would have its advantages. For example, once the WWE moves back to USA, it would certainly be nice for TNA to be able to capture the viewers looking for wrestling on Spike. However, TNA has some momentum going and there's the issue of that layover. Even though it's got good coverage, I don't know really what WGN has going for it in terms of ratings so TNA could become the thing to put it on the Nielsen map with the 18-34 males. On occasion it might get bumped for a Bulls/Sox/Cubs game, but still at least there wouldn't be the layover there would probably be waiting to get on Spike. All in all, it's hard to say which would be better, but the WGN offer would certainly seem pretty tempting.

[Kane Knight]

I don't know many people who actually get WGN.

[Gouda]

I get WGN here... and I'm in Canada...

[freerock1.com]

I could be wrong about coverage. Most of my travels have lead me through the Midwest and in the South, and I don't know of a cable system in those parts of the country that doesn't carry it. But it could be a different story in the Northeast and out West.

[Kane Knight]

I could be wrong too.

Fortunately, LC's poll will give us an idea of what's what on TPWW at least.

[Impact!]

Jersey Devil story
whats that

[DaveWadding]

Dish Network has Spike in their 60-channel and up packages, whereas WGN starts in the 120-channel package.

Weird. I've always had WGN (and Spike[TNN]) on super basic cable.

[PullMyFinger]

I have DirecTV and I get both...WGN is normally the channel I skip over b/c it's shite.

[6to1]

how many of you watched tbs after wcw left? unless you are a braves fan all they have is crap, so if the go to wgn alot of you will find that chanel.

[The Lone Drinker]

UFC to help...

More potential viewers...

No WWE competition (well besides Velocity, but who watches that anyway?)...

I would go with Spike...though on a personal note I am not 100% sure I get WGN, or if I do I certainly have never watched it before...what type of programs do they run currently?

Chicago Bulls. ;)

.....At least that is what they used to show. I haven't watched WGN since the days of Michael Jordan.....[when he was with the Bulls that is.]

[PullMyFinger]

how many of you watched tbs after wcw left? unless you are a braves fan all they have is crap, so if the go to wgn alot of you will find that chanel.
I watch TBS a lot now that it has Seinfeld.

[Kane Knight]

I watch TBS a lot now that it has <s>Seinfeld</s>Family Guy.

[Kane Knight]

USA's a better example for me. I haven't watched it once since Raw left it, TMK.

[Loose Cannon]

I'm hearing that WGN is locking down some good programming right now to build themselves up. I heard two shows they are trying to lock down are Sex and the City and a huge show in 24. This would definately help them out

[PullMyFinger]

USA's a better example for me. I haven't watched it once since Raw left it, TMK.
same here.