According to the Observer, TNA's new owner is very likely to be similar to Panda in the sense that they have no real connections with wrestling. Also very unlikely Viacom and/or Spike TV end up as the potential new owners.
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Originally Posted by Wrestling Observer
What I can say at this point is that there is a potential buyer that has been looking at the company. Reps for the potential new ownership group have been at the offices. Talk of a potential sale has been going on for months, but has reached a serious enough point where things are at a significant stage. It is not entirely clear who will end up in power and run the company if and when the deal being negotiated goes through, and what percentage of the company, or if the entire company, is what is being negotiated. One source with significant knowledge of what is going down said the new group is unlikely to get involved without owning a controlling interest. Also, regarding speculation in various media of names involved, all of the speculation is way off, that much I know. It doesn't appear Viacom has any interest in buying the company (even though TNA gets far better ratings than Bellator, it's not as valuable because it can't get the corporate sponsors or ad revenue) and the parties involved come from outside the pro wrestling industry. The people who have at least been negotiating the most seriously are not from Viacom. The people involved have been successful in a number of other businesses. Just my gut says they are buying it more as a television property with the idea that future rights fees as those number escalate for sports will make it valuable.
The fact sale negotiations are as far along as they are and Hulk Hogan wasn't signed seems to indicate the new ownership group didn't feel he was a priority in the deal, or else TNA would have been aggressive in locking him up.
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