This might be a knee-jerk reaction, I’m well aware, but the recent news today that IMPACT Wrestling is going to the little heard of network known as Pursuit is nothing but a failure of grand expectations.  The show was clipping along fine on Pop TV, but the deal was done and parties for whatever reason didn’t want to re-up.  Fine.

Then reports broke that networks like Paramount, SyFy and WGN America were all interested.  Fans rejoiced.  A strong product, getting on a bigger network is exactly what the promotion needed.

Instead the company announces today that they are going to their smallest network yet, Pursuit, a conservative hunting channel that isn’t even widely seen in the States.  This wouldn’t be as bad as it is, if it wasn’t for one simple fact; Anthem owns Pursuit.

Not sure who Anthem is?  Well Anthem is the parent company of IMPACT Wrestling.  Anthem just threw IMPACT onto a seventh string network in a death-slot. Friday Night’s at 10 p.m. EST.

Anthem is trying to kill IMPACT Wrestling, that’s the only thing I can really come up with.  IMPACT quite literally hired a guy who had ties to Paramount (Spike TV) to get the promotion the best deal they could get; and instead we get this mess?

I keep hoping that there’s more.  That there’s a second deal coming, on a bigger network, for a new show.  There’s not, though.  There’s no other deal coming because unless Ed Nordholm and company are tone deaf; they knew this would be poorly received.

It almost makes more sense to air the show on Twitch.TV, YouTube or even on the Global Wrestling Network.  Go get your own advertisers and investors, stream the product on an outlet like Twitch or YouTube, and expand your reach naturally.  It’s mind boggling to think in a year that saw their YouTube, Twitter and Facebook accounts all swell in numbers, that they couldn’t get a better deal or at the very least stay on Pop TV, which had a huge reach, just not a huge audience.

I love IMPACT.  I love this promotion.  I love the wrestlers in it.  However, this?  This is crap.  This is bad business.  This is proof that Anthem may not know what they’re doing long term.  They’re making it HARDER for fans to watch their product.  Not easier.  Was this the plan all along?  Sacrifice IMPACT’s growth to help bolster a network that appeals to the vastest minority of the American public?  The show would of been better off on the Fight Network if you wanted to go that route.

If, and this is a huge fucking IF, Pursuit gets rebranded to Fight Network USA, then this deal makes sense.  However, that isn’t happening, because if it was it would of been announced in conjunction of adding IMPACT.

No, instead it’s the Destination America days all over again.  Only instead of Hunting Big Foot, we’ll be Hunting Bambi after IMAPCT goes off the air on Fridays.

 

Merry Fuck-Us, right?