Recent news reports state that TNA may be in danger of losing their deal to broadcast Impact Wrestling on Spike TV. Falling prey to a pronounced lack of mainstream recognizable star power, low brand infiltration in to mainstream markets and programming that has oftentimes left professional wrestling fans wondering if the company is attempting to directly mimic simultaneously-occurring World Wrestling Entertainment storylines, TNA's lack of brand-name broadcasting ultimately may put the company out of business, too. Panda Energy's controlling interest in TNA Wrestling has been at times beneficial, but at present the realm of draconian cuts in talent and live event budgeting. For some, a wrestling industry without TNA is good riddance to bad garbage. The company's 12-year history has seen heights that fall far beneath the mainstream radar. As well, TNA's history has coincided with WWE's evolution of pro wrestling into a brand-content driven "universal model," the most recent highlight of that being an online "network" that features the past, present and future of the company on one online portal. If TNA dies, so also may die the traditional model of pro wrestling that has existed since the 1950s of a promotion sourcing its content to a network, a network that then is able to use the broadcasts to pull both sponsors and ratings to bolster their corporate gains. As far as the wrestlers themselves? TNA closing is the end of having any other option for mainstream professional wrestling in America than aiming for a job in NXT, and a hopeful promotion to WWE. Independent wrestling is a tough living for most journeymen grapplers, Colt Cabana's multi-platform media success an exception, but not the rule. Japan? Well, for some it's an option, but the Japanese economic downturn has crushed the long-standing model that allowed US-based grapplers the ability to make big bucks for the second half of the 20th century. The same can be said for Mexico too, as business is so unstable there that the AAA promotion wants to take their act north of the border to America, too. Now that we've outlined the environment, let's figure out 10 consequences for a wrestling industry potentially lacking TNA.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
