Impact is Officially a Canadian Company; Will Produce Shows Across Canada

[New Hot Fed]

The big problem with this is that now, they will have to get more Canadian wrestlers because it's going to be harder for American performer or pretty much anybody foreign to come in and work full time for the company since we have stricter boarder laws then in the U.S.

Also while they might get a tax break for doing their tapings in canada, it's not like they have made money off this week's taping. Sure the PPV was sold out but the rest of the tapings we're pretty much free tickets with a really small percentage of fans actually paying to get in. So if this continue to be the trend, they might go bankrupt pretty quickly and this might affect even more their others venture like The Fight Network and game TV.

In the end, i wish them all the best because they still have a couple of great talent on the roster and i don't want them to lose their job over this risk that they are taking right now but in this rate with what they are doing right now, i feel that this might be their last chance to be relevant. It's do or die for IMPACT right now, if they don't succeed their done.

Turning their roster into more Canadian wouldn't be a bad idea. There are tons of great talent in Canada that are not used. There's tons of feds in Canada with top talent that Impact could tap into. Also they could do cross-promotions with these feds.

That is all Great. But I wish Impact would have tried to do that way back and make themselves a southern US fed. Create a good southern territory fed travelling to the same cities. And when you have success in this small area, you can grow. Sometime I feel like they tried to be too big too soon. Oh well.

But at the end of the day the biggest reason why ROH is doing better and always better word of mouth than Impact is one of BRANDING. What is Impact, what was TNA? Not sure. What is ROH, I see the emblem, I see the style of wrestling and it's for the hardcore fans of a certain style. I can understand why a young man would see the promos and publicity and might be attracted to it. There's nothing about Impact that excites anybody or capture the imagination, regardless of who they have on the roster. Compare that to LU, it was something innovative and progressive and badass. Part of the reason for that is that Impact are still run by old guys like Dutch Mantel. You need a visionary, a younger man to shape them and who would understand what young men would be attracted to. Someone like Court Bauer from MLW for example.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Here we go again with this saga. Some solid points have been made about this, more so negative than positive. For starters, the crowd issue. It will no doubt be a difficult task if indeed they want to do tapings over a five day period (correct me if I got this wrong). Secondly, the issue with some of the talent having difficulty going back and forth into Canada. Now I'm sure there are plenty of up and coming talent in Canada that could be called upon in a pinch, but the key is a big name. Right now, who the biggest Canadian talent they have aside from Petey Williams? It seems that Anthem is swinging for the fences with Impact, and I don't know what could be done if this effort falls through.

You hit an interesting point about Petey. They are walking into (almost) a brand new market and they don't really have many name guys to sell and they don't have any local talents to really appeal to the fans either. Del Rio and Mundo have some name value, but not enough to sell out buildings, and like you said, Petey, an X Division lifer, is really their only decently known Canadian talent that I can think of. Gail was technically Canadian, but I'm not sure how much of a draw she truly was. A majority of the Knockouts are Canadian, but I don't think any of them are truly draws at this point.

That said, I'm not sure who they could really bring in right now who would fit those needs.

 

[New Hot Fed]

You hit an interesting point about Petey. They are walking into (almost) a brand new market and they don't really have many name guys to sell and they don't have any local talents to really appeal to the fans either. Del Rio and Mundo have some name value, but not enough to sell out buildings, and like you said, Petey, an X Division lifer, is really their only decently known Canadian talent that I can think of. Gail was technically Canadian, but I'm not sure how much of a draw she truly was. A majority of the Knockouts are Canadian, but I don't think any of them are truly draws at this point.

That said, I'm not sure who they could really bring in right now who would fit those needs.

Give the Hitman their Del Rio money.

 

[sikkbones]

Another issue Whatever TNA is calling themselves this week will have with some of the venues like Ricoh, Windsor's Wfcu, London's budweiser, Hamilton's copps/first Ontario is the fact that wwe probably has exclusivity contracts with them.

Another idea suggestion for them esp if they want a decent attendance in Canada is to look at the casino option.

They will get a crowd. Mostly comped but they will get a crowd.

 

[ShinChan]

ROH ran a PPV out of there in like 2012 or 2013. I forget which.

I wonder what kind of attendance they were able to bring in? Might help to gauge how well (or how poorly) Impact might do trying to do the same.

That was ROH All Star Extravaganza VI. In 2014. And they were able to bring in 1100 people in attendance.

That would be good enough for IMPACT.

There's also a Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto which was hosted many times by ROH. With 1500 people in attendance. That would be apt if IMPACT goes to Toronto.

 

[Navi]

Anthem should be looking at 1000, 1500 seat venues to tape in. They still won't fill them easily, but it's a lot easier to get a 1000 seat theater half-filled than a 10,000 seat arena. (Also a lot easier to fill or half-fill it for two or three days of tapings in a row than six days in a row.)

That's why the Mattamy Athletic Centre would be perfect. It's in the old Maple Leaf Gardens which is right downtown Toronto. It's on the subway line and is central. If you are taking Go Transit, you can get off at Union Station and grab the subway up about 7 stops and you're there. It holds about 1,600 people.

Don't be surprised if they just moved it to Canada's Wonderland in the North Part of Toronto, in all honesty I could see them doing that.

Problem with that is the fact that the park is closed now. After Fearfest is over on Halloween night, the park closes until April or May of the following year. For the first month it's open it only opens on weekends until June. I know because my son worked there years ago when he was in high school. We live about 20 minutes away from it.

ROH ran a PPV out of there in like 2012 or 2013. I forget which.

I wonder what kind of attendance they were able to bring in? Might help to gauge how well (or how poorly) Impact might do trying to do the same.

It's also were the WWE does their NXT shows. It's not a bad arena all the seats are close and you have a great view of the ring.

 

[filthyanimalz]

Way overdue, Canada with it's rich history in Professional Wrestling deserves a major globally televised promotion and let's be honest mainstream American wrestling fans these days refuse to embrace non PG promotions but prefer the popcorn cinema approach of the WWE.

 

[johnbragg]

That would be terrible but i do not know Anthems business model if they even have one that is. I hope not as they should try to fill venues not be in an amusement park setting.

Their business model is "have action-sports content to show on Fight Network and our digital platforms." So all Impact has to do to meet Anthem's minimum goals (and the SonySix contract) is exist and continue to produce TV shows.

I'm not even sure why Anthem seemed hell-bent on keeping TNA out of Billy Corgan's hands, but they were for some reason.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Their business model is "have action-sports content to show on Fight Network and our digital platforms." So all Impact has to do to meet Anthem's minimum goals (and the SonySix contract) is exist and continue to produce TV shows.

I'm not even sure why Anthem seemed hell-bent on keeping TNA out of Billy Corgan's hands, but they were for some reason.

Yeah, That'S something that does intrigue me as well since the product was starting to gain momemtum with Corgan in charge of creative and his out of the box ideas made the product more entertaining. Now i fell like we're back in the old southern territory days when i was IMPACT and that's not a good thing. Plus with the revolving door they have with talents right now, i feel like we don't have enough time to get invested in the wrestlers before they leave and we get new ones.

 

[sikkbones]

Its a northern territory now.

Because that worked out so well for the Tunney's, rogueas, and harts.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

One thing people seem to miss is that ALL entertainments are being squeezed like never before... England football played 2 qualifiers at Wembley in September, and a big portion of the crowd got in on a £10/$13 deal aimed "at students" when in reality it was open to all. That loophole was left open on purpose because they knew the games were "tough sells" and especially one on the Monday when kids went back to schools so there were still huge swathes of seats untaken.

Slating WWE for cutting their prices is like slating that, it's more important to have the arena appear full or nearly full, even if it costs money... if a "big" sport like England football have to do it, then it's likely smaller ones do too.

There are more big movies, subscriptions, events than ever all competing for those dollars... and wrestling is gonna go down that pile. "drawing a crowd" isn't simple anymore... in the same way that it's not simple to guarantee a movie will do well or a TV show will get ratings.

TNA and Anthem are at the bottom end of this, in reality the only way is up or bust... paying some crowds isn't a terrible thing, in reality it's what was happening at Orlando anyway and has always been part of the biz, even in WCW.

Why did they want it out of Corgan's hands? likely because as someone said, they just need a functional wrestling show and TNA was the only one "off the peg" that could do it... once Corgan got deep into it, he'd change up so much that they'd have no chance to fulfil the deals.

 

[Papa Pillman]

If smart, Impact would use this situation to recruit some top Canadian indy performers who had big US buzz, but have dealt with visa problems that prevent them from working in American companies. PWG alone really raised the buzz-worthyness of a couple different Canadian acts that are currently dealing with issues wrestling in the states:

Speedball Mike Bailey would seem to be the best option, he was on the verge of being considered as possibly a top 5 indy talent in all of North America just a short year or two ago, and he could carry the X-Division on his own, and also be a player for the heavyweight belts despite his size.

The Super Smash Brothers as well would vastly up the level of the promotion's tag division, while Stu(player Dos) even has the chops to be a single's star.



As for other Canadian names that would be helpful, Ethan Page had strained relations with ROH a couple years back and has appeared to have zero NXT interest despite a solid prolonged stint in EVOLVE; so he doesn't seem to have a lot of next step options here in North America. Page can wrestle, and has the mic and character chops to be a significant piece in Impact's retooling.

Brent Banks would be another great young option. The guy can't even legally drink in America yet, but still boasts a dozen plus matches against the top of the top workers in the business like Micheal Elgin, Zack Sabre, Jr., Jeff Cobb, and Chris Hero. There are a multitude of other solid talents that have been around a little longer, mostly working for SMASH, that would also be worth a look; like TARIK for example.

Also, if Impact wants to go slightly out of the box, and present a character that would quickly draw attention, and possibly create their own "El Generico" type phenomenon, Space Monkey could be a very interesting, popular, and marketable signing.

Though Impact has already snatched up most of the top women from the country(Rosemary, Allie, LVN, for example); The cupboard is still far from bare in the great white North.

 

[GhettoV1]

Impact can shoot for border towns near New York, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to tape Impact Wrestling.

 

[Tripleb2k1]

They are taping in Canada, moving the company to the Anthem offices in Toronto & hiring Canadian staff....they are becoming a Canadian company

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I feel like the main problem with IMPACT outside of creating their own identity is the lack of guys with name value or draws. I don't want to disrespect anybody on the roster right now because they a talented bunch of guys and girls but who right now can you say you can center the company around and fans will go out and buy tickets to see the show.

Alberto el patron is not the guy, Johnny Impact isn't drawing people in and same goes with Lashley, EC3, Moose and Eli drake. The fact is, the IMPACT product is suffering because of the lack of a identity and all thoses guys that i've mention that could be draws for them are paying the price in the process.

I get that by showing matches from AAA,Noah,CRASH and Border City Wrestling, they want to show how global they are but at the same time, it does hurt their product because all the matches they shows from those promotions are throwaway matches that don'T fit with the current storylines so in the end, they're just filler matches for the sake of filling time.

Right now, i they could bring in pretty much any canadian wrestling legend to try help them out and it wouldn'T make a difference, because what they have become just don't work right now and it's not the fact that they moved the company to canada that will save it. Right now, in the current climate that is Indy pro wrestling, you need to have a focus product that pretty much help shape you're identity with fans because their so many independent wrestling leagues right now, that if you don't have a focus product you will fail and that exactly what going on right now with IMPACT. Stop focusing so much on you're deals with other promotions and start focusing more on your own product and try to get some of thoses big name from the indy's that aren'T sign to WWE or ROH yet, that'S pretty much the only way that they have a chance to make it right now.

 

[Starkist]

Impact has the chance to draw viewers by pushing new guys as stars. But they like to push then stop the push in the middle of it. DCC is a prime example of this. Pushed as intimidating group of guys only to become a joke of a group. I think Impact needs to settle down and breath a little bit. Get a focus who to push and how to push then with well written storytelling. This would help to keep veiwers and possibly bring back older viewers and newer viewers.

 

[ShinChan]

Apparently, IMPACT is coming back for the next tapings to Orlando. And then, another set of tapings in March in Canada.

I don't get the Orlando thing but I hope that the next tapings in Canada take place in Toronto. Ottawa just didn't work. Toronto may or may not but it seems to be better than Ottawa.

 

[sikkbones]

Looks like Gail Kim's retirement is already over.

She's facing cherry bomb in smash.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Apparently, IMPACT is coming back for the next tapings to Orlando. And then, another set of tapings in March in Canada.

I don't get the Orlando thing but I hope that the next tapings in Canada take place in Toronto. Ottawa just didn't work. Toronto may or may not but it seems to be better than Ottawa.

I kinda get why they are going back to Orlando, it will help them financially plus they will be able to fix some the issues they have with some of the visa's and other paperwork problems that some of the talents have right now.

Then, when they come back to Canada , you won't have to depend so much on Canadian talents. As far as we're they should go next, I feel like you shouldn't burned out the Toronto market right away. It's a big wrestling market like Montreal is and both cities have a lot of Indy wrestling shows going on that could be competition for them.

If I was them, I would go out west first, try doing tapings in Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver first to see if they can break through there. After that, if they do another tapings in Canada, go to either Toronto or Montreal which are the 2 big wrestling market in Canada.

They really to have a stable product right now because I feel like the current product is all over the place. You have talents that show up for a couple of weeks only to disappear and never show up. If they can fix the paperwork for the talents before going back to Canada, it will help them tremendously.