Impact Wrestling Rebranding as Global Force Wrestling After Slammiversary

[It's Damn Real!]

In a move designed to distance itself from the financial struggles and legal drama that hung over its brand, Anthem Sports announced last week it has purchased Nashville-based Global Force Wrestling.

The move signals the end of TNA, the professional wrestling league that once served as home to legends Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and as a launching pad for future stars A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe.

Anthem Sports, the Canadian company that also owns the Fight Network, will rebrand its wrestling league as GFW and Nashville native Jeff Jarrett will helm the creative aspects of the promotion. Its staple weekly program on Pop TV will continue to be called “Impact.”

The rebranding comes almost 15 years to the day that Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett launched TNA. The wrestling promotion ended up under the control of Dixie Carter, endured a turnstile of cable television partners and garnered negative headlines for unpaid bills, unpaid talent and state tax liens.

"We're a global brand," Jarrett said of the rebranding. "We have partnerships in Mexico, Japan, other places. Collectively coming together, we've combined forces and basically the rebrand final touches happen (on Sunday) at 'Slammiversary.'"

http://www.tennessean.com/story/mon...802001/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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The day is finally here. TNA/IW is dead. Kind of.

In the meantime, I'd be remiss not to point out the hilarity of Impact acquiring the company that they'll now adopt the brand name of. Isn't it supposed to work the other way around?

 

[Psykohurricane55]

In a way, it might be good for them to Rebrand but i'm not sure how good it his to rebrand as Global force wrestling since while it's reputation as a brand isn't as bad as TNA, It's still not great. Just look at how the GFW brand was treated by TNA last year in that stupid invasion angle they had, not to mention all the others dumb ideas that jarrett had last year to get the word out about the promotion.


The other problem i can see hapenning is with their current TV deal on POP TV. I'm no lawyer but i'm thinking that a rebranding might violate something in their current contract since they didn't sign to air Global force Wrestling but TNA Impact wrestling and even if it's just a name change, it's still not what POP tv signed for.

Finally, this could hurt their fan base at this point, If you change the name of the product, fans might not want to give it a shot because it's not the product they know, it's something new and i don't see why you would take the brand they love so much away from them just to try and please advertisers. The ratings where starting to grow a little bit. The thing is, TNA is pretty much owns by business peoples that have no knowledge of wrestling, they know money and they treat the product like that. So to them it's all about making a profit so if rebranding is a way to make money with the company, that's good but don't forget, the last time a company own by a business rebranded, they went under and vince bought them out, so while i don't want to see them go, it's a really huge gamble they are taking.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I don't think the latter point is an issue. TNA/IW have had, in effect, the same audience of roughly 350,000 viewers from the death of the Spike TV deal to the potentially dying days of this POP TV contract. Almost nothing has changed on that front on an average scale, even if some weeks they're able to get bigger pops than others.

The POP TV deal might be an issue, and Jarrett actually spoke at length about "wanting to be on television in 2018" in this SI article published a few hours ago:

Before Jarrett was asked if he would consider airing Impact as a live or bi-weekly live television show, or even if there are plans to ever add an online streaming service, he was first queried as to whether Impact would remain airing on Pop TV starting in January of 2018.

“We want to be on television in 2018,” confirmed Jarrett, who did not specify a network to air Impact. “And I’d love to go live. Success will dictate that. It is no secret that the whole industry is moving toward video on demand, but there is nothing like a live experience and feel. Watching wrestling live completely changes the experience, and that is a major reason why we are going back on the road for live shows in August.”

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/06/30/jeff-jarrett-impact-wrestling-slammiversary-interview

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I wonder if it's a prelude to another television contract hunt?

 

[Weems2k]

I think Global Impact Wrestling would be a better name to be honest. They can market that they will be worldwide while making an Impact on the wrestling business.

 

[MWRedskins]

Well, i thought the name would be called Impact Wrestling, BUT i'm all for rebranding it as GFW. the name TNA has all sorts of bad in it from it's company history to even what the name is a play off of and likely keeps sponsors away from it because the name TNA sounds bad to them.

as for GFW rebranding...hopefully it rebrands with new championships because if (after Slammiversary) they are using the old GFW Championships, then some fans may roll their eyes at them. TNA maybe a dying name, but the championship is amazing and i think a similar championship should be used. the X-Division shouldnt die (just get a new championship) and if GFW gets rid of the Grand Championship, then hopefully they create a new midcard championship.

 

[Lowdown]

To me, the Global Force name has a negative stigma as a failed promotion. It never really gained any traction to my knowledge, at least beyond the shows that they did in Vegas. On the other side, TNA/Impact needs to distance itself from its continuous negative stigma. I just feel that a new name would make sense altogether instead of the Impact changing into GFW outright.

 

[the_peoples_adam]

This is great..The only thing they should do now is sign CM PUNK and tie up with NJPW..

 

[filthyanimalz]

I hope Slammiversary is awesome and serves as a great first up PPV for GFW with some surprise appearances.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I think that a name change won't do anything if they continue to put out show like last week show. Out of a 2 hours show, you had 1 hours 15 minutes of slammiversary pakages to urge you to buy the ppv. It was so annoying that it had the opposite affect for me and made me want to skip the event on sunday and wait to read the results

The weird thing is that anthem ae thinking more as businessman and less as wrestling guy and when you take that perspective it's risky. The fact is, a rebranding is really complicated to do, just look at wcw as exemple. They rebranded from nwa to wcw and had alot of problems to get it started for a few years before finally hitting it big and then ultimate fail.

If they think a name change will change something and don't see it making that much of a change. They really need to change the overall presentation of the show, when they bring in new guys, actually introduce them to your audience and give us a reason to care about those new guys because not everybody is watching those b-level international promotions like crash and noah. Not everybody is watching AAA so when you bring in guys from these promotion and don't promote them, it made them look like job guys and sadly it makes their product look weak.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

To me, the Global Force name has a negative stigma as a failed promotion. It never really gained any traction to my knowledge, at least beyond the shows that they did in Vegas. On the other side, TNA/Impact needs to distance itself from its continuous negative stigma. I just feel that a new name would make sense altogether instead of the Impact changing into GFW outright.

This was my thought process. TNA had the stigma surrounding its name, so it would make sense they would want to rebrand. GFW though, is already largely viewed as a joke. Jarret spent so much time building partnerships with various lower level global promotions and nothing ever came of it. He spent a lot time talking up how they were going to have TV tapings in Vegas because a network wanted an actual product and not just a string of live events at minor league baseball stadiums, and then no network picked them up after said tapings. The belts they established are a joke. Last I checked, The Bollywood Boys were still listed as GFW tag champs. Then there was the whole Global Force Gold scam/Ponzi scheme. The GFW brand is arguably a bigger joke than what TNA was. This whole deal just reeks of Jarrett trying to get "his brand" over and back on TV.

 

[klunderbunker]

I've always thought the name of the company paled in comparison to what they're presenting and I'll say the same thing now.

As long as the company (just call it that, like when they called the AA/FU "the Maneuver" for a few weeks) is pushing stuff like JB vs. Josh Matthews as their top story and doing these title vs. title matches where one title is less valuable than the OVW Title, you can call it Ecky Ecky Ecky Ecky Pitang Zooboing Wrestling a Go-Go and it won't matter. I've seen (and given) a lot of criticisms to this company over the years and the name is rarely anywhere near the top of my list. Fix about 18 other problems first and then worry about the name. Calling it Impact Wrestling or Global Force Wrestling doesn't matter if the product isn't very good, which it hasn't been in a long while.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think Global Impact Wrestling would be a better name to be honest. They can market that they will be worldwide while making an Impact on the wrestling business.

Waaay better name. Global Impact Wrestling. It's not too late to send them some e-mails to change it.

 

[filthyanimalz]

Finally all the cancers are gone, the company has a totally new beginning, a group in charge that understand and care about the business and an actual sports company to back them financially that no what it takes to market a brand. They also still have an incredible roster of young stars. I think everyone should get behind them and give them a chance to be as good as they possibly can be.

 

[filthyanimalz]

My understanding was that Global Force Wrestling was going to be the company name (which I like) but that either Impact Wrestling or Global Impact Wrestling was going to be the name of the TV show (which I also like).

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Yeah, last I read, the company itself will rebrand to Global Force Wrestling while "Impact" will remain the title of the weekly show, which makes sense. It pays homage to the history of the company and allows for the branding strategy (should they decide to use "Amped", for example) to execute flawlessly across television and other properties.

Global Force Wrestling: Impact
Global Force Wrestling: Amped
Global Force Wrestling: All Access (app)

Etc.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'm all for this rebranding. Granted it won't solve ALL of the federation's problems but it is certainly a good place to start. Look, I don't watch TNA. I haven't for almost 3 years. The Total Nonstop Action brand has such a negative stigma that many fans will automatically be biased against ANYTHING that the federation does. It has been mocked and criticized relentlessly for the majority of the past decade. Back in 2008-2010 they had a product I liked. It got to the point where I finally gave up on them. I wanted Dixie Carter gone and had thought for a while that a re-brand such as this one could help. Leave the "Total Nonstop Action" and Dixie Carter days behind where they belong. I am much more willing to potentially give Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling a chance than I ever would with anything that has the TNA brand. I doubt I'll watch it for the time being, but my point is that this new start could bring in new fans and even bring back some old ones who got sick of the nonsense that had been associated with the product. They absolutely must fix the booking, from what I have read about them recently (since I don't watch them anymore), however I fully support the re-brand.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Distancing themselves as much as possible from TNA isn't a bad thing at all, there's simply too much baggage and negative history in general associated with the name and it's like an anchor weighing the company down.

Like a few others have mentioned however, I doubt that rebranding themselves as GFW is going to be a gamechanger. One thing it does have going for it is that GFW isn't remotely as widely known as TNA/IW, but is known among hardcore wrestling fans as a promotion that was basically DOA the moment it put on its first card. Up until Jeff Jarrett resumed his involvement with the company, I'd completely forgotten about GFW but once I did remember, I remember that it was a joke and a failure almost form its inception.

Jeff Jarrett's a failure as an owner, TNA would've gone under had he not sold it and GFW has essentially existed only on paper apart from a couple of shows. However, he's said to be in charge of creative now so all Anthem has to do is pump money into the company.

 

[The Perfect Max]

Rebranding will only work if there is an intention to rebrand what we see within the product. If the product is struggling, which face it, it really is, then TNA or GFW or whatever the hell I don't know, but whoever they are, they won't gain anything from this other than a fresh look and that's about it. There has to be the desire and power to do better than they are and I don't know if that's possible. TNA have hit strides in the past where their product is looking good and getting better, but then some almighty calamity happens and then it goes back to square one again. I guess we shall see what comes to be in the creative department from here on out.

As for the name itself, why would you rebrand under a name that has surely become a joke amongst the wrestling community? GFW barely got off the ground in the first place and I have absolutely no idea how long it has been supposedly running for since its debut. I suppose though, a wider audience will approach new GFW programming completely unaware and so it may be a benefit in that sense to have something new and shiny without a past attached to it.

At this point, it must really be do or die for the company. This is a bold move and I think it can be a positive move if executed accordingly. I'm just not so trusting of the powers that be.

 

[cityprod]

Rebranding TNA as Global Force Wrestling is seriously stupid. The problems with TNA/GFW are nothing to do with the branding. And if they seriously think the Global Force Wrestling branding will be any better, then they have completely missed the farce that was Global Force Gold. Jeff Jarrett being reduced to a gold shill. Seriously, that was far worse than any supposed negative connotations regarding TNA.

What are the real problems that they have yet to address?

1. Criminally bad writing. In this recent Jeff Jarrett era, the writing has been horrible. The Jeremy Borash/Josh Mathews situation sums up just how bad the writing is. Other than a good moment with Sonjay Dutt winning the X-Division title, there's been nothing recently that made me feel pleased that Dixie Carter is out and Jeff Jarrett is back. And what's the betting that Vince Russo is advising him remotely?

2. Misuse of talent. Seriously, you have the likes of Alberto El Patron, Bobby Lashley, James Storm, EC3, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards and Magnus, and you have Moose as the Impact Grand Champion??? AEP may be the GFW Global champ and Bobby Lashley the TNA World champ, but you're unifying these titles, whilst still leaving the Grand Championship on Moose? Heck, you could put the Grand Championship on Low Ki, and I wouldn't mind, in fact I'd be up for that. Chris Adonis, Eli Drake, Matt Sydal and Matt Morgan would all be good for the Grand Championship, but are any of them really in the picture for that title?

3. Poor use of titles and confusing title picture. Number 2 plays into this a lot, but more than that, and this isn't purely an Impact Wrestling/TNA/GFW problem, but something wrestling is suffering from as a whole, is there isn't really any undercard titles to develop new talent into future top tier performers and champions. At least TNA used to have a Television title, a title I'd like to see brought back because it can be used as a way of developing undercard talent into higher level talent. Right now, you don't have that stepping stone. They either have to try for the Grand Championship, which is too much, or go the no-limits route with the X-Division title and that doesn't suit everyone. The Eric Bischoff/Hulk Hogan era of Impact Wrestling may be heavily maligned and rightfully so, but they did get at least one thing right. They treated the X Division title as the same level as the World title, and that was the right thing to do.

4. Poor stage. This is very much a visual thing, but in my view the current Impact Wrestling set is the worst one they've ever had. The original NWA TNA set from 2002 only just beats it on account that it had no pretensions to be a great set, it was just the best they could do in the circumstances. But this set frankly looks horrible. Didn't like it when they debuted it, and still don't like it.

5. Poor programming decisions. Impact Wrestling has over the years tried to become too much in one single programme. I really feel they need to develop separate programming, much like WWE have had for years. If Anthem wanted to bring the Fight Network back to the UK, they could develop it around TNA/GFW/Impact Wrestling, and utilise some of the material that has been done in the past to good effect. How?

Second and third teir shows. Have Xplosion become a X-Division focused show, with one other match in the mix as well. Then take Amped and make that the place where the undercard makes its mark.

Spin Cycle. Turn that into a highlights and promos show, with some of the interview segments that TNA/GFW/IW/whatever brand they want to be known as today, have produced.

Gut Check. This was a good segment but it can be an even better show of its own. 3 wrestlers, 3 matches, everybody faces each other one on one. At the end of the show, one wrestler goes forward to the next round. Winner of the final gets a one year contract with the promotion going forward.

There's a lot of potential in the history of TNA/GFW. They're not doing enough to make something out of it.

 

[akathelaw]

TNA/Impact has had one hell of a history as a wrestling promotion, and Jeff Jarrett has been a part of it every step of the way. In my opinion Jarrett has always been the heart and soul of the company. After Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Billy Corgan attempted to run the company, I doubt there's anyone other than Jarrett who could get them back on the right track. GFW was Jarrett striking out on his own without Dixie, and he was ultimately not as successful due to timing and funds. TNA started in the wake of WCW closing up shop so there was this large market of wrestling fans needing a new show to watch that wasn't produced by Vince. When Jarrett participated in the GFW/TNA promotion war, it was pretty obvious that this was the most we would see of the brand on national TV. It's funny how time goes on and it appears that in reality GFW won that promotional war.
The name GFW is much, much better than the TNA initials. I don't think GFW's brand is tarnished by the lack of success they had before Anthem acquiring them. Wrestling is cyclical and young fans who turn on GFW for the first time won't care about the old baseball park shows' low attendance. Jarrett stuck to his plan and ended up partnering with the company that bought out his first attempt at a wrestling promotion, only to be put in charge of it again. I think Jarrett deserves some credit for beating Dixie in the end.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

TNA/Impact has had one hell of a history as a wrestling promotion, and Jeff Jarrett has been a part of it every step of the way. In my opinion Jarrett has always been the heart and soul of the company. After Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Billy Corgan attempted to run the company, I doubt there's anyone other than Jarrett who could get them back on the right track. GFW was Jarrett striking out on his own without Dixie, and he was ultimately not as successful due to timing and funds. TNA started in the wake of WCW closing up shop so there was this large market of wrestling fans needing a new show to watch that wasn't produced by Vince. When Jarrett participated in the GFW/TNA promotion war, it was pretty obvious that this was the most we would see of the brand on national TV. It's funny how time goes on and it appears that in reality GFW won that promotional war.
The name GFW is much, much better than the TNA initials. I don't think GFW's brand is tarnished by the lack of success they had before Anthem acquiring them. Wrestling is cyclical and young fans who turn on GFW for the first time won't care about the old baseball park shows' low attendance. Jarrett stuck to his plan and ended up partnering with the company that bought out his first attempt at a wrestling promotion, only to be put in charge of it again. I think Jarrett deserves some credit for beating Dixie in the end.

I don't disagree with you on what you wrote, i just wanted to add something to it. Jarrett my be the heart and soul of the company but if it wasn't for Dixie Carter saving them after the third PPV, TNA would be here today. The thing is with Jarrett, he's kinda like Paul Heyman in a way, he got great idea's but is a really bad business man, that's why TNA was in the red after is third show/ppv and they needed the found somebody with money to keep the company afloat.

We complain alot of how Dixie ran TNA during her time on top but if it wasn'T for her, we would be having this discussion right now. GFW was a failed experiment from the minute Jarrett decided to start the company. So their plan for getting new fans to watch the same old product is the rebrand it again with a name that your current fan base will associate with a failed company. It's like when WWE restarted ECW. Their also the fact that it's the second rebranding this year for the company. They went From TNA Wrestling to IMPACT wrestling, that didn't work so they're trying again by changing it to GFW. What happens in a couple of months if the rebranding doesn't work and they get even lower ratings. Do they rebrand again to another newer name.

The fact is that you might have change the people in charge of the company but they still have the same mentally of trying to find a quick fix to get result. In the wrestling business that doesn't exist. WCW tried it multiple time in the late 90's and the went bankrupt. TNA/IMPACT/GFW will pretty much be in the same boat if they tried to that strategy. my best advice for them and that's what Jarrett should tell them as well is be patient, if the program is good on a regular base, fans will tune in. If the show is booked like last week impact on a regular bases, it won't matter what the name of the company is, fans won't watch the show.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Another thing I have to write about this, if you are rebranding and changing the company name, it might be a good thing to not use the tna logo at the beginning of the show. I'm just starting to watch tonight edition of impact and the first thing I saw, even before the recap of slammiversary, was the tna logo and that won't help the rebranding because if the plan for the new name is to make fans and advertisers forget about the tna brand, then having te tna logo be the first thing you see on tv won't help them forget about the tna brand.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Yeah, this rollout is not good. Which is funny, because Jarrett in recent interviews has used the "if you confuse them, you lose them" line to explain the 'excitement' around the rebrand in wanting to simplify and get back to the history of TNA as TNA: Impact Wrestling.

But this is already confusing. They're Global Force Wrestling: Impact Wrestling? Seriously? Or is it Global Force Wrestling: Impact Wrestling Presented by Anthem?

They ought to just call it Too Many Cooks.