It’s been almost three weeks since Anthem Sports and Entertainment announced its purchase of TNA Wrestling. Since then, the wrestling company had its TV tapings, including a “live” show where the phase “a new beginning” was uttered many times throughout the broadcast. The turnbuckles had Anthem’s logo and it seems that everyone is on board with the ownership change and the support that TNA had been lacking for years.
Yes, it’s been a short time, but already we are starting to see little changes in the company, some good and some bad. It’s hard to gauge how healthy a company is right after a sale, but being a TNA aficionado like myself, I saw a few things that stood out from the first Anthem Impact Wrestling taping on Jan. 5 through this past Thursday’s show. There are three things that popped out to me and the first was made very apparent on this week’s show.
The New Impact Wrestling Logo
This was something that was leaked during Impact’s marathon tapings two weeks ago. Of course it’s all about branding and Anthem wanted to make sure that its logo is in the Impact Wrestling logo. But the giant letter A with what looks like the illuminati eye inside the logo just looks ridiculous. I understand rebranding but guys, c’mon. And speaking of rebranding–
Anthem No Longer Will Use The TNA Name
One of the many ideas that Billy Corgan had when he attempted to take over the company was possibly doing away with the TNA name. As we all know, TNA in wrestling terms means Total Nonstop Action, but TNA could mean...other things that men like to see. The name was signed off by Jeff Jarrett in the company's early days, but it was a total Vince Russo “shock TV” idea and the name was never well-received by those in the industry.
Anthem decided at the last set of TV tapings that the company will just go with Impact Wrestling as the company name and begin phasing out the TNA name altogether. This was a necessary move if the company is to ever grow. The TNA name is one of failure, mismanagement and sheer idiocy. Without that name, fans and critics could see the company has actually trying to start anew and not just splash a fresh coat of paint on the wall in a dilapidated house. This was a great move by Anthem.
No Sudden Changes In Storylines
One thing that I was afraid of after the sale and mass exodus of executives and writers from TNA was that Anthem would come in and reset everything. Think WCW circa 2000 when Russo and Eric Bischoff came in and made all the titles vacant and rebooted everything. That is a great idea...when you don’t have any compelling stores going on. Impact Wrestling has a couple of stories that has fan invested and they are continuing them with no interruption.
Eddie Edwards as the underdog champion and Allie fighting with Maria Kanellis are storylines that fans care about and Anthem is making the right move in letting them continue. Talent like Damien Sandow and Rockstar Spud had no stories so a reboot to those characters made sense, but not rocking the boat of an entire company as a new owner is tough not to do. Anthem is trying to run this company the right way after it being ran the wrong way for such a long time and this is a good start creatively.
It feels like a slow burn for Impact Wrestling. We won’t see an immediate return on Anthem investment for at least six months. The changes will be slow and steady, but with this company, a string of quick, sudden changes for the sake of change won't help Impact Wrestling. It’s a good start (sans the logo) and, needless to say, everyone is watching to see what Impact Wrestling will look like in the coming weeks and months.
