In a huge twist, Destination America announced on Wednesday that it is adding more wrestling to its lineup, acquiring the TV rights to Ring of Honor.
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The news was a total surprise to fans and even to TNA talent, including MVP who sent out the following tweet after the news broke.
While some people thought it might be a joke, Destination America sent out a press release making it official.
It’s a surprising move and amazing that this was kept such a secret, especially in the wrestling world where it seems that everything leaks out.
Following the report last week, the common belief was that Destination America was cancelling Impact Wrestling because it was having trouble convincing advertisers to buy ads on the program. That’s one of the things that comes to the wrestling business, especially when you’re not WWE which is far and away the industry leader.
Now, it looks like the cable channel is doubling down on its interest in pro wrestling and maybe believes that putting the shows on Wednesday – a much better night than Fridays where Impact has aired – will help in gaining viewers.
There’s still plenty of questions to be asked including if TNA Wrestling will remain on Destination America, how long the ROH deal is for and could there be cross-promotion between the two groups. We’ll find out in the coming days.
Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.
