Less than a week ago, Anthem Sports purchased Global Force Wrestling. Anthem also happens to own Impact Wrestling (formerly known as TNA). GFW struggled to get its name out there to a mass audience. The name TNA became an albatross around the promotion’s neck due to questionable creative and mismanagement. Former world champion Jeff Jarrett happened to be the founder of both promotions. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Impact is re-branding itself as Global Force Wrestling.
As reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (after being initially released by the Tennessean), the move was reportedly done to distance themselves from financial and legal woes that surrounded the previous ownership. Jeff Jarrett is now on the Anthem board of managers. This, along with him being an equity owner and the Chief Creative Officer means that Jarrett shouldn’t have too much interference guiding the ship this time around.
From the @Tennessean re: @GFWWrestling @RealJeffJarrett @EdNordholm and our future. https://t.co/I3mUFSqsnL
— IMPACT WRESTLING (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 30, 2017
The official rebranding is scheduled for one of the biggest shows of the year for Impact, Slammiversary. Ed Nordholm, president of Anthem Wrestling, had this to say in regards to the move. “We are excited by the progress we have made with IMPACT Wrestling since acquiring the business in January. Jeff and his team have been instrumental in this success and we are pleased that we have reached an agreement on the basis of which we can combine our businesses to continue to grow. Slammiversary XV will be a fitting occasion to bring the promotions together and merge the titles under the new IMPACT combined belts. By combining our resources and talent, we can produce the best product for our global audience.”
The much sought after tape library of Impact has been discussed ad nauseum for quite a while now. It seems that this is also going to play a major part of the deal. If the rumor is true, that GFW seeks to launch a streaming app to utilize said tape library, it is a smart business move. They’d have fifteen years worth of Impact matches. Even ten percent of those would make the app a must have for diehard wrestling fans.
I want to believe. I want to believe that Jarrett and company can right this ship. However, I believed the last few times the company went through a soft reboot…and was burned all of those previous times. For the sake of the North American televised wrestling market, let’s hope that this time, the changes to Impact are for the better.
