TNA Bumped from Prime Time

[MachoMyers]

TNA Impact Loses Prime Time Slot
Posted by Ashish on 03.14.2006

Will have to settle for late Thursday night...

In a move that has to be killing TNA morale right now, SpikeTV has decided not to go ahead with the planned move of Impact to Thursdays at 8PM ET. Impact will still move to Thursdays starting on 4/13, but will instead air at 11PM ET.

Jeff Jarrett informed the wrestlers of the news today at the Impact taping.

Impact will follow the Ken Shamrock/Tito Ortiz season of "The Ultimate Fighter" which will air at 10PM ET. Spike made the move so they could get "The Ultimate Fighter" into the prime time schedule. The full Thursday line-up will be "CSI" at 8PM ET, "UFC Unleashed" at 9ET, "The Ultimate Fighter" at 10ET, and TNA Impact at 11ET.

On the surface the move is obviously bad news, however the show may be better off following UFC since they will benefit from the lead-in UFC gives them. Recent ratings have shown that TNA benefits greatly from UFC's audience.

Credit: WrestlingObserver.com
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This has got to be devastating. I was fired up for the prime time slot. Regardless of the UFC lead in this hurts a lot.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

TNA Impact Loses Prime Time Slot
Posted by Ashish on 03.14.2006

Will have to settle for late Thursday night...

In a move that has to be killing TNA morale right now, SpikeTV has decided not to go ahead with the planned move of Impact to Thursdays at 8PM ET. Impact will still move to Thursdays starting on 4/13, but will instead air at 11PM ET.

Jeff Jarrett informed the wrestlers of the news today at the Impact taping.

Impact will follow the Ken Shamrock/Tito Ortiz season of "The Ultimate Fighter" which will air at 10PM ET. Spike made the move so they could get "The Ultimate Fighter" into the prime time schedule. The full Thursday line-up will be "CSI" at 8PM ET, "UFC Unleashed" at 9ET, "The Ultimate Fighter" at 10ET, and TNA Impact at 11ET.

On the surface the move is obviously bad news, however the show may be better off following UFC since they will benefit from the lead-in UFC gives them. Recent ratings have shown that TNA benefits greatly from UFC's audience.

Credit: WrestlingObserver.com
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This has got to be devastating. I was fired up for the prime time slot. Regardless of the UFC lead in this hurts a lot.

SpikeTV is a bunch of morons, they helped in killing ECW.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

OK. SpikeTV doesn't want TNA. ****ing Spike... ridiculous.

Maybe some other station will show some interest in TNA when the contract with Spike runs out, and treat TNA right.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

OK. SpikeTV doesn't want TNA. ****ing Spike... ridiculous.

Maybe some other station will show some interest in TNA when the contract with Spike runs out, and treat TNA right.

Spike is stupid.

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Well this seems like the end of TNA... that's sad I actually liked the product they had... even better than WWE lately. We'll see if they can keep their promotion running.

[Beantown]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Should've kept Saturday at 11

[cjonesfan921]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Yeah. It's better of at Saturday at 11PM instead of Thursday at 11PM. I mean i'll still watch if the product is interesting but for the smaller viewers meaning k-8graders who love this, they probably won't be able to watch now. I know I have cousins who stay up on Saturday to watch TNA and they won't be able to with the move to Thursday Late NIght.

[ILLCHILL]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Well this seems like the end of TNA... that's sad I actually liked the product they had... even better than WWE lately. We'll see if they can keep their promotion running.

Wouldn't go that far just yet. This is a big hurdle, not a dagger IMO.

[MachoMyers]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Wouldn't go that far just yet. This is a big hurdle, not a dagger IMO.

I agree, although this now seems like a step in the wrong direction instead of what would have been the right move.

[NYJets]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Well, for me personally I'm happy about it. I'll always watch it now, while I miss it a lot on Saturday night, and probably wouldn't watch it too often at 8 on Thursday.

But bad news for TNA.

[The GIGGAS]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Well, it's a step in the wrong decision not because TNA made a mistake (although it could argued that signing with Spike, although it meant a bigger fanbase was a bad idea due to their usual killing of wrestling shows) but because Spike for some reason believes that UFC is the thing that's going to pull their station out of mediocrity, when in fact if they pushed TNA, they'd probably be better, due to the fact that WWE have great ratings every time they show up on TV.

So... it's really Spike's fault here.

[Slymm]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Spike knows that UFC's reality show pulls bigger ratings than Impact would. Its a good business decision for them. Sucks for fans but I'm not gonna cry about it.

[SPTO]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

Actually UFC is poised to jump right into mainstream popularity so I can't really blame Spike focusing on that at the moment. Also in defense of Spike; ECW was already a dying promotion when they had the rights to it.

While this is huge blow to TNA it's not like they're being thrown to the dogs. As the article said by having TNA follow the UFC programming it should be a strong lead in.

Let's wait and see what happens before we start badmouthing Spike. At least they're giving TNA a chance.

[JiggidyJames]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

I don't know what to say about this. SPTO has the point about UFC being the lead in, which is good. But Thursday at 11 is rough. Especially since this was considered do or die time for TNA. I'm not saying that they're going to go out of business, no way, but this is a crushing blow. They put alot into this and for this to happen is actually kind of sad.

Hey, maybe this means no Goldberg. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

[funky_chicken]

Re: TNA Bumped from Prime Time

If the time slot was going to be the same they should have just kept it on Saturdays. What can they possibly gain from being in the same time slot on Thursdays?