Impact Wrestling has announced that they're going to revamp the way they do pay-per-views. Rather than doing the one-PPV-a-month that summarizes the storylines on the main show, they're going to a "Big 4" model with seven additional niche events that will be pre-taped and available throughout the month, starting April 2013. Here's the text of the press release:
TNA IMPACT WRESTLING today announced a new worldwide Pay-Per-View programming initiative for 2013. The 52 annual episodes of IMPACT WRESTLING on SpikeTV will lead to four, live epic Pay-Per-View events commencing with "Genesis" on January 13th, "Lockdown" on March 10th, "Slammiversary" on June 9 and "Bound For Glory" on October 13th.First, here's to the company realizing they can't do the same model that WWE does. WWE has a "bad" PPV, and they still make several million dollars in revenue. The same can't be said for the former TNA.
In addition, seven Pay-Per-View specials that will be branded as "TNA Wrestling: One Night Only," series will debut in April 2013 and continue throughout the year during the additional months. The 3-hour taped Pay-Per-View specials will premiere on the first Friday of each month. The first two "One Night Only" specials will be "Joker's Wild Tag Team Tournament" and "X-travaganza" which will feature the X-Division.
"The Pay-Per-View industry has changed so much in the last decade," says TNA President Dixie Carter. "The traditional pay-per-view wrestling model needed to evolve and we believe this strategy will positively impact not only the Pay-Per-View events but the weekly television programming as well."
The company will continue to produce TNA Wrestling's "Unfinished Business", which are one-hour programs available on a Video on Demand (VOD) basis. The monthly titles continue to focus on the history of a rivalry or a specific past PPV event. These titles are available for two months at a time.
Second, it provides a wealth of possibilities for longer term storytelling as well as a more diverse array of products with the different themes on the "One Night Only" series. This reminds me a lot of the WWF's old model in having the Big Five and then In Your House to supplement. They have a lot of room to experiment with the seven and then really put the major push for longer angles for the bigger ones. Impact has proven they're at least willing to tell longer stories.
Of course, the quality of these shows is going to depend on whether we go from a focus on Hulk Hogan to the wrestlers. Also, whether people buy these shows is going to depend on price point. I would totally buy this "Joker's Wild Tag Team Tournament" if it's $15, but if it's the same as your average former TNA PPV? Well, then it gets dicier. However, at least they're trying something.
