You can be forgiven if you aren’t an avid Impact Wrestling watcher nowadays, but TNA is still alive and kicking over on POP TV. In fact, they are set to have one of their biggest shows of the year on Sunday night, Slammiversary, which will be headlined by a pair of matches featuring four former WWE stars.
In one main event, the absolutely bonkers feud between Matt and Jeff Hardy will come to a head in a Full Metal Mayhem match. If you haven’t been keeping up, it is highly recommended that you go back and watch all of the segments of this feud as they somehow have only gotten crazier and crazier as it has gone on.
In the other main event of the evening, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway (fka Drew McIntyre) will defend his title against The Destroyer, Bobby Lashley in a unique “Knockout or Tapout” match.
Considering how much those four talents mean to the current TNA product, it’s perhaps not all that surprising that according to Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer, the company is trying to sign all four men to exclusive contracts moving forward.
While that might sound like it makes sense, there are some things that don’t quite add up. For one, as The Observer explained, TNA is in the process of cutting costs, and offering up enough money to sign those four to exclusive deals is going to cost them.
Also, each of the four talents mentioned have a lot going on outside of TNA, and convincing them to stick around and not go anywhere else is going to be a tough sell. Drew Galloway is currently involved in the biggest storyline in EVOLVE, along with fellow TNA talent Ethan Carter III. An exclusive contract would almost certainly pull him out of that promotion (which is partnered with WWE) immediately. Galloway is a former EVOLVE world champion and tag team champion and has begun headlining events and winning titles for UK promotions as well.
The Hardy Boyz do pretty well for themselves on the independent scene as they continue to be big draws for indie promotions. Plus, Jeff has recently stated his desire to have one more WWE run before his career ends.
As for Lashley, it’s unclear if the exclusive contract would keep him away from his MMA career, but one would imagine that that would be a huge no-no if it were the case.
With TNA losing the likes of Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Austin Aries, and more in the last year, it makes sense that they want to hold on to their main event guys. However, it’s seriously questionable if offering them TNA-exclusive deals is really the best strategy to go about doing that.
(Via The Wrestling Observer)
