The major story in pro wrestling over the past few weeks has been the impending sale of Impact Wrestling (better known as TNA), which reportedly needs to go through soon if the company has any chance of staying in business into 2017. This week’s development of TNA president Billy Corgan suing the company kickstarted a new round of reports about Impact Wrestling’s current financial crisis.
According to Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, TNA is currently $3.4 million in debt, with that money owed to Aroluxe (the company fronted by the Harris Twins, who financed at least one round of TV tapings), MCC Acquisitions and Anthem Sports (both of which have connections as the money behind Fight Network, and all signs point to one of those companies being the entity that financed the most recent batch of TV tapings). According to Meltzer, TNA has already sold some of its media library to Anthem. There is no telling how that could affect WWE’s efforts to obtain that library for the WWE Network.
As if that debt and the Corgan lawsuit weren’t bad enough, David Bixenspan and SEScoops reported that the state of Tennessee has filed a lien against TNA due to unpaid taxes, which gives the state the right to seize TNA property if the debt remains unpaid. Adding to TNA’s woes are some nebulous music licensing issues (also likely due to money owed), which nearly got Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling pulled before airing, but eventually aired with the entrance themes for Mike Bennett and DJ Zema Ion muted.
So, yeah … things could definitely be better.
When asked whether “this could be the end” for TNA, Meltzer had this to say:
the walls are closing in. Too bad, it's been building for years and they never quelled it. https://t.co/Surw5Q87j8
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) October 15, 2016
That’s certainly some very grim language to be using right now. TNA has been rumored to be at death’s door for a handful of years, but things have never before been this dire. Make no mistake: TNA going out of business would be very bad for wrestling and for wrestling fans, and particularly for all of the employees of Impact Wrestling, who will have one fewer viable place to work if the company goes under.
