Just as Impact Wrestling was receiving very good news about their spot on television, another blow came to them on the television production side.
Impact Wrestling will now start airing Tuesday’s on AXS TV in the future. Formerly on the Pursuit Network, which barely any wrestling fans had on their cable/satellite packages, AXX TV seemed to breath new life into Impact Wrestling. One big problem arose quickly for Impact, the production company they use for their televised wrestling will no longer be with them.
SEScoops exclusively reported
Over the weekend, KSTV cut a deal with AEW and will be working directly with AEW lead producer Keith Mitchell.
The mass exodus of virtually its entire production division has left Impact scrambling. Impact was blindsided over the weekend when the Sullivan group notified them the working relationship was over effective immediately. The news of Kevin Sullivan giving notice to Impact was first reported by John Pollock of POST Wrestling.
KSTV tried to secure a contract with Anthem, which would have given them a sense of stability. That never came to fruition, which understandably led to some uncertainty and left the door open for AEW to swoop in.
Impact is trying to spin the situation as if AEW only took one person, but that is not the case. Kevin Sullivan TV is composed of editors, graphic artists, sound engineers, video producers, voiceovers studios and more. They assembled all of Impacts weekly programming for domestic and international.
Over the past couple days, Impact hired a local Tennessee producer to handle the work of several people while it regroups from this latest setback.
One source who we spoke with about this story called it a “huge strategic move” by AEW and “crippling” to Impact ahead of their move to AXS TV in late October.
The situation is not without some irony, as it relates to the business practices of Impact and (parent company) Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Following Anthem’s recent purchase of AXS TV, they immediately gutted the production staff of AXS TV’s offices in Dallas and Colorado. Many very talented production people were pushed out of their jobs. Now, Impact finds itself badly in need of very talented production people.
It seems the old adage of “lol TNA” may still apply to Impact.
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