Back in June, Rob Kligman was announced as the Chief Revenue Officer at Anthem Sports Group after being let go from WWE a few months ago. Speaking with Trey Holder of Essentially Sports Think Tank, Kligman discusses how he ended up with Anthem.

“So the opportunity to revisit being around a wrestling organization was something that was really interesting to me (he said about joining Anthem). I was also looking for a property that was looking for growth. I think this day and age, there’s a lot of consolidation and for me, the opportunity to:

1) be within wrestling which is where I spent eight years of my career and really flourished from a career perspective,

2) the opportunity to also get into a female area where I’ll be working with Invicta Fighting Championships which is an all-female mixed martial arts promotion, and

3) the opportunity to be within something that as we’re talking about, the Caitlin Clark effect, which is really pushing female athletes in sports to the next level has given me a chance to, one, be in mixed martial arts. But also be within an area that’s truly, truly growing so, for me, the combination of both has made it a really appealing opportunity.”

Having worked for WWE for a number of years, Kligman is asked what the biggest strength is of each organization (WWE & TNA).

“Distribution is something we’re looking for from an Anthem Sports Group perspective as we look at TNA. I think OTT is not going to be the end factor. I think we’re going to look for a distribution deal that’s going to be both OTT based but also broadcast based to give us the largest audience possible.”

“So we both have historical realms behind each brand. The brands both can speak for themselves and stand for themselves. Right now, the difference really is the distribution mechanism that WWE uses to push their content out versus what TNA does. Right now, we’re focusing on getting that distribution even larger than it is for TNA. That’s the big differentiation point. The production is the same quality, and the content is the same quality. The difference is the distribution.”

“That’s one of the big reasons why I came on board was to help the distribution, work with our team internally at TNA, and lock in an opportunity for the fans to see it worldwide. That’s the ultimate goal.”

“That’s where we see the differentiation point between World Wrestling Entertainment and TNA, it’s simply distribution. Because when you look at the content, the production is spot-on. The content and the characters are spot-on, so once we get that distribution deal, I think you’re gonna see a little bit more of an even keel between both organizations.”

Holder asked how it came about that the WWE and TNA did an actual crossover with talent.

“I think it was that the fans really wanted it. I talked a little bit about how Daniel Bryan became World Champion – it was the fans behind it. I think what you’re seeing now is what do the fans want to see and hear and bring that to the fanbase.”

“We see an opportunity where mergers can happen. We’ve had discussions with talent about how do we get the action of TNA into the 2K video game? That’s kind of the buzz you’re seeing in the social media sphere; fans want to see it.
There’s not this sort of barricade between the two brands anymore, it’s bringing the fans what they want to see and in this case we’re having fun bringing our talent up, brining their talent to our level, and seeing it prosper on both levels.”

Can you give any details on the new leadership structures in both organizations?

“From our perspective – TNA – I can tell you that we’ve got some really positive people within the organization, and positively leads to success, and team-oriented mindset leads to success. That’s what I’ve seen so far and that’s the type of people we’re bringing into this organization. We want to win, we want to win at a level we know we’re capable of winning at, and to me that’s what’s exciting. I think more than anything we’ve all checked our egos at the door if we have any, and we understand that this is a team that will make this a success. We have the foundation built at TNA and Anthem Sports Group in general and I think as we work together and we’re smart – we have certain steps along the way I think it’s going to be a success.”

Anthem Sports has other ventures besides TNA. How does TNA fit overall as compared to the other ventures in the organization?

“It’s – to me – the opportunity of seeing such an amazing brand with such historical – a huge historical library of content (and I mentioned earlier content is still “king”) – to really be able to build something to a tremendous level. We have some great opportunities – we have HDNet, which was the former Mark Cuban channel. We have AXS, which is where sometimes you can watch- you can always watch TNA – and we’ve got a lot of powerhouse music and entertainment areas within the Anthem Sports & Entertainment division, and for us I think we all see that there’s growth opportunities across the board, and I think that for me is the most exciting part of being in an organization.”

“Trey, you and I spoke beforehand about being in the publication business. Seeing what Sports Illustrated and other magazines had done, and during my tenure at Sports Illustrated or USA Today Sports, we were trying to pull back, and that’s no fun being in an organization where you’re pulling back just to try to save dollars. Here, we’re trying to earn dollars, and by doing that we’re in an industry where we know people want to read about, see about, and follow – for me that’s exciting. I like when there’s an opportunity to a great sponsorship deal and know that 100% of those dollars are going right back into the brand, and that’s versus paying debt. For us, everything is going to go back into talent, into production, into bigger venues, and to me again, that’s building a brand.”

“For me, in this stage in my career – I’ve had 25-30 years of being involved in startups and mature companies – the ability to be at this stage in my career and in a growth area is truly exciting. It’s a tough economy, it’s a tough time to be in media, but for us – it’s live sports, the content in there, and I think the company is behind it. We’re utilizing a lot of resources within the company to help propel TNA to another level.”

Kligman was asked about the possibility of WWE and TNA doing something together over WrestleMania weekend. He said one of the goals is for the two companies to do an event together on the same weekend.

“That I don’t know yet – if TNA & WWE will do something together over WrestleMania weekend. I think, again, the way I look at the organization and how I look at building a business is its crawl, walk, run. It’s taking those small steps and doing them really right the first time and then mature and get to the second step and get to it the next step. That’s an ultimate goal and that would be amazing. I think there’s an opportunity for potentially maybe doing events in the same weekend. Finding a way to do something where we parallel the opportunity for fans to gather around and see content where they wanna see it at their time and that could be an event weekend that parallels TNA and WWE at some point. You just never know. But, obviously, WrestleMania is the ultimate. There is no such thing that’s even bigger than that but, I think the opportunity that could exist to be part of WrestleMania would be an ultimate goal.”

Full interview:

H/T myself (@beardown316 and @bodyslamnet)

TNA’s next event – Slammiversary – has about 3,500 tickets sold to the event on 7/20 in Montreal, Canada.

Get your tickets to Slammiversary here.

Matches announced for Slammiversary:

TNA World Title – 6 Way Elimination Match
-Moose (c) vs Josh Alexander vs Steve Maclin vs Nic Nemeth vs Frankie Kazarian vs Joe Hendry

TNA Knockouts World Title
-Jordynne Grace (c) vs Ash By Elegance

TNA X Division Title
-Mustafa Ali (c) vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey

TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles
-Malisha (Masha Slamovich & Alisha Edwards) (c) vs Spitfire (Dani Luna & Jody Threat)

Make sure you watch all the stars of TNA WRESTLING EVERY Thursday!

-TNA + App. Sign up here. (Watch weekly iMPACT! episode simulcasted at the same time as AXSTV – 8eastern /7central)
-AXSTV in USA
-Fight Network in CANADA

-AYOZAT TV (Sky 186) in UK

-DAZN for international fans sign up here (includes BTI pre-show, weekly IMPACTonAXSTV episode, LIVE monthly specials, 4 flagship PPVs, + footage from the library)

-Become a YouTube Insider HERE and subscribe.

• Insider is $0.99/$1.49 per month. (includes weekly show commercial free w/LIVE chat).

#iMPACTonAXSTV

Follow Gerard at @BearDown316 on Twitter

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