Josh Mathews On Timing Of Global Wrestling Network Launch, Archived Content That May Air
WrestlingINC.com owner Raj Giri was recently on a media conference call with Global Force Wrestling commentator Josh Mathews. On the call, Giri asked about the timing of the launch of the Global Wrestling Network.
Impact announced the launch of the Global Wrestling Network on Tuesday. It features a video library from the Impact archives so fans can relive 16 years of Impact Wrestling. Mathews said the timing simply cam down to the app being ready.
"I think it was ready to go. (laughs) If I'm being candid with you, it was just one of those deals where we knew we wanted to do it," Mathews explained. "Our president Ed Nordholm knew he wanted to do this service and he needed to talk to the different partners. There's so much that goes into this, that I've learned along the way. You have to work with people who build the app, and then you have to test it, and then you have to make sure that it's right. This is a process that's been going on for some time, it could've launched back in August but it wasn't ready. Now it's ready and up and going and the demand is there, we saw that last night on social media and the numbers that we got today. Everyone's super-excited and it's just one of those things I mentioned the last time I've been around the media, we got knocked down that day by Sports Illustrated for no reason, and now here we are launching a worldwide app today."
Mathews was also asked if the archives from Ring Ka King and Impact's brief time on Destination America will be available on the app. Ring Ka King was an India-based promotion that ran for a few months in 2012. After ending its deal with Spike TV in 2014, Impact was broadcast on Destination America in 2015 before signing a deal with Pop. Mathews said it will take some time for those archives to be added to the app, but eventually they will be available.
"I think that's just a matter of time, a matter of when all those things get uploaded," he said. "Last night, 2017 wasn't uploaded and then it was up a little while later, so I think it's just a matter of feeding the beast and loading all of these things. I'm super-excited to see the Destination America and Pop stuff too because I think that when we left Spike, a lot of people didn't get to see what Impact was doing during those years. So it's a good time to sign up, get the app and see all those things that you may have missed."