Backstage Notes On Impact And WWE Officials Meeting Last Week
As noted earlier, via PWInsider, Impact Wrestling officials recently met with WWE officials at WWE HQ in Stamford, CT. Impact was represented by Ed Nordholm and Scott D'Amore while WWE was represented by members of Triple H's team. Vince McMahon was not there. The original report noted that the meeting was a general discussion about the two companies and a chance to get everyone in the same room, not any kind of specific negotiations. An Impact source added that the meeting had nothing to do with a potential sale of the company or its video library as neither are for sale.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter now reports that Impact officials were pitching while WWE officials were listening to their ideas. The Observer adds that the belief is that the meeting did have to do with the WWE Network and the Impact tape library.
It was speculated that Impact could be interested in a deal that would see them make money by giving the WWE Network access to their footage or TV shows. Impact may have improved creatively as of late but it continues to struggle when it comes to mainstream star power and they continue to be a big money loser. Impact's Pop TV deal ends later this year and pays very little if anything, and The Observer noted that the only way the promotion can make money these days is with paying TV deals. In addition to the Pop TV deal, they are making less money than before in the UK and the only real significant TV money they have is from India. The Observer also noted how Impact may not sell the tape library because so much of their footage is used on The Fight Network, which is also ran by Anthem, but there could be some sort of deal where they are able to continue using the archived footage.
WWE was in talks to purchase Impact a few years back with the idea of buying it for the tape library and then shutting it down, but they offered less money than Anthem and Billy Corgan. WWE and Anthem have been on good business terms as of late as Impact allowed WWE to use footage for projects on The Hardys and WWE Champion AJ Styles.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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