Rumors have been swirling for months about a new television/media rights deal being in the works for TNA. Speculation has run rampant about what the new network or deal could look like, but while TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella doesn’t give any specific update, he talks about the implications of what a new media rights deal for TNA could mean for the future of the business.
Speaking with Lucha Libre Online for a new interview, Marella spoke on the current status of TNA, saying that the promotion will be number two when they land a television deal.
“The people from TNA in the past are happy for us. Obviously, the current locker room is ecstatic about the growth. When I came here, it was not like this, I know sometimes we were in Nashville or even Toronto, we had 350 or 500 people. But we believed in ourselves. Now we have the audience size that feels right and we deliver every time. Every time we’ve had a sold out crowd, we’ve never not had a good show. We’ve never wasted an opportunity. Bound For Glory is going to be another one, we’re going to capitalize on that audience, we’re going to send the message out to the wrestling world, we’re here. We’re knocking on the door. You better look out because once we get that TV deal, we’re number two man. I know Tony Khan has lots of money, I get it, but the fans speak. The fans dictate who’s number one, number two, number three, not your bank account. Of course WWE is number one, they’re so far ahead that we’ll never catch it in my lifetime. Number two is attainable, number two is something we can really do. If we accomplish that, that’s humongous.”
H/T Skylar Russell for Fightful.
Yesterday, Santino addressed the current, ongoing TNA-NXT invasion that kicked off on Tuesday night. Marella talked about how the TNA wrestlers were tired of having some of their titles being held by wrestlers outside of the company, and were fed up.
A few weeks ago, TNA President Carlos Silva shared with Jon Alba of Sports Illustrated that he predicts the company will have a media rights deal done – or at least something to announce – by the time their October Bound For Glory PPV rolls around.
For many weeks now, speculation has been running rampant throughout the wrestling community since about two weeks prior to Slammiversary where TNA President Carlos Silva was very vocal about getting TNA a better television/broadcast/streaming deal in an interview surfaced with Carlos Silva and John Wallstreet where some of the same topic was discussed, however, no specific network was named. Silva also mentioned looking for about $10 million for a media rights deal.TNA event ticketsWrestling merchandise
As far as a broadcast partner goes, about six weeks ago Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio shared that A&E network was the alleged “frontrunner” to land TNA on their platform, however, another network has now emerged as being rumored for negotiations with TNA, and In the August 4th edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave spilled the beans on a possible alternative network being interested – The CW – which Fightful Select later confirmed.
A month or so ago, with the news that WWE would be moving PLEs off of the Peacock app in 2026, a report emerged that Peacock is reportedly the “frontrunner” for TNA to get a streaming deal with.TNA event ticketsWrestling collectibles
Shortly after the above-referenced John Wallstreet interview, TNA President Carlos Silva was on the Ariel Helwani show talking more in-depth about media rights and also revealed the subscriber count for the TNA + app. Silva reiterated a 60-90 day expectation for a new media rights deal.
Will TNA end up with a new media rights deal soon, or will it end up being all smoke and mirrors with nothing legitimate behind it? We’ll see soon enough.
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