Is TNA on its last legs? Taz addresses Internet speculation

TNA’s ratings continue to stagnate. Many of the company’s top superstars have moved on. Its founder, Jeff Jarrett, is reportedly ready to launch a new wrestling company. Taz has been hearing for five years that TNA is on its last legs. He told Busted Open hosts Doug Mortman and Dave Lagreca that the Internet Wrestling Community has no idea.

“Enough with that. They’re not going out of business,” said Taz, a former in-ring ECW and WWE superstar, pointing to the TV contract with SpikeTV as a sign of TNA’s health.

“As long as you have a TV contract, you’re not going out of business. As long as you have a niche audience that you have with over a million people 52 weeks a year with original programming on worldwide TV; you’re not going out of business. That’s for all you smart marks because you think you know everything, and you really don’t,” Taz said.

Analysis: Taz is right. As long as TNA is on SpikeTV, the company isn’t going anywhere. The ratings for Impact aren’t anywhere close to WWE’s ratings for Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, but they’re still above what SpikeTV gets for its average programming hour. That said, WWE is reportedly interested in testing the waters when its contract with USA runs out this year, and WWE has a history with SpikeTV. It’s not hard to figure that if WWE reached out and really wanted to move, SpikeTV would dump TNA in a heartbeat.

Column by Chris Graham