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Tag: Impact Wrestling

  • Impact Wrestling extends partnership with Eurosport India

    Impact Wrestling extends partnership with Eurosport India

    Mumbai: Anthem Sports & Entertainment’s professional wrestling promotion, Impact Wrestling, has partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery’s premium sports channel, Eurosport India. The partnership will ensure that viewers across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka will continue to enjoy Impact’s world-class content.

    The agreement includes live broadcasts of all live Impact Plus specials, giving Eurosport India viewers the best seats in the house for all the intense matchups, over-the-top drama, and larger-than-life competitors that only Impact can provide. Additionally, the extension features the launch of the all-new Hindi-language series Pehlwani Patakha, which showcases highlights from Impact—the promotion’s weekly flagship program, as well as exclusive matches and definitive moments from Impact Wrestling’s groundbreaking history spanning more than two decades.

    Speaking about this partnership, Impact Wrestling executive VP Scott D’Amore said, “Impact Wrestling has amassed a large and loyal fan base around the world, and India has always been one of our most passionate markets.”

    “We are excited to renew our successful partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery and Eurosport India, headlined by a slate of exciting live specials and the debut of the new Hindi-language series Pehlwani Patakha. We understand the power of local language in sports broadcasting and this extended partnership reinforces our commitment to customising content that caters to the Indian market while putting the spotlight on some of our prominent Indian talent, including fast-rising Punjab native Bhupinder Gujjar,” he added.

    Warner Bros. Discovery South Asia head of Eurosport Ruchir Jain commented, “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Anthem Sports & Entertainment as the broadcasters for Impact Wrestling, which has received huge popularity in India through Eurosport. As one of the leaders in pro wrestling content in the Indian market, we are confident that our extension of the relationship with Impact wrestling is only going to bring more joy and happiness to our loyal fanbase.”

    Since its inception in 2002, Impact has established itself as one of the largest professional wrestling organisations in the world and the premier destination for wrestling fans across the globe, enlisting legendary performers such as Ric Flair, Sting, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, AJ Styles, and many more throughout its storied legacy. Impact’s current roster showcases a selection of world-class athletes led by Impact World Champion Josh Alexander and Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace, X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey, World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), Knockouts World Tag Team Champions VXT (Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green), and Digital Media Champion Brian Myers. Other Impact superstars include Moose, Rich Swann, Sami Callihan, Matt Cardona, Eric Young, PCO, Rhino, and Trey Miguel; and the hard-hitting Knockouts Division, featuring Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie, Gisele Shaw, Mickie James, Mia Yim, and Su Yung.

    In addition to India and its subcontinent, Impact Wrestling programming is televised globally in 120 countries including on fellow Anthem properties AXS TV in the US and Fight Network in Canada, as well as digitally via YouTube, Facebook and its live streaming channels available on Pluto TV, Roku, Xumo and other free ad-supported platforms.

  • IMPACT Wrestling Expands Indian Broadcast Footprint with DSPORT

    IMPACT Wrestling Expands Indian Broadcast Footprint with DSPORT

    MUMBAI: IMPACT Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc and one of the world’s largest professional wrestling organisations, announced today a new television distribution deal with Discovery India, expanding its audience reach in this important region of the world. As part of the agreement, Discovery will broadcast 12 monthly IMPACT Plus specials on DSPORT and DSPORT HD across Indian subcontinent. The exclusive deal will include monthly specials from IMPACT Wrestling’s IMPACT Plus service, including Sacrifice from February and Lockdown in March.

    “IMPACT Wrestling has always maintained a strong presence in India and the Indian sub-continent where our passionate fan base continues to grow,” said Anthem Sports & Entertainment CCO and IMPACT Wrestling president Ed Nordholm.

    “With our volume of events increasing over the last two years, there has been more demand for exclusive and original IMPACT Wrestling content in the market. We are excited to be partnering with Discovery India to launch our monthly IMPACT Plus specials on DSPORT and look forward to continued international growth and expansion opportunities,” he added

    “We are delighted to partner with Impact Wrestling in our attempt to showcase the best possible professional wrestling action for discerning fans in India,” said Discovery SVP affiliate sales and head of sports business – South Asia Vijay Rajput. “Wrestling as a sport continues to show positive uptake in the country and we are eager to grow it as a focus area in our programming mix.”

    IMPACT Wrestling is renowned for its world-class roster of athletes, led by IMPACT World Champion Tessa Blanchard, UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock and legends Rob Van Dam and Rhino, high-flying X-Division stars such as Rich Swann and TJP, former NFL player Moose, Sami Callihan, Eddie Edwards, and Michael Elgin, plus the Knockouts, including Champion Jordynne Grace, Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary and Tenille Dashwood.

  • Impact Wrestling filming in Q4, talks with sponsors under way

    MUMBAI: Impact Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., has announced the viewership results for its inaugural show that aired on PopTV on 9 March, 2017.

    Viewership on PopTV held steady week over week, but viewership on the Impact Wrestling YouTube channel and other social media outlets exploded, with new content attracting more than 2.4 million views through the weekend, an increase of more than 275 per cent over the same period last week.

    “We are thrilled to see this response from our fans. We wanted to deliver an on-screen product with a new energy that would captivate our audience. Early signs are that we are on the right track,” said Impact Wrestling chief creative officer Jeff Jarrett.

    “The new on-screen branding was matched with new graphics across all Impact Wrestling platforms. The thrilling and exciting new open to the show and the abundance of new content across all platforms, including digital, reflect the enthusiastic energy that Kevin Sullivan has brought with him in his return to the show as Vice President of Production.”

    During the week, Impact Wrestling also reached agreement with its partners in India to begin taping in India. On 30 May and 31 May, episodes of Impact Wrestling will be taped in Mumbai to be aired in the four weeks leading up to Slammiversary. Discussions are now under way with local sponsors and promotions to launch a new show featuring local talent in association with the Impact Wrestling roster to be filmed in India commencing as early as Q4 2017.

    “We are excited to be in a position to bring our show to our fans in India,” said Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm. “This is an initial step in what we hope will become a regular part of our programming cycle, leading to live events in all of our key markets.”

    Nordholm also commented on management additions, noting that Scott D’Amore has agreed to join the company as Vice President of International Development, adding to his responsibilities on the creative team.

    “International growth is a top priority for us and Scott will be a key member as we forge alliances with international partners to bring Impact Wrestling to these markets,” said Nordholm. “Scott finalised a working agreement with the popular Japan-based promotion, Pro-Wrestling NOAH, this past weekend, and stars Moose, James Storm and Eddie Edwards travelled to Japan with him to compete in Yokohama at The Great Voyage 2017.”

    Scott D’Amore added: “I look forward to growing the brand on a worldwide level. In addition to this agreement with NOAH, we have reached an agreement with Crash Lucha, and I am actively working on other initiatives with local partners in Mexico, the United Kingdom and India.”

    The roster continues to grow and new faces will premiere on Impact Wrestling every Thursday night. We have already witnessed the debut of world-renowned star, Alberto El Patron, and an exciting new tag-team has burst on the scene named Reno Scum. Familiar fan favorites will also return to the Impact Zone in the coming weeks, including Karen Jarrett, Magnus, Matt Morgan and The Notorious LAX.

  • WWE Live to make a comeback in India; Ten Sports plans aggressive marketing

    WWE Live to make a comeback in India; Ten Sports plans aggressive marketing

    NEW DELHI: Even as TNA is bringing its Impact Wrestling live event to Mumbai this December, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is gearing up to bring some of the top names in wrestling to perform live in Delhi this coming January.

    The event, which will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on 15 and 16 January, 2016, marks the comeback of WWE Live in India after a span of 13 years. WWE Raw was last held in India in November 2002.

    The legendary Danial Bryan, one of WWE’s brand names, who is temporarily out of action under medical advice, was here along with WWE president international Gerrit Meier and Taj TV and Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi to announce the event.

    Sethi said they were expecting a full house at the stadium, which can seat approximately 20,000 people.

    On the other hand, with its eyes focused on the lucrative Indian market, WWE is also planning to build consumer parks in India in the near future, informed Meier. It may be recalled that the company launched its video streaming service WWE Network in the Indian sub-continent a few days back.

    For the live event in Delhi, WWE and Ten Sports will be aggressively marketing it with a significant amount of investment. While declining to reveal expected revenue figures, Sethi said that around five to seven per cent of the total investment in the live event will go into marketing.

    So far five sponsors have been roped in for the live event, whereas negotiations were on with as many as 15 more brands. However, Sethi refused to divulge any names. 

    The two-day live event, which will feature WWE SmackDown and WWE Raw, will see names like John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Big Show, Sheamus, Cesaro and Ryback. Tickets are priced between Rs 1699 – 7999. While the sale of a limited number of tickets was done today, the rest will be sold from 10 November onwards.

    When queried as to why there were no prominent Indians in WWE, Meier said that this kind of wrestling required a lot of training and some US-based Indians were currently under training and may soon be seen on screen.

    According to Meier, India had been chosen for the live event because of the large number of WWE fans in the country. “WWE holds around 440 events every year and we’ve held events in countries like Japan and Malaysia but India is a major market for us,” he said.

    What’s more, WWE is also expecting fans from neighbouring countries like Pakistan to come to India for this live event.

    On the television front, by offering a compelling storyline each week, WWE was largely skewed towards the family audience and Meier said that they had found the right partners in Ten Sports and Zee Cinema. The telecast on both the channels had gained popularity and was one the major reasons for WWE renewing the telecast agreement with the broadcasters through 2019. WWE and Ten Sports began their association in India in 2003.

    While the WWE telecast on Ten Sports received a lot of traction from viewers, Sethi said that the reason to bring it on Zee Cinema in Hindi was because WWE was now perceived as family entertainment. “We live telecast some WWE events on Ten Sports from the US. Moreover, Zee Cinema has helped take this event to the hinterland and expand the viewer base with the Hindi dubbing. Zee Cinema is one of the five top movie channels in India and reaches 150 million homes. As WWE is now considered as entertainment, it was only justified that it should be on a movie channel,” he added.

  • Sony Six bags broadcasting rights to TNA Wrestling

    Sony Six bags broadcasting rights to TNA Wrestling

    NEW DELHI: MSM’s Sony Six is certainly turning up the heat among other leading sports broadcasters and now, further expanding its bouquet of international sporting events, it has acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights to Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling across the Indian sub-continent.

     

    Sony Six will now air all of the best TNA Wrestling programming every week including Impact Wrestling, Xplosion, Greatest Matches and Unfinished Business, along with four episodic Pay per view programs and eight One Night Only specials throughout the year.

     

    TNA Wrestling is one of the leading brands in the world of sports and entertainment, providing high excitement action across the globe. TNA is the home of ‘The Immortal’ Hulk Hogan, ‘The Icon’ Sting, ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ Jeff Hardy, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Bully Ray, Magnus, AJ Styles, Gail Kim, TNA Knockouts Champion Mickie James and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin.

     

    MSM CEO Man Jit Singh said, “Wrestling is considered one of the ancient sports in the world and India with kushti has a storied tradition in wrestling. India’s recent success in international wrestling has attracted the youth in India and also captured the imagination and interest of audiences across the country. Given this national interest in the sport, we are proud to have acquired TNA Wrestling as one of our premium international sporting events. TNA Wrestling has garnered immense viewership internationally and we believe this association further reiterates Sony Six’s commitment to airing high impact alternative sports in India.”

     

    Commenting on this new initiative MSM COO N P Singh added, “Sony Six will now offer fans more than 500 hours of exciting original wrestling content every year. TNA Wrestling is a global phenomenon, producing exclusive entertainment for more than five million viewers in 14 languages each week and seen in more than 120 countries across the world. We at Sony Six look forward to building on this fascinating sport in the years to come.”

     

    Speaking about the partnership with Sony Six, TNA Wrestling president Dixie Carter said, “Everyone at TNA is thrilled at this exciting venture with Sony Six that will open up new horizons across all of India. The Indian sub-continent is home to some of the most passionate and dedicated wrestling fans on the planet – and they now have more than 500 hours of the very best in professional wrestling to enjoy. Sony Six is the perfect partner for us, thanks to their impressive and diverse range of sporting events, and we can’t wait to debut.”

     

    With Mixed Martial Arts and now wrestling introduced into the bouquet of international sports content, Sony Six will truly broadcast the best of both worlds by providing the finest action packed holistic entertainment programs for the audiences.

     

    TNA Wrestling is a privately held sports entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee that specialises in events, products, numerous TV properties, merchandise and music, as well as, the management and promotion of professional wrestlers.