In a week which seems to be bringing an endless stream of bad news for TNA, the latest is that wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated has announced that it will no longer be recognising the TNA Title as a World Championship.
In layman’s terms, Pro Wrestling Illustrated is one of the biggest pro wrestling magazines in the world. It’s highly respected within the industry, and its annual “PWI500” is an official indication of the best wrestlers in the world. By announcing its intention to drop TNA’s top title as an official World Heavyweight Championship, this is perhaps a much bigger indication of how the promotion is perceived within the industry than anything else so far.
It’s been a terrible week for TNA, PR wise. Several of their big stars are no longer contracted to the company including Low-Ki, Magnus, Austin Aries and James Storm, with other wrestling news sources speculating additional names too (although as of this time they remain unconfirmed). TNA Slammiversary was marred by audio production issues, the company informed production staff that they are 2 months behind on pay and former TNA Champion Eric Young let out a fouled mouthed outburst to fans on Twitter after the show, which was quickly deleted.
Further to that, the biggest talking point on TNA TV this week doesn’t even concern them, but instead the focus has been of Jeff Jarrett and his new Global Force Wrestling promotion.
With this latest news of TNA no longer having a recognised World Heavyweight Championship, and talent no longer having guaranteed contracts and being allowed to work wherever they want, it effectively makes them an Indy promotion.
We’ll be monitoring the situation further, as potentially we could be embarking on a massive couple of weeks for TNA.