TNA Wrestling has officially re-branded their flagship program from “TNA Impact” to “Impact Wrestling.”
The change was announced on last week’s episode of Impact as part of a storyline. As the story went Mick Foley returned to the company as a representative for the Spike TV network and announced the change to the new name.
Things will officially go into effect on the May 19 episode that was taped yesterday, May 16.
A press release was sent out on Monday announcing the official name change and to announce the company’s new tagline, “Wrestling Matters.” As its nearest competition, WWE, its best to distance itself from the term “professional wrestling’ in every way possible, TNA is taking the opposite approach and embracing the term. Clearly this is TNA’s effort to entice the disenfranchised fans that have grown weary of WWE’s brand of “sports-entertainment.”
Judging by photos taken from those in attendance on Monday’s taping, new logos and marketing have been released as well in order to emphasize the “Impact Wrestling” brand name and the “Wrestling Matters” tagline while de-emphasizing the TNA name that has been polarizing since the company’s debut back in 2002.
In another effort to emphasize the wrestling aspect of the company, they introduced a new Championship to the company as well. The Xplosion Championship will be a Championship fought for and defended on Xplosion, the company’s syndicated show that airs in international markets all across the world. The winner of the first Xplosion Championship will then get the right to move up to Impact Wrestling and challenge one of the company’s main Titleholders.
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