?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Thursday, March 31, 2005 at 1:18 PM EST

- When news broke on Tuesday that Jeff Jarrett had been in New York City meeting with Viacom executives regarding TNA programming, details were very sketchy in the hours that followed. The initial story presented was that Jarrett wanted TNA to land a deal with Spike TV, whether it be on a Monday night or any other night, once WWE programming departs this September. The other "big note" from the story was that Viacom officials reportedly wanted WWE to know they were talking with the Jarrett's to create some buzz so to speak. This is where it gets interesting.

WrestlingObserver.com's Dave Meltzer reported on Wednesday that according to a Spike TV source, there was said to be no real interest in bringing TNA to the network following a brief meeting with Jeff Jarrett. The discussions were also said to have not dealt with a Monday night timeslot at all. To make matters worse, the general feeling was that even if TNA could pull a solid 1.5 cable rating in a good timeslot (which is something many feel they can't do based on the numbers they have drawn on Fox Sports Net so far), Spike TV could simply run repeats of "McGyver" at no cost and get the same rating. Add in the fact of advertising revenue and how hard it is to sell wrestling, it appeared at the time that nothing really came of the meetings.

PWTorch.com's Wade Keller touched on the story as well on Wednesday, bringing to light the facts presented above. However, the story seemed to be entirely different as Jarrett was spotted being quote "extremely upbeat and optimistic" after the meetings with Viacom executives. According to reports, Spike executives were said to be interested in TNA as they felt it is an established product with a three year track record of producing "network-ready shows." Also, the price tag for TNA programming would obviously be much lower than what WWE requested earlier this year and would make up for expected lower numbers than what the network is generally use to.

It should be noted that officials at Spike TV walked away from negotiations with Vince McMahon regarding WWE programming very upset. A source close to the situation added quote, "Vince has a way of being pompous in those types of meetings and network execs aren't used to that. They're used to being the pompous ones." There still is no word on if any clause remains in WWE's contract with Spike that would prevent them from airing TNA or any other wrestling promotion immediately after the final episode of RAW airs on the network in September (or even before that). One idea that has come into place if a deal is made, although obviously not confirmed, is that TNA could be introduced to RAW viewers by airing a one-hour special after the final episode and then air in that timeslot the following week.

In the end, TNA striking a deal with Spike TV would be huge for the company on many levels. Spike could easily provide production funding that would allow TNA to increase the look and feel of their TV and PPV events so that it would be at a level to compete with WWE. The basic addition of revenue from Spike would also allow TNA to run actual arenas around the United States instead of only taping at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. Of course, that is assuming TNA officials would want to go in that direction.

This will be a very hot topic in the coming months, especially given the fact that WWE has yet to announce a deal with another cable network to air RAW on Monday night's after their departure from Spike in September. It should be noted that TNA officials have also been in discussions with one other major cable network that could easily clear a weekday primetime slot for their programming. We will have more on this as it becomes available.