?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Saturday, June 11, 2005 at 1:04 AM EST

To add on the story we had up on Friday regarding TNA's TV negotiations with WGN recently falling through, more information as to how everything went down has now become available.

According to reports, it was TNA who "stepped away from the table" so to speak when a deal was about to be made. It appears that WGN wanted TNA to pay them for air time, especially in a primetime spot on Monday night, and that a deal where TNA doesn't pay anything wasn't likely to happen even if TNA brought strong ratings to the superstation. This is basically the same deal TNA had with Fox Sports Net, where they were paying an estimated $30,000 a week for a 52 week agreement. Of course, WGN's weekly asking price could have been just as much if not more, although that isn't known at this time. WGN also felt that it would be hard to shop around pro wrestling to advertisers and left that job up to TNA officials. TNA was said to be willing to pay money up front to get the project rolling as the deal was very close to being done. However, they didn't want that to continue throughout the deal and were hoping to come to an agreement that if ratings drew well that it would cancel out that agreement or some other form of it.

Despite this situation taking place, many TNA wrestlers and staff don't appear to be in "panic mode" at the moment about losing the deal with WGN. Of course, some feel Dixie Carter might be pushing a "false hope" agenda when it comes to the future of the company, but many don't feel that is something taking place at this time. Based on what has been said by those involved with TNA, the feeling is that another deal still may be in the works with another network and that all hope isn't lost. To add on that, it appears Spike TV might not be the only other network TNA is talking to. What those other networks are isn't known, but one can only speculate with only so many other cable networks like TBS, TNT, FX, Bravo and others available. It should also be noted that there is a TV taping scheduled for Tuesday, June 21 after the Slammiversary PPV. All TNA talent were called about this date and plane tickets have already been purchased. The reason behind this taping is basically to keep all international outlets happy with new programming, although some have already started to speculate that TNA may announce at the taping that they have signed a new TV deal with a network and would be starting in the next few weeks.

From what is understood, TNA already knew the deal with WGN was dead when purchasing tickets and lining up talent for the June 21 taping. Many feel this taping is a good sign regarding the company's future if they are ready to get back in the swing of things so to speak and continue on with business as usual, starting with the Slammiversary PPV on June 19. Others have reportedly been very impressed with how some Panda Energy people such as Dixie Carter and Frank Dickerson have handled the situation and have continued to push the future of the company as a bright one. For those unaware, Carter has all the say in what happens in TNA despite how things started with the Jarrett's in 2002, as Panda Energy owns 71% of the company. In the end, the impression many are getting from TNA wrestlers at this time is that although they are unaware of what is taking place regarding a possible TV deal, they don't feel worried about the status of the company and are basically hoping for the best at this point. We will no doubt continue to cover this ever developing and always interesting situation as the weeks develop heading into the Slammiversary PPV.

News Derived From: Wade Keller @ PWTorch.com