Photo: TRP

In somewhat of an unsurprising move, Impact Wrestling just took to Twitter to announce that they have terminated their business relationship with Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling.

Impact Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its business relationship with Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment Inc., effective immediately.

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) October 23, 2017

Jarrett returned to the promotion earlier this year, serving as Creative Director when Anthem acquired Impact Wrestling from Dixie Carter. He brought back several associates from the TNA days and was working on merging his Global Force Wrestling promotion with Impact Wrestling. Unfortunately, that did not go well.

Due to numerous problems, including Alberto El Patron’s issues with a domestic violence incident over the summer and Jarrett’s on personal issues, things began to fall apart between the two parties. Jarrett was removed from his position, and it was announced that he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the company. Then, this weekend, Jarrett no-showed an independent booking date, with the rumor being that he was in no condition to be around people at all.

Jarrett’s substance abuse issues are one of wrestling’s worst kept secrets, so this move from Anthem and Impact Wrestling was just a matter of if, not when. They are trying to rebrand and relaunch, and with Jarrett drawing extremely negative attention, it’s only surprising that it took them this long to sever their ties with him. Hopefully, Jarrett can get the help he needs and move forward with his life.

The post Impact Wrestling Severs Ties With Jeff Jarrett & Global Force Wrestling appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

PHOTO: GFW Impact Wrestling

GFW Bound For Glory Headed Up North

While we will wait to tell you the city until Monday…. #BFGCanada 11.5 pic.twitter.com/KMzzRJRUTG

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 16, 2017

No word on what city Bound For Glory will take place in, but if one had to make an educated guess, it’s probably Toronto. That’s where Anthem’s headquarters are located.

Taya Valkyrie Talks GFW Debut

On a recent edition of Ring Rust Radio, Taya Valkyrie talked making her debut in GFW on Impact Wrestling.

“I’m constantly trying to expand where I am wrestling and who I am wrestling and looking for the best female wrestlers everywhere, you know what I mean? Karen and Jeff had known me for about five years and they would come down to Mexico and work with AAA all the time. Karen and I would laugh about me coming to work with her and do her projects with her and stuff, but I just couldn’t. It was really an exciting thing to be asked to be a part of it. I am really happy and excited to see what happens. It’s a different opportunity, it’s a different demographic than the lucha libre crowd and I get to wrestle some girls that I’ve never worked with before. It’s a new challenge for me so I’m very excited.”

She also had a few words for Sexy Star, who as we reported, had a now-infamous incident with GFW star Rosemary during AAA’s TripleMania, and with whom Taya has a bit of history with.

“I don’t want to go too much into it because honestly, I don’t want to give more attention to something or someone that doesn’t need it. Rosemary is the nicest, most professional woman, and a fellow Canadian. Obviously, I had the privilege and continued privilege to work with her. I was so embarrassed and disappointed watching that match on a whole, not just the finish but the whole thing. I consider myself as an international woman and a face of what women’s wrestling is in AAA, and I just feel so embarrassed and I think basically that’s all I can say about it. It was so ridiculous to me, uncalled for and unprofessional. I was so disappointed and I continue to be disappointed by it. I just feel like it happened but it’ll never happen again. I hope to God it never happens again.

“I experienced similar situations in my five years being in AAA with different female wrestlers there in the Indies throughout Mexico because I am Canadian, I look different, it’s crazy to me, but it still exists. There are still people that are just out for themselves. It is what it is, but I’m so happy that Rosemary is doing better because I can’t wait to kick her ass.”

The post GFW Bound For Glory 2017 Location Revealed; Taya Valkyrie On Impact Wrestling Debut appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast recently interviewed Robbie E. Here are some highlights:

Making a Dad-Bod web series with Muscle and Fitness: “When I was on The Amazing Race was the first time I was approached by Muscle and Fitness and they did an article on me basically on how do you build up your endurance to prepare for the race, how do you stay fit during the race and it went well. We stayed in contact and they’ve done a few followups on me about my wrestling career and they always reach out to see what new things I’ve got going on in my life. They knew I had baby twins and they saw from posting pictures that I am still in great “Robbie E” shape so they asked if I’d be interested in doing these “Dad-Bod” videos to show that you can be a Dad and stay fit and obviously I said of course.”

“Every Monday at 10:30am Eastern on all of their social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, website, YouTube) they put these videos up and it is basically me giving a workout. There are so many Dads and there really is a Dad-Bod. I know so many guys that I went to high school with that once they get married and have kids you see them a few years later and they just look different. Whether they are losing more hair or they have a gut or whatever it is they start to look like a Dad. Not everyone but a good portion of people just kind of do and they give up on themselves and put everything into their family and their kids, which there is nothing wrong with that but you shouldn’t forget about yourself and you are still living life. One thing that I said and my wife said is we are not going to change as people when we have kids, so it is basically a little video and a tip of a workout you can do in a short period of time while you are interacting with your kids.”

Current status with GFW and how he will be brought back: “I am still 1000% with GFW. I think it is just as simple as Jeff came back, he’s back in charge and what he wanted to do is revamp the product. Now he is finally going in a direction that shows stability and the right people are there and the story lines are going to start to add up and revamp the whole look. New colors, new entrance way, new ropes and of course some new faces and with having new faces you’ve got to give the old faces a break. Myself, Bramm, Zima have kind of been taken off TV to be brought back and the cool thing for me is that I am going to be better than ever.”

What fans can expect for his upcoming return: “For seven years I have done cool things and I think a lot of people have it in their head that Robbie E is a funny guy and a comedy guy but I think this will be my chance to comeback as something completely different. I think people forget that I am an accomplished wrestler. This will be a chance to remind them. What better way than to take me away for a little bit and give me a fresh start.”

Thoughts on Anthem reviving GFW: “They are here, the company is up and running, everybody is getting paid and we’ve got a television show so it sounds good to me. It has all been positive so far and I look forward to the future. We are here and that is all that matters.”

Tommy Dreamer’s claims that he’s using his kids to get over: “Tommy Dreamer tries to take a shot at me every chance he gets. Why? Because he is jealous of Robbie E and that is right and you can quote it; Tommy Dreamer is jealous and a Robbie E wannabe. I’m not using my kids to get over. It is so my kids can get over also. You’ve always got to revamp yourself so it is almost like I am making a little group kind of like when a singles guy gets a little gang together. But I am tired of him running his mouth on Instagram and Twitter. On this podcast I am challenging him to anything because I am better than Tommy Dreamer at everything. I am making any kind of challenge whether he wants it to be a wrestling match, an MMA fight, a boxing match, a karate match, an eating contest..I want Tommy Dreamer in something so I can beat him over and over again. Can you make that happen?”

“This has been going on for years. Like I said, I really think he has an obsession with me and I think he really just wants to be me so bad. He is jealous that I am more of a hybrid than him, I think I am willing to take more risks in the ring than him and I am more hardcore than him. I think he really wishes he was Robbie E.”

The post Robbie E Confirms He’s Still Part of Global Force Wrestling appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Photo: Twitter

Impact Wrestling Preview 9/14/17

Here’s a non-spoiler preview for what GFW and Impact Wrestling have in store for us tonight on POP TV.

Global Championship #1 Contender’s Match
Johnny Mundo vs Low Ki.

Bobby Lashley decides his future.

GFW Grand Champion EC3 vs El Hijo de Fantasma.

GFW Tag Team Champions LAX vs OVE.

X-Division Championship (Falls Count Anywhere)
Trevor Lee vs Sonjay Dutt.

Braxton Sutter vs Garza Jr.

Jim Cornette Talks His GFW Status

On today’s episode of Jim Cornette’s podcast, he reiterated once again that he was still with Global Force Wrestling and will continue to appear on Impact Wrestling. He added that he will be at the television tapings in November and will be at Bound For Glory. Apparently he and GFW are negotiating on how many days he will be in Florida for the tapings; he says he cannot stay down there for the entire week.

Cornette says that his role in GFW and on Impact was never meant to be a full-time, long-term deal. However, he remains open to staying involved in the company as long as they want him. Supposedly, all he was brought in to do is replace Bruce Prichard for one week since Prichard had outside conflicts for that week and couldn’t be an on-screen authority figure for the duration of the tapings.

The post GFW Impact Wrestling Preview (9/14/17); Jim Cornette On His Status With GFW appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: GFW/TRP

GFW Messes Up Royally With Global Wrestling Network “Launch”

Yesterday, we reported that GFW had launched their Global Wrestling Network and gave all the pertinent details on the streaming service. Well, in normal Global Force/Anthem fashion, the company screwed the pooch with the “launch”.

Turns out, it wasn’t really a launch at all. GFW mistakenly made the site live as they were working on the infrastructure of the service. When the news started to spread that the service had launched and that people could watch everything contained on the site for free, they shut the whole thing down.

What happened yesterday was never meant to be a public launch of the site, but GFW failed to put it behind a wall where it couldn’t be accessed by the public. They are preparing to launch the service, though, and we will keep everyone updated on when the real, purposeful launch of GWN happens.

WWE RAW Social Media Scores

Ratings, viewership, and social media scores for both RAW and SmackDown Live were delayed this week due to Nielsen shutting down their operations center due to Hurricane Irma, but today, we are finally getting the numbers for Monday’s episode of WWE’s flagship show.

This week’s episode of RAW ranked #1 among series and specials for the night in Nielsen’s social media TV ratings. RAW had 185,000 interactions with 34,000 unique authors on Twitter, down from 239,000 interactions with 47,000 unique authors last week. RAW also had 155,000 Facebook interactions with 107,000 unique authors. This is down from last week where RAW had 190,000 interactions with 133,000 unique authors on Facebook.

The post GFW Screws The Pooch With The Global Wrestling Network “Launch”; WWE RAW Social Media Scores appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: TNA

Alberto El Patron’s GFW Return Confirmed

As we reported yesterday, there were plans in the works for Rey Mysterio and Alberto El Patron to face off at GFW’s Bound For Glory later this year, but those fell through due to El Patron’s suspension and the talks between GFW and Mysterio falling through. But during a GFW conference call today, John Gaburick, one of the members of the company’s creative team, confirmed that El Patron will be returning to the promotion for Bound For Glory in November.

“We have plans for Alberto, we’re excited that he’s gonna be coming back at Bound For Glory. We’re excited about the future for Alberto, he’s an amazing talent and as a creative group we’re really excited to come up with some real cool scenarios and stories for him in the upcoming months.”

Bram Tries To Clear The Air

After a furor on social media this morning where fans were extremely vocal about their displeasure at Ireland’s OTT Wrestling for booking Bram, the promotion canceled his appearance. Bram then took to social media to tell his side of the story.

pic.twitter.com/ydThBp6Ig6

— BƦλM (@Thomas_Latimer_) September 12, 2017

Bram, in part, said he was falsely accused by someone out to hurt his reputation and that he has never physically harmed a woman. He then called out the so-called “social justice warriors”, accusing them of hateful rhetoric.

Bram was arrested in 2015 and charged with one count of domestic battery by strangulation as well as one count of false imprisonment after authorities responded to calls of a fight in his home. It was noted in the arrest report that he admitted to holding the victim down by her throat and refused to let her leave a bedroom. He later plead not guilty to all charges. The case was resolved when the State Attorney’s office declined to prosecute.

The post GFW Makes Alberto El Patron’s Return Official; Bram Responds To Accusations & Canceled Bookings appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: SI/TRP

With all of the rumors swirling around this week about Anthem, Impact Wrestling, and GFW, Ed Nordholm appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio yesterday to address the current situation and where Anthem and GFW go moving forward.

How The Company Will Change Moving Forward

“The good thing that came with Jeff was he brought in some good young guys. Sonjay Dutt and Scott D’Amore, they’re guys that are totally plugged into the independent wrestling scene and the Japanese wrestling scene and the style of wrestling they’re selling today. So frankly, as unfortunate as it is that Jeff’s not available to us right now, his lieutenants are there, they’re excited to have their moment in the sun, they’re going to pick up the ball and run with it, and I think you’ll see a somewhat different style because they’re more tuned into an action-style wrestling and probably a little less talk and a lot more action. But fundamentally as far as the biggest change in the short-term, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself because I’m hopeful that Jeff has not gone long.”

His Goals For The Company

“Well number one, make it profitable. It is a challenging business and candidly, perhaps a little bit more complicated than we realised when we decided to go from being just a broadcast company to being in the content creation business, as hardcore as this is. But we knew coming in that the company had lost a lot of money last year and was losing money when we took it and we didn’t have any misapprehension that just because we put our name on the door that suddenly it was going to be profitable, that it would be a process. It’s been a year, there’s been lots of things, we’re just trying to knock them off, breaking big rocks into little rocks and my objective is at every taping, at every quarter, that we have accomplished something that is moving as closer and closer to a break-even position. And you all know there’s two ways to get there. One is to get more revenue and the other is to have less cost and find the spot in between. We’re obviously needing to grow revenue but there’s no surprises that revenue isn’t going to appear overnight. So that’s a process of rebuilding the brand and rebuilding the audience and the dollars will follow. In the meantime, just looking for ways to incrementally reduce our costs and find more efficient ways to do things, find more interesting ways to do things, and you’ll see that at every taping. We’ll do something a little bit different and we’re just trying things and what’s working and what’s not working and reassess and retool.”

Global Wrestling Network Streaming Service

“Well I think of it as the alternative wrestling network, it has our ambition. We’re obviously a long way to get there. We’ll launch with our own content. We have a nearly 3,000 hour library and of that about 850 hours of it is up, ingested and ready to go. So when we launch next week, there will be about 850-900 hours of Impact content available. But do expect in the very near future to be bringing on our partners as well. It’s not branded as an Impact app because we want it to be a generic place where, whether it be AAA or NOAH or if we can persuade New Japan or anybody, that we can find a place that will have an efficient place for the aggregation of wrestling content that’s not related to the WWE.

Obviously the tentpole is the library we have. It’s a large library and what we also have is, not going to pretend that we have the digital footprint as the main provider of wrestling content in the industry, but we do have a billion views, a million subscriber YouTube channel and a lot of content available as a tentpole piece that others can leverage off. And it should help everybody if we can sort of aggregate ourselves, our audiences across a platform, all boats should rise off that. We look at our TV deal in much the same way. The way I look at Pop TV, I think that’s a great platform for us. We’ve got a national broadcast license that they’re successfully making the transition away from the TV Guide channel and they’re getting themselves into hi-def and they’re getting themselves into OTT applications slowly but surely are increasing their presence and it’s a place where our partners that are working with us, we can all sort of get advantage of that ability to get exposure to a broader audience.”

GWN Platforms, Cost, & Availability

“At launch, it’ll just be the big iOS, Android and web-based application. We’re working our process for Apple TV, Roku and all the other platforms. The app that we are basically building at office is the Fight Network and FNTSY Sports apps that we already have so we know those are pretty broadly distributed into the various platforms but just the process for getting approvals for all that just takes a lot longer. We wanted to get the app out and in phase two we’ll start building it into the conventional smart TVs and other distribution channels.

“It’s $7.99 a month basic subscription, 30 days free. There will be a free tier and a pay wall tier. Most of the content will be in the pay tier. It’s hard to make a business work in the digital world off free stuff, off an ad-based product. There will be stuff available on the free tier but mostly you’ll want to go into the pay tier if you want to see the archive.

“In North America, it will be available in the free tier 10 days after it’s aired on Pop.”

Selling TNA Library To WWE

“I know full well how the WWE Network would monetize the content and what they could pay for the library. Monetizing it there makes no sense for me to sell it for that kind of price. I would rather keep it and put it up on the app and monetize it myself.

That’s the outcome that arises if the decision had been that, “Shit, we don’t want to be in the wrestling business, shutter down and what do we do with that asset on the liquidation sale”. We’re investing in this company, we’re growing it, we know it’s not going to turn around tomorrow. Selling the library is not on our cards.”

The post Ed Nordholm Talks Global Force Wrestling, Jeff Jarrett, Global Wrestling Network, & WWE appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: GFW

More drama is floating around with Anthem and Global Force Wrestling. As we’ve been reporting throughout the week, Jeff Jarrett has been “removed” from his position as Chief Creative Officer, reports have surfaced that Anthem is hemorraging money and looking to sell the company, and Anthem doesn’t actually own any of GFW’s trademarks or anything else associated with the promotion.

And, the bad news keeps coming. Last night’s episode of Impact Wrestling, which went against the NFL opener for part of the show, did 227,000 overnight viewers, way down from the 268,000 overnight viewers that they did last week. That is the second lowest watched first run episode in over a decade. Last year, Impact drew an audience of 337,000 against Thursday Night Football last year.

Jim Cornette, one of the on-air authority figures on Impact, has confirmed that he will be at Bound For Glory on November 5th.

“Just got off the phone not long ago – Sunday, Nov. 5 I will be at Bound for Glory in Orlando, Florida, the Global Force Wrestling pay-per-view. More to come… I’m not sure, I can’t be at all the TVs that week, but I may be at TV, but more to come on that. But I will be at Bound for Glory.”

Alberto El Patron spoke with Sports Illustrated about his plans on returning to Global Force Wrestling and Impact, as well.

“I’ve been in touch with Global Force Wrestling, and we’re working to bring back Alberto El Patron to the company. We’re working to find something that will please the fans. At the end of the day, I work for the fans; they are the ones I work to please. I am going to put all my heart, all my passion into making this work. I am completely focused on where I want to take the company in November, and I promise to make the company great again, and Alberto is going to be on top again.”

And, Kevin Sullivan, Global Force Wrestling Vice President Of Production, took to Twitter to blast Sports Illustrated for it’s reports of Anthem wanting to rid itself of Global Force Wrestling.

@SInow, when did it become ok to print bs? As a journalism major, I found your fact checking to be less than diligent. Will you be following up with another story with the facts? @GFWWrestling is launching the Global Wrestling Network, is launching on Pluto TV, is launching in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, via ran FIGHTING, and extended their deal on @PopTV.

@SInow “Anthem is committed to broadening Global Force Wrestling’s footprint, as we work alongside international broadcast partners, digital platforms, and professional wrestling promotions to bring our passionate fans a high-quality product that not only stands out in today’s media landscape, but continues to thrive into the future.

@SInow Uncertain future?

The fun never ends with these folks…

The post Global Force Wrestling News: Impact Ratings, Cornette, El Patron, & More appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: TRP

It almost feels like we are back in the good old Dixie Carter/TNA days. The “real” problems between Anthem and Global Force Wrestling are continuing to come to light after the news that Chief Creative Officer Jeff Jarrett was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the company came out yesterday.

It’s being reported now that Anthem is apparently hemorrhaging money when it comes to GFW, and there’s the rumor that they are looking at actually selling the company. Since Jeff Jarrett still owns basically everything to do with GFW (the merger really didn’t happen like it was reported that it did), if Anthem did sell, they would be selling Impact Wrestling, not Global Force.

It’s also being reported that company officials and talent held multiple meetings on Tuesday to discuss the future of the company. Talent was informed that the company was still stable, despite Jarrett’s departure, but it looks like Anthem is wanting to rid itself of what it apparently sees as a bad investment.

At this point, though, who would buy the company? WWE? Maybe, but just for Network content, not to keep it running as a viable promotion. ROH? Again, possible; they would probably absorb the talent roster. Billy Corgan? Since he purchased the NWA name and assets earlier this year, one has to wonder if he would still want to take on Impact and all their issues.

Despite these reports, though, GFW and Anthem announced yesterday afternoon plans for expansion with several new ventures included.

Global Force Wrestling Announces Global Broadcast and Digital Expansion Initiatives

NASHVILLE | TORONTO – Global Force Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., announced today numerous global and digital expansion initiatives, including:

* Plans to launch the Global Wrestling Network, a multi-platform digital service designed to give fans around the world instant 24-hour access to the extensive GFW and IMPACT libraries.

* Plans to launch the IMPACT Wrestling Channel on Pluto TV, a 24-hour live feed of content on the leading free over-the-top (OTT) television service in the U.S.

* Extension with Pop TV in the U.S. to continue airing its flagship weekly show IMPACT on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET.

* Distribution deal with 7Sports, the sport business unit of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, to bring IMPACT back to screens in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via ran FIGHTING.

IMPACT showcases top professional wrestling stars such as GFW Champion Eli Drake, Bobby Lashley, the high-flying X-Division, the lovely and lethal Knockouts, including Sienna, Rosemary and Gail Kim, plus talent from international partner promotions such as Johnny Impact, Naomichi Marufuji and El Hijo del Fantasma. The 3,000+ hour library features household industry names such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and many more.

“These digital initiatives and broadcast agreements are a significant step forward for the Global Force Wrestling organization as we continue to expand the brand globally, making it available on more platforms and in more countries,” said Ed Nordholm, president of Global Force Wrestling. “Anthem is committed to broadening Global Force Wrestling’s footprint, as we work alongside international broadcast partners, digital platforms and professional wrestling promotions to bring our passionate fans a high-quality product that not only stands out in today’s media landscape, but continues to thrive into the future.”

At this point, with this company, I don’t think anyone (not even those involved) knows what the hell is actually going on.

The post Global Force Wrestling News: Anthem Problems, New Network, Jarrett, & More appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: TRP

In a move that shocked many, Global Force Wrestling announced earlier today that Jeff Jarrett will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the company and stepping down as the promotion’s Chief Creative Officer. It was originally cited that the absence was for personal reasons on Jarrett’s part.

Effective immediately, Jeff Jarrett is taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position as Chief Creative Officer to focus on personal matters. Jeff will be available on a consultative basis as needed.

Jarrett had been scheduled to wrestle Alberto El Patron at Bound For Glory, but obviously now, those plans have been nixed…at least for the time being.

As the day has worn on, though, more has come out about this story.

It’s being reported now that Ed Nordholm was unhappy with Jarrett’s “erratic behavior” as of late and that was the leading factor in the decision to basically remove Jarrett from his position. One instance in particular was at last weekend’s AAA TripleMania, where Jarrett did not look his best, stumbled to the ring, and acted unprofessionally by throwing tortilla chips at the audience.

Jarrett throwing tortillas to the crowd at #TriplemaniaXXV.

https://t.co/OFW8GUUCJx pic.twitter.com/3C1AmylsLc

— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) August 27, 2017

Backstage incidents with Jarrett at Impact tapings, including a shouting match with Bob Ryder, also played a part in the decision. It’s said things have been escalating for months.

There’s no word now as to who will be stepping into Jarrett’s role. Also, reportedly, the GFW/Anthem merger is nowhere near complete, so if Jarrett doesn’t return to the company, we could see the Global Force Wrestling titles, name, logo, etc. disappear from Impact Wrestling, especially since Jarrett and GFW own licenses and trademarks associated with the promotion.

We will keep everyone updated on this situation as more information comes to light.

The post Jeff Jarrett Forced To Take Indefinite Leave Of Absence From GFW appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.