WOW lands ViacomCBS deal

WOW is back. Women of Wrestling, the all-women’s promotion run by Jeanie Buss, owner and president of the Lakers, and Dave McLean, the founder of Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), signed an agreement with ViacomCBS for a syndicated distribution deal.  It will air on different networks and different times on free television, depending on your region. It’s similar to ROH’s syndication deal with Sinclair Broadcasting.

We reached out to IMPACT for comment about a “big, new distribution deal” but haven’t heard back.

WOW previously aired on AXS TV in 2018–2019, before Anthem bought the channel and canceled the show.

IMPACT! on AXS TV review

This week’s episode was good overall and feautured three solid matches. Unfortunately, the only match designed to get the audience excited for Knockouts Knockdown this weekend was a swing-and-a-miss. It’s very cool that they are doing an all-women’s event for IMPACT Plus, but they have not done a great job of promoting it. All efforts have been geared towards their big-money event, Bound for Glory on Oct. 23. That said, the company’s build to the latter event continues to be awesome.

HITS

• Josh Alexander and Christian Cage vs. Ace Austin and Madman Fulton: A very entertaining main event, as one would expect. The friendly rivalry between the two is getting more interesting and seems to be building to a boiling point. Alexander and Cage picked up the victory when Alexander hit a German suplex and Cage snuck in to tag and hit the Killswitch, stealing the pin from his partner.
• Mickie James and Deonna Purazzo segment: This is hands-down the best feud in IMPACT and on par with the best in any company. James attacked Puraazo in a boardroom while she was being reprimanded for last weeks barn attack. D’Amore has implemented a no contact order until Bound for Glory.
• Maclin vs. Petey Williams vs. Taurus: The X-Division tournament as a whole has been excellent so far and this was another really good match. Maclin picked up the victory by pinning Williams after hitting his “Mayhem for All” finisher.  He now moves on to Bound for Glory to compete for the title.
• Bullet Club vs. FinJuice and Chris Sabin: A solid trios match. Bullet Club got the W. Some of the heel schtick from ELP and Hikuleo didn’t quite hit with me, but the match itself worked.
• Swingers Palace: The downfall of the best weekly segment on IMPACT continues as we say goodbye to the Palace. As they packed up, Hernandez showed off his Dixie Carter poster. Bravo then displayed a Jeff Jarrett poster, which, according to Swinger, was won in a lawsuit. Dead.

.@swinger_johnny is packing up Swinger's Palace. #IMPACTonAXSTV @SuperMexCTM @FALLAH1 @JohnEBravo1st pic.twitter.com/qRz1vSESA1

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) October 8, 2021

MISSES

• Heath promo: It’s great seeing Heath back and healthy, but his first promo was a miss. He seemed uncomfortable and didn’t’t quite know what to say. Unscripted promos are a different animal, especially when you have been portrayed as a goof for the past decade and now you’re in a serious role. I believe he will grow and improve. He did get better once VBD and Eric Young came out and the intensity cranked up a notch.
• The Undead Brides and Lady Frost vs. Mercedes Martinez, Tasha Steelz, and Savannah Evans: This match was not good at all. Brandi Lauren has a long way to go. Tasha Steelz did look impressive though. The Alisha Edwards stuff after just did not make any sense at all. Did she just find out her Swingerella friend has been missing? Why is she suddenly so mad about this?

News

• Masha Slamovich will challenge Deonna Purazzo in the main event of Knockouts Knockdown.
• IMPACT is a part of the “Tag Me In” PSA campaign. This is an effort to normalize conversations surrounding mental health. Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, Trish Stratus and others are coming together for this.  They will be selling t-shirts to raise funds for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Go to TagMeInUnited.com for more info.
• John Skyler and Crazzy Steve have advanced in the Digital Media Championship tournament.
• I watched the Skyler-Zicky Dice match. In case anyone was wondering, it was a six-minute match that Skyler won with a rollup while holding the tights.
• Monthly IMPACT Plus specials will be live starting on November 20 with Turning Point, from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. They had been taped over a three to four day period and most of the time out of sequence previously. I think this is a wise move
• Josh Matthews announced on IMPACT! on AXS TV that Bound for Glory had sold out. As of this writing, there are still tickets available on Ticketmaster.
• Moose and W. Morrissey have been announced for the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Bound for Glory. Honestly thought both of them would have been in actual matches on the show. This does make the gauntlet far more interesting than in years passed.

Ratings

The October 7 episode of IMPACT! on AXS TV averaged 111,0000 viewers with a 0.02 demo. It did not make the Showbuzz Top 150 this week. This is down from last weeks 115,000 and 0.03.  Dark Side of the Ring averaged 137,000 with a 0.05 rating for the Johnny K-9 episode. MLW: Fightland, which aired at 10pm following Dark Side of the Ring, averaged 40,000 viewers with a 0.01 rating according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics. Fightland was the most heavily promoted show in MLW history and received a ton of main stream press. If this was their trial for a deal with Vice, only retaining 29% of the lead in audience from Dark Side can’t be a good sign.

IMPACT Ratings 2021

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