Impact Parent Company Trying To Buy AXS?

By Marc Middleton

Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Media has reportedly been in talks about purchasing the AXS TV network for the past three months, according to PWInsider. It was noted that the initial hope was to have the deal done by early July, but that hasn't happened.

Impact officials reportedly planned to announce that they were moving to AXS the Monday after the recent Slammiversary 17 pay-per-view, if the timeline worked out as they were hoping. The deal for AXS was never finalized.

PWInsider added that the potential purchase would not have changed the WOW or NJPW relationships with AXS as the station and its programming would have remained in place as it is now. The purchase would have seen Anthem-owned content, including Impact Wrestling, move over to AXS.

This report from PWInsider goes along with a report made earlier today by Twitter user @fightoracle, who has broken several pro wrestling stories over the past few years, including WarnerMedia presenting AEW at their upronts. @Fightoracle reported today that AXS TV reportedly turned down interest from Impact regarding airing on their network, which led to Anthem floating the idea of purchasing AXS from their owners, which includes Mark Cuban.

The new report from @fightoracle noted that Anthem/Impact purchasing AXS seems like a long shot, which somewhat contradicts the new report from PWInsider. It was also noted that Tuesday's Impact press release on the content agreement and expansion with Twitch was related to the denial from AXS, as an attempt to save face. The source also revealed that there are issues with Anthem and boss Ed Nordholm.

"AXS is not interested in exploring a buyout with Anthem. Things appear very unstable at Anthem Media. Employees on edge," he wrote, and then continued, "It's a very dysfunctional company. If you know Ed Nordholm, it makes perfect sense. Incompetent doesn't do the man justice."

There have been rumors over the last day that the AXS – Anthem deal was dead, but PWInsider was told by several sources that the talks are still active as of this week.

You can see the related tweets from @fightoracle below:

Comments

Recommended