Impact Wrestling & OVW re-enter developmental agreement

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

Impact Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling have re-established a relationship between the two promotions.

Impact and OVW announced today that they've re-entered into an agreement for OVW to "serve as an official development and training territory" for Impact. TNA/Impact and OVW's previous relationship began in November 2011, with OVW serving as a training territory for Impact until 2014. OVW was also a developmental system for WWE in the 2000s.

OVW was purchased buy Al Snow last year.

“We are excited to grow our outreach and partnership with promotions worldwide,” Impact executive vice president Scott D’Amore said in a press release. “It is great to work with Al Snow and the team at OVW, which has a long history of developing great talent.”

“OVW is proud to be entrusted with the development of the true lifeblood of any professional wrestling promotion -- the in-ring talent,” Snow said.

The press release stated that Impact management will "look to OVW when scouting new talent and those on the development roster will see future opportunities to appear on the flagship weekly show IMPACT!"

Impact and OVW partnered together for a One Night Only show called "Clash in the Bluegrass" at Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this month.

[Big Red Machine]

It's Al Snow-run OVW, not Danny Davis-run, so... no real track record. D'Amore himself has a better record with his trainees, plus the seem to be based in Canada now, so this move baffles me.

[cero2k]

It's Al Snow-run OVW, not Danny Davis-run, so... no real track record. D'Amore himself has a better record with his trainees, plus the seem to be based in Canada now, so this move baffles me.

Impact is now based on Canada too, so that shouldn't be that surprising. Indeed they have no track record, but Al Snow himself does, he's competent enough. Given Impact's signings, i get the impression that they may want more of the TV training than the wrestling. Impact hasn't been going for the super green people anymore, so with all signings right now, they may just want to try to lock in some people with potential. Delilah Doom and Hijo del Vikingo who have the wrestling skills, but not the TV ones, are coming to mind.

[Big Red Machine]

It's Al Snow-run OVW, not Danny Davis-run, so... no real track record. D'Amore himself has a better record with his trainees, plus the seem to be based in Canada now, so this move baffles me.

Impact is now based on Canada too, so that shouldn't be that surprising. Indeed they have no track record, but Al Snow himself does, he's competent enough. Given Impact's signings, i get the impression that they may want more of the TV training than the wrestling. Impact hasn't been going for the super green people anymore, so with all signings right now, they may just want to try to lock in some people with potential. Delilah Doom and Hijo del Vikingo who have the wrestling skills, but not the TV ones, are coming to mind.

Al really doesn't have a track record, though. Find me one successful Al Snow student other than Kenny King and Johnny Mundo, both of whom are insanely gifted in terms of both charisma and athletic ability.
I get the TV thing, but surely there is a better way to do it than turning OVW into your developmental territory. Why not just sign the guys you like, as they become ready?

[cero2k]

It's Al Snow-run OVW, not Danny Davis-run, so... no real track record. D'Amore himself has a better record with his trainees, plus the seem to be based in Canada now, so this move baffles me.

Impact is now based on Canada too, so that shouldn't be that surprising. Indeed they have no track record, but Al Snow himself does, he's competent enough. Given Impact's signings, i get the impression that they may want more of the TV training than the wrestling. Impact hasn't been going for the super green people anymore, so with all signings right now, they may just want to try to lock in some people with potential. Delilah Doom and Hijo del Vikingo who have the wrestling skills, but not the TV ones, are coming to mind.

Al really doesn't have a track record, though. Find me one successful Al Snow student other than Kenny King and Johnny Mundo, both of whom are insanely gifted in terms of both charisma and athletic ability.
I get the TV thing, but surely there is a better way to do it than turning OVW into your developmental territory. Why not just sign the guys you like, as they become ready?

because there is more competition his year than the last two years. WWE is signing everyone. ROH and AEW are more selecting, but the former does have a dojo to 'train' people, as well as the NJPW dojo. If they wait for people to become good, you risk missing out all the time. Hijo del Vikingo is the perfect example, this dude could right now get signed by anyone even if he can't cut a promo. He's kinda undiscovered right now by the likes of WWE and Impact already had him in their shows, but if they wait on it, AEW is SURELY picking him up now that they're working with AAA too.

Snow, like i said, is competent. Impact doesn't really need more than that, they already have Konnan/D'Amore/Callis/Gail working a lot with the wrestlers on Impact. If Snow can give them extra pointers and book matches for their newer talent, that's about as much that they need. This isn't a NXT/Young Lion thing going on, it's just a closer relationship between the promotions. This isn't a detriment in any way, I highly doubt there is any expense going on or anything.

[Big Red Machine]

Impact is now based on Canada too, so that shouldn't be that surprising. Indeed they have no track record, but Al Snow himself does, he's competent enough. Given Impact's signings, i get the impression that they may want more of the TV training than the wrestling. Impact hasn't been going for the super green people anymore, so with all signings right now, they may just want to try to lock in some people with potential. Delilah Doom and Hijo del Vikingo who have the wrestling skills, but not the TV ones, are coming to mind.

Al really doesn't have a track record, though. Find me one successful Al Snow student other than Kenny King and Johnny Mundo, both of whom are insanely gifted in terms of both charisma and athletic ability.
I get the TV thing, but surely there is a better way to do it than turning OVW into your developmental territory. Why not just sign the guys you like, as they become ready?

because there is more competition his year than the last two years. WWE is signing everyone. ROH and AEW are more selecting, but the former does have a dojo to 'train' people, as well as the NJPW dojo. If they wait for people to become good, you risk missing out all the time. Hijo del Vikingo is the perfect example, this dude could right now get signed by anyone even if he can't cut a promo. He's kinda undiscovered right now by the likes of WWE and Impact already had him in their shows, but if they wait on it, AEW is SURELY picking him up now that they're working with AAA too.

Snow, like i said, is competent. Impact doesn't really need more than that, they already have Konnan/D'Amore/Callis/Gail working a lot with the wrestlers on Impact. If Snow can give them extra pointers and book matches for their newer talent, that's about as much that they need. This isn't a NXT/Young Lion thing going on, it's just a closer relationship between the promotions. This isn't a detriment in any way, I highly doubt there is any expense going on or anything.

Just you wait until Al Snow shows up on TV. He always does.

You're right that competition for fresh talent is a lot hotter... but how many of the guys people are signing- be it WWE, AEW, ROH, TNA, MLW, New Japan, LU, or anyone else- are actually coming from OVW? None that I can think of.

[cero2k]

Just you wait until Al Snow shows up on TV. He always does.

You're right that competition for fresh talent is a lot hotter... but how many of the guys people are signing- be it WWE, AEW, ROH, TNA, MLW, New Japan, LU, or anyone else- are actually coming from OVW? None that I can think of.

Maybe he'll replace Dreamer

I don't particularly know the answer to that, but I also don't think that anyone comes from a particular place anymore either, MAYBE just Lance's, which may also get some sort of deal if he decides to stay with Impact. Most good wrestlers now go from school to school and they get good by working everywhere. Like i said, this is more about signing people and tuning them out, and not Impact hoping Snow has the next big thing in wrestling.

also, it's not just Al Snow, i do believe that Rip Rogers is the head trainer there. Furthermore, Snow's OVW has iPPVs and some weird international school system, I think they have their own network too, so they're not exactly lost in obscurity.

[Big Red Machine]

Just you wait until Al Snow shows up on TV. He always does.

You're right that competition for fresh talent is a lot hotter... but how many of the guys people are signing- be it WWE, AEW, ROH, TNA, MLW, New Japan, LU, or anyone else- are actually coming from OVW? None that I can think of.

Maybe he'll replace Dreamer

I don't particularly know the answer to that, but I also don't think that anyone comes from a particular place anymore either, MAYBE just Lance's, which may also get some sort of deal if he decides to stay with Impact. Most good wrestlers now go from school to school and they get good by working everywhere. Like i said, this is more about signing people and tuning them out, and not Impact hoping Snow has the next big thing in wrestling.

also, it's not just Al Snow, i do believe that Rip Rogers is the head trainer there. Furthermore, Snow's OVW has iPPVs and some weird international school system, I think they have their own network too, so they're not exactly lost in obscurity.

Said "network" is very new. Everyone other than PWG has iPPVs (and PWG only doens't have them by choice). Their international system done'st seem to have produced anyone, either, and that's with Doug Williams and John Kligner (and a few others) supposedly as trainers.

As for current successful schools: WWA4 (A.R. Fox's school), Glory Pro (not sure what the deal is with them post-Elgin, but they've put out most of the Rascalz, plus Curt Stallion,, Jake Something, and a lot of the guys getting pushed in places like AAW). The CZW dojo is also apparently pretty good, as is Brian Fury's school in the Northeast. PWX, too.

[cero2k]

Said "network" is very new. Everyone other than PWG has iPPVs (and PWG only doens't have them by choice). Their international system done'st seem to have produced anyone, either, and that's with Doug Williams and John Kligner (and a few others) supposedly as trainers.

As for current successful schools: WWA4 (A.R. Fox's school), Glory Pro (not sure what the deal is with them post-Elgin, but they've put out most of the Rascalz, plus Curt Stallion,, Jake Something, and a lot of the guys getting pushed in places like AAW). The CZW dojo is also apparently pretty good, as is Brian Fury's school in the Northeast. PWX, too.

you're just not gonna stop until you can discredit everything Impact does, right? it's not the best school, so what? Snow has no track record, yeah, no shit, he barely started last year with ovw. It's just a partnership, in the worse case, this is a lateral move for Impact.

[Big Red Machine]

Said "network" is very new. Everyone other than PWG has iPPVs (and PWG only doens't have them by choice). Their international system done'st seem to have produced anyone, either, and that's with Doug Williams and John Kligner (and a few others) supposedly as trainers.

As for current successful schools: WWA4 (A.R. Fox's school), Glory Pro (not sure what the deal is with them post-Elgin, but they've put out most of the Rascalz, plus Curt Stallion,, Jake Something, and a lot of the guys getting pushed in places like AAW). The CZW dojo is also apparently pretty good, as is Brian Fury's school in the Northeast. PWX, too.

you're just not gonna stop until you can discredit everything Impact does, right? it's not the best school, so what? Snow has no track record, yeah, no shit, he barely started last year with ovw. It's just a partnership, in the worse case, this is a lateral move for Impact.

Because there are better options out there. TNA doesn't need their mediocre talent. Even with Danny Davis there TNA's previous deal with OVW got them no one. Why would they go back? This is a company that is once again showing that it is incapable of learning from its past mistakes, and that's something they should be called out for.

[cero2k]

Because there are better options out there. TNA doesn't need their mediocre talent. Even with Danny Davis there TNA's previous deal with OVW got them no one. Why would they go back? This is a company that is once again showing that it is incapable of learning from its past mistakes, and that's something they should be called out for.

you're still assuming that they're just going to absorb all their talent and not just send the talent they want to work on, like i said. That is exactly what they did before with Godderz, and Rockstar Spud, and Rob Terry, they never just absorbed the roster. Of course there are better schools, and they may not want to work with Impact or with anyone for that matter, OVW was cool with it and that's it. Impact doesn't lose anything.

[Big Red Machine]

Because there are better options out there. TNA doesn't need their mediocre talent. Even with Danny Davis there TNA's previous deal with OVW got them no one. Why would they go back? This is a company that is once again showing that it is incapable of learning from its past mistakes, and that's something they should be called out for.

you're still assuming that they're just going to absorb all their talent and not just send the talent they want to work on, like i said. That is exactly what they did before with Godderz, and Rockstar Spud, and Rob Terry, they never just absorbed the roster. Of course there are better schools, and they may not want to work with Impact or with anyone for that matter, OVW was cool with it and that's it. Impact doesn't lose anything.

Then I don't even understand what TNA gets out of this deal.

[Bob-O]

If I may interject...

IMO, Impact is giving NXT a run for it's money as the best weekly show going right now. Between those two shows, I'm a pretty happy fan these days! They've got a hell of a working roster and are clearly doing something right behind the scenes. I'm going to trust their decisions right now...

The way I see it, with Hunter buying up everything in sight and AEW paying top dollar for what's left, it's in Impact's best interest to have it's own developmental plan. Especially working with somebody like Lance Storm who has a good eye for talent... get these kids locked down before there's a chance for a bidding war! For a company that's really stretching it's dollar the last few years, I'd say financially it's in their best interest to NOT give people the chance to make names for themselves...

LOL Red, I really don't understand the issue with this...

[Big Red Machine]

If I may interject...

IMO, Impact is giving NXT a run for it's money as the best weekly show going right now. Between those two shows, I'm a pretty happy fan these days! They've got a hell of a working roster and are clearly doing something right behind the scenes. I'm going to trust their decisions right now...

The way I see it, with Hunter buying up everything in sight and AEW paying top dollar for what's left, it's in Impact's best interest to have it's own developmental plan. Especially working with somebody like Lance Storm who has a good eye for talent... get these kids locked down before there's a chance for a bidding war! For a company that's really stretching it's dollar the last few years, I'd say financially it's in their best interest to NOT give people the chance to make names for themselves...

LOL Red, I really don't understand the issue with this...

Your comment about people getting locked down before there is a chance to be a bidding war is just plain not true, though. See: Bandido, Brody King, MJF. To try to lock people down before there is a chance to be a bidding war is essentially taking on a bunch of dead weight in the hopes that they become good one day. And looking at the track record that TNA has with picking people and that OVW has had with training people since the end of their WWE deal, I don't see this working out well for TNA at all, and they really, truly should know better. If you want a school to work with, grab Glory Pro.

[cero2k]

Your comment about people getting locked down before there is a chance to be a bidding war is just plain not true, though. See: Bandido, Brody King, MJF. To try to lock people down before there is a chance to be a bidding war is essentially taking on a bunch of dead weight in the hopes that they become good one day. And looking at the track record that TNA has with picking people and that OVW has had with training people since the end of their WWE deal, I don't see this working out well for TNA at all, and they really, truly should know better. If you want a school to work with, grab Glory Pro.

Are you completely just going to ignore that both companies are owned and managed by completely different people? If you're going to judge track records, start from when Callis took over and Al Snow took over. Impact has been picking up great talent, even for the local jobber spots. Al Snow hasn't even owned OVW for a year yet. Also, you assuming that Impact can just go and pick whoever they want as a school, we don't even know if it was Impact that started the conversation.

I just completely fail to see what they big problem is, why is this so catastrophic? You're probably the only person who thinks this means bad perception and desperate, except, you've already made up your mind that you're not going to like Impact no matter what, so it's not like they just lost viewers since you were never going to be one either way.

What about Bandido, King, and MJF? they're all top talent in the indies already, that is the opposite of what I've been saying about picking up up and coming guys that need tuning up

[Big Red Machine]

Your comment about people getting locked down before there is a chance to be a bidding war is just plain not true, though. See: Bandido, Brody King, MJF. To try to lock people down before there is a chance to be a bidding war is essentially taking on a bunch of dead weight in the hopes that they become good one day. And looking at the track record that TNA has with picking people and that OVW has had with training people since the end of their WWE deal, I don't see this working out well for TNA at all, and they really, truly should know better. If you want a school to work with, grab Glory Pro.

Are you completely just going to ignore that both companies are owned and managed by completely different people? If you're going to judge track records, start from when Callis took over and Al Snow took over. Impact has been picking up great talent, even for the local jobber spots. Al Snow hasn't even owned OVW for a year yet. Also, you assuming that Impact can just go and pick whoever they want as a school, we don't even know if it was Impact that started the conversation.

I just completely fail to see what they big problem is, why is this so catastrophic? You're probably the only person who thinks this means bad perception and desperate, except, you've already made up your mind that you're not going to like Impact no matter what, so it's not like they just lost viewers since you were never going to be one either way.

Because I don't understand what they are gaining from this, and there is a cost to perception of repeating your mistakes. Al hasn't owned OVW for more than a year, but he was involved for a while before that, and none of his other schools have produced anyone, either. TNA has added some great talent, but none of it from OVW, so why are they going to OVW to be their farm system?

What about Bandido, King, and MJF? they're all top talent in the indies already, that is the opposite of what I've been saying about picking up up and coming guys that need tuning up

They are guys who became top indy talent and as a result had multiple promotions pursuing them, allowing them to choose to go where they wanted, and all apparently making some pretty nice money to do so. They disprove Bob-O's theory that TNA needs this deal because

with Hunter buying up everything in sight and AEW paying top dollar for what's left, it's in Impact's best interest to have it's own developmental plan. Especially working with somebody like Lance Storm who has a good eye for talent... get these kids locked down before there's a chance for a bidding war! For a company that's really stretching it's dollar the last few years, I'd say financially it's in their best interest to NOT give people the chance to make names for themselves...

Bidding wars clearly still exist for guys who make their names on the indy scene. Bob-O's suggestion to prevent losing guys because they can't pay for them in a bidding war is to get some sort of exclusivity over them, which seems to require putting everyone they think might have potential under some sort of contract, which will cost them more in the long run if they're paying for ten duds along with the two hits in a group of twelve. Otherwise, why not just wait until you think someone has real potential before signing him/her (which is what promotions other than WWE normally do)?.

[cero2k]

Because I don't understand what they are gaining from this, and there is a cost to perception of repeating your mistakes. Al hasn't owned OVW for more than a year, but he was involved for a while before that, and none of his other schools have produced anyone, either. TNA has added some great talent, but none of it from OVW, so why are they going to OVW to be their farm system?

I think i've said it in all of the replies. They have a place they trust to send their newer guys to tune up whatever Impact wants them to tune up. it's not a farm system, they're not going to just absorb anyone that ovw creates, they never did that before, why would they start now?
I swear you are the only person i know that has that perception, not even in reddit that trolls for the sake of trolling has that. It's not a past mistake since it never hurt them before. Even if they gain just ONE jobber it will be better than having done nothing for the sake of a very few's perception, that like I said, wasn't even going to watch anyway.

Otherwise, why not just wait until you think someone has real potential before signing him/her (which is what promotions other than WWE normally do)?.

that is all Bob-Os argument. But even so, you're looking at it wrong. You don't bet on who may have potential, you sign someone who has it and you work what they're missing. Callis, D'Amore, Konnan, Storm, they all have a great eye for talent.
You're thinking they're going to sign someone with zero training and build them from scratch, which couldn't be farthest from what i've been saying all along. Guys like Jake Atlas, Delilah Doom, Hijo del Vikingo, they're all already great talent, they have the potential to get signed already, they're all fairly unknown still, and they just needs little things to be worked on. Kiera Hogan was the perfect example, she was green as fuck when she came and instead of having her wrestle day and night, they had her on screen supporting storylines while she trained somewhere else. Impact just wants to be able to offer that 'other place'

[Big Red Machine]

Because I don't understand what they are gaining from this, and there is a cost to perception of repeating your mistakes. Al hasn't owned OVW for more than a year, but he was involved for a while before that, and none of his other schools have produced anyone, either. TNA has added some great talent, but none of it from OVW, so why are they going to OVW to be their farm system?

I think i've said it in all of the replies. They have a place they trust to send their newer guys to tune up whatever Impact wants them to tune up. it's not a farm system, they're not going to just absorb anyone that ovw creates, they never did that before, why would they start now?

If the guy needs tune-up, why are they signing him? Why not just sign people who are ready, or tune them up yourself? OVW aren't the only people with TV, and with TNA's taping schedule they could easily do the same themselves by just taping stuff with the person that doens't air so they can look over the footage and point out to the person what needs to change.

I swear you are the only person i know that has that perception, not even in reddit that trolls for the sake of trolling has that. It's not a past mistake since it never hurt them before. Even if they gain just ONE jobber it will be better than having done nothing for the sake of a very few's perception, that like I said, wasn't even going to watch anyway.

Maybe I'm just the most scarred, then. I just don't see how gaining "even one jobber" is worth turning even a few people off if you could just as easily get a jobber (or some other level of ready talent. The indies are full of them) from elsewhere where you don't risk turning some people off.

Otherwise, why not just wait until you think someone has real potential before signing him/her (which is what promotions other than WWE normally do)?.

that is all Bob-Os argument. But even so, you're looking at it wrong. You don't bet on who may have potential, you sign someone who has it and you work what they're missing. Callis, D'Amore, Konnan, Storm, they all have a great eye for talent.
You're thinking they're going to sign someone with zero training and build them from scratch, which couldn't be farthest from what i've been saying all along. Guys like Jake Atlas, Delilah Doom, Hijo del Vikingo, they're all already great talent, they have the potential to get signed already, they're all fairly unknown still, and they just needs little things to be worked on. Kiera Hogan was the perfect example, she was green as fuck when she came and instead of having her wrestle day and night, they had her on screen supporting storylines while she trained somewhere else. Impact just wants to be able to offer that 'other place'

I understand that. That's why I don't understand this move. If they have Callis, D'Amore, Konnan, and Lance (and Dreamer, and whoever else) around backstage and they're not planning on training anyone from scratch, then what do they need Al Snow or a developmental system for?

[cero2k]

If the guy needs tune-up, why are they signing him? Why not just sign people who are ready, or tune them up yourself? OVW aren't the only people with TV, and with TNA's taping schedule they could easily do the same themselves by just taping stuff with the person that doens't air so they can look over the footage and point out to the person what needs to change.

Because tuning up is not that they wrestler is useless and some of them, if you wait, someone else will snatch them. I'll use Hijo del vikingo again, dude just needs a bit of work cutting promos and playing to the camera, that's something that you can have Snow work on. And since Impact doesn't have house shows, doing the tuning themselves would expose those wrestlers. You can only use a guy enough on xplosion or in random matches before people start thinking that such and such is being wasted.
This way, the expense of putting on shows with these WIP talent falls on OVW, cutting down on Impact's cost too.

Maybe I'm just the most scarred, then. I just don't see how gaining "even one jobber" is worth turning even a few people off if you could just as easily get a jobber (or some other level of ready talent. The indies are full of them) from elsewhere where you don't risk turning some people off.

The thing I don't see is who is being turned off from Impact using talent from OVW? I mean, is your problem with Impact or OVW talent?

I understand that. That's why I don't understand this move. If they have Callis, D'Amore, Konnan, and Lance (and Dreamer, and whoever else) around backstage and they're not planning on training anyone from scratch, then what do they need Al Snow or a developmental system for?

if anything else, because Impact doesn't have a training ring, time for classes, and money for house shows to give time to developing wrestlers. If we're talking about turning people off, Impact using TV time on green guys would eventually turn people off when the quality goes down.

Not everyone can get EVOLVE as a developmental system and not every indie is willing to become a 'developmental' promotion. I WISH SWA would had been the promotion to deal with Impact, but Lance is not likely to commit with any given company. Impact right now took what they could to fulfill a really specific task. Maybe Impact even gets content for GWN/Twitch out of it too.

[Big Red Machine]

If the guy needs tune-up, why are they signing him? Why not just sign people who are ready, or tune them up yourself? OVW aren't the only people with TV, and with TNA's taping schedule they could easily do the same themselves by just taping stuff with the person that doens't air so they can look over the footage and point out to the person what needs to change.

Because tuning up is not that they wrestler is useless and some of them, if you wait, someone else will snatch them. I'll use Hijo del vikingo again, dude just needs a bit of work cutting promos and playing to the camera, that's something that you can have Snow work on. And since Impact doesn't have house shows, doing the tuning themselves would expose those wrestlers. You can only use a guy enough on xplosion or in random matches before people start thinking that such and such is being wasted.
This way, the expense of putting on shows with these WIP talent falls on OVW, cutting down on Impact's cost too.

They could use guys like that in dark segments. The cameras are still rolling so Callis/D'Amore/Dreamer/Konnan can look at the tape and go over it with the guy, and you've still got a live crowd. Or why not farm these guys out to Dreamer or Callihan for their own promotions for this sort of thing?

One assumes that OVW is being paid by TNA for this, so it's not necessarily cutting costs. Also, I'm not sure that they can be prevented from signing elsewhere without an OVW contract (which I'm not sure OVW does) or a TNA contract (which will cost TNA money).

Maybe I'm just the most scarred, then. I just don't see how gaining "even one jobber" is worth turning even a few people off if you could just as easily get a jobber (or some other level of ready talent. The indies are full of them) from elsewhere where you don't risk turning some people off.

The thing I don't see is who is being turned off from Impact using talent from OVW? I mean, is your problem with Impact or OVW talent?

The combination of the two, but perhaps more OVW. A story like this comes off to me as "TNA wants a developmental territory... which is theoretically a good thing, but instead of talking to a school/promotion with a good track record nowadays like Glory Pro or A.R. Fox's school or PWX (all of which put on their own shows as well) they go to a school with no recent track record and that failed to produce anyone for them during their last run working together, because TNA is ignorant of who has been producing the most good talent recently and/or because that's the promotion run by their buddy... and being ignorant of who the good indy talent is, being fifteen years behind the times, nepotism, prizing something that used to be associated with WWE over more productive alternatives, and failing to learn from their past mistakes are all mistakes that I (and many others) have watched TNA make time and time again over the past fifteen years. I see something like this and think "oh G-d, they're doing it again."

I understand that. That's why I don't understand this move. If they have Callis, D'Amore, Konnan, and Lance (and Dreamer, and whoever else) around backstage and they're not planning on training anyone from scratch, then what do they need Al Snow or a developmental system for?

if anything else, because Impact doesn't have a training ring, time for classes, and money for house shows to give time to developing wrestlers. If we're talking about turning people off, Impact using TV time on green guys would eventually turn people off when the quality goes down.

With the place it's in, I don't think Impact should be signing people who aren't TV-ready unless you've got a REALLY special case, at which point you can work out an individual deal with Al Snow or PWX or whoever to use that person on their TV after sending them to Lance or D'Amore or Les Thatcher to train. People can claim that the talent market will dry up with all of these companies signing people to deals, but that hasn't happened yet, and there are still a bunch of unsigned big indy names out there, plus a big young crop of guys from Europe and Mexico.

Not everyone can get EVOLVE as a developmental system and not every indie is willing to become a 'developmental' promotion. I WISH SWA would had been the promotion to deal with Impact, but Lance is not likely to commit with any given company. Impact right now took what they could to fulfill a really specific task. Maybe Impact even gets content for GWN/Twitch out of it too.

SWA isn't a promotion. It's just a school. Lance doesn't run shows.