TNA recently re-launched their Xplosion program giving the show a whole new look. Updates includes a whole new announce team of Jeremy Borash and Taz, new theme music by the rock band Taproot, and an updated logo. It will also feature exclusive matches not seen anywhere else.
Xplosion currently airs in international markets but rumors have been going around stating that SpikeTV has picked up the show and will add it to the Thursday night TNA lineup. A lineup that may go from just one 2-hour show, to a total of three shows filling a 4-hour block.
As of now, Impact is the only show that airs on Thursday nights from 9-11PM EST, but SpikeTV will soon be adding Reaction, which is set to air after Impact. Reaction aired a pilot episode last April while Impact was still on Monday nights and is set to premier on July 15 at 11PM EST following Impact.
If the news about SpikeTV picking up Xplosion is true, the rumored time slot for Xplosion is 8-9PM EST on Thursday nights, which comes just before Impact. This would mean that Xplosion would be the lead in for a 2-hour Impact broadcast, which would be followed by an episode of Reaction.
If SpikeTV is trying to brand their Thursday nights as TNA Thursday Night, then they would have succeeded. However, for the average wrestling fan, four hours of original programming in one sitting is too much. Hell, I found it hard trying to sit through a 4-hour WrestleMania event.
I will give TNA credit as Reaction is like no other wrestling show as it focuses on the characters and storylines as opposed to wrestling. A program like that is tolerable after a two hour Impact broadcast as it is different and can be effective to follow up on what happened on Impact.
Having a 1-hour wrestling program lead in to your flagship 2-hour wrestling program might be asking too much for fans to take it all at once. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for TNA adding another hour of programming as I feel that they could benefit from it. But having it come all at once is overkill and will easily burn out fans who will instead tune out.
Personally, I would much rather see Xplosion take over Impact’s original time slot of 11PM EST on Saturday Nights, or even late night time slot on Wednesday nights. Hell, even a 8PM EST lead in to WWE Raw on Monday nights would be an upgrade. Basically, anything would work aside from tacking on an extra hour on Thursday nights.
Whatever does happen in the end, I will be covering any and all shows TNA broadcasts on SpikeTV. It just seems that my Thursday nights may be busier than usual if this plan comes to fruition.
