Variety confirmed Sunday night that TNA Wrestling’s weekly iMPACT! telecast will move to Mondays starting March 8.
Set to air weekly from 9-11PM, the show will enter direct competition with WWE’s RAW program every Monday. A formal announcement was to be issued by TNA by Monday afternoon.
The move, which some had speculated became inevitable the minute Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff joined the company, became an absolute certainty when the show’s Monday special on January 4 posted strong ratings.
For the time being, the iMPACT! telecasts will air live every other week. According to the Wrestling Observer, the current plan calls for TNA to tape a live show every other Monday, taping the alternating week’s show on the subsequent Tuesday.
WWE downplayed reports that TNA’s move posed a threat, with Robert Zimmerman saying, “We’re not too concerned…we’re in good shape.”