History ScrewedByTheNetwork / ProWrestling

* Wrestling/ImpactWrestling, under their former name (TNA Wrestling), has had a very turbulent relationship with almost every network their weekly programming was broadcasted on.

* WWE's ''Saturday Morning Slam'' on Creator/TheCW[='=]s Creator/{{Vortexx}} was a last ditch effort by The CW (after they had dropped ''[=SmackDown=]'' several years before) to continue business relationships with the WWE. It was significantly toned down compared to ''RAW'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'' in order to both appease the [[PeripheryDemographic children's fanbase]], despite WWE's primary audience being adult men, and meet The CW's strict TV-Y7 guidelines for its children's programming. The show was moderately successful despite this. When time came for contractual renewals, however, The CW tried to ReTool the program into a WWE news magazine rather than the taped matches it had during its run. WWE, understandably, rejected The CW's debasing proposal, and the inability to come up with a compromise led to the plug being pulled after just one season.

** Wrestling/JerryLawler may have been champion in the final years of the AWA, but even he was not immune to the meddling and screwing over from Verne Gagne. After the “unification” match at Superclash III in 1988 between Lawler and WCCW champion Kerry Von Erich ended in a controversial finish because neither promotion was willing to let their champ put over the other, the plan supposedly became for Lawler to buy WCCW from the Von Erichs with the help of Jerry Jarrett, and they would merge the titles eventually anyway. But then Gagne decided he didn’t want the AWA title merged at all and refused to pay Lawler (and multiple other wrestlers) what he was owed for the Superclash match. Lawler in turn refused to return the AWA belt he still had and continued to use it in his own promotion. Gagne made a new belt and gave it to Larry Zbyszko, but the fallout from Superclash destroyed all trust in him within the wrestling industry, and the AWA was out of operation by 1990.

* How about a company screwed by the network? In 2001, AOL Time Warner was openly looking to sell Wrestling/{{WCW}}, producer of the highest-rated shows for TNT (''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') and TBS (''WCW Thunder''), fretting over sagging ratings[[note]]In part thanks to a number of [[ExecutiveMeddling poor decisions by WCW executives]], convoluted storylines and GimmickMatches arranged by head writer Wrestling/VinceRusso, and the infamous FingerpokeOfDoom incident during a 1999 broadcast of ''Monday Nitro''. The downward slide really began with the infamous Hulk Hogan/Sting match at ''Starrcade 97''.[[/note]] and growing executive hostility over the industry of professional wrestling. A group of investors, led by WCW head booker Wrestling/EricBischoff, had a deal in principle to take over the company and absorb the production costs that the network had been covering. However, with WCW eating up two hours of prime time and the company millions of dollars in the red with no evidence things were going to get any better, Jamie Kellner, then the Turner Networks CEO, decided to cancel all WCW programming from Turner networks, torpedoing the deal. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (head of WCW's longtime rival World Wrestling Federation) then swooped in and bought out WCW's remaining assets (mostly wrestler contracts and its deep tape library) for pennies on the dollar[[note]]For $2.5 million they got the video library, about 30 wrestler contracts (mostly mid-carders/jobbers, the only one that really had any major success was Wrestling/BookerT), and the rights to all WCW logos, names, [=IPs=], etc... It was later reported that the sales of the Sting DVD alone made back that $2.5 million. Wrestling/ChrisJericho later said "If I would have known it was ''that'' cheap I would have bought it!"[[/note]]. That said, Kellner had wanted to cancel the unprofitable company for a quite a while, and the only reason WCW stayed on TV for as long as it did was the intervention of UsefulNotes/TedTurner, who had a soft spot for wrestling. Once Turner was out of power at the network, Kellner was supported by everyone at the company.[[note]]Wrestling fans note - with a good bit of schadenfreude - that TNT's replacements for ''Nitro'', the Wall Street drama ''Bull'' and a live-action adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' both ended up being quickly canceled (though for different reasons: ''Bull'' simply bombed in the ratings, while ''Witchblade'' was sunk by star Yancey Butler's substance abuse issues) and it would be years before TNT found a Monday Night winner with ''Series/TheCloser''.[[/note]]

** A lot of this came simply as a result of leverage and negotiating power. Whereas WWE and WCW were proven powerhouses with huge resources behind them, ECW for all the loyalty it had from its loyal fanbase, where almost a blip on the radar in comparison and had no proven track record as far as national television ratings, and so were on the outside looking in. Part of the deal in letting ECW on their air is that TNN wanted a much more professional quality production value, more akin to the aforementioned WWE and WCW, where ECW's shaky camerawork and at time grainy picture quality and sound were subpar in comparison. A more established company would have been able to negotiate for the cable company to foot the bill on the increased production costs, but Heyman ended up having to pay millions out of pocket for new cameras, microphones, new sets, and other equipment to bring their broadcasts up to scratch. Ratings on the network were good and the payments ECW received for their programming were a windfall, but maintaining the production quality was a huge line item in the budget, and as the Wrestling/MondayNightWars went into full swing, ECW didn't have the money to keep their top stars signed. With more talent heading out than coming in, ratings and revenue began to fall, but Heyman was contractually bound to deliver programming of the specified quality, so he couldn't unilaterally drop out of the deal, nor trim the budget to account for the lesser income. TNN were singularly unmoved, as they saw ECW as a testing ground for their eventual WWE television deal, so with the writing on the wall, Heyman's only hope was the aforementioned open antagonism in hopes of getting his own show cancelled so he would be free of its obligations and be free to regroup and start over. TNN, though, strung him along until they were ready to bring WWE's Raw onboard.
* Time for promos and actual pro wrestling matches, as well as the budget to actually improve Wrestling/WrestlingSocietyX was constantly cut into by executives who cared little about the quality of the product, or even promoting the show. Eventually, the show was cancelled after El Mesias hit someone with a {{fireball|s}}.
* WGTW-48 would arbitrarily shift Wrestling/{{CZW}}'s shows through the most unfavorable time slots possible before finally stating outright they didn't like [[GarbageWrestler the content]] and canceling the deal.
* Creator/{{UPN}} attempted to screw Wrestling/{{WWE}} by moving ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown'' into the famed FridayNightDeathSlot (where it would face not only constant pre-emptions for local sports, but the loss of a good portion of its audience to people getting out and doing stuff on Friday nights), in order to try and pressure WWE into keeping ''Monday Night Raw'' on Spike TV. However, thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign by WWE (even rebranding the show ''Friday Night [=SmackDown=]!''), the show managed not only to not lose any viewers, but gained enough ground that it was renewed by UPN for another two years, ensuring that it would be one of the few UPN shows picked up by the post-merger [[Creator/TheCW CW]].

* In Canada, ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' got hit with this after it was picked up by Creator/CorusEntertainment's TLN. Perhaps owning to the show's seasonal format, TLN thought it was a good idea to air the show all the way back at season one, rather than premiere season two around the same time as Creator/ElReyNetwork in the United States. To be even more tedious, after originally airing the show on Sunday nights, TLN kept moving the show around its schedule. Throw in some limited advertising, and the fact that TLN is mostly geared to a general audience, and it was ensured that fans would stand a better chance of keeping up with the U.S broadcasts by sticking to illegal streams. More over, with Creator/{{Netflix}} streaming previous seasons of the show in Canada, there's no need for fans to put up with the network's poor treatment of the past seasons anyways. Around the time the fourth season premiered in the U.S, ''Lucha'' reruns were quietly moved to sibling [=EuroWorld=] Sport.

* Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling was airing the English version of their weekly show on AXS when the network was purchased by Anthem, the parent company that owns Wrestling/ImpactWrestling as well as Canada's Fight Network (which was a long time broadcaster of NJPW). Prior to this, NJPW established a new American subsidiary, NJPW of America, which some speculate is an attempt to fully enter the U.S market following the company's strong showing at the G1 Supercard during Wrestlemania weekend[[note]]At least, compared to Wrestling/RingOfHonor's portion of the show[[/note]]. It doesn't help NJPW has already been in a longtime working relationship with rival promotion Wrestling/RingOfHonor, while the former's last partnership with Impact, under a previous regime as TNA Wrestling, ended on a sour note. While Anthem made no official announcements regarding the future of the show, and current Impact management has been very open about wanting to work with NJPW again, the promotion would ultimately depart from AXS at the end of the year, making their events exclusive to the NJPW World streaming service.

* How about a company screwed by the network? In 2001, AOL Time Warner was openly looking to sell Wrestling/{{WCW}}, producer of the highest-rated shows for TNT (''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') and TBS (''WCW Thunder''), fretting over sagging ratings[[note]]In part thanks to a number of [[ExecutiveMeddling poor decisions by WCW executives]], convoluted storylines and GimmickMatches arranged by head writer Wrestling/VinceRusso, and the infamous FingerpokeOfDoom incident during a 1999 broadcast of ''Monday Nitro''. The downward slide really began with the infamous Hulk Hogan/Sting match at ''Starrcade 97''.[[/note]] and growing executive hostility over the industry of professional wrestling. A group of investors, led by WCW head booker Wrestling/EricBischoff, had a deal in principle to take over the company and absorb the production costs that the network had been covering. However, with WCW eating up two hours of prime time and the company millions of dollars in the red with no evidence things were going to get any better, Jamie Kellner, then the Turner Networks CEO, decided to cancel all WCW programming from Turner networks, torpedoing the deal. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (head of WCW's longtime rival World Wrestling Federation) then swooped in and bought out WCW's remaining assets (mostly wrestler contracts and its deep tape library) for pennies on the dollar[[note]]For $2.5 million they got the video library, about 30 wrestler contracts (mostly mid-carders/jobbers, the only one that really had any major success was Wrestling/BookerT), and the rights to all WCW logos, names, [=IPs=], etc... It was later reported that the sales of the Sting DVD alone made back that $2.5 million[[/note]]. That said, Kellner had wanted to cancel the unprofitable company for a quite a while, and the only reason WCW stayed on TV for as long as it did was the intervention of UsefulNotes/TedTurner, who had a soft spot for wrestling. Once Turner was out of power at the network, Kellner was supported by everyone at the company.[[note]]Wrestling fans note - with a good bit of schadenfreude - that TNT's replacements for ''Nitro'', the Wall Street drama ''Bull'' and a live-action adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' both ended up being quickly canceled (though for different reasons: ''Bull'' simply bombed in the ratings, while ''Witchblade'' was sunk by star Yancey Butler's substance abuse issues) and it would be years before TNT found a Monday Night winner with ''Series/TheCloser''.[[/note]]

* How about a company screwed by the network? In 2001, AOL Time Warner was openly looking to sell Wrestling/{{WCW}}, producer of the highest-rated shows for TNT (''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') and TBS (''WCW Thunder''), fretting over sagging ratings[[note]]In part thanks to a number of [[ExecutiveMeddling poor decisions by WCW executives]], convoluted storylines and GimmickMatches arranged by head writer Wrestling/VinceRusso, and the infamous FingerpokeOfDoom incident during a 1999 broadcast of ''Monday Nitro''. The downward slide really began with the infamous Hulk Hogan/Sting match at ''Starrcade 97''.[[/note]] and growing executive hostility over the industry of professional wrestling. A group of investors, led by WCW head booker Wrestling/EricBischoff, had a deal in principle to take over the company and absorb the production costs that the network had been covering. However, with WCW eating up two hours of prime time and the company millions of dollars in the red with no evidence things were going to get any better, Jamie Kellner, then the Turner Networks CEO, decided to cancel all WCW programming from Turner networks, torpedoing the deal. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (head of WCW's longtime rival World Wrestling Federation) then swooped in and bought out WCW's remaining assets (mostly wrestler contracts and its deep tape library) for pennies on the dollar. That said, Kellner had wanted to cancel the unprofitable company for a quite a while, and the only reason WCW stayed on TV for as long as it did was the intervention of UsefulNotes/TedTurner, who had a soft spot for wrestling. Once Turner was out of power at the network, Kellner was supported by everyone at the company.[[note]]Wrestling fans note - with a good bit of schadenfreude - that TNT's replacements for ''Nitro'', the Wall Street drama ''Bull'' and a live-action adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' both ended up being quickly canceled (though for different reasons: ''Bull'' simply bombed in the ratings, while ''Witchblade'' was sunk by star Yancey Butler's substance abuse issues) and it would be years before TNT found a Monday Night winner with ''Series/TheCloser''.[[/note]]

** ''Wrestling/{{TNA}} Impact'' and ''TNA Reaction'' aired on Bravo in the UK. Sky picked up Challenge alongside Bravo (and their actual targets, the Living TV series of networks), who closed the latter network down. As Sky already aired Wrestling/{{WWE}}, there was no room for ''Impact'' on their channels, so these two shows had been screwed into a NoExportForYou situation until TNA was picked up by Challenge in February 2011. Ultimately, ''Impact'' would go from being only available to people who pay a subscription to being available on nearly every television in the UK.

* How about a company screwed by the network? In 2001, AOL Time Warner was openly looking to sell Wrestling/{{WCW}}, producer of the highest-rated shows for TNT (''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') and TBS (''WCW Thunder''), fretting over sagging ratings[[note]]In part thanks to a number of [[ExecutiveMeddling poor decisions by WCW executives]], convoluted storylines and GimmickMatches arranged by head writer Wrestling/VinceRusso, and the infamous FingerpokeOfDoom incident during a 1999 broadcast of ''Monday Nitro''[[/note]] and growing executive hostility over the industry of professional wrestling. A group of investors, led by WCW head booker Wrestling/EricBischoff, had a deal in principle to take over the company and absorb the production costs that the network had been covering. However, with WCW eating up two hours of prime time and the company millions of dollars in the red with no evidence things were going to get any better, Jamie Kellner, then the Turner Networks CEO, decided to cancel all WCW programming from Turner networks, torpedoing the deal. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (head of WCW's longtime rival World Wrestling Federation) then swooped in and bought out WCW's remaining assets (mostly wrestler contracts and its deep tape library) for pennies on the dollar. That said, Kellner had wanted to cancel the unprofitable company for a quite a while, and the only reason WCW stayed on TV for as long as it did was the intervention of UsefulNotes/TedTurner, who had a soft spot for wrestling. Once Turner was out of power at the network, Kellner was supported by everyone at the company.[[note]]Wrestling fans note - with a good bit of schadenfreude - that TNT's replacements for ''Nitro'', the Wall Street drama ''Bull'' and a live-action adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' both ended up being quickly canceled (though for different reasons: ''Bull'' simply bombed in the ratings, while ''Witchblade'' was sunk by star Yancey Butler's substance abuse issues) and it would be years before TNT found a Monday Night winner with ''Series/TheCloser''.[[/note]]

* How about a company screwed by the network? In 2001, AOL Time Warner was openly looking to sell Wrestling/{{WCW}}, producer of the highest-rated shows for TNT (''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') and TBS (''WCW Thunder''), fretting over sagging ratings[[note]]In part thanks to a number of [[ExecutiveMeddling poor decisions by WCW executives]], convoluted storylines and GimmickMatches arranged by head writer Wrestling/VinceRusso, and the infamous FingerpokeOfDoom incident during a 1999 broadcast of ''Monday Nitro''[[/note]] and growing executive hostility over the industry of professional wrestling. A group of investors, lead by WCW head booker Wrestling/EricBischoff, had a deal in principle to take over the company and absorb the production costs that the network had been covering. However, with WCW eating up two hours of prime-time and the company millions of dollars in the red with no evidence things were going to get any better, Jamie Kellner, then the Turner Networks CEO, decided to cancel all WCW programming from Turner networks, torpedoing the deal. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (head of WCW's longtime rival World Wrestling Federation) then swooped in and bought out WCW's remaining assets (mostly wrestler contracts and its deep tape library) for pennies on the dollar. That said, Kellner had wanted to cancel the unprofitable company for a quite a while, and the only reason WCW stayed on TV for as long as it did was the intervention of Ted Turner, who had a soft spot for wrestling. Once Turner was out of power at the network, Kellner was supported by everyone at the company.[[note]]Wrestling fans note - with a good bit of schadenfreude - that TNT's replacements for Nitro, the Wall Street drama ''Bull'' and a live-action adaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' both ended up being quickly cancelled (though for different reasons: ''Bull'' simply bombed in the ratings, while ''Witchblade'' was sunk by star Yancey Butler's substance abuse issues) and it would be years before TNT found a Monday Night winner with ''Series/TheCloser.''[[/note]]

** When WWE was ready to move ''Raw'' back to its original home on the USA Network, [[https://youtu.be/v1cgb-PVJnY Spike TV went out of its way to keep them from promoting the move.]] Compare this to how USA handled ''[=SmackDown=]''[='=]s move to Creator/{{Fox}} in October 2019, when the network allowed them to publicly advertise the move on their final broadcast there (though USA successfully renewing ''Raw'' and acquiring ''Wrestling/{{WWENXT}}'' also helped).

* [[Wrestling/{{TNA}} Impact Wrestling]], under their former name (TNA Wrestling), has had a very turbulent relationship with almost every network their weekly programming was broadcasted on.

* In Canada, ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' got hit with this after it was picked up by Creator/CorusEntertainment's TLN. Perhaps owning to the show's seasonal format, TLN thought it was a good idea to air the show all the way back at season one, rather than premiere season two around the same time as Creator/ElReyNetwork in the United States. To be even more tedious, after originally airing the show on Sunday nights, TLN kept moving the show around its schedule. Throw in some limited advertising, and the fact that TLN is mostly geared to a general audience, and it was ensured that fans would stand a better chance of keeping up with the U.S broadcasts by sticking to illegal streams. More over, with Creator/{{Netflix}} streaming previous seasons of the show in Canada, there's no need for fans to put up with the network's poor treatment of the past seasons anyways. Around the time the fourth season premiered in the U.S, ''Lucha'' reruns were quietly moved to sibling EuroWorld Sport.
* Of course, an individual wrestler getting screwed by a wrestling promoter is a tale as old as time in the business. The "Montreal Screwjob" has been talked about ad nauseam, but there have been plenty of other examples that weren't even the doing of [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vincent K. McMahon]], many of which led to the promoters screwing over themselves by wrecking their promotions in the process:
** Wrestling/HulkHogan first rose to huge popularity in the Wrestling/{{A|mericanWrestlingAssociation}}WA in the early 80s, but promoter Verne Gagne refused to put the championship on Hogan, claiming he “wasn’t a good enough athlete.” Hogan later claimed Gagne told him he would only make Hogan champ if Hogan gave him a cut of the money he was making independently in Japan. After being made to endure multiple screwjob finishes against champion Nick Bockwinkel, Hogan decided enough was enough, went to work for Vince [=McMahon=], and the rest is history.

* Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling was airing English version episodes of their shows on AXS and was getting solid ratings and one of the top shows on there. That all changed in 2019 when AXS was purchased by Anthem, the parent company that own Impact. Beforehand New Japan and Impact had a working relationship and were treated badly by TNA, with talent being mishandled and treated poorly in America and New Japan quit working with them and refused to do anything with them ever again. When Anthem purchased AXS, they told New Japan they would only be allowed to stay on AXS if they renewed the working relationship between them again. New Japan flat out refused and Anthem responded by cancelling the show.

* [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling]] was airing English version episodes of their shows on AXS and was getting solid ratings and one of the top shows on there. That all changed in 2019 when AXS was purchased by Anthem, the parent company that own Impact. Beforehand New Japan and Impact had a working relationship and were treated badly by TNA, with talent being mishandled and treated poorly in America and New Japan quit working with them and refused to do anything with them ever again. When Anthem purchased AXS, they told New Japan they would only be allowed to stay on AXS if they renewed the working relationship between them again. New Japan flat out refused and Anthem responded by cancelling the show.

** Wrestling/JerryLawler may have been champion in the final years of the AWA, but even he was not immune to the meddling and screwing over from Verne Gagne. After the “unification” match at Superclash III in 1988 between Lawler and WCCW champion Kerry Von Erich ended in a controversial finish because neither promotion was willing to let their champ put over the other, the plan supposedly became for Lawler to buy WCCW from the Von Erichs with the help of Jerry Jarrett, and they would merge the titles eventually anyway. But then Gagne decided he didn’t want the AWA title merged at all and refused to pay Lawler (and multiple other wrestlers) what he was owed for the Superclash match. Lawler in turn refused to return the AWA belt he still had and continued to use it in his own promotion. Gagne made a new belt and gave it to Larry Zbyszko, but the fallout from Superclash destroyed all trust in him within the wrestling industry, and the AWA was out of operation by 1990.

* Wrestling/{{TNA}} has had a very turbulent relationship with almost every network their weekly show was broadcasted on.
** Initially ''Impact'' was picked up by FOX Sports Network. They were placed on Fridays at 3pm, constantly preempted with college sports, baseball and '''skateboarding''', FOX gave them virtually no advertisement (aside from mentioning them in ''The Best Damn Sports Show Period'', where host Chris Rose infamously [[TakeThat dissed ''Impact'']] [[WhamLine while wearing "Wrestling is fake" t-shirt]]). Suffice to say, it didn't work, and they left FOX, moving ''Impact'' to syndication in places where TNA Xplosion was airing, and uploading weekly episodes on their website.
** Later [[Creator/SpikeTV Spike TV]] picked them up purposefully to stick it up to WWE for moving ''Raw'' away from them. It went relatively well for quite some time, with ''Impact'' being Spike's #1 flagship show. Although there was some strong ExecutiveMeddling with TNA being forced to plug follow-up shows in their programming, no matter how relevant it is for them, most notably ''Bellator MMA'', because there is nothing wrong to shill for upcoming MMA lightweight bout [[ValuesDissonance while there is wrestling happening on a wrestling program]]. Their partnership abruptly ended when TNA President Dixie Carter secretly rehired controversial wrestling figure Wrestling/VinceRusso as a consultant, despite Spike had specifically prohibited her from doing so.
** Relationships with their next broadcast partner, ''Destination America'', deteriorated quickly. Out of the gate the network demanded title changes (notably placing TNA World Heavyweight Championship on Wrestling/KurtAngle, a former Olympic gold medalist, which would be good for pro-American network, but the guy at this point of his wrestling career was a walking mess and could barely wrestle a match), rejected episodes they didn't like and expressed their desire to preempt every episode of ''Impact'' filmed in England for same pro-American reasons, nevermind TNA had a '''huge''' following in Great Britain back then with packed arenas and very passionate crowds unlike their usual tapings in Universal Studio. Dixie Carter allegedly insulted DA management for not promoting their show. At one point DA bought rights to Wrestling/RingOfHonor weekly show, and placed it in schedule '''on the same day right behind ''Impact''''', allegedly just to fuck with TNA and tank their ratings in order to kill the deal. At the end of the contract ''Impact'' was unceremoniously dumped to early mornings before being taken off the air while TNA had to move to Pop TV earlier than originally planned.
** Pop TV gave them a somewhat decent run, while obviously paying them far less money than Spike or Destination America. ''Impact'' had to move to another network, Pursuit Channel, basically because TNA's new parent company, Anthem, has a share in it. Nowadays ''Impact'' is primarily broadcasted on Twitch, and it looks like they don't really need TV that much (with ratings they were getting on Pop, nobody was watching anyway).
** ''Wrestling/{{TNA}} Impact'' and ''TNA Reaction'' aired on Bravo in the UK. That channel got bought out by Sky, who closed it down. As Sky already aired Wrestling/{{WWE}}, there was no room for Wrestling/{{TNA}} on their channels, so these two shows had been screwed into a NoExportForYou situation by the Sky network for a time until TNA was picked up by Challenge in February 2011.
*** Slight correction: Sky picked up Challenge alongside Bravo (and their actual targets, the Living TV series of networks), so this was probably a matter of reshuffling programs. Indeed, if anything this was a good thing for TNA, since Challenge was later added to Freeview, which was in the process of replacing traditional terrestrial television. In other words, TNA has gone from being only available to people who pay a subscription to being available on nearly every television in the UK.

* In Canada, ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' got hit with this after it was picked up by Creator/CorusEntertainment's TLN. Perhaps owning to the show's seasonal format, TLN thought it was a good idea to air the show all the way back at season one, rather than premiere season two around the same time as El Rey Network in the United States. To be even more tedious, after originally airing the show on Sundays, TLN kept moving the show around its schedule. Throw in some limited advertising, and the fact that TLN is mostly geared to a general audience, and it was ensured that fans would stand a better chance of keeping up with the U.S broadcasts by sticking to illegal streams. More over, with Creator/{{Netflix}} streaming previous seasons of the show in Canada, there's no need for fans to put up with the network's poor treatment of the past seasons anyways. Around the time the fourth season premiered in the U.S, ''Lucha'' reruns were quietly moved to sibling EuroWorld Sport.

** When WWE was ready to move ''Raw'' back to its original home on the USA Network, [[https://youtu.be/v1cgb-PVJnY Spike TV went out of its way to keep them from promoting the move.]] Compare this to how USA handled ''[=SmackDown=]''[='=]s move to Creator/{{Fox}} in October 2019, when the network allowed them to publicly advertise the move on their final broadcast there (though USA successfully renewing ''Raw'' and acquiring ''Wrestling/WWENXT'' also helped).

** When WWE was ready to move Raw back to its original home on the USA Network, [[https://youtu.be/v1cgb-PVJnY Spike TV went out of its way to keep them from promoting the move.]]

** Initially ''Impact'' was picked up by FOX Sports Network. They were placed on Fridays at 3pm, constantly preempted with college sports, baseball and ''skateboarding events'', FOX gave them virtually no advertisement (aside from mentioning them in their special ''The Best Damn Sports Show Period'', where host Chris Rose infamously [[TakeThat ripped ''Impact'' to shreds]] [[WhamLine while wearing "Wrestling is fake" t-shirt]]. You might have a problem when a parent show is shitting on your show while being on the same network). Suffice to say, partnership didn't work, and they left FOX, temporarily moving ''Impact'' to syndication and uploading episodes on their website.
** Later [[Creator/SpikeTV Spike TV]] picked them up purposefully to stick it up to WWE for taking ''Raw'' away from them. Their partnership went relatively well, with ''Impact'' constantly being Spike's #1 show. Although there was some strong ExecutiveMeddling with TNA being forced to plug follow-up shows in their programming, no matter how relevant it is for them, and later ''Bellator MMA'' (Yes, we know how thrilled you are with upcoming Bellator lightweight bout, now can we watch some wrestling on a wrestling show?). Also Spike has been pushing TNA to create more programming for them, despite TNA protests. Their partnership abruptly ended when TNA President Dixie Carter secretly rehired controversial wrestling figure Wrestling/VinceRusso as a consultant, despite Spike had specifically prohibited her from doing so.
** Their next broadcast partner, ''Destination America'', has worked for them almost as bad as FOX Sports. The network demanded title changes (notably placing TNA World Heavyweight Championship on Wrestling/KurtAngle, a former Olympic gold medalist, which would be good for pro-American network, but the guy at this point of his wrestling career was a walking mess), rejected episodes they didn't like and expressed their desire to preempt every episode of ''Impact'' filmed in England for same pro-American reasons, nevermind ''Impact'' had a '''huge''' following in Great Britain back then with packed arenas and very passionate crowds unlike their usual tapings in Universal Studio. Dixie Carter allegedly insulted DA management for not promoting their show. At one point DA bought rights to Wrestling/RingOfHonor weekly show, and placed it in schedule on the same day right behind ''Impact'', allegedly just to fuck with TNA and tank their ratings in order to kill the deal. At the end of the contract ''Impact'' was unceremoniously dumped to early mornings before being taken off the air while TNA had to move to Pop TV earlier than originally planned.

* ''Wrestling/{{TNA}} Impact'' and ''TNA Reaction'' aired on Bravo in the UK. That channel got bought out by Sky, who closed it down. As Sky already aired Wrestling/{{WWE}}, there was no room for Wrestling/{{TNA}} on their channels, so these two shows had been screwed into a NoExportForYou situation by the Sky network for a time until TNA was picked up by Challenge in February 2011.
** Slight correction: Sky picked up Challenge alongside Bravo (and their actual targets, the Living TV series of networks), so this was probably a matter of reshuffling programs. Indeed, if anything this was a good thing for TNA, since Challenge was later added to Freeview, which was in the process of replacing traditional terrestrial television. In other words, TNA has gone from being only available to people who pay a subscription to being available on nearly every television in the UK.
** TNA, as a television product, seems to be caught up in a complex mishmash of ScrewedByTheNetwork, ExecutiveMeddling from said network, and their own bad decision making at any given time. For instance, Viacom and [=DirecTV=] having a squabble pulled ''Impact'' from the air. As Creator/SpikeTV is owned by Viacom, and ''Impact'' was airing on that network, TNA lost viewership on the [=DirecTV=] side for a spell of two weeks.
*** There's also all the forced angles and/or shilling Spike tried to wedge onto ''Impact'', because it was one of their highest rated shows and they could exploit that to push other stuff they air. An example can be found in the 2013 Tito Ortiz/Rampage Jackson storyline that was really only there to promote a fight in ''Bellator MMA''.
*** Then, of course, there were the times TNA themselves were at fault. Such as when they moved ''Impact'' to Monday nights to try to run up against ''Wrestling/WWERaw'', when the ratings they pulled were nowhere close to being competitive. Or when ''Impact'' ended its run on Spike at the end of 2014 because, despite Spike executive mandate warning against it, the company chose to hire back Wrestling/VinceRusso. The flagrant disobedience caused Spike to pull any further contract renewal negotiations. Ironically, ''Impact'' would return to Spike in 2017, but it was the U.K. version that picked them up.

* Wrestling/{{ECW}}'s relationship with [[Creator/SpikeTV TNN]], as exemplified in a now-infamous [[https://streamable.com/xttw shoot]] by then-chairman Wrestling/PaulHeyman in a June 2000 airing of ''ECW on TNN'' in which TNN refused to air a particular match originally scheduled for the broadcast (it ended up airing on ECW's syndicated program, ''Wrestling/{{ECW}} Hardcore TV''), was turbulent: "You have to be an ECW fan to watch this show, because, God knows, the network has never put out one freaking commercial or one press release to let you know that we're here!" Heyman would go on to explain in the Wrestling/{{WWE}}-produced documentary ''The Rise and Fall of ECW'' that he blamed TNN's double-dealing for the demise of ECW; TNN rather publicly negotiated with, and subsequently signed, WWE to their network while marginalizing ECW further and further by the week, but refused to pull the trigger and actually cancel ECW, which prevented him from shopping the show around to other networks. In the last few months of the TNN run, Heyman was in open WriterRevolt, ramping up the show's offensive content and brazenly insulting TNN and its execs in an attempt to incite TNN to finally cancel the show in hopes of finding greener pastures elsewhere. The plan ultimately backfired on ECW when TNN finally did cancel the program...and ECW found themselves to be completely dried out of funds, sending the promotion into bankruptcy a year later. Ironically, Heyman would later sign with WWE after the bankruptcy and the latter would end up buying ECW's assets from bankruptcy court two years later.