SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Jeff Jarrett’s upstart and fledgling Global Force Wrestling brand, which largely consisted of a website and a list of free agent wrestlers, has been acquired by Impact Wrestling’s parent company, Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions.
GFW was a brand Jarrett created after leaving Impact which could have turned into a full-fledged wrestling company had he scored a big TV deal. GFW put on a few live events including some paid stadium shows at minor league baseball parks and a TV taping for a non-existent TV deal. Ultimately, it ended up being incorporated into Impact Wrestling TV shows recently.
This announcement today ends its run as an independent entity. The following is the full press release, which also makes official that Jarrett is Chief Creative Officer (i.e. “head booker”), equity owner, and member of the board of managers. Below is the full press release Impact issued to PWTorch this morning…
IMPACT Wrestling Acquires Global Force Wrestling
NASHVILLE | TORONTO – Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions LLC, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. and parent company of IMPACT Wrestling, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Global Force Entertainment, LLC d/b/a Global Force Wrestling.
Jeff Jarrett, the founder of both IMPACT Wrestling and Global Force Entertainment, will join Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions as a member of its board of managers, equity owner, and Chief Creative Officer.
“We are thrilled to be joining forces with Anthem as a partner to build the business,” said Karen Jarrett. “This partnership will be complementary of our strengths and bolster our capabilities to grow the IMPACT Wrestling brand. Ed Nordholm as President and Jeff Jarrett as Chief Creative Officer make a great tag team”
“We are excited by the progress we have made with IMPACT Wrestling since acquiring the business in January,” said Ed Nordholm, president of Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions. “Jeff and his team have been instrumental in this success and we are pleased that we have reached an agreement on the basis of which we can combine our businesses to continue to grow. Slammiversary XV will be a fitting occasion to bring the promotions together and merge the titles under the new IMPACT combined belts. By combining our resources and talent, we can produce the best product for our global audience.”
For more information, visit www.impactwrestling.com.
Keller’s Analysis: Ultimately this changes almost nothing and means almost nothing. It just solidifies that Jarrett is fully enmeshed into Impact Wrestling now and ends any aspirations that GFW would become something separate from Impact that Jarrett would ultimately promote. I suspect, for the sake of brand clarity and focus, that the GFW name is phased out completely. It never meant anything and the whole idea of Impact vs. GFW as some sort of inter-promotional concept on Impact Wrestling came across as some old school carny con, which doesn’t fly in an era where wrestling fans know GFW wasn’t really a “thing.”
Actually, it means quite a bit. Good to see them officially recognize Jarrett in a press release with an official title. GFW was certainly a “real thing” and to pretend it is not is like saying NXT is not real or any regional promotion. I hate to break it to you, but WWE ratings are falling while interest in indy promotions are rising. Perhaps, there is no incentive for you guys here to promote that, but it is what is is. 🙂
“T-Bone22”, you must be under TNA’s payroll for praising it in every article it is mentioned but comparing GFW and NXT… wow… that’s funny, very funny!