It was announced last month before Hard to Kill that long-time play-by-play IMPACT Wrestling announcer Josh Matthews would be stepping down from his duties on the main show, accepting a promotion to Senior Producer. However, it is now confirmed that he will be stepping back into the on-screen analysis role for IMPACT’s newest weekly 1-hour show, Before the IMPACT (abbreviated as BTI). IMPACT broke the news on their social media outlets earlier today:
BREAKING: A new one-hour weekly TV show Before the IMPACT will debut next Tuesday, February 16 at 7pm ET on @AXSTV!
BTI will feature in-depth previews, exclusive interviews with IMPACT Wrestling stars, and an exclusive match each week.
FULL DETAILS: https://t.co/adchTxQLeB pic.twitter.com/cgCUSJDmtr
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) February 10, 2021
This new weekly show will take place right before IMPACT wrestling every week at 7 PM on AXS TV. It will act as a kind of pre-show to talk about the action and feuds happening in the company. This will hopefully help to bring more hype and a deeper understanding of the product, thus bringing in more interest overall.
The announcement also confirmed that there will be an “exclusive match” on the show each week, making the new program even more must-see for new and true IMPACT fans.
While another hour of television may seem overwhelming to viewers, especially with all of the wrestling programs available today, it is important to note how big this is for IMPACT, as well as how necessary it is for the growth and legitimacy of the company. It will be exciting to see how this new hour analysis show will improve the overall product, especially if it manages to follow any of the same formula of the off-the-cusp post-show programming of Talking Smack or RAW Talk in WWE.
Josh Matthews will reportedly be joined by fellow broadcaster Gia Miller, with the show officially hosted by NewsChannel5’s Jon Burton. The first episode will air at 7 PM on February 16th, featuring a match between Team XXXL and Decay.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch IMPACT Wrestling on Tuesday nights on AXS TV and Twitch.TV as well as all the time on IMPACT Plus.
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