TNA to Launch New International Brand

TNA hired Dave Lagana not to work on the existing Impact Wrestling series, but to take part in a brand new project the company will be launching later this year in India. The new project will be a weekly series for the Indian market that will not be utilizing the TNA brand name, PWInsider.com has exclusively learned.

Sources indicate that the project, which has been spearheaded by Jeff Jarrett, will be taping for a week in December with an additional week of tapings also scheduled for January 2012.

The project will be a completely separate entity from TNA - both in terms of the creative team and the roster of talents. Joining Lagana and Jarrett on the creative end of things will be Dutch Mantel.

Former TNA referee Rudy Charles has also been very involved in the development of the project's roster. The word we are getting is that they have cultivated a potential roster of former WWE/TNA/WCW/ECW types as well as independent talents that have not had major television exposure. I do not know if any talents have been signed as of this writing.

Sonjay Dutt, who was in India last week with BG James to scout talent, will also be a major part of the project. The project had well over 100 potential Indian talents try out and of those, ten were selected and will be brought to the United States to train as pro wrestlers and be part of the new series. Obviously, James will not be involved as he has taken a position as a WWE Producer on a probationary basis.

The new series will air in India on The Colors Network (known here in the United States as Aapka Colors in the U.S), a Viacom-owned network that launched in 2008. Endemol, a major international television production and distribution company, is also involved with the project.

One would think the series would find its way to the United States and other markets as well in some fashion, but nothing is confirmed in that regard. Colors is, however, carried on a number of satellite systems, including the Dish Network.