TNA Impact Wrestling is calling on its fans to help save
Olympic wrestling.
Citing the news that the International Olympic Committee's
board had excluded wrestling from the 25 "core" sports for the 2020
games, TNA, whose wrestling show airs on Spike, said the sports would now have to
fight to stay a part of the Games.
TNA pointed out that while an iconic sport such as
wrestling, which was part of the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, had
not been included on the list, "recreational" sports such as
badminton, ping pong and handball remained. The IOC decision was a mix of
factors, including TV ratings, ticket sales and global participation, according
to TNA.
TNA wrestler Kurt Angle was a gold medalist at the 1996
Olympics. ""The wrestling community is in a state of shock with this
decision -- we cannot sit back and allow this to happen," said Angle in a
statement. "I will do whatever it takes and work with my company TNA Wrestling and
the competitive wrestling community to determine what we need to do to reverse
this decision."
"We encourage our own Impact Wrestling community, WWE
and wrestling organizations worldwide as well as competitive amateur coaches
and athletes to have a unified voice to make sure wrestling will be an Olympic
sport in 2020," said TNA president Dixie Carter.
