TNA Reaction aired its pilot episode on a Monday night on April 12, 2010 at 7pm ET/6C. On May 3, 2010, TNA announced that Spike had picked up Reaction and that the program would start airing every Thursday, prior to that week's edition of Impact!, starting June 24 at 8pm ET/7C.[1] The premiere date was later pushed back to July 15, when it would start airing after Impact! at 11pm ET/10C instead of before it.[2] However, in late June Reaction was pulled from Spike's schedule.[3] On August 3, 2010, TNA announced that Reaction would premiere on August 12 and air every Thursday following Impact! on 11pm ET/10C.[4] After an initial run of ten episodes, it was announced that Spike had picked up the show for ten more episodes.[5] On December 27, 2010, it was confirmed that Spike had canceled the show and its final episode would be airing on December 30, 2010.[6][7]
Format
The show was composed largely of segments mimicking a cinéma-véritédocumentary, catching wrestlers unawares backstage preparing for their matches, or expressing their emotions immediately following their matches. Some were "on-the-spot" sit-down interviews regarding the current happenings within the company's storylines. Most of the high-volume, intense yelling typical of wrestling interviews was removed with this format, giving it a feeling of spontaneity, candidness and verisimilitude. After the pilot episode, this style of segment largely replaced the typical structured interview segment (with an interviewer and a set) on the company's flagship show Impact. TNA superstars featured include A.J. Styles, Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, and Mr. Anderson and many more.[8]
Other segments included the Impact Player of the Week, which highlighted a wrestler with sit-down interviews and source footage from their life, akin to similar segments from WWE Confidential.[9]
The show began with an extension of the final scene from that week's Impact, with commentary from Mike Tenay and Taz.[9] The last three months of the show's existence, Impact!main events continued into Reaction time slot, effectively giving Impact! a third broadcast hour.[10]
On the November 18, 2010, broadcast of Reaction, an "unofficial" Empty Arena grudge match was shown, held between Generation Me and The Motor City Machine Guns. It was filmed in the similar candid manner of other Reaction segments, with minimal commentary overdubbed.[11]
