IMPACT: Re-IMPACTed

That's about as awesome as it gets. I can't wait to read the Russo rebuttal.

You might have to call his mama to find out. (855) 830-8648

Earlier this week, we posted highlights from an in-depth article Grantland did on TNA Wrestling, and in the piece TNA President Dixie Carter recalls a backstage pep talk she had with the TNA roster at the NYC Impact tapings last month.

Carter told Grantland she was “fired up” during the pep talk to the point where she was cursing throughout her speech to the roster. Following her talk, she said numerous TNA talents went to her and told her they believed in TNA and its future.

According to a TNA employee present for Dixie Carter’s pep talk at the tapings, none of the above things happened during and/or after her speech.

Dave Meltzer discussed the Grantland.com story that came out this past week that covered some of the issues going on with TNA.

In the story, Dixie Carter claimed that the company was overstaffed and that was why they released people in the TNA offices. I can tell you that when I asked someone in TNA about that several weeks back I was blatantly lied to and told that there were no problems even though there were issues with people being late several weeks on their pay.

Here’s a quote from Dixie Carter from the article:
“TMZ asked me, `Hey, is this story real, should we run with it?’ I was watching a movie and didn’t see it until some little wrestling site ran it. Then I gave TMZ a quote which said we’re still negotiating. That never made it to print.”

Meltzer said that he had a long discussion with the TMZ writer at a party a few weeks after that story broke. Meltzer already knew the story from the TNA side that Spike TV told Dixie Carter that the show was not getting renewed. The TMZ writer knew from the Spike TV side that the show was not getting renewed. Meltzer also knew that Spike would probably extend TNA’s deal for a little while to allow them some breathing room so the company could work out another deal with another network. Carter had told people in the company that she didn’t want to stay on Spike anyway. Publicly, both TNA and Spike are saying “we’re still negotiating.” As far as Dixie’s claim that TMZ asked her if the story is real, well that never happened either. Meltzer wrote to her that night to let her know that the story was about to break and asked if she had a comment. She did reply back and her comment was included in Meltzer’s story.

Carter said in the article:
“We will die a slow death on the vine if we just stay as one two-hour show in the U.S. I have big decisions to make. I want this to be a big play. I don’t want this to be a status quo play.”

That seems to indicate that she may be looking at adding a second show if the company survives.
Carter also said:
“I may have let a cuss word or two slip. A couple of guys came up to me afterward and said, `We believe in you. We believe in this company.’”

One person that was there said that she did not curse at the meeting and that person said that he did not believe anyone went up to her to say “we believe in you. we believe in this company.” Aside from the producers or Bully Ray, the person didn’t think would talk to her at that level. Bully Ray is/was an agent for TNA.

In the article, Russo claimed that the secrecy about his hiring wasn’t about hiding it from Spike TV. Actually, there was panic in TNA when the Mike Johnson story got out and the panic was because they knew Spike TV would find out that Russo was working in TNA. The news about Spike not renewing came just days after the Russo story. While it wasn’t the prime reason for Spike not renewing, two people very close to the situation told Meltzer that it was a reason. The other reason was Spike wanted to add new original programming for their prime time lineup. They are hoping that the new programming will attract better ad dollars and more female viewers. Even if the Russo thing didn’t happen though, it’s more likely than not that Spike would not have renewed Impact. Also, the move of Bellator to Friday’s also hurt them because TNA helped to drive viewers to the Bellator show when it aired after Impact so it was a great reason to keep TNA but once Bellator moved to Friday it proved that it could sustain itself without TNA as a lead-in.


Read more: wrestlingnews.co/the-whole-story-on-what-dixie-carter-was-told-privately-by-spike-tv-and-what-tmz-was-told/#ixzz3DiYbD9ch

Allegedly, TNA has crowned a new champion tonight in Bethlehem, PA.

This is for the first show after Bound for Glory.  Lashley will retain at their Wrestlemania, and the title switch after is taped.  I can't verify that with anything other than my knowledge of TNA.  

Let me get this straight - they are taping a show that is going to air AFTER their live PPV?

Why does anyone watch this shitshow anymore?

They're still getting about one million viewers on Wednesday, because people will watch wrestling if it's on.  I quit for months.  The sad thing is the New York shows haven't been horrible.  I really wish Jarrett wasn't the next contender for a viable second wrestling company.  I like his overall theory, but I feel the execution will be the shits.  

I kind of include Spud in my EC3 entry as they play so well together. Dude knows his shit and his comedy doesn't bother me like Santino's did.

My first ever Indy show I went to in 2005 at a Masonic Temple had more fans there than this.

It's sad.