The following are highlights of a new Ring Rust Radio interview with TNA President Dixie Carter:
On the transition to Destination America: “Well I think it is critical for the company. We were in a position where in negotiations I went to every network saying, ‘Look, we are not interested in just licensing our two hour show Impact for your network. I am interested in a partner, someone who will help build our brand, give us more exposure, provide new programming for us’, and that’s exactly what we have gotten and more with the support of Discovery and Destination America. We are very, very excited about all that they are giving us across all ten Discovery networks; support, print advertising, PR, radio, digital. It is everything we had hoped it would be.”
On re-signing Kurt Angle: “Well, I think Kurt was a game changer for us when we first signed him. I think it is important at such a new beginning for us to still have him as a corner stone for our company. Kurt looks at all the positive changes that are happening. Our signing with Destination America out in Los Angeles, the new network deal, the commitment from them, he sees the big picture and he gets it. He is a joy to work with and a real leader for us. We are thrilled to have him.”
On the atmosphere in TNA: “Unfortunately, I’m not even going to see what the atmosphere is like Wednesday. I will be in Los Angeles while they are going live in New York. I am representing Discovery and Destination America at the Television and Critics Association. Again, that’s just part of what they are asking us to do. Ken Anderson, Chris Melendez and I will be there. We will be representing our show and network in front of hundreds of media representatives. Just the whole vibe from the locker room, everyone was so supportive. They realize that this is what we have all been wanting and hoping for. This is going to be a great fresh start for us.”
On rebooting storylines or sticking with past storylines: “I think it’s a little bit of both quite honestly. The momentum we had in New York for those shows this past year we want to continue that on and kick it up a notch. We got some surprises planned and we’ve got some changes planned. You won’t see it as much at the live shows but there’s only so much you can do with a live television production. The shows afterwards you are going to start to see a transformation of some new technologies that we are going to use. From new productions and some new and exciting ways in which we want to showcase the show. Things we have talked about for a long time, but quite honestly, technology wasn’t where we needed it to be to fit in to how we have to shoot a wrestling show. I am really, really excited for things to start taking shape in the coming weeks.”
On TNA pay-per-view plans: “We will still have several live ones a year, but when we have them they will mean something and be worth people’s hard earned money. I think that the creative team really wanted to start the year off with a bang and something special on the network. So we decided to take the Lockdown theme live and free on Destination America. I was supportive of that and we will have a couple of live pay-per-views a year and then we will still do some of the One Night Only specials that have been really successful for us.”
