Note: Since TNA’s website has been going down, you can also try Google Cache and Archive.is mirrors of their statement on this matter.
TNA has just made one of the strangest moves in company history. Think of the ground that covers. A little while ago, they posted a statement on their website saying that AJ Styles (real name Allen Jones), Doc Gallows (real name Drew Hankinson), and Karl Anderson (real name Chad Allegra) had committed verbally and in writing to signing to TNA in December, though they hadn’t signed final contracts yet. According to TNA, this happened after a meeting at Dixie Carter’s Nashville, Tennessee home on December 14th where, and afterwards, merchandise was designed on top of plane tickets being mailed. The claim is that this all fell apart over the Christmas holiday, when the wrestlers broke off communication before signing their long-form agreements. According to the statement, “AJ’s lawyer contacted TNA and stated the wrestlers had changed their mind and would not be honoring their commitment to TNA.”
The initial reaction I’ve seen seems to be that TNA, having taken this tact and not threatening legal action in the statement is significant. Why? It comes off like they don’t have confidence in being able to take legal action against Styles et al or the promotion they’re signing with (presumably WWE). On top of that, Anderson/Allegra was still under contract to New Japan Pro Wrestling while all of this was going on, which seems like it might not be the best thing to admit publicly. Either way, unless TNA is simultaneously serving the wrestlers and their destination promotion (again, presumably WWE) with legal action, it seems like something is missing from their version of the story.
It’s worth noting that in 2012, TNA sued former talent relations coordinator Brian Wittenstein as well as World Wrestling Entertainment after WWE hired him and, unsolicited, he offered up a file of TNA contract information. In the complaint, TNA said that “The disclosure exposes TNA to potential liability with respect to its contract — WWE knows the details of TNA’s contractual relationships with its wrestling talent, which could allow WWE to place itself in the right place, at the right time, with an offer to TNA’s talent at just the right place.”
It was alleged that Ric Flair tried to back out of his TNA contract right after Wittenstein gave the information to WWE, but also that WWE quickly told TNA what happened. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said at the time that “Our reaction is that no good deed ever goes unpunished. What the WWE did here is what you would hope any company would do in these circumstances it found itself in.” TNA dropped the lawsuit in 2012, but as it was going on, everyone in WWE treated TNA talent as radioactive, with Gerald Brisco reportedly being told he couldn’t even visit his son Wes (a TNA wrestler) in the hospital.
More on this story as it develops…
