Former TNA President Dixie Carter is now the President of a Hemp and Cannabis company named Panda Biotech. The company operates out of Dallas, Texas. It is focussed on producing industrial hemp that can be used for a variety of purposes.
In an interview this summer, Carter spoke about Texas becoming an epicentre for industrial hemp.
“The truth is, Texas farmers are going to need a couple of years to learn how to best plant it. I think Texas farmers are the best in the world and will learn it quicker than anyone in the world,” Carter said in an interview with Times Record News.
“This is an opportunity for Texas to be kind of the epicenter of industrial hemp on a global basis,” Carter continued.
Carter continues to follow professional wrestling as evidenced by her social media posts. She commented on the recent passing of former TNA talent Jimmy Rave, and also posted in regards to Ring of Honor’s end of an era Final Battle PPV.
Carter served as the President of TNA Wrestling from 2002 until 2017. She stepped down as President of the company when Anthem Sports and Entertainment purchased it in 2017. Ed Nordholm replaced her in the role.
Christian Cage is the new Impact Wrestling World Champion and Dixie Carter has responded.
Cage challenged Kenny Omega for the gold this past Friday night (Aug. 13). The title match opened up the debut episode of AEW Rampage inside the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cage turned the tables on Omega, who attempted to hit him with One-Winged Angel on a chair. Cage ended up nailing Omega with the Killswitch on a chair for the three-count.
After the match, former TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter took to her Twitter account to praise Christian Cage.
“This makes me very happy. I will never forget how special it was when Christian first became [a world champion for TNA]. I always hated losing him to WWE. Welcome home Christian & massive props to AEW for allowing these type of matches to happen.”
Christian Cage never captured the TNA Wrestling Title during his first run with the promotion. He was a two-time NWA World Champion and was the last NWA World titleholder of the NWA-TNA era. He ended up leaving TNA in 2008 to return to WWE.
Cage is set to return to the Impact Zone on Aug. 19. He’s already got his first title challenger set and time will tell when that match will come to fruition. The number one contender is Brian Myers, who recently won a battle royale match to earn the title opportunity.
Cage is due for another match with Omega on Sept. 5. The match will take place at the All Out PPV and it’ll be contested for Omega’s AEW World Championship.
Former WCW President Erich Bischoff reflected on his time in TNA back in 2010 during an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast on AdFreeShows. The episode saw Bischoff and Conrad Thompson looking back on TNA Final Resolution 2010. During their conversation, Bischoff also addressed how Dixie Carter handled Jeff Hardy during that time.
Bischoff confessed he did not enjoy his time in TNA back in 2010. He claimed he wasn’t in “TV shape,” explaining how he was carrying “15 or 20 extra pounds” at that time.
“I didn’t put forth the effort. My performances were generally decent or pretty good, but my physical appearance, I look back and I’m embarrassed,” Bischoff confessed. “I wished somebody would have pulled me aside and said get a haircut and lose 20 pounds, dress a little better and show up next week.”
He admitted part of the reason behind his lackluster approach was because he “really wasn’t into it.”
Bischoff added how it wasn’t his goal to be on TV in TNA. He wasn’t excited about being involved as, he argued in comparison to WCW and WWE, “TNA was a notch or four down.”
Bischoff explained how he’d “already been to that mountain.”
However, “I didn’t say that to myself when I got there. I didn’t say that to myself every time it was time to go out and do a scene, but deep down inside, that’s how I felt about it.”
Eric Bischoff acknowledged how TNA’s usage of him stemmed from wanting to get the “biggest bang for their dollar.”
He acknowledged how “Part of it was me. I’m not going to put it all on somebody else. That would not be fair or honest. I would allow myself to get sucked in because it made sense on paper, but I wasn’t passionate about it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzPoilF17JE
Dixie Carter’s Handling of Jeff Hardy’s Issues
Eric Bischoff then turned his attention to how Dixie Carter handled Jeff Hardy’s substance issues whilst maintaining her TNA duties. He stressed how “Dixie loved Jeff Hardy.”
He added how Dixie Carter was a “healer” and a “fixer.” According to Bischoff, she would “look for broken people and fix them.” He explained how Dixie almost became like a mother to Jeff during that difficult time.
“Dixie didn’t talk a lot about Jeff to me or probably to anybody else. What a mistake, right? But the intention was there. Her intentions were honorable and good,” Bischoff said. “I think because of the lack of wrestling experience or lack of experience in general on Dixie’s part, she knew she was taking a risk but I don’t think she realized how big a risk she was taking, not only for Jeff, but for the people Jeff was in the ring with.”
Jeff Hardy defeated Matt Morgan at TNA Final Resolution 2010. They competed in a No Disqualification matchup for the TNA World Championship.
Pro wrestling personality and former TNA backstage employee Jim Cornette recently discussed Dixie Carter and her influence on the TNA product. Cornette was responding to recent comments from WWE Superstar AJ Styles on his Drive Thru podcast.
AJ Styles stated “Do I believe Dixie ruined IMPACT? Well, it was TNA back then, and 100%. IMPACT, there was a time when it was really gaining ground. The problem was, Dixie wanted to be WWE-lite and that’s not what people wanted. They wanted to see something else. All she had to do was let us do what we do, it was really that simple. Had she left it to the writers, I think TNA would still be around and be bigger than what they are, but not knowing what’s best for business? She hurt TNA”
Jim Cornette on Dixie Carter
“Dixie had talent she liked” Jim Cornette began on the Drive Thru. “And I’m not saying that in an inappropriate way. She thought that Hernandez, and she was correct in this, should be a Latino Mexican superstar at one point. I fully agreed with that.”
Cornette would then elaborate further on this, blaming Vince Russo for ‘destroying’ the potential they had with LAX member Hernandez. “Unfortunately for Hernandez? She’d [Dixie] picked an idiot to write her show [Vince Russo] who didn’t know how to get that guy over. And when I left? That was the end of that [Hernandez’s run], because he [Russo] didn’t understand it.”
Jim Cornette would then blame Dixie Carter for bringing in Vince Russo to oversee the writing of the product, thus somewhat agreeing with AJ Styles. “Dixie was responsible for creative in terms of who she hired to be in charge of it. And Jeff Jarrett to his credit, while he was there was able to balance most of the bullsh*t out with actual sh*t that made sense. OR, wouldn’t harm talent when you presented him with a better way to do it.”
“Dixie may have sat in on a few production meetings, not that many” Jim Cornette would continue. “Sometimes she wasn’t there at television and other times she would get there right before taping started. She’d be flying in from somewhere, she’d get there just in time to get her makeup done to go out in front of the fans and take post pictures holding the TNA title belt. But if you had a creative question, or if I did? I went to Jeff Jarrett.”
Do you agree with Cornette’s assessment? Let us know in the comments
Current WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles has revealed who he believes can be blamed for ruining TNA’s Impact Wrestling show. As far as he’s concerned, blame can be fully attributed to Dixie Carter.
Reflecting on his time working for the promotion during a Twitch stream, Styles confessed how he loved Vince Russo as a person. However, when it came to working creatively together, he admitted they often “butted heads.”
“[…] but I realized when we butted heads, it was because he was getting things from Dixie the whole time. It must have been very difficult to work with this woman who has no idea how wrestling works and wanted everything to be done to it and it didn’t make any sense.”
Style then stressed how “Do I believe Dixie ruined IMPACT? Well, it was TNA back then, and 100%.”
He explained how, at the time, Impact was gaining positive momentum. Styles believes the problem stemmed from Dixie Carter’s need to be “WWE-lite,” something Styles claimed people weren’t interested in.
AJ Styles argued how instead of providing WWE-lite, fans were eager for “something else.” He shared how all Dixie Carter had to do was “let us do what we do.” He added how—had she left the creative direction to the writers—TNA would still be around and would probably be more popular than they currently are as Impact Wrestling. Styles added how, because Dixie Carter didn’t know what was best for business, she ultimately ended up hurting TNA.
Recently on the “Keepin it 100” podcast, Konnan was asked his feelings regarding former TNA wrestling owner Dixie Carter. The storyline aunt of EC3 is often cited as a reason why TNA Wrestling failed to reach the heights many felt it was capable of before being sold to Anthem Sports and Entertainment. Here is what Konnan had to say on the show:
“Bro every time I talked to Dixie, she was clueless,” Konnan said on the show. “I was like ‘Wow, we are in trouble with her at the helm.’ She was there because her Dad was rich and that just showed that it doesn’t matter how much money you have if you don’t know what the f**k you’re doing.”
Konnan then asked Disco Inferno what his thoughts were of working with Dixie Carter.
“I think that she realized pretty quickly that everybody was working her so she became a worker herself,” Disco said. “Well, you’d hear all these stories about how she lied to people and stuff but I think she knew that the boys were working her.”
The full segment can be listened to in the player below:
What began as a small issue quickly escalated this Sunday at WWE’s Fastlane event. Now, AJ Styles and Randy Orton are seemingly WrestleMania bound. The two started a war of the words this past Tuesday on SmackDown Live.
In an effort to insult Styles, Randy Orton would compare their career paths. He stated that: “In 2005, AJ was down in Florida getting a tan with Dixie Carter while I was here, facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania.”
This was in reference to AJ’s time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, now Impact Wrestling, and its former majority owner, Dixie Carter.
Turns out that Dixie Carter heard her name dropped during this promo.
A fan on Twitter made her aware she was trending on Twitter after being mentioned. This prompted her to make a tongue-in-cheek response:
“.@AJStylesOrg & I never had to tan as we were always golden. My historical recollection is different than yours @RandyOrton. #SDLive”
AJ Styles is just one of many current WWE Superstars who honed their craft and made a name for themselves whilst at TNA. The current United States Champion, Samoa Joe, is another TNA alumni who has found a place within WWE, as are Bobby Roode and New Day member, Xavier Woods.
Are you looking forward to an AJ/Orton feud? Do you think each man could have had a better opponent or storyline going into WrestleMania?
Former TNA President Dixie Carter took to her official Twitter account where she reacted to the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion being moved to the main roster. Dixie wrote, “So proud of you E! Congrats to @wwe too… Can’t wait to watch you hold those major titles in the air. Love you, Aunt D #toponepercent #wwe #raw #smackdown”
There is history between EC3 and Carter stemming from his stint in TNA Wrestling, now known as Impact Wrestling. Once EC3 departed from the WWE around 2013, TNA hired him and brought him into the storylines as Dixie’s nephew, Ethan Carter III. Moving along to January of this year, WWE signed EC3 after he had a successful run in TNA and placed him in NXT. The only change to his character was shortening his name.
Jeff Jarrett is currently hosting a TNA themed panel at Starrcast alongside Don West and Karen Jarrett. You can check out the full Starrcast event via FITE TV.
Jarrett was joined by Gail Kim and Velvet Sky during the panel. The discussion eventually turned to the success of the Knockouts division. The height of the division saw Awesome Kong and Gail Kim feud for the TNA Knockouts title. This secured the highest quarterly ratings for the IMPACT programme at the time. One of the more intriguing aspects of the discussion focused around a huge mainstream media campaign for the Knockouts division in MAXIM magazine.
Jarrett claimed that “Spike TV wanted to do a campaign in 2007-08 and the executive wanted to do a cover for MAXIM magazine.” Karen Jarrett then took the microphone and stated that “A certain owner canned it because she wasn’t on the cover.” After not specifically saying who this was (Dixie Carter) Karen went to say that “she chose not to renew AJ Styles’ contract, which was a really dumb move.”
Gail Kim and Velvet Sky seemed to mirror Jarrett’s sentiments before the discussion quickly moved on to the Ultimate X match, MMA Jarrett and Fox Sports.
– According to a report by Squared Circle Sirens, former Impact Wrestling Knockout MJ Jenkins is among those taking part in an invitation-only tryout this week at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Impact Wrestling released Jenkins from her contract last November after joining the company in March. She signed the contract in May after working five television matches over the course of three days in March in Orlando, including the One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown pay-per-view event in a loss to Rosemary. Jenkins, however, was never used again by Impact after signing the contract.
Jenkins made her wrestling debut in 2015 training under WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz. She now works for various independent promotions in Florida.
– In this post on Instagram, former Impact Wrestling President Dixie Carter put over the former Rockstar Spud, who served as her Chief of Staff in 2013 and 2014. Carter says that Drake Maverick will make a great General Manager for WWE after he was named the GM of 205 Live.
Former WCW President and Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to react to the news that ex-TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter could be working with WWE in an on-screen capacity. The comparison of Carter to Vickie Guerrero came up, and Bischoff explained why Carter would not be a good authority figure heel on WWE TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hyPVBc0yE
“The difference is that Vickie Guerrero was an inherently good performer. Dixie Carter is not. Dixie is not a great performer. It took all day for her to get ready to do a two minute in-ring. It was tough. It was really tough. The other part of the equation here is her as a performer. I can take this perspective with a lot of people if you want to break it down. For a character like Vickie Guerrero you have to be really comfortable with people hating you. I can tell you from personal experience that I thrived on it.
“I still do in certain situations when you can get people to react the way I want them to react. You bring out that heel in your personality and have fun with that situation. I like it. Dixie Carter’s problem with being a heel, in my opinion having worked with her and known her for awhile, is that she wanted everyone to love her. She doesn’t want anyone to hate her. If you don’t have a personality that not only allows you to be comfortable but also dig deep and find new, creative ways to capture the little moments when they reveal themselves and exploit them as a heel then you won’t last two days. That’s the problem.”
Former TNA President Dixie Carter recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of SI.com, and the subject of Kurt Angle and WWE was raised. During the interview, Carter was asked about the possibility of appearing on next week’s RAW as a part of Kurt Angle’s mystery angle.
“I did hear Raw will be in Nashville, which is very interesting,” Carter said. “But I wouldn’t tell you either way.”
On Monday’s RAW, Kurt Angle revealed that he will announce next week what his mysterious personal issue that could “ruin him” is. Kurt invited a mystery person to appear next week, and speculation has been running wild online that it will be either Stephanie McMahon or Dixie Carter.
“Kurt and I both took a chance on each other,” said Carter. “The results were some of the best matches in the history of the business. From the beginning, I felt a big responsibility to help Kurt on a personal level and on a professional level. Professionally, there has never been a more complete wrestler, ever. Kurt is also a great talker and so charismatic, and maybe he’s the best in-ring talent, ever. He also made sure that everyone he wrestled had their best match. He can look back on his work with Sting, EC3, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and so many others, and the common denominator in those matches is Kurt. He only has one gear, and it’s all out, but that’s also been his biggest challenge.”
Kurt Angle’s episode of WWE 24, set to premiere after tonight’s Raw, features an interview with former TNA owner, Dixie Carter. Considering that Carter was a key figure for much of Angle’s career, her perspective on Angle’s career should be interesting.
Matt Hardy and Dixie Carter
Matt Hardy and Dixie exchanged a few posts through social media recently. Matt had sent out a tweet about AJ Styles winning the US championship and Dixie responded to him and AJ:
Mick Foley, who also had a run in TNA, posted the following on his Facebook page regarding Dixie Carter appearing on WWE programming:
“DIXIE CARTER ON WWE TV – this makes me happy!
Yes, I am very happy that Dixie Carter will be appearing Monday night, after WWE Raw on the WWE Network special on Kurt Angle. Dixie did a lot for wrestling, a lot for Kurt and so many wrestlers – and in my opinion, her contributions to the wrestling business have been largely overlooked or greatly underestimated.
I have heard most of the criticisms before. I was personally critical of Dixie and TNA on several occasions when I worked there – and have poked a little good-natured fun at them from time to time since leaving. But, with the benefit of hindsight, I came to see how fortunate I was to have had Dixie Carter in my life – and how fortunate professional wrestling was to have had her in our business.
For the past few years, I wanted to write an article, “It’s a Wonderful Life, Dixie Carter”, where – in the spirit of the classic Jimmy Stewart movie – I would try to imagine the wrestling landscape had Dixie not been part of our world. I never quite got around to it. So instead, I wrote her a hand-written letter last month, expressing both my appreciation for what she had done for professional wrestling, and my gratefulness for having had the opportunity to work for her. But, try if you can to imagine the landscape of professional wrestling has she chosen not to become part of it in 2002. It almost certainly would look much bleaker than it does today. I didn’t always agree with Dixie’s decisions, but she was a good boss, a good person and a blessing to our business. I’m proud to call her a friend – and happy that she will be appearing on WWE TV.
If you could do me a small favor, try to fight that strong urge to say something negative – and perhaps think about sharing a nice thought about Dixie or TNA in the comments.”
Former Impact Wrestling President Dixie Carter will make her WWE ‘television’ debut on Monday night.
WWE issued a “Breaking News” alert announcing that “WWE 24 – Kurt Angle: Homecoming” will premiere on the WWE Network after Monday’s RAW. The documentary will feature Vince McMahon, Dixie Carter and many of Angle’s closest friends and colleagues.
Dixie Carter led TNA (now Global Force Wrestling) from 2002-2017 before ultimately selling a majority stake to Anthem Sports and Entertainment. She remains a minority equity stakeholder.
In related Dixie Carter – WWE news, she reacted to the news of AJ Styles defeating Kevin Owens for the United States Championship at Friday night’s WWE live event from Madison Square Garden. In response to Matt Hardy saying the title change was DELIGHTFUL and #BestForBusiness, Carter tweeted:
As we’ve previously noted, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) hosted a media call to promote their G1 Special shows from Long Beach, California from the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.
Former WCW Champ Scott Steiner participated on that call and talked about a variety of topics including his thoughts on Dixie Carter, his favorite moment with Impact Wrestling, the difference between Dixie’s management and Jeff Jarrett, and so many more. You can check out the highlights from Steiner’s portion of the call here:
Legal issues with Dixie Carter:
“I mean, [Dixie Carter] is a joke. She was basically a pain [in the butt]. Talked the truth about Hogan. She dropped the case and we’ll see what happens. It’s not over.”
His favorite moments with Impact Wrestling:
“My favorite moment was the Main Event Mafia. The champions were all together, and that was a lot of fun because you had a lot of history in the ring every time we stepped in the ring. A lot of us had been around for a long time, so the stuff that we did backstage, the stuff that didn’t make it on TV was also entertaining and funny. To date, that’s been the highest rated portion of TNA’s existence. A lot of people bought into it because of the reality of everything. It was a lot of fun.”
The difference between the management styles of Carter and Jeff Jarrett:
“If you talk to anybody, there’s a huge difference. When people see Jeff, they know that he knows what he’s doing. Clearly, everyone knew that Dixie didn’t know what she was doing. She was a mark wanting to be on TV. It’s night and day. People wanna come to work, they’re excited about what everyone is doing, and it is a totally different atmosphere.”
What changes should happen in professional wrestling:
“The first change they should make is getting rid of Stephanie McMahon and Hunter McMahon, because they’re two idiots who are running the whole place up there. It’s like, I feel sorry for the wrestlers nowadays. They’ve got to follow the instructions of these two idiots that clearly don’t know what they’re doing. They’re not watching because the ratings are down, and the reason why I call him Hunter McMahon is because she obviously wears the pants.”
Why he won’t be going into the WWE Hall Of Fame:
“I’m not going into the WWE Hall of Fame, because I’m not going somewhere where there’s nowhere to go. GPS the WWE Hall of Fame. Where’s it at? See, I’m not going somewhere where if I get in trouble or something, I can’t call 911. I can’t have a beacon call, or call the coast guard. Cuz, who knows? It could be in Atlantis for all I know. Or it could be in parts unknown. It’s a joke. How can you go somewhere that is non-existent? I’d be better off if the WWE Hall of Fame was on the moon… cancel your reservations if you want to see me, because it’s not happening.”
TNA is returning to pay-per-view next month. TNA will be taping the next round of Impact Wrestling tapings starting January 5th from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. A live pay-per-view event will take place Friday, January 6th.
No word yet on the name or the concept for the show, but it’s currently scheduled to be a “One Night Only” event. The One Night Only events typically do not air live.
The currently-unnamed show will air on traditional PPV providers, the Fite app, and on TNA’s overseas broadcast partners. This will be TNA’s first pay-per-view since Anthem Sports took over the company.
– WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair will be appearing with rapper Coolio at the 25th annual Wing Bowl on 2/3 from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. CBS Philadelphia has full details at this link.
– It appears Zack Ryder may be undergoing knee surgery in Birmingham, Alabama today. WWE has not revealed the results of Ryder’s MRI from Wednesday but he tweeted the following this morning, indicating surgery in Alabama:
Flew to Birmingham, Alabama this morning…and not for a vacation.
– WWE announcer JBL wrote the following in response to a fan that asked if Donald Trump would’ve still appointed Linda McMahon as head of the Small Business Administration if it weren’t for the millions of dollars she donated to him:
do you feel she would have been appointed w/o the financial contributions made to PEOTUS?
I think @Linda_McMahon was appointed because she took a small business and turned it into a global conglomerate. This is my choice also. https://t.co/Q0YDbpHb7F
We’re less than one week away from the special Total Nonstop Deletion episode of TNA Impact on POP TV, which was filmed from Broken Matt Hardy’s home in North Carolina several weeks back. The official trailer can be viewed above.
The main event of the show will feature Broken Matt and Brother Nero defending the TNA Tag Team Championships in the Apocalypto match against several tag teams to be named. Matt is promising that this match will be everyone’s new favorite once it’s over. TND will also see the in-ring debut of Matt Hardy’s 1 year old son Maxel. Dixie Carter tweeted the following on his debut:
Other names confirmed to appear so far include The Helms Dynasty, The Decay and The DCC. Both Dixie and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross praised the match on Twitter with JR saying he’s seen some of the footage and it truly is special. They wrote:
Remember how when American Express sued TNA for not paying their bill to the tune of $269,049.50, the summons was served to a receptionist at TNA’s old office that they were evicted from months earlier? Well, that’s about to become an issue for TNA: This coming Wednesday, American Express will be in court arguing that they are entitled to a default judgment because TNA has not acknowledged the complaint. A default judgment is exactly what it sounds like, TNA losing by default. TNA has not filed anything in the case since it was fire filed back in July, and thus are currently listed on the court docket as having no legal representation recorded by the court.
As we have previously reported, it does not appear that TNA ever filed a change of address with the United States Postal Service after being evicted from their longtime offices at Cummins Station in Nashville, Tennessee (which is still listed as the company’s mail order address on ShopTNA.com). They do have an “authorized agent” (a third party proxy) in Chattanooga that can be served instead, but that option is not mentioned in American Express’s latest court filings, and neither is the TNA merchandise warehouse, where it’s been reported the company is now headquartered. In fairness, American Express has now repeatedly served the lawsuit and related documents to the address on file, which TNA never changed while becoming delinquent on their account.
For what it’s worth, as of a change on October 27th, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website now lists Impact Ventures, LLC, TNA’s parent company, as being headquartered at 1404 51st Ave North in Nashville. According to Google Maps, that’s this red and white building building in what looks like an office park (zoom in up the driveway to get a better look):
The gist of American Express’s request for a default judgment is that the deadline to respond has expired, that TNA did not move for an extension, and that TNA had not yet responded by November 2nd, when the motion was written. So as a result, they think they should get their $269,049.50 and whatever else “the Court deems just and proper.”
In addition, one of the exhibits filed by American Express is TNA’s billing statement from May, the month that the account was cancelled. The new charges consisted entirely of late fees:
$577.88 for being late in paying off a $19,327.08 balance on one of TNA CFO Dean Broadhead’s two corporate cards.
$7,233.15 for being late in paying off a $241,911.39 balance on the corporate card of Shane Emerson, who serves as TNA’s Director of International Content Distribution and Live Events.
On top of that:
Because of the cancellation, a pro-rated portion of the annual membership fee was credited back on every card.
TNA had 11 cards distributed to nine employees, with Broadhead, Emerson, and Dixie Carter each having two. Of the nine who had cards, two are now gone from the company: Eric Barnes, who handled media relations, and Tyson Ciesiensky, TNA’s Director of Information Technology. Ciesiensky is now Chief Information Officer of Skyway Studios, where TNA does post-production. The others with corporate cards were Serg Salinas (Dixie’s husband), John Gaburick (creative/talent relations), and Bob Ryder (travel).
I have reached out to TNA for comment on if they will have legal representation present at the hearing. In the event that they respond, we will update this space and let you know what they say.
While he has not given all of the details yet, Billy Corgan just announced on Friday shortly after noon eastern time that he and TNA have settled his lawsuit against them:
While not outright said, the first tweet strongly implies that whatever the arrangement ended up being, it does not include a confidentiality agreement. It will be very interesting to see what he says next week about how this came about, as the big impasse had been that TNA financiers at Anthem Sports and Entertainment wanted Corgan to drop the lawsuit to get his loan paid back. They also didn’t want to pay him the $900,000 fee he was supposed to get get if TNA was sold. TNA has not yet been sold. Once the settlement is official, they will be free to sell the company to Anthem.
As we reported exclusively earlier in the week, Anthem is finalizing a new round of funding that allowed them to provide a credit facility to TNA and presumably will help them purchase the company soon. Corgan show particular interest in that story when we broke it:
PWInsider is reporting Dixie Carter held a conference call earlier today for members of the TNA roster and crew. The conversation was said to be something of a “rah rah” speech as Dixie mentioned several aspects of the company have changed since the last roster meeting in Orlando during the first week of October.
Dixie introduced Eric Nordholm from Anthem Sports & Entertainment, noting that Nordholm would join the Board of Managers, which would lead the company’s day-to-day operations going forward. Dixie put over the company’s new relationship with Anthem Sports, the parent company of Canada’s Fight Network. Dixie says that Anthem invested enough money to help TNA reach the next level of competition.
Nordhom spoke to the roster himself, crediting them for their hard work ethic. He noted the positives that the new relationship between Anthem and TNA would yield for both companies.
It was also noted that TNA is trying to jumpstart their live event business again, and are interested in strengthening their fledgling relationship with Indian television producers, Sony Six. Several concepts were floated around including a streaming service not unlike the WWE Network.
Regarding TNA creative changes, Dixie confirmed that Billy Corgan is no longer with the company and that David Lagana resigned last week. Dixie says that John Gaburick, Matt Conway and Madison Rayne will handle creative duties going forward but they’re looking to hire other writers.
Earlier today, around the same time that Impact Ventures (TNA parent company) and Anthem Sports and Entertainment (Fight Network parent company) issued their joint press release about changes to TNA, Dixie Carter sent out an internal email to staff and talent. SEScoops has obtained a copy of the email, and these are the key details that were not mentioned in the press release:
A lot of the language is identical to the press release, including the line about how “the company will be managed by the Board, with Mr. [Edwin] Nordholm representing the Board on all major operating and restructuring decisions.” In Carter’s letter, however, it’s directly preceded by a note about how “[i]n general, the organizational structure will otherwise remain the same.” There’s also a note about TNA “worked with him over the last several months during numerous negotiations, and he has been instrumental in concluding the documents signed today.”
The takeaway appears to be that Edwin Nordholm is running the company. There’s no reference to Aroluxe’s Jason Brown, who had been running day to day operations unofficially and was expected to take over as CEO as part of the restructuring. However…
There’s also this: “Aroluxe Media, who is also an equity stakeholder, will continue to produce our shows in 2017. The next set of full tapings is scheduled for early January. Aroluxe will become more actively involved in the creative process to ensure that our taping productions arc as efficient and cost-effective as possible.” Aroluxe was not mentioned in the press release, and a representative for Anthem refused to comment on if they were still involved.
The letter ends with this: “The Board of Managers will continue to develop a longer-term business plan for the Company and I am excited to have Anthem’s experience available to us as we plan for the future. With financial stability, we can focus on executing our near term objectives while planning a measured and thoughtful approach for the future.”
Note Carter’s choice of words: While TNA claimed in court records that the recent “cash flow deficits” were part of a larger plan to build up the PopTV ad inventory, she implies here that the company lacked “financial stability” until the Anthem deal was made this week.
Analysis: None of this is really unexpected other than the ostensible disappearance of Jason Brown, which is a big question mark. A few weeks ago, Brown and the Harris twins were removed from the “team” listing on Aroluxe’s website, and as of this writing, there is no more “team” listing. Something is up, but nobody has said what as of yet.
Something that had been a topic of discussion ever since TNA announce Impact’s move to PopTV was exactly what the terms of the deal were. Quickly, Pop denied that TNA was paying them to air the show, which would have been the worst case scenario. A few months later, there were reports that it was a barter deal where Pop got the show in exchange for a share of advertising revenue (in lieu of guaranteed rights fees), and that became the prevailing narrative. MLW had refuted that claim on Twitter, though.
Last week, in sworn affidavits that were largely overlooked (in light of the more explosive items from Billy Corgan’s lawsuit against TNA), both Dixie Carter and Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead admitted that the deal with PopTV is, in fact, a barter arrangement. The affidavits were filed as exhibits supporting TNA’s motion to oppose Corgan’s request for an injunction, with the motion including the same admission. From the motion (citations to the affidavit removed for clarity; you can read them at the link):
Impact has had cash flow challenges. It began experiencing cash flow deficits as a result of moving Impact’s television show lirom Destination America to Pop TV (both cable networks). The cash flow deficits were expected and required to transition the brand from a license model to a barter sales contract tied to advertising sales. The change was necessary in order to secure the company’s valuable digital rights, full sponsorship/advertising rights and non-exclusivity rights, all of which are critical to the long-term growth and success of the brand. When making such a transition, it is typical for advertising sales to take time to increase to a level at which the barter sales contract generates revenue similar to a license structure.
It’s not clear what the part about the change being “necessary” to “secure the company’s valuable digital rights” actually means. Reportedly, Destination America opted out about four months into the deal effective later in the year, with the internal reasoning being that too many network sponsors put Impact on their “Do Not Advertise” list.
While Carter and Broadhead don’t specifically say that the move from Destination America to PopTV was voluntary, it’s not a huge stretch to read the statements that way. Both affidavits do say that “Impact made the strategic decision to move from a license fee to a barter system in the United States.” If not referring to the network switch, it’s possible that it could be explained by PopTV having offered a very low license fee or maybe TNA turning down options where the license fee was $0.
Analysis: Even if you try to take it at face value, TNA management is saying that they gave up guaranteed money for a share of ad revenue, which is mind boggling in light of the long history of pro wrestling getting rock bottom rates from sponsors. At best, this is an admission of incredibly bad decision making, unless the nebulous claims about digital rights somehow explain it. Even then, in the event the idea is that the PopTV deal gives TNA full control of its digital rights domestically and Destination America didn’t, how exactly did TNA management expect to exploit these newly freed up digital rights?
The online docket of Chancery Court in Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee has been updated in Billy Corgan’s lawsuit against TNA, its parent companies, and its corporate managers (including Dixie Carter and her husband). It reads as follows:
10/31/2016 Chancellor’s Memorandum and Order
Memorandum and Order Dissolving 10/13/16 Temporary Restraining Order and Denying Temporary Injunction
This means that TNA is now free to sell pieces of the company again, sign new contracts, and so on. If Corgan still wants relief for what he believes is his rights to power of attorney for Dixie Carter’s 92.5% of the company, then he’s not getting it in court until he pushes the lawsuit to a settlement or a jury award. As outlined in court, TNA is expected to be sold to Anthem Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of The Fight Network, with Jason Brown of Aroluxe Media (minority shareholder) taking over as Chief Executive Officer.
Presumably, Aroluxe will continue to produce the TV even with Anthem being the majority owner. Carter, who is believed to retain a small percentage in the proposed deal and has always looked to save face in these deals, will have a title and some kind of “owner emeritus” status.
Update: Billy Corgan’s statement on the ruling can be read here.
And Another: Our distillation of what you need to know about why the judge/chancellor ruled the way she did can be read here.
Another new piece of information has dropped from the latest documents in Billy Corgan’s lawsuit against TNA. Corgan had already alleged that TNA lied to him about negotiating with WWE to sell the company’s video library, but now there are more details, reported by Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet. According to the new filing, TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead told Corgan on September 26 that the WWE rumors were false.
However, after TNA produced over 14,000 pages of documents to Corgan as part of the lawsuit, he and his lawyers found tangible proof. Those would be “certain due diligence materials that WWE had requested” the day before his conversation with Broadhead. There was also this reference to the WWE deal, which downplayed Corgan’s role in the company: “When WWE raised issues relating to Corgan’s note in the course of their negotiations, [Dixie] wrote: ‘I intend to pay the loan back in full plus interest prior to selling the company.’”