A Must-Read New Article On TNA’s History & Future

A new article has been posted on Grantland focuses on the history of TNA and the current state of the promotion. It features quotes from TNA President Dixie Carter and others. Here are highlights:

Dixie Carter on Jeff Jarrett’s departure from the company: “I will always give props to Jeff. Out of the thousands of wrestlers out there he’s the only one who decided to create something with his own money. I have mad respect for that, always have and always will. I love Jeff as a person. I wish him and his precious family nothing but success.”

Dixie Carter on the TMZ/TNA TV deal reports: “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.”

Dixie Carter on the company losing AJ Styles: “I hate that we lost AJ. Are you listening? I hate it. I felt like we gave him a great offer. I really did. I felt like we gave him a great offer and I think he made a mistake.”

AJ Styles on the problems with Bischoff and Hogan: “I don’t think Eric and Hogan knew the roster at all. In fact, I don’t even know if they watched the show before they came in, and if they did it had to be very little. No one knew who I was. No one knew who [Samoa] Joe was. We added Rob Van Dam because everyone knows him.”

John Gaburick on his creative changes: “I think the audience was challenging us to give them something a little more straightforward — good old-fashioned wrestling instead of laborious talk or long, drawn-out stories. The long-form story lines that take forever to play out were not that effective.”

Carter on fans who want TNA to go out of business: “All these people say, ‘I hope you go out of business’ — why would you ever want that? You don’t think we make wrestling better just by exposing more people and giving people more options? It’s the most ludicrous, shortsighted thing — the sheer absurdity and stupidity of it blows my mind. I feel sorry for the wrestling business if we’re not around.”

Carter on Vince Russo: “He’s a lightning rod. People hate him, but sometimes people love what he does but they don’t realize he does it. He’s a really talented guy.”

Bobby Roode on the TNA talk: “I’ve [worked] 95 percent of the shows this company has run, and from day one the Internet, the public, has tried to bash TNA. We’ve been here for 12 years and after all the negativity and all the bullshit — ‘They’re going down, they’re going under, they’re done’ — we’re still here.”

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