Breaking Down The TNA/Investors Rumors

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Before getting started, my buddy Matt is looking to raise money and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis, so please take a second out of your day to check out all the information here:

http://fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/GreatStrides/38_Gateway_St_Louis?px=2424373&pg=personal&fr_id=4925

I will be making my donation this week (the deadline is late May). You should too.

Reader Feedback

John: These guys are weird bunch but I enjoyed reading it

Thanks man, they are all cool people.

Hirnklops: Dear Mr. Watry… I get the point of your column, but please, say the people you “interviewed” are metaphors for casual fans, not actual people. The “casual fan” doesn’t think that much about build-ups, burying people or who’s putting over who. I agree with you, though. For the casual fan, this Mania might have been cool… Maybe next time, invite some people here to an Interview? Or go to some non-wrestling site and ask a few people… I don’t buy Nadia and the rest as real people, just like the two eight year olds rooting for Andre a few weeks back. No insult, Justin. Good column in the whole, you get the point across, or however you say that in English. Peace!

All of them were real, and that is what they said. The two eight years only knew about Andre The Giant because of all the memorial battle royal talk on television. Same with Ultimate Warrior (the Hall of Fame stuff). That column you are referencing was from WWE WrestleMania season last year, so it was pretty clear they were just repeating things they heard on RAW or Smackdown. Again, none of what I write is made up. Said that on day one many years ago…it’s all 100% truthful. Keep reading and commenting!

Robert: I’ll take “Things That Didn’t Happen” for $500, Alex.

Then you would lose. Hope it wasn’t a Daily Double.

Future_: I hope you don’t actually get paid for this garbage.

Hope is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? Kinda like upvoting your own comment…

Voice of logic: Why is it your “casual fan” friend seems to have the most knowledge about wrestling in general? I mean he is aware of NXT, uses terms like “If given time, they can have a great match”, and “the problem has always been the booking’. Those are not casual fan-like terms. He knows WWE doesn’t acknowledge TNA, and is very aware of the injury bug from the past year.

Alternately, you have your ‘die hard’ fan who starts by claiming she only got into wrestling in the past year or so, yet finishes by saying it was awesome to see all the wrestlers from when she was a kid come back.

I’m not saying your friends aren’t real, but you may have the one casual friend mislabeled here considering the knowledge he seem to have on the product. Alan is the only one that came off as a casual fan.

I didn’t label anybody. They answered casual or diehard, not me. My involvement in last week’s column was very minimal on the whole.

*insert punchline here*

Backstory

With WrestleMania 32 in the rear view mirror, I knew this week’s column was going to be about something non-WWE. Since that is the main company I follow, I knew I had to look to the “news” for a big subject to cover. With things kind of slow elsewhere, it was a tough few days digging for ANY kind of inspiration…

…and then TNA pulled a TNA.

Again.

The gift that keeps giving.

The Rumors

Okay, before getting to my thoughts on the current state of TNA Impact Wrestling, here is what we have (so far). Keep in mind this appears to be a breaking news story that could develop at any moment.

The opening scene of the Fall and Fall of TNA DVD…

From F4W: …the company that Impact Wrestling/TNA has been negotiating with is Aroluxe, a company that former wrestlers Ron and Don Harris are involved with. The Harris brothers were mid-level stars in both the WWF and WCW in the late 90s and were brought in to TNA by former owner Jeff Jarrett when the company started.

Negotiations are still ongoing. TNA president Dixie Carter was hopeful of securing a deal whereby an investor would purchase 49% interest in the company, allowing her to maintain a majority interest. Whether she finds a company willing to do that or not, the company is in a crunch position as they are essentially out of money and will require a cash influx to get them through their next set of TV tapings scheduled for later this week.

If Carter is not able to find an investor willing to let her maintain control of the company there will obviously be a shakeup in the company and details of that are likely to come out in the next week or so.

What an absolute disaster.

There is a lot to dissect here, so I am going to try and just rattle off what I can.

First off, shame on Dixie Carter and company for allowing the company to fall THIS low. Shame on everybody. It was clear there were problems (starting on January 4th, 2010) more than five years ago. It was extremely clear there were problems in early 2012. It was ridiculously obvious there problems in 2013. It was ‘right in your face’ clear there were problems at the end of 2014, and yes, there was a big flashing neon light telling you there were problems in late 2015.

Yet, nothing happened.

It is almost so sad that I have wrote about all of this (in real time) and every single time I have to write an update, it is a worse story that proved me right in the previous column. So sad if it wasn’t so true.

The fact that they are reportedly “out of money” is just beyond tragic. When you consider who they had on their roster a few years ago and what kind of viewership numbers they were drawing on a weekly basis. I know the company is often compared to WCW, but man…they went from on top of the wrestling world to being on WWE Raw in a matter of just a short few years. Now, TNA Impact Wrestling has never and will never be on top of the wrestling world, however you get the point. That quickly it can all change.

The Ownership Terms?

If true and Dixie Carter is seeking to retain majority ownership, all I have to say is – “Really?”

Isn’t the same thing that held up the deal for Viacom (Spike TV) to purchase the company back in 2014? I wonder if they miss those 1.5 million viewers now (topped two million viewers even!) and a cable channel people actually know about.

Oh, right I said as such in November 2014:

“I am making a 2015 BOLD prediction right now: After a few months of toiling away on Destination America, TNA is going to truly realize how good they had it at Spike TV all these years. Fans too. Laugh now but Spike is going to look like the freakin’ Taj Mahal compared to the Destination America motel. Remember the saying – you do not know what you have until it is gone. Well, I give a few months before folks truly grasp that.”

Ding, ding, ding!

You miss Spike TV yet? Yay Destination America! Or…POP TV!!!! YEAH!!!

The fact that Dixie Carter is rumored to be holding out hope to STILL be in charge of TNA is both baffling…yet admirable at the same time.

Here is the thing though. If I was in charge of a company, I wouldn’t want to give up control either. I would fight non-stop (get it?) to keep my power. Screw everybody else; I would not just back down and sign over the company. Heck, YOU WOULD DO THE SAME! You know, and I know it. We all would. If we put our heart and soul into something for over a decade, it is not just going to an easy transaction to hand over operations. If you think so, you are kidding yourself. As much as Dixie Carter has clearly proven time and time again to NOT be the one to ‘save’ TNA and their financial woes, her refusing to leave is just…amazing.

As they hover around 300,000 weekly viewers on their third network in as many years (75% drop from 2014), zero live events, non-existent pay-per-view business, and weak merchandise/shop items, that paints an ugly picture.

PWInsider adds their side: The future of TNA, long and short-term, has been a major topic of discussion over the last few weeks. With this week’s Impact Wrestling tapings set for Universal Studios Florida, here is where things currently stand. Since January 2016, TNA has been working with Aroluxe, a marketing and production company based in Tennessee that has taken over TNA’s production as part of a deal that, according to multiple sources, sees Aroluxe handle all of the expenditures for TNA tapings and then sees TNA reimburse them for expenses as well as pay them for their services. Aroluxe is the company that former pro wrestlers Ron and Don Harris (then known as The Bruise Brothers) have been involved with. It provides TV Production, social media management, media buying, web management and other services to clients.

The word that has made the way around TNA performers in the past week is that a payment to Aroluxe is due imminently (one version of the story is that the payment is due today, another is that it is due Wednesday) and that based on TNA’s contract with Aroluxe, if the payment is not made, Aroluxe would then be able to claim majority ownership of TNA Wrestling, leaving Dixie Carter a minority owner. We have not been able to 100% confirm that but that version of the story has made it’s way around a big portion of the company’s roster over the last seven days.

PWInsider reached out to a number of sources within TNA and none of them would be willing to discuss the situation, much less confirm what we have heard. One person told me that if anyone should comment on the situation, it should be Dixie Carter and no one else. PWInsider.com reached out to Carter this afternoon. For those wondering where Panda Energy stands on the chess board, Panda completely divested themselves of TNA a long time ago and hasn’t put money into the company dating back 4-5 years. They no longer have any ownership. Once Dixie Carter bought out Jeff Jarrett from his shares last year, she was the one and only stockholder. That may change later this week if reports we are hearing are correct.

In recent months, Ron and Don Harris have been regularly seen at the TNA offices and have been meeting with different areas of the company to the point that should Aroluxe take over, there likely wouldn’t a blip since they are already familiar and integrated into how the company operates. So, where things stand based on what we have heard appear to be going in one of two directions – TNA reimburses Aroluxe and things remain at their status quo or Aroluxe takes over the reigns of the company. It would appear that should the latter happen, Dixie Carter would remain in some capacity, although what this would mean for the remainder of the TNA officials, staff, roster, etc. remains up in the air.

Unless something unforeseen happens, such as Carter finding another buyer for the company who completely buys out herself and takes care of the Aroluxe issue, it’s going to be a very interesting few days in Nashville before TNA gets to TV in Florida. It should be noted that there have been others interested in TNA in the past and even in recent weeks, there’s been talk of multiple interested parties), but Carter has previously turned down all sale offers. Depending on how the week goes, she may no longer be in that position. Time will tell but we may be on the cusp of a new chapter for TNA Wrestling.

The Harris Brothers?!?!?!

Aren’t they buddies with Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett?

Sigh…the punchline just never ends. How the name “TNA” is still there is just the icing on the cake.

Technically, it is the company – not the Harris Brothers themselves…but it may as well be right now because they are the “face” this new impending investor’s deal. Like it or not, the entire mess TNA is currently is eye opening. Not because they have to resort to deals with the Harris Brothers just to run another marathon taping but thanks to the internet, their part history is going to be dug up. Needless to say, it is not pretty, and yes, it was years ago. Yes, it is mostly forgotten about, and yes, it could mean nothing. Still, perception is often reality, and that spells doom for anybody wanting to research the new TNA investors.

Good For…

Quick tangent: Good for Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, James Storm (oops!), and others for seeing the writing on the wall. Good for them. Much like the WCW comparison, guys knew the damage was already done a year or so before they lost the Monday Night War. They jumped off the sinking ship and put their great talent to actual use in WWE. Congrats guys, you made the right decision. Unfortunately, not everybody has the talent/luxury to leave…hence the performers who had no choice but to hang around with ECW all they way until the bitter end. You have to feel for those wrestlers.

Early Impressions

Well, if rumors are true, and the new investors are already helping out, it is quite sad to read that “web management” is a part of that. Gail Kim is STILL listed as Knockouts Champion of their official website, there is big banner promoting the January premiere on POP TV, and the overall look is horrendous. I can’t comment on the actual product because I do not have the channel and have not even bothered to watch the Youtube clips in months. Ultimately, that is both scary and telling. If things remain status quo, as PWInsider hints, that that is a terrible, terrible thing. I don’t think TNA can go much lower than they currently are. The warehouse story from last week was embarrassing enough, as was their decent Tuesday night lead-in show being replaced…and their replay slot being bumped to the worthless Saturday morning spot. Sound familiar? Yep, sounds like 2015 all over again.

The flip side is major changes. Like, major, major, MAJOR changes, which is exactly what TNA needs. However, as noted above, that would mean no more Dixie Carter, and as history taught us with WCW, once the company is in the hands of people who don’t truly care, that is when it could disappear at a moment’s notice. All it would take is one Vince McMahon phone and a big fat check, and BOOM! Company gone. Dixie Carter would probably never sell and close up shop. Some investing company or rich businessman? Yeah, he would.

That is why (as usual) it feels like TNA Impact Wrestling is in a lose-lose situation.

Conclusion

My goodness. I have no idea how this story ends. Like everybody else, I will just have to sit back and see what kind of impact this has on TNA…

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