TNA President Dixie Carter did an interview with the Huffington Post and had some interesting things to say, here are some highlights:
on alleged poor communication with talent:
I don’t think it’s true. The talent were the first to hear everything that I could possibly say and they knew that. I had very blunt discussions with them during the process. I told them that I needed them to trust me and that there was more I wanted to share but for the sake of our livelihoods, that it wouldn’t be good business or prudent to do so. I told them I was going to work very hard and that we had interest from several places. However, as I said earlier, I was looking for somebody that wanted to make not just a financial but a time and effort investment into us and into our talent. I wasn’t going to stop until I found that. So the talent were part of the process the entire way, I told them as much as I possibly could and they were the first to hear the news when I could tell them.
on Vince McMahon/WWE as competition
Well, I think it’s ridiculous to say that we’re not competition. If we weren’t competition they wouldn’t try to stop our growth at every turn. We’re both wrestling companies and so competing for the same networks internationally and the same ticket sales globally and therefore you are competitors but all we can do is focus on what we do best. My big focus for 2015 is to further distinguish our product from anybody else’s out there. What can we do better and what have we been doing great that we can take to another level. We’re going to be announcing in the coming weeks some realty exciting changes to our show and that’s a big part – trying to make our brand much more distinctive than not just WWE but other wrestling companies around the world.
on which TNA wrestler is a breakthru star
I’m a huge Bobby Lashley fan – I think he had an outstanding year. He may not be one of the new guys but he came back so fresh and was a beast in the ring. I’m so proud of the matches he had, we threw every kind of style at him and he had great matches with everybody. Of the young guys, I love what we’re doing with tag-teams right now and the Wolves were a big part of revitalising that. Im really looking forward to exciting changes in the X-Division this year too. I’m a huge EC3 fan – and not just because he’s my nephew but because he has everything it takes to be a superstar. Bram surprised me this year, he was fantastic…. It’s like asking me who’s your favourite child! Everyone contributes and there’s not one of the talents on our roster that I’m not proud of.
Check out the full interview at Huffington Post
