With the recent report that Destination America are set to drop all TNA programming at the end of this year’s third quarter, and new stories that the company are once again behind on paying their talent, it’s no surprise that people within TNA are pointing the finger directly at President Dixie Carter for their current plight.
That frustration seems to be echoed in Dave Gilbert’s TNA Talk column where anonymous sources in the company heavily criticize Carter and Bob Ryder for TNA’s current problems:
“For the longest time now, many fans have suspected that things within TNA have not been positive, with talent and staff reportedly unhappy. Over the last five years or so how many times have we seen a performer say everything is great within the organisation only to leave and give a completely different story? AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Kaz all lambasted the promotion after they had left and maybe none more so than Lisa Marie Vachon aka Tara.
We here at TALK TNA have long wondered why someone like Dixie Carter or Bob Ryder would get involved in Twitter disputes with both fans and journalists. We have always found it amusing to see Ryder desperately trying to argue with a Bryan Alvarez or blocking people for having the slightest different opinion from his own, despite Billy Corgan stating that TNA aren’t afraid of confrontation.
However recently someone who is close to the situation revealed the true extent of the issues within TNA and what many people at TNA really think of the people who are supposed to be running the company.
It has been noted that Dixie Carter has called several meetings with staff regarding the Destination America situation and as it stands, she has yet to deny anything as it pertains to TNA being cancelled by the network. Now Dixie claimed that she couldn’t comment on the situation to legal purposes but if something is not true it can be denied – it really is that simple. Also if one is legally bound by what they can or can’t say why call the meetings in the first place?
TNA and Dixie have long been known for trying to ‘work’ the fans but what is to be gained by working your own staff? Allegedly, Dixie tried to tell people that she was fully aware regarding Ring Of Honor signing Destination America deal and yet no one else in TNA was aware as evidenced by certain reactions. If Dixie really was in the know she could have leaked the information without it coming back on her. The fact is no one in TNA knew, even Carter herself, because Destination America decided they weren’t worth telling.
Among other things that have not been denied was the email that was sent accidentally to Destination America’s General Manager, Marc Etkind, in which she complained about the network and called them idiots. Obviously this was supposed to be an internal email but as TNA have previously learned these things often get out through human error. It’s what’s known in the business as ‘pulling a Vince Russo’.
Many among TNA office staff feel that Carter is the root problem of TNA’s woes and was a direct reason Spike decided to cancel TNA programming. As one person put it: “what network would not renew a show that has been their ratings leader for the majority of their time on that network? The answer – no network would – unless it’s a company ran by Dixie Carter.”
It would appear that Dixie sees herself very differently from how others view her and the feeling amongst many is that she truly believes she is a celebrity. This has been made evident by her desire for her own reality show, something TNA staff have had to work on after footage was shot and sent to a production company in Texas. Why would she concern herself with these kind of trivial things when TNA is clearly struggling both domestically and now in the UK, a former stronghold for the promotion.
Allegedly, the most important thing to Dixie is her Twitter which, when one looks at how many tweets she actually sends out, does seem to make sense. Not that there is anything wrong with Twitter but Dixie seems to have a habit, as do others, of making mistakes on social media. Remember when someone tweeted her saying they didn’t want Destination America to cancel Impact so she replied saying that they should tell the network.
If the network was not going to cancel your show there would be nothing to tell them, surely?
However Dixie does have her fans in the office and one of them seems to Bob Ryder who, while well liked by upper management (mainly just Dixie), is seen as more of a joke by many within the company. According to one source the office cringes when he tweets and asks what “executive” argues with fans or wrestling journalists. Apparently Ryder is somewhat of a ‘heat’ lover around the company and genuinely enjoys the controversy, but apparently not when it is directed at him.
As put to TALK TNA – “Last year when there were reports on wrestling news sites that Bob being in talent relations is like someone who’s played fantasy football running an NFL team….he was livid and had the IT guys go through thousands and thousands of emails to find out who did it.” This reeks of insecurity from a man who is apparently not much more than a cross between John Gaburick’s P.A. and a glorified travel agent. Of course I can understand why Ryder would want to know who sent it, but to pursue it like he was Jason Bourne is just pointless and a complete waste of time and resources. Imagine if Ryder stopped these kinds of things, stayed off Twitter (and Omegle) and instead dedicated his time into helping make TNA the best possible product it could be?
We have have first hand experience of how petty Bob Ryder can be and the reality is no executive at any normal run company would be allowed to behave in the way he does on a social media platform. They remain aloof because generally they don’t care what “the people” think as they are secure in their own thoughts and position.
Unfortunately the most damning thing we have been told about Ryder has nothing to do with Twitter, but pertains to a young girl from the make a wish foundation who wanted to meet Jeff Hardy. Apparently Ryder was telling people that he thought the young girl was faking it!! Imagine that, a company executive calling out a sick young child because he now believes he is a medical expert. One person who was there said “I wanted to throw up. At the end of the day, this is a human being and I always treated all fans as that. Bob Ryder does not.”
When one takes into account the health problems Ryder has himself endured over the years, you’d think he’d be a little more sensitive and well meaning than this.
With that said the pettiness doesn’t end with Ryder. Recently, TNA wrestler Tyrus was forced to withdraw from Global Force Wrestling when TNA put pressure on him to do so. In Tyrus’ contract he is allowed to work anywhere as long as it’s not on TV or iPPV which the GFW show wouldn’t have been. TNA however threatened him legally, effectively forcing Tyrus to withdraw from GFW show, hence the end of his tweet saying “Nuff Said.”
Despite much of this, there are many who still want TNA to succeed and be the best they can be and there was a degree of optimism for the company when it was announced that Billy Corgan was brought on board, but it seems most within the company just rolled their eyes. One source described that “Corgan was something everyone just laughed at. It was never pitched to us that he would be in charge of creative. We were told it was another guy that was wanting to help out. To me it’s another guy Dixie will waste money on.” Since his arrival, everything has pretty much fizzled out and Corgan has done or said nothing to suggest he can help TNA in anyway.
His recent appearance on a podcast with Vince Russo pretty much confirmed it when he said he was qualified to help TNA due to his involvement within the entertainment industry for 30 years, despite the fact that he admitted his best years was from 1993-95. So according to Corgan his best years were 20+ years ago and that somehow means he will be able to help.
The fact is that one genre of entertainment does not translate to another in much the same way sports don’t. Phil Taylor for example is the best Darts player of all time but would he make a good quarter back for the Miami Dolphins? Just because one excels in one area does not make them qualified in another. As one TNA wrestler said: “I like music so should I be allowed to go work for the Sony offices and have input on their artists.”
Vince McMahon is no doubt the most successful wrestling promoter of all time but how did he fare with bodybuilding, restaurants, football or movies? All of which he attempted and all were pretty substantial money losers.
Corgan himself has taken to Twitter to defend the promotion, (ever noticed how WWE and New Japan writers don’t tweet? and has even called fans marks. Though his best quote was on the podcast when he said “fans shouldn’t be booking wrestling”…..couldn’t have put it better myself.
Now before you disregard what you have read ask yourself why would someone lie about things? In speaking to many individuals, we always hear how well respected the wrestlers are and how talented the entire roster is. None of this is a criticism of them.
Remember Destination America haven’t commented on the situation regarding Impact which is no shock as Spike didn’t until the end but of course the Spike rumours were true.
This is what we have been told by people close to the situation with no motive to lie. Yes, we can understand that it doesn’t make pretty reading for TNA fans but you can’t dismiss things just because they aren’t to your liking.
We would love to be writing how Destination America have denied the cancel story and that the signings of CM Punk and Goldberg are imminent but that is not the reality. We report what we have been told and only that, as long time TNA fans we get no satisfaction out of reading these reports or being right about them.
It’s sad to say but maybe the time has come for TNA to make a wish themselves rather than doubting a child from the foundation, but it seems the only wish that could genuinely help TNA now would be less involvement from Dixie and the rest of upper management.”
