Okay, buckle up and get comfortable, because we may be here for a while. As most wrestling fans are aware by now, TNA (AKA Impact Wrestling) is very much up for sale. The company is in dire straits and needs to facilitate a sale as soon as possible or it will go under due to debts owed to several lenders. The major players in the potential sale were current TNA President Billy Corgan, who is a minority owner of the company and has been trying to purchase Impact Wrestling for some time; WWE, which was reportedly mostly interested in buying the company’s rich media library for use on the WWE Network and leaving the actual wrestling promotion to sell to someone else; Aroluxe, the company fronted by the Harris Twins who have lent TNA money to cover television tapings in the past; and a fourth, undisclosed party.
Now, a trio of reports have come out indicating the sale is on the verge of complete failure, and that Corgan is suing Impact Wrestling owner Dixie Carter and TNA as a result of these sale negotiations.
First, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that frustration around the sale is mounting, as nothing was able to get accomplished at the supposed zero hour for the company, and nothing was finalized at the end of their last set of tapings for the year. Meltzer says there is “huge heat” on Carter for failing to get a deal done, and that the blame has fallen on her for all of these potential deals falling through.
Meltzer goes on to elaborate on the status of the company and the current morale of those behind the scenes:
There is nothing new on the status of the tape library past WWE that John Gaburick went to Kevin Dunn with the idea of a package where he gets them the tape library and that he would get a job out of it and Dunn went to Vince McMahon, and right now things look unlikely it’s going to happen, but again, that’s been up and down for weeks. Everyone has been told to stop talking publicly about everything but the situation from a financial standpoint are as much of a mess as they’ve been with money owed all over the place and no money coming in.
The feeling of talent right now seems to be that they are all hoping Corgan gets the company, and all, no matter what they say publicly, are very aware of how bad the situation is right now. The talent believes that Corgan is the only one who has the ability to save the company and that it’s doomed if anyone else gets it, and they are aware that the Corgan/Carter talks went south. Virtually all believe that Dixie Carter was deceptive on this story, and plays the “unassuming card” with talent, like at the meeting when she said how she had no idea anyone had any questions about things when talent was mad stuff wasn’t addressed before the PPV, and the meeting was called the next day at television, and thought she was playing dumb to avoid really addressing the situation.
The Observer noted that the interested parties still trying to buy TNA are Corgan, Aroluxe, and Fight Network, which owns a small stake in company at the moment. As of right now, WWE and that undisclosed other party are out of the picture. But wait, things get worse!
PWInsider reported that on Wednesday, Corgan filed suit against Carter, Impact Wrestling and the company’s CFO (via Wrestling Inc.).
TNA President Billy Corgan filed a lawsuit against Impact Wrestling, parent company Impact Ventures LLC, TNA Chairman Dixie Carter, TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead and Dixie’s husband Serg Salias in Chancery Court in Nashville on Wednesday.
In an update, a temporary restraining order was approved and Corgan filed a bond to support it today. A hearing for a temporary injunction has been scheduled for Thursday, October 20th at 11:30am local time. Corgan has requested a six-person jury to decide the case.
Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet added to PWInsider’s report to say that Corgan’s side has requested that all documents be sealed related to the case … so there is an honest chance we may never even find out what all this is about. Odds are good that it is connected to the sale, however, and this bad blood is only going to get worse before it’s all over. Let’s hope that some semblance of a wrestling promotion makes it out the other side.
