As promised, on Monday a Tennessee judge ruled on the lawsuit between Billy Corgan and TNA, also known as Impact Wrestling. The judge found that Corgan’s loan to TNA owner Dixie Carter, wherein he claimed to be promised Carter’s shares in the company should Impact Wrestling become insolvent, is unenforceable by law. This means that TNA is free to return to “business as usual,” but things aren’t quite that cut and dry for Carter and Impact Wrestling.
First of all, Corgan’s loans to the company — totaling approximately $1.8 million — have been ordered to be repaid, with a delivery date of November 1. Given that TNA has been hit with a bunch of lawsuits recently seeking money owed, that would normally be a problem, but Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., the parent company of Fight Network, has already gone on record as saying they would repay Corgan’s loans on behalf of TNA, no problem.
Secondly, the judge in the case stated that although the clause in question was unenforceable, it was not without merit, as Carter and TNA did indeed default on their agreement. Although the judge agreed with large portions of Corgan’s case, they were unable to rule in his favor, as noted by Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com. Corgan can also choose to convert his money owed into a 36 percent ownership stake in TNA, but he is extremely unlikely to do that. He still has the option of pursuing his lawsuit through other avenues. Corgan himself took to Twitter after the ruling to say that he was pleased the judge considered the merit of his case, and believes a reading of the verdict means anything but a victory for TNA.
On the TNA side of things, that’s probably correct, because Anthem would be repaying those loans and not Carter or TNA itself, reportedly that will result in an ownership shake-up anyway. If Anthem repays the Corgan loans, they stand to take over 85 percent of the company as part of their own prearranged agreement with TNA. Aroluxe (the Harris Twins’ company) would control 10 percent and Carter would retain only five percent. So that basically means no TNA sale, but Anthem will likely come out of this in charge of everything.
Let’s check in with the TNA talent and see what they have to say publicly!
Welp,back to bad business as usual 🙄
— Mike Bennett (@RealMikeBennett) October 31, 2016
Okay then! Our With Spandex TNA sources declined to comment on the matter until things have been resolved further. We’ll be bringing you the latest twists and turns as they happen.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for helping to compile this information)
