WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO WRESTLING?
We're not even six weeks into the year...
this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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It all started when Mox stopped blading
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I'm completely shocked. Unless D'amore's done something horrible that we don't know about, this makes no damn sense.
They were the hottest they'd been in a long time! Hopefully he isn't also a monster.
Hopefully he isn't also a monster.
Fuck me I hope not but after the last 30 days I ain't playing the 'hope' game anymore.
the only thing i could think of is what if there was more behind the scenes to jordynne going in the rumble and there was some sort of tampering or something that corporate just got word of?
My feelings exactly. The press release sounded more like it was a 'corporate synergy' kind of move, but you never know. If it's that and we're not about to hear about a scandal, I'm a bit wary of how things will look at TNA in the coming months.
Beginning to sound like it was a corporate move. Un-fucking-believable.
never underestimate the ability of a company to see a glimmer of success and fire the guy in charge while saying thanks we got it from here
he was the reason why i started watching tna again. i loved how he handled the harassment gisele was getting and how much he stood by the talent. i hope it's not anything darker; if it isn't then tony should absolutely jump on getting him for talent relations and booking.
I agree TK needs to hire him ASAP (assuming there's nothing nefarious going on...which it seems like there wasn't). I'd love it if Tony's big announcement tonight includes hiring D'Amore lol.
And as one of the biggest TNA cheerleaders around these parts I'm pretty much ready to throw my pom-poms to the ground and light them on fire.
Hire D'Amore and just give him the women's division.
Definitely. Or hell, let him run ROH. I'd instantly stop watching TNA on Thursdays and start watching ROH instead.
abraham and d'amore running creative would be pretty nice
*finds out literally 15 seconds ago* WHAT THE FUCK begins doing due diligence and reading the news
This shit is what happens when I dip for like 2h to play fucking RimWorld jesus.
PWInsider article about the zoom meeting with talent
Considering they, supposedly, started the meeting with talent by saying Scott stepped down... woof.
Stardom maybe going tits up, the seemingly inevitable return of LOLTNA, WWE Scandal of the Day™, if TK accidentally posts a dick pic tomorrow I'm just gonna (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
if TK accidentally posts a dick pic tomorrow I’m just gonna (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
jk tony unless.... 👀
i feel like if it was any bit of a scandal they would have led with that instead of whitewashing the "stepped down". that combined with kazarian's post leads me to believe it's just corporate meddling.
Ooo, I better look up that Kazarian post.
Yeah, I try to always remember there's a chance of scandal, but this really hasn't felt like that with the wording of everything so far.
https://nitter.moomoo.me/FrankieKazarian/status/1755011940232188162#m
Frankie Kazarian @FrankieKazarian 20h The incredibly painstaking, tedious and difficult work that @ScottDAmore has put in to bring @ThisIsTNA to this very exciting moment in time, cannot be understated. We all, wrestlers and fans alike, owe him a debt of gratitude. 🥃 Feb 6, 2024 · 11:33 PM UTC
i don't think that it is any scandal but it's the only thing i could think of. i think it's more about just consolidating the offices.
Thank you so much for sharing that tweet!
Oooo new nitter replacement or did they get around twitters limiting?
i don't know if it's just that they'll be up for the rest of the year or something. i use libredirect which picks a different instance to load and i do get a couple that don't work but this one happened to. i think it's just a matter of time though. i don't think nitter.net is up anymore due to ssl :(
Yeah, turns out "stepping down" was a flat-out lie. Not a good way to start a relationship with your employees, especially ones who seemed to love their former boss.
Edit to add: Also, they didn't allow talent to ask questions during the zoom meeting. Just an all-around mess on Anthem's part. Jesus.
"There had been some quiet rumblings for several weeks that change could be happening among some in the company after several Anthem execs including Cicione and Ariel Shnerer, Vice President of Business Development had been reaching out to both TNA staff and roster members to get a better understanding of how the actual promotion operated while getting feedback on the company. The fact Anthem execs had reached out to talent raised talk among some given how out of character it was, but it appears Anthem was preparing for life without D'Amore and getting the lay of the land as they shift TNA’s positioning internally in their company."
Talent is having a zoom meeting with Anthem as we speak to discuss this.
Details on the zoom meeting via pwinsider:
TNA held a meeting with Zoom with talents to inform them of Scott D’Amore’s departure this afternoon and to introduce everyone to new TNA President Anthony Cicone, who will be heading the day-to-day of the company going forward. Anthem Head Len Asper was on the call as well.
A number of talents on the call relayed to PWInsider.com that during the meeting it was stated that D’Amore had “stepped down” from the company, which was not the case and not even what was stated in the company's official statement. We are told by several that this did not sit well with some of the talents and as one wrestler said, “This wasn’t the way to start off” a relationship with the locker room, especially since so many talents had a connection with D’Amore and that the vast majority liked D’Amore.
Cicone read what was described as a “prepared statement,” which some didn’t like but others noted that he was in a no-win situation given he was replacing D’Amore.
There was nothing specific stated about creative going forward, but the remainder of the creative team beyond Scott D’Amore are still with the company.
The meeting did not give talents a chance to ask any questions, which we can confirm did not endear some talents to the changes, either. The beginning of the call, when talents were informed about Scott D’Amore’s departure before Anthem execs joined them, was very angry for some talents before the execs joined while others tried to calm the waters.
One TNA personality who was on the call commented that Anthem “had a lot of work to do” moving forward.
There are some taking a "wait and see" stance as they look to see how it shakes out and whether there are additional changes. There are others trying to keep the faith in the fact that the remainder of the team was still in place and that they had to bear down and get back to work when the No Surrender PPV comes in New Orleans.
It should be noted that one story making the way around talents is that Anthem wanted the TNA brand to be more in-line with the parent company going forward and that the brand had been too D’Amore-centric with Scott as the face of the company. That was not addressed on the call, however. While D’Amore was regularly on TNA programming as the head of the company, he was also the company’s biggest cheerleader, no different than Paul Heyman in ECW or even Tony Khan in AEW, someone who was living 24/7 for TNA and in many ways, his life was entangled with TNA brand, at least, until today.
I'm just gonna say it, Anthem leadership needs to fall into a 200' wide pit of LEGO and be made to climb their way out barefoot.
You beat me to the punch posting that link! lol. Man, this sounds rough going forward at the moment.
Haha sorry! You provided the link, I provided the text lol.
Anthem's press release:
Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc., a global multi-platform media company, announced today the appointment of Anthony Cicione as the President of TNA Wrestling.
The move aims to further integrate TNA Wrestling into Anthem’s Entertainment Group, of which Cicione is the President, leveraging the entire Company’s resources to add more value in areas including production, distribution, marketing, viewership, customer acquisition, digital revenue streams, ad sales and sponsorships, digital tech operations, and more.
Cicione replaces Scott D’Amore, whose contract with Anthem has been terminated. D’Amore has been a part of TNA since 2003. He held many key leadership positions and played a vital role in the growth of the company leading to its strong industry reputation today, including the successful return of the TNA Wrestling brand in 2024. Anthem thanks him for the commitment he brought to the business, the talent, and the people who work outside the ring.
In addition to these duties as President of Entertainment, Cicione will now manage the day-to-day business operations for TNA Wrestling. He brings more than 30 years of executive-level management experience to the organization. Cicione has been with Anthem for the last 16 years, managing technical operations and multiple cable and digital channels. Prior to his time with Anthem, Cicione was a producer of sports content including catapulting The Score to success by bringing WWE to the channel.
The specific language about D'amore's contract being terminated gives me pause. It sounds like this was not a mutual decision or a contract elapsing.
Why would they have fired D'amore?
I wanna be a fly on the wall at the next TNA taping, I can only imagine the backstage feelings right now..