Dixie Carter recently did an interview on Busted Open Radio.
On Open Fight Night: "Im excited about where were gonna go with it. I think it will just continue to get better week after week. I love the concept. As were continuing to grow our developmental league, this was just a great opportunity for us to take something that we do on an ongoing basis and let the people see it. About six or seven months ago, we were having some guys try out, and somebody was literally going to get a shot at being on the show that night, and a couple of guys really impressed.
"And two of the guys that were part of that were Anthony Neese and Jesse Sorensen. It was like real-life drama being played out backstage; they were literally fighting for their lives and their match was unbelievable! We were sitting there watching them in this empty arena. It just had such a great vibe to it. So its just something that we thought people might want to see a real glimpse of what we do. And this is real; these guys are people that weve had our eyes on that were looking at. And its a tremendous amount of pressure when that red light goes on to put those nerves in check and get out there and perform like we know those guys can do."
On New Time Slot: "Therere more viewers available in that time slot. Theres a younger audience thats available. When the kids are not in school, we have really really high younger numbers, and that fluctuates depending on whats going on with school year all the way up through college even. So I think it will be interesting to see what happens. Spike thought it was an exciting opportunity for us to try and were going to, and well see what happens.
"I think what were trying to do is be more consistent with the bleeping of the language. I mean, we can all go see the movie Shrek and we get one thing out of it, our kids get another thing out of it. Thats the line that we have to walk: to provide something that is going to be an edgy product, but do it in a way that is not going to be offensive. And we just have to stay consistent at it."
On Hogan On TNA: "I hear all the time from people, Hulk Hogan is on my television screen all the time! And I think if people put a clock to what he does on TV and then if I put a clock on what he does for our company, its just a misconception amongst a small percentage of viewers. If you like Impact! Wrestling, then you should love Hulk Hogan because that man is working his tail off for us and hes expanding our brand and growing our perception and awareness level out there in ways that it would take us so long to accomplish. Hes really rolled up his sleeves, he shows up to work if hes not on television. He is there to help build the next generation of stars. Ill fight anybody who tries to take that away from him, and thats a big frustration to hear it stated any other way. If you like Impact! Wrestling, hes doing nothing but helping us on every level.
"If you look at whos getting the air-time on our show, its definitely not Hulk Hoganhe wasnt even on for six months. Its not the Stings, its not the Ric Flairs, but those guys add something that few other wrestlers can add. But its the Bobby Roodes, its the James Storms, its the Bully Rays, its now the Austin Aries, its those people that, if you look at the minutes of match time and promo time, far exceed anybody else. All the people that are holding the belts right now: Chris Daniels, Kazarian, Joe and Magnus. There are so many new faces. And I think for the first time in our history, we have really been consistent and given that focus and push to this younger roster of people, and I think that theyve really stepped up and done a great job with the opportunity that theyve been given.
"What Hulk does the most of now is he truly is talking with these younger guys and working with them on their matches and the psychology of their matches. On-screen and off-screen, hes backstage talking with these young guys when they go out, when they come back, in the agents meetings
Its just on every level, hes helping these guys. Hes trying to help define and develop the next Hulk Hogan. And thats hard to be, but just even the process and potential of that
when youre in my shoes, thats a great opportunity to be given."
On Jeff Hardy Sting Disaster: "Im so proud of Jeff Hardy. His potential is so unlimited, hes never known how good he really is, hes an incredibly humble man, and he has turned his life completely around. I feel blessed to have been a small small part of that in supporting him and helping put the structure in place. Hes just been amazing. Hes a father, a wonderful husband, and hes got his priorities right and his health. Therefore, I think were seeing the best work from him hes ever done.
On TNAs Growth Plan: Those things dont happen overnight, and you dont stay in business unless you make really good business decisions. Touring is an incredibly expensive proposition. Its almost a half-a-million dollars a night, and if I were playing a major arena, the cost would only go up maybe ten or fifteen thousand dollars, twenty thousand dollars. So it doesnt matter where we play, its very expensive, and well play those when we feel like well have the ability to sell more tickets. The growth plan is to grow not just Impact! but grow TNA Entertainment in a variety of different ways.
"Were really breaking out into some areas worldwide and having some great global success. Our rating in the United Kingdom (weve only been on four-and-a-half years there, going on five years) we are the highest-rated wrestling show in the United Kingdom. We are selling out big arenas there, and its an exciting thing. The time will happen in the United States as well, but its tough getting that kind of popularity when you only have a two-hour show with so much talent. We need to grow that, we need to have more programming and be seen in more places and in different ways, and thats one of the things were working on.
On Competing with WWE: "We wanna be the best company we can be. If you havent watched TNA in a long time, theres no better time to come back and give it a try. I don think weve ever turned out better stories, the in-ring action has been fantastic, the focus on the younger talent...its exactly where it needs to be for us to grow. And we had to do that to really see being able to take that step forward and growing our company with a whole new crop of stars. We had to give them this kind of focus to be able to take it to another level. In the United Kingdom, we have multiple shows, our pay-per-views air for free, so we have a lot more exposure over there and the end result is our ratings are significantly higher and much more competitive to the point where we beat our competitor."
On PPV Buys: "Our focus in the past has been growing our television brand. And, again, when you only have one show to try to drive people to it, its too many pay-per-views for only having one show. Its very difficult to try to do big arching pay-per-views once a month with only one two-hour show. If we had two shows, it would be much easier, three it would be much much easier. But I think the pay-per-view business is a declining business and weve gotta stay current with new technology. People are not even watching television the way they did twenty-four, eighteen months ago. All of the headlines today are about the shrinking ratings. Its not that the viewership is down as much, but people are watching differently: theyre watching on their phones, their iPads, theyre DVR-ing, and its gonna change. Things in the next twelve to twenty-four months are gonna change as well."
On a Second Show: "I think youll see something second of ours and maybe even third of ours. Whether itll be on Spike or another network, its definitely part of our plan. We just need to become more mainstream, have more exposure in different ways and with different showsa top priority for our company."
On Ric Flairs 2nd WWE Hall of Fame Induction: "It was the easiest decision in the world! Why would I ever consider keeping a man who is so deserving of that second award from being recognized? I am not completely selflessand there may be something coming up here pretty soon that might get peoples eyebrows raisedbut regardless of anything, I would never have stopped Ric from receiving an award that is so deserved."
On Garret Bischoff: "Hes a very very talented kid. I told him from the beginning, Look you are going to have to be better than the next guy because people are going to be so much more critical of you than they would anybody there. And I think because of that, its a really difficult position to be in, and I respect his guts because it does take a lotquite honestlyto be able to face that and all these critics. But the kids got talent, he really really does. Just like others, hes been cycled into a solid storyline, and theres ebbs and flows to kind of keep people in the limelight. But hes no different than a Crimson whos on a great winning streak or a Magnus. Theres a handful of other guys that we have who are new that we are trying to break. And I think its unjust to give him that criticism when no one is saying that about a Gunner, or a Crimson, or a Magnus. And his in-ring abilities are equal to those guys."
On Kurt Angle: "There will never be enough words to describe what Kurt has done for TNA. Its one thing to be a Ric Flair and a Hogan for us on this level. Words will never describe what he has meant to this company. Weve had some great icons joining us, but for him to be in the ring, absolutely the greatest wrestler of all time. And to be the ring general, to make so many matches look so great, to help so many talent grow and become better
theres no one like him. And his dedication to the company to me has been just unbelievable."
On Going Live: "I would love to be live, I really would! Some people dont think that would be the difference, some people think being out on the road more. I dont think if we knew what the answer was, we could move there a lot more quickly.
Its definitely cost. We sell a couple of shows back-to-back. Part of it is a cost-issue, and the other part is Do you stay in the Impact Zone and go live? I think youre gonna see a lot of changes in the company to the end of this year and hopefully beyond. Were looking at a lot of different ways to do business and shake some stuff up. Im excited about the things were talking about."
