EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TNA PRES. DIXIE CARTER
- 10/05/2006 (2:00:31 pm)
- Ross Forman
Part Two….
PART TWO OF THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TNA PRESIDENT DIXIE CARTERBy Ross Forman
Dixie Carter, president of TNA Wrestling, first spoke with Kurt Angle over Labor Day weekend – a near-90 minute phone conversation while Carter was at her family’s ranch in Texas, Angle at home in Pittsburgh.
“The weather outside that time of year is normally about 110 degrees, but this surprisingly was a cool, rainy day. I was alone outside sitting on a Kawasaki Mule (a covered, 4-seat, 4-wheeler) in the rain having a great conversation with him.”
“At the end of the call, I felt as though we had a verbal agreement of wanting to work together.”
The actual contract was signed days later – when Carter flew to Pittsburgh and met with Angle and his wife, Karen.
“We had in-depth conversations throughout the week and then met in person at their home to discuss final issues face-to-face. We signed the contract that night,” she said.
Carter said the first person she told about the Angle signing was TNA Wrestling owner Bob Carter and then her husband, Serg. These would be the only people to know about the signing for days.
“Your natural instinct is to share exciting news with everyone, but I knew that I couldn’t,” she said. “That was very difficult to do, but to ensure this would remain a secret, only a handful of people would find out, and it was out of necessity for the few who did. Consequently, I had to handle a huge amount of the work that normally our entire staff would have worked on to prepare all the materials we would run at 11:01 ET after the PPV.”
The video footage of Angle that aired in the surprise announcement at No Surrender in September was filmed at a warehouse in downtown Nashville just days before the PPV. The same day it was filmed, Carter met Sting for lunch in a private room at a restaurant in Nashville – and she promised Sting a surprise guest for their lunch.
“I didn’t tell Sting because I really wanted to see the true reaction on his face when he saw Kurt,” Carter said. “When I walked into the restaurant, Sting greeted me but his face was perplexed when Dave Hawk, Kurt’s agent, walked in behind me. You could tell Sting was wondering who Dave was and why he was such a big surprise.”
“Then in walked Kurt, and Sting was truly blown away.”
“Sting kept shaking his head from side to side, and just kept repeating, ‘Wow.’ Sting was almost speechless. I could not help but think of all the people who would have loved to have been in this private room with these two wrestling greats, and in on the secret. It was a memorable lunch, to say the least.”
Ironically, Sting bumped into Vince Russo that morning at their Nashville hotel, and Sting later admitted he thought Russo was going to be Carter’s lunch surprise.
“After lunch, I drove Kurt back to his hotel, and as I was leaving the hotel, Bill Banks called. Bill sounded devastated,” Carter said. “Bill said, ‘It’s out – the secret. It’s been confirmed by multiple (wrestling) websites that Vince Russo is coming back to TNA Wrestling.
“I eventually told Bill, ‘Don’t worry about it; the surprise is not Vince.”
When asked about Russo, Carter said she always has admired his creativity and his heart.
“He truly is one of the most creative people I’ve ever been around, and with the time-slot switch and knowing other exciting things in the company’s near future, it was the right time to bring a fresh set of eyes to the creative process,” Carter said.
What about Russo’s past? He has been tied to the demise of WCW and many wonder about past risqué, questionable storylines?
“I would never want to speak about someone where I do not have first-hand knowledge. However, I can speak about Vince in regard to his time in TNA. Vince is a lightning rod, which I guess is good and bad. At TNA, he has taken a lot of heat for things he has had absolutely nothing to do with. Anytime something questionable happened on our show, it was always attributed to Vince – whether he had anything to do with it or not, and that has already started again.
“Vince Russo is a different man today than when he first joined TNA, and I would assume even much more different than he was during his time in WWF/WCW. His faith is now in the center of his life. He’s always had an amazing heart, but his priorities over the past few years have shifted tremendously.
“There are a lot of people in our company who are in a better place in their lives and in this business now than where they have been in the past. That is the great thing about life; you can always change for the better. At TNA, that is our focus, not people’s pasts.
“Vince will be judged no differently than any employee or talent; that is, by the level of his contribution and the success of that contribution.”
What are your thoughts about Vince McMahon, your direct counter-part at WWE?
“I have never met him, but you have to respect all the success that Vince and his wife Linda have achieved with WWE. I have said it before … Vince McMahon is one of the great marketers in the entertainment business.”
What are your goals for the rest of 2006 and into 2007?
“The main goal for the rest of this year is to launch the prime-time (9 p.m. ET/PT) slot on Spike as effectively as possible.
“As for 2007, I want to continue to grow the product – domestically and internationally – on all levels. There are so many exciting things already working for next year. We are scheduled to launch our first video game that is already being talked about in the gamer circles as the most anticipated fighting game in years. We also want to do house-shows on a regular basis. It will be the year where we take TNA to the people so they can experience our product live, and not just in Orlando at the iMPACT! Zone.”
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