Dixie Carter Talks Bringing in MMA Fighters and Talent Releases

[It's Damn Real!]

This is from TNAInsider:

On signing MMA Stars such as Quinton Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz:

"I’ve gotten criticism for bringing these guys in but when you’re looking for talent and there’s only two teams, where do you go to get your star players from? You’re going to mostly look to each other and then every once in a while, you’ve got to build your own talent which takes a lot of time.

So here are two guys that are major superstars. Both come from wrestling backgrounds, and both are training their butts off right now to be in the ring. I think it’s a great way of trying to find some superstar talent and not having to take so many years to try to grow somebody’s stardom. Both of these guys are so well-known and they love professional wrestling. They're committed and they're training, and I’m excited for people to see their potential. I think it’s a great way of looking for new talent, and talent that have never been seen before in our world."

On the recent wave of releases from the company:

"Well, I think the fact that you let talent go is not any indication whatsoever of any problems. I think part of our problem is that we didn’t turn the roster often enough. We only have one show so if we don’t have people on the show all the time. we are not in the position to have them sitting at home and being paid and not working. I think we have to get some more programming.

We have to be able to do that to where we can shift and make talent appear fresh, but going to another show versus sitting people at home. I think it’s been a long time coming. I know that our competitor lets people go constantly. We had not done it in a long time, and I think because we had not done it in a long time, that it raised some eyebrows.

It’s time for us to bring in some new faces, and we've got some exciting faces that will be appearing in the next several months. It’ll freshen things up somewhat. It’ll freshen up the people who are still on the roster and it’ll give the fans new and unique matches that they’ve never seen before. Like always, I’m sure some of the people that are no longer with us will return at some point – I’m hopeful for that. I think it’s a good healthy state of where we’re going and how we need to grow."

--

Frankly, I can't really find much fault in her response to the MMA guys — at least not as she answered it. People will complain and say that talent can be found in the indies, and they won't be wrong, but they will be when it comes to what the question was, and what her response to it was. She's talking about signing stars, not signing would-be stars. Even guys like Styles, Aries and Joe, among other indy guys turned stars had to earn it over years.

The response to the releases question to me is the far more interesting one though, as it doubles as potential news on TNA getting a second program again, finally. ReAction did well enough, I thought (had it been placed better in terms of time of air), but bringing Xplosion, or a program like that to the American audience would be huge in terms of TNA being able to really expand. It'd also allow them to keep IMPACT live every week and then save a bit by recording a second show, which is what I believe WWE does with RAW (live) and Smackdown (taped).

Thoughts?

 

[pepentorresHHH]

On the MMA Guys..... Criticism is coming because these two are stars.... In the MMA world not in the wrestling world, tito came out and no response, ratings are down and they IMO wont have any long term impact on Impact, since they might have a wrestling background but i dont see them wrestling every week for years to come
And the part about stars taking too long to mature and develop? Problem is outside of AJ Style and Bully Ray and maybe (and thats a stretch) Austin Aries or Bobby Roode, all stars are former WWE guys... Angle, Hardy, Hogan, etc and they dont know how to maintain stars..... Booby Roode had the longest and one of the best title reigns in TNA history and where is he now..... he has been jobbed too much, Austin Aries hasnt recovered from his fall from grace, where is James Storm? Sabin got the title and has been one of the worst and shortest title reigns in recent years, Anderson seemed primed to carry TNA 2 years ago.... Aces & Eights has ran its course. TNA has no patience and that shows in their lack of stars.... Which makes them desperate, ergo Ortiz and Jackson.

As far as the releases, its true , rotation and new faces are important but the only release that really bothered me was Jesse Sorrensen, him and his mother went bankrupt after he was promised he'd always have a job waiting for him ....

 

[Perfected123]

Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson in 2013 are not stars, though. That is the point. They are washed up, thus the reason they turned to Bellator/TNA. If they were stars they would be in UFC. This interview further clarifies how little Dixie Carter knows about the wrestling business, especially considering she has been around it for, what 8/9 years now(my instinct tells me her family bought the company in 2003).

 

[rokuma]

"I’ve gotten criticism for bringing these guys in but when you’re looking for talent and there’s only two teams, where do you go to get your star players from? You’re going to mostly look to each other and then every once in a while, you’ve got to build your own talent which takes a lot of time.

This is the most disturbing comment there. Of course you look to your own talent! I enjoy watching TNA and prefer it by far over the WWE, but I like seeing guys like Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, AJ Styles, Daniels, Kazarian, Sabin, Samoa Joe, Magnus, Anderson, and legends like Angle and Sting. This is why I tune in. I do not tune in to see Rampage Jackson or Tito Ortiz or hear about Howard Stern. The WWE doesn't push guys like this down their fans' throats. Why not? Nobody cares. Rampage and Tito are MMA guys. Howard Stern, if he shows up, will likely be in the crowd and not taking up VALUABLE TV time. TNA has one show, 2 hours per week to build up feuds and display their product. WWE has 3 hours on Monday, 1 hour on Wednesday, 2 more on Friday, and Superstars online for a total of 7 hours. They have plenty of opportunities to build up their feuds and display the WWE brand. TNA needs to make the most of their 2 hours and display the gems that they have. In-ring, most of their guys outshine WWE. They have the opportunity to be the true alternative to the WWE, but wasting time trying to increase ratings with B-List at best has-been celebrities isn't the way to go. Build up YOUR talent, the guys who have paid their dues and let them shine. They have the ability to.

 

[Stagger Lee]

Rampage and Tito were brought in to promote their upcoming MMA fight, not to make TNA better. Anyone who believes any different is fooling themselves. Dixie seems like a cool person, she's just terrible at managing her wrestling business.

 

[BestntheWorld]

It's like Flair said this company wont be around much longer... It's bleeding funds and they're running the company into the ground by doing such ridiculous decisions by firing actual WRESTLERS for people who can't even work the mic much better than some guy you pull out of a high school gym. They couldve spent money bringing legit workers from ROH or other Indy places that can actually put on a good show and give a good match and it's sad they've chosen to go the way of cross advertising and trying to get people to watch their MMA shows rather than doing one thing at a time. Lets go if you want to keep your IMPACT you better start stepping up and stop showing 'PPVs' on "live tv" that right there cries of desperation...

 

[BestntheWorld]

BTW as has already been stated numerous times in and out of this post... These two are NOT stars anymore, they havent been stars for years even in their own sport, so why in the hell would they be stars in IMPACT when they cant really do anything in or out of the ring, they wont bring new viewers, no new merchandise sales, nothing that them being brought in can do to help make TNA better, Sorry. I'm to the point right now I cant even stand to watch it it's just such horrible tv, the AJ Styles light bulb going off and him turning it back on was great, but other than that what other reason is there to watch

 

[Tom]

I gave in with TNA a long time ago, now I just watch it to kill time. They haven't improved at all for the past few years, like it or not, ratings don't lie. They don't seem to be creating man stars and they just seem to be doing things for the sake of it. "Big Announcments" turn out to be a referee with a head cam, and "Big Signings" turn out to be the guy who used to be Festus. I don't know, I tend to just watch and avoid discussion.

 

[vampxx24]

Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson in 2013 are not stars, though. That is the point. They are washed up, thus the reason they turned to Bellator/TNA. If they were stars they would be in UFC. This interview further clarifies how little Dixie Carter knows about the wrestling business, especially considering she has been around it for, what 8/9 years now(my instinct tells me her family bought the company in 2003).

this and im an avid mma fan

tito is something like 1-5, 1-6 and makes NOTHING but excuses......off the wall excuses at that....hell he blamed a cracked skull on losing a fight( he wouldnt of been able to fight with a cracked skull not being able to pass a pre fight medical).

rampage over the past 2 years has gotten a lazy slob title. rampage since shooting a-team has done pretty much nothing in the mma world with only a win (very controversial at that ) over machida. page has put on weight and even missed weight for 1 fight. page even started going the tito way with excuses(suprise suprise the 2 are friends and business partners(page owns part of punishment athletics).


the truth of the matter is this, and its what dana white said and what bobby lashley said without saying by leaving tna...... spike has overall control over their programming. rampage.mo,tito are in tna because thats what spike wanted as the 3 have a deal with spike not tna. with the 3 being open to pro wrestling they were rather forced upon tna not so much as they wanted them.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As someone mentioned, the primary reason for the presence of Jackson & Ortiz is to use TNA as part of the build for their upcoming debut fight for Bellator a little bit down the line. Once that's all said & done, you'll probably never see either of them on TNA television again. It wouldn't surprise me one bit of executives from Spike met with Dixie Carter and asked her, or even outright insisted, that she make Jackson & Ortiz part of the program for a while.

Spike is banking a lot on Bellator and Quinton Jackson & Tito Ortiz are easily the two biggest names in MMA associated with Bellator. Bellator is basically the MMA world's version of TNA in that it's the #2 promotion of it's type, at least here in the USA. Much as we saw TNA doing not all that long ago, Bellator is bringing in Ortiz & Jackson for nostalgia purposes and for name brand value. Like many of the stars TNA was bringing in and building the company around, which is what Bellator is doing with this upcoming fight, Jackson & Ortiz are both past their primes. Jackson's record is 32-11, he's lost his last 4 of his last 6 fights and is 35 years old. Ortiz's record is 16-11-1, he's lost 6 of his last 7 fights and is 38 years old. Neither record is especially impressive, especially Ortiz's record, and in the eyes of a good number of MMA fans, their credibility is shot to shit because of their involvement in pro wrestling.

For the most part, fans couldn't give a shit about either Jackson, Ortiz or any other MMA guy with the exception of Brock Lesnar. Lesnar's a mercenary who goes where the most money is, doesn't particularly care about pro wrestling or MMA but the man's a draw and Lesnar as a brand name is far above Jackson & Ortiz. Lesnar's saving grace is his pro wrestling background as it gives him credibility. He's trained in it and he was a dominant star whereas Jackson & Ortiz aren't. Fans know it and see no reason why they should invest or care about them.

 

[Lowdown]

Rampage and Tito are big names and legends in MMA, but I agree that their better days are behind them. As far as the comments on releasing talent goes, I fail to see how bringing in "new faces" would help matters, especially when she stated that they didn't use talent enough. At least that's what I got out of it. The Carters should conserve money and truly focus on what they hav now. Try to re-sign AJ and Anderson if possible. But bringing in more MMA blood won't produce more wealth.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I admit, I hardly know anything about MMA, but I know enough about Tito and Rampage being washed up has beens. As others have said, there's no real star power behind Tito or Rampage anymore. On top of that, they're not the most charismatic guys you'll see around.

Over the past few weeks, I cringe whenever Rampage decides to talk. Tito is about as bland as bland can be. And I give Mike Tenay all the credit in the world for trying to hype up the shock behind his debut, but that crowd didn't give a shit, and I would bet most people in the audience that night had no idea, who Tito Ortiz was.

Also, I see the cross promotion stuff as a double negative. I have a few friends, who follow MMA and at my old job there were a lot of guys, who were die hard MMA enthusiasts, and most of them HATED pro wrestling (it's fake, homoerotic, etc.). This is the mindset of most MMA fans, because they despise pro wrestling, so how can you expect them to follow something they loathe just because it's being used as a tool to promote a "real" fight? It doesn't make sense.

And on top of that, Rampage and Ortiz really don't have the star power to bring in a big audience. I mean, what's Rampage's biggest claim to fame in the mainstream world? Having the role of BA Baracus in the A-Team movie? That's nothing to brag about.

You can try and play up the dynamic of having "real fighters" in the world of pro wrestling with Tito and Rampage in TNA all you want, but whatever mystique both men had died a long time ago. The nonexistent reaction Tito received on his debut proves this, and Rampage hasn't set the world on fire since his arrival in TNA (ditching that hideous suit could help things).

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Dixie does a great job summarizing and explaining some difficult situations here. Unfortunately it's hard to trust her any more. It's hard to trust that Ortiz and Jackson are really training hard and will deliver in TNA. It's hard to believe that money problems are not at least somewhat behind the cuts.

Personally I think she should disappear from the media. Three years ago I thought she would make a compelling character but she doesn't have the gravitas to be a face or name in this business. She may have some business experience but that doesn't mean she should also be part of product we see. Every time she talks she reminds me of a polished and credible sounding lawyer and TV who defends his client despite the evidence clearly showing otherwise. At this point she may as well just go full on 24/7 heel.

In fact, Tito and Rampage should go full on heel as well. They are clearly disliked and disrespected by the wrestling community and TNA should take advantage of that in the same way WWE has made Lesnar the best wrestling heel they have - assuming they are here to do more than just promote their little fight and disappear.

 

[MWRedskins]

ok, i agree with Dixie that Tito and Rampage are two big names who some people will recoginize and i have no problem with those two being in TNA, my issue with Tito, Rampage, and King Mo is that they seem to be in TNA for just promoting Bellator and they seem to be just part time wrestlers like WWE has and that's my worry. when someone has the debut promos that Tito has, then he should be a major incoming star, not a part timer.

they IMO wont have any long term impact on Impact, since they might have a wrestling background but i dont see them wrestling every week for years to come.

yep and for me they dont have to wrestle on there every week, but we do have to see them almost every week and wrestle at the ppv shows.

Booby Roode had the longest and one of the best title reigns in TNA history and where is he now..... he has been jobbed too much, Austin Aries hasnt recovered from his fall from grace, where is James Storm? Sabin got the title and has been one of the worst and shortest title reigns in recent years.

the problem with tna is they either choose not to push a guy or after a big push, they dont push a guy. Roode should be in main event feuds, Aries should REALLY be in main events and (while i dont expect it) he should win the BFG Series and beat Bully Ray. as for Storm, he should've had a title run a long time back. As for Sabin, i was shocked when they gave him the world title, but the issue was his title win seemed to be more of a fluke as they kept talking about the MEM helping him and him using a hammer to beat Bully Ray, they should've just had him winning it clean without the hammer shot.