It truly is an end of an era for TNA Wrestling.
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Longtime President Dixie Carter has been removed from her position, but will remain Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer. In her stead will be Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan. Yes, that Billy Corgan. Now, for those who have been following Corgan’s involvement, it shouldn’t come to a surprise as he purchased a minor share of the company back in June. Corgan, a life-long wrestling fan, has been involved with numerous wrestling promotions including ECW and even founded his own company back in 2011 called Resistance Pro Wrestling. Going back to April of last year, Corgan was named Senior Producer of Creative and Talent Developmental, where his job was to essentially give characters to performers and help flesh out storylines.
In a statement made by IMPACT Ventures (the parent company of TNA Wrestling) announcing Corgan’s promotion, Carter talked about her successor and how he will help bring TNA Wrestling into the future and what his vision for the company is.
“Billy is a visionary, an iconic artist and savvy businessman with an incredibly gifted creative mind. He has built a decades-long successful global brand, and also has a deep passion and understanding for professional wrestling,” she said. “In working with Billy over the last 16 months, he has impressed me to the point that I’ve been in discussions with him to take an elevated strategic leadership role within the company. The more we discussed our vision for the organization, the clearer it became that position needed to match his commitment.”
Corgan issued a short statement on the company and how they’ve managed to thrive while taking more than a few hits.
“I believe in this company, its passionate fans, the talented roster and the dedicated staff and crew,” said Corgan. “I am committed to this great opportunity and will use all of my resources and connections to drive the success of this company. This year we have made significant strides in establishing a strong foundation for our future and will be aggressive in continuing to evolve and grow the IMPACT brands.” Corgan will see the day-to-day operations while Carter will concentrate on long-term planning and global growth as a brand.
TNA found a new television home in the recent year on the rookie network Pop after being dropped by Destination America and Spike TV. The company has seen more than their share of hardships in the past five years as a lot of their flagship talent had been poached by WWE or other major promotions so Corgan taking charge almost seems like a renaissance for TNA.
What do you guys think? Could a new visionaire like Corgan be what the company needs to turn around? Or is it too late for TNA to make that major impact it needs?
(Via PWInsider)
