Given the way TNA tapes their shows with several weeks of TV taped over the span of a few days, there’s not much news on Impact Wrestling that comes out on a weekly basis but Dave Meltzer provided an update on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio show. Jeff Jarrett is in charge but there is a lot of unhappiness with Jarrett because the feeling was that Anthem was going to look for someone new to run the company. I suspect that there would have been unhappiness with whoever they brought in because that’s how things go when big changes are made and someone is being brought in to overhaul a company. The fact is that TNA’s best years in the mid to late 2000’s were with Jarrett in charge.
Anthem is trying to stay away from spending too much money and the feeling is that they are looking to cut down on talent. Jarrett would be in the “bad guy” role here since he would be the one to deliver the bad news. As far as the creative direction, the last set of tapings were ideas from the old creative regime but the next set of tapings will probably give us an idea on the new direction of the company (ie. who gets pushed, phased out, etc).
It will be interesting to see what happens to three of their top stars because The Hardys and Drew Galloway have not signed new deals with the company and their deals expire this month. It’s not a secret that WWE wants Matt and Jeff Hardy so it will be interesting to see where they land or if TNA gives them a good offer to stay. I would be shocked if WWE didn’t make an offer to Drew Galloway.
Dixie Carter is completely gone, even though she may have a figurehead title with Anthem. She is not involved with anything related to Impact Wrestling. One of the main complaints about TNA/Impact over the last couple of years has been the announcing situation and how much it hurts the shows. If they could afford Mike Tenay then I would suggest bringing him back as part of the product overhaul.