On Wednesday, TNA Wrestling announced that Scott D’Amore is out as the TNA President as Anthony Cicione replaced him.
The call
This afternoon, a meeting was held between management and talent to inform them of the news as well as introduce the new President, who will be handling the day-to-day operations.
Anthem Head Len Asper was on the call as well. It was said by many stars that management said D’Amore had “stepped down” from the company, which was not the case. The company even stated that wasn’t the case in its statement to the media.
Pwinsider reports they were told by several that this did not sit well with some of the talents, as one wrestler said, “This wasn’t the way to start” a relationship with talent. Several wrestlers have a strong connection with D’Amore and most liked working with him.
Reaction
Cicone read what was described as a “prepared statement”, which some people didn’t like while others understood he was in a no-win situation. Nothing specific was stated about creative going forward, although the remainder of the creative team beyond Scott D’Amore is still with the company.
Talent could not ask questions, which didn’t endear some talent to the changes, and some wrestlers were very angry about the news.
The meeting did not allow talents to ask any questions, which we can confirm did not endear some talents to the changes. At the beginning of the call, when talents were informed about Scott D’Amore’s departure before Anthem execs joined them, they were very angry with some talents. One TNA personality said Anthem “had a lot of work to do” moving forward.
A story making the rounds is about how Anthem wanted TNA to be more in line with the parent company going forward as they felt the brand had been too “D’Amore-centric with Scott as the face of the company.”
