Wrestling

[Atomic]

Gotta mention the return of Goldberg.  I wasn't really watching RAW but caught the end.  He didn't say much but damn that's exciting.

[The Unknown Poster]

1 minute ago, Atomic said:

Gotta mention the return of Goldberg.  I wasn't really watching RAW but caught the end.  He didn't say much but damn that's exciting.

That was the best thing on RAW in ages.  Look what happens when you let a guy with natural presence and charisma say what he wants to in an honest, unscripted way.  It was great.  Even though WWE tried to blow it with their presentation.

Ratings way up too.  3.1 million average.

[Atomic]

5 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

That was the best thing on RAW in ages.  Look what happens when you let a guy with natural presence and charisma say what he wants to in an honest, unscripted way.  It was great.  Even though WWE tried to blow it with their presentation.

Ratings way up too.  3.1 million average.

I couldn't agree more!  He was awesome on the mic, I was really feeling it.

[Brandon]

The TNA demise seems worse then the ECW downfall..  

[Blueandgold]

49 minutes ago, Brandon said:

The TNA demise seems worse then the ECW downfall..  

 

49 minutes ago, Brandon said:

The TNA demise seems worse then the ECW downfall..  

Nobody in that company is going to get paid.

[Goalie]

Did someone say Glorious? 

 

 

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Way worse than ECW.  What sort of "saved" ECW from a twitching corpse was that Vince respected Heyman, even if he didnt want anyone to know it.  He secretly loaned ECW money (Vince felt guilty that TNN shat on ECW to make room for RAW).  Jim Ross was also a big fan of Heyman.  So Heyman had a standing offer to go work with WWE when he was ready to fold ECW.

No one in ECW knew Heyman was going to WWE until the camera, tight on Ross, opened wide to Heyman sitting at the commentary desk live on RAW.  He put ECW into bankruptcy and since Vince had loaned ECW the money, they became the #1 creditor and were able to buy the video library and IP cheap.

If you recall, when the invasion was dying a slow death, they jazzed it up by adding ECW. This was after Heyman was there obviously but before the bankruptcy decision.  So WWE got in a bit of trouble for using "ECW" without actually owning it.  Thats why they abruptly switched to calling ECW/WCW "The Alliance".

ECW could have been saved but needed national TV.  WCW could have been saved too.  Their "bad" ratings were better than what RAW is getting today.  But they needed national TV.  No TV = No Promotion. 

TNA cant be saved.

[The Unknown Poster]

The company that fronted TNA money for the last PPV and TV tapings is Anthem, parent company of The Fight Network and owned by Leonard Asper.  So looks like Asper wants to own TNA too.  Maybe TNA ends up moving to Toronto.

They have agreed to pay off Corgan's debt to make him go away (and keep the details of his lawsuit which many speculate would be highly embarrassing, from ever surfacing).  Asper further said they are willing to make strategic investment in TNA. 

I guess its true, the Asper kids really are stupid.

[Brandon]

5 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

The company that fronted TNA money for the last PPV and TV tapings is Anthem, parent company of The Fight Network and owned by Leonard Asper.  So looks like Asper wants to own TNA too.  Maybe TNA ends up moving to Toronto.

They have agreed to pay off Corgan's debt to make him go away (and keep the details of his lawsuit which many speculate would be highly embarrassing, from ever surfacing).  Asper further said they are willing to make strategic investment in TNA. 

I guess its true, the Asper kids really are stupid.

 

Could TNA survive in Toronto/Montreal market? 

Is your WFX partner going to run the show ?

[The Unknown Poster]

10 minutes ago, Brandon said:

 

Could TNA survive in Toronto/Montreal market? 

Is your WFX partner going to run the show ?

I postulated that scenario on a wrestling forum I frequent, that perhaps if Asper buys TNA out-right (or takes it over by assuming its debts which seem to be more than the value of the company), they might consider moving its operations to Canada.  I imagine that would make TNA "Canadian Content". 

WFX actually used to be on The Fight Network, but I believe the deal was a no-money bargain.  WFX sent their tape and TFN aired it.

[Atomic]

TNA could be good again, I believe there is room in the market for a good secondary Wrestling product.  Just need to get the right management in there.  ROH and Lucha Underground are in competition with TNA but neither one is running away with it.

Although last time I tuned into ROH it was actually pretty good.

[The Unknown Poster]

16 hours ago, Atomic said:

TNA could be good again, I believe there is room in the market for a good secondary Wrestling product.  Just need to get the right management in there.  ROH and Lucha Underground are in competition with TNA but neither one is running away with it.

Although last time I tuned into ROH it was actually pretty good.

Its all about TV.  There are good promotions with little to no TV, such as PWG in California.  But to be a viable alternative to WWE, if you dont have national TV, there is no debate.  ROH has a national syndicated TV deal since they are owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and even then, they arent competitive with WWE.  Im not sure anyone ever will be.

Anthem interested in TNA is intriguing because it would have the backing of a Network owner and content provider.  Thats really the model.  But WWE has made it harder by embracing the "alternative" to traditional WWE, that being the ROH-style.

ROH is pretty good.  Apparently Im clearly seen on their last several weeks of TV as I was at their taping in Vegas.  Problem with ROH is, even as their production has improved, there is less high end talent available due to WWE locking guys up.

[The Unknown Poster]

Some of the documents in the Corgan lawsuit have been unsealed.

Corgan claims he entered in a "pledge equity agreement" with Dixie in return for his money.  If TNA became insolvent, Billy would gain the voting rights of Dixie's shares which essentially would give him full control over TNA and the power to hire and fire management.  

Dixie counters that TNA is not insolvent.  They provide no evidence of that though.  Billy asked for a ton of documents that TNA declined to give saying Billy could get the requested info from easier places, namely himself.  Some of what Billy asked for is all communications with WWE.

It would seem TNA might be saying their assets outweighs their debt due to the value of the tape library.  There is speculation that Fight Network might have paid X amount for a portion of the library that would give the library a vastly over-inflated value, proving that the asset is worth more than the debt.  Billy wanting communications with WWE would likely be to show what WWE offered for the library to prove the real value of that asset.

End result is, Dixie and Fight Network wit to buy Billy out and make him go away.  So far Billy has not accepted and is proceeding with the court case.  If he wins (and it seems likely he would), he'd end up in control of TNA.

[The Unknown Poster]

Another lawsuit against TNA.  A Finance company loaned them $400,000 a year ago to pay their insurance premiums and is owed just over $200,000.  I assume these newer lawsuits are companies realizing they dont want to be left out of the inevitable bankruptcy.

WWE put out a new questionnaire similar to the one asking about interest in ROH &TNA.  They mentioned every major indy promotion...but leave out TNA this time.  That is telling.

[The Unknown Poster]

Big news today is FloSports is creating a new Wrestling Streaming service.  So, basically, its what WWE Network is, except using indie promotions, such as ROH, Evolve etc.  Their price point seems to be $15-$20 so its fairly steep.  But Flo has $30 million behind it including $21m from WWE who funded them awhile back and are not happy that they are now competitors...

WWE was looking to grab up available libraries and make deals with other indie promotions but the price has now skyrocketed. 

[Brandon]

3 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Big news today is FloSports is creating a new Wrestling Streaming service.  So, basically, its what WWE Network is, except using indie promotions, such as ROH, Evolve etc.  Their price point seems to be $15-$20 so its fairly steep.  But Flo has $30 million behind it including $21m from WWE who funded them awhile back and are not happy that they are now competitors...

WWE was looking to grab up available libraries and make deals with other indie promotions but the price has now skyrocketed. 

So PCW library will be up when???

[The Unknown Poster]

3 hours ago, Brandon said:

So PCW library will be up when???

Lol I asked the same thing!  I'm not sure about Canadian offices because of licensing but they want to invest in producing shows and upgrading. So for example they would send their own people to produce and film segments.  

My library is mostly not good enough although I do have some HD shoots from a few years ago. But if there was an opportunity I'd consider upgrading equipment for it. But I'm not sure the financials would work for anyone but the best indies. Requires a lot of time and money. 

I think I'd be good at directing and producing wrestling for TV but it would probably have to be a full or semi full time gig. 

A few years ago I was asked to submit six months of creative ideas for potential funding. It was fun to do but the funder passed for a variety of reasons.  

The only way this works for indies is based on scale. I'm not sure it's going to work to be honest. 

I do have a lot of Kenny Omega stuff though.... 

[The Unknown Poster]

Big news...lol

 

 

[The Unknown Poster]

So some of Billy lawsuit against TNA has been unsealed and it basically looks like Dixie Carter was running a ponzi scheme for about a year.

She was originally saved by her production company which loaned her money several times, eventually for a small percentage of the company with an agreement she pay back by a certain date (making payments).  She failed to do so.  The production company (run by the Nazi twins Rob & Don Harris) were about to foreclose until Billy loaned money.

Billy loaned money a second time to prevent another foreclosure. 

A third time resulted in Billy loaning money but becoming President of TNA, a role he thought was legit but Dixie basically overruled.  Billy also had a deal in place that if Dixie couldn't pay him back or the company became insolvent, he would automatically gain Dixie's entire stake n TNA (92.5%).

Prior to the last PPV, Billy advised he was asserting that condition and taking control.  Dixie ignored him.  Fight Network saved the day by lending TNA money to run the PPV.  Billy asked for proof the company was not insolvent.  Dixie ignored him.  Billy claims Dixie and other company managers denied there was ever any talk with WWE...but then Dixie told the crew in a meeting that there were talks with WWE.

Billy has an injunction (to be heard tomorrow) preventing DIxie from selling anything or doing anything to hurt the company since Billy is suing for control. He's asked the court to rule that he now controls Dixie's stake.

TNA's position is that they are not insolvent but provided no evidence to support this.  Billy contends that the few balance sheets he was shown indicated a negative balance and the fact he made three investments to save the company (and the Nazi's before him) prove its insolvent.  

SO basically, Dixie borrows money by putting up the company and when she's about to lose it, she finds someone else to pay off the previous debtor and so on.  Ponzi!

[The Unknown Poster]

Further, billy and his legal team sent notice he was exercising his rights to assume control and fired Dixie! She ignored hjm. I think she might be truly screwed this time. 

[Brandon]

I find the drama behind the scenes to be more entertaining then anything wrestling puts on tv these days... 

[The Unknown Poster]

28 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I find the drama behind the scenes to be more entertaining then anything wrestling puts on tv these days... 

I agree.  I love the behind the scenes stuff. 

We were joking on another forum that TNA should send their cameras to the injunction hearing today and air it on Impact with live remarks from Dixie.  Bet it would be their best rating of the year.

[The Unknown Poster]

More motions released in the Billy vs Dixie lawsuit.

Billy had to lay out his reasons for wanting a permanent injunction.  He explains that when he made his initial loan in June to ensure TNA could run their TV tapings at the time, he was given a "senior secured" note, meaning he was told he was first in line to get paid back.  What they didnt tell him was they promised the same thing to two other debtors, Aroluxe (the Nazi's) and Anthem (Asper's Company).

Billy was further told the debt of the company was X (this was redacted) but it turns out he was lied to and the debt was far more (again, redacted).  It was only after Billy's third investment (August, the one where he got certain conessions such as being named President and the pledge agreement from Dixie) that he was finally given a balance sheet.  That balance sheet was dated June (remember, this is August) and showed higher debt than he was told...in June.  Further, as a result of this lawsuit and the documents TNA had to provide to the court, Billy contends the debt is even higher than he thought and claims he would never have invested had they been honest about the true financial picture of the company.

Billy also claims he made his third investment due to repeated representation from Dixie that they were deep into acquisition negotiations for TNA to bought out and, presumably, better financed.  So really, it was put to Billy that his lifeline was to keep the company going until the purchase was complete where he'd presumably be paid back (remember, he thought he was first in line) and/or be the President of a stable, better financed company.

He doesnt specity if Dixie told him who the company was that was allegedly buying TNA other then to note she claimed further investment by Aroluxe so it could be them or could have been a third party (WWE?) or it could have been complete BS.  Aroluxe DID want TNA but due to their own investment in TNA they had a default clause where if Dixie couldnt either pay them by a certain date or run scheduled TV that they'd gain TNA...and thats why Billy initially stepped in, to save TNA from Aroluxe.  But it seems Dixie is still in bed with Aroluxe.  Ugh

In other words, there is fraud here.  Dixie and her CFO lied about the company debt, lied about other debtors being first in line for re-payment, liked about advanced acquisition negotiations.  Dixie might be lucky to just escape this losing her company and not end up charged criminally.

TNA was also scheduled to tape first week of November but those tapings have been postponed due to lack of funds.

Billy also aledges that talent continues to not be paid and Dixie's new scam is to blame the lack of payment on Billy's lawsuit.  Talent was slated to be paid Oct 15th and Oct 30th with some suggesting if they werent paid they would declare it a breach and begin negotiating elsewhere.  No one specific has commented on this yet.

Billy was sent a term sheet by TNA recently offering to repay his loans in return for a full release of claims against them.  This was previously speculated as being money from Anthem to pay Billy to go away.  Billy refused and asserts he is not obligated to provide a full release in return for the money owed to him and even if he got the money, he has claims against certain parties that are separate from specific loans.  In other words, even if he was willing to take his money back, he doesnt want to drop his suit.  He wants damages (and he wants control...although he hasnt specifically said he still wants TNA given all this debt).

Billy claims TNA owes ten times more than the value of its assets (its main asset is the library which will be interesting to see how both sides value it).

Billy also claims as a result of his second loan he received the option to convert said loan into an ownership stake but the company was required to make him fully informed when and if he chose to make that conversion.  They haven't ofcourse.  This also makes sense as previous speculation was Billy was an owner but his lawsuit contends he isn't officially an owner, but he apparently has an agreement whereby he can convert his loan into equity.

Billy claims an executive with Aroluxe is currently acting as day to day operations manager for TNA including planning events for 2017 and negotiating with talent.  This is interesting as it confirms the prior point that Aroluxe wants the company...it would seem in their mind, they are going to get it.

[The Unknown Poster]

Updates coming fast and furious now.

TNA's response to Billy is astonishing.  They accuse him of being a "predatory lender" who made unreasonable demands.  Even though TNA was going to go out of business without Billy's THREE cash infusions and the fact all the officers agreed with the conditions.  Their CFO even put in writing "without Billy's money, all was lost".

Dixie told Anthem in an email that Billy's role was "President" was essentially a made-up title and he had no power.

Billy's investment allowed him the option of converting his loan into a 36% stake.  But if the company was instead sold, as Dixie claimed it was in negotiations to do when she convinced Billy to make his third investment, he would receive his loans plus a premium payment.  Billy accuses all parties involved of deliberately dragging out any sale to try and get Billy out of the way to avoid making that premium payment.

The sale being talked about is Anthem paying off Billy and gaining 85% of TNA, Aroluxe getting 10% and also agreeing to produce the next two sets of tapings at a reduced cost and Dixie maintaining 5%.  Additionally, the CEO of Aroluxe would be named CEO of TNA.

TNA claims they are not insolvent.  But Billy claims their own filings to the court prove they are.  And he says their argument of value is based off of proposed offers from Anthem and WWE which do not represent binding or even official offers.  And that if WWE knew the real financial picture of TNA, they'd surely value the company lower than they did in June.

Which bring us to this:  WWE officially expressed an interest in buying TNA in June.  Dixie and CFO declined to Billy that they ever spoke to WWE and Dixie told the talent they never negotiated with WWE.  WWE submitted a non-binding offer for the company.  They later lowered that offer (not sure why, I can speculate it was because they realised TNA was a mess).  WWE further expressed concern over Billy's "note" against TNA and Dixie told WWE she intended to pay off Billy in full prior to selling the company.

So Dixie has been lying to everyone.

TNA's only defense seems to be that in Billy's agreement, they have the option of paying him back by Nov 1st and intend to do so.  But Billy contends they cant and the only offer was for Anthem to pay him off but in return wants a full release which he isnt obligated to provide and if Anthem is paying him off because they are buying TNA, then he still is owed his "premium payment".

Court is in session...

This is amazing stuff.

[The Unknown Poster]