The Rise & Fall Of TNA | Wrestling Timelines

17. November 5, 2009 | Step Up, Losers!

In what is nothing less than one of the stupidest moments ever broadcast on a pro wrestling TV show - on multiple levels - Dixie Carter addresses the locker room. 

Babyfaces and heels sit together, but that’s the least of our worries. In something that should not even be happening behind the scenes, let alone on national television, Dixie Carter - widely considered a figure that TNA has found a place in wrestling in spite of - questions the attitude and motivation of her talent roster, depicted here well beyond the parameters of kayfabe. Referencing the controversial October signing of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, Dixie lays down the law, telling the talent that she expects them to support her “100%”. Dixie says that she has chosen to risk her finances behind “each and every one of you”, although she did not, obviously, found Panda Energy herself. In a barbed statement, Carter says “It’s time for us to swing for the fences, it really is”. Any neutral, new observer would be under the impression that the roster is bad at their craft and unmotivated to get any better. Even if this were true - it is not - you do not say it on TV.

 “No great success comes without risk, and I’m great with that,” says the heiress to an extravagant family fortune. “I’m asking all of you to step it up,” Dixie concludes. 

Almost everybody within and following wrestling believes that the problem with TNA is in its creative approach. AJ Styles is considered one of the best wrestlers alive. So too is Kurt Angle. Sting is the absolute model of professionalism at this stage of his career. The promotion is well-stocked with critically acclaimed and dependable veteran talent. TNA fans do not chant “Fire AJ!”; they chant “Fire Russo!”

What’s even dumber about this insanity is that something so shocking and unfamiliar that it once more borders on the surreal unfolds in the last few months of 2009: TNA gets good.