Update on Anthem’s Firing of Scott D’Amore from TNA

As noted before, TNA Wrestling President Scott D’Amore’s contract was terminated by Anthem Entertainment this past Wednesday and Anthony Cicione was named as the new President of TNA going forward.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that several people within TNA had expected for the past few weeks that changes would be made including D’Amore’s departure from the company. Meltzer reported that this was something that talent had not been expecting to happen. Meltzer also reported that Cicione and TNA Vice President of Business Development had held recent talks with staff and wrestlers about the business and getting feedback prior to Anthem’s announcement of D’Amore’s firing.

In regards to the official reason for D’Amore’s firing, Meltzer reported that nothing official has been revealed from those spoken to beyond D’Amore was hoping to expand TNA’s business. One person close to D’Amore stated that he was a very wealthy person independent of wrestling from his other business interests but he loved working in the pro wrestling industry. Those spoken to reportedly stated that D’Amore had pushed for years to get a bigger budget for TNA and had threatened to quit at times with the idea of him being a key person that Anthem and TNA did not want to lose. TNA and Anthem officials reportedly were aware that he did not need the job but this was something that he very much wanted it.

In regards to D’Amore’s attempt to purchase TNA from Anthem, one source spoken to reportedly stated that this was a rumor they had heard from multiple people and later confirmed. Meltzer reported that Anthem officials turned D’Amore’s offer down without even making a counter offer to him. This reportedly led to the belief within TNA that a split between the two sides was likely to happen.

One person spoken to close to D’Amore stated that D’Amore had been at odds with Anthem management for years regarding Anthem keeping TNA under a low budget. This same person reportedly also stated that TNA had an agreement in place with Adam Scherr, also known as Brown Strowman, to make his official debut for the company at their Boud For Glory 2021 show. This same person reportedly also stated that TNA officials were planning to bill this show as “Braun for Glory” but these plans were dropped due to Anthem officials had felt that his asking price was too high and did not believe that he would boost business enough to have made the deal make financial sense.

Another source spoken to reportedly stated that D’Amore had wanted to use the success of TNA’s Hard To Kill 2024 rebranding event to try and build the company by signing bigger current name stars but Anthem did not want to increase TNA’s budget and even considering cutting back on it instead. This reportedly was part of the growing disagreement between the two sides over D’Amore’s belief that he could grow TNA with a larger budget while Anthem was more concerned with producing a product for television with a certain budget.

In regards to TNA’s creative team, Meltzer reported that it is currently not known how D’Amore’s departure will affect TNA’s current creative team. Meltzer reported that there was a belief that Tommy Dreamer could take over as the new head of creative due to his status as D’Amore’s second in command. Meltzer also reported that neither Dreamer nor anyone else was informed who would be taking over D’Amore’s spot. Meltzer also reported that Dreamer, Gail Kim, and RD Evans were the key people in TNA’s creative team under D’Amore.