Scott D’Amore on His TNA Departure, Original Plans for TNA Rebellion 2024 at Hammerstein Ballroom, Helping Put Together WWE & TNA Partnership

As noted before, former TNA Wrestling President Scott D’Amore’s contract was terminated by Anthem Entertainment this past February. Prior to his firing, D’Amore had attempted to purchase TNA from Anthem who were not interested in selling.

A recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast featured D’Amore as the guest. One of the topics discussed included D’Amore’s thoughts about his departure from TNA.

“At the end of the day, business is business. I think a lot of times people lose sight of that … A business decision was made. Did we have a difference of opinion on how to tackle things? Yep. Had I stated my thoughts on things and what I saw for where the brand was going? Yes. Were we aligned on some things? Yes, on some things no. I really thought 2025 was the year to really take some major shots and I think they’ve done some of that now. After I left, the first thing they did was put the next major tentpole pay-per-view back at The Palms in Vegas. And that was a terrible decision, not my call. We planned on being at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and actually had it on reserve. Part of our plan was to go to Montreal for [Slammiversary]. They did that and it was a success. Part of our goal was to be in either Tokyo or London for Bound For Glory. They’re going to Detroit. I think they’re going to do fine in Detroit, it’s a great wrestling market. I’m sure they’ll have a good crowd and I think it’ll be a success. Ultimately I wanted to make some moves and do some things that I think didn’t quite align with Anthem’s vision for things. And that goes on a few different levels, not just the shows, not just the talent, but on everything. And ultimately the decision was made that they wanted to go in a different direction. As I was told, they wanted to have a seasoned television operator run the business.”

D’Amore also gave his thoughts about him still being supportive of TNA despite his departure from the company and doesn’t hold any hard feelings against Anthem CEO Leonard Asper over it.

“Can I say there’s no hard feelings? That’s tough. But there’s no malice. I know Len Asper didn’t wake up in the morning and go ‘I’m going to do this because I’m gonna get Scott.’ He made a business decision, it’s his decision, it’s his company. He made that call. It’s like a coach getting fired or anybody else. Decision was made, cool. Do I like it? No. Do I agree with it? No. Len and I have communicated since then. Len’s not the devil. His family has been instrumental in taking Winnipeg through some tough times over the years. I move on, they do their thing. I don’t want that brand to die or go away. That brand, those three initials TNA are so ingrained in me.”

D’Amore also gave his thoughts about how TNA had plans in place at one point to hold this past April’s Rebellion 2024 event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and how he wanted to bring this year’s Bound For Glory event to London or Tokyo.

“At the end of the day, one, business is business. I think a lot of times, people lose sight of that when people are invested emotionally. Look, a business decision was made. Did we have a difference in opinion of how to tackle things? Yeah. Had I stated my thoughts on things and where I saw the brand was going? Yes. Were we aligned on some things? Yes, some things no. I think certainly that was part of it. I really thought 2025 was the year to really take some major shots and I think they’ve done some of that now. After I left, the first thing they did was put the next major tentpole pay-per-view back at The Palms in Vegas — and that was a terrible decision. Not my call, we actually planned on being at Hammerstein Ballroom, we had it on reserve. But, part of our plan was to go to Montreal for Slammiversary. They did that, it was a huge success. Part of our goal was to be in Tokyo or London for Bound For Glory. They’re going to Detroit. I think they’re going to do fine in Detroit, it’s a great wrestling market. I think it will be a success. I think ultimately, I wanted to make some moves and do some things that didn’t quite align for Anthem’s vision for things. That goes on a few different levels, not just the shows, not just the talent but on everything. Ultimately, the decision was made that they wanted to go in a different direction. As I was told, they wanted to have a seasoned television operator run the business and there choice was Anthony Cicione. Anthony is a great guy first and foremost, perfect guy to have a bite with or have a drink or coffee with. He’s been in television for years, so if you want a television executive, yeah, Anthony is an amazing television executive and a great person. That decision was made. It’s odd, it’s interesting that I found out two days before Hard To Kill, the first TNA show. That was a little tough, having to go into Vegas and keep my chin up and say, ‘We’re still gonna knock this out of the park.’ My approach of it was, I’m probably done. I told Len Asper, we’ll have an amazing pay-per-view, we’ll get this brand. We’ll go to Vegas next week, I’ll get you four TV episodes so that you have a little runway to figure out what you’re doing next. I’ll handle this professionally and properly. Went into Vegas, my goal was to knock it out of the park and execute on what we planned. If nothing else, let those two days in Vegas where Will Ospreay was there, had that match with Josh Alexander. Closed the final wound with New Japan by having Okada there. We had 1800 or however many people it was there for the relaunch and it was electric. I was like, okay, mission accomplished. Not happy with how things transpired, but I’ll move onto what is next. That’s what I’m starting to do now with Maple Leaf Pro. TNA, can I say there’s no hard feelings? That’s tough. But there’s no malice, I know Len Asper didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘I’m going to do this because I’m gonna get Scott.’ He made a business decision, it’s his company. It’s like a coach getting fired or anybody else. Decision was made, cool. Do I like it? No. Do I agree with it? No. Len and I had communicated since then. Len’s not the devil. Move on, they do their thing. I don’t ever want that brand to die and go away.”

D’Amore also gave his thoughts about helping get the current working relationship between TNA and WWE started.

“Yeah. I chatted with Ed Nordholm, the chief corporate officer for Anthem. We talked about it and said, is there a better time to reach out and say, ‘Hey, is there something here?’ Ed signed off on it so I reached out to a friend there at WWE, chatted through and gave him an idea of some of my thoughts and said, ‘What do you think? Is there something worth exploring here?’ They said, ‘Yeah, absolutely. What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘You tell me. I think you go to Paul and Hunter and see if that’s the right path and see if there’s any interest. I’m happy to follow up and see if we can work anything out.’ A few days after that, I’m sitting in the pool room working on a couple of things. I got a text from Paul, it’s funny, I didn’t have Paul’s number in my phone so I’m like, ‘Okay, this is either somebody ribbing [or the real deal.’ I texted one of my friends there and was like, ‘Hey, is this the right number?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ So, we started chatting and it’s a different era everywhere, even with WWE, which is great to see. That type of stuff wouldn’t have happened. We kind of got the discussion started and looked at things and was like, here it goes. The ball started rolling, the first step was Jordynne in the Rumble, which was fantastic. They did an amazing job of showcasing her, which was nice. We had put Mickie James in the rumble a few years ago, and that was amazing, but it’s Mickie James. She transcends whatever brand she’s on. Having Jordynne, who is a homegrown TNA/IMPACT star, go there and be showcased to me is just monumental. The experience of working with WWE for the period of time that I did, collaborating was fantastic. I was actually on the balcony of my suite on the cruise and I get a text just as we’re leaving port and it was Triple H just letting me know — we pulled out on a Friday or whatever and the Rumble was on Saturday, I knew we were going to be at sea and I had told him that. It was just him getting back to me and saying, ‘Hey, X, Y, and Z that we discussed are all confirmed. We’re good to go. Just wanted you to know before you got out on sea.’ What a classy move. You’re the 800 pound gorilla in this relationship, it’s such a good experience and process working there with them. The fact that a guy who’s that busy, for him to send that text just so I can with peace of mind know that everything is signed off and confirmed, to me, that shows the difference in how business is being conducted there.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com, Fightful.com 1 & 2