Dixie Carter Wouldn’t Try To Bring CM Punk To TNA Right Now

UPDATE x 2: Dixie Carter spoke with the Independent promoting the season finale of British Bootcamp 2 this weekend and more. Check out the highlights:

On future goals for TNA: “I think it’s very important, and that’s my goal for 2015, to distinguish our product and brand even more. We don’t need to be another wrestling company, we need to be something unique, different and special and some of things we’ve done, the way we do backstage pre-tapes, the way we shoot stuff, I think has been amazing and I take it as a sincere compliment when other companies in your competition try to replicate that.”

On potentially bringing CM Punk in: “CM Punk’s in a place right now where he’s happy and I wouldn’t attempt to try to get him to come wrestle for us until he’s in a place where he wants to wrestle. I respect what he’s done so much, he was in my opinion at the top of his game, and it’s hard walking away from a big paycheck, but he did it. You wouldn’t want to ask him to walk to a new paycheck until his head is in the right place.”

On Vince Russo: “I’m a big Vince Russo fan, I think he’s very talented, I think he gets a bad rap, but I feel like the way everything played itself out, when I’m negotiating a business deal and it’s private, you have to keep certain things confidential whether it’s a new signing, or how your creative is going. All things are critical to the right element, and things were getting out concerning his involvement, and it was becoming a distraction. “I think he’s incredibly talented, I really do, but it’s like when you have a football player on your team, and that player is getting a certain amount of attention and distraction, he may be a very good player but you’ve got to ask yourself if it’s the right thing for where you’re at right now, and if you’re trying to create a certain kind of locker room of peace, we were right in the middle of very important stuff, and we didn’t need that. I’m a fan but it wasn’t the time to take it to another level. Vince has worked with us three different times, and the one thing I’ve learnt in wrestling is that you never say never and I’ll never say never on Vince [coming back to TNA].”

On eventually returning to TNA on-screen: “My attention is definitely focused behind the scenes, whether I do anything in front of the camera or not, that for me is my priority. I fought against being on TV for so long, and the only reason I’d do it now is if I thought there was somebody on the roster I could help. I never enjoyed being on TV until I was a heel. It was really fun, and I look back – I’m a private prep school graduate, a college graduate, sorority girl, when I look back on all those things I’ve done over the last year when you let all your inhibitions down, doing the craziest things, I’m like what part of me could do something like that!”

UPDATE: Speaking to The Huffington Post, TNA President Dixie Carter addressed rumors that talent was not “well informed” on TNA’s recent TV deal negotiations. Below are some highlights:

Carter on rumors of talent not being well informed during the TV negotiations: “I don’t think it’s true. The talent were the first to hear everything that I could possibly say and they knew that. I had very blunt discussions with them during the process. I told them that I needed them to trust me and that there was more I wanted to share but for the sake of our livelihoods, that it wouldn’t be good business or prudent to do so. I told them I was going to work very hard and that we had interest from several places. However, as I said earlier, I was looking for somebody that wanted to make not just a financial but a time and effort investment into us and into our talent. I wasn’t going to stop until I found that. So the talent were part of the process the entire way, I told them as much as I possibly could and they were the first to hear the news when I could tell them.”

Carter on the notion that Vince McMahon does not see TNA as competition: “Well, I think it’s ridiculous to say that we’re not competition. If we weren’t competition they wouldn’t try to stop our growth at every turn. We’re both wrestling companies and so competing for the same networks internationally and the same ticket sales globally and therefore you are competitors but all we can do is focus on what we do best. My big focus for 2015 is to further distinguish our product from anybody else’s out there. What can we do better and what have we been doing great that we can take to another level. We’re going to be announcing in the coming weeks some realty exciting changes to our show and that’s a big part – trying to make our brand much more distinctive than not just WWE but other wrestling companies around the world.”

ORIGINAL: The following are highlights of a new ImpactWrestling.com interview with TNA President Dixie Carter, conducted by TNA executive Jeremy Borash:

oOn TNA in 2014: “I think it was a really good year, but it’s definitely a transitional year…I’m proud, it was a good year.”

On Spike TV: “I said to them I feel like we have to have something different. We can’t just be status quo going into a new deal. It can’t just be a two-hour Impact. We have to grow our brand and do some things differently and really shake it up. That was the tone of all my conversation with networks. I’m not really interested in someone picking up our two-hour show. I’m interested in having someone become a partner on a much bigger level.”

On dealing with talent during the negotiations: “I never didn’t feel 100 percent support from everybody. There’s always an uneasiness when it comes to change… I was not going to let anybody down. It didn’t matter what it was going to take, I wasn’t going to let anybody down, but that didn’t mean we were going to take a bad deal.”

On delivering news on the TV negotiations to talent: “I wanted to do it in person, obviously, but we weren’t able to do that. They were the first people I told when we all got on the conference call. The response was great. I had to have them open up the lines so I could just hear people talk, to make it much more casual and informal in the way we are. The great thing is I think everyone is supportive, I think everyone is excited about the potential, and they’re doing that without even knowing how just different it is going to be… I can’t wait for these meetings that we’re having and these conversations that were happening and some of these changes that are going to happen, that these get out and they start to see the support on a different level. So many things. There are a lot of announcements coming. I know sometimes we say stay tuned, but I really mean it, stay tuned. There’s a lot of stuff, a lot of changes.”

On the possibility of more TV tapings, new talent and such: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t start seeing something once a week about something that’s going to change or be different… I think there’s some real meat to some of the changes we want to make. Will there be some new faces? Absolutely there will be.” Carter said she hopes there will be some names from the company’s past return as well as new talent coming onboard.

On the current talent: “I love this young roster we have right now. Looking back, this is probably the best, freshest group of young talent that we’ve ever had. I can’t say enough good things about him, I have to give credit to John Gaburick, our head of talent relations and television creative. That was a real focus of his, and Spike was very supportive of us taking a step back to take a major step forward in our future, and that is giving a lot of real estate on our show, a lot of television time, to kids who had never seen before. They have the best attitudes and are so great to be around and their work rate is incredible, and they do whatever is asked. They’ve been such a great addition, I think even to challenging the veterans. I love that they are coming in with such a confidence. They want a top spot and they are working really hard to get it. I think there have been some who have made massive strides in such a short period of time, and I don’t ever remember us having that kind of success with new talent in such a short time.”

On Kurt Angle announced that he’s staying with TNA: “Did he really? Okay, I guess I’ll consider that a signed deal then… That one’s done, yeah, Kurt’s back.”

On Angle: “I’ve always been very vocal in saying that I want Kurt to retire in TNA. He was our first massive signing. What he’s meant to this company from the very beginning I can’t even put into words. He’s carried the load and led. Obviously, his work rate is off the charts. He brings so much to this company. I want to see him with us for the rest of his career, and when he decides to hang up his boots, I would love to see him on the other side. There are very few brains, the psychology of wrestling, that are as fantastic as his. But I want to see him do some new and exciting things, represent us on different levels, which he’s done a little bit of in the past… He is so ready to get back in that ring. He’s in amazing shape. His head’s on straight. He’s so focussed, he’s so excited. This could be the year of Kurt Angle, it really could be. And he deserves it. He’s had some tough injuries to come back from, but he’s worked very hard and he deserves it.”

On Jeff Hardy: “There’s only one star that’s bigger than Jeff Hardy, and that’s Ruby Hardy. His little girl is the biggest superstar backstage. Oh my gosh, I think she and his incredible wife Beth, that’s the reason that Jeff is in the place that he’s at. How lucky and fortunate that I am to have him at this time in his career. He’s so solid and he’s so wonderful. There will never be another Jeff Hardy on that level. His whole precious family, I’m very proud to have him on my team.”

On Destination America: “Obviously, it’s a smaller channel. If it was just looked at on an apple to apple standpoint on that channel versus Spike, you would look at me like I was crazy to lose that many households. That is our challenge on the network, but they are part of Discovery Communications, and from the top down, number one they are committed. One of their top priorities is to grow Destination America. It’s already one of the top five fastest growing cable networks on TV right now. But we are such a priority, that network is such a priority, and we are such a priority within that network. The support that they are promising across all of their platforms, they are the number one pay TV programmer in the world. This is a global deal. It’s not a channel deal and it’s not just a broad U.S. deal with discovery, this is a global deal. I’m really excited and we have not even begun to scratch the surface, I think, on all that we can do together.”

On making changes for the Destination America move: “There will be other programming and there will be some announcements about that sooner than later. And just how they’re going to program Impact. There’s some exciting changes as it relates to that. It’s so much bigger than just an Impact deal on one network, and that’s what I’m excited for everybody to start hearing, just how big this is, let it unfold. And look, if we have success, there is no bigger deal than we could have done. There really isn’t. It is our intention to make Destination America a household name, and deliver that to Discovery and be partners with them on every level.”

On the first Destination America show: “I’m really excited to go back to New York. The last time I left there was not on such great conditions. I was carted out. (Her back) is finally better. I think it’s funny that people don’t realize because it’s wrestling, realize how I did break my back in three places. But anyway, enough about me. I am really excited to go back there. I think the crowds and the energy is unlike anything. I love that venue. I love it. It’s so up close and personal. Every face is a part of the show, which I love. I think that’s a real unique distinction for our show. We have some really big things planned for those first few shows, some surprises, and some things that will be announced literally in probably over the next few days as it relates to it, so very excited.”