Major Backstage Update – Who Are TNA’s Investors?, What Are The Plans?, More

UPDATE: PWInsider has more on this story, which largely backs up what Meltzer has been reporting. The site reports that TNA has been working with Aroluxe since January and that Aroluxe handles all the expenses for TV tapings, after which TNA reimburses them. The word within TNA is that a payment of Aroluxe is due very soon (stories vary between today and Wednesday) and that if the payment isn’t made, Aroluxe can claim majority ownership of the company. That would, of course, leave Dixie Carter as a minority owner.

A number of sources weren’t willing to talk about the situation and Dixie Carter has yet to comment on the story. Essentially the way it stands is as follows: if TNA reimburses Aroluxe, Carter will remain in control and nothing changes within the company right away. If they cannot do so, Aroluxe takes over and while it seems as if Carter would remain in some capacity, it isn’t known what this would mean for the rest of the company’s employees.

For those asking about Panda Energy, the site points out that that company completely separated itself from TNA about four to five years ago and hasn’t put any money in since. As of now, Carter is the only shareholder after having bought Jeff Jarrett out last year. Obviously if Aroluxe isn’t paid, that will change in a big way.

ORIGINAL: On a new edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer spoke about the potential sale of TNA. TNA needs money to fund the company, which was described as “out of money” at this time. Dixie Carter is trying to maintain majority control of the company, but does not have the bargaining power. Aroluxe has been funding the company, and two of the officers of that company are Ron and Don Harris. Both worked for TNA as wrestlers and also on the production side. Aroluxe put up the money for the last TV tapings and the feeling is that they are financing the next TV tapings.

Dixie Carter is still negotiating with of the potential investors, including TV partners; the hold up is that she wants to maintain 51% of the company. TNA is not bringing in revenue through live events (they aren’t running any) or PPV (revenue described as minimal). The company’s situation is said to be bad, maybe worse than most know, and that the things that are attractive to a potential investor are the UK and India TV deals. The US deal is said to be minimal because it’s an ad split deal, and the revenue is said to be small and basically insignificant. Wrestling is a hard sell for ad sales, Raw reportedly can get $10,000 for a 30 second spot, while the UFC on FOX can draw $75,000 to $100,000 for the same time period. At this time the US TV deal is only a positive as far as exposure goes (they are in 80,000+ homes).

The feeling is that the sale could happen anytime between this week and a month from now. There are a lot of questions as to what will happen if the company is bought: who the new owners will they keep in management, on the roster and pretty much everything could undergo an overhaul. Metlzer also says that there are people separating themselves from John Gaburick and the decisions that he has made.

BREAKING NEWS: TNA Wrestling SOLD Earlier This Afternoon (>>) ……..