The following are the pro wrestling related highlights of TNA President Billy Corgan’s appearance on ESPN’s Dan Le Batard Show.
-Corgan was asked if there’s a bidding war for TNA with Vince McMahon. Corgan said you don’t win a bidding war with McMahon. He said that if he wants to buy something, he will. Corgan said that hasn’t happened yet. He said he has ownership and would need to be informed if that happened. “There’s a serious fight going on for who is going to end up with the majority ownership,” Corgan said. “It’s one of those kind of standoffs where everybody’s got the gun out and no one seems to know what to do.”
-Corgan was asked if TNA Bound For Glory will take place as scheduled. Corgan said they had a “Music City Miracle” (football analogy) three times in a row, so he’s counting on a fourth time. “I don’t expect anybody’s going to do anything too ridiculous to make sure that this doesn’t happen,” he said. “It would put a lot of people out of work.” Corgan said the wrestlers have told him that they don’t want him to make a bad deal that will put them right back in the same position two months from now.
-Corgan was asked what the problems are in TNA. He said there are not enough hours in the day to address all of it. He said wrestling doesn’t do well with advertisers. He said he wants to update the image and the feel of wrestling for the 21st Century, which is driven by social media and he sees a lot of opportunities. Corgan said it’s not just a money struggle in TNA, it’s also a struggle for “the soul of the company” and what kind of company they will run and what it will look like. He said there are others at the table who have a vested interest and a perspective he respects see it completely different than he does. “It’s philosophical and, of course, the business part,” he said.
-Corgan addressed the differences between WWE and what he wants to do. He said there are different philosophies on how to run a franchise in sports, and it’s the same in wrestling. He praised WWE, yet said he feels you can run a different type of television product and attract different fans for different reasons.
-Corgan said the company needs consistent capital and said it’s been a plague of the company for a long time. He compared it to Theo Epstein building the Chicago Cubs over several years rather than trying to do it overnight. He said it takes consistent ownership, consistent management, consistent resources so the fanbase feels like it’s part of a journey that is going somewhere.
Powell’s POV: Corgan also answered questions related to music and how he handled success during his first of two segments on the show. Bound For Glory was plugged a couple times by the host, and Corgan came off more confident about Bound For Glory taking place as scheduled on Sunday than he has in other interviews this week. Assuming the show take place, join me for live coverage on Sunday night.
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