TNA not paying workers enough/at all

[Celexa Bliss 54]

I'm doing a large-scale fantasy booking project that involves turning TNA's fortunes around, but the money issue is both the biggest and most complex of the RL issues I have to tackle.

Why did it seem that the company didn't have the money to pay their employees? They were owned by a very well-off corporate entity, you would think Dixie wouldn't be that hard-up? Was it a matter of her being cheap, or not seeing the wrestlers as anything more than bodies? Because looking at what certain people were apparently making in 2013/2014... how do pay past-his-prime Kurt Angle a million dollars, but only pay AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, guys who carried the company during it's first decade, roughly less than half of that??

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

I believe Dixie got cut off relatively early on, and she just didn't give a shit if she couldn't make payroll.

[chrom]

Any money they did make they squandered on some half baked scheme or some guy who did a job on Velocity

[Cyno]

I think some of the bigger names from WCW and WWE like Sting and Kurt Angle had their contracts paid out through Spike. It wasn't a WCW situation where the contracts were directly tied to a parent company (Time Warner in that case), but more like Spike helping TNA and themselves by ponying up the money so TNA was able to afford bigger names.

Could be remembering completely wrong though.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

Sept 6, 2022 14:57:29 GMT -5 Cyno said:

I think some of the bigger names from WCW and WWE like Sting and Kurt Angle had their contracts paid out through Spike. It wasn't a WCW situation where the contracts were directly tied to a parent company (Time Warner in that case), but more like Spike helping TNA and themselves by ponying up the money so TNA was able to afford bigger names.

Could be remembering completely wrong though.

That actually makes a lot of sense. We didn't really see the mass exodus of top stars until 2015, when Spike was no longer involved with the company. That's when guys like Joe, Roode, Storm, Aries, EY and the like jumped to WWE.

Yay, another layer to this mess that I have to figure out lol

[Rave]

Sept 6, 2022 14:57:06 GMT -5 chrom said:

Any money they did make they squandered on some half baked scheme or some guy who did a job on Velocity

THIS. That billboard in Stamford's evidence of that.

Sept 6, 2022 14:48:59 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

I believe Dixie got cut off relatively early on, and she just didn't give a shit if she couldn't make payroll.

Dixie's parents didn't cut her off 'til around September 2015, but I wouldn't doubt that second part. She didn't give a shit about TNA much of the time, that much is quite clear.

[A Platypus Rave]

They also realized guys wouldn't always complain if they didn't send their checks on time...so they didn't send them.

there's a story of Bobby Roode saying he never got his check 3 times... until it finally showed up with the date of the day he was originally supposed to be paid written on it.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Spike was, as mentioned, fronting some of the 'real star' contracts in addition to paying for the show. But even before Panda cut her off, they were very sparse about how much money they ever cared to put in. It wasn't a priority, it was make-work for their daughter to have a vanity project she could play around with. They kept Dixie on a tight leash for how much they would ever give her to run the company, so they did lots of juggling to f*** people over as times got tougher. I imagine while there was always money, the 'not enough' amount of it became a bargaining chip rationed out in doses just big enough to keep talent from walking and keep partners from suing.

Except for Dixie, who I imagine was never short a single dime.

[Dean-o]

Sept 10, 2022 0:50:37 GMT -5 Rave said:

Sept 6, 2022 14:57:06 GMT -5 chrom said:

Any money they did make they squandered on some half baked scheme or some guy who did a job on Velocity

THIS. That billboard in Stamford's evidence of that.

They were in such terrible spots too, but I suppose they wanted to be as close to WWE Headquarters as possible.

[Feyrhausen]

Sept 10, 2022 1:51:49 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

Spike was, as mentioned, fronting some of the 'real star' contracts in addition to paying for the show. But even before Panda cut her off, they were very sparse about how much money they ever cared to put in. It wasn't a priority, it was make-work for their daughter to have a vanity project she could play around with. They kept Dixie on a tight leash for how much they would ever give her to run the company, so they did lots of juggling to f*** people over as times got tougher. I imagine while there was always money, the 'not enough' amount of it became a bargaining chip rationed out in doses just big enough to keep talent from walking and keep partners from suing.

Except for Dixie, who I imagine was never short a single dime.

Panda was fairly generous for awhile. It wasnt a lot of money and it was only going to Spike that got them some real money to play with though. But the company ran at a loss for years and there was no talk of Dixie being cut off.

The turning point was Hogan. He came in and charmed everyone to spend a ton of money on over the hill talent, going on the road, and production. After the Monday move and retreat is when Bob and Janice realized they had been conned and started cutting. Janice the budget cutter they called her. Named Abyss barbed wire bat after her.

[Glitch]

What I find funny about people saying "The Harris brothers aren't racist anymore!" is fact that they were still assholes that Dixie used to intimidate crew who asked about their pay. This just means they were color blind in screwing people out of pay.

[mrtuesday]

Sept 10, 2022 0:50:37 GMT -5 Rave said:

Sept 6, 2022 14:57:06 GMT -5 chrom said:

Any money they did make they squandered on some half baked scheme or some guy who did a job on Velocity

THIS. That billboard in Stamford's evidence of that.

Sept 6, 2022 14:48:59 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

I believe Dixie got cut off relatively early on, and she just didn't give a shit if she couldn't make payroll.

Dixie's parents didn't cut her off 'til around September 2015, but I wouldn't doubt that second part. She didn't give a shit about TNA much of the time, that much is quite clear.

Dixie wanted to use TNA as a launching point for her being a star. Remember when one of the reasons for jumping networks was they were willing to give Dixie her own reality show, and Spike wasn't.

A show that never happened, BTW. But she did sneak a few segments of what it would have been in to TNA TV.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Sept 10, 2022 9:26:57 GMT -5 mrtuesday said:

Sept 10, 2022 0:50:37 GMT -5 Rave said:

THIS. That billboard in Stamford's evidence of that.

Dixie's parents didn't cut her off 'til around September 2015, but I wouldn't doubt that second part. She didn't give a shit about TNA much of the time, that much is quite clear.

Dixie wanted to use TNA as a launching point for her being a star. Remember when one of the reasons for jumping networks was they were willing to give Dixie her own reality show, and Spike wasn't.

A show that never happened, BTW. But she did sneak a few segments of what it would have been in to TNA TV.

There was also a period where the company maybe didn't have the money to put on a PPV until the very very last minute--one of several along the way--where Dixie had a full TV crew following her and filming her. A whole TV crew that wasn't the unpaid production crew being strong-armed by nazis into working through very late pay. An utterly insane flaunting of wasted money during a time when they weren't even fully sure there'd be a company anymore.

And then the TV show still never got picked up.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Sept 10, 2022 10:54:06 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

Sept 10, 2022 9:26:57 GMT -5 mrtuesday said:

Dixie wanted to use TNA as a launching point for her being a star. Remember when one of the reasons for jumping networks was they were willing to give Dixie her own reality show, and Spike wasn't.

A show that never happened, BTW. But she did sneak a few segments of what it would have been in to TNA TV.

There was also a period where the company maybe didn't have the money to put on a PPV until the very very last minute--one of several along the way--where Dixie had a full TV crew following her and filming her. A whole TV crew that wasn't the unpaid production crew being strong-armed by nazis into working through very late pay. An utterly insane flaunting of wasted money during a time when they weren't even fully sure there'd be a company anymore.

And then the TV show still never got picked up.

Yeah, not long after the the cutoff. Dixie had lost her money. To the point she was bailed out by The Harris brothers media company. Then Billy Corgan that lead to the law suit since he was under the idea he was taking over TNA. Instead sold to the current owners Anthem which at less they made it a stable company again under a different style of model as in not saying we are WWE levels but a place in the wrestling world that talent can get work and get TV exposure in a limited way since Axis in't a huge network.

[Cyno]

Remember when they made such a huge deal about the Dixie Carter action figure and even made contests about it?

[J. Hova]

Brother Bruce does a hell of a breakdown on one of his TNA shows about this and if I remember correctly, it was complete lack of office infrastructure and with him being the head of talent relations, he was constantly getting calls about lack of payment from talent. He'd go to payroll, and they'd assure him that the checks were mailed, rinse, repeat. It got to the point where some talent couldn't afford to come to TV.

[Sephiroth]

Never promoted their house shows. Never promoted their merchandise. Never tried to woo sponsors.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Sept 10, 2022 12:05:00 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Never promoted their house shows. Never promoted their merchandise. Never tried to woo sponsors.

Barely promoted there own TV or PPVs.