Report: Anthem's Reluctance To Fund TNA Expansion Led To Scott D'Amore's Firing
Scott D’Amore’s TNA firing due to differences with Anthem over funding
With the firing of Scott D’Amore from his position as TNA Wrestling President by owner Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the future of the relaunched brand looks to be going in a different direction to the one mapped out by D’Amore and his team in early 2024.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer suggests that Anthem were reluctant to fund further expansion for TNA, with D’Amore having grand plans for the brand after the success of Hard to Kill and the positive groundswell of support after the TNA name change:
“Similar to Sinclair and Ring of Honor in the sense they picked up in popularity, and Sinclair did spend more money on Ring of Honor when they picked up in popularity, but they were not wiling to spend to really go and try and expand or anything like that and I think the same thing with TNA… both of them [Scott D’Amore and Ed Nordholm had been trying to get Anthem to spend more money on the product to try to expand. They made plays for Will Ospreay, they made a play for CM Punk. Making plays for bigger-name guys. They did get Nic Nemeth. But the decision on D’Amore was already made before the pay-per-view was so successful. In theory [they could have changed their mind] but they didn’t,” opined Meltzer.
D’Amore’s firing was originally reported as a result of Anthem wanting to bring TNA ‘more in line with other company properties’, with former TNA President Ed Nordholm - a close ally of D’Amore - also being removed from his position in the promotion, although Nordholm remains with Anthem
Per Meltzer, Nordholm was the one who greenlit the offers to both Ospreay and Punk but “the idea was they were not really looking to spend more so Nordholm was taken off TNA and D’Amore is out.”
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