Last Wednesday night on the Wrestling Epicenter, TNA President Dixie Carter stopped by. I had my ideas of who and what Dixie was about before the interview but learned a lot about her intellegence and character by talking to her. I guess that goes to show that not everything you read on the Internet is true, huh? But, you have got to love a business woman cool enough to be photographed in an AC/DC T shirt... I love it! Oh, how I love it so!
In this interview, Dixie does a great "state of the union" for TNA and really helps explain why certain decisions were made regarding the current product. It's a great listen!
Also on the show, our gorgeous girl-Wednesday "The Queen of Extreme" Francine stops by to discuss her latest gimmick as a complete and full blown alcoholic in WEW. James also tells Francine of his affection for her photographs in both blue and pink bikinis... Weird? Maybe! But, it's also true! And, you can catch those photos at
http://www.MissyHyattandFrancineTV.com. I love this site so much it's my Firefox home page!
We do apologize for the audio quality. The station was having computer problems which required us to recording the show onto an audio cassette. It is audible but there is some hiss. We will try and save the archive from the station and post that in due time in perfect CD quality!
Also, please check out the show on Wednesday night at 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific as we welcome Francine back to the show as well as "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner and Colt Cabana!
To hear this interview, visit
http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com.
DIXIE CARTER INTERVIEW -
Scott Steiner's theme leads us into the first half of the interview with Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling.
After introductions, Dixie goes into how the tapings went for TNA Thursday Night Impact. Dixie calls the shows "PPV quality."
Dixie says the biggest challenges are staying under budget and doing everything they want to in 42 minutes.
Dixie explains that TNA will keep the Saturday timeslot and dropping the Monday one.
Dixie also goes into the process from FSN, when they had the highest national ratings for that network, to Spike TV.
Dixie explains that the 11 pm timeslot is still considered "primetime" for Cable. She also goes into how Spike TV predicted a low lead-in for an earlier timeslot because of CSI's largely female demographic.
Dixie admits that if they wanted the earlier slot, they could take it. Dixie also says that, while they could handle more time right now, it's a matter of Spike having new programming and trying to find a place for an extra hour a week.
Dixie thinks the one thing that sets TNA apart from the rest is great wrestling throughout the company.
Dixie answers the critics, like Benya, about bringing in guys like Sting and Scott Steiner by saying, point blank, that these guys bring in viewers. She also brings up Eric Young's match with Sting at the Thursday premiere as something that would take months to build up the same kind of energy.
"The Man Called Sting" - Brings us into the second half of the Dixie Carter interview.
James brings up his oft-mentioned statement "it takes a star to make a star." Dixie agrees with
Dixie came into the TNA product about 5 months before the product's debut. She then goes into how TNA has had a specific strategy leading up to today.
After James goes into how negative the internet fans can get, Dixie says that "you have to try new things." She admits that not everything will succeed, but they'll try everytime!
If anyone had any trepidations about the all-cage format of the Lockdown PPV last year, they didn't tell Dixie!
After putting over Tracy Brooks, who said "all the cancer has been cut from the company," Dixie goes on to say that the chemistry in TNA is so good she wouldn't want to bring in a "primadonna" that could damage it.
James puts over how some parents who don't let their kids watch WWE allow them to watch TNA. Dixie puts over that TNA, while trying to be edgy, doesn't cross the line of bad taste.
Then interview ends with James talking about his nephew and how red-faced he got at seeing a kid wearing an Austin shirt when he worked in day-care years ago. Dixie says she is pleased that so many people write in thanking TNA for allowing them the ability to watch wrestling and to bring wrestling to their kids without being worried about the content.
The interview comes to a conclusion just after James pitches a product idea to Dixie. He mentions the incident where Jarrett won the NWA belt last year before the jump to Spike and says these matches should be filmed and released on DVD in a bit of a WWF Colliseum Video style release featuring never-before seen exclusive matches that you don't get to see unless you buy the DVD. Dixie says she'll take that into consideration. You heard it here first!
