Pumpkin Sues Wrestling Company
October 14, 2016 6:24 AM Subscribe
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is (arguably) the second biggest professional wrestling promotion in the U.S., but it's a distant second. The most coverage it has received in the mainstream press lately comes from behind the scenes, as its co-owner and president has sued the promotion over intrigue regarding a potential sale. Normally, this wouldn't rate a story in The Guardian, but that co-owner/president is Billy Corgan, better known as the front man of Smashing Pumpkins.
Founded by regional wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett and his son Jeff after the collapse of WCW and its sale to WWE, TNA was initially a pay-per-view-only promotion, putting on weekly cards at a lower cost than the monthly WWE PPVs. After just a few months, the Jarretts sold a controlling interest to Panda Energy. Why would an energy company buy a wrestling company, you ask? Because the owners' daughter saw "the potential in a marketplace that had one company WWE with a US$900 million market cap and no competitor". And so, Dixie Carter (no, not that one) became the CEO. Panda has allegedly since divested itself of TNA and sold it directly to Carter.
TNA grew and shrank with the boom-and-bust cycle that professional wrestling tends to go through in the U.S., acquiring the services of many former WWE and WCW performers (and vice-versa -- "TNA Original" AJ Styles is currently the WWE World Champion), but has never been a significant threat to Vince McMahon and his domination of the American wrestling scene. However, TNA has managed to stay in business longer than WCW (backed by Ted Turner and his empire) did, and has settled comfortably into its second-tier niche. It has bounced up and down the cable dial, from Spike TV to Destination America to its current home on Pop (formerly the TV Guide Network).
Enter Billy Corgan. A lifelong fan of wrestling, Corgan founded the Chicago-area promotion Resistance Pro Wrestling in 2011. In 2015, he signed with TNA as Senior Producer of Talent and Creative Development, which he called "a dream come true" while also noting that "The great thing about professional wrestling is that anybody who's stupid enough and has enough money can be involved in it."
Corgan also acquired a minority interest in the company, and has shown interest in purchasing the entire promotion from Carter. The rumors flew thick and fast over the last several weeks as TNA geared up for Bound for Glory, its annual premier pay-per-view event. WWE was reportedly interested in acquiring TNA's tape library (and a TNA executive allegedly tried to insert a job for himself into the deal), but has backed off.
On the creative side, TNA has won acclaim for its recent over-the-top Final Deletion angle, which featured Matt and Jeff Hardy squaring off in a heavily produced "match" that included the two brothers shooting fireworks at each other, hologram-projecting drones, and A Dilapidated Boat.
Founded by regional wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett and his son Jeff after the collapse of WCW and its sale to WWE, TNA was initially a pay-per-view-only promotion, putting on weekly cards at a lower cost than the monthly WWE PPVs. After just a few months, the Jarretts sold a controlling interest to Panda Energy. Why would an energy company buy a wrestling company, you ask? Because the owners' daughter saw "the potential in a marketplace that had one company WWE with a US$900 million market cap and no competitor". And so, Dixie Carter (no, not that one) became the CEO. Panda has allegedly since divested itself of TNA and sold it directly to Carter.
TNA grew and shrank with the boom-and-bust cycle that professional wrestling tends to go through in the U.S., acquiring the services of many former WWE and WCW performers (and vice-versa -- "TNA Original" AJ Styles is currently the WWE World Champion), but has never been a significant threat to Vince McMahon and his domination of the American wrestling scene. However, TNA has managed to stay in business longer than WCW (backed by Ted Turner and his empire) did, and has settled comfortably into its second-tier niche. It has bounced up and down the cable dial, from Spike TV to Destination America to its current home on Pop (formerly the TV Guide Network).
Enter Billy Corgan. A lifelong fan of wrestling, Corgan founded the Chicago-area promotion Resistance Pro Wrestling in 2011. In 2015, he signed with TNA as Senior Producer of Talent and Creative Development, which he called "a dream come true" while also noting that "The great thing about professional wrestling is that anybody who's stupid enough and has enough money can be involved in it."
Corgan also acquired a minority interest in the company, and has shown interest in purchasing the entire promotion from Carter. The rumors flew thick and fast over the last several weeks as TNA geared up for Bound for Glory, its annual premier pay-per-view event. WWE was reportedly interested in acquiring TNA's tape library (and a TNA executive allegedly tried to insert a job for himself into the deal), but has backed off.
On the creative side, TNA has won acclaim for its recent over-the-top Final Deletion angle, which featured Matt and Jeff Hardy squaring off in a heavily produced "match" that included the two brothers shooting fireworks at each other, hologram-projecting drones, and A Dilapidated Boat.
I started to watch The Final Deletion, but I turned it off after I got the sense that anyone watching it to the end would die in seven days.
posted by selfnoise at 6:50 AM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by selfnoise at 6:50 AM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
When I saw the headline for this post, I thought it would be about Trump.
posted by the_blizz at 6:51 AM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by the_blizz at 6:51 AM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Corgan originally joined TNA in April 2015 as senior producer of creative and talent development, describing the move as “a dream come true”.
I mean, whatever floats your boat, but as someone who was in high school when Siamese Dream broke huge, this just seems really, really weird.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:01 AM on October 14, 2016 [5 favorites]
I mean, whatever floats your boat, but as someone who was in high school when Siamese Dream broke huge, this just seems really, really weird.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:01 AM on October 14, 2016 [5 favorites]
I started to watch The Final Deletion, but I turned it off after I got the sense that anyone watching it to the end would die in seven days.
You just have to keep watching it. It resets the clock every time.
posted by Etrigan at 7:04 AM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
You just have to keep watching it. It resets the clock every time.
posted by Etrigan at 7:04 AM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]
Someone tell Corgan the key for big bucks is actually making Celebrity Deathmatch. Start with Fred Durst vs Trent Reznor in a surfing a piece of plywood up someone's ass match, and go from there.
posted by lmfsilva at 7:06 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by lmfsilva at 7:06 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Bah gawd, that's Courtney Love's music!"
posted by tonycpsu at 7:20 AM on October 14, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by tonycpsu at 7:20 AM on October 14, 2016 [6 favorites]
I mean, whatever floats your boat, but as someone who was in high school when Siamese Dream broke huge, this just seems really, really weird.
Not that weird. Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) was a writer for WCW back in the 90's.
posted by KingEdRa at 8:00 AM on October 14, 2016
Not that weird. Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) was a writer for WCW back in the 90's.
posted by KingEdRa at 8:00 AM on October 14, 2016
Despite all my rage -- I am still just a mat in a cage.
posted by benzenedream at 8:02 AM on October 14, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 8:02 AM on October 14, 2016 [9 favorites]
I was really rooting for Brother Nero. Matt seems like a douche.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:04 AM on October 14, 2016
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:04 AM on October 14, 2016
You know, I read about this last night, and when I saw the post title I was still hoping for an actual pumpkin.
Me too. Aren't there some videos going around of wrestlers doing moves on some object like a broom, and "losing"?
Meanwhile - A Japanese wrestler in a match against a blow-up doll.
posted by King Sky Prawn at 8:39 AM on October 14, 2016
Me too. Aren't there some videos going around of wrestlers doing moves on some object like a broom, and "losing"?
Meanwhile - A Japanese wrestler in a match against a blow-up doll.
posted by King Sky Prawn at 8:39 AM on October 14, 2016
Despite all my rage -- I am still just a mat in a cage.
-- a rat in a cageMATCH.
at least he's not a folding chair.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:50 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
-- a rat in a cageMATCH.
at least he's not a folding chair.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:50 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Despite all my rage
I own a tea shop in a Chicago suburb. [true].
posted by srboisvert at 9:26 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
I own a tea shop in a Chicago suburb. [true].
posted by srboisvert at 9:26 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bob Mould spent time as a scriptwriter for WCW, so this isn't the first oddly incongruous meeting of wrestling and a musician.
posted by gngstrMNKY at 10:13 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gngstrMNKY at 10:13 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]
Corgan was, maybe still is, a Lyndon LaRouche supporter. This dude is all kinds of insane.
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:30 AM on October 14, 2016
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:30 AM on October 14, 2016
You know, I read about this last night, and when I saw the post title I was still hoping for an actual pumpkin.
Me too. Aren't there some videos going around of wrestlers doing moves on some object like a broom, and "losing"?
That would be Chikara Pro Wrestling where if this were occurring, an actual smashed pumpkin probably would be elected to run the company. (And, yes, that broom won their world title.)
posted by dances with hamsters at 10:37 AM on October 14, 2016
Me too. Aren't there some videos going around of wrestlers doing moves on some object like a broom, and "losing"?
That would be Chikara Pro Wrestling where if this were occurring, an actual smashed pumpkin probably would be elected to run the company. (And, yes, that broom won their world title.)
posted by dances with hamsters at 10:37 AM on October 14, 2016
I do not understand the Final Deletion craze (not entirely true; I deeply appreciate Señor Benjamin).
Matt and Jeff were involved in some of the greatest matches in professional wrestling history, but they did so at a cost to their bodies that now prevents them from being able to put on a halfway decent match. Matt has great instincts for promo material, but he has never been able to talk compellingly (his greatest promo ever was the faux anti-bullying promo he did against Kevin Steen for ROH, partially because it was a fun concept, and partially because it didn't require him to speak at all). Calling Final Deletion over-the-top only makes sense comparing it to WWE; it would be downright pedestrian in LU or CHIKARA.
It's a middling concept being played out by two guys who shouldn't be able to sell it, but the audience is nuts for it. I'm genuinely perplexed.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:05 AM on October 14, 2016
Matt and Jeff were involved in some of the greatest matches in professional wrestling history, but they did so at a cost to their bodies that now prevents them from being able to put on a halfway decent match. Matt has great instincts for promo material, but he has never been able to talk compellingly (his greatest promo ever was the faux anti-bullying promo he did against Kevin Steen for ROH, partially because it was a fun concept, and partially because it didn't require him to speak at all). Calling Final Deletion over-the-top only makes sense comparing it to WWE; it would be downright pedestrian in LU or CHIKARA.
It's a middling concept being played out by two guys who shouldn't be able to sell it, but the audience is nuts for it. I'm genuinely perplexed.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:05 AM on October 14, 2016
For me, it's basically that a) I don't have access to LU; b) it's Matt Fucking Hardy being nutso; c) higher production values than Chikara.
Plus the particular brand of stupid hits a sweet spot for me, I think. I love Chikara, but it's a totally different sort of silly.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:30 AM on October 14, 2016
Plus the particular brand of stupid hits a sweet spot for me, I think. I love Chikara, but it's a totally different sort of silly.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:30 AM on October 14, 2016
Yanno, I tuned into TNA for the first time in a LONG time last night and without any background, it looks like the Broken Hardys are the love child of New Day and the Wyatt Family of WWE. But I couldn't turn the show off.
wrestling-related tangent: I no longer can speak about Alberto del Rio. Adios, lover.
posted by kimberussell at 11:54 AM on October 14, 2016
wrestling-related tangent: I no longer can speak about Alberto del Rio. Adios, lover.
posted by kimberussell at 11:54 AM on October 14, 2016
I no longer can speak about Alberto del Rio.
Oh gods that is the wrestling version of the presidential election. It just keeps getting grosser and weirder. I feel for you, albeit more from the Paige-fan side.
posted by Etrigan at 1:55 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh gods that is the wrestling version of the presidential election. It just keeps getting grosser and weirder. I feel for you, albeit more from the Paige-fan side.
posted by Etrigan at 1:55 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yanno, I tuned into TNA for the first time in a LONG time last night and without any background, it looks like the Broken Hardys are the love child of New Day and the Wyatt Family of WWE. But I couldn't turn the show off.
Using those two teams as a comparison point is interesting, since WWE hastily put together a fight between the Wyatts and the New Day at the Wyatt compound pretty much as a direct respond to Final Deletion.
posted by parliboy at 2:48 PM on October 14, 2016
Using those two teams as a comparison point is interesting, since WWE hastily put together a fight between the Wyatts and the New Day at the Wyatt compound pretty much as a direct respond to Final Deletion.
posted by parliboy at 2:48 PM on October 14, 2016
Aren't there some videos going around of wrestlers doing moves on some object like a broom, and "losing"?
See also the many many ladder matches where the ladder wins.
posted by tinkletown at 4:09 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
See also the many many ladder matches where the ladder wins.
posted by tinkletown at 4:09 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
Clearly, the best of all possible worlds would be a single video (probably days long) chronicling the tumultuous history of the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, held, at varying times by the aforementioned ladder (multiple time champion), a baseball bat, "three elementary school girls," "Chiririn (a chicken doll)," a stuffed doll of Jun Kasai, a Pro Wave Wrestling poster (seriously, a poster), and, of course, the belt itself, being the 1000th Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.
If that's not enough to get you to read the link, how about this:
Takagi, the 999th champion, attempts to retire the championship but is knocked out by Poison Sawada with the belt, which falls on the chest of Takagi; the referee counts for the pinfall, making the belt the 1000th champion.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:40 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
If that's not enough to get you to read the link, how about this:
Takagi, the 999th champion, attempts to retire the championship but is knocked out by Poison Sawada with the belt, which falls on the chest of Takagi; the referee counts for the pinfall, making the belt the 1000th champion.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:40 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bob Mould spent time as a scriptwriter for WCW, so this isn't the first oddly incongruous meeting of wrestling and a musician.
He was also an old-school AWA fan throughout the HD years - he's wearing an AWA shirt on the cover of the Eight Miles High CD issue.
As a writer in WCW, Mould wasn't a writer in the traditional TV sense: he was more like a segment producer, though not a producer in the sense it's known in wrestling now (that would be an agent, the liaison between wrestlers and management who help plot the matches, etc). He worked a lot with Kevin Nash, with whom he's supposedly still good friends. He also worked there in 1999, well into the company's decline - and Nash was a big part of that fall - so make of that what you will.
I'm surprised at no mention yet of Freddie Prinze Jr, who spent time not all that long ago as a part of WWE's creative team (and later as a consultant).
posted by macdara at 10:03 AM on October 15, 2016
He was also an old-school AWA fan throughout the HD years - he's wearing an AWA shirt on the cover of the Eight Miles High CD issue.
As a writer in WCW, Mould wasn't a writer in the traditional TV sense: he was more like a segment producer, though not a producer in the sense it's known in wrestling now (that would be an agent, the liaison between wrestlers and management who help plot the matches, etc). He worked a lot with Kevin Nash, with whom he's supposedly still good friends. He also worked there in 1999, well into the company's decline - and Nash was a big part of that fall - so make of that what you will.
I'm surprised at no mention yet of Freddie Prinze Jr, who spent time not all that long ago as a part of WWE's creative team (and later as a consultant).
posted by macdara at 10:03 AM on October 15, 2016
More news, rounded up at Cageside Seats. Sounds like TNA is bleeding money and lying to everyone they owe.
posted by Etrigan at 1:22 PM on October 15, 2016
posted by Etrigan at 1:22 PM on October 15, 2016
« Older nothing really matters | Adulterer with Enthusiasm Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
The whole thing is just so bizarre. So many of the personalities who sunk WCW also didn't do TNA any favors: Hogan, Bischoff, Russo.
I haven't watched any of the followups, but Final Deletion is a must-watch for anybody who's a fan of absurdist art. It has zero to do with pro wrestling. Even, and maybe especially, if you don't like pro wrestling, watch it. It's incredible.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:36 AM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]