Scott D’amore has been terminated from TNA.

  • TellumSiege@kbin.social
    6·
    9 months ago

    I’m completely shocked. Unless D’amore’s done something horrible that we don’t know about, this makes no damn sense.

    • Montagge@kbin.earth
      5·
      9 months ago

      They were the hottest they’d been in a long time! Hopefully he isn’t also a monster.

      • GeekFTW@kbin.social
        5·
        9 months ago

        Hopefully he isn’t also a monster.

        Fuck me I hope not but after the last 30 days I ain’t playing the ‘hope’ game anymore.

        • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          5·
          9 months ago

          the only thing i could think of is what if there was more behind the scenes to jordynne going in the rumble and there was some sort of tampering or something that corporate just got word of?

    • kessleragain@beehaw.orgOP
      4·
      9 months ago

      My feelings exactly. The press release sounded more like it was a ‘corporate synergy’ kind of move, but you never know. If it’s that and we’re not about to hear about a scandal, I’m a bit wary of how things will look at TNA in the coming months.

    • GeekFTW@kbin.social
      5·
      9 months ago

      Stardom maybe going tits up, the seemingly inevitable return of LOLTNA, WWE Scandal of the Day™, if TK accidentally posts a dick pic tomorrow I’m just gonna (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

    • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      5·
      9 months ago

      i feel like if it was any bit of a scandal they would have led with that instead of whitewashing the “stepped down”. that combined with kazarian’s post leads me to believe it’s just corporate meddling.

      • kessleragain@beehaw.orgOP
        5·
        9 months ago

        Ooo, I better look up that Kazarian post.

        Yeah, I try to always remember there’s a chance of scandal, but this really hasn’t felt like that with the wording of everything so far.

        • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          5·
          9 months ago

          https://nitter.moomoo.me/FrankieKazarian/status/1755011940232188162#m

          Frankie Kazarian @FrankieKazarian 20h The incredibly painstaking, tedious and difficult work that @ScottDAmore has put in to bring @ThisIsTNA to this very exciting moment in time, cannot be understated. We all, wrestlers and fans alike, owe him a debt of gratitude. 🥃 Feb 6, 2024 · 11:33 PM UTC

          i don’t think that it is any scandal but it’s the only thing i could think of. i think it’s more about just consolidating the offices.

            • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              3·
              9 months ago

              i don’t know if it’s just that they’ll be up for the rest of the year or something. i use libredirect which picks a different instance to load and i do get a couple that don’t work but this one happened to. i think it’s just a matter of time though. i don’t think nitter.net is up anymore due to ssl :(

    • TellumSiege@kbin.social
      5·
      9 months ago

      Yeah, turns out “stepping down” was a flat-out lie. Not a good way to start a relationship with your employees, especially ones who seemed to love their former boss.

      Edit to add: Also, they didn’t allow talent to ask questions during the zoom meeting. Just an all-around mess on Anthem’s part. Jesus.

  • GeekFTW@kbin.social
    5·
    9 months ago

    “There had been some quiet rumblings for several weeks that change could be happening among some in the company after several Anthem execs including Cicione and Ariel Shnerer, Vice President of Business Development had been reaching out to both TNA staff and roster members to get a better understanding of how the actual promotion operated while getting feedback on the company. The fact Anthem execs had reached out to talent raised talk among some given how out of character it was, but it appears Anthem was preparing for life without D’Amore and getting the lay of the land as they shift TNA’s positioning internally in their company.”

    Talent is having a zoom meeting with Anthem as we speak to discuss this.

    • TellumSiege@kbin.social
      5·
      9 months ago

      Details on the zoom meeting via pwinsider:

      TNA held a meeting with Zoom with talents to inform them of Scott D’Amore’s departure this afternoon and to introduce everyone to new TNA President Anthony Cicone, who will be heading the day-to-day of the company going forward. Anthem Head Len Asper was on the call as well.

      A number of talents on the call relayed to PWInsider.com that during the meeting it was stated that D’Amore had “stepped down” from the company, which was not the case and not even what was stated in the company’s official statement. We are told by several that this did not sit well with some of the talents and as one wrestler said, “This wasn’t the way to start off” a relationship with the locker room, especially since so many talents had a connection with D’Amore and that the vast majority liked D’Amore.

      Cicone read what was described as a “prepared statement,” which some didn’t like but others noted that he was in a no-win situation given he was replacing D’Amore.

      There was nothing specific stated about creative going forward, but the remainder of the creative team beyond Scott D’Amore are still with the company.

      The meeting did not give talents a chance to ask any questions, which we can confirm did not endear some talents to the changes, either. The beginning of the call, when talents were informed about Scott D’Amore’s departure before Anthem execs joined them, was very angry for some talents before the execs joined while others tried to calm the waters.

      One TNA personality who was on the call commented that Anthem “had a lot of work to do” moving forward.

      There are some taking a “wait and see” stance as they look to see how it shakes out and whether there are additional changes. There are others trying to keep the faith in the fact that the remainder of the team was still in place and that they had to bear down and get back to work when the No Surrender PPV comes in New Orleans.

      It should be noted that one story making the way around talents is that Anthem wanted the TNA brand to be more in-line with the parent company going forward and that the brand had been too D’Amore-centric with Scott as the face of the company. That was not addressed on the call, however. While D’Amore was regularly on TNA programming as the head of the company, he was also the company’s biggest cheerleader, no different than Paul Heyman in ECW or even Tony Khan in AEW, someone who was living 24/7 for TNA and in many ways, his life was entangled with TNA brand, at least, until today.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    5·
    9 months ago

    he was the reason why i started watching tna again. i loved how he handled the harassment gisele was getting and how much he stood by the talent. i hope it’s not anything darker; if it isn’t then tony should absolutely jump on getting him for talent relations and booking.

    • TellumSiege@kbin.social
      5·
      9 months ago

      I agree TK needs to hire him ASAP (assuming there’s nothing nefarious going on…which it seems like there wasn’t). I’d love it if Tony’s big announcement tonight includes hiring D’Amore lol.

      And as one of the biggest TNA cheerleaders around these parts I’m pretty much ready to throw my pom-poms to the ground and light them on fire.

  • GeekFTW@kbin.social
    5·
    9 months ago

    *finds out literally 15 seconds ago* WHAT THE FUCK begins doing due diligence and reading the news

    This shit is what happens when I dip for like 2h to play fucking RimWorld jesus.

  • TellumSiege@kbin.social
    4·
    9 months ago

    Anthem’s press release:

    Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc., a global multi-platform media company, announced today the appointment of Anthony Cicione as the President of TNA Wrestling.

    The move aims to further integrate TNA Wrestling into Anthem’s Entertainment Group, of which Cicione is the President, leveraging the entire Company’s resources to add more value in areas including production, distribution, marketing, viewership, customer acquisition, digital revenue streams, ad sales and sponsorships, digital tech operations, and more.

    Cicione replaces Scott D’Amore, whose contract with Anthem has been terminated. D’Amore has been a part of TNA since 2003. He held many key leadership positions and played a vital role in the growth of the company leading to its strong industry reputation today, including the successful return of the TNA Wrestling brand in 2024. Anthem thanks him for the commitment he brought to the business, the talent, and the people who work outside the ring.

    In addition to these duties as President of Entertainment, Cicione will now manage the day-to-day business operations for TNA Wrestling. He brings more than 30 years of executive-level management experience to the organization. Cicione has been with Anthem for the last 16 years, managing technical operations and multiple cable and digital channels. Prior to his time with Anthem, Cicione was a producer of sports content including catapulting The Score to success by bringing WWE to the channel.

    • ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      The specific language about D’amore’s contract being terminated gives me pause. It sounds like this was not a mutual decision or a contract elapsing.

      Why would they have fired D’amore?

      • GeekFTW@kbin.social
        4·
        9 months ago

        I wanna be a fly on the wall at the next TNA taping, I can only imagine the backstage feelings right now…