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Vince Russo officially started yesterday as part of the new TNA creative team in Nashville, TN. The decision to make the change in the creative end had been coming for some time with the feeling that the previous team had hit a wall and things needed to be shaken up. The creative team was informed on Tuesday of this week.
The new creative team will be positioned as Vince Russo and Dutch Mantel, although Jeff Jarrett will remain in his previous role as something of an editor with a lot of power as well. In recent weeks, Dixie Carter has not been as hands on with the creative end and I believe that will continue in order to give this new regime a chance to get their feet wet.
Mike Tenay and Scott D'Amore are officially off creative with Tenay retaining his commentary duties. D'Amore is remaining with the company as well, although it's unclear what his new role will be since he pulled himself off television to devote more time to booking. He may be getting new backstage duties, but I haven't confirmed that. Jeremy Borash's new role in the team is unclear, but I've heard one source claim he'll be devoting more time to production and his on camera role and less to the day to day of creative. Borash remains close with Jeff Jarrett so I believe whether he is officially on the team or not, he'll still have a forum to pitch ideas.
Those who are no longer on the creative team are still expected to be called upon as consultants of the creative process as the shows are put together.
It's interesting to note that at no point has any source close to TNA actually indicated that the creative team change was the "surprise" promoted on the TNA website by President Dixie Carter, as had been floated in reports online. It's conceivable that was the surprise, but it's also possible that the surprise is a completely separate issue altogether. If this is the planned surprise, TNA has done themselves a great diservice. My hope is that it's an entirely different situation. I guess this will be be made clear one way or another this Sunday.
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