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As we discussed yesterday during the NXT & Beyond audio show in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, there will be some segments on tonight's Impact that knocks the previous regime. While there were a number of wrestlers backstage who felt it was a shot at the roster as much as previous members of management, Eli Drake became upset and confronted Jeff Jarrett about it and the two had a discussion. It was never described to me as getting ugly but Drake voiced some frustrations the existing roster was having with the changeover last week. There were talents who felt the shots at the previous regime were unfair because they didn't see them as a shot at management, but as everyone who had been working there. Since they had been perservering long before Anthem purchased the company, despite not knowing if and when it would fall apart and whether they would get the money they were owed - a number of talents felt there was nothing wrong with their work (and certainly, the product didn't suck) but the message the segments sent ruffled some feathers. So, Drake went right to Jarrett and voiced that. We are told he spoke with both Jarrett and Bruce Prichard.
The shots (which will be seen in at least two segments tonight) were meant to be specifically aimed at former members of management (read: Dixie Carter) with the idea of distancing the company going forward without an official reboot. More than one person described it as "awkward" since John Gaburick was heavily involved in creative and now was working backstage as his era was being kicked in the face verbally and there was some sympathy for him, even among talents who would usually dismiss him privately to me. With Jeff Jarrett laying out that it as his way (taking on an old school promoter approach) when it came to the new vision of the company, it was a culture shock to the talents that had been there under Gaburick as he was open enough, when laying out directives, to take feedback and let talents try to tweak it a litttle. I do believe there was a disconnect between the Impact roster and the new GFW talents coming in (and that was felt backstage) but over the course of the tapings, there were talents who opened up the eyes of the new management as to what their potential was. It's a weird situation in that a lot of talents that already had track records there were pretty much having to prove themselves again for the new bosses, even if that wasn't stated as such openly.
The belief among those I spoke with is that Bully Ray did not return because he was at odds with the creative plans for him and finally TNA washed their hands and moved on to Alberto de Patron. One source believed Velvet Sky would have been back if Bully returned.
Very interesting to note that Anthem Media, the parent company of Impact, began laying off a number of staffers at the Fight Network today. There have been a number of firings attributed to budget cuts. Whether any of that is a ripple effect of the Impact acquisition or not remains to be seen. There were employees who had been with the company 8-10 years who were let go today.
Meanwhile, Anthem plans to set up a poll for fans to name the Anthem owl. Seriously. I vote Dixie. There was an owl at the tapings last week used for production purposes. I want to know if it flew itself in.
Jeff Jarrett will be returning to the UK for additional media appearances in April.
The Impact website is currently down for maintenance. The previous incarnation of it was an utter mess, to say the least, so hopefully this means a reboot before tonight's new version of Impact Wrestling broadcasts.
Moose is advertised as defending the Impact Grand championship against Josh Alexander in a Steel Cage on March 26th in Missisauga, Ontario.
MJ Jenkins, who worked the tapings, took a 22 hour bus ride to get there. That's dedication.
Tyrus will be working as the emcee for the Jim Ross one man shows over Wrestlemania weekend in Orlando, Florida. Impact plugged those at their last tapings to the live crowd. Those shows are great. For details, visit www.JRsBarBQ.com.
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