New TNA Wrestling president issues statement; details on internal talent meeting

Following both the surprising dismissal of longtime employee and executive Scott D’Amore on Wednesday and a reportedly tense Zoom meeting with talent, new TNA Wrestling president Anthony Cicione released a statement to help explain the corporate reasons for the move and their intended path forward.

“I am excited and honored to be the new President of TNA Wrestling, a company rich in tradition and loved by pro wrestling fans worldwide.

This move is intended to further integrate TNA Wrestling into the Entertainment Group of Anthem Sports & Entertainment as we work to leverage the resources of the entire company to add more value in areas such as production, distribution, marketing, viewership, customer acquisition, digital revenue streams, ad sales and sponsorships, and digital tech operations, among others.

Everyone at Anthem Sports & Entertainment is appreciative of and thankful for the years of dedication that Scott D’Amore gave to Anthem, and TNA Wrestling. Scott has been a part of TNA since 2003, holding many key roles. He played a vital role in the growth of the company and the evolution to its strong industry reputation today, including the 2024 return of the TNA Wrestling brand itself. I personally want to thank Scott for the passion he brought to the business and his personal touch with talent.

TNA Wrestling is in a position to take a big leap toward its next stage of growth and expansion. While we can create more operational efficiency the most exciting part is expanding existing revenue streams and developing new ones. Wrestling promotions have evolved from event driven businesses to global media enterprises.

I was in Las Vegas last month for both the Hard To Kill pay-per-view and the next night’s Snake Eyes show. Those were not just the two best pro wrestling shows I have attended, they were record-setting for TNA Wrestling on multiple fronts. That growth, expansion and popularity that thousands witnessed live and in-person in Las Vegas, and live on pay-per-view around the world, will continue in 2024. We have many exciting, groundbreaking announcements coming up over the next few months. Our momentum is continuing.

TNA Wrestling features an incredible roster of in-ring talent who will continue to shine and deliver incredible matches and moments. We have a behind-the-scenes crew and staff who are incredible at their jobs. Our business is being run by experienced professionals, and the fans will notice many improvements in the coming months. TNA’s success is attributable to its teamwork, and that team will continue to grow with more input from Anthem’s top executives, partners and others.

We know departures of well-respected executives can create uncertainty, but we are fully committed to this new business model. We are entering a new stage of growth. These changes bring together more leadership experience to help us elevate our operations.”

Cicione is Anthem’s VP of operations and has been with the company for more than 16 years. After a seven-year run as a TNA talent and then three years with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling, D’Amore had been in a leadership position with TNA/Impact Wrestling since 2017, working his way up to his role as president starting in March 2023.

The aforementioned statement followed an earlier Zoom meeting with talent that reportedly did not go as well as Cicione and TNA parent company Anthem would have liked.

PWInsider reported that there had been rumbling for weeks about a possible leadership change due to Cicione and Anthem VP of business development Ariel Shnerer talking to TNA talent and staff about how things were run in addition to gathering feedback.

The report stated that Cicione read a prepared statement on the call and that talent weren’t allowed to ask questions which didn’t sit well with some. It was also said at one point that D’Amore stepped down which wasn’t the case and rubbed some D’Amore loyalists the wrong way.

From the report:

“The beginning of the call, when talents were informed about Scott D’Amore’s departure before Anthem execs joined them, was extremely angry for some talents while some of the veterans tried to calm the waters, noting they have to at least give the new exec a chance.”

Fightful also reported that “Those we’ve heard from are not happy with the decision and haven’t been given much of a reason.”

Several TNA wrestlers like Josh Alexander, Moose, Steve Maclin, Frankie Kazarian and others took to X after the news to pay tribute to D’Amore who has yet to comment publicly on his firing.

TNA’s next live event is No Surrender in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Friday, February 23rd followed by a TV taping the next night.