TNA Wrestling on the Verge of Collapse
The Wrestling Observer released an update in regards to the developing fiasco with TNA Wrestling. TNA currently owes money to Aroluxe, The Fight Network parent company Anthem and MMC Acquisitions, which was the company that funded the Impact Wrestling tapings after Bound For Glory 2016.
At this time, the total debt TNA owes to the aforementioned companies is listed at $3.4 million. This does not include money that TNA might owe to Billy Corgan and Audience of One Productions, since both have filed separate lawsuits against TNA.
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According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, there is more possible bad news for TNA. This weekend is a pay week for TNA talent, and while TNA received funding before Bound For Glory for the uplink and production of the PPV and subsequent television tapings, there is concern over whether or not the company has the funds to pay talent through the end of the year. TNA has international TV money (UK & India) coming at the beginning of 2017, but they have to make it there.
Meltzer noted that not paying the talent would breach contract, and added that he knows of “a couple of guys” that are ready to walk and declare themselves free agents next week if they don’t get paid.
We have confirmed that there was talk among some at the most recent TV taping that they would file for breach of contact if their pay was late. It “remains to be seen” if that will happen and TNA usually pays talent two weeks after they appear on TV.
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UPDATE: On last night’s edition (Wednesday) on TNA iMPACT Wrestling, theme music used for Mike Bennett and DJZ were both pulled from the show; both songs were written by Dale Oliver. TNA did not replace either song with different music, but they did crowd noise to cover the music.
ORIGINAL: According to Prowrestling.net, there were rumors earlier today that Pop may not air the show due to music licensing issues. This led to speculation that there were issues regarding music written by Billy Corgan, following reports that Corgan filed a lawsuit against TNA.
The site notes that Corgan’s TNA theme song aired as usual, so there do not appear to be any issues with TNA having rights to music that he has written for or supplied to the company. Oliver wrote both themes, and they are newer songs. It appears that there are now licensing issues with Oliver’s 2016 theme songs. While not confirmed, this could be an issue where Oliver is owed money.
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There is also a lawsuit filed against the company from Audience of One Productions, who are seeking $223,000 plus interests and post-judgment costs. They filed suit against Impact Ventures LLC, TNA minority owner Aroluxe LLC, Dean Broadhead and Ronald Harris for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement on the behalf of Harris and Broadhead, torturous interference on behalf of Aroluxe and for violating Virginia codes.
There was said to be some grumbling among the production team about Corgan because of the extra work. As noted previously, Dale Oliver is the creator of the songs. Serg Salinas, Dixie Carter’s husband, oversees TNA’s musical rights.
Here are some more on TNA pulling the theme songs for Mike Bennett and DJ Z from last night’s iMPACT!. Two sources claim that the issue was related to “a pay issue” for the proper rights, with the story being that Billy Corgan told POP TV about the potential issue and that TNA had to spend some extra hours on the episode to get it to a point that it could air.
Edited by RKHT8709, 15 October 2016 - 10:21 PM.