Dixie Carter Says "Hogan's Job Is To Get TNA Over"

MONDAY January 4 2010 will be one of the most momentous days in wrestling history.
The legendary Hulk Hogan makes his TNA debut on a three-hour special Impact — going head to head in the US against a WWE Raw headlined by the return of Bret Hart.

And, in her only media interview prior to January 4, SunSport have spoken to the woman responsible for making all this happen — TNA President Dixie Carter.

Dixie reveals the secret lengths she went to in order to sign Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, and how he is helping her run all aspects of TNA.

She also talks about TNA's "David and Goliath" battle with WWE, the further surprises she has in store and why her ultimate goal is to make people proud to be wrestling fans.


Hi Dixie, so good to speak to you again. First off can you tell us a little bit about signing Hulk Hogan? How long was this in the making?

The first time I talked to him was six years ago and things didn't work out. We spoke again around two years ago and it just was not the right time then.

This time I felt, from the very first conversation we had on the telephone and then him showing up at my house two days later, that it was absolutely the right time and it was meant to happen.

How many people were involved or aware of the signing?

It was just Terry and I.

I called him, he returned my phone call and we spoke for a few hours.

There were two other people, three at the most, who were even aware that we were talking.

The night before the announcement, when I told people why they had to get on a plane to New York or why they had to prepare graphics, we increased that circle to maybe five or seven other people.

But nobody else knew about it until the press conference. In wrestling, if you want to keep something a secret then you can't tell anybody.


What is Hogan's role within TNA? From what you said to Mike Tenay on Impact, it seems he is much more than an on-air talent and is helping you advance TNA as a company?

Absolutely. He is a great on-air talent, but his biggest contribution to TNA will come from him partnering with me.

I can't imagine a door that the two of us could not open or a deal that the two of us could not close.

I've already seen the benefits of this team over the past few months and how it is going to play out with a lot of opportunities for TNA that we would not have had beforehand.

Is he also helping with the direction on the wrestling side — as I don't think there are many with more knowledge or experience than Hulk Hogan?

Yes, he is involved with everything from looking at new talent to how we are shooting the show.

The two of us, over the past several months, have literally ripped apart every single aspect of the company.

I wanted a fresh set of eyes on it, and what better eyes than the greatest wrestler in the history of this business.

We're looking at what we can do better, what we can do differently and what we can try.

I'm not adverse to trying things or to taking risks, because without that you won't have great success.

We've had really wonderful success over the last seven years, but it has been a slow steady climb.

Now we want to put some rocket fuel in that process and achieve even bigger things.

Here's the big question - what do you define as success and failure on January 4? Is there a particular rating you're after or a certain amount of publicity you want from it?

How I define success is just being there.

Just the fact that we are there on Monday night is a huge success for us. It makes the exact statement that we want to make.

This is a marathon not a sprint. The ratings, quite honestly, are irrelevant.

Our success is being there and the quality of the show we put on. That's how I'll assess it as far as that specific night goes.

But the real winner on Monday January 4 is the wrestling fans, because this truly is the classic David and Goliath set-up.

We have Goliath bringing out the biggest guns that they could possibly bring.

And we're trying to put our best foot forward. You'll see a lot of surprises and a lot of great showcasing of TNA's top talent.

The bottom line is that the fans are going to win that night and wrestling is going to win that night.

And that's what we want to see happen.

How about here in the UK? Impact is usually two hours at 9pm on a Saturday night on Bravo. Will we get the full three-hour show?

I am getting asked this question non-stop and unfortunately the UK fans will see a two-hour edited version of the January 4 Impact on Saturday January 9.

I hate the fact that is going to happen, but that's the reality of our situation.

We're working to try and get the three-hour show in its entirety shown for free on Video Vault on tnawrestling.com for the UK fans and those around the world who also can't watch it live.

It will be a delayed version, but we will find a way to make sure everyone gets to see that full three-hour show.

I'd like to put two worries to you that TNA fans have been sharing with us here. First is the concern that TNA may move away from the brilliant wrestling you've been showcasing recently. Can you guarantee that the likes of AJ Styles, Daniels, Samoa Joe and Desmond Wolfe will still be main event stars when Hulk arrives?

I think Terry has an amazing eye for talent and, with all those people your readers are mentioning, his goal is to make them household names.

I can't imagine a better person or brain to have behind the amazing talent that those young guys possess.

So that's actually one of the main reasons I brought him in.

Again he's not coming in worried about Hulk Hogan and making sure Hulk Hogan is getting over, that's not his job.

His job is to get TNA over.

And to get TNA over, AJ Styles has to become a household name, Desmond Wolfe has to become a household name, Beer Money has to become a household name.

The other worry TNA fans have is that not many people have succeeded in trying to take on Vince McMahon, just ask Eric Bischoff or Paul Heyman or Jim Crockett. The WWE have a lot of tricks up their sleeve, some of them dirty. Are you ready for that?

They may say that they don't consider us competition or don't pay attention to us, but we deal with them playing those tricks with us all the time.

Nothing is going to change in our game plan.

We're going to continue to do what we do best and that's grow TNA one fan at a time.

We're not taking on Vince McMahon. We're trying to give the wrestling fans what they want — and that is to make wrestling better as a whole.

The thing I'm most sick of is when somebody will put their hand over their mouth and say: "OK, I'll admit it, I'm a wrestling fan."

Why do you have to admit you're a wrestling fan?

Our goal is to make wrestling cool, hip and relevant.

The strange thing is the WWE don't even like being referred to as a wrestling organisation! They've told us they are actually an entertainment brand.

Well we are a WRESTLING company. We have WRESTLERS telling stories through WRESTLING moves and storylines.

How can you say you're not a wrestling company?

It's time for us to stand up and be proud of that.

Because if we're not proud of it, how can we make the fans proud to say that they're wrestling fans?

Finally Dixie, now that you have Hulk Hogan — the one guy critics said TNA could never sign — is there anyone you wouldn't go after? Could we see The Rock, Steve Austin or even Shane McMahon in TNA one day?

There's nobody we won't go after.

But they have to be right to come to the company. They have to be in it for the right reasons. They've got to fit in with what we're doing.

If that's The Rock then fantastic. If it's RVD then fantastic. It doesn't matter.

If somebody makes sense and has that work ethic and wants to embrace being a wrestler on a wrestling show and trying to do something different then we would love to have them.

And, I promise you, we have many more exciting surprises to come.


====