00:00Hi, I'm here with the president of TNA Wrestling, Dixie Carter. Hello, Dixie.
00:03Hi, Jeremy. How are you?
00:04I'm good. Thank you so much.
00:05You have been known as the president of the people.
00:08You spend more time in the arenas than I do,
00:10practically talking to the fans, going all around and meeting with fans
00:14and interacting with them on Facebook and Twitter.
00:17And we have decided this is a good opportunity to submit questions for Dixie Carter.
00:21And that's exactly what you've done at home.
00:23Some great questions.
00:24And we're going to just fire them off.
00:25Good.
00:26You ready?
00:26Let's go.
00:27All right.
00:27Mount of Glory is coming up, 10-10-10.
00:30And this is the signature event for TNA Wrestling every year.
00:34I want to get your thoughts, first of all,
00:36on the interacting with fans and everything that you've done.
00:40Where did this come from?
00:41Is this something that's just kind of, it's your personality, I know that.
00:45But for you as a background with PR and music,
00:50and now you're in the wrestling business,
00:52you've really taken a different position than other presidents,
00:55people that have run wrestling companies.
00:56I think it's just me.
00:57It's my personality.
00:58And I love people.
01:00And I'm a very appreciative person.
01:02And I know more than anybody else that TNA would not be where it is today without our fans.
01:08So it's my opportunity to get in front of people and shake their hands or hug them and say thank
01:15you.
01:15Thank you for your support and listen to what they like.
01:18And they truly have a voice.
01:19I mean, I take what they say back.
01:21And we have made a lot of exciting changes based upon that.
01:24But it means a lot to me personally to be able to do it.
01:27And it always has.
01:29It's a philosophy.
01:30It is fans first.
01:32It is letting them feel appreciated.
01:34And it's not just me.
01:35It's got to be everybody because we wouldn't be here without them.
01:38Absolutely.
01:39Well, with Bound for Glory just around the corner, tell me what those three words mean to you.
01:44Well, you know, I remember years ago when we came up with the name Bound for Glory.
01:49And it means just that.
01:51I mean, we were really struggling at the time that we came up with what would be our Super Bowl
01:57of pay-per-views.
01:58And we felt like the words Bound for Glory could not better symbolize where we were going, where we wanted
02:07to go.
02:08And today it still holds true.
02:09I mean, I don't care if we're, you know, the biggest wrestling company in the world.
02:13You know, we can always be better.
02:14And so I think Bound for Glory was the perfect name.
02:17And it really is that for me because that's what all this hard work is for.
02:23We're also coming up on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of Hulk Hogan.
02:26That's right.
02:26Wow.
02:27It's hard to seem like it was a year ago you were in Madison Square Garden and made the big
02:30announcement.
02:32Talk about the last year and maybe about the future with Hulk.
02:35You know, it's been, I can't, first of all, I can't believe how fast it's gone by.
02:38I didn't even realize that we were coming up on that.
02:41It's been great.
02:42You know, he has been such an integral part of everything we do.
02:48He is at every agent's meeting.
02:51He's at every production meeting.
02:52He is talking to the talent, meeting with them, helping them, you know, get better in the ring and their
02:58psychology on their matches and how they, you know, how they win and how they become stars.
03:04And there's nobody better in the world to do that with.
03:07And he's brought so much exposure to the brand.
03:09And he's just been a great person to work with.
03:11I think people thought, you know, he was in here for a payday and just to get some time on
03:15television.
03:16And it's been the exact opposite.
03:17I mean, he has put so many hours in behind the scenes and traveling for the network and traveling for
03:23us and, you know, helping us with licensing and, like I said, doing media.
03:27That it's, you know, he's been great and a big help for TNA.
03:32Fans watching in the UK have seen the Explosion program, the changes that have been made in that.
03:38Now we've got Reaction.
03:39TNA is now producing four hours of original weekly programming a week that's going out on television.
03:44Talk about Explosion.
03:45Talk about Reaction a little bit.
03:46Well, Explosion I'm very proud of.
03:48You've had a big hand in that show and I'm very proud of what you've done on that.
03:52But, you know, it was a show for a while that we didn't spend as much time on as we
03:57should have.
03:57And I really started, we just recognized we have so much talent and we really need to give them more
04:05airtime.
04:06And we can't with an impact, you know, within just the limited amount of time that we have in those
04:13two hours each week.
04:13So we really started focusing much more on Explosion for the international audience.
04:18And it started to pay off big.
04:19I mean, some of the ratings, just since the changes we've made, were really concentrating on some of the younger
04:25talent and solid storylines.
04:27Versus being more of a recap show.
04:29And we're having some good ratings success, which is exciting.
04:34Reaction is something that I am incredibly excited about and very proud of.
04:40And I know the rest of the world is not happy that they're not getting to see it.
04:45We are posting it right now on SpikeTV.com.
04:49But it's an amazing show.
04:52It really is.
04:53I mean, it's different than anything you have ever seen in wrestling.
04:57And, you know, it's making us step up our game on impact, which is really important.
05:02And it's just something I'm very proud of.
05:06It's a great show.
05:07And if you haven't seen it, watch it.
05:10It's on right after Impacts every Thursday night.
05:13And, you know, we're hopeful that it'll get picked up from Spike for a long run.
05:16I mean, it seems like fans always say, you know, give us something new.
05:19Give us something innovative.
05:21What a, what a, just a different concept of a show.
05:23Yeah, very cool.
