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Billy Corgan Out At TNA: Dixie Carter Is Likely To Win Lawsuit?

By Aric Mitchell
Published on: 07:15 PST, Oct 28, 2016

Billy Corgan, by most accounts, has been dying to get into the wrestling business for a long time. Exhibit A, when it comes to the evidence for that, can be seen in his willingness to go after TNA Wrestling, one of the most troubled companies in what remains of sports entertainment.

For two years, current owner Dixie Carter has been plagued with rumors that the company was on the verge of closure.

Just when the press was ready to hammer all the nails in the company’s coffin, Carter would manage to come through with a new round of funding that kept TNA’s flagship show, Impact Wrestling, on TV, albeit to diminishing returns.

The saga started with the loss of the Spike TV deal. That took TNA to Destination America, where the promotion barely lasted a year.

Along the way, former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan joined the fray and helped to revitalize the creative end of the product even as Destination America became the even smaller audience of Pop TV.

The drama culminated about a month before Bound for Glory when the press questioned if the company would even have the funds to get to its own “WrestleMania” style pay-per-view.

Billy Corgan floated the cash to do BFG and the next round of tapings, and now, not one month removed from that show, he’s in a legal battle with Carter and 2.5 percent stakeholder Anthem Media (the parent company of Fight Network) to try and buy the majority interest.

Corgan has been a boost for talent relations, and he has had some unique ideas to get people talking about the TNA product on a national scale once more.

He removed the leash from Matt and Jeff Hardy and allowed them to control their own creative path to positive results. He instituted the Impact Grand Championship featuring three 3-minute rounds and a three-judge scoring system that caught on with the fans.

He has done what wrestling pundits such as Jim Cornette and Jim Ross have said needed to be done to distinguish the product from its WWE Lite reputation.

There are many on the inside and out that hope Billy Corgan could win his pending lawsuit, but it’s looking more and more like a lost cause for one simple reason.

Quite simply, Dixie Carter and Anthem Media are in agreement when it comes to getting Billy Corgan out of the picture. According to a report from Wrestleview, Anthem “reiterated a press release (in court) that the company was also willing to pay off Corgan’s loan, minus the transaction premium.”

In other words, the money and willingness are there to remove Billy Corgan from the ownership picture, and he possesses far too little of the company to make an impact otherwise.

The fear of Corgan’s and most wrestling pundits’ is that Dixie Carter is willing to burn the company to the ground to keep from facing hard realities.

Cornette said as much on a recent edition of his podcast, recalling a woman who chronically listened to the wrong people (i.e. Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Vince Russo), instead of looking out for the talent.

With one questionable business deal after another and the deterioration of its television audience, Cornette said the brand “will be worth nothing,” even if Billy Corgan is able to win his lawsuit.

But what do you think, readers?

Is this the end for TNA, or would a Billy Corgan victory be what the company needs to survive? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by TNA Wrestling/ImpactWrestling.com]

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