Scott D'Amore talks spearheading the working relationship between TNA and WWE.
The partnership has been very successful for both promotions, allowing stars like Joe Hendry, Zachary Wentz, Trey Miguel, and Jordynne Grace to appear in WWE on regular basis. On the other hand, TNA has featured some of WWE's brightest young performers like Wes Lee, Tavion Heights, Charlie Dempsey, Riley Osborne, and Myles Borne.
On the latest edition of Talk Is Jericho, Scott D'Amore, former president of TNA Wrestling, talked about getting the relationship started before also praising Triple H's communication skills.
“Yeah. I chatted with Ed Nordholm, the chief corporate officer for Anthem. We talked about it and said, is there a better time to reach out and say, ‘Hey, is there something here?’ Ed signed off on it so I reached out to a friend there at WWE, chatted through and gave him an idea of some of my thoughts and said, ‘What do you think? Is there something worth exploring here?’ They said, ‘Yeah, absolutely. What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘You tell me. I think you go to Paul and Hunter and see if that’s the right path and see if there’s any interest. I’m happy to follow up and see if we can work anything out.’ A few days after that, I’m sitting in the pool room working on a couple of things. I got a text from Paul, it’s funny, I didn’t have Paul’s number in my phone so I’m like, ‘Okay, this is either somebody ribbing [or the real deal.’ I texted one of my friends there and was like, ‘Hey, is this the right number?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ So, we started chatting and it’s a different era everywhere, even with WWE, which is great to see. That type of stuff wouldn’t have happened. We kind of got the discussion started and looked at things and was like, here it goes. The ball started rolling, the first step was Jordynne in the Rumble, which was fantastic. They did an amazing job of showcasing her, which was nice. We had put Mickie James in the rumble a few years ago, and that was amazing, but it’s Mickie James. She transcends whatever brand she’s on. Having Jordynne, who is a homegrown TNA/IMPACT star, go there and be showcased to me is just monumental. The experience of working with WWE for the period of time that I did, collaborating was fantastic. I was actually on the balcony of my suite on the cruise and I get a text just as we’re leaving port and it was Triple H just letting me know — we pulled out on a Friday or whatever and the Rumble was on Saturday, I knew we were going to be at sea and I had told him that. It was just him getting back to me and saying, ‘Hey, X, Y, and Z that we discussed are all confirmed. We’re good to go. Just wanted you to know before you got out on sea.’ What a classy move. You’re the 800 pound gorilla in this relationship, it’s such a good experience and process working there with them. The fact that a guy who’s that busy, for him to send that text just so I can with peace of mind know that everything is signed off and confirmed, to me, that shows the difference in how business is being conducted there."
Elsewhere in the interview, D'Amore revealed some of his plans for TNA Wrestling in 2024, stating that the Rebellion event was supposed to take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Learn more about those comments here.
Don Callis was recently announced as commentator for D'Amore's Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. Learn more about the announcement by clicking here.
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