By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

TNA president Dixie Carter commented on the decision to have an ECW-themed PPV at Hardcore Justice next month during an appearance on the post-Impact web show last Thursday.

Carter repeated the comment from her in-ring speech at the end of Impact that she her speech wasn't a "promo," but a product of listening to wrestlers in TNA lamenting the ending to the Original ECW.

"Mick (Foley) said this something about this being my first in-ring promo and it just felt so awkward and unnatural when he said that. I interrupted him to say, 'This is real; this isn't a promo; no one wrote anything for me,'" Carter said.

"I've sat backstage or been on flights or had dinners or lunch or had a drink with these guys for years hearing horror story after horror story on how their ending was so painful to them. It really has made me work very hard to make sure my guys never feel the same way. It always made me think, 'Wow, I wish it could be different for them.'"

Carter talked about wanting to let Tommy Dreamer and the TNA wrestlers formerly in ECW have control over the PPV to create an "authentic" event. She half-jokingly said TNA would have screwed it up if they tried to create an authentic ECW PPV, which could also be interpreted as a veiled dig at WWE for re-creating ECW in their vision.

"To know this was in their hands and they're this passionate about it and they won't screw it up; we would have screwed it up. But, I knew that if we let them do it and it was completely their own, I know it would have come off right," Carter said.

Carter also talked about the similarities between TNA and ECW. She reiterated the point from her speech on Impact about ECW wrestlers working for "the love of wrestling" and not big paychecks, which was the criticism of wrestlers in WCW, many of whom are now in TNA.

"There are just so many similarities they started and TNA today. It's not about those big, fat paychecks. These guys do it because they love this sport," she said.

Carter's comments begin at the 1:40 mark of the TNA Impact After-show from last Thursday in the video below.



Caldwell's Analysis: There are a lot of comments worth breaking down from the interview. Carter's comment on her "speech" not being a promo should have been reserved for this forum of an online web show, not the actual content of the Impact show on Spike. It told the audience the rest of the show was a farce with wrestlers pretending to be upset with each other or pretending to be on a quest for championships and success. It took viewers "out of the moment" trying to suspend disbelief on the stories being told on the show. TNA doesn't seem to understand the damage it does to the product over time.

Also, Carter comes across naive at certain points during the interview, including comments on the ECW wrestlers working on her to plant the seeds for another send-off after the One Night Stand PPV in 2005. The "horror stories" over a drink or two assuredly weren't embellished for dramatic effect with visions of another big ECW reunion and payday from TNA.

Carter also has a message for the TNA roster by referencing the so-called similarities between TNA and ECW, including the idea that ECW wasn't about big paychecks. (It's a fallacy they were simply turning down money; many of them weren't good enough workers to be on national TV outside of the "ECW environment" where Paul Heyman could hide their weaknesses.) Carter's message seems to be TNA wrestlers need to be content as team-players and not seeking big bucks from TNA. It's a method to control talent when the budget is expanding, revenue isn't growing, and talent are being asked to take less money with the promise of more money "as the company grows."

[Carter photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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