Scott D’Amore recently appeared as a guest on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
The former TNA Wrestling President, who is relaunching Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, finally detailed his last days in TNA before being released.
Featured below is a detailed excerpt from the interview where he touches on this topic with his thoughts.
“It wasn’t a total shock to me because I see all the different moves behind the scenes. We had our build-up to it. Here is your scoop. I found out what was happening with me two days before Hard to Kill. Before we flew to Vegas, before we did that amazing culmination with the rebrand of TNA, which is something I spearheaded. I found out two nights before when I was about to get on a plane. I found out what was in the cards. Len Asper and I had a chat about it. Even though I had seen some signs, it still hit me pretty hard. I did what professionals do. I locked that in that place in my brain and kept it there. I flew to Las Vegas with Tommy (Dreamer) and the rest of the team. I hate when people give me all the credit and I hate when people give me all the blame. The team succeeded because of the team we were able to assemble. I’m proud to have led that team and I’m proud to have assembled that team. I went there and did my job. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I can think Len’s decision sucks and that it’s the wrong decision, but Len didn’t show up and push my mother down the flight of stairs. Nobody from Anthem showed up and burned my house down. They’re actually paying me a ton of money to sit at home, which is kind of nice. It was gutting, but I went there and we put on those shows. I want to put that exclamation mark on the seven years of what I did. That Hard To Kill show, which they say is the most buys in the history of TNA. I’m happy with Slammiversary’s success, but Hard to Kill sold out an amazing venue in Vegas, the culmination of TNA’s return, the most buys in TNA history, and getting to put on that Will Ospreay and Josh Alexander match. Having Tommy force me out to the ring to fill time for the episode, which led to that promo. I went to that ring going, ‘This is my love letter to professional wrestling,’ and saying this might be it for me. I just didn’t know. I’m so proud of Las Vegas. It sucked to go through that with the back of my mind heading where it was heading. We did it and I took it for what it was. I finished out the Florida tapings and left the building thinking, ‘That’s it. I fulfilled my obligations.’ I woke up the next morning and did two things. I put Jordynne Grace in the (Royal) Rumble and I started looking about where I could raise funds to acquire TNA. Any of the BS that I tried to buy the company, and that’s what led to me leaving, was not the case. It boiled down to a difference of opinions on how things should be. There was no ‘F you. No, F you.’ I spoke with Len Asper since then. We talked about it the day of the announcement, ‘I hope there is no hard feelings.’ ‘I can’t say there are no hard feelings, but there are no personal feelings.’ I don’t take seven years of great work, with people I enjoyed working with, and throw it in a dumpster because it took a pivot that I wasn’t looking for. I’m very proud of the work we did there. Len would always get mad when we referenced IMPACT being a dead brand when we got there. It wasn’t a dead brand. IMPACT Wrestling was deader than dead. It was an insult to dead brands in 2017 to just call IMPACT dead. Me and Don (Callis) came in. Tommy joined the team. We got Jimmy Jacobs there. So many other people I could list on, and we took it step by step to rebuild it. I took that very personally. It became an 80+ hour a week obsession to me. That was something that I think was unprecedented. Robert Evans and I talk about it. When, in the history of wrestling, has a company ever been that low and then came back? How did I feel? Very conflicted. I was very proud of what we had done as a group and what we accomplished and where we came, and I was very upset that the reigns got taken away from me at a time that I think we were perched and ready to continue to explode.”
Check out the complete interview at Simplecast.com. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
