Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - celebs Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It’s late December, Christmas is just around the corner and perhaps more important to the woman I’m about to talk to - I assume - so is January 1st. A chance for a fresh start.

Dixie Carter, the president of TNA Wrestling, has had a challenging year - the company very publicly parted ways with its US television partner, Spike TV, earlier this year and naysayers claimed it was on the brink of extinction.

But here we are. Boxing Day. And in just over a week TNA will reinvent itself with a brand new television deal with Destination America, part of the Discovery family.

As we talk on the phone the Sony hacking scandal is at its height and dominating the headlines. Particularly, the content of Sony Pictures head honcho Amy Pascal's emails - written almost prose-like, all in lower-case, with an abundance of typos - has invited mockery and parody. I wonder, how can a high-powered businesswoman, running one of the largest companies in the US, so easily become a point of ridicule overnight? Surely, her hard work shouldn't be overshadowed by a few unfortunate emails?

I can't help but see some similarities between the criticism lobbed towards Pascal and Carter, who, as most wrestling fans will know, doesn't come from a wrestling background. This seems to form the crux of a lot of the stick she gets for 'not understanding the industry' she's in.

Is it a case of misogyny? Are women in power more likely to be criticised and disparaged?

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

"I think regardless of who it was [in charge of Sony], they would have been under scrutiny for the situation happening," says Carter. "There are a lot of people out there who look at us, me in particular being a female running a man’s business - are there extra challenges? Yes.

"I don’t think it’s a female situation, that’s she’s under more scrutiny because of that, I think it’s a big, huge problem that’s under her watch. Whoever was at the top would have come under the same scrutiny.

"People look at myself, and people like Amy, who are females running massive companies or historically men-based companies and people always wonder what it’s like, is it more difficult? Maybe there are some challenges but I don’t go into any day thinking about that, I just have to do my best at all times."

So, I ask curiously, what might we find in Carter's inbox if it were her company in the spotlight? "I don’t think there’s anything scandalous. You always have information, contracts and other things, that are very proprietary that you have to have be concerned over," she says. "From a business standpoint, there’s a reason business negotiations are confidential and we hope to keep them that way - every company does."

This year more than ever Carter's judgement has been scrutinised and challenged by fans as a TMZ report broke claiming US cable network Spike TV had dropped TNA's flagship show Impact Wrestling.

(Image: © TNA)

But the 50-year-old executive is adamant it hasn't been a 'difficult year'. She says, "I think people say it’s difficult because this is the first time I’ve negotiated a television contract so publicly. There’s all kinds of questions and doubts out there, and rumours that aren’t true.

"I go through this every two years and have never had the public spotlight on the company, especially in any kind of negative way. When you’re going through television negotiations, you can’t give that out publicly, it’s a private, confidential negotiation. I can’t respond to negativity or even anything positive being said, that’s not good business.

"It’s very difficult for me to sit back and hear these negative things being said, but all I can do is say to myself, ‘I know what’s going on, I know what’s going to happen, and when it comes out everyone else will know as well.’ You can’t let yourself be brought down by those negative conversations."

Leaving Spike TV has been "hard on both of us", says the TNA head honcho. But with TNA's TV deal with Spike running out, Carter had a very ambitious plan for the future of her company and that included more TV time - something, it seems, Spike wasn't willing to provide.

"Any time there’s change, you get outside your comfort zone and I think that’s where TNA needs to be - outside its comfort zone," she says confidently. "We needed to make changes and that’s what Kevin Kay at Spike and I talked about at the beginning of the year; I did not want status quo, I wanted change.

"When you see where we’re going today [with Destination America], we’ve already announced repeats and different versions of our show, that’s what we needed and that’s what I would not settle for less than in these negotiations."

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Since our interview, sure enough, TNA has announced not one, but two new shows to accompany its flagship on its new home: Impact Wrestling Unlocked, featuring Mike Tenay, and retrospective show TNA Wrestling's Greatest Matches. It's certainly a glowing sign of confidence in TNA - and Carter.

But many fans have been quick to point out they'd never heard of Destination America, whereas Spike is fairly well known. But again, Carter is confident about the new TV deal.

She says, "Destination America isn’t as well known, but Discovery is as well known or better well known, not only in the United States but globally. That’s the reason we did the negotiations and the deal with them. This is bigger than just Destination America, it has global implications. We’re going to help grow Destination America domestically, that’s a huge priority for Discovery, and when that happens it’s going to have such a big upside for us on every level."

Ask the TNA President if the new TV deal is less financially lucrative than the deal with Spike, however, and you won't get a clear answer.

Carter replies: "It’s not an apple-to-apples deal. It’s not one two-hour show played once a week, now we have a two-hour show that’s played multiple times, we have multiple shows that are going to be announced, it’s a completely different type of deal that has much more upside than what we had before."

Impact begins its run on Destination America on January 7 with a live show before moving into its new timeslot of Fridays at 9pm from January 16.

And fans can expect a brand new look and feel to the show, including a new logo, when it returns.

Quizzed about the changes, the boss says, "Our first show, which is live, will be similar to what we’ve done in the past. There’ll be a few new bells and whistles but it’ll be similar because there’s only so much you can do live because you don’t have the post-production time to dive into unique, different production aspects.

"But if you give us a few weeks, I think everyone will start to see a transition of very new and very exciting ways to watch Impact. I don’t want to say too much, I’d rather it just unveil itself. I’m definitely excited about some of the changes coming up."

While TNA's US television presence remains a work in progress, the company has gone from strength-to-strength on Challenge TV in Britain. The Sky channel airs Impact Wrestling on Sundays and has now produced two series of UK exclusive show, British Boot Camp.

"Challenge has been fantastic," enthuses Carter. "Sky and Challenge have been incredible partners, we have really grown our brand over there on a level that’s unparalleled worldwide. To have that kind of success and ratings that we’ve had for British Boot Camp, I think it’s a testament to their support for us."

The company will be back on our shores next month for its annual Maximum Impact tour with the stars of Boot Camp, including winner Mark Andrews, joining the main roster.

(Image: TNA Wrestling)

"These are such special shows for us. The ratings for British Boot Camp 2 have been so high that I thought it would be fun to have a big party [on the tour] and let people come in, get autographs and pictures with them. The fact we’re filming TV in every city, it’s going to be a huge tour for us."

Key to any wrestling promotion is the talent and that brings us to the other sticking point for fans of TNA this year - the loss of household names such as Sting and Hulk Hogan, as well as homegrown stars Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels and more.

"Every year we let talent go, every year we let a big name go - that’s part of it," assures Carter. "We only have one television show that’s two hours, we don’t have 12 hours of television, we have to turn our roster and that means every year you have to make really difficult decisions. When you care about these people like I do, they are incredibly difficult decisions to make. But because of social media and things like that, they’re played out so publicly where two, three or five years ago that didn’t happen. It’s nothing different."

I ask if she saw Sting's WWE debut at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November. "I did not see it," she says.

But the topic of swapping talent with WWE spurs an interesting reaction. TNA has been often been criticised for taking in 'WWE castoffs', but Carter feels the shoe is now on the other foot. "For so many years, I’ve caught so much negative flack, people saying that all we do is hire WWE people. The truth of the matter is, if you look at the WWE roster of late, they’re full of TNA talent even if that means a Sting, Hulk Hogan or a Rob Van Dam, Ric Flair. That’s a passé complaint.

"When you only have two leagues there’s only so many talent that you can find that are on a worldwide level. I think the tide has turned and WWE is taking our talent of late, not the reverse of that. It’s just the way it’s been."

(Image: © TNA)

Has there been one talent loss that's been harder than the others, I ask? "I really care about all these guys that are here. I have a very close relationship with Sting and Hulk Hogan and miss working with them on a professional level very much, I will always be their biggest supporters and hopefully always be able to keep a personal relationship with them."

But Carter's eyes are firmly on the future and she's confident that past stars could one day return.

She explains: "For somebody to dominate television for such a long period of time, they need to go away to come back and be fresh. If you look at this year, the return of Matt Hardy, Low Ki, Homicide and so many others, I think it’s good for the product to keep it fresh. They came back as themselves and now we want to put a spin on where they’re going.

"Sometimes you have to have a break to make it fresh and new again, recreate who you are. It’s tough in any business to be the same character for a long period of time, day in, day out.

"Just like Devon coming back this year, he was away for a while and he came back in a huge way with some of the greatest tag team matches we’ve had, he’s been a big part of our success this year.

"I never want to say goodbye when somebody leaves because goodbye would be that they’re never coming back. It’s more due to the fact that we have this one show that these things happen."

One of TNA's strongest suits is, and has always been, its women's division. Where most fans seem exasperated with WWE's short, uninspired Divas matches, the TNA Knockouts - led by veteran Gail Kim - are ensured plenty of screentime.

(Image: TNA Wrestling)

Carter says the division is very personal to her: "I’m proud of the focus and time they’ve gotten. I love the fact you can see a Knockouts match in our main event, that they can steal the show at a pay per view, that our matches can go longer than the men’s heavyweight matches on Impact. Our girls are just that good.

"Being a female head of a wrestling company, it’s very important to me that they’re seen in the most positive light possible. I think our roster is full of the most talented girls, but not only that, they get along, they’re fantastic part of our team. It’s exciting to see them grow personally and professionally, we’ve got babies backstage, some are getting married, some have had hard times. We’re a close family, the girls in particular, and it means a lot to me that group continue to be the very best at what they do."

The Knockouts division was born in a blaze of glory on the back of a feud between Kim, a multi-time champion, and the towering Awesome Kong - a rare specimen in the world of women's wrestling that helped set the Knockouts apart from the WWE's Divas. She hasn't been seen in a TNA ring for four years (there was a brief spell as Kharma in WWE) but her unique presence is still missed. "I always say never say never, but I don’t even know if Kong’s wrestling anymore," Carter reveals. "I know there have been people we’ve gone to that we wanted to talk about bringing them back, but they’re not wrestling anymore. That’s part of my reality as well."

Newcomer Havok - also towering and, frankly, frightening - has drawn some comparisons to Kong as another mould-breaker. But for the most part, the Knockouts division today features sexy, athletic girls.

Carter says, "I don’t think they all have to have a gimmick, I think gimmicks can be fake. I think just to be a beautiful, kick-ass girl or a beautiful, mean bitch girl, that’s your gimmick, that’s real, that’s life - you don’t have to be a secretary or play some kind of fake character to be different and unique, you’ve got to kick ass in the ring. That’s what you have to do."

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

But the TNA President has high standards for the division and feels her current crop of girls are her best ever - and many of them are an example of TNA's revolving door policy.

"The female talent, there’s not a lot of female talent that’s on the level of these girls. Angelina Love was gone for several years and came back and I think she came back better than ever. Madison Rayne was gone for a year and she came back in the best shape of her life after having a baby.

"There’s only so many women in the world that can compete on this level, and if they can’t compete on the level, it’s not worth having them on the roster. They don’t do the others any favours if they’re not on par with what the Knockouts division has been expected of.

"We have to cycle our girls in and out, until someone can come in like a Taryn Terrell, I’ll say for Taryn to come in and have the kind of matches she’s had with Gail Kim, for somebody that’s newer in female wrestling it doesn’t get much better. She competed blow-to-blow with Gail Kim and held her own and did amazing, that’s what we’re looking for.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

"I would rather refresh characters, but you have to keep the quality of the girls’ wrestling at a certain level or they don’t fit in the Knockouts brand at all."

One thing you can't take away from Carter is her passion for her talent - something that certainly comes across when talking about the Knockouts. It seems a vast difference to WWE Chairman's Vince McMahon's recent comments that his current roster of "millennials" 'aren't as ambitious' as the likes of John Cena, the face of the company.

Carter hits back: "I can’t even comprehend that statement. It doesn’t sit with our group.

"My own roster’s completely different than that. I don’t have a complaint about anybody on my roster.

"The young guys are just as hungry … the young guys from 10 years ago are now the Bobby Roodes, Samoa Joes, James Storms. My main eventers, who were brand new young talent from 10 to 12 years ago, I’m proud of how far they’ve come.

"This young group of talent we have right now, they’re the hardest working, most positive team players around."

Impact Wrestling airs Sunday nights at 9pm on Challenge in the UK. Impact Wrestling launches on Destination America on January 7 at 9pm in the US.

MAXIMUM IMPACT 7 Tour tickets are available via www.facebook.com/tnawrestlinguk and www.gigsandtours.com.

Like this? Did you know we have a dedicated TV and Film page on Facebook?