Major Backstage TNA Update: Sting’s Contract, Big Names



Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon, aka the former Dudleys) have cancelled all future appearances with All Japan for the upcoming January 2006 tour and have made the decision to focus on working for TNA. As reported on earlier, there was a big communication error when Team 3D was scheduled to be at the TV tapings before the Turning Point PPV, but were unable to be due to commitments to All Japan.

After it was confirmed last week that Sting had signed a new one-year contract with TNA at an estimated $500,000 guarantee, reports came out that former TNA CEO Frank Dickerson tried to prevent TNA management from investing in yet another former wrestler and instead choose to spend their money elsewhere. When Dickerson was removed from his position as CEO, TNA decided to offer Sting the one-year deal in hopes that he could bring in former “Monday Night War” era fans. Sting hasn’t appeared on national cable television for a wrestling promotion since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro in March of 2001. Many in TNA are waiting to see how Sting’s attitude is when he starts up with the company in 2006. During his previous run with the company, he was very known for simply showing up and collecting a check.

On a related note, many core TNA wrestlers who have been with the company since the beginning have taken many new signings to heart as of late. A good portion of the talent who have been with TNA since day one are making considerably less than some recent acquisitions such as Rhino and even more with the recent signing of Sting. There is no question that the argument could be made that since they are not “known names”, they don’t deserve more pay or even the same as some established talent. Despite that, TNA is continuing the same pattern they did in 2004 when a lot of former WWE/WCW talent was brought in such as Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Diamond Dallas Page. This was done when the company had just debuted on Fox Sports Net and were using that to build around their monthly PPV events. With the company now on Spike TV, they are continuing that same trend. Only time will tell if it spells success with a much larger audience watching on Spike.

News Derived From: News Derived From: Pro Wrestling Torch (http://www.pwtorch.com)

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