TNA President Carlos Silva Talks All Things TNA SLAMMIVERSARY, Partnership with NXT and more in-studio.
Does TNA have a TV rights deal on the horizon? Why is TNA traveling more as many companies are slowing down their travel? How did he feel seeing the TNA World Championship at WRESTLEMANIA.
These questions and more are answered.
Does TNA have a TV rights deal on the horizon? Why is TNA traveling more as many companies are slowing down their travel? How did he feel seeing the TNA World Championship at WRESTLEMANIA.
These questions and more are answered.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Z one hundred, New York's number one hit music station.
I'm Josh Martinez with the Superstar Crossover with our guest
TNA Wrestling. Hif it That's what I'm gonna call you,
and HiFIT perfect. Carlos Silva's going on, Man, how you doing, Josh?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Likewise, big event, Big Event, July twentieth, Ubs Arena. I
believe it's going to be TNA's one of their biggest
shows ever. Any nerves going into a building of that size.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know, I don't know if it's nerves based on
the building. I think we have nerves with every event
you wanna, you want to perform, you wanna you know,
the wrestlers have worked hard or the team has worked hard.
I mean, look, it's New York City, so you always
have nerves coming to New York City. It's the big
it's the big show. Uh. The new Arena, you know,
home of the Islanders, brand new. John Ladeci and the
(00:48):
ownership group there have been amazing to us and we're
just excited to be the biggest show ever for for TNA,
and we hope it is going to be the biggest
show ever for TNA. Here in New York City.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
So a little bit about you. I mentioned the off
air that I've known your name for a while. You've
been kind of the combat sports uh since before COVID.
I feel like COVID has been this weird like stamp
of time where it's like BC and right like right
like a C or whatever before COVID, after COVID. So
what made you want to get back into kind of
the sports entertainment side of things.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I never I never really left sports. I mean
been sports media my whole career, going going way back,
you know, running television networks like Universal Sports, you know,
running World Series of Fighting and being part of the
creation of Professional Fighters League when we when I sold
World Series of Fighting was great. You know, ran ran
some other leagues like World Team Tennis, and you know,
(01:42):
uh built up a portfolio of these leagues. I got
a call. I knew the I knew the Anthem folks.
You know. Anthem is our our parent company that owns
TNA Wrestling. I knew them because back from the World
Series of Fighting days, we distributed our content in Canada
on the Fight Network and Fight Networks, one of one
of the properties that I run under the Anthem Sports
portfolio and so sort of knew them they had they
(02:05):
had gone and acquired TNA Wrestling back in I think
it was around nine eighteen, and so felt this groundswell
over the last sort of year or two with everything
that was happening with with WWE, with the formation of TKO,
you know, new and understood that pretty well, being sort
(02:25):
of in and around the industry. So I thought there
was a great opportunity to take TNA and continue to
build it and really turn it into a premiere organization,
which I think we've we've begun to do over the
last six months, and I think we continue to climb,
and I think Slammerversary ends up being sort of that
tipping point for us as we as we come to
the big show in New York City.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So timeline wise, when did you come over to Tienna.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I joined tn A at the end at the very
end of December, so really the beginning of January, and
it's been a great six seven months building the team
and building the property.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Up to that point. I'm assuming that the deal with
WWEE was kind of already in the making, but you
probably helped kind of end it with your experience. How
important was your personal experience crucial to getting that deal
into the end zone, if you will.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I think some of the relationships that the management had
at Anthem as well as mine, ended up being critical
in putting the deal together, getting it done, kicking it
over the line, if you will. And I think in
the last sort of ninety days, the partnership and the
way that we've approached the partnership on both sides has
(03:35):
really helped to accelerate the way that we exchange wrestlers,
the way we look at storylines, just really the way
we work together, not just on the WWE side. If
you look at Royal Rumble or WrestleMania and how exciting
that was for Joe Hendry and the TNA brand, But
then you also look at what we're doing with NXD
(03:56):
on a weekly basis. Obviously with Trick Williams now holding
the TNA bell, a lot of exciting a lot of
fans understanding and trying to understand what's going on here,
which is absolutely great. But then we've also done some
stuff with Triple A as Triple A has gotten pulled
into the WWE family at WrestleMania with that announcement we've
been down to Mexico and we've brought some wrestlers down there,
(04:17):
and I was down there at Triple Mania and Moose
defended the X Division belt down there and it was
you know, it was just great. The crowds down in
Mexico were great. So I think across the board, the
way that we've been ebbing and flowing with with the
wrestlers up and down and sideways has been it's been
really great.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So I think as a fan, I mean I remember
my eighth grade graduation gift, I asked my mom to
order the first TNA pay per view event because it
was weekly at the time, and that's been I don't
want to age myself, but a long time. When it
comes to TNA as a whole, there's been a lot
of ups and downs through the I mean multiple decades
(04:56):
now that they've been out and national TV deals across
the various networks. What is the most important, I would
say business aspect that you bring to TNA that maybe
they haven't had in the past.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I think you raised a good point. I mean,
twenty three years TNA has been around. I mean that's
a foundational Major League Wrestling property.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
At one point number two in the country, and.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I think it's important that there is this distinction between
sort of the major leagues with WWE, NXTAW and TNA.
I think, look, I've been in and around the sports
and media business my whole career, been on the biggest platforms,
whether it's big NFL deals, whether it's big Olympic deals,
whether you know, halftime shows at the Super Bowl, running
(05:46):
a NASCAR team, I mean every major property we've been
in and around over these last twenty five years. And
I think just bringing that level of sort of operational
and professionalism to what is such a great foundational fan
base around TNA, but really just looking at the very
practical day to day block and tackling around running a
(06:08):
sports and media and entertainment business, from sponsorship to filling
up venues, to distribution deals and to just creating this
this engine that helps a property to grow. It's there's
you know, we talk about it all the time with
the team. There's really not one thing that makes a
property successful. It's all it's all of these little things
(06:31):
every single day. And and look, we've had some great
shows this year. They don't they don't matter in a way.
What matters. Is Slammiversary next, Like it's it's like an
athlete that steps up to the plate or a quarterback
that's got the tomb in a drill. I mean, if
they don't, if they don't make that one work, everyone
forgets about the win from the prior week. It's it's
(06:53):
very some we take that same sort of sporting approach.
The foundation's awesome, it's great, but how do we win
in the next time? And how do we win the
next and keep building it a little bit. And I
think if you look at these last six months, sort
of every thirty days, every sixty days we've start, we've
had another win, and so it's it's the next win
(07:14):
is going to be Slammiversary. Hopefully it's going to be
our biggest show ever on the biggest stage ever. And
then we'll then look, you know, to the fall, and
we're going to some new markets in Rhode Island and Edmonton, Minneapolis,
and then you know, Bound for Glory will happen and
we'll start to you know, reshape. Then how do we
go into twenty twenty six? And so I think thinking
(07:35):
through that sort of season of sport along with the
wrestling season and the storylines is is I hope what
I'm bringing to the organization to help.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It's funny because I feel like a lot of companies
are moving away from traveling more because since COVID, probably
a lot of companies and that makes sense right from
a financial standpoint. It almost feels like you guys are
moving more rather than like you guys are doing the opposite,
where you guys are going to more cities and you're
traveling a little more. What's kind of the strategy behind
(08:05):
it isn't as simple as we haven't been to that
city we're going to go.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
No, It's definitely not that simple. I mean I think
maybe sometimes event organizations sort of take a dart and
they you know, throw the dart at the dartboard and say, oh,
that would be a great city. I think we've looked
at the cities around as I sort of think about
the major sporting cities in America right now, because I
think America is where we start. We have done a
(08:30):
couple of great shows in Canada as well. But you know,
there's a reason why we went to La you know,
was a reason that we're in New York. There's also
a reason why we're in sort of that next level market.
We were just in Pittsburgh and had a great show.
We were out in Arizona and Scottsdale, another great market.
And by the way, all of those markets their NFL markets,
their NHL markets there they're MLB markets and and there's
(08:53):
a reason they bring a certain feeling around the sports
fan and the fandom that we want to also bring
to TNA. Are we traveling a little more? Maybe we've
made sure that we sort of want to build that brand.
But I think as we transition to hopefully going live more,
which we've started to do this year, there will be
(09:15):
a time where you have to find some home bases.
I mean, you can't travel fifty two weeks a year
and you need a place to be one, two, three,
four months a year. And so we're already looking at
those kinds of locations for twenty twenty six. Is as
we think about you know now thinking about twenty twenty six,
which I think again is just part of being operational,
to be smart and getting ahead of where you have
(09:37):
to be in the marketplace for your sports and entertainment property.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Not to get too like nerdy and too like into
the weeds a little bit but so Anthem Sports Group
owns obviously TNA and also Access TV, which is a
channel you guys are on right.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Sort of Okay, So Anthem Sports and Entertainment is split
into two properties too, divisions, Anthem Entertainment and Anthem Sports.
Andy Shoon, longtime entertainment executive, runs our entertainment division, and
Access TV is in that division. And then on the
sports side, I've got TNA wrestling in Victa MMA, Women's MMA,
(10:19):
and Fight Network, as well as another network called Game Plus,
and so we all work together obviously under one umbrella.
But that's how the division of entertainment and sports is
set up.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Could because TV rights deals, especially for sports and live sports,
is the largest it's ever been, could you guys get
a TV deal elsewhere? Or is it part of this
agreement with Access, Like, hey, you guys are ours, so
stay on Access TV.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I think that's the way it's been. And as we
built up Anthem Sports Entertainment under sort of an owned
and operated how do we distribute across each of them?
That's why we're on Access. But now the whole organization
is sort of saying TNA has gotten even bigger, and
so now we start to look for where else we
should put TNA and so we're we're deep into that process.
(11:11):
We've we've partnered with CAA, one of you know, the
top firm in the world around distributions and media deals
and uh, and we're working on that actively and hope,
hope as we get through the summer and into the
early fall that will we'll have a new distribution deal.
And so that's that's very much a key piece of
what I'm working on.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
As you said that, I have to look at the
bottom right of the screen to look at the date
that's like two three months away. Sure, wow, Okay, you
just come on in and you're like, you know what,
first day, because it takes some time to get any
sort of TV deal done. This isn't something that's like
over two lunch meetings. You guys are good. So yeah,
that's really impressive.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, well it's a it's an interesting moment too. And
you know, in the media side, as you know, I
mean so much, so much unbundling and changing. I think
it's maybe the biggest, maybe the biggest change since around
the two thousands or even two thousand and three, when
you know things like TVO and recording and DVR sort
of hit the market, and and so I think in
(12:11):
that creates this great opportunity. I mean, all the traditional
cable guys are trying to understand how they leverage the
digital space, and then all the digital guys are trying
to understand how they become cable networks. And so it's
this really this mashup that I think creates opportunities for
properties like TNA and in Victa and the the other
(12:32):
properties that we have.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So, what has been the most exciting thing for you personally,
like starting you know, Q four or Q one technically,
what has been the most exciting aspect for you taking
over TNA Wrestling?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I think for me, I mean not being a lifelong
wrestling person, wrestling fan, not you know, being maybe more
of a casual fan, but being a fan of sports
and sports entertainment my whole life and my whole career.
For me, it's just been it's been the fans. I mean,
it's just I can't really describe the joy that I
(13:07):
get from seeing how happy the fans are and how
good and excited the fandom is in and around pro wrestling.
And so for someone that's tried to build properties my
whole career, fill up venues, been at big events, you know,
whether it's the Super Bowl or you know, the opening
opening ceremony of the Olympics. Seeing thousands and thousands of
(13:30):
excited fans waiting outside for the doors to open so
that they can see their favorite wrestlers, to sign up
for meet and greets, to buy a T shirt or
a hat. It's it's something that I haven't seen really,
I think, in my whole, my whole sporting and entertainment career,
and so it it just makes me happy to see it.
(13:51):
And so it's been fun.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So were you at WrestleMania physically at the STAATEU? So
you were at a Leegian staium. Okay, so let's try
to paint this picture. Super Bowl happens these football side,
these football stadiums. WrestleMania sells more tickets because of the staging,
so you get more people actually onto the field. Your performer,
Joe Henry, his music hits. It's a surprise for everyone
in the building. What is that immediate reaction for you
(14:15):
sitting there realizing, holy shit. I think the loudest ovation
is for this guy who I am working with on
a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It was. It was it was like goosebumps. I mean,
it was it. Look, I've been I've been lucky that
in my career, I've been in and around a lot
of a lot of big events. I mean, I helped
produce Dave Matthews Band in the Park here on the
Great Lawn in two thousand and three or four front
of one hundred thousand people went out onto the stage.
(14:47):
This was bigger than that. I mean when Joe came out,
the level of surprise when the song hit and he's
everyone started clapping and everyone started waving their arms in
front of us, I don't know, seventy five thousand and
eight thousand whenever, Allegiant Stadium. It was. It was insane.
It was really insane, and uh, it was. It was
(15:09):
great to see him hold the belt up. It was
great for him to wrestle, you know, to represent TNA
like that, And it was great the way the fans
reacted to the the TNA World Champion there in the
in the ring. So it was it was a great moment.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So when you get that call or that text of like, hey,
it's confirmed, Joe Hendry is going to be Randy Ortons
a opponent at WrestleMania. What's that initial excitement level for
you as a person seeing what Joe Hendry has done
up to that point, doing the research, realizing what he's
done in years past, just a human element, not even
(15:43):
the business side of like, damn, this is going to
be a great look for TNA. What's that like for you?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
No, you know, I think it just you know, you
kind of you kind of do this and you're just
like wow, like I can't I can't believe this is
happening for him. And he's a great he's a great guy.
He's a hard worker. Having been around athletes and performers
my whole career too, it's been nice to get to
know them and the what happens in our locker room
(16:10):
and how much everyone cares. I remember telling everyone after
it happened that everyone should celebrate with Joe because Joe
was there with the TNA belt. Because of everything that
everyone's done for the last twenty three years, it all
kind of comes together, and so you know, on a
personal level, you're just you're just thankful that you can
(16:31):
be a part of, you know, those special moments, and
I hope, you know, ten years from now, you know,
we'll sit and I'll tell that story to someone because
it was It was pretty insane being there.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So I think anyone who wants to be a pro
wrestler dreams of the WWE. Anybody who's in any sort
of mixed martial arts probably dreams of UFC. Those are
like the two top brands to the point where it's
almost like Kleenex right where it's like people say, like
my mom's guilty, she'll say instead of like wrestling, she'll
say WWE. The amount of people that say UFC instead
(17:01):
of m m A infuriates me personally. But obviously you'll
have people that go from TNA and they'll leave and
they'll go to w and understandably, so you're a human being,
you get it. What's that like when that starts to
begin to happen.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I think there's two There's two sides to it. I
mean there's the there's the personal and the growth story
that you want to support around the wrestler or the athlete,
and then there's the business side and how it and
you have to balance the two. Uh, it's gonna it's
going to continue to happen. The partnership is strong. We
(17:39):
want to support wrestlers if they're going to get called up. Uh.
Everyone wants to you know, you know, get the left
hander to come out of the bullpen at the big moment.
It's just that it's just part of sporting, you know,
the sporting landscape. And so we will continue to celebrate that,
and I think we'll be able to celebrate it in
both directions. I also think you'll see when when that happens,
(18:02):
if they go to n X T or TNA, or
goes to NXT or goes to w they're also going
to come back and they'll be they'll still be part
of of TNA, maybe on coming back as a WWE
nxter as well. And so uh, you know, look, we've
had some you know, small uh and interesting moments too
around uh around you know, when we were down at
(18:24):
UH uh we were down at one of the shows.
One of the big moments that came up during the
NXT show the other day when we were down in
UH in Tampa was this this great open that was
put together around the history of TNA, and it was
voiced by aj Styles and it was it was insanely
cool because of that mashup and and I think we're
(18:45):
going to continue to see that happen. So it it
just it feels good. You're right. I mean, if you
play football, you want to get to the NFL. If
you're a wrestler, you want to get to WWE. If
you're an MMA athlete, you want to get to the UFC. Uh.
I'm proud that I helped get some of our athletes
on the MMA side to the UFC too. I mean,
(19:05):
if you didn't see Kayla Harrison winning the World Championship
a couple of weeks ago, I signed Kayla to her
first deal in World Series of Fighting back in twenty eighteen,
and we created a weight class for her to cross
over from JUDO into MMA at the beginning. He's like,
very proud that when I saw her hold up the
belt and just I mean, is great. It is a
(19:27):
great feeling, and so we'll continue to celebrate that on
the TNA side, you know, along with our partners with
with ww and NXT for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Shifting gears a little bit for Invicta. Do you think
that in Victa gets the credit it deserves.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I don't. I don't. I think I think Shannon doing
what she's done over the last ten twelve years within
Victa building really building a women's MMA brand before it
was cool to have a women's sporting brand like it
is now, or like it's been for the last few years.
(20:02):
I don't think she's gotten as much credit. It's a
I think it's all part of how we're trying to
reimagine Invicta. You know, Shannon and I talk every every day,
every other day about where we go next, how do
we continue to build it, how do we look at
a bigger season for Invicta, How do we bring some
consistency to Invicta, And so we're we're working on all
(20:23):
those things because she's had every every great fighter on
the women's MMA side through you know, through the Invicta
house in the last ten years, and I think we
can continue to build that. And in the same way,
you know, find some champions that might leave Invicta and
you know go to go to PFL or you know,
(20:44):
go to UFC as as a you know, another big
stage for them.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Would it be feasible to do two events on the
same night. I've always I've often wondered that, right like
now with t KO ufcnwe and you guys have Invicta
and TNA wrestling, is it possible? And maybe logistically it's
not to have like three in victim matches, have like
an hour long, hour and a half long event, and
(21:10):
then just literally in the same building go into an
hour long, two hour long TNA event. I mean, logistically,
that's a lot of space you're taking up. But you know,
if wrestling companies can have three rings next to each other,
why can't we do kind of an octagon in a ring? Josh?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I mean maybe you've been in my staff feedings because
it's exactly what we've been talking about for the last
thirty days. And how how we you know, we really
enjoyed and I think the fans enjoyed what TKO and
UFC and WWE and PBR did in Kansas City about
a month ago now, I mean an amazing mashup of
(21:48):
all of the TKO brands in a weekend. And so
we're thinking about the same and how we've even looked
at how do we put the ring and the cage
on casters, how do we look at how we move
them more quickly so we can use the lighting and
the infrastructure, the LED screens, all of that in the
LANA stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
So you could just use all the entrance ramp, the rights,
the lighting for TV, the.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Heart ram, the overhead lights for TV. And so yeah,
we've been looking at exactly that, and we were targeting
possibly to do that in Rhode Island, but I think
it ended up being a little too fast, And so
we are looking at some of the other dates around
TNA and in Victa and how we might smash those
smash of Friday Saturday weekend, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
(22:33):
Sunday weekend together with both properties.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Not you know, obviously July twentieth Summer vers or ubs Arena.
But I think New York City might be a pretty
dope market for something like that, And if it's never
been done, why not be the first ones to do it,
especially in market one. I understand the buildings are not
cheap to rent out for multiple days on end, but
you're already there, so you have the lighting rigs.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Everything's rigged up.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
You might as well just run the show man.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That's just my thought.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
But what do I know, You've done this longer than
I've been doing this.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, Look, it's it's definitely a it's definitely a good idea,
and there's we just got to find the ways to
start it and find find the right market and the
right arena that we can sort of do the prototype,
because like anything, you're gonna do it once and then
you're gonna tweak it and make it better, and then
we're going to think about how we bring sponsors in
around this weekend or with both properties, with both TNA
(23:22):
and Invicted together.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Before we wrap things up, what can we expect from
TNA Wrestling for the second half of twenty twenty five
and even beyond.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
You know, I think, look, some of VERSU is going
to be going to be our biggest show, and it's
it's going to be a tipping point. It's going to
continue to just help us grow. I think you're going
to see more wrestlers being signed. I think you're going
to see new more markets. I think you're going to
see us expand in the TV distribution space. And then
I think you're going to also see what we're going
to do on the digital side that's going to combine
(23:52):
because really, TV is a funny word now, I mean,
TV's really in quotes, and so it's really how do
you smash up streaming, digital social into a package. It's
It's been part of what I've done to be disruptive
my whole career, and so I think we're going to
continue to do that. We've done it a little bit
over these last few weeks in doing some of these
(24:14):
live look ins even in our tape shows for our
digital subscribers. We're going to continue to do that because
we like live.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Love that. One more time, Carlos Silva, we appreciate you.
TNA Slammer, TNA Slammiversary July twentieth, Ubis Arena, It's gonna
be exciting.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Thank you, Josh,
Z one hundred, New York's number one hit music station.
I'm Josh Martinez with the Superstar Crossover with our guest
TNA Wrestling. Hif it That's what I'm gonna call you,
and HiFIT perfect. Carlos Silva's going on, Man, how you doing, Josh?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Likewise, big event, Big Event, July twentieth, Ubs Arena. I
believe it's going to be TNA's one of their biggest
shows ever. Any nerves going into a building of that size.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You know, I don't know if it's nerves based on
the building. I think we have nerves with every event
you wanna, you want to perform, you wanna you know,
the wrestlers have worked hard or the team has worked hard.
I mean, look, it's New York City, so you always
have nerves coming to New York City. It's the big
it's the big show. Uh. The new Arena, you know,
home of the Islanders, brand new. John Ladeci and the
(00:48):
ownership group there have been amazing to us and we're
just excited to be the biggest show ever for for TNA,
and we hope it is going to be the biggest
show ever for TNA. Here in New York City.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
So a little bit about you. I mentioned the off
air that I've known your name for a while. You've
been kind of the combat sports uh since before COVID.
I feel like COVID has been this weird like stamp
of time where it's like BC and right like right
like a C or whatever before COVID, after COVID. So
what made you want to get back into kind of
the sports entertainment side of things.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, I never I never really left sports. I mean
been sports media my whole career, going going way back,
you know, running television networks like Universal Sports, you know,
running World Series of Fighting and being part of the
creation of Professional Fighters League when we when I sold
World Series of Fighting was great. You know, ran ran
some other leagues like World Team Tennis, and you know,
(01:42):
uh built up a portfolio of these leagues. I got
a call. I knew the I knew the Anthem folks.
You know. Anthem is our our parent company that owns
TNA Wrestling. I knew them because back from the World
Series of Fighting days, we distributed our content in Canada
on the Fight Network and Fight Networks, one of one
of the properties that I run under the Anthem Sports
portfolio and so sort of knew them they had they
(02:05):
had gone and acquired TNA Wrestling back in I think
it was around nine eighteen, and so felt this groundswell
over the last sort of year or two with everything
that was happening with with WWE, with the formation of TKO,
you know, new and understood that pretty well, being sort
(02:25):
of in and around the industry. So I thought there
was a great opportunity to take TNA and continue to
build it and really turn it into a premiere organization,
which I think we've we've begun to do over the
last six months, and I think we continue to climb,
and I think Slammerversary ends up being sort of that
tipping point for us as we as we come to
the big show in New York City.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So timeline wise, when did you come over to Tienna.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I joined tn A at the end at the very
end of December, so really the beginning of January, and
it's been a great six seven months building the team
and building the property.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Up to that point. I'm assuming that the deal with
WWEE was kind of already in the making, but you
probably helped kind of end it with your experience. How
important was your personal experience crucial to getting that deal
into the end zone, if you will.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I think some of the relationships that the management had
at Anthem as well as mine, ended up being critical
in putting the deal together, getting it done, kicking it
over the line, if you will. And I think in
the last sort of ninety days, the partnership and the
way that we've approached the partnership on both sides has
(03:35):
really helped to accelerate the way that we exchange wrestlers,
the way we look at storylines, just really the way
we work together, not just on the WWE side. If
you look at Royal Rumble or WrestleMania and how exciting
that was for Joe Hendry and the TNA brand, But
then you also look at what we're doing with NXD
(03:56):
on a weekly basis. Obviously with Trick Williams now holding
the TNA bell, a lot of exciting a lot of
fans understanding and trying to understand what's going on here,
which is absolutely great. But then we've also done some
stuff with Triple A as Triple A has gotten pulled
into the WWE family at WrestleMania with that announcement we've
been down to Mexico and we've brought some wrestlers down there,
(04:17):
and I was down there at Triple Mania and Moose
defended the X Division belt down there and it was
you know, it was just great. The crowds down in
Mexico were great. So I think across the board, the
way that we've been ebbing and flowing with with the
wrestlers up and down and sideways has been it's been
really great.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So I think as a fan, I mean I remember
my eighth grade graduation gift, I asked my mom to
order the first TNA pay per view event because it
was weekly at the time, and that's been I don't
want to age myself, but a long time. When it
comes to TNA as a whole, there's been a lot
of ups and downs through the I mean multiple decades
(04:56):
now that they've been out and national TV deals across
the various networks. What is the most important, I would
say business aspect that you bring to TNA that maybe
they haven't had in the past.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, I think you raised a good point. I mean,
twenty three years TNA has been around. I mean that's
a foundational Major League Wrestling property.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
At one point number two in the country, and.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I think it's important that there is this distinction between
sort of the major leagues with WWE, NXTAW and TNA.
I think, look, I've been in and around the sports
and media business my whole career, been on the biggest platforms,
whether it's big NFL deals, whether it's big Olympic deals,
whether you know, halftime shows at the Super Bowl, running
(05:46):
a NASCAR team, I mean every major property we've been
in and around over these last twenty five years. And
I think just bringing that level of sort of operational
and professionalism to what is such a great foundational fan
base around TNA, but really just looking at the very
practical day to day block and tackling around running a
(06:08):
sports and media and entertainment business, from sponsorship to filling
up venues, to distribution deals and to just creating this
this engine that helps a property to grow. It's there's
you know, we talk about it all the time with
the team. There's really not one thing that makes a
property successful. It's all it's all of these little things
(06:31):
every single day. And and look, we've had some great
shows this year. They don't they don't matter in a way.
What matters. Is Slammiversary next, Like it's it's like an
athlete that steps up to the plate or a quarterback
that's got the tomb in a drill. I mean, if
they don't, if they don't make that one work, everyone
forgets about the win from the prior week. It's it's
(06:53):
very some we take that same sort of sporting approach.
The foundation's awesome, it's great, but how do we win
in the next time? And how do we win the
next and keep building it a little bit. And I
think if you look at these last six months, sort
of every thirty days, every sixty days we've start, we've
had another win, and so it's it's the next win
(07:14):
is going to be Slammiversary. Hopefully it's going to be
our biggest show ever on the biggest stage ever. And
then we'll then look, you know, to the fall, and
we're going to some new markets in Rhode Island and Edmonton, Minneapolis,
and then you know, Bound for Glory will happen and
we'll start to you know, reshape. Then how do we
go into twenty twenty six? And so I think thinking
(07:35):
through that sort of season of sport along with the
wrestling season and the storylines is is I hope what
I'm bringing to the organization to help.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It's funny because I feel like a lot of companies
are moving away from traveling more because since COVID, probably
a lot of companies and that makes sense right from
a financial standpoint. It almost feels like you guys are
moving more rather than like you guys are doing the opposite,
where you guys are going to more cities and you're
traveling a little more. What's kind of the strategy behind
(08:05):
it isn't as simple as we haven't been to that
city we're going to go.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
No, It's definitely not that simple. I mean I think
maybe sometimes event organizations sort of take a dart and
they you know, throw the dart at the dartboard and say, oh,
that would be a great city. I think we've looked
at the cities around as I sort of think about
the major sporting cities in America right now, because I
think America is where we start. We have done a
(08:30):
couple of great shows in Canada as well. But you know,
there's a reason why we went to La you know,
was a reason that we're in New York. There's also
a reason why we're in sort of that next level market.
We were just in Pittsburgh and had a great show.
We were out in Arizona and Scottsdale, another great market.
And by the way, all of those markets their NFL markets,
their NHL markets there they're MLB markets and and there's
(08:53):
a reason they bring a certain feeling around the sports
fan and the fandom that we want to also bring
to TNA. Are we traveling a little more? Maybe we've
made sure that we sort of want to build that brand.
But I think as we transition to hopefully going live more,
which we've started to do this year, there will be
(09:15):
a time where you have to find some home bases.
I mean, you can't travel fifty two weeks a year
and you need a place to be one, two, three,
four months a year. And so we're already looking at
those kinds of locations for twenty twenty six. Is as
we think about you know now thinking about twenty twenty six,
which I think again is just part of being operational,
to be smart and getting ahead of where you have
(09:37):
to be in the marketplace for your sports and entertainment property.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Not to get too like nerdy and too like into
the weeds a little bit but so Anthem Sports Group
owns obviously TNA and also Access TV, which is a
channel you guys are on right.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Sort of Okay, So Anthem Sports and Entertainment is split
into two properties too, divisions, Anthem Entertainment and Anthem Sports.
Andy Shoon, longtime entertainment executive, runs our entertainment division, and
Access TV is in that division. And then on the
sports side, I've got TNA wrestling in Victa MMA, Women's MMA,
(10:19):
and Fight Network, as well as another network called Game Plus,
and so we all work together obviously under one umbrella.
But that's how the division of entertainment and sports is
set up.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Could because TV rights deals, especially for sports and live sports,
is the largest it's ever been, could you guys get
a TV deal elsewhere? Or is it part of this
agreement with Access, Like, hey, you guys are ours, so
stay on Access TV.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I think that's the way it's been. And as we
built up Anthem Sports Entertainment under sort of an owned
and operated how do we distribute across each of them?
That's why we're on Access. But now the whole organization
is sort of saying TNA has gotten even bigger, and
so now we start to look for where else we
should put TNA and so we're we're deep into that process.
(11:11):
We've we've partnered with CAA, one of you know, the
top firm in the world around distributions and media deals
and uh, and we're working on that actively and hope,
hope as we get through the summer and into the
early fall that will we'll have a new distribution deal.
And so that's that's very much a key piece of
what I'm working on.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
As you said that, I have to look at the
bottom right of the screen to look at the date
that's like two three months away. Sure, wow, Okay, you
just come on in and you're like, you know what,
first day, because it takes some time to get any
sort of TV deal done. This isn't something that's like
over two lunch meetings. You guys are good. So yeah,
that's really impressive.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, well it's a it's an interesting moment too. And
you know, in the media side, as you know, I
mean so much, so much unbundling and changing. I think
it's maybe the biggest, maybe the biggest change since around
the two thousands or even two thousand and three, when
you know things like TVO and recording and DVR sort
of hit the market, and and so I think in
(12:11):
that creates this great opportunity. I mean, all the traditional
cable guys are trying to understand how they leverage the
digital space, and then all the digital guys are trying
to understand how they become cable networks. And so it's
this really this mashup that I think creates opportunities for
properties like TNA and in Victa and the the other
(12:32):
properties that we have.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So, what has been the most exciting thing for you personally,
like starting you know, Q four or Q one technically,
what has been the most exciting aspect for you taking
over TNA Wrestling?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I think for me, I mean not being a lifelong
wrestling person, wrestling fan, not you know, being maybe more
of a casual fan, but being a fan of sports
and sports entertainment my whole life and my whole career.
For me, it's just been it's been the fans. I mean,
it's just I can't really describe the joy that I
(13:07):
get from seeing how happy the fans are and how
good and excited the fandom is in and around pro wrestling.
And so for someone that's tried to build properties my
whole career, fill up venues, been at big events, you know,
whether it's the Super Bowl or you know, the opening
opening ceremony of the Olympics. Seeing thousands and thousands of
(13:30):
excited fans waiting outside for the doors to open so
that they can see their favorite wrestlers, to sign up
for meet and greets, to buy a T shirt or
a hat. It's it's something that I haven't seen really,
I think, in my whole, my whole sporting and entertainment career,
and so it it just makes me happy to see it.
(13:51):
And so it's been fun.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So were you at WrestleMania physically at the STAATEU? So
you were at a Leegian staium. Okay, so let's try
to paint this picture. Super Bowl happens these football side,
these football stadiums. WrestleMania sells more tickets because of the staging,
so you get more people actually onto the field. Your performer,
Joe Henry, his music hits. It's a surprise for everyone
in the building. What is that immediate reaction for you
(14:15):
sitting there realizing, holy shit. I think the loudest ovation
is for this guy who I am working with on
a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It was. It was it was like goosebumps. I mean,
it was it. Look, I've been I've been lucky that
in my career, I've been in and around a lot
of a lot of big events. I mean, I helped
produce Dave Matthews Band in the Park here on the
Great Lawn in two thousand and three or four front
of one hundred thousand people went out onto the stage.
(14:47):
This was bigger than that. I mean when Joe came out,
the level of surprise when the song hit and he's
everyone started clapping and everyone started waving their arms in
front of us, I don't know, seventy five thousand and
eight thousand whenever, Allegiant Stadium. It was. It was insane.
It was really insane, and uh, it was. It was
(15:09):
great to see him hold the belt up. It was
great for him to wrestle, you know, to represent TNA
like that, And it was great the way the fans
reacted to the the TNA World Champion there in the
in the ring. So it was it was a great moment.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So when you get that call or that text of like, hey,
it's confirmed, Joe Hendry is going to be Randy Ortons
a opponent at WrestleMania. What's that initial excitement level for
you as a person seeing what Joe Hendry has done
up to that point, doing the research, realizing what he's
done in years past, just a human element, not even
(15:43):
the business side of like, damn, this is going to
be a great look for TNA. What's that like for you?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
No, you know, I think it just you know, you
kind of you kind of do this and you're just
like wow, like I can't I can't believe this is
happening for him. And he's a great he's a great guy.
He's a hard worker. Having been around athletes and performers
my whole career too, it's been nice to get to
know them and the what happens in our locker room
(16:10):
and how much everyone cares. I remember telling everyone after
it happened that everyone should celebrate with Joe because Joe
was there with the TNA belt. Because of everything that
everyone's done for the last twenty three years, it all
kind of comes together, and so you know, on a
personal level, you're just you're just thankful that you can
(16:31):
be a part of, you know, those special moments, and
I hope, you know, ten years from now, you know,
we'll sit and I'll tell that story to someone because
it was It was pretty insane being there.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So I think anyone who wants to be a pro
wrestler dreams of the WWE. Anybody who's in any sort
of mixed martial arts probably dreams of UFC. Those are
like the two top brands to the point where it's
almost like Kleenex right where it's like people say, like
my mom's guilty, she'll say instead of like wrestling, she'll
say WWE. The amount of people that say UFC instead
(17:01):
of m m A infuriates me personally. But obviously you'll
have people that go from TNA and they'll leave and
they'll go to w and understandably, so you're a human being,
you get it. What's that like when that starts to
begin to happen.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I think there's two There's two sides to it. I
mean there's the there's the personal and the growth story
that you want to support around the wrestler or the athlete,
and then there's the business side and how it and
you have to balance the two. Uh, it's gonna it's
going to continue to happen. The partnership is strong. We
(17:39):
want to support wrestlers if they're going to get called up. Uh.
Everyone wants to you know, you know, get the left
hander to come out of the bullpen at the big moment.
It's just that it's just part of sporting, you know,
the sporting landscape. And so we will continue to celebrate that,
and I think we'll be able to celebrate it in
both directions. I also think you'll see when when that happens,
(18:02):
if they go to n X T or TNA, or
goes to NXT or goes to w they're also going
to come back and they'll be they'll still be part
of of TNA, maybe on coming back as a WWE
nxter as well. And so uh, you know, look, we've
had some you know, small uh and interesting moments too
around uh around you know, when we were down at
(18:24):
UH uh we were down at one of the shows.
One of the big moments that came up during the
NXT show the other day when we were down in
UH in Tampa was this this great open that was
put together around the history of TNA, and it was
voiced by aj Styles and it was it was insanely
cool because of that mashup and and I think we're
(18:45):
going to continue to see that happen. So it it
just it feels good. You're right. I mean, if you
play football, you want to get to the NFL. If
you're a wrestler, you want to get to WWE. If
you're an MMA athlete, you want to get to the UFC. Uh.
I'm proud that I helped get some of our athletes
on the MMA side to the UFC too. I mean,
(19:05):
if you didn't see Kayla Harrison winning the World Championship
a couple of weeks ago, I signed Kayla to her
first deal in World Series of Fighting back in twenty eighteen,
and we created a weight class for her to cross
over from JUDO into MMA at the beginning. He's like,
very proud that when I saw her hold up the
belt and just I mean, is great. It is a
(19:27):
great feeling, and so we'll continue to celebrate that on
the TNA side, you know, along with our partners with
with ww and NXT for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Shifting gears a little bit for Invicta. Do you think
that in Victa gets the credit it deserves.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I don't. I don't. I think I think Shannon doing
what she's done over the last ten twelve years within
Victa building really building a women's MMA brand before it
was cool to have a women's sporting brand like it
is now, or like it's been for the last few years.
(20:02):
I don't think she's gotten as much credit. It's a
I think it's all part of how we're trying to
reimagine Invicta. You know, Shannon and I talk every every day,
every other day about where we go next, how do
we continue to build it, how do we look at
a bigger season for Invicta, How do we bring some
consistency to Invicta, And so we're we're working on all
(20:23):
those things because she's had every every great fighter on
the women's MMA side through you know, through the Invicta
house in the last ten years, and I think we
can continue to build that. And in the same way,
you know, find some champions that might leave Invicta and
you know go to go to PFL or you know,
(20:44):
go to UFC as as a you know, another big
stage for them.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Would it be feasible to do two events on the
same night. I've always I've often wondered that, right like
now with t KO ufcnwe and you guys have Invicta
and TNA wrestling, is it possible? And maybe logistically it's
not to have like three in victim matches, have like
an hour long, hour and a half long event, and
(21:10):
then just literally in the same building go into an
hour long, two hour long TNA event. I mean, logistically,
that's a lot of space you're taking up. But you know,
if wrestling companies can have three rings next to each other,
why can't we do kind of an octagon in a ring? Josh?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
I mean maybe you've been in my staff feedings because
it's exactly what we've been talking about for the last
thirty days. And how how we you know, we really
enjoyed and I think the fans enjoyed what TKO and
UFC and WWE and PBR did in Kansas City about
a month ago now, I mean an amazing mashup of
(21:48):
all of the TKO brands in a weekend. And so
we're thinking about the same and how we've even looked
at how do we put the ring and the cage
on casters, how do we look at how we move
them more quickly so we can use the lighting and
the infrastructure, the LED screens, all of that in the
LANA stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
So you could just use all the entrance ramp, the rights,
the lighting for TV, the.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Heart ram, the overhead lights for TV. And so yeah,
we've been looking at exactly that, and we were targeting
possibly to do that in Rhode Island, but I think
it ended up being a little too fast, And so
we are looking at some of the other dates around
TNA and in Victa and how we might smash those
smash of Friday Saturday weekend, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
(22:33):
Sunday weekend together with both properties.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Not you know, obviously July twentieth Summer vers or ubs Arena.
But I think New York City might be a pretty
dope market for something like that, And if it's never
been done, why not be the first ones to do it,
especially in market one. I understand the buildings are not
cheap to rent out for multiple days on end, but
you're already there, so you have the lighting rigs.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Everything's rigged up.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
You might as well just run the show man.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
That's just my thought.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
But what do I know, You've done this longer than
I've been doing this.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, Look, it's it's definitely a it's definitely a good idea,
and there's we just got to find the ways to
start it and find find the right market and the
right arena that we can sort of do the prototype,
because like anything, you're gonna do it once and then
you're gonna tweak it and make it better, and then
we're going to think about how we bring sponsors in
around this weekend or with both properties, with both TNA
(23:22):
and Invicted together.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Before we wrap things up, what can we expect from
TNA Wrestling for the second half of twenty twenty five
and even beyond.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
You know, I think, look, some of VERSU is going
to be going to be our biggest show, and it's
it's going to be a tipping point. It's going to
continue to just help us grow. I think you're going
to see more wrestlers being signed. I think you're going
to see new more markets. I think you're going to
see us expand in the TV distribution space. And then
I think you're going to also see what we're going
to do on the digital side that's going to combine
(23:52):
because really, TV is a funny word now, I mean,
TV's really in quotes, and so it's really how do
you smash up streaming, digital social into a package. It's
It's been part of what I've done to be disruptive
my whole career, and so I think we're going to
continue to do that. We've done it a little bit
over these last few weeks in doing some of these
(24:14):
live look ins even in our tape shows for our
digital subscribers. We're going to continue to do that because
we like live.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Love that. One more time, Carlos Silva, we appreciate you.
TNA Slammer, TNA Slammiversary July twentieth, Ubis Arena, It's gonna
be exciting.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Thank you, Josh,
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