Dixie Carter Interview

Here are highlights from TNA iMPACT! Wrestling president Dixie Carter's recent interview with The Ministry Of Slam

On criticism over signing too many MMA fighters to TNA deals: "I’ve gotten criticism for bringing these guys in but when you’re looking for talent and there’s only two teams, where do you go to get your star players from? You’re going to mostly look to each other and then every once in a while, you’ve got to build your own talent which takes a lot of time.

So here are two guys that are major superstars. Both come from wrestling backgrounds, and both are training their butts off right now to be in the ring. I think it’s a great way of trying to find some superstar talent and not having to take so many years to try to grow somebody’s stardom. Both of these guys are so well-known and they love professional wrestling. They're committed and they're training, and I’m excited for people to see their potential. I think it’s a great way of looking for new talent, and talent that have never been seen before in our world."

On recent TNA talent releases: "Well, I think the fact that you let talent go is not any indication whatsoever of any problems. I think part of our problem is that we didn’t turn the roster often enough. We only have one show so if we don’t have people on the show all the time. we are not in the position to have them sitting at home and being paid and not working. I think we have to get some more programming.

We have to be able to do that to where we can shift and make talent appear fresh, but going to another show versus sitting people at home. I think it’s been a long time coming. I know that our competitor lets people go constantly. We had not done it in a long time, and I think because we had not done it in a long time, that it raised some eyebrows.

It’s time for us to bring in some new faces, and we've got some exciting faces that will be appearing in the next several months. It’ll freshen things up somewhat. It’ll freshen up the people who are still on the roster and it’ll give the fans new and unique matches that they’ve never seen before. Like always, I’m sure some of the people that are no longer with us will return at some point – I’m hopeful for that. I think it’s a good healthy state of where we’re going and how we need to grow."

On Bully Ray and the Aces & 8's: "Bully Ray in my opinion has really stepped up and become a formidable singles champion. He’s done outstanding work. A lot of the young guys have come along under the Aces & Eights banner very quickly. I love the reformation of the Main Event Mafia; I love the younger members in there stepping up to represent our company. I think there’s going to be some interesting TV in the coming weeks."