History TroubledProduction / ProfessionalWrestling

* 2016 was considered both the promotion's best ''and'' worst year specifically for this reason. Despite putting on the most compelling programming ''Impact!'' has had in a while, including the massively popular "BROKEN" Matt Hardy gimmick, TNA was hemorrhaging money like no tomorrow and closer to bankruptcy than it had ever been before, unable to do tapings due to a lack of funds to pay the wrestlers and crew, and inadvertently falling into debt with several creditors as a result. Towards the end of the year, they were also hit by a string of lawsuits, including a tax lien from the state of Tennessee and one by ''their own company president'' (at the time), Billy Corgan; Corgan had loaned money to TNA several times to keep things running in exchange for minority shares, under the impression that Dixie would eventually sell to him. Dixie actually had no such intentions - she made him company president to placate him and then started shopping around for another buyer, including, reportedly, WWE. When Corgan found this out, relations between them soured and he was eventually booted out of the company after his lawsuit failed. Eventually Dixie was forced to sell to Anthem[[note]]However no money was exchanged, TNA was so far in debt with Anthem that Anthem basically took the promotion itself as payment[[/note]], retaining only a paltry 5% stake, and was subsequently banned from tapings and KickedUpstairs, as all of these events had caused the talent to hate her. Since Anthem took over, the numerous pay issues and production drama that was breathlessly reported on a near-weekly basis have all but disappeared.[[note]]One negative to Anthem's ownership was trying to claim the above-mentioned "BROKEN" gimmick as their UsefulNotes/IntellectualProperty to prevent Matt Hardy from using it in WWE, even though the gimmick was entirely Matt's creation. This was condemned by basically '''everyone''' in the wrestling business, even Wrestling/JimCornette, who was probably the biggest critic of the gimmick, told Anthem exec Ed Nordholm ''to his face'' that he was a complete ass for trying to do this. To his credit Nordholm (who had no experience with professional wrestling at all until this point) admitted that he didn't understand that a wrestling gimmick isn't the same thing as a character in a fictional work and dropped any claims to the "BROKEN" gimmick, and Matt is free to use it in Wrestling/{{AEW}}.

* Ring Of Honor lost a sponsorship deal with Hooters because part of the deal involved ROH hosting one single chicken wing eating contest that Sinclair Broadcast Group did not think was worth the liability.

* The Ring of Honor website was supposed to be upgraded to stream its own pay-per-views, but instead ended up relying on a string of third parties - there was a string because they kept getting replaced. They kept getting replaced because on these third-party-hosted shows, sound was inconsistent: sometimes not playing at all, or other times out of sync with the action. The action itself blanked out entirely on three [=PPVs=] in a row during 2012, two of which were the highly-anticipated and critically acclaimed by live viewers at ringside ''Boarder Wars'' and ''Best In The World''. ''Show Down In The Sun'' in particular was reproduced better on ''Website/YouTube''.

** This whole conflict began when wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer was stating that Wrestling/CMPunk was the cause of Wrestling/ColtCabana being demoted off of TV and placed instead to the newly purchased Wrestling/RingOfHonor. Punk and Cabana had once been best friends, but had a major falling out after a lawsuit involving them and WWE occurred. Owner Tony Khan has himself stated that Punk had nothing to do with Cabana being taken off AEW and moved to ROH. Regardless of what, this didn't stop Wrestling/AdamPage during a promo against Punk for their match heading into Double or Nothing 2022 of going off script, where he got very hostile much to Punk's noticeable and making a subtle accusation that Punk got Cabana demoted and then even could be heard yelling "I'm not shaking your hand, you owe Colt money". According to Punk, after the promo, he talked to Page backstage asking him about this and Page straight up told Punk, how he said that promo because he knows Punk tried to get Cabana fired. Punk was not happy about this and it was stated that AEW tried to have Punk and Page resolve their issue, but Punk was not satisfied with how the talks went and felt Page wasn't sorry. During the match at Double or Nothing, Punk stated that he was trying to protect himself during their match and was unsure if Page was trying to hurt him for real during the match after he received a hard slap from to the face from Page which caused Punk to get his tooth chipped.

** This whole conflict began when wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer was stating that Wrestling/CMPunk was the cause of Wrestling/ColtCabana being demoted off of TV and placed instead to the newly purchased Wrestling/RingOfHonor. Punk and Cabana had once been best friends, but had a major falling out after a lawsuit involving them and WWE occurred. Owner Tony Khan has himself stated that Punk had nothing to do with Cabana being taken off AEW and moved to ROH. Regardless of what, this didn't stop Wrestling/AdamPage during a promo against Punk for their match heading into Double or Nothing 2022 of going off script and making a subtle accusation that Punk got Cabana demoted, much to Punk's noticeable confusion. According to Punk, after the promo, he talked to Page backstage asking him about this and Page straight up told Punk, how he said that promo because he knows Punk tried to get Cabana fired. Punk was not happy about this and it was stated that AEW tried to have Punk and Page resolve their issue, but Punk was not satisfied with how the talks went and felt Page wasn't sorry. During the match at Double or Nothing, Punk stated that he was trying to protect himself during their match and was unsure if Page was trying to hurt him for real during the match after he received a hard slap from to the face from Page which caused Punk to get his tooth chipped.

* Jesse Sorensen suffered a broken neck at ''Against All Odds'' 2012 from Zema Ion. Sorensen could not even walk and his family had to sell their restaurant after the medical bills TNA neglected to help with drove them into bankruptcy, despite assurance from the company president that expenses would be handled. "Handled" turned out to mean Jesse working them off "backstage" after managing to walk again, against all odds. This setup saw him take two other jobs to make ends meet, then TNA released Sorensen to save money. Surprisingly, he would keep beating odds and return to the ring. Unsurprisingly, it was not a TNA ring (he had also been wrestling for Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA FUW and later wrestled for Ring of Honor, U Know Pro, and Paragon Pro, among other indies).

* The fans and workers of other promotions alike derided the "WWF style" of wrestling when Vincent Kennedy [=McMahon=] took over, but there were good reasons for its development. Vince Jr. insisted on having a larger ring than everyone else[[note]]Except the Wrestling/{{AWA}}, which also used a 20 foot ring with ropes made of, well, rope. Wrestling/{{AEW}} also uses a 20 foot ring, but with cables[[/note]], which automatically made matches that much slower as wrestlers took that much longer to simply get to one another and conversely, cause rope breaks or exploit the turnbuckles, it also made the wrestlers look proportionately smaller, leading people to make remarks like "Man, he looked bigger in WCW/TNA/ROH/etc..." when a new wrestler shows up. Though it should be pointed out that two of the "Big 4" PPV shows (or three of the "Big 5" if you include ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank'') are based around multi-person Main/GimmickMatches, so the WWE having a bigger ring does make some sense. The WWF also had one of the single hardest rings in the business because he thought it looked nice, but several wrestlers naturally refused to bump, or in some cases even execute basic positions like the bridge on it, resulting in much lower-impact fights, less technical wrestling, and less awe-inspiring antics from what was once Wrestling/AntoninoRocca's home promotion. While promoting the products on Highspots.com, Wrestling/HarleyRace credited overly hard rings to cutting his career short more than his vehicular crashes. On top of this, Jr. was oddly conservative in his insistence on using plain hemp, polyester, or jute nylon ropes rather than cables or wire ropes[[note]]Most companies use 14ga aircraft cable inside a garden hose, which is then wrapped in colored tape. You can easily spot new cable "ropes" because you can still see the kinks in the hose.[[/note]] because that's what Vince Sr. used. This meant simply trying to move faster to offset the larger ring was a risky option, lest one collide with the ropes too hard and break them. The switch to plain rope after familiarizing himself to cables most infamously lead to the injury of Wrestling/MarkHenry. In the mid-1990s, the wrestlers and WWF staff successfully banded together and convinced [=McMahon=] to get rings with enough give for them to more easily compete with superior in-ring products[[note]]Wrestling/JimCornette takes credit for the current design, though he didn't actually create it, it's just a modified NWA/WCW ring. Unfortunately he wasn't able to convince Vince to replaces the ropes with cables[[/note]], but much of the derided "WWF style" had crystalized by this point and the other physical issues with the ring remained.

** Moxley a few days later would go his wife Renee Paquette's podcast and state that he was not even under contract during the summer of his interim title run and how he could have easily shown up to Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Wrestling/SummerSlam event (which took place during his interim reign) if he wanted to, and overall expressed how he felt he was bending over backwards for the company.
** By June 2023, AEW was basically running a soft draft split, with some talent staying on ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday night, like the Elite, while others like Punk were expected to headline AEW's new show on Saturday called ''Collision'', (with the rehired Ace Steele as a producer) as a way to keep the hostile parties separated unless they work it out. He also stated he never has seen so much drama in any other wrestling promotion backstage.

** Sadly, though, they didn't work it out. At some point during the summer tour, Jack Perry[[note]] who is friends with the Elite and previously took a subtle potshot at Punk when he imitated Punk bloody muffin eating at the scram[[/note]] brought up the possibility of using real glass in a spot; Punk advised against it due to the danger involved. This was also after serval other people including Tony Schiavone, had tried to talk Perry who refused to listen to them and they had went to Punk to try and talk to Perry. This rankled Perry to the point that at All In in August 2023, after taking a bump onto a limousine windscreen, Perry would say into the camera "real glass, cry me a river!".[[note]]Perry was wrestling as a heel and windscreen glass is literally designed to be relatively safe to collide with.[[/note]] This annoyed Punk to the point he got in a backstage altercation with Perry in gorilla which also put Tony Khan in physical danger. Punk would be fired with cause by the end of the week and a few days later Ace Steele would also be fired. Punk would later return to WWEin November making a shocking return at the end of their Survivor Series PLE.

· Hogan is getting booed [[XPacHeat heavier than Vince does]]\\
· Hogan is accompanied by Bischoff, Wrestling/BrianAdams, [[{{Wrestling/Virgil}} Vincent]], and [[Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake Ed Harrison Leslie]].\\
· I don't want to see these guys...[[Wrestling/{{Sable}} what's on RAW?]]\\
· Oh no, Hogan is making a sequel to ''Assault on Devil's Island''\\
· Hogan is claiming that he provided Hall and Nash [[ItsAllAboutMe the direction that they needed]].\\
· Gee, Hogan's the person to accuse someone of [[{{Hypocrite}} having no talent]].\\
· Now Hogan is saying that other people are old and gray-haired.

** The October 23, 1995 episode of ''Nitro'' debuted a costumed giant known as The Yeti (or [[MemeticMutation "THE YE-TAY!"]]). The plan was to have him be played by Wrestling/GiantGonzalez — the same one from that infamous ''Wrestling/WrestleMania IX'' match with Wrestling/TheUndertaker. However, González pulled out due to visa issues, so Wrestling/RonReis stood in for him, wrapped up like a mummy with the hopes of unwrapping him later to reveal González.

** González's visa issues did not stop, and eventually he was dropped altogether. Plan B was to have the giants be The Giant, The Yeti and Wrestling/TheOneManGang — the latter of whom was dropped despite filming promos for it and ''appearing at the World War 3 battle royal anyway''. Plan C for this slowly-disintegrating mess was Wrestling/GiantHaystacks as "Loch Ness", a British wrestling legend ''far'' past his physical and athletic prime at that point. ''That also'' fell through due to scheduling conflicts, so because advertisements promised three giants, Hogan was billed as one.

** By June 2023, AEW was basically running a soft draft split, with some talent staying on ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday night, like the Elite, while others like Punk were expected to headline AEW's new show on Saturday called ''Collision'', (with the rehired Ace Steele as a producer) as a way to keep the hostile parties separated unless they work it out.
** Sadly, though, they didn't work it out. At some point during the summer tour, Jack Perry[[note]] who is friends with the Elite and previously took a subtle potshot at Punk when he imitated Punk bloody muffin eating at the scram[[/note]] brought up the possibility of using real glass in a spot; Punk advised against it due to the danger involved. This was also after serval other people including Tony Schiavone, had tried to talk Perry who refused to listen to them and they had went to Punk to try and talk to Perry. This rankled Perry to the point that at All In in August 2023, after taking a bump onto a limousine windscreen, Perry would say into the camera "real glass, cry me a river!".[[note]]Perry was wrestling as a heel and windscreen glass is literally designed to be relatively safe to collide with.[[/note]] This annoyed Punk to the point he got in a backstage altercation with Perry in gorilla which also put Tony Khan in physical danger. Punk would be fired with cause by the end of the week and a few days later Ace Steele would also be fired.

* Endless {{Ratings Stunt}}s. The worst of these was Creator/DavidArquette winning the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Title]] to help promote the movie ''Film/ReadyToRumble''. Arquette, a long-time wrestling fan, was queasy at the prospect of beating legitimate contenders for the title. He knew that he wasn't qualified to hold the title and that fan response would be overwhelmingly negative[[note]]He was right, of course, and while it wasn't the main reason why [[BoxOfficeBomb/NThroughR the film was a complete flop]] it certainly didn't help. Wrestling/JeffJarrett's involvement in this fiasco also basically destroyed his (already pretty shaky) credibility among wrestling fans, Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage is well liked enough that his role in this mess is usually quietly overlooked[[/note]]. Arquette ended up donating all of the money he earned to the families of deceased wrestlers and to Darren Drozdov, a wrestler who had suffered permanent paralysis after a move gone wrong. For this reason and his aforesaid vocal objection to being given the title, Arquette himself usually gets a pass from wrestling fans for his involvement in this storyline, with anger being directed more towards upper management for putting on the idea in the first place.

* The fans and workers of other promotions alike derided the "WWF style" of wrestling when Vincent Kennedy [=McMahon=] took over, but there were good reasons for its development. Vince Jr. insisted on having a larger ring than everyone else[[note]]Except the Wrestling/{{AWA}}, which also used a 20 foot ring with ropes made of, well, rope. Wrestling/{{AEW}} also uses a 20 foot ring, but with cables[[/note]], which automatically made matches that much slower as wrestlers took that much longer to simply get to one another and conversely, cause rope breaks or exploit the turnbuckles (it also made the wrestlers look proportionately smaller, leading people to make remarks like "Man, he looked bigger in WCW/TNA/ROH/etc..." when a new wrestler shows up). The WWF also had one of the single hardest rings in the business because he thought it looked nice, but several wrestlers naturally refused to bump, or in some cases even execute basic positions like the bridge on it, resulting in much lower-impact fights, less technical wrestling, and less awe-inspiring antics from what was once Wrestling/AntoninoRocca's home promotion. While promoting the products on Highspots.com, Wrestling/HarleyRace credited overly hard rings to cutting his career short more than his vehicular crashes. On top of this, Jr. was oddly conservative in his insistence on using plain hemp, polyester, or jute nylon ropes rather than cables or wire ropes[[note]]Most companies use 14ga aircraft cable inside a garden hose, which is then wrapped in colored tape. You can easily spot new cable "ropes" because you can still see the kinks in the hose.[[/note]] because that's what Vince Sr. used. This meant simply trying to move faster to offset the larger ring was a risky option, lest one collide with the ropes too hard and break them. The switch to plain rope after familiarizing himself to cables most infamously lead to the injury of Wrestling/MarkHenry. In the mid-1990s, the wrestlers and WWF staff successfully banded together and convinced [=McMahon=] to get rings with enough give for them to more easily compete with superior in-ring products[[note]]Wrestling/JimCornette takes credit for the current design, though he didn't actually create it, it's just a modified NWA/WCW ring. Unfortunately he wasn't able to convince Vince to replaces the ropes with cables[[/note]], but much of the derided "WWF style" had crystalized by this point and the other physical issues with the ring remained.

* ROH gave up a national television deal in Canada on the Fight Network for the sake of pleasing a local station in Buffalo, New York. This one was especially baffling since Toronto has traditionally been ROH's most profitable venue. The deal was put off on the assumption someone in Buffalo would complain, but no one in Buffalo did.[[note]]This isn't quite as silly as it sounds. Because of Buffalo's proximity to Canada's largest city, Toronto, Buffalo's broadcast stations basically act as the affiliates of the American TV networks for all of Canada and are carried on many Canadian cable systems (this works both ways, the Toronto affiliates of CBC and CTV are carried by Buffalo-area cable providers). Sinclair's Fox network station in Buffalo, WUTV, gets such high viewership in Canada that a large chunk of it's ad time is bought by Canadian companies, leading American viewers to constantly see ads for businesses in a foreign country. In other words, the carriage fees that WUTV brings in, along with access to what would be the third largest TV market in the U.S. if it were about 90 miles to the south, was worth FAR more to Sinclair than a wrestling company drawing triple digit crowds.[[/note]] TNA ended up with the Fight Network deal instead, though ROH eventually found its way on after five years.