Angelina Love Shares How TNA Lost Spike TV Deal Because Of Dixie Carter

Angelina Love has revealed the reason behind TNA’s relationship breakdown with international distributor Spike TV, putting the blame solely on former TNA President Dixie Carter.

Speaking with Inside the Ropes’ Liam Alexander-Stewart, former TNA Knockouts Champion, Angelina Love would discuss Dixie Carter’s recent appearance on Ring of Honor’s Women’s Division Wednesday and how the former TNA president was “was so desperate to be just like Stephanie McMahon ” that it ultimately led to TNA’s downfall and the loss of the lucrative Spike TV contract.

Love would initially comment on her first impression of Carter following her arrival in TNA back in 2007, describing the then 42-year-old as a “disaster.”

“Oh like a disaster. Like and you know, coming from, you know, WWE and being devastated at you know, being released and stuff like that, and then coming into TNA and then seeing like, oh, like a female president or whatever she was, you know what I mean? But just not ready. Didn’t have the knowledge. And she’s the reason that we lost the Spike TV deal, which we wereSpike TV, like the Ultimate Fighter, the Ultimate Fighter was on after us. You like Velvet and I was like going sitting like, third row ringside at UFC fights. Because, you know, we had that, you know, kind of this, like, being on Spike TV is really, I think, what helped made a lot of us TNA people a household name, because we had that exposure.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKDdritptc4

The seven-time Women’s Champion would add that she believes much of Carter’s downfall was due to her impressionability, describing her as “maybe kind of dumb.”

“Um, but yeah, like, she just, I think a lot of people thought she was just very impressionable, maybe kind of dumb, and they could take advantage of her and tell her like, hey, this should be done this way. And this should be done that way. And she was like, okay, okay.”

Love would add that, as an individual, Carter changed during her five-year spell with the company transitioning from a supportive and caring President to someone who believed they were better than anyone else in the room.

“She changed too, at some point, because she used to be, you know, like, wanting to know about people’s families, and how are your kids and like, I had broken up with a boyfriend at the time and her and I talked in the bathroom for like, 10 minutes, and it was really nice. And, you know, that was like back in 08, and then come like 2010 2011 it was just like, she’d walked by people like they didn’t even exist. And, you know, like the money that was being spent in the dumbest ways. And then her honestly, in my personal opinion, what I saw on Dixie is that she was so desperate to be just like Stephanie McMahon because she wanted to have her own reality TV show. And it’s like, who would f*cking watch that? Excuse my language Who would watch that? Who would watch a Dixie Carter reality show? Do you know what I mean? Like that, and nobody wanted to. Nobody wanted to do that because they knew it would flop and like that was like a big contingency for her and you know this and that.”

Finally, the former Women of Honor Champion added that TNA’s failing to renegotiate with Spike TV was “all her” and that there was in fact an offer on the table rejected by Carter who demanded Spike TV pay “double what they were offering.”

“Spike TV were going to renew a contract with TNA and she wanted like double what they were offering and Spike TV was like, Are you crazy? But god bless them and I don’t blame them. They held their ground until they were like, Alright, well, no, we’re done. And then she was like, Oh, no, no, we will sign that it sounds great and then and then they were just like [shrugs]. And then all of a sudden, you know, at TV we’re filming and all of us are like, are we gonna have a job next month? Like what? Like, it was crazy. It was crazy vibes backstage when that happened, but that was all her.”

Inside the Ropes’ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy spoke with TNA icon ODB earlier this year, during that interview ODB would discuss the impact the Hogan & Bischoff regime had on the Knockouts’ Division and how it lead to her temporarily leaving the company.

“Yeah! Like, I love Hulk and Bischoff, and when they were coming in, I was kind of on my way out – but they didn’t realise it at the time. I know they had started introducing more… More girl diva crap that we didn’t represent, and I said some stuff online and I got in trouble, of course, but that just wasn’t the Knockouts Division.”

“So, the Knockouts Division did change, and then I took a break, I came back like six or seven months later and Bischoff was like, “Where have you been? Why haven’t you been here?” I’m like, “I don’t know. You tell me. What the f***?” He’s like, “I’ll get your job back.” I’m like, “All right, let’s go.” But then they started realising, they’re like, “Wow, that’s what’s been missing in the Knockouts Division.”

“Yeah. You can have sexy girls doing car washes in the back or doing whatever, but you still need us Knockouts where it all started. You can’t get rid of me, Gail Kim, Kong, Beautiful People. It needed us. So, they helped me get my job back, so it was cool.”

Thank you to Angelina for her time and Ring of Honor for facilitating our conversation. You can watch Ring of Honor online via Honor Club or HonorClub VIP.

You can support Ring of Honor via their Honor Club membership programme for as little as $9.99 per month.

If you use any quotes from this interview please provide a link back and h/t to Liam Alexander-Stewart of Inside the Ropes.