This week was another difficult one for TNA. Dixie Carter was forced to publicly admit that TNA's Destination America television contract would expire at the end of the year and that she was in discussions to find a new TV deal for 2016. Kenny King then became the latest TNA star to jump ship to their promotional rival Ring of Honor by making a surprise appearance on the ROH All-Star Extravaganza VII pay-per-view. It was enough for even TNA's most loyal online army at TNAMecca.com to start becoming a little antsy.
Thankfully, Bob Ryder, TNA's Director of Talent Bookings and Travel, stepped in to save the day, to tell his friends at TNAMecca that the sky is not falling in:
"Just dropping by for a quick hello. No questions, been a long weekend of house shows and I have an early flight. We had three good shows. Everybody worked hard and fans were entertained. First night we had 850, 500 in Morgantown, and 750 in Belle Vernon. For our return to the road after several months we were happy with the turnout and hope to build on those numbers with shows in Beckley, Salem, Thibodaux, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Biloxi.
Been reading some of the comments and some of you guys need to turn those frowns upside down! :) We may not be announcing things on a timeline you want us to, but we have some good things coming and will make announcements once we have finalized the things we are working on.
We are working on everything from how and where we promote house shows, to how we handle merchandise and photo opportunities at the shows, to looking at new talent, etc etc.
Don't join the doom & gloomers who find joy in constantly predicting our demise. We're not going anywhere anytime soon, and we are still a strong number 2 in the United States - nobody else is close.
If you will be in the Charlotte area please join us for BFG. If not, please watch the PPV.
Thanks for your continued passionate support of TNA. Good things are going to happen soon."
It's interesting that Ryder didn't specifically mention TNA's current uncertain TV situation as something the company is working hard on rectifying, you'd think that would be the top priority! Without a television platform in their home market, TNA's already shaky status as USA's no. 2 wrestling company would immediately disappear. Pretending that such a circumstance is not a possibility is a disservice to the fans he was trying to assuage. Frankly, Bob Ryder is playing them for easy fools, believing that a few meaningless platitudes will keep them quiet and malleable.