Tara, unhappy with pay and badmouthing behind her back, to leave TNA next month

Dave Meltzer in the May 3rd Wrestling Observer Newsletter broke the news that Tara's one year contract with TNA was set to expire in late May and hadn't signed a new deal, apparently wanting some time off to concentrate on her outside business interests.  His source also made sure to let Dave know that Tara had "issues" with some of the other women on the TNA roster over her incessantly bringing up how things would be done better in WWE.

But as always there are two sides to every story and Tara decided to fire right back at Meltzer's reporting through her Myspace blog.  To be fair to Tara, I think she has a right to be unhappy.  She speaks a lot of truth:

Unfortunately some organizations "leak" information to wrestling websites to put their spin on a situation, to make sure they come out in the best light.

Yeah, this wouldn't be the first time TNA management has done this.  Part of the reason Jim Cornette was so mad at them was that someone within the company lied to the UK Sun newspaper and falsely claimed he was fired for a temper tantrum aimed at Vince Russo.

I came to TNA last year because I still had a lot of wrestling left in me.  I was paid a fraction of what I thought I deserved.  But I wanted to show I was still at the top of my game.  Now my contract is up in May.  I want a modest pay increase.  They don't want to pay me what I think is fair.  I have no problem going my own way.

Tara wouldn't be the first woman to leave TNA in part due to being refused a modest pay rise.  TNA didn't make any attempt to fight to keep Gail Kim when WWE came calling in late August 2008.  They also refused to give Awesome Kong a pay rise earlier this year as the price to keep her after the backstage fight with Bubba The Love Sponge.  This despite the fact that the TNA Knockouts division has been at times one of the few things that positively differentiated TNA from WWE and regularly drew TNA its highest rated quarters.  I can see Tara rightly feeling she deserves a modest pay rise after the company has massively overspent to hire name talent in the last six months that by and large haven't delivered in the ratings.  But unfortunately when a wrestling company burns through their cash reserves on an ill advised Monday night experiment, it's always the undercard talent that suffers.  Tara's not the first victim (see the recent firing of Christopher Daniels) and she surely won't be the last.

But about 12 hours after the conversation where we didn't agree on pay, unnamed sources claim that I am hard to work with and that I don't give my best effort.  My only response is that TNA made an aggressive effort to re-sign me, among other things saying that they want to build the women's division around me.  And I think wrestling fans see, both on TV and at live events, that I always give 100%.  I take pride in that.  Smearing me on the way out the door is an act of second rate character.

This is typical carny BS, you don't want to give her a pay rise, so you try to appeal to her ego with the promises of a major push and when she doesn't fall for that trick, then you bury her on the way out the door.

I take pride in making my best effort to elevate my own wrestling and the entire TNA Women's Division.  If people were rubbed the wrong way in the process, I stand behind my work and my positive intentions.

Yeah, it's not like TNA management couldn't learn a trick or two from the things WWE did and still does well.