On Wednesday, Anthem revealed that Scott D’Amore had been ousted as the TNA President. Anthony Cicione has assumed the role, upsetting a lot of talent.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that while no official reason has been revealed, several sources stated that Scott’s firing might have to do with budgetary reasons.
A source close to D’Amore noted that he has amassed huge wealth outside of wrestling, thanks to other business interests. However, D’Amore’s love for wrestling is the reason why he works in the industry.
With TNA enjoying its most successful time in eight years, D’Amore wanted to expand the business.
D’Amore had been pushing to get TNA/Impact a bigger budget for several years, even threatening to quit at one point, although it was probably a bluff as he saw himself as a “key person” Anthem wouldn’t want to lose, as they knew he didn’t need the job.
Another source stated that D’Amore and Anthem had bad blood over the budget for years.
One such example is that TNA attempted to bring Braun Strowman in for Bound For Glory 2021. The event would have been billed ‘Braun for Glory’.
However, Anthem believed Strowman’s asking price was too high and didn’t think The Monster Among Men would boost the company in a major way. Strowman eventually returned to WWE.
Another source suggested that D’Amore wanted to use TNA’s recent success to build it back up. He wanted to sign bigger names, but Anthem refused to increase the budget yet again.
Anthem had even discussed lowering the budget for TNA. There had been a lingering issue with D’Amore wanting TNA to flourish while Anthem wanted a TV product with a specific budget.
