Scott D’Amore says he was the person who got the discussions started between TNA Wrestling and WWE for their ongoing crossover.
While appearing on a recent edition of the “Talk is Jericho” podcast, the former TNA President commented on his involvement in getting the relationship started.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how the relationship got started: “Yeah. I chatted with Ed Nordholm, the chief corporate officer for Anthem. We talked about it and said, is there a better time to reach out and say, ‘Hey, is there something here?’ Ed signed off on it so I reached out to a friend there at WWE, chatted through and gave him an idea of some of my thoughts and said, ‘What do you think? Is there something worth exploring here?’ They said, ‘Yeah, absolutely. What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘You tell me. I think you go to Paul and Hunter and see if that’s the right path and see if there’s any interest. I’m happy to follow up and see if we can work anything out.’
“A few days after that, I’m sitting in the pool room working on a couple of things. I got a text from Paul, it’s funny, I didn’t have Paul’s number in my phone so I’m like, ‘Okay, this is either somebody ribbing [or the real deal.’ I texted one of my friends there and was like, ‘Hey, is this the right number?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ So, we started chatting and it’s a different era everywhere, even with WWE, which is great to see. That type of stuff wouldn’t have happened. We kind of got the discussion started and looked at things and was like, here it goes. The ball started rolling, the first step was Jordynne in the Rumble, which was fantastic. They did an amazing job of showcasing her, which was nice. We had put Mickie James in the rumble a few years ago, and that was amazing, but it’s Mickie James. She transcends whatever brand she’s on. Having Jordynne, who is a homegrown TNA/IMPACT star, go there and be showcased to me is just monumental. The experience of working with WWE for the period of time that I did, collaborating was fantastic.”
On his communications with Triple H: “I was actually on the balcony of my suite on the cruise and I get a text just as we’re leaving port and it was Triple H just letting me know — we pulled out on a Friday or whatever and the Rumble was on Saturday, I knew we were going to be at sea and I had told him that. It was just him getting back to me and saying, ‘Hey, X, Y, and Z that we discussed are all confirmed. We’re good to go. Just wanted you to know before you got out on sea.’ What a classy move. You’re the 800 pound gorilla in this relationship, it’s such a good experience and process working there with them. The fact that a guy who’s that busy, for him to send that text just so I can with peace of mind know that everything is signed off and confirmed, to me, that shows the difference in how business is being conducted there.”
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