More details surrounding Scott D’Amore’s shocking firing are beginning to emerge.
In case you missed it — last night, TNA Wrestling’s parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment released the following statement announcing the firing of longtime TNA Wrestling President, Scott D’Amore, with Anthem’s President, Anthony Cicione named as his replacement.
“Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc., a global multi-platform media company, announced today the appointment of Anthony Cicione as the President of TNA Wrestling.
The move aims to further integrate TNA Wrestling into Anthem’s Entertainment Group, of which Cicione is the President, leveraging the entire Company’s resources to add more value in areas including production, distribution, marketing, viewership, customer acquisition, digital revenue streams, ad sales and sponsorships, digital tech operations, and more.
Cicione replaces Scott D’Amore, whose contract with Anthem has been terminated. D’Amore has been a part of TNA since 2003. He held many key leadership positions and played a vital role in the growth of the company leading to its strong industry reputation today, including the successful return of the TNA Wrestling brand in 2024. Anthem thanks him for the commitment he brought to the business, the talent, and the people who work outside the ring.
In addition to these duties as President of Entertainment, Cicione will now manage the day-to-day business operations for TNA Wrestling. He brings more than 30 years of executive-level management experience to the organization. Cicione has been with Anthem for the last 16 years, managing technical operations and multiple cable and digital channels. Prior to his time with Anthem, Cicione was a producer of sports content including catapulting The Score to success by bringing WWE to the channel.”
– Anthem Sports & Entertainment on Firing Scott D’Amore
In an update provided by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, he believes budget cuts are the reasoning by Anthem in letting D’Amore go from the company.
(quotes via WrestlePurists)
“I think that he (Scott D’Amore) thought that, it’s time, you know, to spend some more money, try go after more talent. Try to build this (TNA) thing up, we have a little bit of momentum.
The Anthem people were kind of like ‘we don’t wanna increase the budget’ and maybe even wanted to cut back on the budget, but definitely didn’t wanna increase the budget. And it was just a stand-off and that’s kinda what happened.
He’d always been trying to get a bigger budget and he’d always been rebuffed.”
– Dave Meltzer on Scott D’Amore Being Fired From TNA Wrestling/Anthem
BodySlam will provide any updates on the situation between Scott D’Amore and TNA Wrestling as they become available.
