Eric Bischoff believes former TNA President Dixie Carter deserves far more respect than she often receives for her time leading the promotion.
Speaking on 83 Weeks ahead of Dark Side of the Ring’s episode focusing on TNA Wrestling, Bischoff reflected on Carter’s tenure and admitted he has become more appreciative of the challenges she faced.
“I think Dixie deserves a lot more respect and credit than she gets. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little hard on Dixie from time to time when this subject comes up, but I don’t think I’ve been unfair.”
Bischoff praised Carter personally, describing her as someone with good intentions who genuinely wanted TNA to succeed. “I think Dixie is one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. I think she’s got a very good heart. I think her intentions when she got involved with TNA were as righteous as yours or mine would be in that same situation. I think she had every intention of really trying to make a go of it.”
However, Bischoff believes Carter’s biggest challenge was a lack of experienced advisors around her. “But she wasn’t prepared for it, and neither was anybody around her. That was her biggest problem. She didn’t have anybody around her who really understood, A, entertainment, and B, the wrestling business.”
He noted that professional wrestling is unlike any other form of entertainment and requires specialized knowledge to navigate successfully. “The wrestling business is unique. Professional wrestling as a televised property is a unique business model.”
According to Bischoff, while many of those around Carter had found success in other industries, they lacked the experience needed to guide a wrestling promotion. “She was surrounded by a bunch of people who were probably successful in other parts of their lives… but they had zero feel, instinct, or experience for the professional wrestling business.”
Bischoff concluded by suggesting Carter became heavily influenced by people who were unqualified to make wrestling decisions, leaving her without the support system necessary to avoid costly mistakes. “Because Dixie wasn’t surrounded by enough people who could insulate her from bad choices, bad decisions, or bad directions, she got pulled in a lot of different directions, and she didn’t have enough knowledge or experience of her own to make decisions that were really hers.
I think she was so heavily influenced by so many people, and unfortunately, there were people who didn’t know their ass from a bag of rocks when it came to the wrestling business.”
