Scott D'Amore appeared on Busted Open today and discussed for the first time, his exit from TNA.
He noted that two days before the TNA name was brought back at the Hard To Kill PPV, he was given the word that he was done and his speech that night was his love letter to professional wrestling. He stated that while he had spoken to Anthem Head Len Asper about it and knew it was coming, "It still hit me pretty hard." He admitted the company was paying him a "ton of money to sit at home, which is kind of nice."
D'Amore said it was a "difference of opinion" on how the company should be that led to his departure, which lines up with what PWInsider.com reported at the time. He said he took it hard but didn't take it personally. He said that when he finished out working at the TNA tapings, he set up Jordynne Grace working the 2024 Royal Rumble and looked into acquiring the company, which Anthem turned down.
D'Amore felt that the Hard To Kill PPV put the exclamation mark on his seven year run with the company and noted that he didn't want all the credit nor all the blame for anything as it was a team effort. D'Amore also noted how proud he was to build the team behind the scenes, saying the company was "deader than dead" as a brand and he had an 80 hour plus obsession to rebuild it, naming Tommy Dreamer, Jimmy Jacobs and Robert Evans specifically as part of the team.
D'Amore said he was very proud of what they had done and admitted to being very upset that the reigns were taken away from him when he felt the company was ready to "explode" into a larger position.
D'Amore announced the debut of his Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotion for this October in Windsor with the shows streaming live on TrillerTV.
Source: PWInsider
What I get out of what happened:
Let's grow and compete...
nah, you're being released and we'll just keep on doing this...
let me buy it then...
no, we like it, just the way it is, but here's a ton of money not to compete with us for a year...
sure, cool, see you around.