The If Factor: Paul Heyman Almost Joins TNA Wrestling

Brian Damage

The ‘If Factor’ are a series of articles that takes a look at real scenarios in pro wrestling that at one point or another were suggested, planned, considered…but did not get the green light to continue. What would the landscape of professional wrestling look like if these ideas came to fruition?

The If: Paul Heyman in TNA

Paul Heyman revealed that in 2009, he was offered a head executive position within TNA wrestling by the then network hosting TNA…Spike TV. According to Heyman, “It came real close with TNA.“ Heyman’s deal with Spike TV would see him gain full creative control of the promotion. He was not only looking to become the top creative executive, but was also asking for stock and ownership of TNA.

Heyman said he had a 5 year plan in place to take TNA to brand new heights. It involved shaping the roster with getting rid of unbalanced contracts signed by veteran talent over 40 years old, bringing in new, younger wrestlers around the independent scene that were perhaps relatively unknown. The next 18 months would be slowly building around that young talent and making them more recognizable to their audience.

By year three, after retooling and building an entirely new roster and establishing that talent, Heyman wanted to make TNA a publicly traded company like WWE. If done right, that would create brand new revenue streams for TNA to start seriously compete with WWE for bigger named talent and so forth. Heyman said he would remain on the creative staff for the next two years to see this plan go through successfully until retiring at age 50 with all of his stock options in place and occasionally be used as a consultant to TNA programming.

The problem with his 5 year plan, was that Spike TV wanted to compete with WWE right off the bat. Heyman was smart enough to realize that at that point in 2009, professional wrestling was a very niche form of entertainment. It was no longer perceived as cool and not everyone was willing to invest in pro wrestling. Spike TV simply wanted Paul Heyman to take over creative control and start immediately show results, to which Heyman declined their offer and it never came to fruition. Could Heyman’s 5 year plan for TNA have been successful? With larger streams of money to work with, could Heyman truly have competed on WWE’s level?