“You’re Never Gonna Be Able To”: Ric Flair Reveals How He and Kurt Angle Changed the Face of WWE’s Longest-Standing Promotional Rivals

A couple of years after the formation of TNA, the promotion signed a deal with Universal Studios Florida. They set up a base studio at Soundstage 21 and nicknamed it the “Impact Zone.” They used it to broadcast their second weekly television program, Impact.

The promotion did well when it came to the Impact Zone, but after a point; it stopped seeing significant outcomes from its weekly show. It was largely because the audience who came to the shows was not part of a regular fanbase. The majority of people visited the place for the theme park and not for wrestling. Before hanging up his wrestling boots, Ric Flair joined TNA. Thus helping Dixie Carter, then president of TNA, tackle the issue which led to the promotion being more competitive.

Flair actually had a hand in TNA’s emergence which he revealed on his podcast.

Ric Flair gave Dixie Carter a solid advice

On the latest episode of To Be The Man podcast, ‘The Nature Boy’ revealed how he and Kurt Angle helped to change the face of TNA. He mentioned that while wrestling ‘The Olympic Hero’, he realized that the Impact Zone was not the best location for TNA to continue holding its shows.

He advised Dixie Carter to set up shows outside the Impact Zone to capture more audience. “I just looked one time at Dixie Carter, you’re never gonna be able to get a grip on your product until you get in front of a live audience,” he said.

The Impact Zone was basically a theme park, therefore people came there with one goal i.e. enjoy their time. Many people were not even interested in wrestling. They just stumble upon the wrestling zone and join with no knowledge about it whatsoever.

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He said, “You’re working in front of a crowd that’s paid to be, it’s part of a ticket that includes the theme park.” “The people were not conditioned to be there. There were just people in the theme park that were just let’s go watch wrestling. No allegiance to anybody. Didn’t get anything, just making noise,” he added.

Paying heed to Ric Flair’s advice, TNA gave a shot to his ideas. It started taping Impact from different venues around the USA. Slowly TNA emerged as a strong competitor to WWE. Over the course of years, it acquired many big names under its talent roster.

However, because of monetary and personnel issues, it fell very much behind in the promotional race. Still, it is going strong today and remains competitive, while its roster is home to some of the best wrestling talents.

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What do you think of Flair’s statement? Let us know in the comments below.