TNA roster sends letter to Anthem in support of Scott D'Amore

The TNA Wrestling roster is looking to find a path forward following Scott D'Amore's departure from the company.

Last week, Anthem Sports & Entertainment announced that it had terminated D'Amore's contract. Anthony Cicione was named the new president of TNA Wrestling following D'Amore's firing. Cicione is also the president of Anthem's Entertainment Group.

Members of the TNA roster publicly voiced their support for D'Amore on social media after the announcement. Today, Fightful published a letter that members of the roster sent to Anthem Sports & Entertainment CEO Leonard Asper and D'Amore. In the letter, the TNA wrestlers expressed their belief that D'Amore is still the best possible person to protect TNA's present and future.

"We feel strongly that a 'wrestling person' needs to be intimately involved at a high level to ensure that the amazing company we have all built and product we have provided to our fans continues to grow and flourish," the letter said. "It is our opinion that the best possible person for that role was, is, and will be Scott."

The TNA talent stated that Asper and Anthem have been instrumental in building the company back up, and the promotion would not have survived without them. The talent expressed that their goal in writing the letter was to open a line of communication and reunite the TNA family.

"We remain steadfast and hopeful that this letter can be a first step to opening, and keeping open, productive lines of communication to ensure the TNA/Impact family continues to be a wonderful, unique place to work for years to come," they wrote. "We ask and implore you both to come together and create a resolution that will reunite this family once again."

The full letter can be read below:

Len and Scott,

TNA/Impact is not just our employer and the company for which we work. It is a family. A family that each of us has grown to love and cherish and trust with our bodies and our careers. A family for which we feel deeply and that desire, above all else, to protect.

We are deeply saddened by the decision to remove Scott D'Amore from the TNA/Impact family. Scott is a brilliant wrestling mind that has guided this company and has it positioned to take the next step upward in our industry. Scott is also so much more than this. He is a trusted friend, confidant, teacher, advisor, brother, and mentor to so many within the TNA/Impact family. Scott has been the heart of the TNA/Impact family for over two decades.

Len and Anthem have been instrumental in supporting and building this company back from the ground up. The contributions of Len and Anthem have never gone unnoticed by anyone in the company, and we want to make sure Len knows this. TNA, simply put, would not have survived without Len and Anthem. Not just financially, but with the undying faith in Scott and us to revive the company that was on the brink of death. Len and Anthem are the foundation that TNA has been able to build upon. We would not have made it back to this point without BOTH of you. The fans know this, and the TNA family knows this.

We come to you to voice our concern for TNA/Impact, our family, and its future and direction. We, like you, wish to safeguard what we have all worked and sweat and bled for to build. We want TNA/Impact to continue grow and to continue to be an enviable place for all professional wrestlers to work.

We understand and appreciate that professional wrestling, at its core, is a business, and that the company must provide a fiscally responsible, financially viable product. At the same time, professional wrestling is uniquely situated. The business of professional wrestling is so much more than balance sheets, downloads, and ratings. The wrestling business is and must be its people, its characters, and its storylines. That is to say, there is no wrestling business without the wrestling creative vision and the right people bringing the creative vision to life.

To thrive, a wrestling company must have both an eye toward business decisions, and its fingers on the pulse of creative decisions and the ever-changing appetite of our fans. It is in light of this concern and our desire to uphold the high standards of TNA/Impact that we offer this letter.

It is our desire to have a dialogue with you and with the company in an effort to protect the present and the future of TNA/Impact for you, for Anthem, for the fans, and for professional wrestlers. We feel strongly that a 'wrestling person' needs to be intimately involved at a high level to ensure that the amazing company we have all built and product we have provided to our fans continues to grow and flourish. It is our opinion that the best possible person for that role was, is, and will be Scott.

We recognize that we do not necessarily know all the facts or details around the decision to remove Scott. In life there is always the rumors, the opinions, and, somewhere in between, the truth. We rarely get to know which is which. It remains our hope and desire that everyone can set aside the past few days and any hurt feelings or unkind words that may have been exchanged, and meet to discuss a path forward that preserves the TNA/Impact family we all hold so dearly.

We remain steadfast and hopeful that this letter can be a first step to opening, and keeping open, productive lines of communication to ensure the TNA/Impact family continues to be a wonderful, unique place to work for years to come. We ask and implore you both to come together and create a resolution that will reunite this family once again.

We look forward to hearing from you and continuing this dialogue.

Signed, Your TNA Family

Dave Meltzer reported in last week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that some people in TNA, including D'Amore, had been expecting the management change for a few weeks, but talent were not anticipating the change:

There were those in TNA who had expected changes for a few weeks, including D’Amore, although the talent did not. Some noted that Cicione and Ariel Shnerer, the Vice President of Business Development at TNA had been talking with staff and wrestlers about the business and getting feedback.

Nothing official has come out as the reason. Several different sources had it that with TNA having its most successful period in eight years that he was hoping to expand the business. One person close to D’Amore noted to us that he was very wealthy independent of wrestling with other business interests but loved working in pro wrestling. They said he had pushed for years for a bigger budget and there had been threats to quit with the idea that he was a key person they didn’t want to lose and they were aware he didn’t need the job, but also very much wanted it.