Joey Ryan Speaks On Late Pay, TNA Booking, Rampage Jackson And More
Lee Sanders of The RCWR Show spoke to former TNA Wrester Joey Ryan regarding his release and a number of subjects including the introduction of Quinton Rampage Jackson, rumors of TNA paying talent late and much more. Here are some highlights from the interview:
On TNA's current booking: "I think what it comes down to is TNA's TV time. The brand doesn't have as many outlets as the WWE brand. It's a little bit harder to get TV time especially when you're not in a storyline that they're focused on right now.
"They're pretty booked up with Aces & Eights, Main Event Mafia. If you're not in those storylines, it's pretty hard to utilize you. And then with them going on the road and it costing more money, I can see where if you're not in a prominent storyline currently then you're probably easily expendable. I don't know as far as the other storylines go. I wasn't there for Christian or whatever. They kind of want to stay focused on what they got. They want to make sure they don't spread themselves too thin. The storylines they have currently are going over everything else."
TNA signing Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson: "Rampage Jackson is assigned to bring in a broader audience. You can't fault them for that. They're trying. Might not make wrestling fans happy but it might bring in more causal fans or crossover fans or what not cause that's a recognizable person, recognizable name. They're trying their best to broaden their market and make a bigger audience overall. It's not something that happens overnight. They're' taking the step to leave the IMPACT Zone and broaden their audience. They could either sit there and be what they are or try to grow. I appreciate that they're trying to grow."
Rumors of contracts and wrestlers being paid late: "I don't know everyone's contracts but with my contract I got a monthly guarantee. When I do shows I would get bonuses.
"[As] far as travel, TNA would take care of my flights and then I was responsible for car rentals, hotels which could be evenly split with other wrestlers on the shows. I have a lot of friends I can rely on to do stuff like that. That all came into the show bonus. My paychecks were never late. There was never a set date like the 1st or 9th, 20th. If I was getting paid in February then the check would come in February. If I was getting paid in March then it be March. It wasn't like April and I'm waiting on a February check or anything like that. I was paid the month I was suppose to get paid."
Much more is available in the interview, including his thoughts on the of the TNA/WCW comparison, Matt Morgan, Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan and much more. You can listen to the full interview by clicking here.