Pro Wrestling Illustrated senior writer Al Castle posted the following statement, responding to criticism of PWI’s decision to revoke TNA’s ‘word title’ status, and his appearance on Busted Open Radio.
The long-running magazine announced going forward it will only be recognizing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as a World Title in wrestling.
Statement regarding TNA comments made on Busted Open.
I wanted to take the opportunity to clarify some comments I made yesterday on Sirius XM’s Busted Open radio show regarding PWI’s recent decision to no longer recognize TNA’s heavyweight championship as a world title.
First, contrary to some reports, I never said that TNA does not deserve to “survive.” The actual misheard quote, which fans can feel free to listen back on, was as follows:
“TNA, I very much believe, ultimately made their bed. So if they’re gone, they’re gone. I’m sad to see some of these guys lose work, but this is not a company that deserves to thrive.”
Nevertheless, I acknowledge that separately in the interview remarked that TNA “deserves to go out of business.” But the context of that statement is important. My point was that businesses generally earn the level of success that they deserve. Well-run companies tend to thrive. Poorly-run companies tend to fail.
Here is my full comment on that point, in context, from Busted Open:
“I’m a real believer that you reap what you sow. TNA or any other wrestling promotion–Nobody deserves success. You earn success. Regardless of whether I want TNA to go out of business or not, they deserve to go out of business. They’ve been mismanaged. And no business stays around and has success while doing a really, really poor job. And I think the chickens are coming home to roost.”
Regardless, it’s clear to me now that, in retrospect, I should have chosen my words better. While it’s true that, as a PWI columnist, I am entitled—and paid—to express my personal opinion on wrestling matters, it’s also true that I appeared on Busted Open as a representative of the entire magazine to discuss a recent PWI editorial decision. As such, it was irresponsible of me to express a personal viewpoint that is not, necessarily, reflected by the rest of the PWI editorial staff. For that, I sincerely apologize.
As I mentioned early in the interview, PWI’s decision to only recognize WWE’s World title had relatively little to do with TNA’s recent challenges (most of which had not surfaced when the decision was made in early March) and a lot to do with the gulf that exists between WWE and its closest competitors in the national wrestling landscape. Although the discussion on Busted Open naturally flowed into TNA’s current struggles and questions about its future, those issues were largely irrelevant to the topic of PWI’s world title status policy. I regret merging the two.
While I stand by my personal opinion on the matter, I also want to further clarify that I most certainly do not wish for TNA to go out of business. As someone employed in the wrestling business, TNA’s viability, and that of every other wrestling promotion, is in my interest, and the interest of everyone at PWI.
-Al Castle
PWI Senior Writer
