Update on Scott D'Amore's release from TNA Wrestling

A clash over TNA Wrestling's budget may have played a role in Anthem Sports & Entertainment firing Scott D'Amore. 

TNA's parent company announced on Wednesday that D'Amore's contract has been terminated, and Anthony Cicione will be the new president. 

Our own Dave Meltzer addressed TNA's leadership shakeup on today's edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. 

Meltzer said: 

I think that (D'Amore) thought that it's time, you know, (to) spend some more money, try to go after more talent, try to build this thing up, we have a little bit of momentum. And the Anthem people were kind of like, 'We don't want to increase the budget' and maybe even wanted to cut back on the budget but definitely didn't want to increase the budget. And it was a standoff and that's kind of what happened.

He'd always been trying to get a bigger budget and he'd always been rebuffed.  

Considering the success of TNA's recent Hard to Kill PPV in Las Vegas, many feel the timing of D'Amore's dismissal is surprising. 

Meltzer continued:

(TNA) was coming back, it was getting more popular, but (Anthem's) whole thing was to just have a product, tape television, fulfill your pay-per-views, your streaming stuff, and do it essentially as cheaply as possible.

Whether that is the reason of the split, that that was it, or there was some other thing that we don't know, I'm sure it'll be out in the next couple of days. But that's the only thing that I've kind of been told by people is that was a dispute that he had had with management. 

Several members of the TNA roster have posted to social media regarding D'Amore's departure, including TNA World Champion Moose.