Dot Net Exclusive: WWE and TNA involvement in the original celebrity wrestling concept

The celebrity wrestling concept "Wrestling with Reality," which was created by Julie Caitlin Brown and Steve Church, was pitched to WWE and TNA in October 2006, according to well-placed sources.

WWE originally passed on the deal. TNA was interested in the project and multiple sources confirm that the producers met and had several discussions with Dixie Carter, Jeff Jarrett, and Vince Russo through July 2007. One of the ideas was to have the winner of the contest make an in-ring appearance at a TNA pay-per-view.

However, Spike TV officials decided they didn’t want to cover the full budget of the show and suggested that Brown and Church find a co-producer to help cover the expenses. Talks with TNA ceased for this and other reasons.

The search for a co-producer was still taking place when Hulk Hogan started telling the media about the new wrestling project that he and Eric Bischoff were working on. The Hogan and Bischoff (and Jason Hervey) project was recently picked up by CMT.

With TNA seemingly out of the picture, the producers recently brought the project back to WWE. An offer to option the project to WWE is on the table and is currently being discussed.

Attempts to contact Brown were unsuccessful and Church declined to comment on any meetings involving WWE and TNA.

Powell’s POV: Although WWE may have some interest in using the concept, I can’t help but wonder whether they’d buy it just to stick it to Hogan and Bischoff by tying them up in a court battle over the rights to the show. Vince McMahon also butted heads with Viacom officials during Raw’s run on Spike TV, so he may take some pride in disrupting their plans to broadcast the Hogan and Biscoff version of the show on CMT. That’s all just speculation on my part, but it will interesting to see where the story goes from here.

News Usage Policy