Billy Corgan: I Told Dixie Carter To Hire Paul Heyman And Give Him What He Wants

Billy Corgan had advice for Dixie Carter. 

At some point in late 2009 and early 2010, Paul Heyman was in talks to join TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. The only condition? He wanted control of the company. Dixie Carter was in charge of things, and she wasn’t willing to give up that control. 

Speaking to Kurt Angle on the Kurt Angle Show, Billy Corgan reflected on the conversation he had with Dixie regarding Heyman’s potential involvement. 

“I’m sitting at a table, and she says, ‘If you were me, would you hire Paul Heyman?’ I said, ‘Give him whatever he wants.’ She told me what he wanted. It was a big pile of money and he wanted absolute total control. He gave one interview where he later said, after the whole thing didn’t happen and he was back working with WWE, he said what he would have done, and he said he would have cleaned out every veteran except [Kurt]. He would have kept Kurt Angle, went young, and went more MMA-shooter style. It was very interesting. Back to the conversation with Dixie. I said, ‘Please, give him whatever he wants.’ ‘Well, he wants this and that. He wants total control of my company.’ I said, ‘Please, give it to him. Number one, your ratings will double overnight. Number two, you’ll get all the smart marks off your back, instantly. Number three, they’ll hail you as a genius for bringing in Heyman. Number four, the company will be on fire within six months. I guarantee it. Just do it.’ She said, ‘what about giving up control?’ I said, ‘I don’t care, just give it to him.’ I begged her. Imagine what that company would have been, with that roster, or whoever he would have brought it. It would have been hot fire. I think she was very reluctant to give up control,” said Corgan. 

Corgan did play devil’s advocate in regards to Dixie not hiring Heyman.

“To be fair, let’s make both arguments, I run the NWA completely, I’m not in a big hurry to give up control. Even if it was Paul Heyman, I’d have to really think about it. He’s going to flip around what I want to do, he’s going to bring in his boys and maybe get rid of some of the guys I’m partial to. Wrestling is based on loyalty and who you trust. Maybe my company spins out of control in a way that I can’t control. To be fair, maybe that was her reservation. To be critical, everything she had done up to that point was not working, she was getting creamed weekly, the ratings were going down, she was having trouble with TV deals, that’s a moment that you tap and say ‘okay.’ Maybe she goes to Heyman and says, ‘I’ll give you the job, I’ll give you what you want, you’ll have total control, but I have to have one person that is my person. I have to have somebody in there loyal to me so if you try to steal my company or I think it’s [fucked] what you’re doing, I can reel it back,'” said Corgan. 

Dixie did not give up control of IMPACT, and Heyman returned to WWE in 2012. 

In 2016, Carter gave up control after a lawsuit with Corgan that left Anthem with majority ownership. 

Elsewhere during the interview, Corgan explained why he’s not going to take shots at WWE. You can find his full comments by clicking here. 

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