Sami Callihan has opened up regarding his sudden exit from TNA Wrestling.
Earlier this week, TNA announced a series of roster moves, meant to cut costs. Along with Callihan, the company parted ways with Tommy Dreamer and Tessa Blanchard.
While Callihan retired from wrestling last year, he remained on the TNA roster in a background role. He explained to Busted Open this week that he focused on the company’s merchandise division, helped coach and produce, helped with getting the word out regarding events, and more.
During a recent appearance on the radio show, Callihan recounted a day from earlier this week when he found out he was released from the company. After a night where he said he spent 10 hours prepping TNA for its upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view, Callihan says he got the call about his firing.
“I had woke up at I think like, 11? 10:30, 11? And my phone was blowing up, ‘Hey, Tommy [Dreamer] is done at TNA.’ The amount of people on the roster that were like, ‘It’s finally your time. You’re getting added to creative.’ Within five minutes of me waking up and getting all of those text messages, I got a notification in my email, ‘Hey, we need to have a conference call at 1.’ I was like, ‘Oh shit. I’m getting added to creative.’ This is what I’ve been lobbying for for years. It’s what a lot, maybe not all of them, but a lot of major people on the roster have been lobbying for. It’s what I’ve had dangled in front of my face from another administration, before this current administration. ‘It’s finally happening.’ As my brain works, because I overanalyze everything, I looked at who was in the meeting. I was like, ‘Hmm. Why would that person be in the meeting?’ I started [thinking], ‘Oh, I might be getting fired.’ I put two and two together and, going into the meeting talked to my wife and a couple of people on the roster, I was like, ‘today is either the highest or the lowest of lows. I’m either getting added to creative, or I’m getting fired.'”
Callihan says that he “went off” on those in the call, describing why he thought they were making a mistake by letting him go.
When asked why he was cut, Callihan said he thinks it was purely a “money thing” and isn’t sure “what else I could’ve done.”
“I think the company lost a lot of money, and a lot of people under salary … I was making a decent living. The amount of work I did, I probably should’ve made more,” he said.
Callihan remains the head booker for his own independent promotion, Wrestling REVOLVER.
