Billy Corgan has been named president of TNA Wrestling.
The Smashing Pumpkins singer will lead day-to-day operations for the professional wrestling organisation after IMPACT Ventures, the parent company of TNA, appointed him to the position because of his "gifted creative mind".
Dixie Carter – who moves from president to Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of IMPACT – said: "Billy is a visionary, an iconic artist and savvy businessman with an incredibly gifted creative mind."
Billy, 49, first joined the company as a senior producer over a year ago and is looking forward to furthering the company for the sake of the fans, the wrestler and behind-the-scenes staff.
He said: "I believe in this company, its passionate fans, the talented roster and the dedicated staff and crew.
"I am committed to this great opportunity and will use all of my resources and connections to drive the success of this company.
"This year we have made significant strides in establishing a strong foundation for our future and will be aggressive in continuing to evolve and grow the IMPACT brands."
And Dixie believes president was the perfect position to allow the ‘Tonight, Tonight’ singer to fulfill his vision and show his commitment to TNA.
The chairman said: "In working with Billy over the last 16 months, he has impressed me to the point that I’ve been in discussions with him to take an elevated strategic leadership role within the company. The more we discussed our vision for the organisation, the clearer it became that position needed to match his commitment."
When he was appointed as senior producer, Billy previously insisted he didn’t want to completely overhaul ‘TNA IMPACT’ but wanted to change things over time and do that as part of a team all pulling in the same creative direction.
Billy explained: "I really love the idea of being a participate in a bigger dynamic. I like the team effort here, I like the team and my job is to participate and get the talent over if I get the talent over there’s plenty of credit to go around everyone and I would love to share in it … I would say it’s a little bit like what we are seeing with my baseball team the Chicago Cubs. The Ricketts family bought the team, but they went backwards to start building a franchise that was going to be full and profitable in years to come and consistent in years to come. I’m not a big believer in waving a magic wand, we have a company here with a 13-year history … I’m looking at TNA from the perspective of someone who has built a million dollar businesses, it’s got to be from the bottom up."
Billy Corgan appointed TNA president
