Missy Hyatt Unloads on Dixie Carter’s TNA Leadership After Carter Skips Dark Side of the Ring

Dixie Carter’s decision to pass on appearing in the upcoming Dark Side of the Ring documentary series covering Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has opened the door to some pointed public criticism — and Missy Hyatt walked right through it.

Carter, who served as TNA president during one of the most turbulent and talked-about stretches in the company’s history, reportedly turned down multiple invitations to participate in the three-part series. Her absence quickly became a conversation piece among wrestling fans eager to hear her side of the story.

Hyatt, never one to mince words, responded with a lengthy thread on X that amounted to a point-by-point takedown of Carter’s tenure running TNA. She framed her posts as questions Carter should have been asking herself, covering everything from creative direction to talent philosophy to the company’s broader strategic decisions.

On the creative side, Hyatt questioned TNA’s reliance on people with, in her view, inflated reputations rather than proven track records. She also criticized the company’s push into live television and larger venues before it had developed the audience to sustain them — a debate that has long surrounded TNA’s attempts to go head-to-head with WWE on Monday nights.

Hyatt invoked the collapse of World Championship Wrestling as a cautionary tale, suggesting Carter should have studied the book Death of WCW by Bryan Alvarez rather than bringing aboard some of the same figures associated with that company’s decline.

On the subject of WWE castoffs, Hyatt drew a distinction: she acknowledged that certain signings, like Kurt Angle, genuinely elevated TNA, but argued the company leaned too heavily on recognizable former WWE names at the expense of homegrown stars. She specifically called out AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, the Motor City Machine Guns, and Abyss as talents who should have been built into franchise cornerstones.

Hyatt also took aim at TNA’s blockbuster signing of Hulk Hogan in 2010, questioning whether the short-term attention it generated justified the reported pay cuts absorbed by the rest of the roster — particularly given Hogan’s physical limitations at that stage of his career.

Perhaps most pointed was Hyatt’s criticism of how TNA handled international talent. She pointed to Kazuchika Okada’s run in TNA — where he was rebranded as “Okato” — as a prime example of a squandered opportunity to build meaningful relationships with promotions like NJPW and AAA.

With Dark Side of the Ring’s TNA episodes still ahead, Carter’s conspicuous absence figures to remain a talking point, and Hyatt’s public broadside has only added fuel to that fire.