Dixie Lee Carter (October 6, 1964) is an American businesswoman, best known for her time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Career
Carter was born in Dallas, Texas. She graduated from The Hockaday School in 1982 and subsequently attended the University of Mississippi, graduating in 1986 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. While a student, Carter was active on the Student Programming Board, and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. In addition, Carter worked as an intern with Levenson & Hill, a marketing and advertisement firm in the Las Colinas suburb of Dallas, Texas. Upon graduating, Carter became a full-time employee of Levenson & Hill, receiving a promotion to the position of vice president at the age of 27. In 1993, she started her own business in Nashville, focusing primarily on sport and music representation.
In 2002, the president of Monterey Peninsula Talent (a booking agency) contacted Carter and informed her that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, a fledgling Professional wrestling promotion, required a marketing and publicity outlet. Carter began working with TNA, but, two months later, was informed by Jeff Jarrett (a part-owner of TNA) that a key financial backer (HealthSouth Corporation, which was having its own financial problems due to its being investigated for accounting irregularities) had withdrawn support from TNA, and that the company was in dire straits as a result.
Carter, claiming to "[See] the potential in a marketplace that had one company with a $900 million USD market cap and no competitor", contacted her parents, the owners of Panda Energy International, a Dallas-based energy company. In October 2002, Panda Energy purchased 71% of TNA from the HealthSouth Corporation for US$250,000. On October 31, 2002, TNA (which originally traded as "J Sports and Entertainment") was renamed "TNA Entertainment", and Carter was appointed president. Originally, Carter had ruled out any possibility of becoming an on-screen character, as numerous owners of wrestling promotions have done.
Carter was instrumental in securing a television deal with Fox Sports Net in 2004, and in July 2005 she announced that she and several other TNA employees, including vice-president Jeff Jarrett, had negotiated a more lucrative television deal with Spike TV. Carter brought a bottle of champagne to the meeting in order to celebrate. Her creative influence on TNA storylines has been less publicized, although she is known to be a fan of Jonny Fairplay, a reality television contestant who has worked for TNA in the past as a manager. She has also expressed admiration for the work of Vince Russo, a controversial booker. In September 2006, Carter personally negotiated a contract with wrestler Kurt Angle.
On-screen roles (2009-2013)
After making only occasional appearances on pay-per-views, Carter made her first appearance on TNA Impact! on August 27, 2009, interviewing new signee Bobby Lashley. In early 2010, after the debuts of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, Carter became a regular authority figure on Impact!, before losing her on-screen power to the two of them, on the October 14, 2010, edition of Impact!. However, Carter would make another appearance on the November 25, 2010 edition of Reaction when, in storyline, she informed Hogan and Bischoff that a judge filed an injunction against the two on behalf of Carter over not having signatory authority. On the March 3, 2011, edition of Impact!, the result of the court battle between Carter and Hogan was revealed, with Hogan declaring himself as the new head of TNA Wrestling. Carter returned to TNA on October 16 at Bound for Glory, when Sting defeated Hogan to bring her back to power.
Carter made an appearance on the December 8th edition of Impact Wrestling, along with Sting to confront TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Bobby Roode. The segment ended with Roode spitting in Carter's face.
In the summer of 2012 Carter was also the focal point in a storyline where Kazarian and Christopher Daniels accused her of having an affair with company TNA mainstay A.J. Styles. The duo provided compromising footage of Carter and Styles entering a hotel together as well as photographs of them embracing. Carter's real-life husband Serg Salinas made a televised appearance on Impact Wrestling where he knocked Styles to the ground with a punch. It was ultimately revealed that Carter and Styles were merely helping a mutual friend, Claire Lynch, work through drug addiction issues.
Heel Turn; Dixieland (2013-2014)
Carter appeared at the ending segment of Impact Wrestling on September 19, 2013 to confront AJ Styles over the remarks he has made about the way she is the running the company. Carter responded by saying that Styles is not of a great wrestler and that she is the one who created the Phenomenal One persona to get marketing for the company. She added that Styles would be still be living in poverty if her father didn't pay him and she was the one who created this house (TNA). She was about to leave when Styles was going to respond, she decided to end the show by cutting off the microphones and turning off the lights, thus turning into a villainess. On the September 26 episode of Impact, Carter ripped up AJ Styles' new contract as awarded by Hulk Hogan, then gave the latter an ultimatum to join forces with her by next week. The following week, Hulk quit instead of siding with Carter. On the October 17 edition of Impact Wrestling, the evil Carter placed a $50,000 bounty on Styles; with the added promise that whoever took him out would replace him as Bully Ray's opponent at Bound For Glory. The bounty went unclaimed, and the contract signing later that evening ended with Styles tossing the money toward the direction of Carter and her security guards. To get back at Styles, Carter made his main event match against Bully Ray a No Disqualification Match. At Bound For Glory, Carter interfered in the main event and ordered referee Earl Hebner not to count Styles' pin, however Styles would ultimately defeat Bully Ray to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. On the following week, she tried to convince Styles to sign a new contract with TNA, but Styles refused, leaving the company with the title. On October 29, 2013, Carter vacated the title. However, Styles announced a title defense in Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración promotion. When Dorian Roldán, AAA owner, announced Judas Mesias as AJ's rival, Carter said that she talked with Roldán attempting to cancel the match.
Meanwhile, Dixie announced a tournament to crown a new TNA Champion, as she refused to recognize Styles' reign. Magnus eventually won the tournament and the championship at Impact Wrestling: Final Resolution by defeating Jeff Hardy in the eponymous Dixieland match, with the help of Rockstar Spud and Dixie's storyline nephew Ethan Carter III, forming "Team Dixie" in the process. Magnus defeated AJ Styles upon his return to TNA, unifying the titles. Styles left TNA after the match. In January 2014, Montel Vontavious Porter debuted in TNA as an investor and entered into a feud with Carter. At Lockdown 2014, Dixie Carter's team of Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, and The BroMans (Robbie E and Jessie Godderz) lost to MVP's team of himself, The Wolves, and Willow in a Lethal Lockdown match after interference from the special referee, Bully Ray, who was initially intended to be the "insurance" for Dixie's team. As a result of her team's defeat, MVP took control of TNA as the (storyline) Director of Wrestling Operations. Following the events of Lockdown, Dixie feuded with Bully Ray, who promised that he would put her through a table. On the June 27th tapings of Impact that aired August 7, Carter is put through a table by Team 3D. Carter has not been an active participant in company storylines since, aside from a few short segments updating viewers on her condition following her being put through the table.
Return (2015–2016)
Carter made her first televised appearance after a nearly year long absence on the July 8, 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling. After her nephew, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Ethan Carter III finished his match with Kurt Angle, Carter admitted that she was a monster on a power trip whose ego got the best of her, she also admitted that the company doesn't belong to her or her nephew, but to the fans and apologized for her actions for the past year and a half saying that she would not make those same mistakes again. In the process, Dixie turned into a fan favorite once again. Dixie also announced that a new person will be in charge of Impact Wrestling, and it won't be her or EC3.
Personal life
Carter is married to Serg, with whom she has two children, a daughter born in 2005 and a son born in 2006.
Championships and accomplishments
- WSU Hall Of Fame (Class of 2012)