By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Paul Heyman says his mindset on whether he wants to work for TNA is that he wants "all or nothing" control over the direction of the company's product.

Heyman said in a video interview with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer that his scenario for joining TNA is complete control over the company, his own staff to guide the product and marketing, and an eventual IPO public offering in an attempt to take market share away from WWE.

"My attitude is take it or leave it," Heyman said of his "demands" for coming to TNA. "I'm not interested in being a cog in the wheel. If I'm going to put my emotional investment into it, I want to get something financially and emotionally out of it."

Heyman said he doesn't want to get back into the wrestling business, but he would take over complete control of TNA if he could set up his children for life by eventually taking TNA public.

If he did join TNA, Heyman said he doesn't want to "play politics" or be just another writer or booker. He said that's not enough for him to take time away from his children when he could work for WWE as a consultant, become "just as pissed off" but only be 20 minutes away from home, and probably make more money than in TNA.

"Someone has to have one vision so the television show means something and the marketing of the brand means something," Heyman said. "TNA doesn't have a clue how to make a star. Even if they did know how to do good television, they don't know how to market the fact that they're doing good television. And if they were marketing what they're doing know, everybody would say, 'Oh, God, this sucks, why are you marketing this?'"

Heyman said his vision is bringing the writing and the marketing together with the right people involved. "TNA has to create a situation where they can take their company and re-define who they are," Heyman said.

"If that's a situation that can happen and I can put the right team together and see what the five-year plan, it merits a lot of consideration," Heyman said. "If it means anything less than that, I'm not taking the time away from my children."

Concerning the short-term, Heyman was asked whether he'll be attending TNA's next PPV, Victory Road this Sunday. "That ain't happening," Heyman said. He said he doesn't want to work with TNA unless there's a deal to give him virtually complete control of the company's direction. "Otherwise, it's not worth it," he said.

Heyman's complete interview from UFC 116 in Las Vegas is below. It's worth checking out the entire interview, with the TNA discussion picking up in the last five minutes.

Caldwell's Analysis: Heyman is certainly asking for a lot, which follows Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff coming in at the beginning of the year and taking measures of "control" of the company. Heyman didn't express what specific changes or vision he would bring to the company if given complete control, likely because he didn't want to tip his hand before he even sets one foot into TNA. It's an interesting scenario and the timing is in Heyman's favor with TNA's ratings stuck at 1.0 and the company having lost a good chunk of their audience since the beginning of the year.



Video URL: http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/13970/

We suggest these recent related articles...

TV RATINGS: TNA Impact & ROH TV viewership - Week 19 on Dest. America - Impact surges post-BFG, ROH draws big audience

TV WRESTLING VIEWERSHIP - Week of Sept. 28: Full Break Down of last week's Pro Wrestling TV with DVR viewing

TNA NEWS: TNA announces TV tapings on January U.K. Tour