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WWE Pulling Content From Netflix & iTunes, Steve Austin Wraps Movie & More

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– In an effort to boost sales for the WWE Network, virtually all WWE content has been removed from Netflix and iTunes.

– WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently wrapped production on a new movie titled “The Echo Effect,” which was filmed in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Here’s a photo of Austin and fighter/actor Michael Jai White on set:

– Lana has been tweeting that she and Rusev are currently in Russia for the Christmas holiday, which is celebrated there on January 7th.

Sami Zayn Returns To NXT (Video), Preview For Next Week’s Show

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NXT Champion Sami Zayn returned on this week’s episode for the first time since capturing the gold at TakeOver R: Evolution and the subsequent beatdown he suffered at the hands of Kevin Owens.

NXT General Manager William Regal announced that former NXT champion Adrian Neville will get a rematch on next week’s show, when NXT moves to Wednesday nights at 8pm EST on the WWE Network. Also advertised for next week:

  • Baron Corbin vs. Bull Dempsey
  • Finn Balor vs. Tyson Kidd

*Spoilers* For Next Week’s Episode of NXT

WWE SmackDown Preview & Spoilers For Tonight (1/9)

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WWE taped this week’s episode of SmackDown on Tuesday night from the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas. Here’s a spoiler-free preview, followed by spoiler results on Page 2:

– Big E vs. Adam Rose

– The Ascension in action

– Alicia Fox vs. Naomi

– Tag Team Champions The Usos  vs. Gold & Stardust vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow

– IC Champion Bad News Barrett vs. Sin Cara (Non Title Match)

– Seth Rollins and Big Show vs. Roman Reigns & A Mystery Partner

Hit up Page 2 below for complete spoiler results:

*Spoilers* TNA Impact Wrestling Results (Airing 1/23)

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The following are spoiler results for the Friday, January 23rd episode of TNA Impact Wrestling from the Manhattan Center in New York City, courtesy of WrestlingINC.com:

– Havok vs. Gail Kim starts when they brawl on the ramp. The match ends in DQ when Havok shoves the referee. Havok drags Kim back to the ring for more punishment but the lights go out and Awesome Kong is here. Havok attacks but Kong no-sells it. Kong clotheslines Havok over the top rope and her music hits.

– Koya, the former Mahabali Shera from India, defeated Tigre Uno in a squash match. James Storm and The Revolution cut a promo on The Hardys. Apparently it will be Storm vs. Matt Hardy tonight.

– Feast or Fired match is next. British Bootcamp 2 winner Mark Andrews came out and took a seat in the crowd before the match began. The briefcases are on poles and wrestlers in the match are Rockstar Spud, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz, DJ Zema Ion, Crazzy Steve, Sam Shaw, Gunner, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Bram, Magnus and Austin Aries. Spud climbs on top of Shaw to grab the first case. Aries acted like he was going to do a dive but ran to the top rope and grabbed the second case instead. Aries then dives out and retreats to the back. Apparently The Beautiful People got one of the cases, possibly for BroMans?, at the start of the match but nobody noticed. Magnus gets the last case.

– Ethan Carter III comes out with Tyrus. He calls Jeremy Borash to the ring for a match. JB is wearing jeans and a hoodie, and has Spud with him. EC3 talks trash and when JB takes the mic, he attacks EC3. JB had the upperhand until EC3 got pissed. He spit on Spud. Spud attacked but Tyrus took him out. UK star Mark Andrews from British Bootcamp 2 came over the barrier from his seat in the crowd. He hit the ring and helped Spud take out Tyrus and EC3.

– Matt Hardy vs. James Storm is next. Hardy gets the win with a small package. After the match, Storm offers to shake hands but Abyss attacks Hardy from behind. Storm ties Hardy up and Abyss grabs Janice but Jeff Hardy makes the save. He challenges Abyss to a Monster’s Ball match for next week and gets the crowd to chant “Monster’s Ball.”

-Low Ki and Eric Young defeated Kurt Angle and Bobby Roode. MVP and Kenny King distracted the referee, allowing Young to hit Roode with a steel chair. Ki got the pin on Roode.

*Spoilers* TNA Impact Wrestling Results (Airing 1/16)

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The following are spoiler results for the Friday, January 16th episode of TNA Impact Wrestling from the Manhattan Center in New York City, courtesy of WrestlingINC.com:

– MVP and his new growing faction start the show. They reveal their name is the Beatdown Clan or BDC for short. Eric Young comes out and gets booed. He says what fans think doesn’t matter to him. EY talks about hating Bobby Roode. MVP calls out new World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley but Kurt Angle comes out instead. Angle goes face to face with Samoa Joe and punches him.

– Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle by submission when the referee went down and Joe hit Angle with a low blow. The BDC beat Angle down after the match until Roode made the save.

– Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode begins in the aisle and they start brawling around the ring.

– Roode sits down in the middle of the ring for a promo. He’s pissed off and says this crap in TNA has gone too far. Roode says he’s going to make EY pay for his sins tonight.

– The Hardys vs. The Wolves II is next. The Revolution watches the match from the balcony. Jeff Hardy had a great spot at one point where he went to the top, walked from one turnbuckle to the other and then dove out onto The Wolves. The Hardys get the win and the two teams shake hands. This was said to be as good as you’d expect.

– Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode begins in the aisle and they start brawling around the ring. They brawled through the crowd and there were “we can’t see you” chants. Young wins with a piledriver on a chair.

– MVP and Kenny King comes out. MVP says tonight is a night for celebrating and Lashley will be competing. This could have been for the live crowd.

– JB announces a Feast or Famine match for another episode.

– Velvet Sky and Angelina Love defeated Brooke Tessmacher and Taryn Terrell. BroMans were at ringside with The Beautiful People. Awesome Kong appears after the lights go out. She chokeslams Zema Ion. Havok’s music hits and out she comes. Her and Kong face off in the middle of the ring but security breaks it up before anything happens.

– Low Ki vs. Austin Aries for the X Division Title is next. Ki gets the win to become the new champion, just one night after losing it. Ki got the win after Kenny King attacked Austin Aries on the top rope.

– MVP calls out Bobby Lashley and he shows this time. MVP says he got Lashley everything he has. MVP says The BDC (Beat Down Clan) owns the World Heavyweight Title. Lashley says the title is his. Lashley wants nothing to do with this and MVP is offended. They hug but Low Ki attacks and Lashley gets beat down by the group. Ki hits a double stomp to the back and MVP hits him with the belt. As they leave, MVP says the title doesn’t belong to Lashley, it belongs to The BDC.

*Spoilers* TNA Impact Wrestling Results (Airing 1/23)

Doc Gallows Talks Success In NJPW & WK9, CM Punk’s Move To UFC, Finn Balor

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The following are highlights of a new Chad Dukes Wrestling Show interview with Doc Gallows:

On being a star in Japan: “In Japan, traditionally, whether you’re a baseball player, a musician, a baseball player, a pro wrestler, which thank god it’s very popular right now, you get kinda special treatment. These sponsors, these businessmen, I guess it’s kind of a status thing for them to take us out. So we get to eat in five-star restaurants all night long, we get to eat as much as we want, drink as much as we want, which is good sometimes, bad others. It’s a change in lifestyle, it really is… Over there they wanna buy the stuff off our backs. So I literally wear different gear to the ring every single night and then these collectors are waiting at the hotel to buy my stinky tights.”

On the Aces & Eights group: “As evidenced by my career, I’m a bit of a faction man. That was just a really neat, I really dug the vibe of it. I thought got to be myself a little bit for the first time, which translated into what I think became the Bullet Club success for me and stuff. I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but Mike Knox is probably my very best friend in wrestling, best friend since we laid eyes on each other. He’s my dude and getting to do that and be on TV with him, actually at one point there was talk of making us more of a TV tag team and running us for the tag belts and stuff, which never came to fruition… It was a great group of guys. Devon, I’m completely fond of him, we became friends. D-Lo Brown, he’s my boy as well. Just the whole thing, Garrett, Wes, no matter what you think of those guys in-ring or otherwise, it was a great group of guys, we had each other’s backs, we were friends outside the ring, and anytime you do that- it’s kinda like at WWE, Mercury, CM Punk, and I as the Straight Edge Society- anytime that you have that with guys, like we have in the Bullet Club now, it translates, people get it. It has a real feeling because it is real.”

On the end of the Straight Edge Society: “I felt like in 2010 when the Straight Edge Society ended that it was a shame because we had some real momentum. We came into Summer Slam 2010 and whatever mistakes Serena Deeb made, I don’t know, I can’t care to comment on, she got fired and [Joey Mercury] tore his pec in that match we had with Big Show. So it was kinda like the Straight Edge Society imploded in one night, so we never got to finish the storyline which I always thought was a shame.”

On CM Punk’s UFC move: “The UFC move shocked me. I knew some of the other entertainment stuff he was doing, I knew he was training his ass off, I knew he was a huge fan of it, so I kinda had an inkling. And then he announced it or they announced it, whatever, and I texted him and said, ‘Holy Crap dude, congratulations, I had no idea.’ I just talked to him in Japan, I know he’s training his butt off in Milwaukee and he’s really digging that. I hope for all the best for him.”

On Joey Mercury: “If there was ever a guy who knew this business from the inside out and could teach it to other people and knew how to convey it, it was Joey. I was in my mid-20s when Straight Edge thing was going, 25, 26 years old. Who better to stand on the ring apron and tag with, who better to second out to a match CM Punk. Joey and I tagged on six or seven overseas tours, we tagged on all the house shows, and I just think the world of both [Joey Mercury & CM Punk] as in-ring performers, as entertainers, and as people. Getting to be with those guys it was kinda like going to medical school after college or something.”

On Finn Balor: “He’s a guy who can go, he has a charisma, not so much a charisma but he has mystique. And I think that when mystique’s gone, like now in a lot of cases, that it hurts. But if you look at like a Bray Wyatt, and there’s mystique there, I love him, huge fan of him, he’s a friend of mine, and I love what he’s doing and what they’ve done with him. And I think that Devitt, if they can capture him just right, he’s gonna be able to captivate an audience and be a major league, big fight feel superstar in that company.”

Check out the complete interview at ChadDukesWrestlingShow.com.

Jim Ross Blog: Thoughts On Wrestle Kingdom 9, Calling The PPV With Matt Striker

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The following are highlights of the returning Jim Ross blog:

On calling Wrestle Kingdom 9 with Matt Striker: “Matt Striker and I wanted to truly broadcast and not narrow cast this event inasmuch as we focused on the new fans to this brand. Some established NJPW fans have taken me to task on Twitter regarding this philosophy but I would not change a thing. In order for the PPV to make money it had to draw new viewers of NJPW so that was our game plan going in. Having to adjust to new equipment and to each other we had a rougher start than I’d have wanted but as the show progressed I felt like we came together well. Funny story….I think that the TV Asahi folks forget that we were there as we were never counted in to the start the show or to the video packages and not even off the air. We went by our instincts and it seemed to work out pretty well. Yes, we worked the entire four hour PPV plus sat there for the 30 minutes or so pre show festivities and never heard ONE WORD from the TV truck.”

On the final three matches on the WK9 event in Japan: “The final three bouts of the show were as good as I can recall broadcasting in years. Great in ring psychology, a logical pace, uniqueness from match to match, physicality to an almost uncomfortable degree to watch degree and crisp execution. They reminded me somewhat of the WM25 bout between HBK and Undertaker, Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold at WM13 and a handful of Flair-Steamboat bouts. Emotion, execution, and energy all in place with that magnificent, New Japan physicality. It was a fan’s dream.”

Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.

Dixie Carter On Why TNA Chose Destination America, Talks Changes Coming To TNA, More

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The following are quotes and notes from TNA President Dixie Carter’s interview on this week’s edition of Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast, which is available for download right now at PodcastOne.com. Notes from the interview come from F4WOnline.com.

On TNA’s move to Destination America

– She tried to really sell the move to Destination America, as you’d expect. She said they said “they’re the largest paid TV programmer in the world.” Said in all meeting with networks they didn’t just want to be an average show on the network in the eyes of the network, she wanted to go somewhere where they would be a top priority, get maximum support from the network, lots of promotion, more hours etc. Said both she and the network feels it’s a big opportunity for growth for both of them. Said she kept the wrestlers as up-to-date as she could, but it was tough with confidentiality agreements etc. Tried to spin-it as it may look like a step back, but it’s a step forwards in-terms of potential growth, claims she got a lot of support from the talent and they to are optimistic, and that they too felt they should be somewhere where they’re a priority. Said it may be a challenge for people to find the channel, but once they do and they begin to grow and their “global affect and what that plan is begins to take hold” it’s going to be like “something they’ve never had.”

On demographics

– When discussing wrestling demographics she said when they first went to Spike they had to fight to get their ratings and demographics information from them. Said they wanted to start attempting to appeal to a broader audience males, females, young, old etc. Pushed the “unlocked” shows they’re going to be a kind of a “director’s cut.” Says wrestling fans are becoming more and more interested in what goes on behind the scenes and they intend to provide some of that with this show. Also said she’s currently in negotiations trying to secure a TV deal in Canada.

– Said TNA is still their corporate name, the confusion is down to them having one show in the US, of course called Impact Wrestling, where as in other parts of the world that isn’t the case.

On announcers for TNA shows

– Talked about the changes to the announce team, she said there is nothing more you can do to change the basic framework of the show than have a new voice, she said Tenay is going to be doing things on Impact that will be very insightful and that’s what he’s absolute best at, said he will play a big part in one of their new shows, also said how they’re going to be using the announcers going forward is going to different, which is intriguing (I feel).

Other notes from the interviews

– Put over John Gabruick as a great motivator for the locker room.

– Said they are planning to do more house shows and more One Night Only shows, but right now Impact is their priority. JR pushed her on the subject and she said they’re going to give the touring a “breather” when the television takes off they plan on doing it again but doing it right.

– Was asked about deals with Rampage Jackson, Tito Ortiz, King Mo etc. says she wants work with Mo and they have an existing deal, Tito is interested in doing something with them, but they’re not working with Rampage right now. When discussing him by the tone in her voice their seems to be a bit of tension or disappointment there.

– Asked if Vince Russo is going back said there are no plans and there have been no discussions. But said when focused he can be a tremendous talent.

– Said in meetings with every network they said “why in the world did they (Spike) let you go.”

You can listen to Dixie Carter’s interview with Jim Ross as part of the latest “Ross Report” podcast by visiting PodcastOne.com.

  • PHOTOS: CM Punk & AJ Lee At Dinner Together In Las Vegas Just A Few Days Ago, Hanging Out With Celebrities & MORE!

WWE Announces Daniel Bryan’s First Return Match On Television

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WWE has announced the official return of former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the leader of the “Yes! Movement,” Daniel Bryan.

Bryan’s first match back since undergoing neck surgery and dealing with his long road to recovery will be next Tuesday night, January 13th.

WWE is pushing Bryan’s return as the main attraction in the advertising for the show on Tuesday night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where WWE will tape the first edition of WWE SmackDown to air in its’ new time slot on Thursday night on the SyFy Network.

WWE Testing Virtual Reality Technology

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WWE is currently in the early stages of testing out virtual reality technology.

The annual Consumer Electronic Shows (CES) convention is currently underway in Las Vegas and WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Offer George Barrios broke the news during a “Masters of Trailblazing Content” seminar.

According to virtual reality blog VRFocus.com, Barrios told the audience that WWE is currently testing VR content at the WWE Performance Center in Florida, but the technology is still a long way from being ready for a consumer rollout. Barrios said:

“It’s very, very early days… it’s very expensive; the amount of cameras and post-production needed. We’re early days on what the content might be. We saw the live content – Cirque du Soleil – and we were blown away.”

Other companies currently developing VR content include the NBA, Artists Den, Skybound Entertainment.

WWE Announces New Broadcast Teams For RAW & SmackDown

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WWE sent out a press release on Thursday announcing new broadcasting teams for RAW and SmackDown.

Starting on Monday, RAW will be called by Michael Cole, JBL and Booker T.

When SmackDown moves to Thursdays next week, the action will be called by Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton.

Pay-per-views will feature Cole, Lawler and JBL.

Hit up Page 2 below for the official press release, which dubs Michael Cole “the voice of WWE for more than 15 years.” Bah gawd!

Ziggler Doing Improv Tonight In Hollywood, Monday Night War Finale & More

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– After being “fired” on RAW and being pulled from this weekend’s WWE live events, Dolph Ziggler will be doing improv tonight in Hollywood California at Second City Hollywood. He’ll be joined by Lucha Underground star Johnny Mundo (John Morrison) and Ziggler’s brother, Ryan Nemeth. For ticket information, visit SecondCity.com.

– The “season finale” of the Monday Night War series on the WWE Network airs this coming Tuesday.

– The Bellas Twins will be appearing at the New Orleans Wizard World convention on Saturday.

– NXT will be holding live events in Citrus Springs, FL and Fort Pierce, FL this weekend.

– WWE and 2K Sports announced today that the WWE SuperCard mobile game has surpassed 5 million downloads since it was released back in August.

Lucha Underground Crowns First Champion, Next Set Of Tapings, New Talent

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Prince Puma was crowned the first-ever Lucha Underground champion on last night’s show.

Lucha Underground will hold their next batch of television tapings later this month, with shows scheduled for January 17th, 18th, 24th and 25th from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. There is talk of Lucha Underground holding tapings every other weekend from now through April.

The promotion is in talks to bring in a lot of fresh faces for the upcoming tapings. Last week, the Young Bucks tweeted about receiving an “insulting” offer to work a few shows. Company officials obviously weren’t happy with the tweet, but are still trying to strike a deal with the duo.

Independent Willie Mack and former TNA Knockout Sarita (Sarah Stock) have been in talks with the promotion, as has Guam Olympic wrestler Jeff Cobb. Cobb attended a WWE tryout camp last year but was not signed.

In late 2014, there was some concern that Lucha Underground’s ratings were not up to par, especially with the show’s expensive production costs. El Rey canceled the original series Matador (featuring former WWE Diva Eve Torres) after only one season, which got some people wondering where things stood with Lucha Underground. That said, there’s no immediate danger of the show being canceled.

News from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was used in this report. Visit f4wonline.com for subscription information.

Daniel Bryan Returnig To The Ring Before The Royal Rumble?

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It has been reported for a while now that WWE is planning on keeping Daniel Bryan out of the ring until his return in the Royal Rumble match at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 25th, however that may not end up being the case.

As of right now, Daniel Bryan is listed in the advertising, promoted as wrestling Kane in a singles match at the WWE live event on January 16th in St. Louis, Missouri.

The official website for The Scottrade Center lists the following for the aforementioned 1/16 live event in St. Louis:

WWE returns to St. Louis for the first time in 2015 with a special Friday night live event at Scottrade Center on January 16!

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins
Steel Cage Match

Roman Reigns vs. The Big Show

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

Plus more of your favorite WWE Superstars including:
Chris Jericho
Cesaro
Jack Swagger
R Truth
The Divas
And Many More!

* Card is subject to change.

Impact Attendance, Production Issues, Dixie Carter Not In Attendance & More

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– The attendance for last night’s TNA Impact Wrestling Tapings from the Manhattan Center was 450-500 fans.

– TNA President Dixie Carter was not in attendance at Impact. She was in Los Angeles attending a Television & Critics Association event and was joined by Sgt. Chris Melendez and Mr. Anderson.

– The opening segment for Impact featuring the wrestlers brawling outside the Manhattan Center was actually taped on Tuesday night. The live show was kicked off by wrestlers brawling into the arena.

– There were a lot of production issues at Impact. No word yet on who directed the show, but it was not David Sahadi, who had been directing TNA’s shows. TNA was using the Manhattan Center’s production equipment, not their own, which was part of the reason why production did not go very smoothly. The fact that Impact aired on tape delay really worked in TNA’s favor, since they had some time to clean up the show.

– There was a lot of stalling in between segments at the taping. At one point, there was no action for about 15 minutes, with a loud “We Want Wrestling” chant breaking out.

– Tommy Dreamer was backstage at Impact working as an agent.

Del Rio Calls Out Racists In WWE Again, New 2K15 DLC Coming Next Week & More

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– Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio called out the “racists in WWE” at this weekend’s WWL event from Puerto Rico, where Del Rio captured the WWL Heavyweight Championship. The comment came during a segment with heel authority figure Richard Negrin, whom Del Rio joined later in the show as part of the Gentleman’s Club stable.

– It’s believed that Triple H was the WWE executive who informed Kevin Nash that his legends contract was being suspended as a result of his assault arrest.

– 2K Games recently confirmed that the “WWE 2K15 Moves Pack” DLC will be released on January 13th. Some of the moves included are a spinning powerbomb, spike Tombstone piledriver and backslide driver.

Marcus Stephenson of 2K Games noted on Twitter that the Moves Pack was not included in the 2K Season Pass because they wanted to keep the price down for the season pass, which was already pretty high at $24.99.

– John Cena recently granted another Make-A-Wish for WWE fan Amere at the most recent RAW tapings in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Complete Details On TNA’s Programming Schedule For January On Destination America

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TNA issued the following press release today touting this month’s programming schedule on Destination America:

DESTINATION AMERICA RINGS IN 2015 WITH BRAND-NEW KNOCKOUT PREMIERES OF IMPACT WRESTLING

(Pasadena, Cal.) – Destination America is bracing for impact and entering the ring in 2015 as the new home for TNA’s (Total Nonstop Action) IMPACT WRESTLING. As announced in November, Discovery Communications and TNA Entertainment signed an exclusive broadcast deal to bring all-new U.S premieres of IMPACT WRESTLING to Destination America, the only network dedicated to all-American entertainment, celebrating the people, places and stories of the United States. IMPACT WRESTLING will follow the intense, epic matches between the world’s most-gifted and entertaining wrestlers including Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode and Mr. Anderson. Bringing non-stop action and explosive entertainment to its millions of voracious fans, IMPACT WRESTLING premieres on Destination America on Friday, January 16th at 9PM ET.

“We are giving our viewers what they crave with a combination of action-packed entertainment and weekly rope operas featuring classic American characters, true underdogs fighting to achieve their dream of being the top contender in the ring.” said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America. “IMPACT WRESTLING goes beyond the action weaving together gritty story lines featuring heroes and villains and good versus evil showcasing these iconic American athletes battling it out to be the best.”

“We are starting the New Year with a bang on our new home, Destination America,” said TNA President Dixie Carter. “Everyone on the Destination America team is incredibly enthusiastic of our partnership and is doing a remarkable job of using the entire Discovery family of platforms to promote IMPACT WRESTLING and our two other new programs, IMPACT WRESTLING: UNLOCKED and TNA WRESTLING’S GREATEST MATCHES. Marc and his team clearly understand the unyielding appetite for captivating characters, compelling stories and quality in-ring action, and that is exactly what TNA and IMPACT WRESTLING will deliver week in and week out.”

Destination America will offer wrestling fans from coast to coast and all across America brand-new weekly premieres of IMPACT WRESTLING beginning in its regular time slot on the network on Friday nights from 9-11 PM ET starting January 16, immediately followed by an encore from 11 PM-1 AM ET. After each week’s premiere, Destination America will also debut the new series IMPACT WRESTLING: UNLOCKED airing on Saturdays from 10 AM-12 PM ET beginning January 17, offering a never-before-seen viewing experience to the fans featuring extra content and incredible behind the scenes footage from the previous week’s IMPACT WRESTLING.

Destination America also will launch the U.S. premiere of TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches, debutingwith a three-episode mini-marathon on Saturday, January 10 beginning at 10 AM ET, presenting the most remarkable and memorable contests of TNA’s Superstars. TNA WRESTLING’S GREATEST MATCHES will continue to premiere in its regular time slot starting January 17 on Saturdays at 12PM.

January Premiere Schedule of TNA Wrestling includes:

Saturday, January 10

10 AM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Sting
11 AM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Kurt Angle
12 PM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Kurt Angle Part 2
Friday, January 16

9 AM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Rob Van Dam
10 AM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Mr. Anderson
9 PM ET: IMPACT Wrestling
Saturday, January 17

10AM ET: IMPACT Wrestling: Unlocked
12 PM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Jeff Hardy
Friday, January 23

1 PM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of The Knockouts
9 PM ET: IMPACT Wrestling
Saturday, January 24

10AM ET: IMPACT Wrestling: Unlocked
12 PM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Samoa Joe
Friday, January 30

9 PM ET: IMPACT Wrestling
Saturday, January 31

10AM ET: IMPACT Wrestling: Unlocked
12 PM ET: TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches: Best of Bully Ray

Dolph Ziggler lost the Intercontinental Title due to backstage problem – details ->

Daniel Bryan Wants Lesnar At WrestleMania & Talks About His Road To Recovery

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NOLA.com has published a new interview with Daniel Bryan to hype Monday’s WWE RAW from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Once again, Bryan is calling out Brock Lesnar as his “dream opponent” and says that’s the match he’s been thinking about since he got injured last year.

Lesnar will also be at Monday’s RAW and Bryan is ready to reclaim the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

“… To me, that’s still my championship. My dream match for WrestleMania this year is if Brock Lesnar keeps the title and I win the Royal Rumble, and I wrestle Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 31 for the WWE championship. That’s the match I want. That’s the match that I’ve been thinking about this entire time that I’ve been injured.”

Bryan was out of action for most of 2014 due to various injuries. After undergoing neck surgery in the spring, nerve damage prevented him from regaining strength in his right arm. He was on the verge of reluctantly undergoing a second surgery before discovering Dr.Greg Roskopf, founder of Muscle Activation Techniques based out of Denver, Colorado. After two sessions with Roskopf, Bryan was already seeing results.

“It was like, ‘Wow. I’m actually getting better. At the beginning of December, some parts of my right arm were even stronger than my left, which is pretty incredible given how long the nerve had been damaged.”

Bryan is still getting back into peak physical condition and has been training kickboxing and jujitsu. He also spent time at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida a few weeks ago. After working in the ring there, Bryan felt like he was ready to return to action.

“Functionally, I feel great. My movement is great. Overall, I feel good. I didn’t have any hesitation (in the ring), there was nothing that I did before that I can’t do now. Not only that, mentally I’ve been recharged. I’m going to be better than ever.”

Check out the full interview at NOLA.com.

Road Warrior Animal Addresses The Ascension’s Controversial Promo From Monday’s RAW

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After the controversy from The Ascension’s promo on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, where the former NXT standout team took shots at past WWE tag-teams such as Demolition and more specifically, The Road Warriors, Joe Laurinaitis, who portrayed “Animal” in the Road Warriors tag-team, has posted a blog to address the situation.

Road Warrior Animal (Joe Laurinaitis) wrote the following on his official Facebook page:

“The idiots in charge make the call everyone knows how stupid it is to copy icons yet they still do it. Do it in a mocking fashion to get heat I understand do it in a disrespectful way well that’s another issue that’s low and has no place in the business.

Where does it end and I usually are just are playing when I comment but this one is a shoot I believe they should have had Me Animal find a team. For some undetected odd reason they don’t do it. They missed the boat with Ascention and they missed it when my brother John was in the ring both great times to bring me in and they missed it.

They need to go to their merchandise numbers today and see we rank up with the main roster on selling merchandise for a reason.

Oh what a rush.”

WWE RAW Viewership For The First RAW Of 2015

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The Monday, January 5th edition ovf WWE RAW, which was the first episode of the show of 2015 with The Authority’s return, averaged 3.76 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The 3.76 million average for Monday’s show was up from last week’s show, which was the final edition of the show of 2014, as that show drew 3.459 million viewers.

The hourly breakdown in terms of viewership for Monday’s RAW is as follows:

Hour One: 3.801 million viewers
Hour Two: 3.888 million viewers
Hour Three: 3.599 million viewers

This week’s RAW finished second overall on cable, trailing only the VH-1 reality show, “Love & Hip-Hop.”

Tyrus Talks About Leaving WWE, What He Misses In WWE, His Goals In TNA & More

Matt Boone
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The following are highlights of a new Main Event Madness interview with TNA star Tyrus, a.ka. former WWE Superstar Brodus Clay:

On his career in 2014 and his WWE release: “You know, I think you have to go from one start off, getting fired obviouly was a blemish, a negative thing, but only being unemployed for about 15 minutes was pretty cool, so I take that as a success. Anytime you go through a change and you can continue to do what you love to do and do it on your own terms, and I’ve been able to pick and choose what I want to do and become a fan of wrestling again and realize I do what I do because I enjoy it, not necessarily for a paycheck, but get to earn a paycheck. With having the new network, with IMPACT and Destination America, it’s an awesome opportunity and it reminds me of back in the day, no one knew too much about CNN when it first started and look at what it became today, being on the forefront on something new and exciting is always a great opportunity, it’s a chance to shine and do your thing.”

On his goals for 2015 and plans for the future: “I have some goals, I’m in a PR (personal record) on my deadlift, I have some weight goals, I want to drop another 30 pounds, but it’s difficult, because with powerlifting and dieting you don’t want to lose any muscle, but I have some things I am working on. I have another movie this year and maybe some TV stuff. I set some lofty goals for myself and I think you have to. I think no matter who you are or what you do in life, you should set the bar high, that way, when you do obtain those things, you can say, I did this, but if you didn’t get it, you can look an see what you needed to do to get there.”

On what he misses from his time in the WWE: “I miss the boys, I miss the locker room jokes. TNA has a great locker room, so I’m kind of getting to know everybody, but missing guys I came up with like Heath Slater, The Big Show’s long stories, Mark Henry’s life anecdotes, TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) makes me die laughing, some cool handshakes and stuff like that, Tensai’s deep voice. We keep in touch as much as we can and the fan interaction. I really enjoyed the reading program WWE did and I do miss those things, I think I enjoyed it and I’m able to dictate my own schedule right now and you know, WWE is 365 days a year and when you’re in it, you don’t think about it and when you’re not in it, you think about, oh man, it’s a Wednesday night, what am I going to do with myself and now I finally get more time to work on myself.”

Check out the complete interview at MainEventMadness.com.

Total Divas Viewership, Seth Rollins’ Top Ten Favorite Songs, New Steve Austin Show

Matt Boone
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– The Sunday, January 4th edition of WWE Total Divas drew 1.411 million viewers for the E! network this past weekend. That number marks an increase as compared to the 1.133 million viewers who tuned in for its’ last episode on October 26, 2014.

– WWE Superstar Seth Rollins recently spoke to the MTV U.K. website and revealed his top ten favorite tracks. Rollins’ list included Johnny Cash, Paramore, Killswitch Engage and PVRIS. You can check out his full list at MTV.co.uk.

– The latest edition of Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast is now online. On this week’s show, “Stone Cold” answers questions from fans about a number of topics related to his career. The official description for the show reads as follows:

SASu – EP184 – F You! I’m a Heel!

“Steve’s talking wrestling, and wait till you hear what he WAS gonna do IF Paul E. hadn’t called him right after Bischoff fired him from WCW! Find out which matches were the toughest to work, how he really feels about the War Games PPV, the secret to calling matches in the ring, and Steve shares an in-ring moment with Chris Benoit. Plus, Arn Anderson, favorite finishes, and in-ring attire!”

You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.

Dixie Carter On Bully Ray’s TNA Status, Plans For TNA PPVs, Kurt Angle & More

Matt Boone
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The following are highlights of a new Ring Rust Radio interview with TNA President Dixie Carter:

On the transition to Destination America: “Well I think it is critical for the company. We were in a position where in negotiations I went to every network saying, ‘Look, we are not interested in just licensing our two hour show Impact for your network. I am interested in a partner, someone who will help build our brand, give us more exposure, provide new programming for us’, and that’s exactly what we have gotten and more with the support of Discovery and Destination America. We are very, very excited about all that they are giving us across all ten Discovery networks; support, print advertising, PR, radio, digital. It is everything we had hoped it would be.”

On re-signing Kurt Angle: “Well, I think Kurt was a game changer for us when we first signed him. I think it is important at such a new beginning for us to still have him as a corner stone for our company. Kurt looks at all the positive changes that are happening. Our signing with Destination America out in Los Angeles, the new network deal, the commitment from them, he sees the big picture and he gets it. He is a joy to work with and a real leader for us. We are thrilled to have him.”

On the atmosphere in TNA: “Unfortunately, I’m not even going to see what the atmosphere is like Wednesday. I will be in Los Angeles while they are going live in New York. I am representing Discovery and Destination America at the Television and Critics Association. Again, that’s just part of what they are asking us to do. Ken Anderson, Chris Melendez and I will be there. We will be representing our show and network in front of hundreds of media representatives. Just the whole vibe from the locker room, everyone was so supportive. They realize that this is what we have all been wanting and hoping for. This is going to be a great fresh start for us.”

On rebooting storylines or sticking with past storylines: “I think it’s a little bit of both quite honestly. The momentum we had in New York for those shows this past year we want to continue that on and kick it up a notch. We got some surprises planned and we’ve got some changes planned. You won’t see it as much at the live shows but there’s only so much you can do with a live television production. The shows afterwards you are going to start to see a transformation of some new technologies that we are going to use. From new productions and some new and exciting ways in which we want to showcase the show. Things we have talked about for a long time, but quite honestly, technology wasn’t where we needed it to be to fit in to how we have to shoot a wrestling show. I am really, really excited for things to start taking shape in the coming weeks.”

On TNA pay-per-view plans: “We will still have several live ones a year, but when we have them they will mean something and be worth people’s hard earned money. I think that the creative team really wanted to start the year off with a bang and something special on the network. So we decided to take the Lockdown theme live and free on Destination America. I was supportive of that and we will have a couple of live pay-per-views a year and then we will still do some of the One Night Only specials that have been really successful for us.”

Chris Benoit Mentioned On WWE Network Show, Total Divas Preview Clip With The Bella Twins

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– During this week’s episode of the Monday Night War looking back at the fall of WCW, Chris Benoit was mentioned by name. While footage featuring the late wrestler is featured in its original form on the WWE Network, this may be the first time where he was mentioned by name on an original program.

The subject of Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn defecting to WWE in 2000 was addressed and a clip of the group debuting on the January 31, 2000 episode of Raw was shown with audio of Jim Ross mentioning all four by name. The accompanying clips, however, were focused on Guerrero, Malenko and Saturn.

Vince McMahon has said in the past that he is okay with acknowledging Benoit within a historical context, but not in a promotional manner.

“It’s not right to pretend he didn’t exist,” McMahon said in a 2009 interview with WWE Magazine when asked whether Benoit’s history can be acknowledged by the company. “It’s one thing to include him as part of a historical perspective, which I believe is okay, and it’s another thing to promote him, which is not okay.

“The situation is very similar to that of O.J. Simpson—despite his controversy, O.J. was still a part of the NFL scene. You can’t deny that he existed.”

– Here is a preview clip of this Sunday’s episode of Total Divas as Nikki and Brie Bella bring their personal issues to work when they get into an argument backstage.

Dolph Ziggler lost the Intercontinental Title due to backstage problem – details ->

Edge Talks About His Recent Appearance On RAW

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WWE Hall of Famer Edge was the first guest on Taz’s new Human Podcast Machine podcast, which you can listen to at Play.it. During their conversation, Edge talked about his recent RAW angle with Seth Rollins and John Cena.

Edge said he thinks his character should only appear on WWE television once every year or so and when he does appear, he wants to help elevate younger talent. Edge said the idea was pitched for Rollins to tease breaking his neck and he thought it was a great way to get heat for Rollins.

Edge admitted he thinks the segment went too long and he didn’t think being held down by the Big Show came off well on TV.

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