— Both Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan missed Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling taping in Macon, Georgia. Therefore, both talents will not be appearing on the November 3 and November 10 episodes.
Angle is suffering from a hamstring injury. He is also missing this week’s California live events despite being advertised.
— Brooke Tessmacher, who serves plates of hot wings at a Hooters restaurant in Kirby, Texas when she’s not bashing heads in TNA, is in the running for the 2011 Hooters Girls Halloween Costume Contest. The Hooters Girl who garners the most online votes wins $3,000. To vote for the TNA Knockout, click here.
— Numerous NWA Rampage Pro Wrestling talents were used as extras at Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling taping in Macon, Georgia including Sal Rinauro, J Rod, AJ Steele, Dustin Robinson, Cru Jones, Chip Day, Corey Hollis and ring announcer Miss Allie.
sources: F4WOnline.com, Wrestling Globe Newsletter
— Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger was backstage at Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling taping in Macon, Georgia. He lives near the area and did not film anything. He last appeared for the organization in 2006 to help Sting prepare for a match against Jeff Jarrett.
— Ric Flair appears Saturday at Panama Beach Raceway in Fountain, Florida as Honorary Race Chairman.
— Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling taping at the Macon Centreplex in Macon, Georgia reportedly drew 2,800.
— Crimson has been added to The Big Event, which takes place Saturday, November 12 at Courtyard Marriott LaGuardia Airport 9010 Ditmars Blvd East Elmhurst, New York.
Preview TNA IMPACT WRESTLING Next Thursday At 9/8c On SpikeTV
Don’t miss Thursday’s huge IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV at 9/8c, as the road continues to the November 13 “Turning Point” Pay-Per-View event! Can’t watch it Thursday night? Set your DVR to record it!
Here is a preview of Thursday’s broadcast:
– In a huge main event bout, the World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line as titleholder “Cowboy” James Storm will defend the gold against his friend and tag team partner, Bobby Roode! This past week, Roode defeated Samoa Joe to become the #1 Contender, and now he gets another shot at the World Title he came so close to winning at Bound For Glory. Don’t miss the much-anticipated World Title bout between Storm and Roode on Thursday’s IMPACT WRESTLING on SpikeTV!
– In addition, Ronnie from MTV’s “Jersey Shore” is coming to TNA IMPACT WRESTLING! After Robbie E and Big Rob put the beat down on Eric Young this past week, EY has promised he is bringing Ronnie to even the odds this week! What will happen when Ronnie from Jersey Shore makes his debut in IMPACT WRESTLING? Tune in and find out!
– In a huge tag team match, it will be “The Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy teaming with Mr. Anderson to take on “The King of the Mountain” Jeff Jarrett and Bully Ray
– Plus, Knockouts VP Karen Jarrett has signed a Knockouts Tag Team Title Match, as Tara and Brooke Tessmacher will defend the gold against Gail Kim and Madison Rayne
All this and much more on Thursday night starting at 9/8c on SpikeTV – with appearances by Sting, Ric Flair, X Division Champion Austin Aries, Eric Bischoff and many more!
At Sunday’s WWE Vengeance pay-per-view, the ring collapse that took place during the Mark Henry vs. Big Show match could have been the perfect opportunity for Bryan to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and challenge a badly injured Mark Herny right then and there.
The WWE caught up with Daniel Bryan this week and asked him why he didn’t capitalize on that golden opportunity.
Bryan also talks about growing his beard out until WrestleMania 28.
“There’s only two types of people in this world who don’t have beards. That’s children and women. I’m a man. I’ve got a beard!”
It was announced this week that Trish Stratus, Vickie Guerrero, the Bella Twins, Alicia Fox and Kharma will be downloadable characters for the upcoming WWE ’12 video game as part of the “DLC Pack #2”
WWE Divas Champion Beth Phoenix wrote the following on Twitter about Kharma’s inclusion in the game:
“now that WWE12 allows @kharma and I to face off, I know I will be virtually glamslamming her this holiday season b4 the real thing”
Kharma, not one to take trash talk from anybody, replied to Beth Phoenix with the following:
Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham remains in an intensive care unit in Florida after suffering what is believed to be a massive heart attack earlier this week.
Windham was reportedly found at his ranch, collapsed, by brother-in-law Mike Rotunda.
Robert Windham (a/k/a Blackjack Mulligan), his father, initially described the condition of the 50-year-old as “near death,” and asked for people to pray for him. However, he stated Thursday that there was “much improvement” in his son but had a “long recovery” ahead.
Windham has been moved to a facility in Orlando and had an MRI done on his neck.
WWE superstar Goldust tweeted the following about Windham on Thursday:
“Just visited my friend barry windham in hospital….hes in good spirits.z #prayforbarry”
Thanks to Manny for the following WWE SmackDown spoilers from Tuesday’s tapings in Houston, Texas. These will air Friday on SyFy.
Dark Match:
* Drew McIntyre beat Johnny Curtis in a squash.
SmackDown, Airing Friday:
* Teddy Long opens the show and talks about the fate of the World Heavyweight Title. Christian comes out and as usual wants a title shot. CM Punk interrupts him and apparently Teddy has brought some RAW stars to tonight’s show. Punk vs. Christian is announced for tonight.
* The Miz and R-Truth beat Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston in a quick non-title match when Truth pinned Kofi. Truth and Miz cut a promo after the match and teased that The Rock may take out John Cena before they can.
* Backstage segment with Daniel Bryan, Tyson Kidd and Santino Marella. Santino proposes Bryan vs. Kidd to see who’s best later tonight.
* Wade Barrett beat Trent Baretta in another quick match.
* Randy Orton beat Dolph Ziggler in another non-title match. This will probably end up being match of the night. Orton won with the RKO. After the match, Orton had a staredown with Cody Rhodes, who did commentary for the match.
* Backstage interview with Matt Striker and the fake Sin Cara. He has a new look and is out to get the original Sin Cara.
* Daniel Bryan defeated Tyson Kidd in less than five minutes with the LaBell Lock. I’m pretty sure Bryan came out to a new theme song as well.
* Michael Cole got our attention and ripped on Jim Ross some more, showing the fake photos from RAW again. Cole says JR has accepted his challenge and The Michael Cole Challenge is on for Monday.
* Big Show comes out to talk about Vengeance and the match against Mark Henry. Show says he has a rematch coming and out comes Henry. Henry said he’s moving on from Show but they had a staredown to end the segment.
* CM Punk defeated Christian in the main event that saw interference from Ricardo Rodriguez, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus. Sheamus distracted Christian, allowing Punk to hit the GTS for the win.
— Various Indian media outlets report that a land encroachment complaint has been filed against The Great Khali, who plans to set up a wrestling academy in Paonta Sahib. A local resident has alleged that his acre of land is within the area purchased by the WWE Superstar. Though police have started an investigation, they are waiting for him to return settle the dispute.
— Awesome Wrestling Entertainment announced Thursday they have signed Perry Saturn to a contract. The former WWE star competed for the first time in over five years on October 15 at their Night of the Legends pay-per-view event. He defeated C.W. Anderson.
— Shelly Martinez stated on Twitter she will be hosting a dating show.
She wrote, “I am so stoked Got film dates for a new project!! I will b a segment host on a new dating web series Details soon!!”
— Batista will be a playable character in THQ’s WWE ’12 video game, set for release on November 22, 2011 in North America and on November 25 in the United Kingdom.
THQ posted a screenshot on their official website denoting Batista as a character in the game.
— The Scripps Howard News Service has an article on former WWE star Bull Buchanan, who now works as supervisor at a SONY distribution and packaging center in Carrollton, Georgia. He believes his transformation from a serious enforcer to the more light-hearted B2 character who briefly seconded John Cena turned off Vince McMahon, leading to his departure from WWE in 2003.
“The fun part of it probably boomeranged on me,” Buchanan said. “Everything I had done to that point in my career had been so serious. I took this as something where I could be a little more tongue-in-cheek. Vince, though, had always seen me as a killer brutalizing people in the ring and throwing them around. This was different.”
Sunday at Vengeance, John Cena debuted new ring gear, replacing his trademark “jorts” with shorts featuring a variety of camouflage designs. He says this will be a permanent move.
“The jean shorts, for the moment, have been retired,” Cena tells WWE.com. “These are military-issued camo, and I think they will stand out. I have every U.S. Military service branch represented: Army, Marine Corps., Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. I’ll be changing it up from time to time.”
Cena, however, clarified that he hasn’t ditched the denim completely.
“They’re always in the closet,” Cena said. “Maybe when they come back in style 30 years from now I’ll bust them out for the WWE Hall of Fame or something.”
Cena also discussed his new “Rise Above Hate” shirt, which features the logo of the anti-bullying “be a STAR” campaign printed on the sleeve.
“I wanted to make a positive statement,” Cena said. “I have a varied group of loyal fans out there that will literally back me through thick and thin. I’m known for crazy graphics and colors on my shirts, and I’ve pretty much run through the entire rainbow. I didn’t want the message to be drowned out with a graphic or anything like that, so we went real simple and put the words ‘Rise Above Hate’ with ‘Hustle, Loyalty, Respect’ on the back.
Rumors circulated Thursday that WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco had passed away after suffering a mild stroke recently. Jim Ross has confirmed the rumor as a hoax.
“Just talked to Jerry Brisco and he is ALIVE and doing well,” he wrote on Twitter.
Diamond Dallas Page believed the rumor to be true as he offered condolences on Twitter.
DDP wrote, “Gerald Brisco was a Great Wtestler! A Great TV character but most of a Great Man! And he will be Extremely missed! RIP Brother!”
He later clarified his remarks, writing, “Just found out Gerry is Alive and well! Thank God! Damn some times I hate the twitter thing.”
Page’s statement upset Brisco and members of his family.
Brisco wrote on Facebook, “I’m well enough to kick DDP butt for putting this out there and upsetting my family.”
Warning: The following contains MAJOR *SPOILERS* for the next 2 weeks of Impact Wrestling
Following Wednesday night’s double TNA Impact Wrestling tapings from Macon, Georgia – we have a good idea of what the card is looking like for TNA Turning Point on November 13th. As you may have heard by now – Bobby Roode is our new TNA World champion, defeating James Storm last night (on the episode airing 11/3).
TNA World Heavyweight Title Match
Bobby Roode (c) vs. AJ Styles
TNA X Division Title Match
Austin Aries (c) vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Kid Kash
Matt Morgan vs. Crimson
Based on what occurred at Wednesday’s tapings, Rob Van Dam vs. Christopher Daniels and Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett also look like they’ll be happening. TNA is building up a feud between Eric Bischoff and his son Garrett, so there’s a chance this match will get booked as well.
Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky for the Knockouts Title had been announced for Turning Point, but since Gail Kim and Madison Rayne won the Knockouts Tag Team Titles at the tapings, its unknown whether the Knockouts title match will still take place.
– WWE is currently searching for a producer for the WWE Network – with the starting salary ranging from $300,000-400,000 and benefits. While this sounds like a great job opportunity for most, there is a lot of uncertainty in the television industry as to whether the network will be successful – and whoever gets that job could look bad if the network flops.
Industry insiders believe that the WWE Network’s best chance for success would be for WWE to buy an existing network (with its own clearances already in place) – but WWE’s efforts to buy an existing network have not panned out so far. In the event that WWE has to start their network from scratch – the situation is much more of an uphill battle. WWE will be investing so much money in the network that many believe it could “make or break” the company.
– Sunday’s WWE Vengeance pay-per-view from San Antonio, Texas drew approximately 8,000 fans, which is considered disappointing.
– We reported several weeks ago that there is a new initiative in WWE to announce wrestlers at their legitimate weights. After a few weeks of that – WWE has modified the policy – and the minimum weight wrestlers will be announced at is 210 pounds. Wrestlers under 210 will be announced as 210 or higher – while wrestlers actually weighing more than 210 will be announced at their real weights. This policy is a throwback to the old school territory days, where no wrestlers were announced as being less than 220 pounds – as a way to portray them as ‘larger than life.’
– Former WWE executive Donna Goldsmith, who left WWE earlier this year after working closely with Vince McMahon for many years (in the marketing department and later as the company’s COO) – has just started her new job as the General Manager of Operations for the 2014 New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee.
– Preliminary estimates are in for TNA Bound For Glory – and they’re not good. Bound For Glory drew approximately 20,000-25,000 buys – which is way down from last year’s 35,000-40,000 figure.
In somewhat of an ‘apples-to-oranges’ comparison – Hulk Hogan’s previous match on pay-per-view (SummerSlam 2006 against Randy Orton, headlined by John Cena vs. Edge) drew 535,000 worldwide buys. Ouch.
– Eric Bischoff’s son Garrett is expected to get a big push as a babyface star in the coming months. He has a good look, but many are skeptical because it’s highly unlikely he would have a job if it wasn’t for his father. The track record of people in power pushing their sons is spotty at best.
As we reported earlier this week – there’s preliminary talk about Hulk Hogan returning to the ring once again in a few months in a tag team match against Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff, with Hogan’s partner being either Sting or Garrett Bischoff.
– With Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk and Mark Henry vs. The Big Show in the works for Survivor Series – WWE is already looking to have rematches for both at the upcoming Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view.
While things can change, CM Punk is currently scheduled to win the WWE Championship some time this fall – prior to the December 26th RAW supershow from his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
– Mick Foley is said to be looking great these days, with several readers who attended his comedy shows noting that he appears to have dropped a lot of weight.
Foley is currently scheduled to appear at the November 14th edition of WWE RAW from Boston (the show before Survivor Series) and will likely be at the following week’s show from Hershey, PA.
He likely won’t be at Survivor Series due to a previous charity commitment.
The belief is that Foley will become a regular on WWE television (in a non-wrestling capacity), beginning early next year.
– Expect to see even more references to Twitter on WWE television in the coming months. Vince McMahon is said to be a huge fan of the social media service and has several ideas about how to integrate Twitter into WWE programming even further.
WWE announcers are encouraged to constantly reference Twitter, with the idea being that if they mention Twitter a lot at the beginning of shows, they will get topics trending worldwide and can talk about the topics even more.
At the 2012 Royal Rumble – WWE is planning to have superstars tweet right before they go through the curtain and enter the Rumble.
– Vince McMahon freaked out several weeks ago when he saw the company’s latest t-shirt for Zack Ryder. The phrase printed on the t-shirt that got so much heat from Vince was – “Take care, spike your hair.”
Because Vince McMahon hates Spike TV right now (due to their affiliation with TNA), Vince was so mad that he almost pulled shirts from being sold. Eventually, he agreed to sell the existing shirts that were still in stock – but forbid any more from being printed. A new Zack Ryder shirt without the “Spike your hair” phrase is now on sale.
On Monday’s RAW, it was announced that John Cena and The Rock will be teaming up at Survivor Series against the team of The Miz and R-Truth. With The Rock currently in New Orleans while filming the new GI Joe movie, Miz and R-Truth will be traveling to the city today to train with The Rock in preparation for their upcoming match.
Aside from the big Rock-Cena tag team main event – we have news on several other matches discussed for the big event.
WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk and World Heavyweight champion Mark Henry vs. the Big Show are among the matches we’re likely to see.
Despite the fact that WWE is reporting that Triple H suffered a back neck injury at the hands of Kevin Nash and RAW and will miss up to 6 weeks, expect The Game back in time for some sort of gimmick singles match with Nash at Survivor Series.
Also discussed is a traditional 5-on-5 elimination matches with the following competitors:
– Randy Orton, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Kane and Blue Sin Cara vs. Christian, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Brodus Clay and Black Sin Cara.
At one point, WWE had been discussing David Otunga, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Mason Ryan, Zack Ryder and one more partner, but last we heard, this match is not going to happen.
Credit to Matt Baxendell for the following notes from the Impact Wrestling taping which will air on November 10th…
– Garrett Bischoff has a match with Gunner. Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair get involved.
– Sorensen defeats Zema Ion. Kid Kash comes out and a three way with Sorensen vs. Kash vs. Aries is set for Turning Point.
– Bobby Roode cuts a promo as the new champion.
– Eric Young and a guy from Jersey Shore defeat Robbie E. and a partner.
– AJ Styles defeated Daniels. Daniels was going to use a screwdriver but RVD made the save.
– Hardy/Anderson/Abyss defeat Immortal when Abyss pins Steiner.
– James Storm was attacked backstage, but the Storm vs. Roode rematch still takes place. Roode wins after Storm passes out from blood loss. AJ Styles comes out and challenges Roode for Turning Point.
The Sound Off gets a “lethal injection” this week as Solomonster chats with the reigning Ring of Honor World Television champion, JAY LETHAL! In this 30-minute interview, the champ discusses his return to ROH and TV Title win over El Generico, his release from TNA and whether or not it came as a surprise, the number one thing he feels the company is missing, a great analogy comparing TNA’s treatment of the X Division to an episode of Seinfeld, this year’s Destination X show and what TNA did (or didn’t do) leading up to it that shocked him, the Black Machismo character and speaking with the real Randy Savage on the phone, who came up with the Legends Open Invitational on Impact and what the original idea was supposed to be, what it was like when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came to TNA, working with Ric Flair and their amazing promo battles, if he would ever work for them again, possibly working with WWE in the future and more! Lethal holds nothing back, especially when it comes to TNA.
Solomonster also speaks with “The Prodigy” NATHAN BANNER for an interview that any current or aspiring independent wrestler should listen to. He discusses growing up with (and being trained by) Jay Lethal, working for Zero 1 and HUSTLE in Japan, being part of the first beginner’s class in FCW and tips on what WWE is looking for, working the Macho Man memorial show in Canada and getting high praise from Lanny Poffo, and a whole lot more.
It’s a special double interview on this bonus Sound Off, so enjoy and rate the show in iTunes!
Former WWE star Barry Windham is currently hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Florida.
Windham, 51, reportedly suffered either a stroke or heart attack within the last 24 hours. There is a claim that he was discovered fallen and awake but suffering.
WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan, his father, posted a notice on Facebook asking fans to keep Windham in their prayers.
