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Massaro In Talks With TNA, Shelley Battling Serious Injury

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source: www.pwtorch.com

— Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro attended the Survivor finale red carpet event held two weeks ago and was telling people that she’s had discussions with Dixie Carter about working for TNA. Though there is a good chance she will ultimately wind up in the company, it’s not expected to be imminent.

— TNA officials were planning a feud between The Motor City Machineguns and Generation Me, but Alex Shelley is battling serious problems with his back and neck which could cause him to miss significant ring time.

— Kip James was hanging out backstage at this week’s television tapings. Though he was recently dropped as a talent, he is still under contract to the organization as officials are trying to find a new role for him.

Linda Hogan Talks About Being A Cougar On CNN (VIDEO)

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CNN.com has a video interview with Linda Bollea, ex-wife of Hulk Hogan.

Now that her divorce has blown over and her facetime on TMZ.com has died down, Linda is still on television for some reason talking about the only thing she’s really qualified at – being a “cougar.” Linda describes life after being married to Hulk Hogan, and her relationship with 21-year old Charlie Hill.

Host Joy Behar (also from ABC’s “The View”) tells Linda that she she is cautious about dating a much younger man, because she’s afraid he’ll yell out “mommy” when they’re in bed.

Linda responds, “Is that so wrong? Just kidding.”

You tell ’em, Linda.

Linda Bollea Settles Civil Suit With John Graziano's Family

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Linda Bollea, the ex-wife of Hulk Hogan, has reached a confidential settlement with the family of John Graziano, who was seriously injured in a car wreck involving Nick Hogan back in 2007.

Graziano family attorney George Tragos told Florida’s St. Petersburg Times:

“Linda, she was obviously in a different position than everyone else. She was in California at the time of the accident and she did not sign for Nick Bollea’s drivers license as Terry did, so she’s in a different legal position.”

A confidential settlement was also reached with Daniel Jacobs, who was allegedly racing Nick Hogan at the time of the crash and was sued along with Hulk, Linda and Nick.

Hulk Hogan and his son Nick are still defendants in the suit.

For more, visit TampaBay.com.

Linda Bollea Settles Civil Suit With John Graziano’s Family

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Linda Bollea, the ex-wife of Hulk Hogan, has reached a confidential settlement with the family of John Graziano, who was seriously injured in a car wreck involving Nick Hogan back in 2007.

Graziano family attorney George Tragos told Florida’s St. Petersburg Times:

“Linda, she was obviously in a different position than everyone else. She was in California at the time of the accident and she did not sign for Nick Bollea’s drivers license as Terry did, so she’s in a different legal position.”

A confidential settlement was also reached with Daniel Jacobs, who was allegedly racing Nick Hogan at the time of the crash and was sued along with Hulk, Linda and Nick.

Hulk Hogan and his son Nick are still defendants in the suit.

For more, visit TampaBay.com.

Alissa Flash Also Leaving TNA Wrestling

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Awesome Kong is not the only TNA Knockout parting ways with the company this week. A reliable source in TNA has informed us that fellow TNA Knockout Alissa Flash is also leaving.

Alissa (real name Melissa Anderson) reportedly requested her release from the company, she was not fired.

There are rumors of others besides Kong and Anderson requesting their releases but nothing is confirmed.

The Rock Hypes His WWE Return, Might Wrestle (VIDEO)

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The GREAT One .. Dwayne "The ROCK" Johnson
The GREAT One .. Dwayne "The ROCK" Johnson

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson spoke to Sports Illustrated this week to promote his new “Tooth Fairy” movie. The former WWE superstar stated once again that he wants to return to WWE to host WWE RAW and was actually supposed to host the show earlier this month:

“I do plan on going back and hosting. I was actually gonna go back this month, but the day I was going to host, I had to go to Mexico for promotion of the movie, so we had to cancel that,” Johnson said.

Johnson says his return to WWE, rumored to take place this summer, will be more than just a typical one-night guest hosting gig:

“I’ve remained close with Vince McMahon over the years, but here’s the key. It’s not just to go back and host. I don’t want to do that. I want to go back and host and do something special. I want to entertain the fans in ways they haven’t been entertained in years.”

Johnson appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS this week and spoke a lot about WWE and his time in pro wrestling. Johnson described the rush he gets from a live WWE crowd like nothing else in entertainment and said he’ll always be “The Rock.”

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross commented about Rock’s Letterman appearance in his latest blog:

“Loved it on Letterman when Dwayne said that he would always be “The Rock” which was not only true but had to make wrestling fans around the Globe feel good. I don’t ever see the Rock wrestling again but I know that he will host Raw sometime in the future to reconnect with his fans and to promote his latest project.”

Johnson also appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter where he spoke about his WWE return and had a funny interaction with former WWE announcer and ESPN host Jonathan Coachman. The most newsworthy item from the interview is that Johnson now says he “would never rule out” wrestling a match for WWE again:

“In terms of wrestling a match, I really don’t have any interest. I would love to go back and guest-host and entertain the audience. I could still do the physical things – Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow. I could still do all that and kick ass and have a great time. As far as wrestling a match, I’m not too sure if I see that, but I would never rule it out.”

Here’s the full ESPN SprotsCenter interview:

Awesome Kong Gives Notice To TNA She Is Leaving

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TNA Knockout Awesome Kong, who got into a physical altercation with TNA backstage announcer Bubba the Love Sponge at Monday’s iMPACT! tapings, has given notice that she’s leaving the company.

The news was originally reported by f4wonline and was confirmed by Kong herself on Thursday afternoon via a live video stream on Qik.com.

Kong’s departure from the company appears to be effective immediately, and she said during the video cast that she informed TNA she won’t be attending the upcoming UK tour.

It should be noted that many TNA wrestlers and knockouts who have told management they are leaving have been persuaded into staying, but at this point Awesome Kong’s relationship with TNA appears to be off.

Karen Angle's TNA Return, Future of TNA's 6-Sided Ring

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– Karen Angle, the ex-wife of Kurt Angle, was with Jeff Jarrett at several recent TNA live events. There is talk again of having her return to TNA programming with an on-screen role.

– TNA star Daniels took a shot at the company on Twitter with the following comment:

“Good news and bad news for TNA fans-> Bad: the six sided ring isn’t coming back! Good: next month we’ll implement two three sided rings!”

– TNA is taking their six-sided ring to the UK with them for the upcoming tour. No TV will be filmed while they’re there. For what it’s worth, some in TNA are under the impression that we haven’t seen the last of the six-sided ring.

– Several fans have wrote in confused about the three nights of TNA iMPACT tapings that took place this week. Instead of taping three sperate shows on three consecutive nights, TNA taped matches and segments for the three episodes out of order , so things should look better when everything is edited .

(Credit to F4Wonline.com for some of the information used in this report)

Karen Angle’s TNA Return, Future of TNA’s 6-Sided Ring

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– Karen Angle, the ex-wife of Kurt Angle, was with Jeff Jarrett at several recent TNA live events. There is talk again of having her return to TNA programming with an on-screen role.

– TNA star Daniels took a shot at the company on Twitter with the following comment:

“Good news and bad news for TNA fans-> Bad: the six sided ring isn’t coming back! Good: next month we’ll implement two three sided rings!”

– TNA is taking their six-sided ring to the UK with them for the upcoming tour. No TV will be filmed while they’re there. For what it’s worth, some in TNA are under the impression that we haven’t seen the last of the six-sided ring.

– Several fans have wrote in confused about the three nights of TNA iMPACT tapings that took place this week. Instead of taping three sperate shows on three consecutive nights, TNA taped matches and segments for the three episodes out of order , so things should look better when everything is edited .

(Credit to F4Wonline.com for some of the information used in this report)

Sample WWE's New Music Album, Dolph Ziggler Joins Twitter

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— Cover art for the WWE The Music: Volume 10 – A New Day album has been released. You can view the cover and listen to samples of all fourteen tracks at the following linkir?t=se0e6 20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0035DH9GC. The album will be exclusively released via download next Tuesday on Amazon.com.

Tracks featured on WWE The Music: Volume 10 – A New Day include the WWE theme songs of Bret Hart, The Miz, Ezekiel Jackson, Legacy, Dolph Ziggler, Christian, Sheamus, Tiffany, Evan Bourne, Primo, Zack Ryder, The Hart Dynasty, The Bella Twins and Jerishow.

— Dolph Ziggler has joined the social networking site Twitter as his account can be reached at the following link. The SmackDown Superstar has already posted several quirky tweets, many of which expressing his love for Chipotle.

— The Bella Twins give the playoff picks for the NFL Conference Championship games at the following link.

Sample WWE’s New Music Album, Dolph Ziggler Joins Twitter

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— Cover art for the WWE The Music: Volume 10 – A New Day album has been released. You can view the cover and listen to samples of all fourteen tracks at the following linkir?t=se0e6 20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0035DH9GC. The album will be exclusively released via download next Tuesday on Amazon.com.

Tracks featured on WWE The Music: Volume 10 – A New Day include the WWE theme songs of Bret Hart, The Miz, Ezekiel Jackson, Legacy, Dolph Ziggler, Christian, Sheamus, Tiffany, Evan Bourne, Primo, Zack Ryder, The Hart Dynasty, The Bella Twins and Jerishow.

— Dolph Ziggler has joined the social networking site Twitter as his account can be reached at the following link. The SmackDown Superstar has already posted several quirky tweets, many of which expressing his love for Chipotle.

— The Bella Twins give the playoff picks for the NFL Conference Championship games at the following link.

Ken Anderson Clears Up Rumors On His Status With TNA

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— Apparently in response to online reports concerning his status with TNA Wrestling, Ken Anderson posted the following statement on his Twitter account this afternoon:

“I guess that those 6 copies of paperwork that my manager, agent, lawyer, and TNA officials toiled over for a month & I signed & overnighted weren’t contracts. I thought they were, I thought I had signed for a one year deal, but then again, what the hell do I know…?”

The statement has been deleted.

— For those of you who record TNA iMPACT! on DVR, it should be noted that the listing has been changed from TNA Wrestling to TNA Wrestling Impact on some cable providers.

— TNA announced that its live debut in France has been rescheduled for 8:00 p.m. Monday, January 25 at the Zenith. Due to circumstances beyond TNA control, officials announced on Monday that the event would be canceled due to the Solidarity Concert for the Haitian earthquake victims, a charity event being broadcast live on French television. (TNA Event In Paris Rescheduled For 1/25)

Divas Blocked From Answering Question, Jericho Lands Cover

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— Continuing their promotional push of WWE’s upcoming Royal Rumble pay-per-view to UK fans last week, Kelly Kelly and Maria appeared as guests on BBC Radio’s 1Xtra show. In an interesting note, both Divas said that they disliked their theme music and would change it if they could. They were also asked about dating fellow wrestlers, but the subject was promptly changed as the WWE public relations representative outside the studio door was reportedly going nuts.

WWE often has a rep listening in during media interviews with talent in order to prevent taboo subjects such as dating, wrestler deaths and steroid use from being discussed. (source: Mike Aldren of the Wrestling Globe Newsletter)

— An apparently unphotoshopped Chris Jericho is featured on the cover of latest issue of Men’s Fitness, which hits newsstands this Tuesday. Included is a six-page pictorial and interview in which the SmackDown Superstar shares his exercise tips. (Get fit with Chris Jericho)

WWE Star Suffers Injury, SmackDown Being Preempted, More

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— Drew McIntyre reportedly suffered a dislocated patella during his match at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping. While there is no official word on the injury, the Intercontinental Champion does appear to be injured, but the severity is not known at this time. (source: f4wonline.com)

— The MyNetworkTV affiliate in Washington, D.C. will be pre-empting this week’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown in favor of the Hope for Haiti telethon is airing on most broadcast television networks. Instead, WDCA will air SmackDown at 10:00 p.m. EST following the telethon.

In another preemption, the MyNetworkTV affiliate out of New York City is moving SmackDown to 11:35 p.m.

— On Ticketmaster.com, there is a presale for tickets to the April 19, 2010 Raw taping at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey using the access code “Access”.

Hogan & Bubba The Love Sponge Discuss Incident With Kong

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Hulk Hogan appeared on The Bubba The Love Sponge radio show Tuesday morning and discussed the shock jock’s altercation with Awesome Kong the previous day. Courtesy of www.angrymarks.com, here is a transcript of the discussion:

BUBBA: She was wearing wrestling gear, and she came in on me and sucker punched me right on my left cheek, and I was like, what’s going on… then she came out me again, hit me again in the mouth, and she goes, “This if for Haiti! This is for Haiti!” and I’m like “What is going on?” Then she hits me again… Finally I put my left hand out and push her away from me, and she comes at me again and I just cover up, because I cannot fight back on a woman. Not only will I be fired from TNA, which I probably am, but my radio career is gone if I take a woman out!

HOGAN: I tell you what, though, after what happened, if you had clocked her you’d have got away with it.

BUBBA: Maybe on the streets I’d have gotten away with it, but, how would the media have spun that had I clocked her?

HOGAN: What nobody knows, and this is the real truth, that there were certain people there, y’know, and of course they have to run it by me and Dixie… she should get off the property, she should be fired immediately, that’s it. It was so violent. You could have actually lost an eye, you could have had your teeth knocked out. But, to give you your creedo, you are the one who said no, don’t fire her.

BUBBA: No, I don’t want you to fire her.

MANSON: Now, I’m confused. Does Hogan think that this is a funny incident?

BUBBA: No, no he’s not. He knows how serious it is. He was being a dick earlier… but I don’t think he agrees with it. And, you know what, they said we were going to fire her and I said no, don’t fire her. Now, if she’s done other stuff, I can’t help what happens to her on other situations, but don’t fire her for sucker punching me, I don’t want to cost anybody their job.

HOGAN: I think this is really just the beginning of a match made in heaven.

BUBBA: No, that’s fine… that’s fine. But I tell you one thing, Hogan. If you… you better not call it pro wrestling, you might as well put the cage up and make it MMA because I will not work, I promise you that. You’re not going to embarrass me like that, and be that much of a loose cannon in this industry…

MANSON: Oh now you’re gonna kick her ass? I don’t think you want a piece of her in the cage.

BUBBA: Let me ask you, you’re the only person who has a cool head. Had I defended myself, and not covered up, and just blocked what the remaining of what she put in. Had I actually fought her, and done well, what would I be facing right now?

HOGAN: Well, first off, you’d have killed her. She’s real good at throwing a sucker punch, but the way she was swinging at you, and everything, you could have shot right between her arms and knocked her out. It wouldn’t have been cool, y’know, there would be all kind of heat… You did the right thing, y’know, because you did not hit her back, and she was swinging wild and she’s out of her mind… you did the right thing, but at the end of the day it comes back to you and me hanging out together. You know you’re going to get heat, I told you this a long time ago. BUT, don’t put this one on me, because you stirred that up.

BUBBA: How did I? I’m not putting this on you, but you lead by example… I’m gonna be honest, man, nobody there likes me. And they think, hold on, Hogan, they think I’m in there… I’m not a wrestler, I’m not going to take anybody’s job, I’m not gonna take anybody’s backstage announcing gig. I’m there to help you and try to get the TNA product going and working. I’m not a boss, I’m not a agent, I’m not nothing there and everybody… a lot of the old dudes, but AJ Styles gives me dirty looks…

HOGAN: Well the word I got on the street last night was that Russo stirred this up, and Russo put her up to it.

BUBBA: I don’t agree with that.

HOGAN: It’s true! I heard it!

MANSON: Now, did she give you a finishing move, because she’s known for a body avalanche, a gorilla press slam…

BUBBA: No, no…

HOGAN: She shoulda pushed Bubba over her head, splashed Bubba, and then just bounced off the wall and done two or three belly splashes…

MANSON: Awesome Kong, she’s so awesome…

BUBBA: Wait until my lawyers call Dixie up today.

HOGAN: I just think you should get there early today, and just like she sucker punched you, I think because Russo set this up, you should just knock his assout.

BUBBA: Well, I dunno… I don’t think Russo did this…

HOGAN: He did it, I’m telling you as your friend! I wouldn’t lie to you!

BUBBA: Hogan, I love you to death, but you’re the biggest worker… hold on. You’re taking something that really did happen and trying to make it an angle And the bottom line is, y’know what? All the wrestling sheets, you should know this is real because I didn’t talk about it, and I was upset so bad last night. Hogan, I mean, God, Dixie cannot want to deal with all this Bubba drama…

HOGAN: No, this is just your chance to even the score, straighten this out. You just go right up to Russo when he’s not looking and you just sucker punch him like she sucker punched you.

BUBBA: It will be more of a fight between Russo and I, he’s a pretty big dude, than me and Kong, but that isn’t going to be fair.

HOGAN: You can beat Russo up! Especially if you sucker punch him!

BUBBA: Manson, let me tell you about this Awesome Kong chick. She put three of them on my right cheek that you wouldn’t believe. If you look at my forearms they’re all scratched up. And she’s all, like it’s Braveheart, “HAAAITIII! HAAAIIITI!” And I’m like what… and there’s a woman named Mandy who saw it all… and then she took a glass container and threw it down.

MANSON: That’s why a camera should be on you at all times. That’s priceless footage.

HOGAN: I thought it was great!

BUBBA: But, hey, Hogan, what you don’t realize that they have “eyes in the sky” there, did you know that? They have … that whole entire building has surveillance on it. I’m gonna go get that tape.

HOGAN: Well I can’t wait to see it because I can’t believe how quick she dropped your ass!

BUBBA: She happened to meet me right there, where you guys… just outside the door, you know where it happened, right? I was going to go talk to Val Venis about something, I was heading to Catering, and she met me just down that hallway a little bit before you go down to Eric’s office. She was by herself and she was coming to find me. Just minutes before that, I was in that little office area where you and Eric did that shoot, talking to Hall and Nash and Sixx-Pac. So she was coming to find me, regardless where I was. And what if she had done it right there? She’d have got an ass-whipping by the boys!

HOGAN: By the boys? There’d have been nobody around. The only reason you covered up is because everybody was watching, and you knew you had to behave. I think if you had been by herself you would have counter clocked her ass.

BUBBA: Yeah, but she happened to catch me kinda in a dead area. What if we were shooting and she came in and did that, I mean, she was going to find me regardless of where I was.

HOGAN: Oh, yeah, she was on the hunt! I’ve been around this business for a long time, and I’ve seen Dirty Dan Spivey just destroy Adrian Adonis to the point where we had to stop that. I’ve seen Paul Orndorff, naked, with a pair of shower shoes, kick Vader’s head in. But, without a doubt, when she hit you in your mouth, I thought she broke your jaw, I thought that was one of the hardest sucker punches I’ve ever seen thrown in this business, where it connected.

BUBBA: But it didn’t drop me!

HOGAN: All joking aside, I’m really proud of you for not knocking her out, bro, because that wouldn’t be cool.

BUBBA: I’m gonna be honest with you, Hogan. After her third punch to me, in my mind I’m like, do I take her down with a double-leg, and then just pummel her. Or do I try to bring my right around… and in my head in the quarter-second I had to think about I was like, “You’re done, you’re over! You’ll be off the radio!” Women’s right will get you, look what happened when I barbecued a hog…

HOGAN: If you had hit her, you might have killed her. I’m serious, because the way you were stiff-arming her, she was flailing, she was so out of her mind, if you had sucker punched her between the eyes you might have killed her. I’m proud of you for not doing it, BUT… but what happened, she deserved it.

BUBBA: Dixie has a nice work environment… don’t I, have a talent there, have a right to walk around and not get beat up?

HOGAN: You didn’t get beat up, you just got beat on!

BUBBA: And it was a triple Lindy, three of them connected boom-boom-boom. And then I was like, man… and then, on the third one, I got my left hand out, and I’m keeping her off, my hand’s on like her collarbone area, and at that point she was wailing around, and I was like, do I drop her, do I shoot a double or single leg, or do I get down on a knee and cover up…

HOGAN: Oh, she’d have kicked your brains in if you had got down on your knee.

BUBBA: I know… but, do I just … hopefully somebody gets her off me, so if I don’t defend myself I can’t get in trouble. I was worried about lawsuits, women’s activists and getting in trouble if I had fought back and dropped her, or tried, or even attempted to..

HOGAN: When you Hulked up… and you could see that your eyeballs were rolling back like a shark, and you were going to knock her out. .. but all the sudden you had presence of mind just to cover up and to do the rope-a-dope which was the way to go…

BUBBA: Which makes me look like a pussy…

HOGAN: No, it didn’t make you look like a pussy. If you had hurt that woman, it wouldn’t have been cool. Even though you could have gotten away with it, it still wouldn’t have been cool.

BUBBA: Brent, what’s your spin on it? By the way, I will tell you this, on the way home I called Brent, he’s my confidant, I’m like, Brent, I’m really tore up with this. Brent, you wern’t happy about it, were you?

BRENT: No, I’m still not happy about it. If I were you, and I’m shooting now, I’m being 100% serious, I’d never work another day in my life, and the only correspondence that they would get from me would be through Carlson and Wisner.

HOGAN: Oh, please!

BUBBA: Well, I’m just sayin’… to each their own.

BRENT: Hostile work environment. It’s all day…slam dunk!

BUBBA: Well, it is, it is all day, but… I dunno.

HOGAN: You did the right thing, it’s all good, man. It ain’t no big deal.

BUBBA: It’s no big deal to you, you’re not the one whose getting punked out when you go to work today.

HOGAN: I thought it was awesome. AWESOME KONG RULES!

BUBBA: Go ahead and put her over, Hogan. It’s called lack of leadership, my friend, she obviously has the mindset that you ain’t shit and you don’t care. She went after your number one guy, and what are you going to do about it, old timer? You’re all bark and no bite there, buddy!

HOGAN: I’m going to book you and Russo together, because he’s the one who set it up.

BUBBA: Or the fact that he set it up and you’re not doing anything.

HOGAN: I’m setting it up!

BUBBA: You’re not even sticking up for me on this.

HOGAN: Oh, Jesus Christ, it was a girl, a 350-pound girl, calm down!… I was just worried about your shoulder, I knew you had hurt your shoulder trying to hold that monster off.

BUBBA: Oh, my shoulder is amped…

Hogan & Bubba The Love Sponge Discuss Incident With Kong

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Hulk Hogan appeared on The Bubba The Love Sponge radio show Tuesday morning and discussed the shock jock’s altercation with Awesome Kong the previous day. Courtesy of www.angrymarks.com, here is a transcript of the discussion:

BUBBA: She was wearing wrestling gear, and she came in on me and sucker punched me right on my left cheek, and I was like, what’s going on… then she came out me again, hit me again in the mouth, and she goes, “This if for Haiti! This is for Haiti!” and I’m like “What is going on?” Then she hits me again… Finally I put my left hand out and push her away from me, and she comes at me again and I just cover up, because I cannot fight back on a woman. Not only will I be fired from TNA, which I probably am, but my radio career is gone if I take a woman out!

HOGAN: I tell you what, though, after what happened, if you had clocked her you’d have got away with it.

BUBBA: Maybe on the streets I’d have gotten away with it, but, how would the media have spun that had I clocked her?

HOGAN: What nobody knows, and this is the real truth, that there were certain people there, y’know, and of course they have to run it by me and Dixie… she should get off the property, she should be fired immediately, that’s it. It was so violent. You could have actually lost an eye, you could have had your teeth knocked out. But, to give you your creedo, you are the one who said no, don’t fire her.

BUBBA: No, I don’t want you to fire her.

MANSON: Now, I’m confused. Does Hogan think that this is a funny incident?

BUBBA: No, no he’s not. He knows how serious it is. He was being a dick earlier… but I don’t think he agrees with it. And, you know what, they said we were going to fire her and I said no, don’t fire her. Now, if she’s done other stuff, I can’t help what happens to her on other situations, but don’t fire her for sucker punching me, I don’t want to cost anybody their job.

HOGAN: I think this is really just the beginning of a match made in heaven.

BUBBA: No, that’s fine… that’s fine. But I tell you one thing, Hogan. If you… you better not call it pro wrestling, you might as well put the cage up and make it MMA because I will not work, I promise you that. You’re not going to embarrass me like that, and be that much of a loose cannon in this industry…

MANSON: Oh now you’re gonna kick her ass? I don’t think you want a piece of her in the cage.

BUBBA: Let me ask you, you’re the only person who has a cool head. Had I defended myself, and not covered up, and just blocked what the remaining of what she put in. Had I actually fought her, and done well, what would I be facing right now?

HOGAN: Well, first off, you’d have killed her. She’s real good at throwing a sucker punch, but the way she was swinging at you, and everything, you could have shot right between her arms and knocked her out. It wouldn’t have been cool, y’know, there would be all kind of heat… You did the right thing, y’know, because you did not hit her back, and she was swinging wild and she’s out of her mind… you did the right thing, but at the end of the day it comes back to you and me hanging out together. You know you’re going to get heat, I told you this a long time ago. BUT, don’t put this one on me, because you stirred that up.

BUBBA: How did I? I’m not putting this on you, but you lead by example… I’m gonna be honest, man, nobody there likes me. And they think, hold on, Hogan, they think I’m in there… I’m not a wrestler, I’m not going to take anybody’s job, I’m not gonna take anybody’s backstage announcing gig. I’m there to help you and try to get the TNA product going and working. I’m not a boss, I’m not a agent, I’m not nothing there and everybody… a lot of the old dudes, but AJ Styles gives me dirty looks…

HOGAN: Well the word I got on the street last night was that Russo stirred this up, and Russo put her up to it.

BUBBA: I don’t agree with that.

HOGAN: It’s true! I heard it!

MANSON: Now, did she give you a finishing move, because she’s known for a body avalanche, a gorilla press slam…

BUBBA: No, no…

HOGAN: She shoulda pushed Bubba over her head, splashed Bubba, and then just bounced off the wall and done two or three belly splashes…

MANSON: Awesome Kong, she’s so awesome…

BUBBA: Wait until my lawyers call Dixie up today.

HOGAN: I just think you should get there early today, and just like she sucker punched you, I think because Russo set this up, you should just knock his assout.

BUBBA: Well, I dunno… I don’t think Russo did this…

HOGAN: He did it, I’m telling you as your friend! I wouldn’t lie to you!

BUBBA: Hogan, I love you to death, but you’re the biggest worker… hold on. You’re taking something that really did happen and trying to make it an angle And the bottom line is, y’know what? All the wrestling sheets, you should know this is real because I didn’t talk about it, and I was upset so bad last night. Hogan, I mean, God, Dixie cannot want to deal with all this Bubba drama…

HOGAN: No, this is just your chance to even the score, straighten this out. You just go right up to Russo when he’s not looking and you just sucker punch him like she sucker punched you.

BUBBA: It will be more of a fight between Russo and I, he’s a pretty big dude, than me and Kong, but that isn’t going to be fair.

HOGAN: You can beat Russo up! Especially if you sucker punch him!

BUBBA: Manson, let me tell you about this Awesome Kong chick. She put three of them on my right cheek that you wouldn’t believe. If you look at my forearms they’re all scratched up. And she’s all, like it’s Braveheart, “HAAAITIII! HAAAIIITI!” And I’m like what… and there’s a woman named Mandy who saw it all… and then she took a glass container and threw it down.

MANSON: That’s why a camera should be on you at all times. That’s priceless footage.

HOGAN: I thought it was great!

BUBBA: But, hey, Hogan, what you don’t realize that they have “eyes in the sky” there, did you know that? They have … that whole entire building has surveillance on it. I’m gonna go get that tape.

HOGAN: Well I can’t wait to see it because I can’t believe how quick she dropped your ass!

BUBBA: She happened to meet me right there, where you guys… just outside the door, you know where it happened, right? I was going to go talk to Val Venis about something, I was heading to Catering, and she met me just down that hallway a little bit before you go down to Eric’s office. She was by herself and she was coming to find me. Just minutes before that, I was in that little office area where you and Eric did that shoot, talking to Hall and Nash and Sixx-Pac. So she was coming to find me, regardless where I was. And what if she had done it right there? She’d have got an ass-whipping by the boys!

HOGAN: By the boys? There’d have been nobody around. The only reason you covered up is because everybody was watching, and you knew you had to behave. I think if you had been by herself you would have counter clocked her ass.

BUBBA: Yeah, but she happened to catch me kinda in a dead area. What if we were shooting and she came in and did that, I mean, she was going to find me regardless of where I was.

HOGAN: Oh, yeah, she was on the hunt! I’ve been around this business for a long time, and I’ve seen Dirty Dan Spivey just destroy Adrian Adonis to the point where we had to stop that. I’ve seen Paul Orndorff, naked, with a pair of shower shoes, kick Vader’s head in. But, without a doubt, when she hit you in your mouth, I thought she broke your jaw, I thought that was one of the hardest sucker punches I’ve ever seen thrown in this business, where it connected.

BUBBA: But it didn’t drop me!

HOGAN: All joking aside, I’m really proud of you for not knocking her out, bro, because that wouldn’t be cool.

BUBBA: I’m gonna be honest with you, Hogan. After her third punch to me, in my mind I’m like, do I take her down with a double-leg, and then just pummel her. Or do I try to bring my right around… and in my head in the quarter-second I had to think about I was like, “You’re done, you’re over! You’ll be off the radio!” Women’s right will get you, look what happened when I barbecued a hog…

HOGAN: If you had hit her, you might have killed her. I’m serious, because the way you were stiff-arming her, she was flailing, she was so out of her mind, if you had sucker punched her between the eyes you might have killed her. I’m proud of you for not doing it, BUT… but what happened, she deserved it.

BUBBA: Dixie has a nice work environment… don’t I, have a talent there, have a right to walk around and not get beat up?

HOGAN: You didn’t get beat up, you just got beat on!

BUBBA: And it was a triple Lindy, three of them connected boom-boom-boom. And then I was like, man… and then, on the third one, I got my left hand out, and I’m keeping her off, my hand’s on like her collarbone area, and at that point she was wailing around, and I was like, do I drop her, do I shoot a double or single leg, or do I get down on a knee and cover up…

HOGAN: Oh, she’d have kicked your brains in if you had got down on your knee.

BUBBA: I know… but, do I just … hopefully somebody gets her off me, so if I don’t defend myself I can’t get in trouble. I was worried about lawsuits, women’s activists and getting in trouble if I had fought back and dropped her, or tried, or even attempted to..

HOGAN: When you Hulked up… and you could see that your eyeballs were rolling back like a shark, and you were going to knock her out. .. but all the sudden you had presence of mind just to cover up and to do the rope-a-dope which was the way to go…

BUBBA: Which makes me look like a pussy…

HOGAN: No, it didn’t make you look like a pussy. If you had hurt that woman, it wouldn’t have been cool. Even though you could have gotten away with it, it still wouldn’t have been cool.

BUBBA: Brent, what’s your spin on it? By the way, I will tell you this, on the way home I called Brent, he’s my confidant, I’m like, Brent, I’m really tore up with this. Brent, you wern’t happy about it, were you?

BRENT: No, I’m still not happy about it. If I were you, and I’m shooting now, I’m being 100% serious, I’d never work another day in my life, and the only correspondence that they would get from me would be through Carlson and Wisner.

HOGAN: Oh, please!

BUBBA: Well, I’m just sayin’… to each their own.

BRENT: Hostile work environment. It’s all day…slam dunk!

BUBBA: Well, it is, it is all day, but… I dunno.

HOGAN: You did the right thing, it’s all good, man. It ain’t no big deal.

BUBBA: It’s no big deal to you, you’re not the one whose getting punked out when you go to work today.

HOGAN: I thought it was awesome. AWESOME KONG RULES!

BUBBA: Go ahead and put her over, Hogan. It’s called lack of leadership, my friend, she obviously has the mindset that you ain’t shit and you don’t care. She went after your number one guy, and what are you going to do about it, old timer? You’re all bark and no bite there, buddy!

HOGAN: I’m going to book you and Russo together, because he’s the one who set it up.

BUBBA: Or the fact that he set it up and you’re not doing anything.

HOGAN: I’m setting it up!

BUBBA: You’re not even sticking up for me on this.

HOGAN: Oh, Jesus Christ, it was a girl, a 350-pound girl, calm down!… I was just worried about your shoulder, I knew you had hurt your shoulder trying to hold that monster off.

BUBBA: Oh, my shoulder is amped…

Update On Ken Anderson's Status, Knockouts Score High Ratings

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source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— In an update on Ken Anderson’s contract status with TNA, he is reportedly is working on a per-night deal.

He’s looking to do acting, but doesn’t want to have a contract where the company has first dibs on his services and he’d have to work around their taping schedule like everyone else has to do.

— Last week’s episode of iMPACT! scored a 1.26 cable rating with 1.8 million viewers. The show also drew 1.00 in Males 18-34 and 1.12 in Males 35-49.

While the numbers are higher than what the show has been doing as of late, it was also the first show in months that didn’t run either on a holiday or against major football competition. Before football, the company averaged a 1.22 in July and a 1.13 in August.

In the segment-by-segment numbers, Kurt Angle’s promo with AJ Styles and the arrival of “The Band” gained 159,000 viewers. A Knockouts tag match pitting “The Beautiful People” against Awesome Kong and Hamada with the return of Angelina Love gained 100,000 viewers and did a 1.34 quarter, making it the highest rated segment on the show. Bobby Lashley attacking Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed, Team 3D in a seven second match and subsequent promo lost 86,000 viewers. Sean Morley’s confrontation with Daniels and Beer Money vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez, with the Hal and Nash beat down, lost 14,000 viewers. Samoa Joe vs. Desmond Wolfe lost 71,000 viewers. The backstage confrontation between Jeff Jarrett and Hulk Hogan gained 143,000 viewers and did a 1.32 rating, achieving the second best number for the evening. Even with Ric Flair on commentatry, the Styles vs. Tomko main event lost 186,000 viewers doing a 1.19 final quarter.

— The debut of TNA Epics immediately following last Thursday’s episode of iMPACT! did a 0.65 rating to be exact, rounding up to 0.7.

Update On Ken Anderson’s Status, Knockouts Score High Ratings

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source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— In an update on Ken Anderson’s contract status with TNA, he is reportedly is working on a per-night deal.

He’s looking to do acting, but doesn’t want to have a contract where the company has first dibs on his services and he’d have to work around their taping schedule like everyone else has to do.

— Last week’s episode of iMPACT! scored a 1.26 cable rating with 1.8 million viewers. The show also drew 1.00 in Males 18-34 and 1.12 in Males 35-49.

While the numbers are higher than what the show has been doing as of late, it was also the first show in months that didn’t run either on a holiday or against major football competition. Before football, the company averaged a 1.22 in July and a 1.13 in August.

In the segment-by-segment numbers, Kurt Angle’s promo with AJ Styles and the arrival of “The Band” gained 159,000 viewers. A Knockouts tag match pitting “The Beautiful People” against Awesome Kong and Hamada with the return of Angelina Love gained 100,000 viewers and did a 1.34 quarter, making it the highest rated segment on the show. Bobby Lashley attacking Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed, Team 3D in a seven second match and subsequent promo lost 86,000 viewers. Sean Morley’s confrontation with Daniels and Beer Money vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez, with the Hal and Nash beat down, lost 14,000 viewers. Samoa Joe vs. Desmond Wolfe lost 71,000 viewers. The backstage confrontation between Jeff Jarrett and Hulk Hogan gained 143,000 viewers and did a 1.32 rating, achieving the second best number for the evening. Even with Ric Flair on commentatry, the Styles vs. Tomko main event lost 186,000 viewers doing a 1.19 final quarter.

— The debut of TNA Epics immediately following last Thursday’s episode of iMPACT! did a 0.65 rating to be exact, rounding up to 0.7.

Jeff Hardy's TNA Contract Status – WWE Still Interested

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TNA star Jeff Hardy
TNA star Jeff Hardy

There are conflicting reports asn to Jeff Hardy’s status with TNA Wrestling.

Hardy made his return to TNA back on the live January 4th Monday night show but has not been featured prominently on television in recent weeks.

Read: Jeff Hardy Indicted – Drug Case Sent To Superior Court

Sources within TNA are saying that Hardy has signed a contract, while friends of Hardy have said he’s told them he’s working without a deal.

The fact Hardy hasn’t appeared with TNA since January 4th could indicate that he hasn’t signed or committed to any dates.

In related Jeff Hardy news, he was said to be upset at the recent segments on WWE’s SmackDown where CM Punk used his name in promos to get himself over when Hardy was Hardy is not even in WWE anymore to defend himself.

Despite Hardy’s legal problems and his appearances for TNA, WWE still wants him back down the road.

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Jeff Hardy’s TNA Contract Status – WWE Still Interested

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TNA star Jeff Hardy
TNA star Jeff Hardy

There are conflicting reports asn to Jeff Hardy’s status with TNA Wrestling.

Hardy made his return to TNA back on the live January 4th Monday night show but has not been featured prominently on television in recent weeks.

Read: Jeff Hardy Indicted – Drug Case Sent To Superior Court

Sources within TNA are saying that Hardy has signed a contract, while friends of Hardy have said he’s told them he’s working without a deal.

The fact Hardy hasn’t appeared with TNA since January 4th could indicate that he hasn’t signed or committed to any dates.

In related Jeff Hardy news, he was said to be upset at the recent segments on WWE’s SmackDown where CM Punk used his name in promos to get himself over when Hardy was Hardy is not even in WWE anymore to defend himself.

Despite Hardy’s legal problems and his appearances for TNA, WWE still wants him back down the road.

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Undertaker Retirement Update, Batista's Role At The Rumble

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– As previously reported, the Undertaker is said to be in rough physical shape and is working through significant pain in recent months. However, talk of him retiring at WrestleMania 26 are premature. His physical limitations are already affecting how often he wrestles and what he’s able to do in the ring, but there’s been talk of Undertaking retiring for nearly a decade, so many expect him to continue working through the pain for months and years to come.

— Although Batista is currently advertised to be one of the 30 participants in the Royal rumble match, Rey Mysterio did a radio interview in Mexico last week stating that his match with the Undertaker at the Rumble will be a three-way.

– Speaking of the Royal Rumble, the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA, the site this year’s Rumble, is already sold out.

(Source: F4wonline.com)

Undertaker Retirement Update, Batista’s Role At The Rumble

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– As previously reported, the Undertaker is said to be in rough physical shape and is working through significant pain in recent months. However, talk of him retiring at WrestleMania 26 are premature. His physical limitations are already affecting how often he wrestles and what he’s able to do in the ring, but there’s been talk of Undertaking retiring for nearly a decade, so many expect him to continue working through the pain for months and years to come.

— Although Batista is currently advertised to be one of the 30 participants in the Royal rumble match, Rey Mysterio did a radio interview in Mexico last week stating that his match with the Undertaker at the Rumble will be a three-way.

– Speaking of the Royal Rumble, the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA, the site this year’s Rumble, is already sold out.

(Source: F4wonline.com)

RAW Rating, NASCAR Driver Hosting Raw, Early Draft Talk

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– Monday’s RAW did a 3.6 rating, with hours of 3.52 and 3.63.

– WWE has announced another NASCAR star will host Monday Night Raw, as driver Carl Edwards will host the February 8th Raw.

– While nothing is set in stone, WWE has already begun deliberating plans for the post-WrestleMania draft,  according to f4wonline.com. Tthe initial ideas call for the splitting up of some long-term WWE Superstar partnerships and tag teams.

Randy Orton Responds To Allegations He Assaulted A Fan

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Earlier this month a 15-year-old WWE fan accused Randy Orton of assault after Orton allegedly spit gum in his face and swore at him outside a restaurant in Boston, Mass. The fan claims he asked Orton for a picture when the WWE superstar got hostile and “assaulted” him.

Orton posted a message on his website explaining his side of the story:

“Here’s what happened: I walked out of Kowloon’s Friday night around 12:30-1 a.m. with Santino and a police officer escort. As I was being rudely hounded for pictures and autos (I had a 6:40 a.m. flight through Minni to Lincoln, then a drive to Omaha, a match, a drive back to Omaha, then a charter to Minni, and a driver to Rochester for the next show the next day, btw), I was confronted by an older women who said: ‘Hey Randy, you spit on my handicapped son a few years ago at a show, what do you have to say about that?’ My replay…`So Sue me.’

Then I proceeded to my car, with Santino and the cop and drove back to our hotel by the Boston airport. I know I have been a bit of a hothead in the past, but I DID NOT spit gum and call names to any child. The women is claiming I called her son a `retard’ 3 times, and spit gum in his face. Come on people, even at my worst temperament, I would never call a handicapped child something awful like that. I’ll actually sign anything for any child with any disability.

I heard just today from WWE attorneys that this women filed assault charges against me 4 days later? Hmmm, oh, and what about the dozens of cops at the restaurant that were there for crowd control since there were over 100 wrestling fans there? Not to mention the cop that escorted me to my freaking car. I’ll be happy when this is over. I guess if I’ve learned anything from this, it is not to ever challenge anyone to sue me.”

RVD Talks About Returning To WWE, January 4th

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Former WWE and ECW champion Rob Van Dam appeared on the “Busted Open” Sirius satellite radio show this week and spoke about whether he’d be willing to return to World Wrestling Entertainment.

“If the conditions were right, then the conditions would be right. I can tell you for sure that I have no interest in returning to a full-time schedule like I did before. That’s not going to happen.”

RVD told the hosts that the WWE vs. TNA battle on January 4th was the first time in while that he had watched wrestling. He says Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart felt special, but the feeling didn’t last long.

“That was the first wrestling that I watched in the longest time, and it’s also the last wrestling I watched. I flipped back and forth with skepticism,” RVD said. “There was optimism. There was hope. The whole thing with Hogan and the change. It was a nice moment. I liked seeing Bret. I was comparing and about 45 minutes into it I felt like I was just watching wrestling and I lost interest.”