TNA president Dixie Carter spoke to the U.K. Sun to promote Monday night’s big RAW vs. iMPACT! battle. The following are highlights:
Expectations For Monday’s TV Rating: “How I define success is just being there. Just the fact that we are there on Monday night is a huge success for us. It makes the exact statement that we want to make. This is a marathon not a sprint. The ratings, quite honestly, are irrelevant. Our success is being there and the quality of the show we put on. That’s how I’ll assess it as far as that specific night goes.”
Hulk Hogan’s Role in TNA: “I think Terry (Hogan) has an amazing eye for talent and, with all those people your readers are mentioning, his goal is to make them household names. I can’t imagine a better person or brain to have behind the amazing talent that those young guys possess. So that’s actually one of the main reasons I brought him in. Again he’s not coming in worried about Hulk Hogan and making sure Hulk Hogan is getting over, that’s not his job. His job is to get TNA over.”
Changes Coming to TNA: “He (Hogan) is involved with everything from looking at new talent to how we are shooting the show. The two of us, over the past several months, have literally ripped apart every single aspect of the company. I wanted a fresh set of eyes on it, and what better eyes than the greatest wrestler in the history of this business. We’re looking at what we can do better, what we can do differently and what we can try.”
Competing against WWE: “They may say that they don’t consider us competition or don’t pay attention to us, but we deal with them playing those tricks with us all the time. Nothing is going to change in our game plan. We’re going to continue to do what we do best and that’s grow TNA one fan at a time. We’re not taking on Vince McMahon. We’re trying to give the wrestling fans what they want — and that is to make wrestling better as a whole.”
Bringing in New Talent: “There’s nobody we won’t go after. But they have to be right to come to the company. They have to be in it for the right reasons. They’ve got to fit in with what we’re doing. If that’s The Rock then fantastic. If it’s RVD then fantastic. It doesn’t matter. If somebody makes sense and has that work ethic and wants to embrace being a wrestler on a wrestling show and trying to do something different then we would love to have them. And, I promise you, we have many more exciting surprises to come.
The event did start promptly at five. There was quite a line to go into the Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville resturant. The event was being held on the 2nd floor which filled up real quick. They were letting only a number of people up at a time. I just happened to be at the front of the line at one point when they filled up so I was outside for quite a while. There were two camera crews filming the entire event. The Spike TV/TNA crew and the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show crew who film material for his website and DVDs.
Several people showed up and greeted fans waiting outside. First up was Eric Bischoff, who had his own personal camera man. It wasn’t a large camera so it could be footage for his own personal website
. He was definitely very polite to everyone while in front of the camera. He went through pretty much the whole line and took photos with people.
Next up was Scott Hall, who came over with someone, was probably a manager or friend or something. He too was taking pictures with the fans outside.
Vince Russo also checked out the line. He seemed very polite and talked with some of the fans.
The Spike TV/TNA crew came back to the front this time with Bubba the Love Sponge. He is doing the interviews. They first filmed Hogan coming outside with Bischoff and Scott Hall. Bubba did several interviews with fans.
Later on after we got inside of the building, they had a ton more lights and Jeremy Borash was inside with cameras pumping the crowd up. They did several shots with fans chanting various things such as “TNA” and “Hogan.” They had Bubba interviewing more fans. After they recorded the footage and some additional B-Roll they thanked the fans for coming ou
Former WWE star JBL offered his thoughts on the WWE-TNA Monday Night War in his latest Facebook blog:
Layfield, who left WWE back in April 2009, sounds excited about the idea of TNA giving WWE a run for their money.
“I am loving the Monday Night Wars being back, or at least a one night skirmish on January 4th between WWE and TNA,†said Layfield.
“Greatest trade in history was Vince Russo to WCW, it drove WCW into bankruptcy and WWE to buying their competitor and establishing world dominance. We, at the time, were starting to think that Vince McMahon was sending Russo to destroy the competition it was so bad…
“TNA has the underdog and new guy going its way, it also has Eric Bischoff, who I greatly respect. I think Eric on his round two with Vince will be prepared. Along with Hulk (Hogan) who wants to badly compete with Vince as well.
“Main thing here is international TV rights, which both covet and make money off of. With Hulk and Eric in the mix, TNA will get clearance in many good markets to add to their international profile. Also, with Dixie Carter, who is a good friend and someone I respect-you won’t have the WCW oversized corporation.â€
— Angel Williams (a.k.a. Angelina Love) has re-signed with TNA Wrestling. She is expected to return during Monday’s 3-hour iMPACT!
— On her Facebook account, former WWE Diva Terri Runnels posted a recent photo of herself sitting alongside Chris Parks (a.k.a. Abyss) without his mask on. You can see the image at the following link. She said he reminded her of Paul Wight (a.k.a. Big Show) and Ray Traylor (a.k.a. Big Boss Man). The caption reads: “Chris reminded me of two of my friends…Paul Wight and Ray Traylor. Cool! I met a new friend but it felt like we were old buddies!”
— Doug Williams of The British Invasion sits down with Hermie Sadler in the latest edition of Hermie’s Hotseat. You can view the video interview here.
— As reported earlier, WWE Divas Champion Melina suffered a torn ACL at Tuesday night’s Raw live event and was on crutches the next day. She is scheduled to appear on Raw tomorrow night and whatever direction the company decides to take with the title will likely take place on the show.
— The WWE creative team is reportedly not worried about tomorrow’s night iMPACT! broadcast, but interested nonetheless in seeing what TNA cooks up. Within WWE, some are baffled that the only two matches where the participants have been advertised ahead of time are the two women’s bouts. In fact, some even joked that they should put Maryse on television each time a women’s match airs to show that one WWE Diva can beat all of TNA’s Knockouts combined in the ratings.
— Some within WWE joked about how Kofi Kingston praised the job Ted DiBiase did in The Marine 2 on his Twitter account when the two are feuding on television.
He wrote: “Okay guys, @TDiBiaseMarine2 and I have had our differences, but the Marine 2 looks tight! It comes out today so gon’ cop you a copy!” Then later added: “Just watched the Marine 2 on Blu Ray. Pretty damn good! Well worth the $25. Only time you’ll hear me say it: props to @TDiBiasiMarine2.”
Brian Diamond, Spike TV’s Senior VP of Sports/Specials, was interviewed by Alex Marvez of ScrippsNews.com this week about his expectations for the Monday night battle between TNA and WWE.
Diamond has high hopes for TNA, but knows there’s a long road ahead before TNA is a legit threat to WWE.
“I don’t think we’re necessarily going to win that night (ratings-wise), but I do feel we’re best equipped going into battle with the product as it is right now,” Diamond said. “We’re all feeling very excited and confident about taking a shot and throwing our hat in the ring.”
Diamond reveals that Spike TV has some input with TNA’s creative product and admits that change is needed.
“Part of the discussion we have with TNA is what do we need to do to raise the bar and make things better,” he said. “Stronger talent and story lines are the key.”
No matter how TNA does on Monday night, it will be a learning experience and will be a big win for wrestling fans who are hungry for the next wrestling “boom.”
“We want to take a real close look at what worked [on Monday night] and what didn’t. The good news is we’re taking this plunge. It could open the door for a lot more opportunities for TNA on Spike. Competition is always good for the viewer,” Diamond said. “There are 10 million wrestling fans out there waiting for this moment.”
— Former WWE talent Shannon Moore revealed on his Twitter account this morning that he’s headed to Orlando to meet with Hulk Hogan.
“Big change of plans,” Moore wrote. “Got a call from TNA. Looks like I’m heading to Orlando (to) meet with Hulk Hogan tomorrow.”
— It would appear that Abyss is excited for tomorrow night’s history making broadcast of iMPACT! as he tweeted the following this morning.
“Heading to airport for Orlando. I am so excited. We are going to make history tomorrow. Tune in at 8 pm EST. GO TNA!!!!! Lets make history,” he wrote. “I can feel it. TNA is going to do something special tomorrow night, and rock the wrestling world into 2010. Im ready as ever. Lets do it!!”
Multiple sources are reporting that Angelina Love is expected to be one of the new or returning stars on tomorrow night’s three-hour iMPACT! broadcast opposite WWE’s Monday Night Raw.
The former Knockouts Champion hinted to fans at a recent wrestling convention that she would be returning to TNA on Jan. 4. At a convention two weeks ago in Florida, Angelina told fans, “watch on the 4th,” when asked whether she was returning to TNA.
TNA parted ways with Love this past September due to issues with her working visa.
With just a few days until TNA’s big night going head-to-head against WWE RAW, both Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo are adding to the excitement by teasing that fans will be treated to a number of big surprises.
Vince Russo has launched a page on Facebook.com and wrote:
“Thanks for joining me here on my page. I look forward to interacting with you all. Gearing up for live show on Monday–been working around the clock. I hope you all tune in so we can give the other Vince a run for his money. There are many surprises on the show . . . MANY surprises!”
Meanwhile, Eric Bischoff posted the following on Twitter regarding Monday’s 3-hour live iMPACT:
“Wrestling fans love surprises…Monday Night Jan 4 shoulld be a fun night over at TNA”
With just a few days until TNA’s big night going head-to-head against WWE RAW, both Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo are adding to the excitement by teasing that fans will be treated to a number of big surprises.
Vince Russo has launched a page on Facebook.com and wrote:
“Thanks for joining me here on my page. I look forward to interacting with you all. Gearing up for live show on Monday–been working around the clock. I hope you all tune in so we can give the other Vince a run for his money. There are many surprises on the show . . . MANY surprises!”
Meanwhile, Eric Bischoff posted the following on Twitter regarding Monday’s 3-hour live iMPACT:
“Wrestling fans love surprises…Monday Night Jan 4 shoulld be a fun night over at TNA”
While there are a few pieces that still have to fall in place for this to happen, there is talk within WWE that Jeff Hardy will be brought back in time to wrestle C.M. Punk at WrestleMania 26.
At the time of his departure from WWE over the summer, the general feeling within WWE was that Hardy would be back in a few months. Just weeks after he left the company, police raided Hardy’s Cameron, North Carolina home and found a staggering quantity of prescription pills, among other substances. He was arrested and charged with multiple felonies. From the police report:
Jeffrey Nero Hardy was arrested on September 11, 2009 and charged with felony trafficking in opium, two counts of felony possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule III controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling to keep controlled substance, felony possession of cocaine, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
At this point, the biggest obstacle between Jeff Hardy and a WWE return are the charges he’s facing. He is due back in court on January 27th for a probable cause hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for his case to proceed to a grand jury. The grand jury would then decide whether to prosecute Hardy for the various felonies she’s been charged with.
With Linda McMahon’s United States Senate campaign a strong factor in what happens in WWE (ie. WWE toning down their product to TV-PG, family-friendly programming), the feeling is that WWE would not want to bring him back until Hardy’s legal woes gets put to bed.
Shane McMahon is officially gone from WWE. He announced his resignation from the conpany back in October and stated he would be gone effective January 1, 2010.
Earlier this month December 17th, Shane cashed in 60,000 shares for $897,000 in gross proceeds. He also exercised his stock options to acquire 60,000 shares priced between $12.94 and $13.45 per share.
According to WWE’s latest SEC filings, Shane still owns 43,449 shares of WWE stock.
— Pro Wrestling Illustrated has named Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXVI “Match of the Decade” in its PWI Decade Awards. Runner-ups include Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21, Hollywood Hogan vs. The Rock at WrestleMania X8, Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX, Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV, and Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit at WrestleMania XX.
Here is what PWI wrote regarding the honor: “In addition to being one of the most dramatic and emotional bouts of the decade, it was also a symbolic changing of the guard and a fitting sendoff for Flair, arguably the top wrestler of the second half of the 20th century. Other matches during the 2000s may have been more physical or high-flying, but this match had the emotion and the incredible energy of nearly 75,000 fans hanging on every move.”
— For those of you who missed this past Tuesday’s episode of ECW, the WWE website has posted video of Tommy Dreamer’s emotional goodbye to ECW and the WWE Universe.
— Cleveland.com has posted a photo of Parma native Mike “The Miz” Mizanin with the caption reading: “Mizanin, 29, a graduate of Normandy High School, is the reigning WWE champion.” Click here to view the image.
On his official website, Jim Ross posted thoughts on longtime friend “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, who passed away this past week following a long bout with throat cancer. You can read his post at the following link.
He posted a second blog today. Here are some highlights from this entry:
Tommy Dreamer’s ECW sendoff: “The Tommy Dreamer send off on ECW was nicely done. It is good to see a guy who has dedicated so much of his life to the business and who has been a fan forever to be acknowledged as Tommy was Tuesday night. Kudos to WWE for facilitating the opportunity for “Big Beefy” to say adiós to his fans. Tommy would have made it in any generation including the territory days as his work ethic and toughness would have been welcomed attributes for any promoter. Congrats Tommy, you made all of us Old Schoolers proud.”
Ric Flair update: “Ric Flair called me during the Christmas Holidays and was in great spirits. “Naitch” really loved wrestling in Australia and I expect Ric to continue to wrestle for as long as he is able albeit not on a regular schedule nor should he. Ric Flair is “special” and his success outside the ring with his “Whoo” endorsements with various state lotteries is going great guns for him. Ric is also working in the Carolinas with Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and Kroger’s Grocery stores.”
Steve Williams: “It looks as if the Memorial Celebration for Steve “Dr. Death” Williams will be held next Friday in Lakewood, Colorado at the Mile High Church. Details are still being formulated and should be finalized the first of the week and most likely on Monday. As soon as we have the info we will pass it along.
“The goal is to set up a college scholarship fund for Steve’s 16 year old son Wyndham in lieu of flowers, etc. More info to come.”
You can read this blog in its entirety at the following link.
Weeks after the untimely passing of Eddie “Umaga” Fatu, a batch of photos have been released showing the Samoan star looking happy and full of life.
The photos were taken during the Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour of Australia in late November. Sadly, Umaga was dead 2 weeks later on December 4th.
– A few people within TNA have been floating a story around that Vince Russo has no idea where things are headed and has not talked to Hulk Hogan or Eric Bischoff. This story is false, as Russo has had recent meetings with Hogan, Bischoff and Dixie Carter. Russo himself had been telling people he hadn’t met with anyone from Team Hogan and Hogan himself also was saying the same thing. This is all a complete work.
– TNA knockout ODB won an eight woman tournament on New Year’s Eve to become the number one contender for the Knockouts Championship. She will challenge Tara for the title on the Monday’s 3-hour live Impact.
– While Monday’s TNA iMPACT will be a live show, they will still tape TV on Tuesday night from Orlando. Those tapings will air on Thursday, January 14th.
– After his bio was removed from the TNA website earlier this week, we can confirm that Cody Deaner is in fact gone from the company. He is accepting bookings at [email protected].
– Ed “Brutus Beefcake” Leslie is working on an autobiography titled “Reborn on the Fourth of July.” Leslie survived a near-fatal parasailing accident on July 4th, 1990.
– A few people within TNA have been floating a story around that Vince Russo has no idea where things are headed and has not talked to Hulk Hogan or Eric Bischoff. This story is false, as Russo has had recent meetings with Hogan, Bischoff and Dixie Carter. Russo himself had been telling people he hadn’t met with anyone from Team Hogan and Hogan himself also was saying the same thing. This is all a complete work.
– TNA knockout ODB won an eight woman tournament on New Year’s Eve to become the number one contender for the Knockouts Championship. She will challenge Tara for the title on the Monday’s 3-hour live Impact.
– While Monday’s TNA iMPACT will be a live show, they will still tape TV on Tuesday night from Orlando. Those tapings will air on Thursday, January 14th.
– After his bio was removed from the TNA website earlier this week, we can confirm that Cody Deaner is in fact gone from the company. He is accepting bookings at [email protected].
– Ed “Brutus Beefcake” Leslie is working on an autobiography titled “Reborn on the Fourth of July.” Leslie survived a near-fatal parasailing accident on July 4th, 1990.
– To update the story of WWE Divas champion Melina suffering a torn ACL at Tuesday’s WWE RAW house show, she went with the WWE crew to the live event in Syracuse on Wednesday and was on crutches backstage. Melina is expected to undergo surgery and will drop the title to Maryse, who was was actually scheduled to win it soon anyways. Melina has been pulled off Raw house show lineups through February.
– CMT.com, the official website of the Country Music Television network, has an article up looking at the budding music career of Mickie James. Her debut country music album will be released in March with the first single coming in Feburary. While it may seem that a new careerin country music came out of nowhere, James told CMT that she’s written poetry and stories her whole life and played the violin in high school. James knows first hand that the entertainment industry can get ugly and will take the knowledge gained in pro wrestling all the way to Nashville. “As in any entertainment industry, you have to see the sheep in wolf’s clothing and you have to be able to differentiate who’s being real and who’s just hopping on board for all the wrong reasons. Lucky for me, I’m very blessed to have come across some really, really good people and gotten them on my team.”
– To update the story of WWE Divas champion Melina suffering a torn ACL at Tuesday’s WWE RAW house show, she went with the WWE crew to the live event in Syracuse on Wednesday and was on crutches backstage. Melina is expected to undergo surgery and will drop the title to Maryse, who was was actually scheduled to win it soon anyways. Melina has been pulled off Raw house show lineups through February.
– CMT.com, the official website of the Country Music Television network, has an article up looking at the budding music career of Mickie James. Her debut country music album will be released in March with the first single coming in Feburary. While it may seem that a new careerin country music came out of nowhere, James told CMT that she’s written poetry and stories her whole life and played the violin in high school. James knows first hand that the entertainment industry can get ugly and will take the knowledge gained in pro wrestling all the way to Nashville. “As in any entertainment industry, you have to see the sheep in wolf’s clothing and you have to be able to differentiate who’s being real and who’s just hopping on board for all the wrong reasons. Lucky for me, I’m very blessed to have come across some really, really good people and gotten them on my team.”
Eric Bischoff posted a new blog entry discussing this Monday’s 1/4 live Impact special. Bischoff acknowledged WWE bringing in Bret Hart and says the timing is no coincidence. Bischoff says WWE is “reacting to the competition”, but is happy for Bret, who “will be able to put a painful and personally traumatic part of his life behind him.”
Bischoff admits that it will be difficult at first fighting against a major international corporation:
“Clearly TNA is up against a Wall Street mega-corp bully with a billion dollar bank account and a Chairman that thinks only he should have any meaningful market share of the professional wrestling business (even though he’s embarrassed to admit he’s in the professional wrestling business). It will be an up-hill battle for TNA indeed.”
WWE is big, but he thinks the current product is crap and the time is right for TNA to strike.
“Based on the mind-numbingly stupid Raw I had the misfortune of dropping in on last week, perhaps the fact that TNA stepped up and is at least taking a swing at the bully was enough to make McMahon realize that he could not afford to take his audience for granted and continue to shove tripe down the throats of his Goliath “universe” while David was reaching for a stone.
“This Monday Night…win, lose, or draw I have to give credit to the folks at TNA and Spike. They could have taken the easy path and put their best foot forward un-opposed. That would make the most sense to many people. But by at least getting into the fight, TNA is most likely going to gain the awareness and respect of a completely different audience.”
With both WWE and TNA gearing up for a Monday night to remember, Bischoff says the real winner will be the wrestling fans.
“Wrestling fans are not only going to have a choice this Monday night, they will most likely see a higher quality product all the way around. And for that they should thank TNA.”
Eric Bischoff posted a new blog entry discussing this Monday’s 1/4 live Impact special. Bischoff acknowledged WWE bringing in Bret Hart and says the timing is no coincidence. Bischoff says WWE is “reacting to the competition”, but is happy for Bret, who “will be able to put a painful and personally traumatic part of his life behind him.”
Bischoff admits that it will be difficult at first fighting against a major international corporation:
“Clearly TNA is up against a Wall Street mega-corp bully with a billion dollar bank account and a Chairman that thinks only he should have any meaningful market share of the professional wrestling business (even though he’s embarrassed to admit he’s in the professional wrestling business). It will be an up-hill battle for TNA indeed.”
WWE is big, but he thinks the current product is crap and the time is right for TNA to strike.
“Based on the mind-numbingly stupid Raw I had the misfortune of dropping in on last week, perhaps the fact that TNA stepped up and is at least taking a swing at the bully was enough to make McMahon realize that he could not afford to take his audience for granted and continue to shove tripe down the throats of his Goliath “universe” while David was reaching for a stone.
“This Monday Night…win, lose, or draw I have to give credit to the folks at TNA and Spike. They could have taken the easy path and put their best foot forward un-opposed. That would make the most sense to many people. But by at least getting into the fight, TNA is most likely going to gain the awareness and respect of a completely different audience.”
With both WWE and TNA gearing up for a Monday night to remember, Bischoff says the real winner will be the wrestling fans.
“Wrestling fans are not only going to have a choice this Monday night, they will most likely see a higher quality product all the way around. And for that they should thank TNA.”
According to multiple reports, WWE Divas champion Melina appeared to suffer a knee injury at Tuesday night’s WWE Raw house show in Manchester, New Hampshire.
During a Divas tag match, Melina slipped on the mat and was immediately grabbing her knee. The match was ended abruptly, with Melina getting pinned quickly and helped out of the ring. She did not take any further bumps in the match after going down.
Sources within WWE fear that Melina suffered a torn ACL, according to a report at PWInsider.com. She was examined backstage and is seeing a specialist this week to diagnose the extent of the situation.
An update on the injury is expected soon.
Here are some photos of Melina’s injury, sent in by reader David O’Neil:
– The 12/28 edition of WWE Raw drew a 3.6 rating, up from last week’s disappointing 3.2. The show did hours of 3.49 and 3.73.
– There is a report going around that Cryme Tyme member Shad Gaspard and his girlfriend Siliana Chanel will having a child sometime in March before WrestleMania.
– As noted earlier, reports are that marijuana use is down on WWE’s SmackDown brand while up on the RAW side. One source notes that this is incorrect and both sides are about even when it comes to marijuana use these days. There are several superstars on both rosters that are being held back due to their fondness of the illicit green plant.
