– WWE has announced that principle photography wraps this week in New Orleans on their next movie, Knucklehead. The movie stars Big Show, Mark Feuerstein from Royal Pains and Melora Hardin from The Office. Fight promoter Memphis Earl (Feuerstein) is in debt and thinks his luck is about to change when he comes across the 7-foot lifelong orphan, Walter Kronk (Big Show). He tries to convince Kronk to wrestle professionally and Kronk finally agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans, setting up a road trip. The movie is currently scheduled for a theatrical release in the Spring of 2010. Click here to see a picture from the set.

– As reported here last week, boxer Ricky Hatton will be the guest host of next week’s WWE Raw from Sheffield, England.

– Tonight’s edition of ECW on Sci Fi will feature ECW champion Christian & Yoshi Tatsu teaming together against Vladimir Kozlov & Ezekiel Jackson. Also, the Hurricane will take on Paul Burchill.

– Batista vs. Matt Hardy has been announced for Friday’s SmackDown.

– This week is “WWE Week” on MyNetworkTV. In addition to Friday’s SmackDown, the network will be featuring two WWE-themed episodes of the “Deal or No Deal” gameshow on Tuesday night and will air John Cena’s action movie “The Marine” on Thursday night.

— Sting is not expected to return to TNA action soon. Word going around is that he won’t return until several months into 2010.

— TNA President Dixie Carter announced via her twitter account that Knockouts champion ODB has signed a “new multiyear deal” with the promotion.

— Jim Cornette updated the Q&A section of his website with a long response to the question “What is your opinion of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff signing with TNA?” Cornette answered, “This whole thing reminds me of why I hate corporate wrestling. I must admit there are bright spots, like imagining Vince McMahon’s face and blood pressure when he heard the news, or hearing Hogan bitchslap Vince Russo by saying they’d be OK if “he stays in his place.” Can TNA make their minds up, LAST month everybody had to be “100% behind Russo’s creative direction” and THIS month they hire a guy who once SUED him for his lousy booking? They have reunited the same team that helped WCW lose more money than any wrestling promotion in history.” To continue reading, visit cornette’s official website.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here’s what JR said about:

Ric Flair: “Ric Flair called me Saturday as I was pulling into Owen Field in Norman about two hours before the Sooner game. Ric is staying very busy and the state lottery, promotional endorsement that he’s doing may be growing to other states outside the old, Mid Atlantic Territory area. Ric told me he was working out twice a day, when he could, in preparation for the upcoming Australian tour on which he’s booked. After talking to ‘Naitch’ it’s obvious to me that he still has the passion and the fire to perform inside a wrestling ring which should come really as no shock or surprise and I don’t think that his passion to perform will ever wane. Mother Nature might cause Ric more ‘female problems’ but Ric’s will to compete and perform can’t be deterred.”

Steve Austin: “Steve Austin called me Sunday afternoon during the Packers-Vikings game and most of our discussion centered on football and how I was doing battling my ‘little friend’ Bells palsy #3. Steve is preparing to head up to Vancouver to film another action/adventure movie that is going to be largely done outdoors in the beautiful terrain of Vancouver, British Columbia. The Texas Rattlesnake expects to encounter plenty of ‘weather’ including ample rain which apparently is what they want for the film to have the organic grittiness to fit the script. I don’t know the release date but one can assume some time in 2010 nor do I know the title. I obviously don’t know much but as I said we talked football and not work.”

Jerry Jarrett, one of the founders of TNA Wrestling, posted the following comments on his Facebook page today regarding TNA’s new partnership with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff:

The hot news currently is all about Hulk Hogan and Eric Bishoff signing with TNA. I sincerely wish them well and from the one comment I read, Hulk might be able to bring a positive shift to the company. Hulk stated that he wants to help the new talent learn and appreciate the “Art of Professional Wrestling”. If he is allowed to do this, the product will greatly improve and it will be positive for the business.

The “Art of Professional Wrestling” has been lost recently and I place the blame squarly on the shoulders of the promoters of the business. Wrestling talent currently is over-produced to the point that most wrestlers are reduced to trying to be actors, (which most are not) by giving scripted interviews and robotic matches. To make matters worse, the scripts are written by producers who don’t have a clue what professional wrestling is all about.

In about five years the business changed and in my opinion for the worst. I discovered in 2002, when we started TNA, that the heart of the business had been removed and all that remained was the illusion of professional wrestling. I walked in the building in Huntsville, Ala. to find the ring filled with wrestlers rehearsing every move that they planned to make during their match. I watched as wrestlers sat reading and memorizing interviews. I was dumbfounded when I discovered that basic principals of the business were alien to the new wrestlers. I felt that I was talking in a foreign language. What is heat? What is a ring general? What is selling? What do you mean when you say listen to the fans?

I was told after I broke into this business that it was our duty to teach the new talent the “Art of Professional Wrestling”.I was told when we began TNA that the business had changed and it was not possible to go back to that art form. I have my personal excuses for not going in that direction, but I regret not trying and this is why I truly hope Terry can do what I could not do.

The business today has truly changed. The new wrestlers are taught in “training camps”, or wrestling schools. It seems to me that if you put twenty wrestlers in a school and one man teaches them all, they would tend to be somewhat clones of each other. Wrestlers should be taught the business by other wrestlers in live situations. A student who goes to a wrestling school will learn everything he is going to lean at the school in 90 days. He will never advance until he learns from veteran wrestlers in live match situations. Far too much emphases is placed on in ring work anyway. I think this is the result of wrestling websites, written by people who have never had a match, telling wrestlers that they have a 5 star match or a 2 star match. I’d guess that Hulk Hogan has never been given one 5 star match rating in his career. I’d also bet that he had drawn more money in the wrestling business than all the 5 star rated wrestles combined.

Superstars of the wrestling business become Superstars because of their personalities and not because of their in-ring wrestling abliity. Verbal skills are much more important that physical skills when it comes to drawing money in this business. You don’t develop verbal skills in a talent by writing a script and allowing the talent to read his lines. How can a writer of these interview scripts not produce clone interviews? The unique personalities of wrestlers are hidden and only the thoughts of this one writer are expressed.

The uniqueness of professional wrestling and it’s great public appeal is based on the interaction of personalities of the talent. To not understand this concept is to fail. If you take a walk in your memory and remember the great stars of professional wrestling, you will find that you best remember the personality and not the matches of these stars.

So Terry, good luck in your efforts. You have a big job in front of you.

Jerry

— Frankie Kazarian asked to be released from his TNA contract at the most recent TNA iMPACT! tapings because he’s been frustrated with the creative direction of his character, Suicide. TNA management was ready to grant the release until A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels stepped in and smoothed things out between both sides.

— There are new details regarding the backstage tension between TNA champion A.J. Styles and head writer Vince Russo. Russo recently confronted Styles after Styles told TNA president Dixie Carter that there should be a wrestler on the creative team. Russo started yelling at Styles, who responded by saying Russo has booked him as a weak champion in recent weeks.

– In a battle of former WWE wrestlers, Kip James squares off against Sheik Abdul Bashir in TNA’s latest webmatch.

– The TNA website has posted a set of Halloween-themed photos featuring the Knockouts. You can view them here.

(Credit to prowrestling.net for some of the information used in this report)

— There is a glitch in the new SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 video game where one can create a Diva that is pantyless in the “Create a Superstar” mode. Players have been uploading videos of their creations to YouTube, but THQ is having them quickly removed.

— Chris Jericho is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which takes an in-depth look at his lengthy wrestling career. Other wrestlers profiled in the magazine include CM Punk, Big Show and TNA stars Kevin Nash, AJ Styles and Team 3D. You can view the cover at www.PWI-Online.com.

— Gail Kim is today’s “Daily Diva” on WWE.com while Hornswoggle is the “Superstar of the Day.”

— TNA officials are said to be disappointed over the cable rating for Hulk Hogan’s debut on last week’s episode of iMPACT!, which actually scored a 1.2 rather than a 1.3 (rounded down from 1.24). Company brass were expecting a much higher number for the TNA debut of the wrestling legend.

Viewers tuned out as the show progressed with the first hour averaging a 1.26 rating and the second hour averaging a 1.21 rating.

Viewership was way up in the males 18-49 and 19-34 demos, scoring a 1.10 and 1.06, respectively. Both were the show’s highest ratings since March 19, 2009.

— On her Twitter account, TNA president Dixie Carter gave glowing praise to the Awesome Kong vs. Hamada matches held this past weekend. Carter wrote: “Heard Kong v Hamada matches on this weekend’s shows were off the charts and will change the way people perceive women’s wrestling. Go girls!”

— TNA and NFL All-Pro defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch are teaming up again for a special charity event featuring members of the Tennessee Titans and the superstars of TNA Wrestling at the Wildhorse Saloon next Monday. Click here for more information.

(Credit to f4wonline.com and pwtorch.com for some of the information used in this report)