TNA News

[Head Booker]

www.go386.com/jawbreaker/

Q: Good to talk to you again, Eric. Without getting into the spoilers too much, I see there are some interesting story lines the next few weeks. What's your perspective on TNA Wrestling right now?

A: "It's a company that's growing. It's a challenging time in the TV business and entertainment business. But it's doing well. It's trying new things. It has a great relationship with its network."

Q: You have some big names working together -- Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, EV2 (ECW Extreme, for those that don't know) and many more. How is that working out?

A: "It's great. It's really interesting. I worked with a lot of those big names in WCW 10-12-15 years ago. It's interesting to see how we evolve as people -- changed our perspectives and approaches. It's a lot more fun.''

Q: How so?

A: "We're older, wiser and more mature and comfortable. We've lived through incidents. The creative process takes a certain amount of cooperation. People looking out for each other is better now than it was 10-12-15 years ago. It's a lot more fun."

Q: The tag-team division, led by Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money, is one of the hot feuds right now in all of wrestling. Your thoughts?

A: "I think it pretty much exemplifies what TNA is striving for -- to be different. I like Beer Money at individuals. They are phenomenal performers. Motor City Machine Guns are a young tag team. They really are the future of the business. The work ethic they have -- people will be watching them 10-15 years from now."

Q: We've got Bound for Glory on 10-10-10 right here in Daytona Beach. You and others have quite a history in the Ocean Center. Any chance any of it will be re-visited?

A: "It's going to be a very special pay-per-view in a lot of different ways. I don't want to go too much further into that. We've been laying the foundation since March of this year. I think people will have a hell of a time at the PPV. They will be amazed how intricate the story was going in and going out."

Q: Anything on Paul Heyman coming in, Vince Russo going out and Tommy Dreamer playing a role in the head writer's position?

A: "The whole EV2 story line was something I pitched in February of this year. It wasn't a Tommy Dreamer idea. Tommy's a great guy and has great experience. I called Paul and suggested to Dixie (Carter) and Vince Russo that we should reach out to Paul and see if he was interested in coming in. I don't think it will happen with Paul. He is looking for something different. I don't think Dreamer will be involved in creative. We have a solid team, with great chemistry. We've had great success the last couple weeks and months."

Q: And you and Hulk Hogan plan on being around awhile?

A: "We have a couple of years left on our contracts."

Q: Any thoughts about Linda McMahon running for a Senate seat?

A: "I think it's great. Wrestling aside, history aside, I don't want to suggest I know her really well. What time I have spent around her I think she's a very intelligent, strong woman. She has a lot of integrity. If I lived in Connecticut, I would donate to her campaign and vote for her. She has done lots of great things. WWE doesn't get enough credit. They are a great company to go to work for."

Q: And Rob Van Dam?

A: "Rob needs to take some time off."

Q: Anything else to add?

A: "We're looking forward to "ReACTION" (which debuts Thursday at 11 p.m.). It's a storytelling technique no one has attempted before. It will give fans a chance to know wrestlers better."

[Head Booker]

TNA Wrestling has released former X-Division and Tag Team champion Homicide, PWInsider.com has confirmed.Homicide, a former Ring of Honor champion, had been with TNA since 2005 and at one point, was part of one of the hottest acts in TNA, the LAX group with Konnan and Hernandez.

Homicide had hardly been used since the Bischoff/Hogan regime began, mostly used wrestling for TNA Xplosion bouts. On Impact, he was most recently used in an injury angle to further the Hernandez-Matt Morgan storyline with the idea that TNA would reform LAX down the line. Obviously, that will not come to pass.

Homicide recently relocated back to the Northeast, so I'd expect to see him back working for a lot of his old haunts soon. Homicide was also involved in training a lot of talents from that area, including Kaval of NXT, so I'd assume he's going to get back into training as well.


From pwinsider.

[Head Booker]

No Surrender PPV spoiler

SPOILER: Click to show

Credit: F4WOnline.com

Brian Kendrick is now a member of the EV 2.0 stable in TNA. It was originally believed he was the replacement for The Sandman, who missed the recent tapings, but word is that Kendrick was already planned to be added to the stable.

It appears The Sandman is done with TNA but Tommy Dreamer was trying to get officials to give him a second chance.

Sandman was originally booked to face Abyss at the No Surrender PPV but the match was changed when he no-showed. It will now be Abyss vs. Rhino in the Falls Count Anywhere match.

Believe it or not, it’s said that Kendrick will be doing part of the role originally planned for Mick Foley. It’s likely that Foley is resting up for something big at Bound For Glory.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 1, 2010

CORNETTE CHALLENGES RUSSO TO CHARITY FIGHT AT RING ROASTS

Jim Cornette's seemingly endless, diabolical ploy to plague Vince Russo's dreams seems to know no bounds. Earlier in the year, TNA involved local authorities in warning Cornette that he had crossed a line. After some silence, it seems the jabber-jawed Ring of Honor GM has thought of a resolution to this (rather one-sided) war, once and for all.

Cornette has challenged Vince Russo to a fight at the third annual Ring Roasts, which is being held this October 15 at the Crowne Plaza in Monroe, NJ. In a promo released today on the Ring Roasts website (www.ringroasts.com), Cornette offers to donate his end of any purse money to the WHAS Crusade for Children in Louisville, an organization that helps disadvantaged children.

Cornette and Russo worked side-by-side on WWE and TNA's creative team. Cornette had developed a distaste for Russo, his booking style, and generally anything north of Delaware.

Ring Roasts is an annual comedic tribute co-promoted by Kayfabe Commentaries and Legends of the Ring. Tickets and more information about the roast is available at www.ringroasts.com.





-----TNA’s Eric Bischoff was one of the special guests on this week’s live edition (08/30/09) of the Monday Night Mayhem radio show.

Interview highlights courtesy of The Mayhem’s official correspondent, Paterson from New Jersey:

The Internet’s constant stream of hating against TNA & why it’s easier for fans to point out the flaws of TNA than those of the WWE: “Let me put it to you this way: Misery loves company. It’s easier for people who are negative, who want to criticize without really having anything intelligent to say and without it being constructive criticism. It’s one of the reasons why I constantly am trying to raise the bar, eliminating one stupid fan at a time. When I see the kind of comments like ‘TNA Sucks’ or ‘Your storylines blow,’ or ‘Fire Russo, or ‘Fire Bischoff,’ or ‘Hogan sucks,’ I laugh at that stuff because there are a lot of people out there and because misery loves company. Let’s face it, WWE is a giant bandwagon. It’s been around a long time. It’s easier & safer when you’re the type of person who is looking for a group of miserable people to jump on the bandwagon that’s successful, because the WWE is a cable television juggernaut. It is what it is. So it’s easy to jump on that bandwagon and look down at TNA for its warts, blemishes, bumps, bruises, & dents because there’s plenty of them. TNA is not WWE. It’s not a billion dollar company with the kind of infrastructure & production staff taking their show live on the road every week. There’s so many things that we don’t have that it’s easy to point out our flaws. I think if you look at what TNA does, and does well, and tries to do. We are ‘the little engine that’s trying.’ There’s some great talent in the ring, I think we have the greatest balance of new, young & exciting talent, established talent that rates well despite what everyone else wants to believe on the Internet. If you’re objective and you’re a real wrestling fan, you’re gonna have comments, and while you may not like certain things that are happening in TNA, you’ll find plenty of things to like.”

Bret Hart’s comments about Vince McMahon “stomping out” TNA from Monday nights, the impact “The Hitman” may have had in making that a reality, & what the final outcome would have been for TNA on Monday nights had Bret Hart never come back to the WWE: “I like Bret so much so it’s hard for me to comment about things like this. Bret Hart is a little pre-occupied with the legacy of Bret Hart. Not going to deny it, the move to Monday night was a mistake. It is what it is. It was ill-conceived, it was bad timing, it was a risk, and it was a risk that didn’t pan out. I’ve taken plenty of risks that didn’t work out, and I’ve taken some risks that have. Vince McMahon has taken some risks that worked and taken plenty of risks that hasn’t. The move to Monday night was a miss, and I’ll take as much responsibility for that as anybody else. I don’t think any of it had anything to do with Bret Hart. I think if Bret Hart would have never come back to WWE, the outcome of our Monday night effort would have been exactly the same.”

His thoughts on this Sunday’s No Surrender Pay-Per-View & why his primary focus will be on the semi-finals of the TNA World Title Tournament: “I think there are some great matches on the card. The primary thing that I’m focused on is our ‘A-story,’ which is who is going to become TNA World Heavyweight Champion. You got four powerful names there, four very exciting talents four guys who could deliver anywhere in the world in either company. You got four guys who are great storytellers and can deliver in the ring. If there’s a reason to watch the Pay-Per-View, that’s the one thing I would encourage people to follow & watch, because it’s another chapter in a pretty interesting story that we laid out back in March, and I’m excited about it.”


TNA’s Eric Bischoff was one of the special guests on this week’s live edition (08/30/09) of the Monday Night Mayhem radio show.

Interview highlights courtesy of The Mayhem’s official correspondent, Paterson from New Jersey:

His reaction to those wrestling fans that ask the question “Where is the controversy in TNA?” and if we will be seeing that on TNA programming in the coming weeks/months: “I think that you will. One of the challenges in the business today, and the same is true in the WWE, what can we do that hasn’t been done to death in the last 10 to 12 years? When I launched Nitro, and we did all the ridiculous stuff & controversial stuff that I did that put WCW on the map, nobody had ever done it before, and that’s what made it controversial. That’s why I was the ‘anti-Christ’ for wrestling fans, because I was doing things no one had done before. Giving away finishes live on the air five minutes before the competition’s show went on. All these things people said was stupid & ridiculous, how do you do that again? How does Vince McMahon do all things that are ground-breaking, controversial, & water cooler buzz? How does he recreate those elements in the guidelines of a televised wrestling show? How do you recreate that in today’s environment? Is there going to be controversy in TNA? Of course there is. Are we seeing right now? Without giving anything away, I think we’re setting it up. In the months to come, people are going to see some things that are controversial, but I don’t think anyone should raise the bar of expectations so high that we are magically going to get back to that virgin territory that we enjoyed 10 or 12 years ago.”

How much input he usually has into an edition of TNA iMPACT, his response to those that strongly believe that Hulk Hogan & himself are “running TNA,” and the current chemistry between himself & Vince Russo: “It varies a lot depending on the week. I’ve read some of the comments of some of your other guests on Monday Night Mayhem talking about me, and I think Kevin Kelly was one of the ones I read last, and I know people out there think and are under the assumption that Eric Bischoff & Hulk Hogan are ‘running TNA.’ Nothing is farther from the truth. We have nothing to do with the strategy of the company. We have nothing to do with the marketing of the company. Nobody talks to us or asks us about talent acquisitions or people getting fired. We have little to do with the day-to-day operations of TNA. The same is kinda true with regards to creative. I work closely with Vince Russo, I see the formats, I give my suggestions. Vince & I have a great working relationship, and in regards to chemistry, I would say besides my partner Jason Hervey and Hulk, there’s no one better that I have a working relationship with.”

[Head Booker]

Raven posted the following on his blog at theraveneffect.com:

I would like to point out a few of my current wrestling pet peeves. It could be written more clearly and concisely but I dont have much time before I have to go out of town but I wanted to get them off my chest.

A) Chairshots to the head should only be banned if you dont know how to throw one properly. A suplex can be deadly in the wrong hands. If you throw a chair shot correctly, or know how to bump so the chair shot only grazes you hard enough to make a noise, they are fine. It is idiots who swing for the fences or morons who dont bump with them that should be banned.

B) I guarantee you that more concussions are had by wrestlers from endless nonsensical high spots that the sheets promote as making a better match than chair shots to the head.

C) I guarantee you that more concussions are had by wrestlers from working strong style that the sheets promote as making a better match than chair shots to the head.

D) Dreamer's kids have been actresses since about 2 years old. They know what acting is. They were introduced to Tommy's friend Scotty (thats me) before the match and told that is was all acting. After the show, all bloody, I went up and talked to the girls to see if they were ok. They were laughing and said they had a great time. They thought the whole thing was a blast. Huh? But how could that be? Dont they have to be traumatized? Ever think that each case is a little different and should be treated as such. How bout giving Tommy credit for being a wonderful father who would never harm his little girls for the world and made sure they knew exactly what would happen ahead of time, and if he for an instant thought it would be problematic, he would have left that spot out completely.

E) Get some f@#king facts before you disparage shit.

For example 1): One of the guys they put over for looking good and cleaning up was the only person f@#ked up out of his gourd which was obvious to anyone watching a Tv except them.

For example 2): For years the sheets would always say, how come so and so always happens to have the right pair of keys to open the handcuffs when they would be handcuffed allowing them to escape at the most fortuitous moments? What they didnt know, nor decided to look into was that all f@#king handcuff keys are the same. Yet they spent years dogging any and all matches when someone would happen to have keys to escape. The sheets arent always right. They thought Sean Waltman early in his career was one of the greatest wrestlers in the world. Same with Sabu. A couple years later, when both actually became the incredible workers the sheets thought they had been (which both Sean and Sabu will tell you, they werent nearly as good as they became and the sheets were wrong), the sheets are shitting on both for not being as good as they used to be because they didnt have the kind of matches the sheets wanted, non stop action without a story. In Hollywood, movies with non stop action and no stories are called crap. The sheets are quite often wrong, and there is a word for people who follow them without thinking for themselves, it is sheep.

F) The sheets crapped on the former ECW guys who werent in shape, but decry when wrestlers used steroids. Make up your mind. Benoit who until he became a double murderer was the biggest steroid user in the business and without steroids he never would have had a career, yet he was never buried for it. Other guys were. Dont you love people who pick and choose their favorites when condemning society.

G) Finally to all the sheet writers, if you were really as strongly convicted about stopping all the deaths in wrestling, you'd stop watching wrestling and supporting such a horrible business, you'd stop making money off it, you would try and get your readers to stop watching, and you would fight for what you claim to believe in, like getting us health care or what not. But no, you prefer to sit in your ivory tower decrying every death, then writing all about it waiting for the next death and continue to line your pocketbooks like the carpetbaggers you are. Which makes you pompous, holier than thou assholes.

[Head Booker]

The Pope D'Angelo Dinero spoke about his schooling, movies, TNA, and more in a recent interview which you can read at www.fanhouse.com/ Here are some highlights:

On where he's going to school: Florida State daddy! It's still going on. Pope got six more classes and once I finish that hopefully � if all goes according to plan � just finishing out that whole criminal justice thing, y'all know the background. Just finishing that out and if all goes according to plan man, Pope will be marching in March.

On whether he will become a lawyer: Hold on daddy, you're going in the wrong direction. You're supposed to be saying you can see Pope on the big screen. Even when that happens, Pope will still be a part of this business one way or another. That's where Pope wanna go daddy. Hollywood is the only suitable destination for a Pope of my caliber.

On why he hasn't made a movie yet: You know what daddy? That question is as good as mine but then I look up north (WWE) and I say gee whiz, how come no one of Pope's background if you get my drift, how come ain't none of them done a movie either? Their chance is probably more good or better than mine at this time being that they got a whole production film thing going on. I look at the guys like, that was Cryme Tyme and some of my friends up there, Kofi (Kingston) and I'm like why aren't those guys in movies? My time will come so I'm not worried about that. Pope's time will come. Everything happens in due time but right now, first things first, is Pope's gotta get that gold to have as big of bling around his waist. You're talking about the TNA World Heavyweight Title daddy.

On whether his WWE friends are getting a fair shake: (laughs) In this day and age, if you're up there, shake what ya got. Shake what ya daddy or momma gave ya. They're getting something. I can't speak on their behalf because I don't know what a fair shake to them would be. But Pope can count his blessings and I'll make that known right now that I am happy, I am elated, I am ecstatic to be a part of TNA Wrestling. That's for sure.

On being happy with his position with TNA: Ooh, that's a good question. I will say I couldn't be in a more happier and suited spot than I am in right now. Everything's going well, everything's going to plan. I can say yes, I can say no but then you'd have to attribute some of that to Pope's recent injury. So for me to come back off an injury, you know, three months ago when I went down with that injury and come back and be in the main event spot with (Mr.) Anderson and Kurt (Angle) and Jeff Hardy right now double main-eventing "No Surrender", I can't ask for more.

On whether he was worried about his spot due to the injury: No. That never ever crossed my mind at one time because Pope ... You know, TNA is a place of opportunity. TNA is a place that recognizes talent. They recognize raw talent and they want their talent to shine. That never crossed my mind. What was killing Pope was being stuck up in one place at one time, home at the crib. I mean, you can only play Xbox 360 for so long. When you can only play Madden, you can only watch a movie for so long. I couldn't do anything. Pope couldn't even shower by himself. And trust me, while it was fun getting washed from head to toe everything now and then, it got old after a while as well.

On his tweet that was taken to be a hint at Dixie Carter's surprise: (laughs) Pope had no idea that Dixie had ... I don't know if she had tweeted or Facebook. I just have to drop in every now and then to let me congregation know that hey, I ain't forgot about you. Like I said, I'm in the midst of four different classes so I just dropped a little tweet 'cause I heard some good news for Pope. So I chose to say "that's cool". I don't know man. This place has ... when Pope says this is cool on Twitter, all of a sudden everyone started coming at me like, like an animal!

On Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair being the focus of TNA programming: No daddy. Here's what Pope is gonna say about that. Everybody, everybody can be used and have a spot in the entertainment aspect of any wrestling program. It's not where or who it is, it's how it's being done. And as you mentioned, focal point. Well, I don't think they are the focal point. I mean, I don't see Flair or Hogan headlining No Surrender. I didn't see Flair or Hogan headlining Victory Road. They're no focal points. They're there to add credibility to the product. Their name value obviously is more than some of us younger guys so you have to give them that credit. They're not focal points and I think TNA knows that. Hogan knows that. Hogan has said that. Flair knows that. Flair said that. You know, Flair didn't go out there and put himself over with AJ Styles. Flair went out there every "Impact" and did his absolute honest best to say this guy, AJ Styles is not only the best wrestler in this company but in the world. Flair was being the same Flair that he was with Triple H in the year 2001 and so forth. So, those guys are not focal points.

On whether he or Flair is the better talker: Oh daddy, Pope will eat Ric Flair up! Don't try to pull Pope on the ... Flair is the absolute all-time greatest when it comes to it. But right now, in this day and age, daddy you put Pope and Ric Flair face-to-face with a microphone I guarantee you things are gonna get turned upside down. And that's not no threat to Flair or anybody else, that's just a promise man. You put a mic in my hand and you already know the deal.

[Head Booker]

Gerweck.net announced six man match made for Bound For Glory

SPOILER: Click to show

They announced Sting & Kevin Nash & The Pope vs. Hulk Hogan & Samoa Joe & Jeff Jarrett for the 10/10 Bound for Glory PPV at tonight’s Impact tapings in Orlando.

[Head Booker]

All from a post in the Observer site:

Kevin Nash had quite the night last night on Twitter. This is the unabridged version of his tirades after apparently parting company with TNA, although he said he would be working out his contract, so his final date would be the 10/10 show unless they decide to remove him from that match. He notes that his contract expires on 10/12 and he's done.

Jason Heary would be the misspelled version of Jason Hervey, who works with Eric Bichoff at TNA behind the scenes.

Twitter.com/RealKevinNash.

“you can say what you want about me I don’t give a FUCK ,but to ever question my integrity we no longer have a business relationship. and to the person that said every September I go to work for my self ,fuck you you didn’t even see it. mid card bullshit neverbeens fuck you. You want to go to war with the best, hope you fuckers don’t live in glass houses. sorry to the 33′276 that have no idea what I’m ranting 4. 10- 10- 10 shit 1099. Jason Heary made me tweet that guess you have to stayed tune after impact 4 the answers. I’m a fucking man not some green horn boy .you don’t like what I do fine .Pay me the dates you owe me .let my accounts look at the books. RVD said Jeff hardy and him are rock stars ,in my prime I was selling out 30′000 plus seat domes they can’t draw 1000 on the road. WTF. I will work out my TNA contract anbd see what life brings me ,to my fans I love you and words can never explain what you mean to me. to the haters glad I was able to be there to dump on me to make u feel better about your FUCKED up lifes. going to take some time off twitter , will still read tweets just need to decompress away from the wrestling world. much love …..Kev.”

When asked if this means he's leaving TNA:

“no moving on.”

When asked about his contract:
“deal is up Oct. 12 midnight then no one can fuck with me .”

When it was brought up tht he's 51 and his career should be close to over:
“It’s fake dumb fuck put 50 k on the line and see who beats me , now hurry the short bus just pulled up outside.”

[Icon Lord Sean "Magic" Fiery]

LMAO. Drunk Nash is pretty funny. Too bad he's not really threatening because the second he charges at ya, he'll get injured haha.

[Head Booker]

TNA WRESTLING AND HULK HOGAN SET THE STAGE FOR 'BOUND FOR GLORY 2010' WITH A SPECIAL LIVE NIGHT OF TNA PROGRAMS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7 ON SPIKE TV

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling will celebrate "Bound For Glory 2010," the biggest pay-per-view event in TNA Wrestling's history, with a three hour "TNA Thursday" LIVE special on Spike TV, Thursday, October 7 (9:00pm-12:00am ET/PT).

TNA's flagship program "TNA iMPACT!" will feature a $100,000 Battle Royal Gauntlet main event, set by TNA President Dixie Carter, featuring every TNA Superstar competing at "Bound For Glory 2010". Over 20 of the top TNA Superstars including Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Mr. Anderson, "The Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy, "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, Hardcore Legend Mick Foley, "The Icon" Sting, and many more. The winner of the battle royal gauntlet will net a $100,000 purse.

"'Bound For Glory 2010' is TNA's biggest event of the year, and to celebrate we've brought every single TNA Superstar competing at the pay-per-view to this live special event on Spike TV," Carter said. "This will be an unforgettable night of action, surprises and some change for TNA."

In addition, TNA's innovative one-hour docu-style series, "TNA ReACTION", will also be broadcast LIVE for the first time in that show's history. As the drama and excitement builds for "Bound For Glory 2010," TNA's revolutionary documentary shooting style will follow the superstars of TNA throughout "iMPACT!" and immediately after,

The "Bound For Glory" pay-per-view extravaganza will be held LIVE at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on Sunday, October 10, 2010 (10.10.10) starting at 8 p.m. ET and airing worldwide exclusively on pay-per-view. For ticket information, visit www.ticketmaster.com

Since its founding in 2002, Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has become the world's fastest-growing professional wrestling company, currently airing in over 120 countries worldwide.

[Head Booker]

- Dave Meltzer has confirmed that TNA has indeed signed former WWE Womens and Diva's Champion Mickie James. She is expected to debut on the 10/7 live edition of iMPACT! on Spike TV.