TNA News

[Head Booker]

credit lordsofpain.net

- There is talk of taping more episodes of TNA iMPACT! outside of Orlando. The idea is that the majority of the tapings would still emanate in Orlando but the occasional show would be held in another city's small arena. It's thought that the company needs to start building fan bases in new markets, as well as the idea that current crowds are getting burned out. The worry about taping outside of Orlando is attracting a similar aduience that is familiar with the product as the Orlando fans are.

[Head Booker]

A short Associated Press story this morning said that Jeff Hardy is going to plead guilty in court on 1/20 to drug charges, listing the Moore County District Attorney as the source.

There was little detail in the story, regarding exactly what would or would not have been worked out in regard to dropping of charges in exchange for a plea bargain, or the nature of the sentencing.

Hardy had one court hearing after another postponed for more than one year after a September 2009 raid of his home where police found 262 Vicodin pills, 180 prescribed Soma pills, 55 milliliters of anabolic steroids, cocaine residue and drug parahernalia.

It was not known which side was the source of the continual postponements nor whether this release is face-saving for the D.A., or for Hardy. The answer will come if/when actual charges are dropped and the nature of the sentencing.

District Attorney Maureen Krueger said that Hardy's lawyer, James Van Camp, informed the judge he wouild plead guilty at the hearing but would not comment on the nature of whether the plea bargain would include dropping of charges or avoiding jail time.

Hardy's attorney has not commented on the story.

But it is not good news for TNA to have its reigning world champion pleading guilty on drug charges.


- F4W.

[Icon Lord Sean "Magic" Fiery]

Did anyone see the promo with Flair (with Immortal) and Foley?! Ugh. Ric Flair disgusts me. He's blatantly loaded, and to take it out on Foley in such a personal way made my stomach turn. However, I LOOOOVED the moment Foley slapped the microphone out of Flairs hand to shut him up. I was just eagerly waiting for Foley to rip into Flair for being a druggie... But it didn't hapen I felt so bad for Foley during that interaction... I just looked as if he was on the brink of breaking down.

And WWE is so bad?! I think a lot of these disgruntled former WWE stars are realizing that the grass IS NOT greener. I've been so disappointed in TNA and allowing their wrestlers to come into work intoxicated and end up physically or mentally harming others. Lately, it's been some of the most disgusting and hardest wrestling programs I've watched, because it's just all kayfabely WRONG!!! I basically only watch for Douglas Williams, AJ Styles, Beer Money, Samoa Joe, Generation Me, and ESPECIALLY Motorcity Machine Guns. The rest just seems to be completely unprofessional. If Dixie Carter knows what's best, she needs to end this shit NOW and get back to the true WRESTLING of TNA, which is what I tuned into to begin with. Too much story, too much talking, too much politics, and too much embarrassment... It's really beginning to turn me against TNA, just when I was starting to like it a few months back. Ugh...

[Head Booker]

Spike TV has canceled the weekly TNA "Reaction" television with the last episode airing Thursday night.

"Reaction" was a unique show for wrestling with a documentary-style format where wrestlers spoke in a more natural setting behind the scenes.

The show -- which was produced by Eric Bischoff's production company along with business partner Jason Hervey -- debuted on Monday, April 12. Several weeks later, it was announced that Spike TV was picking up the show, airing on Thursday nights following TNA "Impact".

After an initial run of ten weeks, Spike renewed "Reaction" for another ten weeks before making the decision to cancel it on Monday.

While the hour long show was heavy on talking, the first few minutes of the show were typical the ending of a match which began on "Impact". But the program focused on candid, behind the scenes conversations with the wrestlers and advancing storylines.

Even though "Reaction" is being canceled, Vice President of Communications David Schwarz says Spike TV does have plans for additional TNA programming.

"We are looking to broadcast a number of expanded TNA telecasts throughout the year in place of TNA Reaction."

Over the past ten weeks, "Reaction" has averaged a .61 cable rating and roughly 770,000 viewers.

[Head Booker]

The word making the rounds is that AJ Styles has suffered some sort of knee injury and won't be working Genesis. That would explain Abyss vs. Douglas Williams being on the board backstage for the card. I haven't heard any definitive word on how long Styles would be out but it looks like at least a few weeks.

Styles vs. Williams has been one of the bright spots in the last few weeks for TNA, so hopefully they'll be able to get back to it as soon as injuries allow.

One would assume Immortal will send out Abyss to take out Williams on AJ's behalf, but we'll see what they have planned creatively.

~~

Matt Hardy is backstage at TNA Impact so it should be pretty easy to guess who Rob Van Dam is likely facing tonight.

Oddly enough, former ECW ring announcer Stephen DeAngelis is also at the PPV. I don't believe he's booked, but you never know. Maybe Immortal has their own ring announcer? Nah, I didn't think so, either.

At one point, the board for the PPV listed Douglas Williams vs. Abyss. I know AJ Styles is at Genesis, so we'll see whether that was an error or if there was a card change soon enough.

Tommy Dreamer is not at the PPV, which may be the first taping since he was hired that he wasn't brought into. Dreamer worked the house shows over the weekend in the Northeast, wrestling Jeff Jarrett for the first time ever. There was a lot of surprise he wasn't brought in since he's been working as an agent and has been involved in all of the production meetings in recent months.


All from PWInsider.com

[Head Booker]

Credit: PWInsider.com

- In addition to Matt Hardy, Chris "Braden Walker" Harris can be added to the list of those backstage tonight at the Genesis PPV.

- TNA is working on a dietary supplement which they are planning market under the name “Impact! 3 Count”.

[Head Booker]

Angle's obvious blade job at last night's Genesis PPV...

[Head Booker]

GENESIS UPDATE: JEFF JARRETT DROPS A BOMB ON KURT ANGLE FOR THURSDAY'S IMPACT ON SPIKE TV AT 9/8c

Perhaps the most startling news coming out of last night's Genesis pay-per-view wasn't that Jeff Jarrett planned to announce his departure from MMA competition, but that he would do so this Thursday night on iMPACT!, with his wife, Karen by his side.

Jarrett taunted his long time adversary Kurt Angle when he declared, "finally, the three of us are going to celebrate together".

For those of you who are not aware, tensions between the two have been high for some time, to say the least, since Angle's divorce from Karen in 2008 and her subsequent marriage to Jarrett last August. Thursday's appearance marks Karen Jarrett's return to TNA after a long absence. A former personal valet, who eventually had her own segment called "Karen's Angle", left the show in 2008.

There is no question sparks are gonna fly as Jarrett told Angle of his plans and that, "Karen was going to come to the iMPACT! Zone, whether he liked it or not".

Don't miss what promises to be a very "special" family reunion, this Thursday, January 13 at 9PM ET/8PM CT on Spike.

ALSO ON THURSDAY'S TNA iMPACT ON SPIKE TV AT 9/8C:

On Thursday night, it's the aftermath of Genesis - don't miss the huge broadcast starting at 9/8c on SpikeTV! Can't watch it Thursday? Make sure to set your DVR so you won't miss the Total Nonstop Action!

- NEW TNA World Heavyweight Champion Mr. Anderson will be on the broadcast! Will it be a new era in TNA after Anderson was able to defeat Jeff Hardy on Sunday night? How will Immortal react to Anderson spoiling their plans of domination? Tune in and find out as we hear from the new Champ!

- Matt Hardy has arrived in TNA Wrestling! Is he now part of Immortal with his brother Jeff Hardy? What are his plans in TNA? Tune in and find out!

- Although Immortal lost the World Title, they still captured gold at the PPV as new TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money, new X Division Champion Kazarian and new TV Champion Abyss will all be on iMPACT!

- Plus, news on the upcoming "Against All Odds" Pay-Per-View event and many more of your favorite TNA Superstars, all this Thursday starting at 9/8c on SpikeTV.

Source: TNAWrestling.com

[Head Booker]

AJ Styles has been pulled from TNA's annual European Tour in January due to a hip injury.

PWTorch confirmed on Sunday during the Genesis PPV that the injury is legitimate. Styles said on his Twitter page he could be out six-to-eight weeks.

[Icon Lord Sean "Magic" Fiery]

I'm glad Mr. Anderson is World Champion. But that's all I have good to say about TNA right now.

1) MMG should have been tag champs for an epic amount of time. IMO, they're such a huge draw and they should continually push their amazingness EVERY SINGLE SHOW! I like Beer Money and all, but wtf was the point of their "best of..." series only to allow Beer Money the chance a couple of months later with only one real qualifying match? Stupid. However, if this means more Beer Money vs. MMG, I'm down. But MMG should still be champs, no questions asked.

2) Matt Hardy BLAAAAAAHHHH!!!

3) Jeff Hardy BLAAAAAAAAH BLAAAAAAAAAH!!! (have fun in prison, idiot)

4) Immortal/Fortune... Two words: Fucking. Boring. It's WCW all over again, and the drug abuse certainly isn't improving their image.

5) The shit with Jarrett and Angle and Karen just makes me wanna vomit. Can these writers/MORONS leave their real life personal problems out of wrestling?! It DOES NOT MAKE FOR A GOOD STORY! It makes for an even greater hostile environment, and the fans really don't give a shit really.

6) Bring back the goddamn wrestling. I'm so sick an tired of seeing Immortal involved in everything, and always talking and playing politics, and blah blah BLAAAH!!! I was really diggin TNA before Immortal came in and WCW'd the place up. I can't even watch Impact all the way through anymore. In fact, it takes me about 20 minutes after buzzing through the painfully boring, pointless shit. No wonder Reaction got cancelled... After two hours of hearing everyone talk and talk and talk, why would you want to listen to another hour of the same shit in "candid" form? Not this guy.

Hopefully Jeff being in prison clears some shit up. But no, Matt's here to continue the legacy with his colorful Raven rip-off dreads

[Rob]

I hear Jeff isn't going to prison. He'll probably get community service or whatever

[Head Booker]

PWTorch has learned from TNA sources that TNA will be taking Impact on the road in mid-February.

Over the past year, TNA management has talked about wanting to film TV outside of Orlando, Fla. to "grow the brand" and gauge crowd reactions in locations besides the Impact Zone.

The only other Impact TV taping held outside of Orlando was in Las Vegas in October 2008. The show notably marked the debut of the Main Event Mafia group.

~~

TNA IMPACT LEAVING ORLANDO NEXT MONTH FOR FLAIR COUNTRY
By Mike Johnson on 2011-01-12 23:45:07


TNA Impact will be taped for the first time in North Carolina next month, PWInsider.com has confirmed.Fayetteville, NC (which would be the hometown of Matt and Jeff Hardy) has been mentioned to me as the most likely location, although Charlotte was mentioned as a possibility as well.

There has been talk for some time about taking Impact out of Orlando for some time in order to test how the product would fare in front of different audiences. The Orlando audience has developed something of a reputation for being jaded after so many years of getting a number of free TV tapings and PPVs a month. I don't believe a PPV goes by without a TNA talent openly wondering to me how a match that had trouble getting over in Orlando might have fared in another market before fans that were paying for the product.

The lone episode of Impact taped outside of Orlando was a live special at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, featuring the debut of the Main Event Mafia. Beyond that, every episode of Impact to date has been filmed in Orlando, dating back to the series debut in May 2004.

I am under the impression the move to NC would be something of a test to see how the tapings would fare outside of Orlando and would be something done in addition to using the Impact Zone, which TNA leases annually from Universal Studios Orlando.

[Head Booker]

At this point, Hulk Hogan is recovering from his recent back surgery that in all likely hood, with end his in ring career. Hogan is not expected back in TNA for some time, but remains contractually obligated to stay apart of the promotion. Eric Bischoff has assisted his executive duties. On a side note, Bischoff and Hogan have accepted pay reductions from their original deals.

Source: Gerweck.net

[Head Booker]

PWTorch has learned that TNA is considering scrapping the X Division, which has been part of the company since its inception.

There is no official timetable for when the Division would be scrapped or if TNA will phase it out over time in 2011.

Caldwell's Analysis: There are two ways of looking at this. The X Division and its wrestlers have progressively been reduced to opening-match acts and the belt has little value. So, it could potentially give wrestlers slotted in the Division a fresh start without being pigeonholed as "X Division high-spot artists with no character development."

The other way of looking at is being pigeonholed actually gave wrestlers "of a certain size" a measure of job security because they filled a specific role on the show, even if the role was an opening-match act. Without that specific role to fill, it removes job security for certain wrestlers.

It will be up to TNA's writing team to actually develop wrestlers "of a certain size" without depending on the soon-to-be-defunct "X Division" label to give the wrestlers the slightest bit of marketability.

[Rob]

That will not bode well at all. Scrapping a belt they had from the beginning? Bad idea.