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Post by Head Booker on May 13, 2011 12:55:59 GMT -6
According to his Twitter account, @anglefoods1, Kurt Angle has been posting a number of tweets on how serious he is about training for the 2012 Olympics. We posted them here earlier. He said TNA is supporting him, and then mentioned his contract status with the company:
"I am signing a 3 1/2 Guarantee Contract with Tna. I will be compensated Higher than Wwe. I am Proud to be in Tna. Thank You Dixie"
~~
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair was on Charlotte sports radio station WFNZ show "The Drive" Tuesday discussing WWE,Cam Newton coming to the Carolina Panthers, the NBA playoffs, and the incident in Europe where he was left behind on the TNA tour. In regard to the meltdown, Flair said, "When you work for WWE, you are used to funds being available for you, if you think I am going to spend my own money, you are out of your mind. With Vince...like any other company that grows, you have growing pains, financial growing pains. When you agree to go overseas, you assume you are going like any other company and very simply, I wasn't informed differently. I said, 'Hey I need some money while I'm here. I'm not blowing up my credit card. Just pay me what you owe me every night' and they don't do that. I wasn't told in a very nice way so I stayed in the hotel for another day. I'm not knocking. I think TNA is great, just they have growing pains."
Flair also commented that TNA had "no problem" with Flair attending Shawn Michaels' WWE Hall of Fame induction and they "never said a word" about it. He commented that he was already planning to attend next year's event in Miami.
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Post by Head Booker on May 14, 2011 12:58:53 GMT -6
Source: The Wrestling Observer
Despite several internet reports over the past few weeks, it's being reported that Dixie Carter has NOT been replaced as the President of TNA nor has she been demoted within the company.
Although it has been said that Dixie's mother Janice has taken on a more important role in TNA, it appears as if that's not the case, as Dixie is still very much involved in the day-to-day business decisions within the company. While Janice is involved in financial matters where TNA is concerned, it's being said that she rarely attends TNA events and Dixie is still very much in control.
~~
The following is a new tweet from the official Twitter page of current TNA star "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero: "My time has come. It's time to move on. I've served well. Hope no one has been disappointed, hope my hard work has been applauded and appreciated."
This may be related to the fact Elijah Burke graduated college with a criminal justice major last week.
~~
- TNA's new domain impactwrestling.com is just a redirect to TNAWretsling.com. The company is still using the TNA initials, but they are expected to use them less and less as time goes on.
Credit: Wrestling Observer
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Post by Head Booker on May 17, 2011 9:16:24 GMT -6
Source: The Wrestling Observer It's being reported that TNA and Scott Steiner seem to be at a stand still at this point, due to financial disagreements between both parties. Tonight, is the first post-Sacrifice Impact Wrestling taping, and it has not been confirmed whether or not Steiner and TNA officials have reached an agreement. ~~ Hulk Hogan spoke with The LAW during a media scrum prior to his appearance at the CWI 'Brawl at the Bush 2' event this past weekend and spoke at length on a variety of topics and the entire chat can be downloaded by clicking here. On wrestling one more match: "Well it's a calculated risk, it's not like 'Oh my God he's an idiot with all the back surgeries he's going to wrestle in Brantford and if he gets knocked down he's in a wheelchair' - it's not that story. If I do get in the ring it's a calculated risk, these guys are professionals and instead of being body slammed someone can hit me in the throat, rake me in the eye, I can crumble down to the ring or take a bump on the back of my neck and shoulders and not hurt my lower back. There are a lot of ways to do it and if you think of the risk versus reward, it does matter, it's a pretty foolish thing to think about wrestling after eight back surgeries but then there's also the love of the business and how I love being around the guys, the fans and you guys so I'm torn between what really makes sense and what I feel. It probably has a lot to do with ego, which I try not to get involved with, I like to take ego when it comes up and put it on the wall and go back to what makes sense so it doesn't make a lot of sense when you ask the question but it's a consideration at this point." The struggle of getting the television audience to purchase TNA pay-per-view events: "A lot of it has to do with awareness and the fact that we can get to the people. If I go into my hotel room in Chicago there are certain cable networks that are on like USA Network - there is no Spike TV. I mean a lot of it depends on who you can get to and who you can reach there is a lot more than 'the fans aren't buying it' there is more to the equation and that's a very shallow statement and that's not a fact. The people that see it are buying it, there just aren't enough people seeing it. That's what it is - it's creating awareness, a marketing plan we have to work with Spike TV and boost them up the ladder. I don't know how many cable networks there are in the States if it's 25 or 35 but in the paper it shows you who the top ten are so if we can get Spike up to that number one position the whole equation would change on how many people are buying it and change the equation and someone wouldn't say 'no one is buying it' well the people that are seeing it are buying it so it's creating that awareness to make people more aware that the product is there and that they can get it and when they walk into a hotel in Brantford that Spike is available." This is a long Interview with Kurt Angle, which he did for Sirius radio. I'm putting it in a spoiler tag because of how long it is. Kurt Angle conducted an exclusive hour-long interview with Busted Open, which will aired earlier today on Sirius 92 and XM 207. Doug Mortman, Dave LaGreca and Angle talked about Chyna's debut, the Jeff Hardy incident the TNA name change, his new contract, the state of pro wrestling, and so much more in a candid and revealing sit-down.
On his Olympic comeback: "I started training two weeks ago. I'm not allowed to really talk about but I'm gonna make a formal press conference in August. I will be training with my nephew who's never tried out and it's gonna give him that opportunity to realize his dream….to not say 'What if? Why didn't I try?' So him and I had a long two hour conversation one night and we were very serious about it. I mentioned it on WTAE in Pittsburgh and it just went out like wildfire. I'm very serious about it. I am going to do it and I believe I have a very good shot."
Does he still have the passion for wrestling: "I love wrestling. I will always love wrestling, but now for me, it's a job. My responsibility is to have the best match on the card every time I go out there and I usually do. That's my job, and I get paid very well to do it, and I don't want to quit wrestling because that's getting me to where I can get my Angle Foods where I need it to go. It's also getting me so I can train for the Olympics. TNA is going to give me time off to train. If I make the Olympic Team, obviously I'll have to leave for 3 months to train in Europe. So TNA has been a blessing for me to be able to do this. I don't think I could have done it in the other company."
On if he is still the best in the business and still loves wrestling: "I could retire. I made enough money to sit back the rest of my life and retire, but I do love it. I know that if I left now, I would miss it significantly. I am signing a new deal with TNA right as we speak. It's another 3 and a half year deal. It will be part time, I'll be doing very few house shows, I'll be doing a number of TVs and I promised I'll do all the PPVs. My wrestling will calm down. I've been more of a TV/PPV schedule and a lot less of the house shows. I'd rather wrestle six days a month than doing what I'm doing right now which is 18. With WWE, I was probably doing 18-24 so I'm almost as busy as I was then and I went to TNA to back off so we came to an agreement that I should definitely be taking off house shows and be able to rest and recuperate."
The Jeff Hardy incident at the end of the Victory Road PPV: "That was an unfortunate situation where I think Jeff realizes it now. Whatever he did... this is something that's been talked about many times. Jeff made a mistake. If he was going to take any form of, let's say, sleep medication... he probably should've waited an hour before he did that. Jeff made a bad decision and he's learned from it. Jeff has been clean for the last month and he wants to come back and he's ready to come back and I believe that he won't make that mistake it again. But it did happen. I felt really bad. I felt bad for TNA, I felt bad for Jeff, I felt bad for the company. Jeff Hardy is an amazing wrestler. I have nothing bad to say about him, actually I love the kid.
"I wrestled Jeff at his best and I wrestled Jeff at his worst, and it's night and day. I think it has a lot to do with him. He goes to the house shows and he not only gives 110%, he acts like it's a PPV every time, and this is the problem with Jeff. He works too hard, and I used to do that. I stopped doing that about a year ago. My house show matches are great but they're not my PPV matches. There's a big difference and Jeff always puts on PPV performances every night. I watched him that week, three house shows right before the PPV, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. 30 minute matches with AJ Styles where they did not stop. And then he had the Sunday match with Sting, and I'm not sure what happened with Jeff, what decision he made, but I knew he was banged up hard because of those matches they had at the house shows. Jeff is one of those guys who needs to learn how to slow down at the right time and when to go at the right time and I think he's going to learn that in the near future."
The Impact Zone holding TNA back from being bigger than they are: "That's where TNA has had long talks with SPIKE TV and we have come up with a solution. In the next three months we are starting to go out like we did Fayetteville. I don't think we should be doing two TV's in one night like we did in Fayetteville. I think we should be doing one TV at a time. We are starting to go out at different cities. We already have two scheduled for later this year. We're probably going to do it once a month. We're going to start doing TV's in different cities. I know TNA has talked with SPIKE about the funding. Both companies come together to fund it. The network and TNA, we are all in agreement. We did one in Fayetteville and it was the first time in a long time I had that other company feeling. There were only 4,000-4,500 people there, but it was still that feeling of that big time, big arena, and then we went to Cincinnati and had a really good turnout for the pay-per-view, so you're right that atmosphere really helps the wrestlers and when we got other cities like that and they're hot and ready for it, it's a lot better. You feel like you're performing for people who really care about professional wrestling. I personally believe we should be going out to different cities right now. I know they're in the process of doing that. In the next few months you are going to start seeing TNA on TV. TNA will be in Dallas, Texas. TNA will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. TNA will be in New York City. TNA will be in Los Angeles, California, so it's happening. That's the next step. We have a start somewhere. It had to be in Impact Zone. Me personally? I hope we stay there in the next three-and-half year because it's easier on me. I get to stay there. To be honest with you the company has to take the next step. They're making money. They're doing well. They're signing big names. They're taking big steps forward. Thank God they got a bunch of TV deals all over the world. At least 60 of them that are paying good money for our TV. The company is making money. It's just a matter of going out there and doing the TV's in different cities and expanding. Internationally, we are doing phenomenal. Here in the United States, we are getting our butts kicked by the WWE. I think it has a lot to do with what you said not going to different cities to do TV's and pay-per-views."
On the house show in Brooklyn last year: "Oh it was incredible and it was done on a baseball field. The baseball stadium, the fans were at least, a hundred feet away. That was the first row. It was a pay-per-view moment. It wasn't a Wrestlemania moment, but it was a pay-per-view event, having 7,000/8,000 people. The place was packed. That's the kind of atmosphere that we need for our TV's. If we have that I think our ratings will start going up. We'll have a lot more. I think a lot more people will be interested. I think they are a lot more TNA fans out there, I should say Impact Wrestling fans out there then people would imagine. I think we have grown a fan base and we don't get enough credit for that because the ratings are always going up-and-down, up-and-down, and up-and-down. I believe we do have the fan base."
On the name change to Impact Wrestling. Is TNA Gone? "Gone, yeah. Impact Wrestling is the new name of the company. I personally believe in it because when it comes down to it, you can't take the word wrestling out of pro wrestling. Any storyline, or any feud, or any debacle that I have….when you do that, it's entertainment and you're doing the storylines but where does it ultimately end up? In the wrestling ring! At the PPV, the payoff. So how can you take wrestling out of pro wrestling….you can't. That's what they (the fans) buy tickets for. They buy tickets to watch guys wrestle. Not to be actors and entertain us. They pay to watch great wrestling."
On Vince McMahon disagreeing with Kurt's opinion: "Hey, you know what, it's a boost for us. If he wants to go that way, we'll go the other way."
Hulk Hogan and perception that TNA has become 'WWE-lite': "Yes I believe when we brought in Hulk Hogan and I will say this from the bottom of my heart "I love Hulk Hogan." He is a great addition to our company, but he too realizes that it can't be total non-stop talk. We have a lot of characters on the show that don't wrestle. Some that wrestle every once in awhile, but really ultimately you're talking about Dixie Carter being on the show sometimes. You got Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Mick Foley. I mean I'm just naming a few that don't wrestle and they're on the show all the time. You start seeing a little too much talking and not enough wrestling. We are now in the process of going to more wrestling. Beer Money matches with Motor City Machine Guns. You couldn't beat that. My matches with A.J. Styles….you can't beat that. Those are the kinds of things I've talked to Dixie Carter personally about. I said 'you know Dixie', I would rather give the fans great matches on TV, incredible five stars matches, right now even if our pay-per-views suffer. I rather do that now and get our ratings up and then work on our pay-per-views then try to get pay-per-views now and have our ratings stay down. It's better to have wrestling on the shows because it's different. It's not like the other company."
Who will be the next top guy in TNA after Angle hangs it up? "There are many guys. I see Mr. Anderson, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles….I see, even a guy like Abyss. If you take the hardcore out of him, he's an incredible wrestler. Samoa Joe if you bring him back the right way. I hated beating his undefeated streak when I came it, we shouldn't have touched each other for a year. But here is the guy that's gonna steal the company, and he's gonna be the top guy in the near future and probably carry the company for the next 5 years and that's Robert Roode. Wait 'til you see him as a singles wrestler, him and James Storm, but Robert Roode has something about him that he's gonna be the man, I guarantee it."
TNA's creative direction (or lack thereof) with Samoa Joe: "I've been very vocal about Samoa Joe. I don't think we're using him the right way. I didn't like him putting paint on his face, it reminded me of Umaga. They were trying to do something comic with him with the Japanese guy….having his own ninja. It didn't quite work out with the Pope. To be honest with you, Samoa Joe hasn't been on that many house shows. The guy's getting paid well, we're not really using him that well, and when I came in, he was the guy. He was the guy I wanted to wrestle, him and AJ were the two guys I was really looking forward to wrestling. And Sting as well. I was looking forward to those matches I would have with AJ and Samoa Joe, and I've seen AJ escalate, and I've kind of seen Samoa Joe kind of just fade off, and that should not have happened. I don't know what happened. I know he got in a couple fights and arguments with creative and I think Joe was right in the sense of why he was complaining, but I don't think he rubbed people the right way and that might have made him suffer a little bit."
Is there a problem with the creative team with Impact? "The problem is... nobody's wrong and nobody's right. Vince Russo writes the shows. Now, when he writes the shows, he has a vision. Now, this vision might be 4 to 8 months, even 12 months long. When he has this vision, he goes in to the meeting, Everybody breaks it down, chops it up, takes this off, puts this on, add this, takes this away….now you have a convoluted show. So you had a guy with a vision that had the show nailed down the way he wanted it, and everything becomes convoluted. What we need to do as a company, and I've talked to people about this, is we need three guys to come together, write the show, keep it that way, don't change anything, make a few altercations, but don't make the show cloudy.
"Vince had the show and I'll read it, and I understand everything that he's doing. And then when we do it, I'm like 'Wait a minute, that wasn't written. That wasn't written. That wasn't written. This has changed. This is the same, but that changed.'
"[referring to Chyna's debut] I'll give you an example. We just had a TV on Tuesday. We did a promo and I was supposed to introduce my partner, and instead they decided to do it with Hulk Hogan to make it a bigger deal and Mick Foley. What happened was we didn't have the reaction of Jeff and Karen. They weren't in the ring. So they had to go back out and do it again."
Chyna's debut with TNA: "She looked good. She looked healthy too. You know what even though we only had 1,400 people there. The response that just came from those fans sent a big message to Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter and myself as well that Chyna will always be a huge name. It was cool because when they introduced her this "Y" came up. It was a heartbeat. It was a "Y." All of a sudden there was an "H" and an "N" next to it and there was a heartbeat. And then when there was a "C-H-Y-N-A," people were like "Holy…." No way. Chyna. She's coming. Oh my God and then she came out and she looked good. It was like she is back. It was one of the feel good moments for Impact Wrestling. It was cool. I mean, Chyna is going to….shes going to cause a ruckus in Impact Wrestling. I hope they have her wrestle the guys she was, but TNA, I should say Impact Wrestling is very pro-women as far as women wresting women. I remember when Awesome Kong came in and I told Jeff Jarrett I want to wrestle her right now. Let me put me over. He's like no. She's going with women. I believe Chyna should go with the guys eventually."
On the difficulties of working a lengthy program with Jeff Jarrett and his ex-wife Karen: "Thank God everything worked out well because I found the right person in my life and Karen would be the first to admit that I was very questionable about the whole marriage. It was a rough marriage, but we kept trying to make it work and we tried to make it work for our kids, but with Jeff it was a trust factor because Jeff and I are really tight and then this happened. It was like I couldn't have done that to you? God bless him. His wife had cancer and died. She was a wonderful lady. I don't think I could have done that. For a while there was a trust factor. I had them both written off the show just until my anger dropped. I had some anger towards the both of them. I wanted to be released and they gave me my wishes of what do you want? I wanted them gone. I can't work with them here, but once I realized the right thing happened. The only downfall to it is my kids live in Tennessee. Other than that everyone is happy. We actually get along really well. My kids we try to keep them…they're not allowed to watch the show. We're down with this angle. They were only in the show or they were in the park or my son or my daughter walk into an arena with me, but they didn't see any of the drama. We've protected our kids and a lot of people would differ with that. We have kept our kids out of it completely. I'm happier now then I have ever been and Karen is happy. I love Jeff's kids like they're my own kids, so when I see them I treat them like they're my own kids. If I'm watching them and my kids are there and Jeff's kids are there I will treat them all the same, great kids, so with that may fiancé Giovanna and my new daughter Juliana I'm just in a good place in my life. When I found the right person with Giovanna it made it easier for me. I knew Karen was a great talent. You have to admit Karen is very talented at what she does. She's pretty good as a character on TV. I knew that for a long time and she wasn't real interested. She wanted to get back on the show. I figured she's going to bring the kids down. I'm going to see the kids more. Thank god I did get to see my kids more, but I think the angle went a little bit too long. We went a little bit too far and other then that I don't regret it. I saw my kids and because Karen would bring them down during the shows when they come. In that aspect I wouldn't have seen my kids for the past three months if it weren't for Karen bringing them down. It's been a blessing."
Did he really wrestle Brock Lesnar for real when they were both in WWE? "Brock is a very dear friend. He is a beast. To be honest with you me personally right now and there's a difference between Olympic wrestling and MMA fighting and there are also a lot of similarities, but I do well. Yes I do incredibly well. Have I've been offered to do it? Yes I've been offered a lot of money to do it, but my focus is more on the Olympics because I have been so good at wrestling my whole life and that's what I'm best at. I think I have a better shot at making an Olympic team then going and getting beat up doing MMA and having five fights. Those fights, these guys take a beating. You have to train so much and when you fight the fights are the ones that take years off your life because they are brutal. You're getting banged up and beat up, your joints, your neck, your face, so Brock and I had…the thing is Brock was dodging me for a few months because everyone wanted to see it happened and I kept asking him and asking him and one day he got in a ring with Big Show and he was tossing Big Show around. Big Show was about 520 pounds at the time. Brock was picking him up and slamming him down and I'm going "Wow maybe I shouldn't get in the ring with him." I looked at Big Show and Brock back was looking towards me and I said get out and he said "Okay. Okay." He snuck out of the ring and I go out and I tapped Brock on the back. He turned around and said "Ah s--t." I said, "Let's go," because he said six months before they asked how would he do against me? He said, "Well Kurt is too small. I'm way bigger than him. I'll kill him, so I took that personally. I wouldn't let it go until we got in the ring. We got into the ring and I got a good piece of him. I will tell you this: Listen Brock is no joke. I think he is the best heavyweight fighter in the world. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a good friend of mine. You know him and I did go at it and I did get the best of him, but you know I still have so much respect for him." |
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Post by Head Booker on May 17, 2011 15:48:46 GMT -6
- The Pope D'Angelo Dinero appeared on The Pro Wrestling Report radio show yesterday on ESPN Radio, and while on the show, he made it clear that he was not leaving TNA.
Credit: Pwinsider.com
~~
TNA Wrestling kicked off a tournament at last night's Xplosion taping for the Xplosion Championship. The premise of the title is that it's holder would be able to challenge any champion on iMPACT! Wrestling.
"The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero squared off against Suicide in the opening match of the tournament.
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Post by Head Booker on May 19, 2011 17:39:10 GMT -6
- Mick Foley recently spoke about the changes to the TNA product, here are the highlights…
On The Change to Impact Wrestling: "I love it. For example, I am proudly wearing my Impact Wrestling shirt right now during my publicity day. I'll probably change it tomorrow just out of necessity, but if I has a second clean one I'd wear it. Not that I wasn't proud of TNA, but it was confusing and people didn't always know what it meant. But now Impact Wrestling is pretty self-explanatory. It's wrestling and hopefully it's impactful. So I love the name change and I'm embracing it. And I think our fans will embrace it as well."
On Still Using The TNA Letters: "I'm still having all those details explained to me too. I think for corporate reasons, for business reasons, they can't just make a name change that quickly. But the Impact Zone is now the Impact Wrestling Zone. Impact Wrestling is what we say now when we're talking about the show. Some of the other things I'll have to see how they play out. But I for one am going to say the word Impact followed by the word Wrestling as often as I can."
On The Company's Growth: " Internationally we've definitely seen the growth. But sometimes, you know, every time we take a step forward we also take a step backwards. We have the same ratings that we had two and a half years ago. People sometimes get angry with the company because there's no one else out there and they say, "Oh that's a little group with limited talent and they're living up to their potential." I think the truth is that we have not lived up to our potential. And sometimes fans expect more out of us. And hopefully this name change will be the boost, the kick in the butt that makes us get more out of it."
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Post by Head Booker on May 21, 2011 7:17:12 GMT -6
~~ PWTorch has learned that Terry Taylor was fired from his duties as head of TNA's talent relations on Friday. In a company-wide statement, TNA announced that Dean Broadhead will oversee the contractual end of talent relations. Former WWE executive Bruce Prichard will handle Taylor's other duties. Taylor had been with the company with 2003 in a management role and served as head of talent relations for the majority of TNA's existence. Caldwell's Analysis: According to sources in TNA, Prichard is not well-liked by wrestlers in the company. Prichard joined TNA in an agent/producer role last year after spending two decades in WWE working closely with Vince McMahon. His shift to talent relations is closer to his role in WWE. |
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Post by Icon Lord Sean "Magic" Fiery on May 21, 2011 11:16:26 GMT -6
I like the poster for Destination... They really need to pick back up on the X division.
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Post by Kolic on May 21, 2011 11:35:31 GMT -6
Wait a minute...am I seeing things, or are they bringing the six-sided ring back?
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Post by Shane Lawrence on May 21, 2011 11:44:31 GMT -6
Wait a minute...am I seeing things, or are they bringing the six-sided ring back? I sure friggin' hope so.  |
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Post by Icon Lord Sean "Magic" Fiery on May 21, 2011 18:37:29 GMT -6
Probably just for this PPV, I'm guessing.
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Post by Rico on May 22, 2011 6:37:29 GMT -6
Well i think they killed the X-division when they put the title on Abyss....
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Post by Head Booker on May 22, 2011 7:54:59 GMT -6
why is that...as far as pushin' the angle they have in place it makes perfect sense for Abyss (the representative for Bischoff) to run through the X-Division on the mission to destroy as ordered until that one X-Division guy steps up and becomes the savior...I was hopin' that person was goin' to be Spanky since he has the best mic skills for the job...
Tate
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Post by Head Booker on May 26, 2011 17:33:00 GMT -6
TMZ reports that Chyna is getting back into the porn business and will be starring in an "extremely graphic" adult film.
Vivid President Steve Hirsch told TMZ that Chyna approached him months ago and wanted to get her adult film career going again. Vivid has booked her with two of the industry's biggest stars, Evan and Lee Stone, for a new movie called "Backdoor Into Chyna" that has already been filmed.
The DVD will be released "in the near future" but it doesn't sound like Chyna will be returning to TNA anytime soon.
Eric Bischoff was recently asked on Monday Night Mayhem's radio show about Chyna's TNA future and said, "That's a really good question and I'm not going to answer it because it would be inappropriate. So, let's leave it at that."
~~
Eric Bischoff was on Monday Night Mayhem on May 23, 2011.
Bischoff said Macho Man's dead hit him pretty hard when he first heard of it. Hogan called him about it. Bischoff said it's still hitting him now but he hasn't talked to Macho in a long time as Macho was a private individual and Bischoff respected it. Bischoff said it's hard to believe that Macho Man is not with them anymore. He said Hulk said it best as there was so much life/energy/intensity in Randy's eyes. It's difficult to imagine for Bischoff that Randy is not here.
What is Bischoff's overall reaction so far regarding Impact to Impact Wrestling? Bischoff said that the main changes were cosmetic (graphics, lighting, staging). He said anyone that wanted expectations that Impact Wrestling was going to be a completely different show than they had seen probably had misaligned expectations. They will try and improve the show in different ways. He said what TNA is going to do in the summer leading into the fall, they will try to experiment with format and structure of the show.
Bischoff said the conversation about the rebranding was discussed probably around 10 months ago without him. He said he can't speak about it too much, but on a personal note, he said it was a good idea. He said Impact Wrestling, the title, says more to the fan. He said Impact may be more compelling than the TNA.
Ring of Honor's sale to Sinclair Broadcasting? Bischoff said he will get a lot of heat for saying this, and he has nothing against Ring of Honor and wishes them the best as it is nice for talent to have different places to work. That being said, he says people are kidding themselves. He said Sinclair is like 20 television stations with 22% market penetration in the United States. 22% means you don't exist from an advertiser's point of view. It means Nielsen doesn't track you as a network. From a pay-per-view standpoint, it won't register on the Richter scale and that is assuming they get clearing in 20 television stations. He says it's good that RoH has something. He said people are getting excited for a lot of nothing. The syndicated television market is not what it was 15-20 years ago. People back then used to migrate to Vegas for an executive convention and tens of millions of dollars were spent by syndicators/producers, with bands from around the world brought in. Now, it takes part in a lobby in a hotel in Vegas. He says while syndication is not dead, it's just not what it was 15-20 years ago.
Question about whether Bischoff will have increased duties with TNA. Bischoff says in regards to Terry Taylor's talent relations position, he says it is a thankless job and doesn't like the idea of having talent's futures in his hands. He doesn't like hearing about talent's problems. He said Jason Hervey and he have a lot going on at his business Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment and he has a significant portion of his time taken up at TNA already. He has no interest in a talents relations position.
Recently, Bischoff commented that Karen Jarrett rocks on his Facebook. A fan asked him to compare Vickie Guerrero to Karen Jarrett. He said it's hard to compare the two for many reasons. He said Karen is a phenomenal actress, and is a natural talent. As a character/performer, Bischoff thinks she is one of the best.
In regards to the X Division, he says "Stay Tuned". He doesn't like to give away too much story. He says in this business, focus and story are two of the most important elements.
Christian's short title reign was brought up. Bischoff was asked about short title reigns. Bischoff said there's no formulaic answer as it depended on each case, story. Generally speaking, he said short title reigns are risky as fans don't get a chance to grasp it. But he said you cannot make a generalization for it, it may or may not work well depending on many circumstances. He has no idea.
Talk on Chyna on TNA. Bischoff says that's a good question but he is not going to answer it because it will be inappropriate.
Worst injury Bischoff has seen would be the Sid Vicious leg break. He said that was pretty disgusting. He has seen scary ones with Marcus Bagwell breaking his neck as you weren't sure how bad it was until the results came out. Visually, it would be Sid Vicious.
How important is it to have an established star/veteran to show up at a TNA live event? BaseBrawl is brought up. Bischoff loves going to non-televised events, house shows, as it's a different kind of experience. He said fans are so passionate. He wishes Flair, Hogan, even him get to go to those. He said he wishes he had more time to do it as it would be great for business. He said it would give back to the fans as you're giving the big stars and it looks more to what it looks like on TV. Bischoff said Dixie mentioned that going the extra mile for the fans at house shows. At first, it didn't sit well with Bischoff, but he said after thinking about it, it's smart. He said dollars are hard to come by, and ticket prices are high. People are struggling in today's economy. He said nothing is better than to have the big stars show up at the house shows.
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from lordsofpain
-- Tammy Sytch stated on her Facebook account Tuesday that a performer for TNA Wrestling recently took up smoking due to pressure from management to lose weight.
She wrote, "A TNA performer started the unhealthy habit of smoking, under pressure from management to lose weight... great business practices by TNA!!! Good job! I smell lawsuit!"
Sytch added further: "It's not a story...it was something directly told to me from this person...and no, I'm not giving up any names."
TMZ.com reported this morning that Chyna would be making her much anticipated return to the adult industry in the form of an extremely graphic pornographic video.
Vivid President Steve Hirsch told TMZ he was approached by Chyna "months ago" to create an X-rated film as part of her re-entry into the business.
She shot a movie involving two male adult film stars, tentatively titled Backdoor into Chyna. It is set for release on DVD "in the near future."
According to Beauty Queen Management, who represent the former WWE Women's Champion, the report is "totally untrue" as she has not and will not be shooting any porn videos.
"All rumors relating to Chyna and porn are totally false and should be taken with a grain of salt." her manager Michelle Roberts told Chyna fansite alivingwonder.com.
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Post by Head Booker on May 27, 2011 10:44:07 GMT -6
TNA star Ric Flair was found in civil contempt earlier today during a hearing regarding Flair not adhering to a mediated Settlement Agreement in his lawsuit against Highspots.com and an order for his arrest was issued in the County of Mecklenburg in North Carolina.
According to the order, which was acquired this evening by PWInsider.com, the court found that Flair had agreed in mediation to a Settlement Agreement with Highspots.com and was required to pay them $35,000 as well as sign 300 photos in order to provide restitution for the issues between the two sides.
Flair, despite signing an agreement to do so, failed to adhere to the Settlement Agreement, which Highspots.com then took to Superior Court to enforce. They sided with Highspots and gave Flair until 4/29 to do as he was ordered.
At today's hearing, the Court decreed that Flair, who "has the assets and income required" to make the Settlement Agreement instead "willfully violated and continues to willfully violate" the order to enforce the Settlement Agreement. The court also noted that Flair was doing so despite being "able to comply with the Order" or being "able to to take reasonable measures" towards complying with the order.
The Court ruled that Flair was in "willfull civil contempt of the court", thus:
"Therefore it is ordered, adjudged and decreed that Defendant Richard Fliehr is hereby held in civil contempt for his failure to comply with the Consent Order to Enforce Settlement and that the Defendant be imprisoned for as long as he remains in civil contempt for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days from his date of imprisonment. This imprisonment shall commence on June 27, 2011 without further action of the court."
The court then ruled that Flair could cancel the arrest order by paying Highspots.com the $35,000 he previously agreed to and by signing and returning the 300 photos, which court documents indicate are the hands of Flair's attorneys. The court ruled that if Flair was unable to do so, he could also hand over the NWA World championship belt that he had provided to Highspots.com as collateral previously (based on the order, it appears the belt is currently back in Flair's hands) and authorize that they can have the ownership and rights of the belt, in order to sell it off as a means to regain the money owed. That aspect of the order noted that the NWA belt needed to be "free of all liens and encumbrances", which could be an issue for Flair, since there is already one other entity with a lien against him for the belt.
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Post by Sir Chris Cairns on May 27, 2011 11:32:21 GMT -6
So is he going to jail or not? Where's JK when we need him?  |
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