TNA News

[Head Booker]

As we broke this morning in the PWInsider Elite section, TNA and Hulk Hogan agreed to terms on a new deal. Hogan's previous deal was set to expire this Monday, which would have placed both sides in quite an interesting position for next week's Bound for Glory PPV.

Source: PWinsider.com

~~

- During a hearing yesterday in Warren County, VA, the pending DUI charges against Kurt Angle from his September 4th arrest were amended to reckless driving. Angle was pulled over and charged after two breathalyzer tests, one that came in at 0.091, which is over the 0.08 limit, and then another hours later, which came in at 0.06. Angle will appear in court on November 8th, and could face a $2,500 fine and up to one year in jail.

Credit: Pwinsider.com

~~

According to pwinsider.com, TNA is in discussions with Jersey Shore's Ronnie Ortiz-Magro to appear on multiple episodes of Impact. Ronnie was the cast member who got into a physical confrontation with The Situation on the MTV "reality" series. I am told the deal is close to or already signed. He would be the first male member of the series to appear on TNA, following J-Woww and Angelina, who made appearances over the last year in the promotion in angles designed to get over Robbie E. and Cookie (Becky Bayless, who is no longer with the company).

~~

OVW tapes TV tonight in Louisville, Kentucky. Cliff Compton is scheduled to be there, and there has been a lot of interest from TNA in him. He worked under the name "Domino" in WWE

Al Snow, who works as an agent for TNA, currently writes the OVW TV.

Source: Pwinsider

~~

Taking a page out of the UFC playbook, TNA will present a live 30 minute pre-game show on Facebook. The pre-game show will feature TNA Tag Team champions Mexican America vs. Ink, Inc.

For more details, visit www.Facebook.com/ImpactWrestling, which is where the live stream can be found on Sunday.

[Head Booker]

In a live shoot interview tonight, Gail Kim spoke on record for the first time about why she quit WWE, the Divas division and walking out of a battle royal on Raw in her final appearance.

A few highlights below:

* Gail reveals that the Divas today are told: “You’re getting too physical” and “You’re getting too good”, indicating that they don’t want the women to upstage the male wrestlers.

* Gail says she got the opportunity to be in a documentary about successful Korean people but WWE wouldn’t let her do it.

* Gail says winning Knockouts Title meant more than winning Women’s Title because it wasn’t just handed to her. She says she was part of building the division and that made it more special.

* Low-Ki told her about Awesome Kong (Kharma). When they were talking about who to bring in for the division, Gail said why don’t we bring in Kong — she had never seen her work or even a picture of her but thought she would be unique for the division.

* As far as she knows, she never knew of ideas for her to work with Kharma in WWE in a storyline, but they had plans to have her work Kharma’s first singles match.

* Gail says the plan was for Kharma to feud with Beth Phoenix.

* Gail says the Knockouts never talked about their pay in TNA. Any frustration was between talent and office, not with each other.

* Gail on leaving TNA: She was in contract negotiations, but was having financial issues. She says the pay she was being offered, she couldn’t accept at that time. WWE reached out and offered her more money. She said she spoke to everyone in the TNA office and bawled when she spoke to Jeff Jarrett. She says: “When life takes over, you have to do what you have to do to pay your bills.”

* On re-signing with WWE, Gail says Johnny Ace told her that the creative team was so excited to have her back and had ideas for her. Hmm… really?

* Gail says she was offered a training position in FCW but turned it down because she felt she still had a lot to offer in her career.

* Gail says every week there’d be a new rule for the Divas like “no kicking”, “no punching” etc. “It was so frustrating.” WWE wanted “more girliness” in Divas matches.

* Gail says it’s sad that the Women’s Title was retired. WWE needs two titles for both shows. She says the Divas were sad about it.

* Gail reveals that she had four boob jobs. She says she never felt pressure from WWE to do it and even asked her mom in high school to have breast implants. “No pressure.” Never heard a story about there being pressure.

* Gail says she heard rumors that the Daniel Bryan/Bella Twins storyline ended because the network thought it wasn’t heading in a very PG direction, so she was brought in as his girlfriend to end the storyline. Gail says fans, Vince and Kevin Dunn loved the Gail/Bellas catfight when she was revealed as DB’s girlfriend.

* Gail says she was ready to quit the day that she was revealed as Daniel Bryan’s girlfriend, but prolonged it because she was finally being used.

* Gail says she felt slapped in the face and disrespected by a series of events and doesn’t take back her action of eliminating herself in the Divas battle royal. She recalls one instance when she went out to the ring with Daniel Bryan as his manager, but when she got to ringside, she was told to go to the back. She had just stood in 10 minutes in gorilla position with Vince and others there, however she wasn’t told she wasn’t supposed to go out. Agents told her she was going out. However, when she went out there, she was told to go back. She felt disrespected and spoke to Johnny Ace.

* Gail says she felt frustrated in WWE. She had been approached about re-signing by Johnny Ace but said she definitely wasn’t going to re-sign. She didn’t know how much longer she was going to last. The night of the battle royal came on Raw. She felt that the Divas were treated as a joke but tried to make the best of every situation. She says the battle royal came and they were told, “Everybody has to get out of the ring as fast as possible in the first minute”. She says other things happened that day but won’t reveal what happened. She felt disrespected at that moment and wanted to be disrespectful back, thus eliminating herself. She does admit it was childish. She went to the back & none of the agents or higher-ups noticed that she had eliminated herself. Later on in the night, she quit and told Johnny that he eliminated himself and he laughed! They didn’t notice or care.

* She says when she quit, Johnny Ace offered her the training role in FCW again but she turned it down. She says he wouldn’t let her quit. She said she wanted walk away & offered to give up the money. They told her she has to wait for her contract to run out. They didn’t want her working for any other wrestling companies.

Gail says she went into the locker room at Raw and announced to the Divas that she had quit. Everyone was shocked and sad.

Gail says she told Johnny to stop controlling her. She just wanted to be free. She says she told them to keep their money but they wouldn’t let her walk. They had a lawyer call her and explain the ‘legal repercussions’ of her quitting.

* Gail on WWE hiring models instead of independent wrestlers: She says that’s what it is right now. Girls like Beth and Natalya are a rare breed. She thinks women can be a draw & have kick ass matches.

* Regarding “that match” with Mickie James: They were very excited to have the match and planned too much. She wasn’t injured. They tried to call it on the fly but it didn’t work. She says, “We’re human”.

* Gail says she’d love for the girls to be treated equally. She wants to see them be given the same opportunities as the men. It’s frustrating being held down. She says the Knockouts division is proof that people want to see women’s wrestling.

www.diva-dirt.com/2011/10/13/gail-kim-live-shoot-interview-highlights-why-she-quit-wwe-and-more/

[Head Booker]

SPOILER: Click to show

Robert Roode just defeated James Storm to win the TNA title in Macon, GA at the Impact Wrestling taping.

PWInsider.


Robert Roode became new TNA World Hvt. champion at Wednesday's Impact Wrestling taping in Macon, Ga. Roode captured the title from champion James Storm in a 16-minute match where Roode turned heel via beer-bottle smash over Storm's head to win the title.

PWTorch.

[Head Booker]

Spike TV President Kevin Kay recently commented on the possibility of taking Impact Wrestling on the road more often:

"It was a mutual (Spike & TNA) decision. Dixie and Eric came in and pushed for it. I always wanted to do it. It's great to have a home, but you don't get the level of excitement as you do on the road. It adds a another level. We're continuing discussions. We haven't seen a (ratings) bump, but you can't judge ratings week-to-week, some weeks things happen like competition, even though TNA holds up well against sports. As we can afford to continue it or increase it, it's a financial decision. It adds a lot of excitement and vibrancy to the show."

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

[Head Booker]

TNA IMPACT WRESTLING ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE TRAINING PROGRAM AT OVW

Focus On Development Key To TNA

NASHVILLE, TN (November 7, 2011) – TNA IMPACT WRESTLING announces that they are entering into an exclusive relationship with Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), effective immediately, as the official training and developmental facility for TNA's current and future stars of TNA IMPACT WRESLTING. Former wrestling star and OVW owner Danny Davis will work closely with TNA SVP of Programming and Talent Relations Bruce Prichard in the development of the talent through training, live events, and weekly television production allowing talent to explore every aspect of the
business.

"OVW is the best of the best as far as training and nurturing potential superstars. Their track record speaks for itself. Whether looking to develop brand new talent or to fine tune existing talent, OVW has the talent and program to fit our needs." says TNA's Prichard. "TNA is providing developmental talent the opportunity to hone their craft in an environment that will allow them to grow and prosper."
TNA talent will be arriving soon at the facility to begin an extensive training program with the industry's leading experts. The program is akin to a college scholarship program where talent is provided a scholarship style agreement with TNA to learn the craft. The talent to attend the program is selected by TNA's Prichard and TNA officials who will be monitoring the progress of each wrestler at camp and the live events.