The offical TNA thread - News, Spoilers and the rest...

JP Liz V1

The following is an excerpt from an interview-article with TNA's Ric Flair:

Flair made several cameo appearances on WWE after retiring. He did autograph sessions for smaller independent promotions, including one in Norfolk. Last year, he took part in Hulk Hogan's Australian Hulkamania Tour and caused an Internet sensation when he bloodied Hogan at a news conference.
He longed to get back to his storied place in the spotlight.
TNA had the fix.
"I just missed the business, and they created a very nice opportunity for me," said Flair, who made famous his figure-four-leg-lock finishing move. He said he already had a good relationship with talent relations coordinator Terry Taylor.
"I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to do. But I'm a big fan of (TNA star) Kurt Angle, and working with Hulk in Australia really showed me how much I missed things."
TNA has made it perfectly clear during its broadcasts and pay-per-views that it intends to challenge WWE for its spot as the No. 1 wrestling promoter in the world. TNA's lineup is stocked with former WWE superstars and talented newcomers.
"They really are in the right mold, and they have the money to create a good product," Flair said. "They're going to get really better in a real short period of time. And I'm excited about the chance to be a part of that."
Flair's role currently has him advising TNA champion A.J. Styles, much to the chagrin of Hogan, who also recently signed with the organization in a "boss-man" role designed to help take TNA to the top.
The two megastars already have had on-camera confrontations.
"The feud thing with Hogan will play out later," Flair said. "The story line right now is that they've made all these changes to be competitive, and I'm just a part of that."
And yes, Flair fans, the Nature Boy will be getting back into the ring.
"Yep," Flair said. "And probably sooner than later, much to my dismay.
"Things are happening quickly."

flahavaj

cena wrote: »

i'm just saying i got too meet him last night. thats all

Did Lion Kid have any English at all?

waltersobchak

flahavaj wrote: »

Did Lion Kid have any English at all?

:pac:


Dixie Carter said on her Twitter that a UK TNA PPV is on the way

Tricity Bendix

cena wrote: »

i'm just saying i got too meet him last night. thats all

Whats he like?

chopperbyrne

And yes, Flair fans, the Nature Boy will be getting back into the ring.
"Yep," Flair said. "And probably sooner than later, much to my dismay.
"Things are happening quickly."

I was never a massive fan of Flair, but I did have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

I don't anymore.

Not sure I have any respect for him now.

cena

he seems nice. I was pretty nervous asking him if I could get get a photo with him. Got a signed shirt off him for 10 euros well its an tna one. Had a young lad with for his first wrestling show ever and too got a signed t-shirt. I asked him what its like too work for hogan.

he replied 'I can't complain' glad i brought the camera with me. well try too get the photo up.

Lion kid did not speak at all. maybe he did at the end of the night when selling he's merchandise.

waltersobchak

The screwjob finish on iMPACT a few weeks back with Kurt Angle was the third time TNA has used that finish from WWE in a title match. The first was in September of 2005 when Jeff Jarrett defeated Raven for the title in Canada and the second time was in June of 2006 when Jarrett won the King of the Mountain match. All three times TNA has used the finish, Earl Hebner has been the referee:pac:

D2D

TNA is getting record numbers of views on Bravo and is beating WWE in the ratings in the UK

For the month of January (BARB rushed out a month's worth of data it seems)...

From Bravo:

Impact for December 31 - airing on January 2; drew 57,000 viewers
Impact for January 4 - airing January 9; drew 68,000 viewers (+11,000)
Impact for January 14 - airing January 16 drew 103,000 viewers (+25,000 on the prior week)
Impact for January 21 - airing January 23 drew 83,000 viewers (-20,000)
Impact for January 28 - airing January 30 drew 103,000 viewers

So Dixie Carter's Tweet about record ratings in the UK in January wasn't a load of BS. For once. Now, comparing against WWE on Sky...

Raw from December 28 - drew 51,000 viewers in Thursday evening's replay (December 31)
Raw from January 4 - drew 105,000 viewers in the LIVE timeslot (early Tuesday morning), and 69,000 viewers in the Thursday replay (+18,000)
Raw from January 11 - drew 74,000 viewers in the LIVE timeslot (-31,000) and 35,000 viewers in the Thursday replay (-34,000)
Raw from January 18 - drew 80,000 viewers in the LIVE timeslot (+6,000) and 35,000 viewers in the Thursday replay (no change)
Raw from January 25 - drew 114,000 viewers in the LIVE timeslot (+34,000)

SmackDown from January 1 - drew 139,000 viewers in its first airing on New Year's Day
SmackDown from January 8 - drew 101,000 viewers in its first airing (-38,000)
SmackDown from January 15 - drew 75,000 viewers in its first airing (-26,000)
SmackDown from January 22 - drew 90,000 viewers in its first airing (+15,000)
SmackDown from January 29 - drew 90,000 viewers in its first airing (no change), with replays on Saturday drawing 55,000 and 56,000 viewers.

ECW from January 12 drew 54,000 viewers on January 14's first airing.

So overall, TNA vs Raw - TNA lost the "Monday night war" in the UK, but won every other week bar January 25... whereas SmackDown was beating it for the first two weeks of the year, until TNA came over strongly.

Finally Impact is getting decent numbers on Bravo, so I have no idea why they are even hinting at leaving that station.

JP Liz V1

Source: The Wrestling Observer

It's being reported that on a recent edition of The Bubba The Love Sponge Show, Hulk Hogan claimed that he will be turning heel soon. Additionally, he said that he does not want his daughter Brooke to become an on-air performer in TNA.
As you can see if you check out the current "Before The Bell" special on DirecTV, Eric Bischoff has implemented a ranking system to justify who's in line for title shots in TNA.

paddyismaddy

no doubt Flair will get a big retirement send off in tna also :rolleyes:

waltersobchak

From Mike Johnson PWInsider

TNA President Dixie Carter's comments about a UK based PPV, were not about a PPV event originating from Great Britain, but about the coverage of PPV events on television there. I apologize for the error.
Martin sent the following clarification....Dixie's announcement has nothing at all to do with a UK based PPV, but it refers to all the fans who when she was over in England questioned her about TNA coverage in the UK. With Bravo no longer showing PPVs, and possibly ending their deal with TNA, TNA have moved to BT Vision which is only available to a very limited group of people as Virgin Media and SKY have a massive market share and provide better services.
Dixie did mention at the tour that she would look into a UK PPV, or maybe a Global Impact. But I believe that to have been pleasantries. This announcement she has coming, I believe has nothing to do with a UK based PPV at all, but if more about them trying to get a new channel to host TNA coverage in the UK

campo

If they are leaving Bravo lets hope they go on a channel that is carried over here and personally I hope is carried by NTL as I am with them

D2D

campo wrote: »

If they are leaving Bravo lets hope they go on a channel that is carried over here and personally I hope is carried by NTL as I am with them

There's not that many options for TNA to go to. I can't see them on ESPN any time soon (unless ESPN2 starts up) and there's not a chance it'll end up on Sky Sports. The main option they have is moving TNA to Virgin1. The ratings would soar if this happens (Virgin1 is available for free on Virgin Media and on Freeview). I love to see TNA HD though

waltersobchak

TNA sent out a press release today noting that TNA will be making a "major announcement" this Monday at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Fla.

Company president Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan will be making the announcement at 2:30 p.m. EST before TNA tapes its next set of iMPACT! episodes.

D2D

waltersobchak wrote: »

TNA sent out a press release today noting that TNA will be making a "major announcement" this Monday at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Fla.

Company president Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan will be making the announcement at 2:30 p.m. EST before TNA tapes its next set of iMPACT! episodes.

I'm gonna guess iMPACT! will be permanently moving to Monday's to go against WWE Monday Night Raw

Machismo Fan

Desmond Wolfe interview with IGN:

IGN TV: What has you time been like in TNA? You were able to enter into the company and get placed into a top line feud with Kurt Angle.

Desmond Wolfe: It's been fantastic. It really has. I couldn't have asked for a better start in the company. To come in there and be put on the rocket like I was. Basically it would have been great just to have been given a chance to wrestle Kurt Angle let alone to be featured in a feud with him. And certainly to be prominently featured and favorably featured as well. It certainly was the biggest break in my career so far without a doubt. So it's all been fantastic. We just came back from a European tour which was really successful. I got wrestle Kurt Angle there ,and also a couple matches with AJ, and with The Pope as well. And then we're going forward with all the house shows too. So everything is looking very positive.

IGN: What was ultimately behind your decision to leave Ring of Honor?

Wolfe: I'd been there for five or six years – since I first started and moved my way up through there - and I kind of felt like I'd done pretty much everything I could do there. I was the Pure Champion for a while. And then I was the World Champion for eighteen months as well. Ring of Honor is a place where you've got young, hungry guys that want to go out there and put on the most up-to-date wrestling that you can possibly see anywhere in the world. But you can't do it forever. The start is so dangerous and so injurious that it just adds up and catches up to you. And certainly when you're on the top and the champion there the injuries come fast and frequent. I had a lot of injuries when I was there and it just really caught up with me. So I thought it was time to move on to different pastures and get a new start.

IGN: What were some of your worst injuries?

Wolfe: I had a couple of torn biceps. Some concussion issues and a couple of partially herniated discs and stuff like that in my lower back. It was kind of painful.

IGN: Were you concerned that by moving to a larger organization that you might have to change your ring style?

Wolfe: I wasn't afraid of that. I was fully understanding that a TV wrestling product is very different than a house show, or a DVD-based wrestling company. So I was very aware that I was going to have to change my style. And I talked to American Dragon [Bryan Danielson] about it as well because he obviously knew that too - going to a different company - that he could face the same sort of issues. And we both felt that there were ways that we could maintain some of our style without having to stay with what we were doing before. I think thus far that I've been able to do that quite well.

IGN: Do you think that if you had gone to work for the WWE that you would have been completely re-packaged? I mean, you got a name change in TNA but there wasn't much more tweaking done than that.

Wolfe: Yeah, the name change has been different and there's also a different sort of an angle. More Jason Statham and less Billy Idol, so to speak. But, like you said, I've kind of been able to stay true to my character. And who's to say what WWE would have or could have done if they decided to hire me or not. That's all conjecture at this point and you can look at examples of how other people have been hired in the past and how they've not been used well and how other people have been hired and been given a lot of opportunities. Who can say?

IGN: And where did the name Desmond Wolfe come from?

Wolfe: Vince Russo actually came up with the idea for it. I'm not sure exactly where he got it from, but someone told me after the fact actually that "Desmond Wolfe" was the pseudonym that one of the characters from Withnail and I used. Yeah, that's a classic and I used to love watching it, so it was somewhat ironic.

IGN: You were in TNA before Hulk Hogan was brought in. What are some of the changes you've noticed just in your short tenure?

Wolfe: Obviously the ring has changed. That's the most noticeable thing, really. There've been some production changes as well; in terms of the walkway down to the ring and stuff. They've changed the look of the Impact Zone. Other than that I'm not a hundred percent sure because I was only there for a short amount of time before the news broke that Hogan was coming in. And ever since he has there's always been - and I know he's talked about it – sort of a vibe of excitement about the place. Everyone's excited to see what's going to happen next. And when we went head-to-head [with RAW] and when all the new names came in and stuff it was great because people were talking about the wrestling business again. And certainly looking at TNA in a very positive light. Thus far it's all been good.

IGN: Who were some of you wrestling heroes when you were a kid?

Wolfe: When I was a fan, I was always a huge Ultimate Warrior fan. I went to SummerSlam '92 at Wembley Stadium and wore Ultimate Warrior face-paint for the show. Which explains my lack of luck with the ladies at that time of my life. (laughs) I was a big Bret Hart fan as well. I had posters of Million Dollar Man, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan and The Rockers on my wall when I was growing up.

IGN: And how would you describe your taste in music?

Wolfe: Terrible if you ask any of my friends actually. People expect me to be into punk rock or something more akin to the style of the character I had in Ring of Honor. But to be perfectly honest I listen to as much classical music as I do anything else. Some Brit-pop; Oasis, Suede, Pulp. You know, some of the music that was big in my adolescence.

IGN: The TNA locker room is full of gamers. Do you play any videogames yourself?

Wolfe: Heh, no. I gave up videogames when I was about 14 actually. When I gave up wearing Ultimate Warrior face-paint. But video games have come a long way since when I used to play them. I think the Super Nintendo was the last thing I had. The games now are more like movies, they're so complex. And I see some of the guys with their little Xbox gimmicks or how they all meet up on the Internet and play each other. It's quite complex and convoluted. But it's good for them I suppose. It keeps them out of trouble whereas I'm more into reading books, or if I'm out and about – or every time I'm home I like to go out with my friends. And living down in the Tampa Bay area there's absolutely no reason to stay inside.

IGN: Since you've done so well in TNA do you think there's more of a market for submission wrestling or mat-based wrestling than people might think?

Wolfe: Yeah, possibly. I mean I don't know. I guess it depends on who you ask. There've been wrestlers in the past who've managed to get that over and I think that's really what it comes down to. As long as it's presented in the right manner and it's put over on the TV and the announcers put it over and explain to the fans how it works and how submissions work and then you can over most things with the right company and the right booking behind it.

IGN: Who have been some of your favorite opponents over the years?

Wolfe: Obviously Bryan Danielson would be someone who immediately springs to mind. I've kind of, well, not stolen his style, but I've adapted a lot of my style from wrestling him. Also, Samoa Joe as well was somebody in Ring of Honor who helped me. When I started out in Ring of Honor I was doing an old-school British style. Lots of wristlocks and lots of technical stuff. A lot of the stuff that you see today but it was just done in a mid-card style because it didn't have the violence or the aggression that people see nowadays. And it was through wrestling people like Joe and Dragon and guys of that style I was able to adopt some strikes and more of an aggressive style that really helped me.

I mean, when you say "favorite" it's a bit difficult. People have asked me about my favorite matches as well. And I could list off my best matches, but I wouldn't necessarily say they were my favorite matches because there's a lot of pressure with the big matches, and you feel that if you don't perform well that people are going to judge you and it's going to affect your career badly. Having said that, I think in general terms that just the chance to go out there and wrestle Kurt Angle is huge. As much as everyone always says what a great wrestler he is, until you've actual been in the ring with him you really don't understand or appreciate it. And the same thing goes for AJ. I've wrestled with him a couple of times on the European tour and you just don't get that sense, that feel, of how good someone is until you're in the ring with them and you can feel their timing and hear how the crowd reacts to them.

waltersobchak

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

I'm gonna guess iMPACT! will be permanently moving to Monday's to go against WWE Monday Night Raw

Or else the next Monday special in March because i dont they've announced that officially yet..

D2D

waltersobchak wrote: »

Or else the next Monday special in March because i dont they've announced that officially yet..

I wouldn't think they'd go to all this trouble to announce 1 live iMPACT! special on March 1st. A "major announcement" to me would mean they've signed another person, got Jeff Hardy to sign a contract or their going to Monday nights

Headshot

folks what's the story with TNA being shown live over here?

will we ever see it live ?

D2D

Headshot wrote: »

folks what's the story with TNA being shown live over here?

will we ever see it live ?

No news atm. There's rumours that TNA is leaving Bravo alright though

Headshot

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

No news atm. There's rumours that TNA is leaving Bravo alright though

why would they leave bravo ?

since the ratings are pretty good

strange

D2D

Headshot wrote: »

why would they leave bravo ?

since the ratings are pretty good

strange

PPV's not being live and iMPACT! being aired on Saturday are the reasons I can think of. The Jan 4th 3-hour episode caused hassle due to it not being shown live and when they did show it, it was made into a 2 hour show inc ads.

Nody

Headshot wrote: »

why would they leave bravo ?

The other way around, Bravo leaving them from what I remember (not signing a new contract).

waltersobchak

TNA sent out a press release on Friday stating that Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan would be making a "major announcement" on Monday afternoon prior to the iMPACT! tapings. It is almost certain that TNA will be announcing that iMPACT! is moving to Monday nights in March.

Following the ratings success of January 4th's Monday night iMPACT! special, TNA and Spike have been working out a deal that would bring iMPACT! to Monday nights permanently. While there were serious of hang-ups during the negotiations, most of the major hurdles have been cleared.

No word on if they'll run from 8-10EST or 9-11 EST although there were rumors several weeks ago that TNA iMPACT! would run from 9-11pm (eastern), head-to-head with WWE RAW for two hours straight. The show will not be live each week at the beginning, but it's certainly an option down the road if the show is a success and the show generates more money. It appears right now that one week will be live and the following week will be taped on Tuesday. They would continue that rotation (one week live, one week taped) for the time being.

As for what qualifies as successful, it's believed that a 1.2-1.5 is what both sides are expecting. There is always the possibility that Spike moves the show back to Thursday nights in the event that the rating falls off significantly, but the network is said to be behind TNA and will give them some time to establish themselves on Monday nights.

D2D

- Ken Anderson wrote on his twitter account that he's having issues getting out of the Minneapolis airport, which he described as a zoo. He's waiting on stand-by to fly and was told the earliest he could be guaranteed a flight out was Monday, which given he's scheduled for the PPV tomorrow, could be a problem. You have to feel for the guy, since waiting all day in an airport on the possibility you'll get on the next flight is a draining process.

D2D

Bobby Lashley did an interview with Heavy.com where one of the things he talked about was his status with TNA. :

Heavy.com: You were recently 'fired' as part of the story line on an episode of TNA Wrestling. Does this mean you are going to focus on MMA full time?

Lashley: I believe so.

Heavy.com: So, at least for the time being, Bobby Lashley is solely a mixed martial artist?

Lashley: Yes.

Heavy.com: All these short answers! Give me the skinny.

Lashley: (laughs) I don't really know much man. I had a talk with the guys a while back about doing both. Everything seemed to be working well. I think maybe there were some complications there towards the end. I got back home and got all these calls from people saying that I had been released from wrestling. So as far as I know, I've been released, so yes, I can focus full time on MMA.

waltersobchak

TNA will be airing the press conference with "the major announcement" Live on their website this Monday starting at 2:30 pm

D2D

waltersobchak wrote: »

TNA will be airing the press conference with "the major announcement" Live on their website this Monday starting at 2:30 pm

That's US time, I presume. That'd be around 7.15 or 8.15 our time then

waltersobchak

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

That's US time, I presume. That'd be around 7.15 or 8.15 our time then

yep exactly, Eastern US time is 5 hours behind us

D2D

waltersobchak wrote: »

yep exactly, Eastern US time is 5 hours behind us

RVD to TNA or TNA moving to Mondays??? Take your pick