TNA Wrestling announced Wednesday that the Television Championship last held by Devon has been vacated after negotiations between both parties reached an impasse.
A new Television Champion will be crowned on tomorrow night’s “Championship Thursday” edition of Impact Wrestling. The challengers selected to compete are Samoa Joe, Garett Bischoff, Magnus, and Mr. Anderson. The four grapplers will plead their case on why they should receive a shot at the Television Title to Impact Wrestling General Manager Hulk Hogan, who will then set up a match on Impact.
TNA’s official announcement is as follows:
NEW TV CHAMPION TO BE CROWNED ON CHAMPIONSHIP THURSDAY!
Championship Thursday” returns to Impact Wrestling on Spike TV this Thursday with an added wrinkle; there is no defending champion. Negotiations between TNA’s current TV Champion Devon and TNA have been ongoing over the last month and have reached an impasse. As of today, The TNA TV Championship last held by Devon is vacated. TNA hopes that Devon returns to the active roster in the future. A new TV champion will be crowned LIVE on Impact!
Usually, in the “Championship Thursday” format, four challengers meet with Impact Wrestling GM Hulk Hogan and plead their case as to why they deserve the shot at the champion. This month, one of the four men is guaranteed to be the new TV Champion! The challengers selected to compete in this “Championship Thursday” are Samoa Joe, Garett Bischoff, Magnus, and Mr. Anderson. Hulk will hear these men’s arguments why they should be the one to get the title shot and then Hogan will make the hard decision of which two will face off. Tune into Spike TV at 8pt/7ct this Thursday night to see a new champion crowned.
– Beth Phoenix says her match against Natalya on this Friday’s episode of SmackDown will be the first time they ever met in a singles match.
“This Friday on SmackDown @NatbyNature and I square off for the first time one on one in our respective 10+ year careers in Buffalo. #magic,” she wrote Wednesday on Twitter after noting earlier that the event may have been the highlight of her career.
– Grow Socially has published an article on the online success story of Zack Ryder. “Long Island Iced Z” says his struggle to find a place in WWE led to him venturing online.
“I didn’t feel like a Superstar, you know?”, Ryder said, “I didn’t have an action figure, I wasn’t on TV, I didn’t have a promotional [photo]. I was just sick of pitching ideas and nothing getting done. But I did realize I had to do something about it.”
In February 2011, Ryder began using various social networking websites in order to establish a niche fan following which helped attain an elevated status within WWE.
With Ryder’s successful online endeavors, he has been credited with WWE embracing social media after long dismissing it. As late as early 2010, Vince McMahon had WWE voice Michael Cole publicly label social media outlets such as Twitter as something “nerds” use. Ryder attributes WWE’s enthusiastic audience to the company’s rousing success across social media, especially on Twitter.
“You’re able to communicate with someone you regularly watch on TV, and it’s just this crazy environment that WWE has really been able to capitalize on,” he says.
– Chris Mordetzky, who performed as Chris Masters for WWE, is not pleased with being snubbed by his former employer in their article Monday ranking the 20 most impressive physiques in company history.
“Travesty. They’d rather not acknowledge my existence,” wrote Mordetzky. “If we were currently @WWE @carlitocolon and @Chrismasters310 would clearly be on top of the list#”BodyGuyz.”
Enclosing the following photo, he added, “I’ll put my physique against anybodies on @wwe list.”
– Former WWE Champion Ultimate Warrior released a video Wednesday . promoting his appearances next month for Big Time Wrestling in Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. He will make in-ring appearances on both shows and participate in pre-show autograph signings. Event details are available at BTWPro.com.
– Amid rumors that Beth Phoenix will be leaving WWE next month after handing in her notice, Rob Feinstein, who is coordinating an autograph signing next month with her boyfriend Adam “Edge” Copeland, says he has known for months that she would be leaving the sports-entertainment organization. He also says they will be working together after she leaves WWE.
He wrote on his Facebook page, “A ton of people are asking us about Beth Phoenix leaving the company next month. We knew about this a few months ago from our sources and we already plan on doing some signings and other stuff with her when the time permits.”
– David Bixenspan of BleacherReport.com has written a review of WWE’s upcoming CM Punk DVD and Blu-ray, CM Punk – Best in the World, scheduled for release on October 9 in the United States.
Dubbed a “must-buy,” Bixenspan says of the title, “Everything from his family life, to how he defines family, to his loyalty to his friends, to what drives him to succeed, to what IWA Mid-South and Ring of Honor meant to him, all of his difficulties in WWE; it’s all here. In addition, the chronological narrative is broken up by fun human interest interludes about his tour bus, tattoos, his love of comic books, and more) at the end of each chapter.”
In addition to the 109-minute long documentary, the DVD features 37 minutes of deleted scenes/interviews and two discs of matches.
Silvervision.co.uk has released the trailer for WWE’s upcoming Brock Lesnar video release, Brock Lesnar – Here Comes the Pain!. The majority of the content will be the same as the 2003 DVD of the same title, but updated with new footage and interviews to reflect Lesnar’s 2004 departure and return to the organization.
The synopsis for the product reads: “The night after WrestleMania XXVIII, Brock Lesnar made a shocking return to the ring and leveled John Cena with an F-5, sending a message that after eight years, the pain is back! In 2002 and 2003, The Next Big Thing brought it to the biggest and baddest competition in WWE, becoming the youngest WWE Champion of all time and a household name virtually overnight. His awe-inspiring physique, amateur championship pedigree and affinity for punishing opponents made him an unstoppable force in the ring. Now, after years of dominating the MMA scene, Brock is back and looking to steamroll the biggest Superstars of today. This rerelease of the 2003 DVD, Here Comes the Pain, includes the original documentary that chronicles Brock’s meteoric rise to fame, as well as six hours of additional matches not included on the original DVD! Plus, here Brock’s controversial comments upon his return to sport entertainment! . Fans can experience classic matches against Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and many more!”
Brock Lesnar – Here Comes the Pain! will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 30, 2012.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog update, which you can read its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
CM Punk & Paul Heyman: “On the current path that @CMPunk is traveling, the WWE Champion and “Best in the World” aligning with @HeymanHustle Paul Heyman seems to be working well and will only get better…or worse depending on one’s interpretation. Obviously, Punk doesn’t need a ‘mouthpiece’ as @RealMickFoley so accurately and passionately pointed out Monday night but the Punk/Heyman duo comprises one of the most compelling presentations that WWE has had in recent memory. ”
Mick Foley’s Promo On RAW: “Mick’s presentation Monday night was one of the year’s best in ring, verbal performances and was one of the highlights of the three hour program from where I was sitting. ”
Jerry Lawler’s Future: “For those speculating on when Jerry will be back, that’s all it is or can be at this time is speculation. Obviously, Jerry will be welcomed back with open arms when he is medically cleared but that is a work in progress. He’s feeling better by the day but it takes time to rebound after such a serious health scare so @Jerry Lawler returning to RAW is undetermined at this time and he will be given all the time that he needs.”
John Cena’s Surgically Repaired Elbow: “I spoke with @JohnCena Monday and took a look at his surgically repaired elbow while he was doing rehab at the arena with Dr. Amman and the elbow and John’s arm in general looked gnarly. For those that don’t know, doing rehab on a repaired joint like an elbow is massively painful.”
“Knowing Cena’s mindset and his mental toughness, it’s impossible to say exactly when he will be medically released to step back in a WWE ring however I’d wager a case of JR’s Original BBQ Sauce that it will be sooner than anyone else that I can think of at the moment.”
– People were joking backstage at Vince McMahon’s excitement over the NFL replacement referee debacle.
– WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz will guest star on the 10/1 episode of Disney XD series “Pair of Kings”. In the episode, Miz plays a “mythical human-like sponge creature” named Damone, who absorbs everyone’s confidence.
– Speaking of The Miz, he’s featured on the promotional poster for this year’s Survivor Series (click to enlarge):
– EcoRazzi.com has an article up looking at Daniel Bryan’s recent decision to end his vegan diet due to a soy allergy he’s developed, as well as difficulties following a vegan diet while on the road touring for WWE. His decision to eat meat again has garnered him a lot of negative feedback on Twitter and on website message boards. Bryan recently told WrestlingINC.com:
“I’ve been getting really sick lately. it’s a very unmanly way to stop being vegan, to have a soy intolerance. [Laughs.] But I was getting sick all the time, and they were trying to figure out what it was and they found out it was the soy.
“Being on the road, being vegan and trying to get your protein in other than soy, there’s just nothing to eat. There’s soy in everything. Most of the vegan things you can eat are tofu dishes and whatnot, made out of soy.”
The article notes that WWE Champion CM Punk is no longer vegan for the same reasons as Bryan.
– The recent surge in attention given to WWE’s tag team division is a direct result of Triple H’s influence behind the scenes in WWE. WWE is finally getting serious about the long-neglected division and it’s expected that tag team wrestling will once again be one of the highlights of WWE television by the end of the year.
There was fear that WWE’s Divas division would suffer as a result of the tag team division getting more attention, but is said to have big plans for its women performers in the coming months as well.
– Trish Stratus recently did a photo shoot for the cover of Australia’s OPA Magazine.
– The WWE website’s latest “Wayback Wednesday” feature is a “Where Are They Now?” looking at former tag team champion Chuck Palumbo. Palumbo is busy these days running his CP Kustoms motorcycle shop and plays in a band called 3 Spoke Wheel. For more on what Palumbo is up to these days, visit WWE.com.
– As noted earlier, WWE’s recent angles with referees making bad calls are directed at the NFL, whose sub-par replacement referees have caused a nightmare situation for the football organization. RAW General Manager AJ Lee mentioned on this week’s RAW that WWE currently does not have an instant replay policy, but they may be introduced soon.
WWE is reportedly considering adding “instant replays” to the mix. The policy would allow for WWE to occasionally use instant replays in a gimmick for high profile matches that end in controversy.
– Following John Cena’s recent rant about WWE.com incorrectly reporting that he’ll be recovered from elbow surgery after 2 weeks (instead of 4-6 weeks, as doctors told him), it’s believed that Cena’s comments were part of a storyline to sell the idea that he won’t be able to wrestle at Hell In A Cell.
– The Wall Street Journal has an article up looking at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York – and how WWE will run shows at both venues once the Barclay Center opens:
“While WWE remained committed to booking events at Madison Square Garden, the WWE’s own Brooklyn Brawler should feel at home when the sports-entertainment promotion holds its monthly pay-per-view event Dec. 16 at Barclays.”
– With WWE’s “CM Punk: Best In The World” DVD set coming out in a few weeks, FYE stores will be carrying an exclusive version containing a set of CM Punk wristbands for $29.99.
– WWE Diva Beth Phoenix, who is expected to be finishing up with WWE in the coming weeks, tweeted that working Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings in front of her home crowd (Buffalo, NY) was one of her career highlights.
– It’s worth noting that Brodus Clay’s disco ball hanging above the ring at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from Buffalo, NY. Clay never appeared in front of the live crowd, despite fans chanting his name throughout the night.
– WWE Champion CM Punk’s Saturday just got a lot busier. We recently reported that Punk was pulled from the WWE RAW brand’s live event (9/29) in Topeka, Kansas so he can apear at the Ohio Comic-Con event in Columbus, Ohio instead. With John Cena injured and recovering from recent elbow surgery, CM Punk has been added back to the Topeka live event.
CM Punk will appear at Ohio Comic-Con from 10:30am until 2:30pm this Saturday and then will to Topeka, Kansas and wrestle the Big Show in the main event of that WWE live event.
– Former Tough Enough judge and NXT head trainer Bill DeMott continues to tease that Tough Enough is returning soon. DeMott re-tweeted a message from the WWE Tough Enough account about the WWE Shop store doing Tough Enough merchandise giveaways next week. He also wrote:
– On Monday’s WWE RAW, Jerry Lawler appeared via satellite and told Michael Cole and Jim Ross that he’ll be returning to the announcer’s booth as soon as doctors give him clearance to do so.
The belief in WWE, according to PWInsider.com, is that Lawler will remain off television until early 2013. Following his massive heart attack just two weeks ago, the traveling and stress associated with being on the road with WWE is more than he should be doing for the time being.
– The new WWE Main Event show that premieres on the Ion network next Wednesday night will feature WWE Divas on a regular basis, according to several TV previews for the show.
– WWE announcer Justin Roberts has acknowledged TMZ.com’s report that he has received two tickets for driving infractions over the past two weeks:
– WWE.com has a new countdown feature up looking at the most controversial match outcomes in history. The Montreal Screwjob not even making the top five makes this list somewhat questionable. Here’s the list:
7. The Miz vs. John Cena – WrestleMania 27
6. The Montreal Screwjob – Survivor Series 1997
5. Earl Hebner costs Hulk Hogan the WWE Title – Saturday Night’s Main Event
4. Sting vs. Sid Vicious – WCW Halloween Havoc 1990
3. Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker – Survivor Series 1991
2. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho – RAW April 17th, 2000
1. Hulk Hogan vs. Nick Bockwinkel – AWA Title Match, April 24th, 1983
– This week’s RAW drew a 2.7 rating with 3.79 million viewers, making it the least-watched RAW all year. In fact, it was the lowest RAW rating since July 4th, 2011. Not counting holidays, this was the least-watched RAW in over 5 years.
– WWEShop.com is now selling Halloween Fan Packages for John Cena, Sin Cara, R-Truth, Santino Marella, Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler.
– Tickets are now on sale for WWE’s return to Buffalo, New York – a live RAW tping on March 4, 2013.
– The dark main event after Tuesday night’s WWE SmackDown tapings in Buffalo, New York saw Sheamus defeat Alberto Del Rio with a Brogue Kick.
A new masked luchador character made his WWE debut at Tuesday’s Saturday Morning Slam tapings from Buffalo, New York in a match against Sin Cara.
The wrestler, who was billed as “El Local,” was actually Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, in a mask. Prior to joining WWE, Ricardo Rodriguez wrestled as the masked wrestler Chimaera.
Check out this picture of Ricardo Rodriguez’s new luchador character:
Earlier this week, WWE announced a blockbuster deal with online streaming company Hulu to show weekly WWE programming on the Hulu Plus subscription service. Among the WWE shows that will be airing on Hulu Plus are RAW, SmackDown, NXT and Superstars.
For fans wondering whether the WWE offerings on Hulu Plus will be sufficient to “cut the cord,” cancel their cable television packages and watch WWE exclusively on Hulu – it now appears that Hulu Plus subscribers will not be getting the same programming that fans get on television.
Rajah.com reader Kaleb Perkins sent this along:
“I wanted to send to the differences between the live Raw broadcast and the replay on Hulu. First, Raw on Hulu is only 90 minutes instead of 3 hours. Here are the segments that were skipped on Hulu: The backstage segment between with AJ and the referee, Dolph Ziggler vs. Kingston, the first diner segment with Bryan/Kane/Dr. Shelby, Prime Time Players vs. Marella/Ryder, the backstage segment that sets up the 6-man tag match, Wade Barrett vs. Tyson Kidd, the entrances to the 6-man tag match, and the divas tag match.”
“OK, so they took the best match off of the show, but gave us John Cena’s embarrassing, fake swear words promo. Yay for us.”
Click here to sign up for a 1-week free trial of Hulu Plus.
Big Show came to the ring, took the mic, and declared he wants the championship. Randy Orton interrupted to loud cheers. Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez came out. All three want the match against Seamus for the title. Orton RKO’d Del Rio and then all three ended up leaving the ring.
1. Antonio Cesaro defeated Santino Marella to retain the U.S. Championship.
2. Beth Phoenix defeated Natalya. Beth received huge cheers in her hometown.
Eve came out and announced that Beth Phoenix has been indefinitely suspended per an investigation into the Kaitlyn situation from Night of Champions. However, Booker T immediately reversed the suspension. Eve blamed Teddy Long and made Booker wonder whether he can trust Long.
3. Wade Barrett pinned Zack Ryder. Barrett won by pinfall.
The second installment of Miz TV took place. Sheamus came out immediately. A few minutes later, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler came out. They had a word battle over Sheamus’s title. A fight ensued and Sheamus cleared the ring.
4. Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow defeated The Uso Brothers.
5. Ryback defeated Tensai. Huge response for Ryback, who picked up Tensai over his head and slammed him down for the win. Wow.
6. Big Show defeated Randy Orton. Alberto Del Rio came out. He beat up Orton backstage. Orton was hurt from the attack. Orton whacked Alberto and headed to the stage. Show ended up chokeslamming and pinning Orton.
– Hulk Hogan said on Twitter Tuesday that he would like to see Devon return to TNA Wrestling.
“I want Devon back more than anybody and on top of everything else he’s a quality person and a gift from the man above,” he stated.
Devon could appear on this Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling. The organization announced that TNA Television Championship, which he held before departing from the organization last month, will be defended on the show. Four competitors will vie for the right to compete for the title.
– Christopher Daniels and Kazarian appeared on TNA Today Tuesday to discuss their upcoming matches against AJ Styles and Kurt Angle as well as Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez.
– WWE has finalized their contract agreements with Sara Del Rey and PAC. Both independent wrestling standouts will report to the company’s developmental base in Tampa, Florida shortly. Both contracts had been waiting approval after they took mandated physical and mental exams.
Meanwhile, it would appear that WWE has rescinded Northeast-based wrestler Matt Taven’s contract. He reported to developmental in Tampa, but is now competing on independent shows again.
– WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz will guest star on next Monday’s episode of Pair of Kings on Disney XD. He plays a “mythical human-like sponge creature” named Damone, who absorbs everyone’s confidence. The show airs during Raw at 8:30 p.m.
– Angelina Love and Dan Severn have been announced to appear at the Calgary Mens Expo taking place Saturday and Sunday at Stampede Park Big Four Building 1410 Olympic Way SE, Calgary, AB. Canada.
Former WWE creative Court Bauer appeared on this week’s MLW.com postcast podcast Konnan and Mister Saint Laurent. Bauer shed some light on tension between John Cena and Vince McMahon – and how Cena’s recent elbow surgery is involved:
“John Cena has this procedure done in Birmingham, AL. WWE.com puts out there that he’ll be down for only two weeks and that life will go on. It was basically like removal of fragments and bone spurs in his arm or his elbow, which if you follow sports, baseball players have it done all the time, usually in the office season. NFL guys will have it done here or there. It’s a pretty easy deal. So, I don’t think anyone was thinking it was going to be this long stretched out thing, but then the reports came out about how long John Cena was going to be down for. John Cena then took to Twitter saying that WWE.com got the story wrong and that he’s going to be out for a full six [weeks] and he just buried WWE.com and all the guys over there. The story obviously then switched to ‘now he’s out six weeks.'”
“From what I know, Vince McMahon himself, in the agent meeting, the producers meeting, told everyone straight up the dude is out for just two weeks, ‘we dodged a bullet and that he’s very much in the mix moving forward.’ That was Tuesday, he said that. Then Cena had very different things to say and I understand WWE.com did talk to James Andrews [Cena’s doctor], who WWE and Cena did give them the blessing to talk to. That’s standard protocol at WWE. They always try to interview the doctor, get insight so they can have the news. Sometimes it’s a kayfabe site and sometimes it’s a legit news site. Sometimes it’s a TMZ site, but that’s the story. They interviewed him and Dr. James Andrews did say he’d be out just two weeks.”
“So you have to wonder if Vince and the doctor said it and Cena is saying six weeks, there is an interesting issue there. Is it that John Cena wanted the full six weeks out? Was John Cena then told something after Tuesdays that conflicted with this? But it was very quickly thereafter they reported it on the website that this was not in fact the situation. The reality of it is, John Cena is coming off a divorce, he’s beaten up. He’s got a bad neck, a bad hip, bad everything. He’s closing in on 36. The wear and tear of a guy like that, that goes, goes, goes and is a company man, you gotta think about.”
“And if you’re Vince McMahon, you look at the clock, you look at the calendar and you think, is it time to build the next John Cena?”
– WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts received traffic tickets twice in the past two weeks, according to TMZ.com. Both incidents took place while Roberts was en route to a WWE live event. Roberts was fined $52 for making an illegal left turn in Toronto and $160 for speeding (driving 74 MPH in a 55 MPH zone) in Pennsylvania
– Monday’s WWE RAW drew a 2.72 rating, down from a 2.87 rating the week before and the lowest RAW rating of 2012. The show averaged 3.79 million viewers (compared to the 4.05 the week before). By comparison, the NFL’s Monday Night Football game did 16.167 million viewers.
– Deadline.com has the exclusive that director Barry Sonnenfeld is in talks to direct Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in Lore, a film based on an Ashley Wood IDW graphic novel about “a secret order that defends the world against creatures thought to be mythological, but which actually exist.”
– Former WWE superstar Goldust predicted on Twitter that he will return to WWE one day.
– JBL checked in on Twitter from his latest mountain climb in Africa:
11,200 feet, been hiking 2 days through rain forest, on Shireau plateau. Make camp soon-5 more days to top of Africa! #sevensummitsforkids
Mickie James is taking a few weeks off from competing to nurse a rib injury. She aggravated the injury during TNA Wrestling’s live event tour last week.
The two-time TNA Women’s Knockout Champion tweeted Monday, “Walking into the Docs to finally get my ribs X-rayed… Been working through the pain 2 weeks too long! Lucky I’m T… U… Triple F… =O.”
James released an update on the procedure Tuesday, where she revealed that her ribs are deeply bruised.
“Thanks gang for all your thoughts… Nothing’s broken thank God! Just deeply bruised,” James wrote. “Been working through it so not allowing them to heal. So I’ve decided this week to take a few weeks off to rest & heal properly so I will be 100%! Also lots to think about! Be blessed… Love~MJ.”
Once the centerpiece of the Knockouts division, James has been sporadically featured on TNA Wrestling programming in recent months. When asked whether her infrequent appearances on Impact Wrestling are as a result of the injury, she responded, “No! Had nothing to do with it… Who knows?”
