During a recent interview with UGO.com, Hulk Hogan commented on the possibility of Ultimate Warrior and Randy “Macho Man” Savage joining TNA Wrestling.

“The Warrior is not “alive” anymore,” Hogan told UGO.com. “I did a deposition about six months ago where Vince McMahon put out a tape called The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. And I did a deposition. I sat in a room across from him. No other wrestler would testify. He thought I was actually going to help him, but when I told the truth…I seriously doubt he and I would ever work together again. I did tell the truth at the deposition. He’s the worst. He’s horrible. There’s nobody worse than him in the ring. So hopefully I’ll never have to see him again in the ring.”

As far as Savage is concerned, despite their past differences, Hogan would love to have him on board with TNA. He feels if Savage dyed his gray beard and got back into shape, he would be good enough to return to the ring.

“I’d LOVE to see the Macho Man,” Hogan exclaimed. “Dye that old gray Santa Claus beard he’s got. Get back in shape. And teach these young guys how to do it because I could sure use his help. He’s got a great mind for the business.”

Hogan also comments on the removal of the six-sided ring (calling it “a playpen”), when exactly he should have quit wrestling, back shaving tips, and more. You can read the interview in its entirety at the following link.

Rob Terry won the Global Championship from Eric Young at tonight’s TNA live event in Cardiff, Wales — his home country.

Young had held the title, which was formerly the Legends Championship, since October 2009.

TNA president Dixie Carter announced the title change on her Twitter account and posted a photo of Terry holding the title at the following link.

— On his Facebook account (which is where the “bizarre hair” photos initially surfaced), Sid Vicious put up a link to a petition for fans to sign concerning “the hiring of Sid Eudy/Sid Vicious to add to the overall benefit of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.”

Regarding the petition, Vicious wrote: “Petitions don’t work…but Sign it anyway just to show them where the Power lies. Spread the Word! Somebody made this Petition as a Labor of love so I Understand how that feels..We all know how it is. you gotta get in there and get your hands dirty and do whatever you got…ta do to get your boys back on TV where they belong…it’s sad but thats the way it is now! it’s all in the fans hands now!”

You can check out the petition at the following link.

— D’Angelo Dinero took ill early in TNA’s European tour and was forced to stay behind in Glasgow, Scotland as result. He is also nursing a hand injury. Fortunately, his health has since gotten better as he returned to the tour last night in Bournemouth.

“Pope is so sick Dr’s would not let him wrestle in Glasgow. He has to stay behind until better,” TNA president Dixie Carter wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

— You can follow TNA newcomer Jeremy of Generation Me (a/k/a Nick Jackson) on Twitter at the following link.

— During an interview with the Pro Wrestling Torch conducted this past September, Eric Bischoff commented on whether he had given thought to joining TNA Wrestling. In his response, Bischoff called WWE’s television product “boring” and predictable.

“Not really. A, because I don’t watch it. B, because I just don’t think about it. I don’t watch WWE, either. It’s not because I don’t like it. Well, it’s kind of because I don’t like it. It’s just that it’s so boring I can almost tell you what’s going to happen 30 seconds before it happens,” Bischoff told Wade Keller.

“I’m not just talking about the matches, I’m talking about the whole storyline arc of the show. But, I don’t want to say this the wrong way. It’s not a “been there, done that” syndrome, although that’s kind of part of it. It’s that unless it’s really creatively challenging and stimulating, I just don’t think about it. Since I’m not in it and I don’t really watch it, it’s just not something that I think about. I’ve probably thought more about wrestling in the last two interviews I’ve done with you than I have in the last two years.”

It should be noted that Bischoff was in negotiations to work with TNA when the interview took place.

— Samoa Joe dislocated a rib during Monday’s live event in Paris, France. He worked against AJ Styles and Daniels in a three-way bout.

“Dislocated a rib last night. Most fun was explaining the screaming from my room as D-Lo (Brown) popped it back in,” Joe wrote on his Twitter account yesterday morning.

He managed to work his scheduled “I Quit” match against Daniels last night in Bournemouth, England.

Get ready for a new war.

Spike TV and TNA Wrestling have decided the time is right to move TNA iMPACT! permanently to Monday nights, according to the Wrestling Observer.

As we reported earlier today, a second Monday night iMPACT! has been scheduled for March 1, head-to-head with WWE RAW for 2 hours.

While it is unclear at this point whether TNA’s official Monday night timeslot will keep the 9-11pm ET timeslot or if that will just be on March 1st.

The Observer reports that the likely taping schedule will be a live on Mondays one week, then tape the following week’s iMPACT! the following day (Tuesday).

We’ll have more on this breaking story very soon, but it now looks like the success of TNA’s January 4th experiment is what gave Spike the confidence to green light a new Monday night war.

After TNA Monday night special on January 4th drew a strong 1.5 cable rating, it appears Spike TV has scheduled another live TNA broadcast to go head-to-head with WWE RAW.

According to news correspondent Devin Cutting, Spike TV has  scheduled a second Monday night TNA Impact episode on March 1 from 9-11p.m. EST head-to-head with WWE Raw.

Comedy duo Cheech & Chong are scheduled to host WWE RAW that night.

TNA originally had an Australian tour scheduled from late Feburary to early March and then rescheduled it due to “changes in the U.S. TV production schedule.”

A report on PWInsider.com states that the TNA iMPACT! taping schedule at Universal Studios in Orlando now lists live events on Monday 3/1 and Tuesday 3/1, so it appears the show will be live once again.

Our Thoughts: In the days and weeks following January 4th, executives from Spike TV and TNA Wrestling made it clear they were beyond satisfied with TNA’s ability to hang with WWE on Monday nights. We know that more live specials (and a possible permanent) move are in the works and another Monday night special is a great sign. The face of TNA has been changing by the week and it should be interesting to see what the product even looks like come March 1st.

— AJ Styles could be in line for a makeover as creative has discussed having the TNA World Heavyweight Champion bleach his hair blonde in order to synergize his partnership with Ric Flair. Though it should be noted that Styles has a say in this so it may not happen.

— TNA newcomer Mr. Anderson will be making his live event debut for the company during the weekend of February 4th in Kansas and Missouri.

— Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne of “The Beautiful People” were brought in for the remainder of the company’s ongoing tour of the UK starting with tonight’s show in Bournemouth. The duo will be working tag matches against Taylor Wilde and Sarita. The tour concludes this Saturday.

source: f4wonline.com

— The TNA website has added profiles on Angelina Love, Brian Kendrick, Bubba the Love Sponge and Mr. Anderson to its Superstars section. Awesome Kong’s profile remains on the page at this time.

— Two TNA stars in Homicide and Madison Rayne were on hand for Jersey All Pro Wrestling’s 12th Year Anniversary Show last night in Rahway, New Jersey. Homicide beat former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Masato Tanaka while JAPW Women’s Champion Sara Del Ray pinned Madison Rayne.

— Today is TNA creative director and former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vince Russo’s birthday, who turns 49 years old.

sources: www.f4wonline.com, www.pwtorch.com

— Last night’s episode of TNA iMPACT! drew a 1.26 cable rating, the same number as last week. The show drew 1.9 million viewers overall. The opening quarter hour with Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles & Ric Flair and final two quarter hours tied for the highest rated segment of the night with a 1.32.

— Besides Awesome Kong, both Alex Shelley and Bobby Lashley are not going on TNA’s tour of the UK. Shelley will not be going on the tour due to ongoing disc injuries. Likewise, Lashley isn’t going because he’s fighting for the mixed martials arts promotion Strikeforce next weekend.

— Kevin Nash is said to be unhappy with “The Band” nickname TNA bestowed upon him, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. They used the old Blue Brothers movie joke about putting “the band back together” several years ago in World Championship Wrestling, but Nash now feels it’s ridiculously dated.

— In a video posted today on Qik.com, Awesome Kong said she has not yet spoken to TNA management regarding her future in the company, but will do so later today. She then says it’s sad that people don’t know the true story about things and that they can only assume what they hear.

Meanwhile, she mentions Abraham Lincoln several times during her video while standing in front of a statue of the 16th President of the United States, notably saying, “I thought slavery was over, but slavery is not over.”

— Last night’s iMPACT! broadcast featured “controversial” audio from Jeff Jarrett’s appearance on The Bubba the Love Sponge Show on Sirius/XM radio. In case you missed this “worked-shoot” angle, you can catch it at the following link.

— TNA has released “Pope” sunglasses at the following link.

— Beer Money, Inc. — James Storm and Robert Roode — have been expressing their frustration to people backstage after they received word that TNA creative director Vince Russo said he didn’t see them as top stars. Actually, Russo said that they were expendable, but the Pro Wrestling Torch notes that he may have been trying to send the outspoken Storm a message.

Storm was said to be very upset with Beer Money, Inc.’s limited role on the live Monday Night iMPACT! on Jan. 4. In one scene, they were shown shaking hands with Ric Flair upon his arrival to the Impact! Zone. Later that night, they were shown selling a beat down from an unidentified assailant.

It should be noted that there is no noticeable friction between the duo and Russo as observers say they get along fine backstage. (source: pwtorch.com)

— The Nasty Boys made their much anticipated return to the squared circle last night on iMPACT!, defeating Eric Young and Kevin Nash. Before last night, The Nasties had not tagged together on national television in over thirteen years — since the December 9, 1996 episode of WCW Monday Nitro.

— TNA’s house show on March 19th, 2010 will be held at the Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida. Tickets go on sale February 5th, 2010 at 10 a.m. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

Hulk Hogan appeared on Bubba the Love Sponge’s radio show yesterday morning. Here are some of the more notable things discussed:

* Hogan wants to kill all house shows until things come together on television. He feels that in no time, TNA will become a force which people will pay attention to.

* He said he has no plans to solely bring in his friends to TNA. He said when he met Ken Anderson on the Australian tour, he knew that “he had what it took.”

* Bubba the Love Sponge discussed his backstage altercation with Awesome Kong earlier this week, saying he was mad at what she did to him. He then called her “a bitch.”

* Apparently, Hogan too poked fun at Kong, feeling her anger was “menstrual-related.”

* Bubba said he was pushing for a bigger role in TNA but now hates the wrestling business. Hogan responded by saying, “Wow!”

* Hogan said less is more and discussed a segment with Scott Hall and Sean Waltman that was taped this week.

* Hogan put over Ric Flair for being on his game once became aligned with AJ Styles.

The talk lasted roughly fifteen minutes and Hogan basically emphasized that he was going to show everyone how the wrestling business works.

(source: PWInsider.com)

To the surprise of many, both Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were on hand for all four of TNA’s television tapings this week in Orlando.

While Hogan does have his own dressing room, he made an effort to mingle with the rest of the talent backstage. Meanwhile, Bischoff was more involved in the production of each show.

There had been some skepticism as to whether Hogan and Bischoff would be interested enough to attend four consecutive shows, but to their credit, they did.

Jason Hervey, former child star (“The Wonder Years”) and Bischoff business partner, has also been regularly backstage since Bischoff became involved with the company.Bischoff and Hervey have been working behind the scenes to secure new relationships for TNA within the entertainment industry.

(Source: prowrestling.net)

— As reported earlier, Awesome Kong has given notice to TNA with the multi-time champion herself confirming said reports during a live video stream this afternoon. It should be noted that her decision to hand in her notice may not necessarily be as a result of her heated encounter with Bubba the Love Sponge earlier this week, but rather, the company’s upcoming tour of Europe.

“People are sending me messages about my request for my release,” she said. “I don’t know. Originally, I was supposed to go to the UK, but I’m not going there now. I told TNA I would think about it. All they had to do was wait ten minutes.”

In case you missed her live video stream, you can check out her videos at qik.com/awesomekong.

— Ed Leslie (a/k/a Brutus Beefcake) was backstage visiting friends at Wednesday’s Impact taping. (source: prowrestling.NET)

— TNA has announced three new live events in Pennsylvania and West Virginia taking place from Mar. 12 to Mar. 14. The events will be taking place in Erie, PA, Pittsburgh and Wheeling, West Virginia. Click here for more information.

source: www.pwtorch.com

— Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro attended the Survivor finale red carpet event held two weeks ago and was telling people that she’s had discussions with Dixie Carter about working for TNA. Though there is a good chance she will ultimately wind up in the company, it’s not expected to be imminent.

— TNA officials were planning a feud between The Motor City Machineguns and Generation Me, but Alex Shelley is battling serious problems with his back and neck which could cause him to miss significant ring time.

— Kip James was hanging out backstage at this week’s television tapings. Though he was recently dropped as a talent, he is still under contract to the organization as officials are trying to find a new role for him.

Awesome Kong is not the only TNA Knockout parting ways with the company this week. A reliable source in TNA has informed us that fellow TNA Knockout Alissa Flash is also leaving.

Alissa (real name Melissa Anderson) reportedly requested her release from the company, she was not fired.

There are rumors of others besides Kong and Anderson requesting their releases but nothing is confirmed.

TNA Knockout Awesome Kong, who got into a physical altercation with TNA backstage announcer Bubba the Love Sponge at Monday’s iMPACT! tapings, has given notice that she’s leaving the company.

The news was originally reported by f4wonline and was confirmed by Kong herself on Thursday afternoon via a live video stream on Qik.com.

Kong’s departure from the company appears to be effective immediately, and she said during the video cast that she informed TNA she won’t be attending the upcoming UK tour.

It should be noted that many TNA wrestlers and knockouts who have told management they are leaving have been persuaded into staying, but at this point Awesome Kong’s relationship with TNA appears to be off.

— Apparently in response to online reports concerning his status with TNA Wrestling, Ken Anderson posted the following statement on his Twitter account this afternoon:

“I guess that those 6 copies of paperwork that my manager, agent, lawyer, and TNA officials toiled over for a month & I signed & overnighted weren’t contracts. I thought they were, I thought I had signed for a one year deal, but then again, what the hell do I know…?”

The statement has been deleted.

— For those of you who record TNA iMPACT! on DVR, it should be noted that the listing has been changed from TNA Wrestling to TNA Wrestling Impact on some cable providers.

— TNA announced that its live debut in France has been rescheduled for 8:00 p.m. Monday, January 25 at the Zenith. Due to circumstances beyond TNA control, officials announced on Monday that the event would be canceled due to the Solidarity Concert for the Haitian earthquake victims, a charity event being broadcast live on French television. (TNA Event In Paris Rescheduled For 1/25)

Hulk Hogan appeared on The Bubba The Love Sponge radio show Tuesday morning and discussed the shock jock’s altercation with Awesome Kong the previous day. Courtesy of www.angrymarks.com, here is a transcript of the discussion:

BUBBA: She was wearing wrestling gear, and she came in on me and sucker punched me right on my left cheek, and I was like, what’s going on… then she came out me again, hit me again in the mouth, and she goes, “This if for Haiti! This is for Haiti!” and I’m like “What is going on?” Then she hits me again… Finally I put my left hand out and push her away from me, and she comes at me again and I just cover up, because I cannot fight back on a woman. Not only will I be fired from TNA, which I probably am, but my radio career is gone if I take a woman out!

HOGAN: I tell you what, though, after what happened, if you had clocked her you’d have got away with it.

BUBBA: Maybe on the streets I’d have gotten away with it, but, how would the media have spun that had I clocked her?

HOGAN: What nobody knows, and this is the real truth, that there were certain people there, y’know, and of course they have to run it by me and Dixie… she should get off the property, she should be fired immediately, that’s it. It was so violent. You could have actually lost an eye, you could have had your teeth knocked out. But, to give you your creedo, you are the one who said no, don’t fire her.

BUBBA: No, I don’t want you to fire her.

MANSON: Now, I’m confused. Does Hogan think that this is a funny incident?

BUBBA: No, no he’s not. He knows how serious it is. He was being a dick earlier… but I don’t think he agrees with it. And, you know what, they said we were going to fire her and I said no, don’t fire her. Now, if she’s done other stuff, I can’t help what happens to her on other situations, but don’t fire her for sucker punching me, I don’t want to cost anybody their job.

HOGAN: I think this is really just the beginning of a match made in heaven.

BUBBA: No, that’s fine… that’s fine. But I tell you one thing, Hogan. If you… you better not call it pro wrestling, you might as well put the cage up and make it MMA because I will not work, I promise you that. You’re not going to embarrass me like that, and be that much of a loose cannon in this industry…

MANSON: Oh now you’re gonna kick her ass? I don’t think you want a piece of her in the cage.

BUBBA: Let me ask you, you’re the only person who has a cool head. Had I defended myself, and not covered up, and just blocked what the remaining of what she put in. Had I actually fought her, and done well, what would I be facing right now?

HOGAN: Well, first off, you’d have killed her. She’s real good at throwing a sucker punch, but the way she was swinging at you, and everything, you could have shot right between her arms and knocked her out. It wouldn’t have been cool, y’know, there would be all kind of heat… You did the right thing, y’know, because you did not hit her back, and she was swinging wild and she’s out of her mind… you did the right thing, but at the end of the day it comes back to you and me hanging out together. You know you’re going to get heat, I told you this a long time ago. BUT, don’t put this one on me, because you stirred that up.

BUBBA: How did I? I’m not putting this on you, but you lead by example… I’m gonna be honest, man, nobody there likes me. And they think, hold on, Hogan, they think I’m in there… I’m not a wrestler, I’m not going to take anybody’s job, I’m not gonna take anybody’s backstage announcing gig. I’m there to help you and try to get the TNA product going and working. I’m not a boss, I’m not a agent, I’m not nothing there and everybody… a lot of the old dudes, but AJ Styles gives me dirty looks…

HOGAN: Well the word I got on the street last night was that Russo stirred this up, and Russo put her up to it.

BUBBA: I don’t agree with that.

HOGAN: It’s true! I heard it!

MANSON: Now, did she give you a finishing move, because she’s known for a body avalanche, a gorilla press slam…

BUBBA: No, no…

HOGAN: She shoulda pushed Bubba over her head, splashed Bubba, and then just bounced off the wall and done two or three belly splashes…

MANSON: Awesome Kong, she’s so awesome…

BUBBA: Wait until my lawyers call Dixie up today.

HOGAN: I just think you should get there early today, and just like she sucker punched you, I think because Russo set this up, you should just knock his assout.

BUBBA: Well, I dunno… I don’t think Russo did this…

HOGAN: He did it, I’m telling you as your friend! I wouldn’t lie to you!

BUBBA: Hogan, I love you to death, but you’re the biggest worker… hold on. You’re taking something that really did happen and trying to make it an angle And the bottom line is, y’know what? All the wrestling sheets, you should know this is real because I didn’t talk about it, and I was upset so bad last night. Hogan, I mean, God, Dixie cannot want to deal with all this Bubba drama…

HOGAN: No, this is just your chance to even the score, straighten this out. You just go right up to Russo when he’s not looking and you just sucker punch him like she sucker punched you.

BUBBA: It will be more of a fight between Russo and I, he’s a pretty big dude, than me and Kong, but that isn’t going to be fair.

HOGAN: You can beat Russo up! Especially if you sucker punch him!

BUBBA: Manson, let me tell you about this Awesome Kong chick. She put three of them on my right cheek that you wouldn’t believe. If you look at my forearms they’re all scratched up. And she’s all, like it’s Braveheart, “HAAAITIII! HAAAIIITI!” And I’m like what… and there’s a woman named Mandy who saw it all… and then she took a glass container and threw it down.

MANSON: That’s why a camera should be on you at all times. That’s priceless footage.

HOGAN: I thought it was great!

BUBBA: But, hey, Hogan, what you don’t realize that they have “eyes in the sky” there, did you know that? They have … that whole entire building has surveillance on it. I’m gonna go get that tape.

HOGAN: Well I can’t wait to see it because I can’t believe how quick she dropped your ass!

BUBBA: She happened to meet me right there, where you guys… just outside the door, you know where it happened, right? I was going to go talk to Val Venis about something, I was heading to Catering, and she met me just down that hallway a little bit before you go down to Eric’s office. She was by herself and she was coming to find me. Just minutes before that, I was in that little office area where you and Eric did that shoot, talking to Hall and Nash and Sixx-Pac. So she was coming to find me, regardless where I was. And what if she had done it right there? She’d have got an ass-whipping by the boys!

HOGAN: By the boys? There’d have been nobody around. The only reason you covered up is because everybody was watching, and you knew you had to behave. I think if you had been by herself you would have counter clocked her ass.

BUBBA: Yeah, but she happened to catch me kinda in a dead area. What if we were shooting and she came in and did that, I mean, she was going to find me regardless of where I was.

HOGAN: Oh, yeah, she was on the hunt! I’ve been around this business for a long time, and I’ve seen Dirty Dan Spivey just destroy Adrian Adonis to the point where we had to stop that. I’ve seen Paul Orndorff, naked, with a pair of shower shoes, kick Vader’s head in. But, without a doubt, when she hit you in your mouth, I thought she broke your jaw, I thought that was one of the hardest sucker punches I’ve ever seen thrown in this business, where it connected.

BUBBA: But it didn’t drop me!

HOGAN: All joking aside, I’m really proud of you for not knocking her out, bro, because that wouldn’t be cool.

BUBBA: I’m gonna be honest with you, Hogan. After her third punch to me, in my mind I’m like, do I take her down with a double-leg, and then just pummel her. Or do I try to bring my right around… and in my head in the quarter-second I had to think about I was like, “You’re done, you’re over! You’ll be off the radio!” Women’s right will get you, look what happened when I barbecued a hog…

HOGAN: If you had hit her, you might have killed her. I’m serious, because the way you were stiff-arming her, she was flailing, she was so out of her mind, if you had sucker punched her between the eyes you might have killed her. I’m proud of you for not doing it, BUT… but what happened, she deserved it.

BUBBA: Dixie has a nice work environment… don’t I, have a talent there, have a right to walk around and not get beat up?

HOGAN: You didn’t get beat up, you just got beat on!

BUBBA: And it was a triple Lindy, three of them connected boom-boom-boom. And then I was like, man… and then, on the third one, I got my left hand out, and I’m keeping her off, my hand’s on like her collarbone area, and at that point she was wailing around, and I was like, do I drop her, do I shoot a double or single leg, or do I get down on a knee and cover up…

HOGAN: Oh, she’d have kicked your brains in if you had got down on your knee.

BUBBA: I know… but, do I just … hopefully somebody gets her off me, so if I don’t defend myself I can’t get in trouble. I was worried about lawsuits, women’s activists and getting in trouble if I had fought back and dropped her, or tried, or even attempted to..

HOGAN: When you Hulked up… and you could see that your eyeballs were rolling back like a shark, and you were going to knock her out. .. but all the sudden you had presence of mind just to cover up and to do the rope-a-dope which was the way to go…

BUBBA: Which makes me look like a pussy…

HOGAN: No, it didn’t make you look like a pussy. If you had hurt that woman, it wouldn’t have been cool. Even though you could have gotten away with it, it still wouldn’t have been cool.

BUBBA: Brent, what’s your spin on it? By the way, I will tell you this, on the way home I called Brent, he’s my confidant, I’m like, Brent, I’m really tore up with this. Brent, you wern’t happy about it, were you?

BRENT: No, I’m still not happy about it. If I were you, and I’m shooting now, I’m being 100% serious, I’d never work another day in my life, and the only correspondence that they would get from me would be through Carlson and Wisner.

HOGAN: Oh, please!

BUBBA: Well, I’m just sayin’… to each their own.

BRENT: Hostile work environment. It’s all day…slam dunk!

BUBBA: Well, it is, it is all day, but… I dunno.

HOGAN: You did the right thing, it’s all good, man. It ain’t no big deal.

BUBBA: It’s no big deal to you, you’re not the one whose getting punked out when you go to work today.

HOGAN: I thought it was awesome. AWESOME KONG RULES!

BUBBA: Go ahead and put her over, Hogan. It’s called lack of leadership, my friend, she obviously has the mindset that you ain’t shit and you don’t care. She went after your number one guy, and what are you going to do about it, old timer? You’re all bark and no bite there, buddy!

HOGAN: I’m going to book you and Russo together, because he’s the one who set it up.

BUBBA: Or the fact that he set it up and you’re not doing anything.

HOGAN: I’m setting it up!

BUBBA: You’re not even sticking up for me on this.

HOGAN: Oh, Jesus Christ, it was a girl, a 350-pound girl, calm down!… I was just worried about your shoulder, I knew you had hurt your shoulder trying to hold that monster off.

BUBBA: Oh, my shoulder is amped…

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— In an update on Ken Anderson’s contract status with TNA, he is reportedly is working on a per-night deal.

He’s looking to do acting, but doesn’t want to have a contract where the company has first dibs on his services and he’d have to work around their taping schedule like everyone else has to do.

— Last week’s episode of iMPACT! scored a 1.26 cable rating with 1.8 million viewers. The show also drew 1.00 in Males 18-34 and 1.12 in Males 35-49.

While the numbers are higher than what the show has been doing as of late, it was also the first show in months that didn’t run either on a holiday or against major football competition. Before football, the company averaged a 1.22 in July and a 1.13 in August.

In the segment-by-segment numbers, Kurt Angle’s promo with AJ Styles and the arrival of “The Band” gained 159,000 viewers. A Knockouts tag match pitting “The Beautiful People” against Awesome Kong and Hamada with the return of Angelina Love gained 100,000 viewers and did a 1.34 quarter, making it the highest rated segment on the show. Bobby Lashley attacking Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed, Team 3D in a seven second match and subsequent promo lost 86,000 viewers. Sean Morley’s confrontation with Daniels and Beer Money vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez, with the Hal and Nash beat down, lost 14,000 viewers. Samoa Joe vs. Desmond Wolfe lost 71,000 viewers. The backstage confrontation between Jeff Jarrett and Hulk Hogan gained 143,000 viewers and did a 1.32 rating, achieving the second best number for the evening. Even with Ric Flair on commentatry, the Styles vs. Tomko main event lost 186,000 viewers doing a 1.19 final quarter.

— The debut of TNA Epics immediately following last Thursday’s episode of iMPACT! did a 0.65 rating to be exact, rounding up to 0.7.

Kazuchika Okada

New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kazuchika Okada is headed to TNA Wrestling, according to a message on the Puroresu Spirit Facebook.com page.

Okada, who is known as the Young Lion, will wrestle in the United States for TNA to gain experience until he’s ready to come back to New Japan and be a top competitor.

The official announcement reads:

As for the 22 year old Kazuchika Okada, NJPW has high hopes for the Young Lion as they plan to send him to train and wrestle for TNA Wrestling. The President of NJPW Sugabayashi has stated that Okada is still young and that the plan is for Okada to stay as long as needed for him to come back to NJPW and become a real contender. So at this time it looks like he may be in TNA for the next 2-3 years.

Bubba The Love Sponge

After news that there was major heat on Bubba The Love Sponge backstage in TNA for saying “F— Haiti” on Twitter, it turns out there’s a lot more to the story.

Hulk Hogan appeared on Bubba’s radio show on Tuesday morning and said TNA Knockout Awesome Kong attacked Bubba backstage and puched him in the face at Monday’siMPACT! taping in Orlando.

Kong has been taking part in fundraising efforts to raise money for the victims of the earthquake Haiti which has claimed upwards of 200,000 lives.

Bubba described the incident:

“She was wearing wrestling gear, and she came in on me and sucker punched me right on my left cheek, and I was like, what’s going on… then she came out me again, hit me again in the mouth, and she goes, ‘This if for Haiti! This is for Haiti!’ and I’m like ‘What is going on?’ Finally I put my left hand out and push her away from me, and she comes at me again and I just cover up, because I cannot fight back on a woman. Not only will I be fired from TNA, which I probably am, but my radio career is gone if I take a woman out!”

Bubba and Kong were both sent home.

A source in TNA says that Bubba has major heat in the locker room and might not be around for too long despite being a Hogan ally.

UPDATE: SEScoops.com can confirm that Awesome Kong backstage in Orlando and is expected to be used for tonight’s iMPACT! taping. The TNA locker room is said to be almost 100% behind Kong in the situation and there’s no heat on her for attacking Bubba.

TNA Wrestling is now telling fans who attend iMPACT! tapings that they aren’t audience members – they’re [unpaid] cast members – and they’re not supposed to react negatively against what they are seeing in the ring.

Prior to Monday’s iMPACT! TV taping in Orlando, members of TNA’s production team addressed the audience with instructions about “how act like cast members” in the filming of a TV series and not distract talent from “telling a story” to viewers at home.

“You are cast members here. It’s active, it’s TV-14, please, I know it’s fun to try to distract the talent up here, but they have to tell a story to two million people. You’re part of us. You’re helping us tell the story. Please don’t try and distract the story.”

The pre-show announcement comes the night after Genesis, when the iMPACT! zone totally crapped on Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s opening segment, the Band, Sean Morey, Mr. Anderson and many of the other “new faces” in TNA.

The director also told TNA fans not to “throw up gang signs” and not to chant “bullshit” during the show, as it just creates work for the production team – who have to edit the bad language out.

“Every time you come here, I want you to be excited. What I cannot have from the audience are curses, flipped bird, and gang signs that I may not understand,” he said. “Please, watch your language. Please, watch what you do. If I ask you to remove a sign, I’m not even sure the reason. Somebody in the truck saw something. We’re going to be watching you. When we see this violation, we’re going to ask you to move.”

UPDATE: The YouTube video showing the whole incident has been taken down after TNA Entertainment complained to YouTube.

Bubba The Love Sponge

There’s major heat on TNA backstage interviewer and radio shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge after some pretty tasteless comments he made over the weekend regarding the earthquake in Haiti.’

As everybody is aware of by now, an earthquake devastated the country of Haiti last week and tens of thousands are feared dead. Bubba the Love Sponge is apparently sick of the United States efforts to help another country when we have so many issues at home to address and wrote on Twitter, “F— Haiti”

No matter how you feel about the United States’ foreign policy and its political stance on spending American dollars to help other nations in need, the comment was pretty foolish.

As a result of the “F— Haiti” comment, Bubba was told by TNA management to stay home over the weekend and not to attend the TNA production meetings headed into Sunday night’s Genesis pay-per-view.He was reportedly supposed to be part of an angle involving The Band at Genesis. Regarding that situation, he wrote on Twitter:

“here in orlando things r all messed up. Was suppose to be at the prod meeting @11 they called and said not 2 come???”

“I was suppose 2bpart of the outsiders deal and somebody over ruled hogan on it and I sat in the back all night about”

Bubba has since posted an apology regarding his Haiti comment:

“I am going to say this one time and one time only. First of all a real man sometimes has to take a step back and maybe look at something they said or did so that being said I would like to apologize for my comments regarding Haiti in the world of live radio that I operate. Sometimes u say things that u can’t take back. So I’m man enough now to say I’m sorry for those I offended.”

Too little too late? Let’s hear your Comments below.

– Jesse Godderz of Big Brother fame was with Dixie Carter at TNA’s Genesis pay-per-view. Godderz is a body builder and has recently worked a dark match for TNA in hopes of getting in with the company.

– Sean Morley wrote the following on his Facebook about his match at Genesis with Daniels: “Did my first PPV match with TNA in a complete zombie type state. I walked into that ring last night with 36 hours of zero sleep under my belt. Never want to take another red eye before work again. Zero sleep sucks!”

– The valet with Desmond Wolfe at last night’s Genesis was a model from Orlando that TNA has used in the past on some shows.

– While not confirmed, early promotional material for TNA’s March 21st Destination X hints that the show will be an all X-Division pay-per-view.

(Credit to f4wonline.com for some of the information used in this report)