– The latest on Ric Flair is that he has not signed with TNA as of this week. Flair was out of the country on vacation last weekend but word is that TNA is putting pressure on him that if he doesn’t sign and appear on the January 4th show then the offer may be pulled. The issue most likely is Flair not wanting to go with WWE’s competition. However, money plays a factor as the last time WWE made him an offer it wasn’t even close to what TNA is offering. It’s believed that WWE’s last offer to Flair was somewhere around $250,000 per year. Flair hasn’t spoken with WWE about any kind of offer recently. As noted before, Flair wants to sign with Panda Energy in case TNA goes under, he still gets paid. Flair feels that since Hulk Hogan signed a deal under the same circumstances with Panda, he should get the same treatment.
– Reaction within TNA to the news of Scott Hall returning has been negative because of Hall’s track record with the company. Some are also worried about what kind of negative impact Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff can have on TNA with making bad decisions.
– While TNA is still turning people away from the iMPACT Zone for pay-per-views, they are having problems with attendance at TV tapings. They have been having to get people to move closer together and only film that direction because of attendance lately. They are trying to get more fans to come out for the January 4th live show and the feeling is attendance is more of a problem this time around because of the slow season at Universal Studios. Attendance at the theme park is down this time of year and people in the park who aren’t wrestling fans usually make up a good part of the crowd. There is hope that with Hogan and possibly Flair wrestling in the iMPACT Zone in 2010, attendance among park-goers who aren’t wrestling fans will increase.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)
