– For those who missed the TNA Lockdown pay-per-view on Sunday night, Bobby Lashley made his return during the show. Lashley came out to answer the open challenge issued by Ethan Carter III.

– Also of note at the TNA Lockdown pay-per-view, former World Champion Bully Ray came out as Dixie Carter’s “insurance policy” and served as the special referee for the Lethal Lockdown match. Ray ended up turning on Dixie and power bombing Bobby Roode, helping Team MVP secure the victory and control of the company.

– Abyss made his return during the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match on the show between Magnus and Samoa Joe. Abyss came up from underneath the ring, pulled Samoa Joe down, and ended up attacking him with “Janice,” which allowed Magnus to secure the victory and retain the title.

– Finally, Jeff Hardy made his return during the show, also in the Lethal Lockdown main event. Hardy returned as his childhood alter-ego, “Willow.”

TNA Lockdown 2014

TNA Lockdown opens with a shot from earlier in the day of World Champion Magnus making his way into the building in Miami, Florida, the site of tonight’s show. That’s followed up by Samoa Joe entering the arena earlier in the day. We then get the usual kick-ass opening video package, with highlights of all the history leading into the top feuds, all of which culmninate in steel cage matches tonight.

After the video package, Mike Tenay welcomes us to the 2014 edition of TNA’s Lockdown pay-per-view. We then quickly head to the ring, with Christy Hemme introducing the first match.

Bad Influence & Chris Sabin vs. Sanada, Yasu & The Great Muta

Out first are Bad Influence, the tag-team of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. Both guys come out in Japanese-style outfits, complete with masks. Their tag-team partner for tonight, Chris Sabin, is out next. Their opponents, X-Division Champion Sanada, along with Yasu and The Great Muta make their way to the ring. Highlights are shown of Sanada winning the X-Division Championship during his entrance.

The bell rings and Chris Sabin and Sanada start things off for their respective teams. Sanada goes to work on the arm of Sabin straight out of the gate. Sabin reverses the tide and is putting the boots to Sanada on the mat. The crowd are already getting going with the chants as the pace picks up between Sanada and Sabin. Lots of quick reversals and pin attempts from both guys as Mike Tenay puts over Sanada as a big deal.

Sanada makes the tag to Yasu and Sabin tags in Kazarian. The fans break out in a “we want Muta” chant as Kazarian establishes control over his Japanese opposition. Yasu gets Kazarian in a headlock and makes the tag to The Great Muta. Muta comes in firing away with quick kicks as the crowd explodes for the Japanese legend. Kazarian makes the tag to Daniels. Muta quickly goes to work on Daniels. Muta sprays the mist in the air and the crowd pops.

Muta makes the tag to Yasu and Kazarian is brought back into the contest. Yasu blasts Kazarian with some kicks. Daniels distracts Yasu, allowing his Bad Influence teammate to regain control of the offense. Kazarian tags in Daniels. Daniels, along with Sabin, come in and the trio triple-teams Yasu briefly. Daniels tags in Sabin after only being the legal man for a few seconds. Sabin chokes Yasu with his boot in the corner. Muta tries to come to his partner’s aid, which ties the referee up long enough to allow Bad Influence and Sabin to triple-team Yasu once again.

Daniels hits a big moonsault on Yasu for a near fall. Taz puts over Muta being one of the innovators of the moonsault, questioning what Muta thinks of Daniels’ version of the move he helped make popular in America. Bad Influence and Sabin hit a three-way dropkick on Yasu. Both teams make a tag and now Sanada and Daniels are the legal men. Sanada takes the hot tag and is flying all over the place, blasting each member of the Bad Influence/Sabin team with high-paced offense. The crowd comes alive as Sanada continues to fly all over the place. After some double-team action from the heels, Muta is tagged in. The crowd explodes once again for Muta.

Muta comes in, as well as everyone else in the match. There are bodies everywhere. Muta goes for a figure four leglock, but Bad Influence run in to break it up. Muta sprays the mist out of nowhere and then tags Sanada back in. Muta hits a shining wizard as Sanada goes to the top rope. Sanada hits a big moonsault on Daniels and pins him. 1-2-3. Muta sprays a different colored mist to celebrate the victory. The crowd broke out into a brief “this is awesome” chant, by the way, as the match was finishing up.

Winners: Sanada, Yasu & The Great Muta

Rockstar Spud & Dixie Carter Promo

Rockstar Spud comes out, to the surprise of Mike Tenay and Taz. Spud enters the ring and hops on the mic. The crowd boo’s him. Spud says as our Chief of Staff he’s here to introduce his queen, and all of ours, Madam Dixie Carter.

Dixie comes out to the top of the stage and the crowd boo’s and chants something. Dixie talks trash about James Storm a bit as the crowd drowns her out with loud boo’s. Dixie talks about MVP and the angle for surrounding tonight’s main event as the crowd chants “you suck Dixie.” She concludes by talking about how she went to New York to get something or someone to ensure her team will get the victory later tonight. Awful, awful promo segment.

Backstage With Jeremy Borash

Backstage, Jeremy Borash talks with one of the Knockouts, as well as Eric Young. They run down some of the interactive Twitter stuff they’re doing for the show.

Mr. Anderson vs. Samuel Shaw

The video package highlighting the history of the Mr. Anderson and Samuel Shaw feud, with the Christy Hemme involvement, etc., is shown to hype up the next match here at Lockdown.

Jeremy Borash, stepping in for Christy Hemme, introduces Samuel Shaw first. Mike Tenay talks about how this is an escape the cage match. Shaw makes his way to the ring as Taz talks about how creepy and dangerous Shaw is. Shaw grabs a mic before heading into the ring. Shaw climbs up to the top of the cage and sits down. He starts by saying “Christy where are you?” The fans in Miami get on Shaw’s case with chants. Shaw says if Christy doesn’t come out here he’s going to “end it all.” Shaw stands on top of the cage and then Mr. Anderson’s music plays.

Anderson comes out saying “whoa, whoa whoa.” He tells Shaw to hang on a second. Anderson reaches up and the mic drops from the ceiling. Anderson does his usual self-introduction stuff. Anderson tells Shaw he doesn’t wanna jump off that thing, referring to the cage that he’s standing on. He says it’s not high enough, he won’t be ending it all he’ll just twist his ankle or something. He says he needs at least four or five stories to pull it off. He tells him to come down from there so he can beat him up a little bit. Anderson asks the fans if they want him to beat him up a little bit. The crowd breaks out into a “Yes!” chant. Anderson gets the fans to chant “creepy bastard” at Shaw.

Anderson’s music starts playing again, he takes his shirt off and he heads to the ring. Shaw is standing on the top rope now as the bell rings to make this one official. Tenay again points out that this is an escape the cage rules match. Anderson goes to work on Shaw as Christy Hemme makes her way down to ringside. Shaw catches Anderson running into the corner with a big boot to slow his momentum down. Anderson goes for the Mic Check but Shaw blocks it. Anderson hits a gut-wrench suplex on Shaw as Taz points out that it’s a Billy Robinson original move. He then talks about the unfortunate passing of Robinson. Shaw knocks Anderson down and begins to climb the cage.

We see a shot of Hemme looking on as Shaw continues his climb. Shaw gets one leg over the top of the cage, but then Anderson makes it up to stop him from escaping. The two trade punches. Shaw smashes Anderson’s face into the cage. And again. And a third time, which drops him down to the mat. Shaw climbs back over the top of the cage again, but again Anderson stops him. This time Anderson smashes Shaw’s face into the cage repatedly. This time both guys knock each other off the cage. Both guys are laid out in the middle of the ring. The “creepy bastard” chants start up again as Shaw gets back to his feet. Shaw asks the referee to open the door. Anderson rams into Shaw from behind, which blasts Shaw into the cage door, knocking Earl Hebner to the floor.

Anderson hits Shaw with his Mic Check finisher. The announcers point out that because Hebner was knocked out, and since he had the key, the only way these guys can escape now is by going over the top of the cage and out to the floor. Anderson hits Shaw with his finisher again. Christy is shown smiling and cheering Anderson on. Anderson climbs out to the floor, but Shaw grabs Hemme through the cage. Tenay says Anderson has this match won but now he’s got to save Hemme. Shaw pulls Hemme into the ring through the cage. He slowly closes in on Christy. Christy slaps him. Anderson finally makes it into the ring. He turns Shaw around and blasts him with a big punch. Hemme runs out of the cage. Shaw low-blows Anderson from behind. Shaw locks Anderson in his choke finisher. Shaw chokes out Anderson as we see Christy running to the back. Shaw walks out of the cage door and hits the floor. Hebner calls for the bell. I guess Hebner didn’t see Anderson climb out of the cage earlier. So, Shaw wins.

Winner: Samuel Shaw

According to sources, TNA Knockout Brooke Tessmacher may be done with TNA Wrestling. The rumors emanate from her recent social media changes, where she switched the name of both her Twitter and Instagram accounts to her real name. Another interesting fact is that after changing both of the account names, Tessmacher posted a message that read, “Things change for a reason.”

Tessmacher was not part of TNA’s recent tour of the United Kingdom, and hasn’t wrestled a match for the company since the November 7th edition of Impact Wrestling.

Kurt Angle has been officially pulled from Sunday’s TNA Lockdown pay-per-view. Angle recently underwent surgery after the TNA crew returned from the UK, which he delayed so he could wrestle on the tour. The storyline explanation is that Angle will need surgery due to EC3’s attack, which aired on Thursday’s Impact.  Angle tweeted on Friday:

Attack by EC3 in London aired last night has taken me out of Lockdown Sunday. Surgery required but I will be back soon!

— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) March 7, 2014

EC3 played up the storyline on Twitter, noting that he’ll still be competing at Lockdown and will hold a press conference at the TNA Lockdown Fan Interaction event to address the situation.

I will be hosting a press conference tomorrow at #FanInteraction for #LockdownMiami in regards to @RealKurtAngle's status and injury.

— ecIII (@therealec3) March 7, 2014

In the meantime, my thoughts are with @RealKurtAngle. In the heat of competition, things happen. For that, I am truly sorry. #GetWellKurt

— ecIII (@therealec3) March 7, 2014

For my millions of fans, the answer is YES, I will still be in action at #LockdownMiami. I live for my fans, wouldn't miss it for the world.

— ecIII (@therealec3) March 7, 2014

The following are highlights of a new interview with TNA star Frankie Kazarian:

On MVP and the Wolves coming in and the recent changes made to TNA: “Well, I’ve been in TNA a long time; I’ve been there since the beginning and I’ve seen a lot of changes. I was there when a whole slew of established former WWE guys came in and I was there when a new surge of X-Division guys came in. You’re always thrilled with new competition; in the case of Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards, the Wolves, Chris Daniels and myself in particular were psyched. Those were guys we’d been talking about, rumbling about, backstage with the powers that be months preceding them debuting and guys that we saw on the rise that we’d like to do some stuff with.

So, from a creative and professional standpoint, we were very psyched and got the change to mix it up with them several times over in England and hopefully for our sake and the fans, it was only the tip of the iceberg. Both guys are amazing athletes; they’re a great tag team and they’re just the guys we’ve been thirsting for, kind of been licking our chops waiting for that tag team to come in that we can do some really cool stuff and have some fantastic matches with and those are the guys.

As far as MVP, he an asset; he’s definitely established himself and a very good professional wrestling character and he’s been brought in, thrown right into the fire and he’s right up there in the major level of the company and all coming to a head this Sunday at Lockdown.”

If there’s anyone he’d would like to see possibly with TNA: “That’s tough; I try and follow the indy scene as much as I can but admittedly I’m sometimes lazy when it comes to that, I really need to get back into that. Guys who I have wrestled before but I fell that would make a tremendous addition to the TNA roster and the Young Bucks, Matt and Nick. We’ve had discussion about them coming in; those guys are dynamic performers and could come back to TNA and make a major impact, no pun intended. But then there’s guys in the indys, guys I knew coming up in the business that are still doing very good and haven’t been on TNA at all or very much, guys like Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov and Ricky Reyes and guys like that. These are guys who I think could do something here and there’s a lot of hungry, talented indy guys in Ring of Honor or PWG and that. But I don’t know if I could really just single anyone out talent because I’m not as familiar as I once was with the whole independent scene.

But obviously there are guys, I’d like to see Amazing Red back and Petey (Williams) and Sonjay (Dutt) and Alex Shelley and those guys and Jay Lethal. Those guys are friends and tremendous athletes. But, we’ll see, I’m sure there will be a lot more new faces coming up.”

The recent overseas trip to Japan: “We did, we did. We when over there to participate in the Wrestle-1/TNA ‘Outbreak’ pay-per-view, which was held at Sumo Hall, Sumo Arena, which is a venue I’ve wrestled in a couple of times in my previous journeys to Japan back in the day. It was an amazing even and I was thrilled to be back in Japan. Wrestling there, you can’t really describe it unless you’ve been there; it’s very, very cool and always an honor. The show was great and all parties involved were very happy with everything: the effort, the matches, and I can’t wait to go back, I hope it’s soon.”

On facing The Great Muta this Sunday at Lockdown: “It’s a thrill; it’s another one of those things like when I was affiliated with Ric Flair. You know, you dream about being a wrestler as a child and you grew up watching these guys and sometimes you have to take a step back when you’re in the ring with them and step out as say ‘Wow, this is cool. This is literally living a dream.’ Muta is no exception to that; he’s a legend. He’s a guy I grew up, and I can’t say watching, but reading about obviously because I didn’t watch Japanese wrestling as a young kid. All I could do is read about him and reading about him, I thought ‘Wow, he looks cool’ and I knew he was a big deal. And getting older and discovering tapes and such, he’s a legend. So, to have the opportunity to wrestle him while he’s still physically into wrestling, which you don’t know how much longer that’s going to be; it’s a thrill, an honor and I’m very, very psyched and to do it with my friends Christopher Daniels and Chris Sabin. It’s going to be good man, it could be the sleeper match, I’m just saying right now. Could be that one that sneaks in there and steals the show, because we have been known to do that. We are wanted in the state of Florida for stealing several shows, so let’s see if we can even make it into the building that day.”

Bad Influence’s involvement with TNA365: “Yeah, well, when they approached the whole roster with this idea, we just kinda looked at each other and thought ‘Wow, this is tailor-made for us’. If you want to put funny, entertaining and/or dumb stuff on television or the website, we are your guys. That’s kind of been our shtick since before TNA 365 was even around; we were 365 before 365 was a thing. In fact, for Chris Daniels one of the things, one of the sayings AJ (Styles) and I had was because the guys is always on; he literally doesn’t have an off switch. We’d say ‘it’s 25/8 with this guy; 366” because the guy never stops.

Yeah, that was just another creative outlet we had to give TNA and to our fans. You know, we had a couple of videos we sent in and were told ‘Hey guys, that’s really fun, but…’ because we’re known to be guys who push the envelope because I like an edgier wrestling product, so does Chris Daniels, and I’m just stuck in that mindset to make it sanitary but I like a little edge and a little roughness , but I understand why they feel that, but it doesn’t stop me from making it. But it’s cool; it just adds another way for us to be silly and annoying and stupid and just continue having, which is what Bad Influence has been about since day one.”

The origins of Throwback Thursdays: “Well, to be honest, the first one started with Chris Daniels, who had found a kiosk, somewhere on the road and I wasn’t on the road for this trip in particular, that sold Zubaz pants. And he called me and told me; for those of you who don’t know, in the 80’s wrestlers wore this comfortable Zubaz pants, which look ridiculous but they were zebra striped and came in every color in the world. And every wrestler, and/or sports figure or person in the 80’s-early 90’s had them. So he said, ‘Would you like a pair’ and I said ‘Absolutely’.

And then I texted him, ‘Do we have the balls to wear there on television?’ And that’s how we kind of came up with this ‘Ok, well let’s do it! Let’s wear the cut-off half shirts; let’s wear the fanny packs! And, since it’s Thursday, let’s call it Throwback Thursday.’ I kind of put that together, and it worked and it got such a huge response it kind of got the wheels turning so the next one we did I think was Braveheart with the kilts and then we did the Legion of Boom and that was CD’s. We got the idea from watching an old Road Warriors tape one day and then we did Siegfried and Roy in Vegas; it’s Vegas, anyone can do Elvis or Wayne Newton, let’s do Siegfried and Roy! There’s two of us, there’s two of them.

It’s just one of those things where we’re always thinking. We’re both always; if it’s not about a move or a match or an angle, it’s something. That’s one of the main reasons we have such good chemistry as a team; it’s because we’re both love the pro wrestling business and we’re always thinking and it’s gotten to a point where people expect things and it’s hard to top one another; trying to pick and choose where to do it, what makes sense in this city and not doing it too often because we get people all the time ‘When do we get to see another one?’ When?’ It’s one of those things where if you get too many of them, it gets redundant and boring, and that’s two things Bad Influence isn’t. But, keep your eyes open, because you never know But it’s cool and it’s just another thing they’ve been generous enough to let us take and ride with and I think every one of them has been a home-run.”

Check out the complete interview at WildTalkRadio.com.

– This year’s TNA Slammiversary PPV will take place on Sunday, June 8th from The College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas. This is the same venue that hosted Slammiversary 2012.

– VH1 has issued a press release announcing that they have picked up a new show “I Heart Nick Carter,” which is produced by Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey. The show will focus on Carter’s relationship with his fiancee, Lauren Kitt.

(Partial Source: PWinsider.com )

On Thursday’s Impact, MVP announced that Jeff Hardy will be returning to TNA this Sunday at Lockdown and will be part of his Team MVP in the Steel Cage Lethal Lockdown match.

Here’s the final card for TNA Lockdown:

STEEL CAGE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Magnus (c) vs. Samoa Joe

STEEL CAGE LETHAL LOCKDOWN
Team MVP (MVP, The Wolves & TBA) vs. Team Dixie (Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, The BroMans)

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Kurt Angle vs. Ethan Carter III

STEEL CAGE KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
Madison Rayne (c) vs. Gail Kim

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Gunner vs. “Cowboy” James Storm

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Mr. Anderson vs. Samuel Shaw

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Bad Influence & Chris Sabin vs. The Great Muta, Sanada and Tigre Uno

Mr. Anderson vs. Samuel Shaw has been added to Sunday’s TNA Lockdown pay-per-view from Miami, Florida. The final member of Team MVP will be revealed on tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling.

Here’s the updated card for TNA Lockdown:

STEEL CAGE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Magnus (c) vs. Samoa Joe

STEEL CAGE LETHAL LOCKDOWN
Team MVP (MVP, The Wolves & TBA) vs. Team Dixie (Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, The BroMans)

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Kurt Angle vs. Ethan Carter III

STEEL CAGE KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
Madison Rayne (c) vs. Gail Kim

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Gunner vs. “Cowboy” James Storm

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Mr. Anderson vs. Samuel Shaw

STEEL CAGE MATCH
Bad Influence & Chris Sabin vs. The Great Muta, Sanada and Tigre Uno

Heading into this Sunday’s Lockdown pay-per-view, TNA / Impact Wrestling star and former World champion Austin Aries made his return to the In The Room radio show with Brady Hicks and his crew last night to talk about his success with the company and the traction his career has gained since he was last IN THE ROOM.

Check it out as “A-Double” talks TNA’s recent tour of Japan and excitement of other international tours … his own creative input … the importance of his X Division title and attaching the #1 Contender stipulation to it … the role that fans have played in his career … Hulk Hogan’s influence, both on himself and on TNA … teaming and feuding with another shooting star in Bobby Roode … the “art” of tag wrestling … the concept of private contractors and how that could affect CM Punk’s situation … misconceptions about independent wrestlers … his vegan lifestyle … and his new band. All that, and so much more! Thanks to Austin Aries for so generously giving us his time and to everyone else for their support.

Here are some highlights of what Aries said about:

TNA’s Health as a Company: “I think TNA’s fine. I think people get a little wrapped up in the day-to-day operations, per se. They like to maybe read into things without really having the knowledge of everything that’s going on behind the scenes. … My paychecks are coming. I’m working consistently … There’s a lot of good things on the horizon. [TNA has] some fresh talent coming in that’s going to inject some new excitement to the fans … A lot of the US wrestling fans, especially the ones who make their money by creating controversy, they like to get wrapped up in the Nielsen ratings, and try to use that as a gauge to how good TNA is doing … We are very strong globally … Every company goes through ebbs and flows, as they say. Every company has to continually reassess their business plan. Continually keep things fresh and exciting so things don’t get stagnant. This company is no different.”

Promotions Taking Better Care of their Wrestlers: “When you treat your employees with respect, you take care of them, and they’re proud to come to work, they’re going to work hard. They’re not going to find ways to get back [what] they feel like they’re being cheated out of. From that simple standpoint, I think if wrestlers came to work, not feeling like the [were] being taken advantage of, I think the output would increase. I think the morale would increase across the board, and I think the dog-eat-dog mentality would improve … The wrestling business could greatly thrive. Would there be a financial component in the short run that might hurt [the industry’s] bottom line? Sure. But, again, if you’re thinking about long-term success of how you do in your business, it could be a great change in this industry … I see both sides of it, but I think that there’s a better medium than what we have right now.”

Having One of TNA’s More Successful Pushes: “I’m going to give myself more credit and say that [I’ve] figured out ways to keep myself relevant, and take whatever opportunity, big or small, that they put in front of me, and go make it meaningful. I’m grateful for the platform, for the opportunities that they’ve given me. But at the end of the day it’s my job to take those [opportunities] and hit home runs with them. That’s what separates good talent from great talent. Some guys know how to take a good opportunity and turn it into something bigger. As you know, my opportunity to come back to TNA was for one match. No promises, for all intents and purposes one match, and then I was going to be gone. And I took that one opportunity and parlayed it into a pretty successful run I’d say. I want to give[TNA] some credit but I have to give myself some credit too for that … There have been a lot of opportunities handed out in TNA. Some guys have made the most of them, and other guys weren’t able to do it. And that’s what kind of separates the guys who can carry the ball and those that can’t.”

If TNA Originally Planned to Push Him: “I honestly don’t know what was in the plans. I don’t know how far, especially in this industry, how far plans are really made. I think any good creative team would always keep their options open and be able to change things if the circumstances dictate it … My opinion, again [is] I walked in there for one match. So it isn’t like when they brought me in for that X Division showcase match they said “In a year, we’re going to put the heavyweight title on him and give him an opportunity to be the guy.” So, in that regard, the answer would be no. I don’t think that this is something that you plan out for two or three years ahead of time.”

The following is a preview for tonight’s episode of TNA Impact Wrestling on Spike TV, the final show taped from the European tour:

– TNA World Champion Magnus & Samoa Joe go face to face ahead of their title match this Sunday at Lockdown.

– MVP & The Wolves vs. Bobby Roode, Austin Aries & Robbie E, with the winning team getting the advantage in their Lethal Lockdown match.

– MVP will announce the final member of his team for Lethal Lockdown.

– Sam Shaw vs. Eric Young.

– KO champion Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky & ODB vs. Gail Kim & Lei’d Tapa & Alpha Female in a six-Knockouts tag match.

*SPOILERS* For Tonight’s Episode of IMPACT WRESTLING

Ring Rust Radio with MVP
Host: Donald Wood
Audio available at Blogtalkradio.com/ringrustradio

MVP on the Lethal Lockdown match: “There’s a lot of emotion for me, first of all, and you’ve got two teams of four men locked inside of a cage with weapons, it’s going to be chaotic it’s going to be brutal it’s going to be fierce, but at the end of the day, BobbyRoode has some stake on the line and I’ve got wrestling operations on the line. I think the best thing we can do for the TNA fans and the wrestlers is to send Dixie back to Dixieland and let a wrestler run wrestling operations.”

The deciding factor between TNA and WWE: “I had a couple conversations with Triple H, but at the end of the day that WWE schedule is 250 plus days a year. And after spending so many years in Japan where I’d be on for a month, then I’d be off for a month, and that wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to give up.”

MVP on the CM Punk situation: “Let’s look at it this way. I had a year left in my deal and I asked for a release. I was ready to go. So, would I support? Absolutely, because you have to remember it is a business. In the case of the WWE: great product and powerful company, and they gave me the opportunity to do all that I have done so far for which I will be forever grateful. They’ve almost got a monopoly. They can do pretty much whatever they want. As a fan on the outside looking in, all you know is ‘hey, that’s the guy I want to see every week’ and not the intricacies of what goes on behind the scenes.”

Being a veteran in TNA: “One of the things that attracted me to TNA and why I chose to go there was that they did want to do somewhat of a reset and wanted to bring in fresh faces create new younger stars. They’ve already, to some extent, established that with the wolves and Magnus and some other talent that are on their wish list and they have been talking to. With my experience, I try to give it where it’s asked for. With guys like ECIII and the Wolves and some of the guys that respect the fact that I’ve been around and I am a veteran in the business, I try to give it. I just want to be the best every time I go out and I want to work with the best and I want everyone around me to want to be the best. If somebody comes to me and asks advice or for a criticism, I have no issue giving it to them because at the end of the day, we all win and the fans win, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Working in Japan affecting his style: “I’ll let you in on a secret. Going to Japan made me better, but I kind of laugh when people say, ‘MVP was so much better in Japan; he’s so much better now’. I could do all of that stuff before. If you go back and look at that series I had with (Chris) Benoit, I could do that. When you go to work, you do what your bosses tell you to do. If your bosses tell you to do something a certain way, you do it. If you get to a point where you don’t want to do it anymore, you either: do what they tell you to do or leave, which was part of the reason why I decided to go to New Japan. I wanted to do all of those things you saw me doing, but I wasn’t allowed.”

The Rack radio with Christopher Daniels
Hosted by Lindsey Ward and Sir Rockin
Audio interview available at Wildtalkradio.com

His excitement for the upcoming TNA ‘Lockdown’ PPV:“Yeah, absolutely. I’m always excited for TNA Pay-Per-Views and this one is no different. And there’s a special sort of excitement because I’m not quite sure what I’m doing yet. I know I’m going to be part of the show, but with all the hub-bub going on with Bobby Roode and Dixie Carter and MVP; you know the obvious choice would be having my main man Francois (Kazarian) and myself as Bad Influence being part of Team Roode but Bobby, right now, seems to have had his confidence shaken for some reason, so we’re still debating whether or not we’re going to be a part of Team Roode at Lethal Lockdown. So, we’re going to find out, hopefully soon.

No matter what happens, the most entertaining part of the show is going to be ‘The Secretary of Offense’ Frankie Kazarian and ‘The Man with the Rear that Makes the Women Cheer’ Christopher Daniels, no matter what we do; no matter who we are wrestling. It’s possible we might just be standing on the ramp, watching the show, waving to people as stuff happens, it doesn’t matter; whatever happens we’re going to be the most entertaining part of the show, so you can take that to the bank, if you like.”

On the recent changes within TNA, like MVP coming in: “I think it’s a great time to be a TNA fan, because when you see guys like MVP come to TNA; you see guys like Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (The Wolves) entering TNA, you just got to be happy with the possibilities, the unseen match-ups that so far haven’t been seen and you’re going to get a chance to see them. Not long ago Bad Influence and the Wolves had their first match on television. I told everyone after the fact, on Twitter, that that wasn’t going to be a one-and-done; I’m sure there’s going to be more opportunities for us to try our best against Davey and Eddie and the winner of that match is definitely going to be the fans. They are going to be watching some of the best tag-team wrestling in the world when Frankie and myself get our hands on Davey and Eddie once again. And now that they are the World Tag Team Champions, I foresee gold in our future once again.”

Their recent challenges for the TNA Tag Team Titles:” Well I mean, you’ve seen the last couple of times we’ve even had the opportunity to wrestle for the belts; it wasn’t like one-on-one or one team versus one team. It was three teams involved or four teams involved; we had to go through a Gauntlet to even be involved in Bound for Glory and you can see how that worked out for us. I mean, they’ve stacked the odds against us because they know one-on-one, two-on-two, we’re the most dominant team and the best tag team in the bus-i-ness, and they understand this, so the powers that be, the people who want the titles around other people’s waists, they don’t want them around our delicious waists; if they did all they’d have to do is sign a match with just us as the challengers.”

If TNA is moving in a positive direction: “I absolutely think TNA is moving in the right direction. I feel like we’ve been on a roll ever since we’ve gotten back from the U.K. All the television that we’ve been doing, the stuff taped overseas went very well so far, so it’s going very well especially with Bad Influence in the fold. Like I said, we’re the most entertaining part of this roster and as long as we’re doing that dance down the aisles, you can be assured that TNA is the television that you should watch.”

The recent TNA overseas tour of the UK: “It was a very difficult tour in the sense that logistically in that we were traveling a lot. We had very little time down time; we arrived in Dublin, had a show the next day, and then the next day flew right to Scotland and went right from the airport to the building to hit our show in Glasgow. Then, that night, we drove from Glasgow, Scotland to Manchester, England and spent many hours on the bus, got in late and got up early the next day to do the show in Manchester, then drove to London to do Wembly, so we spent a lot of time on the bus and did a lot of traveling to get from place to place and get those five shows done in five days but the good thing about is we were all together. We definitely, as a team, put out some great television and did some great shows and had a great response from the UK crowds which is one of our most ardent support groups, the UK fans.

Absolutely, every time we go over there, they’re some of the most enthusiastic fans that we wrestle in front of, and the chance we get to go and do TV in front of them again, like we did last year, it definitely adds to the presentation of our product. So, I feel that’s always been a highlight for our year, to go over there and do the UK tour.”

His upcoming Japan trip with Wrestle-1: “We’re going over for Wrestle-1; we leave Friday and our show is on March 2nd. Bad Influence has been announced to be grappling against Minoru Tanaka and Koji Kanemoto; two of the greatest Junior Heavyweights in all of Japanese wrestling history. So it’s going to be one of the best matches on the show, I assure you.”

Who he may like to see come in to TNA and his view on the current roster: “Oh wow. Nobody comes to mind; I think we have a really good roster right now. I feel like guys like Manik and Kenny King haven’t been on television in a while who are still part of our roster. So, I’m actually hoping for more returns than actual new faces but, at the same time, I’m always happy to see new talent in TNA. I always welcome new talent, and when I heard guys like Davey and Eddie were coming in, I was very happy to know that we’d get an opportunity to work with those guys. I’m looking forward to working with MVP in that same respect. But nobody off the top of my head that I could name; if I knew that question was going to be asked, I’d have done my homework. I did not study for this particular test no one gave me the syllabus so I wasn’t quite sure what I’d need to study for this particular test so I fail in that respect.”

His favorite Throwback Thursday incarnation: “I’d have to say the Legion of Boom was my favorite. Actually, the truth is the only one I had any say in terms of coming up with it was that one. All the other ones have come from the fertile mind of Francois Kazarian. But I definitely enjoyed the Legion of Boom; I was really happy we got the chance to do the Left Coast Bulldogs in England. For those of you who don’t get the chance to watch Explosion, go on Youtube now and look it up. It’s actually playing today on Explosion on Challenge TV overseas but for those of you who have access to Youtube and not access to Explosion, you can watch it now. I’d say it’s one of my finer moments.”

His TNA Impact365 videos: “I felt like when we were given that opportunity when they came to us in the TNA Roster and told us they were going to start this Impact365 venture, I saw an opportunity to show people an entertaining side you might not be able to see on Impact and Frankie and I both sort of dove into it head-first. Frankie and I both still have some ideas, some stuff in the works that we’re going to put up on the Impact365 site soon. So, stay tuned because we’re not done with this yet.”

If he enjoys the fan interactions and being in Miami for Lockdown: “Always. First of all, going to a new market; this is the first time TNA has been in Miami, at least for a pay-per-view. It’s always cool to be able to wrestle live for a group of new fans and bringing a pay-per-view extravaganza to Miami is going to be a big deal for everybody. Fan Interaction is always fun to give the opportunity to see our most fervent fans live; when you get an opportunity to meet-and-greet the fans, that’s a big deal for them and a big deal for us to know we have the support of these guys and they’re the reason we are able to continue to do what we love for a living.”

– The latest on Jeff Jarrett’s big announcement is that we could hear something concrete by the end of April. Jarrett has been traveling extensively over the past few weeks, setting up production, merchandise, talent and international relations with other promotions.

Jeff Jarrett’s Latest Teaser Video

In [somewhat] related news, Toby Keith’s ‘big news’ on Monday, which many believed was related to Jarrett’s new project, was actually the announcement of his new tour dates. Toby Keith is rumored to be one of the people from the Nashville country music scene that will be financing Jarrett’s project.

– As previously reported, former WWE/TNA star Lisa Marie Varon (Victoria/Tara) attended Monday’s RAW from her hometown of Chicago. Former TNA Knockout Sarita was also there with her, as seen below:

@REALLiSAMARiE @SSDarkAngel @PokerDan Monday Night Raw pic.twitter.com/jAWsThMJcb

— Dan Kawa (@PokerDan) March 4, 2014

– TNA will be bringing Wrestle-1 star Seiya Sanada into the fold on a somewhat regular basis.

– The following is a preview for this week’s edition of TNA Impact Wrestling:

http://youtu.be/3xCa_wth2ik

– In the latest #IMPACT365 video, Ethan Carter III visits “Aunt” Dixie Carter to discuss Sunday’s TNA Lockdown pay-per-view:

http://youtu.be/2eP3XGOkk88

The following are highlights of a recent Busted Open Radio Show interview with MVP:

On if he expects CM Punk at RAW tonight: “You’re asking me my gut….I really have no feel. He has been very polarizing. Fans watch the product and then take their position as fans with no knowledge of what goes on from a business standpoint. At the end of the day, even though we are fans of the product, we are businessmen. Punk had to stand up for himself from a business standpoint. One thing about the WWE, no matter how bad you mess up you can always come back as we have seen. Punk has a contractual obligation he has to fill out at some point. I’m sure he will be back at some capacity to honor the remainder of his contract at the very least. But will he back tonight? I can’t say.”

On how much creative pull he has in TNA: “Before I decided to go over to TNA, we had a long talk about where they were going creatively in the future and what they were doing with new talent and how they are doing a reset. John Gaburick, who I worked with in WWE and Dave Lagana who I worked with in the WWE, we had a good relationship and even though I’m not some creative genius, but I love pro wrestling and I love the creative aspect of it and they have been very open to my suggestions. I have lots of creative input. As a matter of fact, I’m encouraged to be given creative suggestions. It’s been real cool in that regard.”

On if he’s under contract to TNA: “As of this moment, we are still working out the crossing of T’s and dotting I’s so to speak. We have come to terms, but there is some minor legalities that still needs to be worked out. But as far as me and TNA are concerned, we are good. I’ve always wanted TNA to succeed, even when I was with the WWE. I said I had friends over there that I wanted to do well. The most prosperous times were the times of the Monday Night Wars. There were something like 12 million people watching wrestling. There were also guys too that I wanted to work with. Samoa Joe, I’ve been wanting to work with him since we were in the indies together. I don’t think you want to lace up the boots if you don’t want to work with Kurt Angle. I finally got a chance to work with Bobby Roode and I’m sure that’s the first of many to come. It’s a roster loaded with talent, I just think in the past there were some decisions that were made that probably weren’t for the best, but hopefully those mistakes were recognized and now will be rectified.”

On his thoughts of Dixie Carter: “She understands her role and she understands what we are trying to create. In order to have a reset and have a breath of fresh air concept, there has to be major changes. That why at Lockdown, if I win, I assume control of wrestling operations and Dixie is banished to the front office. Yes, she will still be a part of the company. She is the owner of the company. We are not going to insult anyone’s intelligence by saying ‘Dixie is gone forever’. No, she will still be around and I’m sure she will still be on tv periodically. You’re still going to see her relating to the company, but now it will be just the stuff she does well and that’s business.”

Check out the complete interview at BustedOpenNation.com.

TNA Knockout Taryn Terrell announced the birth of her daughter Emerson earlier today. “Today is the best day in my life,” wrote Terrell. “Welcome to the world, Emerson. Mommy loves you.”

Terrell tweeted the following photo of her daughter:

Welcoming my sweet little girl Emerson into the world! I love her so much! pic.twitter.com/kJhDK9ydDL

— Taryn Terrell (@TheTarynTerrell) March 2, 2014

– The Bro Mans defeated TNA World Tag-Team Champions The Wolves, as well as the Wrestle-1 tag-team consisting of Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo, to regain the titles at the “Outbreak” pay-per-view taping in Japan earlier today.

– Another title change that took place at the TNA/Wrestle-1 “Outbreak” show saw Austin Aries drop the X-Division Championship to Seiya Sanada in their match. Sanada is reportedly coming to TNA for their Lockdown pay-per-view, and will be working for the company for the next few months.

The Thursday, February 27th edition of TNA Impact Wrestling drew a final cable rating of 0.94, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 0.94 final draw marks a decrease from the 0.95 final cable rating that the show drew the previous week.

Viewership for this week’s Impact Wrestling is not available due to TNA failing to rank in the top 50 in key demos.

Multiple TNA stars have been asked to take less money once their existing contracts expire. In some cases with wrestlers who have time remaining on their current deals, they have been approached about restructuring their contracts for less pay.

One performer in the company noted that when Bruce Prichard was the head of talent relations for TNA, he approached several wrestlers about restructuring their deals for less pay (roughly half in many cases) before their contracts expired.

Apparently the same thing is happening again right now.

“Before you know it, they’ll be charging wrestlers to perform,” said one veteran TNA wrestler.

• Major Changes To WMXXX Plans, New Eva Marie Photos + CM Punk At RAW?!(Credit: ProWrestling.net)

RockNSock5230 sent along the following highlights of a recent Christopher Daniels interview:

His excitement for the upcoming TNA ‘Lockdown’ PPV: “Yeah, absolutely. I’m always excited for TNA Pay-Per-Views and this one is no different. And there’s a special sort of excitement because I’m not quite sure what I’m doing yet. I know I’m going to be part of the show, but with all the hub-bub going on with Bobby Roode and Dixie Carter and MVP; you know the obvious choice would be having my main man Francois (Kazarian) and myself as Bad Influence being part of Team Roode but Bobby, right now, seems to have had his confidence shaken for some reason, so we’re still debating whether or not we’re going to be a part of Team Roode at Lethal Lockdown. So, we’re going to find out, hopefully soon.

No matter what happens, the most entertaining part of the show is going to be ‘The Secretary of Offense’ Frankie Kazarian and ‘The Man with the Rear that Makes the Women Cheer’ Christopher Daniels, no matter what we do; no matter who we are wrestling. It’s possible we might just be standing on the ramp, watching the show, waving to people as stuff happens, it doesn’t matter; whatever happens we’re going to be the most entertaining part of the show, so you can take that to the bank, if you like.”

On the recent changes within TNA, like MVP coming in: “I think it’s a great time to be a TNA fan, because when you see guys like MVP come to TNA; you see guys like Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (The Wolves) entering TNA, you just got to be happy with the possibilities, the unseen match-ups that so far haven’t been seen and you’re going to get a chance to see them. Not long ago Bad Influence and the Wolves had their first match on television. I told everyone after the fact, on Twitter, that that wasn’t going to be a one-and-done; I’m sure there’s going to be more opportunities for us to try our best against Davey and Eddie and the winner of that match is definitely going to be the fans. They are going to be watching some of the best tag-team wrestling in the world when Frankie and myself get our hands on Davey and Eddie once again. And now that they are the World Tag Team Champions, I foresee gold in our future once again.”

Their recent changes challenges for the TNA Tag Team Titles: “Well I mean, you’ve seen the last couple of times we’ve even had the opportunity to wrestle for the belts; it wasn’t like one-on-one or one team versus one team. It was three teams involved or four teams involved; we had to go through a Gauntlet to even be involved in Bound for Glory and you can see how that worked out for us. I mean, they’ve stacked the odds against us because they know one-on-one, two-on-two, we’re the most dominant team and the best tag team in the bus-i-ness, and they understand this, so the powers that be, the people who want the titles around other people’s waists, they don’t want them around our delicious waists; if they did all they’d have to do is sign a match with just us as the challengers.”

If TNA is moving in a positive direction: “I absolutely think TNA is moving in the right direction. I feel like we’ve been on a roll ever since we’ve gotten back from the U.K. All the television that we’ve been doing, the stuff taped overseas went very well so far, so it’s going very well especially with Bad Influence in the fold. Like I said, we’re the most entertaining part of this roster and as long as we’re doing that dance down the aisles, you can be assured that TNA is the television that you should watch.”

The recent TNA overseas tour of the UK: “It was a very difficult tour in the sense that logistically in that we were traveling a lot. We had very little time down time; we arrived in Dublin, had a show the next day, and then the next day flew right to Scotland and went right from the airport to the building to hit our show in Glasgow. Then, that night, we drove from Glasgow, Scotland to Manchester, England and spent many hours on the bus, got in late and got up early the next day to do the show in Manchester, then drove to London to do Wembly, so we spent a lot of time on the bus and did a lot of traveling to get from place to place and get those five shows done in five days but the good thing about is we were all together. We definitely, as a team, put out some great television and did some great shows and had a great response from the UK crowds which is one of our most ardent support groups, the UK fans.

Absolutely, every time we go over there, they’re some of the most enthusiastic fans that we wrestle in front of, and the chance we get to go and do TV in front of them again, like we did last year, it definitely adds to the presentation of our product. So, I feel that’s always been a highlight for our year, to go over there and do the UK tour.”

His upcoming Japan trip with Wrestle-1: “We’re going over for Wrestle-1; we leave Friday and our show is on March 2nd. Bad Influence has been announced to be grappling against Minoru Tanaka and Koji Kanemoto; two of the greatest Junior Heavyweights in all of Japanese wrestling history. So it’s going to be one of the best matches on the show, I assure you.”

Who he may like to see come in to TNA and his view on the current roster: “Oh wow. Nobody comes to mind; I think we have a really good roster right now. I feel like guys like Manik and Kenny King haven’t been on television in a while who are still part of our roster. So, I’m actually hoping for more returns than actual new faces but, at the same time, I’m always happy to see new talent in TNA. I always welcome new talent, and when I heard guys like Davey and Eddie were coming in, I was very happy to know that we’d get an opportunity to work with those guys. I’m looking forward to working with MVP in that same respect. But nobody off the top of my head that I could name; if I knew that question was going to be asked, I’d have done my homework. I did not study for this particular test no one gave me the syllabus so I wasn’t quite sure what I’d need to study for this particular test so I fail in that respect.”

His favorite Throwback Thursday incarnation: “I’d have to say the Legion of Boom was my favorite. Actually, the truth is the only one I had any say in terms of coming up with it was that one. All the other ones have come from the fertile mind of Francois Kazarian. But I definitely enjoyed the Legion of Boom; I was really happy we got the chance to do the Left Coast Bulldogs in England. For those of you who don’t get the chance to watch Explosion, go on Youtube now and look it up. It’s actually playing today on Explosion on Challenge TV overseas but for those of you who have access to Youtube and not access to Explosion, you can watch it now. I’d say it’s one of my finer moments.”

His TNA Impact365 videos: “I felt like when we were given that opportunity when they came to us in the TNA Roster and told us they were going to start this Impact365 venture, I saw an opportunity to show people an entertaining side you might not be able to see on Impact and Frankie and I both sort of dove into it head-first. Frankie and I both still have some ideas, some stuff in the works that we’re going to put up on the Impact365 site soon. So, stay tuned because we’re not done with this yet.”

If he enjoys the fan interactions and being in Miami for Lockdown: “Always. First of all, going to a new market; this is the first time TNA has been in Miami, at least for a pay-per-view. It’s always cool to be able to wrestle live for a group of new fans and bringing a pay-per-view extravaganza to Miami is going to be a big deal for everybody.

Fan Interaction is always fun to give the opportunity to see our most fervent fans live; when you get an opportunity to meet-and-greet the fans, that’s a big deal for them and a big deal for us to know we have the support of these guys and they’re the reason we are able to continue to do what we love for a living.”

Check out the complete interview at WildTalkRadio.com.

The following are highlights of a recent Dixie Carter Twitter Q&A:

Hey Dixie, when will the Slammiversary location be announced?: “Next week.”

Dixie what about all the negative press about the wrestlers not getting paid: “Interesting how that all came out when we released talent.”

Will you bring Chris Hero to TNA soon?: “No plans I am aware of.”

Any update on your long term relationship with Spike TV?: “They are great partners. Meetings happening re:several TNA programs.”

Dixie, there is talk of a new wrestling promotion by a former business partner of yours. So how are you going to compete with this new wrestling company? Finally would you see this new promotion as competition?: “I only compete with things that are real. And I take that very seriously.”

ARE YOU ON GOOD TERMS OR BAD TERMS WITH JEFF JARRETT???????: “I wish him nothing but happiness….”

For more Dixie Carter Q&A, follow Dixie on Twitter @TNADixie.

Following Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling, here’s is the updated card for the TNA Lockdown on March 9th:

TNA World Heavyweight Title Match:
Magnus (c) vs. Samoa Joe

TNA Lethal Lockdown Match:
Team MVP (MVP, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards & TBA) vs. Team Dixie (Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz)

TNA Knockouts Title Match:
Gail Kim (c) vs. Madison Rayne

Steel Cage Match:
Kurt Angle vs. Ethan Carter III

Steel Cage Match:
Gunner vs. James Storm

– The Wolves vs. Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo match scheduled for TNA and Wrestle-1’s “One Night Only: Outbreak” pay-per-view may end up being changed to a three-way with The Bro Mans added to the mix. The Bro Mans are scheduled to go to Japan for the show, but have yet to be announced for any specific match.

– The following are some recent TNA attendance figures:

TNA live event in Huntington, West Virginia drew approximately 1,000 fans
TNA live event in Beckley, West Virginia drew approximately 400 fans

– Kenny King and Manik are scheduled to return at this weekend’s TNA live events in Columbia, South Carolina and Johnson City, Tennessee. On Friday in Columbia, King vs. Manik vs. Chris Sabin is scheduled, and on Saturday in Johnson City, King and Manik vs. Sabin and Zema Ion is scheduled.

– TNA president Dixie Carter’s husband, Serg Salinas, noted on Twitter recently that he is working on a new theme song for The Wolves. Salinas wrote:

Dale & I just penned lyrics 2 The Wolves track. Laying vocals soon. Keep an ear out 4 "The Force of Nature". pic.twitter.com/imjJDwPjhP

— Serg Salinas (@SergTNAKOM) February 20, 2014

– TNA president Dixie Carter will be the special guest for TNA’s “InterActive” second-screen experience for this Thursday’s edition of Impact Wrestling.

– TNA stars Samoa Joe and Rob Terry are expected to be added to the TNA “One Night Only: Outbreak” show in Japan, which is a co-promoted pay-per-view with Wrestle-1.

– The following is the latest edition of the IMPACT podcast, which features MVP:

http://youtu.be/0swD-BddJiw

• Reigns Leaving The Shield Soon, Kurt Angle Returning To WWE? + Sting/WWE Update