— As reported earlier, next week’s episode of TNA iMPACT! will feature match-ups initially pegged for Sunday’s pay-per-view event. One of the matches advertised for iMPACT! is Jeff Hardy’s “Open Challenge.” The open challenge is expected to be met by a wrestler let go by World Wrestling Entertainment earlier this year.
— Former ECW performer Francine Fournier, 38, has declined TNA Wrestling’s invitation to appear at Sunday’s HardCORE Justice pay-per-view event.
Following her unceremonious departure from World Wrestling Entertainment in October 2006, Fournier imminently announced her retirement from the professional wrestling industry. Since that time “The Queen of Extreme” has maintained her retirement, though last year she held an ECW reunion show with proceeds from the event donated to the American Cancer Society.
— TNA Wrestling’s weekend house show run had last Friday in Winston-Salem, NC drawing 1,700; Friday in Fayetteville, NC drawing 1,600; and Saturday in Concord, NC doing 1,100.
– TNA star Jeff Hardy was injured at Friday night’s TNA Live Event from Bloomington, Illinois. Hardy suffered a hand injury during a Monster’s Ball match with Abyss, but was able to finish the match. He wrestled the next night, but was said to be noticeably protecting the injured hand during his match. Hardy is not expected to miss any ring time.
– Former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler was one of the many wrestling personalities who appeared at the popular Comic-Con event in San Diego over the weekend, which is “the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world.” Keibler noted on her Twitter page that she got to hang out with TNA star Samoa Joe and former WWE superstar Gregory “Hurricane” Helms at the show and posted this picture of them together:
— Jeff Hardy’s court hearing has once again been continued, to September 9, reports prowrestling.net. He was scheduled to appear Thursday in Superior Court of Moore County in Carthage, North Carolina Thursday on drug trafficking charges.
— Fans can preview “the hottest event of the summer,” Victory Road live tonight on pay-per-view. Click here to view the opening video package that will kick off the event, plus preview videos for the featured bouts.
— Desmond Wolfe is scheduled to compete in match following tonight’s Victory Road pay-per-view. Wolfe’s match against an unannounced opponent will be exclusively for “Ultimate Fan Xperience: Victory Road VIP Weekend” ticketholders.
— Matt Morgan’s wife, Larissa, placed third in the NPC Women’s Figure Southern States Contest on Saturday night. The TNA star posted a picture of his wife posing with her medal on Twitter account.
TNA Wrestling performer Jeff Hardy is scheduled to appear in court today to face multiple drug charges stemming from his arrest on September 11, 2009. His trial will take place in the Superior Court of Moore County in Carthage, North Carolina.
Court records state Hardy faces four counts of drug possession. Following his last court appearance in June, there was a discrepancy on whether three of the four counts were dropped.
Hardy is scheduled to appear in Superior Court alongside 30 other defendants at 9:30 a.m. Last month, Hardy was granted a continuance of his case until today, due to the court running out of time during the morning session.
The list of charges against Hardy are as follows:
1. Felony drug trafficking. Two felony charges of possession of a Schedule lll controlled substance or drug.
2. Felony possession of cocaine. Felony maintaining of a dwelling for redistribution of controlled substances.
3. Misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
4. Conspiracy to traffic opium.
The Honorable Judge James M. Webb will preside over the case.
— All mentions of TNA ReACTION have been removed from the schedule at Spike.com. Episodes of the reality program Jail are now listed instead. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
— Unlike the case of Roxxi, there has been no strong reaction to ODB’s departure from TNA Wrestling. A number of people within the company felt bad for Roxxi because she showed up for work on the day of Slammiversary and hastily informed her services would no longer be required. Many feel the Knockouts division “has gone to hell” as Roxxi was one of the better in-ring performers they had left. On another note, there is said to be no interest on the company’s part in marketing women’s wrestling, sans pushing “The Beautiful People” and Angelina Love.
— Jeff Hardy’s neck was bothering him following last weekend’s live events.
— Recently departed TNA Knockout Roxxi is currently training to compete in the fitness competition at the NPC Jay Cutler Classic in Boston.
Earlier this week, we reported that it appeared most of the drug charges against Jeff Hardy had been dropped, since the North Carolina courts website had updated the public records of Hardy’s case – stating that he was now only being charged with Conspiracy to Traffic Opium.
Unfortunately for Jeff Hardy and his fans – news of any charges being dropped was an error by the The Moore County Superior Court. Hardy was in court on June 3rd, but time ran out and there was no time for his case to be heard. When the court listed Hardy’s next court appearance for July, most of the charges against Hardy were no longer listed (the erorr).
North Carolina’s Pilot Newspaper spoke to District Attorney Maureen Krueger, who stated:
“His charges are still pending. In fact, a new one was added.”
The new charge against Hardy is Conspiracy to Traffic Opium, a felony.
To recap Hardy’s legal situation ….
Jeff Hardy was arrested on September 11th, 2009 after police raided his home in Cameron, North Carolina. A joint investigation conducted by officers with the Moore County Sheriff’s Office narcotics and select enforcement units and the Fayetteville Police Department led to the search.
According to the police report, a search of his residence yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine and items of drug paraphernalia.
He was charged with felony trafficking in opium, two counts of felony possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule III controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling to keep controlled substance, felony possession of cocaine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
If convicted of all charges, Hardy faces upto 14 years in prison.
– Jeff Hardy’s trial was scheduled to begin yesterday morning in Carthage, NC with Judge James M. Webb. No word yet on what happened in court.
– The feeling within TNA right now is that Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan won’t be leaving any time soon.
– Awesome Kong recently tried to trademark the Awesome Kong name so she could use it on the independent scene. Right now she’s using the Amazing Kong name until the issue is settled.
– Mr. Anderson’s recent babyface turn in TNA was a decision that was made just before the Sacrifice pay-per-view where he wrestled Jeff Hardy.
— During a recent edition of Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said there were a number of wild stories going around concerning the openly bisexual Orlando Jordan. While he would not expound on the circulating gossip, he did say that stories relate to Jordan hitting on various people backstage.
In related news, there are numerous people within the company trying to kill off the character and are said to be unhappy that they have not yet succeeded.
— It’s worth noting that Madison Rayne’s triumph over Tara at Sunday’s Sacrifice pay-per-view was her first singles match victory in her entire TNA career. She joined the organization over a year ago.
— Jeff Hardy has designed a special ‘TNA Truck’ for Hermie Sadler, which will debut at this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I was asked to create a design for a race truck. When I asked, ‘what kind of design?’ they said ‘just something like your paintings,’ and that’s exactly what they got. After seeing the final design, I was blown away!,” Hardy cried.
Jeff  Hardy was interviewed on the TNA website by teen actor Booboo Stewart. To read the full interview, visit TNA’s official website (LINK). Here are some highlights of what Hardy said about:
Favorite Career Match: “Overall, it would have to be at WrestleMania X-Seven in Houston,” Hardy said. “It was the second TLC Match and it’s the one where Edge speared me when I was hanging from the belt hook above the ring.
Favorite TNA Match: “In TNA, it was definitely Monster’s Ball from the first ever Bound for Glory in 2005. It was me, Abyss, Rhino, and Sabu. Both of those matches were matches with stipulations. If you want to know about my favorite regular match of all time, it was at Great American Bash 2008 against Umaga.”
His Dream MAtch: “It would be ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ Jeff Hardy against ‘The Icon’ Sting in a paint vs. paint match. I’m talking about the crow version (current) Sting. It has never happened before, but never say never.”
His Band Peroxwhy?gen:  “I haven’t come up with a name for the specific type of music yet. Sometimes I refer to my poetry as “emoetryâ€â€¦written emotion, but to best describe it, it’s a combination of alternative rock and grunge metal.
UPDATED (5/10): TNA star Jeff Hardy appeared in a Moore County, N.C. court on Monday morning. The case has been continued to Tuesday, June 3rd, according to prowrestling.net. After contacting the Moore County Criminal Courthouse, we were told no additional information will be released regarding the trial until Friday at the earliest.
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After several rounds of hearings and delays, Jeff Hardy’s trial stemming from his drug arrest last year is set to begin next Monday (5/10) in Moore County, North Carolina. Hardy’s drug charges went to a grand jury back in January and they found that there was enough evidence to indict Hardy and send the case to Superior Court.
Hardy was arrested on September 11th, 2009 after police raided his home in Cameron, North Carolina. A joint investigation conducted by officers with the Moore County Sheriff’s Office narcotics and select enforcement units and the Fayetteville Police Department led to the search.
According to the police report, a search of his residence yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine and items of drug paraphernalia.
He was charged with felony trafficking in opium, two counts of felony possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule III controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling to keep controlled substance, felony possession of cocaine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
If convicted of all charges, Hardy faces upto 14 years in prison.
— There is much internal concern regarding the state of Jeff Hardy. Many feel his work since coming to TNA has been lackluster not to mention that his promos are rambling and sometimes virtually incoherent. Several people are comparing his current state to his previous run in the company, which occurred as a result of his termination from World Wrestling Entertainment for erratic behavior, drug use, refusal to enter rehab and deteriorating ring performance.
Kevin Nash received a concussion as a result of Hardy during their cage match two weeks ago on iMPACT! as he landed on his head while performing The Swanton.
— Last Thursday’s replay of iMPACT!, which began 10 minutes late since a movie ran over, drew a 0.6 cable rating with 758,000 viewers.
— The recently released Christopher Daniels will be working television tapings for Ring of Honor next month.
— As reported earlier, Christy Hemme has re-signed with TNA Wrestling. Regarding specifics of her contract, the official website of The Honky Tonk Man is reporting that Hemme inked a three-year deal with TNA worth $175,000 per year. The website also notes that Hemme’s new contract has left some of her fellow female co-workers noticeably upset.
Hemme’s deal is being compared to Awesome Kong’s as the recently released Knockout was receiving $400 per appearance from TNA. Reportedly, Kong’s inability to attain a slight raise in salary was her main point of contention with TNA, which led to her ultimately departing from the organization.
— Jeff Hardy will be working his first independent wrestling show since his departure from World Wrestling Entertainment as he is advertised to appear at a Northeast Wrestling event taking place in Newburgh, New York on Saturday, Apr. 23. He will be teaming with Shannon Moore as they take on Rob Eckos and Brian Anthony. Velvet Sky is also advertised to face former TNA performer Roxxi. Visit www.northeastwrestling.com for more information.
— TNA Wrestling conducted a fundraiser for the families affected by the West Virginia mining accident last week, raising $9,000.
— The pre-sale code for the TNA live event taking place on Saturday, May 22 in Houston, Texas at the Verizon Wireless Theater is 542418. The pre-sale begins today at Ticketmaster.com.
– Reality television star “Dog The Bounty Hunter” was in the crowd at Tuesday’s iMPACT tapings in Orlando. Based on messages TNA star Jeff Hardy wrote on Twitter, it doesn’t sound like his meeting with Dog went too well:
“Dog tha Bounty Hunter is a AssHole!!!he&his posse just treated me & Shannon like shit!I thought him&beth were cool…oh well”
– Vince Russo has been talking about how he is burnt out on booking in TNA.
– TNA fans waiting outside the Impact Zone this past Monday were warned prior to entering the building that the show would not be family-friendly.
– TNA has sold about 2,200 tickets for their LockDown PPV in St. Charles, MO.
– In addition to Daniels, The Nasty Boys and Consequences Creed, TNA has also released referee Jamie Tucker recently.
(Partial sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, f4wonline.com)
— There was said to be a collective groan among a large group of wrestlers and TNA personnel watching iMPACT! on the backstage monitor when Eric Young interrupted Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy’s post-match celebration on Monday. The “unanimous opinion” was that Young killed the moment due to the fact that he’s nowhere near the level of Van Dam and Hardy. While everyone describes “EY” as a nice guy, the feeling is he’s been given so much television time over the years due to his friendship with the company’s power players. (source: Pro Wrestling Torch)
— Recently released TNA Knockout Awesome Kong will be returning to the ring on May 8th for Ring of Honor. Facing Sara Del Ray, she will be using her former name of Amazing Kong.
— In a brief video interview with lethalwow.com, Angelina Love discusses being back with TNA Wrestling. She says her release from the company last year was “heartbreaking,” but that “everything happens for a reason.” Apparently in regards to her contractual status, she said she’s “back for another three years, at least.”
— The promotional poster for WWE’s Over the Limit pay-per-view has been released and it features Edge. You can view the poster here. Over the Limit will take place on May 23, 2010 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
— As noted earlier, WWE has published 26 different covers for the April 2010 issue of WWE Magazine. Matt Hardy was not one of the 26 Superstars featured and it apparently has his fans fuming. Regarding this, he tweeted: “I wanna thank everybody for fightin 4 me-means the world to me guys! Make your voices be heard to the Powers That Be! Thx 4 everything!”
Meanwhile, Jeff Hardy is upset with his brother’s magazine snub. He wrote: “Jeff Hardy, who tweeted “MattHardy not on one of theWWE wrestlemania magizineCovers…..That is someBULLS**T2me!!!!think about itWWE fans…is that right or wrong?”
— The latest edition of Ask the Divas can be viewed here.
– TNA star Jeff Hardy appeared in court on Wednesday for the latest hearing regarding his September 11, 2009 drug arrest. The judge presiding over the case in Cameron, N.C. agreed to the defense’s request for a continuance, according to prowrestling.net. The next hearing is scheduled for May 10, 2010. Hardy is expected to continue working for TNA in the meantime.
– Multiple sources are reporting that Awesome Kong and TNA Wrestling have agreed to part ways. Her profile has been removed from TNA’s website, which is their unofficial way of confirming a wrestler’s departure from the company. They do not publicly comment on roster changes.
It was reported last week that Kong was telling friends within the industry that the company had agreed to release her from her contract. This coincides with a recent Twitter post where she thanked Dixie Carter and TNA Wrestling for wishing her the best in her future endeavors. She had reportedly been asking for a fifteen percent pay increase or a contractual release, with company officials opting for the latter.
One of the holdups in her release becoming official is that TNA wanted to include a lengthy non-compete agreement, while she was asking for the traditional ninety-day non-compete. Sources are unaware of the length of the non-compete agreement that will be enforced. She is the fourth female performer to part ways with the company this year, following Alissa Flash, Roxxi and Traci Brooks.
– Jeff Hardy made his return to TNA on Monday’s live iMPACT after signing with the company just over a week ago. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, we know that TNA officials were looking for lock Hardy up for at least a year, with up to 100 dates – including TV, PPVs and live events.
– In related news, Jeff Hardy’s close friend Shannon Moore signed his TNA deal around the same time. It is expected that Moore’s relationship with Hardy will be acknowledged on television. There has even been talk of them teaming together while also
– Following the news that Monday’s TNA iMPACT! drew a 1.0 compared to RAW’s 3.4, the USA Network’s Vice President of Program Research wrote the following on Twitter:
“No much of a Monday Night “War”. RAW trounced TNA by 275% w/ total viewers. Also Impact much lower than the test Monday ep in early Jan”
– Former WWE stars Spike Dudley and Ken “Dykstra” Doane are at Tuesday’s TNA iMPACT! tapings. Doane lost a dark match Homicide and was said to look good in the ring.
– Contrary to a previous report, the main event of tonight’s TNA iMPACT! tapings (airing next Monday night) will be Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles. We reported earlier that Rob Van Dam and Desmond Wolfe would be part of the match, but those plans seem to have changed.
– Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner was visiting backstage at Monday’s iMPACT! His profile was removed from the TNA website back on 2/4 and departure from the company was confirmed the following week.
– Sorta-celebrities Joey Fatone of N Sync fame and Jesse Goddarz from CBS’ Big Brother show were sitting ringside last night.
Matt Hardy has posted a new Youtube video saying that he’s passionate about everything he does and people who criticize him will have to deal with “The Zombie” …
Matt and Jeff Hardy have posted their latest video blog to YouTube:
Episode #13 Outside Of Cracker Barrel
“After each one of us had just gotten back into North Carolina after long road trips, it was time for myself, Jeff, & Kimo to grab some lunch at one of our favorite spots-Cracker Barrel. After lunch, we turned the Flip on, and captured whatever came out. Enjoy guys!”
– TNA has no live events scheduled until the live iMPACT on March 8th in order to give the crew a chance to rest up and get ready for the big night.
– As noted before, Orlando Jordan’s new male valet is a friend of his outside of TNA and his new female valet is independent women’s wrestler Santana G. The angle with two valets is the same thing Jordan pitched to WWE before he was released years ago, with the idea Trinity would have been the female and another male friend of his outside of WWE would have played the male role.
– Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore were at an autograph signing in Middletown, New York this weekend and reportedly their signing outdrew both TNA live events in the Northeast this weekend. Moore said on Twitter that over 1,500 people showed up and they had to turn some away.
– One of the reasons Kaz is no longer playing Suicide and has returned to his previous gimmick is because Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff felt he shouldn’t be wrestling under a mask because of his looks and facial expressions.
(Credit to PWInsider.com for the information used in this report)
Matt and Jeff Hardy posted a video online talking about WWE’s new NXT show, which debuts Tuesday night on Syfy.
Matt says he thinks NXT is a cool concept with potential. He said the ECW that was on Syfy was not the real ECW, and the guys on the roster will wind up on RAW and SmackDown.
Matt said he will be coaching Justin Angel/Gabriel on NXT and he’s heard he’s like the “FCW Version of AJ Styles.” He also commented on the controversy surrounding The Miz coaching Daniel Bryan and said that will make for some interesting television.
Up next, Jeff Hard teased what his next career move will be. He said you might need some training and show up in NXT. He might return to WWE, or he could join Hulkamania in TNA. He then said maybe he’ll show up in Ring of Honor, but then he and Matt looked at each other and agreed that wasn’t a great idea.
– Jeff Hardy was recently contacted by an international wrestling promotion about working for them but he said due to his indictment, he’s not allowed to leave the country until after his trial in March. He told them he would not be wrestling until his trial was over and when the trial ended, he would be going to TNA full-time.
– TNA is indeed sending one-half of the TNA Tag Team Champions Hernandez to the AAA promotion in Mexico, at least for a few appearances.
– Even though TNA’s Knockouts division has been a proven ratings draw, the new idea in the company is to have less women’s matches on TV with most of the women being featured in segments, especially with The Beautiful People. The feeling is that when they put The Beautiful People in the ring, it isn’t very good at all.
– The latest word on Jeff Hardy is that he has a contract waiting for him once he clears up his legal issues, indicating that he had not signed when it was reported last month. Hardy is scheduled to go to trial in North Carolina on March 17th.
– Bubba the Love Sponge is still with TNA and was backstage working at last night’s iMPACT tapings.
– Dave Taylor has received high marks in his first week as an agent with TNA.
– Karen Angle was backstage at the TNA iMPACT tapings this week. Currently there are no plans for her to return with an on-air role.
TNA star Jeff Hardy has commented on the news of Jeff Hardy and Gregory Helms’ getting arrested this week for public intoxication. Hardy wrote on Twitter:
“Sure tmz picked up their mug shot..big deal..their awesome &why should that be second guessed over an extremely simple situation?Love Je …”
He added, “They got arrested…it’s a shame they care or think it makes them look bad..their amazing employees…..&”
Jeff’s girlfriend Beth, who is good friends with Helms and Matt, wrote on Twitter: “WOW! MMH made the TMZ headlines! He’s on the scoreboard now! So hilarious that the story is about nothing…TMZ is in the entertainment business also, keep that in mind. Funny thing is, Matt wasn’t even drinking & didn’t have any involvement. Classic TMZ sensationalism. Actually, I was asked to post that. And, to clarify, he wasn’t DRUNK. Better?”
As always, visit PWTweets.comto follow 80+ wrestlers & divas on Twitter.
Cincinnati.com had an article up yesterday evening about the arrests of Hurricane Helms and Chris Jericho. They noted that around 4AM on Wednesday, an Erlanger police officer patrolling Crescent Springs saw a group of five people being rowdy in a shopping center parking lot. The officer told the group they needed to leave and some of them got a taxi. This was shortly before the taxi driver pulled over and called 911 after the incident in the backseat.
While other reports have came out since then, Cincinnati.com noted that Helms ran and was later found by police but Matt Hardy couldn’t be found by them. It’s been mentioned now that Hardy was not sober and the woman involved is now claiming that the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
A conviction on the misdemeanor charge of public intoxication carries a fine of $25 and court costs of $134. Helms and Jericho can appear in court on February 16th to challenge the charges or they can have the charges dismissed by paying $159 total before court date.
WWE released a statement to the paper saying that they assume the authorities will take proper action if necessary but declined further comment.
