— It is possible that Orlando Jordan’s boyfriend, Cameron, won’t be used again as a character in TNA. While he has not yet been fired at last word, there was talk of doing away with him. He has not been used on iMPACT! the past two weeks.
Cameron’s possible departure from the company is based on an incident that took place at the hotel bar following television tapings three weeks ago where he was doing something described as very lewd in front of the wife of a major executive who was offended. A very upset Ric Flair got him to stop and lambasted him over it.
— Tara’s recent hand injury occurred while she was taking part in kickboxing training, not during a match. Her hand was not broken, but rather badly swollen.
— Kurt Angle was said to be banged up following his ladder match with Mr. Anderson on last week’s iMPACT!. As noted earlier, he will be taking some time off following Lockdown.
– Following the news that Jeff Jarrett and Karen Angle are engaged, we can confirm that Kurt Angle also became engaged to his girlfriend, a model from Pittsburgh.
– Kurt Angle also announced on his Twitter page that he and TNA have raised $9,000 towards families of the recent mine tragedy in West Virginia.
– The X Division Title match at TNA’s Lockdown pay-per-view will now be a Triple Threat with Doug Williams defending against Shannon Moore and Kaz.
– Eric Bischoff noted on Twitter that tonight’s TNA Reaction premiere on Spike TV at 7pm will be a pilot episode. The company is hoping that it turns into a weekly series.
– Here’s a video preview of the first 5 minutes of TNA Reaction, airing tonight before iMPACT!:
– TNA star Kurt Angle will be taking some time off following his cage match with Ken Anderson at the upcoming Lockdown pay-per-view on April 18. Angle wrote on Twitter:
“I will be taking some time off for a month to heal up, pursue more movies and promote Anglefoods at foodiesfoodclub.com. I am NOT injured. At Lockdown I plan on kicking Anderson’s *ss, then I’m gonna relax for a few weeks. Be back soon.”
– Former TNA star Christopher Daniels is also now accepting independent bookings as Curry Man . Daniels be wrestling as Curry Man at the upcoming Chikara King of Trios tournament in Philadelphia.
– Thursday’s TNA iMPACT replay on Spike TV drew a 0.56 rating and averaged 758,000 viewers.
— Most everyone within TNA said it was surprising to see Karen Angle backstage at TNA’s most recent set of television tapings.
“It was very uncomfortable,” said one source. “It was very awkward.”
Karen was there with boyfriend Jeff Jarrett for the first time in Orlando since their relationship was outed on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show last summer.
Karen and ex-husband Kurt Angle are said to be on good terms nowadays with Kurt not displaying any signs of being bothered by her presence. In fact, one backstage source recalled Kurt being nonchalant over their relationship until he and Karen had an argument over their children, which led in part to Jarrett being removed from the company’s day to day operations. The source recalls one wrestler in particular attempting to cause problems and fire up Kurt to confront Jeff last year, but he didn’t react.
— TNA officials recently scrapped plans to make this month’s Destination X pay-per-view an all X Division show. While the X Division will be prominently featured at Destination X, it will no longer be the focus of the show.
“It would have looked like an indy show,” said one company source who doesn’t have faith in the X Division wrestlers being over enough to sell the show themselves.
— When informed of the news of Roxxi departing from TNA earlier today, one wrestler expressed frustration over the company seemingly unloading one of the better workers from the women’s division.
– After Scott Steiner’s superstar profile was recently removed from the talent roster page of TNA’s official website, we were able to confirm that Big Poppa Pump is no longer with the company. It’s said that Scott Steiner wasn’t offered a new contract by TNA because the company felt bringing in Ric Flair was worth more to them and with the bad blood from the past between Flair and Steiner, it just wouldn’t work out.
– As previously reported, Karen Angle was backstage at this week’s TNA iMPACT tapings in Orlando. For those keeping score, Kurt Angle’s ex-wife is still dating Jeff Jarrett. While some would think this would be a major issue between Kurt and Jeff, the two TNA stars are actually said to be on pretty good terms right now. Apparently Jarrett has even gone to bat for Kurt regarding custody of Kurt and Karen’s children, trying to help Kurt get more time for visitation with his children. Kurt has told friends he’s considering moving to Nashville to be closer to work and his kids. There was talk a few months ago of doing a Jarrett vs. Angle feud based on the real life love triangle involving Karen, but that storyline never came to pass and there are currently no plans to put Karen Angle back on television.
— Kurt Angle is looking to reduce his schedule with TNA.
— Lacey Von Erich will be making her TNA live event debut at this week’s shows in Virginia. She will be teaming up with fellow “Beautiful People” members Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne to take on Tara and Angelina Love in 3-on-2 Handicapped matches. Also note, these shows will mark as Love’s return to TNA house shows.
— As a reminder, this month’s edition of TNA Epics airs tomorrow evening directly following iMPACT!. Sting will be the show’s focus.
(credit to the Wrestling Observer for some of the information used in this report)
– Despite the positive spin he’s putting on TNA in media interviews, Hulk Hogan has been complaining to friends that he’s frustrated with several things in TNA. Hogan feels pressure to push people he does not believe in – namely, some of the TNA originals. Word is that Dixie Carter doesn’t want the TNA originals to be buried by Hogan’s buddies, but there are some TNA originals that Hogan sees nothing in and wants to get rid of. Hogan is said to be a big fan of Abyss as well as Tomko, saying at least both men look like wrestlers.
– TNA star Kurt Angle’s name came up in a federal trial of nine men associated with Applied Pharmacy in Mobile, Alabama that is going on this week. Assistant US Attorney Donna Dobbins brought up Angle and Jose Canseco as clients of the pharmacy in her closing arguments on Tuesday. She said, “Each one of them (the defendants) participated in this conspiracy. They operated a steroid mill, and they would dispense anabolic steroids to anyone whose credit card was good.â€
– Ed “Brutus Beefcake” Leslie was backstage at the TNA iMPACT tapings on January 20th. Leslie is a longtime friend of Hulk Hogan, brother.
– As for the news that Scott Hall and Sean Waltman are gone from TNA, this is not the case. The duo has been removed from the TNA iMAPCT! opening video as well as the TNA Roster page on the company website, but them being removed is part of the storyline.
— This Thursday following iMPACT!, Spike will debut the TNA Epics series. The show, which will be hosted by Mick Foley, will feature classic TNA footage.
The debut episode will focus on Kurt Angle.
The second episode, which will air on Thursday, February 11th, 2010, will feature Sting. Here is the preview, courtesy of Spike.com: “Presenting some of the best matches from “The Icon” Sting’s career with TNA Wrestling. Hosted by Mick Foley, this one-hour special also includes exclusive interviews with the legend and showcases the amazing moments fans will always remember.”
— TNA drew a sellout crowd of 2,500, its best house show numbers in several months, for Friday night’s live event in Westbury, New York. (source: f4wonline)
— Jeremy Borash said this morning during an appearance on the Pain Clinic radio show that TNA is expected to debut a big-name wrestler at the Genesis pay-per-view, which takes place on Jan. 17. He indicated it would be a “big surprise.”
— Hulk Hogan’s TNA entrance theme is actually not a new song as it can be heard on the WCW Nitro and WCW/nWo Thunder video games released on Playstation in the late nineties. At the time, a sound-alike was created because THQ didn’t own the rights to the actual New World Order song.
— Kurt Angle appears on this week’s editions of TNA Today and Live Events Center. Click here to view the videos.
Jim Ross is back with another blog at JRsBarBQ.com with thoughts on last night’s RAW and iMPACT. Here are some highlights:
Bret Hart & HBK: “The dialog between HBK and the Hitman sounded so natural that I thought I was eavesdropping on two old rivals’ conversation. They were simply being themselves. Their handshake made the night complete for me but remember that I lived through the debacle of ’97 and was just a little immersed in it and spent many, many hours “talking wrestlers off the ledge” so to speak for hours after the controversial incident.”
Bret Hart & Vince McMahon: “The McMahon-Bret confrontation was well done especially planting the seed early and keeping me hooked until the end of the show for the payoff plus adding some spice to the dish in between. The Mr. McMahon persona is so easy to dislike and the Chairman got the last word and the final act of physicality in the exchange with his longstanding adversary and left me wanting to see more and wondering how Bret will respond next Monday night? Or will he? This issue has new, fresh legs.”
Jeff Hardy in TNA: “It surprised me to see Jeff Hardy on Spike TV Monday night which I am sure will get some fans talking and critics/pundits asking a great deal of questions. I’m a Jeff Hardy fan and I wish him well. Jeff had a great tenure in WWE and considering that I signed him and his brother Matt to their first WWE contracts I will always consider the Hardy brothers as being special. As Hall of Fame Coach Barry Switzer once told me, “Once you recruit a player you recruit them for life.”
Ric Flair in TNA: “Knowing how much Ric Flair still enjoys wrestling I was not shocked to see Ric on another channel Monday night. The WWE gave Ric the greatest send-off/retirement presentation that I have ever witnessed but nonetheless “Naitch” has wrestling running through his veins and he’s going lace ’em up until he simply can’t do it any longer. Ric Flair has been my friend for about 30 years and I wish him well in what ever he does in his career.”
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle: “Former WWE Champion Kurt Angle, another one of the guys that I signed to their first WWE contract, and A.J. Styles had a truly excellent wrestling match that I got glimpses of Monday night.”
– We’ve got some new details regarding a storyline that’s already underway involving Hulk Hogan’s involvement with TNA Wrestling. The original plan was for Hulk Hogan to lead the younger, homegrown stars of TNA against the “old guard” of established WWE & WCW castoffs, led by TNA president Dixie Carter. Hulk Hogan’s recent comments that he’ll be “in charge” of TNA are all part of the storyline (Hogan will have a great deal of power in TNA, but his comments are the start of this angle). Dixie Carter was going to be a big player in the “Hulk Hogan joins TNA” angle, but there was a recent decision to cut back on Dixie’s role and have Mick Foley is now expected to be the leader of TNA’s “old guard” movement. Dixie Carter will still be involved, but will not have the same role as originally planned.
– Kurt Angle is said to have a high opinion of TNA newcomer Desmond Wolfe following their pay-per-view match last month. Angle actually laid the entire match out but claimed that after his back went out in the first minute they had to change plans and work on the fly until the finish.
– TNA held surprise drug testings at the last set of TV tapings. The last set of tapings like this had a 25% failure rate but nobody was punished.
– The four-hour TNA special on New Year’s Eve on Spike TV will air from 7-11PM. The first two hours will be a countdown with the ten best matches of 2009, as voted on by the fans on TNA’s website. The last two hours will be a regular edition of iMPACT.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)
The official Pay-Per-View poster ha been released for January’s TNA Genesis event and it contains what appears to be spoilers for future TNA storylines and Hulk Hogan’s TNA debut.
TNA champion AJ Styles and Kurt Angle are featured prominantly on the poster with the tagline, “A Night of Firsts.”
Below Styles and Angle is a picture of Hulk Hogan with the text, “Hulk Hogan Returns to Pay-Per-View.”
Pay-Per-View provider iNDEMAND has the following synopsis for the event: “A night of firsts, a night of new beginnings and the night Hulk Hogan returns to Pay-Per- View. TNA Wrestling presents
TNA Genesis Live on Pay-Per-View Sunday January 17. *Card subject to change.”
TNA Genesis takes place on Sunday night, January 17, 2010.
— Kurt Angle “threw out his back” at Sunday’s TNA’s Turning Point pay-per-view, according to TNA president Dixie Carter on Twitter. The injury occured just minutes into Angle’s match with TNA newcomer Desmond Wolfe. Carter complemented Angle on “gutting out” the final 15 minutes of the 17-minute match against Wolfe in what she called a one of the best TNA matches of the year. Carter added that Angle “will not miss any action.” There were no other injures last night. Kurt Angle wrestled at Monday’s iMPACT! tapings – teaming with TNA Champion A.J. Styles against Desmond Wolfe and Daniels.
— Dixie Carter also announced on Twitter that TNA newcomer D’Angelo Dinero has signed a a long-term deal with the company.
“Right before I walked in to watch the pay-per-view just now, The Pope and I signed his new long term deal,” Carter wrote. “He is the real deal.” Dinero worked as Elijah Burke in WWE. While in TNA, he has worked under “The Pope” character with live crowds responding well to his early work thus far.
All remaining charges against Kurt Angle were dismissed today after a Pennsylvania judge dismissed the charges of assault and harassment stemming from an alleged incident on August 6 involving Angle’s ex-girlfriend Trenesha Biggers.
The assault and harassment charges against Kurt Angle were dropped today by judge Mary Murray due to Angle’s ex-girlfriend continuing to stay at his house for nine days after the alleged incident took place. Both parties signed a document acknowledging an incident took place.
The judge reportedly dismissed the charges without enough evidence that bruises and scratches were brought on her by Angle. “She’s a professional wrestler. She left the state, went to Florida for a period of time. We don’t know how she got those bruises, but we can tell you, they were not at the hands of my client,” said Michelle Santicola, Angle’s lawyer.
Angle broke down crying when the charges were dropped. “I’ve never hit a woman and never would,” Angle told reporters. “I was brought up by my mother that way, and I had to go through this.”
Biggers claims Angle abused her “a few times” and she feared for her life. “The first few times that it happened, I believed that, ‘Maybe this won’t happen any more.’ But at this point in time, I was like, the next time that this happens, I could die.” Biggers said. She added that she felt “terrified” of Angle when they were living together in Angle’s home outside of Pittsburgh.
Kurt Angle’s legal problems with ex-girlfriend Trenesha Biggers (former TNA Knockout Rhaka Khan) appear to be winding down.
Pittsburgh’s WTAE station (an ABC affiliate) reports that the order of protection issued against Angle was dismissed on Monday after Biggers voluntarily removed the order. Both she and Angle have agreed to stay away from each other. Angle did not comment after Monday’s proceedings.
Angle was arrested last September after allegedly stalking Biggers shortly after he was served with this protection order. Those charges were eventually dismissed.
Kurt Angle was in court on Tuesday to address charges that he harassed his ex-girlfriend, Trenesha Biggers (TNA knockout Rhaka Kahn). Biggers did not show up for the hearing, so prosecutors requested a postponement. District Judge Marry Murray granted the postponement, but if Biggers no-shows again, the charges against Angle will be dropped.
Outside the court house, the Olympic gold medalist and TNA superstar told reporters, “All I can say is I’m innocent and I just want to move on with my life … I never asked for this and I would never do this to anybody. What has happened to me is a darn shame.”
Angle’s defense attorney Michelle Santicola said Biggers not showing up to court is another example of how she conducts herself. “She told the officer that she would be here. We’re not surprised that she once again told an untruth because the affidavit of probable cause is filled with her untruths.”
For more on this story, visit local ABC affiliate ThePittsburghChannel.com.
Kurt Angle has landed another acting gig and will be starring in a straight-to-DVD independent zombie movie, titled “River of Darkness.” It gets better.
Set to be released some time next year on DVD, the synopsis at DreadCentral.com reads:
Unspeakable evil has fallen on a quiet river town. Sheriff Logan [Angle] is thrust into a chilling nightmare of death and mayhem that paralyzes the town. He then learns of the community’s seedy past and the evil that has risen from purgatory to exact revenge on the town. He is confronted by the spirits of old river squatters, “The Jacobs Boys,” who possess the very essence of evil.
The zombie Jacobs boys will be played by none other than Kevin Nash and Psycho Sid Vicious. WOW.
The movie will also feature an appearance by Ray Lloyd, better known to WCW fans as Glacier.
TNA Champion Kurt Angle appeared in a Robinson Township, PA court on Tuesday morning and was found not guilty of harassing his ex-girlfriend, Trenesha Biggers (TNA Knockout Rhaka Khan). District Judge Carla Swearingen also dismissed charges of driving with a suspended license and posession of Human Growth Hormone (he had a valid prescription), which was inside his vehicle at the time of his arrest.
Biggers was present at the hearing but did not comment publicly afterward.
Angle still faces an assault charge against Biggers and will be back in court next month to defend himself. He maintains that he’s never physically harmed Biggers.
After leaving the courthouse, Angle spoke to the media and said, “I will continue to live my life by the law, as I always have.” To watch video of Angle’s emotional comments to the media, visit <a href=”http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/20925703/index.html” target=new><b>ThePittsburghChannel.com</b></a>.