– Samoa Joe returned to in-ring action at the TNA non-televised live events this past weekend. Joe had been out of action for a while, and will remain off of television for a bit longer due to the fact that TNA has pre-taped several weeks worth of Impact Wrestling prior to his return.
– The Thursday, April 17th edition of TNA Impact Wrestling, which did not crack the top-100 shows on cable, continued its’ viewership decline, averaging only 1,010,000 viewers. The previous week the show drew 1,415,000 viewers.
Although initial reports stemming from PWInsider.com and The Wrestling Observer claimed that Samoa Joe has been out of action with a concussion, the TNA star is denying these rumors. Joe tweeted the following about the reports:
Not injured please don't make up news if you don't have actual facts.
– The main reason TNA star Samoa Joe was kept off of the non-televised live events this past weekend, as well as the second and third live events last weekend was due to an apparent concussion he suffered during his March 28th match with Magnus in Lincoln, Nebraska.
– Speaking of concussions, TNA Knockout Angelina Love suffered one on April 4th while working on the Traditional Championship Wrestling/Mid South Fan Fest in Chalmette, Louisiana.
The following are highlights of a new Bad Influence interview on The Kevin Gill Show:
Daniels on positive thought: “You just have to go through life knowing that as long as you put yourself out there 100 percent and do everything you can to be a positive force, to be a commodity to a promoter, work is always going to come your way. My man Mike Moran said “Talent always finds it’s way to the top”. “All you have to do is keep working hard, never burn a bridge, and these opportunities will come.”
Kaz on a TNA star who was released from the company: “If I recall, he was too dumb to even realize he was being fired.”
Christopher Daniels on Indy Promoters: “Independent wrestling shows live or die on the vision of the promoter. Some guys just let the locker room take over, and let the guys do what they want, and as a result you get everybody on the microphone, everybody doing matches longer then they should be, and everybody doing a Wrestlemania main event whether they are the opener or the main event.”
Kaz on Samoa Joe: “To this day, Samoa Joe is a guy a company can be built around.”
Daniels on Samoa Joe: “A unique athlete, it’s funny because he was a book that was judged by his cover, for a very long time and it took a while to get him into TNA and we were always fighting to get him in. Everybody was like “we gotta change his look and blah blah blah” , but finally when they gave him the chance, he showed them that you didn’t need to judge him by the cover because he brings a unique intensity and a unique character to TNA and I think it would be a different TNA without him. He has changed the business”
Samoa Joe was pulled from Saturday’s TNA live event in Sioux City due to injuries. He was basically given the night off. The latest word is that Joe is scheduled to work tonight’s live event in Spencer, Iowa.
The main event on Saturday night, due to Joe’s absence, was changed to Magnus vs. Bully Ray vs. Bobby Roode in a three-way match.
– The ‘TNA Talent Meeting’ advertised for the show was actually a setup for Bobby Roode ambushing Bully Ray at TNA headquarters.
– The Beautiful People re-formed featuring Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. Love invited Knockouts Champion Maidson Rayne to join, but she turned down the offer. Later in the show, the Beautiful People beat down Rayne backstage.
– James Storm attacked Gunner’s father on the show, setting up James Storm vs. Gunner for next week in a re-match from Lockdown.
– Magnus retained the TNA World Title over Samoa Joe in the main event.
– The BroMans retained the TNA Tag Titles against The Wolves and Sanada & Tigre Uno in a three-team tag match.
– 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 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:
The following are highlights from a recent Busted Open Radio Show interview with TNA star Ethan Carter III:
On his transition with Hulk Hogan and Sting leaving TNA: “I’ve been ready for a very long time to either sink or swim with an opportunity and I’ve been given it here in TNA. Transition wise, I’ve said before it’s not so much of a transition because at the end of the day, there’s a red light with millions of people behind it that you are paid to entertain one way or another and something I’ve always loved and something I have the chance to do now, so I’m doing it. Transition regardless, we’re in a ring, there’s a camera on us, and there’s people in the stands… so let’s do it.”
On the biggest driving factor in getting him to TNA: “Honestly I think more people over there watched my stuff on NXT originally and knew I had talent and ability. I had a chance to really shine out on the grand stage. So there’s a couple people who brought me over and I was just looking for the opportunity to prove myself, prove people wrong, take the ball and run with it. Big John Gaburick came over from WWE and brought me over. He put a lot of faith in me and hopefully I’m returning the favor and faith to him.”
On Samoa Joe’s recent speech to the talent: “Samoa Joe is a guy I looked up to while I was an indie guy. He made a strong name for himself in Ring of Honor and then was in TNA and had an incredible undefeated streak going and was at the top of the mountain for a very long time, so that’s a guy we look up to and is a locker room leader who can fire you up because he’s a fiery guy.”
On if he had any hesitation in going from WWE to TNA: “Not one hesitation what so ever because one place has given me a golden opportunity to shine and I’ve taken that as far as I possibly can. It feels good to be in TNA right now because it’s an atmosphere where everyone has their eye on the prize. Everyone’s focused on one goal and that’s to continue to move forwards and to drive and succeed with each other.”
On what happened with NXT and WWE: “I have multiple opinions. I think injury at an inopportune time and the regime change. Like in any business, if you’re not somebody’s guy, then you’re not the guy. That’s fine because I was born to make somebody some money. I’m very happy in TNA. Once I hit the top of the main event, I will never be leaving TNA.”
There was said to be a lot of bonding among the guys in TNA during their recent United Kingdom tour. Regarding the speech Samoa Joe gave on a bus trip, which we reported about last week, it’s being said that Joe informed the talent that they are all in a fight and everyone needs to band together to try and turn things around. Apparently nobody from creative was present, just the wrestlers.
Joe and MVP are seemingly considered the locker room leaders in TNA now that so many of the veterans are no longer with the company.
Regarding Jeff Jarrett’s new potential promotion, many are taking a wait-and-see approach, with the belief that nothing is for sure until something concrete is presented. Many in the company have loyalty to Jarrett for giving them their first big national break, however many are equally loyal to TNA feeling that while it has been rumored to go out of business many times in the past, it’s been around for 11 years and has survived each potential disaster thus far.
– TNA has officially announced the World Heavyweight Title match between Magnus and Samoa Joe as the main event for their upcoming “Lockdown” pay-per-view.
– Speaking of TNA pay-per-views, their “One Night Only: #OldSchool” show, which was taped in December, officially begins airing on pay-per-view starting today. Below is the preview for the show:
The recent TNA U.K. tour is considered to be the most grueling tour in the history of the company, but reportedly the best in terms of locker room morale. The general consensus was that everyone seemed to be happy working in front of larger and more receptive crowds.
TNA veteran Samoa Joe reportedly gave an emotional speech during one of the bus rides back to the hotel about how this was the company’s toughest touring schedule, but turned out to be a great tour because they had no prima donnas, no complainers and no whiners. Joe spoke about being proud of everyone who was a part of the tour. The wrestlers themselves were apparently chanting Joe’s name by the time the speech was over.
TNA star Samoa Joe recently appeared on the MLW Radio podcast. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Whether TNA wrestlers are worried or hoping that recent departures mean a better spot for them:
“I think a little bit of both. I mean with guys like AJ gone, he was like the team captain. When you think of Impact Wrestling, you think of AJ Styles.”
Working with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan:
“Um I think Bischoff is still around, I think it’s just a production capacity. I think with Hogan, some people think he had more clout than he did. I think they really wanted him to do a bit more but I think he just didn’t want to really do more at this time. As far as Hogan as a person, cool cat. As far as working with him, I wouldn’t know. I never worked with them. I never see them, I never talk to them. When they just asked me ‘This is what we need from you’ I did it and that was that.”
The infamous kidnapping angle and Vince Russo:
“You want me to break the silence on that? I don’t like getting in verbal spats with people who I don’t think are worth my time or my effort and a dude in particular is Vince Russo. This cat, I don’t have a problem with Vince Russo. When he left I just told him, it is what it is. He always had 22 million reasons for making the decisions that he made. But when Hogan and Bischoff came in they said, ‘Oh we have this great idea. We are going to do this thing and take you off of TV and re-brand you. Do all this other stuff. We do this kidnapping thing and you come back as a psychopath.’ I was cool with it.
I sat at home for 3 months on a bitching ass vacation. I had one of the best vacations in the history of vacations. Paid vacation. Getting ready so I call them back week after week, ‘What do you guys need me to do’. They would say ‘We are still coming up with something’. Vince Russo with his infinite ridiculousness just said, we are short on babyfaces. So I get a call saying, ‘Joe we need to bring you back to TV.’
So I asked him, how is it that you are going to bring me back. He said, I don’t know how just yet but we need to bring you in. So the dude couldn’t write his way out of a kidnapping. The only reason why I bring this up is because he has the audacity to blame all of his silliness on other people. And by the way wrestlers, pro wrestlers all over the world and people in the business, stop whoring yourself out to shoot interviews. This man couldn’t write his way out of a kidnapping. That’s how much respect he had for the product, how much respect he had for the fans and that is indicative of his style of what he did. He was the head writer at the time and this is the way he felt that was admissible. Now I know this little bitch is going to go back on a shoot and talk all of this shit.”
His TNA future:
“I think with TNA now, especially with the inner office changes. I think hopefully I will be on top. I told them already. I said, ‘Look, you guys have tried to do things in different ways.’ I told them at the beginning of last year. ‘You guys have been using me in a utilitarian way for the past 2 or 3 years. I’m cool with it. I know this is a team effort but I’m ready to run with it and produce for you if you give me the opportunity.’ I’ve told John Gaburick the same thing. ‘You guys have been using me in a utilitarian way for the past 2 or 3 years. I’m ready to get shit done. If you want to run with me, It’s going to be this year.’ The ball is in their hands and we will just see what happens.”
The following is a blog from Jim Cornette from F4WOnline.com explaining the context of the recent Samoa Joe remarks:
I haven’t been on the internet much the past few days because, well, it’s Christmastime, but I just found out that Samoa Joe is of the belief I may have made disparaging comments about him in a recent interview, and I want to clarify those statements. Whether someone has misrepresented my meaning to Joe, whether he read a transcript of the audio podcast and did not know the context, or whether this is simply internet rumor from people challenged in the comprehension of the use of irony or sarcasm, I’m not sure. But my comments in effect were praising Joe, not disparaging him.
In response to a question about the TNA-AJ Styles situation, I expressed the opinion that AJ was right in standing up for himself and the money he wanted, but that it was a sad fact that at TNA’s level of business and the way they’ve booked their talent, he’s probably not worth to them what he wants, and should be making in wrestling.
I recalled that in a conversation with Delirious in 2012, when we were trying to come up with available names to book in ROH that would truly sell tickets, and where the ROH alumni were then and how they were faring, I bemoaned the fact that AJ, Jeff Hardy, Joe and a few other ROH alumni were bigger draws BEFORE they got on national TV than after, because of the way they’d been booked. I have always been a fan of Samoa Joe–I’ve seen him booked perfectly as a dominant badass with a literate promo style–Gabe Sapolsky did it and it really shouldn’t be that hard. Joe and Kurt Angle had TNA’s most successful PPV main event ever the one time they were allowed to be themselves. He should be in a franchise position there today.
But it’s also true that you can only take a top talent and put fake tattoos on their faces, take them from face to heel, suit to firedancers, have them lose the big one, have them lose a lot of small ones, kidnap them and throw them in trunks or whatever else has been perpetrated on that talent in the name of “entertainment” for so long and not devalue said talent. Nature Boy Buddy Rogers couldn’t have taken that treatment on national TV for 5 years and still sold tickets. And it’s not just Samoa Joe, TNA has managed to get a lot of guys “under” instead of “over.”
So, the illustratation was not intended to be critical of Samoa Joe. It was intended to disparage the knuckleheads that had a potential money ballplayer and blew it, the guy who couldn’t book Lassie in a pet shop, and the company that devalues their talent and then offers them less money, but not Joe. I apologize to him, wish him Merry Christmas, and offer him the chance to come on my podcast–The Jim Cornette Experience, every week on MLW.com–and let me apologize to him publicly. As Bill O’Reilly would say, “We here at the Experience regret the error.”
As seen Thursday night on Impact Wrestling, Madison Rayne made her return to TNA Wrestling. Establishing herself as a babyface, the four-time TNA Women’s Knockout Champion saved ODB from an attack from Lei’D Tapa and her former partner in crime, the reigning TNA Women’s Knockout Champion Gail Kim. The 27-year-old is back on the company website’s official roster and has also been talent roster for January’s tour of Europe.
Those scheduled for the tour are Magnus, Rockstar Spud, Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Ethan Carter III, Bully Ray, Mr. Anderson, James Storm, Gunner, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, Austin Aries, Eric Young, Joseph Park, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz, Zema Ion, Gail Kim, Lei’D Tapa, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, ODB and Sam Shaw.
Brooke, Knux and Manik have been pulled from the announced lineup. Other notable admissions include AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Sting, Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez.
-TNA announced that there next pay-per-view themed edition of Impact Wrestling on Spike TV will be on November 21st. TNA will present a “Turning Point” themed edition of their weekly television show, which will emanate from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida.
-TNA announced the following brackets for their eight-man tournament to determine the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion:
–Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Sabin
–Bobby Roode vs. James Storm (winner faces the winner of Hardy vs. Sabin)
–Magnus vs. Samoa Joe
–Kurt Angle vs. Austin Aries (winner faces the winner of Magnus vs. Joe)
The matches will carry stipulations which will be determined by the “Wheel of Dixie.” The Hardy vs. Sabin match will be a Full Metal Mayhem match. While Styles is still technically the owner of the TNA title, the tournament will decide the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Basically, it looks as if TNA is setting up a future “Champion vs. Champion” match between Styles and the winner of the tournament.
TNA president Dixie Carter posted a new tweet on her official Twitter account on Sunday afternoon to reveal the opening match for tonight’s “Bound For Glory” pay-per-view event. Dixie wrote:
TNA Impact Wrestling star Kurt Angle was officially inducted into the TNA Hall Of Fame on Saturday night.
According to fans who witnessed the event live in person, fellow TNA stars Samoa Joe, Sting and Magnus all gave what were said to be lengthy, nice speeches about Angle.
Kurt Angle then accepted the honors and gave what was described as a “short, five minute speech.”
Angle returns to in-ring action with TNA at tonight’s “Bound For Glory” event, which airs live on pay-per-view. Make sure to visit SESCOOPS.COM tonight for live results coverage of the show.
-Apparently the specific reasons Ric Flair had heat with WWE management stemming from the already infamous WWE2K14 symposium is because he blatantly buried Daniel Bryan, talked about wrestlers drinking too much and brought up TNA at a WWE event.
-Episode 39 of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast has been posted online. Fans can listen to the latest edition of the show, which features TNA Impact Wrestling star Samoa Joe, at PodcastOne.com.
-Episode four of WWE Total Divas, which aired at the same time the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view was going on, drew 1.35 million viewers. The figure marks a drop of 19 percent from the previous week, and the first time the numbers for the show have dipped since its’ premiere.
-WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently announced via Twitter that the next guest on his “Steve Austin Show” podcast will be current TNA Impact Wrestling star and Main Event Mafia member Samoa Joe. Austin wrote, “Heading into the #steveaustinshow studio to open a case of Audio Whoop Ass with a bad ass cat, @SamoaJoe. #strongstyle.”
Speaking of the Steve Austin Show, part two of Scott Hall’s appearance on the show was added to the official website recently. You can listen to that episode online for free at PodcastOne.com.
-WWE Hall Of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase has an upcoming international ministry appearance scheduled in the United Kingdom on Sunday, August 25th. For more information, visit EveningExpress.co.uk.
– Dixie Carter noted on her Twitter account that TNA will be debuting a new X Division belt tonight. She said she will post a picture of it later today.
– Samoa Joe has been doing media appearances today in Louisville, KY to promote tonight’s “Destination X” edition of Impact Wrestling. He appeared on WDRB-TV’s morning show (video) and WHAS-TV’s Great Day Live.
– TNA has released the following footage of Mickie James performing country music live in Nashville last week:
– Samoa Joe announced Monday on Twitter that he has recovered from a rib injury that had hindered him since September.
“Good news from the doc, after 3 months of annoyance, cartilage tear in my rib looks to have healed nicely,” wrote the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion. “Back to full go.”
– TNA Wrestling alumnus Konnan feels his former employer is ripping off the FX drama program Sons of Anarchy with their Aces & 8s storyline.
“Hey for all you Sons of Anarchy fans, the series really isn’t over; if you want to see the continuation, watch TNA’s Aces & 8’s. #LAME,” he wrote late Monday night. In response to a fan remarking “sons of nwo,” he responded, “was never this lame..that shit was trendsetting.”
– The following video teaser of TNA British Boot Camp was released Tuesday. The Challenge TV program premieres on Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 10:00 p.m., with Rockstar Spud, Marty Scurll and The Blossom Twins starring.
– Three matches have been announced for next Thursday’s Impact Wrestling broadcast, which is the final show before Final Resolution.
* TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and James Storm face Bobby Roode, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian in a tag team match.
* Samoa Joe defends the TNA Television Championship against Devon.
* Kurt Angle takes on a member of Aces & Eights, D.O.C. (f/k/a Luke Gallows).
– Wes Brisco is the newest member of the TNA roster. After defeating Garett Bischoff in his “Gut Check” challenge match on Impact Wrestling last Thursday, becoming the first contestant to defeat his opponent, he received a “yes” from two of the three judges to earn a contract—Bruce Prichard and D’Lo Brown both said yes, while Taz said no.
Brisco, who is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco, remarked on the accomplishment immediately afterwards via Twitter, “Greatest day of my life just made on the TNA Roster!!!!!” He was also congratulated by company president Dixie Carter (see photo).