— Reigning TNA Women’s Knockout Champion Madison Rayne and Angelina Love recently shot footage for the custom wrestling match website SlamminLadies.com. Below is a photo of the two TNA Knockouts battling it out inside an empty room.
For prices starting as low as $250, the website allows fans to draw an outline of a pro-style match between any two women wrestlers featured on the site. Photo sets are also offered.
A number of past and present TNA Knockouts are featured on the website including Awesome Kong, Velvet Sky, Taylor Wilde, Cookie, Daffney, Sojournor Bolt, Roxxi Laveaux, Rhaka Khan, Ms. Payton Banks (a/k/a Rain) and Rosie Lottalove. Former WWE Diva Savannah (a/k/a Angela Fong) is also featured on the site.
— TNA Wrestling has made iMPACT! available to UK viewers while their television situation in the country gets resolved. The following instructions were posted on the company website: “Log on to TNAondemand.com, click the launch button, then click on the Impact UK button on the bottom left of the page. This free service is only available for the UK.”
— TNA ReACTION is currently not on Spike TV’s programming schedule for the entire month of January, so the season finale on December 30th will be the final episode of the show for the time being.
— Knockouts action is featured on this week’s episode of TNA Xplosion as Velvet Sky squares off against Tara. The match can be viewed here.
— Mickie James’ theme song, Hardcore Country is now available on ShopTNA.com and iTunes.
— Former TNA Knockout Rhaka Khan celebrates her 29th birthday today.
– TNA Champion Jeff Hardy announced on Twitter this week that he and his girlfriend Beth are the proud parents of a healthy baby girl. This is most likely the reason why he missed the most recent iMPACT! tapings. Congratulations to the new parents!
– The Family Feud television game show sent out the following announcement this week announcing a special TNA edition of the show next week:
“TNA Wrestling Superstars go head to head in a very special edition of “Family Feud” next week. For “TNA Wrestling Week” it’s a battle of beauty vs. brawn as the TNA Knockouts go head to head with the TNA Superstars over some serious bragging rights. Host Steve Harvey will have his hands full with these two teams for the week-long grudge match, airing all next week beginning Monday, November 11. Check your local listings for times and channels where “The Feud” airs near you.”
-Velvet Sky and Chris Sabin’s romantic relationship was mentioned on this week’s TNA iMPACT! Following a brawl that took place among the TNA Knockouts, Sky said she was going to “call Chris” before she got too upset.
Check out this picture of Chris Sabin and Velvet Sky:
During an interview with Brian Fritz of Fanhouse.com, TNA Women’s Knockout Champion Angelina Love was asked about the similarities between The Beautiful People and World Wrestling Entertainment’s Lay-Cool — Michelle McCool and Layla. Love, however, cut him off quickly and would not discuss the matter.
“I don’t see it. I haven’t seen it. I’ve heard about it.”
She also discussed her relationship with Velvet Sky and how long it took them to gel as a unit, as well as tonight’s Four Corners Knockouts Match for the Women’s Knockout Championship at Bound for Glory.
This week’s episode of TNA Wrestling’s new behind the scenes program ReACTION saw the recently reunited pairing of Angelina Love and Velvet Sky slam those who have attempted to imitate The Beautful People stable over the years.
Love charged during the pseudo-shoot program, “We created a group that has been like no other for women in professional wrestling. People have tried to be like this. People wanted to join us. No can do.”
Sky added, “And for all you wannabe Beautiful People girls out there… you know exactly who I’m talking about, get a life. You will never be us.”
Angelina then cryptically noted, “And you’re not cool by the way. You’re not cool.”
Some have interpreted their message as a thinly veiled potshot towards WWE Diva alliance Lay-Cool — Michelle McCool and Women’s Champion Layla. Both have directed similar remarks towards rival performers in the past, with Love recently stating the following on her Facebook account while watching television: “So this is what I get for quickly flipping thru the channels on a friday night……a blonde & a brunette blatantly ripping something off……..BRUTAL!!!”
Apparently in response to the TNA Knockouts’ most recent remarks, Layla said the following on Twitter yesterday:
“Living the dream & so blessed!!
1 thing I know when u r attacked u have 2 decide if it’s worth the time & effort to retaliate
Not worth the press
Plus don’t deserve the press we get even tho they want it & need it :-)
Real talk”
It was reported this past June in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the Lay-Cool act was concocted due to WWE’s creative department being embarrassed by The Beautiful People making their female performers look second-rate by comparison.
To view The Beautiful Peoples’ ReACTION promo, click here.
— Rosie Lottalove confirmed news of her departure from TNA Wrestling last week on Twitter, writing: “Ok guys. TNA days are done for now. Not a bad thing, so don’t speculate. Thank you to the guys and girls, and the agents. It was a blast!”
Regarding the reason for her dismissal, the feeling is she wasn’t ready to work for the organization quite yet, but company officials plan on keeping tabs on her developmental and would be open to bringing her back in the future.
Lottalove’s wrestling ability was a source of contention amongst some in the locker room as they felt she and fellow Team 3D Wrestling Academy students Rob Terry and Jesse Neal were not ready to be featured on national television and should still be training.
— TNA Knockout Velvet Sky is auctioning off a custom made top and bottom she wore during a match at last year’s Turning Point pay-per-view. To view the auction, click here.
— Angelina Love will be on hand for an autograph signing this Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at TCI Sports Fan 3962 Linden Ave. Dayton, Ohio. For more information, visit www.tcisportsfan.com or call 937-254-8552.
— One third of the Knockout Tag Team Champions, Velvet Sky, recently signed a three-year contract with TNA Wrestling. She also received a pay raise, bumping her salary from $300 per show to $600 per show. As a result, she is among the company’s top female earners.
— Due to poor sales, TNA Wrestling’s “Ultimate Fan Xperience: Victory Road VIP Weekend” has been discounted from $299 to $99. The company reportedly sold less than ten VIP packages, hence the markdown. All fans who had previously purchased tickets at the $299 price will receive a refund for the difference of the ticket price. For more information on the proceedings, click here.
— Reportedly, “it was a lock” a few weeks ago that Bound for Glory would be held in San Antonio. The decision to move the pay-per-view event to Daytona Beach was due to company officials finding out that WWE had scheduled a Monday Night Raw taping in San Antonio on July 26.
— TNA Wrestling officials are working on setting up an Australian tour. A previously planned tour of Australia was canceled last December due to changes in TNA’s television production schedule, company officials claimed.
— As seen last week on iMPACT!, Sarita turned heel by attacking tag partner Taylor Wilde following the former Women’s Knockout Champion’s loss to Madison Rayne, proclaiming she was sick of losing matches. Nonetheless, the inaugural Knockout Tag Team Champions will be appearing together at this Saturday’s “Heatwave” event at the Holiday Inn in Carteret, New Jersey. The two will be doing photo-ops together with fans. For more information on the event, click here.
— Tentative plans call for Velvet Sky to turn on Madison Rayne during the Women’s Knockout Champion’s title defense against Angelina Love at next month’s Victory Road pay-per-view, costing her the belt. She would then join back up with Angelina Love, reuniting the original members of “The Beautiful People.”
At last night’s iMPACT! taping (scheduled to air on July 8), Rayne challenged Love to put a retirement stipulation in their Victory Road match. She agreed and it was announced that should Velvet Sky or Lacey Von Erich interfere in the match, Rayne will lose the title via disqualification.
— Spike has nixed plans to air a four-hour TNA programming block every Thursday night. ReACTION, which was scheduled to start on July 15 at 11 p.m. following iMPACT!, has been pulled from the Spike schedule. The show is still scheduled to air, but a start date and time has yet to determined. Meanwhile, Xplosion is scheduled to eventually air before iMPACT! on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m.
— Reigning X Division Champion Douglas Williams is moving full-time to the United States. He currently resides in England.
One third of the Knockout Tag Team Champions, Velvet Sky, indicated Saturday on her MySpace account that she has signed a new, long term contract with TNA Wrestling.
“I ain’t going anywhere!,” Sky exclaimed.
Her contract was set to expire later this year.
It was recently reported that there was more grumbling than usual amongst the company’s female performers over the pay discrepancy between them and their male wrestler counterparts. At a recent set of television tapings, they reportedly talked amongst themselves of getting all the women together to demand a raise from management. However, the television tapings concluded without confrontation. The women said to be most upset were Velvet Sky, Taylor Wilde and Lacey Von Erich. ODB was also part of this camp, but has since quit the organization. Reportedly, Velvet Sky was contemplating quitting the organization if she didn’t receive a raise, but it appears she’s been pacified.
— TNA has announced that the Victory Road pay-per-view event will take place on July 11. Meanwhile, Hard Justice will be held on Aug. 8. Both shows will take place at the Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida.
— Angelina Love is auctioning off a bikini worn on a fall 2008 episode of iMPACT! during the first ever “Beautiful People Beauty Pageant.” You can view the auction here, which ends today.
— You can follow TNA newcomer Rosie Lottalove on Twitter.com here.
— This past Wednesday, Velvet Sky turned 29 years old while AJ Styles turned 32.
As reported earlier, it has been indicated that Lisa Marie Varon (a/k/a Tara) has buried her peers behind their backs to management. Among the stories cited are reports of Varon complaining about various female wrestlers on house show tours, refusing to work with certain individuals altogether, and squashing numerous storylines — all of which she denies. For those curious as to who she is having these issues with, they are all three members of The Beautiful People — Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich. The root of the matter is that The Beautiful People have refused to take some of her moves not to mention that she doesn’t respect their in-ring ability.
As noted, Varon took her issues directly to management rather than discussing the matter with the trio. When the group received word of this, they confronted Varon and told her they should have come to them rather than breaking locker room protocol by going to management. The friction was bad enough that when Varon was called in to work a recent house show loop, she specifically asked to work with ODB on the tour — who wasn’t originally scheduled for the set of live events. Company officials complied with Varon’s request due to Madison Rayne being unable to appear (note – there is a unique reason for Rayne’s absence and it will be disclosed in a separate report).
Varon never had a reputation for being difficult to work with during her time in WWE and it should be noted that various sources have stated that she’s been easy going for the most part during her time thus far in TNA. Furthermore, some feel the matter may be more of personality clash as opposed to one side being right and one side being wrong.
On a final note, Varon has been telling people that she hopes to return to WWE once her deal with TNA expires.
– TNA President Dixie Carter announced on her Twitter account that Christy Hemme and Brian Kendrick have signed new multi-year contracts with the organization. She wrote, “LOVE Christy in her new role & excited to see what Brian brings to X Div.”
– To clarify, the previously announced Leather & Lace Match between Angelina Love and Velvet Sky taking place on next week’s iMPACT! will not be for Love’s Knockouts Championship.
– For those unable to keep track of the Knockouts roster following numerous talent changes this year, here is how it currently stands.
Wrestlers (10): Angelina Love, Daffney, Hamada, Lacey Von Erich, Madison Rayne, ODB, Sarita, Tara, Taylor Wilde, Velvet Sky
Other on-air characters (5): Chelsea, Christy Hemme, Miss Tessmacher, SoCal Val & Orlando Jordan’s (unnamed) female companion.
Furthermore, the company has parted ways with five female performers so far this year in Alissa Flash, Awesome Kong, Kristal Lashley, Roxxi and Traci Brooks.
As seen last night on iMPACT!, Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky defeated the teams of Angelina Love and Tara and Sarita and Taylor Wilde in a three-way match to win the vacant TNA Knockout Tag Team Championship, after interference from Daffney.
The three members of The Beautiful People will defend the titles under the “Freebird Rule,” which allows any two of the three members of the team to defend the title on any given night.
— For his newly launched web show Last Call With Scott Hall, the former Intercontinental Champion has posted video footage shot backstage at TNA’s last television taping in Orlando. Hall and Sean Waltman can be seen clowning around shooting footage of various TNA personnel such as Ric Flair, Vince Russo, Christopher Daniels and “The Beautiful People.” You can view the footage at his newly launched YouTube channel.
— TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles and “The Beautiful People” member Velvet Sky headline tonight’s Purks International Championship Wrestling show in Cedartown, Georgia. “The Phenomenal One” is advertised to wrestle former tag partner Air Paris, who briefly appeared in World Championship Wrestling. Meanwhile, Sky will take on former WWE developmental wrestler Tracy Taylor. Also scheduled to appear is former TNA wrestler David Young. Click here for event information.
— Desmond Wolfe is advertised to appear at tonight’s MCW Championship Wrestling show in Alliance, Ohio. Visit www.mcwpro.com for more information.
— While nothing has been official been said by either party, the belief is that Awesome Kong has been talked into staying with TNA.
Kong requested her release from the organization following a backstage altercation with Bubba the Love Sponge a few weeks ago. Though it should be noted that she was reportedly upset with her pay as well. (source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
— Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne of “The Beautiful People” recently took part in a photo shoot for FHM in the U.K., which is their equivalent of Maxim. This should be high profile exposure for TNA since it’s the No. 2 selling men’s magazine in the country.
— Today is reigning TNA Women’s Knockout Champion Tara’s birthday. The five-time champion turns 39 years old.
(credit to the Wrestling Observer for some of the information used in this report)
— AJ Styles could be in line for a makeover as creative has discussed having the TNA World Heavyweight Champion bleach his hair blonde in order to synergize his partnership with Ric Flair. Though it should be noted that Styles has a say in this so it may not happen.
— TNA newcomer Mr. Anderson will be making his live event debut for the company during the weekend of February 4th in Kansas and Missouri.
— Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne of “The Beautiful People” were brought in for the remainder of the company’s ongoing tour of the UK starting with tonight’s show in Bournemouth. The duo will be working tag matches against Taylor Wilde and Sarita. The tour concludes this Saturday.
— On his Twitter account (twitter.com/KennDoane), former WWE performer Kenn Doane (a/k/a Kenny Dykstra) is proclaiming himself as “The Most Talented Free Agent In Wrestling” today. It would appear that he is interested in joining TNA as he recently asked fans if they want to see him in the organization.
Doane tweeted: “Lets be honest, do fans really wanna see the most talented free agent in wrestling today in TNA? if so tell tnadixie nows your chance.”
— TNA Knockout Velvet Sky is auctioning off two ring worn items including an iMPACT! worn outfit and a sexy number she worn on many occasions during her time on the independent circuit as “Talia Madison.” You can view her auctions at the following link.
— You can follow Max of Generation Me on Twitter at the following link. Max, alongside his brother Jeremy, debuted this past Thursday night on iMPACT!.
