Category Archive:
Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 23, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Mickie James was the featured guest on this week’s Monday Night Mayhem, hosted by The Big Mosh & “The Chairman of the Board” Todd Vincent. Here are interview highlights.
How the release of her new album is being received by her peers and by TNA: “They have been really accommodating. TNA got the album a couple days prior to the official release date, and Dixie (Carter) has been totally cool since Day 1. She already knew this is what I wanted to do. They have been amazing.”
Why she wants Velvet Sky at 100% for their TNA Knockouts Championship Match this Thursday night: “I am little bit worried because I’m worried about her knee. She wasn’t 100% last time, and I really want to get in there and go. Even if I do win it, I will know that she wasn’t at 100%.”
The influence of Trish Stratus on her career: “She taught me so many little things. She is an amazing individual. The fact that she took time out of her moment at her (WWE) Hall of Fame speech to recognize so many women that have been a part of that along the way just shows what kind of person she is.”
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Posted by Jim Williams on May 21, 2013 at 8:14 pm
Brett Clendaniel & Jim Williams return to the airwaves with WrestleChat Radio along side special guests Eric Gargiulo from CamelClutchBlog.com and Pro Wrestling Radio and John Philipavage, the producer of the new ECW documentary Barbed Wire City. You can listen live HERE. To call in with your questions & comments, dial (347) 237-5373 or click the Skype button on the show page.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 17, 2013 at 4:40 pm
TNA’s President Dixie Carter recently spoke to Digital Spy and revealed she is open to the idea of an event where WWE and TNA talent would go head-to-head in a cross-promotional event.
Carter revealed that the rivalry between the two brands is beneficial to both sides, and most importantly, the fans
“I don’t think [the WWE] shares my belief in this, but I believe that competition is 100% positively essential,”
“I think it’s important for fans and for us. To have one company dominate, a) it’s boring, and b) you are not being challenged enough. It’s always better to have otheroptions out there and I truly believe it makes both companies better.”
When asked if she would open to WWE and TNA talent appearing on the same shows, she said: “I absolutely would do that. I’m not sure if they would do that, but I absolutely would.”
Carter closed by saying she is “very proud” of the company’s achievements on “limited resources”, and that her aim is still to become “the most successful wrestling company in the world”.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 17, 2013 at 3:16 pm
WWE CFO George Barrios talked company business at JP Morgan’s 41st annual Global Technology, Media and Telecom conference on Thursday. There wasn’t much new about the WWE Network but he noted that they are now looking to price it between $9.99 and $14.99 per month, a bit lower than previous estimates. Barrios also noted that the new WWE 2K14 video game will have a strong online gaming presence. A full transcript can be found here at SeekingAlpha.com.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 17, 2013 at 2:44 pm
TNA star Zema Ion sent out a tweet earlier this week, stating that he had been rushed to the hospital for severe stomach pains. He wrote:
“Good morning! Ended up goin to the hospital afterall last night. And long story short….it was one of the smartest things i could have done”
Zema later provided an update on his condition through Facebook, confirming appendicitis. Further tests have also shown that Ion has a tumor, for which he will require more surgery. He wrote:
“I’m alive! Seriously thank you all for the get well wishes. Means the world to me. I was rushed to the hospital lasts night for sharp stomach pains i was having. I couldnt stop puking. For like 9 straight hours. I didnt wanna go to the hosptial, but the pain was too much to handle. Thank god i went, as i ended up having appendicitis and had to have my appendix removed today. I consider this a blessing in disguise too, coz the cat scans also revealed that i have a tumor on my colon and will eventually need another surgery to try and remove it. Hoping it is not cancerous. Pray for me! This really sucks lol”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 14, 2013 at 7:10 pm
TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter addressed Austin Aries’ lewd behavior towards ring announcer Christy Hemme on last week’s episode of Impact Wrestling with a stern statement via Twitter this afternoon.
“TNA has ZERO tolerance for inappropriate behavior,” she wrote. “The incident with Austin Aries was taken very seriously and handled immediately.”
David Schwarz, Senior Vice President of Communications for Spike TV, stated this week to Mark Madden of Wrestlezone.com that action would be taken against Aries for his public form of sexual harassment towards the veteran Knockout.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment,” said Schwarz. “We discussed [the incident] with our partner. [Aries is] being disciplined. I’m trying to get more information on what action is being taken. Dixie Carter took this very personally. He will be disciplined. Again, we have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment.
“I’m not sure specifically how [the discipline] will be handled. To what extent, I don’t know. This is certainly something we don’t condone and don’t tolerate. Such behavior is not welcome.”
In response to whether Aries’ discipline should be made public since Hemme was harassed on national television, Schwarz responded, “I think that a statement of some sort will be coming. That’s being worked out. But immediate action will be taken.”
On the show, Hemme mistakenly introduced Aries and tag team partner Bobby Roode as their opponents for the evening, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian. This led Aries to corner Hemme in the ring as he intimidated her into correctly introducing him before climbing onto a mid-level turnbuckle and shoving his groin near her face.
Following the event, Hemme voiced her displeasure with Aries’ actions via Twitter, deeming it “unacceptable.” Late Saturday night, Aries appeared to address the incident though the social networking outlet, writing, “Pretty nuts, some of the junk people get the balls to say over the net, knowing they couldn’t to your face…Eh, anyway, time to sack out.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 14, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Chavo Guerrero defended Austin Aries and criticized Mark Madden in relation to the controversy over Aries “crotching” ring announcer Christy Hemme during last week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
Chavo wrote the following on Twitter earlier today:
“Great Job @MarkMaddenX for watering down wrestling even more. God forbid that a wrestler breaks out of the typical mold of being so scared to show his personality on TV. U must’ve been going crazy during the ‘attitude era’ with every cutting edge thing that Vince did!”
“And for the record, I saw Hemme after that segment, & she didn’t look bothered at all. Just saying…I was there.” Chavo concluded, “I think we should just let Hemme fight her own battles. If she needs help, she’ll ask.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 14, 2013 at 4:56 pm
Austin Aries will be disciplined for his public form of sexual harassment towards TNA Wrestling ring announcer Christy Hemme on last Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling. Mark Madden of WrestleZone.com garnered a statement from David Schwarz, Senior Vice President of Communications for Spike TV, regarding the matter Tuesday.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment,” said Schwarz. “We discussed [the incident] with our partner. [Aries is] being disciplined. I’m trying to get more information on what action is being taken. Dixie Carter took this very personally. He will be disciplined. Again, we have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment.
“I’m not sure specifically how [the discipline] will be handled. To what extent, I don’t know. This is certainly something we don’t condone and don’t tolerate. Such behavior is not welcome.”
In response to whether Aries’ discipline should be made public since Hemme was harassed on national television, Schwarz responded, “I think that a statement of some sort will be coming. That’s being worked out. But immediate action will be taken.”
On the show, Hemme mistakenly introduced Aries and tag team partner Bobby Roode as their opponents for the evening, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian. This led Aries to corner the inaugural winner of WWE’s Diva Search in the ring as he intimidated her into correctly introducing him before climbing onto a second-level turnbuckle and shoving his groin near her face.
Following the show, Hemme voiced her displeasure with Aries’ actions via Twitter, deeming it “unacceptable.” Late Saturday night, Aries appeared to address the incident though the social networking outlet, writing, “Pretty nuts, some of the junk people get the balls to say over the net, knowing they couldn’t to your face…Eh, anyway, time to sack out.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 13, 2013 at 1:59 pm
As noted earlier, Mickie James recently spoke to Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald. Here are some highlights of the second half of the interview.
On Velvet Sky: “I love Velvet. She is a sweetheart. She is fun, and the company is really behind her now. They have really started to make her the face of the knockouts. I always try to do my best when I work with anyone and make sure the match as a whole is as wonderful and spectacular and tells that story as much as it can. She is awesome.”
On Women’s Wrestling and the WWE Divas: “For me, and granted I don’t watch as much WWE programming as I used to when I was part of the company, but I think that has a lot to do with how much trust they have with those people in those matches and telling those stories. Trish [Stratus] said it in her [WWE Hall of Fame] speech that this golden era of women who were some of the best women’s wrestlers in the world, and they aren’t there anymore. This is all over. This isn’t just within that organization.”
“With the exception of Nattie [Neidhart] and Alicia Fox and ones like that, they haven’t been maybe wrestling long enough, but I’m not going to bury anybody. I don’t like doing it…But I learned so much valuable, little things, on the independent circuit coming up the hard way that you can’t learn in just starting to learn how to wrestle in developmental. You can’t. It’s impossible, but there were tons of stuff I learned in developmental. Granted, it was different when I was coming up just because when the business changes everything kind of changes. There were lessons that I learned and all things that made me a superstar. This is what molded me and made me kind of form that I was in the ring.”
On not being used as much as she had hoped lately in TNA: “I think this is a conscious decision I’ve made within myself,” James said. “I wanted to be more real with myself and my fans because I feel like I have been sitting at home a lot lately and more than I should. Especially, while knowing who I am in the ring and what I’ve done and accolades I have and the level of wrestler that I am when it comes to females in this industry. I feel like often times that gets overlooked, which is bull because if I was a male in this industry that would not happen. But because I’m a woman in this ever-changing cycle of sex sells, this sells or that sells.
“At the end of the day there are very few and far between of those who can stand toe-to-toe at the same level…That is what frustrates me. I can’t stand sitting on the sidelines and watching. I don’t think anybody as a professional or as an entertainer or as an athlete can stand. If I was injured, then that’s one thing, but to be completely 100 percent healthy and be doing absolutely nothing. To me, it built up my frustration up to the point of being just pussyfooting around as the girl-next-door with a big smile on my face and happy about every little thing when in reality I’m frustrated.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 13, 2013 at 9:39 am
TNA President Dixie Carter was recently interviewed by Sky News Radio in the UK and talked about meeting WWE’s Stephanie McMahon earlier this year:
“It was actually a very sad meeting. We met at the church at Ric Flair’s son’s funeral. She and Hunter were there, and the three of us had never met before. I was there with Sting and we were just kind of put in this back room waiting for each other. It was a very interesting meeting. They’re lovely people; I just wished them luck personally. They had a big weekend with WrestleMania coming up, and I did so publicly. Look, I have a different philosophy than maybe other people do. I think competition is healthy; I think to not want to have competition is absolutely ludicrous. I think it’s better for the fans, it’s better for the product and it makes us all work harder. And if we want to grow wrestling to be as big as it can be globally, I think that’s important. So, she did respond. I think there were a lot of tweets between the fans, but she did respond in a very kind manner.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 10, 2013 at 4:50 pm
TMZ published an article nothing that Hulk Hogan is attempting to eradicate all copies of his sex tape with Heather Clem from the Internet.
Hogan has his legal team are targeting any website that features footage from the tape including photos. TMZ obtained a letter Hogan’s attorney sent to TheDirty.com, requesting they remove all screen sots of the sex footage of face drastic legal action. TMZ notes that TheDirty has not removed the photos yet.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 10, 2013 at 12:37 pm
TNA taped the May 16th episode of Impact Wrestling last night. Here are spoilers, thanks to F4Wonline.com:
* Jay Bradley beat Christian York to earn a spot in the Bound For Glory Series.
* Velvet Sky beat Gail Kim. Kim attacked Velvet after the match.
* Hulk Hogan called out Abyss but Joseph Park came out. Aces & 8s came out and Hogan made Park vs. D-Lo Brown for later in the show.
* Kenny King beat Chris Sabin and Petey Williams.
* Hernandez beat Daniels.
* Joseph Park beat D-Lo Brown. Park got busted open, saw his blood and flipped out. He used the Black Hole Slam to win.
* The Bully Ray vs. Sting contract signing for Slammiversary was next. Sting wanted a No Holds Barred stipulation and Ray agreed. Ray added that if Sting loses, he can never challenge for the TNA World Heavyweight Title again.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 9, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Tonight’s Impact Wrestling episode will air on a one-hour+ tape delay from Tupelo, Mississippi. Here is a preview for tonight:
* Aces & Eights members Bully Ray, Devon and Mr. Anderson will face Sting, Kurt Angle and a partner to be determined. Angle extended an invitation to AJ Styles to join their team last week.
* Bobby Roode & Austin Aries battle Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kaz) to determine the top contender for the World Tag Team Championship. James Storm will be the special referee.
* TNA Knockouts Champion Velvet Sky & Mickie James will face Gail Kim & Tara.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 8, 2013 at 8:20 pm
Credit – PWInsider
As noted earlier, TNA is expected to make a major announcement involving their partnership with YouTube.
The word making the rounds in TNA is they plan on offering the paid subscription services that WWE passed up on. As of this writing, there is no indication that the deal is finalized, however it’s consider a “lock.” YouTube is said to have approached TNA about the offer.
YouTube is expected to start making announcements next week about their paid channels.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 7, 2013 at 7:47 pm
TNA is teasing a big announcement about their presence on YouTube, writing on Twitter, “Big news coming soon about TNA on @YouTube – stay tuned!”
Its worth noting that YouTube will be unveiling a subscription service in the weeks to come for several of their channel partners. The cost for a subscription with those partners would be in the $2 – $5 / month range.
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