WWE/TNA News Thread

[KillaCham]

- As noted before, Gregory Helms was found with a single soma pill in his bag when arrested with Chris Jericho. If Helms didn't have a prescription for the drug like he claimed and even though the police aren't charging him for it, WWE would be forced to suspend him for 60 days on his second Wellness violation. WWE's current policy says that every prescription a wrestler has is supposed to be filed ahead of time with Dr. David Black. All prescriptions are supposed to be written by the company doctors who travel with the WWE crew. Helms has a previous violation against him for his name coming up in the Signature Pharmacy scandal in 2007 and has never failed a WWE drug test.

There has been a lot of talk backstage regarding Helms' future with WWE after the incident. Based on the success of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view which he was pulled from, Helms missed out on a payoff from the show that would have been around $5,000.

It's said that Helms was apologetic to WWE officials for the incident.

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- Hulk Hogan appeared on Rob Van Dam's RVD Radio this week and talked to the former WWE and ECW Champion about coming into TNA. Hogan called up to speak with Van Dam personally but ended up appearing on the radio show.

Hogan told Van Dam that TNA has some serious momentum right now and if they had RVD "ruling the roost", it would make things a lot easier. Van Dam asked Hogan about TNA on Monday nights and Hogan said the move is definitely going to happen sooner than later. Hogan said TNA needs RVD's help.

Van Dam said he is very interested in hearing what Hogan has to say about him coming in. Van Dam told Hogan that now is a better time than ever as his wife is healthy, he is healthy and he's not burnt out. RVD said he was curious about coming into TNA and said that he and Hogan should probably do some more talking off the air.

Hogan said he was on the phone with Jeff Hardy earlier, talking about Van Dam and other things. Hogan said he and Hardy were coming up with crazy ideas that he guaranteed were going to work. Hogan kept saying how much fun everyone is having in TNA. RVD asked Hogan if it was his decision to go back to the four-sided ring and Hogan confirmed it was. Hogan put down the six-sided ring and Van Dam agreed with the decision.

It was really interesting hearing Hogan and Van Dam go back and forth. You can listen to the show at http://blogtalkradio.com/rvdradio. Hogan appears at about the 23 minute part. One more thing from the show that stuck out was that Van Dam said that he and Sabu had been talking about both of them together in TNA. Sabu is a regular guest on RVD's show with Booker T and others.

Van Dam on TNA???

 

[KillaCham]

- WWE has announced who will host Monday Night RAW on February 22nd (the night after the Elimination Chamber PPV) and March 8th.

Just added to WWE.com's RAW host page are:

February 22, 2010: Jewel & Ty Murray

What does two-time Grammy Award winner Jewel and nine-time bull riding world champion Ty Murray have in common? They are a celebrity power couple ready to bring even more action and excitement to Monday Night Raw live from Indianapolis.

March 8, 2010: Criss Angel

Raw will bring extra magic and quite possibly blow your mind only three weeks before WrestleMania as the “mindfreak” himself, Criss Angel, hosts Raw from Portland, Ore.

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- To follow up on the news that John Cena underwent an MRI last week to determine the extent of his back injury, the MRI came back clean. It's been reported that Cena has been working with a bulging disc in his lower back and he's been working a lighter schedule in recent weeks, but he is in relatively good shape.

- Last night on ECW, Vince McMahon announced the brand is coming to an end and a new show featuring the "next generation" of WWE programming will debut in 3 weeks during the same timeslot on SyFy. The brand will be called WWE NXT, as in "next generation." Word came out earlier today that there's already an "NXT" wrestling promotion based out of Scottland. To give more background on the original NXT promotion, it's actually a developmental promotion of sort for the Scottish Wrestling Alliance, a member of the UK's branch of the National Wrestling Alliance.

 

[G.R.I.P. Money $$$]

im surprised rvd gets along wit hogans wacc ass...

 

[KillaCham]

im surprised rvd gets along wit hogans wacc ass...

Word lol...seems modd. maybe he's just being nice.

 

[Skolar]

Jeff Hardy is involved with TNA? I used to be the type who would know all this info beforehand, but now I just don't pay so much attention to it. *shrug*

 

[Skolar]

BTW, Cham, your signature is making me wonder what those chicks are saying.

 

[nujerz84]

Trish Stratus is playing the lead role in an Canadian Action Flick as a Female Bounty Hunter which is being shot up in Toronto called Bail Enforcers most likely straight to DVD (though I read they ll try Independent circuit first) idk if she's any good in acting but seeing Trish kick ass would be worth watching. The movie site below.

http://www.bailenforcersmovie.com/

 

[KillaCham]

Jeff Hardy is involved with TNA? I used to be the type who would know all this info beforehand, but now I just don't pay so much attention to it. *shrug*

Yeah...that big night when Hulk and the rest of them showed up to TNA, Jeff was there too, and climbed to the top of a cage or some shit.

BTW, Cham, your signature is making me wonder what those chicks are saying.

LMAO..

 

[KillaCham]

- Jim Ross noted on Twitter that he would be at WWE's developmental territory FCW next Wednesday night looking at the talents.

- Beth Phoenix wrote the following on Twitter yesterday regarding the new sitcom with Santino Marella: "just finished shooting the first 3 episodes of Santino's sitcom! The crew laughed til they cried...so proud of everyone! Thank u Santino!"

Santino sitcom?? LMAOOO WTF??

 

[KillaCham]

- Word is that Joey Mercury has indeed signed a new deal with WWE last week and likely will be heading to the main roster soon for the SmackDown brand.

- This past Thursday's episode of TNA iMPACT scored a 1.2 rating, rounded up from a 1.18. The show brought in 1,559,000 viewers.

- WWE announced today on its company website that NXT will launch Feb. 23 on Syfy, replacing ECW in the same Tuesday night timeslot. Hence, the final episode of ECW will air on Feb. 16, 2010.

- It's interesting to note that Jack Swagger has yet to garner a single victory so far this year. Taking house shows into account, he currently sits at 0-15.

- During this week's WWE Superstars show, a commercial aired for the new NXT brand. The commercial described the show as "revolutionary" and unveiled the following logo.

 

[KillaCham]

- The format of WWE's NXT program will be something along the lines of the old Tough Enough show with a reality TV feel to it. Viewers will also be able to follow the NXT talents outside of the ring on the show. The idea is that the talents on NXT will be fighting for a spot on the main WWE roster. WWE is still going back and forth on the idea of having veterans on the show.

- The feeling within WWE is that The Undertaker will probably work two, possibly three, matches between Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania. The tentative plan is to get the World Heavyweight title off him before WrestleMania but that could always change.

- The man Bret Hart threw out of the ring at the end of last week's RAW was Luke Hawx, formerly of MTV's WSX and XPW.

- Jon sent word that Maryse's message in French on last night's RAW to Gail Kim read like this: "You smell like garbage, it's terrible, I can smell you from 100 feet away, I pity you, youre a little girl, your a nobody, your a nobody." ROFLLL

- Ron Simmons wrestled his retirement match this past weekend in Georgia, teaming with Air Paris and David Young to lose to the team of Terry Lawler, Alexander the Great and Bobby Hayes. TNA Knockout Christy Hemme accompanied Simmons to the ring. He did his "DAMN!" spot and at a Q&A session after the show, said he would continue to appear at wrestling events but would no longer be wrestling.

- Last night's edition of WWE RAW scored a 3.6 cable rating with 5,342,000 viewers. The show did hours of 3.48 and 3.69. Hour one this week was the #4 rated show on cable last night while hour two of RAW this week was the top rated show.

- Speaking of Behrens, he confirmed in a recent radio interview that Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore

are headed to TNA and both are expected to do big things in the company.

- Former World Champion Vader will team with his son on April 29th in Japan. Vader's son, Jesse White, will be making his pro wrestling debut that night.

 

[KillaCham]

After the disappointing results of the show this year, Vince McMahon announced today that the Survivor Series has been dropped as an annual event.

The event, the second oldest annual event in company history, dating back to Thanksgiving of 1987, did 235,000 worldwide buys this year as compared to 319,000 the year before.

McMahon blamed the decline on the idea the team concept is obsolete, was good for its time but no longer resonates.

In reality, the decline from being one of the bigger events of 2008, was because of poor television build-up of the main events, and secondarily, coming one day after a UFC event.

The team concept has not even been a major part of the selling point of the show, but the name and history of it being a "big four" event has kept it among the bigger sellers most years. The elimination matches have usually been promoted as more along the lines of a high mid-card match, with the focus being on championship matches, this year being three-ways for Raw and Smackdown. The HHH vs. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels buld up was heavily reliant on comedy, and that, more than the name of the event, was the reason for the major decline.

Obviously the company will do a new November event this year, with a new name.

SMH first King of the Ring, now Survivior Series???? Vince is a moron. His gimmick PPVs like TLC did SLIGHTLY better while SS declined. So being the man that Vince is he figures, well, the creative team is so awesome so if numbers are down it cant be that, it must be the TITLE/PPVs! =\

 

[Trill Gate$]

All this is off ewrestlingnews

 

[KillaCham]

All this is off ewrestlingnews

??? The same news is posted on hundreds of wrestling sites. I've never even heard of ewrestling.

 

[KillaCham]

Drew McIntyre vs. Kane for the WWE Intercontinental Title has been added to the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

According to their corporate website, WWE is planning on releasing Legendary starring John Cena in September of 2010 and Knucklehead starring Big Show in November of this year.

The official theme song for WWE's NXT is "Wild & Young" by the band American Bang.

- WWE will begin filming a new movie called Killing Karma on April 13th in New Orleans. The movie stars a character named AJ, who gets released from prison and wants to make a new life for himself. However, AJ's best friend accidentally shoots a man and AJ scrambles to protect his friend, his friend's wife & daughter, all while trying to avoid a "vendetta-driven" mobster. No word yet on which WWE Superstar will star in Killing Karma.

 

[KillaCham]

The original plan for the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame was to make former WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior this year's marquee inductee. After Warrior and WWE settled a lawsuit several months ago, the two sides began discussing Warrior being part of the Hall of Fame this year.

According to a source, Warrior initially agreed to be inducted into the Hall of Fame but he made the decision last week to change his mind and reject the offer. It's believed that Stu Hart will be announced as the next inductee on RAW next week and he will likely be this year's featured inductee.

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The UFC made two moves today that could impact WWE. First, the promotion announced that starting with UFC 111, their PPV events would be shown in US movie theatres. UFC 111 has a big card and is set for March 27...the night before WrestleMania 26.

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WWE NXT rookie Daniel Bryan suffered some minor injuries during his first WWE match against World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho on the debut episode of WWE NXT. During the match, Bryan dove out of the ring onto Chris Jericho. He looked to be in pain afterward, but didn't have a problem finishing the match. Bryan suffered some nasty scrapes to his back and leg, but he's not expected to miss any ring time. WWE has confirmed Bryan's injury and posted some nasty pictures of the scrapes he suffered, which you can see at WWE.com

 

[KillaCham]

- The Miz was getting ribbed on backstage a lot by his co-workers about being picked to mentor Daniel Bryan on NXT. Sources say that after this week's NXT premiere, Vince McMahon felt that they had already made Bryan into a star in one night with the Miz interaction and the main event with Chris Jericho.

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- WWE began filming the movie Big Red in New Orleans this week. It stars actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan with RAW's Randy Orton. The movie is based in the mid 1960's and focuses on a smart 12-year-old boy whose teacher makes him work with a social outcast on a project and the outcast has an incident with a bully at school. Orton will star as the father of the bully who tries to get Harris fired him his job as teacher. Madigan will play the school's principal.

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- Ric Flair has been seen around Charlotte, North Carolina in the last day or two so he has been released from the hospital after the attack from his wife on Sunday.

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- TNA will be trying to break the Guinness World Record for Largest Gathering of People with Mustaches as they hold the Hulk Hogan Fu-Fest on this Friday from 2-4pm in St. Louis at Mike Shannon's Steak and Seafood restaurant. They will be giving away prizes to fans with Hogan Fu Manchu's including front row tickets to Lockdown.

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- There is talk again within WWE about turning Triple H heel later this year. This was talked about last year but put on hold because of the most recent DX reunion.

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- Paul Bearer noted on Twitter this week that he was doing some work on the new RAW vs. SmackDown 2011 video game that will be released this Fall.

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- Melina is set to return to action some time in late spring after her surgery to repair a torn ACL in December.

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- WWE Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre's new nickname backstage in WWE is Avatar, apparently because of the joke that his fiancee, WWE Diva Tiffany controls him.

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- WWE has hired Joe Francosi for the creative team, a former producer for UPW and the man behind Mick Foley and Colt Cabana's comedy tour. WWE is looking for him a place to live in New York as he will be starting out on something like a trial basis.

During his interview with the company, Francosi actually suggested the "spoken word" segment that was done by RAW host William Shatner a few weeks back.

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- You probably noticed on last night's WWE NXT that Michael Cole kept burying Daniel Bryan and internet fans. It appears this is all part of a storyline as the following was posted last night on the WWE Universe Twitter page:

"Michael Cole has requested his @WWE Universe profile be removed from our site, not wanting to associate with 'online fans" any longer."

WWE on Twitter are asking for fans feedback and opinions on Cole's announcing and then re-Tweeting what the fans say.

Josh Matthews was playing along with Cole on NXT, even mentioning how Cole was getting tips on announcing sent to him. This was in reference to Jim Ross saying on Twitter this weekend that he e-mailed Cole tips for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

 

[KillaCham]

- WWE released their full pay-per-view calendar for the rest of 2010 to media partners this past week and the most notable change from what we've seen is the May pay-per-view titled Wild Card has been changed to WWE Over The Limit. Survivor Series is still being advertised for November but it's expected that name will be changed but not confirmed.

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- A SmackDown vs. RAW match is being advertised for a WWE Supershow in May, after the WWE Draft in April. This could be a possible spoiler or not, but the match lists Team SmackDown as Chris Jericho, CM Punk and Sheamus and Team RAW as Triple H, Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston. This may mean that Sheamus is headed to SmackDown in the Draft.

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- Shelton Benjamin has been added to the SmackDown roster so it appears he is now a member of the brand with Ezekiel Jackson from ECW. Former ECW stars coming to RAW so far include William Regal, Christian and Yoshi Tatsu. WWE still hasn't removed Maria from the roster.

 

[KillaCham]

Eric Bischoff has answered another batch of fan questions on his Facebook page. Some highlights:

Are rumors about Hulk Hogan turning heel on March 8th true – "If I told you it wouldn't be any fun to watch would it?"

Orlando Jordan's character being "toned down" at recent tapings and will the character continue – "Lets just say that with a controversial new character development, "less is more"."

If PPV buyrates are up since he and Hogan came in – "I have heard that PPV's are up, but I don't have specifics."

Thoughts on "The Wrestler" and its portrayal of the wrestling business – "I thought the movie was pretty good. It did portray some parts of the business accurately. I did not enjoy the end of the movie however. It was anti-climactic for me."

Whether Hogan turned down the main role in the movie – "Hogan DID turn down the role. It was offered to him by one of my agents at William Morris

Agency when they repped my company."

Thoughts of Tony Schiavone as a PBP guy – "He was decent at one time...but really lost his passion in the early mid-nineties."

Bringing him to TNA – "Don't see it...but never say never!"

Whether Dennis Rodman will show up in TNA – "Nope. My liver couldn't survive it."

Whether Tiger Woods will show up in TNA – "My marriage wouldn't survive!"

Making Vince Russo an on-screen character – "Never say Never!"

What if WCW had purchased WWF instead – "I would have tried to keep it as intact and autonomous as possible in order to maximize the inter-promotional feuds that could have developed."

His routine and preparation for a TV taping – "Week or two of writing with the team, arrive the day before production. Production meeting at noon, agents meeting at 1, a brief lunch and then pre-tapes until around 6 when the taping starts. Finish any pre-tapes that need to be finished and then head back to the hotel for some serious bonding, Get up around 8, and start all over again."

Was Meng as crazy as his on screen character – "He had his moments. For the most part he was (and still is) one of the kindest and gentlest people you would ever want to meet. Unless you were a rude and disrespectful ass, in which case you would wish you were a world class track star."

Honky Tonk Man suing TNA and Bubba – "HTM is a joke."

Is Jeremy Borash the Most Obnoxious person in wrestling? – "Without a doubt!"

More Obnoxious than Honky Tonk Man? – "Jeremy is obnoxious...HTM is a douche bag. I will take obnoxious any day!"

Would he still be in WWE right now if Vince was not an "ass" to him – "Vince wasn't an "ass" to me. I enjoyed working at WWE and am grateful to this day for the opportunity. I really enjoyed my time there. It was just time to move on."

Which 3 people he would sign from WWE – "Answered this on Bubba a few weeks ago: Randy Orton, John Cena and Chris Jericho"

On Invading RAW – "That might be a little hard to do at the moment...but it would be fun!"

Will he be at the TNA houseshow in Hattiesburg in March – "I may try. My schedule is very tight in March, but I would like to start going to some house shows soon!"

Why can't he play a "good guy" boss for once – "Because I really am an evil prick and not a good enough actor to pull off a different character!"

Funniest person and creative person backstage in TNA – "Jay Lethal HANDS DOWN the funniest person Ive ever been around!"

How long will it take for TNA to get the same ratings as WWE – "Not sure. Its going to take a lot of had work and a major commitment in many different levels. Time will tell."

Introducing a TV Title in TNA – "IMO we need to make the belts we have more important before introducing new ones."

Working with old faces and new faces in TNA – "Having a blast working with everyone!"

Taking more shots at WWE – "Only when the moment hits me!!!"

Who was the best wrestler in WCW – "Too hard to say. There were so many great ones who were great in different ways. Sting, Flair, Hogan, certainly had the most long term impact, but early Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and Eddie was a highlight for me as a fan. And then there was Avalanche. Ok...just having fun!"

 

[KillaCham]

Hulk Hogan was said to have enjoyed the segments on iMPACT last week where he was portrayed as someone who was old and shouldn't be wrestling anymore.

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Word is that Jeff Hardy signed a contract with TNA over a week ago. Details of the deal are unknown but TNA officials reportedly wanted around 100 dates from Hardy over the next 12 months, meaning they would want him to work some house show dates.

Shannon Moore also signed a deal with TNA after Hardy did. There was talk of using the two as a tag team to start but that doesn't look like the direction they're headed.

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Dixie Carter wrote the following on Twitter today: "Let me just say how excited I am to have Jeff Hardy & RVD join TNA. Love their energy & passion. Game changers." and "Thanks to the amazing Army soldiers who did a great job on Monday's iMPACT! (re-airs 2 nite). You guys ROCKED"

As of today, Awesome Kong is still contracted to TNA.

With the exception of some mid-card wrestlers who are worried about their jobs, it's said that morale in TNA right now is strong.

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WWE Champion Batista passed Steve Austin today on the all-time longest WWE Champions list. Batista passed Randy Savage last week on the list. Here's the list:

1. Bruno Sammartino - 4,040 days

2. Hulk Hogan - 2,185 days

3. Bob Backlund - 2,138 days

4. Triple H - 1,151 days

5. Pedro Morales - 1,027 days

6. John Cena - 969 days

7. Bret Hart - 654 days

8. Batista - 530 days

9. Steve Austin - 529 days

10. Randy Savage - 520 days

Speaking of Randy Savage, he is featured in in the new "Classic Moment of the Week" on WWE's website when he debuted and was scouted by the heel managers in WWF at the time.

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WWE has signed Dennis Condrey, one-half of the 1980's tag team The Midnight Express, as a developmental trainer. He will be working with the NXT talents in Florida starting this Monday. This will be Condrey's first job with WWE in his career.

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Orlando Colon, the cousin of WWE Superstars Carlito and Primo, made his WWE debut at last night's Florida Championship Wrestling tapings in Tampa. He teamed with Johnny Prime and Incognito to defeat Tyler Reks, Derrick Bateman and Vance Archer.

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It looks like Bret Hart will be sticking around with WWE after WrestleMania. He is currently being advertised for the WWE tour of Germany after WrestleMania as a special enforcer in the main events of Edge vs. Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title.

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- In the latest edition of his Q&A, at jrsbarbq.com, Jim Ross was asked the question, “What are the chances of you and the King ever being paired together again on RAW?” Ross replied:

"I don't think that WWE is interested in putting me back on weekly TV and all the travel that comes along with it at this time. Would I love to work with King again? Certainly. Is this my call? Nope. Do I think that I will ever be paired with Lawler again on a regular basis? Highly unlikely"