According to Dave Meltzer, TNA star Monty Brown quit TNA before Hard Justice due to the fact he was scheduled to job in the three-way match with Samoa Joe and Rhino. The original plan was for Joe to pin Rhino at the PPV, but the former ECW and NWA World Champ has been getting over huge in Orlando, so they decided to protect him at the expense of Brown. Brown was calmed down backstage by Joe and Terry Taylor, and agreed to do the match — he even got quite a bit of mic time outside after the studio was evacuated due to the fire incident. In fact, one idea going around was to start the street fight outside with Brown being attacked while being interviewed, but that plan got scrapped as they started filing people back into the venue.
Monty Brown’s TNA contract is set to expire soon, and he again went to Terry Taylor the day after the PPV to ask for his release. There is talk that he will eventually end up in WWE if he continues to wrestle (he is pretty secure financially from other projects). While the PPV match got great reviews, and may have been his best since he was main eventing vs. Jarrett, the gripe with Brown was always that he needed more seasoning in the ring, yet didn’t show interest in doing house shows, and could use some work making his promos more innovative.
In other TNA news, Ron “The Truth” Killings is also unhappy and asked Terry Taylor for his release the day after Hard Justice. Since 3 Live Krew broke up, there have been issues with Killings and TNA management, including Jarrett, and his stalled push combined with recently asking him to job to A1 likely led to Killings’ request being made sooner rather than later. He is still under TNA contract, but WWE has shown interest in bringing him in, possibly re-forming Too Cool with Killings, Scotty 2 Hotty and maybe even Rikishi and Brian Christopher/Lawler (Grandmaster Sexay, who seems to get fired days after each of his ‘second chances’ with WWE, and supposedly was acting no different when backstage at a recent Memphis show, during which he spoke with Johnny Ace about a return). Killings, the former two-time NWA Heavyweight Champion, was briefly in WWE as “K-Kwik,” where he partnered with Road Dogg (BG James).
The Wrestling Observer has also reported that Kevin Nash’s TNA contract expired on Sunday, August 13, and that while Dixie Carter and Spike TV see him as a big star, the talk behind the scenes is to no longer book him, especially not to wrestle. In a somewhat conflicting report, the Pro Wrestling Torch says that he is in negotiations for a new deal and that for the most part people are happy with the way Nash has conducted himself. While the Torch says that Nash does indeed want to put over Chris Sabin at the end of their program, the Observer implies that the neck injury that kept him from his scheduled match (and planned loss) with Sabin at Hard Justice — even if it is legit — is making people backstage wonder if his intentions are indeed pure. The Torch says that Nash’s proposed idea is to lose to Sabin in a cage match in a month, as opposed to dominating him in a match, only to lose by a fluke. Time will tell…
Some additional TNA notes:
– TNA’s audio podcast that debuted today is replacing Global Impact, which is now on hiatus.
– TNA X-Division Champion Senshi vs. Chris Sabin will take place at the September 24 No Surrender PPV. Also expected for the event is Christian Cage vs. Rhino and the return of Lance Hoyt, who was given time off to work in Puerto Rico. An Ultimate X tag title match is scheduled and will be announced this week or next on iMPACT!
– Austin Aries is expected to make his TNA return as Austin Starr at Bound For Glory on October 22. Vignettes have been taped.
– Tickets for the October 21 Bound for Glory Fanfest will go on sale September 1 via TNAWrestling.com.
– Spike and TNA are negotiating terms to extend the weekly show to two hours, but it will not likely be moved to Mondays.
– TNA was thinking about bringing Hector Garza back to add a Latin-American babyface to the mix, but he’s not allowed in the U.S. for the next nine years due to a steroid issue.
– Konnan and Homicide wanted to add Senshi to LAX but were told no, as it would be seen as a reward to Senshi, who has been known to potato another worker if something doesn’t go his way in a match. Apparently Jay Lethal missed a spot at the PPV, and Senshi responded by “roughing him up.” Ricky Banderas has also been talked about re: being added to the LAX faction, and a Konnan/Cornette feud (not in the ring) is being discussed.
Talk about this news here!
Credit: TNAWrestling.com, PWInsider, PW Torch Newsletter, Wrestling Observer Newsletter (click here for subscription information)
