I’m back from my Wellness suspension I served for being too drunk on the keyboard from Monday. Inside Pulse has a great Wellness program that keeps their writers from doing things that are bad, such as not looking at the keyboard. Actually, I’m joking. I’m running late because of things beyond my control. It will be worth it because I’ll have extra content for you all. I mean, where else can you find Dixie Carter on drugs? Where else can you find Don West acting like a dick? Right here…on Total Nonstop Weekly.
Rapid Fire
Courtesy of PWInsider, Metzler, Prowrestling.net, TNAWrestling.com, and elsewhere.
SoCal Val wants to be considered for Playboy.
Matt Morgan landed the role of “Doomsday” in the series Smallville. He is also being considered for a role in Iron Man 2.
Traci Brooks and SoCal Val will be in Iraq visiting with the troops this month.
TNA has applied for two trademarks: “TNA365.tv” and “Fandimonium”. One is for possible VOD services and the other is like the WWE Universe, except much more complex.
This just in: TNA has a new Knockout. Yes, she has a Playboy spread, but you’re going to have to find that yourselves. Too bad she has no wrestling training. How come the WWE didn’t sign her then?
Dixie Carter Speaks Out
This is coming from Minyanville. I have no idea what this site is, but there is a wrestling article on there, so it’s considered wrestling news. Dixie Carter was interviewed by Tal Pinchevsky about the rise of TNA and the fall of the WWE. In the current recession, WWE has reported a net revenue loss of more than 5% and their viewership has remained steady, if not falling slightly (this depends on the time of year, of course). However, TNA has doubled their revenue each year since 2006 and their viewership has doubled in the past year.
“At a time when people can’t buy expensive items, wrestling is a good way of suspending disbelief for just a minute,†says Carter. “It can be perceived as blue collar but if you look at our audience you have guys who work at a bank and grandmas and kids and guys getting their masters degree. It’s so much more diverse than people perceive it to be.â€
This could be why TNA has several items on their ShopTNA.com website over $50. Oh, she means watching TNA live. I haven’t seen the figures as to how much is charged for TNA house shows and for special events held outside the iMPACT Zone. The tapings and the live Pay-Per-View in the iMPACT Zone are free to paid customers to Universal Studios. On the other hand, I’ve been to four WWE events and paid $70 for 3rd row seats, $150 for floor seats at a Pay-Per-View, and $40 twice for lower level seating. For a family of four, WWE tickets can be very costly, so I can safely assume that TNA is cheaper in that regard. I almost went to LockDown a couple years ago and good seats was running $30, but I backed out at the last minute due to other commitments. Pay-Per-View wise, TNA is a slightly better bargain than WWE, but the quality isn’t necessarily as good.
What can I say, Dixie went out of her way to compare TNA to the WWE, but everyone and their dog knows that you can talk about it, but doing it is another thing.
Booker T Fights for the Kids and WWE Fights for the Legends
Booker T’s website has announced a meet and greet with several legends of wrestling for April 3rd, 2009 in Houston, Texas. Several wrestlers including Sting have signed on for this event for the fans, with proceeds going to a worthy cause. For more information about the Fight for Kids Foundation, click here. Word is going around that the WWE is contacting several wrestlers that have committed to be at Booker T’s event and are offering them free plane tickets and paying their booking fee for them to show up for Wrestlemania 25 Axxess instead. This has attracted negative press from the Houston Press. One WWE employee was quoted saying this to the Press:
“I don’t even know what his charity deal is, to be perfectly honest with you.”
Houston will be the center of the wrestling universe come Wrestlemania week.
Ratings News
The news just keeps getting better and better. Last week’s iMPACT scored a 1.3 rating, slightly down a couple tenths of a point with 1.7 million people tuning in. Last night, iMPACT scored a 1.32 rating with 1.9 million people tuning in. This matches their highest rating in company history and this marks the third consecutive week that TNA has scored a 1.3 rating. This is a huge accomplishment as this shows that TNA can keep their viewers and still attract new ones. TNA won’t be a major threat to the WWE for years to come, but every little bit helps.
The Last Two Episodes
02.26.2009
The Beautiful People d. Taylor Wilde & Madison Rayne (Rayne turns heel; Sky pins Wilde; Beauty Mark) – TNA was quick to turn Madison Rayne heel here. However, I’m fine with this as long as Dafney gets in the ring and they decide to lose the “Governor Palin” gimmick. Rayne/Sky/Love v. Roxxi/Wilde/Dafney…that should be interesting.
Beer Money d. Rock N’ Rave Infection (Belt shot to Rock; Roode pins Rock; Rock loses his job) – Beer Money is a great tag team, but someone really needs to step in because Jacqueline’s constant interference is making me not like this angle one bit. Sure, TNA needs to cut the fat, but at least let Beer Money win cleanly. How hard is that? There is no need to complicate things.
Sojourner Bolt & Rhaka Khan d. Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed (Bolt pins Saeed; backslide) – Rhaka Khan sucks. That is all. Awesome Kong makes that known after the match by killing a couple bitches.
Alex Shelley d. Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed, & Jay Lethal (Ladder Match; title retrieval) – This should have been on Pay-Per-View, given 20-30 minutes, and none of the Suicide crap. What is the point to the Suicide character now that the video game is practically in the discount bin?
Random Observations
Don West turns heel on Mike Tenay. – This has as much chance of succeeding as Mike Adamle commentating ECW with Tazz.
Kurt and Sting hate each other. – This isn’t new. Both men have egos bigger than their heads. Not even Kevin Nash can make things right.
03.05.2009
Alex Shelley d. Kiyoshi (Frog Splash; pinfall; title retention) – This was a nice opener that had no commercial breaks. I enjoyed this and would like to see more of this.
The Beautiful People d. Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed, Rhaka Khan and Sojourner Bolt, & Taylor Wilde and Roxxi (Love pins Roxxi; Rayne interference followed by the Lights Out; pinfall) – This was a Vince Russo masterpiece. That is all that needs to be said about this. I remember the good old days when Knockout matches were fun to watch.
Matt Morgan d. Shane Sewell (Hellavator; pinfall) – The only interesting part of this match was the Hellavator and the post match challenge to Abyss for Destination X.)
LAX d. Beer Money via DQ (Roode smacks Hernadez with a chair; DQ finish; Beer Money retains the titles and LAX keeps their jobs) – At the least, Jacqueline didn’t try to interfere. The DQ finish keeps LAX from being fired. Team 3-D saves LAX from a beating and they put their contracts on the line to face Beer Money at Destination X.
Random Observations
Kurt gets suspended. – Jeff Jarrett suspends Angle for the attack on him and Mick Foley from last week and he donated Kurt’s paycheck to the Frontline.
Kurt shows up anyway and kicks some ass. – Kurt won’t listen to Jarrett and he punks out Consequences Creed, Jay Lethal, and Eric Young. EY actually got the most offense during his beatdown, but Angle no-sold it, making EY look weak.
Jeff Jarrett throws out Angle – The main event segment showcased a decent brawl between Jarrett and Angle. Jarrett did what he said he would do and he handed Angle’s ass to him.
Who knew Don West was a natural heel? – This week, Don West was a hundred times more interesting in his newly found heel role. Hell must have froze over, or TNA has finally decided to let Don West show what he can do as a heel color commentator. I smell a Headset on a Pole match between the two sometime soon.
TNA Destination X Card
Confirmed Matches
TNA World Title Match: Kurt Angle v. Sting ©
TNA World Tag Titles Off the Wagon Challenge: Team 3-D v. Beer Money ©
TNA Legends Title Match: AJ Styles v. Booker T ©
TNA Knockouts Title Match: Sojourner Bolt v. Awesome Kong ©
Match of 10,000 Thumbtacks: Matt Morgan v. Abyss
Grudge Match: Samoa Joe v. Scott Steiner
The Return of Ultimate X: Participants to be Announced
Rumored Matches
Headset on a Pole Match: Don West v. Mike Tenay
This Week in Wrestling
SmackDown / 10 Thoughts
TNA iMPACT
ECW
RAW
On the Pulse
Mark Allen begins a new feature where he will countdown the top 25 Wrestlemania Moments.
John Wiswell has good remarks on ROH’s TV tapings and offers critique of ROH Escalation.
Mark Allen talks news from Stamford.
Vinny T. reviews the King of Europe tournament from 2007.
Widro pops in with some game screens from WWE Legends of Wrestlemania.
Until Next Time
Thank you for allowing me to give you a jump start on your weekend with all things TNA. I’ll be back Monday for another explosive episode of RAW and I’ll be back in my normal slot Thursday. Enjoy your weekend!
