Houston, Texas may be at the center of the wrestling universe this week, but that fact alone does not prevent me from discussion what is occurring in Orlando, Florida, or as some might like to call it, “The Land of Russo”. I apologize for not coming through with a column last week. I had things happen that was beyond my control. I’m back this week and I’ll try my best to catch you up to date with all the news.
We have Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter mouthing off, Kurt Angle in the movies and on Howard Stern, huge news surrounding Booker T’s Fight for Kids Legend’s Festival this weekend, and a plethora of other news.
TNA Rapid Fire
News from PWInsider, F4WOnline, & the Observer
Here’s a trailer for End Game, starring Kurt Angle & Jenna Morasca. Kurt Angle in a clown outfit means the movie has to be good, right?
Speaking of Jenna Morasca, she mentioned that she would consider posing for Playboy again during a live chat at Fancast.com.
You can download a TNA Wrestling game on the iPhone and the iPod Touch.
Kaz should be returning soon and will take over the Suicide gimmick.
Brutus Magnus is Dixie Carter’s “pet project” and that could be an explanation to his recent push on TNA programming.
More news is coming out about Jacqueline and Kip James being removed from the roster. Earlier reports have claimed that they are agents for the Knockout Division. However, it seems that the roster removal was done as a budget move and that Jacqueline’s removal from Beer Money is giving that team a whole new dimension.
Traci Brooks was injured overseas while visiting the troops. She was supposedly firing a machine gun and one of the barrels ended up down her shirt, burning one of her implants. Now do you see why more women opted to get implants?
Taylor Wilde v. Madison Rayne!
Kurt Angle was on Howard Stern recently. I promised an in-depth report on this adventure last week, but since last week’s column never posted, all I’m going to say is that there was a man riding a sybian. He wanted to marry Mick Foley, screw Kurt Angle, and kill Hulk Hogan but Angle confessed that he liked black women. They also talked about his ex-wife. That’s all you need to know, trust me.
On the flip side, Kurt Angle was also on Opie & Anthony recently. Angle discussed his pain killer addiction and his MMA dreams.
Due to Ring of Honor having a television deal, TNA now sees them as competition and will no longer allow their talent to work ROH shows.
Don West’s “character” has been toned down due to the fact that they went too far too fast. It seems that now he’ll act slightly heelish when the Beautiful People come out or when a face does something stupid. I’m still calling for Mike v. Don in a Headset on a Pole Match sometime in the future, because I tend to think like Russo sometimes.
Vince McMahon v. Dixie Carter – Round One
Vince McMahon was interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter last week and he had some interesting comments about TNA. He feels that TNA has to change with the times and tone down their product to be more family friendly; that TV-14 is the past and PG is the future in the wrestling business. He also noted that TNA ratings are a fraction of WWE’s ratings. Firing back, Dixie Carter tells the UK Sun that she thinks it’s wonderful that Vince watches TNA iMPACT and that she agrees with the fact that some of the things shown are reprehensible. She noted the brutal beating of a 60 year old man, man-on-woman violence, and a vicious home invasion that was shown on WWE programming in the past few weeks.
Score one for Dixie for firing back the way she did, but let’s take a look at the bigger picture. TNA has Samoa Joe running rampant with his “Nation of Violence” and he has a tribal knife that he uses on the show. Honestly, I find that to be in worse taste than the three WWE angles that Dixie mentioned. The WWE might be PG, but they are notoriously known for pushing the envelope and making it look like reality. The knife angle with Samoa Joe and Scott Steiner was neutered in last week’s showing of iMPACT anyway. Two weeks ago, Joe wore a head mask, covering the “scars” and last week, he ditched the mask and the “scars” weren’t noticeable. Now Joe looks like an idiot and Scott Steiner looks like a walking miracle. It shall be interesting to see if we get some more Vince/Dixie comments in the future.
Booker T Fights for Kids Legend’s Event
Tomorrow, several wrestling legends will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center for a fans meet-and greet. This event is benefiting the Fights for Kids foundation. If you’re in the Houston area for WrestleMania weekend, this is one event you should not miss. For a complete list of who will be there, click here.
TNA Ratings News
Two weeks ago, it seems that TNA iMPACT broke the 2 million viewer mark when they scored their highest rating at a 1.34. That same show also featured the highest quarter hour in TNA history during the Mick Foley/Jeff Jarrett v. Kurt Angle/Sting match, which recorded a 1.45 rating. These numbers prove that the fans are mildly interested in Foley/Sting, despite the complaints by many fans on various discussion forums.
The rating slipped last week to a 1.26, but was still rounded up to a 1.3. Last week’s show featured a 20 man Gauntlet in the Cage match.
On Last Week’s Episode
Suicide d. Kyoshi (Suicide Solution; pinfall; title retention) – This was an inoffensive match to open the show on and it gives us more of Suicide, the character we love so much.
The Beautiful People d. Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed (Angelina Love pins Raisha Saeed; Light’s Out; pinfall) – Is TNA trying to turn Kong & Saeed face for this inevitable feud with the Beautiful People, or are we going to see some more bitch killing in the coming weeks? It wasn’t surprising that Saeed took the fall. I just can’t wait until Kong ditches Saeed and we get Cheerleader Melissa.
Samoa Joe defeats nineteen other guys in a 20 Man Gauntlet in the Cage Match (Joe pins Angle; Muscle Buster; Joe & Angle are captains for Lethal Lockdown.) This was the main reason to watch iMPACT. While Angle got several “quick eliminations” and the fact that there were plenty of commercial breaks, the match lasted over thirty minutes. The post match interview with Joe not wanting to be a captain puzzles me, and I’m sure we’ll have that explanation tonight on iMPACT.
Tonight on iMPACT
The following matches are scheduled to appear tonight on iMPACT.
– Team No Limit, Kiyoshi and Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. LAX, Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal
– Team 3D vs. Main Event Mafia Security
– Sting vs. Samoa Joe
– Taylor Wilde vs. Madison Rayne
– AJ Styles vs. Scott Steiner
Also tonight, we’ll have more on the Sting/Foley saga, the Jarrett/Joe/MEM saga, and a whole lot more!
This Week in Wrestling
ECW / RAW / ROH / SMACKDOWN / TNA IMPACT
This Week on the Pulse
The Reality of Wrestling celebrates it’s 100th installment!
Mark Allen starts us off on WrestleMania Week!
Vinny T. and John Wiswell discuss ROH on HDNet.
Andy Wheeler returns to the Pulse with FYC.
Until Next Time
Continue to keep it to the Pulse for ongoing coverage of WrestleMania Week. We’ll have our thoughts on WrestleMania 25 in what should be the biggest Roundtable of the year. I’ll have real-time coverage of WrestleMania 25 starting at 5:30pm CST! Enjoy the rest of the week.
