The offical TNA thread - News, Spoilers and the rest...

Machismo Fan

jaykhunter wrote: »

I imagine Hogan and Bischoff both have financial stakes in the company

I really doubt it, I'd say they're no more than employees.

waltersobchak

jaykhunter wrote: »

I think he's just trying to get the best deal possible, he knows TNA are desperate, so if he tells them he wants X, Y and Z, and ends up getting X & Y, it's better than just getting the X that he would've done the job for.

I imagine Hogan and Bischoff both have financial stakes in the company (which is so stupidly dangerous - i'd've said produce results and you get a part of the company) and have incurred massive debts since January, so I dunno how much TNA is willing to spend on Heyman.......they have to fix their budget first aka "get their sh1t together"

From TNA's perspective giving Heyman a 5-10% stake in the company, whether its in stock dividents in the long term, or a share of profits now, its far more logical than giving him X amount of money, as its the % that gives him the incentive of making both himself and the company money, and if the company doesn't make money, neither does Heyman, so theres nothing for them to lose theorectically whereas if he's collecting a cheque like Hogan and Bischoff, TNA will never get further than where they are currently

jaykhunter

i'm pretty sure hogan and bischoff didn't come into tna without getting a piece of the (company) pie; which is why it took so long to get him into tna in the first place. If they were just on a wage then Dixie could cut them pretty quickly, a lot harder if they're shareholders. In the same vein, where's the incentive to get them to work if they already have a wage whether TNA do well or not.

I see the incentive for Heyman to do better with giving him stocks immediately, but stock dividends down the line gives him an added incentive. Not that making more money isn't incentive to begin with.

Machismo Fan

jaykhunter wrote: »

i'm pretty sure hogan and bischoff didn't come into tna without getting a piece of the (company) pie; which is why it took so long to get him into tna in the first place. If they were just on a wage then Dixie could cut them pretty quickly, a lot harder if they're shareholders. In the same vein, where's the incentive to get them to work if they already have a wage whether TNA do well or not.

Hogan came to TNA because he needed the money and you can tell Bischoff doesn't own a part of TNA by his lack of complete dedication and commitment. Part of Bischoff being there is to get his foot in the door with Spike. Cutting them quickly would cost TNA a bucket load of money.

Butch Cassidy

jaykhunter wrote: »

I think he's just trying to get the best deal possible, he knows TNA are desperate, so if he tells them he wants X, Y and Z, and ends up getting X & Y, it's better than just getting the X that he would've done the job for.

I imagine Hogan and Bischoff both have financial stakes in the company (which is so stupidly dangerous - i'd've said produce results and you get a part of the company) and have incurred massive debts since January, so I dunno how much TNA is willing to spend on Heyman.......they have to fix their budget first aka "get their sh1t together"

Heyman didn't really sound like someone dying to get back into wrestling I don't think. It'd be interetsing to see if he had any good ideas. I know one thing for sure and that's that Heyman should never ever be allowed near a wrestling company's business/money stuff!

Ideas-wise he surely couldn't be any worse than the late-90's grouping of Russo, Bischoff & Hogan.

ayatollah wrote: »

from pwi

...which begs the question: why were they banned ?

jaykhunter

Machismo Fan wrote: »

Hogan came to TNA because he needed the money and you can tell Bischoff doesn't own a part of TNA by his lack of complete dedication and commitment. Part of Bischoff being there is to get his foot in the door with Spike. Cutting them quickly would cost TNA a bucket load of money.

I agree that Bischoff is more concerned with getting in with Spike TV. What makes you think Bischoff has no dedication or commitment? The show has become much more cohesive and sensible; and they're pushing different guys. I'd agree that it's not working but they are trying...although Hogan's ego is still as big as ever. I agree that Hogan came in for the money, but i think he weaseled his way into getting some of the company. We don't know the terms of his deal but it seemed to be a big factor during his negotiations in the dirtsheets.

Yeah, giving up on EZE and Hogan now would be stupider than leaving monday nights after 8 weeks.

D2D

TNA management are doing all they can to get Paul Heyman to debut at the Victory Road PPV this Sunday in Orlando. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that as of this weekend, those within the company believe Heyman is coming in and that the only thing left is for the sides to close a deal.

Heyman stated recently in an interview that he wanted a deal similar to what Dana White has with the UFC (full control of the promotion and a stake in the company) and doesn't want to be offered a low-ball deal that was given to Jim Ross not long ago. One of the things Heyman is insistent about in regards to TNA is the need for the company to revamp the product marketing.

At the same time, in the same recent interview with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez during the UFC 116 weekend in Las Vegas, Heyman said he won't be appearing at the Victory Road PPV. The belief is that TNA wants Heyman to be the television leader of the ECW invasion group, although he has said he doesn't want to be involved as a TV character. Despite what he has said, there are many sources within TNA saying the deal is close enough to the point where Heyman has already started working on ideas and is at least willing to make a public appearance to let people know he is there on what would effectively be TNA hitting the reboot button.

Machismo Fan

Am I the only one that thinks Foley would be a much better leader for the ECW guys - at least they could build to a match using him.

JP Liz V1

Is Foley gone completely from TNA?

Machismo Fan

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is Foley gone completely from TNA?

No, just a storyline firing.

Butch Cassidy

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

TNA management are doing all they can to get Paul Heyman to debut at the Victory Road PPV this Sunday in Orlando. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that as of this weekend, those within the company believe Heyman is coming in and that the only thing left is for the sides to close a deal.

Heyman stated recently in an interview that he wanted a deal similar to what Dana White has with the UFC (full control of the promotion and a stake in the company) and doesn't want to be offered a low-ball deal that was given to Jim Ross not long ago. One of the things Heyman is insistent about in regards to TNA is the need for the company to revamp the product marketing.

At the same time, in the same recent interview with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez during the UFC 116 weekend in Las Vegas, Heyman said he won't be appearing at the Victory Road PPV. The belief is that TNA wants Heyman to be the television leader of the ECW invasion group, although he has said he doesn't want to be involved as a TV character. Despite what he has said, there are many sources within TNA saying the deal is close enough to the point where Heyman has already started working on ideas and is at least willing to make a public appearance to let people know he is there on what would effectively be TNA hitting the reboot button.

Beside ECW what else has Heyman done businesswise? Has he any other impressive credentials? I'm not too up on the full ECW story other than what's common knowledge (it went bankrupt) and what was on the DVD. I think it was Foley who said he had a great mind for wrestling but letting Heyman near the account books could surely be terrible news for TNA. Unless there are untold stories of ECW and WCW if Heyman was running the ship then there'd be pretty much the key architects of the last two big wrestling companies to go out of business...

jaykhunter

Original ECW
SmackDown 6 period (2002-2004)
Brock Lesnar
One Night Stand 2005

Machismo Fan

IGN Interview with Jay Lethal:

IGN TV: You guys just had a really successful house show in Brooklyn, New York. How did that turn out? You weren't that far from your hometown.

Jay Lethal: Oh, yeah. Very close to home for me. I'm from New Jersey. And my comp seating list alone, since it was so close…TNA was probably a little upset with me for how many comps I had. But you know when you're so close to home all your buddies and your friends want to come out, but in the crowd we had over four thousand fans for that show. It was awesome. I had a Fourway match. It was me versus Amazing Red versus Homicide versus Brian Kendrick.

IGN: Have you seen better house show business these days?

Lethal: Oh definitely. Definitely with the addition of Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Damn. Man, there are so many Jeff Hardy fans out there. The house shows have grown a tremendous amount.

IGN: Your Ric Flair impression has now become an absolute show-stealer. How did you develop it? Did that one and the Macho Man come naturally to you?

Lethal: Well the Macho Man impersonation I've always been able to do. I can't remember a time when I couldn't do the Macho Man impression. But for the the Ric Flair impersonation, TNA went over to the U.K. last year and on one of our days off we had some down time and everybody was just hanging out and enjoying a little quiet. And I just whipped out this Ric Flair impersonation. I didn't even think it would get as far as it did. I didn't even think I could do it as well as I did. It just seemed to catch on. Someone asked me "who else can you do?" Well, in 2011, in January, TNA's going to go over to the U.K. again and that's when I'll figure out who else I can do.

IGN: Were you ever worried that your impressions might offend someone? That they might not see the humor in it?

Lethal: Definitely. Especially the Macho Man impersonation. He's an idol of mine, but there are so many stories out there about the Macho Man being crazy and I don't know how much he was going to like it. I didn't want to offend him at all, much like the Ric Flair impersonation. I didn't want to offend anybody at all. That was the furthest thing in my mind. I just wanted to pay tribute to them. Which is why I just won't go out there and do any imitation. Because if I don't feel that I've got a good one then I won't do it. But I'm definitely trying to pay tribute to whoever I'm imitating at the time. It's not a "make fun of" or disrespectful kind of thing.

IGN: Now, thanks to your skills you've got a match with Ric Flair at Victory Road. You must be pretty thrilled.

Lethal: Oh, my god. It's going to be the greatest moment of my life. I'm only 25 years old. I turn 25 this year. I'm not married. I don't have that wedding date in my head. I don't have the normal dates in my head that normal people around my age have. I only have about three, and one is brand new. I have December 7th, 2003 and that's the day I started wrestling. I have April 29th, 1985, which is the day I was born and I'm going to add July 11th, 2010 to the mix which, in my head, I have billed as "the greatest moment…not of my wrestling career…but of my life" when I step into the ring to face Ric Flair. And I can't wait.

IGN: Who were your wrestling idols growing up?

Lethal: Well, I actually only have two. There's the Macho Man Randy Savage and there's Ric Flair. I mean, as far as everybody else, like Hulk Hogan, I looked up to those guys. But I idolized the Macho Man and Ric Flair. So of course, one of my favorite matches has to be Ric Flair versus The Macho Man where Ric Flair threatened to put out those pictures of Liz.

IGN: The one where Flair claimed to have been her boyfriend first.

Lethal: Oh yeah. That was great. Those pictures never made it out by the way.

IGN: Aside from your upcoming match with Flair, what have been some of your own personal career highlights?

Lethal: I'd like to say all of them have been right here in TNA. I wrestled, not too long after I got to TNA, and not too long after I started the Black Machismo character, I got to have a tag team match with Sting. Of all people. Sting! And I got to have a one on one match with Jeff Jarrett. Before I even started the Black Machismo thing I had about three one on one matches with Jeff Jarrett. And I wrestled Kurt Angle for the X Division Title and I beat him. There are so many here in TNA. I feel like the same guys I'm sharing the locker room with, the ones I'm laughing and joking with, I used to watch every one of them on TV.

IGN: There's a rumor going around that the WWE has banned chops because they don't want their crowds "wooo"ing. Do you think that means they consider TNA to be competition?

Lethal: Well, I'd definitely say so. Because why else would you do that? I mean, I see no other reason why they would do that.

IGN: Have you been working on your chops and "wooo"s for your match?

Lethal: I've been working on my chops, but my "woos" could use a little work. Not too many people understand that, in order for me to do my Ric Flair impersonation, I have to yell at the top of my lungs. So every word that I say that sounds like Ric Flair's voice is me yelling. And the "wooo" – I haven't quite perfected the "wooo." But I think I've got a good enough one.

IGN: It says on in Wikipedia that you were in the movie The Wrestler…

Lethal: No, I wasn't. A lot of people ask me that. I just happen to be at almost every wrestling show that they were filming at. Because they filmed that at the beginning or at the end of real live wrestling shows. And I was actually on almost every show they filmed at, but I was never in the actual movie.

IGN: You're such a great performer in front of crowds, could you see yourself in a movie? Is acting something you'd like to do?

Lethal: No. No way. I'm a long time wrestling fan. There's nothing that I love more and there's nothing I could see myself doing besides wrestling. So as far as that goes, I'd have to pass on that. I can't see myself doing anything besides this.

IGN: You started out young. Was your family supportive of your decision?

Lethal: Yes. Totally. It was shocking, first of all. First and foremost, the word gets spread through your brothers and sisters before you talk to mom and pop about it. And of course your brothers and sisters think you're a little crazy, but they're all for it. But the shocking part was when I actually had to tell my parents that I wanted to be a professional wrestler. That that's what I wanted to do. And I almost assured myself that they were going to say "no" right away, but my dad was all for it. My mom, she was for it but she told me that I could do it but that she wasn't going to go and see any of it. Actually I had trouble getting her to go to my first couple matches, and then one time my dad found out when my match was and he tricked her. He said he was going to go eat or something and instead of eating he took her to the wrestling show. And of course she was there so she had to go in and after that day I could leave her home. Until I got to TNA my parents were at every single one of my shows except for those first two that I had before he tricked her to go. But if I ever left them at home they'd get upset at me. That's how much they loved it.

IGN: I hear you're a big gamer. What games are you playing right now?

Lethal: Right now I'm, playing Red Dead Redemption. I haven't gotten too far into it because I've been pretty busy as of late since I'm preparing for the "greatest day of my life." So I've been playing that. I haven't finished Gears of War 2 and people keep asking me why I haven't beaten it yet. There's just not enough time. And also there's this great thing. Netflix on Xbox. And you can stream the movies directly to your screen. So I've been watching any and everything. Seasons of TV mostly. Of things I haven't seen. Like Dexter and 30 Rock.

Machismo Fan

Interview with The Guns:

After four years teaming together, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin still aren't out of ammo.

In fact, the Motor City Machineguns are just starting to hit their stride. Shelley and Sabin can begin their first TNA tag-team title reign by defeating Beer Money (Robert Roode and James Storm) on Sunday's Victory Road pay-per-view show in Orlando.

"I think we're in a pretty good position," Shelley said earlier this week in a telephone interview. "We've managed to stick around (in TNA) for about three years. That's saying something considering tag teams break up all the time."

Of the 11 TNA tag-team champions since 2007, Beer Money is the only duo that hasn't split or feuded against each other. The MCM also have stood the test of time even though Sabin and Shelley only started teaming when paired together by matchmakers on a tour for the Japanese Zero-One promotion in May 2006.

"I never pictured myself as a tag-team wrestler," said Sabin, a four-time TNA X-Division singles champion. "I wasn't really a fan of tag-team wrestling or anything like that growing up. This was pretty unexpected."

While the duo drew raves when working dates on the U.S. independent circuit, TNA management initially didn't realize it had something special until Shelley and Sabin unleashed an arsenal of double-team moves during a five-man "Xscape" match on the 2007 Lockdown pay-per-view show. Shelley and Sabin became a full-time TNA team the following month.

"TNA noticed that these guys could be something special and gave us an opportunity," said Shelley, who also was an X-Division singles performer before the MCM formed. "As soon as we were in the tag-team ranks, we made the best with what we were given and hit a home run."

Besides having appeal to the younger fan demographic that watches TNA Impact (9 p.m. Eastern, Thursdays, Spike TV), the 28-year-old Sabin and 27-year-old Shelley have tried to become wise beyond their years. The duo worked closely with former TNA front-office employee Jim Cornette -- the manager of legendary 1980s tag-team The Midnight Express -- to expand their grappling repertoire.

"I've watched some of our older matches from a few years ago and it really is like night and day," Shelley said. "If we were the same as four year ago, I think we'd have squandered our potential. We were lucky to work against great teams like Beer Money and Team 3-D, plus Jim Cornette gave us his old Midnight Express playbook. We've gotten smarter as a team."

Said Sabin: "The more we wrestle together, the more we get used to each other. From when we first tagged until now, our flow has only gotten better and better. Both of us are just better wrestlers in general as well."

Being close friends outside the ring has also helped keep the MCM together.

"He's like an older brother to me," Shelley said of Sabin. "I've known him since I was 18, so he's known me throughout my entire pro career. We trained together under Scott D'Amore and traveled down the road as a team and as opponents. While we didn't initially choose to be a team, we did and made the best of it."

Beyond their mutual love of video games, Sabin and Shelley are so tight they have formed a rock band. The High Crusade was inspired by the hard sound of groups like MC-5, Stooges and The White Stripes that come from the Detroit area where Shelley and Sabin were raised.

High Crusade also features ex-TNA standout Petey Williams -- a veteran rocker on the Windsor, Ontario club scene -- as well as non-wrestlers Adam Tatro and Chris Plumb. The group's debut album will be released soon with plans for a follow-up already underway.

"We threw something together at first that worked pretty well," said Sabin, who plays bass guitar while Shelley handles lead vocals. "We just kept doing it."

Pro wrestling, though, remains Shelley and Sabin's top priority. The duo is optimistic that the TNA tag-team titles will help the Motor City Machineguns hit their mark as an elite coupling.

"There isn't anything else like us," said Shelley, referring to the MCM's innovative double-team maneuvers. "That's how we're going to put our stamp on wrestling history."

Butch Cassidy

jaykhunter wrote: »

Original ECW
SmackDown 6 period (2002-2004)
Brock Lesnar
One Night Stand 2005

I agree but did he not run ECW into the ground? I'm not business wise here, it went bankrupt. I know he's blamed the network - TNN wasn't it? - but it sounds like he wants to grab a hold of the TNA business not just the television product. He's talking about diversifying into markets and stuff. Are there not bankrupcy laws against such people running a business again?

I don't doubt his record in WWE creative was fantastic but I'm wondering has he still got the passion and desire for it. From that UFC 116 interview it doesn't like it tbh...

jaykhunter

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

I agree but did he not run ECW into the ground? I'm not business wise here, it went bankrupt. I know he's blamed the network - TNN wasn't it? - but it sounds like he wants to grab a hold of the TNA business not just the television product. He's talking about diversifying into markets and stuff. Are there not bankrupcy laws against such people running a business again?

I don't doubt his record in WWE creative was fantastic but I'm wondering has he still got the passion and desire for it. From that UFC 116 interview it doesn't like it tbh...

Business-wise ECW was a complete bust but creatively it was a fantastic melting pot; setting up WCW and WWF with a sizeable chunk of their talent for the next while. I dunno about bankrupcy laws but i wouldn't let him near the accounts! Creative genius, not so much a businessman!

I don't think he's overly wealthy so the drive to make tons of cash and compete against Vince McMahon again might/hopefully will bring him back.

Agreed, From his UFC116 interview it sounds like he doesn't wanna touch TNA because it's a trainwreck. If they give Heyman enough money and leeway, he'll take it.

Handsome Bob

That really is Jeff Hardy, I think this goes to show that TNA will let superstars walk all over them just as long as sign on the dotted line.

JP Liz V1

^ :eek: he should have accepted Punk's straight edge lifestyle

Butch Cassidy

Has he really put on that much weight? Is he still on the drugs?

Vince135792003

I'm in 2 minds about this. On the 1 hand he clearly wouldn't look like this in the WWE because he wouldn't get away with it. So it's unprofessional.

On the other his back and neck must be so banged up at this point that going on a treadmill or a cross trainer probably isn't the easiest thing in the world to do.

Jeff is one of those guys that you worry about his long term health. He's taken more punishment than most.

Rjd2

Vince135792003 wrote: »

I'm in 2 minds about this. On the 1 hand he clearly wouldn't look like this in the WWE because he wouldn't get away with it. So it's unprofessional.

On the other his back and neck must be so banged up at this point that going on a treadmill or a cross trainer probably isn't the easiest thing in the world to do.

Jeff is one of those guys that you worry about his long term health. He's taken more punishment than most.

Aye, but surprisingly he is meant to be very very very careful with his money, according to Melz, so I assume once he gets a few more pay checks thats him gone in a few years.

Mr.Nice Guy

Jeff looks very rough. I'm shocked at that. :eek:

Rjd2

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Jeff looks very rough. I'm shocked at that. :eek:

Aye, nothing that worrying about been chubby, but the guy looks really rough. :eek:

starviewadams

Probably putting on more weight due to the fact he's not using anymore(I'd imagine he has to provide clean urine for court like)

sky88

jeff looks horrible

Machismo Fan

http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/TNA/article10012926.shtml

Thursday's TNA Impact drew a 1.14 rating with 1.5 million viewers despite going head-to-head with "The Decision" special on ESPN. Impact topped the 1.0 rating the show had drawn for several weeks. The show peaked in the final quarter-hour with a 1.21 rating.

Positive for TNA as a top quality show provided a good rating so that should provide encouragement. Good to see them rebuilding their Thursday audience.

jaykhunter

That's good news. They've been putting on good shows in general and they deserve better ratings

D2D

Source

There is unofficial information circulating that the last couple of TNA pay-per-views generated less than 10,000 buys. We had heard awhile back that a TNA PPV did in the neighborhood of 7,500 PPV buys, which is an alarming number to say in the least.

Jesus, 7,500 buys?!?!

waltersobchak

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Source0



Jesus, 7,500 buys?!?!

The things is how much do they need to do to either break even or turn a profit?

flahavaj

LZ5by5 wrote: »

That really is Jeff Hardy, I think this goes to show that TNA will let superstars walk all over them just as long as sign on the dotted line.

JAYSUS just seeing this now.

He looks like Vampiro did when he got old and fat.:eek: