After a shocking appearance by Jeff Hardy at Monday's TNA iMPACT! tapings, TNAWrestlingNews.com has confirmed that the former WWE Champion has signed a contract with TNA Wrestling. Here are some of the key details to this story:
- Jeff Hardy is now a full-time member of the TNA roster and will be working a regular television and PPV schedule.
- The main reason Jeff Hardy jumped to TNA is the work schedule and is at the point where he doesn't want to deal with the grueling WWE travel schedule. In TNA, he can still remain a top star in the industry and make great money while working and traveling far less.
-- On iMPACT!, we saw Jeff Hardy attack X-Division star Homicide. A feud between the two appears to be in the works. "Anything could change and I could do something else or Jeff could do something else at the TV tapings on Tuesday, and I think it would be a great match-up of Jeff Hardy vs. Homicide. I'm really hoping it will happen," Homicide said on the "Right After Wrestling" radio program on SIRIUS channel 98.
-- Jeff Hardy was in meetings with Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter throughout the day on Monday ironing out the terms of his agreement. Its believed that nothing was locked up until Jeff's visit to Orlando on Monday.
-- Hardy's drug charges from September 11 are still pending. He will be back in court on January 27 for probable cause hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to take Hardy's case to the next level.
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Jeff Hardy's drug arrest went before the Grand Jury yesterday in Moore County, North Carolina. The Grand Jury found that there was enough evidence to indict Hardy, and the case will now move to superior court. Hardy's case is expected to be set on the docket within the next week.
Hardy was originally set for a probable cause hearing on January 27th for his September 2009 drug charges. The hearing would have determined whether there was enough evidence regarding the arrest to go on the Grand Jury. The hearing is not required, and it appears as if prosecutors have opted to move the case along through the Grand Jury.
Hardy's was arrested for the following charges on 9.11.09:
*Felony possession of cocaine.
*Felony drug trafficking of opium
*Felony possession with intent to redistribute a Schedule III drug (two counts).
*Maintaining a dwelling for drug use and/or distribution.
*Possession of drug paraphernalia. (misdemeanor)
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-- WWE has announced via Twitter that William Shatner will be the guest host of Raw on February 1.
-- You can follow recently departed WWE star Tommy Dreamer on Twitter as he has launched an account at
www.twitter.com/thetommydreamer A few WWE stars have confirmed the account is Dreamer via their own accounts. In related news, the WWE website removed his bio from the ECW section this morning and placed it in the Alumni section.
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-- Ted DiBiase will be signing signs copies of The Marine 2 DVD tomorrow in Chicago. His appearance is located at f.y.e. 26 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601-3604.
-- The WWE website has posted studio photos of Michelle McCool and Layla donning "Piggie James" tanktops.
-- Rosa Mendes is today's "Daily Diva" on WWE.com while Vance Archer is the "Superstar of the Day."
-- The fan who came out from the crowd in the CM Punk segment to be "saved" during last night's Smackdown taping was Ted McNailer of OVW.
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-- There will be a Smackdown and ECW taping on February 23rd at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, WI. The pre-sale code is BATISTA. Tickets go on sale at 10 AM local time today.
-- The Washington Post is reporting that Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd (D) will not seek re-election. Richard Blumenthal, the state's popular attorney general, will likely run for his seat now. This may be bad news for Linda McMahon. Connecticut is Democratic state, but Dodd was not that popular in the state, and many felt that this year a Republican candidate would win.
-- TMZ is running a story on Roddy Piper's daughter, Ariel Toombs, who nearly got hit by a bus after stepping out of her car.
-- During clips for the new season of Chuck, which airs on NBC, they are showing clips of Steve Austin's guest appearance.
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While flipping channels this past Monday night, former WWE performer Tammy Sytch (a.k.a. Sunny) came upon RAW and put up a status update on her Facebook page noting how chubby The Bella Twins got over the holidays.
Sytch exclaimed, "I saw back fat!"
At least in the case of Nikki Bella, who accompanied Brie for her match against Maryse on Monday's show, she wore a much-too-tight bikini top which caused her back skin to noticeably fold. It was so noticeable that it could even be seen from WWE's distant camera angle during her sister's match.
Her disparaging remarks garnered much feedback from her Facebook followers and she added maybe she wouldn't have called them chubby had they been nicer to her at WrestleMania. If you recall, both Sytch and the Bellas took part in the 25-Diva battle royal that took place at the event.
Sytch continued: "I only said they look chubby, i didnt call them obese slobs...christ dude, get over it. And maybe if they were a little nicer at Wrestlemania, I wouldnt call them chubby either...but theres no excuse for any of those girls in their early 20's to get a little chubby... wait til ... See Morethey hit 35 and everything slows the fuck down..then what??? They are getting paid to look a certain way... If I was there right now, I'd weigh 118 fucking skinny ass pounds again!!"
Considering Sytch battled her own weight in the past (as well as the criticism that some fans heaped on her as a result of her ballooned appearance), it would appear hypocritical for her to poke fun at the Bellas' bodies. However, she said it was "a medical reason," and wants to know their excuse.
"Hey, at least I had a medical reason for gaining weight...whats their's? too much partying and pastry?"
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TNA officials and Spike TV executives were thrilled with the iMPACT rating numbers that came in yesterday. As previously reported, iMPACT! drew a 1.5 overall rating (2.2 million viewers) with the show peaking at a 1.9 rating (2.5 million viewers) for start of hour 2, featuring the debut of Hulk Hogan.
TNA President Dixie Carter wrote the following on her Twitter yesterday:
"Thank you, thank you for helping TNA set RECORD ratings in every way last night. We ALL won."
There is now serious discussion within TNA of putting on a weekly Monday night show head-to-head with WWE's RAW. The most likely scenario we've heard would be TNA iMPACT! running from 8-10pm ET, only going head-to-head with RAW for 1 hour.
In an update from last night's TNA iMPACT spoilers, Hulk Hogan did in fact appear in a backstage segment. Jeff Hardy was not at last night's iMPACT tapings.
Following the ratings success of Monday's 3-hour live TNA iMPACT!, TNA Wrestling may have gotten what it needs to secure a weekly Monday night timeslot.
TNA star Kevin Nash commented on his Twitter page about the possibility of iMPACT! permanently moving to Monday nights. Nash wrote:
"I think going head 2 head every monday is in the works.Spike was happy with the ratings.special 4 me to be back with the band, great night!!!"
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-- The WWE website has posted a video of Chris Jericho talking about how he's not happy about being kicked off RAW. During the segment, he runs into Kelly Kelly and tells her he will be on next week's show to bully the guest host into giving him what he wants.
-- On her Twitter account (http://twitter.com/MariaLKanellis), Maria said she plans on releasing her music via iTunes this coming April.
-- Here is the synopsis for WWE's upcoming three-disc DVD set on Shawn Michaels, titled My Journey: "The Heartbreak Kid is one of the most celebrated and talented superstars in the history of Sports Entertainment. Shawn Michaels' career has spanned more than 25 years and has produced one great match after another, earning him his "Showstopper" moniker. Now fans can relive this superlative career with "Shawn Michaels: His 25 Greatest Matches", a 3-disc set with more than nine hours of matches. This DVD presents Michaels' great bouts from every phase of his life, from early tag-team matches as a member of the Rockers through his highly decorated championship reigns. The matches include new commentary and reflections from the Showstopper himself, as well as partners and adversaries throughout the years." This product will be released on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.
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The WWE Studios film Knucklehead, starring the Big Show, will be released in theaters on April 23rd. WWE will begin the promotional push for the film around WrestleMania 26.
The WWE Studios film My Brother's Keeper, starring John Cena, is currently filming in New Orleans.
The next WWE Studios film will be called Big Red. The film is described as a "coming of age comedy about a kid in the 1960s".
WWE and Mattell are doing a new promotion for the new WWE Mattel action figure line. At different WWE events, a booth will be set up, where fans can take a picture inside a life-sized action figure case, posing as an action figure. They will then receive a code, and can go online to get the photo.
Mark Henry, Kane, MVP, Chris Jericho, The Great Khali and Big Show will all appear in the SNL parody film MacGruber. They will play henchmen in the movie, which will see The Big Show "make out with another man". Chris Jericho is the only WWE star to have a speaking role in the film. MacGruber will be released on April 16th.
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While all reports on Tuesday suggested Jeff Hardy signed a deal with TNA, there is at least some skepticism from those close to the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
According to some within Hardy’s inner circle, there is a belief that his appearance on Monday’s iMPACT! was similar to the original Bobby Lashley debut in that he was put on television without a written contract.
Though some still maintain Hardy signed with TNA for the short-term, a portion of insiders believe it was a one-shot deal. There is also an intermediate group holding that Hardy did not sign a written commitment to appear in future but went on television with a verbal understanding that he would indeed return for future broadcasts.
It should be noted that Hardy drove back home to North Carolina on Tuesday and was not backstage at the TNA tapings later that night. Of course, he was indicted by a grand jury earlier in the day on Monday so that may have had something to do with it. As I noted several days ago, North Carolina drug laws are very strict. Time to lawyer up Jeff!
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Hulk Hogan called into the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show this morning I did not catch the last part of the interview, but here is what I did hear:
He and Bubba talked about the Terrordome match and Hulk said that when he and Bubba were in the production meeting the day before, about 10 people said there was a decent door to the cage. He then got to the soundstage and found out it had no real door and that none of the wrestlers could climb out of the top, hence the DQ finish. There were plans for a big bump off the cage but it just was not possible. He and Bubba agreed that the Terrordome needs to be scraped for good.
About Jim Cornette: Bubba played Hulk some of the Who's Slamming Who podcast and Hulk said that he did not know Jim was so bitter. He said Jim has a good mind for the business and that he had plans for Jim to do something in TNA, but he does not need that negative attitude in there right now. Bubba made the comment that after the rating they got on Monday, Hulk needs to say what needs to be said and not be afraid to step on some toes.
About Mondays nights: Hulk says they have kinda dropped the ball by taping a Thursday show the day after going live and that right after he hangs up with Bubba he is gonna call Dixie Carter, Eric Bischoff and the people at Spike and tell them that they need to be on Mondays live from now on. He says he knows that it will cost a ton of money but you gotta spend money to make money. Hulk says that he will get Vince's audience a bit at a time just like he did in WCW.
Hulk Says he talked to Bob Carter and Bob made the comment that Hulk knew what he was doing and that they needed a bigger building.
Bubba said that they are working on a deal to make nice with the "Bubba Army" based on what happened on Monday with the tickets and it sounded like they wanna rent a big building and run a free taping with only the Bubba Army being let in.
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-- There were a few edits in Fox 8's version of the WWE RAW replay in Australia. Michael Cole's blunder of the infamous Montreal Screwjob was edited out, for example. Instead, they edited it to say "November, 1997," editing Cole's confusion of the day it was on. For those wondering, it actually occurred on November 9, 1997, not November 7, 1997 as Cole stated. Additionally, Chris Jericho's mocking of Hulk Hogan was completely edited off the broadcast.
-- Former WWE and TNA star Booker T appeared on the Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network recently and addressed rumors swirling online of him making his return to WWE at the Royal Rumble. Here is what he said: "I had no plans of being on either show. Right now, I'm taking a little time off and seeing exactly which way I want to go. Wrestling has been very good to me on both the WWE side and the TNA side, so right now, I'm just taking some time off.
-- WWE Diva Mickie James was involved in a minor car accident on New Year's Eve with a 17 year old teenage girl who was texting while driving. Mickie's car had small damage to its bumper, but Mickie James was otherwise fine. Here is what she posted on her Twitter account following the mishap: “This is why we don't text & drive people! Big thanks to the little 17 year old girl who rear ended me today! My poor bumper." She also tweeted: ""What a way 2 end the year. Oh well. Snap happens. Might as well go out with a bang! 2010 james gang is in 2 win! 1 question... R u with me?!"