TNA iMPACT!

2009-06-09T13:39:00.001-05:00

TNA's roster looks like it may be in for some shaking up in the coming months....

Biggest news....
This fall's Bound for Glory may mark the end of Sting's wrestling career.
Rumor has it that The Icon may be done after that PPV.
He originally planned to leave last year, but TNA officials talked him into giving one more year.
You gotta admit, the thirteen-time world champion, (two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, two-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and former WWA World Heavyweight Champion) has put in a long and colorful career since his debut in 1985.
And he has maintained his integrity over those 24 years, never working for the WWE.

The WWE has released Umaga.
Do I even need to say "I wonder if he'll show up on TNA in 90 days?"
I think Umaga would be a nice fit in TNA.

So far Raven and Shane Douglas have not signed long term contracts with TNA.
They are only in for Impact tapings and the Slammiversary PPV.
They might go forward from there, but it's not a lock.

Canadian Luchadora Sarah Stock (Dark Angel) has had her official TNA wrestling debut bumped back a bit because of Former WWE Diva Victoria (Tara) showing up.
Sarah was originally slated to fill the top TNA Knockout babyface position left open by Gail Kim, but with Tara showing up, that's been pulled for the moment.
Did TNA not know Victoria was signing?

TNA News, Samoa Joe, TNAtion, UK Tour and More

2009-06-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

Not only does Samoa Joe have broken fingers, now it appears he also has a torn tricep.

TNA has renamed their "TNA University" program to "TNAtion".
The new slogan is "Why get lost in a Universe...when you can join a Nation."
Lost in a Universe?
Yes, thats a shot at the "WWE Universe".
Of course WWE will probably respond with "The Universe is bigger than a Nation".

And of course the rumors are floating around that Mr.Kennedy will hit TNA as soon as his 90 day no compete clause is over.
I wonder if WWE has "Mr.Kennedy" trademarked?
I hope not, because I really mark out for " MR. KENNNNNEDY!" or even the "KENNEDY!" shouts.

TNA will be in the UK for their 2010 Maximum iMPACT! Tour, starting in January 2010.
Here's the promo video package:

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has launched TNAsearch.com, a fan-oriented search engine which rewards users with official TNA Wrestling merchandise and memorabilia.
You can get more info on it here:
http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/1487/84/

TNA News: Victoria, Raven, Kurt Angle and More

2009-05-27T12:57:00.002-05:00

Shane Douglas and Raven are both scheduled to be on this Thursday's TNA Impact.
Former WWE Diva Victoria is also scheduled to appear.
Look for Victoria to be a face. And I think she will be using her real name, Lisa Marie Varon.

UPDATE: Tara?
They're calling her Tara?

The show will also feature Dr. Stevie Richards, AJ Styles, Amazing Red, Eric Young, Beer Money, Chris Sabin, Consequences Creed, Angelina Love, Sojourner Bolt and Mick Foley.

TNA.com has a page of special appearances by their stars here:
http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/981/84/
See where “The Icon” Sting, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Angelina Love & Velvet Sky and Traci Brooks will be showing up in the coming months.

There is also a link on their homepage leading to the TNA YouTube videos.

AND there is also a countdown clock about mid screen that says " TNA Wrestling Delivers A Powerful Shot In:...."

TNA News: Kurt Angle, Bobbly Lashley and Velvet Skye

2009-05-19T11:59:00.000-05:00

Will Kurt Angle show up on next seasons ABC show "Dancing with the Stars?
According to Jeremy Borash's Twitter account, he just might.
Surreal.

TNA has signed a new deal with James Storm, and they are still working on signing Amazing Red.

And speaking of signing contracts, Bobbly Lashley still hasn't officially signed with TNA yet.
The wrestler/mma fighter won't be used on TV until he does so.
I can understand Lashley's reluctance.
He wouldn't want to get hurt in a TNA match a few days before fighting in MMA.

Velvet Skye is auctioning off her very first pair of wrestling boots on bBay.
She says quote....
"These babies have been with me from day one, since I got my start in wrestling back in 2001! I trained in them, wrestled in them in both the indies, WWE and most importantly, TNA," Sky wrote. "I'm selling them because honestly, they've seen their day in the ring! I definitely got good usage out of them."
So Velvet Sky fans can go here to view the auction.

TNA was in my homestate of NC this weekend at Fort Bragg.
You can see the Fayetteville Observers article about it here (with pictures)
And you can read the Fort Bragg life article here (with a video).

TNA News: The Amazing Red, Team 3D and More

2009-05-11T11:22:00.002-05:00

The Amazing Red has been working shows for TNA, but as of yet, no contract has been signed.
He will be at the upcoming TNA Sacrifice PPV as a tag team partner with Suicide going against Team 3D.

Taz will be going to TNA as the on-air "mentor" of Samoa Joe.
Now THAT will be a team.
And there is talk of maybe using Taz in the future at the announce table.

Team 3D will be going to Japan on June 20th to face Giant Bernard(Ex WWE star Albert) and "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra) in a defense of Team 3D's IWGP Tag Titles.
Bubba Ray and Devon are undefeated in Japan.

And while TNA promotion maybe going strong, TNA ticket sales and attendance are not.
I know a lot of this has to do with the economy, but I hope TNA gets their sales up, because I would hate to see the WWE standing alone as the only promotion.
Every business needs competition.
TNA is more of a spotlight for Indy wrestlers to get exposure than WWE is. Their entire Knockout division is almost all Indy wrestlers.
And for the most part, TNA seems to favor substance over style.

TNA News: Lance Hoyt, Kurt Angle and More

2009-04-28T11:09:00.002-05:00

Former TNA star Lance Hoyt has signed a developmental contract with WWE and there are rumors that WWE may be looking at getting Kurt Angle back after his contract with TNA expires later this year.

I can't really see the Kurt Angle thing happening, he looks like he's having too much fun at TNA.
And now with Lashley there, TNA is trying to build up a Bobby Lashley / Main Event Mafia angle.
And speaking of Lashley, has this short term contract he signed with TNA damaged his future in MMA?

TNA also looks to be starting up a Jeff Jarrett / Mick Foley storyline as well.

TNA Wrestling to Simulcast 'Lockdown Countdown,' New Live Pay-Per-View Preshow Free On Internet

2009-04-16T12:00:00.002-05:00

NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 16 /PRNewswire/

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling will simulcast the "Lockdown Countdown 2009" pay-per-view pre-show event free of charge this Sunday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT live from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on www.tnawrestling.com and www.mycontent.com/TNA. The preshow will also air on cable and satellite systems carrying the "Lockdown 2009" pay-per-view.

The special "Lockdown Countdown 2009" pre-show will feature an exclusive live match between reality television star and Philadelphia radio personality Danny Bonaduce and TNA Superstar "Showtime" Eric Young, as well as the debut pay-per-view appearance by TNA President Dixie Carter. The show will also feature the most up-to-the minute news on the biggest and most brutal wrestling pay-per-view event of the year.

TNA Wrestling has partnered with Internet broadcasters MyContent.com to simulcast the preshow live for the first time in TNA history. The "Lockdown Countdown 2009" live preshow will also be available in Spanish.

You can get more into here:
http://www.tnawrestling.com/

TNA, ROH, Kurt Angle and Howard Stern

2009-03-24T11:23:00.006-05:00

PROWRESTLING.NET | TNA pulls the plug on letting their talent work for ROH:

"TNA is no longer allowing their talent work Ring of Honor shows, according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com. TNA had permitted their talents to work shows that were not distributed in retail stores or on pay-per-view."

Report about Kurt Angle on Howard Stern
http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/100177/Kurt-Angle-on-Howard-Stern-Report.htm

The Punisher Andrew Martin

2009-03-16T09:37:00.003-05:00

I'm sure everyone has already heard about the passing of Andrew "Test" Martin this weekend.
While a large part of Test's work was for the WWE, he is also known for the time he spent in TNA.
Of course in TNA he wasnt known as Test, but as "'The Punisher' Andrew Martin".
Test was released from TNA in 2007 due to concerns over his physical size, and TNA being investigated by the United States Congress.
Read into that what you will.
Test officially retired from wrestling that year, stating that he didnt want to be one of those guys that quit, then kept coming back.
Sadly, Test was only four days from his 34th birthday.

Besides wrestling for TNA and WWE, Test appeared in "18 Wheels of Justice","Kim Possible","Fear Factor" and "Grindhouse".

I would like to express my condolences to the fans, friends, family and loved ones of Andrew Martin in this time of distress.

TNA: Xbox Live, Zune and Danny Bonaduce

2009-03-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

In the last entry I reported that TNA's wrestling library was now available on iTunes.
Now TNA has added another outlet, and the library will also be available in the Xbox Live Video Marketplace and Zune Marketplace.
"TNA fans can access a variety of TNA multimedia, including 13 TNA Home Video titles available immediately on the Xbox Live video marketplace, each retailing for 800 Microsoft points apiece. All 12 of TNA's 2008 pay-per-view events, including "Lockdown" and "Bound For Glory" are currently available exclusively on Xbox Live."
You can get more info on this at tnawrestling.com here:
http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/357/84/

TNA has canceled their March 20 house show in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

And while the WWE is dancing around with Mickey Rourke at Wrestlemania 25, TNA has scheduled a media star for their Lockdown pay-per-view on April 19.
Danny Bonaduce.
Yes that's right Danny Bonaduce.
Hey, the guy might not be as big a name as Mickey Rourke, but he's always entertaining.
And he can fight.

TNA Wrestling’s Lockdown Info

2009-02-27T13:17:00.003-05:00

It looks like Mick Foley is going to get his wish.
Mick wrote in his first book, Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks that he wanted to get into the wrestling ring with Sting one more time.
And at the TNA pay per view TNA Lockdown, that just might happen.

Also tentatively scheduled is Jeff Jarrett taking on Kurt Angle, Booker T facing A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe against Scott Steiner.

And TNA's professional wrestling library is now available via Apple’s iTunes store.
You can download episodes of TNA’s weekly Spike TV show “TNA iMPACT!,”select TNA home video titles and pay-per-view events.
You can purchase a single show for each week or get a year-long “season pass.”
TNA’s music releases are also available.
You can see more info in the video below.

And here is more info on the PPV from TNAwrestling.com
"TNA Wrestling’s “Lockdown” epic event will be held live at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, on Sunday, April 19, starting at 8 p.m. ET, and will air worldwide on Pay-Per-View. This is TNA’s first-ever Pay-Per-View held in Philadelphia and the company’s most dangerous event of the year, where all matches are held inside a steel cage, dubbed “The Six Sides Of Steel”.
Tickets for “Lockdown” will go on sale this Saturday, February 28, at the Liacouras Center box office and online at ComcastTix.com. Also on Feb. 28, Kurt Angle will be signing free autographs, starting at 11 a.m. ET, at the FYE (100 South Broad Street) in Philadelphia."
http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/1305/84/

Sonjay Dutt has left TNA

2009-02-23T11:50:00.003-05:00

Sonjay Dutt has left TNA and may be headed to the WWE.
Kinda like the Gail Kim situation from what I can see, TNA and Sonjay just couldn't come to terms on a new contract.
So Sonjay left.
Some reports say that his profile has been removed from TNAwrestling.com.
But it's still here:
http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/233/37/
Now whats gonna happen to his on air manager and love interest SoCal Val?
And will the WWE really hire the former X Division wrestler?
I mean the WWE usually goes after the behemoths.
Not normally sized people that can actually wrestle.
And doesn't TNA seem to be losing a lot of talent here lately?

New TNA Knockouts, Madison Rayne and Sarah Stock

2009-02-19T13:51:00.002-05:00

Okay, as has been reported here and everywhere else, Madison Rayne has been signed as a new TNA Knockout.
Heres some footage of Madison wrestling as Ashley Lane from YouTube:

And Canadian Luchadora Sarah Stock (aka Dark Angel) is another addition to the TNA Roster.
Here is a little taste of what you can expect from Sarah in TNA:

TNA Wrestling News and Rumors

2009-02-13T13:15:00.001-05:00

Petey Williams, TNA no more

Is it strange to anyone else that TNA just let Petey Williams, Lance Hoyt and Jimmy Rave go?
Is their current roster that good?

TNA has officially signed Madison Rayne as a new knockout.
Madison wrestles for SHIMMER as Ashley Lane.

TNA Wrestling’s “Lockdown” Pay-Per-View event will be held live at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, on Sunday, April 19.

The Creators of the TNA Impact! game, Midway Games Inc., has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Former WWE/ECW talent Stevie Richards will be joining TNA, maybe starting out as Aybss' therapist.
That looks like a good job for one of the ECW originals.

TNA Against All Odds PPV Tonight

2009-02-08T13:01:00.001-05:00

Tonight's line up for the Against All Odds pay per view from Universal Studios in Orlando.

Brutus Magnus will be having an Open Challenge

Petey Williams will be facing Scott Steiner

Abyss will take on Matt Morgan

TNA Legends Champion Booker T will face Shane Sewell for the TNA Legends Championship.

TNA Knockouts Champion Awesome Kong will be taking on ODB for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship.

TNA X Division Champion Alex Shelley will be facing Eric Young for the TNA X Division Championship.

TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) will be wrestling Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed for the TNA World Tag Team Championship.

And the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Sting will face Kurt Angle and Brother Ray and Brother Devon in a four way match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Just from looking at this, the card seems less than stellar.
But hey, a lot of WWE's PPVs look bad on paper too.
The PPV will kick off at 8:00 p.m. EST tonight.

Tonight's TNA Impact! 2-04-09

2009-02-05T12:21:00.001-05:00

Tonight on TNA Impact!.....

Sting will team up with Kurt Angle to take on Team 3D.
I wish they could just call them the Dudleys.

The Motor City Machineguns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) will take on Consequences Creed and "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal.

Japanese legend Keiji Mutoh (The Great Muta) will appear on tonight's show.

Taylor Wilde and Roxxi will be wrestling The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Angelina Love).

And making his TNA "iMPACT!" debut will be Brutus Magnus.
Brutus (Nick Aldis) is not only a pro wrestler, but he also was "Oblivion" in the UK Revival of Gladiators.

Former TNA Stars. part six

2009-02-03T12:08:00.007-05:00

WWE SmackDown!'s "The Brian Kendrick" had a brief stint in TNA Wrestling in November 2004, when he defeated Kaz, Matt Sydal and Amazing Red, in a four-way match.

Indy wrestler Daizee Haze has had a couple of shots in TNA.
First in 2003, she made several appearances as a wrestler and valet to Matt Sydal.
When wrestling she faced Nurse Veronica (Simply Luscious), Trinity, and MsChif.
She returned to TNA on TNA Impact! in 2008 facing Cheerleader Melissa in a losing effort.

In 2004, Lucha Libre star Abismo Negro, along with Héctor Garza, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila and Heavy Metal, came to TNA Wrestling as part of Team Mexico.

Hulk Hogan was actually supposed to be at Bound for Glory in 2003, he even did a press conference hyping the event and took a guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett.
But he pulled out saying that he had knee problems that would require surgery.

In 2004, another Lucha Libre star La Parka made a few brief appearances in TNA.

Former TNA Stars. part five

2009-01-27T15:04:00.006-05:00

Kim Neilson debuted in TNA on December 12, 2002 as Every Man's Desire. She was the valet of Sonny Siaki and she feuded with almost every woman on the TNA roster including Trinity, TNA ring girl Athena, and with backstage interviewer Goldylocks.

Did you know that Eddie Fatu wrestled for TNA? Of course you may know him best as Umaga, but on TNA in 2003 he was known as Ekmo. He was put into a tag team with Sonny Siaki.
Did Sonny do everything back then?

Goldylocks was on the TNA roster as a backstage interviewer back in 2003 and 2004. She moved to managing for awhile and with the gimmick of using Abyss in wrestling matches to claim contracts of defeated opponents, she obtained the contracts of Alex Shelley, D-Ray 3000, Shark Boy and yes....Sonny Siaki!

Teddy Hart, a third generation member of the Hart wrestling family, wrestled for TNA in 2003. He wrestled Jonny Storm, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila but amazingly, I found no account of him wrestling Sonny Siaki.
Teddy was released from TNA after getting into it with CM Punk at a restaurant. Sabu had to pull them apart.
Would YOU want Sabu to have to break up a fight you were in?

Ian Richard Hodgkinson is an unlikely name for a wrestler.
Vampiro works much better. And Vampiro had a short run in TNA in 2003.

Former TNA Stars. part four

2009-01-19T14:38:00.008-05:00

Several Indy female wrestlers also appeared in TNA back when they were first starting out.

Elizabeth Miklosi (Cheerleader Valentina) appeared with them in 2003. She teamed up with Traci Brooks and Nurse Veronica.

And Veronica Stevens (Nurse Veronica) is better known in the Indy circles as Simply Luscious. She was offered a two year contract with TNA, but turned it down.

The famous April Hunter worked for TNA, appearing on August 28, 2002 at their weekly pay-per-view.

Leilani Kai won the NWA World Women's Championship from Madison on the March 12, 2003 pay-per-view in a dark match. She was later stripped of the title by NWA President Bill Behrens for no showing several matches.

On June 18, 2003, Malia Hosaka competed in a losing effort against Trinity.

Indy star Mercedes Martinez wrestled at least one match for TNA in 2003. Rumor has it that she recently had a tryout match for them again. They should grab her up. TNA has a good rep for using Indy wrestlers and she is one of the best.

Former TNA Stars. part three

2009-01-13T11:41:00.002-05:00

ECW, WCW and WWF star Perry Saturn appeared with TNA in March of 2003. He was part of a stable with former ECW stars Sandman and New Jack.

Jaime Lynne, better known as Lollipop, started out as a cage dancer (shades of the WWE!) but later went on to get some wrestling training from Leilani Kai.

Before going to the WWE, Paul London competed in TNA's X-Division. London has said that he viewed his time in TNA as a "stepping stone".

Road Warrior Hawk appeared in TNA in late 2002 and early 2003, but only actually wrestled one match.

Antonio Banks wrestled for TNA in 2003. He was released and he showed up later on the WWE as MVP.

The Insane Clown Posse actually had a fun run on TNA, wrestling matches and hosting and booking TNA's first ever house show in Detroit, Michigan. During their time in TNA, Insane Clown Posse brought the company it's largest paying crowds in history.

Nelson Frazier, Jr.(also known as Mabel, Viscera, Big Daddy V, and King V) made two appearance in TNA back in March of 2003.

More Former TNA Stars

2009-01-06T11:17:00.002-05:00

Michael Lee Alfonso, born on January 24, 1965 in Tampa, Florida and better known by his ring name Mike Awesome, made a few appearances in TNA Wrestling in 2003.

Bart Gunn who wrestled in the WWF for six years had a short stint in TNA Wrestling in 2003.

Disgraceland (Luther Biggs) also wrestled for TNA in 2003.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan actually made a couple of appearances for TNA in 2003. He showed up on the March 12 and the October 29 NWA: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling PPVs.

David Flair, the son of Ric Flair, wrestled for TNA from December 2002 to early 2003.

One man that deserves the title "Extreme", New Jack, made multiple appearances in TNA in 2003.

Big Van Vader appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on February 19, 2003.

Former TNA Stars

2008-12-23T14:46:00.001-05:00

A few short lived runs here......

Tony Mamaluke (Charles John Spencer) wrestled for TNA briefly in 2002 before going to the WWE.

Ace Steel (Chris Guy) also wrestled for TNA in 2002, and he also later went to the WWE. In TNA He wrestled as one half of a tag team with his former student, CM Punk, as "Hatebreed".

Alicia Webb (Alicia Nicole Webb) better known as Ryan Shamrock in the WWF was in TNA as "Aleesha" for a short time.

Donna Adamo (ECW's Elektra) only made one appearance for TNA at their first pay per view on June 19, 2002.

Cathy Dingman (WWF's B.B.) appeared in TNA as Taylor Vaughn in 2002. Did you know that Cathy is the ex-wife of Hardcore Holly?

Cynthia Lynch (Bobcat) was in TNA in 2002 as David Young's valet.

Ken Shamrock, "The World's Most Dangerous Man", showed up in TNA in 2002 and 2004. On TNA's first pay-per-view he won the NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in a Gauntlet for the Gold match.

TNA: Shannon Spruill (Daffney)

2008-12-16T13:07:00.000-05:00

The lovely and talented Shannon Spruill (Daffney) has wrestled for TNA.
In 2002 when TNA was just starting out, she appeared as Shannon and Shark Girl, Shark Boy's valet.
She didnt work for TNA again until 2008 when she showed up on the June 5 edition of TNA iMPACT! as Daffney. She was one of the three women planted in the crowd to wrestle Awesome Kong in the $25,000 Challenge. The other two were Indy stars Amber O'Neal and Becky Bayless.
Daffney was chosen to wrestle Kong and lost.
On December 4, she showed up on TNA iMPACT! again as governor Sarah Palin in a segment with Angelina Love and Velvet Sky, The Beautiful People.

TNA: Francine Fournier

2008-12-12T12:24:00.002-05:00

Francine Fournier, the ECW Queen of Extreme, wrestled for TNA after her stint in ECW.
Actually, she really didn't wrestle for them so much as beat people with leather straps.
On her TNA debut, she got in an argument with Elektra at the lingerie battle royal for the Miss TNA Crown.
This argument lead to Francine being eliminated by Elektra, Shannon and Miss Joni, an action that angered her so much that she began to whip Commentator Ed Ferrara with his own belt. Then Francine got into the ring and began to whip Taylor Vaughn (Cathy Dingman) with Ed Ferrera's belt after she won the match.
This lead to a match the next week between the two ladies in which Francine again produced a leather strap from her belt and began to whip and choke Taylor with it. The ref grabbed the strap from Francine, but Taylor took the strap from the ref and began to return the favor to Francine. The ref tried to stop Taylor, but then Taylor turned on him with it, causing her to be disqualified.
Before it was all over, Ed Ferrara wound up getting whipped again.
I think he liked it.
Then, two weeks later, Francine attacked Jasmine St. Claire during an interview with Goldylocks. This led to a match that night between Francine and Jasmine that saw the Blue Meanie interfere and DDT Francine.
She was taken away on a stretcher and never seen on TNA again.

TNA: The Blue Meanie

2008-12-02T12:25:00.004-05:00

Not this guy

This guy.....

How do you even begin to explain the Blue Meanie?
Well I can't, but the Blue Meanie (Brian Heffron) did appear on TNA.
Well once at least.
The only real verified account I can find though is the July 17, 2002 appearance where he interfered in a match between Jasmin St. Claire and Francine.
The interference led to a DDT by Meanie to Francine, after which, Francine was taken away on a stretcher.

TNA: Stan Dupp / Trevor Murdoch

2008-11-25T14:05:00.002-05:00

William Theodore Mueller better known as Trevor Murdoch was born on September 10, 1980, in Coffeyville, Kansas.
He is probably best known for his WWE wrestling career, but before that, he wrestled some shows for TNA as part of the tag team The Dupps.
The team consisted of Bo Dupp and Stan Dupp (Trevor), managed by Fluff Dupp.
His "Trevor Murdoch" character in WWE was pretty much based on his TNA character.

TNA: Jasmin St. Claire

2008-11-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

Yes Jasmin St. Claire made two appearances for TNA.
Both were in July of 2002, the first of which she did little more than dance.
The second appearance was a week later.
In that one, Jasmine was being interviewed by Goldylocks when Francine attacked her. This lead to a match later that night where Jasmine and Francine squared off. As you can imagine it was pretty much a catfight rather than a wrestling match.
When the Blue Meanie (Jasmine's real life boyfriend) interfered, it caused a disqualification and Francine was taken away on a stretcher. The DQ was because the Blue Meanie gave Francine a DDT.

TNA: The Crimson Dragon

2008-11-06T12:58:00.001-05:00

Back in 2002, a masked luchadore type character appeared in TNA, The Crimson Dragon.
The man underneath that mask was pro wrestler Chris Hamrick.
Chris was born October 21, 1966 in Mooresboro, North Carolina.
Besides TNA, Chris wrestled for ECW, CWA Pro Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Xtreme Pro Wrestling, Wrestling Society X and yes, he was the fake Triple H on WWE Raw.

The Latin American Xchange, LAX

2008-10-23T09:32:00.001-05:00

I really like LAX (even with Salinas gone).
Their gimmick reminds me a lot of the nWo and DX heydays.
And it is SO much better than the " Mexicools".
The Latin American Xchange (The Latin American Exchange, The Latin American X-Change or my favorite, The LAX) is a Hispanic professional wrestling tag team in TNA Wrestling, consisting of Homicide and Hernandez.
Their original gimmick denounced the repression of ethnic minorities by the NWA Championship Committee and TNA Management.
They were supposed to be street thugs, and they did it so well!
After they turned face, the group continued to stand as proud street Latin Americans, but dropped its militant focus.

New Hub Page:
http://hubpages.com/hub/TNA-Knockouts

TNA Knockouts: The Beautiful People

2008-10-16T09:40:00.001-05:00

The Beautiful People is a professional wrestling female tag team consisting of Angelina Love and Velvet Sky.
They have been joined by their associate "the Fashionist" Cute Kip. (The ghost of Billy and Chuck is never far away is it?)
The Beautiful People's gimmick is that they are far more talented and beautiful than anyone else on the TNA Roster.
They actually started out in TNA as faces, coming to the aid of Gail Kim in a couple of matches.
But when Roxxi Laveaux turned down their offer for beauty tips, they attacked her and started their heel turn.
The two of them later started placing brown paper bags over their opponents' heads, and began harrassing backstage interviewer Lauren Brooke.

TNA Knockout: SoCal Val

2008-10-09T09:50:00.000-05:00

Valerie Elizabeth Wyndham was born March 27, 1986 in Beverly Hills, California.
She is a model, professional wrestling valet, manager and sometimes wrestler better known by her ring name, SoCal Val.
Currently she is working for TNA Wrestling as a valet.

SoCal Val has been all over the wrestling industry since she debuted in 2002. She worked for Golden State Championship Wrestling and several other promotions in Southern California as a manager, WEW (Women Extreme Wrestling), Southern Championship Wrestling, NWA Florida, Ring girl for TNA in 2005, Full Impact Pro, WWE Smackdown!, MXPW, FPWA, Ring Divas and others I'm sure I've missed.

During her career, she has managed over 70 wrestlers, yes 70!

SoCal officially signed with TNA in August of 2006.

Probably the best SoCal Val site on the net:
http://www.socalval.org/

TNA Knockout: Mercedes Steele

2008-10-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

Lexxus is an American female pro wrestler, who is currently working for TNA Wrestling using the name Mercedes Steele. Outside of TNA with Chaotic Wrestling and New England Championship Wrestling, she wrestles as Lexxus. I guess she really likes car names.

In Chaotic Wrestling, Lexxus was the third member of The Blowout Boys along with Danny E. and Tommy T. She was referred to as the "Double X Diva". Her most memorable matches involved feuding with Nikki Roxx.

In World Women's Wrestling, Lexxus won the WWW Championship in a four way match, defeating then champion Tanya Lee, Natalia and Jana on August 12, 2007.

On September 18, 2008, it was revealed that Lexxus signed a contract for TNA Wrestling. She was recommended for the position by TNA Knockout Roxxi, the same Roxxi she used to feud with in Chaotic Wrestling.
Mercedes Steele's first televised match was against Awesome Kong on the September 25, 2008 edition of TNA Impact!, where she, lost to Kong.

TNA Knockout: Trenesha Biggers, Rhaka Khan

2008-09-23T11:04:00.001-05:00

Trenesha Biggers was born December 25, 1981 in Champaign, Illinois.
She is a model and pro female wrestler who is currently working for TNA Wrestling under the ring name Rhaka Khan.
Trenesha was in the final top 25 in the 2005 WWE Diva Search.

Before she began her wrestling career, Biggers played college basketball.
At 6'3" it's no wonder.
She also played volleyball at Florida State University.
She eventually began work as a model and entered the WWE Diva Search, but was eliminated during the top 25. But WWE later expressed interest in Trenesha and signed her to a developmental contract. Biggers trained with Marty Jannetty for two months and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling.

Trenesha made her debut in Deep South Wrestling as the valet of The Regulators.
Later, she and Angel Williams began a feud with Kristal Marshall, Tracy Taylor, and Michelle McCool.
On February 9, 2006, Biggers participated in a bikini contest; however, there was no winner due to an interruption by Palmer Canon.
Trenesha and Williams later accompanied Canon in a match against Tommy Dreamer, who had McCool, Taylor, Marshall in his corner.

Then on May 4, 2006, WWE released Biggers from her development contract.

After WWE released Trenesha from her development contract, she began wrestling for Japan's Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX promotion as Panther Claw.
She has also worked for Florida's Full Impact Pro and Philadelphia's Women's Extreme Wrestling promotions under the name Black Barbie.

On February 10, 2008, she debuted on TNA at the Against All Odds 2008 pay-per-view. She distracted Petey Williams during his match against Scott Steiner, helping Steiner to win. On the following edition of Impact!, Steiner introduced Biggers as Rhaka Khan (the name is a homage to soul singer Chaka Khan). Since then she has also began to manage Petey Williams in his matches. She made her in-ring debut against LAX and Salinas. Her team would lose after Homicide applied Da Gringo Killa to Petey Williams. At Lockdown, Rhaka participated in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match which was won by Roxxi Laveaux. Rhaka also participated in the first ever Knockouts "Make Over Battle Royal" at Sacrifice, won by Gail Kim.

TNA Knockout: Christy Hemme

2008-09-17T09:03:00.003-05:00

Christina Lee "Christy" Hemme was born October 28, 1980, in Poway, California.
She is an American actress, singer, model and pro wrestler and valet.
Hemme is currently signed to TNA Wrestling, and is also known for her appearances with WWE.
Christy grew up in Temecula, California, where she enjoyed racing street bikes and dirt bikes and was a "self-described" tomboy.
She grew up watching wrestling, and favored The Undertaker.
Hemme was a cheerleader for two years at Temecula Valley High. She graduated in 1998 at age seventeen. Hemme attended Mount San Jacinto College, where she majored in dance.

Hemme has a brother, David, and a sister, Deena Hemme, who is also a model.
Her father, Robert, owns an insurance agency in her hometown of Temecula.
Her mother Susan died in 2002. Christy stated in the DVD Viva Las Divas of the WWE that the week she won the WWE Raw Diva Search was on the anniversary of her mom's death.
Also her hair is naturally blonde but she dyes it red in honor of her mother, whose hair was red.

Christy is an avid motorcyclist. She owns a Harley Davidson Dyna Glide Low Rider.

Hemme's tattoos include an eagle on her left wrist, a heart on her right wrist, a star with a heart in the middle on the back of her neck, a linking design running down her right side, matching loop triangles on the outsides of both wrists, a small heart on her lower back, and a heart with the same loop triangle in the middle on her left shoulder, which has since been expanded. Hemme also has several piercings: in her ears, tongue, bellybutton, and two in her nostril.

In her blogs, she regularly professed a love of music and interest in songwriting. She cites musical influences such as AC/DC, The Doors, Mother Love Bone, Nine Inch Nails, and Pink Floyd.

Technorati Tags: Christy Hemme wrestling tna wrestler wrestlers pro news wrestle impact rumors professional female

Alex Shelley

2008-09-11T10:40:00.000-05:00

Patrick Martin was born May 23, 1983 in Detroit, Michigan.
He is better known by the ring name Alex Shelley.
Alex is an American pro wrestler currently wrestling for TNA Wrestling.
He previously gained fame on the independent circuit, working most notably for Ring of Honor, as well as in Japan, for Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, where he currently holds the AAW Tag Team Championship with Chris Sabin, whom he currently teams with in TNA as the Motor City Machine Guns.

In July 25, 2008, Shelley and five other TNA wrestlers ( Sonjay Dutt, AJ Styles, Jay Lethal, Johnny Devine and Chris Sabin ) traveled to Mexico to compete in the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Grand Prix International tournament, where Shelley came out victorious in the finals against Ultimo Guerrero.

James Guffey / Jimmy Rave

2008-09-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

James Guffey was born December 8, 1982 in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an American professional wrestler, better known by his wrestling name, Jimmy Rave. He is currently employed by TNA Wrestling.

Rave wrestled for numerous professional wrestling promotions on the independent circuit, among them Combat Zone Wrestling, Full Impact Pro and NWA Wildside and toured Japan with the Dragon Gate promotion on two occasions.

In August 2007 it was announced that Rave had signed a contract with TNA Wrestling. He returned to the promotion at No Surrender on September 9, 2007, where he appeared alongside Christy Hemme and Lance Hoyt (later known as Lance Rock). The trio was subsequently named the Rock 'n Rave Infection, with Hemme, Rock and Rave adopting the mannerisms of a rock band and carrying Guitar Hero game controllers to the ring.

TNA Wrestling: Kevin Nash, part 4

2008-08-30T11:39:00.001-05:00

Kevin Nash then engaged in a small program with TNA Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Kurt Angle, which eventually resulted in Nash aiding Angle. Kevin warned the Angles about how dangerous Sting can be based on Nash's experience feuding with Sting in WCW and claimed that "the man's a demon".

At Bound for Glory, Nash interfered on Kurt Angle's behalf during his World Title defense against Sting. However, it was pointless, as Sting captured the title from Angle via Scorpion Death Drop after fending off Nash and Angle's wife, Karen. The following Thursday on Impact!, Nash and Angle had an altercation because Angle blamed Nash for him losing the World Wrestling Title. Angle would eventually attack Nash but Nash would have the last laugh, jackknife powerbombing Angle in the middle of the ring.

The following week, Sting would defend the TNA World Wrestling Title against Angle in a rematch from Bound For Glory, and Nash would have a ringside seat. Near the conclusion, Angle pushed Sting into Nash, and Sting punched Nash after landing in his lap. Nash would eventually recover, and jump onto the apron, only to be met by Sting. The referee attempted to break up the fight, but Angle caused the ref to be knocked out, and at the same time, was able to hit the Olympic Slam to gain the victory, and the World Title. Following the match, Nash offered a hand shake to Angle only to be "flipped off" by the new champ. An enraged Nash demanded a match with Angle, but TNA Management's public face, Jim Cornette, instead booked Nash into a tag team match as Angle's partner against Sting and a partner of his choosing, with the stipulation being that the person that gains the pinfall or submission would be crowned the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. After a red herring that Scott Hall was the mystery partner, it was revealed to be Booker T.

At Final Resolution Nash and his partner Samoa Joe lost in a title match to TNA World Tag Team Champions Tomko and A.J. Styles after Nash abandoned and seemingly betrayed Joe. But the following Impact, when Joe stormed into Nash's locker room looking for a fight, Nash was actually able to persuade Joe into accepting his mentorship.
Kevin Nash lost to Kurt Angle in a one on one match on TNA Impact! on the 28th February. Nash currently sides with Joe and accompanies him to the ring as a manager and occasionally as a tag team partner, offering his experience and opinions to the Heavyweight Champion.

TNA Wrestling: Kevin Nash, part 3

2008-08-28T16:24:00.001-05:00

Around this time, Kevin Nash and Alex Shelley formed a stable known as Paparazzi Productions, with Johnny Devine as a cameraman. Nash then decided to go for the X Division championship. He got penciled into a Number One Contendership match for the title against Chris Sabin at Hard Justice. He claimed that he had developed an 840° somersault splash that he would unveil in the match. However, over the weekend, he suffered a mysterious neck injury, supposedly while practicing it with Tito Ortiz, and named Alex Shelley to replace him in the match. Confined to a wheelchair, Nash was helpless as he watched Shelley lose the match to Chris Sabin.

Nash remained out of action due to the injury (Nash was actually re-negotiating his contract with TNA), but returned prior to Bound for Glory, and announced The Kevin Nash Open Invitational X Division Gauntlet Battle Royal. Austin Starr won the match. Nash took an interest in Starr, which seemed to be at the behest of Alex Shelley.

Kevin Nash then worked with the X Division stars in a weekly segment known as the Paparazzi Championship Series (a play on the "Bowl Championship Series"). Despite being portrayed as a heel, Nash's amusing appearances in the PCS and occasional guest commentary turned him into a face. He also began continuing these skits along with Dutt and Lethal, in a segment called "Paparazzi Idol". Nash became a manager of sorts for Jay Lethal, helping him adopt a gimmick where he impersonates "Macho Man" Randy Savage. At Sacrifice 2007, Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt had an altercation. Nash broke it up, but Sonjay kicked him. Sonjay apologized, and Nash forgave him. Dutt then became the "Guru" with Nash humming mantras backstage. Since then, he announced his intentions to begin managing the Motor City Machine Guns, but would actually next appear in the role of Dr. Nash, "psychiatrist" and adviser to Kurt and Karen Angle.

TNA Wrestling: Kevin Nash, part 2

2008-08-26T09:22:00.001-05:00

Kevin Nash returned to TNA on October 1, 2005 on the first episode of TNA Impact! to be aired on Spike TV, attacking and powerbombing the then chanpion, Jarrett. Nash went on to challenge Jarrett to a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship at Bound for Glory on October 23, 2005. In the weeks before the event, Nash and Jarrett had several heated confrontations, on one occasion brawling with one another and with guest referee Tito Ortiz. On October 22, 2005, one day before Bound For Glory, Nash was hospitalized with chest pains. At Bound For Glory, a battle royal was held to determine the number one contender; Rhino won and then defeated Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Nash was later discharged from the hospital, having suffered a mild cardiac episode. He made a partial return to the ring in December 2005, wrestling several matches on a tour of South Africa.

Nash returned to TNA once more on the April 27, 2006 episode of Impact!, announcing in a pre-taped segment that he would give a private interview to Alex Shelley one week later. The interview saw Nash claim to be the most profitable WWF World Heavyweight Champion of all time and describe the X Division as "basically filler". Nash went on to announce that he intended to destroy the X Division in order to re-assert his position within TNA. He began his campaign at Sacrifice on May 14, 2006, powerbombing Puma, and continued his campaign on the May 19, 2006 episode of Impact! y attacking Chris Sabin shortly after he had defeated Petey Williams to win the TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament for Team USA. After destroying the World X Cup trophy and powerbombing Sabin, Nash informed the supine Sabin that "size matters!" Nash continued to attack X Division wrestlers over subsequent weeks, leading to Sabin challenging him to a match at Slammiversary. Nash's attacks were also coupled with pre-taped segments with Shelley (some appearing only on the internet website YouTube) and his "X Division debut" on the June 15, 2006 episode of Impact!, where Nash wrestled a comedy match against a midget Shelley dubbed a "Sabin-type wrestler". Nash defeated Sabin at Slammiversary in his second televised match in almost a year, albeit with the assistance of Shelley.

TNA Wrestling: Kevin Nash, part 1

2008-08-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

Kevin Scott Nash was born July 9, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan. He is an American pro wrestler and actor. Nash has wrestled under various ring names for the WCW, WWF and WWE where he wrestled famously as Diesel, and currently, TNA. Kevin Nash is a six-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, eleven-time World Tag Team Wrestling Champion and one-time Intercontinental Champion.

Nash debuted in TNA Wrestling alongside the returning Scott Hall on November 7, 2004 at the inaugural monthly TNA pay-per-view, Victory Road, with the duo helping NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett retain his title in a ladder match with Jeff Hardy. In subsequent weeks, the trio identified themselves as the Kings of Wrestling, and began feuding with Jeff Hardy and A.J. Styles. At Turning Point on December 5, 2004, the Kings of Wrestling were defeated by Hardy, Styles, and Randy Savage.

Hall left TNA in early 2005, and Nash and Jarrett separated after Nash made clear his desire to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Nash received a title shot against Jarrett on February 13, 2005 at Against All Odds, but lost following interference from the debuting Outlaw. Following the defeat, Nash joined forces with Sean Waltman and began feuding with the newly formed Planet Jarrett. At Destination X on March 13, 2005, Nash lost to The Outlaw in a First Blood match following interference from Jarrett, who struck Nash with his title belt. The rivalry between Planet Jarrett and Nash and his allies culminated in a scheduled Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown on April 24, 2005 pitting Nash, Waltman, and Diamond Dallas Page against Jarrett, The Outlaw, and "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown. However, Nash was removed from the card and replaced with B.G. James after contracting a staph infection, which left him sidelined for much of 2005. During his time out, Nash did an interview with WWE.com. He discussed the Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan match which was scheduled for Summerslam 2005.

Matt Morgan

2008-08-14T09:58:00.004-05:00

Matthew Thomas "Matt" Morgan was born September 10, 1976, in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is an American professional wrestler, currently working for TNA Wrestling.

Matt originally played college basketball for Monmouth University, and was on the squad which made the 1996 NCAA Tournament, who lost to Marquette in the first round. After a change of coach, Morgan transferred to Chaminade University, from where he graduated. Matt had professional tryouts with the Indiana Pacers, but was eventually cut, and decided to pursue a career in pro wrestling.

Morgan debuted in TNA Wrestling on the August 7, 2007 episode of TNA Today, appearing briefly in the background of a segment featuring Eric Young and Jeremy Borash. On the August 9 episode of TNA Impact!, Matt appeared alongside TNA Management Director Jim Cornette, with TNA later identifying him as Cornette's "backup". Morgan was the Special Enforcer in the Samoa Joe and Christian Cage match at Bound for Glory, preventing Christian's Coalition from interfering as Joe gave Cage his first true defeat in TNA.

Matt had to restrain Tomko and A.J. Styles on the October 18 edition of Impact! when they tried interfering in the main event helping Christian defeat Samoa Joe in a Fight For The Right Qualifying match.

On the April 3, 2008 edition of TNA Impact!, it was revealed that Morgan allowed Team Tomko to add James Storm to their team, giving them a 5-4 advantage heading to Lockdown; however, at the end of the program, it was revealed that Matt himself had joined Team Cage. The next week, Jim Cornette relieved Morgan of his assistant duties to become a full time wrestler. With Matt joining Team Cage he has established himself as a face. Because of his wrestling abilities, Morgan has developed the nickname "The Blueprint". Matt was teamed up with Kip James at Sacrifice as a result of the Deuces Wild Tournament. They failed to win the tag titles as James and Morgan couldn't get along long enough. On July 10 2008, he participated in a 6 man tag team match.
On the July 17 edition of TNA Impact Matt faced and defeated Jimmy Rave in about less than 2 minutes. Then the other member of the Rock and Rave Infection, Lance Hoyt (who had changed his name to Lance Rock) challenged him to a match right there. Morgan accepted, and the ref rung the bell. Matt then defeated him in about the same exact time. On the 31 July episode of iMPACT!, he issued a challenge to Tomko as he harrassed Karen Angle on her TNA talk show, Karen's Angle. He defeated him after a HellEvator (Vertical suplex side slam).

Technorati Tags: matt morgan pro wrestling news professional tna TNA Impact wrestler rumors

Curry Man

2008-08-11T10:39:00.001-05:00

Curry Man is the alter ego of Daniel Christopher Covell.
Covell was born December 24, 1972, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is an American professional wrestler, best known in the United States by his ring name "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. He currently wrestles as Curry Man in TNA Wrestling and Japan.
He also works regularly for many independent promotions. Covell is known as King of Indies for his work with independent promotions all over the world; including Ring of Honor and Frontier Wrestling Alliance.

Curry Man is a gimmick created by Jinsei Shinzaki ( a Japanese professional wrestler ) and based on Curry Cook, a character in the Kinnikuman manga. You may have seen these Kinnikuman characters as " M.U.S.C.L.E." here in the US.
Daniels made his first appearances in America as Curry Man, starting with his match against Shingo Takagi at Dragon Gate Invasion in August 2005, during his time with ROH.

On the December 6th edition of TNA Impact!, Daniels beat Senshi in a match for his Feast or Fired briefcase, refereed by Elix Skipper. On the following week's show, it was revealed that Daniels' briefcase contained the pink slip, immediately causing him to be fired from TNA Wrestling. A month later, Daniels returned making the TNA debut of his masked Curry Man persona, going on to team up regularly with Shark Boy. He went on to feud with Team 3D and winning the Fishmarket Street Fight against them.On the March 13, 2008 Impact, Curry Man qualified for the Xscape Match for the X Division Title at Lockdown by beating Petey Williams. At Lockdown, he fought Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Shark Boy, Consequences Creed and Johnny Devine. Curry Man eliminated Creed from the match after delivering the Spice Rack ( (Backbreaker rack dropped into either a facebuster or a DDT). He was later eliminated by Devine via the Devine Intervention. Curry Man competed in the TerrorDome match at TNA Sacrifice, but the eventual winner was Kaz. After that Curry Man, along with Shark Boy and Super Eric, began a comedic stable called "The Prince Justice Brotherhood".

Austin Watson / Creed

2008-08-06T10:14:00.002-05:00

Austin Watson was born September 4, 1986 in Columbus, Georgia. He is better known by his ring name Creed and is an American professional wrestler.
His gimmick is based on the character Apollo Creed from the Rocky movie series.
Creed is currently signed with TNA Wrestling.

Creed appeared at TNA Wrestling's Bound For Glory pay-per-view event, teaming with Ron Killings as the replacement for Adam "Pacman" Jones. Creed wrestled under the name Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed. His union with Ron Killings was made to be a play on words (Ron "The Truth" Killings + Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed = Truth and Consequences).

On October 21, 2007, it was reported that Austin Creed had signed a contract with TNA. The signing was reported when Creed appeared on the radio show Trash Talking Radio on October 23 with Tommy Cairo and Sabian. His signing was also confirmed later at a NWA Anarchy show where Creed was presented the contract by TNA Booking Director Bill Behrens.Following Bound For Glory, Creed was not seen on TNA television for months after Ron Killings asked and was later granted his release from the company.

On February 10, 2008, Creed wrestled in a dark match before Against All Odds. He teamed with Sonjay Dutt defeating the Rock 'n Rave Infection. On the March 13 edition of Impact! a promo video with the words "prepare to face the consequences" showed Creed training and announced that he would make his return at the Lockdown pay-per-view on April 13 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The following week the return date was changed to April 10. On the April 10th edition of Impact!, Creed made his in-ring return and defeated Jimmy Rave of the Rock 'n Rave Infection, thus qualifying for the Xscape match at Lockdown. Creed would enter into the Six Sides of Steel and perform the Creed-DT on Shark Boy to eliminate him from the match. His fortune would later change as he would be eliminated by Curry Man in the match. Creed would later wrestle in the first ever TerrorDome match at Sacrifice. Though he would be unsuccessful as it would be won by Kaz. Creed would get a "TNA Heavyweight Championship Match" against Booker T on the July 17th 2008 edition of TNA iMPACT in a Stretcher Match but was unsuccessful.

Booker T was not however, champion but had taken possession of the belt from Samoa Joe at Victory Road TNA management Jim Cornette had offically stated Samoa Joe was still champion, therefore a win for Creed would not have rewarded him with the TNA Heavyweight Championship.

Shawn Daivari / Sheik Abdul Bashir

2008-07-25T12:21:00.002-05:00

Shawn Daivari was born born April 30, 1984, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is an Iranian-American professional wrestler, currently working for TNA Wrestling as Sheik Abdul Bashir.
Even though he was born in Minnesota, he is still a full blooded Iranian with his parents immigrating to the United States in the 1970s.
Daivari debuted in TNA Wrestling on the June 12 edition iMPACT! as the captain to Team International in this year's World X Cup Tournament.
He recently signed a contract with TNA and on the July 24, 2008 edition of iMPACT!, it was announced that Daivari has joined the TNA roster under the name of Sheik Abdul Bashir.

Even though Shawn didn't seem to go over too well in the WWE, I think the man has good mike skills and in ring ability.
Geez...I'm starting to sound like JR.

Crystal Louthan

2008-07-17T09:49:00.003-05:00

Crystal Louthan is a American professional wrestling interviewer and announcer. She is currently working for TNA.

Crystal has worked as a model and has appeared in several advertisements and commercials, and was once a boxing ring girl on HBO. She was crowned "Miss Jeannie 2005" in an "I Dream of Jeannie" look-a-like contest.

She has also worked as a broadcaster for the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team.

During the Fall 2007, Louthan joined TNA as a backstage interviewer, replacing previous interviewer Leticia Cline. Cline returned on the October 24, 2007 edition of TNA Impact! and was angered that she had been replaced and jealously confronted Louthan, but the storyline was quickly dropped, as storylines often are.

Louthan also appeared on the monthly "Road To" SpikeTV specials and the Countdown Preshow prior to each pay-per-view.

Crystal took a month off working TNA's TV tapings for much of April 2008. She later returned on May 8th, interviewing Kevin Nash & Samoa Joe.

Louthan is currently dating TNA wrestler "Cowboy" James Storm.

www.crystallouthan.com/

technorati tags: tna roster, tna impact, tna

TNA Knockout: Taylor / Shantelle Taylor

2008-07-10T11:08:00.001-05:00

Shantelle Larissa Malawski was born January 26, 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. She is a Canadian pro wrestler currently working for TNA Wrestling under the ring name Taylor. She is better known by the ring name, Shantelle Taylor. She was formerly working for the WWE under a development contract.

She made her professional wrestling debut in June 2003. In 2004, she was featured in the two-part wrestling documentary, Slam Bam, which aired on the Discovery Channel.

In 2005 she won her first women's wrestling championship while competing in New Vision Pro Wrestling. She spent the summer of that year in Monterrey, Mexico working on her lucha libre style. In December she participated in a three-show tour of South Africa wrestling on a card that featured former WWE stars Kevin Nash, Andrew Martin and Scott Steiner. Also in December she was invited to a tryout in Buffalo, New York for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Malawski has worked for several independent wrestling promotions including SHIMMER Women Athletes, Ring Divas' Battle Angels, Twin Wrestling Entertainment, and Blood, Sweat and Ears. On April 16, 2006, Malawski defeated Traci Brooks to become the inaugural Battle Angels Women's Champion.

Malawski also spent time working the Pure Women's Action shows for the Pure Wrestling Association in Southern Ontario.

In May 2006, Malawski signed a deal with the WWE and reported to their developmental territory Deep South Wrestling. She made her Deep South in-ring debut at the June 27, 2006 tv tapings where she lost against Krissy Vaine when Vaine grabbed her tights. On September 9, 2006, Malawski defeated Vaine at Deep South Wrestling Grand Park Slam event in Six Flags Over Georgia. During her time in Deep South, she feuded with other divas such as Krissy Vaine, Tracy Taylor & Angel Williams. In January 2007, Malawski appeared on Smackdown!/ECW house shows as San-Eye, a masked Japanese wrestler, where she wrestled Jamie Noble. In June 2007 Malawski wrestled in dark matches prior to the Smackdown TV Tapings while wearing a mask.

On August 13, 2007 Malawski was released from her developmental contract.

In the February 2008 edition of WWE Magazine, she appeared in the section Sexy Superfan of the Month, and goes under the name of Shantelle M.

[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2008-Present)

In early 2008 Malawski signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

At the April 16, 2008, tapings of TNA Impact! Malawski wrestled for the company in a dark match where she was defeated by Raisha Saeed.

She then appeared on television as a "plant" on the May 29, 2008 episode of Impact!. She responded to the $25,000 challenge from Awesome Kong to any females age 18 or older in the audience, but was not selected to wrestle her. She reappeared in the audience on the June 5 episode of Impact! to challenge Kong, but once again was not selected to wrestle her. On June 19, She challenged Kong in the $25,000 Challenge. She was announced under the name Taylor, and became the closest by far out of any of the contestants to defeating Awesome Kong.

On the July 3 episode of iMPACT!, Taylor defeated Raisha Saeed and earned the right to face Kong again the following week in the $25,000 challenge, this time also being for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship.

Karen Angle

2008-07-03T14:09:00.002-05:00

Karen Angle (nèe Smedley) (born October 12, 1972) is a professional wrestling valet and personality currently working for TNA Wrestling. She is the real life wife of professional wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle.

Karen Angle was introduced in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in the summer of 2007 when Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle were feuding for an all-at-once Triple Crown Championship (Kurt held the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and Joe held the TNA X Division and TNA World Tag Team Championship). Karen was supposedly wanting to divorce Kurt, claiming that he was emotionally abusive toward both her and their children. At the Hard Justice pay per view, however, Karen betrayed Joe during his match with her husband, resulting in Kurt winning the Triple Crown.

In the following weeks, her character began to develop into a manipulative vamp, such as when Karen claimed that Sting slapped her at No Surrender when, in fact, he had not. This led to Kurt and Sting losing the Tag Team titles to Team Pacman after Kurt executed the Olympic slam on Sting. Another feud then erupted between Kurt Angle and Sting in which Sting had Karen arrested for violating a restraining order and Kurt stalking Sting's son. At Genesis, Karen persuaded A.J. Styles and Tomko into helping Kurt retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship during the tag team match for the title.

In late 2007, Karen began to have issues with Booker T's wife Sharmell, claiming there was only room for one "queen" in TNA (a direct reference to Booker T's and Sharmell's last WWE gimmick, where they were self-believed royalty). This led to a catfight at the December 12 iMPACT! tapings.Karen suffered a broken foot after jumping from the apron after an in-ring segement. She did not miss any time as a result of TNA's taping schedule.

Jamie Szantyr / Velvet Sky / Talia Madison

2008-06-04T09:49:00.003-05:00

Jamie Szantyr (born June 2, 1981) is an American professional wrestler and valet currently working for TNA Wrestling under the ring name Velvet Sky. She also works outside of TNA Wrestling as Talia Madison.

Szantyr was trained to wrestle at Jason Knight's "House of Pain Pro Wrestling Dojo". After completing her training, she began working as a valet and wrestler on the independent circuit using the ring names Miss Talia, Talia Doll, and Talia Madison. On the independent circuit she formed a tag team known as T&A with April Hunter. She was booked to her first wrestling championship during her time in World Xtreme Wrestling, getting the WXW Women's Championship after winning a battle royal on May 29, 2004.

Szantyr made a few appearances for the WWE in 2005 and 2006. On the February 24, 2005 edition of WWE SmackDown!, she appeared as an extra during the JBL "Celebration of Excellence" party. She was then defeated by Victoria on July 11 in a match taped for WWE HEAT. On January 2, 2006, she and Trinity were planted in the front row of the audience to be selected to dance with The Heart Throbs after their match in another HEAT segment. She also auditioned for the 2007 WWE Diva Search, but did not make the final eight. Szantyr later admitted that WWE wanted her to physically enhance her body, to which she chose to go to TNA as they took her as she is.

As Talia Madison she held Defiant Pro Wrestling Women's title, which she got on April 8, 2006 after defeating Alere Little Feather and Nikki Roxx in a three-way match.

She also wrestled in Women's Extreme Wrestling as Talia Doll, where she and April Hunter held the WEW Tag Team titles. The duo, known as T&A, defeated Amber O'Neal and Lollipop to get the titles on WEW's April 6, 2006 pay-per-view. She also held the WEW World Women's title (as Talia Madison), defeating Angel Orsini on May 5, 2007.

When TNA announced the creation of their women's division in 2007, Szantyr, using her Talia Madison ring name, was announced as one of the ten wrestlers in a 10-woman Gauntlet match to crown the first TNA Women's World Champion at Bound for Glory pay-per-view. Before the show she made non-wrestling appearances on the October 5 episode of TNA Today and the October 11 Impact!, standing at ringside for the debut match of Awesome Kong along with the other gauntlet match participants. In the weeks following the gauntlet match, her ring name was changed to Velvet Sky.

At the December Turning Point pay-per-view, Sky and Angelina Love were paired together and dubbed "Velvet Love Entertainment", later renamed to "The Beautiful People". After defeating O.D.B. and Roxxi Laveaux early in the show, Love and Sky assisted Gail Kim in her match against Awesome Kong. They assisted Kim again after another match against Kong on the December 6 edition of Impact! and at Final Resolution pay-per-view, helping to stop a brawl post match.

On the March 13 edition of Impact!, Sky and Love attacked Roxxi Laveaux and later that night Gail Kim, thus turning heel for the first time in TNA. At Lockdown Sky participated in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match, which was won by Roxxi. Sky participated in the Make Over Battle Royal-Ladder Match at Sacrifice which was won by Gail Kim. The team later became the biggest heels of the Knockouts division, next to Awesome Kong. Their segments often being the highest rating of the show. The two later added another factor to their gimmicks, placing brown paper bags over opponents heads. They usually harass Lauren Brooke on backstage interviews.

TNA Knockout: Salinas / Shelly Martinez

2008-05-23T08:02:00.002-05:00

Shelly Lenore Martinez was born February 9, 1980. She is an American model, professional wrestler and valet currently working for TNA Wrestling under the ring name Salinas as valet to the Latin American Xchange (LAX). She is also known for her work with the WWE on its ECW brand under the ring name Ariel.

At Bound for Glory, Shelly participated in a Knockout Gauntlet battle royal to crown the first TNA Women's Champion. She was ultimately eliminated by Awesome Kong. Shortly there after, Martinez began to appear as a masked member of the LAX, interfering in their matches to help them gain victories leading to an issue with The Rock 'n Rave Infection valet Christy Hemme, who believed she was a man attacking women, an infraction in TNA. However, at TNA Final Resolution, Martinez unveiled herself after attacking Hemme again, clearing up a possible man-on-woman violence issue. On the following edition of iMPACT, Martinez was given the name Salinas.

Salinas participated at Lockdown in the first ever "Queen of the Cage" match, which was won by Roxxi Laveaux. She then participated at Sacrifice in the first ever Knockouts "Makeover Battle Royal", which was won by Gail Kim.

Cheerleader Melissa / Raisha Saeed

2008-05-10T10:26:00.003-05:00

Melissa Marie Anderson (born August 17, 1982), better known by her ring name Cheerleader Melissa, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. She is also the manager of Awesome Kong, under the name Raisha Saeed.

On the January 10 edition of TNA Impact! Melissa made her debut as an unknown woman (later named Raisha Saeed) wearing a burqa and billed from Syria. She was in Awesome Kong's corner when Kong defeated Gail Kim to win the TNA Women's Championship. She was also at Kong's corner at Against All Odds when she defeated O.D.B. She also distracted O.D.B, at Destination X, to help Awesome Kong retain her title in the 3-Way match, which involved Gail Kim, helping Kong retain her title for the 3rd major title match in a row. On April 13, 2008, at TNA's all-cage event Lockdown, she and Awesome Kong were defeated by Gail Kim and O.D.B. in a tag-team match.

On the May 1, 2008, edition of iMPACT!, Anderson debuted her Cheerleader Melissa gimmick in TNA, defeating Daisy Haze, yet still came out alongside Kong as Raisha Saeed the same night.

TNA Knockout: O.D.B. / Jessica Kresa

2008-04-24T07:44:00.003-05:00

Jessica Kresa (born June 6, 1978) is a female professional wrestler better known as O.D.B, currently working for TNA Wrestling.

Kresa's athletic background is not in wrestling, but in ice hockey, which her father encouraged her to pursue. She was the captain of the first girls team at her high school and played at St. Cloud State University for two years.

She began watching pro wrestling as a child. She enjoyed watching wrestlers such as The Killer Bees. She originally desired to be on the show American Gladiators. She hired a personal trainer in anticipation of her wrestling training.

She got her start in professional wrestling when she tried out for the first season of WWE's reality show, WWE Tough Enough. She made the top 25, but missed the final cut for the show. After returning home to Minnesota, Kresa began training. Soon after, she began wrestling in independent wrestling promotions all over the Midwest, facing men such as Ken Anderson and Shawn Daivari.

Kresa received her first national exposure in early 2003 as O.D.B. when wrestled Trinity in TNA Wrestling. She returned to TNA in early 2004 as Poison and was placed in a brief feud with Trinity. She appeared again in TNA during October 2004 and defeated Tracy Brooks.

In June 2006, Kresa started working in OVW as a heel in matches against Daisy Mae. Using the ring name ODB, Kresa brought the OVW Women's Championship alive when she created the title for herself, even though OVW did not recognize a women's champion at the time. She repeatedly cut promos saying that she was the new OVW Women's Champion, and OVW owner Danny Davis conceded and recognized the OVW Women's Championship. ODB lost her title to Katie Lea ( Katie Lea Burchill) in a Gauntlet Match on November 1, 2006. In the spring of 2007, ODB won the first ever "Miss OVW" crown with help from Victoria Crawford. Her ongoing feud with Lea led to a match between the two on June 1, 2007 where ODB was booked to defeat Lea to regain her title. ODB lost her title for the second time when she dropped it to Milena Roucka in a Six-Way Match on September 20, 2007.

O.D.B. was contacted by TNA Wrestling to appear at their annual pay-per-view Bound For Glory. This was confirmed on the October 10, 2007 edition of TNA Today where she was interviewed by Jeremy Borash. She was the first former Ohio Valley Wrestling female wrestling star to go straight to TNA instead of WWE. She made her in-ring debut at Bound for Glory participating in a 10 Knockout Gauntlet to crown the first-ever TNA Women's Champion. She was eliminated by Roxxi Laveaux(Nicole Raczynski), and the match was eventually won by Gail Kim. Since then, she has been a regular in the TNA Knockouts Division. She was booked as a heel, but was getting positive crowd reactions.

On the January 03, 2008 edition of Impact she won a 8 Knockout Gauntlet to determine the rankings of the women's division in TNA. On the January 17, 2008 edition of Impact, she defeated Angelina Love ( Angel Williams) and then challenged Awesome Kong to a title match at the pay-per-view Against All Odds.It was during this time, that she made her face turn. On the January 24 edition of TNA Impact! Awesome Kong attacked Gail Kim after Gail was named 2007 TNA Knockout of the Year and just as Kong was about to drop Gail with the Awesome Bomb, O.D.B. hit the ring to make the save. At Against All Odds, O.D.B. was defeated by Kong. At Destination X she lost a 3-way match, which included Gail Kim, to Awesome Kong. On April 13th at TNA Lockdown she and rival/friend, Gail Kim, defeated Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed (Melissa Anderson) .

TNA Knockout: Angelina Love / Angel Williams

2008-04-11T08:43:00.003-05:00

Angel Williams (born September 13, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler and valet currently working for TNA Wrestling under the ring name Angelina Love.

Angel debuted in wrestling in 2000, working for independent promotions around Canada. She was first a valet for various wrestlers such as Chris Sabin and Eric Young and then began to train under Rob Fuego to become a wrestler, as well. She was working for promotions around America when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) spotted her and signed her to a developmental contract. After being let go from her developmental contract in May 2007, Williams resurfaced in Mexico's Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion under the name Canadian Angel on June 10, 2007. Angel has also appeared on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show about former geeks turned into physical competitors.

Williams began managing Johnny Parisi in the summer of 2005. On September 8, 2005, Angel won her first match in Deep South by defeating Michelle McCool. On September 22, Angel was scheduled to wrestle against McCool, but Michelle never showed up. Instead Daisy Mae came out and challenged Angel. Williams was injured at the February 9, 2006 DSW TV Tapings, but she still managed to participate in the first ever Bikini Contest in DSW. She didn't reveal her bikini because Palmer Cannon interrupted, which led to a match that featured him and Tommy Dreamer. During the match she couldn't physically get involved, so she walked backstage. On February 28, she underwent knee surgery to repair her torn ACL. By September 2006, Angel had recovered from her knee injury and returned to DSW that fall.

During November 2006, Angel started managing The Gymini. This didn't last long due to The Gymini being released from their contracts in January 2007. Angel then got in a feud with General Manager of DSW, Krissy Vaine, after she made Angel lose her matches due to distractions by other Deep South Divas. At one point Angel had enough and even attacked Vaine in her office. At the March 15, 2007 Deep South TV Tapings Angel aligned herself again with Vaine and was promoted the Co-GM of Deep South Wrestling. When Deep South Wrestling shut down in April, Angel was moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Williams made her Ohio Valley Wrestling debut in a dark match at the May 16, 2007 television taping in Louisville, Kentucky, defeating Serena. However she was released from her developmental contract one day later.

Angel briefly worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2003 and 2004, mainly on Xplosion. Three years later in September 2007, she was contacted again by TNA to appear at their annual pay-per-view Bound for Glory, which was confirmed on the October 9 edition of TNA Today where she was interviewed by Jeremy Borash. At Bound For Glory, Williams participated in a 10 Knockout Gauntlet to crown the first TNA Women's Champion. During the match, she was eliminated by Gail Kim and O.D.B., and the match was won in the end by Kim. At Genesis, Angel competed in a 4-Way Match for the TNA Women's Championship with Kim retaining her title.

For trademark purposes, Angel began competing under the ring name Angelina Love. Love then formed a partnership with Velvet Sky, calling themselves "The Beautiful People". The duo defeated ODB and Roxxi Laveaux at Turning Point in a Knockouts Tag Team Match. Angelina Love as well as Velvet Sky turned heel on the March 13 edition of TNA Impact by forcing a makeover on Roxxi Laveaux followed by attacking her.

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Bonnie Maxon / Rain / Ms. Payton Banks

2008-04-01T08:18:00.004-05:00

Bonnie Maxon, born September 10, 1981, is an American professional wrestler best known by her ring name Rain. She is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the name Ms.Payton Banks.

Maxon started working for a local promotion in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later after gaining the experience of a wrestler she started working for various promotions in the midwest, such as IWA Mid-South, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), NWA Midwest, Ring of Honor, SHIMMER, and Women Extreme Wrestling under the ring name Rain.

She frequently teams up with her tag team partner Lacey to form The Minnesota Home-Wrecking Crew (a play on the name of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew).

Maxon appeared as a "plant" on the October 18, 2007 edition of TNA Impact! holding up a huge white sign with black letters reading off "President of Robert Roode FanClub". She continued to appear in the crowd with pro-Roode signs for the following two weeks. Maxon was officially referenced to on the November 1st edition of "iMPACT" by TNA announcers, where she also had a staredown with Roode's former valet Traci Brooks, then known as simply Ms. Brooks. In the aftermath of a match on an edition of TNA Impact, after Ms. Brooks and Robert Roode defeated Chris Harris and Gail Kim, Brooks was about to leave the ring when she attacked and started a cat fight with Maxon. Following this, she was seen from far distances all around the Impact! zone. She was referred as Ms. Brooks' stalker by TNA commentators Don West and Mike Tenay.

Maxon appeared on the January 10, 2008 edition of TNA Impact! and attacked Traci Brooks. Following this, Robert Roode announced that she had been replaced by Maxon, under the new name (Ms.) Payton Banks. This resulted into a feud with Traci, that led to a match at Against All Odds where Traci came out on top. Their rivalry was far from over though, culminating into vicious brawling anytime they run into each other.

Roxxi Laveaux / Nikki Roxx / Nicole Raczynski

2008-03-27T09:25:00.002-05:00

Nicole Raczynski (born April 19, 1979) is an American professional female wrestler, better known by her ring name, Nikki Roxx. She is currently working for TNA Wrestling under the ring name Roxxi Laveaux.

As a child, Raczynski attended professional wrestling events at the Boston Garden with her parents. Raczynski trained as a wrestler under Wladek "Killer" Kowalski at the urging of April Hunter who was already training there. She debuted in March 2001 under the ring name Nikki Roxx and later formed a tag team with Hunter called The Killer Babes.

Roxx has wrestled in numerous North American independent promotions such as SHIMMER Women Athletes, Squared Circle Wrestling, Women's Extreme Wrestling, Professional Girl Wrestling Association, New England Championship Wrestling, World Women's Wrestling, Chaotic Wrestling and Ring of Honor. She has wrestled in Mexico for promotions such as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Lucha Libre Femenil.

Roxx debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on July 15, 2007 at the Victory Road pay-per-view. Identified as "The Voodoo Queen" Roxxi Laveaux, Roxxi was introduced as the valet of the Voodoo Kin Mafia. Following a bout between the Voodoo Kin Mafia and Basham and Damaja, Roxxi brawled with Christy Hemme, the valet of Basham and Damaja.

On the September 27, 2007 edition of iMPACT!, Roxxi defeated Hemme, Gail Kim, Jackie Moore & Ms. Brooks in a Bound For Glory preview match to claim the 10th and final spot in the TNA Women's Championship Gauntlet. Roxxi made it to the final two, although Kim ultimately won to become the first TNA Women's World Champion. On the following pay-per-view, Genesis 2007, Roxxi competed in a 4-Way match between herself, Gail Kim, ODB, and Angelina Love for the TNA Women's Championship. Roxxi had the advantage when she spit Asian mist onto ODB's face, but Gail Kim took down Roxxi long enough to pin ODB and retain her title.

Roxxi competed in a tag team match in Turning Point 2007, teaming up with ODB to take on Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. However, Roxxi and ODB lost the match, with Roxxi taking the pin after the double-team combo of Russian legsweep from Velvet Sky and a big boot from Angelina Love.

On the January 3, 2008 edition of iMPACT!, Roxxi participated in a Gauntlet match that will help determine the 2008 rankings of the TNA Knockouts division. Roxxi made it to the final two, facing off against ODB, but was pinned.

Roxxi was fired from the Voodoo Kin Mafia by Kip James on the January 31, 2008 , edition of iMPACT, because she accidentally threw white powder in the eyes of Kip and cost him the match against Hernandez.

On the March 6 edition of Impact! she was shown in a backstage promo with Angelina Love and Velvet Sky who said they were going to give her a makeover on the following Impact edition, so they could make her into one of the "beautiful people". Roxxi turned face as a result of the makeover by Love and Sky when the duo attacked her and called her a freak, sparking a feud between them.

TNA Knockout: Gail Kim

2008-03-14T09:35:00.002-05:00

Gail Kim (born February 20, 1976) is a Korean Canadian professional wrestler, valet, model and actress. She is currently working for TNA Wrestling where she was the first ever TNA Women's Champion. She is also a one-time WWE Women's Champion, having won the title on her debut match for World Wrestling Entertainment. She is the first female wrestler to win the women's title in both WWE & TNA.

On September 6, 2005, TNA Wrestling announced that they had signed Gail Kim to a contract. On the October 8 edition of TNA Impact!, Kim made her debut, aligning herself with Jeff Jarrett and America's Most Wanted by attacking Team 3D. Shortly thereafter, she helped AMW regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from The Naturals. On November 26, Kim was attacked by the debuting Jackie Gayda. She spent the remainder of the year and early 2006 filming her part in the film "Royal Kill" before returning to TNA and rekindling her feud with Gayda. Between February and April, Kim was the guardian of Jackie Gayda, who had been blackmailed into joining the Planet Jarrett stable. The two women frequently fought one another during matches featuring members of Planet Jarrett as Gayda attempted to cost them the match. Gayda was "fired" by Kim at Sacrifice on May 14, after announcing that she was pregnant.

On May 15, Kim wrestled Traci in a dark match to be featured on the TNA Knockouts DVD. The match was the first women's match in TNA in over a year and Kim's first match on American soil since her WWE release. Since then, Kim was attacked at Slammiversary by Sirelda. The weeks after this, the two traded blows until Victory Road, where Sirelda's team defeated Kim's team. At Hard Justice, they faced off against each other in a one-on-one match, which Kim won.

On the October 19, 2006 Impact!, Kim was kayfabe injured in the ring by Hernandez when he gave her a Bordertoss following a loss in an eight man tag match where Latin American Exchange (Hernandez and Homicide) teamed with America's Most Wanted. At Genesis, America's Most Wanted lost to LAX after James Storm was hit with a blowtorch can. After the match, Homicide tried to use Da Gringo Killa on her, but she was saved by Petey Willams, who beat LAX with a lead pipe. AMW got another shot against LAX in a flag match at Turning Point where James Storm accidentally hit Chris Harris with shards of a beer bottle allowing LAX to win again. AMW then got one more shot in a Title vs Team match where if AMW lost they would have to disband. AMW lost when Storm hit Harris with the beer bottle on purpose. Kim went by Harris' side as Storm left.

At Final Resolution, Kim accompanied James Storm who defeated Petey Williams with his feet on the ropes. However, she helped Williams from further assault by taking Storm's infamous beer bottle out of his hand and giving him a low blow. Kim was then jumped from behind by a returning Jacqueline Moore, who became Storm's new manager. In response, Kim became Williams' new manager. Kim and Williams faced Storm and Moore in a mixed tag match at Against All Odds; Moore was able to pin Kim after Storm collided into her. After the match, "Wildcat" Chris Harris returned to chase away Storm. A rematch with Kim against Storm was made in a Double Bullrope match which Storm won. At Lockdown, Kim faced off with Moore in a TNA Cat Fight Steel cage match, the first women's cage match in TNA. Kim won the match after a flying crossbody from the cage. Gail & Moore had a rematch in a street fight, where Kim once again defeated Moore after a running front dropkick on Moore who was holding a chair, which resulted in Moore losing some teeth.

Kim made her return at Slammiversary when she kissed Eric Young to get him to concentrate for his match as he was being seduced by Ms. Brooks. She also aided him by taking out Brooks allowing Young to defeat Robert Roode. Kim later defeated Brooks in a match on Impact! by order of Jim Cornette. Kim would then go on to team with Eric Young to defeat Ms. Brooks and Robert Roode at Victory Road. She would then reappear to help Eric embarrass Ms. Brooks at Hard Justice by tarring and feathering her. At Bound for Glory, she became the first ever TNA Women's Champion, when she won a 10 Woman gauntlet elimination match last defeating Roxxi Laveaux. She defended the title one month later against Roxxi Laveaux, O.D.B., and Angel Williams in a four-way match at Genesis and retained the title when she pinned ODB with the Happy Ending. In the next couple of weeks, she competed in the TNA Knockouts Santa's Workshop Street Fight. She immediately ran to the ring going after her rival Awesome Kong. After fighting insued between Gail and Kong, they even took the fight to the backstage area where Awesome Kong reappeared from backstage with Gail appearing to be missing. Awesome Kong went on to win the Street Fight after delivering an Awesome Bomb to Christy Hemme. After the match, Gail reappeared attacking Awesome Kong with a steel chair, ultimately knocking her down. Security would have to break the two up. Gail defeated Awesome Kong at Final Resolution 2008 in a No Disqualification match to retain her TNA Women's World Championship. However, Gail would lose the TNA Women's Championship to Kong on the main event of the January 10 episode of TNA Impact! after Kong dropped her with two pick-up powerbombs followed up with an Awesome Bomb to pick up the win. On the January 24 edition of TNA Impact! Gail was named as 2007 TNA Knockout of the Year, where she called out Awesome Kong telling her that Kong will never put her out. Kong came out and went in the ring and started beating down Gail. Just as Kong was about to drop her with the Awesome Bomb, O.D.B. hit the ring to make the save.On February 21st on Impact, Kim and tag team partner O.D.B. had some miscommunication and started brawling with each other.At Destination X she lost a 3-Way match, which included ODB, to Awesome Kong.

Jacqueline Moore

2008-03-10T09:46:00.002-05:00

Jacqueline DeLois Moore (born January 6, 1966), or better known as simply Jacqueline is an American professional wrestler and actress. She worked for both WCW and WWE, and made history in the latter promotion as the first woman in WWE history to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (though, two women, Madusa and Daffney, had previously won the title when it was owned by WCW), and as the first African American and the first WWE Diva to win the WWF Women's Championship. Jacqueline also held the title of being the first Diva to apply for and receive her Referee's license, in WWE. She is currently working for TNA Wrestling.

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Tracy Brookshaw, part 3

2008-02-28T09:56:00.003-05:00

Traci was announced as Robert Roode's manager at Bound for Glory 2006 and changed her name to Ms. Brooks. She managed him during the Fight for the Right Tournament at the October 28 iMPACT!. She lost to Eric Young in a bikini contest at Turning Point. After this, she was told to sign Young to a contract- no matter what it took to do it. In the storyline, Ms. Brooks began to pressure him into having sex with her. Finally, at Against All Odds Ms. Brooks successfully seduced Young into signing a contract with "Robert Roode Inc.". After sometime without a storyline, she entered a rivalry with Gail Kim and was defeated at an iMPACT! taping. At Slammiversary, she was taken out by Gail once again.

On the August 23, 2007 episode of iMPACT!, Roode wrestled Gail Kim, with Kim pinning Roode after a low blow leg drop. Following the match, Roode, unhappy at his loss, continued to attack Kim until Kaz came out to counter Roode. On the October 4 edition of iMPACT!, it was revealed that Brooks and Roode were not romantically linked, and that the only reason she continued to take Roode's abuse was to help her sick mother. Subsequently, on iMPACT! and at Genesis a female fan held up signs asking Roode to replace Ms. Brooks with her. Roode then joined the Angle Alliance with Ms. Brooks begrudgingly by his side.

At the Genesis pay-per-view on November 11, 2007, Traci fainted due to heat exhaustion, but appeared to be doing fine following help from medics. However, news reports have arisen that claim that her fainting was staged, as Brooks was asked to do so by Vince Russo.

At the January 10 iMPACT! tapings, Roode fired Ms. Brooks and replaced her with the female fan, identified by Roode as "Ms. Payton Banks." Shortly there after, Brookshaw reverted back to a face and to her Traci Brooks ring name and began feuding with Banks where She defeated Banks at the annual pay-per- view, Against All Odds.

Tracy Brookshaw, part 2

2008-02-19T11:58:00.001-05:00

Brooks returned to TNA on November 5, 2003, helping Shane Douglas defeat The Sandman. On November 26, Douglas and Brooks (known now simply as Traci) helped Michael Shane defeat Sonjay Dutt. Following the match, the trio celebrated, and Douglas announced that they were to be called "The New Franchise".

The New Franchise began feuding with Triple X (Christopher Daniels, Low-Ki and Elix Skipper). The feud lasted until April 21, 2004, when Shane lost to Daniels after he passed up on a pinfall opportunity in order to try and hit his finisher. After Douglas admonished Shane, Shane began pushing and slapping his erstwhile mentor. Traci eventually grabbed Douglas from behind, enabling Shane to superkick Douglas. The following week, Traci helped Shane defeat Douglas in a singles match.

Traci continued to manage Shane, who was by now pursuing the TNA X Division Championship. Shane proved unable to defeat the incumbent champion, A.J. Styles, so he and Traci recruited Frankie Kazarian in order to maximize their numbers advantage. The result was a new stable/tag team that was known by fans as Shazarian. After several weeks of confrontations, Styles defended his title against Shane and Kazarian in a three way Ultimate X match on July 28, 2004. Though he was able to nullify the interference of Traci by giving her a Styles Clash, he was eventually knocked unconscious by the combined efforts of Shane and Kazarian. Shane and Kazarian then climbed for the X Division Championship, and simultaneously retrieved the belt, thus becoming co-champions. They lost the titles to Petey Williams in a Gauntlet Match on August 11.

In late-2004, Traci turned face by leaving Shane and Kazarian and becoming the assistant of the TNA Director of Authority, Dusty Rhodes. However, Trinity also wanted to be Rhodes' assistant, so he told each woman to recruit a new tag team. The teams faced one another at Destination X 2005 on March 13, 2005, with the winning team's manager becoming Rhodes' sole assistant. Traci's team (Don and Ron Harris, the Disciples of Destruction) defeated Trinity's team (Big Tilly and Bruno Sassi - Phi Delta Slam), making her Rhodes' assistant. Traci eventually left Rhodes' side and began managing Chris Sabin, who was feuding with Michael Shane and Trinity. At Lockdown on April 24, she tried to prevent Trinity from interfering in a four way X Division Xscape elimination match between Sonjay Dutt, Chris Sabin, Shocker and Shane. Her attempt failed when Trinity pushed her off the side of the cage and she landed on her bare feet, seemingly injuring herself in the attempt. This led to Trinity executing a Fall from Grace moonsault from the top of the cage and landing on top of Shane, Sabin and Shocker. Traci later got into the cage and engaged in a catfight with Trinity. The feud continued until Hard Justice on May 15, when Sabin and Traci lost to Shane and Trinity. In the course of the match, Traci turned on Sabin and Shane turned on Trinity, with Traci aligning herself with Shane once again and Trinity siding with Sabin.

Traci began managing Shane once again and stayed with him when he changed his name to his real name, Matt Bentley. When Bentley sat out during contract re negotiations in August 2005, she did some interview work for TNA. At Unbreakable on September 11, Traci acted as a backstage interviewer throughout the event. She returned to Bentley's side after his return at Unbreakable. In February 2006, Bentley turned heel and began a dispute with long time tag partner Lance Hoyt. Following the feud, Bentley was sidelined with an injury. Traci did promotional work for the company during the downtime.

On the May 15 taping of iMPACT!, she wrestled Gail Kim in the first woman's match in over a year. The match was taped purely for the forthcoming TNA Knockouts DVD and not for the Spike TV program. Gail Kim gained the pin after interference from America's Most Wanted. At Hardcore War 2006 she defeated Gail Kim with Christy Hemme as referee.

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Tracy Brookshaw, part 1

2008-02-14T10:44:00.002-05:00

Tracy Brookshaw (born May 22, 1980) is a Canadian professional wrestler and professional wrestling valet, better known by her stage name Traci Brooks. She is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Tracy Brookshaw grew up on a pig and chicken farm in St. Marys, Ontario. In 2000, she won the Toronto Sunshine Millennium Calendar contest which led to her being named Miss June 2000 and interviewed in the Toronto Sun.Brookshaw went on to engage in promotional modeling work with the Molson, Labatt and Budweiser beverage brewers.

In her interview, Brookshaw said that she aspired to be "the next WWF Superstar". This led to her being introduced to Ron Hutchinson, a professional wrestler who operated the Sully's Gym professional wrestling school out of Toronto, Ontario. Brookshaw began training under Hutchinson in March 2000 and debuted in January 2001 as Tracy Brooks.

Brooks appeared with numerous independent promotions, including Border City Wrestling and the Apocalypse Wrestling Federation. During her time in AWF, she worked a program feuding with La Felina (Gail Kim) and was managed for a short time by Canadian hip-hop artist, Dan-e-o. On August 30, 2001, Brookshaw (as Miss Apocalypse) defeated Joey Knight to win the AWF heavyweight title. To this day, she continues to do work for independent promotions, including Blood Sweat and Ears in her home region in Southern Ontario and, most prominently, NWA Cyberspace where she contends for the NWA Cyberspace Women's Championship.

Brooks debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on April 30, 2003 in Catholic schoogirl apparel, attacking Lollipop, a dancer who entertained the live audience during intermissions. The following week, Brooks demanded to be entered in a gauntlet match in which the winner would receive a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, threatening to sue National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) official Bill Behrens for sexual discrimination if he did not comply. When her threats failed, Brooks instead attempted to charm Behrens into allowing her into the match. Behrens then placed Brooks in a triple threat match with fellow female wrestlers Desire and Trinity, with the winner gaining entry into the gauntlet match. After Kid Kash ambushed Trinity and David Young accidentally punched Desire, Brooks won the match. Later that evening, she was attacked by Lollipop as she approached the ring to enter the gauntlet match. After she entered the ring, Brooks was quickly pinned and eliminated by Kid Kash.

On May 21, Brooks was paired with David Young in an "Anarchy Alliance" tag team tournament to determine the number one contenders to the NWA World Tag Team Championship. They defeated Kid Kash and Trinity on May 21 and Ron Killings (whose partner, Don Harris, had refused to team with him) on June 4, but lost to America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) in the finals on June 11.

On the June 18, 2003 TNA pay-per-view, Brooks formed an all-female stable known as "Bitchslap" with Nurse Veronica and Valentina. The stable quietly disbanded shortly thereafter when Veronica turned down a proffered TNA contract and Brooks was removed from television for repackaging.

Awesome Kong

2008-01-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

Kia Stevens (born September 4, 1977) is an American professional wrestler best known as Amazing Kong and Awesome Kong, who is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, SHIMMER, NWA, and various independent promotions in the United States and Japan. She is the current TNA Women's Champion and NWA World Women's Champion, and she has also been World Champion in AWA Superstars of Wrestling and All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling.

Stevens trained in Japan in the veteran women's wrestling promotion, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW). Stevens debuted as the Amazing Kong in AJW on October 20, 2002. Kong worked for multiple women's promotions in Japan, holding AJW's highest honor, the WWWA World Heavyweight Championship in late 2004. She also formed a tag team, named Double Kong, with Japanese legend Aja Kong feuding with Crush 2000. The two held the tag team championships with several Japanese promotions.

In January 2007, Amazing Kong defeated Nanae Takahashi for the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Women's Champion in Tokyo, Japan. On May 5, 2007, she defeated MsChif in Streamwood, Illinois, for the NWA World Women's Championship. She is the second wrestler to hold both titles simultaneously.

In June 2007, Amazing Kong made her first appearances in the UK, where she wrestled for three different promotions in successive days. On June 15, she competed in Wales for Celtic Wrestling, beating compatriot Cheerleader Melissa. The next day, she competed for Real Quality Wrestling in Colchester, Essex, in a four way match for the RQW Women's Championship, losing via disqualification. The final of the UK dates had Kong competing at IPW:UK produced Chickfight 9 at Orpington Halls, Kent, winning an eight-woman tournament. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Amazing Kong competed in nine out of the fifteen SHIMMER Women Athletes events released on DVD, defeating such wrestlers as Nikki Roxx, MsChif, Cheerleader Melissa and Daizee Haze. On October 13, 2007, Kong got her first SHIMMER Championship title shot against Sara Del Rey, losing when she did not answer the referee's ten-count.

Not long after appearing in Ring of Honor, Stevens signed a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, to become a part of their burgeoning Knockout division. On the October 11 edition of iMPACT!, Kong made her TNA debut, defeating Gail Kim. At Bound for Glory, she participated in a 10 Knockout Gauntlet to crown the first TNA Women's Champion, where she was billed as Awesome Kong. She was eliminated by the combined effort of Angel Williams, ODB and Gail Kim. In the following weeks, she squashed Knockouts such as Talia Madison, Angel Williams, Christy Hemme, and Alexa Jade. At Turning Point, she lost a Women's Championship match to Gail Kim via disqualification, breaking her undefeated streak.

At Final Resolution Kong suffered her first pinfall loss in a No Disqualification match for the TNA Women's Championship against Kim, who pinned her with a School-girl. On the January 10 episode of iMPACT!, Awesome Kong defeated Kim to win the Women's Championship with an unknown woman wearing a burkha accompanying her to the ring.
The woman, who was later named Saed, has been by her side ever since.
( It's Cheerleader Melissa...shhhhhh)

" Showtime" Eric Young, Part 4

2008-01-18T12:38:00.000-05:00

On the Genesis 2006 pre show Eric Young beat the odds defeating Robert Roode. This infuriated Roode and on the following Impact Roode cut a promo against Eric Young. The match started a long time rivalry between the two.

The "Paranoid Pied Piper of TNA" would soon be challenged to a bikini contest by Roode's associate Ms. Traci Brooks. Eric accepted and beat Ms. Brooks in a bikini contest at the Turning Point 2006 pay-per-view on December 10, 2006, by wearing a Spongebob Squarepants bikini. Eric Young continued his feud with Robert Roode and Ms. Brooks with Ms. Brooks trying to get Young to join "Robert Roode Inc." Finally, at Against All Odds 2007 Ms. Brooks successfully seduced Young into signing a contract with "Robert Roode Inc." This consequentially sent him into an odd angle, in which he is systematically humiliated every week by Roode, in such horrid acts as cleaning toilets for Roode's own personal use, and getting illegally involved in Roode's matches. He eventually beagn to fight back the orders of Roode, in part due to the advice of a mysterious "friend". On the April 26, 2007 episode of TNA Impact, the "friend" was revealed as Jeff Jarrett. Young eventually broke free of his contract by defeating Roode at Slammiversary 2007 via an inside cradle, after Gail Kim took out Ms. Brooks. At Victory Road 2007, Eric Young & Gail Kim would defeat Robert Roode & Ms. Brooks in a Mixed Tag Team match. Around this time, Young would be billed as from Freedomville, USA, a reference to Young being free from his contract with Roode.

On the August 2, 2007 episode of IMPACT!, Roode had Young tarred & feathered on national television in the Impact Zone. On the August 8 edition of TNA Today, Eric Young commented on the humiliation of being tarred and feathered, and then challenged Robert Roode to a "Humiliation Match" at Hard Justice. Roode would eventully go on to accept the challenge. Roode won the match, but Gail Kim came to Young's aid. Roode attempted to attack her, but accidentally knocked Ms. Brooks out instead. Roode retreated up the ramp, leaving a semi-conscious Brooks to be tarred and feathered by Young and Kim.

When Adam "Pacman" Jones joined TNA, Eric Young was desperate to get an autograph, but ended up getting attacked by Ron Killings and spray painted by Pacman. Lately, Young has been teaming up with Shark Boy on a consistent basis, nearly winning the number one contenders spot to the Tag Team Titles. Young was Judas Mesias's opponent in his official debut match, and was badly injured despite Shark Boy's rescue attempt. On the 4 October edition of Impact, Young faced and successfully defeated "Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm in a Gauntlet match when he reversed Storm's sleeper into a pin. At Bound for Glory 2007, Eric Young won the 15 men Fight for the Right Battle Royal by pinning Robert Roode with a small package to win the first round. He was eliminated from the tournament in the second round after being pinned by James Storm, who would go on to give him a beer at the urging of Jackie Moore. From there, Young and Storm have been appearing in promos where they are having beer drinking contests, most recently at Genesis 2007 where Young took Storm's World Beer Drinking Championship belt (a decorated WWE Championship toy belt) after Storm passed out before they could call the contest a truce. Young defended that strap on the last Impact before Turning Point 2007 in a 60-second speed drinking contest, which he won before Storm would viciously assault him. He would go on to defeat both Storm and the Angle Alliance (the latter done as Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash's replacement partner for the no-show Scott Hall) in matches at Turning Point.

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" Showtime" Eric Young, Part 3

2008-01-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

Since the debut of TNA on Spike TV in October 2005, Young has adopted a new character who is highly paranoid and afraid of almost anything and anybody. The character was introduced at the mock funeral staged by Planet Jarrett and their associates for Team 3D on the October 15, 2005 episode of iMPACT!, when Young was startled after Abyss crushed a box of tissues that were offered to him, and then speculated that the funeral parlour was haunted by a ghost named "Katie" (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the WWE "Katie Vick" storyline). The simplest things began to frighten Young, including the pyrotechnics that accompany Team Canada's entrance.

The character has drawn comparisons to South Park characters Tweek and Butters, and has often been used for comic relief. During an interview about the World X-Cup by So Cal Val during TNA Global iMPACT!, Young stated "Foreigners frighten me. They're from other countries, and I don't know how to deal with that."

However, although Young may be paranoid, he is not necessarily always wrong. Two weeks after Sting and Christian Cage defeated Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown at TNA Final Resolution 2006, Sting made his iMPACT! debut and announced his retirement. Jarrett wasted no time in pointing out that "after one match with me, Sting took his ball and went home", and most of Planet Jarrett agreed with that assessment. However, Young became convinced that Sting was not gone, and raised the ire of Jarrett and Scott D'Amore by frequently expressing that belief. In an attempt to persuade Young that Sting had left, Jarrett commissioned Alex Shelley to obtain footage of Sting at home with his children; however, this failed to allay Young's fears. He insisted that Sting would come back and get each of them, he would even go as far as to insist that the fellow Planet Jarrett members should not call him by his nickname "Showtime" any more, due to Sting's catchphrase "It's showtime, folks!".

Young lost to Sting in the main event of the April 13, 2006 episode of iMPACT!.

Young's paranoia did not always hinder his abilities during a match. He remained aggressive (even putting people through a table), would not hesitate to cheat, and was not afraid to capitalize on outside interference. He continued to be aided by Team Canada and Planet Jarrett.

When Jim Cornette became the new face of management in TNA and said someone would be fired, Young was afraid it would be him. He was seen on iMPACT! holding a up a sign in the crowd that read "Don't fire Eric Young" as the fans chanted "Don't fire Eric!" along with him. On the June 29 episode of iMPACT!, Young wrestled like a classic babyface out of fear of being fired, and tried to prevent his fellow Canadians from doing anything underhanded. Cornette announced later that night Team Canada was now disbanded, but Young was more happy than upset because it was Earl Hebner who got fired, not Young. On the July 14 episode of iMPACT!, Team Canada lost an "all or nothing" match (their only chance to stay together), keeping Team Canada disbanded.

At Victory Road, Team Canada joined together in the ring for one last time. After running through how he felt about each member, Scott D'Amore stopped at Eric Young. He then blamed Eric for their demise and made him strip of any Team Canada items as they were no more. Scott D'Amore then said that he believed Eric Young would still be fired as he was to blame for Team Canada's end. Eric then remained in the ring after the others had left and began a secret petition with the fans to keep his job. He would soon start being announced from "An Undisclosed Location". Young continued to be worried about his job security, creating his own "Don't Fire Eric" shirts.

Young's paranoia proved warranted yet again as he was fired on the October 5 episode of iMPACT after being hit with a golf club by Larry Zbyszko causing Young to lose a "Loser gets fired" match. However, due to Zbyszko's interference, Jim Cornette gave Young a chance to get his job back by facing Larry Zbyszko in a "Loser Gets Fired" match at Bound for Glory 2006. Young won and got his job back.

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" Showtime" Eric Young, Part 2

2008-01-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

Team Canada began feuding with The Naturals and Lance Hoyt, with Young, Roode and A-1 defeating Hoyt and The Naturals at TNA No Surrender 2005 on July 17. America's Most Wanted formed a loose alliance with The Naturals against Team Canada, with Young, Roode, Williams and A-1 defeating The Naturals and America's Most Wanted at TNA Sacrifice on August 14. After Williams renewed his pursuit of the TNA X Division Championship, Young began teaming with A-1 on a regular basis. At TNA Unbreakable on September 11, Young and A-1 faced America's Most Wanted, Alex Shelley and Johnny Candido and defending champions The Naturals in a four way tag match. Young was able to pin both Candido and "Wildcat" Chris Harris, but Team Canada lost the match after Chase Stevens managed to pin A-1.

At Bound for Glory 2005 on October 23, Young, A-1 and Bobby Roode defeated the 3Live Kru. After the match, their attempts to beat down Konnan were foiled by Kip James. Later that night, Team Canada foiled an attempt by 3Live Kru to save Rhino from a beating at the hands of Planet Jarrett, then helped Jarrett place Rhino in a casket which they had brought to ringside. However, as Team Canada and Planet Jarrett celebrated, Team 3D entered the ring and, with the help of the now recovered 3Live Kru, drove Planet Jarrett and Team Canada from the ring. Young, who had been standing atop the casket, was hit with a 3D by Team 3D. He was then thrown into the casket in the place of Rhino, who in turn stood atop the casket, celebrating his earlier victory for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship over Jeff Jarrett. As a result of the events of Bound For Glory, Young, Roode and A-1 faced the 3Live Kru in a rematch at TNA Genesis on November 13. Team Canada lost the match after Ron Killings pinned Young. The long-running feud between Team Canada and the 3Live Kru ended at TNA Turning Point 2005 on December 11 when Young, Williams, Roode and A-1 defeated the Kru and Kip James (the "4Live Kru") after Konnan turned on his teammates.

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"Showtime" Eric Young, part 1

2007-11-26T11:35:00.001-05:00

Jeremy Fritz (born December 15, 1979) better known by his ring name "Showtime" Eric Young, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is currently working for TNA Wrestling.

After graduating from high school, where he was valedictorian, Young began training with veteran wrestler Waldo Von Erich in Cambridge, Ontario. After training for ten weeks he wrestled his debut match on October 14, 1998 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, facing his friend "Suicide" Sean Ball. He later received supplementary training from Scott D'Amore and Chris Kanyon. After four months, he had wrestled ten matches and was consequently promoted to head trainer. After his training was complete, Young began working on the independent circuit. When wrestling infrequently, Young subsidised his income with number of other jobs, including working in a pizza parlour, manufacturing brass horse harnesses and sand casting. During his time in the Ontario independent scene, Young also owned and operated the Wrestleplex training facility out of Cambridge. Notable wrestlers to come out of the gym include the talented Jake O'Reilly, Ontario mainstay Crazy Steve and World Wrestling Entertainment signee Shawn Spears. He appeared on WWE television three times. The first was on an edition of WWE Velocity; he teamed with future tag team partner Bobby Roode and were defeated by Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli. The second appearance was also on WWE Velocity in which he was announced as "Showtime" Eric Young; he lost to Sean O'Haire. He appeared the next day on WWE Sunday Night Heat, losing a match to Val Venis. Al Snow, known for calling jobbers "Babaganoosh", called Eric Young "Showtime Babaganoosh."

On June 30, 2007, Eric secured the APWF Light Heavyweight Championship defeating former 4 time NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion Luscious Rocky Reynolds in Oil City Pennsylvania.

In January 2004 Young appeared in TNA as a jobber. On May 5 he returned as a member of Team Canada. He took part in the World X Cup event, defeating Jerry Lynn, Mr. Águila and Taichi Ishikara in a ladder match. Team Canada were a regular feature on TNA iMPACT! throughout mid-2004, feuding with the 3Live Kru.

On the October 15, 2004 episode of IMPACT!, Young and Bobby Roode defeated Christopher Daniels and "Cowboy" James Storm for the NWA World Tag Team Championships. They held the titles until November 7, when they were defeated by the 3Live Kru (represented by Konnan and B.G. James) at Victory Road 2004. They regained the titles a month later at Turning Point 2004 on December 5, defeating B.G. James and Ron Killings.

Young and Roode began feuding with America's Most Wanted in early-2005, and lost the NWA World Tag Team Championships to America's Most Wanted on January 16 at Final Resolution 2005. Young began teaming with Team Canada member Petey Williams, and on April 24, 2005 they unsuccessfully challenged America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championships at TNA Lockdown. After defeating Apolo and Sonny Siaki at TNA Hard Justice on May 15, Williams and Young challenged and lost to new NWA World Tag Team Champions The Naturals at TNA Slammiversary on June 19.

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Peter "Petey" Williams, part 2

2007-11-24T12:13:00.000-05:00

Williams again acted as the captain of Team Canada in the TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament. He lost to Jushin Liger at Sacrifice 2006 in a Captain vs. Captain semifinal match, but won the Gauntlet Match final to tie points with Team USA. The next Thursday, May 18, on iMPACT!, he lost to Team USA captain Chris Sabin in a tiebreaker singles match.

On the June 29 episode of iMPACT!, Jim Cornette announced that Team Canada is now disbanded. They then were given one last chance in a match 2 weeks later, against Jay Lethal, Rhino, and Team 3D with the stipulation that if they lost, they are disbanded without any more chances. Unfortunately for Team Canada, Jay Lethal pinned A1, officially disbanding Team Canada once and for all. On the July 27 edition of iMPACT!, Williams won an X Division Four Way defeating Sonjay Dutt, Johnny Devine, and Shark Boy, after hitting Shark Boy with the Canadian Destroyer. On the following week's iMPACT! he defeated Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Kazarian and Alex Shelley and became the number one contender to the X Division Championship.

At Hard Justice 2006, Williams challenged the X-Division Champion Senshi in a Triple Threat match involving Jay Lethal. Williams debuted a new look this night, wearing tights that departed from the Team Canada theme and focused on his infamous finishing move. In the match, Williams used the Canadian Destroyer on Lethal, guaranteeing victory, until Senshi dropkicked Williams out of the ring and pinned Lethal to retain his championship.

Williams was invited to watch the Latin American Exchange burn the American flag during the November 16 edition of iMPACT!, but Williams would make his first face turn after refusing to torch the flag. Williams was involved in the AMW and Latin American Exchange feud. Williams was held on the shoulders of Chris Harris and James Storm holding the American flag. At Genesis 2006, Homicide had Gail Kim setup for "Da Gringo Killa" but Williams came in with a lead pipe to make the save.

Williams was meant to be Kurt Angle's partner to face LAX for the NWA World Tag Team Championship belts, but he was ambushed before the match by LAX. Samoa Joe would then be Angle's partner. In an episode of iMPACT!, Petey Williams would go one on one against Homicide defeating him via roll up. After the match though, all three members of LAX started to beat down Petey and Hernandez gave him "The Border Toss". America's Most Wanted would then come out to make the save and then steal the Mexican flag. At Turning Point 2006, Petey would come to help America's Most Wanted in their flag match against LAX. During the match he tried to use The Canadian Destroyer on Konnan, but he was stopped by Hernandez. Sometime later, Gail Kim became his valet. The two were defeated by James Storm and Jacqueline Moore at Against All Odds 2007. Petey became involved in a storyline with former partners Eric Young and Robert Roode as Eric's friend trying to help him out of a contract. It continued until TNA Lockdown where Petey faced Roode in the cage. Petey had the advantage after using a hockey stick on Roode. However Roode hit him with a vicious fisherman suplex to win the match. He also competed in the Ultimate X match at Victory Road alongside Sonjay Dutt, but was eliminated 2nd by Homicide. Other than the guantlet match, Petey remained largely unseen on television since Lockdown until TNA received a two-hour timeslot, which took effect October 4, 2007. On the October 25th episode of TNA Impact!, Petey participated in a fatal four way X division style match along with Havok, Sonjay Dutt and Shark Boy only for Team 3D to interfere and put Williams through a table along with Havok. On the November 1st episode of TNA Impact, Petey Williams was among the group of X Division wrestlers who attacked Team 3D.

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Peter "Petey" Williams, part 1

2007-11-23T13:18:00.000-05:00

Peter "Petey" Williams (born August 26, 1981) is a Canadian professional wrestler.
He is currently working in the United States for TNA Wrestling, where he is a competitor in the X Division, and the former captain of Team Canada. He is referred to by the nickname "The Canadian Destroyer", a reference to his incredibly awesome flip piledriver finisher of the same name.

Williams was trained alongside Chris Sabin by Scott D'Amore at the Can-Am Wrestling School. Williams debuted in D'Amore's Windsor, Ontario-based Border City Wrestling promotion in 2002. He spent the next four years working on the independent circuit in Canada and the Northern United States.

In addition to wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Williams works on the independent circuit in Canada for Border City Wrestling, where he is the reigning Can-Am Television Champion, and in the United States for promotions such as NWA Cyberspace and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He made a one-time appearance in Ring of Honor on June 18, 2005 at Death Before Dishonor III as the mystery opponent of the returning A.J. Styles.

Williams debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on February 25, 2004, replacing Teddy Hart as the "captain" of Team Canada. He and the remainder of Team Canada took part in the TNA 2004 World X Cup Tournament, but were defeated by Team Mexico and Team USA.

On August 11, 2004, Williams won the TNA X Division Championship in a twenty-two man Gauntlet for the Gold match, entering at number eleven and pinning The Amazing Red to win the bout.

Early in his title reign, Williams claimed that the Canadian Destroyer could not be countered. However, after Williams successfully retained the title in a match with A.J. Styles at Victory Road 2004 on November 7, 2004, Chris Sabin began claiming that he was capable of countering the move. He went on to counter the Canadian Destroyer into his own finishing move, the "Cradle Shock", on three occasions in the month following Victory Road. However, Sabin was unable to defeat Williams for the X-Division Championship at Turning Point 2004 on December 5, 2004. Williams's five month, five day title reign (the longest X Division Championship reign until his record was surpassed by Christopher Daniels in 2005) ended on January 16, 2005 at Final Resolution 2005, where he was defeated by A.J. Styles in an Ultimate X match that also featured Sabin.

At Lockdown 2005 on April 24, 2005, Williams and fellow Team Canada member "Showtime" Eric Young unsuccessfully challenged America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. They challenged then-champions The Naturals at Slammiversary 2005 on June 19, 2005, but were once again defeated.

Williams returned to the X Division on July 17, 2005 at No Surrender 2005, unsuccessfully challenging TNA X Division Champion Christopher Daniels. Williams, along with all of Team Canada would go onto join Planet Jarrett upon TNA's debut on Spike TV in September 2005.After winning Ultimate X8 at Bound for Glory 2005 on October 23, Williams received a title shot against A.J. Styles at Genesis 2005 on November 13, but was once again defeated. Williams would resume wrestling in the X Division and battle in a losing effort against Chris Sabin, Elix Skipper, Shark Boy, Puma and Chase Stevens in an Xscape Match at Lockdown 2006. Williams and Sabin were left at the end after all of the eliminations, however, he lost after Sabin was able to climb over the cage and land before him.

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Pacman Jones tries to rebuild his image on different stage | ajc.com

2007-10-06T13:05:00.000-05:00

Pacman Jones tries to rebuild his image on different stage ajc.com:

"Nashville —
When Adam Jones, aka Pacman, first made the confounding career move from cornerback-in-exile to non-contact professional wrestler, his new fan base was unimpressed. 'At first I was getting booed,' Jones said Friday in a rare interview."

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"Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm

2007-09-05T12:25:00.001-05:00

James Allan Black (born June 1, 1975) is an American professional wrestler who competes under the ring name "Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm. He is best known for his appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , where he is a seven time NWA World Tag Team Champion. Six of these title reigns were as one-half of the tag team America's Most Wanted, along with "Wildcat" Chris Harris. (above)

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Nary a scratch for Pacman in pro wrestling debut

2007-08-14T17:08:00.000-05:00

Nary a scratch for Pacman in pro wrestling debut

Adam "Pacman" Jones didn't appear to do anything to violate his contract with the Tennessee Titans on Sunday night during his professional wrestling debut.
During a live pay-per-view event for Total Non-stop Action (TNA) Wrestling in Orlando, Jones didn't really do much of anything. Nonetheless, Jones was shown leaving in a neck brace and on a stretcher, victim of a make-believe injury during a "fight" not caught by cameras backstage.

One day after a judge approved a modified restraining order that allowed the suspended Titans cornerback to take part in TNA's "Hard Justice," Jones did in fact step in the ring.

But on a night when other wrestlers were hit with trashcan lids, bottles and folding chairs, the only contact Jones was involved in came when he slapped hands with wrestling fans.

Later, as Jones was introduced to the crowd, prompting a mixture of boos and cheers, another wrestler appeared and challenged him to a fight. He taunted Jones, and referred to the court action taken by the Titans.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/titans/2007-08-12-pacman-wrestling_N.htm

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NBC Sports sits down with "Pacman"

2007-08-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

Stained Mat - Forget rumors... we do the news!

NBC Sports sits down with "Pacman"Posted on 08 Aug 2007 by JasonFitz

NBCSports.com sat down with Adam "Pacman" Jones to speak about his upcoming matches in TNA Wrestling. Here are some of the highlights:

The "Phenomenal" AJ Styles. part 3

2007-07-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

Styles won the 2005 Mr. TNA award (for the third consecutive time). During the ceremony the plaque was stolen by Shannon Moore. Styles successfully defeated New Japan Pro Wrestling wrestler Hiroshi Tanahashi in an "International X Showcase" match at Final Resolution. Shannon Moore interfered during the match, hitting Tanahashi accidentally with the plaque, allowing Styles to score his Styles Clash finisher for the victory. After the match, Tanahashi returned the plaque to Styles, but Moore stole the plaque back.

At Against All Odds, Styles and Daniels challenged Samoa Joe for the X Division Championship in a rematch of Unbreakable. Styles lost the bout when he was given a Muscle Buster by Joe, who then pinned him to retain. Samoa Joe defended the X Division Championship against Styles and Daniels in an Ultimate X match at Destination X and lost the belt to Daniels.

At Lockdown, Styles, Ron Killings, Rhino and Sting faced Jeff Jarrett, America's Most Wanted and Scott Steiner in a Lethal Lockdown match. In the course of the match, Styles placed James Storm on a table atop the cage and then climbed a ladder to a light fitting near the ceiling of the arena, then delivered a splash to the supine Storm, driving him through the table. Sting's team won the bout after Sting forced Chris Harris to submit.

Styles went on to join forces with Christopher Daniels and challenge America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. After losing to America's Most Wanted in title matches on two occasions, Styles and Daniels won the NWA World Tag Team Championship at Slammiversary. The win made Styles both a three-time tag team champion and a three time Triple Crown Champion.

On an episode of TNA iMPACT!, Styles and Daniels introduced contracts for all tag teams on the TNA roster, which sparked a rivalry with the Latin American Exchange, who signed the contracts for a match at Hard Justice which Styles and Daniels won. On the August 24 episode of iMPACT!, Homicide and Hernandez defeated Styles and Daniels in a border brawl to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship. At No Surrender Styles and Daniels defeated LAX in a Tag-Team Ultimate X Match to regain the titles after Styles hit a Styles Clash on Homicide through a table allowing his tag partner Christopher Daniels to capture the hanging belts. They lost the titles back to LAX at Bound for Glory in a Six Sides of Steel match after Homicide hit the Gringo Killer on Styles as Daniels was tied up to the cage by Konnan with a coat hanger.

On the November 2 edition of iMPACT!, he pinned Chris Sabin to begin his sixth reign as the new X Division Champion and breaking his own record as having the most reigns. The match was also the quarter-finals of the Fight For The Right tournament for #1 Contendership to Sting's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On the November 9 iMPACT!, Styles won the semi-final match, but was pinned in the finals by Abyss after interference by Christian Cage and Sabin.

On the November 16 edition of iMPACT!, the show's debut in primetime, Styles lost the TNA X Division Championship to Daniels in a 3-way match when Daniels scored the rollup pinfall on Chris Sabin while Styles was outside of the ring dealing with Christian Cage.

At Genesis, A.J. Styles lost to Christian Cage via rollup. Christopher Daniels attempted to stop Christian Cage from using a steel chair in the match, which led to Styles rolling up Cage, which Cage reversed for a rollup of his own and the 3 count. After the match, Styles and Daniels shared harsh words, which led to Rhino coming to the ring to settle things. A.J. Styles refused to shake Daniels' hand and walked away. A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels teamed up for the last time on the Thanksgiving Day edition of iMPACT!, defeating The Naturals. After the match, Rhino came out to the ring to raise both of their hands. A.J. pulled his arm away, and left the ring, saying that he was tired of Rhino getting into his business. He yelled at Rhino again during an interview on iMPACT! thus turning heel for the first time since winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in 2003. At Turning Point Styles beat Rhino after faking a knee injury and rolling him up for the pin.

On an episode of iMPACT!, Styles teamed up with Samoa Joe for the first time to go against Rhino and Kurt Angle. Styles and Joe would win after a roll up pin on Rhino by Styles, but Kurt Angle and Rhino would continue to beat down Styles and Joe. Next week, Styles would team up with James Storm and Chris Sabin to go against Petey Williams, Rhino and his former partner Christopher Daniels. Styles and his team would come out victorious when Styles pinned Daniels.

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"The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles ,part 3

2007-07-04T23:16:00.000-05:00

Styles returned to the X Division in 2005, and at Final Resolution on January 16, he won the X Division Championship for a fourth time in an Ultimate X match, defeating Chris Sabin and the reigning champion, Petey Williams. On the January 21 episode of iMPACT!, Christopher Daniels accused Styles of "ducking him" (Styles and Daniels had never fought one another in a singles match in TNA). After Daniels challenged Styles to a match at the next monthly TNA pay-per-view, TNA Director of Authority Dusty Rhodes announced that Styles and Daniels would fight that day, with Daniels receiving a title shot if Styles could not defeat him within ten minutes. Daniels lasted ten minutes, and subsequently faced Styles in a thirty-minute iron man match for the X Division Championship at Against All Odds in which ended in a draw with both men having scored a single pinfall. Dusty Rhodes restarted the match, albeit with "sudden death" rules, and Styles defeated Daniels to retain his title.

The feud between Styles and Daniels continued, and at Destination X on March 13, Styles lost his title in an Ultimate X Challenge against Daniels, Ron Killings and Elix Skipper. Skipper eliminated Killings and Daniels eliminated Skipper, thus reducing the match to a singles contest. With the referee unconscious, Styles was able to retrieve the belt, but Daniels knocked him out with the Angel's Wings and then embraced the title belt. When the referee recovered shortly thereafter, he saw both men prone but Daniels with the title belt, and awarded the match and the X Division Championship to Daniels.

Having lost the X Division Championship, Styles began feuding with Abyss. At Lockdown, he defeated Abyss in a steel cage match to become the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Styles went on to defeat the defending champion, Jeff Jarrett, at Hard Justice on May 15. After Jarrett pushed the special guest referee, cage fighter, Tito Ortiz, Ortiz knocked him down with a punch, enabling Styles to hit his Spiral Tap maneuver and pin Jarrett for his third NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Styles lost the title at Slammiversary to Raven in a King of the Mountain match against Sean Waltman, Raven, Monty Brown and Abyss.

On the July 1 episode of iMPACT!, Styles was involved in a confrontation with Sean Waltman. They faced one another at No Surrender in a match which was refereed by Jerry Lynn, who had teamed with and fought against both men in the past. The match was won by Styles after Lynn prevented Waltman from cheating. Styles then returned to his perennial pursuit of the X Division Championship, entering the TNA 2005 Super X Cup Tournament, which granted the winner a shot at the X Division Championship. Styles defeated Matt Bentley in the quarter-finals and Petey Williams in the semi-finals, but lost to Samoa Joe at Sacrifice. However, as Christopher Daniels (the reigning X Division champion) had interfered in the match, TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko added Styles to the resultant title bout. On September 11 at Unbreakable, Styles defeated Samoa Joe and Daniels in a three-way match to become the TNA X Division Champion for a fifth time. This match was the last match of the night and is considered by many one of the greatest matches in TNA history. In addition to being rated a 5 Star Match by Dave Meltzer, this match also finished as the first runner up for Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match Of The Year honors making it the highest finish ever for a TNA match in that category.

On the inaugural episode of iMPACT! on October 1, Styles, in his match against Roderick Strong, would perform his signature no-hands somersault plancha over the top rope onto Strong on the outside of the ring. While executing the move, Styles' feet went over the guard rail surrounding the ring, and the heel of one of his boots struck an audience member, Ryan Jevec, in the face. Jevec received minor medical treatment for a black eye backstage, but was back in the audience within minutes.

On the November 19 episode of iMPACT!, Styles challenged Samoa Joe to a match at Turning Point, claiming that Joe had broken the X Division "code of respect" by assaulting his partner, Christopher Daniels, following their match at Genesis. Joe defeated Styles at Turning Point, thus becoming the new X Division Champion.

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NEWS FLASH! (LOL) Ricky Banderas is coming to TNA

2007-07-01T16:15:00.000-05:00

The weekend edition of TNA Today announced today that AAA star Ricky Banderas is headed to TNA Wrestling.
If you have Internet access you already know that. You've known it for months.
He's supposed to feud with Abyss, and be Jim Mitchell's "son".
Banderas is a pretty impressive figure.
Of course when he shows up, he'll beat the ever living crap out of Abyss.
It's the heel turn rule.
Like when Kane was a heel, Evolution would run from him.
When he turned face, everyone and his brother beat him senseless.

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"The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles, part 2

2007-06-06T13:47:00.000-05:00

In January 2004, Styles was named "Mr. TNA" by the fans of TNA in an online poll. Styles feuded with Jeff Jarrett and Abyss throughout January and on February 4, after Styles demanded a title shot, Jarrett's ally Don Callis forced him to team with Abyss in a match with the NWA World Tag Team Champions, Kevin Northcutt and Legend. Abyss hindered Styles' efforts before abandoning him completely, but Styles managed to defeat both of his opponents nonetheless, thus becoming a two-time NWA World Tag Team Champion with Abyss as his partner. The following week, Styles defeated Abyss in a match for both tag team titles by disqualification after Jarrett interfered. His victory was overturned by Callis, leading to another match the following week which was won by Abyss after Lex Luger interfered, thus granting Abyss control of both titles. Abyss and Styles continued to feud, and on March 17 Abyss defeated Styles to become the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

On April 21, Chris Harris, scheduled to face Jarrett in a title match that night, was attacked by Raven. As a result, Vince Russo, by now the TNA Director of Authority, selected Styles to face Jarrett in his place in a steel cage match. When Jarrett tried to hit Styles with his guitar, Russo tried to stop him through the cage, allowing Styles to get up and shatter the guitar mid-swing with a Pele kick. Styles pinned Jarrett to become a two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He successfully defended the title in matches with Ron Killings, Raven and Chris Harris, and on May 19 he defended against all three men in a four-way title match. Styles lost his title to Killings after Jarrett interfered in the match, hitting him with a guitar. On June 2, all five men fought for the title in a King of the Mountain match which was won by Jarrett.

Styles returned to the X Division shortly thereafter, winning a four-way match to become the number one contender to the X Division Championship on the June 4 episode of TNA iMPACT!. On June 9, he defeated Frankie Kazarian to become a three-time X Division Champion. In the following weeks, Styles feuded with Kid Kash and Dallas while successfully defending his title in matches with Kazarian and Mr. Aguila. An additional match on June 23 with the debuting Jeff Hardy was interrupted by Kash and Dallas. On July 28, he defended the title against Kazarian and Michael Shane in an Ultimate X match. After Kash struck Styles with a crutch, Shane and Kazarian simultaneously retrieved the belt and became co-X Division Champions.

After several abortive attempts to regain the title, Styles fought Kash in a number of matches, culminating on September 8 in a tables match which was won by Styles. In October he began feuding with Petey Williams, by now the TNA X Division Champion, and on November 7 at Victory Road 2004, the first monthly pay-per-view held by TNA, Styles challenged Williams for the X Division Championship. During the weeks preceding the match, Styles even went as far as to use Williams' own finisher, the Canadian Destroyer, after Williams himself performed the Styles Clash on others. Williams retained his title with the help of his manager, Scott D'Amore. Later that night, Jeff Jarrett retained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a ladder match with Jeff Hardy after Scott Hall and Kevin Nash interfered in the match. Following the bout, the trio proclaimed themselves to be the "Kings of Wrestling" and issued an open challenge to the rest of the TNA roster. Several wrestlers charged the ring in response to the challenge, including the 3Live Kru, Randy Savage and Styles.

On the November 12 episode of TNA iMPACT!, Styles and Jeff Hardy teamed together to defeat The Naturals. Following the match, they were attacked by the Kings of Wrestling. After several more confrontations, Hardy, Styles and Savage teamed together to face the Kings of Wrestling at Turning Point 2004 on December 5. Despite Savage not appearing until late in the match, the Kings of Wrestling were defeated when Savage entered the match and rolled-up Jarrett.

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"The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles, part 1

2007-05-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

Allen Lloyd Jones (born June 2, 1978), better known by his ring name "The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles (also written AJ Styles), is an American professional wrestler currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

In May 2002, A.J. Styles was signed to a non-exclusive contract by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and dubbed "The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles (a sobriquet originally coined by NWA Wildside commentator Dan "The Dragon" Wilson). He appeared on the first weekly TNA pay-per-view, teaming with Jerry Lynn and Low-Ki and losing to the Flying Elvises (Jorge Estrada, Sonny Siaki and Jimmy Yang) after he was pinned by Yang. The following week, on June 26, Styles defeated Lynn, Low-Ki and Psicosis in a double elimination match to become the first ever TNA X Division Champion. He won a second title on the third TNA pay-per-view, teaming with Jerry Lynn and defeating Lenny Lane and Bruce in the finals of a tournament for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship.

Styles successfully defended both his titles in the following weeks, but began to bicker with the veteran Lynn during their matches together. On August 14, he and Lynn fought Ron Killings and Jeff Jarrett to a no-contest, and the titles were held-up as a result. The following week, he and Lynn fought one another in a Falls Count Anywhere Match (which was won by Lynn), a No Disqualification Match (which was won by Styles) and a ten-minute Iron Man match, which ended in a draw after both men scored three pinfalls. On August 28, Styles defended the X Division Championship against Lynn and Low-Ki in a ladder match, and lost his title to Lynn.

Recruiting Mortimer Plumtree and Sonny Siaki as allies, Styles continued to feud with Lynn in successive weeks. On October 23, he defeated Syxx-Pac for the X Division Championship, thus becoming a two-time champion. He lost the title to Lynn a second time on November 6, and tried unsuccessfully to regain it throughout the remainder of the year.

In 2003, Styles began focusing on the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. After defeating David Flair on January 15 to become the number one contender, Styles recruited the help of Larry Zbyszko and joined Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction. Styles faced NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett on February 19, but was defeated. In the course of the match, Styles turned face, attacking S.E.X. as they tried to interfere on his behalf because he did not want to win in that manner.

Styles feuded briefly with Raven and Glenn Gilberti before forming a new tag team with D'Lo Brown in April 2003. During their time together, Styles learned the frog splash (Art Barr version) from D'Lo, and D'Lo likewise picked up A.J.'s suicide plancha. The tag team amiably disbanded on May 28 so that both men could pursue the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once again. They fought one another on June 4 in a number one contendership match which was won by Styles, and on June 11 Styles faced Jarrett and Raven in a three-way match for the Heavyweight Championship. Styles won the match and the title (becoming the first TNA Triple Crown winner in the process) after Vince Russo entered the ring and struck Jarrett with a guitar, then celebrated with Russo following his victory, thus turning heel once again. On June 18, 2003, at the first TNA anniversary show, Jarrett and Sting defeated Styles and his mystery partner, Syxx-Pac.

Throughout July 2003, Styles successfully defended his title in matches with D'Lo Brown. Throughout the remainder of his reign, he defeated a myriad selection of opponents before losing the title to Jarrett on October 22. Following his loss, Styles reverted to being a face, while Jarrett became a heel. Despite Jarrett's demand that Styles return to the X Division, Styles continued to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship. On November 12, he teamed with Sting to defeat Jarrett and Lex Luger. Styles faced Jarrett for the Heavyweight Championship on December 3, but lost following interference from Kid Kash.

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"Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm

2007-05-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

James Allan Black (born February 1, 1978) is an American professional wrestler who competes under the ring name "Tennessee Cowboy" James Storm. He is best known for his appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , where he is a seven time NWA World Tag Team Champion. Six of these title reigns were as one-half of the tag team America's Most Wanted, along with "Wildcat" Chris Harris.

James Black was an amateur wrestler while in high school, winning a state title. In addition, he was a talented basketball player, and was awarded a scholarship to Austin Peay State University (which he was forced to relinquish after injuring his shoulder).

Black's professional wrestling career began when he was trained by Slash, a veteran tag wrestler, in 1995. His training was hampered by a broken shoulder, and Black eventually dropped out of Slash's training school. He resumed training with Shane Morton after his shoulder had healed.

Black toured the south-east independent circuit before being signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) developmental deal in 2000. Black made several appearances for World Championship Wrestling on WCW Worldwide and WCW Saturday Night in 2000 as an enhancement talent, where he assumed the ring name James Storm. Storm returned to the independent circuit after World Championship Wrestling was sold to the WWF in March 2001. Storm wrestled his future tag team partner, Chris Harris, on a "Legends Night" show on June 1, 2002. As a result of the match, both wrestlers were hired by the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. The pair expected to wrestle as singles, but were instead placed into a tag team, which Harris claimed they named "America's Most Wanted" because everyone involved in their match had been hired by TNA, even the referee. Storm disagrees, claiming the name was a reference to his "little trouble with the law".

Storm appeared on the inaugural TNA pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, and the team wrestled for the first time on the second ever TNA PPV on June 26, 2002. The team quickly became mainstays of the promotion, and teamed regularly over the next few years. Splits were teased in early 2003 and again in 2004, but nothing came of them.

Storm, along with Harris, turned heel in late-2005 by helping Jeff Jarrett defeat Raven for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. They went on to join Jarrett's Army, acquiring the managerial skills of Gail Kim in the process.

Because of their heel status, and Storm's penchant for wearing cowboy hats, the team is often jeered as "Brokeback Mountain", a reference to the movie about homosexual cowboys.

In mid 2006, they would again tease their split due to miscommunication during their matches, most notably when Harris accidentally hit Storm with a garbage can during a No DQ match against Team 3D.

On the December 14, 2006 edition of TNA iMPACT, the team came to an end after a feud ending match with LAX when Storm hit Harris with a beer bottle. Storm would go on to feud with Petey Williams before turning on Gail Kim and align himself with the returning Jacqueline.

At the 2007 TNA Sacrifice pay-per view, Storm was defeated by his former tag team partner Chris Harris in a Texas Death Match.

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TNA: Sting, part 3

2007-05-19T20:29:00.000-05:00

In the weeks following Genesis, Sting's feud with Abyss continued as he tried to get in Abyss' head by telling him he was being used by his satanic manager James Mitchell. Abyss was visibly affected by this, but remained by Mitchell's side. Sting's former friend Christian Cage and his bodyguard Tomko were also thrown in the mix, with Cage claiming he knew a dark secret in Abyss' past. The three would finally meet in a Three Way match for the NWA world heavyweight title at TNA Turning Point 2006, with Abyss retaining the title. After Turning Point however, Sting continued to try to convince Abyss he was nothing but a machine for Mitchell, and he got so far into Abyss that Abyss grabbed Mitchell by the throat, almost chokeslamming him on an edition of iMPACT!, but ultimately convinced himself not to. Since coming back at Bound for Glory, Sting began to wear the same tights again but his facepaint has remained different.

At Final Resolution 2007, Sting faced off against Abyss and Christian Cage for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but failed to win back the championship.

On the January 24, 2007 edition of iMPACT!, Sting revealed after going through public records that Abyss shot his own father three times in the back, sending him into a coma. During the ensuing brawl throughout the iMPACT! Zone between Sting and Abyss, James Mitchell burned Sting's face with a Fireball, sending Sting to the hospital. At Against All Odds Sting beat Abyss in a Prison Yard Match. At Destination X in March, Sting defeated Abyss in a Last Rites Match, by locking Abyss into a casket in the ring. The casket was then raised up to the top of the arena. After this Abyss left him in a tag team match to return to James Mitchell and a woman.

The following week on iMPACT, Sting would have a "Dinner With The Devil" when he ate a meal with Mitchell. In this meal it was revealed the woman was Abyss' mother. Later in the night it was announced Abyss was added to the Lethal Lockdown match as part of Team Cage, at Lockdown. Therefore, the next week, Sting joined Team Angle, and later went on to win Lethal Lockdown thanks to Jeff Jarrett. Due to his win, he was supposed to be facing Christian Cage for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA Sacrifice, but the next week on iMPACT! Kurt Angle challenged Sting for his number one contendership. After Team Cage interfered in the match it was revealed that at TNA Sacrifice there would be a triple threat match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship between Sting, Kurt Angle, and Christian Cage, which Sting lost after Kurt Angle placed Sting in an Ankle Lock. Although if you watch the match, Sting had Christian Cage pinned and the ref had counted the three count a half second before the other ref signaled that Sting tapped out to Angle's ankle lock.

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TNA: Sting, part 2

2007-05-19T20:26:00.001-05:00

In his first cable television match in five years, Sting defeated Eric Young on the April 13, 2006 episode of iMPACT!. After being attacked by Jarrett, Steiner, and America's Most Wanted, Sting was saved by A.J. Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino, who he announced as his teammates in his Lethal Lockdown match with Jarrett's Army. At TNA Lockdown 2006, Sting, A.J. Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino (billed as "Sting's Warriors") defeated Jarrett, Steiner, and America's Most Wanted after Chris Harris tapped out to the Scorpion Death Lock.

Following Lockdown, Sting proceeded to seek out partners to help him defeat Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner for good. After bringing out Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, and Rick Steiner as options, he settled on Samoa Joe. At TNA Sacrifice 2006, Sting and Samoa Joe defeated Jarrett and Steiner when Joe pinned Jarrett with a Muscle Buster.

Still having proven unsuccessful at putting Jarrett away, Sting defeated Scott Steiner by disqualification to earn as spot in the King of the Mountain match at TNA Slammiversary. Due to a confrontation with Christian Cage during the match, Sting was distracted, allowing crooked referee Earl Hebner to knock over the ladder both were on, sending both to the floor and allowing Jarrett to win.

At Victory Road 2006 in July, a 4 man Number 1 Contender's match was held for a shot at Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt. During the match, Jeff Jarrett, disguised as a cameraman came into the ring with a bottle of gasoline and squirt it into Sting's eyes. Sting was taken by security into the back and as a result, taken out of the running for the Number 1 Contender's match. As the match continued as a 3-man contest, Sting returned to the ring with his head wrapped in bandages. After performing the Scorpion Death Drop on Scott Steiner, Sting pinned Steiner and won the Number 1 Contender's match. After a confrontation with Christian Cage in the ring right after the match. They both shook hands and Cage showed his respect for Sting.

On August 13, 2006 at Hard Justice 2006, Sting failed to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship losing to Jeff Jarrett after Christian Cage turned heel and hit Sting with Jarrett's guitar.

On the August 17, 2006 edition of TNA iMPACT!, Sting stated that he wanted a rematch with Jeff Jarrett at Bound for Glory 2006. Jarrett accepted the match, with the implication that Sting put his career on the line, a stipulation Sting would accept. Sting then retreated to train for what could have been his final match, meanwhile iMPACT! began showing videos of Sting going through a so called transformation with many biblical references.

On October 22, 2006, in a Title vs Career Match at the Bound for Glory PPV, Sting returned debuting his new look, a hybrid of his surfer, crow, and nWo Wolfpac styles, looking physically a lot leaner. He went on to claim his third NWA Heavyweight Title when Jarrett submitted to the Scorpion Deathlock marking the first major championship title Sting had won since the 1990s. With that victory, Sting became the oldest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of the TNA Era. This hybrid consists of his Crow facepaint, red-painted cheeks, and his old pre-Crow sportscoat too

He lost the title to "The Monster" Abyss at TNA Genesis 2006 by DQ after pushing aside the referee and pushing Abyss into a stack of tables covered in barbed wire (under TNA rules, titles can change hands on a DQ).

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TNA: Sting, part 1

2007-05-19T20:24:00.000-05:00

Steve Borden (born March 20, 1959), better known as Sting, is an American professional wrestler, currently wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is arguably the most well-known wrestler of the 1990 era never to have worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

In 2003, Sting signed a contract committing him to four appearances with the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. He debuted in TNA on the June 18, 2003 one year anniversary show, teaming with Jeff Jarrett to defeat A.J. Styles and Syxx Pac. Following this, Sting engaged in a comprehensive series of sitdown interviews with Mike Tenay, discussing his career and his faith.

Sting returned to TNA on November 5, 2003, defeating Jarrett by disqualification in a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On November 12, 2003, Sting teamed with A.J. Styles to defeat Jarrett and Lex Luger. He made his final TNA appearance of 2003 on December 17, 2003 defeating Jarrett in a non-title match.

On March 24, 2004, Sting was interviewed once again by Mike Tenay as part of the promotion for his direct-to-video biographical film, "Sting: Moment of Truth" and on March 31 he returned to the company one night only as the special guest enforcer for the main-event, a 4 Way match between Abyss, A.J. Styles, Raven and Ron Killings, which was won by Raven.

After turning down a WWE contract, at TNA Turning Point 2005 on December 11, 2005, as Jeff Jarrett stood in the ring celebrating a victory, the lights in the arena went out. Images of a scorpion — Sting's symbol — then appeared on the arena screens, along with the date "January 15, 2006". Spotlights then illuminated the ring, revealing that a chair bearing Sting's signature trench coat, boots and black baseball bat had been placed in the center of the ring. His return to TNA was officially announced one minute after midnight on the January 1, 2006 episode of iMPACT!.

At TNA Final Resolution 2006, Sting and Christian Cage defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown after Sting pinned Jeff Jarrett following the Scorpion Death Drop. His heavily promoted return was greeted with chants of "welcome back" and "you've still got it" by the Orlando, Florida audience. TNA later revealed that Final Resolution was "by far the most-purchased TNA Pay-Per-View event in company history, breaking all previous numbers."

On the January 28, 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT!, Sting made his Spike TV debut and first appearance on national television in almost five years, coming to the ring at the end of the show to make a "major announcement". Sting noted that he had never had a chance to properly say goodbye to his fans. He then announced that Final Resolution 2006 had been "his goodbye", before thanking the TNA management and the fans. Sting then dropped his bat, with a spotlight appearing over it, and left the ring, shaking hands with various TNA wrestlers on his way up the ramp.

With Sting gone, the storyline continued with Jeff Jarrett and Eric Young worrying that Sting had not actually retired, and sending Alex Shelley to California to videotape Sting at home. Sting discovered Shelley filming, then walked up to Shelley's car and told him that he was going to show up at Destination X 2006, and confront Jeff Jarrett as "Steve Borden". Clad in "street clothes" and without facepaint Borden returned at Destination X, saving Christian Cage and Rhino as they were attacked by Jarrett's Army. He placed Jarrett in the Scorpion Deathlock, but was attacked by the debuting Scott Steiner shortly thereafter.

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TNA: Scott Steiner

2007-05-12T21:47:00.000-05:00

Scott Carl Rechsteiner (born July 29, 1962), better known by his ring name, Scott Steiner, is an American professional wrestler. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers tag team, and for his involvement with the New World Order faction. He is also known for his appearances with World Wrestling All-Stars and World Wrestling Entertainment. He is currently wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Sporting a new chest tattoo, Steiner debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on March 12, 2006 at Destination X 2006. His debut fulfilled Jeff Jarrett's claim that he would bring a new wrestler to TNA in order to counter the presence of Steve "Sting" Borden. At Destination X, Steiner broke Sting's Scorpion Deathlock on Jarrett and then applied his own Steiner Recliner to Sting, enabling Jarrett to recover and then broke a guitar over Sting's head.

Steiner made his TNA iMPACT! debut on March 18, 2006, identifying himself as Jarrett's bodyguard. In subsequent weeks, Steiner (who had ostensibly not been signed to a contract) began attacking members of the TNA roster, demanding to be hired. At Lockdown 2006 on April 23, 2006, Steiner, Jarrett, and America's Most Wanted lost to Sting, A.J. Styles, Ron Killings and Rhino in a Lethal Lockdown match.

Following the defeat, Steiner and Jarrett challenged Sting and any partner of his choosing to face them at TNA Sacrifice 2006 on May 14, 2006. Sting teased three potential partners (Buff Bagwell, Lex Luger and Steiner's brother Rick Steiner) before revealing his chosen partner to be Samoa Joe. Sting and Joe went on to defeat Steiner and Jarrett at Sacrifice. After failing to defeat Sting to qualify for the third King of the Mountain match, Steiner faced, and lost to, Samoa Joe in a singles bout at Slammiversary 2006. At Victory Road 2006, Steiner faced Samoa Joe, Sting and Christian Cage in a four way bout for the number one contendership to Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship; the match was won by Sting, who pinned Steiner, and Steiner resumed his role as Jarrett's bodyguard. Steiner then faced Christian Cage on the August 10 edition of Impact and was in Jeff Jarrett's corner at Hard Justice.

After Hard Justice, Steiner's short term contract expired and an agreement could not be reached on an extension. After briefly parting ways with TNA and working the independent circuit, Steiner re-signed with the company in January 2007.

On February 8, 2007, Steiner returned to TNA and revealed himself to be the "special consultant" to NWA Champion Christian Cage in Cage's match with Kurt Angle at Against All Odds and joining Christian's Coalition. He appeared at TNA Against All Odds where he played a major role in the match by introducing a lead pipe. After the match Scott Steiner suffered from a head injury requiring stitches. He suffered the injury via the chair shot he received from Samoa Joe.

Steiner then started a feud with Kurt Angle after costing him the NWA Word title at Against All Odds. Steiner eliminated Angle in a Gaunlet Match where the winner would face then champion Christian Cage at Destination X. Steiner would then lose to Angle at Destination X.

At Lethal Lockdown, Scott Steiner was part of Team Cage as they battled Team Angle. Steiner was hailed for the return of the Frankensteiner, a move he became famous for in the 1990s.

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TNA: Shark Boy

2007-05-06T16:35:00.000-05:00

Dean Roll (born January 28, 1975), better known by his ring name Shark Boy, is an American professional wrestler currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and on the independent circuit.

Dean Roll began his career in Heartland Wrestling Association, and Ian Rotten is credited with helping Roll conceive the "Shark Boy" stage name, inspired by the 1995 song "I Come From the Water" by the Toadies (his theme song). Roll has also occasionally appeared under the gimmick of Dean Baldwin, an unknown member of the famous Baldwin acting family. Roll first gained national exposure on an episode of MTV's "True Life" (in the I'm a Professional Wrestler episode), which included footage of Roll (masked) picking up his costume and discussing how life is as an independent star. Soon after this appearance, Roll would occasionally be featured in the later days of World Championship Wrestling, competing on the WCW Saturday Night program.

In 2004, Shark Boy formed a comedy tag team with D-Ray 3000 for the better half of the year, until D-Ray left the company. The duo was mentioned during a video package where people impersonating Vince McMahon and Triple H "invaded" TNA to find a tape of TNA wrestlers going to "welcome" the World Wrestling Entertainment crew doing a show at Universal Studios where TNA regularly tapes. "Triple H" finds a tape, but "Vince" angrily says "This is The Best of D-Ray and Shark Boy!"

In September 2005, Shark Boy spent two weeks in India along with Sonjay Dutt and Simon Diamond. The trio of TNA employees visited several cities, promoting the debut of iMPACT! on ESPN Star Sports. On September 28 in Bhopal, a riot broke out when 1000 fans were excluded from an event after attendance exceeded expectations. None of the three TNA wrestlers were injured. On the October 5th edition of iMPACT!, Shark Boy pinned Eric Young in a loser-leaves-TNA match.

On the latest edition of TNA Today, Shark Boy spoke for the first time in a southern accent. He asked for help from Kevin Nash and then proceeded to drink a beer. This may be a hint for a new gimmick for Shark Boy that emulates Stone Cold Steve Austin.

On June 8, 2005, Shark Boy filed a lawsuit against Miramax Films. Having trademarked the name "Shark Boy" in 1999, Shark Boy claimed that Miramax's then-latest release "The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl" infringed upon his trademark, and demanded any "money, profits and advantages wrongfully gained". In November 2005 it emerged that Miramax had attempted to have the case dismissed, in addition to requesting that the court nullify Shark Boy's trademark on the basis that "Plaintiff is a male whose services are rendered only when he is wearing a costume depicting 'shark-like' attributes." Shark Boy was scheduled to attend a court hearing on January 5, 2006. The suit was recently settled for an undisclosed amount.

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TNA News: Angle/Sting, Roode, Gail Kim, More

2007-04-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

TNA News: Angle/Sting, Roode, Gail Kim, More
Posted by Ashish on 04.24.2007

Some Tuesday TNA news!

- The reason that TNA is giving away the first ever Sting vs. Kurt Angle match away for free on Impact this week is likely due to the fact that they are in negotiations with SpikeTV to expand their timeslot and stronger ratings will help their cause.

- Hot Topic stores have started carrying TNA merchandise. Various TNA t-shirts will be selling for $18.

- Robert Roode is suffering from some sort of leg injury.

- Gail Kim posted the following about her Lockdown match with Jackie Moore on her website, thegailkim.com.

"OK.... so to sum up this whole PPV event, I would say the moment was the best of my career. Unfortunately, I don't think the fans at home got to see what I experienced after the match... that was the best feeling. It was the first time in my career that I actually felt so emotional after a match that I shed tears from happiness. Literally. Nothing yet has compared to that moment yet. I hope there are more future moments like that not only for myself but for other females in this business. thanks to everyone for their support and thanks to TNA for giving us the opportunity to have that moment."

Full story at: http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/53511/TNA-News:-Angle-Sting,-Roode,-Gail-Kim,-More.htm

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TNA Lockdown PPV Results

2007-04-16T15:47:00.000-05:00

TNA Lockdown PPV Results - 4/15/07
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Mike Tenay & Don West
Report By: Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

- The TNA opening hits. A video package looking at prisons and the concept of a steel cage is highlighted. It then hypes tonight’s Lockdown PPV and how all of the TNA stars will compete inside the Six Sides of Steel. It ends with the deep voiced announced saying, “Fear, pain and suffering will be felt by all.”

- A graphic opening hits welcoming us to Lockdown. We go live to St. Louis where a series of pyro goes off in the entrance area and above the ring.

- We then go to Mike Tenay & Don West at ringside. They rundown the card to take place tonight at Lockdown.

- Backstage, Leticia is with “Black Machismo.” Lethal promises to come home with the X Division Title tonight.

- Jay “Black Machismo” Lethal is out first.

- Chris Sabin retained the X Division Title in the Xscape Match over Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt & Shark Boy. Lots of great spots between Sabin and Dutt early on. Shelley and Shark Boy also go at it, with lots of offense by Shark Boy. Shark Boy was the first eliminated after a double splash by Shelley and Sabin off the top rope. Lethal is WAY over with the Black Machismo character in St. Louis. More double teaming by Shelley and Sabin on Lethal. Dutt hit a huge splash off the top rope on both Shelley and Sabin. Continued double teaming by Shelley and Sabin. Very impressive stuff with those guys working in-sync. Funny spot saw Lethal toss Dutt halfway across the ring, go back to the ring apron and tag himself in. Another impressive double team spot by Shelley and Sabin on Lethal with Shelley flipping over Lethal, holding his head back and allowing Sabin to hit a dropkick to the face. Dutt with a huge springboard moonsault on Shelley from the top rope. Shelley gets a crossface on Dutt and Sabin applies a abdominal stretch on Lethal. Dutt counters into a Camel Clutch on Shelley and Lethal with an abdominal stretch on Sabin. It eventually gets broken up. Shelley and Sabin with four stiff kicks to Lethal that gets a huge reaction from the crowd. Sonjay Dutt was the second eliminated after a Cradle Shock from Chris Sabin. Lethal takes out Shelley and Sabin and then with a flying elbow on Shelley. Alex Shelley was the third eliminated. We are down to Chris Sabin and Jay “Black Machismo” Lethal. The two must climb out to win. Both get over the top of the cage and exchange chest chops. Sabin then kicked Lethal’s leg into an opening in the cage and jumped down to get the win to retain the X Division Title.

All the results at:
http://www.wrestlemag.com/news/index.php?p=5278

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TNA News: Attendance, Morale, Angle Injury, Abyss, More

2007-04-15T17:37:00.000-05:00

TNA News: Attendance, Morale, Angle Injury, Abyss, More
Posted by Ashish on 04.15.2007

Lots of Sunday TNA news!

- The TNA Lockdown FanFest yesterday ended up drawing about 1400 fans. That is well above the 1000 fans TNA was expecting.

- TNA morale is up this weekend due to the number of fans coming out to the FanFest and the expected TNA record attendance for Lockdown tonight.

- IGN.com has an interview up with Christopher Daniels here.

- In an interview on Sirius Satellite Radio's Hardcore Sports channel, Kurt Angle once again stated that the steroids he used that was mentioned in the Sports Illustrated article were given to him by a doctor due to his injuries. He also claimed that he spoke with people at Sports Illustrated, explaining his side of the story to them. He said they apologized to him but never printed a retraction. Angle also said that he was going to challenge Christian Cage for the NWA Title at TNA's May PPV.

- Angle will work the PPV tonight despite a back injury. During his match with Christian Cage at the TNA house show on Friday, Angle was slammed into a guard rail by Cage and a piece of metal jabbed into his back and cut him open. He finished the match and will work tonight.

- TNA President Dixie Carter spent four hours at the TNA FanFest yesterday, meeting and talking with fans.

- TNA Victory Road has been scheduled for 7/15 in Orlando, FL.

- According to Bill Banks on TNAwrestling.com, the following will be on the upcoming Abyss DVD.

*The first appearance of Abyss in TNA Wrestling in 2003
*The Monster's Ball Match (Abyss vs. Raven vs. Monty Brown) from Victory Road 2004
*Falls Count Anywhere Match (Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy) from Destination X 2005
*Dog Collar Match (Abyss vs. Raven) from No Surrender 2005
*Monster's Ball 2 Match (Abyss vs. Raven vs. Sabu vs. Jeff Hardy) from Bound For Glory 2005
*The Barbed Wire Massacre (Abyss vs. Sabu) from Turning Point 2005
*Falls Count Anywhere (Abyss vs. Rhino) from Against All Odds 2006
*World Title Match (Abyss vs. Christian Cage) from Lockdown 2006
*10,000 Thumbtacks Match (Abyss vs. Runt) from August 2006 "iMPACT!"
*Monster's Ball 3 Match (Abyss vs. Samoa Joe vs. Raven vs. Runt) at Bound For Glory 2006
*Fight For The Right Tournament (Abyss vs. AJ Styles) from November 2006 "iMPACT!"
*World Title Match (Abyss vs. Sting) from November 2006 Genesis
*Plus, a comprehensive look at Sting, Christian Cage, Abyss storyline.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/53128/TNA-News:-Attendance,-Morale,-Angle-Injury,-Abyss,-More.htm

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TNA: LOTS OF TNA NEWS AND NOTES

2007-04-09T12:27:00.000-05:00

TNA: LOTS OF TNA NEWS AND NOTES
by Phil Lowe
9 April 2007, 11:24 am

This past Saturday night’s house show in Corinth, Mississippi drew around the 1,500 mark. That’s a solid figure. At the top of the card, Kurt Angle beat Abyss, while Christian Cage beat Samoa Joe in the main event. The crowd were sent happy with Joe hitting Cage with the muscle buster after the match. If you attended Saturday night’s show, we’re looking for live reports.

The focus this week is firmly on this Sunday night’s Lockdown PPV in St. Louis, Missouri. On Friday, Lance Hoyt and Leticia are at “Slackers” in St. Charles, Missouri from 5-7pm, while the majority of the TNA roster will be in Springfield, Missouri on Friday night for a house show ahead of Sunday’s PPV, which we’ll have full coverage of here at WrestleMag.com.

http://www.wrestlemag.com/news/index.php?p=5205

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Big Show/TNA Update, Backstage Morale

2007-04-07T14:52:00.000-05:00

Big Show/TNA Update, Backstage Morale
Reported By JosephGentry
-- There have been several rumors across the internet regarding Big Show’s status. We can not confirm that there were any direct talks between Big Show and TNA. A source close to Big Show is saying that TNA is not a consideration as of this past week.

Big Show is currently working on some sort of “project” which will go public early this summer. Big Show is close friends with Kevin Nash and Kurt Angle. They do keep in close contact with one another.

-- The backstage morale in TNA has taken quite a fall over the past two weeks leading up to WrestleMania. Phone conversations between wrestlers and personnel appeared to prove how far away TNA is from being on the same level as WWE, especially with WrestleMania being such a success with media outlets.

http://www.impactwrestling.com/Content.aspx?ID=10694

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TNA: Samoa Joe. part 3

2007-04-05T18:03:00.000-05:00

Joe was then scheduled to face the next number 1 contender for the X Division Championship, A.J. Styles, at Against All Odds 2006. Daniels, however, complained that he hadn't wanted the towel thrown in, and still wanted his unfairly aborted title shot. The match thereafter was made into a rematch of the Unbreakable three-way match, with Joe, Styles and Daniels. In the match, Joe pinned Styles after delivering a Muscle Buster, and retained the title. Joe continued his feud with Daniels and Styles until Destination X 2006, when he lost the title to Daniels in an Ultimate X match.

Joe was then taken out of the X Division, and matched with an initially unannounced opponent. On the March 25 edition of Impact!, it was announced that he would take on Sabu at Lockdown 2006. Despite that, he still had a scheduled X-Division title match, and, on April 13, 2006's iMPACT! (TNA's Thursday debut), Samoa Joe regained the X-Division title after delivering an Island Driver from the middle turnbuckle to Christopher Daniels. Joe then successfully defended his X Division title against Sabu at Lockdown.

At TNA Sacrifice 2006, Joe partnered with Sting in a tag team match against Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner. Joe and Sting were victorious, but after the match, Joe left the ring and allowed Sting to be attacked. Joe explained this by stating that he agreed to only watch Sting's back "from bell to bell" (implying that once the second bell rang, his duties were over), but still had issues with Steiner. Joe added Scott Steiner to his undefeated streak, at Slammiversary 2006.

During the iMPACT! tapings on May 15, 2006, Joe was injured as he performed a kick, and it was reported that he tore every knee ligament except the Anterior Cruciate Ligament. He suffered a first degree tear to the Posterior Cruciate Ligament and a second degree tear to the Medial Collateral Ligament. Joe would remain out of action for two weeks.

On the June 22, 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT! Samoa Joe lost his X Division Championship in a triple threat match with Sonjay Dutt and Senshi. Senshi pinned Dutt to win the championship after Scott Steiner laid out Joe with a steel chair. Joe would have his chance at revenge when he participated in a Four-Way #1 Contender Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship along with Sting, Christian Cage, and Scott Steiner at Victory Road 2006 on July 16, 2006. Joe lost this match when Sting pinned Steiner

On the following edition on iMPACT!, Joe answered an open challenge made by Rhino. A match between the two was set but was interrupted by Monty Brown, who was very vocal about the issues he had with both men. Joe defeated Brown and Rhino in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Hard Justice when he pinned Monty Brown following an STO through a table from the stage ramp.

Joe beat Jeff Jarrett at No Surrender 2006 in a "Fan's Revenge Lumberjack Match". After the match, he took Jarrett's NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt with him, telling Jim Cornette that if Jarrett or Sting (Jarrett's scheduled opponent at Bound For Glory) want the belt, they can take it from him. On the October 12 episode, Joe agreed to return the belt to the Jarrett-Sting winner under one condition – the winner had to agree to give him a title shot. This offer was turned down, and finally Joe was given the choice of giving back the title or being removed from the TNA roster. Kurt Angle would make his debut and get into a brawl with Joe after Joe refused to give back the belt, and during the brawl, Jarrett took the belt back.

At Bound for Glory 2006 on October 22, 2006, Samoa Joe defeated Raven, Brother Runt and Abyss in a Monster's Ball match. The match ended when special referee Jake Roberts DDTed Raven, allowing Joe to deliver the Muscle Buster to Raven for the pinfall. Later in the night, Joe was involved in a pull-apart brawl with Kurt Angle after Jim Cornette announced that Joe would be removed from the TNA roster if he interfered in the main event match that involved Angle as special enforcer.

He would get his chance at Genesis 2006, where he would lose to Kurt Angle after tapping out to Angle's Ankle Lock. This would end his 18 month undefeated streak. Throughout the rest of 2006 into 2007, Joe continued to feud with Angle picking up a victory by submission in their rematch at TNA Turning Point 2006 before suffering a legit knee injury in a tag team match that pitted Rhino and Kurt Angle against Samoa Joe and AJ Styles.

On January 14, 2007 at Final Resolution, Joe faced Angle in a thirty minute Iron Man match. With seconds remaining, Joe had Angle in the Ankle Lock. Although Angle tapped out, he did so just after time had expired. As a result, Angle won the match three falls to two.

On the February 14 edition of iMPACT!, Joe won a gauntlet match, last eliminating Tomko via pinfall, to become the number one contender to Christian Cage's NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Destination X. Joe lost to Cage after Cage reversed the Coquina Clutch into a pinning combination and used the ropes for leverage.

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TNA: BIG UPDATE ON KONNAN AS FOUR POTENTIAL KIDNEY DONORS FOUND

2007-04-04T17:40:00.000-05:00

TNA: BIG UPDATE ON KONNAN AS FOUR POTENTIAL KIDNEY DONORS FOUND
by Phil Lowe
4 April 2007, 3:36 am
Thanks to Anthony DeBlasi for the following:

Huge Konnan Update: $13,000 Raised For Kidney Transplant Surgery (So Far), $18K Goal, AAA Promotion Delivers, Donors Found, Ebay Auctions, Your Help Needed

" FIRST, A SIMPLE THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who has helped with this very special cause over the last 2+ months. We are now approaching the last stretch towards this drive, and we need everyone’s continued help. Whether it is in the form of a financial donation, item for Ebay, or even spreading the news of this worthy cause, any is appreciated.

FOUR KIDNEY DONORS FOUND

I have been in constant contact with Konnan, and wanted to share some important updates. First I am happy to announce that there are four very serious donors who are a medical match for Konnan. He has received every email from every person who was so caring enough to offer their kidney. As of this writing (4/2/07) tests are being completed amongst all four to see who would be the best match for Konnan. Once this is determined, arrangements will be made for the donor to travel to Mexico and the transplant will be completed. Currently the target date for the surgery is sometime during the month of June.

In the meantime, Konnan continues Dialysis, prepares for the Kidney Transplant Surgery, and recovers from his Hip Replacement. Please remember that his current medical condition is a life threatening issue; and we have the power to truly make a difference.

Konnan is overwhelmed from everyone’s help, love, thoughts, and prayers during this unfortunate situation. I can tell you with complete honestly, this man thanks you more than you will ever know."

Full Article at:
http://www.wrestlemag.com/news/index.php?p=5152

TNA: Samoa Joe. part 2

2007-04-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

At the December 9 show, Samoa Joe called out the Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion, claiming "Ring of Honor is right here!" This was not Joe's first encounter with NOAH; at the September 16, 2006 ROH show, after a speech by wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino, Joe got into an argument and pull-apart brawl with NOAH star Takeshi Morishima. Subsequently a match was signed for February pitting Joe against Morishima.

On January 31, Joe announced on the ROH Video Wire that he would no longer be a full time performer in ROH after March 4. All shows that led up to that date would be billed as the "Samoa Joe Farewell Tour". On March 4, he beat long time rival Homicide in his final ROH match with a Muscle Buster from the second rope.

On June 19, 2005 Joe debuted in TNA Wrestling at the Slammiversary 2005 pay-per-view, and defeated Sonjay Dutt in a match that saw him dubbed "The Samoan Submission Machine" by announcer Mike Tenay. Later that week in his iMPACT! debut, Joe defeated Delirious. Joe was a participant in the Christopher Daniels Invitational Super X Cup, defeating Sonjay Dutt and Alex Shelley to advance to the tournament finals at Sacrifice. Joe won the tournament by defeating A.J. Styles, despite interference from Daniels. As a result of Daniels' interference, however, TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko made the title defence, scheduled for Unbreakable on September 11, a three way dance, placing Styles in the match.

Joe proved his worth against Styles and Daniels in the match. However, Styles pinned Daniels to win the title. Though he did not win the match, this finish allowed Joe's undefeated streak in TNA to remain intact. At Bound for Glory 2005 on October 23, Joe defeated the veteran Japanese junior heavyweight Jushin "Thunder" Liger with the rear-naked choke. At Genesis 2005 on November 13, he teamed with Daniels, Alex Shelley, and Roderick Strong (a team that Daniels called "the Ministry") against Sonjay Dutt, Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley, and Austin Aries in an eight man elimination match. Following the victory by Daniels and Joe (Shelley and Strong were eliminated earlier in the match), Joe viciously attacked Daniels, beating Daniels around the ringside area until he had busted him open. He then threw Daniels into the ring, and delivered a Musclebuster. Joe then went out to grab a steel chair from ringside and brought it into the ring, after which he gave Daniels a second Musclebuster, this time onto the chair, supposedly giving Daniels a level-3 concussion.

In response to these actions, A.J. Styles called Joe out on an episode of iMPACT!, saying his attack of Daniels violated an unwritten code of respect in the X Division. Prior to Turning Point 2005, Joe attacked Styles, saying he did not respect the X Division code (a vast departure from his Ring of Honor persona, who is a stalwart defender of their written Code of Honor). Joe defeated Styles at Turning Point and won the X Division Championship. Before Joe could injure A.J., however, Christopher Daniels came out and stopped him.

Daniels was later slated to face Joe at Final Resolution 2006 for the X Division Championship. During the build-up to the match, Joe stated that he intended to end Daniels' career. During the match, Styles came down to the ring to cheer Daniels on. Not long after making Daniels bleed from his head, Samoa Joe stopped going for the pin, instead dropping knee after knee on Daniels' head. Styles, concerned about Daniels' health, signaled for the match to be stopped by throwing in the towel, allowing Joe to retain the X Division title.

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Samoa Joe, part 2

2007-03-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

Back in the United States Joe joined the ranks of the East Coast-based Ring of Honor promotion in 2002. He made his debut at "Glory by Honor" as Christopher Daniels' "hired assassin", brought in to take out Daniels' chief enemy, Low-Ki. Originally booked for just the one match against Low Ki (due to the cost of flying him from California to Pennsylvania, which ROH had to pay), Joe impressed fans with his extremely stiff and hard-hitting style that resembled an MMA fighter more than a wrestler, which led to ROH booking him full time.

Joe quickly rose through the ranks and became ROH Champion, defeating Xavier for the belt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 22, 2003. He held that title for twenty one months before losing it to Austin Aries at "Final Battle 2004", also in Philadelphia, on December 26. During Joe's reign Pro Wrestling Illustrated officially elevated the ROH Championship to the status of "world title" after Joe defended it against English wrestler Zebra Kid at a joint ROH/Frontier Wrestling Alliance show, Frontiers of Honor, in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2003. It was also at this event that Joe developed his infamous "Olé Olé Kick" move; an idea which got after watching a commercial during the English FA Cup (football/soccer) final. Low Ki challenged Joe to "get the crowd to chant Ole Ole Ole," which Joe accepted, and during his match with Zebra Kid he positioned the Kid on a chair, and performed the move thus the Ole Kick was born.

With his historic ROH title reign, Joe also established himself as the face of the company and a perennial main-eventer in North America. He elevated the title from a mid-card attraction, secondary to established independent stars like Low-Ki, Daniels, and A.J. Styles, to the ultimate prize in Ring of Honor. Especially famous are his trilogy of title defenses against CM Punk (the second match earing "Five Stars" from Dave Meltzer, the first American match in 7 years to do so), and his match with Japanese wrestler Kenta Kobashi.

Soon after losing the ROH World Championship to Austin Aries, Joe became the promotion's fifth Pure Champion, defeating his (kayfabe) protegé Jay Lethal for the belt on May 7, 2005 at Manhattan Mayhem in New York City. He held the title for over three months before losing it to Nigel McGuiness on August 27 at Dragon Gate Invasion in Williamsville, New York.

In October 2005, when Japanese heavyweight superstar Kenta Kobashi made a "once-in-a-lifetime" trip to the United States, he was signed to two Ring of Honor shows. ROH officials selected Joe, ROH's top wrestler, to face him in a singles match on the first night and a tag match on the second. The first show was in New York City at the New Yorker Hotel. Joe proved to be a formidable opponent for Kobashi, and, after a back and forth match, which Dave Meltzer again gave "Five Stars", Kobashi walked away with the win.

In 2006, Joe principal wrestlers representing Ring of Honor in their war against rival Philadelphia promotion Combat Zone Wrestling. The war culminated in a five-on-five Cage of Death match at Death before Dishonor IV. Joe helped ROH dominate in the match, until, after picking up CZW wrestler Chris Hero for a Muscle Buster, he was attacked by fellow ROH wrestler Bryan Danielson. Danielson repeatedly hit Joe's bad knee with a steel chair, forcing him to quit the match. Joe was later replaced in the match by by Homicide, who went on to win the match for ROH. Joe later teamed with Homicide to fight against the Briscoes, and, like Homicide, found himself back in the ROH world title hunt. Joe, however, came up short against champion Bryan Danielson in several matches, the final one being a cage match on December 8.

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TNA: Low Ki / Senshi

2007-03-28T11:10:00.000-05:00

Brandon Silvestry (born September 6, 1979), best known by the ring name, Low Ki, is an American pro wrestler of Puerto Rican and Italian descent. He is currently working for TNA Wrestling as Senshi. He is also performing in the American independent circuit, most notably for Jersey All Pro Wrestling and IWA Mid-South.

Silvestry admits that the name "Low Ki", originally spelled Low-Key, came from the lyrics of the BLACKstreet song, No Diggity. Low Ki is considered one of the top independent talents and athletes in the world and is known for his use of various brutal strikes. Because of this, many people assumed that he legitimately knocked out opponent Dan Maff early in their main event match at ROH's Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies in 2003 with his Tidal Wave springboard enzuigiri, causing the match to be stopped. He is also known for his intensity, focus, and serious approach to wrestling, which he calls his "art." Ki is also known for keeping kayfabe, even outside of the wrestling ring, as well as pumping himself up before matches by kicking walls.

Low Ki's first trip to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was for its debut show. In NWA-TNA 2, on June 26, 2002, he attempted (in a losing effort) to become the first NWA-TNA X Division Champion. He would though, eventually go on to win the title from A.J. Styles on August 2 at NWA-TNA #8, but lost it two weeks later to Jerry Lynn. He would later form the Triple X trios with Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper as part of the Sports Entertainment Xtreme superstable later that year, and would hold the NWA World Tag Team Championships twice, once each with Daniels and Skipper. When Daniels's greed for the X-Division Title initially forced Low Ki out of Triple X, Ki would go on to battle Daniels in Ultimate X 2, but Low Ki's pursuit was unsuccessful. Low Ki would leave TNA in July 2003 to recover from a shoulder injury suffered in Ultimate X2 as well as to focus on his independent bookings.

At TNA Lockdown 2006, Christopher Daniels's mystery opponent was revealed to be the returning Low Ki, who wrestled under the name of Senshi (Japanese for "warrior"). Low-Ki didn't want to sign away the rights to his ring name Low Ki to TNA, so he was renamed. He signed a long-term contract with TNA later under the name Senshi.

Following Lockdown, Senshi was not seen in action for several weeks, completely missing the Sacrifice pay per view in the process. Instead, he was built up with a series of vignettes hyping his martial arts background, his intense training, and his desire to dominate the X Division once more, hinting at the possibility of challenging the incumbent X-Division Champion, the undefeated Samoa Joe. Senshi eventually made his TNA iMPACT! debut on May 25, 2006, defeating Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, and Sharkboy in a four way match.

Senshi defeated Sonjay Dutt, Alex Shelley, Shark Boy, Petey Williams and Jay Lethal at TNA Slammiversary 2006 to become the #1 contender to the X Division championship. Senshi went on to become champion on the June 22, 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT! defeating Samoa Joe and Sonjay Dutt after he pinned Dutt. He defended the title on several occasions against various opponents until, 3 months later, he lost the title to Chris Sabin at Bound for Glory.

Senshi would go on to be involved in the first Paparazzi Championship Series during late 2006 and into 2007.

He later feuded with Austin Starr and in result faced him at the Destination X pay-per-view, where they fought in a Crossface Chickenwing Match.

Low Ki first made his trip to Japan with the Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE promotion. It was in ZERO-ONE that Ki won his first singles title, the ZERO-ONE Light Heavyweight Title, which he held until late 2003. Ki left ZERO-ONE in mid-2004 to join Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he was instantly given a title shot against GHC Jr. Heavyweight champion Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Although he was unsuccessful in his challenge, Ki has been quickly establishing himself in the NOAH junior heavyweight ranks.

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TNA: Samoa Joe. part 1

2007-03-25T14:57:00.000-05:00

Nuufolau Joel "Joe" Seanoa (born March 17, 1979), better known by his ring name Samoa Joe, is an American pro wrestler, currently performing for TNA Wrestling.

Joe is most notable in TNA for his 18-month winning streak. Although he had lost two triple threat matches, a four-way match, a battle royal, and an Ultimate X match, none of these losses came by Joe being pinned or forced to submit. Due to this, Joe was still referred to as being "undefeated" in singles competition in his TNA tenure. This streak ended at TNA Genesis 2006 when Joe tapped out to Kurt Angle's Ankle Lock.

Joe's family founded a Polynesian dance troupe in the United States called Tiare Productions. He made his on stage debut at the 1984 Summer Olympics opening at the age of 5. He became a California State Junior Judo Champion and was an all league football player while attending Ocean View High School.

Joe started his pro wrestling career in September 1999 as the first graduate of the UIWA's now-defunct West Coast Dojo. He was trained under the guidance of West Coast indy legend Cincinnati Red, along with Johnny Hemp and occasionally John Delayo.

Debuting in December 1999 in a match against "Uncle" Jess Hansen just three months after beginning training, Joe quickly rose through the ranks of independent grapplers throughout California. He soon signed with former WWE developmental affiliate Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he feuded with real life friend and future WWE champion John Cena and eventually captured the UPW Heavyweight Championship. He later became the longest reigning UPW Heavyweight Champion ever.

After finding success in UPW, Joe made his way to Japan, wrestling for Shinya Hashimoto's ZERO ONE promotion, fighting in its "Shingeki" series of pay per views and the annual "Burning Heart" tournaments.

During this time Joe also began wrestling (and continues to do so off and on) for Southern California promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he has a standing rivalry with Super Dragon.

Joe now resides as a member of New Japan Pro Wrestling's Inoki Dojo in Los Angeles, California.

technorati tags: wrestling, tna, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, impact, pro-wrestling, news, samoa joe, ecw, ppv

tna

TNA: Chris Sabin

2007-03-24T14:26:00.000-05:00

Wrestler: Chris Sabin
Billed height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Billed weight 215 lb (98 kg)
Born February 4, 1982,Detroit, Michigan
Billed from Hell, Michigan,Detroit, Michigan
Trained by Scott D'Amore,Rudy Boy Gonzalez,Amazing N8,Bobo Brown
Pro Wrestling Debut 2000

Josh Harter (born February 4, 1982), better known by his ring name Chris Sabin, is an American pro wrestler, currently working for TNA Wrestling where he is the reigning TNA X Division Champion.

Harter began his wrestling training in Michigan at the NWA Great Lakes Pro Wrestling School. After the school began experiencing difficulties, he travelled to Windsor, Ontario and completed his training under Scott D'Amore and "Amazing" N8 Mattson at the Can-Am Wrestling School. He debuted in 2000 after four months training as Chris Sabin, and began working for D'Amore's Border City Wrestling promotion and for independent promotions in Michigan.

In Japan, on August 25, at Korauken Hall's ZERO-1 MAX show, Sabin and Alex Shelley became NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Wrestling Champions, when they defeated former champions, Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita. Since then, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has been booking them as a tag team, Sabin and Shelley challenging for the PWG World Tag Team Titles in their third match in the company as a unit. They eventually lost the chance to win the belts.

Sabin joined TNA Wrestling in 2003 as a heel and won the TNA X Division Championship. His reign ended after three months when he lost to Michael Shane in the first ever Ultimate X match on August 20.

On September 3 of that year, Sabin, now a face, won the 2003 Super X Cup, thus becoming the number one contender to the X Division Championship. He regained the X Division Championship on January 7, 2004, defeating Shane, Christopher Daniels and Low Ki in the second Ultimate X match. He was stripped of the title on March 26, 2004 after a knee injury left him unable to defend it.

After returning from injury, Sabin took part in the World X Cup in May 2004, forming Team USA with Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper. On May 26, Team USA defeated Team Mexico, Team Canada and Team Japan in a two hour pay-per-view event which saw the teams fight one another in a variety of matches. The finals saw Sabin wrestle the Canadian Petey Williams and the Mexican Héctor Garza in an Ultimate X match, which Sabin won when he retrieved a large red "X" which had been suspended above the ring on steel cables.

For the remainder of 2004, Sabin contended for the X Division Championship. He won another Ultimate X on November 9 to win a title shot at Petey Williams. During the leadup, they ran an angle where Sabin was able to reverse Williams' Canadian Destroyer into his own Cradle Shock finishing move. At Turning Point 2004 on December 5, however, Williams was able to secure a victory with the help of a pair of brass knuckles. Sabin got another shot at the title at Final Resolution on January 16, 2005, in an Ultimate X match with Williams and A.J. Styles. Styles won the match and the title when he snatched the title from Williams' and Sabin's collective grip while they were still on the X ropes.

Throughout 2005, Sabin feuded with Michael Shane, by now wrestling as Matt Bentley. In September 2005 he began a feud with Shocker that was killed when Shocker was unable to return from Mexico for their scheduled match at Unbreakable on September 11.

So far in 2006, Sabin has mostly teamed up with Sonjay Dutt, to great effect, beating Team Canada in a #1 Contenders Tag Team Tournament on TNA iMPACT!.

However at the Against All Odds PPV event Sabin and Dutt were beaten by Chris Harris and James Storm (America's Most Wanted) in a bout for the NWA World Tag Team Championships.

On March 11, Chris Sabin defeated Alex Shelley and Sonjay Dutt in a 3-way match to represent both the USA in the "International X Division Showcase" at Destination X 2006 as well as joining Jay Lethal on Team TNA in the upcoming World X Cup Tournament. Later that month, Sabin was hospitalized with a severe concussion after taking four blows to the head during a show for the Northeast Wrestling (NEW) promotion on March 25 in Bristol, Connecticut. He was released after undergoing a CAT scan.

Sabin acted as the captain of Team USA at World X Cup 2006, defeating Puma of Team Mexico, earning 3 points, and on May 18, defeating Petey Williams in a sudden death tiebreaker singles match, winning the World X Cup for Team USA.

On the June 1, 2006 edition of TNA iMPACT!, Sabin rushed to the ring to clear out Alex Shelley and Kevin Nash, who were attacking Jay Lethal in another of Nash's X Division beatdowns. Nash would avoid a physical confrontation with Sabin, only to be challenged to a match by Sabin at Slammiversary 2006 which Nash was able to win.

Sabin later became the #1 Contender for the TNA X Division Championship by defeating Alex Shelley at TNA Hard Justice 2006. Sabin would enter into an angle with fellow X-Division wrestlers to promote the Jackass: Number Two movie by imitating stunts performed on the film to display the lighter side of the X-Division, something current champion Senshi dissaproved of. Since then, Sabin would attempt to take Senshi's title on several occasions.

On October 22, 2006, Sabin defeated Senshi after using an inside cradle to become a 3 Time X-Division Champion at Bound for Glory 2006. On the November 2, 2006 edition of TNA iMPACT!, he lost the title to A.J. Styles in the Fight for the Right tournament.

Prior to the match, Sabin showed signs of turning heel when he expressed his disdain for X-Division pioneer, and babyface, Jerry Lynn for doubting his focus in an interview with Christy Hemme. Sabin completed his heel turn two weeks later when he refused to help fellow X-Division star Sonjay Dutt from an assault from Samoa Joe. Chris Sabin went on to challenge Christoher Daniels at Genesis for the X-division championship but failed. After winning a triple-threat match against former allies Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal for a #1 contender's match, he once again challenged Daniels at Turning Point but lost after a BME.

At Final Resolution 2007, Sabin won the X Division Championship from then champion Christopher Daniels in a triple threat match which also involved Jerry Lynn. Sabin went on to feud with Lynn over the title; defeating him at Against All Odds 2007 by using the ring ropes for leverage.

At TNA Destination X, Sabin defeated Jerry Lynn is a two out of three falls match to retain the X - Division Championship. After the match though, a masked man (who was later found to be Christopher Daniels) performed The Angel's Wings on Sabin and hit Jerry Lynn on the head with the title belt.

His ring name is derived from the character "Sabin Rene Figaro" from the game Final Fantasy VI (released in America as Final Fantasy III).

Aside from being a fan of video games he's also a fan of anime. His old TNA desktop wallpaper has a cartoon in Sabin's wrestling gear that resembles a Super Saiyan from Dragonball Z, and he uses nicknames like "Super Sabin."

He has two brothers: one 3 years younger than him, the other 3 years older .

technorati tags: wrestling, wwe, pro wrestling, pro wrestling blog, impact, pro-wrestling, news, samoa joe, ecw, ppv

TNA: Bobby Roode

2007-03-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

Robert "Bobby" Roode (born in 1977) is a Canadian pro wrestler, currently wrestling for TNA Wrestling and on the independent circuit.

Bobby Roode was an avid hockey player throughout high school. After graduating, he attended community college for one year, studying Law and Security with a view towards becoming a correctional officer. At the age of twenty two Roode decided to leave college and become a professional wrestler, and was trained in his hometown of Peterborough, Ontario, by fellow Ontarians Val Venis and Shane Sewell. He completed his training after a year and wrestled his debut match against Pete Rock, then went on to work for various Canadian independent promotions, as well as appearing for the Puerto Rican World Wrestling Council.

Roode began working for Real Action Wrestling in 2001, where he formed a heel stable known as The Kardinal Sinners along with Kingman and Mike Hughes. He went on to work a series of dark matches for WWE between 2001 and 2004, and was briefly part of the WWE developmental program.

In May 2004, Roode was brought into Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by Scott D'Amore, the owner of Border City Wrestling, a Canadian independent promotion which Roode had worked for on occasion. Roode debuted in TNA as part of the Team Canada stable, and took part in the World X-Cup, which was won by Team USA. Team Canada went on to feud with 3Live Kru and America's Most Wanted. As the biggest and most powerful member of Team Canada (until the addition of A-1 in May 2005), Roode acted as the "enforcer" of the group, a role popularised by Arn Anderson. In early 2006, recognizing his comparisons to Arn Anderson, he made the request that he be called "The Canadian Enforcer" from that point onward, and began coming to the ring in sequined robes reminiscent of the Four Horsemen and Rick Rude flashy style in the late '80s.

Roode began a feud with Dustin Rhodes in early 2005, losing to him at April's Lockdown pay-per-view in a best of three falls Steel cage match, with the third fall a blindfold match. After that Roode feuded with Lance Hoyt, who he defeated at Slammiversary, and The Naturals throughout the summer of 2005. After defeating Jeff Hardy at Unbreakable in September, Roode and the remainder of Team Canada resumed their feud with 3Live Kru.

While in TNA, Bobby Roode also wrestles at Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario and at NWA Shockwave in New Jersey. He is the former BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Champion. On March 18, 2006, he won the NWA Shockwave Internet Championship from Josh Daniels at an NWAS/New York Wrestling Connection cross-promotional event. Eight days later, on March 26, Roode won the vacant NWA Shockwave Heavyweight Championship at Disturbing the Peace 2006 in a four-way match. Roode held both titles until May 21, when he dropped the Internet Title and successfully defended the Heavyweight Title against Slyck Wagner Brown. Due the restarting of the company, all the NWA Cyberspace Champions (Now known as NWA Shockwave) were vacated including Robert Roode's Heavyweight Title.

At Final Resolution 2006, Roode began a singles career, while still being linked to Team Canada, by defeating Ron Killings. Five months later, on the June 29th episode of TNA iMPACT!, TNA Management Director Jim Cornette forced the break up of Team Canada, effectively forcing Roode into singles competition full time.

After the break up of Team Canada, Roode began referring to himself as "TNA's hottest free agent". Vignettes began playing with various TNA managers such as Simon Diamond, Jim Mitchell, and Shane Douglas putting over the idea of Roode being an NWA World Heavyweight Championship contender and stating their interest in becoming his manager, but he eventually dismissed them. Having chose not to work with a current TNA manager, segments began airing with Roode interviewing legendary managers for the position; Bobby "The Brain" Heenan on September 7, Col. Robert Parker on September 14, and Sherri Martel on September 21. He revealed his chosen manager, Traci Brooks, at Bound for Glory, and promptly changed his name to "Robert Roode", with Traci Brooks now being referred to as "Ms. Brooks". His first feud after the name change was against Eric Young, whom he became jealous of when he realized fans still weren't cheering him but would cheer Young's every move. After Young beat Ms. Brooks in a bikini contest he demanded that Brooks "sign" Young to "Robert Roode Inc.". Finally, at Against All Odds 2007 Ms. Brooks successfully seduced Young into signing a contract with "Robert Roode Inc."

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TNA: Rhyno

2007-03-19T17:39:00.000-05:00

Terrence Romney ("Terry") Gerin (born October 7, 1975) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Rhino and Rhyno. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Rhino made his debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on July 17, 2005 (reverting to the ECW spelling of his name instead of WWE's which is trademarked), by hitting then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven with the Gore following a match with Abyss, thus debuting as a member of Planet Jarrett. These events led to a match being scheduled between the team of Rhino and Jarrett and the team of Raven and the returning Sabu at the Sacrifice pay-per-view on August 14, 2005.

During the Sacrifice preshow, Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko informed Jarrett, who had lobbied for a title shot for several weeks, that if he could pin Raven, he would receive a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the Unbreakable. However, should Jarrett lose the match, he would be prohibited from receiving a world title shot for one year. Later that night, during the tag match, Jeff Hardy returned to TNA, attacking Jarrett and enabling Rhino to Gore and pin Raven. An irate Jarrett, furious at having lost his shot at the title, watched as Zbyszko announced Rhino to be the new number one contender immediately after the PPV went off the air. Rhino faced Raven at Unbreakable in a match which saw him accidentally Gore a shopping cart in homage to his WWF Hardcore Championship bout with Raven at Backlash 2001. Despite interference from Jarrett, Raven retained his title after hitting Rhino with a DDT.

Rhino fought Jeff Hardy in the main event of the first episode of TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV on October 1. The match was declared a no-contest after both Abyss and Sabu interfered. At Bound for Glory, Rhino, Abyss, Sabu and Hardy faced each other in a Monster's Ball match, which Rhino won after hitting a middle-rope Rhino Driver on Hardy. Later that night, Rhino won a 10-man Gauntlet match to determine who would face Jeff Jarrett for his NWA World Heavyweight Championship after Kevin Nash, Jarrett's scheduled opponent, was rushed to the hospital due to a legit injury. Rhino went on to defeat Jarrett and win the title. The climb from a heel in Monster's Ball to the NWA Champion in the course of three separate matches made Rhino turn face. Rhino lost the NWA World Title to Jeff Jarrett at a 2-hour primetime special edition of TNA iMPACT! on November 3. Starting with the November 26 episode of iMPACT!, TNA started airing promos about Rhino's career and personal life in preparation for his title rematch at Turning Point. He lost the rematch after a guitar shot and interference from all of Team Canada.

Rhino then wrapped up a brutal feud with Abyss in 2006, who (due to his alignment with Planet Jarrett) halted Rhino's war on Team Canada. The feud saw Abyss Black Hole Slam Rhino on to several chairs, and Rhino smash Abyss through a steel wall with the Gore. Their singles feud ended in spectacular fashion at Against All Odds when Rhino Gored Abyss off of a fifteen foot ramp on to four tables. In April, Rhino became a member of Sting's four-man team of "Warriors", joining A.J. Styles, and Ron Killings to fight Jeff Jarrett's "Army" in a Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown.

On June 9 at "TNA Hardcore War", a house show at New Alhambra Arena in Philadelphia, after Rhino defeated Jeff Jarrett, he publicly acknowledged that he had been offered a contract to come back to WWE and wrestle for the new ECW. However, Rhino had signed a two-year contract with TNA. On July 11, Rhino made an open challenge against WWE for their current incarnation of ECW. The shocking revelation was that he didn't like the direction of the new ECW and threw the "real" ECW World Championship (hidden in a burlap sack as Rhino stated WWE threatened legal action if it was shown) into an oil drum and burned it. (Although he later admitted that it was a replica, and he still has the original at his home.)
He said that WWE was full of crap because they were trying to make more profit by recreating the past and that he would become NWA World Heavyweight Champion to prove that Vince McMahon is a hypocrite.

To further this statement he issued an open challenge, very similar to that of Kurt Angle's, leading to a feud with Monty Brown and Samoa Joe after all three of them began to lay out open challenges and proclaim themselves as the toughest men in the company. This resulted in the three men fighting at Hard Justice which ended with Samoa Joe winning by pinning Monty Brown after driving Brown through a table. In Rhino's open challenge, he stated:

“ It doesn't matter who you work for – what company – whether it's a four-sided ring, six-sided or eight-sided – bring your ass to the iMPACT! Zone and face me face-to-face, because the end result is always the same - GORE! GORE! GORE!. ”

Rhino has since entered into a feud with Christian Cage, playing off their former history together in WWE, Japan and Canada. This feud culminated the November 16 episode of iMPACT! where he faced Christian in a bloody six-sides of steel barbed wire match. Christian won the match after taking Rhino's signature Gore that sent him through the side of the cage.

Rhino would feud with A.J. Styles at the end of 2006 where A.J. turned heel. This started with Rhino trying to help Styles with his situation with Christopher Daniels only to have Styles pull away and accuse Rhino of getting into his business. Rhino would lose to Styles at Turning Point 2006 after Styles faked a knee injury and then got Rhino with a roll up pin. At Final Resolution 2007 Rhino defeated Styles in a Last Man Standing match after Aj styles layed down to avoid a gore! and to stop the match.At Against All Odds 2007 Styles defeated Rhino in a Motor City Chain match. AJ Styles than struck a challenge to any wrestler in TNA to wrestle him at Destination-X in the debuting of the Elevation X match and Rhino accepted the challenge.

On March 6th edition of TNA iMPACT!, Rhino was the partner of Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe, as they faced off against Christian Cage, Scott Steiner and Tomko. Rhino eventually attacked AJ Styles, as he climbed on top of the Elevation X, as AJ Styles came back down, as Rhino was attacked by Christian Cage and Tomko.

Rhino recently did an interview in the Dearborn Press and Guide. He said he wants to wrestle for 10 more years and admitted that the belt he burned on iMPACT! last year was just a replica of the ECW title. He still has the real title in his possession.

At Destination X, Gerin defeated AJ Styles in Elevation X.

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