http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012 ... ncoln-park


Interview: Pro wrestler Lisa Marie Varon opening pizza restaurant in Lincoln Park
October 18, 2012|Luis Gomez | About Last Night




Lisa Marie Varon (aka Tara) holds the TNA Women's Knockouts Championship October 14, 2012. (TNA Impact wrestling)
Lisa Marie Varon -- known as Tara in TNA Wrestling and Victoria during her WWE days -- is getting back into the pizza business.

The 41-year-old professional wrestler previously owned a pizza restaurant in Kentucky before selling it in 2007 and now has plans to open another in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in January or February. The restaurant will be located at 2418 N. Ashland, which was previously Leon's Ribs.



“We're sticking with what we know, with where we've previously had success,” Varon told me by email Wednesday. “We're focusing on artisanal brick oven pizza. Everything (will be) made on premise: the dough, a fifth generation sauce, fresh local ingredients. And then house blend burgers: hormone and antibiotic free beef, ground in house.”

Varon won the TNA Women’s Knockouts Championship Sunday at TNA’s biggest pay per view of the year, Bound For Glory, and is scheduled to appear on MTV’s “Made” this week. She also said she is the subject of a documentary currently being filmed by director Matt Goldberg. But even with her busy schedule, she insists you will be able to find her at her restaurant every week once it opens.

“This is not a pet project for me,” Varon said. “This is my job. I will continue to travel a couple days a week for wrestling, but I will be in the restaurant several days a week.”

And how much longer does the five-time TNA Knockouts Champion expect to wrestle?

“I get the 'how much longer' question in every interview nowadays," Varon said. "I get it. I'm 41 in an industry where girls breaking in are half my age. My perspective is, I feel great, I think I look great, I put on outstanding matches for the fans, I bring out the best in my opponents, and most importantly, I am having a blast."

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Well, Now I will have to stop in and try it out.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

TNA NEWS: Jeff Hardy signs new long-term contract

TNA World Hvt. champion Jeff Hardy has signed a new long-term deal with TNA, according to TNA president Dixie Carter.

Carter, who made the announcement Thursday night on "Bellator MMA" following Impact, said she "just signed Hardy to a long-term deal," which will keep him in TNA for a "very long time."

Hardy's TNA contract was due this month, prompting speculation on whether he would return to WWE, which added him to the alumni section of their website on Thursday.

Carter also hyped King Mo's eventual TNA in-ring debut. Mo's next Bellator MMA fight is in two weeks on February 21 from Utah.

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It's open! We're gonna need a full report Chas

Pro Wrestler Tara Opens Pizza & Burger Joint

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130315 ... y-pleasure

LINCOLN PARK — When Lisa Marie Varon isn't laying the smack down inside the ring as a professional wrestler, she will be running the front of the house at her new pizza and burger joint on Ashland Avenue.
Varon's The Squared Circle opened Thursday night at 2418 N. Ashland Ave. The name is a wrestling reference that dates to the Greco-Roman days.
The restaurant will serve New York-style thin pizzas such as the Hangover Helper topped with pepperoni, bacon and an egg, but the specialty will be the Squared Circle deep dish with a duck fat caramelized crust.
"You can't reinvent pizza in Chicago, but we are trying to do our own take on it," said Lee Varon, Lisa's husband, who will be in the kitchen most nights.
Lisa Maria Varon, who goes by Tara in the ring and lives in Lincoln Park, wasn't far from their new restaurant Thursday night during the opening, as she was performing at TNA IMPACT Wrestling which was broadcast live on Spike TV from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.
Varon wrestled in World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Victoria for most of the 2000s. She debuted with Total Nonstop Action as Tara in 2009.
The restaurant, which is adorned with wrestling memorabilia donated by fellow TNA stars, features a menu of her guilty pleasures: pizza and burgers.
Similar to their duck fat-take on deep dish pizza, the Varons decided to take their burgers to another level by stuffing each with cheese.
"We are kind of late to the gourmet burger race, so we are stuffing all of our burgers," Lee Varon said.
The burgers are also topped with the cheeses, such as Merkts cheddar and gouda.
The Varons know that while wrestling fans will come in to watch pay-per-view events on the restaurant's numerous flat screens and to see Tara, if the food is not top-notch they don't stand a chance.
"They are going to come in to see the Jeff Hardy poster once, but only good food will bring them back," Lee Varon said.
Lisa Marie Varon will be at the restaurant almost every day they are open, as she is only on the road for two weekends each month.


Although she won't be making the pies every night, her first job was at a pizza place, and she has the experience, her husband said.
"She can throw some dough," Lee Varon said.
Menu items such as the Hangover Helper pizza go for $12.50 for a small and $25 for a large. The Squared Circle duck fat deep dish pizzas cost $14 for a small and $22 for a large, plus $2 for each additional ingredient.
The burgers include the $11 Big Vic, stuffed and topped with Merkts cheddar, and the $13 Windy City, stuffed with Gouda and topped with sauteed mushrooms, onion rings, avocado, Gouda and aioli.

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I'll try it tomorrow and report back.

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Excellent! Sounds kind of interesting, at least some new ideas. $25 for a large pizza could be a problem, but sounds like something you have to try once.

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interesting....

The workers compensation lawsuit filed by Shannon Spruill (Daffney), 37, was settled on 3/8, which was almost a given considering Spruill in the suit was going after a court ruling on whether wrestlers really were employees rather than the independent contractors they are classified as. There is far too much money for TNA to lose with a reclassification. Spruill, who hasn’t wrestled in a few years due to the effects of multiple concussions, was seeking $26,000 to cover her medical bills from three incidents. The first was from the 2009 Bound for Glory show where Abyss choke slammed her off the top rope to the floor through a barbed wire table filled with thumb tacks. She claimed she was hesitant to do the spot, but was convinced by Terry Taylor and Vince Russo how important it was going to be for her career as well as to the storyline. She agreed to do it, only to find out after being hurt that Spike TV refused to allow it to be replayed on Impact because of their standards of men-on-women violence. She suffered a broken arm and a concussion in taking the fall. The second was in late 2009 during the December TV tapings where they were doing multiple tapings and she suffered a concussion. She was booked for matches the next few days and was told she should wrestle her scheduled matches over the next two days and rest. She wouldn’t wrestle due to the concussion. She was also scheduled for a photo shoot during those days, and when she didn’t wrestle, was pulled from the photo shoot. The third was doing a tryout match with the short-lived Rosie Lottalove, where she also suffered a concussion. She claimed from those incidents she suffered three concussions, a stinger, a broken arm and a bruised sternum. She wrestled with TNA until the end of 2010. She filed suit in early March of 2011, and then, when her contract expired in mid-April of 2011, she was not signed to a new deal. Due to the effect of the multiple concussions, she retired as a wrestler. There is a report that she wrestled an independent match in October 2011, but aside from that, there are no records of her wrestling after her final matches with TNA. TNA at first paid a $600 hospital bill but then stopped paying for her medical costs, even though the injuries took place while she was working on the job for them. She claimed Terry Taylor, who was then head of talent, had told her TNA would pay her medical bills. But later she got a letter from TNA declining paying the rest of her medical bills because they noted she was an independent contractor. TNA later did pay $8,000 more than a year later for the first incident, and $9,556 for medical treatment after the third incident. Terms of the settlement were sealed and TNA also worked into the settlement that Spruill couldn’t say there was a settlement, only that the case was closed amicably. The belief is the settlement was for significantly more than $26,000. Her vague Twitter post after the case was closed was, “I’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone for all the love and support over the past two years. I appreciate so much that you recognize the huge injustice that is being done to professional wrestlers throughout the industry. I hope my case has opened up a few blind eyes and maybe now we, the wrestlers, who put our bodies on the line every time we step in the ring, are one step closer to being provided with medical coverage and all the benefits that go along with being a true employee and not an independent contractor.”

This has been a controversy in pro wrestling since wrestlers began signing exclusive contracts in the 80s. This has been an issue with TNA because some wrestlers have had their injuries taken care of, and others haven’t. In the case of WWE, while the wrestlers are independent contracts, the company does take care of all in-ring injuries and rehab from those injuries. In 2008, Scott Levy (Raven), Mike Sanders and Chris Klucsaritis (Chris Kanyon) sued WWE on the issue, but the case was thrown out the next year because the legal statute of limitations for such a lawsuit had expired on many of their claims by the time they filed the suit. The court also ruled that they were not financially harmed by the classification as independent contractors and that they all signed contracts with specific language that they were independent contractors. The actual merits of independent contractor vs. employee were dismissed because the court ruled they weren’t personally harmed and they knew what the terms were when they signed the deal. Outside entities have not gone after pro wrestling, likely because the industry is so small and you become a laughing stock if you take seriously something “fake,” that even in Connecticut where Linda McMahon ran against the Democrats and people made noises about investigating the classification, nothing has ever gone anywhere. When you look at employee vs. independent contractor status, modern pro wrestlers with exclusive contracts, being told where they are booked, not having the option to turn down dates on their schedule, being told how to perform, what gimmick to use, would appear to be employees. Wrestlers of the past would be more independent contractors. In TNA, because there is some ability to book your own independent dates, the case wouldn’t be as strong as WWE.

There has been a lot of locker room unhappiness when word got out that for the TV tapings, they would be paid as if it was one show, even if they appeared on both shows taped. Most wrestlers in the company are on per-show deals, and since they rotate people at house shows and run limited crews, the only shows that the full crew, or at least the main crew, is consistently on would be the TV’s. Before they were mostly taping one show at a time in Orlando, whether live or on tape. Now, they are taping two shows starting this week in Chicago, but the vast majority will be getting paid for one show and thus make half as much over the course of a year for television shots.

It was interesting RVD was kept off the Lockdown show since he had been on TV regularly in the buildup, and King vs. RVD was the match that would have made the most sense as the X title match, given RVD had three wins over King and one fluke loss. RVD’s contract expires very soon and he’s something like $2,500 per appearance. He and Ken Anderson both signed very good contracts because both were considered big signings for the company when they got them. But both really don’t mean much right now.

For TNA January numbers, live attendance went from 1,200 (not including the U.K. tour) in January 2012 to 550 in January 2013 (down 54%). Impact in January 2012 averaged a 1.15 rating and 1.61 million viewers and in January 2013 it averaged a 1.12 rating (down 2.6%) and 1.53 million viewers (down 5.0%).

A lot of Hulk Hogan’s financial details were hacked and put on a web site, which has since been taken down. The Los Angeles Police Department, whose head, Charlie Beck, was among those whose bank records were hacked, is going after whoever it is that hacked the financial records of Hogan, Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears, Michelle Obama, Jay-Z, Hillary Clinton, Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, Joseph Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, Sarah Palin and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bubba the Love Sponge was on Howard Stern’s show this week talking about the Hogan sex tape. He’s no longer being sued by Hogan, who still has a suit out against Heather Cole (Bubba’s ex-wife who was the woman Hogan was having sex with in the video) and Gawker media. Bubba didn’t say much on the case, other than claiming he never watched the tape, that he no longer talks to Hogan but he still considers Hogan a friend, and isn’t sure if he’ll ever talk to him again. He clearly wanted to open back up the relationship because he talked about how much he helped Hogan during a bad time in his life. Regarding sleeping with his wife and the tape, Bubba only said that everyone was on the same page on that one and then said he can’t legally say more than that.

There was a USA Today interview with Christopher Daniels talking about his promo style. “The things we’re doing on television now, that’s the way Frankie and I are backstage. We’re very snarky guys. Our sense of humor is a little bit cutting. It’ll get you at the kneecaps. We took that ball and ran with it. And they’ve been very happy and supportive in terms of getting us out there and letting us have opportunities on the microphone and doing the silly stuff that has sort of become our trademark. That satire has become our staple. They’re basically throwing underhand pitches to us at this point. A lot of our stuff comes out of, `Wouldn’t it be funny if? or `Do we have the guts to do this on television?’ Just him and I brainstorming and trying to think of ways we can get under the fans’ skin and ways we can get people to talk about this the next day around the water cooler.” Daniels said he’s patterned himself after the comic book character’s like Magneto in X-Men, bad guys who in their heart believe they are right (that’s actually been a historically effective heel character) and the faces are wrong.

The company canceled its 4/6 house show in Atlantic City over Mania weekend. They are still running a 4/5 show in Westbury, NY, with Hogan appearing on the show since he’ll be in town to do the WrestleCon autograph show. They are running a 3,100-seat arena and given everyone in town for Mania and promoting it as a loaded show, should sell it out. The main event will be Sting & Jeff Hardy against the reformed Bully Ray & Devon with secret stipulations that will be announced live by Hulk Hogan, plus Bobby Roode vs. James Storm in a street fight, Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe, Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim for the Knockouts title, Kurt Angle vs. Wes Brisco and Robbie E vs. Joseph Park. The show will go head-to-head with TNA’s first taped PPV show.

The upcoming TV taping schedule after Chicago is 3/28 in Jonesboro, AR, 4/11 in Corpus Christi, 4/25 in Indiana, PA, 5/9 in Tupelo, 5/23 in Tampa at the University of South Florida Sun Dome and 6/6 in Duluth, GA at the Gwinnett Arena.

Chicago tickets went well and Jonesboro is off to a good start. The one thing about TNA is they can make 3,000 in the building on TV look good because they shoot really smart and also because people don’t expect to see thousands in the stands for TNA, so when they do, it makes for a good visual. Unlike last year when they tried this, it was dipping their toe in the water and giving up quickly, this time by canceling the lease with the Impact Zone, they’ve made a clean break. The difference is right now they are so much more valuable to Spike than ever before because of Bellator.

The P.R. department is pretty much non-existent with Chris Thomas having given notice and Jules Wortman, who was VP of Public Relations, being dropped after Lockdown.

An update on Jesse Sorensen. He was brought to Lockdown. He is close to being in cosmetic shape, but he is leery about wrestling given he was immobile for three months after his injury. Last year’s plan was to give Sorensen a big push on his return. The idea was to keep him alive with updates on TV, but as is usual when it comes to long-term plans, they forgot. The original idea was for him to beat Austin Aries for the X title when Aries had the long run, instead of having Aries vacate it. The thing is, Sorensen was told about all these major plans for himself and what shows he was supposed to get his return in while he was still paralyzed. When Jeremy Borash got the word he was coming to the ballroom, he led the fans in chanting for him.

The company is right now asking for $25,000 for sold shows. They can get casinos but it’s a tough nut for anyone else because you have to pay that price to TNA, pay renting and marketing as well, so break-even is going too be well ahead of 1,000 tickets, and TNA house shows are rarely hitting that mark these days.

Lisa Varon’s (Tara) new restaurant, “The Squared Circle,” opens 3/14 in Chicago. One of the plans is for them to show all the TNA and WWE PPVs.

Kia Stevens (Awesome Kong) and Nicole Raczynski (Roxxi) were contacted about appearing on the 3/17 all-women’s taped PPV show from Orlando and both turned it down. Stevens mentioned it on twitter. I would presume Lauren Williams (Angelina Love) would have also been asked but that’s not confirmed. A lot of the former women in the company, because of the pay scale and in many cases, the way they were let go or what led them to quit, didn’t leave with the best of feelings for the company.

On a UFC TV show, they were advertising a Hooter’s Dream Girl deal in a crawl, and the person they were pushing this week was Brooke Adams, aka Miss Tessmacher. No mention of her being a pro wrestler or her stage name .

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Squared Circle wasn't bad for dinner.

Wife had a hillbilly paradise burger and I had the Lisa Marie pizza.

Pizza wasn't bad but the burger was great.

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If you'll pardon the expression?

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I was flummoxed whilst ordering it as well.

But her pie was good.

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Drop In beat me to it. Sounds like it's worth checking out. Cool rasslin' decor or just Jeff Jarrett posters, etc?

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Ah, excuse me Lisa, Tara, whatever........there are little pieces of broken guitar in my pizza.

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There was a lot of her stuff on the walls, including some of her ring gear.

Chas would've been broken the cases just to get a whiff.

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Well sir you did order the Slapnuts...

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You know it baby.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

**SPOILERS** TNA "10 Reunion" Results (One Night Only PPV)
By TheCrow
Mar 18, 2013 - 1:35:24 AM


Report by Mike Johnson @ PWInsider.com

TNA taped their "Ten" PPV tonight in Orlando, FL, celebrating the first ten years of the company with the following results:
*Kenny King defeated Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt.

*Velvet Sky pinned Gail Kim.

*Matt Morgan won a Gauntlet, tossing out Joseph Park to win.

*Team 3D defeated LAX and Bad Influence.

*Jeff Hardy pinned Austin Aries.

*Bobby Roode pinned James Storm.

*Kurt Angle pinned Samoa Joe.

Posted in: PPV
*SPOILERS* TNA Tag Team One Night Only PPV Spoilers
By Marc Middleton
Mar 18, 2013 - 3:13:49 PM


TNA taped their One Night Only Tag Team Tournament pay-per-view event. Here are full spoilers:

* Generation Me defeated Sonjay Dutt and Petey Williams

* Bobby Roode and Austin Aries defeated Rob Terry and Doug Williams

* Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff defeated Cassidy Riley and Chase Stevens

* Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero defeated Christopher Daniels and Kazarian

* Samoa Joe and Magnus defeated Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff

* Team 3D defeated Generation Me

* Bobby Roode and Austin Aries defeated Samoa Joe and Magnus

* Team 3D defeated Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero

* Team 3D defeated Bobby Roode and Austin Aries to win the tournament.

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“Be Who You Are and Say What You Feel Because Those Who Mind Don't Matter and Those Who Matter Don't Mind.” ~ Dr. Suess


Nice Guys Finish Last

Thank you,and have a nice day !

Rob Van Dam was on Voice of Wrestling and said he would be returning to TV very soon with either TNA or WWE. Given he was at the Hall of Fame ceremony that may indicate what that means, although we were told that MVP and RVD were both there because they are both good friends with Booker T. “I do have plans to return very soon and wrestle on TV, and it won’t be with any (independent) promotions. I will be wrestling with either TNA or WWE very soon.” What we do know is he’s got an offer on the table from TNA, but he was at the WWE Hall of Fame and given his age, he may mentally think this is his last chance for a big money run. He did an interview on the WWE web site and when asked about coming back, said, “There’s always a chance.” In TNA, while he can have a job there and it’s less stressful, the schedule isn’t nearly as bad and he can make a good living, he’s probably not going to be in one of the top featured spots and for the most part, he sure hasn’t appeared to have been all that motivated working mostly lower on the cards. It’s unlikely he would be after the initial honeymoon in WWE where fans will be all over him as a superstar returning. But the work is harder, the demands are harder, but the money for him would probably be a lot better. He’s also noticeably slowed down in the last year, but sometimes a new environment breeds new incentive. But he was never a classic psychological worker or a great promo, but an amazing athlete, and his best style isn’t really a good fit with WWE style. But he is a name that people do like and was always one of those guys who was always over more than his push when in WWE.

The latest in the Hogan mythology, as he said when promoting his Hogan & Friends segment on 4/5 in New York, while on WFAN’s Boomer and Carton radio show (Carton is the same Craig Carton who hosted MMA Uncensored on Spike last year), is he played in the 1966 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. He claimed he was the star pitcher, but they pitched him so often that his arm was tired in the semifinals of the World Series and he gave up a grand slam home run that knocked his team out of the playoffs. Of course, none of this is true, and there was no team from Florida, let alone Tampa, that ever made the Little League World Series in Williamsport during the several years Hogan would have been eligible. Hogan also said he, Bruno Sammartino, Andre the Giant and Steve Austin were the biggest wrestling stars in history.

Chris Sabin is set to return in a few weeks.

TNA is having issues trying to register the names TNA and Impact in Europe. A company called Aritzia owns a trademark for TNA for a clothing line. If Aritzia is successful, TNA would not be allowed TNA for clothing or television in Europe. Impact has been opposed by Datalogic Automation.

It was noted to us regarding Ivelisse Velez, who does have the look and cut a strong promo in her Gut Check, that she was not cut by WWE based on looks, ability or even marketability, but on attitude, which was noted to us at the time she was cut. Whether fair or not, there was the feeling that she had attitude issues when things didn’t go her way. Others saw it as the idea she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself, which isn’t necessarily the best quality in a dominance game business, at least until you become a big star. She was also briefly in AAA, really with the Perros Del Mal group, so actually the idea there was for a similar role idea TNA has for her as the Aces and 8s girl. They were negative on her as well, saying she had an attitude, although in that case it was said she was always talking about going to TNA or into MMA and the feeling was if those are her goals, then why invest in her?


There was an incident at the 4/5 Pro Wrestling Superstars show in Metuchen, NJ where Sabu hit the ring just as the John Morrison vs. Jushin Liger main event started. Apparently Sabu did this on his own and the promotion, Morrison and Liger had no idea it was happening. One of their employees overhead Eric Simms, the agent who booked Sabu for an autograph signing (but not to wrestle), telling Sabu that his run-in was added to the show, so Simms, and not Sabu, got the heat for it. When the promotion figured out Simms was responsible, Pat Buck hit Simms and Kevin Matthews physically threw him out of backstage. PWS did 1,000 fans on the 4/4 show and we didn’t get a crowd number for the second night other than that show had the bigger names like Bret Hart, Lita, Superstar Graham (billed as his final East Coast appearance), Iron Sheik, Kevin Sullivan and others doing autographs and it was a Friday night so was expected to do better. They did an angle over the weekend where the Iron Sheik turned on Nikolai Volkoff. As far as the name wrestlers went, the 4/4 show saw John Morrison beat Pope D’Angelo Dinero in a match said to be boring, The Rock & Roll Express beat Mark & Jay Briscoe which is just weird in 2013 to book that result in the Northeast. I think it would be weird to book that in the Carolinas but Rock & Rolls were never a big deal in the Northeast and the Briscoes work in New Jersey all the time. I’m sure the idea was Rock & Rolls were back for the second show the next night while the Briscoes weren’t, but still. Jushin Liger won the three-way main event over Davey Richards and Tony Nese which was reported as really good. Second night the main stuff was Morrison pinning Liger with Starship pain, New Jack’s claimed retirement match against Necro Butcher and they had Tommy Dreamer (losing to Pat Buck), Rock & Roll Express and Big Van Vader (who also worked as commissioner) were on the show.

Sean Waltman did an interview on DirecTV 101 with Artie Lange on 4/5. He said Hulk Hogan came up with the”Pac” nickname Six pack of course, which became “Syxx Pac.” He said he tore his asshole because the metal in the turnbuckle was exposed when he went to do a missed bronco buster. He said that he also messed up his sciatic nerve. He said he spent three days in the hospital and it was the worst injury of his career, even worse then when Lex Luger broke his neck and he went back to work two weeks later because he didn’t want to blow a pay raise. He said right now after the injury two weeks ago that he’s on time released Oxycontin, but said that he stopped doing drugs and smoking two years ago. He admitted attempting suicide. Years ago, when Juventud Guerrera told that story, he wanted to kill Juventud, and in fact, took a crap in Juventud’s bag, which Juventud thought Konnan did, which led to Juventud wanting to start a fight, and Jack Evans beat the holy shit out of Juventud in the dressing room. He said his girlfriend (Alicia Webb) was beating him up and broke a picture of his kids, and then he snapped and punched her. Then he tried to kill himself by hanging himself in his hotel room, but she saved him. He said they are still good friends. He said his relationship with Chyna was a train wreck. He said he would do whatever she would ask, including nearly killing a guy who Chyna told him tried to date rape her. He said he has seen Chyna do two reps on the bench with 365 and said she is a brilliant musician.

Rick Bassman reached his $50,000 goal for funding of his autobiography. He literally came right down to the wire on it and said he’s not going to go up a mountain to shut himself off while he finishes on the book.

ROH

Grizzly Redwood (Mitch Franklin, 28) was let go this week stemming from his role as a partial instigator in the situation with Charlie Haas. Haas was fired/quit on at the show in Asheville on 3/30. Haas was said to have been behaving erratically backstage. But Redwood, who some praised in standing up to Haas, by taking off Haas’ cap and stepping on it, has instigated things getting worse. Redwood apparently felt the TV match he lost to Haas taped in Chicago on 3/3 was too one-sided. Haas giving him a hard backhand slap that led to a skirmish that had to be broken up.

The TV is going to expand since Sinclair Broadcasting has just purchased the assets of Fisher Communications, a Seattle-based company which owned 13 full power stations and even low-power stations. Sinclair is now seeking $1 billion in loans to refinance their $2.27 billion in debt from all its expansions. They are also selling $600 million in bonds to pay down their existing debt. When all is said and done, this will give ROH television in 61 markets. This will give ROH its first real West Coast TV presence, with the key new markets being Seattle and Portland. They’ll also have TV in Boise, Idaho Falls, Spokane, Eugene and Yakima, so they’ll have plenty of area markets for Northwest tours. The other major market this purchase will give them TV in would be Bakersfield.

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Austin Healy Aries ‏@AustinAries 3m

Hmm..bad day for the Boston Police and Counter Terrorism Task Force. Multiple bombs snuck into such a high profile event? How? #AskQuestions

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news stuff

NA

Rumor has it that Bound for Glory in October will be in San Diego, but that’s not yet official.

The next live show is 4/25 in Indiana, PA. On the second hour of TV that airs this week, the matches they were teasing were the tag title match with Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Hernandez defending against Austin Aries & Bobby Roode, and Velvet Sky vs. Mickie James for the Knockouts title. Nothing was specifically said they would air next week (4/25) or the week after as far as the live crowd was told. But they were pushed as being imminent.

Craig Jenkins, who ran the live shows, is the latest front office person to leave the company.

Kurt Angle has said that when his contract expires, he is looking for a new deal where he would only work some TVs and the PPVs.

Former announcer Don West wrote on twitter, “Just got my biannual royalty check from TNA and if it wasn’t so hilarious it would be sad.”

Notes from the 4/11 tapings in Corpus Christi. They had 3,000 people at the show, and it was heavily papered. Don’t know paid, but this was the first of the shows since they started on the road where they had a weak advance. First show was good. Told the crowd got tired during the second show. A lot of interesting crowd reactions and lack thereof.

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TNA
James Storm got good news with his MRI results. Storm was diagnosed with a partially torn
abdominal muscle on the right side and a pulled groin. He didn’t have a hernia and doesn’t
need surgery. He said that his doctor told him he’d be out six to eight weeks, which puts him
out of the 6/2 Slammiversary show. They had just announced he would be in a four-way tag
team match at Slammiversary with a mystery partner, with the other three teams being the big
three of Christopher Daniels & Kazarian, Austin Aries & Bobby Roode and champs Chavo
Guerrero Jr. & Hernandez. It’s notable that he did an interview on Impact announcing the
four-way match about 90 minutes after he suffered the injury that he had to figure made it
questionable if he’d be able to do the match.

Zema Ion (Michael Paris, 26) had an emergency appendectomy on 5/16. He posted on twitter,
“I’m alive. Seriously, thank you for all the get well wishes. Means the world to me. I was
rushed to the hospital last night (this would have been on 5/15) for sharp stomach pains I was
having. I couldn’t stop puking for like nine straight hours. I didn’t wanna go to the hospital,
but the pain was too much to handle. Thank God I went, as I ended up having appendicitis
and had to have my appendix removed today. I consider this a blessing in disguise too, cuz
the cat scans also revealed I have a tumor on my colon and will eventually need another
surgery to try and remove it. Hoping it’s not cancerous. Pray for me! This really sucks, lol.”
His girlfriend has started a fund raising campaign for him to pay his $30,000 in medical bills.
The appendectomy would probably keep him out of action for three months, unless he rushes
back (Matt Hardy came back from the same thing early and ended up screwed up doing so as
it took him forever to heal and that played a part in a pain pill addiction). But obviously the
second issue is far more serious, as he’s having a biopsy done hoping the tumor isn’t
cancerous.

That would be the second major cancer scare in the less few months of a TNA
talent, as Mickie James had a mass that she doesn’t really like to go into detail on. It wasn’t
cancerous, but there was a period where she didn’t know that was pretty rough. Neither were
in-ring injuries. TNA has gotten a lot of criticism and it does look bad publicly when a
television star is looking for help with medical bills. To me, in this day and age, it’s really
scary, and I know how expensive it is, but for a full-time wrestler not to have health
insurance because anyone can get something serious at any time. A full-time wrestler’s odds
are much greater, especially a high flyer. Paris is one of three children of a single mom who
came from the Philippines as a mail order bride and has been doing indies since the age of 16.
The bad part is the premiums to get that insurance if you’re a prelim pro wrestler in TNA is
probably way out of the price range. WWE now has mandated all its wrestlers have medical
coverage (the company pays for in-ring injuries and has taken care of stars for gym injuries,
but the company does not provide full medical coverage), but everyone on the roster there is
at least making decent money and most are making great money.

TNA scored one of its biggest deals to date, working with the Georgia Lottery for a new
Impact Wrestling game, with tickets going on sale this week.

It’s going to be interesting to see TV this week after Impact was at the lowest level in history.
In WWE and WCW, you would see the hotshot angles coming off ratings hitting record lows,
and Eric Bischoff was one of the ones to react quickly. I think some of the drop has been
WWE’s adding Main Event, because Main Event has always done in the same realm, and of
late has beaten Impact. We learned from the brief Monday Night Wars how TNA really
doesn’t have a big audience of unique fans, and its TV audience is a lot of WWE fans who
will watch TNA on Thursday because they like wrestling, but most won’t spend money on it.
The lack of a superstar babyface hurts but it’s not like you can wave your magic wand. They
are clearly attempting with A.J. Styles, and he may benefit personally from a fresh coat of
paint, I’ve never seen him as “the guy.” He’s super talented in the ring but the promos have
never been at the level needed (I know you can argue Jeff Hardy who was super over a few
years back without great promos but Hardy had far more natural charisma).

They are trying with Matt Morgan. The fact this is happening when they are coming off a really strong main
event angle with all the Bully Ray stuff isn’t good. Aces and 8s has been a negative from day
one but they are so locked into it. Hogan and Sting as the top faces doesn’t work. WCW
collapsed with Hogan & Sting in top spots in 1999 when they were 46 and 40, so imagine at
59 and 54. I think there’s a role for both, and Sting challenging Bully for the title wouldn’t be
so bad if you were doing 12 PPVs a year and it was a few week build as opposed to several
months. Sting is the legend you cycle in, like Hogan was ten years ago in WWF, but he’s
probably best in for two months once a year. But that’s just not how wrestling works today.
There is a value of Hogan with the brand if it leads to things like video game deals, and it
does open doors, but it’s not like TNA has a lot of licensees and they are struggling
financially. I can also tell you that people with full knowledge of the contract deals with
experience that were involved in the decision making had been negative of bringing back
Sting at a high price. But Dixie Carter has always been strong on him, and has annually
convinced him to give them one more year. This year is the seventh “one more year,” if
you’re keeping track.

Hogan can be a regular as a G.M. but he has to be a background player and not the star of the
TV show, but he’s such an easy crutch because live he’s always getting the Hogan reaction.
But they are now way below the ratings the show was getting before they ever even had
Hogan or Jeff Hardy so we’ve already seen what building around him means. Right now
TNA is suffering from the lack of a developmental program to bring in new people and
moving away from an emphasis on being better in the ring, which was never going to make
them No. 1, but at least could give them a calling card.

When Hogan did a press conference in Las Vegas, he spoke about having one more match,
noting, “The main problem is my knee. I keep cutting on it, and I can’t seem to get it right.”
He also said, “I shouldn’t be in there unless, for some reason, it’s to make the company better
or help some young guy reach the next level. For me to get into the ring and wrestle doesn’t
make sense for anybody. Until I can get physically straightened out, I couldn’t do it anyway.”
As noted, the plan was to build to a Hogan vs. Bully Ray encounter of some sorts, likely for
Bound for Glory this year, if Hogan can do enough to get by.

_________________

That looks bad.

_________________

Listening to the Law last night with Slammiversary coming up, who they will put in the Hall of Fame, is it Hogan, possibly if still around more, Jeff Jarrett.

The interesting one thrown out is Savage, do the whole Poffo family.

I think Macho only had 1 match in TNA and the last he ever did (or didn't do) wrestling related was no -show a TNA ppv main event.

My guess would be they go with Hogan while he's still under contract. I'd go with JJ or Angle. If there's no reason to bring JJ back (and I don't see why there would be at this point) then pass on him. Also if it's an anniversary show, I'd bring back Don West even if it's only 1 night.

_________________

It's an easy slam on Vince, if they do. Hell, induct Miss Elizabeth, too. And a box of Slim Jims

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

**SPOILERS** Hulk Hogan Accident Part of Storyline
By No Pants Cretin
May 27, 2013 - 1:35:24 AM

Report by Drop In @ Score670.com

In an effort to bring reality into company storylines, Hulk Hogan's accident is actually part of the running feud with Bully Ray and Brooke. We're told this is also going to be worked into a relationship with TNA's new main sponsor, www.autopartsexpresstoyoutoday.com. The company recently signed a ten year deal with TNA, where they will pay $61.00 per week to "bring Impact to you". Whenever you can sign a long term contract, especially one that will bring any revenue to the company, you jump at the opportunity, said Dixie Carter. We're told the payoff could be an exploding radiator on a pole match between Hogan and Bully Ray at Bound for Glory. There have been discussions to have Bob Holly as special enforcer referee, leading to a full time role with the company with a Sparky Plug type gimmick. More as we have it.

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Dixie Carter ✔ @TNADixie

And the ink is just drying on a BIG free agent that will rock #ImpactLIVE on @SpikeTV. Tune in & join us on this summer adventure.
































I LIKE SWIMMING POOLS!!

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Please tell me thats not true

My story about integrating Hogan's accident, and Eugene coming on board, are both false. The BIG free agent tweet was real. However, it's really telling about the current state of TNA that you had to ask.

_________________

With Dixie Carter and comments like that, ANYTHING is possible.

I'm going to say Rob Van Dam, and not a single fuck will be given on this day.

_________________

No matter who it is no one will give a fuck.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."