Here is a belated round up of all the happenings in TNA (along with other non-WWE news) in 2010:
January:
Speaking to The Sun in the UK, TNA President Dixie Carter said that the company’s signing of Hulk Hogan (Hogan joined TNA in October 2009) was "absolutely the right time and it was meant to happen". Dixie also talked about TNA’s move to Monday nights (head-to-head with WWE) with the live "IMPACT!" on January 4, 2010 ["How I define success is just being there. Just the fact that we are there on Monday night is a huge success for us. It makes the exact statement that we want to make. This is a marathon not a sprint. The ratings, quite honestly, are irrelevant."].
The live-3 hour edition of "IMPACT!" on January 4, 2010, ended up getting a 2.2 rating, the show’s highest up to that point on Spike TV. (The bad news was that it still didn’t beat WWE’s Raw show, although many people didn’t expect them to right off the bat).
The show (which was one of TNA’s strongest up that point, and was choc-full of former WWE and WCW Superstars, some making "cameo" appearances, others making their official TNA debut) featured the company debut of Hulk Hogan, who teased an "NWO" reunion with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman (but then backed down and talked about building TNA for the future), the TNA return of Jeff Hardy (who marked his comeback with an exclamation point by drilling X-Division competitor Homicide with a truly brutal steel chair shot to the head), the TNA debut of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (who observed the great TNA World Heavyweight Championship main event between AJ Styles and Kurt Angle), the return of Sting (who hadn’t been seen in months and in WCW-like fashion, observed the commotion between Hogan, Nash, Hall, Waltman and Eric Bischoff from the arena rafters), an appearance by legendary tag-team The Nasty Boys (who kick-started a feud with Team 3D), plus uncredited appearances by Shannon Moore and Val Venis (who wasn’t referred to by name, but had all the Venis character traits; playing a game of "Strip Poker" with The Beautiful People in a backstage segment). Also, two championships changed hands: ODB beat Tara to regain the TNA Knockouts’ Championship and Awesome Kong & Sarita defeated Taylor Wilde & Sarita to become the new TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Champions.
Elsewhere on the show, Matt Morgan & Hernandez defeated Raven and Dr. Stevie to earn a TNA World Tag-Team Championship Match against The British Invasion at Genesis on January 17, and AJ Styles retained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle in the aforementioned main event.
Speaking on BJ Shea’s Morning Experience on January 4 (ahead of TNA’s live, 3-hour edition of "IMPACT!"), Hulk Hogan said that he’d had the chance to return to WWE a few months before joining TNA, but "didn't want to play the political game with Shawn Michaels and Triple H" (he also said he "didn't want to be getting in trouble because the fans cheered too loud for me."). Hogan also compared jumping to TNA to him moving to WCW in 1994, saying, "WWE is in a whole lot of trouble".
TNA President Dixie Carter was pleased with the rating for "IMPACT!" on January 4, and tweeted the following:
"Thank you, thank you for helping TNA set RECORD ratings in every way last night. We ALL won."
Spike TV officials were also impressed with the rating.
Shortly after his appearance on the live "IMPACT!", Wrestling Epicenter.Com reported that Jeff Hardy apparently had a verbal agreement to return to WWE, which made his TNA return all the more surprising. It was also reported that Hardy had allegedly signed a short-term deal with TNA.
It was reported that Ric Flair had signed a deal with TNA just days prior to the "IMPACT!" special on January 4. It was believed that Flair had signed a guaranteed money deal for 1 year, with the option to make personal appearances outside of TNA.
According to reports, Hamada suffered an ankle injury during the TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Championship Match on January 4. However, she managed to continue the match and also work the TV tapings the following night.
TNA Superstar Frankie Kazarian (who at the time was playing the masked character Suicide) married TNA Knockout Traci Brooks on January 7. In a classic case of pro wrestling irony, Christopher Daniels (who portrayed the Suicide character while Kazarian was out injured) was the best man. Many TNA wrestlers and performers (and even a few WWE ones) were in attendance for the ceremony.
In a Facebook chat, TNA writer Vince Russo picked WWE Superstar Randy Orton as the WWE performer he would like to see in TNA. Russo also noted that TNA were considering replacing the six-sided ring with a more traditional four-sided one and that a 2nd TNA "brand" had been discussed.
Tomko returned on the January 14 edition of "IMPACT!" as the mystery masked assailant who’d been jumping AJ Styles for the past few weeks.
Elsewhere, TNA Knockout Angelina Love returned; sitting ringside for the TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Championship Match between Awesome Kong & Hamada and The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne W/ Lacey Von Erich). After the match, Love jumped Lacey Von Erich and then attacked Velvet Sky; officially breaking her ties with the "BP" faction.
TNA Genesis took place on January 17 and was a mixed bag overall. For fans in the UK, it was a disaster, as it was only available via BT Vision (which virtually no one had) as Bravo had for some reason dropped the PPV events from their schedule. With a UK tour on the horizon, this wasn't the best time to lose some of their TV presence in the UK ("IMPACT!" remained on Bravo).
Even U.S. fans who saw the PPV were miffed when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff began the show by announcing that the six-sided ring was history (Hogan even referred to it as a "play-pen") and that they were going back to the traditional 4-sides (which prompted a loud and very audible chant of "We Want Six-Sides!" from the TNA audience). Fans in attendance were also annoyed by the near-constant camera presence of Hogan’s daughter Brooke (who later received another very audible chant of "Sit Down Brooke!") and in the second match of the evening, literally turned their backs on ex-WWE star Sean "Val Venis" Morley as he defeated the far-more popular, "home-grown" star Christopher Daniels.
Elsewhere on the show, Amazing Red retained the TNA X-Division Championship against "mystery opponent" Brian Kendrick in a good opening match, Tara regained the TNA Knockouts Championship from ODB in a so-so 2-Out-Of-3 Falls Match (ODB was working with a burst implant, which explained why she was slower than usual), Matt Morgan & Hernandez defeated The British Invasion to become the new TNA World Tag-Team Champions in a fair effort, Mr Anderson (making his TNA debut) beat Abyss in a mediocre bout, and AJ Styles retained the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle in the best match of the night when he joined forces with Ric Flair (turning heel in the process) and decked Angle with the belt.
In other news for this month, Karen Angle was reportedly spotted at a series of TNA live events with Jeff Jarrett, which set the rumour mill in motion about a possible return to TV.
In non-TNA news, legendary wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts announced that he would retire from the sport at the end of 2010. Roberts (a huge star back in his WWF/ WCW heyday) had been earning a living on the independent scene in the U.S. and UK, but at the age of 54, now believed that he was no longer physically able to compete.
The Sun in the UK reported that TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Champion Awesome Kong "sucker-punched" controversial Florida radio host Bubba "The Love Sponge" after he’d made some distasteful remarks on Twitter about the disaster in Haiti (his remarks were in response to Kong’s charitable pledge to raise money for the victims). The incident took place at the "IMPACT!" TV tapings and both Kong and Bubba were sent home immediately by TNA officials. (Kong returned for the Tuesday tapings).
According to Bubba (who spoke of the incident on his show):
"She was wearing wrestling gear and she came in on me and sucker punched me right on my left cheek."
"Then she came at me again, hit me again in the mouth, and she goes, 'This if for Haiti! This is for Haiti!' and I'm like 'What is going on?'
"Then she hits me again and finally I put my left hand out and push her away from me, and she comes at me again and I just cover up, because I cannot fight back on a woman.
"Not only will I be fired from TNA, which I probably am, but my radio career is gone if I take a woman out!"
Bubba had been brought into TNA due to his ties with Hogan (there were best friends) and had a job as an "unofficial" backstage announcer/ reporter. Following the incident, Kong referred to him as a "talentless hack" and added that she’d made him "eat his words."
There were reports that Melissa "Alyssa Flash" Anderson had left TNA. Anderson made her debut on January 2008 as Raisha Saeed", the "handler" and "spokeswoman" for Awesome Kong. In 2009, she began portraying two characters, Saeed and the "Future Legend" Alyssa Flash. At Bound For Glory 2009, the "Raisha Saeed" character was written out of the story lines when she was brutally attacked by Kong, but Alyssa Flash remained on TV until Anderson’s departure from the company.
In an update on Awesome Kong, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that following the aforementioned incident with Bubba "The Love Sponge", Kong (real name Kia Stevens) had handed in her notice.
In a further update, Wrestling Epicenter.Com reported that Kong had apparently "been unhappy for some time" and that the Bubba incident was the "final straw." Kong also admitted fault with hitting Bubba, saying she’d only intended to give him a "piece of her mind." Her leaving TNA wasn’t said to be a certainty, but she was at home "pondering her future".
TNA’s European tour at the end of January was a huge success. I attended the show at the Cardiff CIA on January 27 and was very impressed (we even saw a title change: Wales’ own Rob Terry beat Eric Young to become the new TNA Global Champion. The footage was even captured by BBC cameras for "Sport Wales"). The show and the tour in general did not feature the likes of Hogan, Flair, Bischoff etc (or even the 4-sided ring), but demonstrated why TNA could be considered a true alternative to WWE. All the TNA stars on hand performed marvellously and gave the fans a night to remember.
To Be Continued...
Previously posted on Smash Wrestling
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