Joe's 411: B/R Pro-Wrestling News (July 19, 2009)

Welcome to an all-new Joe's 411: B/R Pro-Wrestling News, the July 19 edition. From Kurt Angle injury news to someone else trashing the WWE, I have the scoop. It is now time for the 411.

Kurt Angle's Injury

Kurt Angle is in a lot of projects as of now. The House Shows along with iMPACT tapings are for TNA Wrestling, and then he is acting in a new movie where he plays an MMA star. He is obviously doing MMA Fight scenes which require him to do extensive MMA moves. And of course by doing this, injuries can happen.

After doing that, he has to go wrestle at House Shows the following or same day as the filming. This all came to a head last night. Angle was unable to wrestle at a TNA House Show because he suffered a groin injury on the set of the film.

He apparently went down hard and did a split like move on his knees which put a lot of pressure on the bones and ligaments in the groin area. Therefore it is classified as a groin injury naturally.

Now, he is still set to face Mick Foley tonight at Victory Road. This is supposed to be a huge PPV for TNA, so he will need to be there. He is their World Champion, and because of this, he definitely will be in the last match on the card in the main event.

Jeremy Borash mentioned today that Angle was significantly better than yesterday, which is a good sign.

The last match may be shorter than originally planned though, because TNA of course does not want to further hurt Angle in any way possible. No word on if Angle is dropping the title tonight.

However, if he is I'd expect an interruption, causing him to lose. This could be by Sting, Jeff Jarrett, or another person entirely.

Word is that Bobby Lashley is going to be there tonight (Probably to point again). So he could be a possible interrupter. This could also be something that helps Angle too, where Lashley comes out and it distracts Foley where Angle could get the roll-up and win.

In any case, I don't expect a long main event. There are a ton of matches tonight, so I don't think TNA will be angry that one of its matches went a little short. However, most would want the main event match to be the longest one.

Ron Simmons and the HOF

While we all love Ron Simmons or Faarooq for most of his wrestling career. He was a stand out on the football field before his WCW and WWE days. In fact, the man was so good that he was inducted in the Florida State Hall of Fame a little while back.

But now, a new Hall of Fame came calling, the College Football HOF. Simmons along with Troy Aikman, Thurman Thomas, Rod Smith, Jay Novacek, Randall McDaniel, Wilber Marshall, and Lou Holtz were all part of an autograph signing at the College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival in downtown South Bend, IN on Saturday were they are set to be inducted.

Simmons still holds FSU records for career tackles for loss (44), forced fumbles (17), and he ranks 2nd for all-time career tackles (483).

That is an impressive amount of accomplishments. If you know anything about college football, you know one team is talked about every year, and that is Florida State. Tons of NFL players came from FSU, and we know of a few who went into wrestling.

You have Simmons of course, but does anyone know a certain WWE Diva named Michelle McCool? She graduated from there and went into teaching science at a High School. I personally wish I had her as a teacher in High School, I probably would have paid more attention.

She left her teaching career after she did the WWE Diva search, and the rest is history.

But back to Simmons.....

Many know of Simmons' football accomplishments now, but how soon will the WWE recognize his impact on the wrestling business?

My question to the readers, will Simmons ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame?

Karen Angle living with Jeff Jarrett?

In a weird story, a man who claimed to work for TNA called into the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show Wednesday morning.

He called in to say that Karen Angle and her children are presently living with Jeff Jarrett.

The man noted that TNA president Dixie Carter was irate and threatening to fire Jarrett or buy his company stake out as a result of the situation.

Bubba tried to call Kurt Angle to confirm this person's story, but he did not answer his phone.

For those of you who do not know, Bubba the Love Sponge radio show has its loyal followers, one being Kurt Angle. So I am sure he was listening to the whole show, and I would guess he was upset.

Now for what it's worth, Kurt said during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show back in March that Karen had an affair with a fellow TNA wrestler.

Kurt claimed she'd stay out all night and later tell him she was hanging out with friends in the hotel lobby. Kurt said he cheated on her "a couple of times" while they were separated, but felt she was sleeping around to get back at him.

Kurt went on to say he didn't want to reveal the name of the wrestler and seemed to be real awkward about the situation.

Karen filed for divorce from Kurt last September, which was later finalized on Oct. 26, 2008.

My thinking process would start to be triggered by the whole Dixie Carter part of the story. We do know that Jarrett is the TNA Founder and part owner of TNA. While Carter has a stake in the company, she could never fire him.

Jarrett would never sell his stake in the company either, so the whole thing is kind of far fetched as of now. We do need to realize that Jarrett has three daughters, and if Karen is currently living with him, that they are not doing anything with them there.

She also has children of her own, which would further add to that. Jarrett is said to have a guest home next door to his own. So, I would not be surprised if he let her live there.

Karen does however have money, so its not like she is poor in any way. Kurt has to pay child support, which means the kids are taken care of. Karen has been modeling for a little while once she left TNA, too.

So, I would think she would have money to have her own place.

Also, one would think that after the divorce, Kurt would move out of the home they were living in because Karen would have the children.

There is a lot to think about regarding the situation. So we cannot immediately believe the whole story right now.

Kurt may have told Stern that a Karen was seeing a TNA Wrestler, but because Kurt did not reveal the wrestler we will probably believe any story out there regarding who Karen had an affair with.

I would think that is something below a guy like Jarrett, but you never know I guess. I won't believe it right now until it is undeniable truth.

I feel we need to hear from Kurt to really know the truth about all of this. I am sure Jarrett wouldn't answer anything.

Now we do need to realize something. Angle has not signed a TNA Contract extension yet. We all know he told a house show crowd he was staying, yet we have heard nothing.

If Angle leaves TNA, we may be able to believe this story. I mean what man would want to work for the guy who took his wife? Especially when he could jump ship and go to a better promotion where he would make more money. I'm Just Saying.

TNA's Video Game News

In what has been an ongoing issue, Midway Games has not had a lot of success financially. This is why they had to sell their company. 

Midway Games completed its sale to Time Warner Inc. on July 10 for $49 million. Midway's corporate employees have been given 60 days notice that their Chicago offices will be closed. That is approximately 46 percent of the company's global workforce of Midway.

While this was good for business, it was not good for TNA, of course.

In the sale to Time Warner, the San Diego studio that developed the TNA iMPACT! video game as well as the TNA video game license were not a part of the deal. Midway is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which means those assets will be sold separately.

The Los Angeles Times has an article looking at some recent layoffs at Midway Games. It talks about how the company cut 46 percent of its 520 employees in the last few days including 100 developers in its San Diego office that were working on the "TNA Impact 2" game. According to TNA talent Samoa Joe, the game was currently in development.

The game was set to be released around the same time it was last year (September), but now it looks like that won't be happening.

TNA was not smart to go with Midway Games, if you ask me. They didn't have a contract with them that went on for a few years. They had the company make the last TNA iMPACT Game, but that was a one-time deal.

When they saw the small success of the game, the decided to make another. However, Midway Games has been a company people knew was in trouble financially since January of this year.

It is sad that TNA offered to have them do another after knowing this, which meant they knew Midway may not be around in a few months. This is obviously not a good business move.

Midway Games is now no more, and because TNA side of things have not been sold, no one knows what will happen to the TNA iMPACT, the video game franchise.

Those who spoke to TNA management about it said they had no comment on the issue right now, but I feel they will have a lot to say if the game is not picked up by someone.

TNA's Newest Knockout Debuting Soon!

As the 411 reported, TNA signed a new knockout from Japan recently, Ayako Hamada. 

TNAWrestlingNews.com is reporting that Hamada has arrived in the United States and is scheduled to make her TNA debut during next week's slate of television tapings.

The tapings usually start Tuesday and end on Thursday in Universal Studios (Orlando, Fla.)

TNA recently debuted two other Knockouts at this past TNA taping, so it looks as if TNA has really addressed their lack of female talent. With the new International Knockouts, I am sure TNA will have more success overseas.

While Knockouts or female wrestlers are not usually a big drawing card here, overseas they can be effective. In Japan, female matches are treated like men's matches. If they are good crowds will love them and want to see them wrestle often.

This results in more marketing opportunities for the female wrestlers and make them a big drawing card. While they are not usually the main event, they are higher up on the card.

Usually we don't have great female talent in America, there are exceptions to that rule. However, we are not known for great female talent here in America. The best female talent is in Mexico and Japan if you ask me.

Apparently TNA thought this too, which is why they landed their two International Knockouts from those two areas.

ROH News

ROH seems to be getting even bigger now that they are on TV. We have seen Ric Flair come on the show and we have also seen a few TNA wrestlers make their way back.

This seems to be a pattern growing as two former TNA wrestlers will make ROH appearances in the coming months.

Former TNA Knockout Roxxi will be debuting in Ring of Honor under her old name (Nikki Roxx) at the August 14 TV tapings for HDNet in Philadelphia.

Another former TNA wrestler Petey Williams will also return to ROH for events on September 18 and 19 in Dayton, OH and Chicago.

ROH is not the next TNA where we will see older veterans go after they are cast out of WWE or another promotion. They are firmly set on using younger stars and not older ones.

If we do see TNA or WWE cast outs, they are not going to be older stars. People such as Ric Flair are different.

Flair was not there to wrestle. He was there to sign autographs and help add a little star power along with adding a small storyline.

We won't see Kevin Nashes or Booker Ts in ROH; the promotion probably won't take people who are 35 and up who have not been with the company before.

Jeff Hardy Update

The current talks within the company about Jeff Hardy seem to be staying the same. Hardy has yet to sign a new deal with them, and is probably going to take an extended break when his contract ends.

WWE officials are trying to get him to stay through Summerslam, which is when Undertaker has been talked about coming back.

The current plan is that Hardy will stay through Summerslam and leave afterward.

Hardy has mentioned that he wants to come back after taking a year or so off though. He wants to take a break to rest his body and do other projects he has wanted to do but couldn't for a while.

So don't be sad Hardy fans, he will be back.

Hardy is not going to jump ship to TNA or another wrestling promotion, mainly because he knows that the WWE would probably have him main event and win more titles if he stayed.

He would also make more money there, and the WWE fans love him. So because of all of this, Hardy won't wrestle anywhere other than the WWE.

That is, if the WWE will take him back when he is ready to make his wrestling return. That is not set in stone, the WWE does not need him to survive of course.

However, because Hardy has done everything the WWE has asked of him up until now, they know they can trust him and that he is loyal to them. Vince likes that in Hardy, and in any other wrestler.

So when Hardy wants to come back, my personal opinion would be that the WWE would take him.

But fans need to plan on not seeing him for a while, as he is planning to take a long amount of time off if he doesn't re-sign with the WWE soon.

Maria Update

While it is still in the rumor stage, there is a report out saying that WWE Diva Maria has talked about giving in her notice to the WWE if she does not get a better contract.

The same thing happened with Rey Mysterio a while back. We later found out that he and the WWE were not getting along regarding his current WWE deal and the rumor about friction between the two parties was true.

I personally feel that Maria has no leverage regarding contract talks. Her current WWE deal has not been released, but I would think that because she has not wrestled on TV in some time now, that she is lucky to still be there.

She is just now getting into a storyline with Dolph Ziggler and may go heel soon. She would also get more TV time out of the whole storyline, and because Ziggler is getting increased popularity lately, she is getting into a nice storyline for her career.

I personally feel the rumor is false, but you never know. I feel that if is is true, and Maria is in fact upset about her current WWE deal, she won't get far in contract negotiations.

411 Article to Read

When I see an article I like, I feel that it should have tons of reads. I mean, if its truly good then it should have a lot of reads and comments.

So because I have seen these articles, I am promoting them on the 411 to help them out a little. The article today comes from Christi Lott

She is considered to be the person to go to for all things TNA Knockout or WWE Diva related. She didn't let us down here, as she wrote a very nice article on two new knockouts in TNA.

Make sure to check it out and comment!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/220403-tna-gets-it-right-new-knockouts-give-memorable-match

Small 411:

Recently signed SHIMMER stand out Serena Deeb made her debut in WWE's Florida Championship Wrestling at Thursday night's live event in Punta Gorda, Fla.

She teamed with Maria and Angela Fong, and the trio defeated Alicia Fox, Natalya, and Layla in a six-Diva tag match. Deeb simply went under the name Serena in her WWE developmental debut.

ROH is keeping up with tradition. They are currently looking for locations in the Arizona near Phoenix around Wrestlemania Weekend. This is something the promotion has done for a few years now.

That is all for the 411 today, make sure to come back next time!

credit: wrestlingtruth.com, wwe.com, tnawrestling.com, wrestlenewz.com, wrestlingblog.com, UK Sun, pwmania.com, pwtorch.com, ewrestlingnews.com, prowrestling.com, prowrestling.net, lordsofpain.com