IMPACT WRESTLING officially announced the signing of X-Division star Austin Aries, in what company officials are signaling as the first of several upcoming signees to a reinvigorated X-Division following the success of Sunday night's "Destination X" live pay-per-view event. If you missed it, watch the replay of the "Destination X" event on your cable or satellite provider!
Aries, who will officially be joining the X-Division roster Thursday night on IMPACT WRESTLING (9pm ET/PT on Spike) earned a contract by winning a four-way match against hopefuls Low Ki, Zema Ion and Jack Evans in an unbelievable bout; IMPACT ZONE fans began a chant of "Sign them all!" after Aries took the win that went worldwide with a #SignThemAll trending topic across Twitter.
"Austin's unique style and intensity will be a great addition to the X Division," TNA Vice President of Talent Relations Bruce Prichard said. "Aries brings an arrogance and a confidence backed by tremendous physical ability."
In addition to Aries signing, Prichard added, "based off of various X Division performances throughout qualifying events on IMPACT WRESTLING and Sunday night's outstanding "Destination X" pay-per-view, TNA will be signing several new additions to the X-Division roster in coming weeks.
July 14, 2011
TNA Touts Aries Signing, More X Division Stars
Details on Recent Changes to the WWE Creative Team
There have been some significant changes to the WWE creative team lately as Brian Gewirtz is no longer the RAW head writer and Michael Hayes is no longer the SmackDown head writer as both have been moved a step above the head writer position.
Gewirtz’s role now is to give ideas and set up the main direction for both shows, and transmit the ideas Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon have for what they want on the show. Hayes’ new role is to be the guy who also gives ideas for both RAW and SmackDown, but he’s also the guy who oversees the agents and tells them what key things have to be included in TV matches.
David Kapoor (Ranjin Singh) is now the head of RAW as he and his staff put together the scripts, but he is the actual writer. Ed Koskey is now doing the same thing on the SmackDown side. Both Koskey and Kapoor report to Brian Gewirtz, who reports to Stephanie McMahon, who then reports back to Vince McMahon. Hayes will also be working with Vince and Triple H on major show finishes.
Stephanie McMahon recently hired a man named Ian Jones for the new position of show runner. The buzz coming out of the company is that Jones has limited or no pro wrestling background. His role is described as essentially managing the television product.
sources: wrestling observer newsletter and prowrestling.net
This Day in Wrestling History
Happy Birthday to Jeff Jarrett
July 14, 1967
Happy Birthday to Bubba Ray Dudley
July 14, 1971
NWA's air time on the Atlanta based Superstation, WTBS is taken over by WWF(E). After several complaints from NWA fans, Vince McMahon responds by saying "We'll show those complainers the difference between a major league and minor league production, given time." NWA wrestling was quickly reinstated on WTBS.
July 14, 1984
Lex Luger defeated Barry Windham for the WCW Heavyweight title.
July 14, 1991
D-Lo Brown defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the WWF(E) European Heavyweight title.
July 14, 1998
July 13, 2011
Rumor Mill - WWE Holds New Focus Group Sessions
According to a report by PWInsider.com, a research group held a various focus groups in the New York City market asking males and fmales from ages 18 to 54 who are or were former WWE fans to take part. This focus group discussed the current WWE product, positives and negatives and why no longer were interested in watching the product on a regular basis. The report added that WWE ordered the focus groups to begin to "strategize ways to bring fans back to the product and identity weaknesses in the current product."
Bill DeMott on a second season of "Tough Enough"
On his official Twitter account when asked if there would be a second season of "Tough Enough", Bill DeMott responded saying yes and he was slated to return as a trainer. DeMott then seemed to back track later writing on Twitter, "if and when there is another season of @wwetoughenough it will be @steveaustinBSR,@trishstratuscom ,@BookerT5X and myself..IF."
source: wrestleview.com
Rumor Mill - Hulk Hogan Holds Meeting with TNA Talent
Hulk Hogan held a meeting with TNA talent on Tuesday before the Impact Wrestling tapings. According to Jason Powell of Prowrestling.net, Hogan stressed that the wrestlers "need to step up their games when it comes to storytelling in the ring", something that has been mentioned in prior meetings.
Dixie Carter was also part of the meeting asking if anyone had any questions. We are told the wrestlers were not very receptive to the meeting and declined to ask anything when Carter gave them the opportunity to do so. It should be noted that TNA creative writers Vince Russo and Matt Conway did not attend the meeting. Various talent in TNA took that as a sign that Russo may not be on the same page as Hogan, but a lot of that was looked at as pure speculation as it hasn't been revealed why Russo didn't attend the meeting.
WrestleMania Special on NBC
For the third consecutive year, NBC and WWE® will bring the world’s biggest pop-culture extravaganza to network television when WrestleMania: The World Premiere airs Saturday, August 13 at 9 pm ET / 8 pm CT. For one night only, NBC will be the place viewers can witness their favorite WWE Superstars such as Dwayne “The Rock®” Johnson, John Cena®, Triple H®, Undertaker®, The Miz® and Randy Orton® entertain a record-breaking sold-out crowd of 71,617 fans at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The hour-long special will feature highlights from WrestleMania XXVII, including: the return of the The People’s Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who served as The World’s Most Electrifying Host of WrestleMania; the Jersey Shore’s beloved Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi proving to the world how tough she really is in a six-person tag team match with Dolph Ziggler®, WWE Divas LayCool™ (Michelle McCool® and Layla®), Vickie Guerrero®, John Morrison® and USA Network’s Tough Enough® trainer Trish Stratus®; a historic match between two of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time, Undertaker and Triple H, that had more than 71,000 fans on their feet in awe of this classic match-up; plus, the highly anticipated main-event between bitter rivals John Cena and The Miz for the WWE Championship, all set to music from today’s hottest acts.
John Cena Not Only Expects Anti-Cena Crowd In Chicago -- He Wants It
John Cena loves Chicago — even if the feeling isn’t exactly mutual.
The eight-time WWE Champion and two-time World Heavyweight Champion made his debut at the Allstate Arena in 2002 and headlined Wrestlemania in the same venue four years later. In his opinion, Chicago has one of the three best wrestling crowds in the country along with New York and Philadelphia.
But the Chicago area is also where Cena — the face of WWE and this generation’s Hulk Hogan — was cursed out by the crowd in 2006 as he inducted former Bears star and Wrestlemania 2 participant William “Refrigerator” Perry into the WWE Hall of Fame at the Rosemont Theatre...More?
source: chicagotribune.com
July 12, 2011
