Jim Ross Talks TNA Needing To Make Changes

Jim Ross stopped for an in-depth interview with Submission Radio over the weekend and spoke about TNA:

"Well they have to find a North American cable television partner. They gotta find it by the 1st of the year because that's when there extension with Spike ends. So they have to find that partner that pays them enough rights fees to help pay their bills. They can't make, it I don't think - that's my assumptions - I am assuming that TNA Impact wrestling cannot survive long term, simply on the money they earn outside the United States or outside North America. It's just not there to pay their bills, and other than that, they're gonna have to do some retooling on their business model and they're gonna have to work on their budget. So if they don't have that money, I think it's imperative that they get an North American cable outlet that pays them enough money to help them keep their doors open. And I hope that they succeed. They have a potential to be a good brand. I think they have a very variable talent roaster, but I would put it in terms this way, some of them are cast wrong if you wanna use a showbiz term. They're in the wrong rolls, and using an American Football term I think they're running the wrong system. Their talents aren't being used to fit the talent's strengths. But I have a lot of friends that work there and I hope they get a second chance and that they succeed in the future.

"TNA's gotta change the way they present their product if they do get in a new environment, and if they do, they have to become the alternative to the WWE and not be compared as a 'WWE lite' comparison."



You can check out the full interview by clicking here (starting at the 55:14 mark).

No WWE Guests On JR's Podcast

WWE has allowed several of their talents to appear on podcasts for Steve Austin and Chris Jericho but not Jim Ross. A fan on Twitter asked Ross about Ric Flair possibly appearing on The Ross Report and JR replied with the following:

"No. Flair's a wwe guy. WWE hasn't approved any podcast guests for me."

Stephanie McMahon and WWE to promote Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Connor Michalek left a special mark in WWE. WWE’s Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon met the 8-year-old superfan at the 2014 Royal Rumble in Connor’s hometown of Pittsburgh, PA and she could never forget their heart-warming meeting.

To show support for “Connor the Crusher,” WWE will raise awareness for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month throughout September wtih a special campaign. McMahon will turn her social media profiles gold, the internationally recognized color for childhood cancer awareness, and will proudly display gold ribbons to show her support for finding a cure. Other parts of the campaign to spread awareness have not yet been revealed. Before the campaign kicked off on September 1st, McMahon published an article on Huffington Post about Connor’s lasting effect on her.

In June 2014, McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque formed Connor’s Cure fund through Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation in honor of his memory. Net proceeds from all Stephanie McMahon Authentic T-shirts will be donated to Connor’s Cure.

Trish Stratus Talks About Her Relationship With Lita, Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon, Movies, More

Given how many things Trish Stratus has on the go at any one time -- acting, running her Stratusphere Yoga business, raising her son -- it's no surprise that she has to multi-task, like conduct this interview over the phone while taking her son out for a walk. Or like this weekend, where she'll combine a visit from her "bestie," Amy "Lita" Dumas, with an appearance at Fan Expo Canada.

"Team Bestie" will be at the event, which takes place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this Thursday through Sunday, where they will be holding autograph sessions, photo ops, and a joint Q&A session.

"It's great any time I get to spend time hanging out with Amy," Stratus told SLAM! Wrestling. "We have to work at (scheduling things), but in some ways it can be easy. She can say, 'Hey, I've got this project coming up, so I'm going to swing through Toronto for a couple of days on my way there.' In fact, we just baptized (Stratus' son) Max about a month ago, and (Amy) came in to Toronto for that."

Fan Expo Canada is the largest event the two have done jointly on their current "Team Bestie" tour, and Stratus is looking forward to getting to spend a full four days with Dumas this time.

"We have so much that we can relate to each other," she explained about their tight bond. "It's nice that we were able to stay friends beyond (wrestling). It's funny, because we're total opposites in a lot of ways. On paper, you'd never think that we would hang out together. But we lived so much of our lives together on the same path -- we were in the trenches together, from the beginning all the way through the end when we both retired -- that we just stayed in touch."

More?

This Day In Wrestling History

Ric Flair defeated "Macho Man" Randy Savage for the WWF(E) Heavyweight Title.
September 1, 1992

10 Insights Into Working With Triple H

Triple H & Stephanie McMahon's Muscle & Fitness Photo Shoot

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon had a photo shoot for Muscle & Fitness magazine today at WWE headquarters in Stamford.

Batista Talks Not Being Happy With Latest WWE Return

Batista is Chris Jericho's guest on the latest episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast, which you can listen to here. During the interview, Batista talked about his latest WWE run being "bad from the start."

"It was just bad from right off the bat," Batista admitted (props to MStarz for the transcription). "They said, 'We want you to come out and do this thing with Hunter and Steph and Randy,' and I was like, 'First night back and you can't give me five minutes in the ring by myself in front if the fans?

"I told them from the very beginning [making me a babyface] isn't going to work. They said, 'Nah, man. They love you. They love you. They miss you.' That's going to last for 30 seconds. I said, 'They want to hate me and I'm good at that.'"

9 Examples Of WWE CEO Vince McMahon's Insane Work Ethic

WWE Nixes Plans to Bring Back Tough Enough for the WWE Network

We noted back in July that the new season of WWE Tough Enough, scheduled to be filmed at the Performance Center in Orlando, was being pushed back due to budget cuts.

There had been talk of shooting the show in the fall but in recent weeks there were no discussions about filming. The budget for Tough Enough was heavily reduced this past week and then the show was scrapped altogether. No word yet if WWE will film the show at a later date but for now it's not happening.

Former NFL Player No Longer Affiliated with WWE

Former NFL star Shawne Merriman had been training to be a wrestler and an announcer, reportedly signing a deal with WWE around WrestleMania time. Merriman is no longer under contract and has no affiliation with WWE.

Sting names fallback opponent if he can't get his match with Undertaker

WWE star Sting spoke with Brian Fritz of the Orlando Sentinel and once again expressed his desire to wrestle Undertaker. "I do believe I have enough left in my tank for one more match and I would love for that match to be against (Under)Taker," Sting said.

"If that can’t happen, Triple H, I think. I just would like to have one more match. I would love to say I had one match under the WWE banner and, of course, WrestleMania. Who wouldn’t want to say that they wrestled at WrestleMania at least one time?" Read the full story at OrlandoSentinel.com.