TEW 10: TNA - Total, Nonstop Administration .. Changes

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TNA Roster





TNA Business

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A Look at the Wrestling World

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Wrestling Observer Breaking News: Hulk Hogan out at TNA

We have learned that at some point in the last hour Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and a laundry list of other employees have left TNA. Whether the talents were fired, quit or a mixture of both we are not sure but we will have more as it becomes available.

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Wrestling Observer Breaking News: Out like a Thief in the Night
The incredible first hand account on Hulk Hogan's shameful exit from TNA

Earlier tonight we told you that Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and a dozen other employees are no longer employed with TNA. In the last several hours we have talked to numerous sources about what transpired but the picture remained hazy. Then, within the last half hour we recieved an e-mail from a very high level TNA employee who detailed the shocking, and somewhat disturbing, exit of Hulk Hogan from TNA. Here, in its entirety, is the e-mail we received:

As someone who has worked in the company of Hulk Hogan for over a decade off and on now, I can honestly say that tonight showed what type of human being Hulk Hogan is. To say he sold our company up the river would be being nice. What he did was quite simply fuck TNA and while it has not put us out of business yet, it has severely hurt our company and in the process has resulted in numerous workers being let go as a way of trying to mitigate the damage. To fully explain the story we must first go back to roughly twelve hours ago, backstage at the Lockdown PPV.

Leading into Lockdown the company was admittedly in a lull. We were losing viewers competing vs Vince as it were, and then Hogan started pitching his brutal ideas that made things even worse. Abyss, who we all love, is not Hulk Hogan. To turn him into Hogan Jr. for the sake of putting Hogan himself over is asinine! Yet as anyone with a brain could see, the inevitable heel turn by Abyss leading to Hogan's triumphant return to the ring was the plan from day one. While there were numerous other bad ideas, this is the idea that set the events after the show in motion. You see, before the show Hogan decided to drop the bomb that at Slamiversary, our biggest show of the year, the Main Event would be Hogan vs Abyss. Yes, Hulk Hogan was to headline TNA's biggest PPV in 2010! With Dixie out of town, Hogan had control, but we figured things would be worked out when she came back.

This is where the other bomb dropped. Hogan, in his infinite wisdom (he is a master politician) decided to take the script, a mere two hours before we go live on PPV, and rip it up, rewriting it to end the show with Abyss inexplicably turning heel and dominating our champion Rob Van Dam. Then Hogan would come out and save the day. The angle would then carry over to Impact! tomorrow, with RVD going for revenge only to be left laying, again. Yes, Abyss, a guy who may go down as being the worst booked character ever was going to take out our champion two nights in a row to set up Hulk Hogan's return.

Dixie, who we soon learned was at a funeral and therefore unavailable, could not obviously be there to stop Hogan. With creative stuck between a rock and a hard place, since they either went through with Hogan's plan and killed TNA completely, or ignored Hogan and started a mutiny, only to be fired when Dixie came back, they just decided to let Hogan and Bischoff take the ball and run with it. Then, thankfully, someone (rumored to be Terry Taylor) went and called Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett was actually told earlier in the day by Hogan to not bother showing up to the PPV. Rather then create drama, Jarrett obliged but sat at home seething. Thankfully whoever our whistle blower was got a hold of Jeff because he showed up breathing fire.

Now it ought to be noted that Dixie Carters dad Bob actually is the man in regards to TNA, but he lets Dixie handle the promotion. As big of a Hogan mark as he is, he knew how bad this whole thing was going to end up so he told Hogan to let the writers do their job and to let Jarrett handle the book. Of course this sent Hogan and Bischoff through the roof, but what could they do? So rather then breach their contracts, they started their own mutiny, telling certain talents, oblivious to this whole mess, they were most likely going to be fired when Dixie came back and even more ex WWE guys would be coming in. I won't say the entire PPV suffered because of this but it was obvious it had an affect on the performances you saw.

But you see, Hogan was not done yet. Bob Carter never fired Hogan. No one told him about the Hogan led mutiny because by then Jarrett was booking a show. He assumed cooler heads would prevail and when Dixie comes back everything would be peachy keen. Instead, as the show was going on, Hogan was on the phone with the guys at Spike telling them how badly TNA was being run and that they need to cut their losses. All this while still on TNA payroll! Of course we didn't know it until after but it was too late. Unfortunately for us Spike looked at Hogan not as the problem, but as the solution. Him failing was unthinkable; it had to be our fault. We are fortunate a few guys there believe in us still or we may have been off TV for good, but instead we have learned our advertising budget has basically been cut in half, and that Spike will no longer subsidize bigger contracts, which means a lot of guys could be gone soon.

What makes this worst of all is that there were a few live specials planned for us on Spike, much like UFC has, and they are not just shelved, but in fact Bischoff and Jason Hervey have been given those slots for some most likely terrible wrestling & music idea they have been pitching forever, starring you guessed it, Hulk Hogan.

So there you have it; Hulk Hogan, like a thief in the night, is out at TNA and taken much of our support at Spike with him. Worst of all Dixie isn't even around to fix this mess and we have TV in under 24 hours. To say things look bleak is an understatement.

We here at the Observer plan to have more as it becomes available but needless to say tomorrows Impact! expects to be a wild night.

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Wrestling Observer Breaking News: TNA loses a division, and then some

We have learned that TNA has decided to cut ties with their entire Knockouts Division today. The issue stems from the fact every Knockout was on a PPA deal and would likely go unused. Also let go was Orlando Jordan, Don West and several other backstage officials.

TNA is planning to tighten their bootstraps as they deal with a loss of advertising that will already hurt their fledgling ratings.

We will have more following the Impact! taping tonight.

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TNA Impact!
Monday, Week 1, May 2010
FL - Germain Arena (South East)
7128 People -- Sellout
TV Taping

Pre-show Dark Match
In a match that had some good action but not much in the way of heat, Samoa Joe defeated Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Shannon Moore, Kiyoshi and Amazing Red in 15:07 when Samoa Joe defeated Shannon Moore by submission with a Coquina Clutch (C+)

Impact opens up with the crowd buzzing after the announcement earlier in the day that Hogan and Bischoff were done in TNA. We cut to the back where Jeff Jarrett is entering the building. He says he will address the TNA fans tonight to let them know what exactly TNA's future is (B+)

In a match that had some good action and average heat, Desmond Wolfe defeated Homicide in 9:59 by pinfall (C+)

In a match that had some good action and average heat, Brian Kendrick defeated Eric Young in 12:15 by pinfall with a Sliced Bread #2 (C-)

We are again backstage, where TNA Champion Rob Van Dam is entering the building. We see him run into Brother Ray who whispers something into his ear. RVD looks shocked initially, then smirks before heading into his dressing room (B-)

We next get a video hyping Sting (B+)

In a bout that featured great action and average heat, Beer Money drew with Team 3D in 14:41 following a double count out (C)

In a match that had some good action but not much in the way of heat, D'Angelo Dinero defeated Douglas Williams in 11:57 by pinfall with a Running Double High Knee (C)

After the match Dinero gets on the mic and says Hulk Hogan left TNA without a so called marquee name, or at least that is what everyone is saying. Dinero says that is BS and that people will soon found out that D'Angelo Dinero is THE marquee name in TNA, but they just don't know it yet! (B)

Kurt Angle comes out to the ring after the break to a massive reaction. He says he has been at home resting nagging injuries and was going to take more time off but once he saw the crap Hogan pulled he knew he needed to be back. He says that he can't legally get his hands on Hogan but he can take out his cronies and that is what he is going to do, starting tonight with Scott Hall! (B)

In a match that had some good action but not much in the way of heat, Abyss defeated Raven in 11:32 by pinfall with a Black Hole Slam (C-)

In a bout that featured great action and a good crowd, Kurt Angle defeated Scott Hall in 8:41 by pinfall with an Angle Slam (C+)

Jeff Jarrett comes out for his address to the TNA fans. He says last night they were railroaded by a couple of snake oil salesman, but Jarrett is going to do whatever it takes to put TNA back on the map! He says TNA became WWE lite with Hogan in charge and from here on out TNA will go back to what it does -- wrestling! As Jarrett continues on the lights go out. When they come on none other then Tommy Dreamer is in the ring. He kicks Jarrett in the gut and lays him out with a DDT! (B) Rob Van Dam runs into the ring and embraces Dreamer. The two men stare down at Jarrett and laugh together as Impact goes off of the air (B)

Show Rating: C