Questions on Punk's recent slur and Angelina Love, Cena takes shots at Rock, Matt Hardy sick, Christopher Daniels interview, Mr. McMahon action figure contest, more South African press, Ziggler interview, NZ press, Jerry Jarrett autobiography released, Seth Rollins/Tyler Black discusses choosing WWE over ROH, Booker T. opens new gym, DeMott interview, more on Raw's rating, Flair at VIP lunch,TNA cancels house show, Kendrick talks X-Division, WWE and more, WWE cancels house show, more on South African robbery, new X-Pac Q&A and a trailer for Perry Saturn's YouShoot

Today's news starts with a look at the questions sent to PWInsider.com. Here's my take:
1. It's a little bit more complicated than that. ECW was nowhere near as mainstream or in the public eye then as WWE is at present. All of that presumably slipped under the radar. Not to mention that there weren't nearly as many fans with video cameras and internet connections able to send something like that to mainstream news sources. Heels can still be heels, and can still insult fans and the like, but there are some words and terms that WWE will understandably get flank for.

2-4 I'm not very familiar with, so I'm moving on.

5. I don't think they were actually supposed to be lovers, but anyway... yes, that part of the story seems to be over. I suppose the drugs have been effective enough, and now Stockholm Syndrome or something keeps them together.

John Cena had some comments for The Rock in Australia. Nice promo.

After the break, I'll look at all the rest of the day's news.
Matt Hardy said on Twitter that he's been very sick lately and hasn't eaten for 4 days. He's dropped to 204 lbs. in the process. Hopefully he's able to get over that soon. Since he's already off TV for a while, maybe he can take a bit longer break and get back to form if not better than he was when we last saw him.

Christopher Daniels talked about Destination X and his lengthy past with AJ Styles among other topics with the Miami Herald. I caught some of their matches when I started watching TNA in 2004. Some of my favorite TNA memories match-wise. The Iron Man match he mentioned was indeed pretty awesome, especially to someone like me who at that point had seen very little outside of the "WWE style".

He has the right idea about capitalizing on any role he's given. He's in an odd spot in TNA, as I'd be surprised if he became World Champion there.

WWE has a contest to win one of the first-ever Mr. McMahon Mattel action figures. They wisely made his hair look less gray than the actual McMahon's.

Here's a story on the latest house show in South Africa, featuring quotes by Christian.

Dolph Ziggler was interviewed by a UK website. He's come a long way from being a cheerleader and golf caddy for sure. I agree about Snooki - they got more viewers and PPV buys from her appearances and hopefully some of those people stuck around (or at least it increased the likelihood of them tuning in in the future). All in all a good read.

More press for WWE's tours, this time from New Zealand. John Cena and R-Truth were quoted in the piece.

Jerry Jerry released his autobiography today. Here's the official website. I'm sure that's an interesting one. He also has a book focusing on the foundation and early days of TNA.

WWE developmental talent Seth Rollins, previously known in ROH as Tyler Black, answered a fan's question on why he switched companies. He has a point. If he's successful in WWE, a much larger audience (myself included) will be able to see what he can do. I've heard good things about him, so I hope we get to see him sooner rather than later.

Booker T. is opening a new gym in correlation with his wrestling academy.

The always colorful Bill DeMott was recently interviewed about Tough Enough and more. He makes some good points. He also confirmed that he is now a talent scout for WWE. Hopefully that works out.

Despite its lower-than-average rating, Raw was the most-watched show on cable this past Monday. In that context, they actually did better than they usually do!

Ric Flair was part of a VIP lunch recently, unrelated to TNA.

TNA has canceled its 8/27 house show in Birmingham.

Brian Kendrick was interviewed recently about the current and future status of the X-Division. There are some things here that need to be corrected/elaborated on:
-The other storylines on Impact Wrestling are mostly building to the big "Midsummer Nightmare" show next Thursday, similar to when they did the ECW reunion show, then the Whole F'n Show on TV.
-Fans would complain if they put those "big-name" talents on the X-Division show, when they're not generally X-Division wrestlers. RVD and Jerry Lynn are sizable names, and Low Ki, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans have credibility outside of TNA.
-They're focusing somewhat equally on the PPV and Midsummer Nightmare.

WWE canceled a house show for 8/21 in Alberta, Canada.

Sin Cara and Big Show commented on a story regarding the stolen luggage situation in South Africa.

Sean Waltman had another video Q&A recently; he addresses the WWE style, "X-Pac heat", the WWE nWo, and more. Very interesting stuff as always.

Finally, here's the trailer for the latest in the always entertaining YouShoot series, featuring Perry Saturn.

That's all for Friday's news. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading!