New WWE merch deal, Ziggler and Phoenix interviews, Questions on Crimson, TNA's production, WWE's network, and playing Mr. McMahon,HHH talks Flair and MMA, DX hunting, Punk interview, TNA PPV glitch, big weekend for Kaitlyn, more on Matt Hardy, bonus footage from No Surrender, Knockout on DWTS?, podcast disses TNA, Foley website, WWE merch news, Z! TLIS #31, JR talks NoC, and WWE takes out a big loan

WWE has worked out a deal to license official party supplies. Little Jimmys want their Cena plates.

Dolph Ziggler was interviewed. He sounds rather driven. Good for him. I like that.

Beth Phoenix was also interviewed, promoting Night of Champions. Also good.

Update: Here's another interview. Kudos to Goldust for working with the Divas.

On to a look at PWInsider.com's questions:
1's pretty straightforward, so I'll start with 2. I think that's a doable idea, though it seems like something they should have done a while back if they wanted to do it. It would be kind of awkward for Tenay to suddenly have a statistic. If they did do it, they should show house show results like the BFG Series and have a little meter or graphic showing how many matches it's been without a loss. And it's definitely been long enough to do something similar to an angle from the late '90s. There's been more than enough change in the audiences since then.

3. TNA's shot like a documentary at times because they think that's the direction that wrestling needs to go. I like that they occasionally show wrestlers' reactions to what's going on in the ring. The story should be about someone trying to beat someone else. The moves are only part of that story. I agree that they get ADD with the camera at times, though.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news and questions, starting with one on the WWE Network.
5 (4 was straightforward enough to be answered just by them). It makes sense that it wouldn't be wrestling 24/7 since WWE "isn't a wrestling company". Maybe we get the pleasure of watching Knucklehead and The Chaperone too.

6. It would have to be someone who has a wide range of emotions from quirky to ruthless, much like the real deal.

Triple H talked about whether WWE needs to evolve and Ric Flair's woes recently. I wouldn't see being more like MMA as evolving. If WWE fans wanted to watch MMA instead, they would. What would be the point of them both being similar? I agree with his comments about MMA and boxing. I know I'll get heat for that, but there's a reason I'd rather see wrestling than those things. Just as there are reasons MMA and oxing fans don't watch wrestling.

C.M. Punk responded. I agree that the company needs to evolve and change, but not in that direction. It'd be like putting pepperonis in Chinese food because people like pizza. Why not just make better quality Chinese food?

Here's some footage of Shawn Michaels and Triple H hunting on Michaels' show.

Update: Michaels talked about hunting and how it relates to WWE in a story about hunting video games.

C.M. Punk was interviewed about his match at Night of Champions. I'm looking forward to it.

Technical errors occurred during a broadcast of TNA No Surrender in the UK. It will be re-aired. More details here.

WWE Diva Kaitlyn's interviews at the Olympia Expo will be live-streamed here. Maybe next she'll actually get a match on the main roster.

The Fayettevlle Observer has more on Matt Hardy's recent issues, including a previously unreported crash. The downward spiral continues. His arrest has been picked up by the Associated Press.

Here's some more footage from TNA No Surrender.

TNA Knockout Velvet Sky is trying to get on Dancing With The Stars, and the company is encouraging people to vote for her to be added.

The podcast that recently had Eric Young talking fantasy football said that no one knows what TNA is. The company should respond that they're on Spike every week with over a million viewers and are available all over the world, etc..

Mick Foley has launched an official website.

WWE's "Best In The World" T-shirts are showing up at Hot Topic. If they're smart, WWE will continue trying to reach that demographic. Daniel Bryan's a vegan, AJ's into what she's into, Trent Barreta's a gamer, and so on. There's a good chunk of the potential audience that would be into that kind of thing. Have stars stand out more and come up with more varied looks for merchandise.

Zack Ryder released his latest YouTube video, as he does every Thursday. I was entertained as always.

Jim Ross discussed Night of Champions. He's right about using PPV minutes and the like. I think a lot of wrestlers take advantage of them, but it couldn't hurt to do it more. From the lowliest house show spot, people should be trying to move up the ladder where applicable.

Finally, WWE is being loaned $200 million over 3 years in relation to its media expansions. And they say the economy's sluggish...

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