Match added to Victory Road, OVW talent works TNA house show, Nikita Koloff interview, Questions on Mascaras, Divas, and standing up to Vince, identity of Abyss' brother, TNA live event profiled, Douglas Williams talks, Z! TLIS #56, Maryse and Edge interviews, Impact rating, Victory Road preview, and a Dolph Ziggler interview

In addition to the Tag Team Title match set on Impact, AJ Styles and Mr. Anderson vs. Kazarian and Daniels has been made official for Victory Road. Anderson got some time off from the road. It will be interesting to see where everyone's career goes in respects to that one.

TNA developmental talent Jesse Godderz (known as "Mr. Pec-tacular") worked a recent live event, defeating someone by the name of Joey Spade. This could be a sign that he's headed to the main roster soon, or could have just been a tryout.

Nikita Koloff was interviewed on a number of topics. Interesting read. He sounds like a really smart guy as far as his career goes.

For my take on the 9/3 PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'd like to thank the answerer for taking a more optimistic, devil's advocate view instead of the usual "WWE is dumb and evil" sounding stuff. Mascaras was announced quite some time in advance of Mania season, so it's not like they're dragging him through the mud. Can we all chill out on this? WWE's extending him a pretty high honor. That should really make up for it not being announced on TV (as of this writing).

After the break, I go into everything else from Friday, starting with a question on the direction of the Divas division.

2. She's getting the push of her life in a refreshing role from a Divas (instead of just a smiling model babyface). I'm fine with it. I'm a bit confused on the last part of the question. They did turn her heel. Perhaps you meant just having her go up against face Divas instead of being a "hoeski"? While I can see the argument that it's degrading to women and all of that, it's just a character Creative came up with for her. I think some people might be taking this too seriously, which can be a running theme in wrestling.


3. Basically what they said, though I've heard that Vince does respect that some people have the guts to stand up to him and grab an opportunity. For instance, Miz and C.M. Punk getting their big pushes.

4. When the Divas get more than 2 minutes (say, on NXT, Superstars, PPVs, or live events), some of them can really put on some good stuff. But, WWE doesn't usually see fit to give them much TV time, so that's the impression most are left with. And of course, often we see more of the Alicia Fox variety in those spots than the more accomplished and impressive performers. If they wanted it to improve, they'd give it more time on TV and work with the Divas more on improving in the ring. They are doing this to some degree, but time on the main shows for Divas wrestling matches tends to be limited.

Nothing to add to 5, so I'll move on:

In a spoiler note about a new character on Impact Wrestling, an unmasked Abyss is playing his "brother". Very interested to see where that path leads. They could always go the Kane route of giving him fake long hair under his mask. He did quite well in the role, to the point where I didn't know it was him (though I definitely saw a resemblance).

Here's a profile about this past weekend's TNA live event in Biloxi, MS.

Douglas Williams gave a good interview in the UK. I like that he has varied influences as a character and as a wrestler. I also like that there's been something of a revival in the British wrestling scene. It's always good to have pools of talent there to pull from for the major leagues here. I would have liked to see him get a shot in WWE, especially against Bryan. Hopefully we get another TNA show over there in the future, since that experience was good for the company overall.

Here's episode #56 of Z! True Long Island Story. Great stuff as it always is. I hope the people on it get to be bigger in WWE. It's a somewhat slow process, but I think we're getting there. That new interactive T-shirt is pretty cool, as was the Zack to the Future thing. A lot of his supporters now missed out on his ECW brand run. The graveyard segment was good if it means those guys mentioned can end up back in WWE. Ziggler's quite good in a less "frantic" role on this show. How cool is it that the people who did the Take Care song get it sold through WWE on iTunes?

In another Ted DiBiase update, he'll be getting shoulder surgery shortly due to some nagging injuries. Poor guy. Hopefully he comes back strong.

Maryse gave a lengthy interview on WWE topics and more. Some are saying that her critical remarks will backfire for her boyfriend The Miz. That really sucks if true. He shouldn't be held responsible for her feelings on her time in WWE. I agree about the Divas not getting the focus that they used to.

Edge was also interviewed in relation to his movie's release. Glad that a devoted wrestling fan got to interview someone he likes. Edge was actually the first wrestler I ever saw. Interesting to read about how a WWE movie comes together. I also see a lot of similarities between things like movies and theater compared to wrestling, but not all make that correlation. He fit his WWE role very well. I really agree with the perspective of the best characters coming from who someone "really" is, but a great performer being able to fit about any role. He seems like a very smart guy. I can see the nostalgia aspect, too. I was shaking my head in agreement about the babyface/heel comments in regards to his John Cena feud. This guy needs to be an executive or something.

Impact Wrestling got a 1.03 rating on 3/8. Not particularly amazing.

Here's the Before the Bell video for TNA Victory Road.

Finally, here's an interview with Dolph Ziggler by the always insightful Arda Ocal. Good Edge anecdotes. He deserves a match at WrestleMania, and I really like his attitude about stealing the show that night. Good stuff about Cena/Rock as well. I've definitely heard the Elimination Chamber is really brutal. It's getting really dangerous with some of the big bumps and spills people are taking. Good guy with a good background. I hope his future's great (and that we all forget about the brown hair thing).

That's it for the news for 3/9. I should catch up to Monday tomorrow. Thanks for reading and I apologize for running so late!