WWE will show a second ECW Exposed special on Tuesday, featuring more material from the interview between Joey Styles and Paul Heyman. I look forward to it.
It's being reported Spike will not be airing Impact Wrestling in 2015. They will air the final currently-taped episode this Wednesday before pre-empting them next week for the Thanksgiving holiday. How Spike handles the show in December remains to be seen, although there are expected to be a number of "best of TNA" episodes aired. There could also be some pre-emptions for the end of December. It's definitely the end of an era for TNA. Will it be the end of TNA period?
Update: TNA is expected to announce a new TV deal this week, possibly following the airing of this week's Impact. They have holds on dates in NYC for January 6, 7, and 8, so that would be when they tape the next episodes. January 1 is a Thursday, so they're either staying on Wednesdays or will need some sort of intro to TNA episode put together for that night. They really dodged a bullet with keeping a TV presence. I'm very curious to see what TNA looks like in 2015. Will they be able to bring back Angle, Gail, Team 3D, etc.?
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
WWE.com interviewed Beth Phoenix about WWE and life afterward. I really enjoyed the team of Glamarella. Santino used to have a lot more to him than the cobra. As far as her returning, I think she's content living life outside the wrestling bubble. Maybe as a one-off thing, but I doubt she'd go back on the road full-time.
A few TNA roster notes from the latest House of Hardcore iPPV:
- As was mentioned, EC3 couldn't make the show due to a torn biceps muscle.
- Davey Richards also missed the show due to an unspecified medical emergency.
- Team 3D worked the event in place of The Wolves. Bully referred to his team as The Dudley Boys after the match, but made no mention of WWE, TNA, NJPW, etc., so it seems their future is still up in the air.
- There was at least one "#$&% TNA" chant, which is kind of hypocritical considering a good number of the talents on the show are under TNA contract, and only there because TNA OK'd it.
- Bobby Roode made a surprise appearance to beat Tommy Dreamer for the TNA Championship. He was officially replacing EC3. That's great for TNA to use him in that capacity. I'm sure Roode benefited from getting a booking, as well.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm pessimistic it will last long after Survivor Series with some of those names. They could just be in the midst of a push solely to beef up the main event, only to fall into purgatory afterward. But I am glad we're seeing some new faces in the mix and hope it keeps going.
2. I think we could be in for a bit of a change in that regard as NXT gains prominence. It's still kind of the "minor league" for now, though, and it doesn't mean as much to be a champion there as it does on the main roster.
3. It's much more convenient to work with names they're already on terms with. Would there be enough of a pop for the early names mentioned to justify WWE going out of their way to use them?
4. TNA doesn't release those numbers, but I don't anticipate them being very high. I doubt they'd even do those shows if they didn't have contracts in place to show a certain number of PPVs a year.
5. As was said, it could work with the right performer involved. Zeb Colter as their manager would be the natural choice. Scott Dawson comes to mind as someone who could fit that role.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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