TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION (TNA) WRESTLING RETURNS TO ST. LOUIS AREA FOR “TNA LOCKDOWN 2010”

TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AJ STYLES, HULK HOGAN, RIC FLAIR, KURT ANGLE AND MORE HEADLINE THE MOST DANGEROUS PAY-PER-VIEW IN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING!

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling returns to St. Louis, one of America’s most famous wrestling cities for Lockdown 2010. The annual pay-per-view extravaganza is scheduled for Sunday night, April 18, at the Family Arena in suburban St. Charles

The reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, leads the invasion of TNA stars including Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair along with Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Mick Foley, Samoa Joe, Team 3D and more.

“St. Louis is one of America’s top cities for professional wrestling, with its tradition of classic wrestling at The Chase and the Kiel Auditorium dating back 50 years. So it’s no surprise that we’re returning there for Lockdown 2010,” said TNA President Dixie Carter.

“TNA Lockdown 2010” will be TNA’s second pay-per-view to originate from this venue. “TNA Lockdown 2007” was also held at the Family Arena in St. Charles.

TNA will also be holding “TNA Fan InterAction” on Saturday, April 17, where fans will get a chance to meet many of the TNA Superstars for autographs, photos and more. In addition, TNA will be offering a limited number of travel packages for the Lockdown weekend. (Further details on “TNA Fan InterAction” and travel packages will be announced in the coming weeks.)

Tickets for “TNA Lockdown” go on sale Friday, February 26, at www.MetroTix.com, the Family Arena box office or charge by phone at 314-534-1111

Hulk Hogan was a guest on Rob Van Dam’s "RVD Radio" show on Wednesday night, which you can listen to at BlogTalkRadio.com/RVDradio. Hogan claimed he was trying to reach RVD directly but agreed to be patched in as a live caller on the show.

Hogan didn't waste any time before telling RVD he needs to join TNA. He said TNA has some serious momentum right now and could really take off if they had RVD “ruling the roost."

Van Dam asked Hogan about TNA Impact moving to Monday nights, which Hogan said is "definitely going to happen sooner than later." Hogan said TNA needs RVD’s help.

RVD said he is very interested in hearing what Hogan has to say about him coming in. Van Dam told Hogan that now is a better time than ever as his wife is healthy, he is healthy and he’s not burnt out. RVD said he was curious about coming into TNA and said that he and Hogan should probably do some more talking after the show is over. He mentioned bringing Sabu along with him to TNA.

Hogan said he was on the phone with Jeff Hardy earlier in the day, talking about RVD coming to TNA, among other topics. Hogan said he and Hardy have some crazy idea that he "guarantees" will work. Hogan kept saying how much fun everyone is having in TNA. RVD asked Hogan if it was his decision to go back to the four-sided ring and Hogan confirmed it was. Hogan put down the six-sided ring and RVD agreed with the decision.

Hogan then took some shots at WWE.

"We don't have a girl writing the show telling us what to say," Hogan said in a somewhat-sexist remark aimed at Stephanie McMahon. "I see some of the stuff that's written (in TNA) and I just say, 'Don't even look at that crap. Let's you and I rock.' That's how it was with almost anyone I worked with. If I feel it and believe it, you don't have to read some stupid-ass script."

Hogan summed up his sales pitch by saying it's the first time "one of the boys" is running a wrestling promotion on a national level and he claims to not have an agenda for anything he's doing with the TV product.

"It ain't no pitch. It's a shoot, bro. We're not playing games. You (RVD) come to the table and it makes the tide rise. This company is going to even the score, then we're going to start spanking people consistently," Hogan said. "We don't have agendas, brother. We don't have families writing the show or brothers-in-law holding the titles. It's the first time you've got one of the boys running the business and there's no agenda."

A caller asked Hogan directly about the TNA comparions to WCW. Hogan made it clear that he doesn't want to be on television all the time despite what some people might think. Hogan made sure to mention, however, that his appearances "spiked the needle."

"We're throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall, seeing what spikes the needle minute by minute, and learning as we go along that some guys have no life at all and some guys have a lot of life. We're already maneuvering all the players around. You're going to see who we're going with more than others. You're going to see who we're really giving the super rocket up their rear end."

Hogan and RVD talked about how the "smart marks" have good points, TNA needs to be doing things that appeal to a mass audience.

"All these people you call the smart marks and I've been in the business 30 years and I'm still a mark. I'm not smartened up yet, brother. All of a sudden, people are saying, 'Why are you doing this and why are you doing that?' Do the marks know about the network - what Kevin Kay and Brian Diamond at Spike are asking and demanding? There's a whole 'nother world out there that all these people have an opinion on who's on TV too much, but they don't know what's happening with the network.

Hogan said TNA is in a transition period and they are working on getting over new stars like AJ Styles and Abyss.

"What we need to do with these young guys is breathe life into the characters. I came at AJ with this crazy idea of putting him with Flair and not just turning heel, but - I can't even tell you the name of the character - he's going through this transition right now."

"Abyss as he is right now only got him so far like the six-sided ring. They (TNA) were banging a less than 1.0 number for the last three or four years. Styles the way he is, Abyss the way he is, six-sided ring the way it was, it banged a certain number and that was it."

- According to Dave Meltzer, Eric Bischoff is trying to recruit Jim Ross to be an announcer in TNA.

- When Rob Terry won the TNA Global Title on January 27th at a TNA live event in Cardiff, Wales, he was not told about the title change until the day of the show. Terry played the role of the local babyface and as noted before, his family were in attendance with TNA camera crews filming everything.

TNA president Dixie Carter announced today on her Twitter account that April's Lockdown pay-per-view will be held in St. Louis, Missouri.

St. Louis hosted Lockdown in 2007, which featured an Electrified Six Sides of Steel Match between Team 3D and LAX, as well as Blindfold Match between Chris Harris and James Storm.

Eric Bischoff posted the following message on Twitter:

"Jeremy Borash posted a picture of himself with Bret Hart on his Twitter account. What a MARK!"

Bischoff also said that fans will be seeing some "very interesting stuff" in TNA soon.

Bret Hart was spotted having dinner with a number of TNA officials including Jeremy Borash Monday Night at Bailey’s in Nashville after his appearance on RAW. Borash confirmed this on his Twitter page with a photo and the following Tweet.

"Had dinner with an ol' friend last night. Nobody was screwed."

Spike Changes Schedule Again: A Coverup or A Dead Deal?

Spike TV has once again changed the schedule on their website. TNA Impact is now listed on Thursday, March 4th at 9 PM and Spike's current Monday night programming, a series called Playbook, is now listed on both March 1st and 8th. No word yet on if Spike edited their schedule so that TNA could announce the Monday special on TNA's terms or if the plan to do the Monday special fell through.

Also in the news, TNA announcer Taz posted a message on his Twitter page to say good riddance to WWE's version of ECW.

"So, WWE ending their 'vision' for ECW (thank god)," he wrote. "Any (original) ECW wrestlers get a thanks? How about Paul Heyman? Did he get a thanks? Classy move!"


ECW original and TNA announcer Taz has posted a message on his Facebook.com page regarding Vince McMahon's announcement that ECW is shutting down once and for all in 3 weeks.

Last night on Twitter, Taz wrote "thank god" WWE's version of ECW is done and sarcastically called McMahon not thanking Paul Heyman or the ECW originals a "classy" move. On Facebook, Taz explains exactly what bothered him about McMahon's announcement:

"Point is, why not acknowledge the Paul Heymens contributions to the industry? Or, saying thanks to all the ECW original wrestlers? A lot of blood, sweat and tears were dropped during the original ECW's life! If you are going to thank cameramen & directors (etc) than acknowledge the past history because its well deserved.

Even if Vince McMahon did not feel Paul Heyman and the ECW originals deserved to be acknowledged, Taz feels Vince once again left money on the table by not getting the most out of an asset he bought:

"If you utilized the letters ECW to make a lot of $$$ over the past several years I would assume that your respect the history of ECW? If you would produce and sell a successful DVD documenting the companies history...I would assume you feel that the original ECW history has value....than why not give it a proper send off?"

He concluded the message by saying he's happy the ECW letters are being retired, as they deserve to rest in peace.

On his Twitter page, Eric Bischoff wrote the following about working with Vince Russo:

"Sorry to disappoint all of you who are expecting heat between Russo and I. Actually enjoy working with him so far."

He probably wrote that in response to this message from yesterday:

"So Vince Russo has a new book out....I am going to be VERY interested in what he has to say in his book. Hmmm"

TNA President Dixie Carter spoke to Fred Tropel of CanMag.com and explained that TNA Wrestling is going up against a corporate juggernaut that will stop at nothing to put them out of business.

“Our competition may not have the same opinion that competition is good for an industry and take every opportunity to try to shut us down," she said. "I mean, it is the truest of David-and-Goliath situations, but we are scrappy. We will not take no for an answer, and we are going to have great success."

With everything that WWE has going for them, Carter believes her company has a better in ring product and knows what the fans want.

"I think that these days you don’t have to be a bigger-than-life cartoon character. I mean, it’s much more about reality and what these guys can do in the ring. They are amazing athletes," Carter said. "I can have an all-pro football player, an NBA star on, and they say, 'We could never do something like this.' You have no off season. It's 52 weeks a year, and then we tour in between that. These guys are incredible athletes, and we do focus on the athleticism on our show much, much more."

Former NWA Heavyweight champion Jack Brisco passed away earlier today at the age of 68.

This may not be TNA related, but we still want to show respect to the wrestlers that made the business what it is today.