December 28th, 2005 20:01
UPDATES ON DVDS, DON WEST, AJ PIERZYNSKI

DON WEST ON OPIE AND ANTHONY
TNA's own Don West will appear on XMs Opie & Anthony show on Monday, Jan. 2, 2006 at 9:30 am ET

PIERZYNSKI SIGNS NEW DEAL
TNA Wrestling continues to get mainstream media exposure thanks to A.J. Pierzynski, even after he participated in the BaseBrawl match at Turning Point. Pierzynski signed a new 3-year, $15-million contract with the Chicago White Sox, which was reported extensively in the local and national sports media, including the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and USA TODAY, not to mention sports-talk radio and TV newscasts. And almost every Pierzynski-contract story mentioned his TNA appearance - and they even reported that his new contract does not explicitly prohibit him from continuing his pro wrestling career "I don't think the White Sox put a no-wrestling clause in my contract, so I'm good there," he told several reporters. "I'm 1-0 as a wrestler, don't forget that."

TNA DVD UPDATES
Several new TNA DVDs will be released in the upcoming weeks, both in major retailers and on the ShopTNA.com merchandise store. Here is a complete list of the upcoming releases:

January 10 in major retailers: Heaven Sent, Hell Bound: The Best of Christopher Daniels
January 31 in major retailers: The October Bound For Glory Pay-Per-View
February 21 in major retailers: The November Genesis Pay-Per-View
March 13 in major retailers: The Best of the Bloodiest Brawls Vol.
Mid January the following DVDs will be available for purchase only on ShopTNA.com:
Mays Hard Justice Pay-Per-View
Junes Slammiversary Pay-Per-View
Julys No Surrender Pay-Per-View

December 26th, 2005 03:34

Everyone in TNA is gearing up to head back to work in the coming days after celebrating Christmas with our families. December was, without a doubt, the busiest month for all of us as we had a lot of work to get done wrapping up the Christmas and upcoming New Year's Eve specials before taking a much-needed break. When you live in the "wrestling bubble" and put in as many hours as many of us do, some time away is the best thing to recharge the batteries. Personally, I'm looking forward to returning to Nashville in the next few days to get back to work and making 2006 the best year possible for TNA.

As for what Santa left me under the tree - I got the usual assortment of socks, underwear and sweaters. One nice surprise was getting a Carnival Cruise from my parents - now I just have to get some vacation time to take it! (hint hint Dixie lol)

So with the holiday goodness out of the way, let's get to some news and views - although this will be somewhat abbreviated (I promise)

I thought the Christmas Eve edition of "iMPACT!" was another homerun for TNA, with Christian Cage and Chris Harris both stepping up and delivering a solid main event. I expect big things from both stars in 2006. Ron "The Truth" Killings and The Fallen Angel both returned to singles action in great matches against Kenny King and Eric Young respectively, while Abyss and Chris Sabin tore it up.

Did I also mention that Santa is an extremely lucky man?

"iMPACT!" returns to SpikeTV this Saturday night for two New Years specials - the first episode airing at 8PM, the second airing at midnight. On the first broadcast, you'll see "The Man Beast" Rhino taking on Team Canada's A1, "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles vs. James Storm, Jeff Jarrett and The Alpha Male in tag team action and much more. Then, kick off the New Year with TNA at midnight on SpikeTV with Christian Cage and some major news on "The Man In Black" and his future in TNA Wrestling.

The TNA crew returns to Orlando, Florida, for our next round of "iMPACT!" tapings on Tuesday, January 3 with some big matches and major happenings as we prepare for the January 15 "Final Resolution" Pay-Per-View.

I've had the opportunity to monitor the ongoing TNA Year-End Voting results, and if you haven't placed your vote yet there's still time to do so before voting ends when the clock strikes midnight on New Years. I won't spoil the results thus far, but I will say there are some major runaway leaders, while two bouts are neck-and-neck for "Match of the Year" honors. As far as which match takes home the prize, it looks as though it will go right down to the wire. Current plans are to announce the winners on the January 7 edition of "iMPACT!", with the "Mr. TNA MVP" honors being awarded during an in-ring ceremony on the program.

Belated congratulations go out to "The Franchise" Shane Douglas and his wife, who welcomed another healthy baby boy into the world two weeks ago. Some heartwarming footage of Shane with his first son Conner is available on the "Against All Odds" DVD currently available in stores everywhere.

Speaking of DVDs, just an update on the upcoming "Best of the Bloodiest Brawls" currently in production - current plans are to feature a cover shot of Sabu from the "Barbed Wire Massacre".

For those of you that have asked in the Impact Community Message Board area, we're still planning to release "No Surrender", "Sacrifice" and "Unbreakable" on DVD in the upcoming months. You may see them available first on the website or packaged as a set similar to the TNA Anthology in major retailers. As soon as we know details on their release we'll post them here first.

Speaking of the Impact Community area, if you haven't visited lately you should take a dive in to check out what all the TNA fans are talking about. My personal favorite area is the "Caption This" section, where fans take a humorous slant on some of Lee South's photos by adding their own captions. I'm still waiting for fans to begin their own photoshop contests using Lee's photos, which are quite popular on other websites I visit.

In other merchandise news, t-shirts for Team 3D, Christian Cage and others will roll out in the New Year on ShopTNA.com. I also hope to have an exclusive tidbit in my next column on a new line of TNA/Marvel action figures in the works.

For you procrastinators out there, time is running out on the current Holiday Specials on ShopTNA.com, which feature some cool AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels tshirt/DVD sets in addition to other merch. By the way, the Christopher Daniels DVD hits major retailers on January 10 and, in my opinion, is our best TNA DVD release thus far stuffed with all kinds of bonus footage including music, a photo gallery and Daniels' exclusive commentary for a 1994 Windy City Wrestling bout - one of his first matches as a pro.

No news yet from MTV on the airdate for Lance Hoyt's appearance on "Room Raiders". Again, as soon as we have news we'll post it here first.

Still working on getting some exclusive news/screen shots from Midway on the upcoming TNA video game....

Expect Abyss vs. Rhino and AMW vs. Team 3D for the NWA World Tag Team Titles to be added in the upcoming weeks to the "Final Resolution" Pay-Per-View lineup. The final card will take shape on the upcoming "iMPACT!" taping on January 3 in Orlando.

After the positive reaction to the recent Rhino video packages that aired on "iMPACT!", TNA officials are planning to feature several more on various stars in the upcoming months. Videos on Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Monty Brown and Ron "The Truth" Killings are currently being discussed. In addition, expect more "Global Impact" videos to air, with the next set focusing on a recent trip to Australia by several TNA stars including Jeff Jarrett, Gail Kim, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels.

TNAwrestling.com guru Lee South and Brian Fritz are still in the process of finalizing the upcoming "TNA Audio Area" set to debut on the website. As mentioned in my previous column, it looks like online streaming of our live Pay-Per-Views will debut on the site in March for international fans outside of the United States and Canada.

Congrats go out to AJ Pierzynski and Johnny Damon who, unless you've been trapped in a cave and haven't heard, signed new MLB deals last week. Pierzyski re-upped with the White Sox, while Damon went to my New York Yankees (no doubt you Red Sox fans are cursing at me right now). TNA even got some mentions in several national AP articles on the new deals by both!

Last but not least, it's time for me to step on the soap box for a second. When it comes to "wrestling reporters" on the internet, I often have a tough time biting my lip when it comes to all the negativity and completely false reports that many fans take as gospel. I dare say that many of these reporters lost their ability to be fans a long time ago and are just in it for the money these days. In fact, I've grown so completely disgusted by all the negativity that I avoid reading certain websites. I can take criticism, but some reporters take things too far. As an example, last week one well-known reporter made a remark about Bobby "The Brain" Heenan that to me was completely and utterly uncalled for. He needs to apologize, and if he doesn't, I hope I never meet him in public. The negativity needs to stop, and it needs to stop now. If you're not a fan anymore, why ruin it for everyone else?

Stepping off my soap box now....

That's it for this week! I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve! Kick off the New Year with TNA this Saturday night and I'll see you next week!

Bill Banks

December 21st, 2005 01:28
Ring In the New Year with TNA
TWO episodes airing December 31 on SpikeTV

Nashville, TN (December 20, 2005) End 2005 and start 2006 by watching the most exciting, unpredictable, adrenaline rush on Spike TV -- TNA iMPACT!

This double dose of TNA action starts off at 8PM ET on New Years Eve with a primetime showing of iMPACT! NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett will team up with The Alpha Male Monty Brown for some tag team action. The ruthless X-Division Champion Samoa Joe will be in action and in the main event, The Phenomenal AJ Styles will battle one-half of the NWA Tag Team Champions, Cowboy James Storm.

Also, relive all the most impactful moments of the year with a special look back at TNA in 2005. Everything from Christian Cages shocking TNA debut to Rhinos rise at Bound For Glory to The Controversy In Canada to the Team 3D Funeral will be covered during this year-end retrospective.

Then at Midnight ET, kick off the new year with Captain Charisma Christian Cage and witness the official announcement that will change the face of TNA Wrestling in 2006. Then in the very first wrestling match of 2006, a championship will be decided!

Make your resolution now to start your New Year right with the intense action that only TNA can deliver!