TNA’s mobile alerts service announced that D’Lo Brown was coming back to the company shortly. Brown will be working backstage as an agent at the next set of Impact tapings in something of a tryout in the role. Brown worked for TNA during the Wednesday PPV era and as of late has been working regularly in Japan. He looked very good in a dark match at the last WWE Madison Square Garden taping but surprisingly wasn’t signed.
During the TNA tapings, Rikishi, using the ring name Junior Fatu, debuted for TNA. In the second hour, Christian Cage defeated Fatu after AJ Styles interfered. Tomko hit the ring and Samoa Joe made the save.
Andrew “Test” Martin was pretty much sent home from his first TV Taping after the Hard Justice PPV where he teamed with Abyss and Sting. PwInsider.com is reporting that Martin won’t be back. He had never officially signed a deal with the company.
PwInsiders.com is reporting that TNA officials told a number of wrestlers at the Impact tapings Monday in Orlando, Florida that the company would be moving into a two hour weekly program this October, so negotiations must be close to or already completed. The obvious choice is SpikeTV but TNA did have several rounds of meetings with FOX as well.
PwInsider.com is reporting that TNA has opened discussions with former WWE and IWGP champion Brock Lesnar about coming into the company this fall. The belief is that discussions circled around the idea of Lesnar coming into the company once TNA moves forward with its expected two hour expansion of Impact on SpikeTV. As long as negotiations are completed as expected, that expansion is believed to take place in early October. Kurt Angle is working as something of a conduit between the two sides and had a long conversation with Lesnar about coming in while the two were both in Japan working for Antonio Inoki. One source has indicated to me that Lesnar quietly traveled to Nashville for an initial meeting several weeks ago.
Andy Douglas posted on his Myspace:
Well it has finally been confirmed. Monday, Septetember (sic) 17th, the Naturals get their shot at the WWE. We just found out that we get our dark match (try out match) on WWE Raw in Nashville on the 17th. So any and all fans that will be in the Nashville area on that day, please feel free to come down to WWE Raw and give us all the support that all of you have continued to give us over the last 5 years. Thank you all for this support, here on Myspace, during our career with TNA, and all the support from our fans at the local Indy shows. Thank you.
The Naturals, Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens, are former NWA World Tag Team Champions, holding the belts twice
Scott Steiner is recovering well from his throat injury and may return to the company as soon as the 7/16 Impact taping in Orlando. It’s expected that he will make a full recovery. Speculation that he and brother Rick will resume their feud with Team 3D, given the way Brother Ray buried Scott on the mic at the Slammiversary pay per view event.
1Wrestling.com is reporting that Scott Steiner suffered a fractured trachea in a match Sunday night in San Juan. Steiner was teaming with James Storm in a tag match against Jeff Jarrett and Apolo. Near the end of the match Apolo caught Steiner in the throat with a superkick. Following the match Steiner was experiencing discomfort in his throat, but thought everything would be ok.
A few hours later, at the hotel, he experienced breathing problems and began to cough up blood. He was taken to a San Juan hospital and was diagnosed with a fractured trachea. Steiner is currently in surgery to repair the damage and the surgery is expected to last a couple of hours.
A mobile alert was sent out yesterday by TNA that clarifies the status of Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas (The Naturals). Although they were released from their TNA contracts, they are still scheduled to appear on upcoming TNA house show event in Sheffield AL as well as the shows later this month in the Northeast. They may work additional dates with TNA in the future.
TNA Sacrifice was the last event promoted by TNA under the agreement that allowed them the rights to use the NWA World Heavyweight Title and NWA World Tag Team Titles. The NWA announced on their website that they have stripped the belts from the current title holders. A tournament is expected to be announced soon to declare new champions. TNA has received new belts that will replace the current NWA title belts.