September
3, 2007
by Sassy
TNA and
the Internet Drug Company
For the original
breaking news on the list of Signature Pharmacy’s wrestling customers, please
see the Special Report posted on
this site. Current updates to that report are listed farther down in this
report. We are repeating the
following since it is TNA news: www.gerweck.net
posts that Sports Illustrated’s Louis Fernando Llosa states Kurt Angle, former
WWE wrestler and Olympic Gold Medalist, was a customer of Signature Pharmacy.
No word yet on what TNA plans to do about Kurt’s employment but it
could certainly put a crimp in the Total Nonstop Angle that’s been playing.
The site posts the following link:
I was wondering when
Kurt’s name would pop up. If I
haven’t mentioned this before, I’ll mention it again:
Never hinge all your hopes on one star – or one star and his family as
the case may be.
That is not to say that
Kurt Angle is the only TNA employee involved.
We only know Kurt’s name has come up in relation to Signature Pharmacy.
TNA made some noise earlier on that they had their own wellness policy
but none of the wrestlers involved with TNA seemed to be in agreement.
A Word To
All Wrestlers No Matter Who You Work For at the Present Time
If you have taken drugs in
violation of policy or are taking them now, please do the following:
TELL your organization you made a mistake and wish to correct it NOW.
Don’t wait until you get busted. Get off the drugs; go to rehab if you
must, and come back clean and healthy. Your
fans will not be angry with you if you admit you have a problem and work to
correct the problem. They will be
angry with you if you lie about it and get caught.
It Ain't
So Says Joe!
Samoa Joe has broken his
silence regarding his TNA status. On Joe’s MySpace page, he denies that he has
been telling anyone, including his co-workers, that he would rather work for
WWE. Source Adam Martin, www.wrestleview.com.
For what my humble opinion may be worth, the loss of Samoa Joe would be
devastating to TNA. Joe could use a
little more push from the writers. This
wrestle was one of the reasons I kept watching TNA. He’s not just good.
He is one of the best. No one wants to see him be the fall guy for the
Angle family. More Joe, less BS!
Joe tells the world he
doesn’t mind most controversial rumors constantly swirling around him, but
this one was a little over the top.
The Dream
Team
Several wrestling sites and
message boards are reporting that TNA set up Kurt Angle and Sting as “The
Dream Team” tag team. I believe I
may be slightly confused because neither of these wrestlers are known for tag
team wrestling. I don’t see this
as anything other than a way to keep promoting the Angle family. Sting certainly doesn’t require special promotion.
There are hard working tag teams on TNA’s roster:
Sabin and Shelley, Team 3D, The Steiner Brothers, VKM, LAX, I’d even
vote for Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal. You
can count XXX except there are three of them, not the usual two involved in tag
team matches.
Angle’s
Has Another New Job
As reported by Ryan Gray,
source Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Kurt is attempting to broker a deal
between TNA and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar
wants to work in MMA and has said as much, with Dixie Carter telling him TNA
will allow him to have time off to do that.
Didn’t we report in an
earlier Bytes TNA is obtaining the name The Angle Show?
TNA at New York State Fair,
Syracuse, NY on September 3. Information
at www.nysfair.com.
Bound For Glory, Atlanta,
GA, tickets go on sale September 7.
No Surrender is September
9.
TNA house show Zamora
Shrine Temple, Birmingham,/Rondale, AL, October 11.
Tickets go on sale September 10.
Information on Bound for
Glory Fanfest starting October 13 can be located here: www.slamline.com/news/190513149.shtml
or at www.tnawrestling.com.
Bound For Glory, Atlanta,
GA October 14.
TNA will be releasing a
Christian Cage DVD in October. See www.trawrestling.com
for Instant Classic: The Best of
Christian Cage.
Pro Wrestling Syndicate,
September 7 , Garfield, NJ: Lanny
Poffo vs. Jay Lethal, Abyss vs.
Steve Mack, Sabu vs. Trent Acid, Necro Butcher
& Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston & Samoa Joe. More information: www.ProWrestlingSyndicate.com.
Auction for Autism article
posted here:
http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/news/?p=891.
For further information see
www.uwfusa.com.
Fans will be bidding to
manage their favorite wrestlers.
There are many talented
wrestlers to bid on. The TNA talent
listed: Scott & Rick Steiner,
Dustin Rhodes, Elix Skipper, Hernandez, Homicide, AJ Styles, Abyss, Senshi, Gail
Kim and Earl Hebner plus Bid to Guest Ring Announce a Match!
If we have missed any
TNA events or TNA talent events, please contact the Webmaster.
Another
Obituary -- With A Terrible Twist
Former pro wrestler John
Meek, age 52, was killed by ex-con,
Harry Brian Taylor. Taylor hit the back of Meek’s motorcycle with his vehicle,
a hit and run. Meeks died en route
to a Tampa hospital. Meek and
Taylor had words in a parking lot prior to the incident. Taylor had already
killed someone and served 12 years of a 40-year sentence after being convicted
of a stabbing death. He got out of
jail and this happens. Read about it here:
Congressional
Hearings
The New
York Daily Times reports that the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade
and Consumer Protection will begin its hearings with an opening statement
scheduled for September 24. Article posted by Mike Shalik, source www.rajah.com.
Source:
Wrestling Observer. The
following is a list of WWE talent who had previously failed drug tests and had
been suspended as a result:
- Kurt Angle (for steroids,
date on his prescription had expired)
- Matt Hardy
- Jeff Hardy
- Randy Orton
- Andrew "Test"
Martin
- Chris Masters (for pain
killers, not steroids)
- Joey Mercury (for pain
killers)
- Rene Dupree
- Ryan Reeves
- Ryan O'Reilly
Dupree and Mercury were
recently released by WWE and TNA now has Kurt Angle and Andrew “Test” Martin
NOT
SUSPENDED
Randy Orton WWE wrestler,
has already been suspended more than once and was sent home from an overseas
tour after trashing a hotel room. He
did have to pay restitution. That
will make it all better. This from
Ryan Clark posted on www.prowrestlingfans.com:
Many performers believe Orton will not be suspended this time.
I think I understand.
One time is a 30-day suspension, two times is a 60-day suspension and
three times is a “it never
happened”. Daniel Pena, www.rajah.com
reports WWE is telling everyone Orton confessed to his drug use prior to the big
boom and has already served his suspension.
The boys in the backstage area aren’t buying it and think WWE is only
taking this course of no action to preserve the Orton/Cena storyline. Randy
Orton and Chris Masters have previous wellness violations but if WWE isn’t
punishing Orton, Masters will be the WWE roster member with a second violation
and a 60-day non-paid suspension.
ProWrestlingFans.com also
reports at the ECW taping CM Punk won the title from John Morrison.
That makes sense since Punk’s name was not on the list. Morrison’s
name was.
WWE has banned all
employees from talking to the media. I
would hope so. Some of them look
extremely silly after their interview about WWE’s wellness policy and how they
never took drugs. They somehow
managed to get on the purchase list for Signature Pharmacy.
**NOTE:
If you surf the Internet you will find WWE’s PR people are saying that
the wrestlers accused of being Signature Pharmacy clients are DECLINING comment.
Jim Ross was supposed to
have posted on his blog about the WWE suspensions. I didn’t read it because I am betting it is straight from
WWE’s PR department. I believe
this because the rumor has been circulating Triple H has it in for JR and has
for quite some time. This puts JR in an awkward position to say the least.
It’s bad enough having to worry about making Daddy’s little boy or girl mad,
it’s even worse when you have to deal with the in-laws.
There is further
speculation that WWE did not release the names of the suspended wrestlers until
they could have them wrestle in a match and lose their titles. Oh, please! Like
the fans aren’t going to figure that out?
The policy should read IMMEDIATE suspension, not we’ll suspend you when
it’s convenient for us. WWE’s motto must be the same as Cryme Tyme’s
motto: “Money, money, yeah,
yeah.”
Terminated
Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore
has been released from WWE, however, there is no word on whether or not this
release is related to the drug scandal. According to a post on www.prowrestlingfans.com,
Eugene was surprised by the release. He
was previously suspended in 2005 for a wellness policy violation, however, his
name did not appear on the Signature Pharmacy list.
WWE has released Cryme Tyme,
Shad Gaspard and Jayson Paul, according to Adam Martin, www.wrestleview.com.
It is reported by PWInsider that the release had nothing to do with the
wellness policy but was instead regarding an incident that took place between
Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, Gaspard and
Paul at the RAW house show in Terre Haute, IN.
We checked the show’s results on the same website and saw that Cade and
Murdoch defeated Cryme Tyme by count out. Cryme
Tyme sold Murdoch’s hat to someone in the audience.
Thus far, WWE has fired
only one person on the Signature Pharmacy investigation list.
And that person, Simon Dean, was not actively wrestling. As far as who
is/was actually suspended, as of this posting it is anyone’s guess.
WWE isn’t talking and we haven’t heard anything but supposition.
Batista
Cleared
Ryan Clark, www.prowrestlingfans.com,
reports that Dave Batista has been cleared of any wrongdoing and has not been
suspended. ESPN.com reported that
Batista was a client of Signature Pharmacy, but his name was not in the Sports
Illustrated article.
Batista has also suggested
that he wishes to take legal action against the party or parties who initially
mentioned his name regarding wellness policy violations since he has never
purchased anything from an Internet pharmacy.
Source: PWInsider.
Meeting
Before ECW/Smackdown Taping
Information directly from
item posted by Andy Steven at www.prowrestlingfans.com:
Before the ECW/SmackDown
taping in Cincinnati, Ohio, Stephanie McMahon conducted a talent meeting. The
meeting was held at 4pm with the main subject being the changes to the Wellness
Program.
The main changes made to
the program and announced to the talent are:
- New talent signed by WWE
will need to be drug tested before being signed.
- Marijuana testing will
now be in effect by WWE. If tested positive, talent will be fined one thousand
dollars each time failed. Also, if tested positive for marijuana, talent will
not be suspended and will not be included in their ?three strikes? rule.
- The drug ?anti-estrogen?
will be added to the banned items talent will be tested for.
- From November 1st, talent
who violate the Wellness Program will be made public by WWE.
Also, before the ECW/SmackDown
taping took place on Saturday, Triple H addressed the stars during a pre-show
meeting. He told the stars that the whole industry is now being under attack and
it’s now time for everyone to stick together.
New England Patriot’s
safety, Rodney Harrison, has been suspended without pay for the first four
regular games of 2007 due to his name being associated with the Internet
pharmaceutical company. Harrison
claims he did not take steroids and only used medication that would help
accelerate the healing of injuries he had sustained. Source www.gerweck.net.
WWE please take not:e:
The NFL did not wait around to win a game or two before putting Harrison
on suspension.
Nick
Hogan’s Passenger
As of this writing, John
Graziano is still listed as critical. News
broke that Hogan and wife had hired a criminal defense attorney.
I have a problem with that. Not
that Nick’s parents want to protect their boy but perhaps this time Nick
should be left to his own devices. If
Nick caused the accident whether by racing or carelessness, getting him out of
trouble isn’t going to help anyone but Nick.
Do we want Nick driving on streets where children play?
Nick didn’t hit a tree in the middle of the street.
He went off the road and was lucky he didn’t take anybody else out.
I believe it would be in Nick’s best interest to have a real life wake
up call. He may be “only a kid”
but the kid had been on the pro racing circuit.
He knew what he was doing.
Screaming
Headlines: Hulk Hogan’s Fortune
in Jeopardy
When you have a child under
the age of 18, it may be 21 in some states, it is in your best interest to
monitor what that child is doing. You
do not hand your kid a fast car, let him do whatever he wants, bail him out of
traffic citations and not expect to face the music when he crashes.
The kid is 17. That makes him Mommy and Daddy’s responsibility. I feel
sorry for the guy in intensive care that may have suffered brain damage.
And I feel sorry for his Mom and Dad.
Hulk’s millions are not an instant fix. You can read the story at www.ewrestlingnews.com.
This item was posted on
August 30, 2007 News Bytes.
NO PACMAN
We found this website while
searching for further updated medical information regarding Tommy Urbanksi: www.nopacman.com. This site is dedicated to the removal of Jones from the
Tennessee Titans roster and you can sign a petition to let your voice be heard.
Unrelated to wrestling, I am searching for the same type
of site for Michael Vick and any other wrestler who has been involved in human
and/or animal cruelty. If anyone
out there has info on sites such as this, please let us know.
We will post the information here.
TNA NEWS BYTES / AUGUST 30
TNA Wrestling . Com
Wrestling Bodyslam . Com