BROOKE HOGAN TO JOIN TNA’S “IMPACT WRESTLING” ON SPIKE TV STARTING THURSDAY, MAY 31

New York, NY, May 17, 2012 – Television personality and recording artist Brooke Hogan is joining the cast of the highly-rated weekly wrestling program, TNA’s “IMPACT WRESTLING” starting Thursday, May 31 on Spike TV. Brooke’s role will be as the Executive in Charge of the female wrestling division, The Knockouts.

Brooke will join a star-studded cast of the biggest names in professional wrestling, including her father, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. TNA’s flagship series, “IMPACT WRESLTING,” telecasts on Spike TV and is one of the network’s top-rated series on Thursday nights with young men and currently ranks among the top shows on cable in its timeslot with Men 18-34.

In addition to overseeing the traditional duties of the Knockouts Division, Brooke will bring a new energy and direction to the role working with the girls in a variety of capacities.

“I have really gotten to know Brooke by working with her on her music career this past year and a half,” said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling. “When we did talk wrestling, I not only loved her passion and knowledge of it, but the fresh, creative ideas she would come up with. She is very savvy. I asked if she would consider teaming up with me in this capacity while she also worked on her music, and I was thrilled when she said ‘yes.’ A big personality runs in her genes, obviously, and I know she is going to take an already exciting division of Impact Wrestling to another level.”

Brooke is heading to New York next week for a media tour to promote her addition to the IMPACT WRESTLING team. Brooke will also promote “IMPACT WRESTLING’s” move to 8 PM and that the series will telecast LIVE for the summer starting Thursday, May 31. TNA’s 10th anniversary SLAMMIVERSARY pay-per-view-event is set for June 10th in Dallas, Texas.

The TNA roster features many of the top names in wrestling including the aforementioned Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, Sting, James Storm, Rob Van Dam, and the lovely and lethal Knockouts.

Brooke Hogan, a native of Tampa, Fl, is a successful television personality, singer and songwriter. Brooke starred in two acclaimed non-scripted shows on Spike’s sister network, VH1, including “Hogan Knows Best” and the spinoff, “Brooke Knows Best.” Both were #1 rated shows for the network. Brooke has also released two albums, “Undiscovered” in 2006 which peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “The Redemption” in 2009. Her song, “Everything To Me,” peaked at #1 twice on Billboard’s Top Single Chart. Hogan’s film credits include “Little Hercules in 3D,” “Sand Sharks,” and “Devour.”

– Going forward with iMPACT!, fans will be required to line up by 6 PM at Universal Studios in Orlando and people on the company’s VIP list will be let in first. The tapings will be opened to a general seating line outside the theme park near the Blue Man Group Theater if there are seats left. Doors for the tapings will open at 7 PM.

– Earl Hebner has announced that he signed a deal to stay with TNA through 2013.

– The company has released new t-shirts for Jeff Hardy and James Storm, plus an official TNA gym bag.

– Brooke Hogan will be doing TNA media appearances in New York City. TNA hopes that her reality show name and allure will get the company some attention with the media. They’ve already accomplished that with TMZ.com covering the signing.

– Dragon Gate USA’s next dates will be the weekend of July 28th. No word as to where they will take place.

– The promotion will not return to BB Kings in Times Square, meaning they will have a new venue when they go to New York City.

– The company has a weekly special at their website were fans can order any three EVOLVE or DGUSA DVDs for $45, a discount of 25%.

– The company announced the release of Bushido: Code Of The Warrior 2011. The following matches are on the DVD:

1) Open The Freedom Gate Title Match – YAMATO vs. Chuck Taylor
2) Open The United Gate Title Match – CIMA & Ricochet vs. Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon
3) South Philly Street Fight – Sabu vs. Pinkie Sanchez
4) DGUSA Homegrown Roster vs. Dragon Gate Veterans Match 1 – Johnny Gargano vs. BxB Hulk
5) DGUSA Homegrown Roster vs. Dragon Gate Veterans Match 2 – Rich Swann vs. Akira Tozawa
6) DGUSA Homegrown Roster vs. Dragon Gate Veterans Match 3 – AR Fox vs. Masato Yoshino
7) DGUSA Homegrown Roster vs. Dragon Gate Veterans Match 4 – Brodie Lee vs. PAC

– The promotion has a fan ballot to determine which match should be in the title for EVOLVE 12.

– The promotion released the following video:

– Here is a video of this week’s WWE Superstars:

Dark Match: Xavier Woods (formerly Consequences Creed in TNA) beat Dean Ambrose. Ambrose was very popular.

Triple H came out and cut a promo. Hunter thanked Full Sail for use of their facilities and said the first episode will air in more than 60 countries. (No date was given.)

Jim Ross and William Regal were introduced on commentary. JR introduced the new GM of NXT, Dusty Rhodes.

(1) Bo Dallas (Rotundo) beat Rick Victor with a spear.

(2) The Ascension (Connor O’Brian & Kenneth Cameron) beat C.J. Parker & Mike Dalton in a squash tag match. Ascension had an epic entrance and were impressive.

Damien Sandow refused to fight Jason Jordan. It was the same promo from his Smackdown appearances. Damien was over as a heel; funny stuff.

(3) Tyson Kidd beat Michael McGillicutty via submission. Great match that captivated the crowd and had plenty of nearfalls. Kidd won with a leg choke.

After a brief intermission, a video aired and they shot the crowd to lead into what can be assumed to be the second episode.

EPISODE #2 TAPING

(1) Seth Rollins (formerly Tyler Black) beat Jiro. This was essentially a squash. Rollins cut a promo promising to take NXT, WWE, and the world by storm.

(2) Jinder Mahal beat Jason Jordan via submission with the Camel Clutch. Boring match as indicated by the crowd chants.

(3) Leo Kruger beat Aiden English. Quick and effective establishing Aiden as a face and Kruger as a heel. Post-match, Leo talked about himself on the mic, calling himself the LEO (Lion) of NXT. So, watch out.

(4) Richie Steamboat beat Rick Victor with a big lariat. Richie wrestles a lot like his dad, Ricky Steamboat, who was ringside watching. Richie gave him a shout-out after the match.

(5) Antonio Cesaro beat Dante Dash. Afterward, Aksana declared, “Antonio is my lover!”

(4) Richie Steamboat beat Rick Victor with a big lariat. Richie wrestles a lot like his dad, Ricky Steamboat, who was ringside watching. Richie gave him a shout-out after the match.

(5) Antonio Cesaro beat Dante Dash. Afterward, Aksana declared, “Antonio is my lover!”

(6) Derrick Bateman beat Johnny Curtis. Comedy match with lots of running around.

End of episode. On to Superstar Showdown or the third NXT taping. It wasn’t clear.

EPISODE #3 AND #4 TAPINGS

Jim Ross remained on for this taping.

(1) WWE tag champion R-Truth beat Epico. Fun match. Truth won with the Little Jimmy.

(2) Sofia Cortez (Ivelise from Tough Enough) beat Paige.

(3) Seth Rollins beat Camacho (w/Hunico) after a standing foot stomp. Heels attacked Rollins post-match until Bo Davis made the save. Of note, Rollins did not use his FCW Hvt. Title at either taping.

(4) FCW tag champions Jake Carter & Corey Graves beat C.J. Parker & Nick Rogers. Again, the titles were not mentioned.

(5) Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero) beat Mike Dalton. Due to Hero’s long beard, a “Let’s Go Jesus” chant caught on loudly. Post-match, Ohno said he knocks people out and when people see him, they say, “Oh no!”

Leo Kruger came out again and the audience sighed. People were leaving at this point due to not knowing much of the talent. A whole section became spotty and empty. A “We Want Sheamus” chant broke out.

(6) Richie Steamboat beat Leo Kruger. The match ended abruptly after Richie hit a nasty gusher. Post-match, Kruger attacked Richie to good heat. Richie was carried out.

(7) Jinder Mahal beat Derrick Bateman via submission with the Camel Clutch. Jinder got really good shine tonight. He reapplied his finisher after the match until refs separated them.

Byron Saxton is off the booth and now Jack Russo and William Regal have joined Ross.

(8) Ascension beat The Usos. Wow, that’s an upset. It’s not clear how many episodes they’re up to now, but this is dragging badly, and not because of the wrestling.

(9) Bray Wyatt beat Aiden English. Husky Harris’s new act is fantastic.

(10) Hunico & Camacho & Michael McGillicutty beat Tyson Kidd & Seth Rollins & Bo Dallas in a six-man tag match. McG avenged his loss against Kidd from earlier in the taping.

(11) World Hvt. champion Sheamus beat Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Hvt. Title. Sheamus won with the Brogue Kick in a good house show-style title match.

That was the end of the taping. They announced they will return next month after taping a month’s worth of NXT in one night.

Brooke Hogan is following in her father’s giant yellow footsteps … TMZ has learned she just inked a deal to join the TNA Wrestling family.

Carter tells us, “Brooke is such a great talent who’s really sharp and will make a great addition to the TNA family.”

Brooke will be “an executive who will be tasked to develop female talent.”?!?!? I hope that’s a joke.

Rock on the secret of his box office success: “I can kick ass better than anyone on the planet. And I have a decent smile.”

Garcia on his early move into acting: “When he was wrestling, he was at 270 pounds and the ruler of the world. When he went into movies he dropped to 230 pounds and they told him to stop talking about wrestling.”

On his reaction to Hollywood’s attitudes about his wrestling past: “It reached a point where I felt that ¬instead of me trying to conform to Hollywood, I needed to have ¬Hollywood conform to me and ¬embrace my past.”

Rock on enjoying doing promotion for his films: “That’s the wonderful part about being in this business,” says Johnson. “I love knowing the audience and listening to the audience.”

For what it’s worth, pro wrestling has always been looked down upon by Hollywood so that’s pretty much what The Rock had to do when he went to Hollywood – shy away from his pro wrestling past. As much as wrestling fans will likely disagree, it was a smart move by him. He was also looking at a post-wrestling future and many talents have and will turn to Hollywood. Once they do, they’ll need to shy away from pro wrestling as well if they want to land major gigs.

– WWE Studio’s Dead Man Down starring Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace has been sold to FilmDistrict at the Cannes Film Festival. Wade Barrett had a small role in the film.

– July 29th’s RAW house show has an online pre-sale starting Friday morning using the password “CENA.”

– Former TNA and WCW wrestler Konnan recently spoke to MLW.com about current WWE superstars Sin Cara and Alberto Del Rio.

Cara started to get a big head in Mexico after becoming a star according to Konnan. He went on to say that Del Rio once approached Cara backstage at a show in Mexico, and either Cara or a member of Cara’s posse pulled a gun out on Del Rio.

Konnan went on to state that he was surprised to see both wrestlers in WWE, and that he would have expected Cara to be the bigger star.

The company issued a press release (below) announcing the change and attributing the announcement to John Cena “via Twitter” during the upfront.

– As noted earlier, TNA has announced that iMPACT! Wrestling will go live this summer. The show’s first live episode will be May 31st, the same day that the show moves up an hour to 8:00 EST on Thursdays. Dixie Carter said in the press release that the show will be live from Universal Studios in Orlando starting May 31st and “continue through the summer.” According to a source, this is being done during the summer as a “test run” to see if ratings increase by going live. If ratings increase, they’ll stay live full-time. The show will still be taped in Orlando. More as we get it.

Both press releases are below:

WWE PRESS RELEASE:

WWE® MONDAY NIGHT RAW® EXPANDS TO THREE ELECTRIFYING HOURS LAUCHING WITH THE 1,000th EPISODE, JULY 23 ON USA NETWORK
@JohnCena Tweets Historic Announcement From USA Upfront Presentation
NEW YORK – May 17, 2012 – WWE Superstar John Cena® announced via Twitter today that WWE Monday Night Raw will expand to a three-hour event 52 weeks a year. The extended telecast will kick-off July 23 at 8/7C on USA Network and marks the 1000th episode of the WWE Raw franchise and a television record – no other series has ever reached this milestone.

The expanded WWE Monday Night Raw will transform television to an unprecedented level of viewer interaction. Fans will have new ways to get involved in the show through WWE.com and social media by deciding matches, stipulations and new character development. WWE will brand this unprecedented fan interaction as “#RAWactive.”

TNA PRESS RELEASE:

TNA’S IMPACT WRESTLING CELEBRATES SUMMER 2012 BY GOING LIVE!

“We are excited to take IMPACT WRESTLING Live! all summer long, and have our first Live! summer show launch our new 8:00pm/ET time slot,” says TNA President Dixie Carter. “Summer of 2012 is going to be remembered as the most momentous time in our company’s history-to-date. Stay tuned.”