TNA Carolina House Ratings, News

Here are some recent TNA house show attendance figures courtesy of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

July 25 in Fayetteville, NC drew 1,800 fans.

July 26 in Florence, SC drew 2,000 fans.

July 27 in Kenansville, NC drew 1,250 fans.

It should be noted that crowds on all three shows were more papered than usual. Advances going into the week for the three-day loop were said to be poor in all of the cities and it looked like the first potential money losing weekend since they started running three-city tours. However, all three cities ended up having strong ticket buys late. One thing that left many scratching their heads was the show in Kenansville selling 400 tickets the day before the show.



According to a report by ProWrestling.net's Jason Powell, Tomko has finished his run with TNA and was reportedly saying his goodbyes backstage at the tapings this week in Orlando. According to reports, the decision was made to part ways as Tomko has a history of turning down ideas from creative and not wanting to work with the company on numerous occassions.

Dustin Runnels, who worked in TNA as Black Reign and was the former Goldust in WWE, has also finished up with TNA. Much like with James Mitchell and Rellik, the company had nothing for him creatively, but the door was left open for a return down the line.

According to some new reports, Kevin Nash walking out on last night's Impact taping was a clash with management over a finish to a Gauntlet match set to air next week on Spike TV. Nash quietly left the taping, but it appears everything has blown over and that he is still with the company.

Source: PWInsider.com

The Wrestling Mole Speaks Out!

After countless attempts to reach someone regarding this past Tuesday's AWA event at Coyote's, Mat Chat has received a report from Barry Molea, the self-proclaimed "CSRA Wrestling Mole", on the weird happenings of Tuesday July 8, 2008.

According to Molea, all was not right with this event from the start.

"I got there around 3 or 3:30. we went in and they were working on the frame of the ring. Mainly greenhorns, and the promoter," said Molea. "The ring was on the dance floor and there was like 6 inches on top of you till the ceiling so they take an hour to break it down again, and move it to the bar floor in the corner. Takes them 30 minutes to put it back up and they are bumping in it and the welding on the rail breaks loose so they have to call in a welder from Edgefield to come fix it. He fixes it around, eh, 6:30 or so the ring is going great."

Molea then confirms reports that issues occurred regarding the brand new AWA belts that were scheduled to be awarded that evening.

"The guy who did the belts and all was owed money, so he took the belts that were just made back to Millen with him because Lil' Dale owed him $500 for the belts. It was hilarious.(Reportedly money was not on hand and not only did the belts retreat back to Millen, the wrestlers who traveled from Millen to wrestle retreated as well.)

Could the Millen wrestlers departure also been a result of age issues?

"They told us that anybody who wasn't 21 had to leave," continued Molea. "There goes half the workers and the people who came with them left as well. But the workers could be 18 and work, which makes no sense."

According to Molea, in an effort to get the few people in attendance to stay, the show started around 8:45 pm. By now many of those in attendance, some of the 25 workers and 20 customers, have been sitting at the bar drinking.

"Half the workers are at the bar and are TRASHED. Maybe 20 people there total," adds Moela. "The first match is a hardcore "singapore Cane on a pole" which was a paperclip hanging from the ceiling and it's Rellik, grunge, and one other wrestler. Rellik wins and Johnny Blaze and John Malus come out, break the sticks and attack Rellik and Grunge. Funny as hell. The next ones I don't really remember. In the main event, V.I.P. defeated The Dynasty which was one SLOPPY match."

What Molea describes next sounds like a bit from a bad episode of The Sopranos.

"At the end of the night, Lil' Dale can't pay the bar and he gets some felony fraud charges. To top it all off, he couldnt pay Johnny Blaze, John Malus, Cali Casanova and Hallowicked and they wanted to kill him. To make matters worse, the bar held the ring for collateral about the money owed."

What kind of bad deal was struck with the venue? Wasn't that the TWF ring? What will this mean for the future of AWA? Or TWF for that matter? And what about the belts?

Stay tuned.


The comments and opinions of the wrestling mole do not necessarily represent the opinions of Mat Chat.