TNA’s two-hour debut takes back seat to Angle’s arrest
Hey gang! Welcome to the internet’s fastest-growing pro wrestling site. I’m your host, Mr. Mal Occhio with your TNA report. Off the top, I wish to send out nothing but positive vibes from the evil eye to regular contributor The Eagle, who will be away from our little pro wrestling reporting family for a few days while dealing with a tragic family emergency. Take care, Eagle - looking forward to having you back soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with you in this trying time.
Total Non-Stop Action debuted its two-hour program last night amid much hype and ballyhoo - including a video intro that made it appear the upstart would-be WWE challenger is looking at the longer time slot as a new beginning. Time will tell, but you couldn’t help but think TNA would have preferred today’s headlines to be focused solely on that. Unfortunately, having your World Champion busted for drunk driving tends to put a crimp into the best laid plans of mice and men. Speaking of Kurt Angle’s arrest, his attorney has released a statement to the press, according to TMZ.com, maintaining that the TNA/IWGP World Champion and former WWE Superstar is not only innocent, but a victim of his celebrity, with police allegedly targeting the Olympic gold medal winner simply because of who he is and not what he had done.
“Kurt Angle maintains his innocence relative to the charges brought by the police in this matter. The improper arrest occurred in the middle of the afternoon after Mr. Angle showed no signs of intoxication. The police have no blood alcohol content and not firsthand knowledge of his operation of his vehicle. We believe the motivation for this arrest is based upon Kurt Angle’s celebrity status and we are confident that we will prevail when the truth becomes evident,” reads the statement.
As reported here yesterday, Angle was arrested late in the afternoon of Sept. 28th and charged with driving under the influence and careless driving after someone reported his vehicle driving erratically after leaving a Moon Township, PA bar. Police traced the registration to his home where Angle reportedly admitted to being at the facility. He then reportedly failed a sobriety but - upon being taken to a hospital by authorities - refused to participate in a blood test. On a side note, if proven ture, Mr. Mal thinks the whole order to be — at the very least — refreshing. It does a heel’s heart good to see a pro wrestler in trouble for something so old-school as drinking and driving — you know, what with all the steroid-painkiller-killing your-wife-and-child news as of late. Way to go, Kurt!! Everybody now . . . You’re old-school! You’re old-school!!
As far as last night’s show, the reviews that are coming in thus far aren’t kind. Wrestling Observer is saying that, once again, TNA failed to take advantage of the inherent talent of their roster and, instead, relied on poorly-acted vignettes, match run-ins that only leave fans confused and unsatisfied, and generally overbooking the entire evening. Yikes. Not exactly getting off on the right foot, eh? Here are the quick results:
TNA results for Oct. 4/2007
Rhino def. Black Reign
Gail Kim def. Jackie Moore
Team Pacman def. Team 3-D by DQ
Eric Young won a gauntlet match
LAX, Samoa Joe, Junior Fatu def. Christian Cage, A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels and Senshi
Did you catch TNA’s first two-hour show? Let Mr. Mal and the rest of us here at WrestlersRamblings.com know about it. PLEASE drop me a comment or two to let me know your thoughts. Thanks for visiting! See you again — soon! Bookmark us, already!! Pass us along to a friend!!
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