Dirt Sheet History: January 2010

Take a trip back to a memorable timeline in sports entertainment with the most important stories reported as fact in the journalistic world of pro wrestling dirt sheets.

Following the timeline of the last Dirt Sheet History looking back at December 2009, we get a glimpse into the top scoops from January of 2010 as we read Dirt Sheet History.

Reminder that you can find all past editions of Dirt Sheet History looking at 2004 through 2009 right here. Now enjoy January 2010!

1/1/2010

While there are a few pieces that still have to fall in place for this to happen, there is talk within WWE that Jeff Hardy will be brought back in time to wrestle C.M. Punk at WrestleMania 26.

1/2/2010

Hulk Hogan has responded to negative comments made about him by WWE superstar CM Punk about him.

“Well, you know, it’s kind of like the law of attraction. He’s probably going to attract more of that negative stuff to his career because, you know, if you’re functioning on that level, that’s probably what you are going to attract, but at the end of the day, you know, I was selling out Madison Square Garden when that kid was pooping in his diapers, so you know, you’re going to see what I’m all about. I’m not there to wrestle. I don’t have a contract to wrestle. I’m there to run this company. Make it better, like I said, give the talent a choice. All the talents that are locked in there…I’m sure Vince McMahon is giving CM Punk the big push but paying him crumbs, because I know how that goes, because I’m giving the fans a choice, and the talent a choice and I’m going to prove to this negative guy that he’s wrong.”

1/3/2010

Regarding Shawn Michaels‘ outlook on real-life rival Bret Hart returning to World Wrestling Entertainment, he is said to be happy that the “Hitman” is coming back and is more than willing to bury whatever hatchet there is between them.

On the flip side, Triple H has been telling people he doesn’t want Hart back in WWE and that he hopes his return to the company fails. Considering that his wife, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, is head of creative in the company, it would appear that Vince McMahon may have to overrule his daughter and son-in-law if his storyline with Hart is to be a success. Providing things go well, a Hart vs. McMahon blow-off will be taking place at WrestleMania.

1/4/2010

On tonight’s RAW, we saw the long-awaited return of Bret Hart to WWE television. The Hitman made peace with Shawn Michaels and got screwed over by Vince McMahon once again. Here’s some news on Bret’s return:

– Bret Hart was at RAW last night with his girlfriend. He spent a lot of time introducing himself to the locker room, since Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Mark Henry were the only superstars on the roster since his last stint in the company.

– Although The Hart Dynasty were brought in for the show, there were never plans to use them, and they were there as trusted and known faces to Hart.

– WWE Superstar JTG of Cryme Tyme did not attend last night’s RAW and wrote on Twitter that he’s a “lil pisst” about not being there to meet Bret Hart.

1/5/2010

After a shocking appearance by Jeff Hardy at Monday’s TNA iMPACT! tapings, we can confirm that the former WWE Champion has signed a contract with TNA Wrestling. Here are some of the key details to this story:

– Jeff Hardy is now a full-time member of the TNA roster and will be working a regular television and PPV schedule.

– The main reason Jeff Hardy jumped to TNA is the work schedule and is at the point where he doesn’t want to deal with the grueling WWE travel schedule. In TNA, he can still remain a top star in the industry and make great money while working and traveling far less.

1/6/2010

It would appear that Chris Jericho accidentally posted two messages on his Twitter account which were not meant to be read by the general public as the following tweets were deleted shortly after its initial posting:

“Well u can invite her too! Gotta take care of my Aussie girls 🙂 U ever come to the US?”

“Yes I have changed my wig a few times over the years :)”

Twitter has a feature which allows users to private message one another so it would appear that is what he meant to do.

1/8/2010

While flipping channels this past Monday night, former WWE performer Tammy Sytch (a.k.a. Sunny) came upon Raw and put up a status update on her Facebook noting how chubby The Bella Twins got over the holidays.

Sytch exclaimed, “I saw back fat!”

At least in the case of Nikki Bella, who accompanied her sister Brie for her match against Maryse on Monday’s show, she wore a much-too-tight bikini top which caused her back skin to noticeably fold.

Her disparaging remarks garnered much feedback from her Facebook followers and she added maybe she wouldn’t have called them chubby had they been nicer to her at WrestleMania. If you recall, both Sytch and the Bellas took part in the 25-Diva battle royal at the event.

Sytch continued: “I only said they look chubby, i didnt call them obese slobs…christ dude, get over it. And maybe if they were a little nicer at Wrestlemania, I wouldnt call them chubby either…but theres no excuse for any of those girls in their early 20’s to get a little chubby… wait til … they hit 35 and everything slows the fuck down..then what??? They are getting paid to look a certain way… If I was there right now, I’d weigh 118 fucking skinny ass pounds again!!”

1/9/2010

There is major paranoia in the TNA locker room now due to the arrivals of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff according to a report in the PWTorch Newsletter.

Several TNA stars are now concerned about their standing with the company, with so many new wrestlers being brought in. There is only room for so many wrestlers on the roster and the general consensus backstage is that roster changes are inevitable.

Wrestlers who get paid per-date are also concerned about TNA keeping them under contract but not using them, as they only get paid when they are actually used.

1/11/2010

TNA returnee Scott Hall is pushing company officials to hire his friend, Sid Eudy (a/k/a Sid Vicious).

The two apparently became real close friends in the past year as just before his return to the organization, Hall had been working on the independent circuit with the multi-time world champion. Furthermore, Sid’s son Gunnar made his wrestling debut alongside Hall this past summer in a tag match. There were also videos posted online of the duo “shooting” on the wrestling business.

1/12/2010

Eric Bischoff commented on challenging Vince McMahon again with TNA:

“I have a tremendous respect for Vince and, in a perverse way, I like him. But at the end of the day, I think I’m better than him. I’m more creative than him and have a better feel for the business.” Bischoff laughed, “It’s just that he happens to be a lot more successful than I am.”

1/14/2010

Taz revealed on Twitter last week that Brother Ray is starting his own rock band.

He wrote: “Breaking News! Spoke to Brother Ray…. he is starting a ROCK BAND! Cross between Pantera & AC/DC!! Worldwide…gonna be HUGE!”

1/15/2010

Josh Gross of Sports Illustrated recently interviewed Hulk Hogan and the wrestling legend informed him that he was planning on having a conversation today with Bobby Lashley to discuss his future in the wrestling business.

“Hulk Hogan mentioned, rather seriously, he plans on having a conversation with Bobby Lashley Sunday to discuss Lashley’s pro wrestling future. Hogan’s quote after I inquired about Lashley working 4 TNA: “He’s gotta make a choice, brother. We need to have a serious talk, He can [do MMA and pro wrestle] but he just needs to be a businessman about it. You can’t stiff us just because you have to train for a fight. You can’t put [Strikeforce] ahead of us; that’s not going to work me. I’m going to fix that real quick. That’s going to happen Sunday. I’m going to see what he’s made of because I’ve been around too long to have someone like him to do business with””

1/17/2010

There’s major heat on TNA backstage interviewer and radio shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge after some pretty tasteless comments he made over the weekend regarding the earthquake in Haiti.’

As everybody is aware of by now, an earthquake devastated the country of Haiti last week and tens of thousands are feared dead. Bubba the Love Sponge is apparently sick of the United States efforts to help another country when we have so many issues at home to address and wrote on Twitter, “F— Haiti”

No matter how you feel about the United States’ foreign policy and its political stance on spending American dollars to help other nations in need, a mainstream radio personality making a comment like that is pretty foolish.

As a result of the “F— Haiti” comment, Bubba was told by TNA management to stay home over the weekend and not to attend the TNA production meetings headed into Sunday night’s Genesis pay-paer-view.He was reportedly supposed to be part of an angle involving The Band at Genesis. Regarding that situation, he wrote on Twitter:

“here in orlando things r all messed up. Was suppose to be at the prod meeting @11 they called and said not 2 come???”

“I was suppose 2bpart of the outsiders deal and somebody over ruled hogan on it and I sat in the back all night about”

1/18/2010

It has been confirmed that Awesome Kong attacked radio show host and TNA backstage personality Bubba the Love Sponge at yesterday’s iMPACT! taping in Orlando.

Kong was reportedly upset due to the “F— Hati” [sic] tweet Bubba posted on his Twitter account over the weekend. She has been taking part in fundraising efforts for the relief fund for Haiti, which was rocked by an earthquake last week.

Bubba was sent home from yesterday’s taping, as was Kong. A source within the company notes that Bubba has major heat in the locker room. The TNA locker room is said to be almost 100% behind Kong.

1/19/2010

Prior to Monday’s TNA iMPACT! TV taping, members of TNA’s production team addressed the Impact Zone fans with instructions about “how act like cast members” in the filming of a TV series and not distract talent from “telling a story” to viewers at home.

“You are cast members here. It’s active, it’s TV-14, please, I know it’s fun to try to distract the talent up here, but they have to tell a story to two million people. You’re part of us. You’re helping us tell the story. Please don’t try and distract the story.”

The pre-show announcement comes the night after Genesis, when the iMPACT! zone totally ripped apart Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff‘s opening segment, the Band, Sean Morey, Mr. Anderson and many of the other “new faces” in TNA.

The director also told TNA fans not to “throw up gang signs” and not to chant “bullsh–” during the show, as it just creates work for the production team, who has to edit the bad language out.

“Every time you come here, I want you to be excited. What I cannot have from the audience are curses, flipped bird, and gang signs that I may not understand,” he said. “Please, watch your language. Please, watch what you do. If I ask you to remove a sign, I’m not even sure the reason. Somebody in the truck saw something. We’re going to be watching you. When we see this violation, we’re going to ask you to move.”

1/20/2010

New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kazuchika Okada is headed to TNA Wrestling.

Okada, who is known as the Young Lion, will wrestle in the United States for TNA to gain experience until he’s ready to come back to New Japan and be a top competitor. The official announcement reads:

As for the 22 year old Kazuchika Okada, NJPW has high hopes for the Young Lion as they plan to send him to train and wrestle for TNA Wrestling. The President of NJPW Sugabayashi has stated that Okada is still young and that the plan is for Okada to stay as long as needed for him to come back to NJPW and become a real contender. So at this time it looks like he may be in TNA for the next 2-3 years.

1/22/2010

TNA Knockout Awesome Kong, who got into a physical altercation with TNA backstage announcer Bubba the Love Sponge at Monday’s iMPACT! tapings, has given notice that she’s leaving the company.

1/24/2010

In an interview with The Sun, TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles blasts the backstabbing nature of rival promotion World Wrestling Entertainment.

The TNA star said he has no interest in going to WWE based on second-hand stories he’s heard from wrestlers’ experiences in the politically-motivated backstage environment.

“From all the horror stories I’ve heard in WWE, there’s no reason why I would want to go anywhere else. Desmond (Wolfe) and I are going to work together to make this company the best for everybody. Where, in the other company, they will stab each other in the back to get to the next level,” Styles said. “It’s not about me. It’s about us in TNA.”

1/25/2010

AJ Styles could be in line for a makeover as creative has discussed having the TNA World Heavyweight Champion bleach his hair blonde in order to synergize his partnership with Ric Flair. Though it should be noted that Styles has a say in this so it may not happen.

1/27/2010

During an interview with the Pro Wrestling Torch conducted this past September, Eric Bischoff commented on whether he had given thought to joining TNA Wrestling. In his response, Bischoff called WWE’s television product “boring” and predictable.

“Not really. A, because I don’t watch it. B, because I just don’t think about it. I don’t watch WWE, either. It’s not because I don’t like it. Well, it’s kind of because I don’t like it. It’s just that it’s so boring I can almost tell you what’s going to happen 30 seconds before it happens,” Bischoff told Wade Keller.

“I’m not just talking about the matches, I’m talking about the whole storyline arc of the show. But, I don’t want to say this the wrong way. It’s not a “been there, done that” syndrome, although that’s kind of part of it. It’s that unless it’s really creatively challenging and stimulating, I just don’t think about it. Since I’m not in it and I don’t really watch it, it’s just not something that I think about. I’ve probably thought more about wrestling in the last two interviews I’ve done with you than I have in the last two years.”

1/28/2010

The official website of The Honky Tonk Man is reporting that The Honky Tonk Man is “close to signing with TNA.”

1/29/2010

This morning during The Bubba the Love Sponge Show, Eric Bischoff shot down The Honky Tonk Man‘s claim that he is “close to signing with TNA.”

“I’d rather drive a rusty ice pick through my eye than work a day with him,” Bischoff quipped. “This guy couldn’t draw flies if you rolled him in cow s—. He’s negotiating with himself. No truth to that at all.”

1/30/2010

Apparently in response to comments Eric Bischoff made on The Bubba The Love Sponge Show yesterday, Chris Jericho fired back at Bischoff on his Twitter this morning, writing, “Bischoffs right I can’t headline in TNA…cos I’m not in my 50s.”

Bischoff said yesterday during his “State of TNA” address that he didn’t see Jericho as a headliner in WCW and apparently Vince McMahon doesn’t either in WWE considering that he only gave him two brief title runs in 2008.

– Tune back in next month for more Dirt Sheet History as we continue 2010.

Stories are credited from Rajah, PWTorch, PWInsider and The Wrestling Observer. Month name photo art is by Phillip Martin.

All past editions of Dirt Sheet History are found here.