Ricky Steamboat hospitalized after suffering brain aneurysm

Photo courtesy WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat has been hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm on Wednesday, according to reports. WWE.com has announced on its website that Steamboat “was experiencing pain in his neck and shoulder, and immediately went to the hospital. According to medical officials, his condition is most likely not related to his performance on Monday night, and Ricky’s medical prognosis is good to excellent.”

The company also says this is unrelated to Steamboat’s appearance on this week’s Raw, in which he and other legends were attacked by The Nexus. WWE had previously announced that Steamboat had suffered internal injuries from Monday’s beatdown, but that was part of the storyline while this injury is real.

It is good news that Steamboat’s prognosis is good and here’s wishing him a speedy recovery.

TNA debuts new Jakks action figure line

TNA recently debuted the first series of its new action figures, including Sting, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles and Suicide. The figures are made by Jakks Pacific, the company who formerly handled WWE’s toy line. The video below shows some of the press conference and a closer look at the new figures.

WWE announces release of Daniel Bryan

WWE has announced on its website that the company has come to terms on the release of Daniel Bryan. It’s unclear right now if this is a legit firing or if this is all part of the NXT Invasion angle.

It wouldn’t make sense to get rid of Bryan right now, with the angle so hot and WWE previously investing time in his program with The Miz and Michael Cole. Dave Meltzer is reporting that the release is for real, but only after previously reporting that it was part of a storyline.

The one thing that makes no sense out of all of this, from the standpoint of the NXT Invasion, is if WWE can fire Bryan, who participated in the attack, then why wouldn’t they fire everyone involved? If the firing is legit, it opens up the can of worms I mentioned, which is why I think it might all be a work.

We’ll have to wait until Monday to see how this all plays out.

Carlito released by WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment has announced the release of Carlito after he failed a drug test and refused to enter rehab at the request of the company. Unlike most of the company’s releases which are buried in the “News” section of WWE’s website, Carlito’s release is a feature story, albeit a two sentence paragraph.

Carlito and Primo had recently reformed their tag team and an alliance with Ted DiBiase was hinted at. Now Primo will be on his own and likely shoved back down the card. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a tag team with Evan Bourne, though.

Carlito has long had a reputation for being a great talent but someone who lacked motivation and desire. TNA will likely be very interested but who knows if they’ll chase him since the rumor is Dixie Carter and Co. will be cutting talent.

TNA confirms iMPACT! moving back to Thursdays

As had been rumored around the internet all afternoon, TNA confirmed during the opening of tonight’s iMPACT! broadcast that the show will be moving back to Thursdays full time beginning May 13.

The move is a smart one by TNA, especially since the Thursday replays had been drawing higher ratings recently than the original Monday airing. While trying to go head-to-head with WWE will probably be looked at as a failed move by TNA, it was worth a shot to test the waters. Odds are this move was Spike’s idea more than it was TNA’s.

What is quite laughable about the whole thing, though, is Mike Tenay saying that they had been listening to feedback and are moving the show back to Thursdays because that’s what the fans wanted.

Bubba the Love Sponge fired by TNA

TNA management has finally decided to part ways with Bubba the Love Sponge after the latest inflammatory incident in his already checkered TNA career. Bubba and Awesome Kong got into it on a radio show earlier today, months after the incident between the two that ultimately led to Kong’s departure from the company.

As those of you who read the blog or follow me on Twitter know, I can’t stand Bubba. The “shock jock” couldn’t be more played out and he was only in TNA thanks to his friendship with Hulk Hogan. He is truly the definition of more trouble than he was worth, especially since he wasn’t worth anything to begin with.

TNA released a short statement regarding Bubba’s release and Kevin Eck of the Baltimore Sun has more on the radio incident.

Tony Atlas released by WWE

WWE announced today the release of Tony Atlas and, as usual, wished him well in his future endeavors.

Since Mark Henry’s face turn and move from Raw to ECW last year, WWE didn’t really know what to do with Atlas. He was paired with Abraham Washington as his sidekick but hadn’t been seen since the demise of ECW.

The 56-year-old Atlas has had a storied wrestling and bodybuilding career that includes championships in the World Class Wrestling Association, World Wrestling Council and World Wrestling Federation. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006.

Mike Knox is the latest WWE release

The cuts keep on coming as the WWE announced late tonight that they have released Mike Knox. Earlier in the day, Mickie James, Shelton Benjamin and four others were also let go by the company.

The release of Knox certainly isn’t a shock since he’s been relegated to low mid-card status for his entire tenure with the ‘E. His one bright spot came during a mini-program with Rey Mysterio that never really amounted to anything.

Knox is the seventh performer dropped by WWE today.

Mickie James, Shelton Benjamin among six WWE releases

In surprising news, WWE today announced the releases of six performers, most notably Shelton Benjamin and Mickie James. Katie Lea Burchill, Kung Fu Naki, Slam Master J and Jimmy Wang Yang were also let go by the company.

Mickie James was widely regarded as the best women’s wrestler in WWE and was a five-time Women’s Champion and held the Diva’s Title once.

Shelton Benjamin was one of the best performers in the company but had been horribly booked and never allowed to shine. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see both James and Benjamin in TNA once their 90-day no-compete clauses expire.

TNA wisely making 8pm iMPACT! start time permanent

That didn’t take long. Fresh off the heels of this week’s ratings spike after moving iMPACT’s start time to 8pm EST, TNA President Dixie Carter announced on Twitter that the program will move to that timeslot permanently. The show will also be re-aired Thursday night’s at 9pm.

This is definitely the smart thing to do. Beginning iMPACT! an hour before Raw starts is a great way to try to get viewers hooked in and also will help boost ratings as they’ll be unopposed from 8-9pm.

I’ll be the first to admit I thought things looked pretty grim coming off of the horrible ending to Monday’s iMPACT! Suddenly, though, things are looking up for TNA.