Source: Del Rio News Herald
TNA’s going to have a lot of work to do to top Sunday night’s pay-per-view.
When Bound for Glory ended Sunday night, the only thing fans didn’t get to see was another violent confrontation between Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. Everything else a wrestling fan could want was there.
Here are the results.
Austin Starr, formerly Austin Aries, won the Kevin Nash Invitational X Division Gauntlet Battle Royal. He defeated 15 other X Division stars including Sonjay Dutt, Matt Bentley, Kazarian, Shark Boy, Zach Gowen, Normal Smiley, Elix Skipper, Petey Williams and Alex Shelley.
Team 3-D defeated the James Gang, the Naturals and America’s Most Wanted as they hit the Naturals’ Chase Stevens with 3D and made the pin fall.
Eric Young regained his job in TNA, and forced TNA to fire Larry Zbyszko, after he knocked Zbyszko out with a foreign object brought to the ring by Zbyszko himself.
Samoa Joe defeated Abyss, Raven and Brother Runt in a Monster’s Ball match.
Chris Sabin defeated Senshi to win the X Division title. Sabin survived a Warrior’s Way stomp from the top rope, and then reversed a dragon sleeper attempt into a small package pin.
Christian Cage defeated Rhyno by pin fall in an 8 Mile Street Fight. Cage was able to get the win by burying Rhyno under a pile of debris and smashing it with a steel chair under Rhyno lost consciousness.
L.A.X. defeated A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels to win the NWA World Tag Team titles in a Six Sides of Steel match. It was an amazing match that saw both teams use an arsenal of moves to try and gain an advantage. Styles even dove off the top of the cage and hit Hernandez with a cross body block. In the end, Konnan’s interference, choking Daniels with a close hanger, allowed Hernandez and Homicide to double team Styles and finish him off with Homicide’s “Gringo Killer” finisher.
Sting, wearing his old Sting robe, his Wolfpack Sting pants and with new face paint, defeated Jeff Jarrett by pin fall to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Angle, who served as the special guest enforcer for the match, ended as the special guest referee when he interfered and stopped the assigned referee from counting both men out as they lay in the ring. Once the action resumed, Jarrett tried to gain the upper hand by blasting Sting with his guitar, but the attack just served to fire Sting up. Sting finished Jarrett off by forcing him to tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock.
Speaking of Angle, I had part if his Tuesday afternoon interview with the media published in Saturday’s edition of the News-Herald. That part of the interview dealt with Angle’s departure from the WWE and the circumstances surrounding it.
Today, learn more about Angle’s battle with drug addiction and what the future holds for the former WWE World Champion.
Why TNA?
“In TNA, I found that wrestling can be fun again. You’re not pressured into doing things you don’t want to do. They’ll look to you for ideas and see where you’re headed. There are no politics involved in TNA. When I looked at my options, and I looked at TNA, I just saw room for growth for me as an individual and in this company. I plan to stick here for the next 30 years, whether it’s as talent or as an agent or in promotions or as a writer. I plan on being involved with Dixie (Carter, president of TNA) for the rest of my life. I can’t leave wrestling. I have a passion for it. I will always go back to it. As big as Kurt Angle has been in the past, he will only get bigger. Now I have a company who wants to use me in the proper way. I’m not telling anyone that my spot is guaranteed or that I’m going to be in that spot forever. I want to tell these guys that if you want to take my spot, then come and take it. I’ve made a lot of athletes in the WWE. Now, in TNA, I have time to carry the ball and have the opportunity to show everyone what I’m capable of doing. This time can be a lot of fun for me and for the company.”
You spoke about an addiction to painkillers earlier in the interview. Can you bring us up to date on that story?
“I haven’t taken painkillers in over three years. A lot of that had a lot to do with my neck surgery and not having the time off to heal and being dependant on them. I had nowhere else to go, so I went to the bosses and told them that I was afraid I would die from taking so many. To me, it wasn’t like I was addicted. It was being on the road 300 days a year, plus wrestling, I had to take them to function. I couldn’t get out of bed unless I took a whole handful. It got so bad that my wife and I sat down and discussed where we could go and what we could do to stop this. I talked with my doctor and he suggested to put me in rehab. I told him I didn’t want to do that; that I wanted to just stop taking them. He told me that it was impossible to quit cold turkey. He said, ‘I want to wean you down from 10 to five to none. If you try and quit all together, you could actually kill yourself doing that.’ I told him that I was willing to take that chance.
“I told Vince I needed three months off and I needed to go to rehab. He told me to forget all that and that I was going back on the road. He said, ‘I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear any excuses. I need you to go back on the road and rehab yourself.’ That’s the worst thing a person in my situation could do, but I actually did it. But I started getting worn down even more. It got to the point that I was going through major withdrawal in the ring during a match against (John) Cena. All the company was worried about was me putting John Cena over, making him look good enough to hold the title. From there on, my attitude with Vince (Mahon, CEO of the WWE) turned sour. I felt that no one cared about me any more. I made Cena look incredibly well, much better than he is. After the match, I went backstage and dropped to my knees and nearly died. The next day I was asked to go to Baltimore and wrestle because John Heidenreich was going through his problems. I told (Vince) I couldn’t take Heidenreich’s place, but he insisted I go. At that point, I lost of all respect for (Vince). Vince and I didn’t talk that much after that. Was it his fault? Yes, but it was my fault as well. I should have put my foot down because I knew he wouldn’t have fired me.”
Editor’s note: TNA management contacted the reporters who took part in the Angle interview and made one correction to Angle’s statement regarding pain killers. Angle, after the interview, said that he had realized he began using painkillers three years ago and has been clean, rather, for 18 months since the Cena pay-per-view match her referenced, which took place in February 2005.
How is it going to be different this time? How can Kurt Angle be the same, or better, with all of the health issues you’ve had?
“When I was with the WWE, I was never given enough time to properly heal and rehabilitate. Now, I’ve been given that time to heal and I’m ready to go 100 percent. If any time comes that I didn’t feel that well, I can call (Dixie) and tell her that I can’t go this week, but maybe next week. With the WWE, I was traveling 250 to 265 days a year, but I won’t even try to attempt that now. I will wrestle as often as I can, whenever they need me. I am the new face of TNA and I have a responsibility to be at the most important events. The fans know I can’t go any less than 120 percent. I’ve tried; it doesn’t work for me. I can’t slow down. I have to give the fans what the pay for.”
That’s all for now. Enjoy this week’s programming and, as always, STAY TUNED!!
