Question: Where will TNA go from here?

You’ve probably seen the rumours circulating about TNA Impact Wrestling’s direction in the future.

I don’t have access to their accounts; but I do know that while US audiences have been critical of the product recently, they still have a hugely loyal UK fan base, evidenced by their expansion of their 2014 tour over here.

I also know that the British Boot Camp at the start of this year created huge interest in TNA and the four contenders.

And I know that Ring-Ka-King was critically acclaimed and popular with fans worldwide, who managed to watch it despite it not being aired in their country.

So – is it time for TNA to try working as a UK-based promotion?

Fact: UK fans can meet top TNA stars on the Road To Lockdown Tour

Hurrah and huzzah, new fan interaction packages have just been announced for TNA’s Road to Lockdown tour!

The limited tickets go on sale on Friday, and will give you a pass to meet a guaranteed eight TNA superstars.

The Greatest Man That Ever Lived Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kaz, and Magnus are all on the tour line-up, alongside Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode, James Storm, AJ Styles, Mr Anderson, Rob Van Dam and Gail Kim. Plus Miss Tessmacher if you like that kind of thing.

Fan Interaction tickets can be bought from http://www.gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051 or www.ticketmaster.co.uk / 0844 826 2826. Those purchasing Fan Interaction tickets must also have a regular event ticket, sold separately, in order to gain access.

TNA Road To Lockdown

Wednesday January 23 Glasgow Braehead Arena
Thursday January 24 Nottingham Capital FM Arena
Friday January 25 Manchester Arena
Saturday January 26 Wembley Arena

Fact: TNA Impact Wrestling is returning to the UK. And is bringing a steel cage

If you didn’t already know, Impact Wrestling will be returning to these shores at the start of the year for more TV tapings and arena shows.

This time it’s the Road to Lockdown, which means they are bringing the steel cage associated with that PPV along with them.

Interview: TNA’s Bobby Roode talks about Lockdown and enjoying being champion

Bobby Roode’s been part of some epic factions in his time.

“Every faction has a special place in my wrestling heart,” he recalls. “There was  Team Canada – that’s the country that I love and that’s where I broke into the company. The Christian Coalition thing, I barely remember it. Fortune was very special; a new incarnation of the Four Horsemen with Ric Flair – I learnt so much from Ric.”

But that’s it now. Roode does not see himself joining any groups in the future. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m the leader of the Selfish Generation,” he declares. “I don’t need anybody but myself.”

That’s pretty much his defining characteristic at the moment – he’s a dominant, domineering champion, who gained his belt by turning on his best friend with that cruel bottle shot. And on Sunday he’s facing James Storm once more in a title match.

Interview: TNA’s Cowboy James Storm talks liver surgery and Lockdown

“I’ll tell you something that not many people know,” pipes up James Storm, who challenges Bobby Roode for the TNA world title this weekend.

“I’ve kept my shirt on for the last few TV tapings, and that’s because I’ve had liver and kidney surgery – I’ve had a bruise on the outside of my liver. Not from drinking,” he adds quickly, “because that would be a bruise on the inside of my liver. But everything’s fine and dandy now.”

Well, you’d hope, because Storm is going to have to be in tip-top condition to face his former Beer Money partner in the Lockdown steel cage on Sunday.

Interview: Matt Morgan on Samoa Joe, Magnus, WWE and Victory Road

It’s common knowledge that the current pairings at the top of the TNA tag team division weren’t formed by friendship.

Samoa Joe and Magnus reckon they were thrown together to keep the most difficult talent away from everyone else; and Matt Morgan thinks he and Crimson were paired together for another reason.

“We were put together for a reason – to get and hold those tag titles,” he says. “We have a lot of differences. That is our Achilles heel, perhaps – not miscommunication, but we try to outshine one another.”

Interview: Doug Williams talks TNA, British Invasion and X-Division

Hello Doug, and welcome back to the UK – you’ve been working very hard while you’ve been here…

The past week I’ve done four shows, all over the place – they’ve all been good, they’ve all been well attended. I’ve been working with people I knew before as well as newer guys like Martin Kirby, and guys I’d seen before like Dave Mastiff – all tremendous characters.

Do you enjoy coming back home?

I do. There’s no huge pressure, so I just have fun and a very nice experience – especially as it’s in isolation, I think if I had this schedule all the time it wouldn’t be so much fun! But it’s good to see fresh talent and see how the UK scene is improving. It’s definitely on the up, and I hope and think it’ll keep going that way.

Currently on TNA we’re seeing your former British Invasion partner Magnus having a run as tag-team champion with Samoa Joe – do you feel abandoned?

[laughs] Not at all. It was my turn in 2010, as X-Division champion, so I did the same to him then!

Question: Should Challenge TV be showing Zema Ion v Jesse Sorensen in their UK Against All Odds broadcast?

I just put the TV on to Challenge TV to watch the Impact Against All Odds pay-per-view.

And then I turned it off again.

You see, I knew that Zema Ion v Jesse Sorensen was the first match on the card for a number one contender’s slot in the X-Division.

But I also know how that match finishes. And so does every other wrestling fan in the UK.

Do we really need to see it?

Interview: Samoa Joe on TNA Impact UK tour, Magnus, and Against All Odds

“Myself and Magnus are going on all cylinders. We’re a formidable duo and I fully expect to dominate, wreck, destroy the opposition,” says Samoa Joe. He and his tag partner are facing champions Matt Morgan and Crimson at this Sunday’s TNA Impact Against All Odds pay-per-view, and they are confident about their chances of victory.

Their tactics, however, are slightly less clear. “You can’t hit them in the head, because they’re so stupid it doesn’t really matter. They’re tall dudes, I gotta go low on them.  Keep inflicting punishment on them till they pass out. That’s our plan.”

Hulk Hogan’s World Tour, aka TNA Impact Wrestling TV taping, Saturday January 28, Wembley, London, ENGLAND!

So tonight I was invited along to the Impact Wrestling TV tapings at Wembley Arena. Obviously the two shows I saw being filmed won’t air for a couple of weeks yet, so this report is slightly spoilery, but I’ll try not to give too much away.

Without further ado, some facts about the shows:

1. TNA are returning to the UK next year, and doing shows at the same venues (Manchester, Nottingham, London) plus Glasgow Braehead.