After witnessing an entrancing dance performance, a young man’s psyche falls apart through a series of strange encounters in Arachnid, a horror short film by Luke Paron. It’s a riveting piece of celluloid that packs an enormous punch in its less-than-15-minute runtime. Read on for my thoughts and more information about Arachnid.
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Awesome Kong is one of the most influential female wrestlers ever because her feud with Gail Kim launched TNA Wrestling’s Knockout division and ushered in the women’s revolution in professional wrestling. I had the pleasure of interviewing Awesome Kong for three hours for my doctoral research project and my book about TNA Wrestling and the Knockouts. We covered her entire career in TNA, including her thoughts on Gail Kim, how women were compensated in TNA, the Bubba the Love Sponge debacle, Daffney, Dixie Carter, Dutch Mantel, Hulk Hogan, Erich Bischoff, Reba Hardy, and more. There were moments when she had me laughing so hard it hurt; other times, what we discussed brought her to tears. This interview exceeded my expectations in every way, and I’m grateful to Awesome Kong for her contributions to my research and the TNA Wrestling Knockouts book.
Today, I interviewed Vince Russo for 90 minutes for my doctoral research about professional wrestling and my book about how the TNA Knockouts revolutionized women’s wrestling.
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On April 26, Scott Fishman, a well-respected pro wrestling journalist, reached out to me, asking if I’d provide him with a quote for a story he was working on for Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) about the 20th anniversary of IMPACT Wrestling. I was blown away by this request because I grew up buying and reading PWI (which I still do), and it’s widely considered the greatest publication in the history of the industry. Nearly two months later, the October 2022 issue of PWI including Scott’s IMPACT article is now available. How is it, how much of my quote made the cut, and how can you get your hands on a copy? Read on for all those answers and more.
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IMPACT Wrestling Knockout competitor Gisele Shaw has disclosed she is a transgender woman to the wider public. Shaw, who joined IMPACT’s roster in January of this year, informed IMPACT of her decision several months ago and made the disclosure in a series of interviews today.
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Our World Changed in 2020. It’s easy to think about how 2020 changed the world in many ways but Slammiversary was an industry shaking event. For weeks beforehand, anticipation built around just who would appear at IMPACT’s yearly anniversary PPV extravaganza. At least one former World Champion was promised, many other debuts and returns were teased – but just exactly who and how many people would be appearing at Slammiversary was anybody’s guess. Slammiversary came and blew away all expectations.
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As Brian Cage ramped up his pursuit of the IMPACT World Championship, Johnny IMPACT became increasingly insecure – looking to do anything he could to hang onto gold. He just about escaped from Homecoming with the title, fending off Brian Cage’s Option C challenge, but The Machine’s chase was only beginning. As Cage got closer and closer to Johnny, Johnny cracked under pressure – using corrupt official John E. Bravo to keep the title around his waist as Johnny and Taya Valkyrie looked to rule IMPACT. Brian Cage would finally get another shot at Rebellion – this time with special referee Lance Storm in place to ensure that Johnny couldn’t tilt the scales in his favor in any way. Cage defeated Johnny in Toronto to capture the richest prize in IMPACT Wrestling.
Continue readingSantana and Ortiz carried on the LAX name with honor, living up the tremendous legacy of Homicide and Hernandez. However, the original LAX weren’t exactly pleased to see their spotlight taken by a younger generation. After over a year dominating the tag team division, Eddie Kingston arrived in IMPACT with a worrying message – Konnan had been taken out but he was here to steer the ship in Konnan’s absence. Diamante was skeptical of Kingston at first but over time he earned Santana and Ortiz’s trust and helped lead them back to the Tag Team Titles. All was well in LAX until Konnan returned.
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IMPACT Wrestling is bringing back an all-Knockouts event this upcoming weekend in Nashville, Tennessee: The Knockouts Knockdown will be filmed in The IMPACT Zone at Skyway Studios, starting Friday, September 17. Read on for all of the details, including the announcement video from Gail Kim, and historical information about the genesis of the original Knockouts Knockdown in 2013 — which, at the time, was the first-ever all-women pay-per-view held by one of the top wrestling promotions in the world.
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Today was quite a day for interviews for my books about the history of TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. I interviewed the greatest and most influential female wrestler of all time, Gail Kim, as well as hardcore wrestling icon Shane Douglas, and former TNA Knockouts Champion Taryn Terrell!
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