Ringbelles Roundup (14 May 2013) – Christy Hemme, WSU updates, news & more
Anyone who watched TNA Impact Wrestling last week saw an unnecessarily uncomfortable moment for one of the roster.
Ring announcer Christy Hemme made a mistake on the live broadcast during the entrance for Austin Aries and Bobby Roode, incorrectly introducing them as Kazarian and Christopher Daniels’ team of Bad Influence. A silly mistake, but it’s live TV and mistakes sometimes happen. Upset, Aries got into the ring, backed Hemme into a corner and forced her to give the correct introductions, which she did, under some duress. As she was finishing off her correction, Aries climbed onto the ropes, essentially placing his crotch less than six inches from her face – something which Hemme laughed off.
However, things clearly weren’t so funny for Christy.
When asked about the incident on Twitter, Hemme replied with the solitary word of “unacceptable”, which made it clear that her reaction to Aries actions were not something that she found amusing, but had brushed it off to be a professional and get on with her job. Aries responded on his Twitter on Saturday with a load of penis and testicle puns, saying “Pretty nuts, some of the junk people get the balls to say over the net, knowing they couldn’t to your face…Eh, anyway, time to sack out.” (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Knockouts visit ECW’s old home
Before there was a Knockouts Championship, there was still a Knockouts division, and while it was showing promise, it was still a work in progress, as you can see momentarily.
The match featured in this week’s Retro is from June 9, 2006 when TNA was looking to establish audiences, and had a go at latching onto the old Extreme Championship Wrestling crowd by holding a show at the former ECW Arena. Featuring former ECW stars like Team 3D, Rhino, Simon Diamond and Jerry Lynn, it worked like a throwback for fans who still wanted an edgier product. The women also got involved with a more suggestive-style match than was being presented at the time – with Original Knockout Traci Brooks facing future inaugural Knockouts Champion Gail Kim, with Christy Hemme serving as a special referee.
It’s not a 5-star match, but it is an interesting example of TNA throwing ideas at a wall at the time and seeing what stuck. Click the jump and enjoy. (more…)
My first TNA live experience
I swore off going to WWE shows back in 2005 when I decided that they weren’t worth my time. I felt that the ratio of entertainment to investment wasn’t good enough, so after having gone to at least one WWE show a year since 1996, I walked away. Since then, I have been to smaller shows, and avoided events from the bigger wrestling companies.
That is, until this Thursday, when after seven years away, I headed to Nottingham’s Capital FM Arena for the first UK date of the TNA Maximum Impact IV European tour.
To be honest, I was looking forward to it, as I had always heard good things about TNA house shows, while the Impact Wrestling shows are more hit and miss. Buoyed by my interview with Tara earlier this month, I was confident that I was going to enjoy myself, even though I’m not as much of a TNA viewer as have been in the past. So along with fellow wrestling fan and work colleague Tom Campbell (the voice of the infamous Big’Un in Wigan), we hopped into my car and – barring an unscheduled stop because of my brakes almost catching fire – made the 90 minute drive to Nottingham. (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Gail Kim’s first TNA run
TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim was meant to be wrestling JWP Openweight, TLW Womens and IMW Hybrid Fighting Champion Hailey Hatred this Friday at Absolute Intense Wrestling, but that match was called off last week after talks between the promotions representing the wrestlers broke down. It would have been Kim’s first match against an independent wrestler in years – though she wrestled on an International Wrestling Cartel show in Meadville, PA last weekend, defeating fellow Knockout Traci Brooks.
As a result of the breakdown in negotiations, Kim will be the guest referee in the AIW Women’s Title match with Mickie Knuckles defending against Mia Yim. Hopefully, both women – especially the younger Yim – will be able to glean some knowledge from Gail during her visit, and the original scheduled match between Hatred and Kim can be rescheduled for some point in the future, as it will likely be the best match the KOs Champ will have had in years.
So because Gail isn’t wrestling on Friday, we’ve got a match of her’s for this week’s Retro from her original TNA run. This particular contest is from 2006, when TNA collaborated with United Wrestling Federation – the promotion launched by racing driver Hermie Sadler and twin brother referees Dave and Earl Hebner the previous year – which emanated from the New Alhambra Hall (AKA the ECW Arena, AKA the Asylum Arena) in Philadelphia, PA on June 9. Taking place before a Knockouts Title was created, Kim took on Traci Brooks (oh, it’s her again!) with Christy Hemme as the special referee, much like Gail will be this Friday. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (30 August 2011)
After three weeks of leading with Melina, let’s have something different…
A report by Power Slam Magazine claims that former WWE Divas Mickie James and Christy Hemme are earning around $100,000 in TNA, while everyone else is unlikely to be earning much more than $38,000, and that’s only if they’re booked on a regular basis. As they’re only paid on a per appearance agreement, there’s a strong chance that it could be a considerable amount less. It’s likely to be acts like Velvet Sky – who is in favour with TNA – who is on that amount, while others will be on less.
If you factor in that they need to pay their own expenses for things like road transport and accommodation during house show circuits, and then tax needs to be paid on their earnings, that’s a really shitty wage for wrestlers in what is supposed to be the number 2 wrestling promotion in the United States. In the past, we’ve heard of female wrestlers in TNA having issues with their income – Gail Kim left because of it, Kharma pointed it out after she was released from the promotion, Taylor Wilde admitted having to work at Sunglass Hut while as Knockouts Champion to make ends meet, and Madison Rayne was reportedly unable to work the house show circuits at one point last year because the income wouldn’t have covered her costs.
If that is the case, good for James and Hemme – you’re getting a good amount of money for the work that you do. In fact, the biggest praise must go to Christy herself, who would be getting that much for being a ring announcer, and doesn’t have to take any punishment in the ring. I support them getting as much money as they can. After all, we live in a capitalist society – unless you’re reading this in China, Cuba or North Korea… (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (17 May 2011)
The Big News
Hide your kids, hide your wife – Wrestlicious is back.
On Monday, it was announced that the second season of TakeDown would be shown on a cable network owned by Viacom. That could mean it could be hosted on Comedy Central, an MTV channel, VH1 or even Spike – the channel which currently hosts TNA TV.
In the official press release, Union Square Agency, with whom Wrestlicious has formed this partnership, says it will provide sponsorship sales, television production, syndication, media sales, event extensions, venue selection, strategic partnerships and manage licensing and merchandising.
Wrestlicious launched on TV in the US and Canada last year, two years after host and producer Johnny Cafarella and Jimmy Hart teamed up with Jonathan Vargas, a 19-year old who won $35.3 million on the Powerball Lottery. The original concept for Wrestlicious was dreamt up in 2003 when Hart produced a pilot for Crush, which was exactly the same as what Wrestlicious is – a mix of cartoony wrestling with comedy skits spliced in. Featuring wrestlers like Melina, Lacey, Rain and Cheerleader Melissa, it had proper wrestlers as well as models who would be trained up – sound familiar? Some of the characters were even recycled – the Felony character was originally played in Crush by Melissa, but seeing as she was contracted to TNA at the time, Felony was played by Rain in Wrestlicious. (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Kountdown to Kharma Kong-tinues
Last week, Ringbelles decided to dedicate the Retro to the impending WWE debut of Kharma, AKA Amazing Kong. This week, we kong-tinue our look into the vault with a match from TNA’s Final Resolution 2008, with Kong defending the Knockouts Title against Christy Hemme.
Now, I’m a fan of Christy Hemme. She’s infectiously fun and has a great attitude to her job. She was let go from WWE in 2006 for a still-undisclosed reason – WWE said they had nothing for her, Hemme claims she left because she didn’t want to compromise her morals – and joined TNA, eventually becoming the manager of the Rock N’ Rave Infection, while sporadically wrestling. After being attacked by the Beautiful People, Hemme turned face and entered singles competition in the Knockouts Division, eventually earning a shot against Kong at the last TNA PPV of 2008.
After the jump, you’ll find the video of the match, which was pretty lively and exciting. (more…)
Austin Aries “fined” over Christy Hemme situation
Officially, that’s the end of the matter, but it still seems strange that Hemme went onto Twitter to call the situation “unacceptable” following the show – though she later deleted the tweet – though TNA says it immediately dealt with it. In addition, it seems strange that Spike TV was the first to make a public statement about it, calling it “sexual harassment” and saying the network has a zero tolerance policy for such occurrences. While Aries probably did not mean to commit an act which was deemed as sexual harassment – as it is the victim that gets to decide if it was over the line and the employers to agree or disagree with the accusation – TNA could be seen to be guilty for dragging its heels. (more…)
May 16, 2013 | Categories: Commentaries | Tags: Christy Hemme, TNA | 1 Comment »