by James Caldwell, Assistant editor

RESULTS

1/8 TNA Impact on Spike TV: (1) Alex Shelley beat Eric Young in 4:00 in a semi-final X Division Tournament match. ... (2) TNA Knockouts champion Awesome Kong (w/Raisha Saeed, Rhaka Khan, Sojourner Bolt) beat Madison Rayne in 1:00. ... (3) Matt Morgan beat Robert Roode via countout in 4:00. ... (4) Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed beat Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode & James Storm w/Miss Jacqueline) in 12:00 to capture the TNA Tag Titles. ... (5) Kurt Angle beat B.G. James in 10:00.

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NEWS

WWE News: Matt Hardy reviews "The Wrestler," says today's wrestlers are more intelligent than past generations

A consistent theme among current wrestlers, especially in WWE, who have seen "The Wrestler" is that the movie depicts a previous era and the wrestling business has "evolved" for the better.

Wrestlers today see themselves as much more responsible and smarter than wrestlers from the previous generation. More information should mean better decisions like not partying to all hours of the night before a major weekend tour and picking up enough sleep to function and let your body recover. Hold the thought.

ECW champion Matt Hardy recently watched "The Wrestler" and published his thoughts on his myspace page. Hardy says it's "an amazing piece of cinema that you will feel," and he can think of several wrestlers from the 1980s era who fit the mold of Randy "the Ram" Robinson, played by Mickey Rourke.

"One thing I can say though, regardless of what anyone says, the business has evolved," Hardy said on his myspace. "The guys and gals are so much more intelligent and responsible in this day and age then they were in the 80's/early 90's. And that's a good thing. A very good thing."

Prior to offering his brief review of "The Wrestler," Hardy describes his New Year's Eve party, which had him up until 7:00 a.m. before catching a flight to the South for last weekend's house show tour.

"I gotta do something about this lack of sleeping issue," Hardy said. "The next day I was trying to catch up on real-life things and ended up going to bed in the wee hours of the night again."

Hardy added that he wouldn't trade this apparently intelligent lifestyle for anything and "a large percentage of people would probably sacrifice a limb to lead my life."

"I've busted my ass for years to have the opportunity to lead this crazy lifestyle," Hardy said. "And although I sometimes bitch... I love it!"

Link: Matt Hardy myspace blog.

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TNA News: Preview for tonight's TNA Impact leading to Genesis PPV - Angle vs. B.G. James headlines

Tonight's TNA Impact leads into the first PPV of 2009, appropriately titled Genesis, and the show includes Kurt Angle taking on the returning B.G. James, who has been involved in the Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle program as a peacemaker.

At the end of the last regular edition of Impact on December 25, B.G. was knocked out by Angle to set up tonight's match-up.

Other matches scheduled for tonight's Impact include Alex Shelley vs. Eric Young in an X Division Title semi-final tournament match. Winner gets Chris Sabin at the Genesis PPV for the vacant X Division Title.

Also for tonight, Robert Roode vs. Matt Morgan and Awesome Kong vs. the debuting Ashley Lane, who will be wrestling under the name of Madison Rayne.

RELATED STORY at PWTorch.com: PWTorch.com Profile of Madison Rayne.

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TNA News: Brother Ray's future in TNA revealed; how Brother Devon of Team 3D is affected

Former TNA tag team champion Brother Ray is banged up physically. And the storyline write-off for his character on the Dec. 11, 2008 edition of TNA Impact could have been the last time Ray is seen on TNA TV for quite a while.

"Bodywise, he's pretty messed up," Brother Devon told Alex Marvez for his syndicated column. "I saw this coming two or three years ago. There were times where even getting on a plane was hard for him."

Devon said Ray has officially taken an "indefinite break" from TNA matches after the storyline write-off and the price of taking bumps and traveling for nearly 20 years has added up.

"For our generation, the (aging) process is sped up because of everything more we do in the ring," he said. "You can't do all that flying and flipping and not pay a price."

After being thrust into the main event spotlight with the Frontline in a singles role, Devon is eager to accept an opportunity to branch out on his own doing more talking and wrestling.

"Bubba and I are definitely two different people," Devon said. "What he lacks in wrestling ability, I pick up. What I lack in talking, he picks up. But I still think when I'm given the mike, I've always held my own."

Devon added that if Ray decides to retire, he won't join him, as he still believes he can produce in the ring for TNA.

Link: Brother Devon interview with Alex Marvez.

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WWE News: The Vince McMahon Congressional Interview -- McMahon's significant distortion about Kids audience

"I would suggest to you that adolescents are pretty smart, even though that is a very small segment of the viewing audience that we have." -- WWE chairman Vince McMahon's Congressional testimony - Dec. 14, 2007

Vince McMahon knew what Sen. Henry Waxman's office was looking for. WWE appeals to kids. Kids who watch over-muscled wrestlers perform in the ring will want to emulate that. If the result of over-muscled wrestlers is steroid use, then WWE needs government oversight as a result of endangering the youth of America.

A closer look at WWE's business, as simply evidenced by the announcement of launching six WWE Kids Magazines by the end of 2009, shows a complete and direct contradiction to Vince McMahon's quote cited above.

McMahon claimed the number of kids who tune into WWE's weekly programs is "a very small segment of the viewing audience that we have."

Contrast that with WWE's publishing director Bob Lee, who said in a national media publication this month that WWE has "2.6 million 6 to 14-year-olds who watch the show weekly as well as attend the events."

Contrast that with WWE CEO Linda McMahon, who told a group of major media players in New York last month about WWE's "cradle to the grave" strategy of hooking kids on the WWE product as early as possible.

Sen. Waxman's letter to the Office of National Drug Control Policy highlighted the fact that 3.0 million children watch pro wrestling on a weekly basis, which is a fairly accurate estimate when adding viewership of TNA Impact to WWE's 2.6 million number.

Mr. Waxman wrote: "Over 3 million children and teenagers watch professional wrestling each week. The apparently widespread use of steroids in professional wrestling sends the wrong message to youth. For this reason, I request that ONDCP examine steroid use in professional wrestling and take appropriate steps to address this problem."

Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting WWE's full-frontal attack on kids by marketing directly toward them, Vince McMahon claimed the "adolescent" audience is a "very small" portion of the viewing audience. He knew what he was saying in his Congressional testimony to deflect questions from their marketing approach.

WWE executive Bob Lee boasting about WWE's cradle-to-the-grave strategy of hooking kids on the product didn't come at the best time with Vince McMahon's quote available on the record this week.

Link: Committee website with documents, including McMahon testimony.

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WWE News: WWE launching two new magazines; four more to follow in Cradle to the Grave strategy

WWE CEO Linda McMahon's now-famous line last month about WWE's "cradle to the grave" strategy of hooking kids on the WWE product to build brand loyalty into adulthood is increasingly evident by an announcement made in the most-recent FOLIO Magazine.

In an article describing companies who are taking a risk launching new magazine publications in a tough economic and publishing market, WWE was focused on for planning to launch two new magazines in early 2009 and four additional magazines by the end of the year.

After launching WWE Kids: UK last October, WWE is launching WWE Kids: Mexico and Spain most-likely in the first quarter of this year. "We've got four to six others in the works that we anticipate launching at some point in 2009," said WWE publishing director Bob Lee.

Lee reasoned why they are launching the new Kids Magazine lines in a less-controversial fashion than Linda McMahon said.

"Research shows that the earlier the introduction to the brand, the more likely people are to stick with it," said Bob Lee. "When we went out to introduce the kids magazine, we spoke to some of our partners and the question wasn't why, it was more like 'Why have you waited so long?'"

Lee provided some numbers that WWE uses - 2.6 million kids ages 6-14 watch the weekly TV shows and attend live events. "The numbers are there," he said."

On the business front, WWE was only expecting to break even when they initially launched the WWE Kids Magazine in the middle of last year, but they "were able to surpass it and we will make a profit on it in its first year," Lee said.

Link: FOLIO Magazine story (scroll half-way down).

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WWE News: TV Ratings for Monday's Raw show significant demographic victory

Competing against the college football Fiesta Bowl between Texas and Ohio St. on Monday night, WWE Raw had an impressive night in the adult demographic department highlighted by John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton & Chris Jericho in the final quarter-hour of the show.

The Jan. 5 Raw averaged a 3.4 rating and 5.0 million viewers, but was impressive in the adult 18-49 and adult-male 18-49 demographics, earning first place on the night among cable TV prime time shows.

The first hour of Raw was seen by an average of audience of just under 5.0 million people, then the second hour was seen by an average audience just above 5.0 million people, averaging out to the recent trend of 5.0 million viewers.

The show was down slightly from the December 29 viewing audience of 5.3 million, but showed nice growth compared to the previous ten weeks of Raw TV, as the show was up 4.6 percent compared to TV from Oct. 27 - Dec. 29.

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