But the big money question is.... if he were to turn up in TNA would the IWC then be duty bound to turn on him and label him as 'WWE reject'....!

alot already have turned on him since he walked out. apparently he has been poor in 2013 lol, sloppy in ring work dont ya know?

Punk's not going to TNA - let's be honest with ourselves here.

But still, all these people who have turned on him make no sense. He's had two of the three best matches of the year (vs Cena and Lesnar) plus two good matches with Jericho, a top match with the Undertaker and decent matches with Rock. He rounded out the year by having various good matches with The Shield in many combinations, singles and tag. I'm not really sure what more people wanted from him in 2013 tbh.

Of course he's not. If he's going to do anything at all after his contract expires, he'll probably do what AJ Styles is doing at the moment - work some shows at the weekends and spend the rest of the week with his family and probably still pull in a fairly sizeable amount of money.

It is profoundly weird that TNA spent a whole year repackaging AJ and building him up, gave him the title, and then let him go. Baffling, actually.

TNA clearly felt that AJ would resign. Crazy booking if you haven't got the guy locked up.

AJ looks like he's going to see what happens with Jarrett and make a move down the line.

MVP has said in an interview he's working in TNA on a handshake deal rather than an actual contract.

A sound business move, all the benefit of an experienced worker without any commitment to a long term big money contact. I guess a more permanent arrangement could be made if he is well received (which he certainly was at Wembley) but he's being well used at the moment imo.

The biggest issues I'm reading regarding Punk is that a lot of fans feel he's being a little bitch about it. Obviously his walkout is a sum of different factors but there's also the WM main event issue and honestly if he feels like he was mistreated by WWE i strongly disagree with him.

They brought Rikishi in on a handshake deal and put him in a major storyline. Look how that turned out. And I don't think that's the only time they've done it either, let alone with MVP.

Fun show tonight, especially the hardcore match. MVP is a class act on the mic.

I notice Impact's US viewership was up again. Seems to have grown about 30% since the start of the year, and this week against the first night of the Olympics.

Strange, I can't find anything by James Caldwell on that. Funny, becuse if TNA's viewership had fallen 30%, I get the feeling we'd have heard about it

What about that reception from the fans for Austin Aries eh?

Another highlight once again was EC3. He looks great, sounds very good on the mic and has lots of interesting dimensions to his character. He can be funny, but I like the fact that he is being portrayed as someone who can be a serious threat as well, even if he needs to use sneak-attacks and weapons to bring down the big names.

Just goes to show that you don't need to bring in the Hogans and the Flairs and the Stings. If you can find the young talent and cultivate that talent properly you can create your own superstars in a fairly short length of time.

Oh it would have been heavily featured

I did read about a recent house show though where they apparently booked an arena with a 10,000 capacity and around 250 people turned up. A few people claimed that in the local area there was zero advertising that they were there.

It really does beggar belief why they keep doing this. It must be so disheartening when the people on the card walk down to the ring in a massive arena to find that 'most' of the ringside area is the only part that's occupied.

Why is Dixie trying to play stephanie mcmahon? She acts terrible.

Exactly what I was thinking. Aries is a terrific draw and everyone clearly loves him.

And EC3 has swiftly transformed from a joke that didn't really interest me, into a character that I really don't want to miss. He has the ability to totally grab your attention and hold it - get him in a match with AA. That could be tremendous.

Watched TNA for the first time in a long time last night. Few points

- Kurt Angle, has a bit of a gut now and looks almost zombie like.
- Dixie is AWFUL, way,way over-acting, reminds me of Stephanie when she first became an on-screen character years ago and that sucked. Plus that Southern drawl doesn't make things better
- They've acknowledged things are crap with Dixie in charge.
- Dixie calling TNA a Global Empire had me spitting out my food. Makes me wonder what WWE is?
- Austin Aries is great. Intense - the next CM Punk. Let's see more of him.
- Dixie's aide - the blond guy, again way too much over-acting, distracted from MVPs moment.
- Oh a lot of wrestlers have beards.

I agree!!! ... Really enjoyed TNA impact last night!!! ... MVP was fantastic!!!

Impact was alright. Still bored with the heel owner angle that both WWE and TNA love. Can we please have a neutral GM please?

Dixie is on way too much. The old trick of putting the person paying the bills on tv as she'll be less likely to cancel the show is alive and well.

Velvet angle was dreadful. Monster's Ball match was pretty good.

Impact's ratings are up recently which is a good sign for any future Spike TV deal. However sadly, it does corrolate with an active move to decrease match time. Also the show has Cops as a lead in and Impacts ratings drop throughout the show.

its what the majority want,its why raw beat nitro in ratings.

only small minority want long matches on tv, however that small minority are the majority on the internet so think they should get their own way.

the day TNA stops caring about IWC is the day they start growing into a rival for wwe.

Impact doesn't have to have 20 minute matches. Just a bit longer than 5 minutes.

Raw started to beat Nitro for a number of reasons. Not just long talking segments.

Also TNA's ratings declined throughout the show recently, so it's not like people are sticking around for more talking.

TNA's is never rivaling WWE ever. They don't have the marketing power, star power etc.

TNA doesn't have to compete with WWE. It just needs to be a quality no.2 promotion.

Oh a side note, the Sam Shaw serial killer is too hokey.

no sam shaw is good, if you want wrestler a vs wrestler b ROH is your best bet.

He may be alright, but the gimmick and angle are too hokey. Heres security camera footage of him in a room with a Hemme mannequin and a Hemme Shrine. How is the footage on the air? How did they get the footage? It's not logical. There's ways to do the angle, but it has to still fit in with the logic of a televised wrestling show.

At least they acknowledged it with Christy as it would have been a new level of hokeyness if she was unaware and no one at TNA felt the need to tell her about the psycho.

lol!..........................

Yeah I liked that they acknowledged that the characters on the show actually watch the show. I thought for a horrible moment they were going to pretend otherwise!

With respect to COPS, does it have higher ratings than TNA then? Also, hasn't that been the show on before TNA on Spike for ages?

Why do they allow Angle to compete in the ring when he has a severe problem in his arm and fingers.