Tons Of TNA News: Samoa Joe, iMPACT!, More

TNA Wrestling issued a mobile alert to its subscribers on Thursday that former World Wrestling All-Stars promoter Andrew McManus met with TNA officials recently to discuss the possibility of promoting TNA events in Australia. For those who may remember, McManus formed the WWA in early 2002 which featured a tour of Australia using former WCW and ECW names not picked up by WWE. The company also ran other events overseas, including a final event in May of 2003 that saw Jeff Jarrett defeat Sting to unify the NWA and WWA Championships (which was a solid PPV event that also featured Bret Hart and numerous other TNA stars).

Samoa Joe was in attendance at the ESPY Awards ceremony in California.

Speaking of Joe, Big Vision Entertainment is planning to release a "Before They Were Stars" DVD on Samoa Joe using pre-TNA footage that will be featured from his days in Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro before signing a deal with TNA in 2005.

As noted on TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV, IWA Puerto Rico & former WSX star Ricky Banderas will be going by the name of Judas Mesias in TNA being managed by James Mitchell.

Here is the upcoming schedule for future TNA TV tapings in Orlando, FL at Universal Studios: July 16, July 30, August 13, August 27, September 10 and September 24. All of these dates fall on Monday nights.