John Laurinaitis Tells Star Off In Phone Convo, Foley/TNA, Lots More

WWE has cancelled a house show that was scheduled for Auguascalientes, Mexico on October 17.

As noted earlier, the official TNA website has put up a graphic reading "Have A Nice Day." There is also an image of smiley face with barbed wire around it. The website also wrote: "STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS..." The image is on the front page and on its own page. Additionally, the image is labeled "foley.jpg." If you point the mouse for a few seconds, it displays the foley.jpg file name. As I reported earlier, Mick Foley confirmed in a statement released today that he has come to a short-term agreement with TNA Wrestling.

The latest issue of Fighting Spirit magazine (FSM) has an article on wrestling journeyman Marty "Cham-Pain" Garner, who started a viral campaign to be hired by either WWE or TNA. The campaign encourages fans to send emails to officials from both companies, and to bring signs to events that urge the companies to hire him. Garner has wrestled with the likes of Triple H and MVP in the past but has never been able to land a contract. Garner, who is based out of North Carolina, is also friends with Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Gregory Helms and Shannon Moore. The five of them worked together on a number of indy shows when they were starting out in professional wrestling. The title of the FSM article, The Fifth Beatle, was inspired by a blog Garner posted on his MySpace page back in April basically saying that his four wrestling friends were all able to land contracts with big-time companies and he couldn't. For the magazine, the Hardys, Gregory Helms and Shannon Moore did a creative photo shoot with Garner at a bar in North Carolina in which the four stars are shown sitting together at a table and Garner is lurking behind in a dimly lit background to portray him being the one left out. There's another photo of the foursome posing together with Garner all the way on the left of the picture, separated from the group. In late July, Garner's viral campaign apparently caused e-mail problems for World Wrestling Entertainment, which greatly upset WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis as the company's talent relations' e-mail address was published on his website. Garner told a radio show that Laurinaitis contacted him to complain about the publishing of the e-mail address. He stated that fans had figured out the e-mail addresses of other company officials by placing their names in front of the standard WWE e-mail address and that his personal account had been bombarded with e-mails. Laurinaitis informed Garner that WWE would never hire him and that he is no longer welcome at their shows. Garner also talked about the incident in a blog post on his MySpace page in late July. Here is what he wrote regarding his conversation with Laurinaitis: Last Wednesday evening around 7:30 I received a call from John Laurinaitis a.k.a "Johnny Ace". He introduced himself and by his tone of voice I could tell that he was upset. He asked me if I had started a viral marketing campaign on the internet. I said yes, and he asked me if I had put the talent relations e-mail up on my site. I said yes, and he said, "Why would you do that!" I explained that it was already on the internet and I was just reposting it on my site. He said that his e-mail had increased by 150 everyday and that talent relations e-mail had increased by 250. He also said that someone had figured out how to e-mail anybody in the company by just putting the name in front of .com. I said, "Well, I didn't mean to cause anybody any problems." Mr Laurinaitis said, "I told you before Marty you're just an average guy and I'm not going to hire you." I said, "I'm doing what you asked me to do and I'm just trying to get an F'n job!" Johnny said, "Now you're cursing at a senior vice president!" I said, "I wasn't cursing at you, just at the situation! I'm frustrated." He said, "Well, I'm done doing business with you Marty and you're not welcomed at any of my shows anymore!" Then he hung up the phone. For more on Garner's viral campaign, visit www.HireChampain.com.

This week's SmackDown is being preempted in New York. It will air on WPIX at 8 p.m. on Saturday night. For people in Albany, it will also air on Saturday night at 8 p.m.