Mickie wants money, The Rock and PPV, NWA Legends and more

• Impact Wrestling Knockout and aspiring country music artist Mickie James is asking fans to contribute to the making of her sophomore CD by donating funds. So far James has raised $1,600 toward the $5,000 she claims to need. Fans who donate in various amounts can receive a variety of bonus items and you can learn more here.
• Even though WWE CEO Vince McMahon has said The Rock would be making an appearance at several upcoming WWE PPVs the current filming schedule for The Rock would make that difficult. Many feel that having The Rock appear too much in the build to the WrestleMania PPV could water down the angle unless handled very carefully.
• The NWA Legends convention is this weekend in Atlanta, GA and there are many former and current wrestling alumni scheduled to appear including Dr. D David Schultz who has had little to do with wrestling since he was blacklisted over his involvement in the 20/20 investigation done by John Stossel where Schultz boxed the ears of Stossel allegedly on the orders of Vince McMahon.
• Sin Cara is said to be coming back to the WWE after all and Alberto Del Rio is slated to with the WWE Championship soon.
• On the heels of CAPW promoter and wrestler JT Lightning passing away after a long battle with cancer there is word from OVW that former champion Rod Steele has also passed on with early reports saying that he took his own life. Our thoughts and prayers are with both families.
• The Amazing Red is gone from Impact Wrestling.
• Jeremiah Riggs who has recently made some biting comments about his time in developmental in FCW is getting a ton of heat including FCW wrestler Seth Rollins saying that Riggs was "10 words from an ass kicking" while Riggs was in the area. Riggs has stated he went up against Dusty Rhodes as well as others while he was on "Tough Enough" and many felt he had a bad attitude. In all honesty there is some truth to what Riggs has been saying, Dusty is only there to get a paycheck, Steve Keirn had glory as Steve Keirn in Florida and as part of the Fabulous Ones but everything else has been a disaster for him. Keirn is not the first person to pick to learn the craft of wrestling from and neither is Hugh Morrus who is little more than a bully as has been proven by his actions previously. 
• Riggs is not the only one to have spoken out against the FCW training ground though he has been the most vocal and by using social media, heard the loudest. The problems in FCW right now are one of the reasons OVW is being considered to regain the developmental contract. The amount of stars to come out of OVW compared to FCW in a similar time frame is very telling.
• Speaking of OVW, Ring of Honor will be back in Louisville, KY soon to tape again.
• Dragon Gate USA will be in my home town of Indianapolis, IN on September 9, 2011 then in subsequent days in Chicago, IL, and Milwaukee, WI.
• Vince Jones, Mike Miller and Kevin Adams are reportedly the new "owners" of the IWA Mid-South formerly ran by Ian Rotten. Rotten folded the promotion and left professional wrestling after a disastrous appearance on "And Then The Bell Rings" where he admitted to insurance fraud, illegal distribution of a controlled substance and domestic violence. 
• Matt Hardy made a somewhat interesting comment via Twitter that makes his status with Impact Wrestling tenuous at best. Hardy stated "to all promoters that have contacted me about working for them, I just wanted to let you know that I've kinda got everything on hold for now." Hardy went on to ask for patience when trying to book him for upcoming events. 
• Mick Foley may be appearing on "Celebrity Wife Swap" even though fans voted that he should not appear on the show.
• Jerry Jarrett and Stan Hansen are getting rave reviews for their recent book releases. I would suggest getting your copy of both, especially while you can still get the Jarrett book autographed. Scott Teal worked with Hansen on his book and Teal is one of the best in the business when it comes to journalism and history.
• Stacy Keibler and George Clooney are said to be "just having fun" with their relationship. Since Clooney reportedly flew Keibler over to Italy could he be considered to be like the Abu Dhabi sheiks who pay an enormous amount of money to entertain American models and lesser known stars? Would that make Keibler a pseudo-prostitute?
• Friend of the show Flash Flanagan as well as mega-star "Diceman" Ronnie Vegas and Brian Beech will be appearing this weekend for my friend Jerry "King" Wilson at the Hoosier Pro Wrestling show in Columbus, IN at the 4H Building on the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds. HPW is the best wrestling since Bruiser so check it out if you are in the area.
• Also this weekend WAR Wrestling will be doing a show at the Auglaize County Fair in Wapakoneta, OH after the OWA had to pull out. WAR always puts on a first rate show and if you are in the area check them out. We at the OWA thank WAR and everyone involved for helping us out and we apologize to all those affected by not being able to produce this show as we had planned.
• Still getting a lot of feedback about The Tony Myers The Interview that appeared on these pages earlier this week. The two part interview gave a good look at who Tony is and how he feels about a couple of staples in the USWA/Memphis territory. Randy Hales is said to be very not happy with some of the comments made.
• Speaking of people not happy, NWA World Champion Adam Pearce is less than thrilled with the comments made in a recent news column that appeared here. Bob Trobich is also unhappy with my commentary regarding the circumstances with The Sheik being stripped of the title saying that The Sheik gave his word to attend the show at the Ohio State Fair and then refused to appear and then by The Sheik still having possession of the belt, it made him a thief. The Sheik should return the belt but there is a lot more to why The Sheik did not keep his scheduled defense on July 31.
• Best wishes to friend of the show and infamous photographer Scott Romer.
• The WWE made $14 million in profit for the quarter most of it from WrestleMania.