Some quick notes from tonight's No Surrender PPV in Orlando, Florida:
TNA will announce their new two hour Impact series tonight during the show. I do not believe the announcement will close the PPV as the last planned match is the Kurt Angle vs. Abyss TNA title bout.
I am told there has indeed been a "TNA talent acquisition" (source's words, not mine) that should be announced tonight in the form of some sort of video package or promo. Whoever that talent is, that person is not expected to appear live in the Impact Zone and was not named during production meetings earlier today. As of this writing, I don't know who it could be. TNA has been hinting in recent days that they were negotiating with a former World champion.
*Mike's Talent Conjecture: The most obvious major names seem to be (in order of my own personal guesses) Paul "Big Show" Wight (who is extremely close with Kurt Angle and lives in Florida), Chris Jericho (Florida-based, TNA has wanted him for months and months and he does have a book coming out plus who knows how he feels about WWE in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit tragedy), Goldberg (extreme long shot in my opinion, as they never seemed to get on the same page during discussions and I don't know that the audience watching would care), Brock Lesnar (someone they've wanted who is also close to Angle, but that would kill his UFC plans since Dana White doesn't want active pro wrestlers fighting MMA and his name was dropped a ton last night) or Rob Van Dam (My gut tells me RVD would want more time off, but you never know; I don't see it at this point). I don't see Booker T or Ric Flair because whether they are at odds with WWE or not right now or not, I've heard nothing that leads me to believe they are free to leave and work elsewhere. Secondary possibilities I could see are Sid Vicious (I just don't see it but he's still in awesome shape and is still a monster), Ken Shamrock (long shot), or Sabu (I'd be shocked if he wasn't back in TNA by the end of the year) or even a name like Amy Dumas who would technically be a "former" World champion, but I don't believe any of those names would not be considered a letdown by those watching. If it's not a major name, TNA would be better served not to announce anything.
For those who have asked, the plan is for TNA Everything champion Kurt Angle to actually wrestle three times tonight, so it's not a bait and switch deal. Unless there is an injury during the course of the PPV, Angle will be working all the bouts.
Judas Mesias (former WSX champion Ricky Banderas) is backstage and given the way the storylines have built, I would expect him to appear tonight in some fashion to set off his feud with Abyss. He's been backstage at recent tapings for promos and vignettes that were filmed but hasn't appeared before the live audience yet.
As it stands now, Adam "Pacman" Jones will indeed be wrestling on the show, but I suspect Ron Killings will do 99% of the in-ring work for the team, based on the NFL stance on Jones' TNA run.
I'd expect title changes tonight in at least one match.
The word making the rounds is that with the advent of the two hour Impact, there will be more of a focus on women's professional wrestling within the company, which if true, can only be seen as a positive.
Former ROH star Jimmy Rave will debut as part of the Tag Gauntlet tonight, teaming with Lance Hoyt.
TNA will be taping three episodes of Impact tomorrow in Orlando.
Kurt Angle's Bound for Glory challenger will be pretty obvious by the end of tonight's PPV. As of right now, Jeff Jarrett is not expected to wrestle at Bound for Glory in a main event position.
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