Hulk Hogan Steps Back Into the Ring on 'TNA iMPACT!' Monday, March 8 Live on Spike TV

Hulk Hogan Steps Back Into the Ring on 'TNA iMPACT!' Monday, March 8 Live on Spike TV

WRESTLING LEGEND AND POP CULTURE ICON WILL FACE RIC FLAIR ON LIVE NETWORK TELEVISION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST A DECADE

NEW YORK, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary pop culture icon Hulk Hogan will face his longtime nemesis Ric Flair for the first time in almost a decade on network television. The match will air live on "TNA iMPACT!" on Spike TV Monday, March 8 (9:00-11:00pm ET/PT).

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060322/NYW096LOGO )

The highly-anticipated bout will feature Hogan teaming with TNA Superstar Abyss to battle Flair and his protege,TNA World Heavyweight Champion "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, in a special tag-team match.

"Since I partnered with Dixie Carter and debuted on January 4, we have taken TNA to amazing new levels," said Hogan. "I've got a score to settle with Ric Flair, and there's no better time to do it than Monday night, March 8, when we change the wrestling world forever."

Hogan's return to the ring will headline the official move of "TNA iMPACT!" to Monday nights, after being televised for nearly four years on Thursday nights. Spike TV's highly-rated, two-hour weekly series will be live every other week and emanate from the "TNA iMPACT! Zone" at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

"This is a new beginning for TNA," Carter said. "We've worked hard to get here, and I'm confident that if people tune in to TNA for the first time on March 8, they won't be disappointed."

The first-ever Monday live "TNA iMPACT!" three-hour special broadcast ran on Spike TV head-to-head against WWE RAW on Monday, January 4, 2010, and drew a franchise-record 2.2 million viewers and set ratings records in every demographic. Two wrestling companies have not broadcast head-to-head weekly since the "Monday Night Wars" in the late 1990s between WWE and WCW.

"TNA iMPACT!" features many of the biggest names in wrestling including Hogan, Flair, Mick Foley, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash and Team 3D, as well as the hottest young talent in the industry: Styles, "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero and "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan.

Since its founding in 2002, Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has become the world's fastest-growing professional wrestling company, currently airing in over 120 countries worldwide.

About TNA Wrestling

"Cross The Line" to TNA Wrestling. TNA Wrestling is the most innovative experience in professional wrestling today. Join the TNA World Heavyweight Champion "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, Hulk Hogan, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Sting, Mick Foley, "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero, "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan, the lovely and lethal TNA Knockouts and the no-limits X-Division inside the ring on "TNA iMPACT!" Monday nights on Spike TV. TNA Entertainment, LLC is a privately held company headquartered in Nashville, TN.

About Spike TV

Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is Spike.com, and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060322/NYW096LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Source: Spike TV

CONTACT: David Schwarz, Spike TV, +1-212-767-8639,
david.schwarz@mtvstaff.com; or Steven Godfrey, TNA Wrestling, +1-615-244-5557,
sgodfrey@tnawrestling.com

Web Site: http://www.spike.com/

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