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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Notes on Lockdown, Questions on a new Tough Enough, the song used for Edge's video packages, Chyna, young WCW/ECW alumni, and Bischoff/Hogan's outside projects, updates on Foley, "The Network", and WWE's focus group, WWE cancels event, Cena on Smackdown?, Rock/Khali/Big Show TV appearances, a WWE release?, Amazing Kong's WWE name, and Smackdown ratings

Matt Hardy said that he may have fractured his arm in Lethal Lockdown. However, this could just be him playing up the general bedlam of the match. Time will tell.

Update: It doesn't seem to be true, according to TNA sources.

The crowd at Lockdown was said to be bigger than one for Smackdown a few months back. If that's true, then that's pretty impressive. Apparently a good number of those in attendance were WCW/Attitude Era fans, given that the biggest reactions were said to be for Steiner, Bischoff, Flair, Hogan, Sting, Jarrett, and Angle. That's a problem in some ways, as someday those talents won't be there and TNA will be left with some of the names that those older fans don't (yet?) know.

Before I get to PWInsider.com's questions, there are a few search-related questions submitted to this blog I'll address:
Yes, it's pretty likely that we'll see another season of Tough Enough, unless the show just bombs from here on out. There's already been talk of doing casting for the next season before the end of this one airs.

The song used for Edge's retirement videos is 3 Doors Down's "Let Me Be Myself".

I haven't heard anything about Chyna wrestling in Japan, or anywhere else for that matter, in years, so I don't think that one's happening. If it does, I'll try to remember to report it. Sean Waltman wrestled recently for Chikara in the US, though.

After the break, I look at the questions that PWInsider.com got on Monday, as well as the rest of the day's news.
I don't have anything to add to questions 1 or 2. Question 3's an interesting one. Who all from the WCW/ECW era are still young and good enough to turn a company around? I had to really research this one. Here are some WCW/ECW alumni who are still 35 or under who still wrestle:
Christian York (34), who I don't know much about in ring-wise.
Joey Mercury worked briefly in ECW. He's 31. I liked him alright.
If Johnny Swinger still wrestles, he's 35 (but turns 36 in July).
If TNA's Matt Bentley still wrestles, he's 31 and I thought he has some potential. He was with ECW for a few months before they shut down.
Judas Mesias is 35 until May, and he worked a bit in ECW. I'm not so sure I'd go with him though if his TNA run is any indication.
Trevor Murdoch worked in ECW; he's 30 and I enjoyed his work, so he's an option.
Tony Mamaluke is 33. I liked him pretty well for what little I saw of him.
I don't know if David Flair would still want to wrestle or what he'd be like in the ring these days, but he's in the age range, too.
Mark Jindrak is 33. I thought he was OK.
A Japanese wrestler who goes by CIMA these days worked in WCW a few times. I've never seen him. He's 33.
Jimmy Wang Yang's only 29. He wrestled at the tail end of WCW and I definitely think there's something in him.
Johnny "The Bull" Stambolli (TNA's Rellik)'s 33. I liked him alright.
Jamie Noble's 34, but I think he's an agent in WWE now.
Japan's Dragon Kid worked in WCW briefly. He's 35. I've never seen him either.
Air Paris, who teamed with AJ Styles in WCW, is 33. Another one I'm not familiar with.
So there are some still around, but mostly the wrestlers of that era have moved on from wrestling in one way or another or aren't really "youthful" anymore.

Not much to add to #4, so I'll skip it. The question about Bischoff and Hogan is a tricky one. From a TNA fan (or employee)'s perspective, yes they should put more effort into the company. BUT they also have a lot of other projects they're doing. It's not unlike an actor having 2-3 projects at a time in a way. They're TNA employees, but not exclusively TNA employees. And some would say that less involvement from them would be a good thing...

Since The Rock is coming to Raw next month for his birthday, a lot of people have expressed their wishes that Mick Foley would appear. His TNA contract doesn't expire for another 4-5 months I think, so I wouldn't count on that happening. You never know, though.

TNA is teasing that the representative of "The Network" could be revealed soon. If it's someone actually from SpikeTV, I'll laugh and cry at the same time.

Here's a report of WWE's Wrestlemania focus group. I mostly agree with them. Hopefully WWE takes it to heart, or at the very least, does more things like this. I particularly liked the comparison to Nike. It reminds me of when Colgate made meals. People associated it with toothpaste, and assumed they wouldn't like it. WWE Films could be similar.

WWE has canceled its event in Turkey for 4/22. No reason has been given as yet, nor any compensation for ticket-buyers.

John Cena will be at next week's Smackdown tapings. It is unknown if he will appear on-air. WWE is teasing that he and Rey Mysterio could switch shows next week.

As was mentioned on Raw, next week will be WWE's Draft. I would almost assuredly have saved this for one of their big 3-hour Raws in June. One week's notice for such a big show, which comes 6 days before a PPV, is pretty shortsighted. I get that they want to switch things around now that Edge is gone, but they could have at least waited until after the next PPV or two to do so. Sheesh.

The Rock will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night. He will be on Lopez Tonight on Wednesday.

The Great Khali and Big Show will be guest starring on Disney XD's "Pair of Kings" and Nickelodeon's "Supah Ninjas" respectively As if we needed any more confirmation that WWE is PG.

Jackson Andrews has been removed from the FCW page, suggesting that he could have been released. He appeared on Raw briefly as Tyson Kidd's bodyguard.

Note: If anyone is interested in the number of viewers Raw, Smackdown, and NXT get in Australia, comment on this post and I'll start providing the numbers for them.

The former Awesome Kong will be known as "Kharma" in WWE. They filed the trademark last Tuesday. I'm ok with that name, though something else "Kong" related would have been great. However, some online have said that that could be misconstrued as racist, which is a good point.

Smackdown got a 2.08 rating on Friday, just shy of 3 million viewers.

That's all for Monday's news. I'll have more after midnight following NXT.

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