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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What's next for A-Ri?, WWE's Savage video, WWE to open office in India, Lesnar's book released, Questions on WWE's international talent, Taker's last Mania, Hogan/Bischoff or Ross/Heyman for TNA?, and HHH as a full-timer, more changes for TNA, Australian fans get to catch up on Impact, another Savage piece, WWE has new online deal in the UK, ex-Creative member talks Savage, why Savage's autopsy was inconclusive, Steele talks Savage, "Sports entertainment summit" scheduled, WWE superstar and former Diva to divorce, more mainstream coverage of Savage, Raw and Tough Enough ratings, Sting going on tour with TNA, Foley knocks TNA, Knockout hosting series of DVDs , a look at Lesnar's WWE persona, future Hall of Famer confirmed?, matches made for UWF First Blood, WWE iTunes update, Macho marketing, and Jericho appears on DWTS finale

Someone asks what's next for Alex Riley. I don't know since I don't read spoilers, but since he's been "fired" from Raw, my guess is that they'll try him out as a face on Smackdown.

For anyone who didn't see the Randy Savage tribute video on Raw (or wants to see it again), WWE has posted it online.

WWE has announced that they will open an office in India on 6/1. Their ventures there could turn out very well for them.

Brock Lesnar's autobiography was released on 5/24.

Update: the first 50 pages are on the book's website. That's pretty gutsy.

PWInsider.com has some new questions:

1. It's a mixture of both. They've had other international talents in the past, but it definitely seems like there've been even more of them the past few years. As far as international training centers, WWE likes to send people out to evaluate the talent every so often, so it's much more cost effective to have the international talents come to FCW.

2. I'm trying to remember how many years I've read that Taker's career is winding down only for him to keep coming back. My ideal scenario for his final match would be something involving Kane and Paul Bearer, but that wouldn't be so great from a workrate standpoint. If he's going to retire 20-0 next year, a double retirement match with Triple H would be pretty awesome, though it wouldn't be as symbolic as one involving his "family". Maybe he guts it out and goes 21-0 so we can see him face both opponents? Or he can beat Triple H at Mania, then at another PPV (if he can't "hold out" until the next year's) they can do the Kane story. It'd be a fitting end to the character if he's "put to rest" or something by Kane and Bearer after his last match takes everything out of him. (No, I'm not saying he should "die" in a match, just that he's... sealed away or whatever mystical explanation they want to come up with).

More answers and news after the break, starting with whether TNA would be better off with Paul Heyman and Jim Ross compared to Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.

3. Heyman and Ross have the advantage of the unknown on their side, since we don't know how that would play out while we have seen the results of Hogan and Bischoff. The latter have definitely raised the company's profile, and some people wouldn't be there now if not for them (RVD for instance). They've been able to make buzz for the company, but not in a lasting way that's been a big improvement for overall business. TNA was in a tough spot with Heyman's pitch, because he basically wanted to own part of the company and take it public. He also wanted complete creative control and to drastically reduce the roles of the "over 40" crowd and ECW alumni in favor of the younger wrestlers. I don't know if that'd be wise to do in so short a period a time. Those guys still have a lot of credibility and (most) can be used to help the younger guys improve their games and move further along in their careers. Them just sitting in the back talking about how great the X-Division is seems like a stretch for something that could do big business, especially with how much they'd be paying them not to wrestle. Maybe that would work out in the long term, but it sounds suicidal to get rid of people with solid fanbases. I'd reduce their roles, too, but over time and after they've been used smartly. I'd want Heyman in on a creative role, but not totally running the show (at least not immediately). As for JR, in addition to his announcing talents, I think he'd be great for talent scouting purposes there. He'd also have pretty valuable insight on the business that could be used to grow the company.

Would I put them in the same roles as Hogan and Bischoff now have? Not quite. Hogan's more of a figurehead/spokesman and "big ideas" guy and Bischoff's working a lot with the production techniques. I don't think TNA needs one person at the head of the company to have big control move it forward as much as they need a number of good people working in different areas to improve things. A great commander with poor generals (who screw up the commander's orders) will have more trouble than a poor commander with great generals who can cover their boss' mistakes and still win.

4. Well, firstly, Triple H is on the Raw brand so I don't think they'd have him work with Sheamus on Smackdown (though I could be wrong). More importantly, though, he's pretty much stated that he's there for "emergency uses only". I think he'll take a schedule somewhat like Undertaker's in that he'll come in for a big program here and there, but mostly stick to his new role in talent development.

Nothing to say on #5, as I'm not very familiar with him.

TNA bundled Against All Odds and Victory Road 2011 together, possibly due to the reception of the latter's main event.

TNA has changed its Twitter and YouTube links to reflect the Impact Wrestling name. The company is still to be referred to as TNA, however.

Here are details on when Australian fans can see unaired episodes of TNA Impact/Impact Wrestling (some are from before the name change) before the channel debuts new episodes. Not sure why they have them in 5-hour blocks since the show's 2 hours long, unless it goes through a lot of editing there or there are less commercials or something.

ESPN's Bill Simmons has a phenomenal piece on Randy Savage. The man can definitely write an article.

WWE is working with WebTV to handle its online video content in the UK. Hopefully that works well for everyone.

Former WWE Creative member Chris DeJoseph commented on the Randy Savage situation via Twitter, noting his experiences bringing up the name in the company.

Here's more on why more work must be done to determine Savage's cause of death.

George "The Animal" Steele theorized that Savage's absence from WWE is related to him leaving for WCW.

Variety will be holding a Sports Entertainment Summit on 7/14, featuring WWE, UFC, and other companies. That sounds interesting.

Drew McIntyre and former WWE Diva Tiffany will soon be divorcing. That's rather unfortunate news. Hopefully it's for the best.

USA Today featured an article about WWE honoring Randy Savage.

WWE has an interview with the kid who argued with The Miz at Over The Limit. That was a pretty cool moment.

Monday's Raw did a 3.4 rating, getting over 5 million viewers. Good for them; I really liked that show.

Tough Enough did a 1.64 before Raw and a 1.03 after. Hopefully those are good enough numbers for a second season (Well, a second season of the new version anyway).

Sting will be wrestling on TNA's January 2012 tour of the UK. It's pretty uncommon for him to work house shows.

Mick Foley had a brief back and forth with The Rock on Twitter, bringing up their Empty Arena match, which he jokingly referred to as "aka (a) TNA house show". Ouch.

The latest edition of "Pillow Talk" from TNA has So Cal Val with the newly returned ODB.

TNA Knockout Winter will be hosting a series of horror DVDs. That sounds like a perfect fit for her. Should be a fun watch.

Paul Heyman discussed Brock Lesnar's autobiography among other things on ESPN's Gross Point Blank. That link also goes to a blog post about how Lesnar's WWE persona was shaped. Lesnar's a textbook example of how to get someone insanely over and show the best of their skills. His run there was absolutely amazing. It's a shame it ended on such bad terms.

Dick Ebersol is considered a "lock" for the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame, according to Jim Ross.

Several matches have been confirmed for UWF First Blood. The promotion's Champion will be crowned on that show.

The theme songs of Sin Cara and the Bella Twins are now up on iTunes.

This blog looks at the career of Randy Savage from a marketing perspective.

Finally, Chris Jericho appeared on the season finale of Dancing With The Stars.

That's all for Tuesday's news. More to come tomorrow.

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