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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Query on FCW's Rob Naylor, Foley update, former Diva at Raw, Questions on an Eddie movie, Fuji Vice, WWE's library, and business increasing view numbers, Bourne suspended again, HoF updates including future names and inductors, why WWE used Perez, Impact Wrestling preview, Christian update, Taz talks, more on canceled live event, JJ Dillon talks Horsemen in HoF, Rock confirmed for pre-Mania Raw, Ring Ka King press release, Hogan added to all TNA UK dates, Smackdown rating, and more from Daffney's TNA lawsuit

Tuesday's news started with a query:
1. Rob Naylor was formerly an announcer in Dragon Gate USA. That's about all I know about him prior to him joining WWE to work in FCW.

Mick Foley discussed his appearance on Raw, leaving it open-ended on what the future holds between himself and WWE.

Former Diva Maria was backstage visiting at Raw. I wouldn't hold my breath for her returning to the company. As far as I know she's much happier being apart from them and able to do more of her own thing.

As for my take on PWInsider.com's questions:
1. If done right, that would be quite the compelling story. Maybe it should end with him being WWE Champion at WrestleMania? Either way, I don't see it happening sadly. It didn't have the same impact on things as the Benoit story and the following media maelstrom.

2. Yeah, I don't see that one happening either. Not many people would get the reference, and it has been quite some time since everyone was in condition to do it. Maybe they do something similarly out there with today's stars, though?

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news and questions, starting with more on learning from the greats.

3. To add to their answer, a number of Hall of Famers and solid ring hands are available in-person as producers or trainers in FCW for them to learn from, including Steamboat and Rhodes. As far as Daniel Bryan goes, he may be an amazing wrestler, but he's in the sports-enterainment business.

4. I don't have subscriptions, but view numbers have mostly been increasing regardless of show quality as the blog gains more exposure and the like. It might be a little early to link better business with higher view numbers on my end. I did get a nice uptick following the C.M. Punk angle and people seemed to be pretty interested in the 1/2/12 promos but sometimes there will also be something that surprised me in how much attention it gets, like queries about Christy Hemme being in Playboy years back. This was mentioned on Impact once by Bully Ray and I still get hits based off of it! Anyway, it would certainly seem like more people buzzing about the product would mean more people looking things up about it.

5. Yeah, nothing to add here. Is it really so hard to believe that they'd be friends?

In a not altogether surprising revelation following the sudden tag team title switch, WWE has announced that Evan Bourne has once again been suspended for violating the company's Wellness Policy. I'd be quite ticked off if I was WWE right about now, since they showed enough faith in him to let him retain that titles despite being taken off of TV for a month. He'll be gone for 60 days this time, and a third strike will mean a release from his contract. He should be on pretty thin ice now. As for Kofi's future, they could try teaming him up with the similarly talented Justin Gabriel, Trent Barreta, or maybe even FCW's Seth Rollins. I'd be gun shy about pushing Bourne in the future after breaking the company's trust twice in less than 3 months.

Update: Bourne commented about the suspension. I hope that's the first in a series of steps to making sure this doesn't happen again!

Yokozuna is expected to be a future announced name for the WWE Hall of Fame. He's another one of those names you have to include for the Hall to be legitimate.

Update: Alberto Del Rio is expected to induct his uncle Mil Mascaras (which makes sense), Shawn Michaels and Triple H could be the inductors for the Four Horsemen (as their induction was pushed for by the latter), and The Rock could be the one doing the honors for Yokozuna. All good choices.

WWE used Perez Hilton on Raw to capitalize on his large online following and to promote the aforementioned Divas blog on his website. I hope it paid off, because it didn't exactly sit will with the audience.

Here's the promo video for this week's Impact Wrestling. Very well put together. Looking forward to where this is going.

Christian is expected to be back in the ring at some point in the next several weeks. It's not 100% at this point whether he'll be able to be back for the Rumble match. I hope he's still got some gas left in the tank and can help elevate the likes of Barrett, Sheamus, Bryan, Rhodes, and Gabriel on Smackdown.

Due to the cancellation of Sunday's Smackdown live event, a number of names from that brand are advertised for that day's Raw event. Among them is Randy Orton, so he could be back in the ring shortly. I hope he also has an important 2012.

Update: WWE will give it another shot in the fall.

Taz mentioned some wrestling-related items in an interview for a lacrosse site.

JJ Dillon talked about the Four Horsemen induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The Rock has been confirmed as appearing at the "go-home" edition of Raw ahead of WrestleMania 28.

Here's a press release on Ring Ka King ahead of its Indian debut. Not really sure what that all means, but it looks like it has a good chance of working out.

Hulk Hogan has now been officially confirmed for all of TNA's UK tour dates, his first appearances since dental surgeries in October. Hopefully his presence adds to the shows and sets the company up to be successful with its talent long-term.

Smackdown pulled in a 2.21 rating on Friday night. That's very good for them lately, and is hopefully indicative of the likes of Cody Rhodes, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, and Daniel Bryan catching on as performers the company can count on.

Since I get a query on this every once in a while, Daffney is continuing to move forward in her lawsuit against TNA over worker's compensation stemming from a concussion she suffered in a match there some time back. That's a major black eye on the company if stories are to be believed.

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

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