Austin/Punk teased for WM29, HIAC PPV set, plenty of Mania hype, Questions on wrestling auctions, Rock/Cena or Rock/Hogan, Wellness violations, and the new branch of developmental, profile of WWE's business, video of Raw aftermath, Jake Roberts talks Hall of Fame, HoF induction change, WWE visitors, FCW cameo on Raw, preview of Impact Wrestling, Sabin cleared to return, more TNA Gut Checks, WWE/TNA/Flair updates, Raw rating, more from former member of WWE Creative, FCW stories on Steamboat and Leavine, and the rating for the Rock/Cena special

Stone Cold and C.M. Punk have continued their teases of clashing at WrestleMania 29 on Twitter "if all the stars align". I'd certainly like to see it, in a match that would make Punk a megastar.

The 2012 Hell in a Cell PPV will be on 10/28 in Atlanta.

The Chicago Tribune had another good interview with C.M. Punk. He definitely beats to his own drum, which is very refreshing. There are a lot of fans (and potential fans) who are more in his mold than Cena's, and WWE should run with less "clean-cut" corporate-approved stars in places.

For my take on Tuesday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I pretty much agree with their take. I don't think wrestling has THAT big of an audience. Ric Flair's robe from WrestleMania 24 (his "retirement" match) could be a big sell, since it is (was?) in the Smithsonian. The original NWA Championship would also be something that I'd think could be big. I'm sure I'm missing something. WWE and TNA have official auctions if that's your thing. I don't know how much it sold for, but WWE seriously sold the cheerleader outfit from the Katie Vick angle.

2. I definitely think the match will be a big emotional rollercoaster, but for the reasons they mentioned Rock vs. Hogan is bigger. It will still be one of the biggest matches in years, though.

3. To add a little bit to this, the second suspension was believed to be for something other than synthetic marijuana (though it still counts). That used to just be a fine, but they changed their tune not too long back. Either way, any suspension counts.

After the break, I hit everything else from Tuesday. Next up, will WWE team an established indie promotion for their "finishing program" in the Northeast?
4. As they said, given how hands-on WWE is with things, I don't think they'll pair with a promotion like that. It's not a bad idea, though. I just don't know if it's what they'd want/need for their purposes.

Nothing to add to 5.

WrestleMania was profiled as it relates to WWE business. Pretty cool. There were a couple of errors in the piece (Shane McMahon was only an occasional wrestler), but overall it was a good read. No way will the WWE Network rival USA or SyFy. At least not anytime soon.

Here's footage of The Miz confronting The Rock after Raw.

JBL talked a bit about inducting Ron Simmons into the WWE Hall of Fame. He also talked about criticizing John Cena.

Jake Roberts speculated that he's not in the Hall of Fame because he's not a brown-noser. There's also the whole "drugs" thing WWE probably isn't too keen on.

I'm not really sure why, but now only The Usos will be inducting Yokozuna into the Hall of Fame. Previously, Rikishi was going to join them in the honors.

Zack Ryder and Alicia Fox threw out the first pitch at spring training for the Miami (formerly Florida) Marlins.

Lita was backstage at Raw, and Linda McMahon will be in attendance at WrestleMania. The latter is still running for Senate in Connecticut, so she's not returning. I wouldn't expect Lita to return to the fold either.

Update: Add Dory and Terry Funk to the Mania visitors list.

FCW talent Sakamoto was the other man in the Lord Tensai video on Raw. He has a tag partner in FCW, so we could see him make a cameo as well. No word on whether either of them will be debuting alongside of Tensai.

David Otunga was the latest star interviewed (in-character?) about WrestleMania. The line about being inducted got me good. Well done. He's really growing on me as a character.

The Rock was profiled ahead of WrestleMania. Good to see the piece promote public speaking skills.

Here's the preview for Impact Wrestling.

Chris Sabin has been medically cleared to return after almost a year on the shelf due to a torn ACL.

TNA is planning more in the way of Gutchecks (tryouts). The next one will take place on 4/28 in Washington.

WWE officially confirmed that Ric Flair will be at the Hall of Fame on Sunday. Their story unsurprisingly doesn't acknowledge TNA, listing him as "retired from the ring" despite his matches there. There was never any serious doubt that he wouldn't be able to attend, despite his TNA deal.

Update: Apparently a deal for him to appear on-camera wasn't made official until Monday (3/26). Given that Flair is under TNA contract (and will remain so), him appearing on a WWE broadcast brings about some interesting legal ramifications. More on this as it develops, but no TNA representatives or officials will be at the ceremony.

Raw drew a 3.04 going into one of their biggest WrestleManias of quite some time. The hours were 2.96 and 3.12. The week of WrestleMania, with The Rock, and they draw that number? Very disappointing. What's going on there?

The E! Network will have a number of WrestleMania-related programs this week. Cool.

Here's Part 2 of the interview with former Smackdown lead writer Alex Greenfield. Very insightful to hear about those processes and how WWE drops the ball on some things (Divas, Mark Henry). I was shaking my head through a lot of this like "this guy gets it".


Ricky Steamboat talked about his recovery from a brain aneurism and his role teaching at FCW. I really like his philosophy on wrestling.

Andy Leavine, known in FCW as Kevin Hackman, talked about his time in Tough Enough and FCW. I hope when we do see him on the main roster, he's improved as a character and performer drastically as I didn't see "it" from him on Tough Enough.

Finally, the Rock/Cena special got a 1.59 rating, which is ok but not amazing.

That's all for Tuesday's news. NXT and another news post will be up tonight. Thanks for reading!