Smackdown dark match, even more Punk and Bryan fallout, state of TNA, set for next week's Impact, more on NXT special, Interview with Davey Richards, TNA title defenses in Wrestle-1, update on KENTA, more WWEPC buzz, WWE stars up for Cartoon Network award, Orton pose inspires comic, Impact audience, new international office for WWE, DDP seeking capital, WWE live event notes and Questions on the Mania lineup, Angle in the TNA Hall, PPV entrances and the Rumble

Alexander Rusev defeated Tyson Kidd ahead of Smackdown. No word on when he'll make his second main roster appearance. I'm fine with them building him up more before he steps in the ring.

Stone Cold Steve Austin talked about C.M. Punk's walkout and more. Punk beats to the tune of his own drum for sure. His individuality and determination are some of his strongest qualities, but they can also play against him. I can't say I blame Punk in the least for leaving. He did sign a contract to work through July, though, and that's a professional commitment.

Road Dogg put out two tweets on the Punk situation as well. If WWE wants Punk back, Vince's ass better CALL SOMEBODY.

TNA morale is up following the large, responsive crowd in Scotland. Hopefully that continues when they come back to the States.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

Set for next week's Impact:
- Magnus vs. Kurt Angle
- Bobby Roode vs. Samoa Joe
- Abyss vs. Eric Young in a Monster's Ball match
- Austin Aries vs. Zema Ion
- Fallout from the reveal of MVP as the investor.

That all sounds good. TNA continues to move away from the Bischoff-Hogan era. Hopefully Lockdown's a good step in the right direction for them as far as new stars being pushed.

WWE's NXT special is called "NXT Arrival" and will include Paul Heyman. I'm looking forward to it!

Davey Richards talked to Kevin Steen about the Wolves going to TNA. I can empathize with him
going for the sure thing in TNA and keeping with his outside interests.

The TNA World, X-Division and Tag Team Championships will be defended in Wrestle-1 later this month. That's awesome. On a related note, it's time to either drop the TV Title or have Abyss start defending it soon. It's been MIA for quite some time.

WWE fans have been bombarding official WWE social media accounts with angry messages about the C.M. Punk walkout and set up a petition to the White House to put Daniel Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania 30. This is really embarrassing. I definitely think fans should express themselves about this. In fact, I hope this all leads the company to shift the focus away from the older and/or part-time acts. But petitioning the White House? Ridiculous.

Update: the White House petition was pulled, since that website is for more serious matters. I really hope that was just supposed to be a joke and people didn't actually expect political action over a WWE angle.

KENTA will be making an announcement about his future Monday. I'm excited to see what he could bring to WWE.

Update: KENTA discussed his WWE tryout. No mention of Bill DeMott?

International media outlets visited the WWE Performance Center. Glad to hear it.

Gizmodo talked about the WWE Network. It's kind of a big deal.

Daniel Bryan, John Cena, The Miz and Randy Orton are included in voting for a Cartoon Network award. It will be interesting to see if Bryan wins. I actually think Bryan's booking has helped him get fan support. As we saw with Punk, had he kept the title, there would likely have been complaints about how it was done and how he's not the same character, etc. and to turn him heel (where he'd then be cheered). That'll probably still happen after Mania.

An upcoming comic book features a similar pose to Randy Orton. That's pretty awesome.

C.M. Punk has been pulled from WrestleMania AXXESS and replaced with Ric Flair. Hopefully they can keep Flair under control there.

Impact hit 1.45 million viewers for the show revealing the investor. So, while they were down from Sting's retirement, that's still a pretty good number. I've really enjoyed the show lately for the most part, and it seems I'm not alone.

WWE has opened an office in Mexico City. I wonder how the fans down there feel about the second Sin Cara.

Diamond Dallas Page will be a part of next week's "Shark Tank", trying to get investment for DDPYoga. Given the testimonials, I think he's got a good shot.

As expected, there were a lot of C.M. Punk chants at the most recent WWE live event. The card notably featured Titus O'Neil in singles action beating Curt Hawkins (remember him?), NXT's Adrian Neville beating Bo Dallas in a non-title match and Big Show beating Kane. The show was in NXT's home base of Florida, so that explains that match. No Darren Young interestingly. Could they be writing him off in favor of pushing Titus? I wonder when Bo and Adrian will move up to the main roster. Probably not until Kane vs. Big Show Round 389.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That's not a terrible lineup at all. It would absolutely move business. Could they do better by Punk and (especially) Bryan? Sure. But that's a solid lineup featuring top names in big match situations. Orton vs. Batista hasn't been done in almost four years, so it's not as stale as it's made out to be. I think it's really just sour grapes about him getting a Mania main event over Bryan than anything.

Nothing to add to 2. That was just a nice storyline they put together. I think it was great for elevating Roode.

3. I miss the awesome and unique designs of the past as well!

4. Ugh. Nash. Why is he still a thing?

5. I was let down by the Rumble surprise entrances, too. They should have replaced Nash with him. Nash already had a Rumble return, and a completely unnecessary final run to follow it. Heck, they could have put Warrior in there as well but didn't (though I'm not sure if Warrior would have wanted to).

More wrestling tomorrow.