Lei'D Tapa update, Interview with Dundee + Houston, why there was a change on NXT, latest on Punk-WWE, more on TNA's NYC tapings, WWE on The Soup, WWE makes changes to Network content, Impact audience, two names dropped from Andre battle royal and Questions on WM30 ending, Flair vs. WCW and TNA employment

Lei'D Tapa acknowledged her TNA departure. I think she did well in a limited role where Gail could lead her, but was still rough around the edges as a competitor. Her lack of experience didn't help things.

Update: Tapa's departure was a TNA call, as opposed to her choosing to leave. You mean it wasn't Gail Kim's call? Seriously, though, TNA continues to make adjustments in the roster under the new regime. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see more names parting ways with the company in the weeks and months to come. Sabin and Bad Influence not being booked for the most recent tapings doesn't exactly bode well for their status.

Bill Dundee and Sam Houston had a joint interview. Jerry Lawler got TOLD by Jarrett. As for Regal, his facial expressions and willingness to do just about any crazy skit they put him in have helped him a lot. The relationship with HHH also keeps him there.

WWE dubbed over Adam Rose's entrance music because they didn't secure the rights to it. WWE has to deal with copyrights, too. Fork over that cash, WWE! I think I'm officially a Rosebud now.

Everything else from Friday is after the break.

Bret Hart talked about his WrestleMania history. There were some pretty cool memories gone over there. There's certainly talk of HBK BSing the knee injury. Bret's been in a number of bad situations throughout the years where he's the odd one out of the big storyline plan. I can see similarities with Punk and Bryan as far as that goes.

WWE continues to distance itself from C.M. Punk. The impression is that he will not be returning to the company. They will continue to sell his merchandise since he's still technically under contract, but they've been removing him from video packages and the like. I'm sure people are expecting this to be some big work and for him to show up at WM30, but it doesn't look like that's going to be happening. I'd like for him to be able to say goodbye at Payback in Chicago, but I'm not holding my breath.

TNA's plan is to run in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center, the original home of Raw. There could be multiple tapings and maybe even a One Night Only PPV taped there. I hope that works out for them.

The next WWE-themed episode of The Soup will feature Michael Cole, JBL, Jerry Lawler, The Bellas, Dolph Ziggler and Titus O'Neil. Don't we get enough of those first three names already!?

WWE is in the process of updating edited versions of shows on the Network to less-edited versions. I don't anticipate them paying for a lot of the old music they can't use or anything, but they are changing censored versions of events.

Impact's audience this week was just shy of one million viewers. This was their lowest non-holiday number in at least eighteen months and a large drop-off from the previous week. Needless to say, I can't say I'd blame Spike for dropping them come October if things don't really improve. I personally enjoy the direction TNA's going in, but it's obvious fans are leaving.

Ryback and Curtis Axel have been pulled from the Andre memorial battle royal, leading to speculation they'll be challenging for the WWE Tag Team Titles in what could be a multi-team match. That works for me. WWE presumably has enough people to put in the battle royal if they pull out some surprises.

For my take on Friday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That would be one of the stupidest things ever booked. Orton holds one championship represented by two physical belts. I didn't think that was so confusing of a concept, but apparently it is.

2. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! There is the whole suing over the WCW Title thing as well as the company in some ways really being a different entity in its later years when things became more focused on guys like Hogan and big storylines instead of old-school wrestling like Flair grew up in. There was certainly still amazing wrestling in WCW, but a lot of times it took backseat to promo segments and angles.

3. I'll skip the jabs at TNA here. I wish this person well if they're serious.

4. When did "expected" and "predictable" become such dirty words? I think it's fine to deviate from the expected ending here and there, but in general there needs to be a compelling reason to go away from the standard "good guy eventually prevails" angle. With all the fan outcry over Bryan not winning at Summerslam, I figured fans would be all on-board with this one.

Nothing to add to 5.

More wrestling coming up.