The Miz returned to action in Europe as part of an eight-man tag. He, Big E, Cody Rhodes and Goldust beat Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, Titus O'Neil and Jack Swagger. That's a really odd mix of faces and heels.
Set for NXT's upcoming Takeover special:
- NXT Championship: Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd
- #1 Contendership to NXT Championship: Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze
- NXT Women's Championship: Charlotte vs. Natalya
- NXT Tag Team Championship: The Ascension vs. Kalisto and El Local
- Adam Rose vs. Camacho
That should be a pretty good card. I look forward to it.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
WWE executive George A. Barrios talked about a number of business-related topics, including the WWE Network woes. I don't see WWE going to any kind of UFC-esque direction anytime in the near future. I don't even see that as being on the horizon. They're sports entertainment and I think they'll stay that way. I like the idea of attracting more international talents. They've started that already and it could be a big boon for them.
TNA's audience on Thursday was 1.07 million. Don't give up, TNA! You've still got a couple of months before Spike decides to pull the plug! Maybe, just maybe, if you try REALLY hard, you can get back those 300,000 people who watched Eric Young win the title, then tuned out the following weeks! Just BOLIEVE! Honestly it's not looking good. Viewership's pretty flat right now and I'd be considering my options if I was Spike.
Bret Hart remembered his brother Owen on the 15th anniversary of his passing. That was a hell of a day. Owen's memory remains strong with wrestling fans.
Kurt Angle gave an update on his recovery. I'm glad he is remaining clean and hope that continues to be the case.
Sheamus vs. Cesaro for the U.S. Championship has been officially set for Payback. That one should be awesome. Hopefully we get The Usos vs. Rowan and Harper for the tag titles as well.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Everything is possible, if you just BOLIEVE! As was said, he did well at his tryout. As of yet, I don't believe he's been offered a contract or anything. But he's definitely on WWE's radar. I'd like to see him in WWE based on the few matches I've seen. I think in a few years we could be looking at a completely different WWE from a talent perspective. HHH has definitely made his mark in that area, and the results have been really impressive.
2. Vince has always seen his company as entertainment instead of a sport in the vein of NBA, NFL, etc. If anything, I think in some ways the in-ring aspect has been pushed more lately with talents like The Shield, Bryan and Cesaro tearing it up. WWE was looking at their viewership numbers and diversity of their audience and thought (perhaps correctly) they were really undervalued in their TV deals. I don't think it had much, if anything, to do with sports entertainment vs. wrestling.
3. Perhaps we need to convince some people that believing everything you read on the Internet is a colossally bad idea.
4. He's definitely not going to leave WWE anytime soon. If the stock gets REALLY bad, I could see him relinquishing more responsibilities to other executives (which he's probably going to do anyway as he gets older), but I'd be really surprised if he stepped down as WWE's boss.
5. No. I don't see any reason to exclude former World Champions. I know WWE needs to build new stars and all, but I think there are valuable uses for a number of the veterans. I don't dislike the idea of MITB declaring a new champion, though. I just wonder what to do for Payback if they're not going to do something with the title then.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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