Paul Heyman made reference to going to pick up "Plan C" during Battleground. I wonder what Brock does when he's not involved with wrestling. He's quite the private individual.
Kenta was interviewed in NXT. He sounded fine in his brief English there. If he's as good as he's been sold as, he should get over fine.
Chris Jericho's father and son were sitting ringside at Battleground. I wonder what they thought of his match.
Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart visited WWE talents this weekend. I wonder if he'll make a cameo for the Tyson/Natalya angle down in NXT.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
Jake "The Snake" Roberts talked about his depression, self-medicating and more. I'm incredibly glad he's turned things around. If DDP wasn't a sure-fire Hall of Famer before working with Hall and Roberts, he definitely should be considered one now.
A book chronicling the 50-year history of WWE in Madison Square Garden is seeking feedback. That sounds like an awesome project!
The story of Rob Van Dam being injured and pulled from Sunday night's battle royal appears to be legitimate. No specifics have been mentioned yet and it's unknown how long he'll be out of action. He's probably under a fairly short-term deal, so it will be interesting to see how this works into that.
WWE is replacing Summerslam AXXESS with some panel discussions. Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Sheamus, Cesaro, Roman Reigns, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Steve Austin will all be part of them.
Update: Here's the press release. I can only imagine what questions some of those guys will be asked.
In what should be a surprise to no one, WWE is catching heat for the Lana promo at Battleground.
Washington Post, News.com.au, The UK's Daily Mail and The Independent, and the NY Daily News all covered it. Definitely not the kind of press WWE wants right now.
Update: WWE released a response. I wish it was longer and more sympathetic to the whole "300 people dying" thing.
Randy Orton was pulled over. It must not be too big of a deal since he was on Raw.
WWE has announced a new deal to air its top shows in the Middle East and northern Africa through 2019. That's pretty cool. I think international markets will be key for them going forward.
TNA announced a special show in relation to British Boot Camp 2. I can honestly see them thinking of moving to the UK in the future if business doesn't turn around in the States.
Smackdown rose to 2.89 million viewers this past week. Pretty good mark for the show.
C.M. Punk gave his first interview since leaving WWE, further confirming his split from the wrestling world. Punk looks a lot healthier after leaving the high-stress world of wrestling.
The top three matches for Summerslam are expected to be:
WWE World Heavyweight Championship: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns
I've got to say, I'm a little surprised at that last one. I was more or less expecting Orton vs. Kane and Reigns vs. HHH. I'm not really complaining though. This means less reliance on older part-timers.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm usually all for heels getting heat, but this is playing off the deaths of innocent civilians. There's a line between "Russia is better than the U.S.", "the U.S. is weak" kind of talk and referring to actual evil events. They need to downplay that aspect of the character of they're going to get a LOT of flak. And not in a "I can't wait to see someone beat Rusev in a fictional contest" way.
2. There are a number of important points here: a. Heyman didn't totally ignore Cesaro when managing him. He wasn't as important as Brock, clearly, but he was mentioned. b. As great as Cesaro is, I don't think he's at the level of Brock or Cena. It would be a step down for Brock to feud with Cesaro after Taker. I'm a big Cesaro fan, but he's never headlined a PPV or been World Champion. I don't necessarily think it hurt Cesaro to be with Heyman, but I think they could have done a better job of booking him. He's been a little lost in the shuffle.
3. There was certainly a point where TNA had a die-hard fan base who had seen everything and as considered "spoiled" for getting the product in Orlando all the time. As for ECW, it definitely made more of a mark in the Northeast and there were consistent fans. The issue is TNA tried to be more mainstream and lost the die-hards who were there consistently in the pre-Spike days. ECW didn't have that issue as much.
4. Sabu got over pretty well without talking during his run. This is more of the distinction between the old days of wrestling vs. the current "sports-entertainment variety show" stuff. I'm generally a fan of characters and talking and such, but something has been lost from the old days.
Nothing to add to 5. WWE is continuing to make changes and add features to the Network.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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