Punk fallout continues, Interviews with JJ Dillon/Storm+Robbie E+Brooke/Nikki/Big Gold author/Kaitlyn/JR/Sting, King Mo update, TNA champions working Wrestle-1, another backstage TNA name leaving, Knockout in OVW, WWE.com profiles Kenta, WWE merger rumor, Hogan on Raw, ROH the comic book? and Questions on Lashley in Bellator, Tanahashi, Kenta and dark matches

WWE has pulled all C.M. Punk merchandise from their website. Since he's not under contract anymore, they no longer have the rights to make merchandise of him. I wonder if he'll cash in on his name and likeness through any other outlets.

Update: Of note, Punk's contract expired three years to the date of MITB 2011. This more or less confirms the story of him signing a new deal that day. That's amazing.

Update/correction: Punk's merchandise is under the WWE Alumni section. That makes sense.

JJ Dillon talked about Daniel Bryan's injury and more. There's pushing through being hurt and then there's doing serious, career-threatening damage. As for Ole Anderson, before the Montreal incident with Bret Hart, one of the biggest scandals in wrestling was "Black Saturday". Some would even consider it bigger than Montreal.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
TNA's King Mo will also be competing on the Sept. 5 Bellator show. He'll be appearing on Impact before then. I'm a little surprised we haven't seen more of him and Rampage Jackson in TNA.

The Wolves will be working Wrestle-1 shows the last week of August. I expect more collusion between TNA and W-1 leading into Bound For Glory. I wonder how many W-1 talents will be on the card then.

Daisy Marx, who worked in the marketing end of TNA, will soon be leaving. TNA's definitely not out of the woods yet as far as turning things around.

Rebel of The Menagerie had a match at the most recent OVW taping, so I suspect TNA's trying her out as a wrestler for the main roster. It's worth a shot.

James Storm, Robbie E and Brooke Tessmacher talked in the UK after TNA announced British Boot Camp 2. Rob Terry is working as The Freak in TNA's Menagerie, but this isn't acknowledged on-camera. I love how they all endorsed the four-sided ring after TNA just changed it back. At least they're being honest and not trying to feed us PR lines. There were also "shots fired" about TNA booking older names ahead of home-grown talent. That rib by Storm was seriously intense. I'm all for joking around here and there, but that's probably too far. All in all, I could see these three getting heat from the higher-ups about some of those comments.

Nikki Bella promoted "Total Divas" in the UK. Online bullying about weight is definitely a big issue these days.


The author of "Big Gold" talked about old wrestling memories. It's tough to argue against that as my all-time favorite wrestling championship design. The Smokin' Skull Belt is up there, though.

Jason Albert (formerly Tensai) has relocated to Florida to work out of the WWE Performance Center and work with NXT talents. If you would have told me in 2008 or so that A-Train was coming back as a Japanese wrestler with tattoos leading to a dancing gimmick before a commentary stint in WWE developmental, I wouldn't have believed you.

John Cena isn't advertised for the July 21 or August 8 Raw, nor is he set for the upcoming Australian tour. He'll be filming a role for a Judd Apatow movie at those times. It's rather ironic he'll be missing shows as champion or appearing via satellite due to movie commitments after attacking Rock for the same thing. He makes pretty much every show, though, and this is just one movie. Rock was primarily a Hollywood guy for a lot of his run. I can't say I blame him for taking those big roles instead of doing WWE full-time.

Here's a piece on WWE in Tokyo. I'm ready to see Kenta work in a WWE ring after all this hype. I'm aware I can watch a lot of his older matches online, but I like seeing a talent for the first time when they're working for a national American promotion.

The former Kaitlyn talked about leaving WWE and more. Kaitlyn vs. Paige would be pretty sweet, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Jim Ross talked about his future as an announcer. JR and Punk would be a pretty fun announce team.

WWE.com did a big piece on Kenta being signed. It's weird to see his name capitalized normally. Kenta has a slate of opponents he could do well against in NXT and on the main roster. There are a lot of references I wouldn't have expected to see on WWE.com (including a current TNA superstar). That interruption by Heyman was hysterical. WWE.com can put together some great stuff.

There's speculation of WWE merging with another entertainment entity after the talk of 20th Century Fox merging with Time Warner. I don't see it happening. At least, there's nothing to suggest it will happen.

Sting continued to fan the flames of a WWE match in an interview with TMZ. I'm actually getting hyped for this.

Update: Vince McMahon's teasing it as well. Triple H's recent kayfabe WWE.com interview on Sting signing was pretty great. It's hard not to think Sting wouldn't have faced the same fate as Goldberg, Booker T., Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner against The Game if he went to WWE instead of TNA.

Hulk Hogan will host Raw on Aug. 11, the final Raw before Summerslam. I can't be the only one who wants to see him eat an F5.

Ring of Honor executives met with Marvel executives about an unknown future project. An ROH comic series would be interesting.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. TNA's probably thinking of the buzz they'll get by crossing their brand with another top Spike property. I do think it could hurt Lashley's aura if he gets his ass handed to him in Bellator, but TNA's in need of buzz right now.

2. Pretty much everyone is better with a high-quality opponent and a lot of ring time.

Nothing to add to 3.

4. It's a new day for WWE. I think they'll try to make the most of the signing.

5. It's something special for those in attendance to get one last big segment that's not on TV. A nice bonus, I'd say.

More wrestling tomorrow.