Main Event Reax - 8/5/14, Network launch in UK and Ireland set, Reigns busted open, what happened after Raw, Impact lineup, Interviews with Batista/Devitt/Jericho, why Adam Rose was a lemon, NXT lineup, book on the other McMahons announced, Cena set for Smackdown, new GFW partner, Raw audience, Russo issues statement on TNA and Questions on Rollins vs. Ambrose, continuity in WWE, Bryan's rise, Network content and TNA going international

Main Event:
Clever to link Del Rio with Rusev in this angle. I hope the momentum continues for Swagger.

Fun Slater promo. I'm glad they're giving him a push after the Rollins win. Otherwise it wouldn't have much meaning.

Fine tag match, though it's surprising to see Stardust and Goldust lose. I would have thought they were on a winning streak on their way to challenging the Usos. We'll see.

Nice Divas' match. I bet they could do even better with more time. I'm itching for AJ vs. Charlotte from NXT.

I really liked the AJ/Paige segment. They make for a pretty compelling duo.

Really good main event! Swagger and Del Rio can really tell a story in the ring. Del Rio losing made sense to build Swagger for Summerslam.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

WWE Network will launch in the UK and Ireland on October 1. That's pretty cool. The Network growing internationally is going to be really important for the company's success after less-than-impressive results domestically.

Roman Reigns needed six staples after his match with Kane on Raw. He's not expected to miss ring time. Gimmick matches can be really dangerous.

The post-Raw dark match saw Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Big Show beat Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins and Randy Orton. At least Big Show's been kept to dark matches for now. I expect that to change after Summerslam.

Set for this week's Impact:
- Hardcore War: Team 3D, Tommy Dreamer and Al Snow vs. Ethan Carter III, Rhino, Snitsky and Rycklon Stevens (WWE's Ezekiel Jackson).
- TNA X-Division Championship: Sanada vs. Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe
- Samuel Shaw, Mr. Anderson and Gunner vs. The Bro-mans (including DJ Z)
- Monster's Ball: Abyss vs. Bram

Should be a pretty big show!

Batista talked about his run as a babyface this year and more. It was definitely a mistake to book him the way he was booked coming back. I'm split on The Shield's current direction. I'm definitely disappointed in the reaction to Reigns as a top babyface. He's clearly the No. 2 face behind Cena with Bryan injured and that limits what he can really do right now storyline-wise.

Fergal Devitt was interviewed by Renee Young. I wonder if he'll keep that name.

The Adam Rose segment on Raw was designed to promote the release of a WWE film on Blu-ray and DVD. That makes sense. It just felt REALLY out of place on the show.

Set for this week's NXT:
- Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger
- CJ Parker vs. Xavier Woods
- Bayley vs. Eva Marie
- Sami Zayn and Adam Rose vs. Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel

I hope Eva Marie has a good match. She's been rather unimpressive as a wrestler so far.

A book set for release in March 2015 will document the rise of the McMahon empire, chronicling the time before Vince McMahon's WWF was an international success. That sounds great!

John Cena is advertised for the October 7 Smackdown taping. Don't we get enough of him already?

Chris Jericho confirmed his current WWE run ends at Night of Champions next month in an AMA on Reddit. He also confirmed he's just in WWE in-between Fozzy tours. After as long as he's wrestled, he's earned the right to have his own schedule.

GFW has announced a partnership with a South African promotion with reach in Africa and India. Still no word on any TV deals or events or anything. I'm getting pretty antsy waiting for something more concrete to be announced.

Mr. McMahon talked about the set up for Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WM27. That was cool. HHH and Taker look pretty different three years later, no?

Raw's audience this week was 4.05 million, down notably from the previous week. Not having Brock or Cena likely made its mark there.

Vince Russo issued a statement about his tenure in TNA. His whole life is some kind of crazy worked shoot. I can't wait to read his next book.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I like both men and their feud, but I doubt they could keep it fresh for a full year without injury angles or something. That's not a knock on Creative. It's just the fact of how much TV time they have to fill between now and next June. It's an interesting idea, though. I could see Rollins surviving Ambrose for a few months only to have another person (Big Show) keeping him from cashing in. It'll be really interesting to see what happens with the briefcase if Lesnar becomes champion and refuses to defend every PPV or whatever.

2. In theory, they have people there who keep continuity. In practice, they book week-to-week a lot of times and that means some continuity errors. They did give an explanation for Cesaro working with Heyman on Raw despite no longer being a Heyman guy, though. It's not like they said he still was a Heyman guy and ignored what happened previously.

3. The pro-Bryan sentiment had been brewing long before the Rumble, but that was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back. I think Batista still would have come back. He just would have been used differently. But to answer the question, the original plan was Bryan vs. Sheamus at WM30, with Batista challenging Orton for the title. That would have been pretty foolish in light of the fan reactions. They could have gone that route, but they would have gotten a LOT of fan backlash.

4. Maybe one day! I don't think they're as high on the priority list as other content WWE owns.

5. I could see them trying to do more stuff in the UK and Japan if things go South here, but it is more expensive to run there. I don't know how many wrestlers would relocate to another country to stay with TNA in the event they become based somewhere else.

More wrestling tomorrow.