Cool Batista story, NXT lineup, wrestling in North Korea photos, more TNA departures?, TNA taping notes, names who won't be on El Rey series, Del Rio update, WWE signs top indy name and Questions on WWE re-writing history, creative control, WWE commentary, TNA on Spike, and the Wyatts

Batista's portrayal of Drax the Destroyer inspired a boy with autism. That's pretty cool.

Set for this week's NXT:
- The Vaudevillains vs. Sin Cara and Kalisto to determine the #1 Contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship
- Charlotte vs. Alexa Bliss
- Tyler Breeze vs. Tye Dillinger
- Tyson Kidd vs. Adam Rose
- Sami Zayn vs. Marcus Louis
- Adrian Neville vs. CJ Parker

So, all four men vying for the title at Takeover 2 will have singles matches. I look forward to it.

NBC has footage from the recent wrestling event in North Korea. That's a pretty cool form of diplomacy.

Everything else from Monday is after the break.



There are rumors of additional departures from the TNA office. No names, though. They could soon be joined by some names from the roster.

Advertised for the September 7 Impact taping:
- The Hardys vs. MVP/Kenny King
- Bobby Roode vs. Magnus
- Bram vs. Eric Young
- Ethan Carter III vs. Abyss
- Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell vs. Madison Rayne
- Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries
- James Storm vs. Gunner
- Mr. Anderson vs. DJ Z

Note the lack of Team 3D, The Wolves and The Beautiful People. With Bully Ray already gone, Velvet Sky seemingly following and Davey Richards hurt, that really changes the lineup.

The Young Bucks were offered deals with the AAA show on El Rey, but turned them down. A lot of other American names have been offered deals, but there's no word on any of them being signed. Those involved are taking a big risk with the kind of contracts they've offered.

El Patron, the former Alberto Del Rio, is expected to be part of AAA full-time going forward. So he won't be in TNA as some hoped.

WWE has signed California indy star Willie Mack to report to NXT. This has been in the works for months as Mack finished dates elsewhere and passed all the relevant testing. He's been touted for his work, so hopefully he's another success story for the HHH regime.

For my take on Monday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Sadly, WWE can't be trusted to do a completely accurate account of a story where they were the winners. They're telling the story they want to be accepted as fact.

2. Ultimately most stars aren't going to leave WWE if they don't get their way. Who's going to treat Cena better, pay him more, etc.? Cena does have some pull, though, which is important to note.

3. I think some of it is Vince wanting to separate his product from "wrasslin'". WWE's a sports-entertainment variety show and all that. So the commentators aren't there to call the fictional match; they're there to "entertain" as Vince and Kevin Dunn see fit. I agree the commentary's terrible these days.

4. This has been a LONG time coming. If a student gets C's and D's (maybe even some F's) all semester, the last three weeks of A's and B's can only help so much. Spike has aired TNA for nine years now. TNA has been given plenty of opportunities to succeed. They just haven't done it as Spike has wanted.

5. Terms like "jobber" and "buried" are thrown around way too liberally these days. I can see the Wyatts working as antiheroes against pure heels if WWE wants to go that route. I don't think it's time for that, though.

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