Sad O'Haire note, Lucha Underground additions official, HoFer misses Takeover, Punk-WWE update, WWE press, Cena DVD cover, Jake Roberts update, more NXT merch, Interviews with Swagger/Russo, worst promos ever, Impact audience, Takeover dark match, and Questions on Brad Maddox, Christian, calling it in the ring, Cole vs. JR, and the Pitbulls

TMZ.com is reporting Sean O'Haire's death as a suicide. That's incredibly sad. I hope his family and friends are coping well. This is unfortunate for everyone involved.

Matt Striker and Ivelisse Velez have officially signed on to Lucha Underground after working the first set of tapings. There's a good lineup of talent there so far.

Brian Kendrick was also offered a deal for Lucha Underground, but turned it down. I would have liked to have seen him wrestle on U.S. TV again.

Ric Flair was unable to make NXT Takeover due to personal reasons. I hope for the best for the legend. His daughter put on a hell of a match there.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

WWE is more or less running a clearance sale on C.M. Punk merchandise, having removed some of it already. Needless to say, the two sides aren't on great terms these days and WWE's making what money they can on what Punk material they already have (including WWE 2K15 and the Flintstones movie). Once the game and movie are out, don't expect any more WWE content featuring Punk. Those works were already too far along to remove him, and WWE still has so much already-made Punk merchandise that they're just going to ride things out.

Update: WWE has now removed all C.M. Punk merchandise from their website. So, yeah; they're moving on.

Big Show and John Cena were on the YES Network to talk about Derek Jeter. Because we don't get enough of these two on WWE TV, right? It is good they crossed over to reach that audience.

Here's the cover of a DVD on John Cena's greatest rivalries. The lack of Punk is no surprise, but the lack of Batista is more notable given the work they did together. I wouldn't read too much into it, though.

Jake Roberts' health continues to improve after being released from the hospital. He even assisted in a training seminar recently. That's very good news!

WWE has new merchandise for NXT's Charlotte, Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara/Kalisto), and the Vaudevillains in addition to a shirt for the second Takeover event. It's pretty cool they're able to monetize the brand in such a way.

Jack Swagger talked about current and past storylines. It's kind of hard to believe Swagger's a veteran considering there are still quite a few people there who've been around for longer. I personally enjoyed him as World Champion, even though his delivery in promos left something to be desired.

Here's a piece on The Miz and The Usos at their recent anti-bullying appearance. I'm looking forward to their respective Night of Champions matches.

This piece examines some of the worst wrestling promos ever. In order:
- I agree with there needing to be promos and narratives in wrestling. I think they're integral to a good product, especially with so much TV written in a week.

- I actually loved that Steiner promo. He's had some awesome "so bad, they're good" moments on the mic: not having sympy for Kevin Nash, not having sugar for Bully Ray, the tables match promo on Team 3D, the promo on Samoa Joe, wrestling a lot of countries, etc.

- That Muraco promo was definitely odd.

- Definitely a bad Luger promo. The interviewer wasn't the best, either.

- You can't talk about terrible promos without that Farmer promo.

-  I don't think people have forgotten Gangrel, especially when talking about The Brood or The Attitude Era.

-  Sid's had some really bad promos.

- They missed the mustache promo from NXT Season 2. And McGillicutty's promo when he won was pretty bad as well. And AJ Styles with a chainsaw. And Booker T. dropping the N-bomb.

Vince Russo said John Gaburick sending home Eric Bischoff led to heat with Spike. Getting Bischoff away from Creative was the right move for TNA given how absolutely miserable TNA was to watch at times during his tenure. That said, Bischoff did work well with Spike and that was important for TNA's TV home.

Impact's audience on Wednesday was 1.05 million. Viewership continues to be unimpressive on the new night. It might be time to pull the plug.

Paige beat Becky Lynch for the dark match of NXT Takeover. That's a nice cameo for the crowd.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Maddox tried the Zack Ryder route to get WWE's attention. I think he's just sitting around collecting his downside guarantee because WWE doesn't know what to do with him. Why not put him back down in NXT or something?

2. Yeah, Christian's being held off due to health concerns and/or no one having any ideas on how to use him Vince will approve. I'm not sure he's been cleared to return, but their answer suggests that's the case. I wouldn't be surprised if he's out the door when his current contract ends. He's an incredibly talented guy when he's healthy, but I think he and WWE are at an impasse for actually pushing him.

3. The old school method was to call things almost entirely in the ring, playing off what the crowd does and doesn't react to. This was in the days of separate dressing rooms for heels and faces where they didn't talk about the match beforehand backstage. Now it's more of a case where the competitors each want to do cool stuff and signature spots, and there's less improvisation. Some matches work better pre-planned, but listening to the crowd is quite important!

4. Cole definitely doesn't seem like as much of a "wrestling guy" or fan as JR did, but few do. I don't dislike his announcing (especially compared to King and JBL), but I definitely miss the days of JR's passion and enthusiasm.

5. Apparently Wolfe still has a match every once in a while.

More wrestling tomorrow.