Zeb Colter posted about a surgery on his Twitter, likely to sell the angle of him being injured. Zeb's amazing. He definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame for all his work over the years.
Heath Slater responded to the lawsuit against him. I don't intend to cover this case all the way through, but thought it should be noted WWE and Slater have addressed it.
The Miz, Cameron, Eva Marie, and Darren Young filmed an appearance on "Hell's Kitchen". When will we see Young back in the ring? Is he just someone they use for PR purposes now?
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
C.M. Punk came back to Colt Cabana's podcast to continue addressing his WWE departure. Here are some initial highlights:
- It does seem pretty much like WWE intentionally and maliciously terminated him on his wedding day, unless they always FedEx termination papers overnight. I don't know how much benefit of the doubt to give WWE on that front, as Punk makes a good case.
- Vince, HHH, Stephanie, or SOMEONE should definitely visit Punk next time they're in Chicago to hash things out. At least text the man or something.
- They definitely have a lot of non-wrestling people in important positions in WWE (creative and management, notably), which makes it hard to relate to the people who are taking bumps. Even some of the people there have been removed from taking bumps for long enough to seem out-of-touch to some workers.
- They needed Punk pretty badly to push him despite the surgeries and such. It's insane and a real problem of the system as a whole.
Update: Here's more from Punk, covering some of what was already covered. I wonder who will be the next person to really push WWE Management. I think Rey might have a case.
Update: Punk discussed Rock's reaction. There was definitely heat between the two of them at one point, but they've worked things out. Good to know.
Update: Punk addressed the micromanagement at WWE. I think he's really onto a lot of things there. I hope WWE takes notice, because there are some issues that need to be addressed.
Update: A lot more assorted issues:
- It's pretty telling how he could make more money for less of a headache. I think more people would leave WWE if that was the case.
- WWE will use who they want to use for PR appearances, sadly, because they want a certain kind of performer in the spotlight whether they're as popular as Punk or not.
- I'm really tired of the C.M. Punk chants actually, and I was a pretty die-hard Punk fan.
- Tweeting about Cena's storyline is good for Cena, but not for the other talents who are basically just used to get him over in that scenario.
WWE.com talked to Dolph Ziggler. Really good piece on someone who should be a centerpiece going forward.
- So often these days fans and companies alike like for someone who has a perfect ten in all categories instead of making the most of people who are solid 8.5s and 9s.
- One thing that was touched upon was how important commentary is in getting someone over. If the people at the booth are terrible or produced to be terrible at that, it can really hurt the people in the ring (and the company, as a result).
- A subset of fans turning on Dolph for his big win should show how fickle some fans are. They want someone pushed more, but apparently not TOO much more. Even if it's long overdue and can help that person reach top star status.
NXT Women's Champion Charlotte will be working this weekend's main roster live events and TV tapings as a prelude to her match at the next NXT Takeover special. I think she'll make a good first impression!
GFW isn't expected to set any TV tapings until after the New Japan PPV. Las Vegas is still the expected site. That's the home of Mike Tenay, so there's speculation Jarrett will try to take him from TNA. Tenay's already been replaced as a commentator for 2015, so I wouldn't rule it out.
Dixie Carter talked in the UK:
- The story is one of there not being a lot of communication between TNA Management and talent. Of course, it wasn't until late in the game that there was actually something of note to tell them.
- I'm curious to see what TNA's plans are for PPVs in 2015, at least as far as live ones go. I could see them doing what they did with BFG this year and air it on a tape delay in the States.
- TNA is technically competition to WWE, but not on a high enough level to really challenge them like WCW did.
- The biggest thing TNA needs to do in 2015 is create its own identity. They can have some former WWE announcers and all that, but stop trying to recreate ECW, the nWo, etc..
- Those talents who've gone from TNA to WWE were probably being used because of their name value in other promotions than TNA. WWE's not signing guys like Daniels, Kazarian, or Styles. They're signing people like Hogan, Flair, and Sting who have been stars since before TNA was a thing.
Next week's edition of WWE Superstars will be a Best of 2014 edition due to WWE taping the Slammys Pre-Show when they'd usually tape that. Looks like I'll just be covering NXT on that date, since there won't be any new material on Superstars.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I see a very, VERY slim chance he goes to TNA. Unless there's a certain match he feels like he REALLY wants to do, it's doubtful we ever see him in the ring again. As far as AJ goes, it would be EXTREMELY petty to punish Punk through her. Sadly that doesn't mean they won't go that route.
2. I wouldn't be surprised if it was done to tie into that either. It was definitely genius to do it on Thanksgiving, since that's usually a pretty dead day for news.
3. I'm glad Lashley's in TNA, but I also wasn't crazy about how much Bellator was shoved in our faces during the Spike era. I really hope we're not in for more non-TNA names appearing in TNA in 2015. It feels like there's been an endless stream of names from other promotions or shows coming in and taking the spotlight from the TNA names.
4. WWE only did the Attitude Era because they had to compete with WCW. Now they're all about the endorsement deals and audiences they can reach with the PG rating.
5. I do think there were some real flaws as far as Austin not taking Vince to task, but it wasn't an expose or anything. I wouldn't have been surprised if Vince tried to shut things down if Austin got too tough with the questions. The environment was one of two guys shooting the breeze.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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