Main Event update, more on NXT in Ohio, Superstars update, more on moving Summerslam, latest on Conway, Nash updates, Slater free, WWE financial updates, title match set for Rumble, more on Main Event's status, next big NXT special set, and Questions on Y2J, new stars breaking through, faces vs. heels, enhancement talent, Cena as a heel, and ECW

The Santino Marella special taking the place of Main Event this coming week will be a Royal Rumble highlight show in the vein of the Mick Foley TLC special. So, no new content there. I did kind of want to see Santino and The Cobra pick out people's Rumble numbers, but I doubt they could fill an hour with that. Save it for the Rumble pre-show or something.

NXT's presence at the Arnold Sports Festival will also feature Ric Flair, Ryback, and Big Show. Ryback vs. Show would make sense. I guess they'll rehire Ryback by then.

Update: WWE put out a press release on the event. Way to break kayfabe of Ryback being fired. 

WWE Superstars will now be on Fridays on the WWE Network, which means it will be lumped with Impact Wrestling Reaxes for the time being. Why not air it after NXT? I guess this way they have two extra days to edit it. That's probably appreciated.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
WWE will almost certainly keep Summerslam 2015 in the NYC area to avoid having to change touring routes. That's probably the best move. It'll be interesting to see where it ends up.

Stephanie McMahon and George Barrios talked about some business metrics. I'm guessing their numbers for Raw and Smackdown include people who DVR to watch it later. That's often lost in the conversation. The audience is larger than just the rating released shortly after the show. The Network remains a work in progress.

Rob Conway is continuing to recover from his appendectomy and has not been cleared to work out again. No word on when he'll be back wrestling.

Kevin Nash's legal situation has picked up press. His son is quite large himself. I hope he cleans up his act and this is the last time we hear about them getting into an altercation. Also in the story it was noted Nash's contract has been reinstated. I suspect that means he's back on for Raw Reunion.

Update: TMZ picked up the story. I think after Magic Mike 2, this will be pretty much looked over if it's a one-time thing.

Heath Slater has had charges against him dropped, so he's free to return to WWE. It looks like Slater Gator could be teaming again pretty soon. I wonder what this means for Tyler Breeze and David Otunga, since they teamed with Titus in Slater's absence. I assume Breeze could still get matches here and there on the main roster loops as a singles guy, while Otunga will go back to his non-wrestling ventures for the time being.

WWE will release their Q4 2014/year-end 2014 financial report on February 12. I suspect that's when we'll hear the next subscriber numbers for the WWE Network, among other things.

The Usos vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow for the WWE Tag Team Championship has been added to the Royal Rumble. I hope we still get Miz and Mizdow in the Rumble match itself.

WWE Main Event will be pre-empted from the Network for the time being as WWE works out something with Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. They could also restrict the show in those regions, but the ability for them to do that is many months away. The show will remain on Hulu Plus in the meantime. I wonder what the future holds for that show, since it's not available in nearly as many markets as Raw and Smackdown. I imagine WWE will keep making Main Event and Superstars as long as international markets will air them, but how long will that be? NXT's hopefully enough of an asset for the Network to be safe even if it didn't air in international markets.

The next big live NXT special is set for February 11. The show will be headlined by Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens in a non-title match. I'm really hyped for that one!

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I wouldn't rule out this being some kind of work by Jericho, where he's actually working more dates. But to answer the question, I can't think of anyone else who's gotten a deal just to work live events for a few months. He's in a really special circumstance.

2. Thank you, voice of reason! What's this "no payoff" thing about The Shield breaking up? There was a pretty big feud between Rollins and Ambrose, and who's to say that won't be rekindled at WM31? I think they still have a lot of solid young acts (with more training down in NXT). They just need to present them better and pull the trigger on moving to the future. I think they're doing that to a degree. Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and Dolph Ziggler have all been in big spots these last few PPVs. While I suspect we'll still be seeing a lot of the older names/part-timers in Mania season, there's definitely hope for younger names to break through.

3. At some point, the "shades of gray" characters and other hallmarks of the Attitude Era also became cliche. If fans wanted Cesaro to remain heel and use that move, they should have booed it a lot instead of cheering it. I also wanted him to turn face, for the record, but the effective course of action to show support for a character who's supposed to be heel is to give the reaction appropriate for the character. Otherwise, the higher-ups are going to (rightfully in some ways) assume you're just there to be contrarian and disrupt the show. I don't see how it's insulting someone's intelligence to have clear boundaries of who's heel and who's face. You can be smart and still realize when to cheer and when to boo.

4. The Hardy Boys come to mind, but that was in a later era.

5. I do think Cena's character gets away with a lot of things that would be heel moves if not done by him, which is reminiscent of Stone Cold in a way now that I think about it. There are a couple of nitpicky things here, though:

- I'd add in the jokes at Vickie's expense to the abuse of Heyman and Cole.

- The reward for joining Team Cena was The Authority losing power. That's like saying George Washington's a heel for asking people to revolt against the tyranny of England.

- It actually was pretty heroic to save Edge despite their history. Edge isn't the same guy who's trying to screw Cena out of the WWE title. He's a retired married man who can never wrestle again because of injuries.

Anyway, Cena's "super-face" character has definitely gotten away with some pretty heelish stuff.

6. Because ECW was hardcore and counter-culture and all that. They were also pretty much a money pit.

More wrestling tomorrow.