Here are highlights from a Mark Henry interview about Roman Reigns. I think he's dead on. How can we know if Reigns is ready if we don't even give him a fair chance? I feel like a lot of fans going in wanting to boo him instead of seeing what he's got.
WWE will have the Elimination Chamber at AXXESS before WM31. That's pretty cool! Especially considering how big it is.
Koko B. Ware talked about his WWE career and more. I think there's a point to be made about him going in the Hall after so many years in WWE and in the business period.
The Usos were interviewed as we approach WM31. If the site can't even be bothered to fix an obvious typo in the headline and takes that kind of attitude toward promoting the show, WWE should step in and tell them to either not suck at their jobs or just go to another site for promotion.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
TNA announced new contract signings for Robbie E and Bram. I'd love to see that tag team. The Bram-Mans? There's a lot of fun to be had with the conflicting personalities. Bram's far too valuable to be in that role, though.
Update: TNA also announced a new deal for Lashley. He has been absolutely on top of the world in TNA. Phenomenal athlete. I hope he's wrestling on a big stage for years to come.
Update: In a loosely related story, Lashley also signed a new deal with Bellator. He'll be an important part of their brand as well.
Paige talked about who she'd like to face and more. I hope Paige has a bright career ahead of her. I love the name of that podcast, by the way.
WWE Network is clearing in another carrier in Canada. If WWE ever buys TNA, they'll be able to watch Scott Steiner bury "Mexico North". I miss Scott's promos...
Chris Jericho talked about WWE and NXT names he'd like to work with. I really want to see all those matches if Y2J is up for it. Will fans really be able to boo him, though? As much great stuff as he's done, I think he's pretty much over for life.
An NXT superstar will be working the Andre the Giant battle royal. The spot will be determined from a tournament at AXXESS featuring Tyler Breeze, Adrian Neville, Finn Balor, and Hideo Itami. I think that's a great opportunity for the winner, as long as they get a decent showing. I think Neville's the one to pick here. Balor and Itami are still in the process of being adjusted to the WWE way of doing things, and Breeze would work better getting vignettes before debuting. Have Neville do the Red Arrow and get eliminated by a heel, and you're pretty much off to the races.
Smackdown rose slightly to 2.60 million viewers this week. I wonder how many people tuned out when they realized Mark Henry wasn't working the main event.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm a big supporter of NXT, but no way should they have a match at WM31. Maybe at a B-PPV coming up if an angle from NXT is big enough to draw at that level, but Mania is for the people who are already at the big stage. If they were doing a match at Mania, it should have been built up for months beforehand. Maybe by having an NXT entrant in the Rumble be attacked by a rival (Owens vs. Zayn is the obvious one there) to set something up. Throwing it on at the last minute is short-sighted at least.
2. Because NXT actually is profitable and the company is behind promoting the shows? The ECW brand was the adopted son the parents were resentful of and tried to mold too much in a different image. ECW fans turned on it because it wasn't authentic enough to ECW, while WWE fans weren't interested in seeing lower-level names have their own show. I loved the ECW brand most of the time, but it didn't have the support needed from either fans or the company to be what it should have been.
3. There are definitely mindsets that should be brought back from earlier eras. Personally I wonder why someone would pay to watch a show trying to be "real" with real names and real-looking fights when they can get that in UFC. At the same time, I don't want to see a whole show of characters like Repo Man and Koko B. Ware. There needs to be a happy medium where the character is interesting and played well without being something totally ridiculous. Bray Wyatt's a good example of this. I do think there needs to be some really good technical wrestling and high-flying, too. There's a happy medium for that as well.
4. I mean, technically you didn't say WM31. As long as he wins the title at a future Mania, you should be fine.
Or, for a real swerve, you can go ahead and shave your head now, wear a wig, and claim you were actually bald the whole time!
5. Yes, respect his legacy and everything he's accomplished despite his health problems. I think that's the best we can do.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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