WM31 breaks records, Rock meets NXT Champ, lots of WM notes, GFW's first TV taping set, big post-WM conference call, TNA returns to Canada, Sting update, Bray injury note, WM visitors, Impact audience, more NXT callups?, Raw angle note, Raw guest, and Questions on WWE picking the future, rebuilding Bray, TNA as WWE Lite, little people in the HoF, and mainstream acceptance

WWE promoted the impressive gate from WrestleMania 31. Can they top WM3's attendance record in Dallas? They're damn sure going to try.

The Rock tweeted about meeting Kevin Owens. That's pretty big! I think Owens has a really bright future.

Sting specifically requested Charles Robinson as the referee for his match at WrestleMania. I think that was a great touch given their time in WCW together.

Some more pre-WM31 interviews: Finn Balor, Santino Marella, Ryback, and Paul Heyman. I miss Santino. I'm not going to lie. He had some pretty funny skits.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

GFW announced its first TV taping for July. No word on talent or when it will air or anything. The longer this goes without actually having an event, the tougher it will be for it to live up to the hype.

Here are details from WWE's post-WM31 conference call:
- I wonder how familiar Vince is with South Park. I think he might actually like that show's humor.

- I could not care much less about "Swerved". "Jackass" should have died a long time ago. How the heck is Johnny Knoxville still a thing?

- I wonder how much footage is left to be digitized to be put on the Network. I also wonder how long of a process that is.

- WWE's giving away the Network A LOT. Hopefully that pays off, because it feels like they're desperate to get people to spend that $9.99 a month.

- I'd love to know more about how many people have stopped watching the Network and why.

- I call bullshit on a "lackluster build to Mania". I don't know why that criticism is out there.

- Way to bury Sting. No way was he obscure pre-WWE. He might have disappeared off the map in some ways after WCW, but it's not like no one knew who he was. Otherwise, why would there be buzz for him coming to WWE?

WWE talked more about what else is in store for the Network going forward. Lots of content going out there.

TNA announced a new TV deal in Canada. That's awesome. They needed that to happen sooner rather than later.

Whether Sting will wrestle again for WWE is to be determined. I wonder if that's tied to what Undertaker is doing going forward.

Update: Sting was interviewed after Raw, saying he's up to do more if WWE asks him to. Bo Dallas came down to talk to him and ended up taking a Scorpion Death Drop. That was a great way to use both of them.

The main event of WM31 was originally going to run longer, but the show was already running long. The Rock segment dragged forever, so that probably cut into things.

Bray Wyatt's ankle was badly sprained earlier in the day before WM31. He needed a cast and had trouble standing. It's a shame, as it definitely affected the quality of the match. When one guy's hurting and the other's 50, they can only do so much.

RVD and Sylvan Grenier were visiting at WrestleMania. SoCal Val was at the afterparty. Part of me would have loved to have seen RVD in that big ladder match. I wonder if we'll see him again in 2015.

Friday's edition of Impact Wrestling grew to 444,000 viewers. An additional 164,000 watched the replay. Not stellar numbers, but it's all a matter of what DA thinks of them.

Finn Balor is scheduled to be part of WWE's main roster tours these next few weeks, so there's potential for him to be called up soon. Honestly, I think they should hold off on that unless he's going to debut during the European tour. I'd want for there to be space following two NXT debuts at Raw.

Update: There's also talk of soon bringing Charlotte up. She's ready for it. It's just a matter of when would be the right timing. I'm thinking WWE does a rematch of AJ and Paige vs. The Bellas at Extreme Rules (maybe whoever gets the pin is champion?), then Charlotte debuts as the next challenger for the title.

Michael Cole was stretchered out of Raw after taking an F5 from BROCK. LESNAR. Great angle.

Linda McMahon was in attendance at Raw. I wonder what she's up to these days.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Yeah, I don't really think of Drew in that scenario. He was positioned as "The Chosen One" rather than the future. Maybe Vince chose him as a guy to never get past IC Title level?

2. I'm also not a big fan of this scenario. I personally want to see Bray work with The Ascension in a similar vein as Taker's Ministry of Darkness.

3. This is indeed an unfair comparison. We're definitely seeing this now in TNA, and there were times in the past where TNA went the route of being what WWE wasn't. I do think they're going to be mostly defined as trying to recreate WCW as opposed to forming their own identity, unless something REALLY changes for them in the years to come.

4. I wouldn't be shocked to see it happen. I'm actually kind of surprised Vince hasn't thought of that before, given his sense of what makes a good product.

5. It'd be tough to argue WWE is more popular in the mainstream now than in the Attitude Era, unless we're defining mainstream as families with children vs. just the college crowd. WWE has held relatively strong audience-wise, so we continue to see celebrity appearances.

More wrestling tomorrow.