Rusev suffered a foot injury at the Smackdown taping. That really sucks. He was on a roll. I hope it's not too serious and he returns to wreak more havoc. Maybe as European Champion?
Update: Rusev is being evaluated for a lower leg injury. He will be replaced by Kane on this weekend's live events, which could lead to Kane entering the Elimination Chamber in his place. I think I'd rather see Stardust, although obviously Kane's a bigger name. Maybe Mark Henry since he lives in the area?
WWE did a roundtable discussion with Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch. They're all really talented.
- I hope we do see a WWE PPV poster with female wrestlers someday.
- NXT is really on fire. I hope it changes how things are done on the main roster.
- The camaraderie in NXT is great to see. I hope that makes it to the main roster, too.
- I like the changing mentality on women's wrestling. They can do great things.
- I'm also glad Becky Lynch dropped her initial gimmick. She's much better now.
- The NXT talents getting to make their own gimmicks is good. Some people have taken that and run with it.
- I say Divas since it's what they say on the main roster.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
Finn Balor will be replacing Sami Zayn on WWE's tour of Australia. I hope he's a hit there.
Ring of Honor will be airing weekly on Destination America beginning June 3 at 8 p.m., leading into Impact Wrestling. This is HUGE, as the company's shows will now be seen in syndication and on that channel.
Update: The episodes shown on Destination America will be the same ones shown the previous weekend in syndication. It makes sense Sinclair would want its networks to get the show first.
Update: The deal between ROH and DA has been worked out for months now, and is independent of the issues between DA and TNA. From the sound of things, they could very well have brought ROH into the fold without the potential cancellation of Impact Wrestling.
Update: Destination America is committed to making the channel a home for professional wrestling content, which could mean more promotions coming into things. GFW? HOH? This could be pretty big. Obviously DA isn't in nearly as many homes as Spike, but it's a big step up for ROH and other indies.
Update: Destination America is committed to airing ROH through the end of 2015 at least, in something of a trial run. I wish ROH luck.
Update: Here's the official press release. ROH reaching more markets is great! Obviously there's going to be some overlap. Will fans in those markets choose to watch on local TV or on DA?
Rockstar Spud was scheduled to do media appearances to promote tomorrow night's Impact Wrestling, but the tour was canceled so he could be part of a conference call between Dixie Carter and the TNA roster.
Update: Some notes from the conference call:
- Dixie Carter says TNA is in good standing with Destination America and the two sides are planning for 2016. There had to have been skepticism hearing that given the cancellation talk.
- Carter said TNA and DA aren't able to publicly comment on the status of Impact Wrestling, including addressing the reports of the show being dropped. So talents will continue to find things out through social media and wrestling news sites. That doesn't exactly build confidence between talents and leadership.
- Carter indicated the pay issues are behind them. We'll see.
- Internal reaction to the conference call was mixed. We'll see where things stand at the next Impact Wrestling tapings.
The ROH TV deal is said to have caught TNA completely off-guard. MVP tweeted after hearing about the announcement on social media like the rest of us. Imagine listening in on that conference call.
Some TNA talents are plugging ROH coming to Destination America. This isn't a sign of any kind of working relationship between DA, TNA, and ROH. It's an independent thing done by the talents. I think in some ways, those on the TNA side of things are spinning the situation as positively as they can. I can only imagine how they took the news of going from "the" wrestling promotion on the network to just one of them.
It should be noted that while WWE has an exclusivity agreement with NBC Universal to where that company can't air any other wrestling promotions on its channels, TNA's contract with Discovery has no such provision. UTA negotiated their contract, and it's unknown if that could have been an option. I wonder if there's any animosity toward UTA for the "out" clause in the contract and the lack of an exclusivity deal. In some ways, TNA should be happy they were picked up at all after being dropped by Spike. But I can see why they'd be really upset at the whole situation.
Raw's audience Monday was 3.60 million. Holiday shows usually drop in audience, so that's not a surprise.
As for Samoa Joe working ROH with their new TV deal, he should be in the clear legally for now. WWE might try to sign him to a more exclusive deal; but for now, he could very well be an NXT name AND an ROH name.
The airing of Slammiversary 2014 in the place of Impact Wrestling drew 232,000 in the 9 p.m. timeslot. There's no word on the 11 p.m. replay. I think that's about the audience they drew in the FSN days.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think it's a really good idea to get eyeballs on the Network, particularly the diehard fans who want to see guys like Neville, Owens, Rollins, and Ambrose. The biggest way to get people to become subscribers is to get them to sample the Network. I do think it's really close to the previous PPV, but it makes sense to do it at the end of May so WWE can get the most out of the free month. Hopefully it gets a lot of fans who usually watch on PPV or stream it to become subscribers. WWE is really throwing the hardcore fans a bone with Owens, Rollins, and Ambrose in top roles. If they want WWE to do more with guys like that, they need to show the company they'll tune in to see them outside of illegal streams.
2. I completely disagree about turning Reigns heel. I do think they pushed him too hard before he was 100% ready for the role, and he did some pretty lame promos, but that just means they should have used him better. Given the reservations about Bryan's health, Reigns was probably the best choice to headline WM31. Ambrose beating Rollins to win MITB could have worked for him to cash in, but I think it all worked out for the best.
I agree to some degree about them missing the boat with Wyatt. I'm a big fan of his. It's definitely not all because of the Cena feud (where he went more than 20 minutes with one of the tap names in the company for three straight PPVs, then competed in the MITB match to declare a WWE Champion), though. Realistically, you can pretty much only go down after feuding with Cena because he's pretty much the top guy. Brock was going to become WWE Champion, so Bray couldn't go that route.
3. Owens has pretty much just shown up to attack Cena. Until he starts wrestling regularly on the main roster, I can see why people who haven't seen his stuff aren't sold on him. He's definitely worth checking out in NXT and at Elimination Chamber.
4. Unless they get a two-hour show (which I think it's too early for), I don't see any reason to. They're doing fine as it is.
5. There was also something along the lines of him not standing out from the pack enough. It's a shame. He's a talented guy. I wish he would have gotten to show that on the main roster. I can see the idea of him not being dedicated enough to training preventing that, though. As for him returning, I don't see it anytime soon unless things have really changed on his end.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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