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Friday, May 22, 2015

Samoa Joe updates, Interview with Lawler, Bischoffs sue TNA, NXT notes, Zayn update, Jarrett at AAA, TNA addresses cancellation rumor, name done with TNA, and Questions on Joe being Joe in WWE, the KO tag titles, TNA working with BHE, and Zayn's injury

While Samoa Joe has been officially added to WWE's NXT brand, he will continue to take independent dates for the time being. If he's already been advertised somewhere and that doesn't interfere with an NXT date, he'll likely be there. He can also take new bookings outside of NXT if they don't conflict with NXT commitments.

It's possible Samoa Joe eventually becomes a full-time WWE talent, but that remains to be worked out. He could very well remain an indie name who also works NXT. Either way, I hope he really adds to the NXT product. Hopefully he's motivated and can be like the Joe we saw in TNA years ago.

Jerry Lawler talked about his feud with Andy Kaufman. I don't know how realistic it is for Kaufman to go into the WWE Hall of Fame, but I know a lot of people want to see it.

Samoa Joe's NXT T-shirt sold out in many sizes within 24 hours of his debut. That's really impressive! NXT is definitely building a lot of momentum right now.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment and Garett Bischoff are suing TNA for more than $100,000 in owed back pay. Their contracts stipulated they were to be paid whether they were used or not. The lawsuit alleges TNA hasn't paid them from late 2014 to early 2015 ahead of Garett's contract expired this March.When it rains for TNA, it pours. They're having quite the run of negative stories about people not being paid.

Triple H praised the NXT crew after Takeover, particularly in being able to keep a secret about Joe coming in. I think it helped everyone for that to not be known for sure until it happened.

Sami Zayn is expected to have shoulder surgery, hence being written off at Takeover. His rotator cuff has apparently been bothering him since he finished up in Ring of Honor. I hope he gets situated and comes back strong. I think he's ready for the main roster when he recovers.

Jeff Jarrett will be part of the upcoming Lucha Libre World Cup, likely scouting talent for GFW. TNA has sent some names to work the event in hopes of building on a relationship with AAA. So it's possible AAA names are being sought out by both TNA and GFW. That should be interesting.

Amid rumors of Destination America canceling Impact Wrestling this upcoming September, TNA issued a statement to wrestling news sites. Notably, they didn't address the veracity of the claims. Until we see something official from DA, these remain rumors. More on this as it develops.

Knux has been removed from the TNA roster, signalling an end to his time there. Crazzy Steve and Rebel are now listed separately, meaning The Menagerie is done, too. I could see GFW being interested in him, but I don't imagine we'll see him return to WWE or NXT. We'll see.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm really surprised, too! I'm guessing they felt he was valuable enough to allow him to work NXT under that name. Right now he's more of an indie name working NXT than part of WWE "developmental," so the rules are different for him. If he becomes a full-time part of WWE, it's possible they do change his name for when he comes to the main roster. We'll see.

2. They were eventually discontinued. Not soon enough, but eventually. It wasn't a bad idea at first, but then we got a really long reign from ODB and Eric Young. It's hard to support TNA sometimes...

3. As was said, the talent end of things is separate from the end BHE were involved in. I do think Bischoff added to things from a production standpoint. Obviously a lot of money was spent on BHE and Garett after TNA was no longer using any of them, but that was the nature of the deal TNA signed.

4. I'm guessing it was just a case of him gutting it out, like the match with Cena. The shoulder's been bothering him for years now. It's just that he's now getting surgery. At least it happened now and not when he was on a roll on the main roster. He's an incredibly talented guy, and I hope this is just a minor setback.

Nothing to add to 5.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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