Superstars:
I enjoy Summer Rae and Alicia Fox facing off. Two very solid performers.
I thought Alicia had her with the Northern Lights suplex. Good match so far.
Nice match overall. Both Divas do good things.
This tag match has been mostly fun so far. I don't know how much more they can get from the Meta-Powers gimmick, though. Nostalgia only goes so far.
Not a bad second match to the show. It was fine for some undercard performers showing what they can do.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
WWE interviewed new NXT signee Kenneth Crawford. He has impressive athletic credentials. Hopefully that translates well.
Kevin Owens talked ROH, NXT, and more. I'm excited for his future. Owens vs. Cena and Owens vs. Joe should really be something to check out.
TMZ talked to Titus O'Neil after his award for being a great dad. He's been a really good role model for WWE.
There are several updates on TNA's status with Destination America, as rumors of Impact Wrestling being canceled come September are making the rounds:
- Destination America representatives discussed storyline plans with TNA Creative that go through the end of the year and early 2016. Obviously plans can change, but it shows the company does at least think there's a possibility of Impact Wrestling remaining on their channel for the foreseeable future.
- There were plans for Dixie Carter and Josh Mathews to address the reports of Impact Wrestling's status, but this obviously didn't happen. I think it would have been helpful, considering the statement they sent out didn't actually address the status of Impact Wrestling.
- A number of top TNA representatives are denying the reports on Twitter. Well, kind of. It was just kind of vague "we're not going out of business." "The story is wrong" kind of stuff. They should probably come clean with the real story or get someone to comment in an official matter.
- Apparently Discovery is going to push the move of Impact Wrestling to Wednesdays across its networks. They should if they want it to be a success!
- Due to the move to Wednesdays, TNA will have a live edition of the show on June 24. Then they will tape episodes of Impact Wrestling the next few days that will air after Slammiversary, which is live on June 28. So, if someone gets injured or something at Slammiversary, they'll still be seen in matches the next several weeks on Impact Wrestling. Not an ideal situation, but it's pretty much one TNA will have to deal with. They definitely don't want the added cost of more tapings in that time period or paying talent to stay in town between the live show and Slammiversary and do nothing before more tapings after the PPV. Hopefully the spoilers won't hurt things too much.
Orders for Samoa Joe T-shirts are already backlogged on WWE.com. Some people will have to wait until the middle of June to get theirs. Needless to say, he's already made a splash.
Samoa Joe keeping that name (for now, at least) is believed to be a Triple H call. I'm glad he realizes how important Joe can be for NXT under that name. If he does get put on the road to becoming a WWE superstar, I'd be fine with them changing his name. But it's not necessary if he's just taking NXT bookings in addition to other promotions.
Smackdown's audience Thursday was 2.59 million, pretty close to the previous week. Not much to say there.
Submissions for Tough Enough are due June 5 at midnight, which means a lot of people are going to put theirs together on June 5 at 11 p.m.. There will be one male and one female winner each getting a $250,000 WWE contract. It is a reality show first and a search for wrestlers second. I hope people know that going in.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It's probably as simple as "these two can have a good match and fill some time, so let's have them do that again. We've got other stuff to write." Not to mention the two sides are generally feuding and one way to continue the feud is for them to face off again. The writing team undoubtedly gets burned out with all the crazy last-minute changes and other intense realities of the world of pro wrestling. So, we get a lot of stuff thrown together.
2. Not much to add there. In a lot of ways, it's like going to a totally different company. Or at least a different booking team. Ultimately they are in NXT to get to the main roster and make a lot of money while their bodies still can handle the business.
3. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to ask if we'd see Punk vs. Joe in WWE. It's somewhat of a moot point with him under UFC contract, but the impression he left was one of him never setting foot in a WWE ring again. Time will tell, but I definitely wouldn't count on him coming back.
4. Talk about jumping the gun! TNA hasn't lost their TV deal yet. Even if they did, they wouldn't go out of business immediately. It's possible they get another deal. It's possible they continue to do shows on the indie level if they can keep paying their talents. It's too early to say they're dead. All that said, since there's no Impact Wrestling report this week, I'll do a special post about whom WWE (or GFW?) should pick up.
5. Honestly, I'm not so sure. The NXT faithful know who Joe is. A lot of the people at Raw and Smackdown have never watched ROH or TNA, and would react about the same way as any other debuting mastadon. I would like to see Joe vs. Rollins, though! Joe vs. Cena, too, for that matter.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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