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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Interviews with Aldis/Ambrose, more from Taker, ROH sends cease and desist to GFW, TNA makes big change to contracts, more from Aries, #DivasRevolution update, Raw audience, more NXT vs. ROH?, Stephanie on Darren Young, JR pitches WM32 for Taker, and Questions on continuing The Shield, Brock wrestling on TV, Swagger, Amell in the ring, and the HoF

Nick Aldis (Magnus) talked about his TNA World Title reign, his feud with James Storm, and more:
- I really wouldn't be surprised to see more people jump to GFW to work with Jarrett again. It's risky to go with the company just starting up, but who knows where TNA will be in six months.

- I remember thinking Magnus should have been a bigger deal. EY's title reign sucked, and did more to bring the legitimacy of the belt down than elevate him. He's moved up to an A- player since then, thankfully.

The Undertaker is set for WWE's tour of Mexico from October 16 to 18. I suddenly really want to see "El Hombre Muerto" with a sombrero in place of Taker's trademark black hat.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

ROH has sent a cease-and-desist letter to GFW in regard to advertising for their debut TV taping. Apparently GFW was advertising ROH talents for the event, which is the same day as the Death Before Dishonor iPPV. Needless to say, ROH names won't be working the TV taping opposite their own company's show. I had forgotten ROH's event was that soon. God knows the build has been AWFUL.

TNA is in the process of transitioning the majority of talents from their current contracts to pay-per-appearance deals. While those talents will lose their downside guarantee (i.e. TNA pays them even if they aren't used), TNA could pay them more per appearance when they are used. So, if TNA runs more shows, talents could actually come out ahead if they're booked regularly. That's a big "if," though.

It's possible some talents turn down the new contract offers and effectively become free agents. Needless to say, TNA is really undergoing some changes in how it does business, and could well be considered to be downsizing. With their future on TV up in the air, I wouldn't be shocked to see more talents set their sights elsewhere.

Austin Aries put over his ROH return. I'm trying to think exactly how hard I'd mark if he "pulled a Samoa Joe" and showed up at Takeover in Brooklyn. If he doesn't appear there, I think it's definitely the night for the former Uhaa Nation to make his mark.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are the driving forces behind the change in the Divas' division. I hope this is leading to good things. I don't expect a complete change with "Total Divas" still being a draw for the company, but maybe over time we'll see a shift. It will take time for the trained wrestlers to overtake some of the Johnny Ace signings still hanging around.

Dean Ambrose talked about his hardcore roots and more. I definitely think his time in deathmatches has given him something that sets him apart in a valuable way.

Raw's audience Monday night grew to 3.80 million. Anyone expecting some kind of boycott because of Taker stealing the spotlight from Rollins and Cena beating Owens was wrong. I do think on paper it's shortsighted to keep the focus on the people who were main eventing 10 years ago, but Rollins and Owens are hardly being thrown under the rug. Hopefully in the next few years they'll be consistent main eventers.

NXT is expected to have live events in Texas on the same weekend as some ROH next month because Triple H is trying to kill the indies WWE is running Night of Champions in that same market on the Sunday of that weekend. It wouldn't shock me if it was ROH who wanted to capitalize on WWE being in the area for the PPV before the NXT shows were even on the table. People seem to be reading more into the whole "ROH vs. NXT" thing than is actually there.

Stephanie McMahon suggested Darren Young's character might reflect his real-life sexual orientation. They actually did mention him coming out not too long ago. I think there needs to be a happy medium of not ignoring who he is off-screen while also not exploiting that aspect of himself to try to get publicity from it. Just have him be Darren Young, the talented athlete who just so happens to be gay.

Jim Ross had some ideas for The Undertaker having a last match at WrestleMania 32. There's no guarantee of the Dead Man hanging up the boots there, although it'd be hard to imagine a bigger stage for him to do so, and in his home state to boot.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. After they dominated three of the top names of the past 15 years in two big PPV matches, there wasn't much else for them to do as a trio. It led to Rollins as evil WWE Champion with a number of big PPV matches with Ambrose. I think it worked out well.

2. Saving Brock's matches for PPVs and Network specials is smart. They should make that a rule for more names (Taker, HHH, Jericho).

3. They can only push so many people at once. Some people are going to fall through the cracks. It made sense for him to be a victim for Rusev's rise as a monster. Personally, since it's pretty obvious he's not going anywhere as a main roster guy, I think they should consider using him in NXT to work with the amateur guys there. That would at least get some use from someone who's just kind of filling space right now.

4. That would be perfect!

5. The answer is always some variation of "It's up to Vince." or "They can't put everyone in at once." I would like to see them limited to HoF season, since even if there is a likelihood of someone going in, we won't find out until January at the earliest.

More wrestling tomorrow. 

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