Superstars Reax - 8/14/15, Interviews with Harper/Brie/Balor, Chyna on HHH, new GFW working relationship, Cena to get press, former WWF star has surgery, wrestling in NZ, Smackdown audience, and Questions on Chyna at Piper's funeral, Taz vs. the other Taz, Ready to Rumble, Brad Maddox, and wrestling books

Superstars:
Swagger and Fandango is an interesting pairing. They could probably have some fun backstage segments.

- Swagger/Fandango vs. The Ascension:
No complaints here. Nice little match.

So-so Truth promo to set up a pretty meaningless undercard match. Really, they're only booking this show because they still have deals to air it internationally. With so much other TV to put together in t a week, it's very much a low priority.

- Dallas vs. Truth:
Not bad from a comedy perspective. Sometimes you need those to warm the crowd up at tapings.

Fine match overall. Hopefully Bo eventually gets a nice spot like Santino had.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
Luke Harper talked about his WWE career so far:
- I love the picture of him doing an interview in-character, staring wild-eyed.

- We saw some of Bray Wyatt in FCW, and The Shield wasn't put together until their main roster days. But Rollins, Ambrose, and the Family definitely all added to FCW/NXT.

Chyna responded to the reports of her approaching Triple H at Roddy Piper's funeral. The incident has probably been blown out of proportion due to the game of Telephone from some accounts of what happened to others.

GFW now has a working relationship with OMEGA. That's good news for both sides. I could see both Hardys working GFW if TNA's not a feasible option for the futures. WWE MIGHT be willing to give them another run as well. Either way, they're both TNA guys for now, and can also work GFW if they wish.

John Cena will co-host "Today" for an hour next week to promote Summerslam. This is why WWE wants to keep NBCU happy; there's a lot of cross-promotion potential.

Brie Bella talked about Daniel Bryan's status, the new Divas, and more:
- It's getting interesting in regard to Bryan's health, given WWE's reluctance to put him back in the ring. At some point, they're going to need to try him out again. Have him work some live events or dark matches to see how he is, after he passes all the concussion testings, of course.

- I do think "Total Divas" has raised the profile of the division with people who wouldn't otherwise give WWE a chance.

Finn Balor talked about working with HHH and more. He can definitely still improve on his promos, but I think he's good enough to be a main roster guy.

Former WWF wrestler Big Bully Busick recently underwent surgery after dealing with esophagus cancer. Busick has one of my favorite wrestler looks ever. I kind of wish we had a promotion in the vein of the days of Duke "The Dumpster" Droese and The Goon. There's plenty of hard-hitting, fast-paced stuff, but not as much of that on the indie scene.

The New Zealand Herald looked at a history of NZ wrestling.

Smackdown's audience this week was 2.08 million, a SHARP drop from the previous week's 2.41 million. Other than July 4 and airings on days other than Thursday, that's the lowest number in more than three years. It could be the lack of star power and important happenings hurting things. I did really like seeing Rollins, Cesaro, Owens, and Neville in important roles, but I'm guessing they might not have gotten over with the more casual audience yet.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I can understand her getting emotional at seeing him again given that she's obviously still dealing with their relationship on some level. I don't know what she needs to get to a healthy place in her life, but I hope she gets it.

2. As was said, ECW's character name didn't compete with the cartoon property. If ECW made a cartoon (as hilarious as that would be), they might have an issue. Or if ECW had Taz in a Taz costume or something else that was obviously playing off the other trademark. It's something like how there can be an Edge magazine despite there being a wrestler named Edge. I can see why WWE changed the names of Rhino and Taz to something unique, though, so there'd be less likelihood of some kind of legal issue.

3. I think that would have improved the movie in some ways. I definitely wasn't a fan of the humor and the portrayal of wrestling fans, but the movie's enjoyable in kind of a "so bad, it's good" way.

4. He works live events and dark matches pretty regularly. He was recently renamed Joshua Kingsley, and now has blond hair. So they might try to completely reboot him if we do see him again.

5. I hope kids still get inspired to read interesting things.

More wrestling tomorrow.