Rhyno note, another NXT sellout, new matches for Final Battle, another WWE name checked for injury, Slammys to be sponsored, new deal for WWE, HoFer injured, celebrity and politician at Tribute to the Troops, Raw audience, WWE-SportsCenter update, more dates for Brock, NXT panel set for UK, Cena appearance notes, and Questions on NXT vs. WWE, Kevin Owens' son, wrestling then vs. now, and Raw ratings

Prior to his appearance this week, Rhyno had not been on Raw since June 2005, during the build to the first One Night Stand PPV. I guess having seen him in TNA and NXT skewed my perception of how long it had been.

Tickets for the Jan. 7 NXT taping at Full Sail sold out almost immediately. I don't think that surprises anyone. Do they eventually get to a point where they want to hold the tapings in larger local venues? I don't know how that would affect the partnership with Full Sail, although ideally Full Sail staff and equipment would be used in the bigger venues, too.

Added to ROH Final Battle:
- The Briscoes vs. Young Bucks vs. ANX. That should be a LOT of highspots.
- The Addiction/Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley/ACH/Matt Sydal. I'm curious as to whether Shelley will be back regularly or if this is kind of a special appearance.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
Stardust went to the hospital after Raw to be checked out for a potential fracture sustained during his match with Jack Swagger. Tests were negative. That's good news.

Coca-Cola is sponsoring the Slammys. That's great! WWE still having pull with sponsors is important given where ratings are.

WWE has signed a deal with Party Animal to make tiny figures based on current superstars and legends. That's another "get" for them with their PG direction.

Scott Hall was recently injured in the gym and could need surgery. That's very unfortunate. I hope he mends well.

Howie Mandel appeared as part of Tribute to the Troops. It's a very important show for WWE.

Update: Governor Rick Scott was also in attendance. 

Raw this week drew 3.05 million viewers. I hope they have some big things planned for Mania season to boost numbers, because they're struggling right now.

There was no WWE-related segment on SportsCenter this week, but the segment is expected to return next week. I hope being on SC has been good for WWE overall.

Brock Lesnar is now advertised for a Feb. 6 live event and the Feb. 8 Raw. I'm ready to find out what he'll be doing for Mania. They need him doing something important that night.

William Regal, Finn Balor, and Bayley will be part of an NXT panel in the UK on Dec. 13. This could end up on the WWE Network.

John Cena's appearance on the Tonight Show included him hitting an AA in a comedy segment and noting he didn't take time off to relax. He's been filming a reality series. I KIND OF miss Cena. Or at least his matches. The shows feel weird without him.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. No, because most viewers don't watch NXT. "VKM" programming has a much bigger audience.

2. I guess in kayfabe it would be. Imagine going through life with that name.

3. There are a number of big holes in Dave's argument:

a. Some continuity is probably not all that important to viewers, especially if it's from months/years ago. Obviously diehard fans are upset at Edge and Christian going from being brothers to childhood friends, but how much does that really matter?

b. Furthermore, shifting alliances are pretty common when you have so many characters to write for each week. Obviously turns need to matter when they do happen, but we need to give some leeway for situations like "these two were fighting a year ago and now they're teaming up." Sometimes people with mutual enemies team up even when they can't stand each other or have storied pasts. This literally goes back millennia.

c. WWE has to "write" the matches, too. Sometimes they need specific plot points to be progressed during the match, like what's happening at ringside or on commentary while the in-ring action is happening. They also have to plug social media and all that.

d. This is the big one. WWE didn't have four hours of TV a week between Raw and Smackdown until the second half of 1999. They also weren't competing with as many other channels and avenues for people to get their "wrestling kick." The Internet wasn't anything like it is now where people could live-stream things and it look as good as it does on TV. Sure, you could tape some things on VCR, but that wasn't as easy as DVR stuff. There also wasn't an entire WWE Network featuring thousands of hours of wrestling content available. It's not apples to apples at all. Obviously I want WWE's ratings to be higher, and the shows to be better, but we're in a whole different world from 1998.

4. Fans were against Roman getting the big push before Bryan was announced as coming back for the Rumble. It wasn't JUST because of Bryan. Notice Dave didn't really address specific criticisms here. Yes, WWE needs to book certain people better. They're also hit with a lot of injuries right now.

5. Another case of not addressing an important point brought up: people don't have to watch wrestling on TV live like they did in the past. They can DVR and skip commercials, or watch online. This affects ratings. Ratings do still matter, but it's relative to what other shows are doing. When a lot of other, non-WWE shows have ratings woes, too, it's not all Vince's fault.

More wrestling tomorrow.