Total Pageviews

Friday, January 15, 2016

Former TE competitor becomes TNA Knockout, Bullet Club member re-signs with NJPW, Rumble update, Steph training, NXT names working main roster, indie name working NXT tour, Interviews with Ambrose/Bayley/Bloom, and Questions on WWE's own dirtsheet, booking Lesnar, Nakamura's entrance music, future TNA tapings, and Dreamer-WWE

TNA has put out a video advertising a new Knockout, former Tough Enough competitor Gabi Castrovinci. They also had TE's Chelsea Green work their recent One Night Only PPV, but there's no word on her being signed. The Knockouts division needs some fresh blood, so this is a good start.

Bad Luck Fale has signed a new two-year deal with NJPW, so he won't be coming to WWE as part of the "Balor Club." He was a founding member of the Bullet Club. Oh, well. Hopefully we still see some great NJPW names in WWE in 2016.

WWE is trying to work out some surprises for this year's Rumble match. That's part of what makes the match so enjoyable.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

Stephanie McMahon is teasing having a match at Wrestlemania. I kind of want to see her face Nia Jax since she's related to Roman Reigns. She's still coming along as a wrestler, though, so I don't know if it'd be wise to put her on that big of a stage so soon into her career. I don't know if there'd be much interest in Stephanie vs. Tamina, so that's out. Maybe Becky Lynch, with Sasha facing Charlotte?

American Alpha (NXT's Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) are booked for singles matches in India against WWE's Indian signings (who are debuting in the ring then). That's a good sign for how WWE views the in-ring skills of the NXT duo.

Tomasso Ciampa is booked for NXT's main tour this weekend. He and Gargano have been good additions to the brand. It's smart to have them on-hand to add experience and credibility without preventing them from working other indies.

Dean Ambrose talked about his future in WWE:
- Ambrose is a warrior doing the Rumble match AND a LMS match the same night. This is crazy.

- I'm curious to see AJ Styles work some of the prominent former indie names in NXT/WWE. Obviously Styles vs. Joe needs to happen again at some point, even if it's just on a special occasion.

- Dude. Ambrose vs. Joe would be really good. Someone make that happen.

Bayley talked about her journey so far:
- I think Bayley is more or less ready for the main roster, but I think they should keep her in NXT for a while to work with the less-experienced (in NXT) names, and so she doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky should be getting a lot of spotlight before they bring her up.

- It did take Sasha a while to break out. She was talented from the get-go, but it took her time to become the Boss and get really confident in the ring.

Matt Bloom (formerly Jason Albert, Sweet T, Tensai, Lord Tensai, Albert, Prince Albert, and A-Train, and a number or other aliases outside of WWE) talked about the potential NJPW signings. If these names aren't actually coming to WWE, this is really going to backfire. People are already assuming they're signed despite some of them still being under contract to NJPW and none of them having made it through medical testing.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. The idea was to try to pull the audience away from the "dirtsheets." I don't know how successful it was, but it was pretty short-lived.

2. I think Reigns vs. Lesnar is the right idea for WM32, although I think Reigns might scrape by atthe Rumble. Him losing the WWE Title twice in two months would be kind of a blow to his credibility. We'll see, though. And no, Brock's style is why people like him. I see him continuing to take people to Suplex City.

3. There's no guarantee he'll even be signed! He hasn't even undergone medical tests! But, if he does sign, I think it would be a case of how important they thought the song was for him, and how much the rights would be. It would definitely be much easier to do their own songs so they wouldn't have to work out new deals every so often to renew the rights. They already have enough hassle with old ECW stuff on the Network. I think they'd want to avoid running into that again.

4. No official word on March TV tapings yet. We might not know until they figure out how much material they'll have after the UK tapings.

5. It's similar to how they have surprise guests in the Rumble or indie names helping out in NXT. Dreamer was/is there for a limited time and use. To the best of my knowledge, there are no plans for him to become a regular there.

More wrestling tomorrow.

No comments:

Post a Comment