New WWE trademark, Bryan rumorkiller, Nakamura-WWE update, talents try out for WWE, another tour for GFW, TNA audience, WM33 location update, Austin-WM32 note, and Questions on Charlotte attacking Ric, Bryan not being cleared, the shameful Dudley Booties, a physical WWE HoF, and Austin's podcast

WWE has trademarked the character name No Way Jose, likely for NXT's  Levis Valenzuela, Jr. Given his personality and look, I think they could make something like that work for him. I look forward to seeing what he can do.

There is no truth to the rumor of Daniel Bryan being released by WWE. He remains part of the company and will be a regular part of the next season of "Total Divas." While I'm sure he'd love to be back in the ring, he's not leaving WWE to go wrestle elsewhere at this time.

Shinsuke Nakamura is scheduled to hit the WWE Performance Center in early February for some training. While he's in the U.S., he will also undergo medical testing. If those tests are passed, he'll be in the clear to sign with WWE. He remains under contract to NJPW through the end of the month, and there's no guarantee he'll pass the tests, but he's on the path to being signed. I think the "Balor Club" debuting on the main roster the night after WrestleMania would be really big, but the timing has to line up for such a thing to happen. I think WWE's going to do their best to pick up Nakamura, Styles, and some other Bullet Club members, but nothing's set in stone at this time!

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

Louisiana indie talents Luke Hawx and Matt Lancie had a dark match with Los Matadores before Smackdown. This was an official WWE tryout for the duo. Hawx has worked dark matches multiple times for WWE in the past, and made a cameo backstage on Raw. It will be interesting to see if WWE gives him an offer to come to NXT.

GFW will have three shows in the UK in early March. It's a long, slow process to make a viable wrestling promotion. Still no word on a U.S. TV deal; this project might stay at the touring stage for the foreseeable future.

The second episode of Impact Wrestling on Pop drew 288,000 viewers. That's up a bit from last week. Hopefully as Pop becomes available in more homes, they continue to build from here. I do worry what things look like with no Kurt Angle, but they'll cross that bridge when they get to it.

Orlando, Florida is high on the potential list for Wrestlemania 33. It seems like Minneapolis is out of the running now. There's been talk of having a physical HoF in Orlando at some point, too. WWE's obviously pretty fond of the town given the location of NXT tapings and the WWEPC.

Stone Cold is more or less confirmed to be part of WM32 in Texas. His role at this point is undetermined, but he's not expected to have an actual match. What if The Miz books him for MizTV that night and hounds on Stone Cold for weeks leading into it so people are begging to see Austin hit him with a stunner that night? I'm thinking a bit like Santino's role "promoting" The Condemned.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:

1. Thank goodness their relationship is much better now, and Charlotte has matured in that capacity since 2008. That's a really unfortunate incident for everyone involved.

2. Daniel Bryan isn't wrestling right now for the same reason Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Randy Orton, and John Cena aren't: WWE's doctor doesn't feel he's recovered from his injury enough for him to be taking bumps again. The idea of Vince using the doctor to "bury" Bryan is ludicrous. Bryan was signed to a big contract, and was protected pretty heavily in his quests for the WWE Title. While Roman's clearly the guy they want to push, the level of delusion regarding Bryan's situation and booking is getting to "Obama's birth certificate" levels of ridiculous. Sadly, people like Dave are assisting in the move away from sanity with conclusions that ignore relevant facts regarding how performers were actually booked.

3. The Dudleys are there to do what the IWC is always saying older talents from previous eras are never used to do: work with the current stars to get them to a higher level. It's the right role for them, and the right role for a lot of talents past the age of 40 who achieved fame more than a decade ago. 

4. One plan going around was for it to be a traveling attraction similar to AXXESS. I think that's the right role for it given how WWE New York and WWE Niagara Falls ended up.

5. Triple H, Ric Flair, Paul Heyman, and Brock Lesnar are all current performers relevant to what WWE is doing in 2016. Vince is in charge of the current product. So, while those guests all have appeal to fans of an earlier generation, they're also important to what's going on now. I think it's smart to try to appeal to fans from yesteryear and the people who currently watch regularly. Having guests who resonate with both groups at the same time is the right move. Having names who just appeal to older fans or current fans can work, too, they just have to be careful about it.

More wrestling tomorrow.