ROH notes from NJPW show, assorted WWE press, WWE developmental names to work main roster, more NXT dates set, Sin Cara update, new open for Impact Wrestling, Nikki Bella update, former KO Champ leaves TNA, Raw pre-show gets new co-host, Smackdown audience, Lesnar to Raw, matches set for Smackdown, top NJPW stars leaving?, big change to 2016 Rumble, and Questions on the Ascension, Rock vs. Owens, Total Divas, touring the WWE office, and future HoF classes

ROH related notes from the big NJPW show yesterday:
- ROH booker Delirious was present.

- Cheeseburger was a surprise in the NJPW Rumble, at the Japanese company's request.Things just get crazier.

- Haku (Meng) was also a surprise in their Rumble, which is really cool. He was representing the Bullet Club, because they'll take anyone, I guess.

- The Young Bucks won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.

- The Briscoes and Toru Yano won the NEVER Open Weight Six Man Tag Team Championships whatever that means.

- Lethal retained the ROH Championship after hitting Elgin with the Book of Truth.

- ROH will have shows in Japan on Feb. 19 and 20.

- AJ Styles lost his IWGP Intercontinental Title match.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
WWE's Kyle Edwards put over NXT in Metal Hammer magazine in the UK.

Tyson Kidd and Natalya were visiting at a PWG event recently.

Michael Cole promoted Smackdown's move to USA on an NYC radio station.

WWE developmental names Satender Dagar and Lovepreet Sangha will make their in-ring debuts during WWE's tour of India on Jan. 15 and 16. I hope they're ready for that level of competition. Hopefully they're in a tag match or something, so the veterans can work around them. It's telling they haven't worked NXT live events yet.

NXT will run live events outside of Florida from Feb. 4 to 6, and Feb. 18 to 20. This is in addition to what's already been announced for Jan. 14 to 16 and Jan. 29 to 30. The brand is really growing in 2016.

Sin Cara didn't work this weekend due to his separated shoulder. Still no word on how long he'll miss. He's a great talent, so I hope we see him again soon.

TNA released its new open for Impact Wrestling on Yahoo. The move to Pop is a really big moment for them.

Nikki Bella will be undergoing an epidural soon in an attempt to shrink the bulging discs in her back. It's possible surgery will be necessary. There's no word on a return to the ring. I think she's really worked hard as a wrestler, so I hope she has a chance to go out on her own terms.

Taryn Terrell has confirmed her departure from TNA, effective as of a few weeks ago. She was one of the most important players in the division and the company for a while there, and able to put on some really impressive performances. She'll really be missed. The Knockouts division is going to need some serious retooling in 2016 with her and possibly Awesome Kong leaving. I wish her the best in her post-wrestling life.

Edge and Christian will start filming their WWE Network series this week. That should be good.

Booker T. has officially been added to the Raw pre-show as a regular part of the show. I wonder what this means for the other people on the show.

The final Smackdown on SyFy drew 1.66 million on New Year's Eve. They can pretty much only go up from there on USA.

Brock Lesnar has been officially announced for Raw. I think they should save Brock vs. Roman for WM32, so I wonder what he'll do at the Rumble. There's not much left for him to do if he's not challenging for the title again.

Set for the first Smackdown on USA:
- WWE Divas' Championship: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch
- WWE Intercontinental Championship: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens

I think both matches will be quite enjoyable.

It is believed AJ Styles has finished up with both NJPW and ROH, as ROH is no longer advertising him for future events. He has been removed from ROH advertisements. So, he's a free agent. I'm interested to see how he'd do in NXT/WWE. I doubt he'd be a top star, but he could be an important contributor.

Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows (formerly Festus, Luke Gallows, DOC) are also being talked about as free agents. Gallows is not under contract, and Anderson's contract expires near the end of January.  The team is seeing if there's interest outside of NJPW, and are still being advertised for future ROH dates. Nothing's confirmed yet about them going anywhere else.

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura is also said to be looking outside NJPW for his future. He remains in negotiations with NJPW for the time being.

So, while all those names could be headed to WWE (or elsewhere) in 2016, none of that is official at this point. I know it's really exciting for some of the top non-WWE acts in the world to potentially be joining NXT/WWE, but right now, nothing's set in stone for any of them.

The 2016 Royal Rumble will be contested for Roman Reigns' WWE Championship. I think that's a nice break from the formula, but I'm sure it's being looked at as "Roman burying 29 other wrestlers at once!!!1"

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. They randomly got a completely different gimmick from what they had been working on in NXT, then WWE realized how limited "'80s throwback team" is and just had them become one-dimensional jobbers. Them being constantly buried on commentary by JBL when they were winning matches definitely didn't help things.

2. Rock vs. Triple H you mean? Why yes, I could see Rock stepping into the ring with the man who beat Sting last year. Especially after the moment they had at last year's show. I also wonder if Rock will have a match at the show given his movie commitments in that same timeframe. I'd love to see Rock vs. KO, but I think if he gets in the ring, it's going to be against his old Attitude Era rival.

3. WWE definitely sees "Total Divas" as a big priority. It's the tail that wags the dog at times. As far as it not being scripted, reality TV is pretty much as much of a work as WWE.

4. As was said, it's an office building. As much as it's fun to picture it as a place where even the office staff have gimmicks and fights break out in catering over the Hardcore Corporate Championship, it's more mundane than that.

5. I think at some point HoF inductions will either take a hiatus or the classes will be smaller (or both). It's going to be necessary before too much longer.

More wrestling tomorrow.