Australian team coming to WWE, son of HOFer cut by NFL, Interviews with Kofi/Bray, WWE interviews CHIKARA head, ROH-NJPW news, former ROH Champion signs to NJPW, WWE/NXT promotion, NXT live event note, and Questions on Goldberg vs. Flair, Lawler turning heel, another 40-man Rumble, RKOs outta nowhere, and Rick Steiner

TMDK, a duo of Australian talents who've achieved success in Japanese promotion NOAH, are headed to NXT after finishing up in Japan next month. They were offered deals in the middle of 2015, but one member of the team got injured. Now, though, Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls are working a "goodbye" tour en route to heading to the States. Both men are 30 with more than 500 matches worth of experience. I like those stats. I hope they have great futures in WWE. I can't help but want an Australian faction of Murphy, Haste, Nicholls, Emma, Peyton Royce, and Billie Kay. If the team of Blake and Murphy doesn't work out, they can pair Blake with Alexa and Murphy with either Emma, Royce, or Kay.

James Laurinaitis, son of Road Warrior Animal and nephew of WWE executive John Laurinaitis, was recently cut from his NFL team. Naturally this is leading to speculation of him trying his hand at pro wrestling. It's too early to assume that will be the case, but it's certainly an option if he doesn't get picked up by another team.

Kofi Kingston talked ahead of a live event. I can't wait to see New Day on the Cutting Edge Peep Show.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

CHIKARA owner Mike Quackenbush talked to WWE.com about his recent guest stint as a trainer at the Performance Center:
- It's still pretty cool to see WWE promoting an active indie promotion.

- Given the experience Quackenbush has and the different style he works, I think he's a valuable different voice for the WWE recruits.

- I love that WWE has different classes for different skill levels. The WWEPC has enough rings for them all to be training at once.

- Chad Gable is absolutely great. I don't want to sell him TOO highly since he's probably not main roster bound anytime soon, but he's been really impressive as a wrestler. He has some good charisma, as well.

- I'd love to see more work with "outside" names to teach new things to the recruits. Obviously they're already doing well in that regard. I just hope they keep things up.

- What I have heard from Quackenbush's philosophy is really solid. I think he's got a good mind for the business. I know some are reading this interview as him being open to coming to WWE full-time. I definitely don't want any indie to go out of business, so maybe he would be more valuable at the level he is now, in a position to suggest future WWEPC recruits. That said, he'd definitely be a great pickup for the NXT training staff.

Some important notes from the second night of ROH-NJPW events in Japan:
- Liger/Matt Sydal beat Delirious/Gedo
- Dalton Castle beat Frankie Kazarian
- Moose/KUSHIDA beat Naito/BUSHI
- Roderick Strong/Michael Elgin/Tanahashi beat HASHI/Tomohiro Ishii/Okada.
- reDRagon/Goto/Shibata beat Bullet Club's Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Fale, and Tonga in Gallows and Anderson's final appearance for ROH/NJPW. Bullet Club all hugged in the ring after this match, and Gallows/Anderson paid their respects to the crowd and the promotion before heading to the back. They're expected to sign deals with WWE, pending medical testing and the like. No word on how soon we'll see them in a WWE ring. Maybe the night after Wrestlemania, alongside Styles and/or Balor? Just speculating.

Former ROH World Champion Michael Elgin has signed a two-year deal with NJPW. I hope that's a good move for him. I've been really impressed with his power in the ring, and hope he's WWE-bound in a few years. With more than 900 matches to his name at the age of 29, he's absolutely someone who should be on their radar in a big way. In the meantime, I hope we get to enjoy him in ROH pretty regularly. His deal allows him to work there and other places like PWG.

Bray Wyatt talked about his family connections to wrestling. I really hope Mulligan's OK.

Finn Balor and Bayley signed autographs in NJ before the most recent NXT show.

Charlotte appeared at a hockey game local to Fastlane in a promotional endeavor.

There was a bottleneck of fans at NXT in Albany, to where some people didn't get in until the show was underway for some time. That's unfortunate.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. They wrestled in WWE, too, as part of the build to Goldberg vs. HHH.

2. I think it was a good move to do something fresh with him. Hopefully moving him to Smackdown to help out the newer announcers is the next step toward him leaving the role completely before too much longer. Vince obviously loves him as a commentator, so he's not going away yet, but I guess this is progress from him being on three hours of Raw every week.

3. I think it's possible down the line when they don't have so many people on the shelf. I know the match is a nightmare to book already, so they might not have thought it was worth it to add even more wrestlers to it every year.

4. I enjoyed them, and I'm glad WWE got some good fan reactions from it. It's better than something about hating a WWE performer going viral.

5. I wonder if he'll be helping Scott in running that Shoney's in Georgia, given that he was in the promo video demolishing it.

More wrestling tomorrow.