This year, the Cauliflower Alley Club will honor Trish Stratus, Paul Orndorff, Arn Anderson, Ken Patera, the team of Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell, and Lance Russell. That's quite the dignified list!
ROH has announced the first three dates for its Conquest tour: April 23, April 30, and June 12. This tour comes before and after the War of the Worlds events.
ESPN personality Michelle Beadle was backstage at Raw. She mended fences with the McMahon family over the Floyd Mayweather issue. It's good to be on friendly terms with people who can promote you to a larger audience.
WWE filmed a vignette between Gerard Butler and The Miz to promote Butler's newest movie. I'm surprised that didn't make air on Raw.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
- The GMA piece also went into Brie and Daniel wanting to start a family. It was noted Brie is expected to retire this summer. Some think she'll finish up at either Fastlane or WM32, then just complete whatever obligations she has left for Total Divas.
-- I wouldn't expect Brie retiring to automatically mean Nikki will hang it up, too, although she's got an uphill climb to get back in the ring as it is.
Cesaro did another interview to promote WWE returning to Dubai. I hope he rebounds to have a great 2016.
EVOLVE's event the day before WM32 is being set to where it will be over in time for fans to travel to that night's NXT Takeover special. No surprise there, and I think that works well for both sides.
Shad Gaspard was visiting at Raw. I really want to see Cryme Tyme reunite either in WWE or TNA. WWE's tag team division is pretty crowded, but TNA could use them. They've got much more personality than some of the other teams there.
Employment at WWE is at an all-time high! Amazingly, that doesn't even include how many wrestlers they have under contract in WWE and NXT.
WWE put out an official press release on the new content coming to the WWE Network. It's really expanding. The biggest news is the Global Cruiserweight Series. There had been talk of a cruiserweight show on the network for years now, and it's finally happening. That will be really interesting and, potentially, exciting.
- Triple H gave an interview to PWInsider to explain the series:
-- WWE giving other active promotions exposure on the Network is unprecedented. We haven't seen this kind of thing since WWE worked with ECW about 20 years ago.
-- Seeing a dedicated focus on Cruiserweights again wasn't something I expected unless the X-Division and ROH caught on at a much higher level.
-- WWE's official Cruiswerweight division had some pretty good moments (before Hornswooggle). It was just clearly a WWE-style Cruiserweight division instead of being full-on high-flying.
-- The idea of a revamped Cruiserweight division was tossed around, but I hadn't heard any progress on it in years.
-- I wonder how the "old guard" in WWE is taking the resurgence of using smaller talents. Obviously Vince is still a fan of the big guys like Braun Strowman.
-- This is a really big deal for the talents who will be involved. Even if it's just a one-time payday that doesn't lead to anything bigger, they're getting exposure they wouldn't otherwise get.
-- I'm really interested to see which wrestlers get called for this. Some of them could be headed to NXT (and even higher) in the years to come.
-- What's crazy about this is some of the talents could end up spotted by TNA or ROH or someone and end up there instead of WWE. I'm surprised WWE's allowing this.
-- Of course, driving attention to WWE's digital endeavors is a big plus, as well.
-- I'm very glad he's looking beyond "wrestlers who can do flips."
-- Sadly, yes, some people will find fault with any idea just because it's HHH or WWE.
-- I wouldn't assume we're in for a WWE Cruiserweight division in 2016.
- Channel Guide Magazine also looked at the Global Cruiserweight Series.
-- This is a really big endeavor, getting top indie talents and those who aren't currently known.
-- I wouldn't expect talents from TNA, ROH, LU, or NJPW given the agreements they've signed with those companies.
-- I completely agree about small talents needing to be more than great wrestlers.
Brock Lesnar's ESPN appearance was moved from the 9:00 hour to the 10:00 hour. No word on why.
Mark Henry gave an update on his health after his match on Raw. That was a worrying spot. I expect Henry to try to tough it through doing WM32 in Texas before winding things down. He's publicly said he intends to retire this year.
Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, and Braun Strowman vs. Kane, Big Show, and Ryback has been added to Fastlane. I suspect they're building the Family for something at WM32.
Stephen Amell and Stardust are auctioning off Amell's Slammy as part of a charity endeavor to support a child with stage 4 cancer. Amell is a real class act. I hope he makes it into the celebrity wing of the HoF someday.
Axl Rotten's cause of death has been reported as an accidental overdose, believed to be heroin-related. That's really unfortunate. I hope others stop their addictions before something like this happens.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm under the impression it's hard to test for/can be masked. They fired Billy Gunn for using it, so it's safe to say they don't approve of the substance.
1. I'm under the impression it's hard to test for/can be masked. They fired Billy Gunn for using it, so it's safe to say they don't approve of the substance.
2. It doesn't look like that's going to be happening. As was said, he didn't suffer any damages from the misdiagnosis.
3. Basically if they have another idea for him, they'll bring him back. He's a little bit like Gargano, Ciampa, and Blue Pants: a special guest they sometimes use when they think they have a good reason to book him.
4. WCW in 2001 was a money-loser, and not what it was in '98 or '99. I believe the plan was to "reboot" WCW to a degree and go back to cheap, small TV tapings like what TNA did for years in the Impact Zone. Had WCW continued, it would have been a shell of what it was.
5. a. Goldberg would want a lot of money and to be presented as a main attraction. He might not want to come in just to job to Taker. Remember, he's a "big star" who should win all the time.
b. The Hulkster's too old and injury-prone for that level of a match, even if they did want him to come back in the midst of his current scandals.
c. I don't think they see Owens at that level. As much as I'd like to see it, I think he's probably working Styles for the IC Title or something else at that level.
d. If anyone can make that level of a comeback, it's John Cena!
e. I wouldn't be shocked to see Taker mix it up with a member of the Wyatt Family. Hopefully he won't face Kane or Big Show.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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