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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Next TNA ONO PPV set, Network adds new feature, LU TV notes, no LU live events in Dallas, Cena update, another big NJPW name for ROH PPV, Raw audience, Nakamura preparing to head to WWEPC, Nike suing WWE, and Questions on Network podcasts, the use of NXT callups, Vince changing things, Rock's return, and royalties from the Network

TNA's next One Night Only PPV will air on March 4. TNA taped footage for ONO shows in the UK. It's another one of the random thrown-together shows that doesn't advance storylines, so there's no real reason to cover it in-depth.

WWE Network has added a section called "Collections" that will group together footage like the McMahon/Austin feud, Black History Month content, etc. That's a great idea!

Lucha Underground began airing season 1 in Canada this past weekend, so it will be some time before they "catch up" with what's airing on El Rey. LU is being treated as any other TV show sold for syndication, which makes sense. They don't want to throw away 39 hours of taped TV from Season 1 in favor of starting a show after characters have already been developed and storylines advanced.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
It doesn't look like LU will have an event during Wrestlemania weekend at this point. That was the plan at one time.

LU is looking to begin filming Season 3 in the next four-to-six weeks. It's expected to start airing in early 2017. The cult series is catching steam.
John Cena is back doing light training in the gym. No official word on when he's set to be back in the ring, but obviously he's going to bust his ass to return as soon as possible.

Kenny Omega is now set for ROH's 14th anniversary PPV. He's likely going to be one of NJPW's big stars in the absence of Nakamura and Styles.

Raw's audience Monday was 3.38 million. That's down from a lot of the pre-Rumble shows. For a show with Brock, AJ Styles, etc., that's got to be disappointing. They got their one big Rock/post-Rumble bump, but now they're back in the rut.

Shinsuke Nakamura has arrived in the U.S. to head to the WWE Performance Center. He'll stay in the country for a few weeks before heading back to Japan (presumably to get his belongings ahead of a more permanent stay in the States). Hopefully by the end of the month, everything will be sorted out for him to be an official full-time WWE performer (getting his start in NXT).

Nike is looking to oppose The Rock's "Just Bring It," which is trademarked by WWE. Nike, of course, is known for its slogan "Just Do It." This one should be interesting, legally. I think WWE could call it a parody and be fine, but you never know.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. They don't want people to rock the boat on their network. That's pretty much it. As for Jericho's podcast, I'm under the impression they just had that on the Network because they were having issues with Austin for a while. Stone Cold's podcast presumably has a bigger audience.

2. Honestly, a good deal of this issue is fans' expectations. Seth Rollins was WWE Champion for more than half a year. Kevin Owens beat Cena clean in his first match, and has since been IC Champion. Big E is a former IC Champion and a current tag team champion. Luke Harper was IC Champion. Kalisto is U.S. Champion. Charlotte's the Divas' Champion and has faced fellow NXT alumnae Paige, Sasha, and Becky in high-profile matches. Paige of course is a former Divas' champ. There are many more people to worry about "pushing" on the main roster, so some NXT names aren't going to be in big roles like they were when they were in the smaller league. The "NXT names are buried" thing is a fiction perpetuated by dirtsheet writers, playing to the anti-Vince sentiments in their audience. It's like the websites playing up "Obama's taking your guns!" kind of stuff. They take a little bit of truth and spin it into something with only a tangential relationship to reality.

3. NBCU or advertisers pulling out support because the audience isn't what they want it to be is the main scenario that comes to mind. I don't really see there being a big rebellion from WWE execs or anything. I suppose them losing a lot of stockholders because of ratings is another possibility, but that wouldn't remove Vince from power or anything.

4. I think his shtick is pretty tired and juvenile. Dave just likes when people go off script/stick it to Vince, so he's kind of easy to pop.

5. Given how cheaply WWE is providing access to such a huge library (that had huge start-up costs and requires a lot of labor/resources to keep going), it's not like WWE is sitting on a mountain of cash they're refusing to give to the poor wrestlers. Legally, they're probably entitled to royalties, but I think it will take a lawsuit or something to get that to happen.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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