Raw's audience Monday was 3.55 million. While that's down from the previous week, Raw's three hours were the most-watched of any show on cable television. That's why it's so important to keep these numbers in perspective.
Mick Foley will be on Stone Cold's podcast on the WWE Network immediately following the March 31 Smackdown. That show will feature content from AXXESS in Dallas. I want to see someone like Rollins, Ambrose, Owens, Bray, or Reigns on the podcast at some point. It's largely been people who were names ten years ago or more.
NXT's Finn Balor, Bayley, Apollo Crews, and Baron Corbin were on-hand at the Wrestlemania 33 press conference in Orlando. It could be because they were already in Orlando, but that's still pretty big.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
WWE will do some community outreach events in Florida during the week of WM33. That should be great!
John Cena has confirmed he will not be wrestling at WM32, but he continues to rehab his shoulder surgery. As much as I wanted to see Cena vs. Taker, I'm glad he's not pushing himself to a dangerous extreme in order to be back sooner than advised.
Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff talked to Sports Illustrated:
- ROH scheduled a show on Summerslam weekend, in the same market as a big WWE show. NXT scheduled a show the day before their second-biggest PPV in an arena they had already booked for two nights. That's left out of this story, which makes it look like Takeover was booked just to screw with ROH.
- WWE insists they're not in the wrestling business, and ROH isn't competition. They definitely go for different audiences, NXT notwithstanding.
- I'm glad Koff isn't part of the TV product. There really isn't any reason for him to be. They have Nigel for the authority role.
- An ROH app would definitely be helpful.
- It would be good to have a primetime spot on a visible network. I don't know why they're on so late on Comet.
- Oh, apparently that is a good timeslot for ROH. That's kind of bizarre/unexpected.
- Whoa. Another Hunter as a big exec in wrestling. That just dawned on me.
- ROH is definitely more loose with their control, for better or worse.
- ROH being on Sinclair local stations makes sense for them, but they do need to get on something with a larger audience.
Next week on a live-ish Impact Wrestling:
- Matt Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
- Jeff Hardy returns to the ring vs. Eric Young.
- Both matches are pretty big, heat-wise. That's a good way to kick off their next set of tapings. They'll need some real momentum to get out of the rut they're in, ratings-wise.
The New Day will defend their tag team championships against King Barrett and Sheamus at Roadblock. I expect we'll know the title situation for WM32 soon enough.
Vince McMahon talked about this year's Wrestlemania and more:
- I definitely think Cena could end up being in a position like HHH, Taker, etc., where he continues to be a part-time wrestler into his mid-to-late-40s and possibly beyond. It's in his bones.
- Very interesting comments about the move to social media and the Internet. Obviously we're not there yet, but it could definitely be the future.
- His mentality about mistakes is kind of scary. Obviously it keeps him going forward, but at what expense?
- We've definitely seen some really promising talents in NXT.
- Very interesting stuff about working with millennials.
- Vince is hysterical. I agree about parts of him not being like a 70-year-old. He's definitely not going quietly into that good night.
- Pretty interesting stuff about the dirtsheets, too.
Rosa Mendes talked about her WWE future and more. I wonder what role they'll have her in when she comes back. She doesn't really do much on-screen.
Roman Reigns is no longer being advertised for the March 11 live event. There hasn't been any official word on when he'll be back, although obviously he's still set for WM32.
Sami Zayn will be working with the main roster on this weekend's live events (including Roadblock) in Canada. However, Kevin Owens is advertised for the other set of live events that weekend, so they won't be facing off on the WWE Network special. Wrestlemania 33 seems like the perfect time for them to compete for the WWE Title. Zayn's first WWE PPV being Wrestlemania should tell something about how confident they are in his abilities.
Alberto Del Rio is advertised as wrestling on the March 12 live event going against Roadblock, so presumably he's cleared to compete.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. THANK YOU!!!!! There's pretty much a "boo Reigns no matter what" mentality among part of the audience, because they don't want to support Vince's vision in any form. The fact is WWE has made a lot of concessions to the fans who didn't want to see Reigns as a top guy. It took eight months for him to win the title after WM31, where he lost it in five minutes. He then held the title for barely a month before being screwed again. If Bryan or Ambrose was booked the same way, fans would be LIVID and saying they were "buried." While I don't think Reigns is amazing or perfect, he's definitely ready to get a shot at being a top guy and a champion. WWE shouldn't cater too much to the vocal minority, because it's clear they're going to boo anyone who gets a push without their seal of approval (whether the casual fans like the talent or not).
1. THANK YOU!!!!! There's pretty much a "boo Reigns no matter what" mentality among part of the audience, because they don't want to support Vince's vision in any form. The fact is WWE has made a lot of concessions to the fans who didn't want to see Reigns as a top guy. It took eight months for him to win the title after WM31, where he lost it in five minutes. He then held the title for barely a month before being screwed again. If Bryan or Ambrose was booked the same way, fans would be LIVID and saying they were "buried." While I don't think Reigns is amazing or perfect, he's definitely ready to get a shot at being a top guy and a champion. WWE shouldn't cater too much to the vocal minority, because it's clear they're going to boo anyone who gets a push without their seal of approval (whether the casual fans like the talent or not).
2. Sometimes those "pointless" matches are there to add time when a show is running short, and they usually aren't just random bouts that don't advance stories.
3. WWE has a LOT of TV time to fill and only so many superstars to fill it with. It's easy to do a rematch they've already booked toward as a way to get people watching TV. And honestly, with as much as fans get on the WWE Network for a pretty low price, they don't have much reason to complain anymore.
4. WWE does it to build buzz, as was said. In 2016, digital ventures are an important part of the puzzle for the company. They'd rather get traffic to their sites than having the news leak out to unaffiliated dirtsheets.
5. MAYBE they'd do it for EVOLVE, but Bryan's still a WWE star. They want to use him to make money for their brand. Since he can't do that as a wrestler, they're using him at WWE events in other capacities.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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