TNA Creative member Dave Lagana discussed Gail Kim's journey to their Hall of Fame. There are few current TNA wrestlers who have given to the company to the level that she has.
Josh Mathews discussed putting on Slammiversary so soon after the Orlando shootings. It's easy to say "the show must go on," but that was definitely a tough ordeal for TNA to have to work through.
John Cena discussed returning to the original "PBR" design for his new shirt. I'm glad this didn't end up in a long court battle.
WWE's draft will take place on the live Smackdown next month. I think that's an opportune time to begin the draft, although that's going to be a pretty crowded two-hour show. I imagine we'll just find out the top 10 names for each brand, with the rest being revealed on WWE.com or something. On a kind of related note, I wish that announcement was saved for WWE's corporate site while WWE's main site had a kayfabe story about Shane and Stephanie announcing the draft will take place on the live Smackdown. Since they're "running the company," they should set when the draft takes place.
Jay Lethal has now officially been ROH World Champion for more than a full calendar year. I don't see him losing the title at BITW, so he'll be able to make it a full "PPV year," too.
TNA officially had its 14th anniversary Sunday. MITB prevented them from having a true Slammiversary, so they celebrated a week early.
Dalton Castle vs. Roderick Strong and The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks have been announced for ROH's June 25 TV taping. There has been no confirmation of Strong's ROH future one way or another.
Marc Mero underwent heart surgery last week. Hopefully he's recovering well.
Linda McMahon discussed her role in making WWE a success. It gives pretty good insight into someone we don't hear a lot from, including life with Vince.
WWE sent the NBA Champions a WWE Championship. They give a lot of those away these days.
Seeking Alpha looked at how WWE's ratings don't tell the whole story about the company's popularity. I'm glad someone is FINALLY adding some context to the one-sided narrative about ratings being down. It's a real shame there are prominent voices in the wrestling media who ignore key facts in order to present an overly negative view of WWE's business.
WWE has some alternates in Orlando for the CWC. They've certainly done a lot of recruiting to make this a success. It could have easily been predominantly WWE-contracted talents.
The 205 lb. weight limit for the CWC is legitimate and will be enforced. Hence, the alternates in case some people can't make weight.
NXT has three new live events set:
- August 4 in Birmingham, Alabama
- August 5 in Pensacola, Florida
- August 6 in New Orleans, Louisiana
Jerry Lawler and his fiancee have been ordered to stay away from each other. The next hearing is set for July 1, and Lawler remains suspended until the case is resolved. If this drags on through the draft, it will be interesting to see how WWE handles the commentary situations.
Stephanie McMahon's memoir is set to come out October 4. You better believe she'll be an important TV character through then.
Nikki Bella and representatives for Mattel and Toys R Us were backstage at MITB. We'll know more about Nikki's future around the time of Summerslam.
The Miz, Maryse, Naomi, and the Social Outcasts will be done filming their movie this week, so they should be able to return soon.
- The Miz is advertised for Saturday's WWE live event, so I expect we'll see him back on Raw.
Charles Robinson is missing WWE TV this week as he's needed for the CWC.
UK wrestler Klondike Kate visited at an NXT show this weekend. Could she end up getting a tryout at some point?
Cedric Alexander is expected to work with Evolve regularly going forward, so it's possible he ends up in the pipeline for NXT. His CWC appearance(s) will be critical for potentially being signed by WWE.
Alberto Del Rio was hospitalized after MITB and did not make Raw following an apparent knee injury at Sunday's PPV. There's no official word on how much time he'll potentially miss at this time.
Randy Orton is now being advertised for WWE's August 28 live event. I'm surprised it could be that long before we see him again.
TNA has signed Tough Enough's Chelsea Green. Green has worked a number of matches for the company, including a dark match at the last TV taping. I'm curious to see how she does there.
After Raw, Dean Ambrose gave a heartfelt "thank you" speech to the crowds for believing in him. MITB was definitely his biggest career milestone.
Some notes from AJ Styles' interview on the WWE Network:
- I'm glad he's happy with his push. He's doing really well for someone who's just starting out in WWE.
- Very sad to hear about AJ's father being a violent alcoholic.
- AJ's fortunate wrestling worked out for him given his poverty and dropping out of college.
- AJ working with his cheerleader girlfriend to learn flips is pretty funny. It obviously paid off.
- Not shocked at all promoters put him in the ring just because he could do cool flips. That's the state of indie wrestling.
- I agree AJ can work well with pretty much any opponent.
- I'm glad he didn't bury TNA given all they did for his career.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Hornswoggle was suspended while not on the road, so it's entirely possible he would be able to not miss any dates on account of not being booked for any in the first place. WWE would still rather have him available to appear instead of failing a drug test, but it does bring up an interesting loophole.
1. Hornswoggle was suspended while not on the road, so it's entirely possible he would be able to not miss any dates on account of not being booked for any in the first place. WWE would still rather have him available to appear instead of failing a drug test, but it does bring up an interesting loophole.
2. I really don't think they'd neuter Moose. They know what talent he has. If Apollo Crews can pull out all his stops, I don't see why Moose wouldn't get the same treatment. Moose would be trained at the performance center to improve both his ring game and promos, and upon making the main roster would be able to work in front of bigger crowds more often in new locations against new, top-level opponents. Plus, he has friends in NXT/WWE. I definitely see why he'd consider making the jump.
3. Demon Balor should definitely be saved for special events, and hopefully we get more variations as time goes on. WWE would be able to sell merchandise based on different Demon designs if it's changed up every so often. I think Finn is pretty much destined to work either alongside or against his former NJPW running mates, but that doesn't mean they'll be linked permanently. At some point The Club will presumably run its course and he'll go in a different direction.
4. WWE is going for a different audience than the ones reached by Cena's less "family friendly" roles. They want the Fruity Pebbles guy to reach the younger demographic.
5. Brock has enough pull to get a UFC fight without them having to put something up in return. He wanted to get back in the Octagon, so Vince is letting him. That's how much Brock means to WWE business.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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