ROH COO Joe Koff was interviewed:
- I would imagine Sinclair would be thrilled to get ROH back on national TV. That's presumably part of the goal for the Tennis Channel.
- It makes sense to play to ROH's strengths of people doing moves rather than trying to craft big narratives with people who aren't great characters/speakers. Personally, I think the best parts of ROH have revolved around compelling stories beyond "I'm a better wrestler and I want to hold the championship," but making them more like WWE would lose the diehard fans.
- I assume that was a big knock on TNA "trying to be WWE." Or maybe WCW? Either way, it was pretty stiff. TNA certainly had a much bigger audience than ROH when they were on Spike, but ROH runs a lot more shows now, and people actually pay for ROH tickets.
- It's DEFINITELY important to note just how long WWE's been doing what they do. They didn't just pop up during the Attitude Era, or even the Rock and Wrestling Era. They had decades of experience to get to that level. To expect any promotion to come close to that in the U.S. any time soon is heavily unrealistic.
- NJPW has REALLY helped ROH grow. They've brought ROH's prestige up quite a bit.
- It was definitely TNA and NJPW that built AJ Styles. ROH is a small part of that story.
- Umm... the top names in NXT are coming off runs in TNA and NJPW more than ROH. And HHH taking over Laurinaitis' old role was a big part of changing things. It wasn't just "NXT copying ROH" by any means.
- I'm part of that grumbling about Lethal's title reign being really long. It feels like they're stretching it out to Final Battle.
- I'm interested to see how WOH expands in the months and years to come.
- Owens was definitely believed to be a star for quite some time.
- Reigns does have the "it" factor. He's shown that for quite some time now.
Adam Cole talked before DBD14. Good for ROH for getting some exposure there.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Dalton Castle in a non-title match has been announced for DBD14. Okada's pretty much THE guy in NJPW right now, so I expect him to steamroll Castle.
The following matches have been set for ROH's August 20 TV taping:
- Katsuyori Shibata will challenge for the TV Championship
- The Briscoes vs. Lio Rush/Jay White
- RPG Vice/Toru Yano vs. The Addiction/Kamaitachi
- ANX vs. GoD
The following matches have been added to ROH Field of Honor:
- Kyle O'Reilly vs. Kastuyori Shibata
- Young Bucks/Yujiro Takahashi/Hangman Page vs. MCMG/Lio Rush/ACH
Heath Slater teased working with EVOLVE in a WWE.com interview, leading to EVOLVE addressing the rumor. I really hope WWE runs with this angle. There could be a lot of fun with him being a free agent.
Eva Marie's "injury" on Smackdown was just a storyline deal. That's good. Hopefully she's training a lot before shows, because she's in an important role in the small Smackdown women's division.
Paige will miss next week's live event tour due to an undisclosed injury. I hope she's not out of the ring long.
Jimmy Uso is missing time due to an injury, which explains his absences lately.
"Superstar" Billy Graham has been hospitalized in Arizona. He's battled a lot of health issues over the years, unfortunately.
Smackdown's audience Tuesday was 2.68 million. I hope numbers continue at this level or better for the new live series.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It's really a shame he takes wrestling so seriously. I mean, we all love the business and all, but there comes a time to move on. At this point, it's kind of perverse to take entertainment in a one-sided feud that has really gone too far. Worse is encouraging Cornette's behavior by justifying it as "not suffering fools lightly" or whatever. I hope Russo has a restraining order or something in place and the authorities are aware of the targeted verbal abuse by Cornette.
2. I would think that would have been a little hard to pull off as far as travel schedules and such. With each brand needing to fill a PPV each month, it makes sense for Raw and Smackdown to each have titles for their divisions. It's almost like each brand is its own company, with the occasional crossover angle.
3. Given how many NXT fans will be there, I expect Balor will bust out the demon entrance. Plus, it doesn't get much bigger than a world title match at Summerslam. If he doesn't pull it out then, what could he possibly save it for?
4. Brock probably doesn't care. He's more than willing to give it all up to go be a farmer for the rest of his life. UFC and WWE need him a lot more than the other way around.
5. BAH GAWD HOW DO YOU LEARN TO FALL INTO 69 THUMBTACKS?? Yeah, it's basically a matter of how little you'll be hurt and how few you'll need removed.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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