NXT live event notes, Interviews with EC3/Gable/Show/Dreamer, Rock praises Ricochet, Ryback's next steps revealed, TNA audience, WWE GMs summit, and Questions on safety in wrestling, WWE not suspending Brock, occupational wrestlers, running Raw and Smackdown against each other, and the costs of going live

At an NXT live event in Florida:
- King Constantine beat Alexander Wolfe in Constantine's first live event in almost four months. Wolfe had been teaming with Sawyer Fulton, so it's up in the air whether that team will continue.

- Niko Bogojevic seems to have made his live event debut here. He and Tucker Knight lost to the Authors of Pain in a clash of huge bodies.

- Wesley Blake was bloodied by a kick to the mouth from Hideo Itami. It's been a long road to get back to an NXT ring. I hope accidents like that don't become a regular thing.

Mojo Rawley beat Austin Aries(!) at an NXT show in Alabama, so he's still on the NXT A-loop for the time being. I'm sure he'll start working Smackdown live events before too much longer. Things are still kind of in flux; the brand extension is a massive undertaking.

EC3 had a big interview regarding TNA:
- There have definitely been opportunities pop up for people to make their mark in the business. Some people have been working for years to get a shot at this level. Obviously TNA doesn't have the audience it had in the Spike days, but it's still a chance at greater exposure for a lot of people.

- He's right about the TNA product having a lot of continuity and character progression. The shows are often put together really well to build to something later in the show or on the next week's show. That's one advantage of taping so many shows at once, of course, but it's still really good to see.

- TNA has definitely given a showcase for a lot of people who didn't get to show all they could show in WWE. EC3, Lashley, and Galloway have hit it out of the park for the company.

- I really wonder where EC3 would fit in for WWE if they picked him up. He's obviously a talented guy, but would he stand out from the crowd on Raw or Smackdown? I don't know if he'd go back to just do NXT if TNA remains an option. He's getting a lot of work outside of TNA, so WWE would probably need to make a big offer to get him to give all that up.

Chad Gable talked to Men's Journal. American Alpha definitely click as characters and as wrestlers. Absolutely awesome tag team.

Big Show talked in China:
- I'm very glad he won't be dying at 45.

- Show vs. Shaq could be interesting for the sheer spectacle of it.

- From the sound of things, he'll be wrapping things up around the time of WM34. I'm curious to see what they'll do for his final sendoff. He's had quite the career.

The Rock put Ricochet over on Instagram. I definitely see some Rock mannerisms in the talented and charismatic Ricochet.

Ryback has confirmed his WWE contract expires Monday. It's really not a good idea to film a video while driving. That aside, I hope he has a fruitful career outside WWE. TNA should definitely take a look at him. Surprisingly, there hasn't been any word of them being interested in bringing him in.

Impact Wrestling this week drew 317,000 viewers. So, they've lost the bump from Final Deletion, Destination X, Moose's debut, and the timeslot change. They've got a lot of work to do in growing their overall audience. We'll see if things look up for them going forward.

Tommy Dreamer has confirmed he won't be returning to WWE full-time due to HoH commitments. It's a brave move staking his own claim as a promoter. Throwing away all he's built with HoH for another... what two, three years? taking bumps for WWE could have been really short-sighted. Hopefully he's made enough money at that level already to be OK with giving that roster spot to someone else.

Daniel Bryan has been invited to Raw for a meeting with Mick Foley. I assume that could be related to Brock vs. Orton spilling across both brands. It's not a bad idea to use those two to hype the match when Brock's not booked for a particular Monday.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. So, part of me really wants to see this taken to the logical extreme of people fighting with oversized headgear, gloves, etc. in a Moonbounce-like ring. But as was alluded to, there's pretty heavy training involved before performers are allowed to compete in live matches. Back bumps are designed to spread the impact over as large of an area as possible, talents tuck their heads in, and so on. Even running the ropes hurts and takes time to get used to.

2. I like Billy Gunn and think he was a great utility player, but it's pretty funny his name has become a meme like Marty Jannetty's. Gunn was "just" a trainer when he was released, while Brock's probably their top draw. Life's not fair in that sense.

3. I wonder how much a product like that would get over in 2016. Chikara's not quite the same thing. At some point, the "wrestler from ________ who wants to win titles and be the best" thing gets really old.

4. I mean, Shane does have experience running WCW. I don't see much reason to do it, though, since it would force the audience to choose one over the other instead of them watching both as they air. I could really see it being a logistical nightmare in a lot of ways, too.

5. WWE pays for the live air time. For taped shows, they don't have to do that; they can just send the show to the station once it's done and have them run it.

More wrestling tomorrow.