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Thursday, November 17, 2016

WM32 draws huge for Dallas, Taker joins Smackdown roster, Interview with Goldberg, Nikki, Cara exiled, ECW alumni at Smackdown, post-Smackdown reunion footage, Nese-WWE deal footage, NXT guests, new multi-year deal for WWE in Germany, Takeover attendance update, Foley appearing on indie show, O'Reilly to miss time, TNA seeking head of advertising, top part-timers advertised for WM33, Kentucky makes changes, Ellsworth update, WWE gets rights to cruiser name, and Questions on Brock's work ethic, Hulk's health issues, Corgan selling to WWE, Shane replacing Corbin, and Quackenbush's reaction to Styles

Wrestlemania 32 week generated an absolutely astounding $170 million for the Dallas area. With AXXESS, the Hall of Fame, Takeover, and Raw, that's a lot of days to stay in a local hotel and a lot of days to hire people to work out at the venues.

The Undertaker is expected to work on Smackdown on a more regular basis on the road to Wrestlemania 33. That's definitely big for the show. I really hope it leads to Taker vs. AJ at the Rumble and Taker vs. Cena at WM33.

Goldberg indicated Survivor Series is likely his last match, as he's been on a grueling physical regimen preparing for it that has taken its toll on him. I expect a match with Brock will leave him pretty battered, but at least he'll be able to say he came back. If he does work the Rumble and/or WM33, consider it a bonus.

Nikki Bella chipped a tooth during Smackdown. It's a physical business!

Sin Cara wasn't allowed in the main locker room at Raw due to his recent incidents. I hope he gets what he needs in order to stay out of physical confrontations going forward.

Taz, Tommy Dreamer, and the Dudleys were backstage at Smackdown to film something ECW-related for the WWE Network. Taz discussed returning to the company on his show.

WWE released footage of the Kane/Undertaker reunion after Smackdown.

WWE also posted footage of Tony Nese getting a WWE contract at EVOLVE this weekend.

Smackdown drew 2.73 million viewers for The Undertaker's return and Cutting Edge on the 900th episode. That's quite the boost from what the show has generally been doing.

Shane McMahon and Pete Gas were sitting ringside at an NXT live event in New York City. Shane danced with No Way Jose after the opener.

WWE has announced a multi-year deal with SKY Deutschland to air Raw, Smackdown, and PPVs in Germany. Great news for WWE and their fans there.

Takeover: Toronto has sold around 11,000 tickets. That's nothing to scoff at by any means.

Mick Foley will appear via satellite at Sunday's ICW show. He had booked himself for that show at one point, but is needed for Survivor Series.

Kyle O'Reilly will be unable to work ROH's UK tour due to a medical issue preventing him from being able to fly. He's an important part of the company right now, so hopefully he ends up OK.

TNA is looking to hire someone with experience selling advertising as they begin to rebuild the brand under Anthem.

The Rock and Undertaker are being advertised for WM33. With the show being in Florida, I can see a big push for Rock appearing.

Kentucky has changed regulations on wrestling in order to get promotions to do more business there. We'll see if it pays off; they definitely want more big shows from WWE.

James Ellsworth is still accepting indie bookings, so he hasn't been signed by WWE yet. I guess they're hesitant in case he fizzles out like Adam Rose, Fandango, and other fads.

WWE now has the rights to Lince Dorado. CHIKARA came up with the character, so WWE had to purchase those rights.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. WWE's willing to continue paying him, so it's not stealing. If they weren't happy with the results, they're presumably free to release him.

2. Brother, the Hulkster has put asses in seats for at least 1858 matches, jack. That's a lot of leg drops. It's not the move as much as how many times he did it.

3. With Corgan being paid back, he no longer has any potential for ownership in TNA. He's out of the picture going forward. I don't really see why WWE would purchase a partial stake, because then theoretically they'd have to have a bidding war with Anthem Media for the rest of it. I expect they're going to wait to see how things turn out with Anthem. If there's another opportunity to buy TNA at some point, I'm sure they'll be interested in making a move.

4. They hope curious casual fans will watch to see Shane. I don't see any way Corbin would have made that kind of mark on subscription numbers.

5. Quackenbush didn't say anything negative about Styles. Dave's the one being dramatic here. The controversy isn't about Styles; The Styles incident is just the straw that broke the camel's back. Fans want wrestling to be an escape from negative comments so many of them have to deal with outside of those shows.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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