Main Event Reax - 1/27/17, Angle-WWE notes, Rey rumors start, Interviews with Charlotte+Sasha/AJ, match moved to Kickoff, Omega on his future, LU on the move?, new WCW podcast coming, Ryback book out, TE name leaves WWE, Impact audience, WWE UK names working update, Nikki gets role on TD, and Questions on HHH conference calls on the Network, Broken Matt, calling up Joe, how the brand split works with writing teams, and Plan B for live TV

-- Main Event:
- Kendrick vs. Dorado:
Glad to have Brian as the veteran presence here.

Nice action so far.

Dorado's flashy, but I wonder if he can get further than that.

I like Kendrick's style.

Nice story being told here.

Dorado's just all flips all the time.

NICE counter to the SSP.

Good ending.

- Fox vs. Dana:
I like Dana. I wish we got to see her more.

Solid action so far. Alicia's good for working with just about everyone.

Pretty good work from both of them.

Alicia's been indispensable. 

I like the story that's being told here.

This is good!

Good match overall! Nice to see Alicia get the win.

Kurt Angle has no-sold rumors of him being in the Royal Rumble. There's been no word of him having gone through medical testing or anything, so if he is booked, they've kept it very well hidden.

Rey Mysterio's LU contract has expired, according to Konnan. If that's true, he could make a surprise appearance in the Rumble or otherwise work with WWE. I'm not so sure they'd be willing to use him for more than a few big matches given his history of injuries and Wellness violations, but I wouldn't rule out one last run.

Charlotte and Sasha Banks discussed the women's division:
- HIAC was very big for them.

- Weird that we thought Paige was going to be a much bigger deal than she's ended up being. The injuries and outside-of-the-ring issues have piled up.

- Oh, yeah, there were definitely some less-than-stellar female hires for quite a while. Some ended up really improving their games, though.

- I'm glad they dropped the Divas name.

- Sasha's put her body through a lot. It's worrying at times.

- I wouldn't rule out a female entrant in the Rumble. I wish it was Kharma again, but it doesn't look like that's happening.

Smackdown's six-woman tag match has been moved to a two-hour Kickoff show before the Rumble. It's going to be a long night in San Antonio. I'm sure everyone involved will deliver, though.

Kenny Omega is set to negotiate a new deal with NJPW. Anything's possible until he actually signs a new deal with them, but for now it definitely looks like he's staying there.

LU could be shifting to Netflix. At least that would mean the names there will get to work again.

Tony Schiavone is launching a new weekly podcast looking back at Jim Crockett Promotions/WCW in detail. That could be pretty cool.

Ryback has released a book about succeeding. He's not just a wrestler anymore; he's expanding into being a brand.

Tough Enough's Mada Abdelhamid has asked for and received his WWE release. He hadn't gained much traction in NXT, so I can see why he wanted to cut his losses as it were.

The Genesis edition of Impact Wrestling drew 307,000 viewers, basically in line with last week. This was a pretty big show with two huge gimmick matches. It's a shame it didn't do better.

WWE is allowing Trent Seven, Mark Andrews, and Pete Dunne to be part of PROGRESS' show on Sunday, so WWE and PROGRESS are on good terms. Tyler Bate is not booked on that show, so he could be set for the Rumble. That would be pretty interesting.

Kurt Angle has been pulled out of Wrestlecon 2017 due to his WWE HoF induction.

Nikki Bella has been named as an executive producer of "Total Divas." So I guess that means that show's going to continue, and we're going to see Nikki involved in more angles on Smackdown. Oh, joy.

AJ Styles talked before the Rumble:
- Talk about a really big debut year.

- I've loved AJ vs. Cena. Sadly, anything other than AJ winning clean after 3 AAs is seen as a "burial."

- I really hope Al Roker doesn't run-in during the match with Cena. I would pop for him showing up on Smackdown, though.

- AJ vs. Joe in WWE would be pretty cool.

- I bet we're going through the same "what's Kenny Omega going to do next?" thing a year from now.

- AJ's stuff being stolen was bullshit.

- I hope AJ's got some good years left in him.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That would be a surprising step, considering HHH openly talks to people who report on the inner workings of the business. I don't see WWE wanting to promote "the dirtsheets" like that. If it does happen, it's not happening anytime soon.

2. Oh it's been a lot of fun, and it's definitely over. I wonder how much of a shelf life it has, but everyone involved has definitely put a lot into reinventing themselves and taking things to a new direction.

3. I think there's a ready-made storyline of Bryan calling up Joe (as a face) to deal with Miz, and of course Joe has a past with AJ. They just have to make sure they don't water down Joe's character as a face.

4. There are separate writing teams, but they still need Vince's seal of approval. The people between Vince and the writing teams pitch the scripts to Vince knowing what he won't like, will fight, etc. and try to stand up for what they think it worth battling him on.

5. It would depend on how out of it Goldberg was. If they thought Heyman, etc. could carry him through it, they might have ad libbed. But if something was really badly wrong with Goldberg, they would have had doctors check him out during commercial break.

More wrestling tomorrow.