Main Event Reax - 2/17/17, Interviews with Gillberg/Lacey/Eva Marie/Impact management, remembering The Animal, son of Loose Cannon training, LU soap cameo, why Cena will miss time, Teddy footage on the Network, Starz doing wrestling series?, Impact audience, former Knockout joins Paige movie, NXT+Raw live event notes, ref has surgery, new director of talent at AAA, Balor back in the ring soon, more Lesnar, and Questions on NJPW airing a WWE match, punishing leakers, booking the Chamber, Smackdown announcing, and main roster names working NXT

-- Main Event:
- Announcers:
Interesting to tease Truth moving to commentary. What would that mean for Goldust?

- Jinder vs. Cara:
Good start.

I like Jinder's straightforward offense. Not everyone needs to pull off a 450 tope planchacanrana.

Cara's a really solid worker, which is why he's used in filler matches and working with newer names so much.

I've missed Jinder.

Fine work from both men.

That was pretty good.

- Mustafa/Cedric vs. Nese/Gulak:
I've missed the team of Tony and Drew.

So-so beginning. 

Fine action if mostly unremarkable.

Good for what it is, I guess. I kind og wanted something more flashy.

Now things are heating up in the flash department.

Nice showing from Mustafa there at the end.

Gillberg talked about his recent Raw cameo and more:
- I'd totally watch Gillberg vs. James Ellsworth on the Mania Kickoff show.

- Yeah, Goldberg was not a fan of the Gillberg gimmick. It's a shame that meant Gill couldn't work Mania.

George "The Animal" Steele passed away following a stay in hospice as the result of a number of health issues. That's very sad to hear. I hope he's in a better place now.

- Tommy Dreamer, JBL, Mauro Ranallo, Jim Cornette, The Iron Sheik, Ted DiBiase, Sr., Jim Ross, Hulk Hogan, Sal Corrente, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Byron Saxton, Scott Dawson, Triple H, Bobby Roode, and Taz, among others said goodbye to Steele on social media. He touched a lot of lives over the years.

- PWInsider did a big rundown of his career. Talk about a character who left a lot of memories.

- Steele left behind a video talking about his life. He really had a journey.

Lacey Von Erich talked about the Von Erichs' wrestling careers. I actually kind of miss her as a wrestling personality.

Brian Pillman Jr. will begin training under Lance Storm. I wish him the best in that.

John Morrison/Johnny Mundo was on Days of Our Lives this week. Glad to see he's doing well as an actor.

Eva Marie discussed recovering from alcoholism. I wish her the best in that journey going forward, whether she continues wrestling or not.

John Cena's post-Wrestlemania absence is likely due to his role in "The Pact."

WWE Network has added Teddy Long moments to its Hall of Famers collection.

Starz could be picking up a drama series based on wrestling. It looks like we're seeing quite a bit of talk of wrestling-based series lately.

Impact Wrestling drew 325,000 viewers this week, a big bump from the previous week. Ratings had been slumping this year, so hopefully they're rebounding now.

Thea Trinidad, formerly Rosita on Impact Wrestling, has been cast in the upcoming Paige movie. I hope that gives her an in for WWE. I wonder if she's meant to be any particular former Divas' Champion. Some have suggested the Bellas, but I was thinking AJ. It's possible there's no specific real-life counterpart to her character, but they could certainly pull from some real performers.

At NXT live events this weekend:
- Noam Dar, Gran Metalik, and Drew Gulak were all in action.

- Jeet Rama returned to the ring in a battle royal. He hasn't been used much.

At a Raw live event this weekend:
- Neville beat Rich Swann to retain his title, so some cruisers are working the main roster.

- Brock Lesnar beat Big Show, as he usually does. Before the match, Brock destroyed the eight-man tag of Golden Truth/Curtis Axel/Sin Cara vs. Shining Stars/Titus O'Neil/Bo Dallas.

- Samoa Joe made his WWE live event debut, beating Sami Zayn.

Charles Robinson recently underwent surgery. I hope Lil Naitch is well.

Vampiro is now the director of talent at AAA. We'll see if that helps out the problems they're having lately.

Jeff Jarrett and Anthem's Ed Nordholm did a Q&A on Facebook:
- Getting paid to have content on the air in the UK will be key.

- An app will be helpful, but should be secondary to TV deals.

- Live events should be coming back around the time of Slammiversary.

- I definitely think we'll see GFW names in Impact. Why wouldn't they use that roster?

- I'm sure we'll see Jeff on-screen at some point. He's more or less a McMahon to the Impact audience. They know him being there is a big deal and he can change things in a legitimate way.

Finn Balor is advertised for Raw live events on March 10, March 11, and March 28. So he'll be back in action soon.

Brock Lesnar is set for the Raw after Wrestlemania. I'm curious what will be his next step after that event. There's a real possibility he's Universal Champion then.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Presumably the deals at the time meant that NJPW and WWE both have the rights to show footage of those matches. I'd think WWE would have to purchase those rights back if they didn't want NJPW to air the matches; it's hardly worth it since WWE can show the matches on the Network, too, and it's not like they're a big draw for New Japan World.

2. I would think that leaking is so prevalent they've pretty much given up on any kind of punishment. Most fans don't follow "the dirtsheets" anyway, and those who do are already following along the product so there's not much reason to spend much energy trying to protect the business.

3. The title going from heel Styles to heel Wyatt just doesn't have the same oomph as Bray surprising them both to become the new champion. And Bray gets credit for ending Cena's historic reign. Works for me.

4. Because clearly WWE thinks that's what's needed. It's quite the chaotic experience.

5. I think that could be seen as a demotion. Some names could probably benefit from an NXT reboot, though.

More wrestling tomorrow.