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Sunday, March 12, 2017

HHH on in-ring return, Impact site change, Impact preview, ROH injury update, ROH PPV dark match, new episode of Network show Monday, Hardys vs. Impact continues, Cody back to Arrow, more on UK brand events, another WWE return soon, NXT name back in action, NXT live event note, former WWE name retiring, and Questions on Asuka at WM33, AJ and Harper at Mania, Petey Williams, Striker on commentary, and pushing Jinder

Triple H tweeted about his return to the ring. It's Mania season again! I think it's possible we see a number of PPV matches from HHH in the coming months, with Balor joining Rollins on the opponents list. But we'll see.

Impact has launched a "ShopImpact" site to replace ShopTNA. They already have new merchandise for new people.

Impact will feature more new and returning wrestlers on this week's show.

TK O'Ryan suffered a broken leg at this weekend's ROH PPV. As you might expect, he didn't work the following night's TV taping.

Will Ferrara beat Shaheem Ali in the dark match before ROH's 15th anniversary PPV.

"Bring It To The Table" returns to WWE Network after Raw featuring an interview with Kurt Angle. The panelists this time are JBL, Peter Rosenberg, and Corey Graves. The debut episode rustled a LOT of jimmies in the IWC, so hopefully there's more fun this time.

Rebecca Hardy continued burying Impact on Twitter over the issues between the company and the Hardys.

- Matt Hardy put over working with ROH and continued the Broken character. It was ROH's call to downplay those elements as a result of Anthem's cease and desist letter.

- Rebecca then went on to bury Impact for sending cease-and-desist letters to ROH and providers of their recent PPV, saying Impact burned bridges with both and potentially jeopardized working relationships with talent. Of course, Impact also has PPVs that air on those same providers they sent letters to, with monthly One Night Only shows and a few big live events like Slammiversary and BFG. While I'm sure Impact doesn't get a huge amount of revenue from those events, they don't want to run into trouble with PPV providers and end up having their shows dropped from the services.

Cody will appear on Arrow again, for episode 521 airing in either late April or early May. There had been talk of Cody going into acting, but it looks like he's going to continue wrestling for the time being.

The WWE UK brand events in May next month will be on WWE Network. Showing more rosters on WWE Network adds variety, which is theoretically a good thing to get more subscribers.

Erick Rowan is scheduled for this week's WWE TV, so it's entirely possible he shows up on Smackdown as part of the Wyatt Family angle. It's likely they'll first give him a medical evaluation to see if they can clear him to return to action.

At an NXT live event in Orlando:
- Hideo Itami made a run-in to save Buddy Murphy from a beatdown by Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss. It was during a match with Moss that Itami was injured. After the match, Itami and Murphy shook hands, but Murphy ended up taking a GTS. I assume we'll see Itami back in action at one of the April TV tapings. If Shinsuke heads to the main roster soon, Hideo could slide right in to a similar role.

- Elias Samson interrupted an interview with Jeet Rama, working under a mask as The Highwayman (but keeping the same entrance music, etc.). Samson's killing time until a post-WM33 debut, but I love how many different ring names he's picking up in the process.

The former Adam Rose is retiring this year. That's probably the right move with no major promotion coming calling. He gave it his all, but didn't become as successful as he hoped. I wish him well with the next stage(s) of his life.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think it's more likely Tamina has that honor, since she's been hanging out on live events for a while now. I do think we'll see Asuka come up soon, though.

2. It looks like we're in for AJ vs. Shane. I wouldn't be surprised to see Harper run in for the main event, though.

3. That's a little surprising, since he's only 35. He would have been a pretty natural fit for 205 Live, but if he's moved on from the business, obviously that's not happening. I hope he's doing well post-wrestling; at some point it's time to weigh your options and see if the miles are worth the money.

4. Matt's definitely very passionate about wrestling and brings that enthusiasm to the commentary table. I don't think it's something he's really "trying" to do; that's just kind of who he is.

Nothing to add to 5.

6. I don't see Jinder being able to contend with someone like Braun or one of the Wyatts as a monster, or even Rusev, Joe, or Corbin. Where he is now is pretty much his ceiling, and he was mainly hired to be at his current place on the card rather than as someone they want to push.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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