AJ Brooks will sign copies of her new book on April 8, April 11, and April 22 in Illinois, and April 13 in Texas. She will do some Q&As once the book is released, too. There's full potential for pipebombs coming next month, further separating WWE and Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Punk.
At ROH's 15th anniversary show:
- Bully Ray will make his in-ring debut alongside the Briscoes against War Machine and Davey Boy Smith, Jr. in what should be a pretty hard-hitting match. Bully is also set for the next night's TV taping. He's expected to be a regular going forward.
- The Hardys will defend the ROH Tag Team Championship against the Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice in a triple threat Las Vegas Streetfight. The Hardys were essentially added to a match that was already set. I'm interested to see how Matt and Jeff blend with ROH.
- The show will be called by Kevin Kelly and Ian Riccaboni. Kelly will also call the action at the following TV taping. He's currently only working those two dates; he isn't expected to return on a full-time basis.
Raw drew 3.22 million viewers Monday night, getting a decent bump from Fast Lane. Hopefully that will grow going into Mania.
Outlaw Ron Bass, of WWF and NWA fame, has passed away at the age of 68. He had recently been hospitalized due to a burst appendix, and was unable to recover. PWInsider gave a rundown of his career. Sad to hear the tough old guy's gone. I'd like to see WWE do a big in memoriam package at the Hall of Fame and Mania each year to acknowledge all the former names who have passed since the last year's event.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com question:
1. WWE knows the people online complaining are going to watch the show or at least follow what's going on, so they try to also get the casual fans who are drawn in by big attractions. It's the same rationale behind the Super Bowl halftime show and commercials: people who don't normally care about football will turn out in large numbers for the extras. The younger names/IWC darlings are on the card, too, so the people tuning in to see Goldberg, Brock, Taker, and HHH will also get to see AJ, Ambrose, Owens, etc. Reaching an audience beyond the diehards who argue over star ratings is a key to WWE's success. Some names who tune in for Mania might become more regular viewers, but there are always going to be a lot of people who just want to see a few big names and crazy attractions. Those fans make Mania a much bigger event than it would be if it catered to people who can name Kevin Steen's five best ROH matches.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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