Brock Lesnar was tentatively planned to defend the Universal Championship against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor on the road to Wrestlemania 34, but things have really changed for Summerslam season. It's entirely possible he loses the championship at either GBOF or Summerslam.
War Machine are free agents. They're continuing to take bookings for NJPW, but their futures are somewhat up in the air beyond that. They could certainly contribute to NXT in a few months if ROH doesn't lock them into a deal.
Bullet Club merchandise will be available in more Hot Topic stores a few weeks from now, as well as the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and Cody also having individual shirts nationwide. The faction getting over at that level is very impressive; their popularity transcends the promotions they work for as no other ROH or NJPW talents have that kind of reach in the U.S.
Grado will be returning to Impact Wrestling soon, as his work visa issues have been taken care of and he's under a new contract.
WWE's new Indian studio show will be replacing a two-hour version of Raw in its timeslot. So, this isn't a case of WWE getting a new deal in the market.
WWE is considering a Mae Young movie project to really establish her place in wrestling history. This would fit with the branding of their women's tournament.
Io Shirai will be taking time off due to a neck injury, delaying her expected WWE signing and debut for a few months. Hopefully she'll be able to recover and make a big splash later this year. She and Kairi Hojo could essentially take over for Asuka in NXT so the current champion can finally move to the main roster.
Tyson Kidd will now be working as a producer on the main roster. It's good to see him doing something important considering he's been under contract for quite some time without being used following his injury two years ago.
- Kidd was at both Raw and Smackdown this past week to observe and prepare himself for his new full-time role. I'm glad he's jumping into it.
Jess Brassard will join Raymond Rougeau for WWE Network's French commentary. The pair did announcing for the company in the mid-'90s when WWE had a French show for Quebec and France. That's pretty cool.
NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji and Taiji Ishimori will also compete for Impact's tag team championship at Slammiversary. Good to see Impact's working agreements paying dividends for their big anniversary.
Jeff Jarrett appeared on the Welcome to Connecticut podcast as further promotion for Impact's return to live events.
The former Mordecai/Kevin Thorn discussed his work in WWE:
- I thought he had a lot of talent and the gimmicks had a lot of potential.
- I'd like to see more characters in WWE, but it looks like HHH wants to move from sports entertainment back to wrestling.
- I can see Vince really getting behind a holier-than-thou heel.
- Man, I'm going to miss some of the smoke and mirrors stuff, although Taker's character had gotten really stale.
- I can see why Vince didn't want to use Fertig after he gave the company a black eye.
- I don't see WWE bringing him back at 40, but they've surprised me with picking up veterans before.
WWE is now selling Shinsuke Nakamura replica jackets. Those are pretty cool.
John Cena will be working a Smackdown live event on July 31. I wonder if we'll see any further free agents in the coming months.
Cody talked to Busted Open on SiriusXM before the big NJPW show. He's really become an important player in wrestling the last few months.
Kevin Kelly will be working NJPW's Californian shows in a backstage capacity. Should NJPW continue to expand in the States, I can see further ROH (and Impact?) names joining the promotion in different roles.
Joseph Park "crashed" an Impact conference call to try to get Scott Steiner to call off their Slammiversary match. That's AMAZING. They're clearly having a lot of fun with this.
Impact booked Drago and Hijo Del Fantasma through AAA rather than through Lucha Underground. There's no working agreement between Impact and LU at this time, and Hijo Del Fantasma won't be able to work as King Cuerno on Impact TV due to LU owning the rights to that character. It will be interesting to see if AAA names try to build a future with Impact given LU's unknown status for a Season 4.
Triple H put over Raw, NXT, and Smackdown all being headlined by big women's matches this week. I definitely expect further growth for women in WWE in the years to come given initiatives like the Mae Young Classic and the signing of established female performers for NXT.
The Rock put over Thea Trinidad's WWE signing. Impact's going to look like they dropped the ball on her if she ends up doing well for herself.
WWE's Dawn of Attitude DVD will feature 19 matches from 1997. WWE has gotten a LOT of mileage out of the Monday Night War era, but apparently people continue to want more!
Dakota Kai, formerly Evie from New Zealand, is officially part of the Mae Young Classic. She's been part of the WWEPC since January.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I expect he's done as a wrestler, moving into working full-time as a producer. There's no indication WWE's looking to clear him to return to the ring.
1. I expect he's done as a wrestler, moving into working full-time as a producer. There's no indication WWE's looking to clear him to return to the ring.
2. Kennadi is being hired specifically as a referee, like Drake Weurtz before her.
3. Hopefully having good attendance for their upcoming UK tour will help them in that endeavor.
4. It will depend on what NBCU's goals are and how their other shows are doing come renewal time. They'd rather have three hours of Raw do what they're doing now than two hours of Raw and an hour of something else not do as well.
Nothing to add to 5.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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