Interview with Hawkins, another WWE name cleared to return, Paige return update, Mauro's next step, Raw audience, Smackdown dark match, and Questions on not pushing American Alpha, Low Ki's gimmick in 2017, Heyman working with Nakamura, music acts at Mania, and not paying attention to match stipulations

Curt Hawkins talked about working with Edge and more. It will be interesting to see where his career goes from here. If Jinder can become WWE Champion, he's got a chance, too!

Braun Strowman has been cleared to return to the ring, so his surgery wasn't major. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see him do a run-in during Brock vs. Joe unless they're going to do yet another Strowman/Joe clash. 

Paige could be cleared to return to WWE soon after getting some X-rays. I can only imagine how that would play out given the issues between the two sides. I expect her to get plenty of colorful chants at first, but hopefully she can put together some solid work and get people talking about her for the right reasons.

Mauro Ranallo has been signed by Bellator, so he'll be calling MMA on a regular basis soon. That should shut down the talk of him potentially returning to WWE. I wish him luck doing something he loves to do.

Raw drew 2.54 million viewers, dropping 450,000 viewers despite Brock Lesnar starting the show. That audience is lower than what they drew on Memorial Day. Alarm bells have got to be going off after that number. It's entirely possible they start putting John Cena on the show on a somewhat regular basis to try to combat the low viewership.

Randy Orton defeated Jinder Mahal by disqualification after Smackdown, with the Singhs saving the Modern Day Maharaja from a clean loss.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. New Day happened. They're not going to be able to be the top face team with those guys around, and WWE is shaking things up with giving Breezango a shot at the number two spot there. As great as Jordan and Gable are, they don't have as much storyline potential as the whole Fashion Files thing. Main roster WWE is still booked as being a sports entertainment variety show, and that can mean people who previously got over by what they do in the ring get pushed aside. You'd think, though, if today's audience wanted to see pure athleticism instead of soap operas as much as that narrative is pushed, all the NXT talents would be over on the main roster pretty much right out of the gate based on their previous reputations. It definitely feels like the booking now is "you already know these wrestlers from where they used to work so let's just have them do wrestling matches because that's what everyone says they want." That mindset doesn't seem to line up with what we're seeing from ratings.

2. Low Ki wants to be a badass Agent 47 from Hitman cosplayer and he's not going to work Impact unless they push him as importantly as he thinks he should be booked.

3. I hope we never see another "make X indie darling a Paul Heyman client" pitch. It's getting really old. That said, I do think they need to show more of why he's a rockstar other than "it's the Japanese sensation you all love from NXT!" Assuming the main roster fan base/viewing audience is already marking out for wrestlers from other promotions and NXT isn't really working.

4. I can only imagine what things would be like if WWE booked Wrestlemania like BOLA or something where the whole point is "good matches." Vince wants it to be sports entertainment with mainstream appeal. That's what broke WWF out from the pack of rasslin' territories. That means musicians and celebrities involved.

5. WWE clearly said one team would only win by both members going over the top, which is why NO ONE TRIED TO ESCAPE THROUGH THE DOOR THE WHOLE MATCH. WWE apparently has to pull a Big Cass and spell everything out for some people.

More wrestling tomorrow.