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Friday, June 23, 2017

MITB injury, AAA moves big show, Spanish commentary for NJPW, top name to WWEPC soon, new WWE show in India, new Mae Young competitors, Bully profiled, Orton gets movie role, Shibata update, Mauro back in WWE, NXT live event notes, and Questions on Dusty's passing affecting NXT, WWF video tapes, the Elks Lodge in NYC, and future Takeover specials

Kevin Owens injured his leg at Money in the Bank, needing help to get backstage after the match ended. However, he has continued wrestling since then. Kevin's a tough guy after so many years of bumps.

AAA seems to be moving the date of Triplemania so as not to be on PPV opposite the big Mayweather/McGregor bout. So, it could end up being on Monday, August 27.

Willie Urbina will be doing Spanish commentary for AXS TV's NJPW shows. It's impressive they're now getting another language for those broadcasts. NJPW's Western expansion will be an important story going forward.

Kairi Hojo will be training at the WWEPC beginning next week. She's considered a big signing for the women's division, so there's a lot of hype surrounding how she'll do in WWE.

WWE is getting a weekly Hindi-language recap show in India. That should be good news for growing business in the country.

Indian wrestler Kavita Devi will be part of the Mae Young Classic. KD was trained by Great Khali and had a WWE tryout in April.

- WWE has also announced Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, the WWEPC's Taynara Conti (Taynara Melo), and STARDOM's Jazzy Gabert (Alpha Female) for the tournament. I'm surprised they haven't signed Tessa yet; that could change after this event.

Bully Ray was profiled. He's been able to have a really long TV career.

Randy Orton will star in a movie directed and written by Seth Green, so he'll be missing time on Smackdown to do that. WWE definitely needs guys like Owens, Zayn, and Jinder to succeed for when Cena and Orton aren't around.

Katsuyori Shibata is undergoing procedures to improve his vision following his recent brain injury. Shibata has had a number of surgeries on his eyes. Things aren't looking good for him returning to the ring. I hope he has a fulfilling life ahead of him outside of taking bumps.

Mauro Ranallo is returning to WWE to call NXT starting immediately. It seems he was never released from his contract, and the two sides have negotiated something that allows him to return to the booth. He'll continue to call what he's already been announced for, and it wouldn't shock me if he stays as a guest commentator for NXT while doing outside ventures. This is a big deal for both sides, and I'm glad to see him back in the fold. Great news and a nice surprise.

At an NXT live event in Florida:
- Fabian Aichner debuted as part of NXT, losing to Adrian Jaoude
- Tian Bing lost to Kassius Ohno
- Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler teamed again, losing to Heavy Machinery
- The former Axel Dieter Jr. worked as Marcel Barthel in a loss to Roderick Strong
- Taynara Conti teamed with Sonya Deville in a loss to Lacey Evans and Ruby Riot. I assume Conti will go out in the first round of the Mae Young Classic and they're just polishing her up to lose then.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
Nothing to add to 1.

2. I definitely feel that criticism. Some of it is certainly due to losing Dusty, but it also seems like there's a shift from creating sports entertainers to showcasing wrestlers already known from their work elsewhere.

3. Things have really grown for WWE since those days as far as doing more frequent shows.

4. They're wrestling for the LORD now. Jesus is the only champion they need!

5. It looks like the plan for the rest of 2017 is to  tie Takeover specials to WWE's Big Four PPVs. Chicago was a special case.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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