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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

NJPW U.S. lineups set, Network show returning, another NXT tour, Hardys still after Broken Brilliance, Impact honoring Orlando, ROH+CMLL names set for WOTW UK, WCCW trademarks for Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame?, possible Cena plans, WWE name cleared from injury, and Question on limiting the number of WWE PPVs

NJPW has announced the full lineups for their U.S. debut shows on July 1 and July 2. A significant number of U.S.-based/ROH names are booked on the events.

WWE Network will debut a second season of Storytime in July. Good times.

NXT will have live events in Wisconsin on July 27 and July 28 before heading to Minnesota on July 29. They're running the old AWA stomping grounds.

The Hardys continue to indicate interest in doing their Broken characters in WWE. That could definitely be a lot of fun, and there will be a good reaction from a sizeable part of the audience familiar with their previous work in that universe if they get to go all out with it.

Impact Wrestling will honor the victims of last year's Orlando nightclub shooting when they return to the area. Impact has run many shows in the area in their 15-year history.

ROH has announced The Addiction, the Young Bucks, Jay Lethal, and the Briscoes will join CMLL's Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Ultimo Guerrero, and Mistico II at their War of the Worlds UK shows in August. NJPW and RevPro will also be part of the tour. Interesting they didn't mention Bully Ray, sine he's working alongside the Briscoes as the current six-man tag team champions. I wouldn't really read into that, though, since the shows are two months away.

The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame has applied to trademark World Class Championship Wrestling and its logo. WWE owns the video library, but abandoned the trademark in 2003. We'll see what becomes of the situation.

WWE is reportedly considering having John Cena as a "free agent" between Raw and Smackdown, presumably with the idea his Smackdown contract "expired" and he's able to appear on either show.  I assume that could be a response to Raw's audience dropping. WWE's got a LOT of work to do in getting those numbers up. I honestly question if it's just a matter of millennials not watching TV like older fans do.

Dash Wilder has been cleared to return, as he was involved with the Brock Lesnar/Samoa Joe brawl on Raw. Hopefully we see The Revival make their way to a Hardys feud before too much longer. That could really be something, especially if Scott and Dash drive them Broken.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com question:
- WWE has really put themselves in a tough spot with giving away SO MUCH content not getting a big enough return on their investment. It seems like no matter what ideas they have to get back those "lapsed" fans who don't watch Raw and Smackdown as they air, those fans just aren't going to subscribe to the Network. I think it's fair to say it can be hard to keep track of everything happening in WWE with so many hours of TV, PPVs, etc. going on each month. It's a really big commitment. I'd like to see them drop to one PPV a month with a few matches each from Raw and Smackdown for the sake of not having so much "filler," because no matter how great the matches are, three hours of wrestling in one sitting is a marathon. Seemingly the only people who want to watch that much wrestling that often are the people who chant "we are awesome" and do the wave.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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