Interviews with Dutch/Ross Hart/Daniels/Bucks/Aries, more WWE-Tapout press, WWE earnings release set, special SDCC action figure coming, Velvet updates wrestling status, GFW audience, Dixie on WWE Network, NXT return this week, Flair robes on sale, Aries leaves WWE, WWE books title change, WWE-MSG notes, and Questions on Xavier pre-WWE, ROH on WGN America, opening Mania matches, and Liger's legacy

Dutch Mantell discussed Slammiversary and the Super X Cup:
- I loved Slammiversary. They were able to deliver everything from high-flying action to fun antics to hard-hitting wrestling to intense grudge matches. The long-term planning paid off for them.

- People have definitely clamored for GFW to push the X-Division. That's been a constant request from critics.

Ross Hart discussed the legendary Stampede Wrestling on "Talk is Jericho."

Christopher Daniels discussed the GBOF main event. It's good that the ROH veteran is getting press, but what does it say that he's just being interviewed to promote a WWE PPV?

Cesaro did a NYC mall appearance on behalf of Tapout. WWE continues to push the whole "lifestyle brand" thing with Tapout.

WWE will report their Q2 earning results on July 27. That'll be an important day for business as always. I would think it'd be a good opportunity to announce the PROGRESS/ICW deals on WWE Network, too.

Mattel will have an Isaac Yankem action figure for San Diego Comic Con. FINALLY! The legend will be immortalized!

The Young Bucks discussed WWE and more. Here are highlights:
- I'm not shocked at all they ignored their scheduled time cue. That's a dangerous mentality. They're over enough to get away with just about anything, unfortunately.

- The Bucks and Meltzer are obviously really close. There are definitely questions of how that affects his coverage of them and others he's close to, although it's not like the perception of playing favorites is just limited to wrestling journalists.

- The remarks about Barnett getting himself over were really ironic considering the source. I have the same criticism for announcers and wrestlers getting what they want over instead of what the promoter is using them to get over. The inmates definitely run the asylum more than they used to.

- They're definitely doing really well outside of WWE. If they feel like they need to work new opponents or something, we could see them go there and be more cogs in the machine. HHH would give them plenty of leeway (for better or worse), but I wouldn't expect them to get the kind of clout they get now where they can go over their time cue.

Austin Aries promoted his book, veganism, and more. He's getting some nice press for it.

Velvet Sky clarified her status as a wrestler. If she can still work in some convention appearances and the like to pick up some extra income, good for her!

Impact drew 345,000 viewers for the first show after Slammiversary. That's the highest audience in eight months, and higher than either Delete or Decay or Total Nonstop Deletion. We'll see how much of that audience sticks around for what's ahead.

Dixie Carter will be on WWE Network Monday night as part of the Kurt Angle special. WWE advertised her without referring to her former company. It's a surprise to see her featured, although it makes sense to feature her given her relationship with Angle. I can see this opening the door to WWE interviewing her for further projects on GFW alumni, and potentially even something bigger.

Johnny Gargano will return on this week's NXT. Ciampa will be missing some serious time, but I assume they'll plug Johnny back into things in some place. I'm interested to see what they'll do with him.

Ric Flair is now selling officially licensed replica robes. Certainly it's not quite as majestic as the real thing, but that's still pretty cool.

Austin Aries has been released by WWE in a pretty shocking move. Aries is absolutely one of the most talented wrestlers of his time, and could have been used in an important role on Raw or Smackdown. He'll be a big loss for 205 Live and whatever WWE's future plans are for the brand.

- Aries asked for his release. I assume he wanted bigger opportunities than he was getting and decided the money wasn't worth the lack of spotlight. So, maybe he'll end up working somewhere else that will use him more prominently. Time will tell.

AJ Styles won the United States Championship from Kevin Owens in Madison Square Garden in a surprise move. I assume we'll see a rematch at Battleground. This definitely shook things up and got people talking. It's good to do that every once in a while, and MSG was probably the right place to do it.

Braun Strowman made an unannounced run-in after Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt to conclude the MSG event. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns eventually ran the former Wyatt brethren off. This was a big event, with Smackdown and Raw matches on the card.

Raw will return to MSG for a live event on December 26. WWE holds the venue in really high regard.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. He had an Apollo Creed-esque gimmick in TNA, as indicated.

2. I don't think everything's been cleared for Sinclair to purchase Tribune yet. It's a complicated process. We'll see what happens as far as WGN America goes, as there was speculation they'd end up on a rebranded Tennis Channel when Sinclair bought that asset, but that never materialized. I would definitely expect ROH to hit local Tribune affiliates if/when the deal goes through, though.

3. Tough to argue with Bryan vs. HHH. It was a really special moment.

Nothing to really add to 4.

5. Liger is still a big celebrity in Japan. He'll apparently be part of a game show there at some point.

More wrestling tomorrow.