Main Event Reax - 8/18/17, Interviews with Cornette/Bryan/Mahal/Ziggler/Styles/CFO$, a lot of WWE press, Rock does WWE 2K18 music, Southpaw Season 2 released, GFW audience, WWE-Trump association under fire, NXT DVD preview, and Questions on Raw vs. MNF, more vintage Network content, Elgin-WWE, and the state of women's wrestling

-- Main Event:
This is like the Summerslam pre-pre-show.

- Kalisto vs. Hawkins:
Good start to things. Easy to tell who's a heel right out of the gate.

Good back-and-forth. 

Kalisto's nice and flashy.

Hitting your head on the turnbuckle like that is BRUTAL. 

Definitely didn't expect a split-legged moonsault from Hawkins. His role here is to try to ground Kalisto.

All this springboarding!!

That was pretty good.

- Ariya/Gulak vs. Lince/Metalik:
This is clearly the lucha episode.

I like the tandem offense from the luchadores.

Gulak's pretty smooth. 

Man, Metalik giving Kalisto's flashiness a run for its money.

Using a luchador's mask is such a dick move.

I don't think I've ever seen an inverted sharpshooter. That was interesting.

I like using the ref to get in a cheap shot.

NICE double cutter.

That was a good ending sequence!
 
Jim Cornette discussed appearing for GFW, saying he won't be an exclusive, full-time part of the roster and was contracted by Anthem to be an on-screen character. It's interesting he worked something out with Anthem instead of GFW itself. Do they not know this man's history??? He's a compelling on-screen character, though, and people are talking about him. He has that in his favor.

Daniel Bryan was on Edge & Christian's podcast, discussing a potential return to the ring and more. I'm thinking it's more and more likely he'll be in a wrestling ring by the end of 2018/start of 2019. He could even be in the Tokyo Dome to start 2019.

Jinder Mahal talked about coming back to WWE and more. I'm very interested to see what they do with his match with Shinsuke at Summerslam.

USA Today spotlighted non-WWE names coming into main eventing WWE. There has absolutely been a big change in the roster in the last few years. I'd even say we're in a new "era" since HHH has taken over talent development.

Braun Strowman and Sasha Banks were at the New York Stock Exchange Friday. WWE gets a LOT of press opportunities in New York City.

The Hardys, Carmella, and Curt Hawkins were at a New York Mets home game. They took part in batting practice.

WWE and Mark Henry were part of a veteran career panel in New York City. Veterans are very important to the company.

The Rock is curating the soundtrack for WWE 2K18. That's pretty cool. I'm glad he's back working on WWE projects after so many years distancing himself from wrestling.

Southpaw Regional Wrestling Season 2 has been released, along with a lot of related merchandise. YYYYYEEEESSSSSSS. This is amazing.

Dolph Ziggler discussed his summer. I'd like to see him feud with Luke Harper since neither man's doing anything right now.

Destination X drew 320,000 viewers, a pretty good jump from the previous week's episode. GFW made the most of their opportunity as far as making changes and putting forth fresh faces.

Jinder Mahal set big goals for himself as WWE Champion. I like that motivation. I hope he's a long-term success for the company.

USA Network promoted WWE's shows from Brooklyn. It's going to be an important week for the company.

AJ Styles talked about a number of projects. I'm glad he's adapting to WWE so well.

USA Today looked back at Kevin Owens and AJ Styles wrestling each other in PWG. I'm sure more PWG names will be on WWE PPVs in the years to come!

Triple H put Asuka over in another USA Today piece. NXT being at that level is cool.

CFO$ discussed making WWE music and more. Pretty cool to see the big process involved. As much of a legend as Jim Johnston is, I'm glad there's some new blood in there, too, given the sheer amount of superstars who need music.

Baron Corbin talked in the UK. I hope he doesn't get lost in the shuffle at Summerslam.

The New York Times profiled Jinder Mahal. He's getting some serious mainstream publicity.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were on Jimmy Fallon's show.  I'd be fine with him being Pedigreed.

Protestors are asking WWE to remove Donald Trump from their Hall of Fame due to his recent comments. Looks like we're now officially at the point WWE's association with the president is getting them backlash. People are hotly divided over Trump, and I think WWE's going to get heat from some fans either way they decide to go on the issue.

Wrestling DVD Network looked at the lineup for NXT's November DVD.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm sure Raw will take a hit from the NFL season. The size of that hit will depend on how important the game is that week and how many fans decide they've had their fill of WWE content.

2. It's entirely possible I've said everything from ECW is on the Network. I appreciate the correction. If vintage ECW content draws a large audience on the Network, I think WWE will move to get further footage of the promotion online.

3. I don't know how big of a draw the remaining vintage content will be. I think Thunder might add viewers and maybe Heat, but their problems are a lot bigger than what's in their vault. They need to make less content mean more, as they're not seeing the kind of growth that justifies the expense of some of their important projects.

4. It could be that NJPW got to him first. He's definitely someone they should be interested in.

5. If ten is its full potential, I'm thinking about an 8.25. ROH in particular still has work to do. Things have definitely improved in the past few years, though, and I expect that to continue.

More wrestling tomorrow.