Interviews with Van Ness/Alberto/Owens/Charlotte, Kendrick injury update, assorted wrestling press, WWE Middle Eastern signing gets press, big ROH sale, Raw audience, another big Impact backstage departure, top WWE female hurt, another Brock match set, Smackdown name returns, and Questions on Vince buying into the NFL, XFL motivations, Bryan toning it down, NXT talents facing Ziggler, and Joe's towel attendant tweet

Laurel Van Ness promoted Impact's January tapings:
- Tough Enough definitely opened doors for her. She didn't win a contract, but she hustled and made the most of her exposure. I respect that immensely.

- Van Ness has taken her character and run with it. She didn't get an opportunity in WWE, but I'm glad she's making the most of the one she has now.

- The last word was that she was going to get her release after dropping the title at the upcoming tapings. Things could change once they get to Orlando, though.

Alberto El Patron talked about redeeming himself:
- I give Alberto a lot of credit for his recent charity work.

- I'm glad he realizes the responsibility of being the public face of Impact.

- Alberto has an amazing resume. Impact's lucky to have someone with his star caliber when he can stay on the rails.

- I'm very curious what the rest of his career looks like, inside and outside of Impact.

Brian Kendrick will not need surgery after his injury on Raw. I hope he's safe to continue working soon.

WWE gave Jimmy Fallon press for being at Raw's Madison Square Garden show.

Hulk Hogan, Sting, Eric Bischoff, and Jimmy Hart are set for a January 15 convention in Arizona.

Kevin Nash and Josh Barnett are on Jim Ross' latest podcast.

Frankie Kazarian is on Chris Jericho's latest podcast.

Kevin Owens promoted Smackdown's live event in Michigan:
- I think the days of mostly cheers or mostly boos for a top name are over. The audience is very split now with WWE trying to appeal to all demographics.

- Owens vs. HBK would have been great.

Charlotte Flair promoted "Second Nature." I'm fairly sure Ric would get back in the ring if someone would let him, unless he can't from a health perspective.

WWE signing Shadia Bseiso got press:
- I'm excited to see how she does given her background.

- I'm definitely supportive of WWE trying to appeal to audiences they haven't reached well in the past.

- I really hope her gimmick isn't just "Middle Eastern wrestler who's a progressive icon as a face and a dastardly foreigner as a heel." Ideally, her character won't be dependent on her heritage.

ROH is running a big fan appreciation sale, with 35% off select merchandise. I'd think 2017 was a pretty good year for them, business-wise.

Raw drew 2.70 million viewers on Christmas Day. That's not a bad drop at all.

Impact has released their ring and transportation manager. Bob Rosen had been with the company for 13 years, in charge of supervising their ring crew, constructing their rings, driving the rings to each event, overseeing security, and various other logistical roles. To say he was heavily involved in the backstage end of the company is an understatement. It's not going to be easy to replace someone with that many responsibilities there.

Paige was walked backstage during Raw's live event in New York following taking a big kick from Sasha Banks after turning her back to Banks. The match was immediately stopped as officials tended to Paige, and a stretcher was brought to ringside. I hope she doesn't miss much time after finally returning in such a grand fashion.

Brock Lesnar will face Kane the night before Royal Rumble in their first-ever meeting.

Becky Lynch returned to action at a Smackdown live event in Michigan, teaming with Naomi in a loss to Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan. The Miz went straight to the USO tour, so he hasn't been back on WWE TV yet.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Vince doesn't seem like the type who would want to just be one part of someone else's league. I'd be surprised if he went that route.

2. I think Vince sees the NFL's ratings woes and thinks now's the time to finally take them on. This could definitely be Vince's last venture of this size, but he's going to remain in WWE as long as he can, too. He's not going away.

3. I could see WWE trying to get Bryan on-board with something less high-impact, but Bryan doesn't have much incentive to cooperate. What are they going to do, fire him? He already wants to be fired! He'll just go to the indies as an even bigger star.

4. Those matches were designed to showcase what Roode and Nakamura can do in the ring against a former world champion who can make them look like a million bucks. Winning in three minutes would have been something of a waste given how much we know Roode and Nakamura are capable of. Fans would have complained that "we didn't get much of a match." So, WWE was in a no-win situation.

5. I think Joe would have said the same thing if he had a male partner. It fits with him being arrogant enough to want to do it all himself, etc.

More wrestling tomorrow.