More NXT shows set, Impact gets new top executives, members of Impact management and creative leaving, update on Impact creative, Interviews with DiBiase, Sr./Ware, WWE Tribute note, Impact talent changeover continuing, Raw audience, Rock honored, Bret sues doctor for surgery, and Questions on the NXT title picture, the WM34 main event, Vince discussing NXT with HHH, and when talents show up for TV

NXT has announced live events leading to Royal Rumble weekend. There will be shows on January 25 in New York and January 26 in New Jersey.

Impact Wrestling has named Don Callis and Scott D'Amore executive vice presidents, reporting to Ed Nordholm. Impact had tried to get Callis to join in November, but had to wait for him to be contractually available. D'Amore had moved into being a valuable part of management in Jeff Jarrett's absence, so this gives him an official job title reflecting that.

- Callis will begin on January 1. He intends to remain doing English commentary for NJPW. The company had been looking to replace him, but now it appears he'll be staying. It's entirely possible we'll see Callis on-screen for Impact at their January tapings in some capacity.

- John "Big" Gaburick will leave Impact once the new executives are in place. He had already been looking to move to outside projects, but Jeff Jarrett's departure led to him taking more of a role behind-the-scenes as Impact transitioned to this new management regime.

- Dutch Mantel is also expected to be done with the company at the end of the year. He wasn't at the Ottawa tapings, following Jeff Jarrett's departure.

- Sonjay Dutt, Jeremy Borash, Jimmy Jacobs, Gail Kim, and Abyss will work as producers and help on the creative end, with D'Amore, Callis, and Nordholm making final decisions.

- Impact will continue to do production out of Tennessee, and Bob Ryder will work from home following the main Impact office closing.

Enzo Amore and Kalisto left for WWE's Middle Eastern tour after Raw, so they weren't available for 205 Live.

Ted DiBiase, Sr. and Koko B. Ware talked on Cerrito Live, with Koko discussing Kamala's health.

NXT talents joined Raw and Smackdown stars at the Tribute to the Troops event Tuesday.

Impact expects further talent departures as they move toward January's TV taping. The company will continue recruiting Canadian talents to fill those gaps. I think that's largely a financial direction in the sense of moving away from expensive contracted talents toward lower deals for new talents coming in. I'm sure there are other promotions that would be willing to offer some of those exiting names deals. Pop has committed to airing Impact through the end of 2018, so there's presumably not much concern regarding audience numbers dropping when those names leave.

Raw drew 2.81 million viewers on Monday, a jump from the previous week.

The Rock will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 13 in reflection of his work in movies. He's absolutely an icon in American entertainment.

Bret Hart is filing a lawsuit regarding a 2015 wrist surgery that left him with pain and less mobility in his index figure and thumb. That's an unfortunate situation; I hope he's able to get better treatment when this is over.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It's going to be tough to protect Almas without halting Cole's momentum. Had Drew retained, I think I would have had him drop it to Cole during WM34 weekend (in a rematch from Rumble weekend), while Fish and O'Reilly probably would have won their title during Rumble weekend and retained in New Orleans. Almas as champion really throws things out of orbit, because he could easily be overshadowed by Cole as a heel and it wouldn't make sense for him to be a face after all that work done.

2. Black or Kassius. I like Johnny, but I don't see him as a Takeover headliner like those two.

3. No, nor should it. Brock vs. Roman is a much bigger deal for WWE than facing off two people who have only been on the main roster as long as Nakamura and AJ have.

4. The two sides definitely talk about the talent there. Vince pretty much lets Triple H do what he wants with NXT, which is what leads to issues when a talent has been doing things one way in that system, then get called up to try to fit in with how Vince wants things. It's bizarre to have "developmental" have a completely different goal and approach than the main shows.

5. I always find it hilarious on WWE TV when a talent "arrives" while the show is going on, despite the rest of the roster and all the fans already being there. How unprofessional!

More wrestling tomorrow.