WWE has extended their TV deal in Malaysia, which includes WWE Network as a premium cable service. Stockholders will like that news.
Alberto El Patron did local media to promote Impact's tapings this week. He's showing some serious dedication to the company.
Kenny Omega discussed his recent feud with Chris Jericho on Jericho's podcast. Omega's star is really rising.
Chris Jericho is teasing further NJPW appearances, drawing comparisons to Brock Lesnar's role in WWE. That could really be something big and fresh for both sides.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon commented on Rich Swann's WWE status. The fact outside news agencies are asking about that is why WWE has to treat such cases so seriously.
- The two executives also discussed deliberately avoiding showcasing political figures in WWE programming. That's a smart move from a public relations perspective. They could absolutely have done some great work with characters playing off current events, but it would drive away some audiences they're trying to court.
- Triple H later addressed Daniel Bryan not being cleared to return to the ring. It will be interesting to see what Bryan's future holds as a wrestler. He'll almost certainly wrestle outside of WWE by the end of the year.
- Triple H was seen with Ronda Rousey while in town, leading to further speculation of Rousey heading to WWE.
Beth Phoenix was backstage at Smackdown.
Becky Lynch promoted an upcoming Smackdown live event in Texas.
Eric Bischoff will be part of Raw 25. That's really cool. Maybe he'll go into the WWE Hall of Fame this year as well? Also, I wonder if Vince McMahon would have attended a 25th anniversary edition of Nitro.
Impact Wrestling has returned to using a four-sided ring. We'll see how things go without one of their unique selling points. It's unknown who made the call to change the ring.
Big E will team with Carmella in the Mixed Match Challenge, as he won the fan vote among New Day. WWE has done a great job spacing reveals out to keep the show in the news regularly.
Matt Hardy met Anthem's Ed Nordholm while each man traveled for his respective company. It looks like that hatchet is buried. That's truly great news, as the battle over the Broken gimmick got quite heated.
- This picture was reportedly from
a recent meeting between the two sides where they settled their issues.
I hope it's all behind everyone now.
Cody and the Young Bucks have begun promoting their self-financed independent show for September 1. Kenny Omega, Adam Page, and Stephen Amell have all been announced. The venue will be revealed soon. This is going to be a big milestone for the American independent scene.
Independent wrestling booker Brad Stutts is moving on from the business in order to spend time with his family. I wish them all well.
House of Hardcore's Dan Barry is looking to retire in February 2019. I hope HOH can thrive without him.
Raymond Rowe's January 19 appearance for Absolute Intense Wrestling will be his last. He and
Hanson should be joining NXT shortly. I'm glad they're getting to work on a bigger stage.
Gabe Sapolsky will be officially joining WWE as a consultant after signing a contract. He will retain his responsibilities at WWN and EVOLVE, continuing WWE's relationship with those brands. He could be pretty valuable as an emissary for future NXT workers.
Smackdown drew 2.60 million viewers Tuesday, down from 2.72 million last week. That's a notable drop, but not really out of its normal range.
Impact Wrestling's first night back in Orlando was well received by those backstage. That's good. We'll see how the latest reboot goes.
Impact management had a meeting with talent before the first taping, where talent were able to ask questions of the new team. This was said to have gone pretty well. I'm glad everything's starting off well for this regime.
Sonjay Dutt is not at this week's Impact tapings due to his injury. Tommy Dreamer is working in his place. I assume that's a temporary thing, but it would be great if Impact could work with House of Hardcore.
Impact has a new referee, former WWE official Marc Harris. Whether he'll just work the Orlando tapings remains to be seen.
Kiera Hogan is working this week's Impact tapings. She had been signed some time ago, but had yet to be used. Impact can be frustrating for reasons like this.
A number of Team Vision Dojo talents are working this week's Impacts tapings. They tweeted out some spoilers involving their associates. It sounds like things are being freshened up again on the roster standpoint.
Moose suffered some kind of knee injury during Wednesday's Impact taping, but it is currently unclear exactly what it was. More as it comes out.
Impact has signed a deal with Twitch to make content for that service. That could be a positive move for them.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Because, as in real sports, eventually older talents can't hang with their younger counterparts, leading to them taking losses. And, yes, it helps the younger talent's career along to be able to beat someone with such an impressive resume.
1. Because, as in real sports, eventually older talents can't hang with their younger counterparts, leading to them taking losses. And, yes, it helps the younger talent's career along to be able to beat someone with such an impressive resume.
2. It will depend on how they fill those other spots. I wouldn't be shocked to see some Mae Young Classic wrestlers brought back for the opportunity. This is a really big milestone for women in wrestling. It makes sense wrestlers from all over everywhere will want to get a shot at a Wrestlemania payday.
3. I expect they'll make her another offer if/when she gets in a position to where she can pass all relevant exams.
4. Those live events are often to some degree practice for TV matches as far as getting experience working with other superstars.
5. I assume he'll at least come back and challenge for it. Then lose to Roode and go back to complaining about fans not taking him seriously before jobbing in either the Andre battle royal or a clustermess ladder match for the U.S. Title at Mania.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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