Sonjay Dutt is working in the Impact office after ankle surgery; he's not expected back in the ring anytime soon. I'm glad he'll still be able to contribute.
Alberto El Patron vs. Moose is set for a January 27 event in Nevada. This will likely be taped for a future episode of Impact Wrestling. That's an interesting feud idea. I'm curious how that will fit into the Global Championship picture.
WWE is looking at holding Wrestlemania 35 in the Northeast. There were plans to hold this year's show in New Jersey before New Orleans made a big pitch for the event, so that could be the destination.
WWE replaced Enzo Amore in the Mixed Match Challenge because they filmed a lot of promotional videos at Raw when he was out sick. Hopefully we still see Enzo work with Nia in the ring.
Enzo Amore discussed Neville's absence from WWE. That does sound like a really rough schedule. And, yes, Neville is an incredible athlete who works hard; wherever he wrestles next has quite the talent on their hands.
Swoggle discussed life after WWE. He had a really long run given his role, and gets quite the regular schedule now, so he's doing well. Him opening a wrestling school is an interesting choice. Certainly he didn't do a lot from a technical standpoint, but he was able to make a pretty substantial niche for himself. That's very valuable in its own right.
A book on WWE and the McMahon family's role in establishing Donald Trump as a political candidate has been released. We live in some very interesting times...
Kane has a Raw-themed shirt promoting his candidacy for mayor. That's cool. I'd pop for him doing ads in character.
The UK's Five Star Wrestling is getting a live weekly TV series there beginning February 1. Rob Van Dam, Rey Mysterio, and the former John Morrison and Jack Swagger are all attached. I really hope Hennigan wrestles as Johnny Five Star there to continue the theme. Either way, that's pretty big. Hopefully that leads to more exposure for local talents since the World of Sport show didn't get off the ground and WWE's UK project has stalled.
Pete Dunne vs. Will Ospreay is set for a January 17 event in the UK. With Dunne as WWE UK Champion and Ospreay as NJPW's junior heavyweight champion, this is the first time the two companies have had titleholders compete against each other since 1993, when neither of these competitors had been born!
The Miz will team with Asuka in the Mixed Match Challenge. I assume she walks out on him or something so he can eat the pin and she remains "undefeated." I'd be a little surprised if they won.
Raw has a live event in Chicago on March 3.
Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks, and Titus O'Neil visited the National Civil Rights Museum before Raw. That's great!
Melina, Eve Torres, and Kelly Kelly were on Lilian Garcia's latest podcast to discuss the upcoming women's Royal Rumble and more. It's good to see such excitement for the milestone.
NXT will tour Ontario from February 22 through February 25.
Cedric Alexander promoted an upcoming 205 Live show with a local newspaper. We'll see how well those events do. I don't have high hopes.
Kurt Angle will be signing at January 20's World of Wheels convention in Pennsylvania.
The Miz and Maryse's reality show has been confirmed for USA Network. The original pitch included Dolph Ziggler and Ryan Cabrera, but they're not listed in the press release. It could be that USA wants to see how well the show does with just Miz and Maryse before adding any other significant cast members.
WWE is interested in signing Serena Deeb to a new deal, with speculation she's already undergoing medical testing ahead of a contract offer. It would be good to have another veteran face on the roster.
John Cena is advertised for every episode of Raw from Royal Rumble to Wrestlemania. It appears he'll be feuding with Samoa Joe soon. I'm looking forward to that one. They've GOT to acknowledge the two of them starting out training together.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. WWE could sell a lot of ads on the mat, the LEDs, the barricades, etc., but Vince sees it as distracting. That could change a bit when he's not in charge, but for now, no ads in the ring.
1. WWE could sell a lot of ads on the mat, the LEDs, the barricades, etc., but Vince sees it as distracting. That could change a bit when he's not in charge, but for now, no ads in the ring.
Nothing too add to 2.
3. Steamboat vs. Savage laid the foundation for a lot of what we see today, and a lot of stars in the years after it used it as an inspiration. Certainly the bar has been raised since then, but for its time, it was definitely something special.
4. My only concern is the inexperience of any female commentators. Doing commentary for a pre-taped WWE Network product is one thing; the Royal Rumble is MUCH bigger. So, while I hope we do get to the point where we can have regular female commentators, it's a big risk to have a team of three green commentators, male or female, call a match that's that complicated and that major.
5. Because now WWE has to write a lot more TV with a lot more characters for a much broader audience. The whole thing is a very top-down process with a lot of writers instead of a handful of people putting segments together and letting the talent wing it. There's also something to say about the same people making the call of what the show will be like for decades now. That will make things stale and formulaic, too. They have a vision of what each segment should be like, and they don't want to risk too much content not fitting into that mold.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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