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Friday, March 30, 2018

Assorted wrestling hype, WWE coming to Croatian TV, Cabana's podcast returns, PWG moving from longtime home, how Rusev entered U.S. Title match, Louisiana commission updates, NJPW heading to the UK, NXT name honors retiring Japanese star, more on MLW contracts, Olympian courted by WWE, top LU name a free agent, Smackdown angle dropped, WWE seeking new hire, musical guest at WWE's South African tour, AXXESS seeking volunteers, USA airing Mania week content, more Woken merch, notable AXXESS guests, Andre premiere guests, and Questions on Corey and Nigel returning, how to have Hulk return, Haku's toughness, and GCW on the Network

Triple H promoted Ciampa vs. Gargano on NBC Sports. It's been an awesome feud.

Ronda Rousey had a sit-down interview on ESPN.

WWE will air in Croatia for the first time ever, with one-hour versions of Raw and Smackdown on broadcast TV with Croatian commentary. The episodes will also be on the channel's video-on-demand app.

Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast has returned with road stories from Japan.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is moving from their longtime venue as the American Legion Hall has been sold, and no more events will be held once the building has new owners. Their last event there will be May 25. It's expected they'll run a lot of shows in the Globe Theater going forward, but other venues will likely also see PWG events going forward.

Hulk Hogan spoke to TMZ about returning to WWE. It seems we're pretty close to him being back in some fashion, but he and WWE are likely playing down things so it would/will be a surprise if/when he does pop back up.

Rusev was "promoted" to the U.S. Title match at Wrestlemania due to his merchandise sales. That's awesome. He's earned the spot.

Louisiana's wrestling commission will allow WWE and ROH to do piledrivers and other moves that smaller promotions are exempt from doing. Exceptions will be made prior to an event if wrestlers are believed to have enough training, ability, and experience to safely do the moves. Hopefully most performers will be able to do what they normally do.

NJPW will run the UK on June 30 and July 1 for "Strong Style Evolved UK" in conjunction with Revolution Pro's promoter. Both venues use around 2,500 seats.

Kairi Sane taped a message to honor Stardom's retiring general manager. That's pretty cool.

MLW talents will be able to work Impact or NJPW when they aren't working tapings, but not WWE.

Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder is being recruited by WWE and UFC, but has stated he intends to continue focusing on amateur wrestling. He could certainly be a big deal with his credentials.

Jeff Cobb is now a free agent, finishing up his Lucha Underground duties as Matanza. It will be interesting to see where he ends up next. His LU work really put him on the map for potentially bigger bookings.

- Impact has reportedly offered him a two-year deal. That would be big for them.

Smackdown's Top 10 angle has likely been shelved. I hope there's not more where that came from.

WWE is seeking a new director of communications in charge of promoting the company, WWE Network, WWE Studios, WWE Music Brand, and talents. That's a big role.

A South African hip hop artist will be at WWE's live events there on April 20 and 21.

WWE is seeking volunteers for AXXESS. That's a big opportunity!

USA Network's "Wrestlemania Week" will feature a Wrestlemania's Greatest Moments special on Thursday, a WWE Hall of Fame special on Saturday, and the second hour of WM34's Kickoff show on Sunday. I'm a little surprised they're not showing NXT on Wednesday this time, but that doesn't directly promote WM34.

David Otunga helped his niece get a heart transplant. Glad to see that.

Chrissy Teigen won't attend Wrestlemania due to her pregnancy. I'd love to see her on WWE TV at some point, though. She can be pretty funny.

WWE is selling a "mower of lawn" shirt for Woken Matt Hardy. Wow. Just... wow. 

Notable names set for Wrestlemania AXXESS: Samoa Joe, the Dudley Boyz, Big Cass, Bray Wyatt, the Authors of Pain, Pete Dunne, Kevin Nash, the Bella Twins, Jeff Jarrett, Kane, Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix, Trish Stratus, Lita, Jason Jordan, Aleister Black, and DDP.

At the Andre the Giant documentary premiere: Triple H, Big Show, Hulk Hogan, Rey Mysterio, Jimmy Hart, Mark Henry, boxer Gennady Golovkin, Cary Elwes from "The Princess Bride," and NFL Network's Scott Hanson.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Basically it would be a matter of Corey really pushing to get back in the ring, and getting approvals from top professionals as Bryan did. I don't know if he'd want to give up his current role in order to wrestle more, as he's gotten a lot further as an announcer than he did as a wrestler.

2. I think Nigel has moved on from his in-ring days.

3. I like the idea of, say, Shane McMahon or Kurt Angle or someone bringing him back to apologize for what he did, etc. Then, once that's all been aired out, someone like Curt Hawkins can come down and tell Hogan to stop hogging the spotlight, leading to Hulk delivering his greatest hits. Or have him team with Braun against The Miztourage?

4. I'm sure some of them have grown in the retellings over the years, but he's definitely highly regarded as a tough man.

5. As always, it's a matter of how much demand WWE thinks there is for the content compared to other vintage content.

More wrestling tomorrow.

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