NJPW announces U.S. dates, podcast notes, NXT UK star gets magazine cover, Impact WM35 event moved, NYC signing, WWE shifts comic convention lineup, Dolph standup tour, CZW event notes, Omega marathon coming, more on PCO missing HOH, another Punk-Cabana lawsuit, new TLC match, SDL match announced, NXT live events set, first WWEPC tryout names, more on Finn's absence, NXT injury, Rhyno update, and Questions on low WWE TV attendance, why Vince does the Wellness Policy, WWF without Hogan, AJ protecting himself, and The Club vs. UE

NJPW has announced U.S. shows on January 30 in California and February 1 in North Carolina. These cards will have wrestlers not on the February 2 and February 3 Japanese cards. That's another big move for the company, with some serious travel between the two days.

Charly Caruso is on Lilian Garcia's latest podcast.

NXT UK's Joe Coffey is on Muscle & Fitness. That's a big moment for him and the brand.

Impact and House of Glory's Culture Clash 19 has been moved to Saturday, April 6, so it's not going against Takeover:New York.

Joey Janela and Matt Striker had a free signing in New York City.

Tony Schiavone talked to Jason Solomon about commentary and more.

Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair have pulled out of ACE Comic Con. Becky Lynch will be replacing Charlotte, which is perfect. I don't know what that means, if anything, for Roman's treatment.

Dolph Ziggler announced a comedy tour. I don't blame him for pursuing other endeavors for when the day comes when he's not getting paid to take bumps.

At Cage of Death 20:
- The first intermission was due to CZW officials meeting with local officials to approve certain spots.

- Atsushi Onita's spot going over the rails was unapproved, as no one was supposed to do that.

- Jimmy Rave worked as a producer. He's going to be both a producer and trainer going forward.

- Steve Mack was backstage, and could start working behind-the-scenes.

- CZW canceled their afternoon show due to state officials coming in later than expected.

- WSU should return in 2019.

- CZW will change its scheduling in 2019 to not run a select weekend each month.

- Bull James and Homicide were also backstage.

Kenny Omega will have a 10-hour AXS marathon December 28. He'll be a key figure in wrestling in 2019 whichever path he takes.

PCO pulling out of House of Hardcore this weekend was not an ROH decision. It's interesting he didn't work the show with ROH sending the Briscoes to the event. We'll see if there's any follow-up to that.

C.M. Punk is facing a second lawsuit from Colt Cabana after the first was thrown out due to the text messages regarding Cabana's legal fees being covered not counting as an enforceable contract. The new lawsuit adds allegations that Punk new WWE would come after him legally after Cabana's podcast, and Cabana would not have remained part of the lawsuit if it wasn't for Punk's offer of covering his legal fees.

TLC has added Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Championship. They should do great work there.

Naomi vs. Mandy Rose is set for Smackdown Live.

NXT live events have been set for:
- January 24 and January 25 in California
- February 7 in New Jersey
- February 8 in New York
- February 9 in Massachusetts
- February 10 in Rhode Island

NXT's December 12 tryouts will feature:
- Eric Spicely, former UFC middleweight fighter who has competed in New England.
- Penelope Ford, Northeastern independent star who worked both All In and NWA70.
- Courtney Lemmings, former high school volleyball player, current bodybuilder/model/actress.
- Tehuti Miles, former University of Maryland football player. He took place in a previous tryout.

Finn Balor has been pulled from Mixed Match Challenge due to an unspecified illness. He is still expected to wrestle at TLC, which is good.

Dakota Kai suffered a knee injury at an NXT show this weekend. That's unfortunate, since she's just starting to get momentum in NXT and NXT UK. Hopefully she rebounds soon.

Rhyno addressed his WWE future. I wouldn't rule out him returning as the Baron Corbin angle continues. It seems odd he'd be booked out so far in live events if he's truly wrapping up.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It was noted Raw followed an NFL game in the same market, so some fans might have chosen to go out Sunday instead of Monday. But there's definitely a larger problem of attendance being lackluster at WWE shows.

2. I can't recall anyone ever saying that about him. I think the Wellness Policy is a response to so many wrestlers passing away due to drug use. WWE doesn't want to be associated with shortened life spans due to those issues, so they're being proactive. It's absolutely a big move.

3. Whatever other options he had, I don't think any of them could have been the force Hogan was. That's not to say WWF wouldn't have still been very successful with Vince at the helm, but Hogan was a driving factor of the company becoming the force it became in the '80s.

4. He should have done so a long time ago! What does it say that he hasn't figured that out yet?

5. Possibly, but AJ, Finn, Karl, and Luke have been clearly defined at certain places on the card. It could be seen as a downgrade for AJ to work with Karl and Luke again. Ultimately it would be a matter of convincing the larger WWE Universe that these NJPW/ROH/NXT talents are worth treating seriously. I think one of the biggest problems WWE has right now is relying on fans being familiar with wrestlers' pasts and accepting them as big deals on Day One. Obviously there's a passionate fan base that's excited to see those names on a big stage, but WWE's trying to draw a wider demographic for its audience.

More wrestling tomorrow.