- Beth Phoenix, the first female inducted into the Hall.
- Bruno Sammartino
- Thunderbolt Patterson (Lou Thesz World Heavyweight Championship Award)
- Sgt. Slaughter (Frank Gotch Award)
- Brian Shields (Jim Melby Award)
- Daniel Cormier (George Tragos Award)
-- Phoenix, Patterson, Slaughter, and Shields will all accept their inductions in person. Cormier will be busy training that weekend. Guests include Sheamus, Natalya, Gerry Brisco, Jim Ross, JJ Dillion, B. Brian Blair, Rob Schamberger, Victoria, Ultimo Dragon, Brian Pillman, Jr., Wes Brisco, Eugene, and Wade Keller.
-- Gerry Brisco will hold a talent evaluation that weekend, open to all wrestlers. That's great!
Simon Dean/Nova is on Tommy Dreamer's latest podcast. I miss characters like Dean.
Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer on Friday is being advertised as their last encounter.
They fought one-on-one in 2010, 2013, and 2016, so I give it until 2022 until they compete against each other again.
Jordynne Grace was sought by the NWA before Impact signed her. She really made the most of her free agency.
WWE Network no longer being a Windows 10 app got press.
Elias promoted Smackdown Live. I guess he doesn't travel with his guitar?
AEW released Hangman Page vs. PAC from WrestleGate this weekend.
NWA released video of The Briscoes attacking Colt Cabana ahead of Mark challenging Colt for the NWA National Championship at ROH's June 1 TV taping.
WWE is looking to change the third hour of Raw in order to increase ratings. That could be a good time to experiment with things they wouldn't otherwise do.
Mick Foley discussed the lackluster reaction to WWE's 24/7 Championship. There were definitely fans who wanted the Hardcore Title back, and the physical championship itself is very underwhelming visually.
- Waffle House commented on the WWE 24/7 Championship design. It definitely looks like it'd be hanging in a restaurant.
Impact's June 6 and June 7 TV tapings are featuring discounted tickets on Groupon. General admission tickets went from more than $35 a night to $29 for both nights. Yikes.
Raw drew 2.52 million viewers for the show after Money in the Bank.
Ric Flair's roast will be performed at a later date. Starrcast is refunding tickets to those who paid for meet-and-greets.
AJ Styles discussed moving to Raw and more:
- Yeah AJ probably put more thought into the Wild Card Rule than Vince did.
- I don't see a Club reunion happening as long as Luke and Karl aren't signing new deals. I wouldn't want AJ to be pulled down by stars of lesser importance anyway.
- I like the idea of the indies not trying to compete with WWE. If fans want WWE-like content, there's plenty of it out there. Indies can create something unique to themselves.
- Hmmm... can AJ become a top mainstream name?
- I can't say I'm shocked this is AJ's last contract. He's got a family to raise.
Ric Flair is still advertised for a May 31 event in Illinois.
"The Wrestlers" got a new trailer. That looks pretty incredible!
Before Smackdown Live, Heavy Machinery defeated Jinder Mahal and Shelton Benjamin. That match could very well feature four future 24/7 Champions.
Former WWE star Tye Dillinger has entered Double or Nothing's Casino Battle Royale as Shawn Spears. I think he can get some good work there.
Cody's trademarks for Bash at the Beach and Dusty Rhodes were refused due to potential confusion with WWE's "The Bash" trademark and the "Dustin Rhodes" trademark the former Goldust owns. I expect the latter will go through.
WWE's Garza, Jr. trademark was refused due to the last name being too common for anyone to trademark. WWE could change his name as a result.
Starrcast II has added:
- An Owen Hart panel headed by Jim Ross
- A Ron Funches' comedy show
- A "Ready to Rumble" Watch Along with David Arquette, Tony Schiavone, Hurricane Helms (!), and "surprise guests."
-- The convention has definitely come up with many unique attractions
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I fully expect Vince moves on to working on the next show as soon as the previous one's done, and, of course, he believes he's doing what's best for the WWE audience.
2. It hasn't been challenged in court that I'm aware of. WWE definitely doesn't want to release an injured wrestler, to where they have to worry about medical bills while they're not working.
3. If AEW gets a regular, sizable audience in the same league as WWE's, it will definitely present a strong case for WWE to change things.
4. They definitely track those numbers. WWE heavily pushes their social media numbers as the TV audience declines.
5. There are a decent number of talents who are just filling space "until WWE comes up with something for them to do" and/or working with newer/younger talents on the road to improve those wrestlers' skills. Of course they also fill up the occasional battle royal and are available if WWE has a string of injuries/releases/retirements. WWE would rather have a big roster and not need it than need a big roster and not have it. It could also be bad for morale if they did a "spring cleaning" - some of those names have given years to WWE and aren't really going to get a lot of work outside of the company. And, perhaps most importantly, WWE has enough money to pretty much do whatever they want talent-wise.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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