- EC3 vs. Jose:
Fine enough work here.
Solid for the time it had. Obviously EC3 in particular can do more than this.
- Natalya/Dana vs. Tamina/Logan:
If anyone was wondering if the Riott Squad splitting was going to mean Sarah and Liv getting fresh looks as singles stars, clearly that's not the case. I wasn't a huge fan of them, but I'd rather see them continue as a group than disappear. Sarah and Liv aren't going to become more valuable without opportunities to show what they can do.
OK enough. I'm ready for some fresh names being shown in this division.
Impact Wrestling's most recent episode didn't air on Pursuit as planned. Instead, Pursuit aired the previous week's episode. Twitch aired the correct episode, so the problem was on Pursuit's end.
- Impact staff have been disappointed in Pursuit's treatment of the series, with the channel being slow to respond to Impact's concerns. It's telling how much of a situation Impact finds themselves in as far as finding a new TV home that they're staying with Pursuit despite regular issues there. The company is really behind the eight ball right now.
- Impact immediately put the episode up on Impact Plus. There's no indication Pursuit will make up the missed show.
NJPW did an angle between Chris Jericho and Kazuchika Okada at the pre-Dominion press conference. More on that show in tomorrow's news post.
Reggie "Da Crusher" Lisowski's statue was revealed this weekend.
"Table for 3" with The Riott Squad will air after Raw. I hope that's not the last we see of those three, especially Ruby.
WWE had six NCAA athletes at a tryout in Florida.
Ali announced his Super ShowDown pay will be donated to a clean water charity. That's a very selfless act.
Impact's post-Slammiversary episode will be more of a documentary-style look at that event rather than a full-on episode, as there won't be another TV taping until July 19 and July 20. I guess logistically they just wanted to do the PPV there. It's a risk trying to play off the G1 Climax audience in the area.
Don Callis wasn't at the Impact/House of Hardcore special, as he went to Japan to call NJPW Dominion. Scott D'Amore took over for him on commentary, and D'Lo Brown and Tommy Dreamer took on additional backstage responsibilities.
Impact and House of Hardcore's Saturday special was visited by The Blue Meanie, Roadkill, and Bull James as well as former ECW director Ron Buffone.
- Jerry Lynn and Billy Gunn did not make the event. Gunn had transportation issues.
Beth Phoenix, Edge, and Becky Lynch were involved in the latest Twitter "shoot" angle (referencing Lita, writers, and ratings among other things), so it looks like Becky vs. Beth is on the way. I believe this is a Paul Heyman direction, which explains why everyone's curiously silent on how cringeworthy it is. People are talking about it, but it doesn't seem to be increasing ratings, which should be the goal, right? Becky vs. Beth could be interesting, but there's got to be a better way to get to it.
Finn Balor recognized Pride Month in Saudi Arabia, which is notoriously strict about homosexuality. That was definitely bold.
Dana White discussed Brock Lesnar not returning to UFC, confirming WWE made Brock a better offer to remain with them. The article is understandably skeptical of Lesnar being retired from fighting.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I expect there's going to continue to be the temptation for WWE to turn to older stars on high-paying stadium shows to make them feel suitably major. With that much money on the line, few talents will say no as long as they continue to be cleared to work such shows. In this case, it's worth noting Goldberg got knocked loopy early in the match. Had that not happened, things likely wouldn't have been as rough.
2. In certain cases, yes. I definitely worried about Goldberg in that match, and obviously Undertaker's not in his prime, either.
3. I think it's a fun change from what we usually see on WWE TV. We're not supposed to take it seriously. It's all a TV show to WWE, remember!
4. Not that I'm aware of, although one would think there'd be an option to do that through Warner. It's likely a matter of whether they think it would be a big enough seller months after the event airs. Right now they're more focused on figuring out how the TV deal will work out, which is a much bigger priority.
5. WWE made the call to treat women's wrestling more seriously, hiring more women and putting a bigger emphasis on their in-ring abilities. Part of this move was to try to increase the number of women watching the product.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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