Total Pageviews

Saturday, July 13, 2019

WWE Network adding digital series and ECW content, Interviews with Seven/Becky/Bayley/Khan, Nikki wins Nick award, FFTF opening and new match, new ROH prospect, Summer Supercard matches set, Extreme Rules preview show note, Impact TV match set, Impact stars get married, WWE series casting, Tyrus texts released, Cage to miss more dates, new Table for 3 Monday, LAX-Impact note, Raw+NXT live event notes, and Questions on EVOLVE's Network future, Stone Cold C.M. Owens, The Elite going over, why Tessa isn't in WWE, and WWE reliving 15+ years ago

WWE Network is adding the "WWE Then and Now" series Monday.

Trent Seven is on Edge and Christian's latest podcast.

Nikki Bella won the 2019 Kids Choice Sports Award for "Queen of Swag."

AEW released the opening for Fight For The Fallen.

Becky Lynch and Bayley gave interviews on Fair Game.

ROH's Top Prospect Tournament has officially added Joe Keys.

ROH Summer Supercard has announced:
- Alex Shelley challenging for the ROH World Championship
- Nick Aldis vs. a member of Villain Enterprises for the NWA World Championship
- CMLL trios action with Caristico, Soberano, Jr., and Stuka, Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, and Templario.
- The Guerrillas of Destiny in action

Extreme Rules' WWE Now preview show will feature Baron Corbin, Lacey Evans, and Ricochet. Cathy Kelley, Mike Rome, and Kayla Braxton will host.

Fight For The Fallen's pre-show will feature Bea Priestley and Shoko Nakajima vs. Dr. Britt Baker and Riho. I'm glad to see Bea getting an opportunity like that, and I welcome something relatively untapped in the U.S. with the joshi additions.

Impact's July 19 TV taping has announced Brian Cage vs. Michael Elgin in a street fight. They'll legally be able to use Rhino by then. I mean, IF he's the guy in a mask from Slammiversary.

Brian Cage and Melissa Santos' wedding this week was attended by Joey Ryan, Sami Callihan, Rich Swann, Jake Crist, Su Yung, Kiera Hogan, Havok, and Nevaeh among others. No word of R-Truth appearing.

WWE's "Fight Like A Girl" has begun casting.

Tyrus' sexual texts to a Fox Nation colleague were picked up by Huffington Post. I'm not sure if there was a chance of him returning to the ring before this scandal, but this could obviously further hamper the odds of that.

Brian Cage has pulled out of Defy's July 26 and July 27 shows. He's working limited dates, as he's still dealing with some issues. That's tough.

WWE Network is preparing to upload ECW "supershows" that were previously released on home video.

Tony Khan discussed AEW's origins and more.

"Table for 3" after Raw will feature Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, and Shane Helms. That could really be fun.

Impact Wrestling this week featured no new matches. Notably Konnan cut a promo about LAX getting a rematch with The North, so LAX isn't totally out of the picture yet.

At Raw's July 12 live event in Maine:
- Titus O'Neil wrestled his first live event match since May 12, defeating Mojo Rawley. Titus has appeared at TV tapings since then, so this was just a case of him being involved in other things.

At NXT's July 12 live event in Florida:
- Egypt's Mohamed Fahim worked his first live event since March 1, losing to Babatunde
- Rhea Ripley worked her first live event since March 7. She has been in NXT UK since then, but missed about two months due to injury.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I'm under the impression the biggest barrier so far as been the feeling EVOLVE can't match WWE's production values, so it would look "inferior" on WWE Network. This show will use WWE production, so that's why it's able to be streamed. SO, a big indicator of whether we'll see more non-WWE content shown is if Vince will allow WWE production to be used on those occasions. Of course, the production team and their equipment are a finite resource, so that could be a barrier if WWE isn't willing to heavily invest in expanding that end of things. BUT if Vince can think providing a product with "indie" production values will get more Network subscribers on the higher tier, he could make that risk. It's all up to him making the call.

2. It's WAY too early to call that, but it looks like they're willing to give him a run with some of those traits. As for recycling being a great idea, isn't that more Daniel Bryan's gimmick?

3. I took it as a general question/concern as well. Honestly even if/when they lose, if they're still in prominent positions on the card, they could still get criticism. Ask Roman Reigns and John Cena. Of course, currently fans like The Elite's work a lot more than those two, so they're willing to give them more leeway to be featured as top names.

4. It's been a running narrative that Tessa had "attitude issues" behind-the-scenes and that's why WWE didn't pick her up. Now that she's increased her profile in Impact and shown her worth, WWE will be more interested.

5. There's definitely a constant feeling of "it's not the Monday Night War Era/Ruthless Aggression Era anymore, but maybe we can squeeze another big match/run out of those names and improve business."

More wrestling tomorrow.

No comments:

Post a Comment