Punk to appear at FCW, Angle interview, more news on Sin Cara cover, note on Lesnar-WWE, Crimson talks Goldberg, Gunner gets a t-shirt, Questions on the dangers of bleeding, PG Cell matches, ROH's ring, and Punk/Del Rio, WWE live event site returns, Jericho in talks with WWE, Morrison update, UK Diva hopeful profiled, Aussie ratings, Young addresses suspension, WWE Network updates, new names for WWE '12, Foley on PBS, Edge DVD update, negative feedback to Hogan appearance, Kanyon book update, TNA auctions, Punk interview, HBK e-book, Smackdown rating, empty WWE locker room, Sting talks BFG, ex-WWE and TNA star getting a tryout as a WWE agent, and TNA to stream pre-show on Facebook

C.M. Punk will make a special appearance at an FCW event on 10/21 as part of a meet-and-greet before the show. Also appearing from the main roster will be Mason Ryan, Jinder Mahal, Ricardo Rodriguez, and Kaitlyn. Some of those names alternate between appearing/wrestling down there and with the main roster. Ditto for a couple of others who aren't advertised.

Kurt Angle gave an interview to promote Bound For Glory. He's been the gift that keeps on giving lately. There's putting over the younger stars, and then there's saying Bobby Roode is as good as Michaels, Benoit, Guerrero, and HHH. Come on now. He's been impressive lately, but that's overkill. Taking shots at Hogan/Sting's a bit bizarre since that's supposed to be the marquee match of the card. I agree with a lot of what he said about elevating newer talents. Plenty of stop-start booking in TNA. Amazing Red's not even there anymore, so they don't really "have" him (and I don't see him being near Mysterio's level. Mysterio is better with ring psychology and looks like a realistic threat against main eventers). It takes time for new talent to break through. I'm not as sure as he is that the current crop of TNA stars can compete with WWE ratings-wise. That being said, they need to utilize their older stars in roles to help those younger guys grow into roles where the audience WILL want to see them on a mainstream level.

The Sin Cara-cover edition of WWE '12 will be sold at retail in Mexico, with the cover also available for download elsewhere. Cool enough.

An interesting note to point out about Brock Lesnar appearing in WWE '12 is that both WWE's and UFC's games are made by THQ. That likely had something to do with the deal.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news and PWInsider.com questions. First up, what does Crimson think about being compared to Goldberg?
Crimson discussed the comparisons made about his push in TNA and that of Goldberg in a recent interview. Pretty much anyone who gets an undefeated streak is going to be compared to Goldberg, sadly. It happened with Samoa Joe to some degree as well. In a similar vein, a lot of factions get compared to the nWo. Sometimes there's some truth to the associations, but a lot of times people just jump on something or someone for "copying" something or someone else before giving it a chance. Everything's influenced by something else to some degree. Some things are similar. This isn't cause for as much negativity as it generates.

Gunner now has a t-shirt for sale by TNA, further solidifying that they're behind him. I'm actually somewhat impressed by him, and think he's someone to watch in the future.

On to my take on PWInsider.com's questions:
Nothing to add to 1. As for 2, yes. As lots of hardcore gimmicks and bleeding came to be the cool way to wrestle in some places, I became and still am increasingly concerned about the lengths wrestlers will go to get a reaction. At some point, it stops being "bleeding to enhance a feud" and just devolves into people trying to injure themselves more than the people in the match before them. Why learn how to tell a good story when you can just beat the crap out of each other with crazy weapons?

3. I'm actually rather surprised that they didn't attack the company's PG direction with their answer. They had the perfect set-up. Anyway, I agree that the Cell should be reserved for big feud-ending matches and that's when weapons should be used and such. I think blood CAN add to that kind of match. When used strategically (i.e. not every night), blood can add to storylines and feuds. But, it's not absolutely necessary to tell a solid story. It's just a tool (some would say crutch) that can be used. If workers are good enough, they can get on well enough without it. And I think everyone did a good job at the show despite the lack of blood.

4. I was actually under the impression that the ring was smaller than WWE's.

5. I think a Punk/Del Rio feud would be pretty awesome based on workrate alone. I'm glad WWE's behind the two of them. As for that particular scenario, I'm not crazy about frequent title changes. There are ways for both guys to be booked strongly and equally without trading the title back-and-forth. As long as both men end up stronger by the end of the storyline, I think I could live with it though.

WWE has put back up its live event site after removing the part of the site that allowed fans to post pictures. It was taken down after someone took advantage of that feature to post nude pictures of former WWE Divas Tiffany and Chyna. This is why we can't have nice things.

Chris Jericho is reportedly in talks with WWE about a return to the company. I know plenty of people (myself included) would like to see that, but if it does happen it will likely be a decent ways off. He's incredibly talented and has a lot of knowledge that could be useful for the stars of the present and future.

John Morrison's contract expires soon. There's no guarantee that he'll re-sign. I really hope that this isn't the last we see of him in a major wrestling promotion. He was getting closer and closer to earning a main event spot.

UK bodybuilder Carly Thornton was profiled ahead of her WWE tryout next month. I'm glad she's taking it seriously.


In Australia this past week, Smackdown got 24,000 viewers and Raw got 22,000. No other wrestling shows cracked the top 100.


Darren Young apologized for his Wellness Policy violation. I applaud him doing so and hope his words ring true. He looks to have a bright future if he avoids that sort of thing.


As mentioned on Raw, WWE is letting fans vote on the name for its first show on their Network, which will look back at past WrestleManias. I like the idea of voting for the name as well as the concept of the show itself. WWE is marketing the network as the most interactive channel in TV history. We'll see about that one.


Demolition, Arn Anderson, Kevin Nash, and Booker T. have all been added to the WWE '12 roster.


Mick Foley's 10/8 comedy show was taped as part of an upcoming PBS special. Interesting.


The current timeframe for releasing the Edge career retrospective DVD is February 2012.


A recent Hulk Hogan speaking engagement generated negative feedback.


The autobiography of Chris Kanyon will be released on 11/1.


TNA has opened up an auction website. Cool idea.

C.M. Punk was interviewed in Australia about wrestling and Twitter. Cool little read. I agree about performers being themselves (preferably an interesting version of themselves), and Twitter being a valuable tool for promoting things.



Shawn Michaels will release an e-book of diary entries in December.

Smackdown got a 2.04 rating on Friday. Pretty good. Hopefully that number continues to be in that range.


Here's what the locker room looked like before Raw as a result of the Solidarity Rally. And now you know.


Dixie Carter tweeted a message she got from Sting about Bound For Glory.


TMZ covered the Lesnar-WWE '12 deal. Pretty cool stuff. Glad it all worked out.


The former Road Dogg/BG James will get a tryout as an agent/producer for WWE. I hope that works well for both sides.


TNA will present a pre-show for Bound For Glory on Facebook, featuring Mexican America vs. Ink, Inc. for the Tag Team Championships. That's cool I guess. Whatever gets people buying.


That's all for Monday's news. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading!