Miz in Abu Dhabi, World's Strongest Man meets World's Bravest Fan, Henry injury update, Show talks current angle, top NXT star on live events, Interviews with Leprechaun director/Hogan/Kim/Poffo, Bagwell returns, Batista to make cameo?, Impact audience, and Questions on Dixie skipping Impact, gimmicks in wrestling, plants, live events, and comics+wrestling

Here's footage of Miz in Abu Dhabi ahead of WWE's shows there. If I'm not mistaken, NXT's Sami Zayn speaks Arabic. That will be a great boon for WWE's publicity when he makes it to the main roster.

Here's footage of Mark Henry splashing a very brave WWE fan. I loved the editing. Henry could probably eat that guy's weight in a day.

Henry's MRI indicates that he can return to the ring at any time. Sounds like it's time for him and Big Show to challenge The Shield at Night of Champions.

Big Show talked to WWE.com about the choice he made on Raw. WWE has the opportunity for Bryan to go over Show, Orton, and HHH in big PPV matches. It doesn't get much better push-wise than that if they go that route.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

Sami Zayn, formerly El Generico, worked this weekend's WWE live events in Montreal (where he's originally from). I don't know if this means we're close to seeing him on the main roster or not, but he's been tearing it up in NXT.


The director of Leprechaun: Origins, starring Hornswoggle, talked a bit about WWE in an interview. HE USED HORNSWOGGLE'S REAL NAME. THEY'RE SHOOTIN',  BROTHER. Nah, that's fine in a non-kayfabe interview.

Hulk Hogan had a big interview to promote No Surrender.

Thoughts in order:
-Kind of funny to me that he put over Hardy and Styles as young talents at 36. That's not old or anything. It's just that if Hardy isn't already a star as 6-time World Champion with a huge laundry list of accomplishments over the years, something's wrong. Also, it's interesting that he's behind AJ after that embarrassing "Flair knockoff" point of his career.

-So far, Tito and Rampage don't seem to have had an effect on ratings. At least not compared to Sabin becoming World Champion. There's a lesson there.

-As for his favorite wrestlers, he might as well have said: "I like anyone who put me over big, brother. Jake 'The Snake' was always good at getting people ready to carry my limited ass, jack. Also, if you know anywhere that will hire the Nasty Boys, that'd be great." I'm kind of surprised that he didn't mention Flair or Sting, since they've been used to elevate him, too.

-The story I've heard for Hogan vs. Flair in '92 is that they wanted to split those two big draws to elevate others instead of face each other.

-"Well, brother, I could have worked with Austin in the WWF when I was in the nWo, but he knew I'm all about the backstage politics, dude."

Gail Kim was also interviewed. Gail vs. Kong (Kharma) was truly something to watch, as two wrestlers tried to show who was better. Gail vs. Taryn was a stuntfest with occasional wrestling (though that's to be expected given Taryn's lack of actual wrestling experience). I'm also glad that they didn't do the same stipulation twice. WWE Divas can also have pretty good matches. It depends on who's in the ring and what they're given to work with. Either way, I hope we some more new Knockouts in the future.

"Buff" Bagwell is returning to the ring after a terrible accident in April. I'm a little surprised that he never became a bigger part of TNA. They love using older WCW/WWF names.

"The (Grumpy) Genius" Lanny Poffo gave his latest answer to Randy Savage going into the WWE Hall of Fame. I hope we do one day get Savage in the Hall. If it means inducting the other Poffos, too, that's fine.

Jim Ross hinted that we could see Batista making a cameo on WWE TV, presumably to promote his upcoming movie roles. I'd love to see him make some kind of appearance related to the HHH/Orton angle. Flair and HBK could make some great pro-Bryan appearances, too. I can see HHH and Orton putting THIS BUSINESS ahead of even respected friends like those names mentioned.

Impact's audience was up to 1.31 million this week, despite NFL competition. While I imagine that having Bully vs. Sting played a role, I think the Styles situation also has a lot of people interested. It seems to be that it's becoming increasingly obvious that it's the modern wrestling audience they need to target in order to have sustained growth. The ones interested in today's wrestling stars. Sure, outside names and Legends can be used in the right roles, but I think we need less focus on those performers and more on wrestlers like Styles, Sabin, Aries, etc..

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions (which includes an update on a previous question):
1. I pretty much agree with them here. As fun as it is to rag on TNA, so far this is pretty much a one-time thing as far as I'm aware and not a case of her blowing off obligations to party.

2. They're thinking that people want to see interesting characters more than "super serious athlete who wants to win titles and be the best wrestler" describing everyone on the roster. Fandango is much more successful than he's ever been and a lot of that has to do with his character. And yes, there are some cool gimmicks down in NXT.

3. See, this was a good question that added to my knowledge as a wrestling fan. That's pretty cool.

4. This question is a little late! The card is always subject to change, but generally they do similar things over several days of a tour.

5. Generally because the people watching are either too young or don't care that a lot of people think stuff like such-and-such is "FAKE AND GAY" and "for little kids. Not like UFC. That's for real men. Do you even lift, bro?". They're the ones missing out on something that, when done well, can be really enjoyable.