Tommy End is finishing up his current commitments on August 13 en route to joining the WWE Performance Center. I look forward to seeing how the German does in NXT and (potentially) beyond.
TNA has extended its next set of tapings following the move of Bound For Glory to October 2. They'll now have talent in Orlando from August 11 though August 17. They won't need to tape in September, instead picking up after BFG.
Dixie Carter was on vacation during the last set of TNA tapings, filming all her segments on the first day before taking off. Billy Corgan was absent due to musical commitments. That'd be similar to Vince and Stephanie McMahon missing more than a month's worth of shows, though of course TNA tapes a good number of episodes in a few days while WWE runs weekly. Presumably things went smoothly enough without the owners present at the shows.
WWE has purchased a stake in Flo Sports, a streaming service for amateur wrestling, gymnastics, MMA, and more. That's very interesting. I assume this is part of a bigger plan of some sort.
Stevie Richards is expected back in WWE in some fashion, but nothing has been signed as of this writing. He could be valuable in and out of the ring for some time to come.
WWE has offered contracts to Zack Sabre, Jr., TJ Perkins, and Noam Dar for the cruiserweight division. There have been quite a few talented names in the CWC who should be scouted for WWE and NXT. TJP and ZSJ are among them; we'll get a better idea of how good Dar is when next week's show airs.
WWE has signed Max Wessel, an amateur wrestler with a judo background. Hopefully he adapts to WWE well.
House of Hardcore has announced shows for September and October, which would seem to cast doubt on Tommy Dreamer returning to WWE. I think WWE would be willing to work something out with him given his brief run last year.
Cody Rhodes is expected to work with ROH beyond Final Battle. I wouldn't necessarily expect him to be signed as a regular, but I imagine he'd come in and work as long as he has interesting opponents and such. He's definitely a good pickup for the company.
Jushin Liger will work a September 24 live event for ROH. I'm glad he's still going as a wrestler, and taking bookings pretty much as he wants to.
NXT has released the following names:
- Josh Woods, a former MMA competitor with an amateur wrestling background. He recently appeared on NXT TV in a loss to No Way Jose.
- ZZ Loupe, of Tough Enough and Breaking Ground fame.
- Tom Kingdon, who was a former champion bodybuilder. He had never worked NXT TV.
-- No "big" releases, just perhaps opening some space for a new class of more qualified and/or motivated recruits.
Big Show is in China promoting WWE. That's a big emerging market for the company, so it's good to use someone like Show in that capacity.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. You forgot the fact the Illuminati controls both UFC and WWE, and Brock's positive test was due to chemtrails. Seriously though, there's no evidence for any of those claims. At least none THEY want you to know about.
1. You forgot the fact the Illuminati controls both UFC and WWE, and Brock's positive test was due to chemtrails. Seriously though, there's no evidence for any of those claims. At least none THEY want you to know about.
2. I don't like either of those ideas. The titles should be for the midcarders; contendership to a top title should be a separate accomplishment. With as many "WWE Network special events" there will be, each brand should have important titles to be defended/feuded for.
3. You're preaching to the choir! It's much worse outside WWE, but it's starting to spread there, too. It's killing believability.
4. She's still owed a rematch for the NXT Women's Championship, which she'll receive during Summerslam weekend. If Asuka retains, presumably Bayley will finally join the main roster on a regular basis.
5. Almost definitely. I expect they'll want to shake things up around this time next year.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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