Roman Reigns has been cleared to return to the ring for WWE. I REALLY hope he thinks about his family and young fans and this is his only Wellness violation. He's got a big stage to influence a lot of people. That comes with heavy responsibilities.
ROH posted video of Roderick Strong's farewell speech. He's speculated to be WWE-bound, although nothing's official in that regard and it's unknown if he'd bypass NXT.
Nikki Bella has been cleared to return to the ring, and will soon begin training at the WWEPC. She should definitely return on Smackdown if that show's going to have its own women's championship division. Theoretically they can build to Charlotte vs. Nikki at some point after both women do well on their respective brands.
Jonathan Coachman buried the new anti-WWE lawsuit. PREACH!! I hope the judge gets their shovel out for this lawsuit, too. It's a lot of people trying to work one more payday from the business.
Johnny Gargano will be a full-time NXT talent, finishing up with EVOLVE. He and Ciampa are starting to make a groove for themselves there, and will hopefully eventually make one for themselves on the main roster.
Curt Hawkins and Rhyno have been confirmed as returning to WWE to fill out their roster in the New Era. Both are expected to head to Smackdown. Hawkins is still pretty young and can contribute a lot in working with newer/younger talents. I wholly expect him to be at the Outcasts' level, but WWE needs people who can be used to highlight others. Rhyno's more of a surprise given his political aspirations. At 40, I expect he's looking to make as much money as he can while he's still in condition to take bumps. It's not like he can't run in 2020 or later; he has a limited time frame to make a living as a full-time wrestler.
- Jinder Mahal could be joining the pair in heading back to WWE. He's another pretty young performer who could contribute as a player in the low/midcard.
Bound For Glory is now tentatively scheduled for October 2 to avoid conflict with WWE PPVs. TNA would likely extend the scheduled August TV tapings in order to have enough episodes of Impact in the can to build to that show. No official announcement has been set for the show's date.
WWE announced an actual Booty-O's cereal at San Diego Comic Con. NEW. DAY ROCKS! NEW. DAY ROCKS! NEW. DAY ROCKS! This almost makes up for no WWE ice cream bars. Almost.
At an NXT live event in Florida:
- Niko Bogojevic made his NXT debut. He's a former amateur wrestler who has worked indies in Colorado.
- Patrick Clark worked heel and wore different entire from his recent NXT TV appearance.
- Danielle Kamela gave an interview. She's a former NFL cheerleader and NBA dancer, trained to wrestle by Rikishi. She had auditioned for Tough Enough before being signed for NXT.
- Buddy Murphy has new music as he continues to transition into being a singles wrestler.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. WWE will claim "they've always been at war with Eastasia" whenever it suits their purposes, and switch things up when the other viewpoint matches their current story. It's part of the work.
1. WWE will claim "they've always been at war with Eastasia" whenever it suits their purposes, and switch things up when the other viewpoint matches their current story. It's part of the work.
2.
I'm glad people are finally seeing this. The worst marks are the ones who think they're smarks. They're just getting worked by someone else, parroting beliefs of people criticizing whatever the new mainstream thing is. They're turning on Ambrose now that he's getting a push, which they did for Rollins, Bryan, and Punk when they got pushed. There was a time when Rapper Cena, Legend Killer Orton, and "OI'LL FIGHT 'EM" Sheamus were darlings to that crowd, but once they were pushed to a main event level, it was time to move to the new midcard talent.
3. The big question is what the production setup would be in that scenario. They've got things pretty much the way they want them with the Impact Zone as far as things being set up for TV and PPV tapings. Plus, Shotgun Saturday Night era WWF was a lot more popular than current TNA. They don't want to end up playing to smaller crowds than what they have now. I agree they need to get out of Orlando more if they want to grow, but there are a lot of logistics and finances involved in making that happen.
4. Rock was champion for two months and put Cena over in a big way at Mania. The Hulkster's reign put him over at Mania to end the biggest show of the year with the same old, same old. As was said, Rock coming back was a big draw for casuals (which was the goal).
5. Johnston has deserved the honor for years! He's shaped the on-screen product a lot more than a good number of wrestlers. Plus, he would get his own theme for the induction!
More wrestling tomorrow.
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