-- Main Event:
- Gulak vs. Dorado:
Look we all know how this one's going to go. Lince's going to do lucha and Gulak's going to try to ground him/work him over. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
Lince can definitely do some impressive flippy stuff.
Nothing bad here. It's just another filler match.
I like the submission work.
Solid mat action from Drew.
Oh.... well then. So much for that one getting a clean ending.
- Bo/Hawkins vs. Slater/Rhyno:
I like Rhyno's power.
Fine basic work to start.
Simple, effective work here.
I miss Bo's celebrations!
This is fine. Nothing spectacular.
The age-old story of working over one partner so the other guy can come in and clean house.
That was a fun enough ending.
Rich Swann was profiled:
- Standards must have been pretty low for Bret Hart to be cool.
- Swann's made it through a lot.
- GENIUS response from Adam Flash. I wish more people had that response to the stunt show of modern wrestling. Some names absolutely need death-defying athleticism, but it's gotten out of control.
- Well, Ray, the basics are important. Once you get all that down, experience teaches you a lot that you don't necessarily pick up from a trainer.
- No one would have faulted Swann for putting wrestling aside after his parents passed.
- Swann is more than just the cool moves. That's good.
- Oh yeah, Swann could have stayed as a guy coming in to get his ass kicked by guys like Corbin and Strowman when WWE was near Baltimore.
- The CWC was a hit with die-hard wrestling fans who want to see that style, but 205 Live is trying to get over on a larger scale. That's why it's not treated the same.
- WWE's not going to pay for all these licensed tracks on TV.
Advertised for Wednesday's NXT:
- Killian Dain vs. No Way Jose
- Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan
WWE Network's ladder match collection was detailed before hitting the service tomorrow.
Harley Race broke both legs after falling in his home this week. He has undergone two separate surgeries and received four blood transfusions. I hope he has a quick recovery from a very painful experience.
At a Smackdown live event in Connecticut:
- Mojo Rawley teamed with Sin Cara to beat The Ascension, so WWE could be trying those two faces out as a team.
- Naomi & Becky Lynch won a handicap match against Tamina, Natalya, and Carmella. No word on where Charlotte was.
- Shinsuke Nakamura was originally advertised as facing Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship, but AJ Styles ended up working against the Maharaja instead. Jinder retained. Shinsuke teamed with Sami Zayn to beat Kevin Owens & Baron Corbin earlier in the night.
At a Raw live event in Pennsylvania:
- Apollo Crews, R-Truth, Curtis Axel, & Kalisto beat Goldust, Titus O'Neil, Bo Dallas, & Elias Samson, so that's who's being booked as faces and heels in the undercard
- Enzo Amore teamed with Big Cass, so he's "recovered from his attack" and we can at least temporarily assume it's not Cass who did it to him. I wouldn't jump to any concrete conclusions at this point, though.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Wrestling is like nothing else as far as craziness goes.
2. And people wonder ECW was short-lived. It was a melting pot of insanity in a lot of ways. Some of it worked with lasting consequences, but some guys were (tellingly) only successful in that environment.
3. Is "wrestling is crazy" the theme of the questions today? All sorts of shenanigans.
4. I really hope not. He's taken more than enough bumps.
5. Capital Revolution is specifically about the rise of the McMahon family dynasty and the early decades of WWE. "WWE 50" is the official WWE account if you want that.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Saturday, June 3, 2017
New Network collections, Impact preview, ROH title match booked, Miz gets press, Impact audience, Interviews with Jinder/Swagger, indie star pulled from bookings, and Questions on Brie's in-ring future, Jarrett pulling Anthem's strings, WWE being a monopoly, Nia as champion, and live event merchandise,
Bruno Sammartino and ladder matches are getting collections on WWE Network Monday. Kurt Angle and The Godfather will have their own collections soon, too.
Advertised for next week's Impact Wrestling:
- Gauntlet match for Sony Six Invitational Cup
- Trevor Lee vs. Braxton Sutter
- Rosemary vs. Laurel Van Ness
- Davey Richards vs. Vinaash Verma
- Low Ki vs. Caleb Konley
Young Bucks vs. Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia for the ROH Tag Team Championship is official for ROH's June 4 event. ROH really doesn't have enough depth for two sets of tag titles, but it is what it is.
The Miz was put over by USA Today. He's only 36, so hopefully he's still got some big runs coming his way.
Jinder Mahal was profiled by GQ. This is the kind of publicity WWE wants with the big push.
Impact Wrestling drew 287,000 viewers for Thursday's show headlined by the big EC3/Alberto El Patron cage match. I'm curious how the Indian shows will do.
Jack Swagger discussed leaving WWE and working with Zeb Colter/Dutch Mantel:
- Zeb/Alberto was disappointing. There had to have been a better association they could have done. I love Zeb/Dutch, but it just didn't fit.
- It was time for Swagger to go. There was no way he was going to be a credible top guy again after so many false starts. Now, maybe he can pull a Drew Galloway or something and come back as a new guy worth pushing.
- Oh my God imagine staying there another five years without moving on the card.
- Eventually he became one of the guys they use to get others over. It happens.
- It is all about making money, but sometimes it's time to change where you're taking bumps.
- So much to learn from Dirty Dutch.
- He's got a point about working his size. That's now what many big guys want to do nowadays.
- Zeb's Tea Party gimmick was AMAZING. One of my favorites ever. I wish more gimmicks were that timely and authentic-sounding.
FloSports and WWNLive canceled a booking for a wrestler who was found to have associations with white nationalism. Fans flooded both sides with complaints. That could have further repercussions for his career if he doesn't drastically rehabilitate his image quickly.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I can see Brie getting another match or run, even if it's just to get a storyline for E!
2. Jeff and Nordholm are going to have a company on the pole match at Slammiversary with the Broken Hardys at ringside. It's all been a work.
I think it's predominantly Anthem's side being upset at the Hardys leaving. I definitely don't think Jeff's angling to take over, since Nordholm's the one putting so much money into the company and letting Jeff make all the moves he wants to make.
3. WWE argues they're in the entertainment industry, so their competition is everything from UFC to Disney. I don't know how it would play out in court, but I also don't think there's any serious effort to challenge them at that level.
4. It's certainly possible! Especially if she turns face/tweener and challenges Alexa. The biggest barrier is WWE wanting Alexa as Raw's top female heel. There can only be one woman in that spot at a time.
5. It could be that they only have so much space at merchandise stands, so they stick with a few big sellers. Almost everyone who could want merchandise from WWE's website would have access to it at this point. They don't necessarily need as much of a physical presence at events now.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Advertised for next week's Impact Wrestling:
- Gauntlet match for Sony Six Invitational Cup
- Trevor Lee vs. Braxton Sutter
- Rosemary vs. Laurel Van Ness
- Davey Richards vs. Vinaash Verma
- Low Ki vs. Caleb Konley
Young Bucks vs. Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia for the ROH Tag Team Championship is official for ROH's June 4 event. ROH really doesn't have enough depth for two sets of tag titles, but it is what it is.
The Miz was put over by USA Today. He's only 36, so hopefully he's still got some big runs coming his way.
Jinder Mahal was profiled by GQ. This is the kind of publicity WWE wants with the big push.
Impact Wrestling drew 287,000 viewers for Thursday's show headlined by the big EC3/Alberto El Patron cage match. I'm curious how the Indian shows will do.
Jack Swagger discussed leaving WWE and working with Zeb Colter/Dutch Mantel:
- Zeb/Alberto was disappointing. There had to have been a better association they could have done. I love Zeb/Dutch, but it just didn't fit.
- It was time for Swagger to go. There was no way he was going to be a credible top guy again after so many false starts. Now, maybe he can pull a Drew Galloway or something and come back as a new guy worth pushing.
- Oh my God imagine staying there another five years without moving on the card.
- Eventually he became one of the guys they use to get others over. It happens.
- It is all about making money, but sometimes it's time to change where you're taking bumps.
- So much to learn from Dirty Dutch.
- He's got a point about working his size. That's now what many big guys want to do nowadays.
- Zeb's Tea Party gimmick was AMAZING. One of my favorites ever. I wish more gimmicks were that timely and authentic-sounding.
FloSports and WWNLive canceled a booking for a wrestler who was found to have associations with white nationalism. Fans flooded both sides with complaints. That could have further repercussions for his career if he doesn't drastically rehabilitate his image quickly.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I can see Brie getting another match or run, even if it's just to get a storyline for E!
2. Jeff and Nordholm are going to have a company on the pole match at Slammiversary with the Broken Hardys at ringside. It's all been a work.
I think it's predominantly Anthem's side being upset at the Hardys leaving. I definitely don't think Jeff's angling to take over, since Nordholm's the one putting so much money into the company and letting Jeff make all the moves he wants to make.
3. WWE argues they're in the entertainment industry, so their competition is everything from UFC to Disney. I don't know how it would play out in court, but I also don't think there's any serious effort to challenge them at that level.
4. It's certainly possible! Especially if she turns face/tweener and challenges Alexa. The biggest barrier is WWE wanting Alexa as Raw's top female heel. There can only be one woman in that spot at a time.
5. It could be that they only have so much space at merchandise stands, so they stick with a few big sellers. Almost everyone who could want merchandise from WWE's website would have access to it at this point. They don't necessarily need as much of a physical presence at events now.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Friday, June 2, 2017
International names-WWE updates, note on FloSlam change, another important ROH name leaving?, WWE-UK promotions update, Usos+Naomi update, assorted WWE press, new NXT theme, possible Impact injury, Smackdown audience, Impact live event return set, new NXT referees, and Questions on talents using the cloud, a WWE TV title, the status of GFW, and NOAH talents working Impact
Kairi Hojo will finish with STARDOM this week. She and Io Shirai look to be NXT/WWE bound barring some last-minute wrinkle. I could easily see one or both being part of the upcoming women's tournament. It would be an obvious final match if they want to go that route.
- Shirai is expected to continue to work in Japan through the time of the Mae Young Classic, coming in afterward. That works, too, if they don't want to crowd things with debuts.
FloSports (including FloSlam) is also available for a yearly rate of $150, only $12.50 a month. That's much lower than the hiked monthly rate.
Dalton Castle's ROH contract expires sometime in June. He's a no-brainer to try to sign for NXT, so it's possible we see him there in a few months. Adam Cole, reDRagon, Donovan Dijak, and Lio Rush are all out there waiting for WWE to pick them up. That's a lot of ex-ROH talent that could make a splash for the company.
WWE is still making plans to license the ICW and PROGRESS video libraries for the Network, and there's continuing speculation they'll try to work out something similar with ROH.
Australia's Demi Bennett will join the WWE Performance Center shortly. She could be part of the women's tournament along with a lot of other international talents, possibly including New Zealand's Evie (Cheree Crowley) and the UK's Nixon (Steffanie) Newell.
WWE has signed Raul Mendoza, formerly Jinzo in Mexico. He worked the first round of the CWC. I don't think I'd mind another flippy guy on 205 Live just to get a new opponent there.
The Usos and Naomi missed recent live events to film something non-WWE related. It's not known exactly what that was. I hope that doesn't mean Naomi's title reign is in jeopardy.
The former Cameron discussed wanting to return to WWE. I wouldn't mind her getting another shot IF she puts in some good work. The competition for a spot is pretty intense.
Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino, and Bob Orton will be on "Table for 3" after Raw. I'm curious how that one will do, viewers-wise.
Kurt Angle's WWE 24 documentary will hit WWE Network next month.
James Ellsworth was at batting practice in Baltimore. He's been a lot of fun.
NXT has a new theme. I do like WWE giving bands those kinds of platforms.
Chris Adonis got an MRI for an unspecified potential injury while in India, but didn't miss any work in the ring.
Chad Gable did local press to promote a Smackdown live event. American Alpha has been lose in the shuffle with New Day around. That's a shame. They're really good.
Smackdown drew 2.35 million viewers Tuesday night. So, Jinder's title reign isn't immediately tanking ratings or anything.
Impact Wrestling will return to live events with a New York show on August 5. Lashley, Alberto El Patron, Ethan Carter III, and James Storm are all advertised. It will be 22 months since their previous non-televised event. I hope that show leads to more successful live events from the promotion.
NXT debuted Kennadi Brink and EVOLVE's D.A. Brewer as referees at a Florida live event. They haven't had a regular female official in many years; it will be good to have some on hand for women's matches in the future.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. The first sentence sums it up. Younger talents have a lot of faith in institutions to not be hacked.
2. Ehhhhhhh. I don't see any reason to add another title. I don't think it means as much to hold gold when so many others have titles, too.
3. Pretty much that. Jarrett still has the rights to GFW, its titles, etc., but it's being combined with Impact for now.
4. I'm under the impression they want some NOAH talents at Slammiversary. I would expect AAA and NOAH names at Bound For Glory.
Nothing to add to 5.
More wrestling tomorrow.
- Shirai is expected to continue to work in Japan through the time of the Mae Young Classic, coming in afterward. That works, too, if they don't want to crowd things with debuts.
FloSports (including FloSlam) is also available for a yearly rate of $150, only $12.50 a month. That's much lower than the hiked monthly rate.
Dalton Castle's ROH contract expires sometime in June. He's a no-brainer to try to sign for NXT, so it's possible we see him there in a few months. Adam Cole, reDRagon, Donovan Dijak, and Lio Rush are all out there waiting for WWE to pick them up. That's a lot of ex-ROH talent that could make a splash for the company.
WWE is still making plans to license the ICW and PROGRESS video libraries for the Network, and there's continuing speculation they'll try to work out something similar with ROH.
Australia's Demi Bennett will join the WWE Performance Center shortly. She could be part of the women's tournament along with a lot of other international talents, possibly including New Zealand's Evie (Cheree Crowley) and the UK's Nixon (Steffanie) Newell.
WWE has signed Raul Mendoza, formerly Jinzo in Mexico. He worked the first round of the CWC. I don't think I'd mind another flippy guy on 205 Live just to get a new opponent there.
The Usos and Naomi missed recent live events to film something non-WWE related. It's not known exactly what that was. I hope that doesn't mean Naomi's title reign is in jeopardy.
The former Cameron discussed wanting to return to WWE. I wouldn't mind her getting another shot IF she puts in some good work. The competition for a spot is pretty intense.
Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino, and Bob Orton will be on "Table for 3" after Raw. I'm curious how that one will do, viewers-wise.
Kurt Angle's WWE 24 documentary will hit WWE Network next month.
James Ellsworth was at batting practice in Baltimore. He's been a lot of fun.
NXT has a new theme. I do like WWE giving bands those kinds of platforms.
Chris Adonis got an MRI for an unspecified potential injury while in India, but didn't miss any work in the ring.
Chad Gable did local press to promote a Smackdown live event. American Alpha has been lose in the shuffle with New Day around. That's a shame. They're really good.
Smackdown drew 2.35 million viewers Tuesday night. So, Jinder's title reign isn't immediately tanking ratings or anything.
Impact Wrestling will return to live events with a New York show on August 5. Lashley, Alberto El Patron, Ethan Carter III, and James Storm are all advertised. It will be 22 months since their previous non-televised event. I hope that show leads to more successful live events from the promotion.
NXT debuted Kennadi Brink and EVOLVE's D.A. Brewer as referees at a Florida live event. They haven't had a regular female official in many years; it will be good to have some on hand for women's matches in the future.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. The first sentence sums it up. Younger talents have a lot of faith in institutions to not be hacked.
2. Ehhhhhhh. I don't see any reason to add another title. I don't think it means as much to hold gold when so many others have titles, too.
3. Pretty much that. Jarrett still has the rights to GFW, its titles, etc., but it's being combined with Impact for now.
4. I'm under the impression they want some NOAH talents at Slammiversary. I would expect AAA and NOAH names at Bound For Glory.
Nothing to add to 5.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
WWE making Snapchat programming, ask Jeff Hardy anything (?), Interview with Jinder, Raw audience, ROH PPV matches set, Lana update, new MSG match booked, Nia vs. Raw Creative, and Questions on turning Charlotte, the YouTube ad rate drop, Braun's return, kendo sticks under the ring, and why Anthem's after the Hardys
WWE is making monthly programming for Snapchat beginning around Summerslam. That should be interesting. They really want to reach the millennial audience there, so they're expanding what "programming" means now.
WWE is putting together an "AMA" show for the WWE Network, starting with Jeff Hardy. Ask Me Anything is a very popular concept online. I wonder how much WWE will really let fans ask, though.
Jinder Mahal talked to ESPN:
- Crazy how little becoming champion really didn't change much. He had to go right back to work!
- People definitely get stuck in their ways. Sometimes a change is necessary for something better to come together.
- I bet Jinder will beat Khali's reign here.
- Jinder's still plenty young enough to go on and have a long run. I'm cool with giving him the shot to show what he can do.
- It takes a lot of hard work to be ready to be a top star.
- 3MB was awesome. They tried to make the most of the lack of opportunities they had.
- It's got to be easy to lose hope when you're caught in that kind of shuffle.
- Oh, yeah. Getting involved with alcohol has the potential to make that kind of situation work.
- I give Jinder credit for not giving up after the end of his WWE run.
- Oh, boy. Here come those steroid accusations.
Alexa Bliss will be part of a video game competition at Wizard World in Philadelphia. There's a great heel opportunity there, but they'll probably give everyone a copy of the game.
Raw drew 2.61 million viewers Monday night for Memorial Day. USA definitely needs to think about dropping it to two hours when it's time to think about the next contract between the two sides.
STARDOM's Kris Wolf will compete at ROH Best in the World. I would think that will be a dark match; they don't usually put WOH matches on the main card.
- CMLL's El Terrible & Ultimo Guerrero will face Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia at Best in the World, as well. That will be interesting given the age differences.
Lana asked to be added to Smackdown's MITB match. I assume she'll face Naomi that night, since the champion should probably have a match on the card. Putting the former actress with the dancing gimmick in the crazy bump match just doesn't sound like a good idea.
Goldust vs. R-Truth is advertised for Raw's July 7 show in Madison Square Garden. Not a big shock. I wonder what the endgame is there.
Nia Jax took a shot at Raw's booking of the women's division in a since-deleted tweet. Oh boy. That might not end well. It's a shame she and Creative are potentially at odds; she's definitely a talented performer. Notably, with Alexa being the top heel, there's not much for Nia to do other than feud with Sasha some more or squash jobbers.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Charlotte went as far as she could as a top-level heel. So they put her in a position to have a lot of detractors on the Smackdown roster and eventually be accepted by the faces. After all the complaints about certain wrestlers being shoved down people's throats and characters getting stale, it's good to see them change gears on someone they had been pushing a lot. I'm sure she'll be champion again.
2. It's a shame to see options for wrestlers to dry up. WCPW came out of the gate strong, and now they're having to scale back. I think WWE might be safe since they're a strong brand and they deliberately distance themselves from those rasslin' companies that don't draw good ad rates.
3. I think Braun needs to go for the Universal Title and those challenging for it. Basically say he was distracted by Roman and he's ready to be a champion.
4. I assume, for instance, Alexa tells someone in the ring crew to leave some under there for her match later and to keep it hush-hush.
5. It definitely comes across as somewhat vindictive, like they're doing it just to screw over their ex-employees. Anger does that to people.
More wrestling tomorrow.
WWE is putting together an "AMA" show for the WWE Network, starting with Jeff Hardy. Ask Me Anything is a very popular concept online. I wonder how much WWE will really let fans ask, though.
Jinder Mahal talked to ESPN:
- Crazy how little becoming champion really didn't change much. He had to go right back to work!
- People definitely get stuck in their ways. Sometimes a change is necessary for something better to come together.
- I bet Jinder will beat Khali's reign here.
- Jinder's still plenty young enough to go on and have a long run. I'm cool with giving him the shot to show what he can do.
- It takes a lot of hard work to be ready to be a top star.
- 3MB was awesome. They tried to make the most of the lack of opportunities they had.
- It's got to be easy to lose hope when you're caught in that kind of shuffle.
- Oh, yeah. Getting involved with alcohol has the potential to make that kind of situation work.
- I give Jinder credit for not giving up after the end of his WWE run.
- Oh, boy. Here come those steroid accusations.
Alexa Bliss will be part of a video game competition at Wizard World in Philadelphia. There's a great heel opportunity there, but they'll probably give everyone a copy of the game.
Raw drew 2.61 million viewers Monday night for Memorial Day. USA definitely needs to think about dropping it to two hours when it's time to think about the next contract between the two sides.
STARDOM's Kris Wolf will compete at ROH Best in the World. I would think that will be a dark match; they don't usually put WOH matches on the main card.
- CMLL's El Terrible & Ultimo Guerrero will face Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia at Best in the World, as well. That will be interesting given the age differences.
Lana asked to be added to Smackdown's MITB match. I assume she'll face Naomi that night, since the champion should probably have a match on the card. Putting the former actress with the dancing gimmick in the crazy bump match just doesn't sound like a good idea.
Goldust vs. R-Truth is advertised for Raw's July 7 show in Madison Square Garden. Not a big shock. I wonder what the endgame is there.
Nia Jax took a shot at Raw's booking of the women's division in a since-deleted tweet. Oh boy. That might not end well. It's a shame she and Creative are potentially at odds; she's definitely a talented performer. Notably, with Alexa being the top heel, there's not much for Nia to do other than feud with Sasha some more or squash jobbers.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Charlotte went as far as she could as a top-level heel. So they put her in a position to have a lot of detractors on the Smackdown roster and eventually be accepted by the faces. After all the complaints about certain wrestlers being shoved down people's throats and characters getting stale, it's good to see them change gears on someone they had been pushing a lot. I'm sure she'll be champion again.
2. It's a shame to see options for wrestlers to dry up. WCPW came out of the gate strong, and now they're having to scale back. I think WWE might be safe since they're a strong brand and they deliberately distance themselves from those rasslin' companies that don't draw good ad rates.
3. I think Braun needs to go for the Universal Title and those challenging for it. Basically say he was distracted by Roman and he's ready to be a champion.
4. I assume, for instance, Alexa tells someone in the ring crew to leave some under there for her match later and to keep it hush-hush.
5. It definitely comes across as somewhat vindictive, like they're doing it just to screw over their ex-employees. Anger does that to people.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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