Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Monday, September 4, 2017
WWE Network content updates, Jannetty daughter swerve, another WWE costume, and Questions on JBL leaving commentary, Bring It To The Table, pushing Sasha, and piracy
Alundra Blayze's WWE Network special will be coming later this month. It was just moved back from the initial timeframe.
Stone Cold and The Rock are part of season two of WWE Story Time. That should be fun.
WWE Network will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Goldberg's debut later this month. I would have never called him being Universal Champion in 2017, beating Brock Lesnar after Lesnar ended Taker's streak. I don't think anyone would have, including Goldberg.
Marty Jannetty learned his "daughter" isn't actually his biological daughter, and the two might end up in a relationship. I'm waiting for it to be revealed Shawn is the father and this is a setup for one last HBK match. That's definitely some Attitude Era ish.
WWE has official Raw Women's Champion costumes. I hope Smackdown gets some love, too.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think they would have fired him before now if they were concerned about that issue. I think this was him voluntarily stepping back to work on other things.
2. I think JBL will still be doing that show and other appearances, which would shoot a whole in the "he has so much heat they fired him" narrative. Booker or Cole would be my choice. Both can get across the WWE viewpoint without being as grating as JBL or Lawler. JR's theoretically an option, but I don't think that'd be the best use of him.
3. Given how prominently they use and feature Sasha, I think they are behind her. She's been a regular fixture of the women's title picture.
Nothing to add to 4.
5. I hope we all learned a valuable lesson there!
More wrestling tomorrow.
Stone Cold and The Rock are part of season two of WWE Story Time. That should be fun.
WWE Network will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Goldberg's debut later this month. I would have never called him being Universal Champion in 2017, beating Brock Lesnar after Lesnar ended Taker's streak. I don't think anyone would have, including Goldberg.
Marty Jannetty learned his "daughter" isn't actually his biological daughter, and the two might end up in a relationship. I'm waiting for it to be revealed Shawn is the father and this is a setup for one last HBK match. That's definitely some Attitude Era ish.
WWE has official Raw Women's Champion costumes. I hope Smackdown gets some love, too.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think they would have fired him before now if they were concerned about that issue. I think this was him voluntarily stepping back to work on other things.
2. I think JBL will still be doing that show and other appearances, which would shoot a whole in the "he has so much heat they fired him" narrative. Booker or Cole would be my choice. Both can get across the WWE viewpoint without being as grating as JBL or Lawler. JR's theoretically an option, but I don't think that'd be the best use of him.
3. Given how prominently they use and feature Sasha, I think they are behind her. She's been a regular fixture of the women's title picture.
Nothing to add to 4.
5. I hope we all learned a valuable lesson there!
More wrestling tomorrow.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
MYC schedule update, WWE Network honors Nitro, Flair book excerpt, 205 Live name stitched up, NXT injury update, assorted wrestling appearance notes, Sinclair helps out in Texas, Interviews with Sasha/bisexual wrestler/GLOW names, Primo-WWE update, reaction to JBL leaving, Jinder getting new theme song, WWE HoFer at talent evaluation, Impact to address Sexy Star/Rosemary, DiBiase trailer, Flair gives video update, and Questions on Cena vs. Reigns, Elias on Raw vs. NXT, Asuka losing to Alexa, and the Universal Title
Episodes five through eight of the Mae Young Classic will follow the same schedule as last week's episodes.
WWE Network will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the debut of WCW Nitro on Friday. That show ended up changing wrestling as we know it.
The Charlotte Observer published excerpts from the new Flair book. I'm glad the father and daughter have such a good relationship after things were going the way they were going years back.
Jack Gallagher needed four stitches after his match with Brian Kendrick. That match was cut short due to the blood loss. It was great while it lasted.
Abbey Laith recently did a big run, which would seem to indicate she won't be missing time due to a foot injury.
Charlotte, N.C.'s minor league baseball team is holding its second Crockett Foundation Night with JJ Dillon, Magnum TA, Baby Doll, Jackie Crockett, The Rock 'n' Roll Express and Tommy Young. That's pretty cool.
Sinclair Broadcasting is doing a big fundraiser for the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. That's awesome.
Sasha Banks discussed negative interactions with fans. She was criticized for bring the only WWE talent to not sign autographs for fans outside the hotel during Summerslam weekend. I can't fault her for her stance. There are times when she's performing as Sasha, and times when she's Mercedes just trying to make it from town to town.
Primo is expected back in the ring in a few weeks. I'm interested to see what they try to do with him and Epico going forward.
Corey Graves and Tom Phillips reacted to JBL leaving commentary. I'm curious whom WWE will pick to replace him; I expect Vince will want a veteran of similar tenure on that announce team.
Rapper Lazarus is doing a theme song for Jinder Mahal in India. One of the perks of being the Modern Day Maharaja!!
Alundra Blayze will be part of a SHIMMER talent evaluation on September 15 in Norwich, England. That's a pretty cool opportunity, and hopefully it gets people on the WWE radar.
Mick Foley will be doing signings in the Northeast in October to promote his Christmas-themed book.
The St. Louis Cardinals will have an "Old School Wrestling" Night on September 12 with Road Warrior Animal, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Ricky Steamboat all appearing.
Gene Okerlund, The Honky Tonk Man, Butterbean, Nikolai Volkoff, and Terri Runnels will be part of a convention in October.
GFW talent and personnel will address the Sexy Star/Rosemary incident on this week's Impact. Vintage GFW! This is only giving further press to the unprofessional antics. What message does that send to the current GFW wrestlers working hard to earn TV time on their own to be pushed aside in favor of this? GFW currently has no plans to use Sexy Star, but there are plans for a GFW vs. AAA angle, so this plays into that. I mean, it's getting people talking about GFW and Impact, but I don't think this is the kind of publicity they want.
Ted DiBiase's upcoming documentary got a new trailer. I'm glad he's doing so well post-wrestling.
A New York town has a Captain Lou Albano mural, as every town should!
The Huffington Post covered a New Jersey wrestler coming out publicly as bisexual. I expect we'll see more LGBTQ+ wrestlers making public statements in the years to come as they feel comfortable doing so.
Two GLOW wrestlers gave wrestling tips. I can't say I expected GLOW to make a comeback in 2017. It's been a weird few years.
Ric Flair released a promo. He's still recovering, but obviously his spirits are back. Flair's a national treasure.
Alundra Blayze is doing interviews for the second round of the Mae Young Classic. People were wondering why we hadn't seen her as part of the endeavor yet.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. No Mercy has two very big matches on top, which could be WWE "hitting the panic button" to increase ratings and Network subscriptions. Certainly it would make more sense at Survivor Series or Wrestlemania, but I wonder if this is a response to Cena having so much else on his plate as well. Either way, Cena vs. Reigns is a big deal.
2. I KNEW Dave would bring up the "lines on Rock's hand" thing. Cena now and Rock then have a lot more freedom on the mic because they didn't/don't need WWE as much as WWE needed/needs them. Cena then and Roman now have to play it a lot more safe and do exactly what WWE asks them to, so it's not a surprise when the other side can beat the proverbial one-armed man in an ass-kicking contest. I don't know if Roman could match Cena on the mic the way Cena could have matched Rock during their feud, but hopefully that will come as he continues to get opportunities to be THE guy. He tried, but John clearly had him shook. Cena has always had improv skills. I haven't seen that out of Roman yet.
3. I think he fits promo-heavy "sports entertainment variety show" Raw more than he fits wrestling-heavy NXT. A lot of NXT names struggle because they have the opposite skillset. I think Elias has potential, at least at the IC Title level. Whether he can make it past that will depend on how the next few years go.
4. There's going to come a time when Asuka does the job, and it might be to Alexa (presumably not cleanly). It's going to be tough to book her first loss, but it's going to have to happen at some point. WWE obviously likes Alexa, so she's got a chance to be that person, but I'd like to think they'll let Asuka go on a tear before she does lose.
5. I definitely think it's because WWE superstars perform sports entertainment contests in front of the WWE Universe for championships (not belts). The title is defended on the award-winning WWE Network for $9.99 a month in addition to the longest-running weekly episodic show in television history, so I think it would have had that name regardless.
More wrestling tomorrow.
WWE Network will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the debut of WCW Nitro on Friday. That show ended up changing wrestling as we know it.
The Charlotte Observer published excerpts from the new Flair book. I'm glad the father and daughter have such a good relationship after things were going the way they were going years back.
Jack Gallagher needed four stitches after his match with Brian Kendrick. That match was cut short due to the blood loss. It was great while it lasted.
Abbey Laith recently did a big run, which would seem to indicate she won't be missing time due to a foot injury.
Charlotte, N.C.'s minor league baseball team is holding its second Crockett Foundation Night with JJ Dillon, Magnum TA, Baby Doll, Jackie Crockett, The Rock 'n' Roll Express and Tommy Young. That's pretty cool.
Sinclair Broadcasting is doing a big fundraiser for the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. That's awesome.
Sasha Banks discussed negative interactions with fans. She was criticized for bring the only WWE talent to not sign autographs for fans outside the hotel during Summerslam weekend. I can't fault her for her stance. There are times when she's performing as Sasha, and times when she's Mercedes just trying to make it from town to town.
Primo is expected back in the ring in a few weeks. I'm interested to see what they try to do with him and Epico going forward.
Corey Graves and Tom Phillips reacted to JBL leaving commentary. I'm curious whom WWE will pick to replace him; I expect Vince will want a veteran of similar tenure on that announce team.
Rapper Lazarus is doing a theme song for Jinder Mahal in India. One of the perks of being the Modern Day Maharaja!!
Alundra Blayze will be part of a SHIMMER talent evaluation on September 15 in Norwich, England. That's a pretty cool opportunity, and hopefully it gets people on the WWE radar.
Mick Foley will be doing signings in the Northeast in October to promote his Christmas-themed book.
The St. Louis Cardinals will have an "Old School Wrestling" Night on September 12 with Road Warrior Animal, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Ricky Steamboat all appearing.
Gene Okerlund, The Honky Tonk Man, Butterbean, Nikolai Volkoff, and Terri Runnels will be part of a convention in October.
GFW talent and personnel will address the Sexy Star/Rosemary incident on this week's Impact. Vintage GFW! This is only giving further press to the unprofessional antics. What message does that send to the current GFW wrestlers working hard to earn TV time on their own to be pushed aside in favor of this? GFW currently has no plans to use Sexy Star, but there are plans for a GFW vs. AAA angle, so this plays into that. I mean, it's getting people talking about GFW and Impact, but I don't think this is the kind of publicity they want.
Ted DiBiase's upcoming documentary got a new trailer. I'm glad he's doing so well post-wrestling.
A New York town has a Captain Lou Albano mural, as every town should!
The Huffington Post covered a New Jersey wrestler coming out publicly as bisexual. I expect we'll see more LGBTQ+ wrestlers making public statements in the years to come as they feel comfortable doing so.
Two GLOW wrestlers gave wrestling tips. I can't say I expected GLOW to make a comeback in 2017. It's been a weird few years.
Ric Flair released a promo. He's still recovering, but obviously his spirits are back. Flair's a national treasure.
Alundra Blayze is doing interviews for the second round of the Mae Young Classic. People were wondering why we hadn't seen her as part of the endeavor yet.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. No Mercy has two very big matches on top, which could be WWE "hitting the panic button" to increase ratings and Network subscriptions. Certainly it would make more sense at Survivor Series or Wrestlemania, but I wonder if this is a response to Cena having so much else on his plate as well. Either way, Cena vs. Reigns is a big deal.
2. I KNEW Dave would bring up the "lines on Rock's hand" thing. Cena now and Rock then have a lot more freedom on the mic because they didn't/don't need WWE as much as WWE needed/needs them. Cena then and Roman now have to play it a lot more safe and do exactly what WWE asks them to, so it's not a surprise when the other side can beat the proverbial one-armed man in an ass-kicking contest. I don't know if Roman could match Cena on the mic the way Cena could have matched Rock during their feud, but hopefully that will come as he continues to get opportunities to be THE guy. He tried, but John clearly had him shook. Cena has always had improv skills. I haven't seen that out of Roman yet.
3. I think he fits promo-heavy "sports entertainment variety show" Raw more than he fits wrestling-heavy NXT. A lot of NXT names struggle because they have the opposite skillset. I think Elias has potential, at least at the IC Title level. Whether he can make it past that will depend on how the next few years go.
4. There's going to come a time when Asuka does the job, and it might be to Alexa (presumably not cleanly). It's going to be tough to book her first loss, but it's going to have to happen at some point. WWE obviously likes Alexa, so she's got a chance to be that person, but I'd like to think they'll let Asuka go on a tear before she does lose.
5. I definitely think it's because WWE superstars perform sports entertainment contests in front of the WWE Universe for championships (not belts). The title is defended on the award-winning WWE Network for $9.99 a month in addition to the longest-running weekly episodic show in television history, so I think it would have had that name regardless.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Main Event Reax - 9/1/17, Hardys added to Raw tour, GFW name recovers, GFW PPV for NXT name, GFW streaming service update, new WWEPC signing?, Interview with Catanzaro, WWE DVD preview, Alberto+Paige help Houston out, WWE names holding training seminar, Spanish WWE series, more GFW shows in the works, HoFers at MYC finale, NXT injury, MYC competitors at WWEPC, WWE Network updates, NXT names do big workout, Joe injury update, big Raw match set, WWE scholarship for former referee, Flair profiled, KFC's WWE ad, Smackdown name working out at WWEPC, Impact audience, Smackdown commentary team changing, Raw name back from injury, and Questions on Angle's college fling, Braun vs. Brock, Floslam, and DiBiase's slave angle
-- Main Event:
- Alicia vs. Dana:
I can't wait for someone in the future say this match inspired them to get into wrestling.
I had lost track of whether Alicia was heel or face...
This is fine enough.
Both ladies have good bases.
Pretty solid back-and-forth.
It's not an Alicia Fox match without a Northern Lights suplex.
Fine work overall!
- Ariya vs. Mustafa:
I wish we got a promo about Iran before this.
Solid mat work here.
I'm liking both sides here.
Nice enough back and forth.
I like Mustafa a good deal.
Nice for the time it had.
The Hardys are now part of Raw's upcoming Australia/New Zealand tour. The shows would have been lacking something without them.
Reno SCUM are back in action as a team on September 22, so Thornstowe is cleared to return to the ring. I hope they do well once they're able to work GFW again.
GFW just debuted an Eric Young PPV. It's not a bad idea at all to capitalize on his NXT push. If people want to see more of him, GFW is giving them a chance to see some of his best work.
GFW's "Global Wrestling Network" will launch later this month as a website and an app. It will include some older episodes of Impact for free as a sample of the content available.
YouTube personality Inanna Sarkis was at the WWE Performance Center, leading to speculation of her being signed. WWE has a LOT of potential female signees from the MYC, but maybe she offers something that don't have due to their background.
Kacy Catanzaro discussed signing to WWE. WWE has apparently been recruiting her for a while. She'll start at the WWEPC in January. I wish her well; if she can get more fans into wrestling due to her ANW work, that's a plus.
WWE has a teaser of its "unreleased matches" DVD. They're constantly finding new footage in their archive.
Alberto El Patron and Paige have bought hotel rooms for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. That's amazing! Great for them!
Tyson Kidd and Curt Hawkins will be doing a seminar for New York's Create-A-Pro Wrestling on October 26. I'm glad Tyson's still able to contribute to the wrestling business despite not being able to return to the ring on WWE TV.
WWE has launched a Spanish series on FOX Sports Mexico. That's great! I hope it means good things for the markets south of the U.S.
GFW continues to plan shows in the midwestern U.S. (and potentially Canada) for fall. Hopefully they'll continue to grow that part of their business for 2018 and beyond.
Beth Phoenix and Alundra Blayze will be at the MYC finale. I expect a lot of other names will attend, too.
- Blayze's planned WWE Network special has been dropped. No word on why.
Abbey Laith is dealing with a foot injury. I was impressed with her work in Round One. I hope she's got a good future in WWE.
A number of MYC competitors are still working out at the WWEPC and will be part of the finale. I hope some of them will be signed soon.
Rusev and Lana have gone to Bulgaria, likely to film footage for "Total Divas." That should tell you what a priority that show is to WWE.
WCW Thunder should be coming to WWE Network soon. I'm surprised it's taken them so long to get to that, but I can see why they wanted to switch things up and dive into other areas of their huge library.
The "Table for 3" episode with Flair, Steamboat, and Sting will likely air after the September 11 Raw.
WWE Story Time's second season will follow the September 18 Raw.
WWE put up the results of a recent Performance Center training exercise, kind of like the NXT Olympics I suppose.
Samoa Joe is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, so he'll be back in time for Survivor Series. I'm glad the knee injury is fairly minor.
A steel cage match between Big Show and Braun Strowman is set for Raw. That could be pretty fun. I'd be fine with Braun retiring Mark Henry if they want to go that route.
Former WWE referee Kevin Keenan has been awarded a college scholarship by the company as he goes to make a career after wrestling. It's good to see them helping people out after their in-ring days are over. Not everyone has a long and successful career, and it can be hard to "start over" with a new career.
Ric Flair was profiled. There are some a lot of great facts and stories of his life there. There really needs to be a Flair biopic someday.
AdWeek covered WWE's latest KFC crossover. I love this kind of goofy stuff. Wrestling takes itself too seriously a lot of times.
Mike Kanellis recently trained at the WWE Performance Center. I'm surprised he got to skip NXT, but I guess he had leverage in the sense he could have stayed in GFW or returned to ROH. I'm glad he's looking to improve.
Impact Wrestling drew 268,000 viewers this week, putting them back where they were before Destination-X. They can only grow so much on Pop. It's going to take a lot of work to improve their standing.
JBL is stepping back from weekly commentary to do more charity work. He will continue to make appearances. That's a really kind move from the former WWE Champion. I can't fault him for that at all.
Darren Young returned to the ring as part of a battle royal on a Raw live event. The match was to determine Miz's challenger for the Intercontinental Championship later in the evening. Jason Jordan won the battle royal before losing to Miz.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I can only imagine how this storyline would go during the Attitude Era. I assume Mae Young would be involved somehow, though.
2. I expect the match to have a wild ending, for sure. They could have Bray interfere if they wanted, since Braun has largely ignored the guy who found him in the first place.
3. They've definitely got their work cut out for them in being competitive with the WWE Network, New Japan World, etc.
Nothing to add to 4.
5. EVERYONE HAS A PRICE HAHAHAHA. They'll be fine for the reasons mentioned. Not a lot of people are going to watch something from 30 years ago anyway.
More wrestling tomorrow.
- Alicia vs. Dana:
I can't wait for someone in the future say this match inspired them to get into wrestling.
I had lost track of whether Alicia was heel or face...
This is fine enough.
Both ladies have good bases.
Pretty solid back-and-forth.
It's not an Alicia Fox match without a Northern Lights suplex.
Fine work overall!
- Ariya vs. Mustafa:
I wish we got a promo about Iran before this.
Solid mat work here.
I'm liking both sides here.
Nice enough back and forth.
I like Mustafa a good deal.
Nice for the time it had.
The Hardys are now part of Raw's upcoming Australia/New Zealand tour. The shows would have been lacking something without them.
Reno SCUM are back in action as a team on September 22, so Thornstowe is cleared to return to the ring. I hope they do well once they're able to work GFW again.
GFW just debuted an Eric Young PPV. It's not a bad idea at all to capitalize on his NXT push. If people want to see more of him, GFW is giving them a chance to see some of his best work.
GFW's "Global Wrestling Network" will launch later this month as a website and an app. It will include some older episodes of Impact for free as a sample of the content available.
YouTube personality Inanna Sarkis was at the WWE Performance Center, leading to speculation of her being signed. WWE has a LOT of potential female signees from the MYC, but maybe she offers something that don't have due to their background.
Kacy Catanzaro discussed signing to WWE. WWE has apparently been recruiting her for a while. She'll start at the WWEPC in January. I wish her well; if she can get more fans into wrestling due to her ANW work, that's a plus.
WWE has a teaser of its "unreleased matches" DVD. They're constantly finding new footage in their archive.
Alberto El Patron and Paige have bought hotel rooms for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. That's amazing! Great for them!
Tyson Kidd and Curt Hawkins will be doing a seminar for New York's Create-A-Pro Wrestling on October 26. I'm glad Tyson's still able to contribute to the wrestling business despite not being able to return to the ring on WWE TV.
WWE has launched a Spanish series on FOX Sports Mexico. That's great! I hope it means good things for the markets south of the U.S.
GFW continues to plan shows in the midwestern U.S. (and potentially Canada) for fall. Hopefully they'll continue to grow that part of their business for 2018 and beyond.
Beth Phoenix and Alundra Blayze will be at the MYC finale. I expect a lot of other names will attend, too.
- Blayze's planned WWE Network special has been dropped. No word on why.
Abbey Laith is dealing with a foot injury. I was impressed with her work in Round One. I hope she's got a good future in WWE.
A number of MYC competitors are still working out at the WWEPC and will be part of the finale. I hope some of them will be signed soon.
Rusev and Lana have gone to Bulgaria, likely to film footage for "Total Divas." That should tell you what a priority that show is to WWE.
WCW Thunder should be coming to WWE Network soon. I'm surprised it's taken them so long to get to that, but I can see why they wanted to switch things up and dive into other areas of their huge library.
The "Table for 3" episode with Flair, Steamboat, and Sting will likely air after the September 11 Raw.
WWE Story Time's second season will follow the September 18 Raw.
WWE put up the results of a recent Performance Center training exercise, kind of like the NXT Olympics I suppose.
Samoa Joe is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, so he'll be back in time for Survivor Series. I'm glad the knee injury is fairly minor.
A steel cage match between Big Show and Braun Strowman is set for Raw. That could be pretty fun. I'd be fine with Braun retiring Mark Henry if they want to go that route.
Former WWE referee Kevin Keenan has been awarded a college scholarship by the company as he goes to make a career after wrestling. It's good to see them helping people out after their in-ring days are over. Not everyone has a long and successful career, and it can be hard to "start over" with a new career.
Ric Flair was profiled. There are some a lot of great facts and stories of his life there. There really needs to be a Flair biopic someday.
AdWeek covered WWE's latest KFC crossover. I love this kind of goofy stuff. Wrestling takes itself too seriously a lot of times.
Mike Kanellis recently trained at the WWE Performance Center. I'm surprised he got to skip NXT, but I guess he had leverage in the sense he could have stayed in GFW or returned to ROH. I'm glad he's looking to improve.
Impact Wrestling drew 268,000 viewers this week, putting them back where they were before Destination-X. They can only grow so much on Pop. It's going to take a lot of work to improve their standing.
JBL is stepping back from weekly commentary to do more charity work. He will continue to make appearances. That's a really kind move from the former WWE Champion. I can't fault him for that at all.
Darren Young returned to the ring as part of a battle royal on a Raw live event. The match was to determine Miz's challenger for the Intercontinental Championship later in the evening. Jason Jordan won the battle royal before losing to Miz.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I can only imagine how this storyline would go during the Attitude Era. I assume Mae Young would be involved somehow, though.
2. I expect the match to have a wild ending, for sure. They could have Bray interfere if they wanted, since Braun has largely ignored the guy who found him in the first place.
3. They've definitely got their work cut out for them in being competitive with the WWE Network, New Japan World, etc.
Nothing to add to 4.
5. EVERYONE HAS A PRICE HAHAHAHA. They'll be fine for the reasons mentioned. Not a lot of people are going to watch something from 30 years ago anyway.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Friday, September 1, 2017
CMLL insures personnel, Santino correction, GFW on Pop through the end of 2018, WWE UK show back on track (?), more on Corbin's WWE standing, potential 2018 HoF headliner, Interviews with Y2J/HHH/Koff, new Network collections, Sexy Star+Cornette on Triplemania incident, WCW name needs help with surgery, new ROH tour dates, new DBD match, and Questions on WWE in Houston, GFW's response to Triplemania, Alberto-GFW, Paige-WWE, and NXT mentioning ROH
CMLL has announced that all personnel will have medical insurance, extending to injuries and illnesses outside the ring. That's great news, and I can see it making the company a more attractive option for wrestlers and other employees.
Santino Marella teamed with Chavo Guerrero in his final match, a handicap match. I previously indicated the match was against Chavo. Chavo was replacing Alberto El Patron in the contest for unknown reasons. One goal for Santino was having a match where he could be advertised as from his hometown instead of being the Italian character. I'm glad to hear he's still giving back to the business via a training academy and running shows.
GFW has signed a new TV deal with Pop, ensuring Impact will be on the air there through the end of 2018. That's good news as they continue to rehabilitate the company.
WWE intends to start a weekly UK brand show by the end of the year. That's going to be a big endeavor; I hope it pays off.
The Baron Corbin story about John Cena giving him a poor evaluation leading to him being moved down the card is now being disputed. The two situations are said to be unrelated, with the implication Corbin would have been downgraded regardless of Cena's lack of faith in his abilities. I try to be careful with the stories of people having heat, "being in the doghouse," etc. for this exact reason: the rumor mill often becomes inconsistent.
Batista is being considered to headline the 2018 Hall of Fame class. The Undertaker is also a possibility, which would likely mean they'd save Batista for another year. Basically it comes down to when Taker's ready for that honor; I assume it would mean an official end to his career as a wrestler.
The Undertaker's WWE Network collection focuses on his debut as that character and goes through Wrestlemania 13. I'm sure a future collection will pick up where that leaves off.
- Sting also has a big collection coming to the network.
Sexy Star commented on the Triplemania incident, with a translation here. I say commented instead of apologized for, because she definitely didn't do the latter. AAA needed to publicly and officially take action here; they have really failed in handling the situation.
- Jim Cornette commented in true Cornette fashion, throwing gasoline on the fire. GFW does NOT need to be associated with someone making these kinds of comments.
Former WCW star Lodi is asking for help for neck surgery. It's really a shame he has such big expenses for the procedures.
Joe Koff commented on ROH names in NXT and more:
- ROH has definitely become a reliable place for future WWE superstars to be pulled from.
- It was absolutely time for Cole to move on, and I don't blame reDRagon for heading to NXT, either. I do wonder how O'Reilly & Fish would have fit into things with Cody and The Addiction in big roles, but I can't say I wouldn't rather see them in NXT.
- ROH has really benefited from pairing up with NJPW and CMLL. A lot of its top workers are more well known for their work elsewhere, whether that's WWE, GFW, or otherwise.
- Cody has brought ROH to another level, along with the NJPW connection.
- It'd be silly to limit titles to U.S. names when talented alternatives exist.
- What would be the point of a U.S. Title not being defended in the U.S.?
ROH has announced November dates in Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma. Glad to see them giving that much work for their wrestlers.
Kenny King will challenge KUSHIDA for the TV Championship at Death Before Dishonor. That should be good.
Sexy Star commented on the Triplemania incident, with a translation here. I say commented instead of apologized for, because she definitely didn't do the latter. AAA needed to publicly and officially take action here; they have really failed in handling the situation.
- Jim Cornette commented in true Cornette fashion, throwing gasoline on the fire. GFW does NOT need to be associated with someone making these kinds of comments.
Former WCW star Lodi is asking for help for neck surgery. It's really a shame he has such big expenses for the procedures.
Joe Koff commented on ROH names in NXT and more:
- ROH has definitely become a reliable place for future WWE superstars to be pulled from.
- It was absolutely time for Cole to move on, and I don't blame reDRagon for heading to NXT, either. I do wonder how O'Reilly & Fish would have fit into things with Cody and The Addiction in big roles, but I can't say I wouldn't rather see them in NXT.
- ROH has really benefited from pairing up with NJPW and CMLL. A lot of its top workers are more well known for their work elsewhere, whether that's WWE, GFW, or otherwise.
- Cody has brought ROH to another level, along with the NJPW connection.
- It'd be silly to limit titles to U.S. names when talented alternatives exist.
- What would be the point of a U.S. Title not being defended in the U.S.?
ROH has announced November dates in Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma. Glad to see them giving that much work for their wrestlers.
Kenny King will challenge KUSHIDA for the TV Championship at Death Before Dishonor. That should be good.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I think WWE will use the opportunity to bring more charity to Houston.
2. That response was REALLY bad. They're lucky they're somewhat under the radar, because otherwise they would be getting a lot more heat for sweeping the incident under the rug. Really poor PR from GFW and AAA in all of this.
3. If not then, likely the TV tapings afterward.
4. I'm sure WWE isn't exactly eager to deal with any potential headaches from her, even if she is medically 100%. They're going to have to tread lightly with using her.
5. The same odds as WWE wanting to be sued by ROH! It's a really bad idea. And really, plugging ROH would be counterproductive since NXT courts the same talents and audience.
More wrestling coming up.
1. I think WWE will use the opportunity to bring more charity to Houston.
2. That response was REALLY bad. They're lucky they're somewhat under the radar, because otherwise they would be getting a lot more heat for sweeping the incident under the rug. Really poor PR from GFW and AAA in all of this.
3. If not then, likely the TV tapings afterward.
4. I'm sure WWE isn't exactly eager to deal with any potential headaches from her, even if she is medically 100%. They're going to have to tread lightly with using her.
5. The same odds as WWE wanting to be sued by ROH! It's a really bad idea. And really, plugging ROH would be counterproductive since NXT courts the same talents and audience.
More wrestling coming up.
Mae Young Classic Episode Four Reax
Read on for my thoughts on the fourth episode of the Mae Young Classic.
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