- Johnny Impact vs. Matt Sydal will take place on next week's show. That could really be something.
Asuka will sign at Wintercon in New York on December 1.
C.M. Punk has joined Cage Fury Fighting Championships as a commentator, beginning with their December 14 event on UFC Fight Pass. That might be the best career move for him if he's staying in MMA.
Brock Lesnar's latest WWE deal goes through WrestleMania. He is able to compete in UFC under this contract, and they're looking to have him face Daniel Cormier on March 2.
AAA now has a weekly two-hour show on Facebook Live, featuring a tournament concluding on December 19. Hopefully that's something successful for them.
Juventud Guerrera has left AAA due to wanting to be pushed more.
Jim Ross will not be on AXS after December 31, as WWE has prevented him from signing a new deal there. However, his WWE deal expires March 31, and he's expected to leave them to sign back with AXS. WWE more or less paid him a lot of money to not work anywhere else, as they haven't use him much.
Lucha Underground's status for a fifth season is up in the air as El Rey has named a new VP of programming.
WOS has canceled their January 20 live event and moved their January 27 live event to a significantly smaller venue. There has been no announcement of a second season.
Impact is looking for a new U.S. TV home. They've got their work cut out for them getting someone to give them their fifth different TV station.
Roman Reigns is set for ACE Comic Con in Arizona from January 11 to January 13. I hope things go well for him there.
Raw will no longer go past 11 p.m., presumably to get more people to watch the final quarter hour. So, USA Network is taking some action addressing declining viewership.
WWE's German television partner taped some content at the recent tryouts. Good move.
- Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel helped coach at the tryouts.
Stephanie McMahon discussed WWE's future. Being in Disney's level is a BIIIIIIGGGGG stretch, but it's definitely something to aspire toward.
WCW's Alex Wright met Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins in Germany. Now that's someone who needs to cameo on House Hardy.
The former Neville has returned to Twitter as PAC. I hope he rebuilds his reputation there after so long away from the ring.
A WrestleMania 35 on-sale party for November 15 has been announced. Big Show, Paige, Sami Zayn, Jimmy Hart, Mojo Rawley, Apollo, and Alicia Fox have all been announced.
-- The show will also feature the following matches:
- Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno
- Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins vs. The Singh Brothers (will the streak finally end?????)
- Rhea Ripley vs. Kacy Catanzaro
ROH's COO commented on Sinclair Broadcasting's CEO assessing the company during a recent conference call.
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin has been announced for Raw's December 26 live event in Madison Square Garden. Corbin is replacing Dolph Ziggler and/or Drew McIntyre in the original plan.
Before Global Wars Buffalo, Cheeseburger/Ryan Nova/Eli Isom defeated Anthony Greene/Brad Johnson/Brad Hollister in what could have been something of a tryout for the latter three names.
Curt Hawkins marked two years since his last victory in WWE. I'm very glad he's making the most of the situation. I hope he sells a lot of T-shirts. That design needs another row of tallies and then some.
Seth Rollins was interviewed in Italy. If only Santino Marella was there.
Matt Hardy will drive the car of pace for the Can-Am 500 on Sunday.
Nitro Circus' Ryan Williams met with New Day before a Smackdown Live event in the UK.
Memphis' NBA team unveiled new jerseys tributing wrestling in the city.
Nikki Cross is not on Smackdown Live's European tour, so it doesn't look like she's joining the show full-time.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. The show is already TV-14, and I believe it always has been. As was stated, they already have some pretty edgy content (see the Eddie Edwards/Sami Callihan feud). I suppose they could try ratcheting things up further for the later hour, but it's going to be a tall order changing Pop's mind for 2019 this late in the process. They did crown a new world champion recently, so they are at least trying a new direction on that front.
2. Well, I don't think making the live events look low-budget is a good move, so they'll have to be careful about that. I think it's worth having some different producers at the helm to experiment what look works for something that stands out from WWE TV without looking second-rate. It'd be interesting to do shows without the "hard camera" directly facing the ring from the other side of the arena, for instance.
3. Really no major update on a comeback. She's rehabilitating but has not been back at the WWE Performance Center yet to the best of my knowledge.
4. I'd be willing to have them do something as the first tag champions across both (all?) brands.
5. They also don't want to undercut TV by making those shows more important than what airs on USA Network and FOX. TV is much more important to WWE's bottom line than ROH's. WWE definitely needs to make live events feel like they're not just inferior versions of what you see on TV. They should focus on what can be done without the restrictions of the TV format. Adding more VIP meet-and-greet content is a start.
More wrestling tomorrow.
