Originally Posted by #1-wwf-fan (Post 4930127)

When did Bryan say that thing about Cena/Flair's title reigns? That is a CyNick-level retarded thing to say.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4930523)

Rental alone was enough to tank whatever big plans the WWE had for The World restaurant. WWE decided to have it located in one of the most expensive areas in the country for business rentals and then had the double whammy of the food getting poor reviews.

Originally Posted by Cool King (Post 4930533)

Originally Posted by Lock Jaw (Post 4930742)

Are we supposed to know who those brauds are.......

Originally Posted by Stocky (Post 4930726)

Vince must have booked the meals

Originally Posted by Shadrick (Post 4930822)

I would venture to say you're in the minority if you don't know who they are.

Fun fact: I share the same birthday as them.

Originally Posted by Cool King (Post 4930511)

The more Jarrett gets involved with World of Sport, the more I just think that World of Sport will basically just be "TNA UK" when it returns to television.



I'm guessing Melina.

Originally Posted by Cool King (Post 4930852)

Originally Posted by SlickyTrickyDamon (Post 4930853)

AJ Lee?

Originally Posted by Cool King (Post 4930852)

Originally Posted by Observer

This Monday brought another addition to the WWE Hall of Fame with the announcement that Diamond Dallas Page would be part of its 2017 class.

Rolling Stone was given the news by WWE and conducted an interview with Page. He is the fifth officially confirmed member of this year's class, joining Kurt Angle, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson of the Rock 'n' Roll Express, and Teddy Long.

In the interview with Rolling Stone, Page said he got the call from WWE telling him that he would be inducted into the Hall of Fame all the way back in October.

"They handed me the phone and said, 'Boss wants to talk to you,'" Page said about finding out the news. "It's HHH. I called him a couple weeks earlier and he hadn't gotten back to me yet, so I thought this was that return call. So we're talking about casual stuff, and then I start to hear him talk about my career and where I've been and how I got here, and then it hits me -- is this that call? I'm not a guy who has trouble talking, but I couldn't talk. Tears are running down the sides of my cheeks and I just said, 'Bro, I love you man.'"

Originally Posted by Observer

After Shinsuke Nakamura said that he would like to face AJ Styles at WrestleMania, Styles responded on Twitter: "@ShinsukeN how's this? Sorry, but I do have a match at Wrestlemania. N fact, I'll be headlining Wrestlemania after tonight."

Originally Posted by Observer

Steve Austin was backstage at last night's Raw recording an episode of his podcast with Kevin Owens.

Originally Posted by Observer

The first WWN Champion will be crowned over WrestleMania weekend at the EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS Mercury Rising supershow. The champion will be determined by a multi-man elimination match featuring current or former champions from WWN promotions. Drew Galloway has been announced for the match.

Originally Posted by Observer

Pete Dunne pulled out of the Preston City Wrestling shows on 2/25 and 2/26. He claimed it was due to "insensitive comments from the promoter." There was controversy with the promoter's arguing with fans who complained to him that this weekend's shows, the Kris Travis tournament isn't a benefit show for Travis, a popular and talented wrestler who died of cancer. Preston City did a benefit show for Travis in 2015. A few weeks ago, after the comments were made, Dunne said he'd donate his purse to a local cancer charity. He pulled out today but said he would still donate money to the charity. He also said that he was supposed to face Pentagon Jr. on the Saturday show in the first round of the tournament, but would now face him for Revolution Pro in Portsmouth on Friday night. Given this was to be taped for DVD release, I'm not sure how he'd have been able to be in the tournament in the first place but he claimed this had nothing to do with WWE pulling him. There were people who had expected him to pull out since the tournament was being taped for DVD release.

Originally Posted by Observer

Armando Montalvo, the obsessed Lita fan who was shot in front of the Performance Center by police after he kept banging on the glass door and came at officers threatening, was denied bail. In court, he tried to claim he was the victim because he was shot. Montalvo's father noted that he was mentally ill and without medication, tends to have outbursts. He was arrested again last month outside a bar, and charged with battery. He took a vacuum hose and put one end in his pants and the other up a woman's skirt, and was arrested and held with no bond. The judge ruled he had to stay in jail until his trial.

Originally Posted by TMZ

Get your Booty-O's ready ... 'cause THE NEW DAY has officially been tapped to host WrestleMania 33!

It's a HUUUUGE honor -- Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods broke the news on "TMZ Live" and said they're psyched ... since they'll essentially be the faces of the biggest WWE event of the year!

It all goes down in Orlando, FL on April 2 and the guys are already brainstorming ideas so they go down as the greatest WrestleMania hosts EVER ... a list that includes The Rock, John Cena and Kim Kardashian (she hosted in 2008).

"Our main goal is to have as much fun as possible because if were having fun, everybody's having fun!"

Originally Posted by Observer

Tamina Snuka was back with WWE last night on the SmackDown brand. She worked as a face last night teaming with Natalya, who, because they were in Edmonton, also worked as a face.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE also announced this Friday, four videos featuring Diamond Dallas Page will be added to their 'Hall of Fame: Class of 2017' collection on the WWE Network.

They also announced a George 'The Animal' Steele collection will debut this Friday as well.

Originally Posted by Observer

With Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at Raw for the filming of scenes for "Fighting with My Family," there was naturally speculation that Johnson would make a surprise appearance on television.

That didn't happen, but Johnson did appear twice in front of the live crowd at the Staples Center. He got on the mic before Raw went on the air, with Vince McMahon even leading him off stage at the end of the segment.

Johnson came back after the conclusion of the show and before the filming of a scene where Paige (played by Florence Pugh and with Tessa Blanchard as a stunt double) wins the Divas Championship for the movie based on Paige and her family's life that Johnson's production company has partnered with WWE Studios and others on.

The presence of the fictional AJ Lee (played by Thea Trinidad) for the scene inspired the Los Angeles audience to chant for CM Punk, which led to Johnson attempting to call Punk. The two ultimately weren't able to find a connection, but Punk did tweet a thank you to the crowd after Johnson left a voicemail.

The rock calls @CMPunk from #wwelosangeles #raw pic.twitter.com/7q0b6a2Wqd

— Josy (@josy0710) February 21, 2017

Punk also offered the explanation that it was his dog's birthday for why he didn't answer the call.

Originally Posted by PWI

For those who have asked whether WWE was behind The Rock calling CM Punk last night in the ring after Raw went off the air, that would be a resounding No.

As I reported last night in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, it was simply something Rock did at the spur of the moment to pop the live crowd at the Staples Center. We heard from multiple sources that WWE management did not appear to have been happy with Rock going in that direction with his live promo to the crowd in Los Angeles. At one point, it appeared someone was sent to ringside to ask Rock to go in another direction. At another point, a fan yelled they were going to turn his mic off and Rock responded, "They better not turn off my mic."

Originally Posted by Observer

Monday's episode of Raw, which was headlined by Braun Strowman vs. Big Show, averaged 3.208 million viewers on the USA Network and was up four percent from last week ...

This week's third hour held up better than it usually does, although there was still a decline. Raw did 3.259 million in the first hour, stayed basically even at 3.261 for hour two, and the third hour dropped three percent, to 3.127 million. The usual decline of late has been about ten percent from hour one to three.

Originally Posted by Observer

It was announced this evening that Zack Sabre Jr. would be making his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut at the promotion's 45th anniversary event on March 6th. He will face Katsuyori Shibata, with Shibata’s RPW British Heavyweight Championship on the line.

Originally Posted by Observer

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tweeted about calling CM Punk from the ring after Raw went off the air: "I work off instinct, always listen to the people and try to give em something special. Huge positive feedback from @WWE Universe. Fun night"

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE star April Brooks AKA AJ Lee took to Twitter today to comment on Thea Trinidad playing her in the forthcoming WWE Studios film "Fighting With My Family" after a writer for IGN.com noted how bizarre it was. The exchange is below:

So bizarre hearing this song play again at a WWE event as the actress playing AJ Lee comes out to the ring to film #FightingWithMyFamily! pic.twitter.com/QU9CNfRo9d
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) February 21, 2017

@TheEricGoldman Whoa haha. I’ve never looked hotter…
— AJ Mendez Brooks (@AJBrooks) February 21, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer

Highspots released a free video honoring the life of Ivan Koloff.

Originally Posted by PWI

Jeff Jarrett continued his rah rah press tour for TNA in Great Britain for The Huffington Post. On the company's relationship with the UK, Jarrett said, "It’s no secret that the relationship between the Impact Wrestling audience and fans in the UK has been very prosperous over the last few years. It did fall on hard times and that’s the main reason Ed and I are here - to start back on those positive relationships. The app was launched, it was rushed to market and there was a good reason for that - because of the Challenge TV situation we wanted the fan base to have a way to stay engaged. So we’re here with multiple discussions, with multiple networks, with promotors and doing media to re-energise the relationship across all its facets."

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE and TNA Producer Kevin Sullivan announced that he has returned to the company.

Sullivan had been producing videos for Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling while running his own production company, KSTV, LLC, producing videos for NBC TV. Sullivan is the latest member of the GFW core staff to return to TNA following Jarrett taking over the creative process as an executive producer, following Scott D'Amore and Dutch Mantel.

Sullivan announced his return via Twitter:

I'm excited to be back on the @IMPACTWRESTLING team. It was great catching up and seeing everyone in the studio today #MIGA @RealJeffJarrett
— Kevin Sullivan (@KevinSullyTV) February 21, 2017

Originally Posted by Cool King (Post 4930861)

Originally Posted by Observer

Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network was up to 2.792 million viewers, the show's third-best showing since last July's brand split.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE is booking Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Joseph Conners, T-Bone, Mark Andrews, James Drake, Dan Moloney Sean Gradwell, Saxon Huxley, Tucker and Jordan Devlin on its May tour of the U.K.

Originally Posted by PWI

Defendants in the lawsuit filed by UFC fighter Mark Hunt against UFC, Brock Lesnar and UFC President Dana White have to respond to the lawsuit by 2/28 after being given a requested extension of time to respond to the suit, which was filed last month. Court records indicate that UFC was served officially with the suit, but does not note whether Lesnar was personally served.

As PWInsider.com reported last month, Hunt's lawsuit in the United States District Court of Nevada alleges that, "Without Mark Hunt's knowledge or consent, the UFC conspired and caused Brock Lesnar, a doping fighter, to fight Hunt, a clean fighter, despite the fact that Lesnar used substances banned by the UFC, USADA and WADA. The substances, Clomiphene and 4-Hydroxyclomiphene, are known “Post Cycle Therapy” (“PCT”) substances believed to be used after a period of strength training with anabolic steroids or similar prohibited substances."

Originally Posted by PWI

TNA production company (and at least at one point, minority owner) Aroluxe LLC and Ronald Dean Harris (aka Ron Harris of the Bruise Brothers) were dismissed as defendants in the ongoing lawsuit former TNA production company, Audience of One Productions, LLC filed against [Elite subscribers, click here] TNA parent company Impact Ventures LLC and TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia on 2/6.

The dismissal came at the request of Audience of One following a hearing on 2/3 that saw Aroluxe's Jason Brown and Harris each speak regarding why they should not be defendants in the case ...

While Harris and Aroluxe had requested the lawsuit be dismissed, that request was dropped once Audience of One requested they be dropped as defendants. The court officially removed them without prejudice (which means that legal action could be opened against them again down the line, if Audience of One finds something over the course of the case that leads to them wishing to file new claims against them) and that each party would be responsible for their own legal costs.

With the dismissals, Impact Ventures and Broadhead remain the only defendants.

Audience of One's lawsuit alleges that TNA's Dean Broadhead and Impact Ventures worked to get them on board under the false pretense of using them full-time as TNA's production company, only to then fail to pay them in a timely fashion for work done, requiring the set up of an agreed upon payment plan. According to the lawsuit, TNA then allegedly stopped paying after the first initial payment installment was made.

Audience of One is seeking $223,000 plus interest and post-judgment costs for breach of contract and for the defendants violating Virginia code.

A Settlement Conference has been set for the morning of 4/5 in an attempt to settle the matter before going to trial.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE announced they would return to Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on 6/30 and 7/1. Additional details will be announced in March.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette featured a piece on Bruno Sammartino reflecting on the passings of George Steele and Ivan Koloff at this link. Sammartino noted that he helped to discover each and that with all of the surgeries he's racked up over the years, he's often wondered when his own number would be up, but he's "functioning fairly well" despite the toll pro wrestling has taken on his body.

Originally Posted by PWI

Attorneys representing dozens of former WWF/WWE contracted performers (as well as talents who worked for the company in the past on a per match basis) filed a motion with the United States District Court of Connecticut yesterday regarding the class action lawsuit regarding WWE's alleged handling of concussions and the classification of WWE performers as independent contractors instead of professional wrestlers, arguing that the court should not stop discovery when it comes to the case (as WWE recently requested) invoking a number of recent deaths, including Jimmy Snuka, Ivan Koloff and George Steele, as a primary reason to push forward.

WWE attorneys have been attempting to stop discovery in case since the new class action suit was added to the existing lawsuits that were already ongoing, most recently filing a motion with their arguments to the court on 2/1. The plaintiffs' attorneys have been arguing that the plaintiffs (who filed their lawsuit in July 2016) were not yet suing WWE when discovery was halted on the existing, related cases, therefore the new plaintiffs could not have had time for the court to properly hear their charges.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWN, which is the Evolve family of promotions, is going to crown a champion that will be recognized throughout all of its promotions on the 4/1 show in Orlando. The idea is that every WWN promotion will send a representative into a multi-person elimination match to crown the first champion, who will defend the title in all of the groups

Originally Posted by Observer

Jeff Jarrett and Ed Nordholm met with ITV in the U.K. on 2/16 in Leicester, UK. We’re told the meeting went well. ITV is looking at launching World of Sport as a regular weekly television show, but they want to work with wrestling people to monetize the brand and get global distribution of the show. Anthem could put the show on The Fight Network and has connections for distribution, such as places that have deals with TNA as well. I don’t know how all the meetings worked out but ITV was looking at Anthem to put some money in, get some responsibilities, in exchange for owning a percentage of the promotion

Originally Posted by Observer

The reason ref was Marty Elias was digitized in the Hardys match with Super Crazy & Psicosis from Tijuana on Impact was because Lucha Underground threatened them with legal action because the ref had appeared on their show. The funny part of the legal threat is that AAA was at about the same time trying to cut a deal with TNA to keep them from working with The Crash, even though AAA works with Lucha Underground, and the key guy in charge of both is Dorian Roldan. Dorian Roldan had contacted Jeff Jarrett about working together, since the word had gotten out that Jarrett was working a date for Konnan later this month.

Then, after their talk, TNA got a legal letter from Lucha Underground threatening a lawsuit because Marty Rubalcaba (Elias) who they have under contract and they consider their intellectual property was to appear on the TNA television show. The funny part of this is that TNA wouldn’t have really been that concerned because as one person noted, they get lawsuit threats all the time, but Lucha Underground also sent the letter to The Crash Promotion, Konnan, and Pop TV, and because it went to Pop TV, it became an issue with TNA. So for the first time I can ever recall, the referee had to be digitized out on a pro wrestling show. Needless to say that TNA wasn’t happy about how one day the company wants to work together and the next they threaten a lawsuit over a referee. Technically, Lucha Underground would be in the right.

Originally Posted by Observer

In something of a surprise, since Galloway’s contract is done this month, before the next tapings, but TNA hasn’t talked with him regarding a new deal as of yet.

Nick Aldis (Magnus) was offered a contract to return. He hasn’t signed the deal.

The Hardys are very much up in the air. They are committed to dates through April. They have told indie promoters when it comes to dates starting in May that they can’t commit until they figure out their next step. Their contracts either have just expired or will be expiring within the next week. WWE has made it clear they want them while avoiding any direct negotiations with contracted talent

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the WWE Network and deals with U.K. promotions, they are still on the table. Vince McMahon changed his mind so many times that the delay in announcing anything could have meant he did so again. But we’re told the delay is that WWE told ICW to get their house in order as it regarded trademarks and music and perhaps that WWE first wants to make its announcement about its own weekly television series in the U.K. An example of this is that Drew Galloway’s entrance music will be specific to ICW and the WWE Network when the deal goes through, and he’s had Psycho Dalek finishing a new custom entrance track that he debuted last week on the What Culture iPPV show

Originally Posted by Observer

Evidently on the 2/14 Smackdown show in the Wyatt vs. Cena vs. Styles main event, the booked finish was Styles losing the fall. Cena pushed that he should lose the fall. Given the Styles lost at the end in the Chamber match and Cena is far more bullet proof, another clean loss would have hurt Styles far more than another clean loss would have hurt Cena, plus Styles is staying and Cena is leaving in less than two months so it makes sense. All the McMahons were gone that day. It works both ways. Years ago, when the Nexus angle was strong, a number of people blame Cena for not listening when several of the guys insisted that Nexus had to go over in that first match, and they didn’t

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4933150)

Based on past incidents, WWE might end up dropping future mentions of "The List of Jericho" for PR reasons after a recent school incident and Jericho being named as the inspiration for it. A middle school student created a "Kill list" in the vein of Jericho's list and outed Jericho as the inspiration for his version of it.

Originally Posted by Observer

It feels like WWE may not be so sure about the Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal match at WrestleMania from this interview with Show on the web site which says:

WWE.COM: Last question: You’ve been very vocal about wanting a match with Shaq at WrestleMania, and you just called him out on Twitter over karaoke and doughnuts.

BIG SHOW: I mean, here’s the thing. We shot this off at the ESPY Awards, Shaq said he’s in, I thought this would be a good match for fans to see two giants go at it. And I see Shaq riding around, singing karaoke and stopping in at Krispy Kreme. I’m like, “Hey! If you’re not gonna take it serious, find something else to do!” I’ve given 22 years of my blood, sweat and tears to this business and I’m doing this favor to Shaq. This could be my last WrestleMania. He needs to step up. I’m not trying to be mean, but my time’s valuable. I get it. I don’t have foot powder commercials, car commercials, insurance commercials. I get it. He’s a busy man. But if he’s gonna step in the ring, in my business, at our biggest event of the year? Show me you’re serious. If anything, talk a little trash. Let me know you’re motivated. Because right now? I just get the feeling he’s terrified. He shot his mouth off, he’s in over his head and he’s trying to back out. So just let me know what’s going on, brother.

Originally Posted by Observer

Don Callis won't be announcing the New Japan shows this week. Kevin Kelly will be working with Rocky Romero.

Originally Posted by Observer

The wedding on TNA last night with Laurel Van Ness and Braxton Sutter was great television, one of the best skits of the type on wrestling television in a long time. The live crowd was so great as was Maria Kanellis in her role as the evil heel, and really everyone involved. Aron Rex was tremendous in his character, Sutter was great doing the giant eyes seeing Allie in the Cinderella roll. TNA uploaded the entire segment on YouTube. It didn't move ratings as they only did 275,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

There is a petition to get Dick "Destroyer" Beyer in the WWE Hall of Fame. It's the only Hall of Fame that he's not already in. The petition is here.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE is promoting a George Steele collection on the network. With the exception of a 1973 title match with Pedro Morales from Madison Square Garden, and a 1977 match with Bruno Sammartino, it's all 1983 or later. But the collection does have matches with Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. Nothing from Ivan Koloff, but that's not a surprise.

Originally Posted by PWI

It was previously reported here on the site that Lucha Underground's first two season would be coming to the Netflix streaming service this year.

CNET is reporting that Lucha Underground seasons 1 and 2 are coming to Netflix March 15.

Originally Posted by PWI

Chris Jericho announced on his instagram that Raven has been added to his "Jericho Network" podcast group. 'The Raven Effect' will debut this coming Monday.

Originally Posted by PWI

Dutch Mantel announced that he had officially signed to return to Impact Wrestling in a creative and advisory position. As I reported a few weeks back in the Elite section, the creative team going forward will be Jeff Jarrett overseeing a booking committee of Dutch Mantel and Scott D'Amore with Abyss, Jeremy Borash and Rockstar Spud assisting. There has been different stories floating about as to whether long-time creative team member Matt Conway is gone from TNA. There has been talk of hiring a writer who would be responsible for formatting the shows and turning them into scripts for production as well.

The belief is that any parity booking will be done with and a lot more old school elements will come into play. More than one person has pointed out the idea to me that now we will be able to see what TNA "could be like without Dixie Carter"

Originally Posted by PWI

With John Gaburick out of creative, his push to bring in Alberto el Patron is done. Alberto was scheduled to appear at the last set of tapings but the decision was made to hold him off for March. Last we have heard, that wasn't going to happen. There had been on and off talks with Alberto dating back to the fall of 2016. Gaburick is now working on the production end.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Network News has revealed the following content featuring DDP will added to the Hall of Fame 2017 Collection today :

Nitro 01/13/1997 – A Diamond in the Rough

After taking on Mark Starr, Diamond Dallas Page shows his true colors when the nWo tries to recruit DDP to their ranks.

Spring Stampede 1998 – DDP Plays by Raven’s Rules

Diamond Dallas Page tries to play by Raven’s Rules when DDP goes one-on-one with the leader of The Flock.

Bash at the Beach 1998 – An All-Star Confrontation

Worlds collide when Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone take on the nWo’s Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman.

Spring Stampede 1999 – Diamonds and Gold

Diamond Dallas Page looks to cement his legacy by taking on Sting, Hollywood Hogan, and Ric Flair for the WCW Title.

Originally Posted by PWI

Naomi will be replaced by Asuka when WWE returns to Madison Square Garden on March 12th. It will be her debut in the venue.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Raw go-home show for Fastlane dropped four percent last night from the week before, averaging 3.08 million viewers.

The number would be the second lowest for a non-holiday episode of the show that didn't go against major sports competition dating back to 1997, barely beating the record of 3.07 million set two weeks earlier ...

The third hour was built around the Braun Strowman-Roman Reigns contract signing as the main pushed item and lost ten percent of viewership from hour two, including a drop of 11 percent in the 18-49 demo.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.13 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.23 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.92 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI

Similar to Drew Galloway's situation, we are told that the Hardys did not physically receive new contracts until just a few weeks before their current deals were set to expire. One TNA source acknowledged that the contracts were late in arriving, explaining that they were behind due to the changeover involved in shifting TNA from its former parent company to the new infrastructure under Anthem Media. We are told that the Hardys were not happy with the last minute rushed nature of having to sign and some of the language in the contract, leaving all sides at an impasse ...

Another factor we have heard that Matt Hardy had extreme creative control over his character and the "Broken Universe" and under the new regime, that likely would not have continued. So, signing would have meant not just signing a new deal, but signing off on how much he could control his direction and characters. The irony there is that at one point last year, there had been talk about Matt Hardy coming on board creative himself, with the idea of putting his wrestling mindset towards helping other storylines and talents in the company while continuing to develop and perform the Broken Hardys act. Instead, Anthem brought back Jeff Jarrett as the new Chief Creative Officer and Jarrett began installing his own booking team, including Dutch Mantel and Scott D'Amore.

We are also told that new contracts being offered by TNA management include a clause that would require talents to have their outside appearances approved by the company and would require the talent to pay TNA 10% of those earnings. Multiple TNA sources declined to comment on whether new contracts indeed featured that clause.

So, from the perspective of the Hardys, they were looking at signing deals that would curtail their creative control (and leave them open to being broken up as an act, as Jeff Jarrett has been said to be keen on pushing Jeff Hardy as a top singles talent) and require the Hardys to pay a percentage of outside earnings to TNA after not receiving their deals until pretty much the last minute ...

The TNA management side appears to be that the company is looking at rebuilding the entire company and from their perspective, no one is irreplaceable if they don't want to be on board with the regime. The mindset appears to be that since the company viewership has been so low in comparison to the Spike days, that they are left in a rebuilding phase and that rebuild will not be changed if any of the current talents exit. One TNA source stated the company made what was described to PWInsider as a "big money offer" that would have seen the Hardys be one of the top paid, if not the top paid act, in the company, and if the Hardys didn't want to come to terms, then it was time to move on. If the Hardys indeed depart, we are told it will free up a lot of money for other potential signings under a regime that is very much about the bottom line financially, as opposed to spending money frivolously.

Originally Posted by Observer

Reby Hardy spoke to SiriusXM's Busted Open radio show about The Hardys' situation with TNA. She confirmed that they're leaving the company and said that Matt Hardy won't be giving up his Broken character any time soon.

Jeff Jarrett posted on Twitter about The Hardys and Drew Galloway leaving TNA (formatting has been added for readability): "For the record, it's @IMPACTWRESTLING 's corporate policy not to make any comments on talent contractual matters. I personally wish nothing but continued success for @JEFFHARDYBRAND @MATTHARDYBRAND @GallowaySpeaks. All three of them are fantastic talent and wherever they land they will obviously do very well. Wrestling business can be tough at times, but one thing is for sure the business is ALWAYS changing! Ready for @UniversalORL and can't wait for Thursday! #MIGA"

Matt Hardy tweeted about departing TNA: "My stint with @IMPACTWRESTLING was DELIGHTFUL. EXCEPTIONAL talent & locker room. A great, respectful team that worked hard in tough times. I wish @IMPACTWRESTLING all the best going forward, especially the INDUSTRIOUS talent. I hope they're all treated with respect & fairness."

Originally Posted by Observer

The prolonged contract situation with three of TNA's biggest names is coming to a head this week.

Drew Galloway announced on Twitter Sunday that he was not signing a new contract and was done with the promotion. TNA had only contacted him about a new deal in the last week or so, and he said that while TNA did try hard to make a deal in the last week and make things right, he had already made up his mind not to sign. They did go back-and-forth with talks until yesterday.

Galloway is expected to continue working with groups like WhatCulture, ICW, and EVOLVE, as well as other promotions in the U.K and around the world. He noted he made up his mind about not staying when it came close to his deal expiring and he hadn't been contacted, and thus had made decisions about his future that didn't include TNA.

Originally Posted by PWI

Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett have departed TNA, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources.

Their respective contracts expired in late 2016 and they had been working on per appearance deals over the last set of TNA TV tapings. TNA management had attempted to sign the pair to new contracts and according to one source, had agreed to terms with the company only to later inform TNA they would not be signing. So, the pair are already done and will not be working this week's TV tapings. The pair just appeared in the extremely entertaining Allie-Braxton Sutter wedding segment.

Originally Posted by Observer

One of WrestleMania 33's planned matches seems to be in serious doubt.

While responding to rumors surrounding his scheduled WrestleMania match against Big Show, Shaquille O'Neal said on his podcast this week that the bout "probably" won't be happening.

"It's not going to happen?" Shaq asked. "That's probably right. It's not my fault, that's all you need to know. It ain't my fault. Oh, it ain't my fault."

Shaq went on to say that the plans likely falling through have nothing to do with him or his management. He said that it isn't definitive that the match is off yet, though things aren't looking good. He claimed that he's still training like it's going to take place and challenged Big Show to meet him wherever he wants to meet, leaving the door open for this to be part of a storyline if the match does occur.

Originally Posted by Observer

New Japan Pro Wrestling revealed the brackets for the promotion's upcoming New Japan Cup tournament on Monday night. The tournament will take place later this March.

The opening rounds are scheduled for March 11th and 12th and will air live on New Japan World. The first round matchups are as follows:

The left side of the bracket (March 11th) --

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
• Tomoaki Honma vs. Tanga Roa
• Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale
• Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga

The right side of the bracket (March 12th) --

• Katsuyori Shibata vs. Minoru Suzuki
• Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
• Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega
• YOSHI-HASHI vs. SANADA

The winners of these matches will advance to quarterfinal bouts, which will be held on March 13th-17th. Semifinal matches will be held on March 19th, with the final match taking place on the 20th. The last two dates will air live on NJPW World.

Originally Posted by Observer

As WWE gets closer to WrestleMania with each passing week, the company revealed another member of this year's Hall of Fame class on Monday afternoon.

USA Today was chosen to break the news that Beth Phoenix will be inducted into the 2017 Hall of Fame class. She joins Kurt Angle, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, Teddy Long, and Diamond Dallas Page as the already announced members of the lineup.

“To hear they find my career was worthy enough and that I did well enough in the ring to be honored among the greatest of all time was incredible and the biggest compliment I could ever ask for,” Phoenix told USA Today. “It’s still sinking in and is very surreal.”

With Phoenix's husband Adam "Edge" Copeland having previously been inducted in 2012, the couple are now the only spouses currently in the Hall of Fame.

Originally Posted by Observer

Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reported that Canadian weightlifter Isabel Lahela has signed with WWE and will be starting at the Performance Center in April.

Originally Posted by Observer

Goldberg tweeted a congratulations to Asuka on having 149 wins in a row.

Originally Posted by PWI

There is also a LOT of talk that the company has a strategy to discontinue the TNA name officially. A few readers have asked if there's a possibility that the GFW name will replace the TNA initials. I haven't heard that officially, but it certainly would make a lot of sense.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet

The Wyatt Family has been splintered on the road to WrestleMania 33 … and now, to add further intrigue, Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Erick Rowan‘s been cleared to return.

As we previously reported, Rowan went under the knife to repair a torn rotator cuff back in October and it was expected that he’d be out of action until March.

Looks like that timeline was right on target, because we’re told he’s been given the green light.

Erick’s medical news couldn’t come at a better time. Bray Wyatt just recently won the WWE Championship and is currently feuding with Rowan’s former tag partner Luke Harper.

The wrestler tweeted this creepy video today as well.

pic.twitter.com/lkioNiFVuF

— Erick Rowan (@ERICKROWAN) February 28, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer

Jack Swagger has requested his release from WWE.

In an appearance on "Beyond the Fight" with Chael Sonnen on Wednesday, Swagger announced the news and said that his decision to leave the company was made because of a lack of opportunities in WWE and the sides being so far apart in contract negotiations.

"As of yesterday, Chael, I asked for my release from WWE," Swagger said. "It's still kind of an ongoing process right now. Basically, it came down to contract negotiations and we were way off. They didn't value me at what I thought I was valued at. So, you can be angry about it because wrestling is something that you get so passionate about, but this was a business decision. They weren't giving me the opportunity to make the full amount of income I could for my family, so when you put it like that it's time to go."

Swagger said that the start-and-stop nature of his booking was frustrating, but noted that it's something that happens all of the time and that there are two people in a room in WWE who determine who the best wrestlers are even though the crowd may like others more.

When asked what his plans are going forward, Swagger noted that he's young and is leaving because he wasn't getting opportunities. He said that he intends to keep wrestling and wants to go to Mexico, the UK, and Japan, but it would be hard to turn down a good offer to try out mixed martial arts.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Tuesday, February 28th editon of WWE SmackDown averaged 2.566 million viewers, down 8% from last week's impressive number.

The second hour of the show went up against U.S. President Donald Trump's address to Congress which had 43 million viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Owens also appeared on today's episode of the Steve Austin Show, which was taped backstage at the February 20th Raw in Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by Observer

After the angle where Randy Orton turned his back on Bray Wyatt last night, there was a segment on Talking Smack that furthered tensions between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon with Styles still demanding to challenge for Wyatt's WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer

In an interview with the Sporting News, Big Show was asked about Shaquille O'Neal claiming that their WrestleMania match "probably" won't happen and said that he still doesn't know whether the match is off yet.

Originally Posted by Observer

Netflix's GLOW series, which was inspired by the pro wrestling promotion of the same name, will premiere on June 23rd.

Originally Posted by Observer

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Marty Scurll vs. Ricochet for their show in Orlando on March 31st. RevPro also tweeted a thank you to Ring of Honor for allowing Scurll and Will Ospreay to work the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross announced on his podcast today that highlights from his three "Ringside with Jim Ross" shows from last year's WrestleMania weekend in Dallas, Texas will be edited into one three hour show that will debut on the Fite App for VOD viewing starting 3/8 at 5 PM.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former TNA champion Drew Galloway was interviewed by The Scottish Sun today to discuss his decision to not sign a new TNA contract and instead, depart the company.

Galloway confirmed the story reported by PWInsider.com several days ago, that the company tried to lock him in too close to the previous contract ending. He told the newspaper, ""They came to me last week with an offer and it was very very good one, one of the best in the company and a position as top guy but the reality is that because they waited until the last second I had to turn it down. Everything was so last minute. I had to to think about back-up plans and family because it went to the wire. I was surprised I got no heads-up beforehand and when they got in touch last week they wouldn’t accept no for an answer and the financial offer was great so it was a very hard decision to make. If all of this was said three weeks ago I would have signed."'

Galloway said that the company wanted him to be positioned as the top talent in Europe, the UK and the United States, but they reached out to him too late for him to want to stay.

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats

PWInsider brought news this morning of yet another high-profile talent who won’t be re-signing with Anthem-owned Impact, former Knockouts champion Jade (aka Mia Yim). She follows Drew Galloway, Matt & Jeff Hardy and Michael Bennett & Maria Kanellis out the door. There’s no word on if she’ll appear at the taping to write her character off, but Insider reports the company plans to only use talent they have locked up on the Mar. 2 - 4 shows in Orlando, so... don’t count on it.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Bruce Prichard will be making his return to Impact Wrestling this week … and not just in a backstage role, he’ll also be on camera.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Prichard will be be flying to Orlando for the upcoming taping to appear in an on-air role, as well as work in an advisory position behind the scenes.

As we previously reported … this week saw the Impact Wrestling departures of Broken Matt, Jeff Hardy, Drew Galloway, Mike Bennett, Maria and Jade.

Unclear what Bruce’s on-air role will be at this point, but we’re told the huge numbers his podcast has been receiving were partly the reason for bringing him back.

Originally Posted by Observer

The new regime of Impact Wrestling debuts at tonight's tapings with a ton of new faces expected as well as old faces being gone.

Besides the names already written about, Alberto El Patron, Garza Jr., Rachael Ellering, Kongo Kong, and Laredo Kid are coming in along with the likes of Konnan, Matt Morgan, Bruce Prichard, and perhaps Karen Jarrett.

Brooke Adams will not be appearing for any of the tapings. Cody appears only tonight.

It also appears Jeremy Borash will be the new lead announcer for TNA.

Originally Posted by PWI

For the many of you who have asked, yes, Paige is indeed backstage at the TNA Impact Wrestling taping tonight in Orlando, Florida.

Originally Posted by Observer

Impact Wrestling announced a new television deal in the United Kingdom today with Spike U.K., a two-year-old station in the market that also airs Bellator.

Spike U.K. airs a lot of Spike TV programming as well as some shows from parent Ch. 5 in the U.K.

The station broadcasts in the U.K. and Ireland. Only a handful of shows in the history of the station have done 200,000 viewers.

The deal goes into effect in the spring, and will air Impact every week, as well as monthly live and taped PPVs. TNA Xplosion will air on the smaller My5.

Impact will air on Friday nights, the night after the show debuts in the U.S. and Canada.

Impact had been out of the U.K. since being canceled by Challenge TV. Its ratings had declined greatly on the station prior to being dropped. Impact had often had more viewers than Raw or SmackDown in the U.K. in the past, but that's misleading since Challenge was available in far more homes than Sky.

Originally Posted by PWI

Boy, if this happens and Jim Ross comes back to the announce booth for Impact, it would be a huge get.

Good luck to all my friends working in #Orlando for @IMPACTWRESTLING.

Expecting many changes including perhaps a different soundtrack. ?????
— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) March 2, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer

AAA is getting an even worse rep with some indie promotions that had worked with them, as they’ve sent cease and desist letters to promoters who are booking Pentagon and Fenix. It’s not just trying to stop them from using their old names, which they’ve stopped using, and registering their new names to keep them from using them, but now are trying to get indie groups to stop booking them by threatening legal action. Based on this, one wonders if Lucha Underground will use them for the next season

Originally Posted by Observer

While it’s too early to know if this will have any effect on the promotion, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc., the parent company of ROH, has approached Tribune Media Company to talk about a merger according to a report by Reuters on 3/1. The deal would hinge on current regulations being changed. A deal would combine two of the largest owners of television stations in the U.S. Tribune owns WGN America and 42 stations while Sinclair owns or operates 173 stations in 81 markets. The article indicated it was more Sinclair looking to buy Tribune, or parts of Tribune.

Right now there is an FCC regulation that no owner of broadcast television stations can reach more than 39 percent of the country’s homes, but the feeling is President Donaldwould relax those types of rules. Since from the story, it would appear the Sinclair side would remain in charge, that would likely not mean anything regarding this promotion, but when big changes are made, you never know what it means for smaller cogs in the wheel and company’s priorities can change

Originally Posted by Observer

The situation with ITV is that ITV is very much looking at doing a wrestling show, but after doing the pilot, realized that producing weekly episodic shows with storylines and such is something they don’t have the capacity to do, as well as run a touring house show promotion. Unlike with Lucha Underground, where it was with this television mindset and losing tens of millions in the process, they realize they need to get a wrestling promotion built from the television show and have talked with Jarrett about that. Exactly what this would entail, or if they even reach a deal, is up in the air

Originally Posted by PWI

The 2017 TNA Slammiversary PPV will be Sunday 7/2 in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WAW UK promotion announced U.K. shows with Jack Swagger (his first non-WWE appearance), Jazz, Bushwhacker Luke Williams and Scott Hall for 3/10 and 3/11.

Originally Posted by Observer

There are discussions of [Pete]Dunne working either on Raw or Smackdown on the post-Mania shows in Orlando. All the U.K. talent contracted talent is coming in, with some likely performing at Axxess

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet

Wrestlers at the WWE Performance Center recently learned a thing or two from The Book of Truth … because The Sheet has learned ex-ROH manager Truth Martini coached them for a week.

Multiple sources tell us Martini’s stint was a few weeks ago, but it somehow slipped under the radar.

Recent guest coaches include Scotty 2 Hotty and Steve Corino … who were both eventually hired by WWE to work with talent at the Performance Center.

The company also hired Nigel McGuiness, who had been working for Ring of Honor — where Truth Martini called home for six years.

No word on whether this will lead to any further relationship between the two sides.

Originally Posted by Fightful.com

On his weekly podcast (link is external) with Fightful Wrestling, Riddle said the [TNA]company has attempted to get ahold of him.

"They haven't been contacting me direct, because they don't have my contact information. But, they've contacted people to get a hold of me, I've been so busy though I haven't got back to that yet. But I don't want to mention names of said contacts but one of my former coaches and ECW alumni at the Monster Factory told me somebody wanted my information," said Riddle.

Currently Riddle is signed to a contract with Evolve, but has liberties to wrestle for other independent promotions and to look for bigger opportunities. Fightful Wrestling's podcast host Sean Ross Sapp asked him what he would be allowed to do regarding Impact Wrestling and Riddle said he was unsure.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4936275)

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4936275)

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Broken Matt and Jeff Hardy have begun preliminary talks with WWE about a return to the company … this according to multiple sources.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us talks started this week after the brothers’ Impact Wrestling contracts expired, and right now things are looking good.

No deal has been offered quite yet, and something could always change — but as of right now it looks as though they’re heading towards Matt and Jeff returning home to WWE.

As we previously reported, Broken Matt and Jeff felt dissed during contract negotiations with Impact and their lawyer was told to call WWE if they didn’t like the offer being given.

It’s unclear what creative plans for the brothers are if they get signed.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE officially announced today that Jacob Hager, aka Jack Swagger, has not been released, even though he said that he was leaving the company on Wednesday.

Where this gets interesting is that Swagger has been announced for several shows next weekend in the U.K., the first being a singles match on March 10th against Alberto El Patron in Norwich, England for the WAW promotion.

WWE claims he can not do that match, noting that when he is officially released, at that point he would have a 90-day non-compete period where WWE will pay him based on his downside guarantee, but during that period he can't wrestle anywhere else, whether that be promotions they consider rivals, television promotions, or anywhere else.

"He's currently under contract to WWE," said a WWE company source. "When he is released, he would have a 90 day non-compete."

Swagger appeared on Chael Sonnen's "Beyond the Fight" podcast earlier this week to announce that he had requested his release from WWE and to explain why he made the decision.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 3/2 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 293,000 viewers, up from last week's 275,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI

Homicide is backstage at the TNA Impact Wrestling taping.

Also backstage are the TNA Tag Team championship belts, which I am assuming Vanguard-1 carried from Cameron, NC to return to TNA management.

Originally Posted by Observer

The storyline of WWE trying to figure out who will challenge for Bray Wyatt's championship at WrestleMania may be coming to an end on Tuesday.

It was announced on Friday morning that Randy Orton would face AJ Styles on next week's SmackDown to determine a number one contender for the WWE Championship. It will be a first-ever match between the two.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tomoaki Honma was injured earlier today in a match in Okinawa and carried out of the ring, seemingly immobile after taking a DDT off the middle rope from Jado.

About 9:00 into the match at the Okinawa Prefectural Budokan Gymnasium, with Honma, Togi Makabe & Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Jado, Jado delivered the move. Honma couldn't get up and the match was immediately stopped.

Evidently in coming off the ropes, Honma's foot got caught on the ropes, changing the trajectory of his landing.

The match was immediately stopped and medical personnel came into the ring. They removed the top rope and carried him out of the ring on a stretcher. He was able to talk to doctors but did not appear able to move.

Originally Posted by Observer

We haven't heard anything new since this morning regarding Tomoaki Honma, who was rushed to the hospital after landing badly on a DDT off the middle rope from Jado during a match today in Okinawa. We've been in contact with people from New Japan and as of last word, they still don't know anything new.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE officially announced today that Jacob Hager, aka Jack Swagger, has not been released, even though he said that he was leaving the company on Wednesday.

Where this gets interesting is that Swagger has been announced for several shows next weekend in the U.K., the first being a singles match on March 10th against Alberto El Patron in Norwich, England for the WAW promotion.

WWE claims he can not do that match, noting that when he is officially released, at that point he would have a 90-day non-compete period where WWE will pay him based on his downside guarantee, but during that period he can't wrestle anywhere else, whether that be promotions they consider rivals, television promotions, or anywhere else.

"He's currently under contract to WWE," said a WWE company source. "When he is released, he would have a 90 day non-compete."

Swagger appeared on Chael Sonnen's "Beyond the Fight" podcast earlier this week to announce that he had requested his release from WWE and to explain why he made the decision.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jerry Lawler will be in Milwaukee to do the post-fight show after Fast Lane on the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Evolve show on 3/30 at 8 p.m. in Orlando, the Thursday before WrestleMania, has a strong lineup with Zack Sabre Jr. vs. ACH for the Evolve title, Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi vs. Michael Elgin & Donovan Dijak for the tag titles, Matt Riddle vs. Drew Galloway, Ricochet vs. Keith Lee plus Ethan Page, Timothy Thatcher and more. They also run 3/31 at 4 P.M. with Sabre Jr. vs. Elgin for the Evolve title, Yehi vs. Riddle, Lee vs. Dijak, and ACH vs. Galloway.

Originally Posted by Observer

The deal for Impact Wrestling to bring in Alberto El Patron wasn't finalized until Wednesday.

Reno Scum's match was taped for next week's Impact and they were wearing the GFW tag team titles belts, so GFW and those belts will be acknowledged on television.

Add Tanea Brooks (Rebel) to the list of those expected back in Impact this week.

Originally Posted by ESPN

"It's on Shaq," the Big Show, whose real name is Paul Wight, told ESPN.com in a recent interview. "He has to figure things out in his own camp. Maybe he is just too scared to show up because he's too busy riding around singing karaoke with John Cena and going to Krispy Kreme and getting fatter every week." "Maybe he doesn't want to put on spandex and show the entire world that Shaquille O'Neal, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, looks like Jabba the Hutt," Big Show said. "It's on him. He has to weigh these consequences in his own mind. Does he want the world to know how fat and out of shape he is or does he want to sit back and talk s--- into a podcast."

Originally Posted by Observer

Most of the U.K. contracted wrestlers are being booked on the upcoming post-Mania tour in May. Listed as appearing on the shows are Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Mark Andrews, Wolfgang, Trent Seven, Joseph Conners, Tyson T-Bone, James Drake, Dan Moloney, San Gradwell, Saxon Huxley, Tucker and Jordan Devlin. They will be working six-man tags with six guys on the Raw tour and six on the Smackdown tour. The matches vary but Seven, Bate, Wolfgang, Gradwell and Huxley are working as faces and Dunne, Conners, T-Bone and Drake are working as heels

Originally Posted by Observer

Dick Beyer, The Destroyer, now 86, is looking to get into the WWE Hall of Fame. He did work with WWE a few years ago when they inducted Gorgeous George because George’s last major program before he died was doing two hair vs. mask matches with Destroyer in Southern California. But the combination of being before 1984 and not owning a tape collection makes this not someone they’d usually put in. Jim Ross and Gerald Brisco couldn’t even get Danny Hodge in, and Pat Patterson was able to get Mad Dog Vachon in, but not Ray Stevens even when WrestleMania was in Northern California

Originally Posted by Observer

It appears the ice cream plans for New Day that they are pushing will be frozen pops. Merchandise regarding that was already on sale at the Raw show in Green Bay

Originally Posted by Observer

Notes from the 2/28 Smackdown tapings in St. Paul. Smackdown is more and more outdrawing Raw, as they had 10,000 fans here, way more than Smackdown usually does in a market that size. They’ve also been beating Raw domestically all year at the house shows.

Originally Posted by Observer

Coming the day after Fastlane, Raw was up four percent from last week, averaging 3.20 million viewers, with a particularly strong second hour but a major drop in the third hour.

The number was virtually identical to that of two weeks earlier and based on normal patterns of gaining about 10 percent after football season ends, Raw should be doing 3.2 million viewers weekly right now ...

There was an across the board third hour drop, of 13 percent, far larger than usual, even in the male demos which usually hold steady in that hour.

The third hour was built around a confrontation with Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman that never happened, and Undertaker was never advertised to appear, and both Lesnar and Goldberg had already appeared by that time.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.32 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.38 million viewers
10 p.m 2.95 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

The 2017 WWE Hall of Fame class is up to seven official members.

In an announcement made by Bleacher Report on Monday afternoon, WWE revealed that Rick Rude would be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. He joins Kurt Angle, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson of the Rock 'n' Roll Express, Teddy Long, Diamond Dallas Page, and Beth Phoenix as those set to be honored on March 31st over WrestleMania weekend in Orlando, Florida.

Rude is the first posthumous member of the 2017 class and will be inducted by Ricky Steamboat. Bleacher Report spoke to Steamboat about Rude's career.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tomoaki Honma has started to get some movement back after a scary injury that took place on Friday.

Honma took a draping DDT from Jado in a six-man tag team match held in Okinawa. Most likely the finish of the match would have involved his side winning, but after taking the move, he laid prone on the mat and couldn't move. Jado pinned him and medical assistance was provided and he was carried out, almost motionless, on a stretcher. He was fully conscious and talking at the time.

Honma, according to sources at New Japan, has regained movement in his arms and legs but is still very weak. He is as of yet unable to sit up.

Japanese media reports state that the injury was to the C-3 and C-4 vertebrae in his neck and that he's been moved out of the emergency room. He has said that he is getting better and vowed that some day he will return to the ring.

Originally Posted by Observer

NJPW announced that Yuji Nagata will be Tomoaki Honma's replacement in the New Japan Cup. Nagata will face Tanga Loa in the first round.

Originally Posted by Observer

The wrestling world was just filled with interesting news at last night's ROH tapings with the Hardys saying they've signed an ROH deal and Bully Ray saying the same.

Originally Posted by Observer

Charlotte Flair appeared at Saturday's Milwaukee Bucks game and interrupted the mascot race with a steel chair. The Bucks play at the Bradley Center, which is where Fastlane will take place on Sunday, and Charlotte was also interviewed before the game.

Originally Posted by Observer

For the first time since becoming Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, The Hardys will defend their titles at Friday's 15th Anniversary pay-per-view. They'll face The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice in a triple threat Vegas street fight. Bully Ray will also make his ROH in-ring debut in a six-man tag team match as he teams up with The Briscoes to take on War Machine & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Originally Posted by Observer

Shaquille O'Neal on his podcast has claimed that he's back in talks with WWE officials about the WrestleMania match with Big Show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Zack Sabre Jr. joined Suzuki-gun at today's New Japan anniversary show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Last night's show was the rare show where the smart money didn't come in late at all, and major underdogs won matches including Sasha Banks and Roman Reigns. I mentioned by the betting patterns that it never appeared this was a smart money show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Chris Jericho has a fundraising campaign for Type 1 diabetes research and is selling Stupid Idiot T-shirts for the next two weeks to raise money. For more info and ordering you can go here.

Originally Posted by Observer

Bully Ray, who is scheduled to work regularly for ROH going forward, will be co-hosting the SiriusXM wrestling show Busted Open with Dave LaGreca, debuting today and tomorrow and starting next week, will be a regular every Thursday and Friday on the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor has come to terms with Kevin Kelly to work their PPV this Friday (as well as the TV taping the next night.)

Kelly and Ian Riccaboni will be handling the announcing of the 15th Anniversary PPV from Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by PWI

The future of the legendary Mid-South Coliseum, home of classic professional wrestling for decades under Jarrett Promotions, may finally be determined by the end of the month.

The Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported today that Wiseacre Brewing will decide by the end of the month whether it wishes to move forward with a $12 million renovation and lease of the former entertainment venue, which was shut down in 2006 due to the costs needed to renovate the venue in order to bring it into modern standards. An attempt by Jerry Lawler to run the venue one last time, featuring a proposed match between himself and Hulk Hogan was denied by the city.

If Wisacre moves forward with their plans, they would take over the the first floor of the Coliseum and rent the remaining space to a mix of businesses that according to the Commercial Appeal, "might include restaurants, a bowling alley, climbing walls, a wrestling museum and a Civil Rights homage."

Developer Brian Saulsberry had pushed to restore the venue as a concert and entertainment hub, but his bis was denied due to doubts he would be able to raise the necessary funding.

There has been a huge push from Memphis residents to save the facility, as opposed to paying to have it destroyed. Memphis wrestling historian and author Mark James has been very involved in the campaign.

Originally Posted by PWI

On 3/1, Matt Hardy applied to trademark "Broken Matt Hardy", officially laying claim to ownership of the character.

The trademark is listed as goods & services, described as, " Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer."

Hardy's claim states that the character was first used on April 20th, 2016 and first used in commerce on Mat 20th, 2016.

Originally Posted by WWE

What's the difference between the Kassius Ohno from three years ago to the Kassius Ohno of today?
OHNO: Aside from about 50 pounds? [Laughs] I'm smarter. I've matured and I don't have a chip on my shoulder. I'm more comfortable and I know my worth.

What drove that need to come back to NXT?

OHNO: I've worked hard not to let my previous tenure define my career. I knew I didn't have to come back to prove myself to anyone. What I need [to do] is to come back and accomplish all the things I failed to accomplish my first time here. I also need to reach those goals for anyone who has ever believed in and supported me.

Now that you're back, it seems that your objective is clear.

OHNO: My focus is zeroed in on the NXT Championship. I have accomplished everything I've ever wanted, everywhere I've ever been. Championships, tournaments, you name it. The NXT Championship is something that I don't just want, it's what I need. I plan to become the face and ambassador of NXT. I want to bring the absolute best in-ring action all over the world.

Originally Posted by Observer

SmackDown averaged 2.738 million viewers on Tuesday night. That number is up from the 2.566 million the show did last week, which was against President Donald Trump's address to Congress, and closer to the strong number that SmackDown did two weeks ago when it averaged 2.792 million viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Daniel Bryan and The Miz continued to blur the line between storyline and reality on Talking Smack last night. After Bryan said that he didn't want to be an actor like Miz claimed to be, Miz replied that Bryan wants to wrestle but can't because of his history of head injuries. Bryan then asked if it was because he couldn't wrestle or if WWE wouldn't let him, and said that we'll see in a year and a half.

Originally Posted by Observer

There was also a continuation of the storyline between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon, with Styles confronting Shane after SmackDown went off the air.

Originally Posted by Observer

A 12-foot-tall version of the WWE Championship was unveiled on the shore of Lake Eola in Orlando today in advance of WrestleMania 33 taking place in the city next month.

Originally Posted by Observer

Edge celebrated International Women's Day with a post on his Facebook account about his wife Beth Phoenix and her induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats

Miz’s promo material from the March 7 SmackDown about John Cena & Nikki Bella’s relationship being “for the cameras” and designed to make them more marketable is based on real backstage WWE gossip.

When Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin gets added to the WrestleMania card, expect it to be some sort of gimmick match.

The line-up for SmackDown’s Women’s title match at Mania is left open in hopes Naomi can be cleared and Eva Marie’s schedule is open.

Continued mixed signals on The Hardys future, as they were reportedly spotted in Pittsburgh last week, leading to speculation they were there to take their WWE physicals.

While at the same time, Matt filed for a trademark on the “Broken” character, which would likely mean if they came to WWE, it would be with their old or a different gimmick.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Hardys will face The Briscoes at ROH's TV tapings in Las Vegas on Saturday after the promotion's 15th Anniversary pay-per-view the night before.

Originally Posted by PWI

Glenn Moore sent this item.

I am the co-host of Jerry “The King” Lawler’s new podcast called ‘Dinner With The King’. We launched today with the first episode and will be releasing a new episode every Wednesday. You can find more information and links here: www.podavenue.com/king

During today’s first episode, Jerry reveals he will be doing commentary during one WrestleMania match and appearing on the pre-show. He also goes over his new contract with WWE, including when and where he got the phone call from WWE on status back in December. It was later followed up by a phone call from Vince McMahon.

Originally Posted by PWI

The updated lineup for Wrestlemania 33 on 4/2 Orlando, Florida:

*WWE Universal champion Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar.

*WWE champion Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton.

*The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns.

*WWE United States champion Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens.

*WWE Raw Women's champion Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte.

*WWE Raw Tag Team champions Gallows & Anderson vs. Cesaro & Sheamus/Enzo & Cass 3/12 Raw winner.

*WWE Smackdown Women's champion Alexa Bliss defending her championship against the Smackdown women's roster.

*The fourth annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal - Apollo Crews, Mojo Rawley.

*POSSIBLY: Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal.

Originally Posted by PWI

After all, as you mentioned many casual fans come back once a year to watch the big show (and some may even come back to watch The Big Show). In most businesses, the company would use that uptick in customers to expose those fans to the great things that they have to offer.

In WWE’s case however, they put older, part time talent in prime positions and do it at the expense of the guys that did all of the heavy lifting all year long. It makes no sense at all to me to with people tuning in once a year you give them a 50 year old who has still not worked more than a few minutes defending the WWE Title against a part time guy who has decimated the entire roster, except for the 50 year old guy.

Why would they do it? Well in the old days the explanation always given was, “We charge a lot of money for this PPV, we have to put names on it that the casual fans know in the top matches" ...

With the advent of the WWE Network, they don’t need to chase the PPV beast anymore. People can either get a free month of the WWE Network or just pay $9.99 for it and get the biggest show of the year. They are not chasing buys any more. I get that they want to have a big name match with Lesnar vs. Goldberg and I am fine with that. That match is a draw all by itself. It doesn’t need the Title attached to it. But it has one and Kevin Owens is now relegated to a grudge match with Chris Jericho. To me, it would have made much, much more sense to have the casual fan tune in and see, “Hey, this Kevin Owens guy is really good and he just beat Chris Jericho, who is a huge star!”

In the case of Smackdown, it looks like it will be Randy Orton taking on Bray Wyatt so they at least could have Orton lose and elevate Wyatt, but that does nothing for AJ Styles, who was the MVP of the brand all year and maybe of the entire company over the period.

So to recap, no I can’t come up with any good reason to sacrifice the hard work that Styles and Owens put in all year. I think Vince McMahon made a really bad decision in both of their cases. Maybe they will both have amazing matches and it will make the casual fan stay on to watch them but there would have been a much better chance of that happening if those fans tuned in and saw those two as long running champions.

Instead, they will tune in and see that nothing much has changed since last year and I predict a significant percentage of them will do what they do every other year: Take the rest of the year off from WWE until next year’s WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer

It will likely be announced shortly that Anthem Entertainment and ITV have reached a deal. This was the deal Jeff Jarrett was working on as ITV wants a wrestling show for the U.K. but doesn't want to run a wrestling promotion. So the two companies will be partnering in some form on a promotion.

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH's 5/12 show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York will be a PPV featuring a lot of New Japan talent.

Originally Posted by Observer

Bully Ray said that his ROH contract was for one year or longer.

Originally Posted by PWI

E! Online has an article on Brie Bella gracing the cover of "Pregnancy and Baby " Magazine and that her daughter's name will be Birdy Joe Danielson. She mentioned that her and husband Daniel Bryan wanted their children to have names that begin with Bs.

Originally Posted by PWI

The WWE Network has added a collection devoted to Shawn Michaels' Wrestlemania matches. Titled "Mr. Wrestlemania", the collection features the following:

WrestleMania V – Rocking The Twin Towers
Shawn Michaels makes his WrestleMania debut when The Rockers take to the ring to battle The Twin Towers.

WrestleMania VI – A Ride on The Orient Express
The Rockers journey across the border to Canada for a memorable battle against The Orient Express.

WrestleMania VII – The Rockers Get Barbaric
Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty continue to light up the WWE Universe, as The Rockers take on The Barbarian and Haku.

WrestleMania VIII – Heartbreak for El Matador
Shawn Michaels goes solo on The Grandest Stage of Them All in a match against ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana.

WrestleMania IX – Going Native
Shawn Michaels puts the Intercontinental Championship on the line in a match with Tatanka.

WrestleMania X – On a Razor’s Edge
Shawn Michaels climbs to new heights with Razor Ramon in a Ladder Match to determine the real Intercontinental Champion.

WrestleMania XI – No Friends in Matters of Gold
Shawn Michaels’ quest for gold and glory leads him to a shot at the WWE Championship against his former ally, Diesel.

WrestleMania XII – The Boyhood Dream
Shawn Michaels goes the distance by challenging Bret Hart for the WWE Championship in the first ever Iron Man Match.

WrestleMania XIV – A Degenerate’s Fall
With Mike Tyson in his corner, Shawn Michaels puts the WWE Championship on the line against Stone Cold Steve Austin.

WrestleMania XIX – An Icon Returns to WrestleMania
Five years after his last match on The Grandest Stage of Them All, Shawn Michaels returns to battle Chris Jericho.

WrestleMania 21 – The Olympian’s Pride
The heated rivalry between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle comes to a head at The Showcase of the Immortals.

WrestleMania 22 – Disciplinary Action
The tumultuous relationship between Mr. McMahon and Shawn Michaels explodes in a No Holds Barred Match.

WrestleMania 23 – You Can’t See The Showstopper
Shawn Michaels looks to prove why he is The Showstopper by challenging John Cena for the WWE Championship.

WrestleMania 24 – Farewell to a Legend
With Ric Flair’s career on the line, Shawn Michaels battles The Nature Boy in an emotional confrontation.

WrestleMania 25 – Challenging The Streak
While promising to bring darkness to light, Shawn Michaels challenges The Undertaker’s Streak at The Show of Shows.

WrestleMania 26 – Mr. WrestleMania’s Final Curtain
Shawn Michaels puts his career on the line in a final effort to lay The Undertaker’s Streak to rest.

Originally Posted by PWI

The Fite App has announced that WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross will be chatting with fans on their platform during the entire Ring of Honor Anniversary tomorrow evening from 9 PM Eastern on, discussing the show and interacting with fans as they watch the ROH PPV.

You can download the Fite App for free for your cell phone or mobile device, for free by clicking here. The App can be streamed from your phone to Samsung smart TVs as well as Roku devices, as long as the items are on the same wifi network.

To order the show directly on the Fite.TV website, click here.

Originally Posted by PWI

Gail Kim, who was backstage for at least one of the Impact Wrestling tapings last week, as scheduled to wrestle for Absolute Intense Wrestling this weekend. It was announced that she is not cleared to wrestle and Rebel from Impact will be taking her place. Kim will still appear at the event in Cleveland, Ohio.

Originally Posted by PWI

With Jeff Jarrett in charge of Impact what's the status of his promotion Global Wrestling Federation?

I don't know about the GWF. You'd have to ask Joe Pedicino! However, Global Force Wrestling still technically exists. Their belts and talents will be appearing on Impact programming. Jarrett also has a standing production deal and has been in discussions for a potential TV deal through that relationship. My guess is that it will fade into Impact and will have those elements featured on the former TNA instead. It may be that they do something independent with it, but my guess is that's more of a longshot now.

Originally Posted by PWI

Just a quick note to ask everyone to keep Dennis Stamp, who worked several territories and actually wrestled Bret Hart in Hart's first ever match and was immortalized with the words "I'm not booked" in the Barry Blaustein documentary Beyond the Mat in 1999, and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Stamp has been battling cancer again since it re-emerged in September 2016. Things have taken a turn of the worse in recent weeks as it has now spread to his bone marrow.

Originally Posted by Observer

At press time, there were only about 250 tickets left for WrestleMania on the primary market before it would be an actual sellout, so it’s a lock to be sold out, probably within a week. That would be 55,000 people with the current set up. There are ways to get it up to 60,000 if they want to add seats and start selling new seats. Hall of Fame tickets sold out this past week. As far as secondary market demand, the price of entry for WrestleMania is $120 (which indicates a softer than expected secondary market since face value on the cheapest tickets is $160), Raw is $101, NXT is $75, Hall of Fame is $31 and Smackdown is $18.

Originally Posted by Observer

Kairi Hojo of Stardom has agreed to a three-year contract with WWE. She’s a great wrestler who was one of the women on the Lucha Underground show against Pentagon Dark earlier this season. Nakamura has been pushing for her to come to NXT for several months, since before we originally reported her getting an offer. She had told Stardom officials that she had turned down the offer and was staying with them. She just told the promotion now that she was leaving and wanted to leave in April. She’s got two titles and Stardom wants to her drop the titles before she leaves. The company felt they were misled by Hojo through all this. Io Shirai, the company’s top star, was more up front about her situation. She’s also reconsidered coming and said that she will be going to Orlando later this month but would not be working any shows over Mania weekend. This would replenish NXT’s women’s division that has really been just Asuka, to a degree Ember Moon, and a bunch of women who aren’t anywhere near that level

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE makes it clear they want talent not to say the Hardys may be coming. Similarly, we were told Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis Bennett, who also left TNA after their contracts expired, have a destination but wanted to keep their destination quiet. Given the limited options, the destination would either be ROH/New Japan or both, which is what they did before TNA, or WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer

Lucha Underground has signed a deal to air in Germany on Tele 5. Tele 5 had been airing Raw but opted out due to the price tag. The station’s contract to air Raw ends at the end of this month.

Originally Posted by Observer

The alliance with Konnan and Crash has some political implications because if Lucha Underground goes down, or if they make the call not to use Pentagon, Fenix, Brian Cage and others who have left AAA for Crash, Impact will have a direct line to all of its key talent. Now, WWE will also be interested since they are looking at opening up a Mexico branch. Rey Mysterio’s contract is up with Lucha Underground shortly after this season completes airing in the fall so he would be available as well unless Lucha Underground continues and he gets signed to a new deal. But once again, unless Impact finds a very to get new revenue sources, they will have a limited talent budget

Originally Posted by Observer

Ricky Morton wanted Jim Cornette to induct the Rock & Roll Express to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. He hasn’t said anything publicly about it and hasn’t confirmed it

Originally Posted by Observer

The reason for John Cena's post WrestleMania departure from WWE is because he will be in a starring role in the movie, Daddy's Home 2.

In the original, Cena had a cameo in the final minute playing the ex-husband of the wife of the character played by Mark Wahlberg. Deadline reported this morning that the movie will start filming in Boston with Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, John Lithgow, and Linda Cardellini starring along with Cena.

The movie is more about how the characters played by Ferrell and Wahlberg, who were at odds in the first movie, are now best friends working together to raise Walhberg's daughter while Ferrell is married to Wahlberg's ex-wife. The other daughter that Wahlberg is raising, his own stepdaughter, is Cena's.

Cena is scheduled to work through WrestleMania and then has extended time off.

Originally Posted by Observer

Add Chris Jericho to the list of those who will be departing WWE temporarily soon.

Jericho's recent stay in the company was scheduled originally to end last fall, but due to how much fun he was having with his role with Kevin Owens, he delayed it and kept the program going, saving the first match for WrestleMania.

It appears Jericho will remain with the company for a few weeks after WrestleMania, but will be touring with his band Fozzy from 5/5 to 5/27.

It appears this will be a short-term departure as Jericho has been pulled from all May shows, but is being advertised for shows in June.

Originally Posted by Observer

Some more on the WWE taping television on 5/6 and 5/7 in Norwich, England at Epic Studios. This will be a taping for the WWE's new U.K. television show. It's not clear if this will air on the network or on Sky, or somewhere else, but the idea was not for it to be a network show originally as it's meant to get the jump on ITV running its weekly show, which is not official, but probable. It is the same studio that the WAW promotion in the U.K. tapes out of, which is Paige's family. However, they are furious for WWE going there feeling it's their taping studio. It will be set up for 900 seats both days. This is obviously a late thing because the U.K. talent had been booked on WWE house shows those days and now they've been pulled. This will be a combination of the wrestlers under contract in the U.K. and several of the WWE cruiserweights who would be booked on 5/8 and 5/9 for Raw and Smackdown but weren't booked on the house shows in the U.K., so they were already coming, but headed in two days earlier. Taping that week makes sense, the production crew comes in without a separate trip, announcers already in, and non U.K. based talent was already coming in.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE is clearly working with Progress because fans of Progress Wrestling and on their mailing list were told they had a four-hour window to buy tickets today before they went on sale to the public.

Ricky Knight, Paige's father, claimed it was a conspiracy that WWE announced this toady as it was the day before the biggest weekend in WAW history and he said would hurt their ticket sales in the local market, and also noted that 5/6 and 5/7 were a week before they had booked the same building. Zak said they had an idea why WWE was doing this, but didn't want to say it publicly.

The show does go head-up with a Revolution Pro show on 5/7 in London, so any guys under WWE contract booked for that show are going to be pulled.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE has been contacting women talent for dates in mid-May for a taping for the beginning of a women's tournament on the WWE Network similar to the cruiserweight tournament.

Originally Posted by PWI

Impact Wrestling sent Matt and Jeff Hardy (and perhaps others) a 3* page cease and desist letter today, demanding they immediately stop all utilization of the "Broken" characters, PWInsider.com has confimed. We are told that Impact is claiming that that intellectual property of the characters and anything related to them would fall under the ownership of the company, not Matt and Jeff Hardy, and that as of today, the Hardys are not to use anything related to the "Broken" universe going forward.

Originally Posted by PWI

Multiple sources are indicating that all of the PPV distributors carrying tonight's Ring of Honor PPV as well as Ring of Honor itself also received legal notices regarding the "Broken Hardys" intellectual property.

For those who have asked, we are told this a decision made by Anthem Media management, not something that Jeff Jarrett (who is now in charge of creative direction) is directly responsible for. It is said to be a case of the corporate owners protecting what they feel is their IP.

Originally Posted by Observer

Reby Hardy is going nuts on Twitter today on Impact. So the back story to all this is Impact is claiming the entire Broken Hardys angle as its intellectual property and have threatened to sue Matt Hardy if they continue to use it outside of the company. Of course that's before tonight's ROH PPV. At the same time, since ROH & Impact are both on Fight Network, and Anthem owns Fight Network and Impact, they want to work cohesively with ROH, although there are other things going on there which may change that game as well.

If they haven't already, Impact and Anthem are attempting to get an injunction against further use of the character and in particular the use of Senor Benjamin, claiming that name and character was Impact IP. She also claims that Matt had his contract breached due to numerous issues on the TNA side. She also noted that Ed Nordholm sent them a wishing you well tweet hours before then threatening to sue them. She also accused Jeff Jarrett of "nonsensical drunk texts." "Everything these boys have done for the company and you want to try and f*** us for the sake of it. Literally no other reason except you mad." She also noted Matt left to do television for TNA one day after his son was born and that the highest rated episodes of the show were financed by Matt & Jeff. She also noted Impact waited until the last minute to even offer the Hardys their new deals. You can go to Reby Hardy's Twitter to get the latest.

Originally Posted by Observer

Just one day after all the surprise cuts at The Fight Network, WWE cut people from its social media department yesterday. They are merging social media with digital into one department.

Originally Posted by Observer

So the reason for the Billie Kay worked injury on NXT from Wednesday night is a storyline where Billie Kay & Peyton Royce are demanding that the Eclipse be banned.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Hardys match from CWF Mid Atlantic that was originally supposed to air on Impact last night was aired by Matt Hardy on his Facebook page.

ROH COO Joe Koff in an interview basically said the Hardys are only in for a short period of time ("they are with us for the immediate future") in an interview on local CBS radio. He noted Bully Ray is in longer.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 3/9 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 292,000 viewers, down slightly from last week's 293,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jerry Lawler had talk shows scheduled for 3/15 in Birmingham, UK, 3/16 in London and 3/17 in Manchester that were canceled on 3/8. He had made the deal for the shows when he was dropped from his contract and given a legends deal which is something like $10,000 per year to stay affiliated. When the decision was made to bring him back and offer him a new contract, I guess the pressure came from the company to pull him from the dates. He’s mainly worked PPV shows and those dates don’t coincide with PPV shows. The statement made said that “Due to circumstances beyond both Eros Comedy & Jerry Lawler’s control, we’ve been left with no alternative except to postpone his tour currently scheduled for next week.” The promotion said they would try and reschedule for late fall or early winter and all ticket money will be returned. Lawler has been promised he will get to announce one match at Mania this year and will also be part of the expert panel before and after the show

Originally Posted by PWI

As we discussed yesterday during the NXT & Beyond audio show in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, there will be some segments on tonight's Impact that knocks the previous regime. While there were a number of wrestlers backstage who felt it was a shot at the roster as much as previous members of management, Eli Drake became upset and confronted Jeff Jarrett about it and the two had a discussion.

It was never described to me as getting ugly but Drake voiced some frustrations the existing roster was having with the changeover last week. There were talents who felt the shots at the previous regime were unfair because they didn't see them as a shot at management, but as everyone who had been working there. Since they had been perservering long before Anthem purchased the company, despite not knowing if and when it would fall apart and whether they would get the money they were owed - therefore there was nothing wrong with the talent. Since the segments ruffled some feathers, Drake went right to Jarrett and voiced that.

The shots (which will be seen in at least two segments tonight) were meant to be specifically aimed at former members of management (read: Dixie Carter) with the idea of distancing the company going forward without an official reboot. More than one person described it as "awkward" since John Gaburick was heavily involved in creative and now he was backstage working the tapings as that era was being kicked in the face verbally and there was some sympathy for him, even among talents who would usually dismiss him privately to me. With Jeff Jarrett laying out that it as his way (taking on an old school promoter approach) when it came to the new vision of the company, it was a culture shock to some of the talents that had been there under Gaburick as he was open enough, when laying out directives, to take feedback and let talents try to tweak it a little.

I do believe there was a disconnect between the Impact roster and the new GFW talents coming in (and that was felt backstage) at first but over the course of the tapings, there were talents who opened up the eyes of the new management as to what their potential was. It's a weird situation in that a lot of talents that already had track records there were pretty much having to prove themselves again for the new bosses, even if that wasn't stated as such openly. But all that is part of the change that has happened, like a sports team having to impress the new coach.

Originally Posted by Observer

There are now nine matches set for WrestleMania 33. The updated card for the show, which will take place on April 2nd in Orlando, Florida, is:

• Universal Champion Goldberg defending against Brock Lesnar
• WWE Champion Bray Wyatt defending against Randy Orton
• The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns
• John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse
• Raw Women's Champion Bayley defending against Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match
• SmackDown Women's Champion Alexa Bliss defending against every available woman on the SmackDown roster
• United States Champion Chris Jericho defending against Kevin Owens
• Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defending against Enzo Amore & Big Cass and Cesaro & Sheamus in a triple threat match
• The 2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Originally Posted by Observer

Big Show was confirmed as an entrant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which would likely mean that his match against Shaquille O'Neal is now definitely off.

Originally Posted by Observer

Former Rutgers University defensive tackle Eric LeGrand will be honored by WWE at this year's Hall of Fame ceremony.

It was announced on Monday that LeGrand would be the recipient of the 2017 Warrior Award. LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down while making a tackle on a kickoff return during a football game in 2010. He has since served as a motivational speaker and started Team LeGrand of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to help those living with spinal cord injuries.

In an interview with ESPN, LeGrand said that it was Paul "Triple H" Levesque who told him that he would be receiving the award.

Originally Posted by PWI

With WWE announcing the "Warrior Award" winner yesterday, I asked around within WWE about the expected induction of William Regal (which we reported several weeks ago and mentioned again yesterday on PWInsider.com) not being announced instead as the last several years, the Warrior Award has been the last announcement. Two different sources within the company told me this afternoon told me that they did not believe Regal was still planned to be inducted this year.

No word on a Celebrity inductee yet. One would think it would have been Shaquille O'Neal this year, but that's obviously not happening. The one who is most blatantly missing from the Hall is Cyndi Lauper but she is on tour in Australia Wrestlemania weekend, so that would eliminate her. Maybe they will finally get around to honoring Regis Philbin?

We are told there have been plans for another round of "Legacy" inductees, but no word yet what names could be included.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE will air a one hour edited version of the Hall of Fame show at 11:05 p.m. on the Monday after WrestleMania, which should do great ratings since the Raw that night is likely to be the most-watched Raw of the year.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE have applied to trademark "Bella Style" and "Bella Glam" which are associated with the Bella Twins Youtube channel.

They also took out a number of trademarks for "Be Like No One", what looks to be a name for a new show.

Originally Posted by PWI

Bray Wyatt got a bit of a plug on ESPN. They have a ticker going through all the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament teams with some interesting stats, including one notable alumnus for each school. Bray Wyatt was named as the notable alumnus for Troy University.

Originally Posted by Observer

Dennis Stamp, best known to modern fans for his role in the movie "Beyond the Mat," passed away Monday at the age of 68.

Stamp had been suffering from cancer ...

In the movie "Beyond the Mat," Stamp was shown talking with Terry Funk, hoping to be booked on the show with Funk's so-called 1997 retirement match in Amarillo against Bret Hart, who was then the WWF champion. He was mad about not being booked, even though he hadn't wrestled in years. Eventually he was booked as the referee of the match. He gained some cult popularity from that movie with the phrase "I'm not booked" and the shots of him training in case he gets called for a match, even though he hadn't wrestled in years.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jack Swagger is officially done with WWE.

After a couple of weeks where his status was up in the air, WWE announced on Monday afternoon that Swagger had been released by the company.

Their statement: "WWE has come to terms on the release of Jack Swagger as of today, March 13, 2017. WWE wishes Swagger the best in all his future endeavors"

Swagger initially appeared on the "Beyond the Fight" podcast with Chael Sonnen at the beginning of this month to reveal that he had requested to leave WWE. But the company clarified that Swagger had not yet been released when he started to take outside bookings, including a match against Alberto Del Rio for WAW in the United Kingdom.

When noting that Swagger hadn't yet been granted his release then, WWE said that Swagger would have a 90-day non-compete clause once he officially left the company where he would get his downside guarantee and wouldn't be able to wrestle for other promotions during that period.

Originally Posted by Observer

It is confirmed that Rusev had shoulder surgery last week. There were rumors going around and we were only told he'd be out of action for a while, but WWE officials confirmed it was shoulder surgery. Cedric Alexander is also out of action with a right knee injury. Pro Wrestling Sheet first reported the Alexander news.

Originally Posted by Observer

Impact announced that even though TV ratings weren't up, that YouTube views were up to 2.4 million and up 275% percent from the prior week.

They also announced they would be taping television on 5/30 and 5/31 in Mumbai, India. They will tape two hours of the show both nights, meaning that in June, there will be four shows from India. They also announced they were looking at doing their own satellite promotion in India for local television in quarter four of this year, using a lot of local talent and flying in Impact talent for tapings.

Originally Posted by Observer

Saraya Knight, Paige's mother, announced that the Bellatrix promotion would be holding a women's tournament on 5/12 and she's looking for women from all over the world to attend.

Originally Posted by Observer

In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso, Bully Ray claimed that his Bully Ray character was previously set to debut in WWE when he was with the company but the idea was nixed at the last minute. “We came one day away in August from debuting Bully Ray in WWE,” Bully Ray said. “At the last second, the decision was made to not go forward with it. Bully Ray was ready to go, but that’s all I can tell you. We were one day away, and they had to pull the plug on it.”

Originally Posted by Observer

Reby Hardy continued to go off on Impact Wrestling on Twitter today. She tweeted: "UPDATE: TNA sending 'spooky' letters to cable providers threatening to sue if they air Hardys. Trying to screw ROH & ruin wrestling for fans," and told Dish Network to do better by fans after they didn't carry last night's ROH pay-per-view because of legal threats. She also claimed that Matt Hardy's contract with TNA didn't have any exclusivity and he could have appeared on any other televised wrestling program while under contract with them, and questioned who would work with Impact now.

Originally Posted by Observer

Pete Dunne and Mark Haskins will be wrestling at WWN's WrestleMania weekend EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS Supershow. PROGRESS announced Haskins, Sami Callihan, Toni Storm, and the South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black) for their show in Orlando.

Originally Posted by PWI

There is promotional material circulating from the Snickers brand regarding an interview opportunity with Enzo and Cass promoting their very own SAWFT bars as a part of Snickers' Hunger bars campaign for Wrestlemania 33

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4941771)

Rumored to be happening as part of the Paige Family's payback for the recent antics by the WWE. Being rumored the date for this tournament is when the WWE was planning on holding their own and targeting some of the same women wrestlers the WWE wants for their own tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer

Io Shirai, the current World of Stardom Champion, is the top name at this week’s WWE tryouts at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

WWE.com posted an article about Shirai trying out that has since been taken down.

It has been known for a while that Shirai, one of the top wrestlers in the Stardom promotion in Japan, was on WWE’s radar. Dave Meltzer reported in the October 31st, 2016 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that both she and fellow Stardom star Kairi Hojo had been offered deals to start with WWE in 2017.

It was later reported that both had decided to stay. However, in last week’s Observer, Meltzer wrote that Hojo had signed a three-year contract with WWE, telling Stardom she was leaving in April. He also noted that Shirai was reconsidering coming in as well.

Other names at this week’s tryouts are:

• Ingrid “Kira” Hogtun and Kamilla “Natasja” Tjöstland (independent wrestlers from Norway)
• Delilah Doom (Texas-based independent wrestler)
• Chik Tormenta (independent wrestler from Mexico)
• Katsiaryna Kavaleva (championship kickboxer/MMA fighter from Belarus)
• Jaime Espinal (Dominican-born Olympic freestyle wrestler that represented Puerto Rico in 2012)
• Wes Brisco (former FCW developmental talent, son of Gerald Brisco and nephew of Jack Brisco)

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE posted an interesting teaser for "Southpaw Regional Wrestling," which appears to be a parody show based on territorial wrestling.

Originally Posted by Observer

NXT will be touring the UK from June 5-11. The last three dates of the tour will again be part of the Download Festival at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. GMT on Friday. The schedule for the other shows is:

• June 5th -- GE Oil & Gas Arena in Aberdeen, Scotland
• June 6th -- Manchester Arena in Manchester, England
• June 7th -- First Direct Arena in Leeds, England
• June 8th -- Brighton Centre in Brighton, England

Originally Posted by Observer

The first two seasons of Lucha Underground have officially made their way to Netflix and are available for streaming in North America.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa will be appearing at MLW Radio's WaleMania III event in Orlando on March 30th and will be part of a live podcast. Our Dave Meltzer is also scheduled for the show.

Originally Posted by PWI

Earlier this evening, Bobby Fish announced that as of 3/27, he was accepting independent bookings. Fish's long-term Ring of Honor deal expired towards the end of 2016, but he had been working exclusively with the company via a series of short-term 30 day extensions under his previous terms. While he may continue working with the company, it will no longer be under an exclusive deal, which leaves the door open for him to explore outside options.

Fish's announcement on Twitter reads:

Beginning March 27, 2017... I am once again accepting independent professional wrestling bookings...Please DM me here... Thank you. pic.twitter.com/XGylHHtMmc
— Bobby Fish (@theBobbyFish) March 15, 2017

Fish's ReDragon partner Kyle O'Reilly left ROH in January.

Originally Posted by PWI

Mauro Ranallo missed Smackdown last night due to being stranded due to the weather conditions in the Northeast.

Erick Rowan was backstage at Smackdown last night and is cleared to return.

David Otunga had been scheduled to miss the taping due to a film role. Otunga has been booking a number of acting roles of late, including an upcoming Adam Sandler Netflix comedy "Sandy Wexler" that will be released on 4/14. series follows a group of friends go through the trials and tribulations of life during college.

Originally Posted by PWI

On "Talking Smack" LAST NIGHT, Daniel Bryan and Renée Young revealed that earlier in the day WWE filmed a 360° VR interview with Daniel Bryan and Kurt Angle in which they discuss a fantasy showdowns between the two. Young said the interview will be coming to WWE social platforms (most likely YouTube) soon.

Originally Posted by PWI

On the second episode of Dinner With The King, hosted by Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore, The King states he feels WWE will never clear him to wrestle again. This even after the fact he’s been wrestling on the independent scene for the past few years. He also states WWE doctors have never done an in-depth exam to clear him.

He goes on to talk about having a final WrestleMania match and stating his ideal opponent would be Dolph Ziggler. Of course, this all ties in the heart attack and recent interaction between the two on Smackdown Live.

The King also talks about working his lone WrestleMania match with Michael Cole, including chipping Cole’s teeth showing him a dropkick while preparing for the match. For more information about the show, go to www.podavenue.com/king.

Originally Posted by Observer

Raw on Monday was up less than one percent from the previous week to 3.23 million viewers, but the change in viewing patterns due to Daylight Savings Time were felt immediately.

The first hour, which had been the highest rated for months, was the lowest rated this past week. That is part of traditional patterns so you really can't read anything into it. Because of that, with viewers coming in late, the third hour decline was less than in previous weeks, although hour three was down four percent from hour two.

Ratings were delayed by two days due to a power outage at Nielsen over the weekend and they have been playing catchup all week ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.18 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.32 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.20 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI

The 3/14 edition of Smackdown Live brought in 2,628,0000, down from last week's 2,738,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

We now know who will be inducting Kurt Angle into the WWE Hall of Fame.

WWE announced on Thursday afternoon that John Cena would be doing the honors. Cena debuted in WWE against Angle by answering an open challenge on SmackDown in June 2002, where Cena was portrayed as putting up a good fight before losing to Angle.

After it was announced that he would be headlining the 2017 Hall of Fame class, Angle spoke to Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso and called it a "no-brainer" for Steve Austin to induct him.

Angle later appeared on Live Audio Wrestling with John Pollock, where he said the decision wasn't up to him but believed WWE would listen to his input. He mentioned Austin, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and Cena as potential choices.

Originally Posted by Observer

Right now the plan is for Nakamura to debut on the main roster very shortly. I’m not sure what date it will be, but the likely scenario is he loses to Bobby Roode at Takeover and starts immediately after, with Raw after WrestleMania being a good bet.

Originally Posted by Observer

There were 80,709 fans through the turnstiles at AT&T Stadium for WrestleMania 32 says the Arlington, TX police department. Brandon Howard has a story.

Originally Posted by Observer

John Cena will be on the Tonight show on 3/22 to push WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was announced today as the host of NBC's Saturday Night Live for the fifth time on May 20th.

Johnson will join the "Five-Timers Club," a list of elite level celebrities that the show itself first started promoting in 1990.

The club list at this point that Johnson will join consists of Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, Candice Bergen, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito, Tina Fey, John Goodman, Elliott Gould, Tom Hanks, Buck Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, and Christopher Walken.

Also noted is that the show itself is changing next month where it will air live nationwide. The West Coast since the inception of the show has gotten a feed to air at 11:30 p.m. local time after the news. However, SNL will move to 8:30 p.m. on the West Coast five weeks before Johnson hosts the show.

The episode that Johnson is hosting will be the season finale.

Originally Posted by PWI

As WWE announced yesterday, they will unleash the first ever edition of "Southpaw Regional Wrestling" on the WWE Network tomorrow.

For those of you who have seen $5 Wrestling when it was being produced by Highspots.com, it's pretty obvious that this is at least somewhat inspired by that project. The idea is to do a take on old school Southern rassling in a comedic way.

There was a pitch for Southpaw floating around within WWE as far back as September of last year.

Luke Gallows will be reprising his "Sex Ferguson" character, which he portrayed on a few Highspots.com DVD releases, but the character will be rechristened "Tex Ferguson" on the Southpaw show.

Originally Posted by PWI

Ric Flair's planned podcast return has been canceled.

Originally Posted by PWI

There's been talk lately of Christy Olson, who does broadcasting for AfterbuzzTV getting looked at as a broadcaster.

Originally Posted by PWI

The WWE digital album Uncaged II has been removed from its Amazon.com listing. The album was slated to be released tomorrow.

Originally Posted by PWI

EVOLVE announced that Lio Rush would be working for the company over Wrestlemania weekend. Rush's ROH deal is up shortly and the word making the rounds is that he has given the company notice that he wasn't going to sign another exclusive deal.

Originally Posted by Observer

Io Shirai (Masami Odate, 26), who is one of the two or three best woman wrestlers in the world right now, is in Orlando at this writing as part of a WWE tryout. In her case, this isn’t so much a tryout as her being there to do drills as WWE has been after her for months. But unlike the others at the tryout, the ball is in her court on whether to accept the offer or not. Unlike Kairi Hojo, who as noted last week has already signed her three-year contract, Shirai was invited to Orlando to check things out and then decide what she wanted to do. With Hojo leaving, if Shirai follows, and Mayu Iwatani retires, it would be a killer to Stardom, which had been the leading women’s pro wrestling organization in the world.

Originally Posted by Observer

A lot of times people talk about how there’s no long-term planning but the WrestleMania 34 main event for April 8, 2018, which obviously could change, is set for Lesnar vs. Reigns for the Universal title. That doesn’t necessarily mean Reigns is beating Undertaker or that Lesnar will have a full one year run as champion, although both could happen. I have no idea of what the finish will be of Undertaker vs. Reigns. The goal is very much to make Reigns the next Cena, which was the plan for Santa Clara two years ago, until they decided to delay it based on fan reaction. The plan is to once again build for a year and have the big coronation at WrestleMania. The idea between now and then is for Reigns to be the face, not just when he wins the title, but to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company.

Originally Posted by PWMania

WWE plans to hold another Draft sometime this year. However, it won’t be a full-fledged Draft like last year, but rather a series of trades to freshen up the WWE landscape.

WWE plans on having Raw and SmackDown LIVE authority figures pick Superstars from the opposite brand, as well as NXT. Champions would not be eligible to be drafted, and Raw and SmackDown LIVE can “protect” certain Superstars.

While there hasn’t been much discussion internally about which Superstars will switch brands in the next WWE Draft, AJ Styles to Raw and The New Day to SmackDown LIVE are two moves that Vince McMahon has brought up on multiple occasions during creative meetings.

Originally Posted by Observer

Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal is off. It should be noted that O’Neal showed a photo of himself and he, in fact, was in great shape, so the idea that he hadn’t trained and was out of shape as Show had been saying wasn’t the case. It was very clearly a financial situation since negotiations had been continuing and they hadn’t agreed on a price. One would think that should have been done, and maybe it was done and one side or another changed, when they shot the angles for the match at last year’s WrestleMania and at the Espy Awards in 2016. But Show was confirmed as being in the Battle Royal.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4942683)

Originally Posted by Inquisitr.com

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Ranallo’s absence was not due to the weather. Host Dave Meltzer wrote that while WWE claimed Otunga was filming a movie and Ranallo was held back by the weather, “at least half of that was true, since Otunga was out filming a movie.” Co-host Bryan Alvarez asked what he meant, and Meltzer replied that he could not talk about it.

Because Ranallo’s contract is supposedly running out, many suspect that he has stopped caring since he is on his way out. Others have noticed he had become a lot more flustered in recent weeks, often flubbing lines or getting names wrong. He constantly called the Elimination Chamber match “Hell in a Cell,” and has repeatedly referred to WWE Superstar Curt Hawkins as “Chad Hawkins.” Many also feel that the presence of Phillips at the announce table is throwing Mauro off his game. Phillips is seen as a replacement for Ranallo and a “message,” although it is much more probable that he is there to learn and eventually replace either Ranallo or play-by-play announcer Michael Cole.

His absence was also met with criticism from some former WWE commentators. JBL also took a shot at his broadcast colleague, writing on Twitter:

.@mauroranallo I made the show, everyone made the show, everyone. Maybe he shouldn't have bashed me if he wasn't going to show up.

— John Layfield (@jclayfield) March 17, 2017

.@0fficialtaz @mauroranallo Great video-trying to shock me-We could have talked about it but you didn't show up for work. Everyone else did.
— John Layfield (@jclayfield) March 17, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

Earlier today, explicit photos and video of WWE star Paige leaked onto the Internet and have been passed around on a number of social media platforms and forums. Paige issued the following via her Twitter account this evening:

Personal and private photos of mine were stolen and unfortunately they were shared publicly without my consent.
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) March 17, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

A site on the internet "reported" that Alexa Bliss had heat on her from WWE management. I hadn't heard anything like that one.

On Twitter, Joe Cronin (@JoeCroninJCS) tweeted WWE's Brian "Road Dogg" James to ask if the story was true.

James shot down the "story" tweeting:

@JoeCroninJCS hell no! She is adored by EVERYONE. She's a star dude and everyone knows it. This is what's wrong w/the internet lol #bull????
— Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) March 17, 2017

That is such a loaded question Road Dogg! Seriously though, that's what you get with NEWZ site.

Alexa Bliss responded:

And this is why @WWERoadDogg is the best !!! #Awesome #lovewwe https://t.co/Dk72zK2WGn
— Alexa Bliss (@AlexaBliss_WWE) March 17, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

The 3/16 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 344,000 viewers, well up from last week's 292,000 viewers. That is great news for them.

Originally Posted by PWI

The reunited APA, Ron Simmons and JBL, will be inducting Teddy Long into the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday 3/31 in Orlando, Florida.

The updated WWE Hall of Fame class of 2017:

*Kurt Angle, inducted by John Cena.

*Rick Rude, inducted by Ricky Steamboat.

*The Rock N' Roll Express.

*Beth Phoenix.

*Teddy Long, inducted by The APA.

*Diamond Dallas Page.

*Warrior Award: Eric LeGrand, inducted by Dana Warrior.

There will also be new "Legacy" inductees.

Originally Posted by Observer

The company was nominated for some Social Media Shorty awards. The award winners will be announced on 4/23 in New York:

Best in Entertainment - WWE and WrestleMania
Best Integration with Live TV - WWE
Best Overall YouTube Presence - WWE
Best Use of Comedy - John Cena Prank on the Cricket Wireless ad
Best Brand Identity - Xavier Woods UpUpDownDown

Originally Posted by Observer

Rusev will be out of action for about two months due to surgery on his left shoulder which I believe was on 3/9, although it was confirmed it was this past week. That continues the shoulder epidemic in the company. He’s been needing the surgery for some time and I guess it couldn’t go any longer since the timing of it, where he’d be off the biggest payoff show of the year, couldn’t be worse. That’s why Show squashed him so badly at Fast Lane and why they broke he and Mahal up for no reason without doing a feud. That’s also why Lana did a match in Florida a week ago

Originally Posted by Observer

Women have been contacted for a new WWE tournament for the Network. This was the one originally set for January through March, but moved back when WWE prioritized the U.K. tournament due to the ITV television show. Talent has been called about clearing their calendars for a first round of tapings in the latter part of May

Originally Posted by Observer

There has been a lot of talk around wrestling over the past few weeks that Jim Cornette will be the one to induct the Rock & Roll Express into the WWE Hall of Fame on 3/31. Some will be surprised about Cornette being at a WWE function, but I’m not in the least as he wasn’t going to turn down being part of honoring the team. Neither the WWE nor Cornette would confirm or deny the story

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE’s annual stockholders meeting will be on 4/20 ...

It’s interesting that in management goals for 2017, the stated goal is not based on adding new subscribers to the network, but based on adding the average hours consumed per subscriber, which was a number that declined in 2016 from 2015 ...

Listed as the company’s key goals in 2017 are to grow the WWE Network, although as noted, the main goal listed is to grow the average amount of hours consumed per subscriber, and not grow subscriber numbers; increase international revenue; increase “certain television ratings, social media metric; sponsorships and net promoter score,” increase revenue from new product initiatives and come up with actionable business initiatives to generate new revenue and social media followers in certain new markets.

Originally Posted by Observer

Dalton Castle, who is under an exclusive ROH contract, is believed to have that deal expiring a few months. Independent promoters have noted that word has gone around that Castle will be available for dates later in the year, although that could be testing the waters. Castle's act will get over in NXT if WWE has interest in it. As far as the WWE main roster, who can tell anymore because the WWE main roster booking has marginalized so much good talent.

Originally Posted by Observer

Last night's Raw broke the record for the lowest audience to watch the show since 1997 on a night when they weren't facing major sports competition or it being a major holiday, with 3.04 million viewers.

The previous record low outside of shows during football season, or going against either the NBA playoffs or the Olympics, or on a major holiday, was 3.07 million viewers for the February 13th show.

What's bad is that leading up to WrestleMania, and before the NBA playoffs, ratings are often at their highest marks of the year ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.16 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.12 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.87 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE posted a teaser for upcoming WWE 24 specials, which will be focused on Finn Balor, Goldberg, the 2016 Raw after WrestleMania, and Kurt Angle.

Originally Posted by Observer

Vince McMahon was involved in a car accident near WWE headquarters today, though TMZ reports that the accident was relatively minor and everyone is okay.

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that "something went wrong" when McMahon was driving his Bentley less than a mile from WWE's home base in Stamford, Connecticut.

On the 911 call, someone who witnessed the accident noted that the other car was a Toyota Camry. McMahon can briefly be heard on the audio when he was asked what type of car he was driving.

The witness called it a "big" accident and both cars seemed to be significantly damaged.

Originally Posted by Observer

Some of the best European-based wrestlers in the world will be appearing in a WWE ring for the first time during WrestleMania weekend.

WWE announced on Tuesday that wrestlers from NXT, 205 Live, PROGRESS Wrestling, and ICW, as well as some from the UK tournament, will be wrestling in matches at WrestleMania Axxess. NXT matches have been part of the attractions at Axxess over the last few years.

Of those that WWE is advertising, Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins, the South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black), Toni Storm, and Jinny are from outside of the company. They will be in Orlando for the show PROGRESS is running on March 31st, which is part of WWN's weekend of events.

Originally Posted by Observer

Following yesterday's announcement of Jim Cornette inducting the Rock 'n' Roll Express into the Hall of Fame, WWE revealed on Tuesday afternoon that Eric Bischoff would be doing the honors for Diamond Dallas Page.

Bischoff and DDP have been longtime friends, working together in the AWA and again when Bischoff was in control of WCW.

“I’m honored,” Bischoff said about inducting Page. “It puts a smile on my face because I know how much it means to him. This is the Holy Grail for him.”

“His journey [in life] is similar to his journey in the ring,” Bischoff said. “DDP was the common guy, the everyman, a blue-collar guy from New Jersey. He represented something that the average person could believe in, in a way that was a little unique. [People thought] ‘That could be me. If I could just get that break, work a little harder, I could be that guy.’ That’s a very inspirational quality to have.”

WWE hasn't yet confirmed who will be inducting Beth Phoenix, but all other members of the company's 2017 Hall of Fame class are accounted for.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jan Ross, the wife of Jim Ross, was in a terrible accident yesterday and received multiple skull fractures.

Jim Ross tweeted late last night, "My wife Jan, my little angel, was hit while rising her Vespa and has multiple skull fractures. She's in surgery now. We need a miracle."

The Norman, OK, police department reported that Jan Ross was driving at 9:33 p.m. when she was struck from behind by a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis driven by a 17-year-old and was thrown from her Vespa. The car and her scooter caught fire.

Jan was going to the gym, and was not wearing her helmet, and landed on her head causing multiple skull fractures. She was listed in critical condition before surgery.

Originally Posted by Observer

At yesterday's Rey de Reyes show in Monterrey, Jeff Jarrett was introduced during the show and AAA announced they established a working agreement with Impact. Also at the show, they unified all of their major singles titles in a three-way as Latin American champion Johnny Mundo beat AAA Mega heavyweight champion El Texano Jr. and AAA cruiserweight champion El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno) and he now holds all three belts.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE also announced that Shinsuke Nakamura would be on the June tour of the U.K. He was not originally scheduled for the tour. Nakamura is also scheduled for NXT house shows after WrestleMania. That doesn't necessarily mean anything but being added to an overseas tour as late as June would be a surprise if he was to be touring on the main roster.

Originally Posted by Observer

ROH announced that Jushin Liger and Yoshi-Hashi are off the 4/1 show in Lakeland, FL. The company posted on Facebook that due to delay in U.S. visa processing, the wrestlers will be unable to attend the show as planned. They announced that Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa would take their place in a six-man tag, teaming with Hangman Page against six-man champions Mark & Jay Briscoe & Bully Ray. They also announced Volador Jr. & Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee & Jay White for the show, which sounds like a potentially great match.

Originally Posted by Observer

Peter Kaasa posted on Facebook that he's taking a hiatus from wrestling due to medical evaluations taken after he was injured by the middle rope breaking during his match against Jaka at EVOLVE 76 in San Antonio. Kaasa wrote, "I have decided to take a hiatus from professional wrestling. I won't say retirement as I am not sure right now. Because of the rope breaking, I have a moderately bulging disc in my cervical spine that has been causing a lot of discomfort and pain and stiffness on a daily basis since the accident. To actually have gotten up after what happened in the ring that night was a miracle in itself let alone finishing the match and being able to still do all I am doing now." There were three incidents with the ring at that show, with the ropes also breaking twice during the Chris Hero vs. Keith Lee main event.

Originally Posted by PWI

Matt Hardy took to Twitter today to comment on the situation between his family and Impact Wrestling. You can read his words below.

My Soldiers have been loyal & supportive throughout my existence. Thank you.

They know the truth--That the #BROKEN Universe is my PROPERTY.
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017

The sincere, respectful & appreciative tweets I posted when my TNA contract was up- https://t.co/yJkKZF39Te & https://t.co/ZF0AzYmPKK pic.twitter.com/i3bt3eiZ1M
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017

The condescending & disingenuous tweets posted by @EdNordholm when my TNA contract was up- https://t.co/tup39takni & https://t.co/Lsod77I1eY pic.twitter.com/sPJWhD60oK
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017

FOLLOW the journey of #BrotherNero & I, LOYAL SOLDIERS..#HouseHardy will continue to make MAGIC & HISTORY while DELETING the opposition. pic.twitter.com/Wdd0JC96PU
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Paige's father, Ricky Knight, commented on Facebook on Paige being hacked and her private photos and videos being leaked. He noted that he was worried for her mental well being. He wrote:

"my last say on the scandal surrounding my daughter I have just spoken to her over facebook and I am worried for her mental health or worse ffs world get a grip she has not killed anyone robbed anyone she was having sex in a private situation between consulting adults and then has been betrayed by some low lifes as her dad I urge people to back off as I say I am very worried for her it will be no good backing her when its too late like many other celebrities who have left us."

Paige's mother, Saraya Knight, echoed similar sentiments on Twitter, noting that their family was devastated and wrote that "the business we love will kill us it seems."

Sat with my husband, he is sobbing, he can't even speak. I'm losing everything I love, the business we love will kill us it seems
— SarayaKnight (@RealsarayaK) March 20, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Tonight's WWE SmackDown in Uncasville, CT was called by JBL, Tom Phillips and David Otunga as Mauro Ranallo missed the show for the second week in a row. Tom noted that Mauro is out sick this week. Last week it was noted that he missed the show due to the winter weather in the Northeast part of the country.

There's been speculation on Mauro's status with the company after many questioned his excuse for missing last week's show.

Mauro is usually pretty active on social media but he's been quiet since before last Tuesday's SmackDown.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that new contract offers have officially been extended to Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy by WWE — and all signs point to an inevitable return.

We first reported that the two sides were in talks last month and The Sheet can now confirm that an actual deal is on the table for The Hardy Boyz to make a comeback in WWE.

As we previously reported, Broken Matt is currently battling with Impact Wrestling over the use of his name/gimmick. The wrestling company believes they should be paid when it’s used, but Hardy doesn’t agree. The brothers are also the current ROH tag champs after signing a short-term deal.

Still no word on whether WWE creative is looking to use their “broken” characters, but the legal side of things probably doesn’t bode well for a chance of that happening immediately.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

We noted before that Paige was the apparent victim of a hack on Friday as some of her private photos and videos were leaked online.

There was a closed-door meeting backstage at Monday's RAW in Brooklyn to discuss the matter, according to PWInsider. Vince McMahon, Triple H, officials from Talent Relations and others were present. No details regarding what was discussed were revealed.

On a related note, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that the company will not be taking action against Paige or Xavier Woods. Meltzer added that the company will just wait for the situation to blow over but if it doesn't, some sort of action could be taken if a sponsor or someone else prominent complains.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

PWInsider confirmed reports that Matt and Jeff Hardy have been in talks with WWE, and noted that "it's a matter or when, not if" the brothers return to the company. As noted, Pro Wrestling Sheet had reported that the Hardys and WWE were in "deep talks."

According to PWInsider, the deal is only for Matt and Jeff, and not for Reby or Senor Benjamin. It was noted that one major issue that would have to be worked out is the schedule, as the Hardys likely don't want a full time schedule.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned WWE and Sinclair Broadcast Group have recently discussed a potential buyout of Ring of Honor in secret … this according to sources.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell us the companies have been talking since January and things have been slowly progressing, with the plan being a full takeover if the deal is made official.

This would include the weekly TV show beginning to air on the WWE Network. No word at this point on whether every wrestler on the roster would continue working in ROH if it happens.

Keep in mind, there’s no actual deal on the table right now and discussions are simply that. This means the buyout could always fall through if both sides can’t agree on specifics.

Case in point, WWE had discussions with TNA last year about a buyout that never came to fruition.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.647 million viewers, up about one percent from last week's rating ...

The numbers may have been helped by the fact that both ABC and CBS ran repeat programming on Tuesday and ratings in the 8-10 p.m. block were down about 30 percent from normal levels.

Originally Posted by PWI

John Cena will be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC.

The Big Show will be on Conan with Conan O'Brien on TBS promoting Wrestlemania 32.

Shane McMahon will be on ESPN Sportscenter at 9 PM Eastern tonight promoting Wrestlemania as well.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE continued to make Hall of Fame announcements on Wednesday by revealing that Natalya would be inducting Beth Phoenix.

The two are good friends and teamed together in the ring before Phoenix retired.

“There’s nobody that I can think of that deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame more than Beth Phoenix,” Natalya said in an interview with WWE.com. “She’s a pioneer for women in our division. Beth did extraordinary things for women in WWE.”

Phoenix tweeted about the news, "When it comes to friends, she is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. @NatbyNature thank you #DOD4Ever"

Originally Posted by Observer

Paul Heyman and his Heyman Hustle website are partnering with Yahoo to produce content leading up to WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer

Zack Sabre Jr. will face Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 82 in Queens, New York on April 22nd and Lio Rush at EVOLVE 83 in Brooklyn the next night. Those matches will be for Sabre's EVOLVE title if he's still champion after WrestleMania weekend.

Marty Scurll will face Kyle O'Reilly for Revolution Pro Wrestling on May 7th.

Will Ospreay vs. Jimmy Havoc at PROGRESS Chapter 46 this Sunday will be a "Fans Bring the Weapons" match. PROGRESS posted details about what the procedure for the match will be.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE announcer Arda Ocal aka Kyle Edwards announced he was launching a new podcast for the MSG Network today. Since leaving WWE, Ocal has been one of the hosts of The Hockey Show on the cable network:

Announcing new podcast! Drops every Wed on @iTunes & @MSGNetworks website. Check out ???????????????? 1st guest, @FlaPanthers lawyer @WWECreative_ish! ???? pic.twitter.com/ZPQm8e6H1c
— Arda Ocal (@ArdaOcalTV) March 22, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

On the second episode of Dinner With The King, hosted by Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore, The King gives an update to the possibility of the Memphis wrestling library being available on the WWE Network in the near future.

“Yes, I do own [the library]. There’s just some controversy about USWA footage, which would have been from ’88 to ’96. But all the other, from ’77 to ’88 and from ’96 on, yeah, I own that footage.”

When asked about the library being on the WWE Network, his answer was, “Yes, absolutely. Without a doubt.”

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE has released WWE 24: Wrestlemania Monday on DVD and Blu-Ray. Listed as a "director's cut", promotional material for the 3/21 release notes, "The Raw after WrestleMania has become one of the most anticipated nights in sports entertainment. New Superstars emerge, familiar faces return, and the WWE Universe feels the fallout from The Showcase of the Immortals. For the first time ever, get a behind-the-scenes look and follow both WWE Superstars and spectators alike as they experience one of WWE’s most exciting events of the year."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

At tonight's SmackDown Live, WWE announced to the live crowd that their next show in the state of Connecticut will be the return of the Bad Blood pay-per-view. It will be a RAW exclusive show, and it will take place on July 9th at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. This marks the first WWE pay-per-view to take place at the XL Center since Vengeance in 2004.

The first Bad Blood pay-per-view took place on October 5, 1997, and marked the first-ever "Hell In A Cell" match, which saw Shawn Michaels defeat The Undertaker after Kane made his debut and interfered. There were two more Bad Blood pay-per-views - in 2003 and 2004 - which were RAW exclusive shows.

Originally Posted by Observer

Michaels later said on the podcast that he'll be involved with the WrestleMania 33 pre-show on the WWE Network, but called it unlikely that he'll be doing anything else on the show unless something changes at the last minute.

Originally Posted by Observer

Joe Koff had something sent to ROH talent to tell them that the discussions with WWE regarded licensing old footage from their library.

Originally Posted by PWI

It should be noted, however, that according to a WWE source, there have been off and on conversations between the companies in recent months but those talks were surrounding the possibility of the WWE Network carrying the Ring of Honor TV show, similar to deals in place that will eventually see PROGRESS Wrestling and Insane Championship Wrestling broadcast as "independent wrestling" content on the WWE Network.

While no deal has been signed, the idea would be that WWE license that material from ROH, something ROH COO Joe Koff has said in the past he would be open to, if it was the right deal for Ring of Honor. In the past, WWE licensed material from Sinclair for a number of projects, including the CM Punk documentary. We are told there has also been interest in licensing material for future DVDs, which makes sense considering there are Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins DVDs set for release in the coming months.

If a deal goes through, ROH TV would air on the WWE Network just as it airs currently on COMET TV, The Fite App and on Sinclair affiliate stations, but again, no deal has been completed as of this writing.

Originally Posted by PWI

The new ITV World of Sport series will hold its first TV tapings on 5/25-5/27 at Preston Guild Hall.

The plan is for the series to have a late Saturday afternoon/early evening timeslot on ITV.

Originally Posted by Observer

Anthem has put a TM over all its YouTube videos that involve the Broken Hardys gimmick.

Originally Posted by Observer

Konnan has said that he will have nothing to do with the AAA talent if they appear on Impact and that the Crash talent will not be in the same matches as the AAA talent.

Originally Posted by Observer

On the WWE conference call today, Paul Levesque said that there will be no specific television tapings done at Fan Axxess this year. All the matches will be taped but not for specific television shows. Last year they did an NXT taping in Dallas at Fan Axxess, but since they're in Orlando, this year they are doing it at Full Sail University on 4/5.

Originally Posted by Observer

More names added to the WrestleCon roster at WrestleMania include Jeff & Karen Jarrett, Moose, Kevin Sullivan, Shane Douglas, Tommy Rich, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Matt Morgan, King Mo Lawal, James Storm, Adam Rose and MVP.

Alberto El Patron has pulled out of all gigs in Orlando that weekend stating it's due to the invasion of privacy involving his fiance.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ring of Honor announced that its April 1st Supercard of Honor show from the Lakeland Civic Center will be broadcast live as an internet PPV and almost head-to-head with the NXT TakeOver show on the WWE Network.

The iPPV will cost $29.99 and will air on both ROHWrestling.com and FITE TV starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.

The show has the biggest advance ticket sales in the history of the company.

There will also be a live Facebook pregame show with SoCal Val.

FITE TV will also be airing a show on March 31st and April 1st from WrestleCon.

The ROH show is headlined by The Hardys vs. Young Bucks for the ROH tag team titles in a ladder match, plus Christopher Daniels defends the ROH title against Dalton Castle, Marty Scurll defends the TV title against Adam Cole, and The Briscoes & Bully Ray vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Roa & Hangman Page, as well as Volador Jr. & Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee & Jay White.

Originally Posted by Observer

The former Tommy End will be making his televised NXT debut over WrestleMania weekend.

A few weeks of videos hyped the arrival of Aleister Black before it was announced on Wednesday night's episode of NXT that he would be debuting against Andrade "Cien" Almas at TakeOver: Orlando.

After signing with WWE, Black wrestled on the Network for the first time under the name Tommy End against Neville on the second night of the UK tournament ...

The current card for NXT TakeOver: Orlando is:

NXT Champion Bobby Roode defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women's Champion Asuka defending against Ember Moon
NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defending against DIY and The Revival in a triple threat elimination match
Aleister Black vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas

Originally Posted by PWI

Kyle O'Reilly has officially come to terms with EVOLVE. O'Reilly will not be working the Wrestlemania events in Orlando but will be working post-Wrestlemania dates for the company. The two sides had been in discussions of late, but as we reported, they were unable to terms. They reconvened today and were able to make a deal for O'Reilly to come in.

Originally Posted by PWMania

We noted earlier this week how Summer Rae was apparently training for her return at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. Summer has been out of action since last summer with a knee injury.

While Summer has not appeared on WWE TV since the Draft after being sent to the RAW roster, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that there’s talk of bringing her back to the SmackDown roster with an appearance at WrestleMania 33 in the SmackDown Women’s Title match.

Regarding that match, graphics have confirmed that it will be Alexa Bliss defending against Becky Lynch, Mickie James, Carmella and Natalya but it’s possible we also see appearances by Naomi, Tamina Snuka, Eva Marie and Summer. There’s also been rumors of a stipulation being added to the match.

The Observer adds that it’s also possible we see former WWE Superstars return for the SmackDown Women’s Title match. We’ve noted how the company contacted several women from the past about appearing at WrestleMania 33 for an angle or match that has been kept secret. Kelly Kelly and Lisa Marie Varon (Victoria) were among those contacted about working for the company in Orlando that Sunday.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Triple H did a media call today to promote WWE NXT "Takeover: Orlando" and WrestleMania 33. You can check out the full call in the video above or the audio player below, here are some highlights ...

* He called the passing of Jan Ross tragic and unfortunate. He noted how Jim Ross has always been a part of the WWE family and he can't express how sad they are. He says they all knew Jan very well

* Regarding Takeover ... He feels Shinsuke Nakamura vs. NXT Champion Bobby Roode is lining up what NXT will be after WrestleMania - will it take Roode's Glorious path or the Strong Style path of Nakamura that we've seen for the past year or so. He says NXT Women's Champion Asuka continues to evolve and get better. They knew she was a game-changer when they brought her in and that's what she's been. He also praised Ember Moon, saying it took her a while to hit her stride but now she has and it's amazing. He called her an incredibly talented performer and believes Ember vs. Asuka has the chance to steal the whole week ... Regarding Aleister Black vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas, he says Almas has sky-rocketed in the last few weeks or last month. He believes Almas' comfort level as a heel has hit his stride and the match against the debuting Black should be phenomenal ...

* Triple H is asked about comments he made on a recent call about not being happy with where NXT was at that point, and how he feels about improvements the brand has made. Triple H says he will probably never be happy with the product because you always want it to be better and to be more than what it is. He makes it clear that his unhappiness had nothing to do with talent - it had to do with his end, with creative, production and other aspects. He says there were reasons for all of it as the Performance Center was designed to create everything they do, not just in-ring performers, and it did that very well. As those talents were moved up, it "strip-mined" NXT and around the same time they lost a lot of their performers, specifically with the WWE Draft, they had to start over in many ways. They also started over behind the scenes. He talks about how they had to reinvent everything but he's much happier with where they're at now, not because it's where he wants NXT to be but because he's on a path to get there. There's nothing worse to him than saying he's unhappy with something and not having the abilities to fix it, or he's not on the way to fixing it ...

* Regarding the NXT, WWE UK, 205 Live, PROGRESS and ICW matches at WrestleMania Axxess possibly airing at a later date, he says there are not doing actual TV tapings at Axxess this year

* He's asked what he thinks about the development and starts of some of the younger talents, including some we haven't seen yet ... Triple H is really happy with the system they have and how talents are progressing. He talks again about how The Authors of Pain have progressed. He also talks about the NXT women's division with younger talents like Ember Moon, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay and Nikki Cross with experience but you also have talents like Aliyah, Liv Morgan, Daria Berenato and Macey Estrella. He says Mandy Rose will also have a big impact soon. He says it's really impressive to see these talents grow and become something more, thriving in the environment.

* Triple H was asked about possibly branching out the Performance Center in other key markets, such as locations in the UK, Los Angeles or Toronto. He says he's been having those conversations since the moment he first thought up the Performance Center. They've talked about what is the best way to execute those plans. He says they are currently maxed out with around 100 talents at the Performance Center and he's out-grown the space a little bit and would love for it to be more robust ... He says as they expand, there is probably a logical point where there will be the need for other facilities but it is something they look at all the time.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, Mauro Ranallo missed WWE SmackDown for the second week in a row this week. Last week it was announced that Mauro missed the show due to the winter weather in the Northeast but this week it was noted that he missed the show due to being sick.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Mauro has been out of contact with people he's known for years dating back to March 13th, which was the Monday before the first show he missed. However, two of Mauro's closest friends noted to The Observer that he's okay and resting up. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Mauro is doing better but he also speculated that there's more to the story that he's working to confirm.

Originally Posted by Observer

Based on T-shirts that have been printed, these are the Legacy Award Hall of Famers for the WWE Hall of Fame this year:

• Judy Grable -- One of the female stars of the 50s. She took her name from Betty Grable. She wasn't one of the top tier women in her era but she was a legitimate star.
• Toots Mondt -- Mondt was a former shooter who worked with Strangler Lewis and Billy Sandow in the 20s and controlled the world title for a time and bounced from place to place. He was Vince McMahon Sr.'s business partner and some said the wrestling brains behind the outfit into the 1960s. He was considered a very controversial person in the industry.
• Rikidozan -- The father of Japanese pro wrestling and easily the single most influential pro wrestler in history. No wrestler was ever such a major cultural figure, in both Japan and in North Korea after his death. On a cultural basis, he would be far closer to Muhammad Ali than to Hulk Hogan.
• Farmer Burns -- A world champion in the late 1800s, Burns was the coach and promoter of Frank Gotch, the first true superstar pro wrestler and mainstream sports figure to come out of wrestling.
• Luther Lindsay -- A noted shooter. He was a star, but not a major star. Like Art Thomas, this is what it is.
• Dr. Jerry Graham -- Vince McMahon's childhood favorite pro wrestler. The Graham Brothers (Jerry & Eddie, who were not brothers) vs. Argentina Rocca & Miguel Perez was a huge program in Madison Square Garden. The Doc was a colorful figure, whose problems with alcohol prematurely ended a run that should have had a lot of legs left in him. Vince McMahon and his father tried to bring him back a few times but it never worked out.
• June Byers -- Byers claimed the women's world title from 1953 to 1964 although there were other claimants. Most of her era considered her the best of the women wrestlers after the retirement of Mildred Burke.
• Haystacks Calhoun -- Billed at 450 to 600 pounds, Calhoun was a great touring attraction in pro wrestler, similar to what Andre the Giant later would be, but not on the same level as Andre.

Originally Posted by Observer

ITV and Impact Wrestling announced today officially that World of Sport will return to ITV with tapings at the Preston Guild Hall on May 25th and 26th.

The announcement was of a 10-episode series. ITV greenlit the series which would be largely funded by Anthem Entertainment, which would run the wrestling end, with Jeff Jarrett in charge of the wrestling.

They announced tickets would go on sale on April 7th at Gigsandtours.com, Ticketmaster.co.uk, and prestonguildhall.co.uk.

There will be a launch announcement on March 27th at 2 p.m. in Manchester where more details will be announced, including the roster, as well as a Q&A ...

While no deal has been closed, Jim Ross had been earmarked as the host of the show. Officially, only Alex Shane, who co-hosted the pilot with Ross that aired on December 31st, is an announcer. Grado will enter the tapings billed as the World of Sport champion based on the first episode.

Originally Posted by Observer

Kyle O'Reilly's first matches for Evolve are set for 4/22 in Queens, NY against Keith Lee, 4/23 in Brooklyn against Fred Yehi, 5/20 in Chicago against Matt Riddle and 5/21 in Livonia, MI.

Originally Posted by Observer

There will be a new Undertaker collection added on Monday to the WWE Network. It will likely be a collection of his WrestleMania matches, that are already up in other forms.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE announced that Corey Graves' interview with Kurt angle would air Tuesday night after Talking Smack on the WWE Network.

There will be another Bring it to the Table with Corey Graves, JBL and Peter Rosenberg on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Maria Menounos will again host the Hall of Fame red carpet ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday night.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 3/23 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 305,000 viewers, down over 10 percent from last week's 344,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI

Any chance WWE does Big Show vs. Shaq at Wrestlemania next year?

No. Show has made it clear his current deal expires in February 2018 and has openly talked about quietly fading away at that point. Shaq in Florida would have meant something. I don't know the match has the same appeal in New Orleans.

Originally Posted by PWI

The debut episode of Edge and Christian's Pod Of Awesomeness with WWE Universal champion Bill Goldberg was really good.

During his appearance, Goldberg mentions the new attitude of the locker room saying that there are no big characters in locker room. Edge questions if the guys are handcuffed. Goldberg explains that things are more structured now and that management may not have the faith in the current roster to do whatever they want.

They obviously talk about Goldberg facing Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 33 and the challenges that are involved when it comes to fans' perception. Goldberg promised a knockdown, drag-out "blood fest" at Wrestlemania and said they are both going to do things beyond the constraints of their previous encounters. Goldberg implied that they were not allowed to do very much in the first few encounters in order to garner interest in a third bout and to play on people's nostalgia of his character.

Goldberg mentioned how physically taxing this current run has beenfrom travel, training , balancing work and family. He even mentioned the problems with picking up Rusev due to excessive training, busting himself open before going out on live TV, his relationship with Vince McMahon and more.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE NXT episodes have been completed on WWE Network going back to the June 2012 reboot of the brand under Full Sail University. This includes early 2014 episodes before the Network.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Matt Hardy commented on Kurt Angle being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, writing on Twitter:

So proud & happy for my amigo @RealKurtAngle for achieving this HONOR. Kurt has overcome & defeated all of life's obstacles.

100% deserved. https://t.co/BDTls2WN01
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 24, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

- WWEShop.com now has Southpaw Regional Wrestling merchandise available. Also, for today only, select WWE merchandise is only $5. There is no code required.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

The official store for the Hardys officially closed down yesterday. It had been running for 5 years. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer was asked on Twitter if WWE is "maybe the reason" for the store closing down, to which he replied, "Not maybe definitely."

Originally Posted by Observer

There were meetings this past week with New Japan officials and AXS officials. Nothing official has been announced but they were working on ideas to work together for New Japan’s entrance into the U.S. market on 7/1 and 7/2 in Long Beach, as well as attempts to get the television more caught up like it was for the Tokyo Dome show.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Young Bucks and Hardys program has been agreed upon to be a major deal on Impact television until the Hardys situation changed. Both ROH and Impact had signed off on working together where there would be multiple dates for months in both companies, going back-and-forth, where the Young Bucks would have debuted on the April tapings. It would have run the gamut to matches on each other’s PPV shows as well as a match at the Hardy compound and eventually to the ladder match as the likely final match. Impact was still interested in the Young Bucks, as Jeff Jarrett showed interest in everyone who he thought had a name that could help the company. Even if the Hardys leaving wouldn’t have killed the idea, and realistically, it probably did, the legal threat that cost ROH the Dish Network PPV buys would have certainly killed it dead.

Originally Posted by Observer

It also appears that they are trying to keep the participants in the Smackdown women’s title match a secret, as well as if there is a stipulation involved. The graphics and angles continue to suggest Alexa Bliss defending against Mickie James, Carmella, Natalya and Becky Lynch. But they are pushing that all Smackdown wrestlers available that night will be involved, which could include Naomi, if she’s recovered from her knee injury; Summer Rae, who is training right now in Orlando for her return; Tamina, who has been on the road full-time doing house shows but hasn’t been put on television; and Eva Marie, who hasn’t been on television since she’s been doing acting gigs.

It’s also possible the teased surprises could be women stars of the past. Several were contacted many weeks ago about appearing on the show as part of a scenario that has been kept secret. Kelly Kelly is the name that has gotten out and others have been called as well. Lita recently wrestled an independent match and Lisa Varon (Victoria) is another name out there. Maria Kanellis is in the category of going somewhere in secret and most of the time when there is a destination that has to be kept a secret, that means WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer

With time running out and no talk for several weeks, it appears that WWE and Conor McGregor couldn’t come to a financial deal. That is also likely the reason the Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal match fell through, leaving the show right now with 14 matches. Show was announced for the Battle Royal, killing the idea of a singles match, but Paul Levesque, on ESPN, when asked about the match and O’Neal, tried to tease that something was still alive.

Originally Posted by Observer

Brandon Howard at Fightful.com got a report from the Arlington, TX police department that the actual number of people who went through the turnstiles at AT&T Stadium for WrestleMania last year was 80,709. That’s greatly under the 101,763 plus number that WWE claimed. The stadium itself told us there were 97,769 people in the building, but that included everyone from the wrestlers and office people to ushers and concession stand people. I was also told 93,770 was the number of paid and comps of people, both ticket holders and box holders, not actually working at the show by the stadium, and the paid was in the 79,000 range.

The difference between 80,709 and 93,770 I can’t really explain because it was made clear that 80,709 number included party passes, which, if legit (the only question is if a Wifi failure screwed up the turnstile count) means they the entire stadium was set up for 67,000 and all those 80,000 and 100,000 figures they’ve used in the past for other sports events in that stadium were heavily worked numbers. That also explains the low legitimate paid number for a show that didn’t appear to be heavily papered.

Originally Posted by Observer

The go-home Raw for WrestleMania, with Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Bill Goldberg, and Seth Rollins all known to be attending in advance, did 3.29 million viewers, an increase of eight percent from last week ...

It was still down 13 percent from the 3.76 million viewers for the go-home Raw last year.

The third hour decline was consistent with all the key demos across the board.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.25 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.43 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.20 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE announced that Neville vs. Austin Aries for the Cruiserweight title, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and the SmackDown Women's Championship match will be airing on the WrestleMania 33 pre-show, which will be two hours and begins at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday. Renee Young, Jerry Lawler, Booker T, and Shawn Michaels will be on the panel, with the first hour airing on the WWE Network and other platforms before the second hour airs on the USA Network in addition to those.

Originally Posted by Observer

On a day that should bring more announcements for WrestleMania (including the addition of Triple H vs. Seth Rollins to the card on tonight's go-home episode of Raw), WWE revealed some of the celebrities who will be involved with WrestleMania 33 on Monday.

It was announced that Pitbull would be performing at WrestleMania after the main card broadcast kicks off. He'll be joined by Flo Rida, LunchMoney Lewis, and Stephen Marley. Pitbull, Flo Rida, and Lewis' song "Greenlight" is the official theme of WrestleMania 33.

As was noted previously, Tinashe is set to perform "America the Beautiful" on the show.

Originally Posted by Observer

Add former women's champion Eve Torres Gracie to the list of those being brought in for WrestleMania according PW Insider. As noted here, a number of former women's stars were contacted months ago about being part of the weekend.

Originally Posted by PWI

Wrestlecon tweeted that due to health reasons Terry Funk will not be able to make it to Orlando, Florida:

Just got off phone with Terry Funk. Due to health reasons, he's unable to travel. All preorders will be refunded in 24hrs.
— WrestleCon (@wrestlecon) March 28, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer

A WWE title will be defended on another promotion's show during WrestleMania weekend.

PROGRESS Wrestling co-owner Glen Joseph announced on Facebook Live today that Tyler Bate would put his WWE United Kingdom Championship up for grabs against Mark Andrews on March 31st at PROGRESS: Orlando ...

The UK title match won't be the only collaboration between WWE and PROGRESS in Orlando, with PROGRESS wrestlers also featuring in matches at WrestleMania Axxess.

Originally Posted by Observer

The site of WWE's Battleground PPV, which will be a SmackDown show, will be the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

The WWE made the announcement live during last night's Raw show at the building.

Battleground takes place on July 23rd and will be one of two PPVs that month. The Raw brand will run on July 9th with the Bad Blood show, the day after what is expected to be UFC's biggest event of the year, the annual International Fight Week major show.

Originally Posted by Observer

In an interview with The Sporting News, Bobby Fish made it clear that he is going to be continuing to work with ROH for the time being, but he didn't sign a new contract (his short-term deal expired today) but said he's no longer exclusive to ROH but is open for offers from anyone.

Originally Posted by Observer

In an attempt to boost Monday's announcement of numbers, WWE has sent out another mailer offering former subscribers three months free as long as they sign up by Monday, which is when the announcement will be made. The push is if you sign up now you get WrestleMania, Payback, Backlash, Extreme Rules and Money in the Bank free.

Originally Posted by Observer

Paul Heyman did a talk show today promoting WrestleMania where he pushed that Charlotte Flair could become the first woman to close the show at WrestleMania. Don't think he meant this year, just that it could happen during her career.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jan Ross, who passed away on Wednesday, was an organ donor and all of her internal organs were in good shape. The one silver lining out of the tragedy of her death is that four people are going to be able to live better lives due to it. If anything, this is a message because sometimes this is no preparing and age and health and don't guarantee anything but if you are an organ donor, you can help someone who was often dealt a bad hand live a better life.

Originally Posted by PWI

Former WWE star Jack Swagger announced he would be making his first post-WWE appearances this weekend:

I'm excited to announce I'll be signing at #WrestleCon on Friday and Saturday . #WethePeople come say hi.
— You Dont Know Jack (@RealJackSwagger) March 28, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

During media appearances yesterday in Great Britain, Jeff Jarrett stated that the World of Sport revival would debut on ITV in July.

Jarrett told The Mirror in the UK that the plan is for the World of Sport group to be a "full on promotion", not just a TV series.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Mauro Ranallo missed WWE SmackDown for the third week in a row tonight. His WrestleMania 33 status appears to be up in the air after missing tonight's go-home episode. As noted, Mauro's absence is related to his battle with depression, which he has fought since he was a teenager. Mauro's friend and podcast co-host Bas Rutten commented on Mauro's status and Mauro being bi-polar during an appearance on The Luke Thomas Show last week. He said:

"Yeah, he's doing OK. As everybody knows, he's very vocal about it but Mauro is bi-polar and sometimes, a few times a year, things are going too fast and he needs to just simply slow down. But he's doing good and I talked to him... he's sending me funny video clips, he just sent me something... It's all in good spirits, I think he will be back to normal very soon."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

ESPN has a new interview with Triple H. Below are a couple of highlights:

People wanting to cut Enzo Amore:

"There's been guys that have made it that over the course of a couple of years that were constantly on the cut list. Enzo Amore, when I brought him in, everyone at the tryout was saying, 'Get rid of this kid!' I was like, 'He's got a huge personality. If he can annoy us all this bad here, imagine what he can do on TV.' ... Every time he'd get his review, they'd be like, 'I'd cut him.' Dusty [Rhodes] and I would be like, 'Keep him.' Look at him now. ... Is he ever going to make you money from an in-ring performer standpoint? Probably not. But he's money on the mic."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

With Wrestlemania just days away, there has been some speculation about Eva Marie being a part of the SmackDown Women's title match this Sunday. Eva has not appeared on television since being suspended for 30 days on August 17, 2016 for her first violation of the company's Wellness Policy.

After asking around, a source at WWE informed me that the company will not be renewing Eva's contract. Eva had been with the company since 2013 and was a featured cast member of Total Divas for the show's six seasons. No announcement has been made by either side, but Eva is apparently done with the company.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Kenny and Mikey of The Spirit Squad have both been removed from the SmackDown LIVE roster, thus officially ending their return stint in WWE.

Their profiles on WWE.com were recently removed from the SmackDown LIVE roster page and placed in the WWE Alumni section ...

The duo worked together through November, at which point WWE stopping using them on SmackDown LIVE without explanation.

Kenny and Mikey weren't signed to WWE contracts, hence their quiet departure. Both wrestlers are continuing to work on the independent circuit. They will be wrestling together this Friday in the UK.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4947975)

According to the Observer, WWE currently doesn't have plans for Asuka to be among the upcoming batch of callups from NXT.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4947975)

Originally Posted by Observer

The WrestleMania go-home episode of SmackDown was watched by 2,698,000 viewers, which is up two percent from last week.

Originally Posted by Observer

After missing SmackDown again last night, Mauro Ranallo tweeted: "Feeling love from everyone. I am stronger. I want to wish my @WWE family another AMAZING #WrestleMania #KeepUpTheGoodFight #MentalHealth"

Originally Posted by Observer

The Usos were added to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown last night, which means that there won't be a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match scheduled for WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jim Ross opened up about the death of his wife Jan on this week's episode of his podcast. Ross also explained why he's still fulfilling his commitments in Orlando, saying that being around his friends and working is what he needs and what his wife would've wanted. Ric Flair and Goldberg were the guests on the podcast, with the Goldberg interview having been taped before Jan's passing.

Originally Posted by Observer

New Japan Pro Wrestling's weekly TV show in Japan is moving up an hour to 2 a.m. and has been extended to a full hour from the previous 30 minutes.

Originally Posted by PWI

On this week's NXT, they announced that Sanity (Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain, Eric Young, and Nikki Cross) will face Roderick Strong, Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose, and Ruby Riot in an Eight Person Tag Match at Takeover on Saturday night from Orlando.

Originally Posted by PWI

On the fourth episode of Dinner With The King, hosted by Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore, The King hints that WWE might limit the amount of Hall of Fame inductees per year in the future because the speeches have gotten longer and longer.

He also gives insight on being backstage with Vince McMahon during the Hall of Fame ceremony and his willingness to let presenters/inductees speak longer than expected. He also tells a story about Mr. T going long and Kane having to come out as “the hook”.

Finally, The King tells some stories about the Rock ’n’ Roll Express and Rick Rude from their days in Memphis, including creating the Rock ’n’ Roll Express gimmick.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As previously noted, the WWE Network is sitting at about 1.5 million paid subscribers as of January 31 of this year. We reported last week that WWE will host a conference call the day after WrestleMania to provide an update on the number of subscribers to the WWE Network following WrestleMania.

PWInsider reports that the aim for WWE is to break the 2 million threshold.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, WWE sent an offer to people on their mailing list who have never subscribed to the Network for three months of the Network for only $9.99, then the regular $9.99 price after this period is over. This includes WrestleMania 33, NXT Takeover, Payback, Backlash, Extreme Rules and Money In The Bank. For inactive subscriptions of former members, WWE offered a deal where they can get three months for free, and then come back and pay 9.99 after this period was over.

Of course, this is to meet the goal of passing 2 million subscribers, even if it is inflated, in order to look good to stockholders on Monday's conference call.

Originally Posted by Observer

According to a report from the New York Post, WWE tryout attendee James 'Rude Boy' Riley has been arrested on child pornography charges. The local Staten Island professional wrestler was taken into custody earlier today after having his stash of child pornography found, which included photos of infants.

The 25-year-old was busted after the New York Police Department found the stash on his iPhone. He was arraigned on 'charges of promotion and possession of a sexual performance by a child' and made a $3,500 bail. Riley had also reportedly uploaded some of the photos to his Google and Tumblr accounts.

He had attended a WWE tryout back in February ... He was also scheduled to wrestle tonight and Friday for Punk Pro Wrestling. The promotion soon made the following announcement shortly after his arrest:

"Due to circumstances James Rudeboy Riley is being pulled from this weeks events. This is only statement we have concerning it."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, Adam Cole's contract with Ring of Honor expires at the end of April and there have been rumors that he may sign with WWE when it's up. Cole joined Busted Open with Dave LaGreca and Doug Mortman today and commented on his current contract situation with Ring of Honor and what the future might hold for him once his deal is up.

"I've discussed this before and I totally don't mind talking about because it's a very talked about thing," Cole said. "I have about a month left on my Ring of Honor contract where at that point, I kind of have to make a decision. And the truth of the matter is, I haven't made my decision of what I would like to do yet. Because, obviously, there are a lot of options I have to consider. There are a lot of situations I have to consider. So for me to make my best possible decision, I need to know all the avenues that I can take.

"So as of right now, again this kind of sounds like a cliché answer, I have big match after big match every single weekend. So I have to focus on this next month that I have: challenging for the Ring of Honor Television Championship this weekend, I'd like to get back over to New Japan. Right now, all of my focus is on making as much of an impact in Ring of Honor as I can. When it comes to May, that's something that's kind of up in the air at this point."

Originally Posted by Observer

The Hardys are coming to WWE, and soon. The only question is what day and what brand. One would think Smackdown is the brand that needs the most help in the tag team division. As far as the Broken gimmick, Matt is claiming ownership of it. Impact’s case was at least strong enough for ROH to state that the Hardys will not be doing the gimmick on their iPPV show the night before WrestleMania. The Hardys are also scheduled for morning activities in Orlando for WWN as part of a tailgate party, so they will be in the area hours before the show. Contractually, they can debut whenever WWE wants them to debut. The only question is the legal aspect of the gimmick and where that stands.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4948215)

Originally Posted by Observer

Shelton Benjamin announced on Twitter Thursday that he has been cleared to return to the ring following a torn rotator cuff injury.

After 9 of the hardest months of my life, I'm happy to announce I have been OFFICIALLY CLEARED to return to action. Effective Immediately!

— Shelton J. Benjamin (@Sheltyb803) March 30, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer

The SmackDown Women's Championship match is no longer listed as being on the WrestleMania 33 pre-show on WWE's website and as of now is grouped with the rest of the main card matches.

Originally Posted by Observer

SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain & Nikki Cross) vs. Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, No Way Jose & Ruby Riot was officially added to the NXT TakeOver: Orlando card last night. There are five matches scheduled for the show, with Bobby Roode defending the NXT Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka defending the NXT Women's Championship against Ember Moon, The Authors of Pain putting their tag titles on the line against DIY and The Revival in a triple threat elimination match, and Aleister Black vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas in addition to the eight-person tag.

Originally Posted by Observer

Goldberg tweeted a message clarifying comments that he made about being "miserable" during his current WWE run on the Edge & Christian podcast. Goldberg had said that he was miserable due to the training that's required in his role but reiterated that his time in WWE since returning has been an awesome experience.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE officially unveiled a WWE Hall of Fame statue for Ric Flair at the opening session of Wrestlemania AXXESS this evening.

Appearing at the ceremony were Sting, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Arn Anderson, The Rock N' Roll Express, Ricky Steamboat, Shawn Michaels, Flair's girlfriend Wendi aka former WCW star Fifi The Maid and all of Flair's children.

Originally Posted by PWI

For those who have asked about these two talents, we are told Kane is slated to be in Orlando Wrestlemania weekend while Eva Marie is not. Marie not coming in says a lot about her standing with the company going forward.

Originally Posted by Observer

Another name has been added to the list of entrants for the 2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

WWE announced on Thursday that Tian Bing would be making an appearance at WrestleMania 33 as part of the battle royal. Bing previously made a brief cameo on NXT TV alongside HoHo Lun in the first round of last year's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and has been wrestling on NXT house shows.

Bing signed with WWE last summer as part of the company's ongoing plans to enter the Chinese market. He later made his debut at a house show in Shanghai, China in September against Bo Dallas.

As Dave Meltzer noted in this week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this will be the first year that WrestleMania is available to watch live in China. It will be offered as an iPPV by PPTV since there is no WWE Network availability in the country

Originally Posted by Observer

In addition to Tian Bing, WWE announced Mark Henry for the 2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal today.

Originally Posted by Observer

FloSlam officially announced that OTT's ScrapperMania 3 show at National Stadium in Dublin, with Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay, Ricochet & Ryan Smile in the main event, will air live on the service on April 15th.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

It was noted in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy are returning to WWE soon. No word yet on exactly, but it was noted that the only question is regarding the legal issues over the gimmick and where it stands. There's been a lot of speculation on The Hardys appearing at WrestleMania 33 on Sunday, perhaps to challenge SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos as they do not have a match. We do know that they will be in Orlando on Sunday as they are hosting a tailgate party near Camping World Stadium earlier in the day. The Observer adds that Matt and Jeff can legally debut whenever WWE wants them to.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair, Sting and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat will be filming a "Table For Three" episode during WrestleMania 33 Week in Orlando. WWE Network content is expected to be filmed all week long. As noted, another "Table For Three" filmed this week will feature Eve Torres, Maryse and Kelly Kelly.

Originally Posted by Observer

There is nothing really new from the lead story last week on ROH sale talks. It should be noted that there were reports that Flo Sports at one point had attempted to buy ROH, and also had attempted to make a big money deal to stream all of the ROH events on Flo Slam (the latter is very much true), which were turned down. It’s also notable that even though WWE was attempting to buy the company as well, that ROH had gotten WWE to back off on deals with a number of wrestlers, names we know of being Donovan Dijak, Ray Rowe, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish, threatening WWE with tampering charges

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4948678)

Originally Posted by PWI

Fans will be hearing a familiar voice calling at least part of Wrestlemania 33, PWInsider.com has learned.

WWE has signed a new deal with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross that will commence will Ross returning this Sunday at Wrestlemania 33 to commentate Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar.

We are told that the deal will see Ross used in something of a Legends deal for material on the WWE Network, documentaries, etc. while occasionally appearing on WWE TV to commentate bouts post-Wrestlemania. How often Ross would appear on WWE television remains to be seen.

The new WWE deal would mean that Ross could not be involved the World of Sport revival when that series tapes its first episodes this May in Great Britain. Ross called the pilot on New Year's Eve last year and was involved with a lot of the creative and production. It appears that the possibility of Ross calling a series for ITV prompted the new WWE deal.

For those wondering about Ross calling New Japan on AXS TV, we are told that his status with that series would not change with this new WWE deal.

We are told that the new deal was offered and signed prior to the recent passing of Ross' wife Jan. One source stated the deal was done five weeks ago.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, the plan for WrestleMania 33 this Sunday was for the Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Universal Champion Goldberg match to close the show. WWE officials have apparently changed their mind.

Dave Meltzer noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns will most likely be the last match at WrestleMania. WWE apparently made the change after gauging fan interest for the event, and Taker vs. Reigns is the most anticipated match on the card. Obviously Vince McMahon can always change his mind, but as things stand, Reigns vs. Taker will main event the show.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

It was confirmed on tonight's WWE Hall of Fame pre-show that the SmackDown Women's Title match was moved from the WrestleMania 33 Kickoff pre-show to the main card. Cathy Kelley noted that the change was made after fans took to social media and demanded it. The match will see Alexa Bliss defend against Carmella, Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Natalya and Naomi.

Originally Posted by PWI

In what will be a must see show, Michael Hayes just announced the following.

Just did Table for 3 with Bischoff and Cornette, 1st time Eric and Corny had spoke in over 24 years!!! Never been a Table for 3 like this!!!
— Michael PS Hayes (@MichaelPSHayes1) March 31, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer

There were a lot of technical issues with today's PROGRESS Wrestling iPPV, which was offered on WWNLive.com. WWN's Gabe Sapolsky tweeted that their website had a "denial of server attack" and apologized for the problems. Sapolsky said that they would offer free VOD to everyone who ordered the live only option and would extend another make good to those who ordered it with VOD. He told those who wanted refunds to stop watching it if they were and to send an email asking for one.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jeff Hardy played down talks of an imminent WWE return in an interview with CBS Sports. He said that The Hardys' contracts with ROH run through the summer and that signing with WWE would be a long process with all of the testing that they do. If and when they do return to WWE, The Hardys obviously wouldn't confirm it in any interviews.

Originally Posted by Observer

Tomoaki Honma underwent surgery for his cervical spine injury within the last few days and has begun rehab.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 3/30 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 297,000 viewers, down from last week's 305,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Daniel Bryan spoke with Gorilla Position about wrestling at WrestleMania 34 and facing The Miz. You can also hear his comments in the video above.

"Okay, if you can convince these guys [WWE] to let me do it, like, I'd love to do it." Bryan was asked about facing The Miz at that show.

"Uh, yeah, although- I don't know if I'd really want to go against The Miz. [Laughs] Okay, just look at the people around here, you got Nakamura over there. AJ Styles. Ya know, ya got, all the different people, ya know? So, yeah, great story and that might be the match that people would most want to see because they'd love to see me punch him in the face, I'd love to punch him in the face, but they don't let me punch people in the face anymore. It's not my deal anymore."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, Sting, Ric Flair and Jim Ross were at the WrestleCon Kickoff Q&A yesterday. Wrestling Inc. was on hand for the event, below are some highlights from Flair:

* Flair said that he has no problem with John Cena tying his record.

* He argued with Vince McMahon about wrestling Sting on the last WCW Monday Nitro because he was not happy with his appearance.

* The original Black Scorpion was supposed to be Al Perez, but he didn't want to get beat.

* He said that he'd never get back in the podcast business again after the backlash he received for saying that Finn Bálor would never main event a WrestleMania.

* Flair said that if Sting would've gone to WWE before Hulk Hogan, there would've never been a Hogan because Sting would've been so over. Jim Ross added that Sting was reliable and very athletic.

* He feels that Jay Lethal should be in the WWE, and thinks that Seth Rollins is a better heel than he is a face.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Above is video from tonight's live "Bring It To The Table" with JBL, Peter Rosenberg and Corey Graves. The episode was shot from inside Camping World Stadium in Orlando, the site of WrestleMania 33. After making positive comments about Roman Reigns before, JBL says he's now hot about how the fans reacted. The SmackDown announcer said:

"For all these internet fans out there that want to hate Roman Reigns and say, 'No, we're standing up because we don't like him...' Few people in the history of this business walk into an arena and everybody stands on their feet - everybody. I've seen it night after night after night. That to me is an absolute Superstar. Whether you love him or whether you hate him, Roman Reigns has earned his spot and I'm hot at all these little crybabies out there going, 'We just stand up and boo him because we really don't like him.' Oh, really?"

Originally Posted by Observer

There are a ton of moves being made behind-the-scenes regarding WWE in the U.K. market in particular. I’ve noticed a number of people in the U.K. who were very happy with how the market was going who are worried about how the obvious war with ITV and WWE will change things. Again, the key is we don’t know ITV is in for the long haul. But if they are, the idea that promotions are going to have to choose sides like happens in Mexico. In Mexico, local promoters can book guys from one promotion but not the other is possible, if not likely to happen. WWE has put rules in play regarding its contracted talent, but the no streaming services may mean something for some companies, but for other companies, they can use the WWE talent with no restrictions

Originally Posted by Observer

Bully Ray did an interview with The Sporting News and said the reason he never appeared as Bully Ray (a name he took out ownership of) in WWE was because of a character of a bully when WWE was working with Be a Star. That sounds weird because you could just do the character and not use the name Bully, since many of the heels in WWE and notably the heel authority figures are all bullies. He said Impact came at him hard with a significant money offer and he considered both ROH and Impact. He said that if Impact had communicated with him a little better he may have ended up there but his heart was with trying ROH and at the last moment he made the call

Originally Posted by Observer

At press time, with more seats opened up after production has moved in, the only actually sold-out WWE events for the weekend are the NXT show on 4/1 and Raw on 4/3, both at the Amway Arena. Some seats were added for WrestleMania. On 3/28, there were 1,500 tickets left for WrestleMania, but by the next afternoon, more than 600 were sold and there were about 900 left. They put most of those new tickets on sale for $80, the lowest ticket price yet on the primary market.

Smackdown has 500 tickets left. The Hall of Fame has 400 tickets left. What hurts the sales for the latter two is that it’s a soft market for those shows, in the sense that ticket speculators had assumed demand would be higher and they’d be able to get a good return on the tickets. You can get a better deal on the secondary market for all three shows and there are a ton of secondary market tickets out. The reality is the demand is lower than the supply for everything but the two sold out shows.

The price of entry at press time for WrestleMania is $109, well under the previous lowest ticket price of $160. For Raw it’s $75, above the lowest ticket price. Takeover is $53. The Hall of Fame is $15 and Smackdown is down to $11. Last year’s hottest ticket on the secondary market by far, was the NXT show because WrestleMania was in such a large stadium that getting tickets wasn’t nearly as difficult. But that was all about the debut of Shinsuke Nakamura, who exploded the secondary market. This year, with Nakamura having had a year in the company, his title match with Bobby Roode is strong enough that NXT has exceeded the demand in the same building of both the Hall of Fame and, more impressively, Smackdown. It also shows that the reputation of the Raw after WrestleMania is not there at all at this point for Smackdown.

Originally Posted by Observer

The Raw after WrestleMania, in what is traditionally the most-watched show of the year, did 3.76 million viewers, which is up from the 3.61 million for the show the day after the Royal Rumble. It was down eight percent from last year's 4.09 million on the similar show, but that's good in comparison since Raw most weeks is down double digits from the same week a year earlier ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.83 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.89 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.58 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

While things are still pretty vague, WWE.com has revealed some details about the "superstar shake-up" that was announced for next week on Monday night. Raw and SmackDown will be allowed to "make trades, deals and other moves that they feel fit." It appears that changes will be relatively limited rather than a full draft, but no other information has been given.

Originally Posted by Observer

Diamond Dallas Page appeared on the Dan Le Batard show today on ESPN Radio and got mad when Le Batard kept asking about real life arguments DDP had with Ric Flair and Scott Steiner. DDP tried to explain that things are good between them now without going into the past, but the interview was cut off when Page swore after Le Batard kept looking for details about a past fight with Steiner.

Originally Posted by Observer

Nikki Bella tweeted today: "This isn't goodbye, just need time to heal. When the day is right I will be back and hopefully then....BRIE MODE will be ACTIVATED! Can't wait for the day I can lace up my kicks throw on my jersey put on my SnapBack & come back home. Until then..Stay Fearless Bella Army!" She's scheduled to take time off to heal her neck injury while John Cena will also be absent to film a movie.

Originally Posted by Observer

The New England Patriots reportedly gave Rob Gronkowski permission to get involved with the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33.

Originally Posted by Observer

Chris Charlton translated a tweet from New Japan Pro Wrestling owner Takaaki Kidani about the G1 preview shows in Long Beach selling out so quickly: "New Japan in LA sold out in two hours. Our pickaxe has struck a vein of gold. This will be a pivotal year in wrestling history."

Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kenny Omega have been officially announced for the shows in Long Beach. An article on NJPW's website noted that they were looking for ways to add some more seats.

Originally Posted by Observer

Taeler Hendrix indicated that she's left Ring of Honor on Twitter today. She wrote: "Want to thank @ringofhonor for all the opportunities given to me! I'm forever grateful. I wish you well, and I look forward to the future!"

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE released its subscriber information today regarding the WWE Network and the WrestleMania build and season was more successful in growth than last year.

Concentrating on actual paid subscriptions, the network has 1,661,000 subscribers as of today, broken down as 1,237,000 in the United States and 424,000 over the rest of the world.

With all the different free offers to bring back older subscribers and create new subscribers, there were 280,000 free subscribers as of today between the one and three months free numbers, which breaks down as 215,000 free in the U.S. and 65,000 free outside the U.S., meaning total subscribers were 1,949,000.

There were also some lower priced bargain subscriptions and actual revenues and how that all ads up won't be available until the quarterly conference call that will take place toward the end of this month or first week of May.

Last year on the day after WrestleMania, the network had 1,109,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 345,000 outside the U.S. The greater outside the U.S. increase was because of adding new markets, but now the network is available worldwide everywhere except China, which got Mania for the first time on iPPV. George Barrios was asked today about the China numbers but didn't answer that question.

Originally Posted by Observer

We have notes on the network number. The number of paid was slightly above what I had listed to be a success based on last year's growth patterns. Even with all the push to get former subscribers to subscribe free, that number was down. The stock fell 37 cents per share today to $21.85, which is still a strong number historically, way up from the same period last year. Overall the company is a very stable business which will increase in profitability this year and continue to do so unless something bad happens to the TV rights market, which is possible, or they reach WCW levels of acumen on the television product, which I seriously doubt can happen.

Originally Posted by Observer

Impact has inked a television deal with Game TV in Canada to air the shows in the same time slot as on Pop TV in the U.S., at 8 P.M. Eastern on Thursday nights. Game TV is in 9.5 million homes, which is in more homes than The Fight Network, which Anthem owns. Impact will also remain airing at the same time on The Fight Network.

Originally Posted by Observer

Saturday's biggest surprise news involved Drew Galloway, back as Drew McIntyre, signing. This was said to have been a late put together deal as Galloway was scheduled in the main event of the WWN Super Show in a six-way title match and had to be "injured" early in the show and left. Matt Riddle won the WWN title which was the guy I had expected to win. McIntyre will be in NXT, not WWE, likely as they are looking for some potential singles main events to replace Shinsuke Nakamura. We talked a lot about Galloway and Jim Ross on the show we did last night and how these moves are U.K. market related. The indication we were given is Galloway will be able to drop the What Culture title in the ring, but Galloway was the key guy in plans for a number of different U.K. groups.

Originally Posted by Observer

Galloway will be allowed to finish up his bookings as he's on the 4/22 and 4/23 Evolve shows, facing Zack Sabre Jr. on the first night in Queens and Matt Riddle in an I Quit match on 4/23 in Brooklyn.

Originally Posted by Observer

WrestleMania 33 won't be the last we've seen of Jim Ross on WWE television.

In an article that Fox Sports ran about his weekend in Orlando, it was noted that Ross has signed a two-year contract with WWE to return in a variety of roles.

"It has a specific number of dates that I’m obligated to work, which I think is good for me,” Ross said. “So look at it this way: I got my jersey back. I got brought back to my home team, and my opportunities back in WWE, I’m sure, will be multi-fold."

Originally Posted by PWI

Gabe Sapolsky announced that the EVOLVE show on May 20th in Summit, IL oroginally scheduled for 8 pm Central time will move to an afternoon timeslot so fans can make it a doubleheader with NXT Takeover: Chicago.

Originally Posted by PWI

Matt Hardy posted the following via Twitter, giving some storyline explanation as to why he is no longer "Broken" upon returning to WWE:

The sheer NIRVANA of coming home to that DEAFENING ovation at #Wrestlemania seems to have contained my CONDISHTION.

If it CAN be contained.
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) April 4, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

Edge tweeted the following indicating that this week's Edge and Christian Podcast will feature his wife and new WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, Wrestlemania hijinks and thoughts on the Undertaker's retirement.

This week @EandCPod explodes in your face with our guest @TheBethPhoenix (my get), the results of #MockMockMania and thoughts on Undertaker
— Adam (Edge) Copeland (@EdgeRatedR) April 4, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI

While appearing at Jim Ross' One Man Show as a surprise on Sunday, Foley said that he was originally not going to attend any WWE events Wrestlemania weekend in order to cement the finalist of his "firing" as Raw GM but Stephanie McMahon pushed for him to attend. He said that he was no longer being paid by the company and joked that it felt like a real firing.

Foley wrote on his Facebook Page that his hip replacement surgery is set for 4/19. He will be taking off bookings through July, except for one appearance that he has scheduled in Queens, NY on May 13.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently spoke about the WWE's current Hall Of Fame standards and if Chris Benoit should be inducted one day during a Q&A, covered by Hannibal TV. JR noted that he doesn't think that Benoit should ever be in the WWE Hall of Fame.

"You know Rock is gonna go in, right? Owen Hart, you got to have it balanced - so what are we gonna do have a whole posthumous Hall Of Fame? Here's your Hall Of Fame folks. Ironically based on the voting everybody's deceased.

"Chris Benoit, I don't think he'll ever get in. I don't think Chris Benoit should get in, and I'm okay with my opinion. If you differ I respect that. I was the guy that hired Chris Benoit, nothing Chris Benoit does wasn't right there that wasn't already with him. If there was a line to him, wherever he is, you say, 'hay should you be inducted into the Hall Of Fame?' Who do you want to induct you? I think he'd say it'll create too much publicity, it'll take the importance off of everybody else who's going in, it's gonna be the talk of the town. The WWE is inducting into the Hall Of Fame a murderer and suicide victim. That's the story. You guys know how the media are. That'll be the story. Can you imagine him going in with The Rock? All of a sudden let's forget about The Rock, it's about that murderer guy. So that's what I think. His talents, skill, accomplishments in the ring match a Hall Of Fame career. Absolutely. But I think he took all those opportunities away with the last 24 hours or so of his life."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

David Penzer of Hannibal TV catches up with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart at WrestleCon in Orlando this past week. Penzer mentions Neidhart having a Hall of Fame career and that's when his tune changes. Anvil said, "Excuse me, Hall of Fame? I'm not in the Hall of Fame. I am not good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. ... You would think with everybody around me in the Hall of Fame, you would think I would be in the Hall of Fame. I was the one that started this pink thing in the first place."

In regards to his daughter Natalya working WrestleMania 33 this year, Jim said he feels good about it and commented on her being a good wrestler. Penzer said he hopes Anvil makes it into the Hall of Fame one day but he replied, "I'm not going to keep the light on at night waiting for that thing. I don't think that'll ever come. In fact, I don't think I want to be in the Hall of Fame."

Originally Posted by Observer

The post-WrestleMania edition of SmackDown on the USA Network drew an audience of 2.885 million viewers, tying the highest viewership the show has done since the WWE draft.

It matched the final episode of 2016, which featured the return of John Cena after a lengthy absence and three title matches.

Originally Posted by Observer

Simon Gotch is gone from WWE.

News of his release was announced on WWE.com today, with it being noted that the company and Gotch mutually agreed to part ways. Their statement: "WWE has come to terms on a mutually agreed upon release with Simon Gotch as of today, April 5, 2017. WWE wishes Gotch the best in all his future endeavors."

Originally Posted by Observer

Matt Hardy announced on Twitter that WWE is allowing The Hardys to fulfill previously booked independent wrestling dates. They'll be wrestling for IWC on April 8th, House of Hardcore on the 21st and 22nd, and Pro Wrestling South on the 29th.

Originally Posted by Observer

Lana appeared on the Busted Open radio show on Sirius XM today. She said that Rusev has recently started working out again after undergoing shoulder surgery and should be back in 2-4 months. She also claimed that her and Rusev didn't get heat from WWE for announcing their engagement.

Originally Posted by Observer

The former Damien Sandow revealed in an interview with Title Match Wrestling that he's no longer working for Impact Wrestling. He had wrestled there as Aron Rex and seemed to indicate that he might be done with wrestling now, but later tweeted that he's not retiring and is just doing other stuff for a while. He also wrote, "I am not retired. @lmpactWrestIing was some of the most fun I have had in my career, great company. Just exploring other opportunities."

Originally Posted by Observer

Ricochet tweeted that "there's an underground fighting company holding me back" when asked why he hasn't signed with a major promotion.

Originally Posted by Observer

Joey Janela and Game Changer Wrestling will be running another event in New Orleans during WrestleMania week next year after the success of Joey Janela's Spring Break.

Originally Posted by PWI

On his latest podcast, Jim Ross noted that for the next set of New Japan on AXS TV episodes, which he will be voicing over in July, it looks like AXS will be handling the editing, as opposed to NJPW, who traditionally have handled that aspect.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Former ROH World Champion Adam Cole, whose ROH contract reportedly expires this month, posted this cryptic message on Twitter:

Well...no looking back now... pic.twitter.com/j21NnVxiD8
— Adam Cole (@AdamColePro) April 5, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

Former WCW booker Kevin Sullivan was interviewed by Hannibal TV to discuss his time with WCW and regrets throughout his career. Here are some of the highlights:

His proudest achievements with WCW:

"The thing was, I have to thank Vince McMahon because it was his talent I was using. Really he got them over. I had Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, a guy that's over looked, Syxx Pac. The only person that was in The Kliq, DX, and NWO. He's a guy that gets looked over. We had them all and it just worked. Hogan turned heel, Randy [Savage] turned heel. It was a great run and I had great baby faces. Sting, Luger, the Steiners."

Convincing Hulk Hogan to turn heel:

"He was at my house. I had to keep him in my house. Everyone was telling me you can't do it, you're going to kill yourself. It revitalized Hulk because at that time Mean Gene did something amazing. One night in Chicago Hulk came down for an interview and they were booing him out, and Gene said 'You can hear the somber mood here.' So I went to him and I said, 'you gotta turn'. Hulk stayed in my spare bedroom and I wouldn't let his agent sleep in the bed, I made him sleep on the couch, because till the last minute he was trying to keep him babyface. I arrived at the building, during the semi-final I didn't want anybody to get to him, and he did the job and history was written back then" ...

His thoughts on Goldberg headlining Wrestlemania after having created him in WCW:

"I was the one that started Bill Goldberg, I saw the streak, I changed him into Mike Tyson with the short boots with the tights. Before that he was just an Atlanta Falcon. I am very proud of Bill and God bless him, I hope he wrestles another 12 years."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As seen at WrestleMania 33 this past Sunday, The Undertaker seemingly wrestled his final match in a losing effort to Roman Reigns. Dave Meltzer reported on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that Taker "is getting more surgeries now," noting that he had held off on hip surgery. As noted, Taker likely needs a full hip replacement and has been holding off on that surgery until he retires.

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball (Post 4953079)

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the “Superstar shake-up,” when we first heard about it, the talk was that the key moves would be Roman Reigns to Smackdown and A.J. Styles to Raw. This was months ago. This past week we were told that Reigns isn’t going anywhere and the key moves were said to be Styles to Raw and The New Day to Smackdown. The latter makes sense since the tag team division in Smackdown has been weak from day one. However, with Cena leaving for a while, moving Styles also, which is taking the two most over guys on that side off the table, makes no sense. Smackdown gave you the impression that Styles will be moving over. He wasn’t booked for any program going forward and settled his issue with Shane McMahon.

Originally Posted by Observer

Michael Paris (Impact's DJZ) was injured last night at The Crash show in Mexico City. He has undergone major surgery due to issues with his colon rupturing and internal bleeding stemming from that. He was in great pain. He took a 450 splash in a match with Rey Horus, Laredo Kid, Mr. 450, Septimo Dragon and Ultimo Ninja and couldn't continue. He's doing better today and the surgery was successful. Sexy Star was also apparently injured an in great pain and taken out of a title match. Not sure if that was just a way for her to lose her title without doing a job or it was a real injury. Fans thought it was real.

Originally Posted by Observer

Sonjay Dutt has signed a deal with Impact. He's been tight with Jeff Jarrett for some time so that's not a surprise. He had spent a week as a guest instructor for WWE at the Performance Center and also worked the ROH show in New York last month.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE Network has added a lot of 1981 and 1982 Mid South Wrestling shows, including a stream of them in a row so they can be viewed in context. They've also posted old episodes of Tuesday Night Titans, 1997 episodes of ECW that build up the Barely Legal PPV, and older episodes of NXT.

Originally Posted by Observer

The WWE will be releasing a three disc DVD called "Kurt Angle: The Essential Collection" this summer according to Wrestling DVD Network. It will feature Angle matches with Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Edge, Shawn Michaels, HHH and others.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE announced a partnership today with SEGA for a free-to-play idle mobile game called WWE Tap Mania. It's developed by The Tap Lab in Cambridge, MA for launch later this year.

Originally Posted by PWI

Our friends at www.ProWrestlingTees.com announced the following:
April 17th is Your Last Day To Buy Hardy Tees At ProWrestlingTees

DELETE DELETE DELETE
Last Chance To Get Your Hardy Boys Merch

Originally Posted by Observer

A.J. Brooks (A.J. Lee) has been doing media promoting her autobiography. Her main point was that she is suffering from bipolar disorder, as does her mother. She said WWE wanted to do an angle based on that and she said she wasn't comfortable with it and they took her off TV for two months after that.

Originally Posted by PWI

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross will present his "Ringside with Jim Ross" show on Sunday 5/21 at 2 PM with Chicago, IL before the WWE Backlash PPV at Zanies.

Tickets for the event will go on sale this Saturday at 10 CT.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

The latest episode X-Pac 12360 is now online, which you can watch in the video above or download on iTunes. Ron Funches returned to join Sean Waltman and his crew for the show this week, which also featured highlights from the Kliq Q&A over the weekend.

They sent us these highlights:

The Big Show upset about the Braun Strowman spot during the Andre the Giant Battle Royal:

"Before thing was even over, Big Show had a bunch of guys that were in the Battle Royal back in the back and he was going off… I think it was over the stuff with him and Strowman. Because they had a moment there and I think the moment got taken from them too quick."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, WWE announced on Wednesday that Simon Gotch of The Vaudevillains had been released from the company after he apparently requested his release.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that former partner Aiden English is scheduled to receive a push coming out of the breakup of The Vaudevillains.

Regarding Gotch's departure, there had been speculation on his release ever since the backstage fight with Sin Cara in the summer of 2016. That fight was said to be a "one-sided destruction" by Cara and it was reported at the time that "Gotch's mouth sometimes gets people mad at him." The Observer noted this week that Gotch's personality rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

Originally Posted by Observer

One of the funniest Vince-isms of the week was the decree that the term Camping World Stadium, the site of the show, couldn’t be used. So it was the Citrus Bowl, the old name of the stadium.

Originally Posted by Observer

Expect a bigger role for Matt Taven in ROH. His successfully main eventing Arena Mexico as a single and doing well in title matches there has upped his stock.

Originally Posted by Observer

DDP did an interview and noted it was WWE that chose Bischoff to induct him. He said that he would have wanted Dusty Rhodes to do so, but since Dusty passed away, he listed five people, Jake Roberts, Scott Hall, Bischoff, Austin and Foley and the company went with Bischoff. It’s notable that Angle also wanted Austin to do so but they went with Cena. Austin was not in Orlando all weekend. From what we understand, although nothing has been said about it, the contract with Austin and WWE for putting regular podcasts on the network has expired. People have asked about it since the one he did with Ambrose, which got a lot of negative reviews. The Austin podcasts at first were the highest rated shows on the network other than the PPV shows. They went with Jericho at one time after there was an issue with WWE and Austin, but then went back to Austin, and then to JBL, and even though the JBL shows were good, for whatever reason, the company made the decision not to do them.

Originally Posted by Observer

At the Wrestlecon kickoff party, Ric Flair said he was out of the podcast business completely because he can’t stay objective about WWE due to his daughter’s position and his statements affecting her career. He said that straw that broke the camel’s back with the company was saying that he thought Balor would never main event at WrestleMania due to his size. He said he got so much heat from the company for that comment that you wouldn’t believe it. Can you imagine the equivalent of this in any other sport? The company very much doesn’t want the perception that they are all about size, even though if you look at the top three matches and where the 205 Live match was at Mania, it’s is still a strong attribute. One of the reasons Bret Hart gave up his podcast was his feeling that it wasn’t worth it due to the reaction if he said anything negative about the company, although in his case he also noted time and the fact he wasn’t making significant money with it as reasons for giving it up.

Originally Posted by Observer

The reason the original women’s storyline for this year, which was to culminate in Bayley beating Charlotte to win the four-way at Mania and take the title was changed to having Bayley win a TV match earlier was the feeling that they needed more ups and downs in the story to get from January to Mania so did the title change earlier.

Originally Posted by Observer

One of the strangest statements of the past week came in an article about Kurt Angle in the National Post of Canada. He talked about his four DUI’s between 2007 and 2013, and said that there was actually a fifth DUI, but he wouldn’t say where or when, and that he paid a judge off $800 in cash and he threw the case out. Considering how completely illegal that is both from his perspective, let alone a judge’s perspective, that’s something amazing that he would say it. If it’s true, he committed a federal crime and the judge should be disbarred. If it’s not true, why would you ever make up a story like that.

Originally Posted by Observer

Now, Ranallo was known for re-tweeting positive comments, perhaps to the extreme, but many people do the same with Twitter. I try not to a lot, but if you work your ass off and mentally spend yourself to do an issue or a big story, and people thank you, you really do like it and you really do want to say “Thank you.” Many do it because of the idea it promotes your brand and such, but if you’ve watched Ranallo do any sport, whether it be pro wrestling, boxing, kickboxing or MMA, you can tell, like his style or not, that he works extremely hard in preparation.

The actual subject is the company hired somebody well known to have a mental health issue, and has worked for years to educate people on that subject and be almost a public spokesperson for it. It’s a company that has a strong public stance against bullying, yet people who have worked and do work for the company one after the other will tell you internally it’s very different. This won’t turn into a subject like the bullying of women based on being overweight (and the company’s version of overweight when it comes to women is quite unique as many who have worked there have noted) or appearance that the company would never do today because what did get people upset were essentially non-real life portrayals in television angles. This isn’t a television angle. There are many people in pro wrestling who privately battle similar issues, perhaps not as bad, but very few go public, and none would to the extent Ranallo has to essentially try and be a spokesperson and an advocate for it. Most people know someone, and many know a lot of people in the same situation. And everyone knows how tight Layfield is with Vince McMahon. The belief across-the-board is Layfield’s weeding out those who can’t take it comes from above. I think the other aspect is knowing people who have known Ranallo for years and essentially being told exactly how this would probably play out right before it did also makes this situation so upsetting. There was a terrible lapse of judgment here, and the fact WWE continued to replay the show indicated a lack of remorse and understanding of the issue.

The company is in a very weird position right now because Ranallo not being there makes this a public issue. But it’s a story that will probably not get them any negative publicity even though it’s real. So corporately, they don’t have to react and haven’t. Hopefully, this is the wake-up call to change and realize the old days are over. In most modern wrestling companies, they are over. There really may only be one left. As much as that one company despises the old days of carny rasslin, in reality, behind-the-scenes, they may be the last major one left with the same mentality.

Originally Posted by Observer

Ranallo deleted all references to being a WWE announcer on his Twitter account. As of right now, he is under contract to WWE through 8/12.

Originally Posted by PWI

This morning, WWE star JBL responded to several allegations that have been levied against him in recent days via Twitter.

One of those allegations were that JBL sparked Mauro Ranallo's recent depression issues with comments made about Ranallo on the air. JBL responded:

@JoeCroninJCS No Joe, and I won't-I shouldn't commenting on Internet stuff. I play a heel. I sincerely wish Mauro nothing but the absolute best.
— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) April 7, 2017

JBL also responded to an allegation made by Justin Roberts about bullying Roberts endured while touring with the Smackdown brand as a ring announcer, including his passport being stolen. In his excellent book Best Seat In The House, Roberts tells many stories about JBL's behavior on international tours when it came to hazing and bullying Roberts. JBL responded:

I won't answer Net rumors-but I didn't take Justin Roberts passport. Could have been anyone/he was hated by the whole crew. He's an idiot.
— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) April 7, 2017

However, it should be noted in Roberts' book that he never accuses JBL of the theft. He simply recounts the story about how his passport disappeared, leaving him stuck in Great Britain when it was time for the rest of the crew to depart. Nowhere in the book does JBL get blamed for that passport disappearing, although there are many other antics that Roberts specifically recounts JBL as being responsible for.

Originally Posted by Observer

John Layfield may have put his foot in his mouth this morning. When asked about Justin Roberts and when they stole Roberts' passport while he was in Europe, Layfield said, "I won't answer net rumors, but I didn't take Justin Roberts passport. Could have been anyone. He was hated by the whole crew. He's an idiot." In an article hours later, John Hennigan (Mundo) was quoted as saying that on that trip, Layfield asked he and Joey Mercury to steal Roberts' passport. Hennigan talked in the article about how he knew if he did it he'd no longer be bullied, but he wouldn't do it because he wouldn't have wanted something like that done to him, and figured he got heat for not doing it. There's more on that in this Deadspin story about Layfield. Forbes has a story on Layfield as well.

Originally Posted by Observer I have gotten texts and DM's as well as spoken personally to 15 different Justin Roberts who all contacted me after the article I wrote. Justin was the only one without any interest in going back who would speak publicly. The rest were just thanking me because they went through the same thing. It's way worse and well known that I had imagined. Only one of them knew Mauro, only their own experiences.

Originally Posted by PWI

The 4/6 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 309,000 viewers, up from last week's 297,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer

Michael Paris (DJZ) wrote about his surgery in Mexico that it went well, that they fixed his colon (which was ruptured in taking a 450 splash in a match Wednesday night in Mexico City) and will make a full recovery in a few weeks. He said he'll have to take time off from the ring but was scared at one point that his career was over. He said he's not happy to have a sweet scar on his stomach, but he's glad to be alive.

Originally Posted by Observer

Glenn "Kane" Jacobs is expected to announce on 4/11 officially that he's running for Mayor of Knox County, TN. He will be running as a Republican as opposed to a Libertarian.

Originally Posted by Observer

Deadline reported that Kurt Angle and Paul "Big Show" Wight have signed with the Agency for Performing Arts for potential acting roles.

Originally Posted by PWI

With all the talk of the Superstar Shake-up this Monday at the Nassau Coliseum, obviously there is going to be a lot of talk of who should move brands.

As I discussed last month in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, the two major names that had been talked about when it came to "trades" between Raw and Smackdown were AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. In the case of Styles, there was a desire within the company to reunite him with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. In recent days, there's been more talk of Gallows and Anderson moving to Smackdown and Styles remaining where he is, however.

There's also been a lot of talk about greatly changing the Women's roster. There's been a big pitch to move Sasha Banks to Smackdown in recent days. Last week, there was a pitch to shift Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss and have them switch brands.

As we discussed Wednesday morning on the We Don't Need No Stinkin' Name Show, there has also been talk of bringing Andrades "Cien" Almas to the main roster, so it's possible that could happen shortly as well.

Originally Posted by PWI

There's been a lot of talk this morning about Alberto el Patron going live on Periscope knocking WWE, while standing next to Paige, who is still under contract to WWE and was trying to "ssh" him, including Patron saying that everyone who works for WWE are "p****ies" especially the guy "with the big nose", obviously a reference to Triple H. One WWE source believed Patron's recent shots at the company came from WWE trying to book Paige to appear at AXXESS Wrestlemania week but telling her they did not want Patron in Orlando with her. Obviously, she did not appear at AXXESS.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

ODB, who recently returned to Impact Wrestling, spoke to The Roman Show this past weekend. She noted that she had been away from the business to start her food truck business, which is called "The Meat and Greet".

"It's stationed in Daytona Beach," ODB said. "I am working with WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart. It's located at Jimmy's bar. I'll be traveling all over the Florida area selling my sides and cooking."

She noted that she has not been keeping up with pro wrestling during her time away.

"I've been out of the scene for the past three years," she said. "I've been going to barbecue festivals not wrestling shows. I am ready for whomever. I got a couple of more years left."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

The A.V. Club has a new interview with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, who was promoting his "Ringside" show in Chicago at Zanies Rosemont on May 21st. Below are some highlights:

His new deal with WWE:

"I think I'm going to do 30-40 dates in my first 12 months of my deal. Those dates are to be determined. There's nothing they can assign me that I haven't done before. How many wrestling matches you think I've called in my lifetime—100,000? If they want me to do U.K. or NXT or Main Event, I don't care. It's all good to me. My days of being the lead guy, the No. 1 voice—all that is way yesterday. Guys who've had those issues like I have had in my career, they have self-esteem and confidence issues. I have both those. Totally happy to admit it, but I ain't got them no more. I'm 65 years old. I feel great, I just lost my wife, I'm trying to get back on my feet here, and I've said this and I truly mean it: I'm happy to get my jersey back. I'm happy to re-sign with my old team. Whatever role I need to play, I'm fine with."

Originally Posted by Observer

The women’s tournament was officially announced as a new special WWE network show. The 32-woman tournament will feature women from 17 different countries, so the idea is to give it an international flavor. Most of the best women who do not have an existing contract with WWE or another promotion are expected to be invited, including American and U.K.-based women who tour for Stardom. The tournament was originally scheduled for January, but moved back when WWE prioritized a U.K. territory and proposed television show getting off the ground due to ITV airing a wrestling product ... The idea was to be similar to the cruiserweight classic, which would mean a ten or 11 or so week television show taped at different intervals at Full Sail University most likely, although that is not official. We are aware that women had been contacted a couple of months ago and told to clear their schedules for late May, although that could change. We do know that Toni Storm, the top foreigner from Stardom, who was wrestling at Axxess (and the general response we got was the U.K. contingent both men and women were much better than the NXT regulars) and Io Shirai have been contacted for the tournament. People like Storm and Tessa Blanchard have been considered a lock all along. I’d expect Jinny from the U.K. based on her doing matches at Axxess and getting good reviews for them. The belief is Shirai has also agreed to go, although nobody in Japan seems to know for sure what her situation is. Nixon Newell, who was to start about that time, would make sense and she and Kairi Hojo, also scheduled to start around that time, makes sense ... A number of women set for the tournament are getting contract offers, so the idea seems to be to sign at least the key people they are looking at pushing as the winners up ahead of time so the cruiserweight situation doesn’t repeat itself. Even though it seems kind of weird because women are a key part of NXT, Raw and Smackdown, but the working idea is to come out of the tournament with a one hour weekly show for the network, like 205 Live. The only way I can see that is to drop Main Event on Monday and tape the women’s show before Raw. It’s a different dynamic because for women, the indies aren’t as lucrative and there aren’t the options like for Ibushi where there’s no need to sign a full-time deal, so the odds of one of the top women they want to push turning down a contract offer are a lot lower. I was told that the field is about 90 percent booked right now.

Originally Posted by Observer

With a show based around talent movement, Raw ratings, while falling from last week's 2017 high point for the Raw after WrestleMania, remained strong, doing 3.42 million viewers ...

For a comparison, the same show one year ago did 3.52 million viewers but that was a regular Raw episode and not a show built around talent changing brands. But a three percent year-to-year drop is far below the usual double-digit drops that have been the case with most weeks this year ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.43 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.60 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.26 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer

Glenn Jacobs (better known as Kane to wrestling fans) is officially running for political office.

Jacobs launched his campaign to become mayor of Knox County, Tennessee at an event at Sweet P's BBQ & Soul House in Knoxville today. The announcement was a formality given that Jacobs had filed paperwork to appoint a campaign treasurer last month, which would allow him to begin raising money.

At the event today, Jacobs promised to keep taxes low and make Knox County somewhere that people can be proud of.

Though he's labeled himself as a Libertarian in the past, Jacobs will be running as a Republican. The election to replace current Republican mayor Tim Burchett, who can't run again due to term limits, will take place on May 1st, 2018.

Originally Posted by Observer

Wrestling DVD Network posted the content listing for the DVD that WWE is producing on Kevin Owens that will be released in July. The first disc will be a documentary, the second will have special features and matches, and the third will have more matches.

Originally Posted by Observer

Mark Haskins will face Mark Andrews in a number one contender's match for PROGRESS Wrestling on April 23rd. The winner will get a shot at Pete Dunne's title.

Originally Posted by Observer

The angle at Raw last week where The Revival took out Kofi Kingston's leg was to cover for the fact that he needed ankle surgery.

WWE reported that Kingston had ankle surgery and will be out of action for several weeks.

Dr. Chris Amann gave what may have been the real diagnosis, although obviously was not the actual reason for the injury on the WWE.com website saying:

"During the attack by The Revival, Kofi injured his right ankle and heard a crack, and was unable to put weight on his leg following the attack. Further evaluation and an MRI revealed that the attack had caused fragments of bone to break off the ankle bone (talus), requiring arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chips from the damaged joint."

Originally Posted by Observer

Regarding the situation with Katsuyori Shibata and surgery that was reported on the New Japan web site for a subdural hematoma suffered in the match with Kazuchika Okada, that may be storyline to put over the brutality of the match.

Originally Posted by Observer

For fans of old Mid South Wrestling, the WWE Network has added more new shows this week and now every show from December 1981 through January 1983 is up, in order, so it actually can be watched as is. That was some of the best episodic television of its era, or really, any era. That would be the Junkyard Dog heyday but before the real boom in 1984.

Originally Posted by Observer

WWE Studios filed a lawsuit against BitTorrent in a copyright infringement claim in U.S. District Court in Connecticut on Thursday alleging they distributed their movie "Eliminators." They are asking for $150,000 per infringement plus court costs in a jury trail.

Originally Posted by Observer

Several news outlets including USA Today, the Indianapolis Star and Pro Wrestling Sheet have reported that Ric Flair was kicked out of a bar, the Deck at the Gas House in Fort Wayne, or calling a bartender a "fat ass," when she poured a new drink into his old drink. This was caught by someone's camera phone and because of Flair's celebrity status got covered in a lot of places. The Indianapolis star reported that Flair was only there for a few minutes before being kicked out.

Originally Posted by Observer

After involving himself in the Ranallo situation yesterday by claiming that ESPN doesn't report on "rumors," Jonathan Coachman said that he's done covering WWE for ESPN, noting that he doesn't have the time and has a big project coming up. He also said that there's no bullying culture in WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer

Jim Ross confirmed that he'll still be calling NJPW on AXS even after returning to WWE. As Dave Meltzer has reported in the Observer, Ross has a non-exclusive deal with AXS and officials from the station expected him to continue.

Originally Posted by PWI

Numerous sources have confirmed to PWInsider that Finn Balor suffered a concussion last night against Jinder Mahal on Raw, his first singles bout back since returning to WWE TV.

There is no word yet how long Balor may be out.

WWE has not officially acknowledged the injury as of this writing.

Originally Posted by PWI

As noted in TV taping results for Ring of Honor, Kenny Dykstra and Mike Mondo debuted doing their Spirit Squad team. The original plan for their debut was to have them challenge The Young Bucks at the last Hammerstein Ballroom event, but those plans were changed when Matt and Jeff Hardy left TV and became available to ROH for a short run.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

The Miz spoke with The Wrestling Compadres about the time he went on Talking Smack and completely lit up General Manager, Daniel Bryan. He also talked about how he has "no filter," once he gets going.

"You guys are getting an exclusive here, I don't think I've ever told this. So here was my day up to that point: I wasn't written on the episode that day and I'm the Intercontinental champion. This is the title that I've loved since I was a child, and I don't want to be the guy who says, 'I'm going to make it great,' and then not do anything. I want to make it great. So I told them to put me on 'Talking Smack.' They asked, 'Well what are you going to do?' And I said I'm going to rip into Daniel Bryan. And then I guess I kind of went overboard. And when I go, I have no filter. It's everything that is fueling inside of me and I just black out.'"

The Miz also indicated that Bryan's response wasn't scripted:

"He actually left. I didn't expect him to leave — I expected him to hit me. The things I was laying in to him on were very below the belt and very mean and very rude, but when I go, I just go."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

There has been a lot of interest in signing former Ring of Honor star Lio Rush for the WWE NXT brand, according to PWInsider. Rush recently finished up with ROH and was backstage for the post-WrestleMania 33 RAW in Orlando last week. Rush previously held the Maryland Championship Wrestling Tag Team Titles with current NXT Superstar Patrick Clark.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

As noted, Mauro Ranallo returned to social media this weekend and has been very active on Twitter after removing any WWE mentions from his profiles. While Mauro received a ton of support on Twitter yesterday, it was noted on today's Wrestling Observer Radio that JBL was blocking people that were tweeting the well wishes. JBL also blocked people that were following both he and Mauro on Twitter.