Norwegian Rudo

Demi Bennett got a new name already, so she is probably in.

That's not really true. With the MYC coming up you could easily do a hard reset of the entire division.

Certainly a lot to like. Good size and athletic ability, not afraid of contact, and she looks very confident in there. Both of the last points are something you see a lot of young female wrestlers struggle with, and even some experienced ones.

Aaliyah has to be close to getting cut at this stage. She's been there for years and she's still lucky to make TV to be squashed. At least with Bianca there's upside.

Hojo announced she's in at the Tokyo house show today. Also apparently her new name is Kairi Sein (sp?) Also an article from The Scottish Sun saying Viper is in, and will be using the name Piper Niven. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1216551/curvy-scots-wrestling-star-kimberley-benson-moves-up-in-the-world-as-shes-asked-onto-special-wwe-tournament/ Also from that article it sounds like the lineup might be announced today.

If they were doing a proper live special to end this, rather than sticking the final on after a Smackdown taping, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Shayna making the semis (at least) in hopes of getting Ronda Rousey to appear. As is I could see her getting a couple of wins.

Doing a great of job of killing my enthusiasm for this.

Haven't listened to it yet myself, but apparently Meltzer said on last night's podcast that the problem was discovered during her WWE physical, and that she was still expected to be signed later.

Progress has added a second show the weekend before Summerslam. Saturday is in New York with Evolve and Sunday is in Boston with Beyond.

I've just assumed Nikki and Ruby are timewasters to put off Ember's rematch till Summerslam.

Seeing the great reviews GLOW is getting, I wonder if WWE might move the airing of this up a little to piggy-back off the publicity?

According to Bryan Alvarez, the 17 countries thing isn't true. He says someone C&P the CWC announcement and forgot to remove that part...

That's kind of amusing in that she barely wrestled in her WWE career.

You're arguing a completely different thing. What Rippa said is that they would have someone who has been on NXT TV win over someone who has signed, but not been on TV. I was saying I don't see that distinction as being a factor at all. The American thing was Rippa as well I think.

Don't see this signed/have been on NXT TV split you guys apparently do, and judging from the CWC neither does WWE. Which Americans is it you see winning this? Mia Yim is a candidate, but again, she will probably be announced as Korean. Nicole Savoy would be a candidate, but she's only returning from a serious injury a week before. You've got a few really talented girls who I would probably say aren't quite ready for that kind of push, like Rachael Ellering, Tessa Blanchard, Deonna Purazzo, Britt Baker... Pleeease don't say Candice LeRae.

Honestly she tends to look better when wrestling the guys. Here's an extended highlight video of her against Chris Brookes. It was the culmination of a years long feud, so it gets a little wild:

You mean famous Filipino TJ Perkins? Disagree about the NXT part.

It's not just WWE who limits their wrestlers. With Nixon in particular it was obvious she was allowed to do basically nothing.

Zeuxis is Puerto Rican so Sugehit being in shouldn't affect her chances. Toni is always announced as Australian, and at least three are NXT wrestlers. Unless Io is put in, or there is some big surprise, they are also the best four.

So Toni goes into the likely Final Four with Evie, Hojo and Nixon Newell assuming she is signed at least to a WWEUK deal.

He was a lot more diverse. He got the main stream attention doing one thing, and he's stuck to it ever since.

From the rumours is appears they will be using mostly PC girls as first round jobbers

Last year the Dusty Classic was just a few matches on NXT, and no external teams.

Ideally they would just expand NXT to two hours and give everybody more time, but the rumours specifically said a women's show.

I've said it before, the only way a women's show makes sense logically and logistically, s to split NXT into separate men's and women's shows. Taping alongside a main roster show is a recipe for disaster.