Norwegian Rudo

PWInsider reports that today may be the day we get the announcement for the indies on the network. Progress and ICW are the ones we "know". Interesting to see how they want to do it. Do we get higher priced versions of the Network, and if so, do we get the archives? Are there other indies? No American ones?

He was one of the big guys that were brought up and heavily pushed before they were ready, and soundly rejected by the fans. Both he and Chris Masters got really good, but by that time the fans were not going to see them as serious threats no matter what.

I like Veda a lot. She's a great talker, has her character down pat and is cute as hell. It's just a shame that she's so bad in the ring. I'd be very happy for them to hire her to be a commentator or even a manager, just please not a wrestler.

Veda Scott did a very good job on the Beyond show, even with a busted jaw. Plus having her there spares us from having her in the tournament. Can't believe I missed it, but if Deonna Purazzo is in she'd almost certainly be announced from Italy. Her outfit is a freaking Italian flag...

The women's division is going to be in a weird place as they'll all of a sudden have a ton of experienced workers. Pretty soon they should have somewhere around ten who are TV ready, and another five or so that will soon be ready. And that's before anybody extra they sign out of the tournament (presumably some of their recent signings, Nixon Newell, Evie, Hojo etc will debut there, but I mean in addition to them). I can't really see any way they're going to be able to fit that in in a one hour NXT along with the guys they have and are signing. Do they go to a two hour NXT? A women only show?

Both Purazzo and Ellering were at the Impact tapings, but I don't think either has signed. Ellering has stated repeatedly on her twitter that she's a free agent and Purazzo worked the Women of Honor show last night.

Here's my guesses for international talent that I posted on the Observer forum: Shanna - Portugal Alpha Female - Germany Nixon Newell - Wales Kay Lee Ray - Scotland Evie - New Zealand Kairi Hojo - Japan (hopefully also Io Shirai, and Hikaru Shida if we're being greedy) Rhia O'Reilly - Northern Ireland Jinny from England Maybe Nicole Matthews from Canada. She's been at a recent tryout. If not her, then somebody else. Could be several from Australia, like Kellyanne, Demi Bennett and Toni Storm Someone from Mexico. I was going to guess Zeuxis, but looking her up she's actually from Puerto Rico. Someone from China They'll probably cheat with some, for instance Mia Yim could be announced from Korea, or Jinny from wherever her heritage is. For the US, some seem obvious. Tessa Blanchard, Rachael Ellering and Deonna Purazzo for instance.

About the tag match. According to Rovert, Ciampa is having major surgery very soon, and with Revival rumoured to be called up the result was never in doubt. Even so I really loved the match. Only downside was the flat finish. Edit: listening to Observer Radio and Dave mentions he's heard Ciampa is hurt.

According to Meltzer that's apparently his life at the moment. He spends his days surfing and playing with his kids.

Guarantees the announcement about the network deal is imminent. No way they do this unless the deal is signed.

It's kind of pointless to discuss the women's division right now when it's going to be so different in a few months time. Even if there's no Shirai there's going to be 5 or so new faces I would assume will be booked strong from the start.

DIY is probably on the shelf after this as Ciampa needs surgery. I'd expect a Tyler Bate defense also. Most likely agains Pete Dunne again?

I've been wondering about Stardom contracts myself. It seems likely, with Hojo and Shirai seemingly able to leave for WWE anytime they want, that they only cover other Japanese promotions.

Article from WWE.com Don't see them making a big deal of it unless they expect her to sign.

Have no idea about that, but this is a proper professional TV studio. The Knights rent it occasionally, nothing more. In fact, if they try to harrass other potential customers I would think the owners wouldn't be happy with them at all. With this being a smallish TV studio (900-1500 according to setup is what I read) and them running consecutive days while their production guys are in country it seems most likely this is the first taping for the rumoured UK network show.

Toni Storm seems likely with the Tyler Bate connection.

Wouldn't count on that too much. I see her being the next to get recruited, especially with Tyler Bate giving her an in.

Probably Aleister, since he took the name from Aleister Crowley. And for people complaining about the NXT women's division; it's looking to pick up bigly sometime after Mania: Kairi Hojo Nixon Newell Evie Heidi Lovelace Kimber Lee Most likely Io Shirai... Ember Moon Looks pretty good...

I fucking hate Andrews "big match" tactic of kicking out of every big move in the world ever. His SSS16 tournament matches the last couple of years have been intolerable.

I've been saying for months, and it's really obvious now with Roode going full Flair, but he needs The Revival as his muscle.

Well said, I was just about to post the same, nobody else has matches as well put together as The Revival.

Sorry, double post...

She is so injured she moves slower than Viper these days. She is also acting in the Netflix GLOW show, as Big Bad Mama one assumes.

People keep bringing this up and I just can't understand it. They were in for one night, a "guest starring role" if you will. Do you actually believe Rossy is dumb enough to have his girls sign some kind of exclusive contract that would tie them up for literally years because of one nights work?

Shimmer is the one that I thought of as 100% guaranteed. It's the top female promotion and they have the absolute dirt worst usage of their footage. Old shows are OOP, new shows aren't released for at least a year and the only online footage is Clickwrestle, which is basically worse than none. I have to think ANY money they can get would be grabbed with both hands.