AEW, Heyman and more
This is one of those weeks where there is plenty of news in the world of professional wrestling, so let鈥檚 jump right in.
TNT extends AEW, adds show
On Wednesday, AEW announced that TNT has extended the TV deal between the two into 2023.
The deal includes AEW being paid a licensing fee for its programming.
Also announced was that AEW鈥檚 YouTube show, Dark, would become a second show on TNT.
According to TNT President Kevin Reilly he said that TNT is 鈥溾�� going to embellish (Dark) and put some additional material, kind of behind-the-scenes, kind of docu-follow stuff, if you will, about the athletes and the stories鈥︹��
On Thursday, AEW announced that Taz signed a contract to work for the company full-time.
While getting more exposure and having the backing of TNT is huge for AEW, several readers have emailed feeling that the second show is too much, too fast.
It is too early to formulate an opinion, but time will tell.
If the second show is used for character development and to build up storylines, it could work.
However, the third hour of AEW weekly programming adds the exhausting amount of TV exposure the world of professional wrestling is getting each week.
Heyman鈥檚 brilliance
Monday night on Raw, Paul Heyman showed his brilliance once again.
As the lead writer for Raw, Heyman wrote a segment that involved 24/7 champion R-Truth interrupting Heyman and Brock Lesnar in the ring during a promo.
Truth talked about entering the Rumble and wanting to throw the big man out, meaning Heyman and not Lesnar.
Once Heyman told Truth that Lesnar was in it and not him, Truth decided to not take part in the Rumble match.
What really made the segment was the facial expressions of Heyman and Lesnar.
Heyman had a look of disgust on his face as Truth was talking while Lesnar, the always uber-serious star, was busting out laughing.
It made for quite the segment.
If you haven鈥檛 seen it yet and if you want a good laugh, check it out!
WWE Hall of Famer passes away
Rocky Johnson, the father of Dwayne 鈥淭he Rock鈥� Johnson, passed away on Wednesday. He was 75.
While he will always be known first as The Rock鈥檚 father, he was a top-notch performer who made history when he and Tony Atlas became the first African-American tag team champions in WWE history.
WWE back to Saudi Arabia
Word leaked out of WWE Wednesday that the next super show in Saudi Arabia will take place on Feb. 27.
Apparently two more top stars have informed WWE that they will not go back to wrestle in Saudi Arabia.
Several top stars already have balked at the idea.
This week鈥檚 question: Will there be any surprise entrants in the Royal Rumble? Kelly, Brownsville.
On the women鈥檚 side, there could always be surprises and considering there have only been a few participants announced, there could be several.
In the men鈥檚 match, several names are being tossed around. Edge, CM Punk, The Undertaker and Goldberg are just a few, but I am not sure we will see any of them.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.