This week in the roundup, we take a look at what United States company signed Alberto Del Rio, a possible returning title to the WWE, and a swap at the TNA announcing booth.
-Now that he settled with the WWE, Alberto Del Rio (now known as Alberto El Patron) is looking to work in the U.S. again (as well as with Mexico's AAA). It looks like the first company he will work for is Ring of Honor. The company announced his signing last week, and this week announced his first three opponents, Christopher Daniels, ACH and Roderick Strong.
It's unknown how many appearances he will make for the company, but this is certainly a big signing for ROH as they continue to look to take that next step. Supposedly, TNA is also trying to sign El Patron, but that might prove difficult, as they would want him exclusively, and he still wants to do AAA (and likely, in conjunction, Lucha Underground).
-Shortly before the TLC pay-per-view, Lana put a picture out on her Instagram account of the retired European title. She quickly took it down, but screenshots made their way around the Internet, and what's notable about is it that the title had the new WWE logo on it.
Ever since Rusev won the United States title, people have expected them to do something like rebrand it the "Russian" title. This would certainly fall under that.
The European title has been retired in the WWE since 2002, when the company temporarily consolidated all of the titles on the RAW brand. Rob Van Dam won a ladder match against Jeff Hardy that unified the Intercontinental title with the European title.
Besides being a good tool for Rusev, a permanent move to the European title (or bringing it back in addition to the United States title) could be an interesting move for the WWE. Right now, one of the problems with the midcard is that there's two midcard titles at the exact same level.
There's really no differentiation between the Intercontinental and United States title. If the European title was added, it would be a clear tier, which would, in my mind, help actually elevate the Intercontinental title. So if this happens, I think it could be a great move by the WWE.
-The WWE Network announced a big rollout of more content in the upcoming week. While it wasn't announced exactly how many episodes would rollout, they did say that they'd release more RAWs, Smackdowns, and, for the first time, Sunday Night Heats.
-Finally, former WWE commentator Josh Matthews had his new role in TNA announced. He will be the new play-by-play commentator for Impact Wrestling, joining Taz, while Mike Tenay will host a new Saturday show called Impact Wrestling: Unlocked. I thought that Matthews was severely underrated in WWE, so hopefully this helps with the full rebrand that TNA is doing in their move to Destination America.
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster.