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The Rock 'n' Roll Express are the latest names rumored to be inducted into the 2017 WWE Hall Of Fame class, according to PWinsider. The tag team consisted of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson and was formed in 1983 in Memphis by head booker Jerry Lawler. They were originally paired together as an alternative to the popular team of The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) when they could not wrestle in certain towns ... The only name confirmed for the 2017 WWE Hall Of Fame is Kurt Angle who will headline the class. Rumor from PWInsider also suggests DDP and Rick Rude will also be inducted while Wrestling Observer notes that other names being discussed include: Christian, William Regal, IRS and the Natural Disasters.

Originally Posted by Observer So this is the current WrestleMania lineup: Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal title; Undertaker vs. Reigns; HHH vs. Seth Rollins (obviously in jeopardy); Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title; Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens; John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse; Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal; Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks for the women’s title; not confirmed but likely is A.J. Styles vs. Shane McMahon. There could be an IC title match with Dean Ambrose. With Miz in the Cena match, that puts either Baron Corbin or Dolph Ziggler as the leading contenders for it. There are also both brand tag team titles and the Smackdown women’s title. Corbin also makes sense in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, where Braun Strowman, at one time scheduled to win it last year, would be the favorite. As far as top guys go, with the exception of Finn Balor, that seems to take care of everyone.

Originally Posted by Observer John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse ... But there is also a lot of talk that it would be Nikki Bella’s last match (there are reports of that but nobody we’ve asked about it internally either had any knowledge or confirmed it). If so, you can see her wanting to go out with her boyfriend at WrestleMania and see him maybe wanting that as well ... With the storyline where Natalya pushed that “John will never marry you,” I keep thinking this could lead to a proposal, and if that’s the case, in the big picture, this match makes sense. I don’t know that’s the case. That would be a far bigger thing as far as something memorable than anything, even a great match with A.J. Styles, that Cena could be to the majority of fans.

Originally Posted by Observer Dean Ambrose is kinda like, well he doesn't have anything for Wrestlemania at this point. I suppose they could do something for the IC title, I mean like a multiple person match or something, but y'know we'll see. There's already a lot of matches on the card and there's the battle royal and everything, but they could still add something. He may be subjected to being on the pre-show at this rate unless he's in that battle royal

Spoiler tags used since its related to current rumored Hall of Fame announcements and Mania plans.

Originally Posted by Observer Rollins was getting an evaluation on the knee on 2/1 in Birmingham and the early word was that he’d be out about eight weeks, meaning that Mania was possible but not definite. Obviously he’ll want to do it under any circumstances when it’s that close of a call but WWE these days, for legal reasons, is far more cautious about throwing talent back into the ring before they are ready than has been the case historically.

Originally Posted by Observer The much talked about ESPN 30 for 30 show "This is the XFL" debuts tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Vince McMahon was interviewed and is prominently featured. Charlie Ebersol, the son of Dick Ebersol, who co-owned the promotion with Vince, put this together. The show was gotten mixed reviews from those who have seen the screener.

Originally Posted by Observer There's more controversy in the AAA situation with Pentagon Jr. & Fenix. AAA is attempting to now trademark Penta el 0M and Fenix El Rey, which are the latest names they have been using. They never used those names in AAA, and the attempt is to prevent them from using those names in the U.S. and in Mexico. AAA already trademarked Rey Fenix, even though a character in Puerto Rico had used it previously and Fenix had never used it in AAA.

Originally Posted by Observer The Squared Circle Sirens web site noted a number of names at the current 42 women WWE tryouts this week. Among the names there are Nicole Matthews, Miranda Salinas, Hyaneyoung, Renee Michelle, Anna Theresa (who won the Ms. New York beauty pageant this past year), fitness competitor Stephanie Rowe and Lei'd Tapa.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash disclosed on his Instagram account that he would soon be going in for surgery after MRIs revealed he had suffered a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum. The former WWF and WCW World champion did not disclose how he suffered the injury, but the announcement accompanied video of him working out. Nash noted it would be the 31st surgery he has undergone.

Originally Posted by PWI Tommy Dreamer has been tossed off balconies and set on fire, but it was his dog that nearly cost him an eye. In a freak accident yesterday, Dreamer's dog's paw stuck him in the eye, breaking one of Dreamer's contacts in half and severely scratching his cornea. The swelling of the eye was so bad that doctors stopped fishing for the remainder of the contact lens. If you need any indication of how much Dreamer is hurting, he actually pulled himself off international bookings in Germany this weekend. Dreamer posted a photo of his eye on Twitter and it is pretty gruesome. We aren't posting it here because we didn't want to upset anyone with a weak stomach, but if you want to see it, you can at www.Twitter.com/TheTommyDreamer.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross' autobiography Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling will be officially released in hardcover on 10/2. The book is being co-authored by Paul O'Brien, who has written several excellent books of pro wrestling-centric fiction. The book is being released by Sports Publishing.

Originally Posted by PWI Yoshihiro Tajiri, who has been out of action with a knee injury, is expected back within the next two weeks.

Originally Posted by Observer The Royal Rumble PPV drew an announced crowd of 52,020. We don’t have an exact number. With the setup, had every possible seat been filled and with those blocked off for the stage, they could have gotten about 67,000 in. I was told three-quarters of the upper deck was tarped off, which would indicate a set up for around 45,000 to 47,000. We were given a 42,000 number from someone who knows the building but that is only an estimate. Coming into the show, the expected paid attendance was expected to be 35,000 to 40,000 but San Antonio is traditionally a decent walk-up market. WWE didn’t release any real numbers of gate info past the announced entertainment number. It’s possible the paid will be made clear at some point with financial figures. There are also no gate numbers available at this point, although we were told ahead of time that it would have been the largest live gate for a WWE show that wasn’t a WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer Ric Flair will start his third podcast in a few weeks, with Robert Flores as the co-host. Flores, who used to work for ESPN and now works for the MLB and NHL Network, is a big wrestling fan. It will be on the MLW Network. Not sure what happened with Conrad Thompson, who is close friends and was strong at working with Flair. Thompson does shows with Bruce Prichard, and is now starting a show with Tony Schiavone

Originally Posted by Observer The new episodes of Lucha Underground will start airing again on 5/31. The key to this is that would peg the end of the season at 10/18. The contracts actually specify a six month lag after the final episode of the season ends for the talent to be free to sign elsewhere, which would put th time frame at April 2018. But my feeling is that could be challenged and they could be free in October. Right now WWE is very conservative about signing talent until completely free and clear. The two key contracts are Prince Puma (Ricochet) and Rey Mysterio. Puma is gone for sure, but he’s concentrating on New Japan for now, but there is certainly a strong feeling he’ll wind up in WWE. Mysterio could be signed to a new deal. I could see that going either way. He’s the highest paid guy in the company and the company is losing tons of money, and while his name could be of value in many ways, their usage of him thus far both in and out of the ring has been a major disappointment. The problem with him is that at 42, and with bad knees and inability to work a full schedule, I’m not sure what WWE would do with him past being a brand ambassador type. And he can probably make a lot more on his own than what that pays, unless WWE will give him the HHH type of schedule

Originally Posted by Observer Over the past few weeks, the WWE has been calling a lot of the women from the past and told them they wanted them for WrestleMania

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has contacted talent in Asia looking for passport details and other info regarding an Asian tournament, similar to what was done in the U.K. They appear to be speeding up the process in response to the WCPW World Cup tournament. To make sure there is no confusion, the talent being contacted has been outright told no outside bookings if signed in the U.S, U.K. or Japan

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding Balor and talks of him being in the Rumble, he had an evaluation over the past week and was not cleared. I don’t know that he was ever considered for the Rumble in the first place as his target return was always said to be late February or more likely early March. But he expected to be on the WrestleMania show in some form.

Confirmed an announcement will be made online and to the live crowd at the Impact Zone regarding the name change to try and prevent the TNA chants. Predicts you'll get a few assholes trying to be clever though. Says Ed Nordholm is pretty hands off and lets the wrestling people produce the show and won't interfere. In the meetings during the January tapings Ed said he will let the wrestling people (Dutch Mantell, Jeff Jarrett, John Gaburick, Madison Rayne) do what they need to do and that his job is to get it out there and promote and market the company and look after the business side of things like contracts and business strategies. Tyrus puts over Dutch Mantell big time, says his influence is already being shown mentions Rosemary and Jade's stuff as a prime example where he is also works with Madison Rayne. He is also working with Jade on her promos. Says Gaburick is a more conservative type of booker, prefers the slow patient build, says the Allie stuff is Gaburick. Puts over Madison Rayne he says there is a wedding segment coming up which she wrote which he originally thought would stink the joint out but turned out to be downright hilarious. Only drastic thing Ed has done so far is the name change, he flat out said he can't market a company with a name like that and that one can only take too many tits and ass jokes. Jason Brown is the CEO, he is in charge of production with Aroluxe Media, he is basically in charge of set design and how it looks. He says fact there is a polarising view on the Anthem Owl suggests they'll keep it as a mascot. Says the owl needs a name. JR then says the likes of El Rey and Pop is a struggling network, Tyrus corrects him and says they're a young network. They are owned by CBS and will be on Hulu within the next few months, says Brad Schwartz has been great and fully supports the product. Tyrus then says people don't understand how hard it is in the US that if you're not WWE then the chances of getting on a big cable network are relatively slim.

Highlights from a recent Ross Report podcast show with Tyrus/Brodus Cay as the guest.

I'm not sure what the WWE is up to with these parallels, but I'm finding it extremely stressful, so... congratulations? pic.twitter.com/2NReX46LMy

— Mithen Gifs (@MithGifs) February 2, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• NJPW recently launched an English version of their website for those interested. http://www.njpw1972.com/
• Observer announced they have opened a shop on ProWrestlingTees.com website with four shirts available and more considered for the future. http://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrest...ow-open-229416
• Yesterday's episode of NXT included a tribute to Corey Graves who is leaving the show as one of its commentators. He made the announcement during NXT Takeover San Antonio with last night's NXT episode as his final show.
• According to PWI, WWE is currently planning on releasing fewer DVD/BR wrestling sets this year than usual.
• Some more details from the person who compiled the data about the audience drain the 3 Hour Era has been generating. He clarified some of the confusion people had with the data but with the same end result of the 3 Hour Era being terrible for RAW in terms of viewers. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...ason_for_raws/
• For those with Time Warner Cable, Univision recently pulled their programming off of the service due to a dispute involving fees and contract issues. Lucha Underground's tv network El Rey was among the channels affected from the dispute.