Baszler Signs – Don’t overthink this, the signing of Sayna Baszler had less to do with her, and more to do with someone else entirely. While the WWE has signed older vets for NXT in the past, comparing Baszler to Asuka, Bobby Roode or Eric Young is a fool’s errand; as they’re all hall of famers in their own right, while Baszler is barely out of her training boots. 37 year old rookies in the WWE aren’t common for a reason. Baszler has shown she’s competent as a wrestler, but she’ll be 38 or 39 by the time she hits the main roster regularly, and she doesn’t have the “WWE look” that the WWE still pushes. Why was she signed? Speaking with two different sources, they both told me this; “…to get Rousey”. One added a ‘duh’ but still. The entire purpose of signing Baszler is the same thing you see all around wrestling.

You want Dusty in the early 90’s? You sign Dustin. You want Bill Watts? Erick Watts gets signed. You want Cody Rhodes? Well there goes Brandi getting a deal too. This isn’t new. It’s just surprising that more people aren’t seeing this for what it is. The end game is Ronda Rousey in the WWE for WrestleMania. If they don’t succeed, Baszler’s not half bad, so it’s not like they signed another Eva Marie, but this is the building blocks to something more. I was told there’s low risk in this signing, as Baszler is a hard worker, who’ll do what’s asked of her to improve (at least that’s the perception), and it’s viewed as a win/win if Rousey even if Rousey doesn’t sign.

RAW Ratings Down – Don’t blame it on the football. The NFL’s flagship show, Monday Night Football lost two million viewers last night, so the WWE losing over 200,000 viewers is really inexcusable. The ratings haven’t been this low since after WrestleMania, posting a 2.773. The year low and 15 year low happened on June 12th, when they hit 2.542. If the WWE doesn’t fix it’s creative problem, they’ll be seeing those numbers drop even more so.

Quick Hits – Former Memphis Wrestling announcer, Lance Russell passed away at 91. Evolve hinting at The End, which may just be parlaying off of the FloSports fallout, or may be legit due to the financial impact they’re going to be incurring. A ‘Pulp Fiction’ style of The Fashion Files is expected to air tonight. Bagwell and Raven have withdrawn partial claims against the WWE in the Class Action Lawsuit. Mickie James is being honored by the ‘Native American Music Awards’ with a Hall of Fame induction.