Joining the list of ROH talents that the company has signed lately, apparently includes PJ Black. The former IMPACT and Lucha Underground talent worked three matches for ROH this past year but it looks like he’ll be doing a lot more dates for the company in 2019. He’ll be at the January 12th, 2019 and 
January 12th, 2019 dates.
ROH is probably going to add a few more names as they prepare to go into the Madison Square Garden event with New Japan set for WrestleMania weekend. Fans expected the event to feature The Elite but Cody Rhodes has pulled out and now so has The Young Bucks. Only Marty Scurll remains under contract with ROH as of now, but everyone else is free to pursue their own desires.
Matt Jackson of the bucks tweeted to a fan that;
We will not be there (MSG event), but I encourage everyone to still go. It’s a historic night for wrestling.
The future of The Bucks, Hangman Page, Cody and the rest of the Elite remain up in the air but the word is just to stick to The Elite’s YouTube series for more information; specifically Being the Elite. When pressed on his plans by Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio, Cody said;
The fans might want something but it is tough to give it to them unless you have all the pieces, and I don’t know where everybody is going. I don’t know what Kenny [Omega] plans are, I don’t know what The Young Bucks plans are, or Hangman Page’s plans are. I wish them all the best in whatever they do. Now, do we want to stay together? I think so, but will we stay together? We won’t know until pretty much at the end of this month. Everybody has different goals and different directions that they want to go. I know what I have in mind and I think it’ll make the fans happy, but we won’t know until January 1st.
This becomes even more interesting as we near closer to the end of the year. According to Dave Meltzer, the group turned down potential multi-million dollar contracts from the WWE. Meltzer called it “main event money”, which goes hand in hand with what Cody said in Australia a few weeks back, claiming he turned down a major deal.
Apparently, this has also lead to SoCal Uncensored being part of the alleged All Elite Wrestling group that is supposedly back by the Khan family of NFL fame. The son of the man who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars is expected to finance the project, if the rumor is true.
With an influx of needle moving names off the board for the WWE, it appears as though they’ll once again turn to a buried talent to help them. Finn Balor is again being considered for a major push according to Meltzer, after nearly a year of mid card misadventures. This could be why Balor defeated Drew McIntyre at TLC this past Sunday
Other names being considered for big pushes include Lars Sullivan, EC3, Lacey Evans, Heavy Machinery and Nikki Cross. There is some stuff to unpack here, so lets start with Lars Sullivan. Sullivan is the “It” prospect of this call up class. He’s expected to receive a huge push as he was part of that trio of NXT guys including Braun and Balor. Sullivan has a unique look, and a Bruno Sammartino-esq feel to him.
EC3 was brought up because NXT wasn’t going to use him in the main event 
scene, and anything else was considered to be a waste of his time. He was solely on the brand to give it name value; as he’s been WWE ready for years. There are some who feel he won’t succeed, which is why he’s being called up now as part of a bigger group and not getting a more massive premiere.
Dave Meltzer is reporting that Heavy Machinery is on thin ice in terms of prospects. Vince McMahon isn’t a fan of guys like Otis Dozovic, who is a former standout in amateur wrestling. Meltzer believes that if Heavy Machinery is to succeed, it will because of Dozovic.
Nikki Cross was only kept in NXT due to the brand lacking depth in the women’s division and there are some who tell me Lacey Evans is being viewed as an Elias type. She wasn’t expected to be a breakout star, but the main roster sees potential in her where NXT wasn’t as high.
On one final NXT note, Matt Riddle is going to debut on the December 26th live event from Madison Square Garden. The event will feature an eight man tag match featuring NXT talent.
Congratulations go out to Cleveland area wrestler and WWE star Ray Rowe. The NXT star is getting married to RAW wrestler Sarah Logan tomorrow.
Before moving onto IMPACT news, it should be noted that the WWE ha s two dates eyed for next year, as they return to Saudi Arabia. By now the news about why this is a problem has been cycled to death. Dave Meltzer was the one to report this, but too be fair, we all knew this was coming.
Josh Mathews recently talked about the possibility of Chris Jericho coming into the promotion, something that has been rumored and expected at times throughout the last year. Jericho famously pitched Don Callis to IMPACT Wrestling executives after the Jeff Jarrett debacle happened. He was on this week’s Media Call and Mathews said;
Well I think it’s just one of those where his name has been said an awful lot and chanted by fans an awful lot…
We’ve all seen what Chris Jericho’s done in his career and the way he likes to surprise people or the things he likes to do when
In other IMPACT news, Capitol Wrestling has been added to the Global Wrestling Network. Capitol Wrestling has 1.3 million viewers on Twitch this year, and has already put on three events for the streaming platform. According to WrestleZone, the group’s entire back catalog is available, saying;
Capitol Wrestling joins IMPACT Wrestling, Destiny, Smash, and Championship Wrestling From Hollywood as current promotions that are available on Global Wrestling Network. The company also has 24-7 streaming networks on Zenither and Giniko USA. Its full 89 episode catalog will be available for fans.
Tennessee Pop Up event. on January 5th. The show features a heavy lineup, including James Storm challenging Nick Aldis for his NWA Worlds Championship. It also features Jazz defending her Women’s World Championship against IMPACT’s Allie, Willie Mack defending his NWA National Championship against Matt Cross. There was also talk of doing the first match in the Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament, though no teams have been announced as of yet.