It's a brand new SmackDown, so I figured I'd dust off the keyboard to quickly recap the night's events. SPOILER ALERT: it's SmackDown on a new channel, and it was a particularly strong effort, but it wasn't really a DIFFERENT show.
 

• Last night's "new" SmackDown was actually just a very well done, in-ring-focused edition of SmackDown, on a new channel, and with a new play-by-play guy.
   
  The hype over the switch to USA Network resulted in a gain of 1 million viewers from the previous, holiday-depressed, week... but it was really only about a gain of 500,000 viewers over SD's 2015 average on SyFy, and not THAT far ahead of what SD was doing during the January-April "WrestleMania" corridor (before falling off during the summer and never rebounding). We'll see how the number holds up in coming weeks, but USA Network wants to use the 2 hour WWE show as a launch pad for various 10pm original series, so there's an expectation that SD scores some sort of gains over what it was doing over on SyFy.
   
  And Mauro Ranallo taking over as the lead PBP guy should work out very nicely in the long run. He's a legit broadcaster with over a decade of experience in MMA and other sports. His efforts to call moves and sort of present the psychology (without it seeming like the blunt re-telling of the story that the guy's in the ring are already doing) are welcome, though chemisty in a three-man-booth is not something that will come easy. 
   
  The show itself was a tight 2 hours, with two very good anchor matches. Both an 8-man tag (set up by a MizTV which was, itself, amusing), and the main event Ambrose/Owens IC Title match might be worth your efforts to find on the youtubes.
   
  A notch below, a Charlotte/Becky title match and the opening Alberto del Rio/Kalisto non-title match were both very solid, too. The overall vibe was that SD was happy to invest more time in fewer quality segments, rather than trying to cram in too many abrupt segments, or wasting time with too many filler/recap segments. There are no guarantees that the shift to this format is anything but a one week aberration, but a man can dream, can't he?
   
  
• Speaking of the Kalisto/ADR match (which, by the way, was won by Kalisto)... it was set up when John Cena challenged ADR to a US Title Match, only to have ADR decline, and offer to fight under two conditions: (1) it's non-title, and (2) it's not John Cena.
   
  Over the weekend, WWE was hyping that Cena would get his rematch, with the thinking being that they'd do Cena regaining the title on SD, to make the first show on USA special... but then, on Monday, after a check-up from WWE trainers, Cena was diagnosed with a significant shoulder injury.
   
  Obviously, this mean they held him back from wrestling at Tuesday's tapings. But then, they got him on a flight to Birmingham, AL, to see Dr. James Andrews, and the news was worse than anybody could have imagined...
   
  Cena has a torn rotator cuff, which will require surgery. It's not just a few weeks off, either.... it's several months. A best-case scenario for Cena would be returning at SummerSlam. So we just went from 2 months without Cena that were by design, to 8-9 more months without Cena that just serve to screw up and already screwed up WrestleMania.
   
  Because of the unique opportunity to set all kinds of attendence records at Cowboys' Stadium in Arlington, TX, Vince McMahon and the WWE Braintrust had actually been gameplanning WrestleMania 32 WAAAAYYYYYY more in advance than usual. Word was that, shortly after SummerSlam, they had a pretty good idea what the top 5-6 matches were gonna look like.
   
  Today, all those matches are completely blown up, and WWE is working with a blank slate.
   
  John Cena and Seth Rollins were certainly locks for two of those matches. Daniel Bryan kept showing signs of getting cleared, but ultimately, he's still on the shelf and talking of walking away from WWE as soon as his contract expires, because non-WWE doctors have cleared him. WWE thought for SURE they were gonna get at least one of The Rock or Steve Austin for a nostalgia match, and while Rock is now set to appear, it'll won't be as an active wrestler (and Austin has claimed he's officially retired). Hogan had to go and be all semi-racist-y just when it looked like he was gonna get a major send-off. Orton's not available. Even a bunch of underneath guys like Cesaro and Sin Cara (both shoulder injuries; it's a shoulder epidemic~!) and Darren Young (facing potentially career threatening neck issues) are out.
   
  The women are not immune: Nikki Bella could also be done, due to neck issues... and Paige and Sasha Banks both missed shows last weekend with undisclosed injuries... Nattie's been missing for a bit, too, although she's gonna be set to return within the next few weeks.
   
  TRIVIA DIGRESSION: every single WWE Titleholder coming out of WrestleMania 31 is presently out of action with a serious injury and unlikely to appear at WrestleMania 32. Never before has every champion at one WM been absent from the next. WWE Champ: Seth Rollins. IC Champ: Daniel Bryan. US Champ: John Cena. Tag Champs: Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. Women's Champ: Nikki Bella. Ouch.
   
  At this point, Bryan getting cleared would avert that complete shut-out, but it's still an unprecedented turn of events, and underscores just how unlucky WWE has been heading into what could have been the greatest WrestleMania ever.
   
  For Bryan's part, he has not been coy about wanting to come back. He has doctors who say he's 100% recovered from concussion symptoms and neck/nerve issues. WWE's doctors -- with guidance from the front office -- are being more cautious. One has to wonder if guidance from the front office may change, given the circumstances. Selfishly, I know I'd love to see Bryan back, even if for a brief run, because nobody deserves to go out like he did; but as a decent human being, I do want there to be adequate checks and balances before he's back out there for all the wrong reasons.
   
  
• Now that we've covered all WWE's problems with missing superstars, we can at least mention the possibility of them restocking the roster, utilizing a VERY unexpected source.
   
  The core four of New Japan's Bullet Club all gave notice to management last weekend that they would not be renewing their contracts with the company. The Bullet Club was formed about 3 years ago, with NXT Champion Finn Balor (then known as Prince Devitt) at the center of the group. After he left, it kept evolving and growing, and though to American eyes, it would be a cheesy knock-off of the latter-day uber-bloated NWO, it was a super hot act in Japan.
   
  The present day core four are AJ Styles, and three other guys that probably don't have a lot of name value to US wrestling fans. One is Doc Gallows, who was Luke Gallows in WWE, best known as CM Punk's goon. The other two are Karl Anderson and Shinsuke Nakamura. Gallows and Anderson work great together as a tag team, despite not being all that remarkable as singles (think NXT's Dash and Dawson, but moreso). Nakamura, on the other hand, is a remarkable talent, who would instantly be among WWE's top handful of workers; as a bonus, he has enough of a personality and look that, with enough time and exposure, the WWE audience could buy in, big time.
   
  And AJ Styles is AJ Styles. Even totally normal, well-adjusted average wrestling fans know his name, and have some idea that he's the high flying guy who put TNA on his shoulders up until that whole mess with Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart happened. He's the one guy of the bunch who could show up on the main WWE roster, pop the crowd, and pretty much stick there.
   
  Conveniently enough, he's also the only one of the four who is already free-and-clear, and there is some talk of WWE doing just that: debuting Styles at the Royal Rumble.
   
  The other three still have commitments: Nakamura still has to drop the New Japan version of the IC Title, and Gallows/Anderson are booked for some ROH shows. All will be free at some point in February.
   
  At that point, the question becomes, are AJ coattails strong enough to drag the entire Bullet Club along with him to the main roster? And I know many out there in the "IWC" will be pissed off by the answer, which is: no, not yet.
   
  As a "Wrestling Fan Who Uses the Internet" -- but as a proud non-card-carrying non-member of the "IWC" -- I have two feet planted firmly in reality, and that means I see the immediately value in AJ Styles on the main roster (if nothing else, the guy isn't exactly getting any younger). But outside of a glimmer of recognition for Luke Gallows, the other three -- and the entire concept of a "Bullet Club" -- are non-factors to the WWE audience, at large.
   
  Maybe in the right city, at the right major PPV, you have the exact right audience, and the faction wouldn't tank.... but then, they still have to go to Wheeling and Tupelo and Souix Falls and Ann Arbor and whatever, and trust me, that dog won't hunt monsignor.
   
  The easy fix: the current audience for NXT is the EXACT SUBSET OF FANS who would make the "right city" into the "right audience." So why not just cut to the chase? Market to the NXT crowd, let that bubble up and create awareness with the mainstream wrestling fan in the red states, and BAM: instead of a hotshot flop, you could have something like the Wyatts or Kevin Owens, who did just enough in NXT to create a genuine buzz, and then got off to a big start on the main roster.
   
  WWE.com is even hinting towards this, with an interview with Finn Balor that acknowledges Balor's past with the group. Without actually admitting the group are coming to WWE/NXT (since they aren't all free agents just yet), the vibe seems to be that everybody knows AJ is his own thing and he could just go wherever, but that the other guys could reunite in NXT in some configuration (friends or foes)... and then, for as outspoken as Balor has been about wanting to stay in NXT, he admits that if they get the band back together and the sandbox in NXT starts looking a little small, he could totally see using the Bullet Club as his motivation to move up to WWE and do something huge there.
   
  All of a sudden, you could have an NXT roster so stacked that Takeover: Dallas is actually a better show than WrestleMania.... fears of Baron Corbin headlining the show were assuaged this week, when WWE announced that Zayn vs. Joe in a #1 Contenders match would headline the special NXT event during Royal Rumble weekend. And now, in addition to Zayn, Joe, Balor, and Crews looking like the top line singles stars, you've got the chance of Nakamurai and Styles jumping in as singles (just in time for Hideo Itami to return, too), with Gallows and Anderson joining the already-stacked tag ranks. Holy crap could you book a dream line-up with that expanded roster!
   
  
• One guy who won't be available to NXT in Dallas is James Storm... WWE was gonna keep him on a per-deal basis in NXT, but TNA showed up with a supposed two-year contract offer. It's an easy call (if you're willing to assume that TNA's checks won't bounce for the next 104 weeks).
   
  Storm talked it through with Triple H before making his decision, too. The door will always be open, but HHH just couldn't promise Storm any kind of long term guarantee (I haven't heard it from anyone else, so this is PURELY MY OWN SPECULATION: but I almost think that with Elias Sampson finally debuting and getting over well, that kind of reduced NXT's need for a second bearded cowboy-ish gimmick).
   
  Ergo, Storm returned to TNA on TNA's debut on PopTV this past Tuesday night. After a tumultuous year on Destination America -- TNA actually provided DA with some of its better ratings, but the TNA audience did not crossover to DA's mostly moronic Bigfoot-themed reality shows, so DA booted TNA to late night and then cut them loose entirely -- TNA landed on Pop, which is actually available in many more households than DA, but which has lower average viewership than DA.
   
  By virtue of being the former "TV Guide Channel," Pop is grandfathered into a LOT of cable systems' at the basic cable tier. They are available in almost 80% of all cable homes. Problem is: they used to be the "TV Guide Channel," and nobody has given a shit about the TV Guide Channel since 2001, before every cable box had its own onscreen guide. So the makeover to "Pop" started about a year ago, and it's been a huge uphill battle to convince much of anybody to flip over to the channel that was best known for telling you what was on all the other channels.
   
  On the flip side, DA is only available as a digital-tier add-on, with something like 50% penetration. But they have actual -- you know? -- content and an audience. Even if it is comprised of Bigfoot believers. Also: DA paid a rights fee to TNA, while Pop is merely supplying free exposure at 8pm on Tuesday nights, with any moneys coming from ad revenue, if any.
   
  TNA's debut on Tuesday saw them crown Ethan Carter III as their new champion. It was the end of a convoluted and messy 3 months where the title was vacant, and they did a giant round robin thingie, where they had to keep listing Bubba Dudley in the standings, long after he was already back in WWE. EC3 beat Matt Hardy in the finals to win the title.
   
  So for those keeping score at home: Matt Hardy won the title at Bound For Glory, vacated it the next night because he was banned from TNA due to shennanigans by EC3 (who is "related" to the "owner"), but then Matt just showed up and entered the tournament thingie anyway, made it all the way to the finals, and lost to EC3. Because just having Carter beat Hardy, straight-up, without a 3 month interregnum of stupidity, would have been too easy?
   
  In addition to the semi-finals and the finals for the TNA Title, and the afformentioned return of James Storm (who announced he's reforming Beer Money with Bobby Roode):
   
  + Awesome Kong also showed up to start a new "on-again" portion of her on-again/off-again relationship with TNA
  + Kurt Angle gave something of a farewell address and annointed Drew McIntyre as his Chosen One (errrrrr, "passed the torch to Drew Galloway"), and
  + ROH's Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis debuted, with Bennett going by "The Miracle" and claiming to be "Wrestling Jesus," with Maria as his manager
   
  The show was watched by 250,000 viewers. That's a gain of 100,000 over the first-run airing of Impact the week before on DA (but remember: the last few weeks of Impact aired at 11pm, so the numbers aren't comparable).
   
  In a Thursday night primetime slot on DA, TNA averaged about 350,000 viewers. When WWE moved SD to Thursdays, TNA was forced to Wednesdays and did about 250,000 per week, before the move to late night eroded things even more. TNA was known to gain significant viewers from replays on DA after the move to late night, but even if Pop is replaying the show, I can't see moving the needle much beyond those who watched or DVR'd the Tuesday night airing.
   
  Without spoiling the exact outcome, I can also report that TNA is going all out to improve upon that rating next Tuesday.... the show is already taped, but it features a pretty unexpected swerve and title change. BUZZ ABOUT THEM, DAMN YOU, BUZZ~!
   
  
• That's about all I got for now. I'll see you again late Monday or early Tuesday as I slice and dice RAW's latest happenings for your enjoyment...