WWE Morning Paper (Mar. 13, 2017): Brock Lesnar, Hideo Itami, Kota Ibushi

The WWE Morning Paper for Monday, March 13, 2017.

The WWE Morning Paper is back with an edition for Monday, March 13, 2017. The Saturday, March 12 article can be seen here.

Following the ROH 15th Anniversary Show on Friday, the wrestling world mostly stayed silent for the weekend. There was the first round of the NJPW New Japan Cup taking place very early on Saturday and Sunday morning, and the WWE MSG live event as the weekend’s highlights. Did these make the cut for Monday, though?

Hideo Itami is Back Again

The WWE story of Hideo Itami had promise in 2014, but fell apart over the past two years. He missed over one year with a shoulder injury, only to return last summer and hurt his neck at a live event. It kept the Japanese Sensation out for almost five months, until he showed up at Saturday night’s NXT live event to beat the hell out of Riddick Moss.

Once again, the NXT landscape has changed during Itami’s time away. The soon-to-be debuting Aleister Black, Tye Dillinger, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, Roderick Strong and Eric Young will all potentially be ahead of the former KENTA on the depth chart. However, here is room to break in, especially if Nakamura leaves for the main roster. Finding a way into the main event scene, though? That’s going to be difficult and potentially impossible.

Must Read: WrestleMania 33 Card Projections 8.0 After Fastlane

If WWE chooses not to risk Itami’s health any further in NXT, then why not bring him to the main roster? He has the size and weight to fit into the cruiserweight division, and may have a larger role there than in the main group of Superstars. It’s probably not where anyone projected him to be when he first began this talent invasion in 2014, but times have changed and others have surpassed him.

Brock Lesnar Goes the Short Distance

Brock Lesnar and Kevin Owens battled in one of those “dream” matches at the WWE MSG live event. However, it was so short that it could be fit into one Twitter video. Given the direction WWE are pushing the top part-timers like Lesnar and Goldberg, you can assume how this went down.

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Bye Bye, Rusev

Since Rusev’s Clash of Champions loss in September 2016, it’s been a struggle for him to remain relevant. It doesn’t help that he’s going to be shelved with a potential shoulder injury.

Don’t Worry About Becky’s Booking

Our own Joe Soriano broke down why Becky Lynch’s recent booking shouldn’t have fans concerned. She’s lost a handful of matches on SmackDown, in recent weeks.

A British Invasion?

Pete Dunne caused some speculation to begin after sending a few tweets that related to Triple H. This also comes after the Wrestling Observer noted potential talks of WWE bringing him up on the post-WrestleMania Raw or SmackDown.

Tweets of Yesterday

Remember when Kota Ibushi made waves in WWE during the Cruiserweight Classic and NXT? Well, he never ended up joining the cruiserweight division. Instead, he’s doing things like this overseas:

Can you blame him for not making the jump?

Kevin Owens’ red-hot Twitter game is back. He roasted this fan that claimed Josh Bredl, the 2015 Tough Enough winner that hasn’t appeared on NXT TV, could beat him up.

Video of the Day

In honor of Owens crushing this fan, see his powerbomb on Machine Gun Kelly from nearly two years ago. Still one of Raw’s most satisfying moments.

Next: Early Predictions for SmackDown After WrestleMania 33

That’s it for Monday’s edition of the WWE Morning Paper. Stay tuned for the next issue.