Powell's Blog: King James Day, Paul Heyman talking with TNA, where Jim Ross could fit in, Half Pint Brawlers, WWE Raw Money in the Bank match slot open

By Jason Powell

Tuesday, July 8 – 10:48 A.M. (CT)

-Happy King James Day. No, I don't care enough to watch a one-hour ESPN special. Here's hoping he milks it for 55 minutes and then pulls a Brett Favre by announcing that he hasn't made up his mind yet. Now that would make for great television. By the way, just when TNA thought they were done with NBA competition on Thursday, along comes King James with his televised hour of egomania.

-The story of the week is TNA's pursuit of Paul Heyman. For those who missed it, Heyman laid out his demands in an interview with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez of WrestlingObserver.com, which you can view here.

It would be a hell of a coup for Dixie Carter to bring Heyman into the fold. It's a move that many of us have been hoping to see for years now. We broke the story that the two sides were talking, and negotiations are still taking place. Heyman wants to be more than just head of creative. He wants to be the Dana White and essentially run the company.

There's only so many hats the guy can wear and still be effective. The key for Heyman would be putting the right people in place and delegating. Thus, one can only assume that Jim Ross would be among the first people he would contact in hopes of convincing him to run talent relations and the office.

Yes, Ross has said his TNA negotiations are over and he's staying with WWE, but let's not forget that he is merely an employee and his not under WWE contract. It's probably a long shot, but it's worth mentioning that Ross is technically free to leave WWE at any time, and he and Heyman are said to be on good terms.

-Hats off to Spike TV and company for delivering a great reality show in "Half Pint Brawlers." At a time when I couldn't find any weekly television shows I enjoyed watching (aside from the cancelled "Happy Town"), this quickly became appointment programming. It was more reality than wrestling, but WWE and TNA could learn a thing or two from this show.

HPB was over the top at times with the "Jackass" like craziness, but Puppet, Kato, Bobby, Teo, Mad Mex, Spyder, and Turtle all came across like good, fun-loving guys. Let's put it this way. I would be much more likely to go out of my way to see a HPB show in my area than I would if WWE brought the crew from their wannabe reality show NXT to town.

The six episode run is over (you can catch a replay of the finale after TNA Impact tonight), but here's hoping there's more to come from Puppet and his crew. Spike could even get more out of this concept. I watched "Deadliest Catch" last night, and I'd get a kick out of a 30-minute HPB recap show similar to the "After the Catch" show that airs after "Deadliest Catch." Speaking of "Deadliest Catch", the story on late captain Phil Harris is heartbreaking. RIP.

-The removal of R-Truth from the Raw version of the Money in the Bank match opens the door for another wrestler to be added to the match. I wonder if the reason they split up the Raw heels and babyfaces on Monday is to create a scenario where Wade Barrett or another Nexus wrestler can enter the match without facing seven-on-one odds.