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JOHN CENA TIME OFF UPDATE, WHY EVA MARIE MISSED NXT AND MORE WWE NEWS

As we reported last week in the PWInsider Elite section, those within WWE who have asked why John Cena was removed from the European tour were told it was for a "good reason", not for an injury or a personal emergency. Cena was tight-lipped when asked by talents last week.

Eva Marie missed the NXT Takeover show and the NXT TV taping this week as she was in Paris filming material for "Total Divas" next season. The Bellas, Paige, Natalya, Mandy and Rosa Mendes were also overseas for the taping. As we noted last week, Mendes' engagement was filmed for the series.

The word backstage at NXT this week was that Leva Bates, who portrayed Blue Pants, has completed her run and likely won't be used anytime soon. Bates was never signed to the company but was used on a regular basis when her character got over as a cult thing on NXT TV. I was told that backstage, she often made comments that ruffled the feathers of the roster the wrong way, but it was never something she did maliciously as much as she made mistakes by speaking outwardly about how over she was and things of that nature. Since her role was to help others get over, some of the workers didn't take kindly to it. WWE was not selling Blue Pants merchandise at the NXT events over the weekend.

Earlier today, I noted WWE has a camera crew at the New York Comic Con. They are filming material for an episode of Corey Grave's Culture Shock. Graves just picked up a gig writing a column for The Alternative Press as well.

The ESPN 30 in 30 short film on The Von Erich family is now streaming on Hulu Plus.

Mark Henry was interviewed by The Philly Voice at this link.

The Saudi Gazette featured a piece on the WWE tour at this link.

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