WWE issued the following on Thursday morning..

We’ll have a more detailed analysis up on the site later today:

WWE® Reports 2011 First Quarter Results

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2011. Revenues totaled $119.9 million as compared to $138.7 million in the prior year quarter. Operating income was $13.2 million as compared to $37.3 million in the prior year quarter. Net income was $8.6 million, or $0.11 per share, as compared to $24.7 million, or $0.33 per share in the prior year quarter. There were several items that impacted comparability, primarily the timing of our annual WrestleMania® event and a $2.8 million film impairment charge. Excluding these items, revenues in the current quarter totaled $119.9 million, adjusted operating income was $17.4 million and adjusted net income was $11.2 million, or $0.15 per share. In the prior year quarter, revenues totaled $109.9 million, adjusted operating income was $22.6 million and adjusted net income was $14.7 million, or $0.20 per share.

“Our first quarter adjusted EBITDA declined 20% reflecting mixed performance from our business lines, including the impact of the ongoing transition in our talent base, and an increase in SG&A expenses. While we understand the lead time required to develop new characters with broad appeal, we were disappointed with our financial performance and our management team is working on addressing these challenges,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Looking ahead, we are optimistic about our longer-term opportunities to leverage our strength as the ‘New WWE’. We are pleased with the strong performance of WrestleMania, which is expected to deliver a 30% increase in domestic pay-per-view buys and reach more than one million buys globally. Further, the successful launch of our new program, Tough Enough showcases the power of our branded programming. We believe the recent adjustment in our dividend will enhance our flexibility to create and monetize new content, to distribute that content on a variety of existing and emerging media platforms and to execute our ‘New WWE’ initiative.”

The current quarter results reflected $1.4 million in marketing expense to promote WrestleMania XXVII, which occurred within our second quarter on April 3, 2011. In addition, the current quarter included a $2.8 million impairment charge related to our film, 12 Rounds. WrestleMania XXVI occurred on March 28, 2010 and was included as part of our first quarter results in 2010. WrestleMania XXVI contributed approximately $28.8 million of revenues, $13.1 million of profit contribution ($8.8 million, net of tax) and $0.12 of EPS from across our various business lines in the prior year quarter. The Q1 2010 results also reflected an infrastructure tax incentive which reduced depreciation and amortization expense by $1.6 million.

TNA taped Thursday’s episode of iMPACT! on Monday night from the iMPACT! Zone in Orlando. Credit to reader Sammy Spoiler and WrestlingNewsWorld for these results:

* Jesse Neal comes out in his USS Cole uniform with the entire TNA roster on the ramp. I didn’t get the specifics of the promo but I imagine it had to do with the killing of Osama Bin Laden. My correspondent is unsure if this will be included in this week’s show.

* Immortal come out for a promo. Sting and Rob Van Dam hit the ring before a owrd can be spoken and a brawl ensues. Agents come down to break things up. Fortune comes out and Robert Roode gets on the mic and says he’s sick of Immortal. Roode says everything will change next week.

* Backstage, Jeff Jarrett and Karen confront Velvet Sky in the shower.

* Mexican America come out for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Hector Guerrero and Willie Urbina join in but the faction turns on Urbina, slurring his Puerto Rican background and begin to beat him down. Ink Inc. run out and make the save on Hernandez and Anarquia.

* Ink Inc. clear the ring and Jesse Neal gets on the mic and tells Beer Money they are going to win the TNA Tag Team Championship.

* Bully Ray & Gunner vs. Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles ends in no contest when Tommy Dreamer comes out, turns heel and hits a piledriver on Styles.

* Jeff Jarrett and Karen come out for an in-ring promo. They cal out Velvet Sky and a confrontation ensues. Winter and Angelina Love come out and join in. Kurt Angle comes out and gets on the mic and says he won’t do anything that will get them kicked off the network. It’s announced that Angle will team with Velvet Sky for a mixed handicap match against Winter, Angelina Love and Jarrett.

* Rob Terry b. Murphy with a suplex powerbomb.

* Mickie James b. Miss Tessmacher to retain the TNA Knockout Women’s Championship. Mickie picked up the win after hitting a DDT. The match started well but fell apart. After the match, Madison Rayne and Tara come out and Madison challenges Mickie for a match for the title at Sacrifice. Mickie accepts with the stipulation if Madison loses she and Tara have to split and Tara is free.

* Sangrieto b. Suicide

* Kurt Angle & Velvet Sky vs. Jeff Jarrett, Angelina Love & Winter. Angle and Velvet win the match and he announces that his mistress will be revealed next week on Impact to end the show.

* Hogan Wants GOLDBERG In TNA & KEVIN NASH Teases TNA Return

SPOILER Alert: The following article contains a spoiler for next week’s iMPACT!:

At Tuesday’s TNA iMPACT! tapings from Orlando (set to air next Thursday, 5/2), Mick Foley was revealed to be the person from “the network” that has been keeping Hulk Hogan in line.

Foley came out and interrupted a promo by Immortal, informing them that TNA iMPACT! will now be known as “Impact Wrestling” – and the show will be “all about wrestling” – a clear jab at WWE, which has been distancing itself from everything “wrestling” in recent months.

Later in the show, they actually re-shot the entire segment, with Mick Foley saying that the show is no longer “TNA” – but “Impact Wrestling”.

This led to some confusion as to whether it was the company name that was changing – or just the name of the television show.

In response to the confusion – Hulk Hogan tweeted the following on Wednesday, which appears to indicate that the “TNA” name is no more:

“No TNA.  only IMPACT.  HH”

TNA recently registered a trademark for the name “Impact Wrestling” and took over several domain names related to the trademarked name, including “ImpactWrestling.com.”

COMMENT BELOW: If indeed TNA Wrestling will now be known as “Impact Wrestling” .. What do you guys think of the new name? As crappy of a name as TNA was, “IW” doesn’t exactly sound like a catchy name .. What would YOU name the new TNA?

If you haven’t heard by now, Randy Orton defeated Christian at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Orlando to capture the World Heavyweight championship.

Earlier, we posted video of Randy Orton celebrating with the World Heavyweight title after the match. New footage has leaked online of the actual match finish – which you can check out below:

Warning: The Following contains a MAJOR spoiler for Friday’s SmackDown:

If you haven’t heard by now – Randy Orton defeated Christian at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from Orlando to capture the World Heavyweight championship.

When news leaked online of the title change, fans bombarded the WWE twitter account with negative feedback. Styles responded to those angry fans with the following:

“When sending hate tweets to myself or @WWE because of @Christian4Peeps, @RandyOrton and the World Heavyweight Championship, please be PG ;)”

In related news, Randy Orton has been re-tweeting messages from angry fans writing on his own Twitter page. Orton retweeted this one:

“You won the title.Vince has no idea how much people are hating YOU on the Internet. I hope you continue to lose all your fans.”

VIDEO of RANDY ORTON Celebrating With The World Heavyweight Title

She’s baaaaaack … At Tuesday’s TNA iMPACT! tapings (set to air next week on 5/12), it was revealed that Kurt Angle’s “mistress” is none other than former WWE Diva Joanie “Chyna” Laurer.

Chyna is said to be much thinner than we’ve seen her in the past and her entrance video said the name “Chyna” – so she’ll be going by that name in TNA.

At the end of the iMPACT! broadcast, Chyna interfered in a battle royal and tossed out Jeff Jarrett. She went after Karen, but Jeff saved her and the two ran away.

Chyna will be making her in-ring debut at TNA Sacrifice when she teams with Kurt Angle against Jeff Jarrett and Karen Jarrett in a mixed tag match.

Check out this footage of Chyna’s TNA debut – listen to that monster pop:

COMMENT BELOW: What do you think of CHYNA in TNA?

Syfy issued the following press release on Wednesday announcing that former WWE superstar Edge will be joining the cast of the new SyFy series Haven:

WWE SUPERSTAR EDGE(R) JOINS SYFY’S “HAVEN” AS GUEST STAR

Series Premieres Friday, July 15 @ 10pm

New York, NY/Los Angeles, CA/London, UK – May 4, 2011 – Syfy and Entertainment One (eOne) announced that WWE Superstar Edge will join the cast of Haven in the guest-starring role of “Dwight Hendrickson.” A shrewd, longtime Haven resident, Dwight served as a confidant to Nathan’s (Lucas Bryant) late father and assisted the former sheriff in keeping particularly suspicious supernatural activity under wraps. Now as acting Sheriff of Haven, Nathan finds himself reaching out to Dwight just as his father did before him.

As previously announced, Vinessa Antoine (Being Erica, Soul Food) joined the cast as Evi Ryan, and Jason Priestley (who stars in, directs and produces the eOne Television international hit dark comedy Call Me Fitz) will also come to Haven this season to direct one episode and guest star in a four-episode story arc. Antoine and Priestley will join Emily Rose, who plays “Audrey Parker,” a former FBI agent with a knack for investigating the supernatural; Lucas Bryant, who plays “Nathan Wuornos,” a handsome local cop with his own supernatural affliction; and Eric Balfour, who plays “Duke Crocker,” a local smuggler and reluctant aide in solving Haven’s troubles.

Haven is based on The Colorado Kid from renowned author Stephen King and is currently production on season two in Nova Scotia. Haven will premiere on Friday, July 15 on Syfy in the U.S. and Monday, July 18 on Showcase in Canada.

The Syfy original series from leading independent producer Entertainment One is co-commissioned by Shaw Media in Canada and globally via Universal Networks International (UNI).

The creative team behind the second season of Haven includes Executive Producers John Morayniss (Hung, Goodnight for Justice) and Noreen Halpern (Call Me Fitz, Rookie Blue) from eOne Television and David MacLeod (Legends of the Fall, The Ray Bradbury Theater) of Big Motion Pictures, who are joined by Lloyd Segan, Shawn Piller, Scott Shepherd (Stephen King’s The Dead Zone) and Matt McGuiness (Journeyman) as well as and Sam Ernst & Jim Dunn (Stephen King’s The Dead Zone) who also developed the series.

Haven is produced by Entertainment One and Big Motion Pictures in association with Piller/Segan/Shepherd and airs on Syfy in the U.S., Showcase in Canada and internationally on UNI’s multiple Syfy Universal channels. Entertainment One controls the worldwide distribution rights to the one-hour series and concluded a deal with Germany’s Tele Menchen Group (TMG) for the television rights in Continental Europe.

(Source: TheFutonCritic.com)

We’ve got some new details on the surprise retirement of former WWE diva Michelle McCool.

According to sources, McCool had been planning to retire for quite some time. WWE had reportedly planned to break up LayCool going back several months, well before WrestleMania 27. When WWE signed Snooki to wrestle at WrestleMania, the LayCool breakup plans were temporarily put on hold. The angle was resumed about a month ago and the decision was made to have Extreme Rules be her last WWE match.

The general feeling regarding why McCool is retiring as a WWE performer is that she and her husband The Undertaker are looking to settle down and start a family in the near future.

Check Out: Picture from The Undertaker & Michelle McCool’s Wedding

She is leaving WWE on good terms and has a job waiting for her in the WWE offices if she wants it. She is also being considered as a coach for the second season of Tough Enough, should that be made official.

Michelle McCool tweeted the following on Wednesday afternoon:

“your love is overwhelming! In next couple days I’ll gather thoughts & give y’all a blog &/or vlog! Til then….still processing:)”

(Partial Source: f4wonline.com)

— With WWE and TNA both taping their respective television shows on Tuesday night in Orlando, it’s worth noting that TNA stars AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels wrote on Twitter that they bumped into WWE star Daniel Bryan at the airport. Daniels joked that he, Styles and Bryan wrestled an impromptu 3-way match at the airport.

— WWE diva Alicia Fox appeared to have suffered a shoulder injury at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Orlando. According to live reports from several fans who were at the show, Fox took a stiff clothesline from Kharma and appeared to landed directly on her shoulder. We hope to have more on this soon.

– CM Punk has started tweeting again after taking a brief hiatus. In an apparent reference to online reports that he’s unhappy in WWE and considering leaving the company later this year, Punk wrote:

“Anybody hear any good rumors lately?”

— WWE star the Big Show is filming an episode for the USA Network show Burn Notice today. Show tweeted on Wednesday:

“On the set of USA’s Burn Notice I am playing the role of a thief! Cool fun stuff!”

Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan also tweeted, “Working with WWE The BIG SHOW!!! he’s REALLY big.”

— Just days after it was announced that his latest movie Fast Five opened big at the box office, it’s being reported by Deadline.com that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has ended his longtime relationship with his agent Darren Statt and signed with the prestigious William Morrison talent agency.

The Rock recently signed on to play country music singer Charlie Pride in the upcoming movie about Pride’s life and is also going to begin filming the movie “Snitch” later this year.

— Speaking of The Rock, apparently there’s an ugly rumor going around that he is dead. Rock tweeted on Wednesday morning:

“I would love to meet the person who is starting rumors of my death – to show them how a dead foot feels up their ass.”

Whoever starts these stupid rumors – get a life!

Well, that didn’t last long …

At Tuesday night’s WWE SmackDown tapings from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida – Randy Orton defeated Christian to become the new World Heavyweight champion.

The match was made earlier in the night after Teddy Long let the fans decide Christian’s opponent between Orton, The Great Khali and Mark Henry.

This makes Christian’s World Heavyweight title reign one of the shortest in WWE history at just 2 days.

Check out this video footage (shot by an SEScoops fan) of Randy Orton celebrating with the World Heavyweight title:

What do you guys think about WWE pulling the plug on Christian’s first World Heavyweight title run?

COMMENT BELOW and let us know…

The ratings are in for Monday’s episodes of WWE RAW and WWE Tough Enough – and the numbers are virtually even with last week. Here’s the breakdown:

– Tough Enough drew a 1.70 rating with an average of 2.44 million viewers. This is still a bit under the 5-week average, which is a 1.86 with 2.64 million viewers.

– Monday’s RAW, which featured a special birthday celebration for The Rock as well as a John Cena vs. Miz WWE title match, drew a 3.45 rating and averaged 5.22 million fans. This is virtually even with last week’s WWE Draft edition of RAW, which did a 3.47 with 5.20 million viewers.

(Source: pwtorch.com)

WWE star Triple H was interviewed by Kevin Eck of the Baltimore Sun at the recent “BA STAR” anti-bullying campaign red carpet event in Washington, D.C.

“See, here’s the thing. I think a lot of people misunderstand what we’re saying. When we say we’re just going to be ‘WWE’ now and not ‘World Wrestling Entertainment,’ I think people think we’re walking away from our core product. That’s not it all,” Triple H said.

“We just do so many things very well. We’re a live event production company that does live events probably better than anyone else on the globe…We do live event touring probably better than anyone else in the world. We do merchandising and marketing as well, if not better, than anyone else in the world. There are abilities for us to take those core competencies and offer them to the outside world in addition to what we do.”
Eck also spoke with Stephanie McMahon and former WCW champion David Arquette at the event. Arquette was asked about his infamous WCW title win, to which he said, wrestling fans were upset but anybody who was a lifelong fan like him would have a hard time turning down that opportunity to be part of wrestling history.

You check out video of the interviews below:

At Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, John Cena defeated The Miz and John Morrison to capture the WWE Championship and end The Miz’s 5-month reign.

Miz’s reign included impressive title defenses against Randy Orton at the Royal Rumble and John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania XXVII.

We want to know what YOU think about The Miz’s WWE title reign.

• Was The Miz deserving of the WWE Championship?
• Did he have a good run as champion?
• Did holding the WWE Championship for 5 months help elevate his status?
• Now that he’s no longer champion, do you still see him as a top star and a contender for the title?

COMMENT BELOW and tell us what you think about The Miz:

– WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart wrote the following on Twitter regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden:

“I hope before his trip 2 hell, dad, Owen, Bulldog, & Pillman gave Bin Laden torturous stretching. As a dual-citizen, couldn’t be more proud.”

– Chris Jericho’s metal band FOZZY has announced concert dates for June 4 in Brantford, Ontario, June 5 in Long Island, NY and July 14 in Frankfurt, Germany.

– The April 29 edition of WWE SmackDown! brought in 3,057,000 viewers and finished with a 1.96 cable rating.

– Ryan Nemeth, the younger brother of Dolph Ziggler, has been wrestling as “Briley Pierce” at Florida Championship Wrestling.

– WWEShop.com has a new Undertaker t-shirt for both WrestleMania XXVII and his now 19-0 Mania record.

SEScoops.com was at Monday’s WWE RAW from Miami  and shot this exclusive video of what happened after the show went off the air .. Check out what happens when The Rock is greeted by two young fans wearing John Cena merchandise:

Zach Ryder is back with another installment of his Z! True Long Island Story video series. In this episode, Ryder declares himself the WWE Internet champion .. Check it out here .. WWWYKI!

Check out these video highlights from Monday’s RAW featuring The Rock’s birthday celebration from his home town of Miami, courtesy of WWE’s YouTube channel:

WWE looks back at the tragedies of 9/11

Lilian Garcia sings the National Anthem:

Mysterio & Kofi Kingston vs. Swagger & Drew McIntyre

R-Truth brutally attacks John Morrison

Kane vs. Mason Ryan

The Rock goes face-to-face with Michael Cole

Superstars pay tribute to The Rock’s movie career

Pitbull and the Miami Heat dancers join The Rock

John Cena vs. The Miz – WWE Championship Match

John Cena announces Osama bin Laden is dead after Extreme Rules went off the air:

Kharma makes her RAW debut

Mya sings “Happy Birthday” to The Rock

– New World Heavyweight champion Christian’s first title challenger is expected to be Mark Henry.

– WWE will tape this week’s episodes of NXT and SmackDown tonight from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The dark match main event that’s being advertised locally is Randy Orton and Christian vs. Sheamus and Wade Barrett.

– The Big Show will be making a guest appearance on the USA Network’s hit show, Burn Notice. Show will be playing villain Griffin Black on the fourth episode of the upcoming season.

– The Rock tweeted the following last night after his RAW birthday celebration:

“U have all help make my birthday one of the greatest days of my life.. strong love and thank u.. standing tall tonight and proudly lead America with the Pledge of Allegiance was a dream come true.. ELECTRIFYING.”

– Layla wrote the following on Twitter regarding her win over Michelle McCool at Extreme Rules:

“That was the hardest thing I ever had 2 do @McCoolMichelleL I will always have respect, gratitude & love for U! Our memories will stay with me. forever Flawless love ya.”

– Next week’s episode of Tough Enough will feature a special appearance from John Morrison and a “shocking” double elimination. Here’s the official preview:

“Next Monday, Tough Enough is all new and the contestants are on the ropes — literally! But who’s really hanging by a thread? There’s only one thing more heartbreaking than a dreamer losing the fight, and this is it: Get ready for a shocking double elimination you won’t believe! WWE Superstar John Morrison guest stars.”

The box office numbers are in for Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson’s latest movie FAST FIVE and the fifth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise had a blockbuster opening weekend. By far the best opening weekend of 2011 thus far, FAST FIVE took in $86.2 million dollars (in North America) in its opening weekend. It was also the best opening weekend for the Fast & Furious franchise.

Check Out: Pictures Of The Rock On The Set Of FAST FIVE (Bald Head & Goatee)

Director Justin Lin, who directed the last three Fast & Furious movies, is already planning a sixth installment, which will see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reprise his role as US special agent Hobbs.

“After this big weekend, we’re going forward,” Lin told USA Today on Monday. “It’s pretty much 100%. It’s going to happen. At five, we’re just hitting our stride .. We’re growing. People want to continue this journey.”

After the closing credits of Fast Five, a brief scene aired that revealed details on the plot of Fast Six. The scene featured The Rock with actress Eva Mendes talking about a new case – a robbery involving actress Michelle Rodriguez’s character Letty, who was murdered in 2009’s Fast & Furious – a sign that she’ll be returning “from the dead“ in the next movie.

COMMENT BELOW: Did you see FAST FIVE? If so – what did you think ?

Busted Open with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Hosts: Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca
Mondays and Wednesdays 2-4:00 p.m. EST
Sirius 125, XM 241

WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin appeared live in-studio promoting “Tough Enough” ahead of this week’s NBC Universal “upfronts” in New York City. The full interview is airing on Monday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. EST.

On being part of the first big event after 9/11 (Smackdown in Houston on Sept. 13, 2001…tied in with the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed):

“Well, the first show back was an interesting day at the office just because that’s when Vince (McMahon) just said, ‘Hey, Steve, we need to go back to work. A lot of people are going to come down on us but we gotta get this thing moving again and go forward because that’s what you do.’ There was just a lot going on there. A big gray cloud over all of us. Why this happened and how it happened and everything that went on. It was a little strange obviously. It was a weird period, that’s all I can say about it. It was a long time ago and it was a weird period, but you have to do what you have to do.”

Edge’s sudden retirement and similarities to Austin’s neck problems:

Well, I don’t know all the particulars about Edge’s health, but I guess it’s a neck problem. Spinal Stenosis, it means you ain’t gotta lot of room for your spinal cord to move. So that puts him in harms way by taking too many bumps or taking the wrong bump, so it’s a good decision he made. Sad day at the office for millions and millions of Edge fans and WWE fans.

I remember a long time ago, when my good buddy Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff had to get out of the business and he looked at me…Me and Paul were always straight shooters with each other and really good friends…and he goes ‘Steve, let me tell you something. There is life after wrestling.’ And there is, you just gotta go out there and find it and Edge will. He’s a bright kid, always has been, he’s still young, has got youth on his side, good looking kid and smart, so he’ll be fine. That’s just the way it is. When its time to close a door and open up another one, you gotta do that.

His Reaction to hearing the WrestleMania 28 main event announced a year in advance and making it work:

“They’re gonna have to make it work. It’s a hard build to make work. Rock’s hot and heavy right now in the movie business, he’s doing great…..and Cena is the number 1 guy, I’m sure he would love to work with a guy like Rock. When you got that big a window of time, it’s gotta work, and if anybody can make it work, it’s Vince. He always wants to do something big at every single Wrestlemania there is and that’s the big thing that he made was…..this next Wrestlemania. He’s a lot smarter than I am, so more power to him and good luck. I wish both guys well.”

On wrestlers having personality or lack thereof and if the guys in the back were upset that he showed his with the Stone Cold character:

“To this day, they (creative) might give you something because they don’t think you can come up with anything better or they feel their idea might be better than yours. Vince is a businessman. He don’t want to sit there and make every single decision that’s gotta be made. At the corporate level that’s his job because he’s the leader of that ship…he’s the captain…it’s his baby, but hell, he wants everyone to go out there.”

“If John Cena, the number 1 guy in the business, goes up to Vince and goes ‘Vince, I got a damn good idea, this is how to make me better and more hotter than I already am’….Vince is gonna listen to him. If Joe Blow who’s jerking the curtain in the first match says ‘Vince, I got a hell of an idea that’s gonna make me a main eventer, Vince is gonna say ‘Let me hear it’. It ain’t about them labeling you anything and making you stick to it. You gotta come up with something…it’s show business.”

Check out this video of new WWE champion John Cena announcing the death of Osama Bin Laden to the live crowd following Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view:

– Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW takes place from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The Rock returns tonight to celebrate his birthday with his home town fans. What will happen when new WWE champion John Cena and The Rock are on the same show for the first time since making their WrestleMania 28 match official?

SEScoops.com will be on hand for tonight’s RAW and will be posting some exclusive pictures and videos from the show – keep an eye out for those later in the week.

– Get ready for another chapter in the ongoing feud between Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. Current plans call for the two to square off at WWE’s next pay-per-view, Over The Limit, most likely in a singles match.

– Regarding “The Language of WWE” memo that we posted a few weeks back, it should be noted that none of the banned words were given to the English language announcers nor have they been told that some of those words were banned. However, it is known by them to not use some words like “wrestling” and “wrestlers” but some of the words on the list still get used on English language broadcasts.

Check Out: “The Language Of WWE” – List Of Allowed & Banned Terms

– Tough Enough producers Shed Media and the USA Network were hoping for Miss USA Rima Fakih to win WWE Tough Enough, knowing her winning the competition would bring the show a great deal of mainstream media exposure and build momentum heading into the second season. As the show went on, it became clear that Rima had little chance of winning and she was ultimately eliminated last week.

Related News: Miss USA Talks About Her Tough Enough Elimination & Rib Injury

– Sin Cara vs. Sheamus for the WWE United States Title and Jerry Lawler vs. Jack Swagger with Michael Cole in his corner is booked for upcoming WWE live events.

– The idea right now is for Jim Ross to remain on WWE TV for as long as the Michael Cole angle goes on. JR’s segments have done very strong quarter-hour ratings so that may play a factor in WWE keeping him around longer. With that said, at least for now there are no plans for Ross to return to announcing full-time.

– Speaking of Jim Ross and Michael Cole, the injuries they sustained on Monday’s RAW will not prevent them from wrestling at Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV, but JR’s hand injury may limit what he’s able to do in the match.

(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the info used in this report)

– The Undertaker was backstage at this past Monday’s RAW from Raleigh, NC with Michelle McCool. Sources describe Taker as still hurting and said he gave no indication as to when he would be coming back.

– Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV is not sold out yet. Ticket sales for The Rock’s return to RAW this Monday (May 2nd) from Miami are also selling slow.

– As noted before, Shawn Michaels has filed trademarks on “Mr. HOF” and “Mr. Hall of Fame”, so it looks like those will be the nicknames WWE uses when talking about him from here on out. Since Shawn retired, WWE has wanted to market him as the greatest wrestler of all-time since he has a very long-term contract with the company.

– Sean Waltman said in an interview this past week that he thinks there’s a very good chance he could appear on WWE TV at some point in the future. Waltman appeared at the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony with Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Kevin Nash.

– The 2012 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view is scheduled for St. Louis, Missouri.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)