WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com: Here are some highlights of what JR said about:

Kofi Kingston Winning the Intercontinental Championship:

“Congrats to Kofi Kingston on winning the IC Title. Kofi was on the cusp of something special when he had his issues with Randy Orton last year specifically their encounter at MSG which I thought was impactful. Let’s hope that Kofi gets right back on that roll. He’s a very athletic talent and a smart, educated individual.”

Whether He Is Still Writing A Book:

“No our book idea isn’t dead but we tabled it during the holidays as the decision makers in the book biz seemingly don’t work much after Thanksgiving through the end of the year. The project is still alive but I have to light a fire under my ample behind to get back in a creative mindset.”

Chris Jericho Or Batista Returning For WrestleMania:

“I do not know if either Chris Jericho or Dave Bautista will return to WWE for WM27. I’m not in that loop and don’t have a clue on the subject. Personally, I would be surprised if either returned for a special Wrestlemania appearance. Who knows?”

• Related: VIDEO of Batista’s MMA Training

Visit JRsBarBQ.com for Jim Ross’ great line of BBQ products!

— Following tonight’s TNA Genesis pay-per-view broadcast, Mr. Anderson and referee Earl Hebner celebrated and played to the audience.

— TNA Genesis was a trending worldwide topic tonight on Twitter. Matt Hardy, who debuted at the event, also trended, but only amongst U.K. users. Tyler Reks began trending worldwide immediately following Hardy’s debut, apparently because Hardy’s new look drew comparisons to the WWE star.

— TNA will be taping episodes of iMPACT! and Xplosion Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

— Nothing is official yet regarding the host city for Lockdown.

(source: PWInsider.com)

— It was reported earlier that World Wrestling Entertainment laid a copyright claim on the trailer for WWE Studios’ upcoming Triple H themed movie The Chaperone, which surfaced on YouTube Thursday. Regarding this, it is said that company executives hated the version of the trailer that hit the web since it was bootlegged with very poor video quality. They also didn’t want to give off the impression that it is a low-budget independent film.

— CM Punk is being advertised in place of Wade Barrett for the (dark match) main event at the Jan. 17 Raw taping at the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is slated to partner with The Miz against John Cena and Randy Orton.

— WWE returns to Mexico for a Raw live event tour this May. Dates and locations are as follows: May 11th – Multi-Purpose Center in Hermosillo; May 12th – VFG Arena in Guadalajara; May 13th – Sports Palace in Mexico City; May 14th – Arena Monterrey in Monterrey.

Tickets go on sale Feb. 7.

source: PWInsider.com

— WWEDVDNews.com has confirmed that World Wrestling Entertainment will release a video on D-Generation X titled Final Conflict on April 5 in North America. It will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray.

The three-disc set will pick off where the 2007 set left off with matches from their rivalries with The Legacy and JeriShow. It will also contain brand new interviews with Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

— Continuing their angle from Monday’s Raw, SmackDown Superstar Alberto Del Rio lost to R-Truth in a singles match at Friday’s Raw live event in Augusta, Georgia. He lost to the former United States Champion for the second consecutive night at Saturday’s SmackDown live event in Lexington, Kentucky.

— Chris Masters celebrated his 27th birthday Saturday.

— Joey Styles revealed Saturday on Twitter why World Wrestling Entertainment shut down its social networking site, WWEUniverse.com: “We closed wweuniverse.com b/c facebook.com/wwe grew so incredibly large so incredibly quickly.”

The other reason why WWE’s answer to MySpace was shut down was because it was expensive to run, both in hosting costs and in man hours needed to monitor the site.

— Yet-to-debut SmackDown talent Ezekiel Jackson beat Tyler Reks in a squash match at Saturday night’s SmackDown live event in Lexington, Kentucky. WWE has been running “Coming Soon” vignettes of Jackson since the Dec. 17 SmackDown.

— WWE developmental wrestler Percy Watson beat Chavo Guerrero at SmackDown’s live event in Lexington, Kentucky.

sources: PWInsider.com

Ronnie Basham, the Kentucky teenager who filed a lawsuit Thursday against World Wrestling Entertainment, Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) and Dwayne Johnson (a/k/a The Rock) over an incident at WWE’s 2000 Judgment Day pay-per-view event, talked to NBC’s Louisville, Kentucky affiliate WAVE 3 to discuss the matter.

Basham, now 18 years and a senior at Clarksville High School, claims he was injured when Levesque and Johnson took their match over the crowd barrier on May 21, 2000 at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville.

“After The Rock got into it with one of the spectators, bodies were just coming towards me,” Basham told WAVE.

Ronnie’s mother, Lisa Lanham, says someone shoved a woman on top of her son, who was standing on a chair.

Basham’s attorney Harris Berman continued with what the family says happened next.

“He (Basham) fell down and his legs were caught between the two chairs and the lady then fell on him and crushed his right knee,” the attorney said. “It really resulted as an assault on a 7-year-old kid.”

Mother and son claim the injury got worse as he underwent multiple surgeries over the years, racking up $37,000 in medical bills. His attorney said they no had plans to sue until WWE refused to pay for anything, including the boy’s ride in the ambulance to the hospital.

When asked if suing WWE was the right thing to do, Berman replied, “Yeah for the pain and taking away a kid’s childhood, because that’s the best part of anyone’s life is their childhood.”

While the alleged injury occurred over a decade ago, the Statute of Limitations in Kentucky extends for minors to age 18. The suit seeks compensation and a jury trial.

For more details on the story and to view the video interview, click here.

— Wade Barrett vs. Big Show was announced last night on SmackDown for next week’s show. Earlier in the evening, the former leader of The Nexus attacked Big Show, preventing him from winning the Fatal 4-Way No. 1 Contender’s Match.

— CM Punk made his live event debut as a member of The Nexus at last night’s Raw house show in August, Georgia. With assistance from his new allies, he defeated Mark Henry in a singles match. The faction continued beating Henry down following the match until some babyface Raw Superstars made the save.

— Jim Ross said on Twitter he’s heading to Florida Championship Wrestling’s Tampa facility next week to work with WWE developmental talent.

— Tickets for the Apr. 5 SmackDown taping at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina go on sale Jan. 22 at 10:00 a.m. via Ticketmaster.

source: PWInsider.com

— This weekend’s WWE tour of the Southeastern United States is expected to be greatly impacted by bad weather.

Four to seven inches of snow is expected to hit most of the South, as well as ice, and is predicted to be the biggest snow storm in that part of the country since 1992.

Jon Holder, a television weather forecaster in Alabama, said all flights are expected to be canceled Sunday through Tuesday. Monday’s SmackDown live event in Birmingham and Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Huntsville are believed to be in jeopardy. Monday’s Raw taping in Nashville as well as a live event in Knoxville tomorrow will also be impacted.

— Dustin Diamond, best known as Screech on Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, is accepting wrestling bookings via bookings@sheikshow.com. The 34-year-old actor has performed on a few independent shows over the years and appeared on Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling on CMT.

— Melina appears today from noon to 2:00 p.m. at the Silicon Valley International Auto Show in San Jose, California (located at San Jose McEnery Convention Center, 150 West San Carlos Street).

source: f4wonline.com

— Kofi Kingston reclaimed the Intercontinental Championship last night on SmackDown, defeating Dolph Ziggler with a high cross body off the top rope. Moments later, Ziggler attacked the new champion, inspiring SmackDown’s Official Consultant Vickie Guerrero to call for her boyfriend’s immediate title rematch. Kingston defeated Ziggler a second time with Trouble in Paradise to retain his newly-acquired championship.

With General Manager Theodore Long absent, Guerrero used her temporary authority to add Ziggler to the scheduled Triple Threat Match — set to decide the No. 1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship — making it a Fatal 4-Way Match. It culminated with Ziggler hitting the Zig Zag on Cody Rhodes for the pinfall victory.

— Following the Intercontinental Title swap on Friday’s SmackDown, both Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston were the top trending topics on Twitter.

— Paul Bearer, who is still listed on WWE.com’s SmackDown Superstars page, is accepting independent bookings via PercyPringle.com.

— Former WWE talent Hassan Hamin Assad (a/k/a MVP) sat ringside amongst the audience at Thursday night’s Florida Championship Wrestling live event in Tampa, Florida. He booed some of the WWE developmental talent.

— World Wrestling Entertainment laid a copyright claim on the trailer for WWE Studios’ upcoming Triple H themed movie The Chaperone, which surfaced on YouTube yesterday. Similarly, WWE had the trailer of Legendary removed from YouTube and IMDB.com when it initially surfaced early last summer.

— WWE Monday Night Raw on May 2, 2011 will be held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Tickets go on sale January 22, 2011.

source: PWInsider.com

Stephanie McMahon has been less involved with the creative content of WWE programming than many expected her to be at this point. She took maternity leave following the birth of her third child in August and has largely worked via telecommuting since that time. One company source said Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) appears more creatively involved than he has ever been after his promotion in the fall to Vince McMahon’s Senior Advisor.

Though Levesque does not attend creative meetings, he is more involved in the creative process and has a lot of stroke in producer meetings. He also filled in as a show runner when Vince McMahon missed a few recent television tapings.

“I would say Vince McMahon is the executive show runner and Hunter is the associate show runner,” said one WWE source. “He’s the apprentice.”

source: Pro Wrestling Torch

— The Sun has posted an article claiming that WWE is plotting to swoop the multi-time World Champion from TNA Wrestling. They say with WrestleMania taking place in WCW’s former home of Atlanta this year, Vince McMahon wants Sting to be a part of the show and inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Though still listed on the TNA Wrestling website, Sting is presently a free agent after his contract with the organization expired late last year.

— The news of Awesome Kong’s recent arrest in Hillsborough County, Florida for driving without a valid license led one company source to quip, “Since Kong got arrested in Tampa I’d say that’s proof she got a WWE gig, because you have to get arrested in Tampa to work for WWE.”

— Last night’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America, which featured Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry vs. Ted DiBiase and Tyson Kidd in the main event, garnered a 0.58 cable rating with 588,000 viewers. Last week’s show drew a 0.67.

The midnight replay did a 0.16 with 166,000 viewers.

sources: F4WOnline.com, PWInsider.com

Social media news website Mashable.com has announced their “2010 Mashable Awards” winners, which recognizes “the very best of tech and the web.” With over 1.3 million votes cast, both WWE and John Cena were among the award winners, alongside Twitter, Google’s Android mobile operating system and Apple’s iPhone.

Here are the awards given to WWE for its “Stand Up for WWE” campaign and John Cena for his tremendous work helping sick children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation:

Most Creative Social Media Campaign: Stand Up For WWE:

“In an effort to “set the records straight” about inaccurate media portrayals, World Wrestling Entertainment launched the Stand Up For WWE campaign, using social media and video to gather support from its fans. It also posted a list lesser known facts about WWE and inaccuracies and corrections to media portrayals from across the web with facts accompanying the claims. The campaign included videos with its superstars as well as the likes of President Barack Obama.”

• Read More About: Stand Up For WWE

Most Influential Social Good Champion: John Cena

ohn Cena is a WWE personality and actor who leverages his social media presence and influence for good. He’s been heavily involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation since 2004, granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses. He’s earned the foundation’s highest honor, the Chris Greicius Award and was later named Wish Ambassador by the organization. He uses his online presence to encourage his fans to take part in the foundation’s mission to grant wishes, and most recently he is encouraging the donation of Delta frequent flyer miles, which he’s already contributed 3 million matching miles for.

For more on the awards, visit Mashable.com.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR said about:

Hulk Hogan: “Hulk had a hellaciously challenging 2010 and here’s hoping that he has a much better 2011. Losing one’s Mom is a challenging piece of business. I was in the UK for a WWE event there when I got word that my Mom had died suddenly at age 64.”

Jack Swagger: “WWE is taping Smackdown in Tulsa at the new, tricked out BOK Center on Tuesday January 18. I did some media for the event Thursday. Lots of Jack Swagger talk during the interview. I hope that Swagger has a big 2011 and feel that he is a long way away from his peak or approaching his potential. The former Sooner is a superb, natural athlete. The writer also asked me about the soon to be available OU Sooner Football radio gig of which is still on my ‘dream job’ list but as I have mentioned before I think it’s a long shot for me.”

Scouting New Young Talent: “Yours truly will be headed to FCW next week to meet with and observe WWE rookies. This is one of my favorite trips to make these days as the future of WWE largely rests in the developmental program where the evolution of developing new stars begins in earnest.”

As always, visit JRsBarBQ.com for JR’s great line of BBQ products.

— WWE creative has recently discussed adding a female enforcer to The Nexus faction.

— Wade Barrett is being advertised to face Big Show at tomorrow night’s SmackDown live event in Lexington, Kentucky, replacing Alberto Del Rio.

— Chris Jericho will be playing with his band Fozzy next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, California.

— WrestleMania headliner King Kong Bundy has launched an account on Twitter.

source: PWInsider.com

According to the gossip section of this morning’s New York Daily News, former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro is reportedly involved in a new reality series that would feature her as the object of affection for a group of men who would face off in mixed martial arts bouts in order to win her heart.

Speaking of Massaro, here are some recent pictures from her Twitter udpates:

Earlier this week, wrestling fan Ronald Basham sued World Wrestling Entertainment, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Paul “Triple H” Levque, claiming he was injured while in the audience at WWE’s Judgement Day pay-per-view back in 2000.

During the main event of that show, The Rock battled Triple H in a street fight, with the two wrestlers brawling into the crowd. Basham alleges that he was injured during the brawl and says WWE failed properly provide adequate security for its customers. Both Johnson and Levesque have been accused of “reckless, willful and wanton conduct.” He claims to have suffered lingering injuries over the past decade as a result of the incident and recently had knee surgery, for which he’s seeking compensation.

Well, according to TMZ.com, Basham’s leg couldn’t have been too badly hurt by The Rock and Triple H, because he played high school football and has participated in stock car racing for years. Up until his lawsuit was filed, his Facebook page featured various photos of him raacing cars, including pictures of him crashing into a wall.

Basham’s lawyer tells TMZ.com, “He has a long medical history with knee problems and as far as I know his knee was never injured [from racing cars].”

Considering his high school football career and his habit of crashing race cars into walls, it seems he will have a difficult time proving WWE, The Rock and Triple H are the ones responsible for his recent knee surgery.

Nice try though!

* Percy Watson defeated Chavo Guerrero in a dark match that took place prior to SmackDown.

* In the opening match, World Heavyweight champion Edge defeated Kane in a Last Man Standing match.

* Kofi Kingston pinned Dolph Ziggler to win the WWE Intercontinental championship. After the match, Ziggler attacked Kingston. Vickie Guerrero cut a promo demanding a restart. Kingston won again.

* Backstage, Drew McIntyre and Kelly Kelly had a segment.

* #1 Contender’s match: Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show. Vickie Guerrero came out and added Dolph Ziggler to the match. Dolph Ziggler pinned Cody to become the number one contender. Wade Barrett came out during the match and attacked Big Show.

* Another promo aired hyping Ezekiel Jackson’s move to SmackDown.

* Michelle McCool pinned Kelly Kelly. LayCool attacked Kelly after the match but Drew McIntyre hit the ring and cleared it to make the save.

* In a Best of Three Falls, match, Alberto Del Rio got the first fall on Rey Mysteiro. Del Rio avoided the 619 and nailed the rolling armbreaker for the first fall. Rey came back to win the second fall. Del Rio scored the pin in Fall Three after Ricardo holds Rey’s leg down. Rey kicked the crap out of Ricardo after the match.

With the increasing popularity of 3D feature films and 3D televisions becoming more accessible to consumers, WWE has been working on producing its own 3D content. According to a reliable source, WWE is negotiating with Fathom Events to air this year’s WrestleMania 27 pay-per-view in 3D in movie theaters across the United States.

While the idea of WrestleMania 3D sounds pretty amazing, fans should not get their hopes up just yet – as the two parties have still not yet come to terms on [what else] money.

According to a new report from the Chicago Independent Press, WWE wants 47 percent of PPV revenue for 3D buys, which is standard for WWE PPVs, but Fathom reportedly wants a larger cut. WWE also wants 60-70 percent of revenue from theaters but Fathom isn’t willing to give that much away.

The negotiations have reportedly stalled and with WrestleMania coming up in just 3 months, the window opportunity for both sides to reach an agreement is closing.

The trailer for WWE Studios’ movie featuring Triple H, The Chaperone, has been released. Click here to view it.

The Chaperone will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in March.

The synopsis from ComingSoon.net reads: “In the film, Ray Bradstone (Triple H) is the best “wheel man in the business,” but he is determined to go straight and be the best parent he can be to his daughter, Sally (Winter), and make amends with his ex-wife, Lynne (Gish). As Ray struggles to find honest work, his old bank-robbing crew, led by Phillip Larue (Corrigan), offers him one last job. He agrees at first, but changes his mind at the last second leaving the crew without a driver. Ray decides instead to serve as a “chaperone” for Sally’s school field trip. When the robbery goes awry, Larue blames Ray and chases the school bus all the way to the Museum of Natural History in New Orleans. Ray must deal with Larue, while supervising Sally’s class on what becomes one of the craziest school trips ever.”

— The Huntsville Times recently conducted an interview with Kofi Kingston promoting next Monday’s SmackDown live event in the area. The article contrasts WWE’s family-friendly, PG product to the “Attitude Era.” Kingston adamantly feels that wrestling can be PG.

“Absolutely,” Kingston said. “It’s one of those things where anyone can come to the show. Back in the day, it was a little more different and more intense. There were a lot of teenagers and adults in the crowd and you didn’t want to bring your kids to the show.

“We’ve done a better job and tried to be more creative to tell a story that everyone can enjoy. We want to create an experience the parents can bring the kids to. We’ve worked hard to do that and it’s a route we want to go.”

— In a sharp contrast to her plucky underdog babyface character on the third season of NXT, AJ portrays a snooty heel in Florida Championship Wrestling. Click here to see video of AJ bragging about being the first and only Diva to hold the Florida Divas Championship and Queen of FCW crown.

— Joey Styles announced today on Twitter that photoshoots of Divas who choose to pose will be posted every Thursday on WWE.com. The website posted new photos of Gail Kim.

— The WWE Championship Match for the Royal Rumble was originally planned to be a Triple Threat Match featuring John Morrison, Randy Orton and The Miz. There was also talk of adding Sheamus to the bout, making it a Fatal 4-Way Match. But as seen Monday, it will be a rematch from TLC featuring Orton vs. The Miz.

— WWE.com is advertising United States Champion Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry vs. Ted DiBiase and Tyson Kidd for tonight’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America. Other matches scheduled to take place include JTG vs. Tyler Reks, Chris Masters vs. Curt Hawkins, and Yoshi Tatsu vs. Zack Ryder.

— The total amount of wrestling action on this week’s episode of NXT was 13 minutes and 3 seconds.

source: www.f4wonline.com

– With Shane McMahon gone from WWE, Vince McMahon’s daughter Stephanie and her husband Triple H are seen as the successors to the WWE empire. Triple H has been a power player behind the scenes for years and many in the company see this year as a time when Vince will shift more responsibilities to his son in law. While Vince is not going anywhere any time soon, the overall feeling within WWE is that the company will be in good hands under Triple H and Stephanie.

– There’s still no word yet on the severity of John Cena’s hip injury or when he will be ready to return to action. Everybody is hoping that Cena will be healthy enough to compete at the Royal Rumble and he will be keeping a very light schedule until then.

– As we reported earlier this week, Rey Mysterio has been pulled from this weekend’s WWE live events and will be replaced by Big Show in matches against Alberto Del Rio. This is part of John Laurinaitis agreeing to give Mysterio an even easier schedule while he’s recovering from a shoulder tear. Rey will continue to work television and pay-per-view events, but like Cena, will be kept off live events for the time being while his injury heals.

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

– SmackDown star Dolph Ziggler won a Pros Battle Royal on Tuesday night’s WWE NXT which allowed him to switch out his Rookie. Ziggler dropped Jacob Novak, who was later eliminated, and selected up Byron Saxton as his new Rookie. Chris Masters, who had Byron Saxton, was given Jacob Novak.

• Related News: Snoop Dogg Endorses NXT Rookie

– Coming out of this week’s WWE NXT, Rookie Derrick Bateman still has a win-loss record of 0-3 while Conor O’Brian still leads the pack with a record of 2-0. Jacob Novak was eliminated with a record of 1-2.

Here’s the updated win-loss records for this season:

• Conor O’Brian: 2-0
• Byron Saxton: 3-1
• Brodus Clay: 2-1
• Johnny Curtis: 1-3
• Derrick Bateman: 0-3
• Jacob Novak (eliminated): 1-2

– With WrestleMania 27 now less than 3 months away, WWE’s creative team reportedly has come up with 6 matches for the event that they hope to build towards in the coming months.

The top two matches WWE is set on are The Miz defending the WWE Championship against John Cena and The Undertaker putting his streak on the line against former Nexus leader Wade Barrett. The Barrett vs. The Undertaker match would be a continuation of the angle that took place at Survivor Series, where Nexus took out the Undertaker and helped Kane bury him alive in their World Heavyweight title match.

The Undertaker is still recovering from shoulder surgery and it’s not 100% that he’ll be healthy enough to work a singles match in  time for WrestleMania, so there are various backup scenarios being discussed.

– One of the biggest stories of 2010 was the decline in WWE’s overall business – from pay-per-view buyrates to house show attendence and merchandise sales. WWE’s ratings were no different – with the average RAW rating for the year taking a dip from prior years.

For the year of 2010, WWE’s Monday Night RAW averaged a 3.28 cable rating – down 8% from 2009’s 3.57 average.  By comparison, RAW averaged a 3.27 in 2008, a 3.61 in 2007 and a 3.9 back in 2006.