— From this point forward, WWE reportedly plans for the winner of each season of NXT to strictly receive a championship match. Company officials have dropped the stipulation of the winner receiving a contract since many of the contestants will ultimately end up on the main roster.
— The official website of Florida Championship Wrestling has added three WWE developmental talents to its roster page in Brad Maddox, Caylee Turner and Kevin Hackman.
Maddox is former OVW Heavyweight Champion Brent “Beef” Wellington, who was signed to a developmental deal in July.
Turner is Christina Crawford, the younger sister of WWE Diva Alicia Fox. She was signed this summer following a few trial appearances.
Hackman is Andrew Leavine, a former offensive lineman at Florida International University. He was signed to a developmental contract last month.
Meanwhile, all six NXT Rookie Divas — AJ (a/k/a AJ Lee), Aksana, Jamie (a/k/a Jamie Keyes), Kaitlyn (a/k/a Ricki Vaughn), Maxine (a/k/a Liviana) and Naomi (a/k/a Naomi Night) — are being referred by their WWE names.
— The September 9, 2010 edition of WWE Superstars on WGN America drew a 0.58 cable rating, with 579,000 viewers. The midnight replay scored a 0.25 rating, with 254,000 viewers.
It was announced on SmackDown that Dolph Ziggler would defend the Intercontinental Championship against No. 1 contender Kofi Kingston at Night of Champions. There will be a stipulation in the match as SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long announced that if Ziggler is disqualified or counted out, he will lose the title.
Below is the updated card for Night of Champions, which takes place September 19 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
WWE Championship Six Pack Challenge
Sheamus (c) vs. Wade Barrett vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker
United States Championship Match
The Miz (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Intercontinental Championship Match
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Divas and Women’s Championship Unification Lumberjill Match
Team LayCool (Layla or Michelle McCool) (c) vs. Melina (c)
Ousted NXT Rookie Diva Aloisia told Fanhouse.com that she’s still unsure why she was booted from the program.
“Maybe they have bigger and better plans for me than NXT,” Aloisia told Brian Fritz in an interview. “It’s anyone’s guess at this point.”
The 6-foot-9 giant also responded to online reports that she was pulled from show because she posed for racy photos when she was 18 years old.
“They may have, they may have not,” she said. “I really have no say. I do know it’s a PG era for the WWE. I also know that every other diva has had some photos — racy photos or even pornography photos — that are out there of them. I really can’t say.”
PWInsider.com reports that there was much concern amongst WWE officials in regards to what else might be out there beyond her racy photos and thus felt she was too much of a risk to keep on NXT since they don’t want any controversy.
— In a Night of Champions first, no belt will be on the line when Big Show squares off against CM Punk at the annual WWE pay-per-view event. The match was announced tonight on WWE.com.
— Ousted NXT Rookie Diva Aloisia posted a pseudo-shoot blog on her official website Wednesday blasting her former NXT Pro, Vickie Guerrero. The 6’9″ lady grappler pokes fun at Guerrero’s weight and says her replacement, Kaitlyn, deserves someone better than a ‘washed up middle-aged “Pro” who’s been resting on her laurels for about the past 20 years or so.’
Aloisia also wants to know why past lingerie photos of her are so ‘unforgivable’ when Guerrero took part in a nude photo shoot for WWE.com.
“I find out that maybe the “real” reason I was fired was because of some ridiculous lingerie photo shoot I did when I was 18,” she said. “Um, EXCUSE ME, but if what I did was so unforgivable then can someone please explain why my “favorite” person, VG, has a (censored) nude photo shoot posted on the WWE.com website?”
She also calls out Beth Phoenix, who mistakenly called her ‘Aloisha’ in a tweet last week.
“And Beth Phoenix, honey…I’ve got you in my sights as well,” Aloisia wrote. “Every time you look in your rear view mirror, that’s me you see coming up behind you. And yes, I stole that line from Mad Men.”
— World Wrestling Entertainment announced today that Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco will guest star on Raw this Monday.
The show is being held in his “home turf” of Cincinnati, Ohio. He will be promoting his VH1 reality show, Ochocinco: The Ultimate Catch.
— Jim Ross offered high praise for NXT Rookie Diva Naomi in the latest edition of the Ross Report, who won both NXT Rookie Diva Challenges during the season three premiere episode of NXT.
“The third version of NXT kicked off Tuesday night on Syfy and Naomi dominated,” Ross wrote. “Naomi would seemingly have to fumble bigger than Reggie Bush did with his former Heisman Trophy to blow this competition.”
— Due to NCAA football, The Score in Canada won’t be airing WWE Vintage Collection on Saturday, September 11, 2010. Vintage Collection will air on Friday, September 10, 2010 at 10:30 PM (ET). (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
— WWE Monday Night Raw on November 22, 2010 will be held at the new Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 25, 2010.
TNA Wrestling will be holding a television taping the very same day in Orlando. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
— As of Wednesday, former ECW announcer Joey Styles is offering live chat commentary of the weekly NXT replay on WWE.com. For those who missed it, WWE.com has posted highlights of Styles’ quips. Highlights include:
* “Too bad about Aloisia. I’ve been told she was very photogenic.”
* “AJ worked as a WRESTLER (dirty word) for 3 years to get to WWE. She’s not just a model or fitness competitor we found. (ouch)”
* “AJ wrapped the tie around the neck. She’s fired!”
* “WWE has a new movie coming out? Really? What’s it called? Who’s in it? I wish myself the best in my future endeavors.”
* “Regardless of what you thought of NXT, I think we can all agree on one thing. This chat was more entertaining than TNA. OH MY GOD! Goodnight.”
— NXT Rookie Diva Kaitlyn is among the most searched for topics on Google.com today as her real name, Celeste Bonin, garnered a large amount of queries.
Early critic reviews are in for the John Cena WWE Studios film “Legendary” and they are not pretty.
Movie review website RottenTomatoes.com, while compiles dozens of reviews from mainstream critics and blogs, gives the movie a 21/100 score.
Here are some of the critics’ comments:
“It’s a feel-good Kleenexâ„¢ dispenser of a movie, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it’s routine Hallmark Hall of Afterschool Special material.” – Roger Ebert
“The script, by actor turned writer John Posey, has structural problems and motivational issues in between the cliches. And Cena, a few movies into his career, is still all presence and no acting.” – Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
“A wonderfully crafted coming-of-age drama about the love that can heal the brokenness of an estranged family.” Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Peace
“A well-meaning dud that’ll put you out faster than a sleeper hold.” Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly
“John Cena radiates subdued menace and cool daring on screen. The problem is that he’s intended as strictly dramatic wallpaper to this more suds than steroids coming of age wrestler story derivative of countless other sports tales.” – Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
-The Labor Day edition of WWE’s Monday Night RAW scored a 3.0 cable rating. This week did a 2.99 rating with 4,325,000 viewers in the first hour and a 3.01 rating with 4,152,000 in the second hour. This was the least-watched RAW of 2010 so far, in part due to the Labor Day holiday.
– Tuesday’s NXT season three premiere on Syfy drew a 0.96 cable rating, with 1,151,000 viewers. The number is in line with what NXT has been drawing as of late as the August 17 edition of the program drew 1,178,000 million viewers while the August 24 show scored 1,130,000 million.
– The September 4th episode of AM RAW scored an 0.53 rating with 560,000 viewers.
– A SmackDown brand live event tour is being held today through Sunday in the U.K. Top matches advertised for the tour include Kane vs. Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship and Big Show vs. Jack Swagger.
The tour’s schedule is as follows:
* Thursday: Aberdeen, Scotland at Aberdeen ECC
* Friday: Aberdeen, Scotland at Aberdeen ECC
* Saturday: Minehead, U.K. at Butlins Resort
* Sunday: Skegness, U.K. at Butlins Resort
Below is the official roster so far for WWE’s SmackDown vs. RAW 2011 video game, which comes out on October 26th:
Wrestlers:
* Chris Jericho
* Edge
* Evan Bourne
* Ezekiel Jackson
* Goldust
* John Cena
* John Morrison
* Mark Henry
* Primo
* R-Truth
* JTG
* Kane
* Kofi Kingston
* Matt Hardy
* MVP
* Rey Mysterio
* Shad
* Undertaker
* Big Show
* Chavo Guerrero
* Christian
* CM Punk
* Cody Rhodes
* Dolph Ziggler
* Finlay
* Jack Swagger
* David Hart Smith
* Drew McIntyre
* Luke Gallows
* Sheamus
* Tyson Kidd
* Vance Archer
* Yoshi Tatsu
* Randy Orton
* Santino Marella
* Shawn Michaels
* Ted DiBiase
* The Miz
* Triple H
* Vladimir Kozlov
* William Regal
* Zack Ryder
Divas:
* Alicia Fox
* Brie Bella
* Nikki Bella
* Beth Phoenix
* Eve Torres
* Gail Kim
* Kelly Kelly
* Maryse
* Melina
* Michelle McCool
* Natalya
THQ will be revealing more names soon.
Apparently downloadable content will include Layla, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, David Otunga, British Bulldog, Lex Luger, Chris Masters
and others. We should have more details soon.
— Following Vickie Guerrero’s firing of her original NXT Rookie Diva, Aloisia, the Official Consultant to SmackDown announced a woman by the name of Kaitlyn as her replacement on last night’s episode of NXT. Her real name is Celeste Bonin and she is a 23-year-old Houston-based fitness competitor World Wrestling Entertainment signed over the summer. She began training in July and debuted shortly thereafter in Florida Championship Wrestling under the ring name Ricki Vaughn.
Company officials are said to be ‘really high’ on Bonin’s look as she has huge breast implants on a fitness competitor’s physique. The Kaitlyn character is completely based on her real-life personality as she was a class clown in high school.
Among Bonin’s list of fitness accomplishments is a first place finish in the 2007 NPC John Sherman Classic Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Championships, as well as fifth place in her size class in the 2008 Arnold Classic. She also placed in the 2007 Musclemania Superbody, the 2008 Junior USA, and the 2009 Junior Nationals.
Before signing with WWE, Bonin had planned to transition from figure competitions to bodybuilding contests.
Finally, it is said that there are ‘far sleazier’ photos of Bonin online than Aloisia.
— As seen last night on NXT,  Rookie Diva Aksana spoke in Lithuanian, spouting: “Ir aÅ¡ galiu kalb?ti valand? valandas kokia aÅ¡ gražiausia, nuostabiausia, idealiausia moteris.” The English translation reads: “And I can talk for hours on what the most beautiful, most amazing, ideal woman I am.”
— While an attendance figure for Monday’s Raw television taping at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. has yet to be disclosed, it was said to be the least attended WWE live event at the venue in several years.
In an interview with Moviefone.com to promote his new movie “Legendary,” RAW superstar John Cena commented on a potential showdown with The Undertaker at WrestleMania next year.
Moviefone asked Cena in an interview, “What’s the next challenge for you: winning an Oscar or trying to end the Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania streak?” Cena said he wants to challenge the Undertaker at WrestleMania and be the man to end the infamous streak.
Cena was asked about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s success in Hollywood and whether we’d ever see him back in WWE.
“I think Dwayne has done such an awesome job being a successful actor,” Cena said. “The only problem is he left us; he’s no longer doing activity with WWE. I think the way WWE Studios is going now – they’re going away from action, doing more drama, possibly more comedy – it will open a lot of people’s eyes. Because a lot of people see big guy, big frame: action superstar. We’ve proven, especially with ‘Legendary,’ that that is not always the case.”
Cena also said Vince McMahon would make a good leading man in movies, among other things. Visit Moviefone.com for the full interivew.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Some highlights from this update:
NXT Season 3 Premiere: “The first NXT season 3 broadcast featuring all Divas is different. I’m willing to give the concept a chance to hook me unlike some who have emailed me lambasting the process after an hour or less of watching it. Seems like some were harder on certain folk’s dancing which was an attempt at entertainment than they were simply looking at the potential of the Divas. I’ve seen some of these ladies in FCW and was impressed with various aspects of each of their game. Naomi, obviously, is a gifted athlete clearly became the early favorite to win the competition in season three.”
“I could just have just seen my big ass up in the ring Tuesday night ‘dancing’ if I had been on the broadcast team. Happy to have been watching on Syfy. Those who were doing some ‘dancing’ were merely doing their jobs folks, having fun and attempting to entertain us as directed. Many fans need to ‘Lighten Up Francis.”
Daniel Bryan’s “LeBelle Lock” Submission: Daniel Bryan’s salute to Judo Gene LeBelle by naming Bryan’s submission the LeBelle Lock is a respectful gesture. LeBelle is a former pro wrestler, Hollywood stunt man, actor, etc who is also regarded as one of the toughest men to ever walk the face of the Earth. Legend has it that he once made actor/martial arts practitioner Steven Segal soil himself when the two had a physical encounter that was allegedly provoked by the egocentric Segal. Gene also refereed the Muhammad Ali-Antonino Inoki MMA bout that I, among many others, invested in years ago. BTW…it did not make any money for many of the investors.
New Wrestling Promotions: “When I hear of the alleged plans of new, national wrestling promotions being announced and how they will roll out their new ‘concepts’ on how they will uniquely promote the timeless genre of pro wrestling it becomes an ‘eye roller.’ It constantly amazes me that some rich folks will continue to send good money after bad in a business wrought with unique nuances, folks with less than honorable character along with self serving agendas that the money people will never know or understand and will quickly lose big bucks and join the ranks of others who have more money than common sense.”
— Following Vickie Guerrero’s firing of her original NXT Rookie Diva, Aloisia, the Official Consultant to SmackDown announced Kaitlyn as her replacement on Tuesday’s episode of NXT.
Kaitlyn, who’s real name is Celeste Bonin, is a Houston based fitness model the company signed over the summer. She began training in July and debuted shortly thereafter in Florida Championship Wrestling under the name Ricki Vaughn.
The former fitness competitor placed first in the 2007 NPC John Sherman Classic Bodybuilding, Figure And Fitness Championships. She was also Miss November in the 2008 Hardfitness Calendar.
— The Miz, Eve, Howard Finkel and Justin Roberts will be on hand for THQ’s WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 roster reveal event at the Regency Ballroom today in San Francisc, California. Doors open at 3:00 p.m. and seating is limited. A select number of attendees will be able to play the game.
— Last Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored an 0.52 cable rating, with 561,000 viewers. The midnight replay scored an 0.17 cable rating, with 165,000 viewers.
— Though expelled NXT season three contestant Aloisia wrote in her blog post Tuesday that she finds the suggestive photos from her past ’embarrassing’, she later deemed the images as ‘art’.
“My thoughts- “erotic photo scandal”… I think people see what they want to see, isn’t that the purpose of art?” she wrote on Twitter.
— In an update on recently released WWE Diva Serena, the former Straight Edge Society member is accepting bookings for independent wrestling dates. She can be reached via serenabookings@hotmail.com.
She has already been announced for the following events:
* Oct. 30 – UWE Homecoming in Gladwin, Michigan
* Nov. 13 – POWW Entertainment and Wrestlerage VIII in Villa Park, Illinois
* Dec. 5 – Great Lakes Championship Wrestling in Waukesha, Wisconsin
— WWE will be returning to the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. for a Raw live event on Thursday, December 30, 2010. A ticket pre-sale has already begun on Ticketmaster, with the passcode ‘SLAMDC’. Tickets officially go on sale this Saturday.
— In light of Jim Neidhart’s arrest on burglary and drug trafficking charges Sunday, the WWE website has removed profiles featuring the multi-time Tag Team Champion from both its Alumni and Where Are They Now? sections.
The father of WWE Diva Natalya was arrested Sunday afternoon in Tampa, Florida and charged with two counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, two counts of trafficking illegal drugs, one count of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, and one count of third degree grand theft for property stolen between $300 and $5,000. He remains behind bars pending $138,500 bail.
— On Twitter, Beth Phoenix updated fans on her injury progress from a torn ACL, writing: “I don’t have a return date yet but my progress is better than expected thanks to all the great support and hard work of FCW training staff!!”
— The WWE website is taking a T-shirt poll on which Santino Marella top fans like best.
— In honor of the third season of NXT, WWE.com has launched NXT.WWE.com – ‘an exciting, interactive experience’ dedicated to the Syfy show and its Rookie Divas.
A full show replay will air each Wednesday night at 7/8 CT and feature a controversial live chat with Joey Styles and special guests.
— Matches scheduled to take place on this week’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America are as follows:
* Big Show vs. Luke Gallows
* R-Truth William Regal
* Goldust and Gail Kim vs. Primo and Jillian
* Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins vs. Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta.
— Matt Hardy will be appearing at the Texas State Fair in Dallas on Saturday, October 2 from noon until 2:00 p.m.
6-foot-9 WWE diva Aloisia has responded to reports that the reason she was removed from NXT Season 3 was because erotic photos of her leaked online. While Aloisia’s previous modeling career did include erotic photo shoots, sources indicate that the earlier report is in fact false and that she was removed from NXT Season 3 and sent back to WWE developmental due to her inexperience in the ring.
Here is the statement she posted on her official website regarding the erotic pictures:
“This morning I was shocked to discover that a new rumor was circulating on the Web, pertaining to my removal from the NXT cast. According to articles posted on numerous websites, I was removed from NXT due to WWE discovering “erotic photos” from my past on the Web. While no specific source is named in the articles, the implication is that this information is coming from someone within WWE. In case anyone is interested, here’s a link to the photos that supposedly got me taken off the show.
I’m posting the link because the pictures are already out there, so there’s no point in trying to hide them. I find them embarrassing, not because they’re particularly “erotic”, but because I was overweight and out-of-shape when they were taken five years ago and because they’re amateurishly shot. I’m sure everyone who’s reading this has some pictures somewhere that you’d rather not have published on the Web for the whole world to see. Unfortunately, part of the price of celebrity is the fact that people dig around in your past to try to find ways to exploit you as a means of increasing their own readership.
To put these pictures in their proper context, I was an 18 year old kid at the time most of them were taken. I had recently left home because I was being abused by my mother’s new husband and was on my own with no money and no parental guidance. I met a photographer who offered me some money to take pictures and being both stupid and desperate, I consented to doing a photo session. To all those who would judge me, I would ask you to honestly ask yourself what you might have done had you been in my situation. I’m not proud of having done this, but there’s nothing I can do to go back and change the past. It is what it is. For what it’s worth, none of the pictures are nude and most of them are less suggestive than what you see on current WWE programming. For example, here’s a recent video shot at FCW when Aksana was first introduced:
I’m not mentioning this to criticize Aksana or WWE in any way. I’m merely trying to put it in context.
When I first received my offer from WWE, they asked me to fill out a “Talent Information Form” providing them with information about myself and my background. One of the questions was, “Have you ever posed nude?”. I answered “No” to this question, because that’s the truth. If they had asked me if I ever posed suggestively, I would of course have answered “Yes”, but there’s a big difference between suggestive and nude. As to the question of whether this was why they took me off the show, that’s something you’d have to ask them. Perhaps it was a factor in their decision, but I honestly don’t know their entire thought process, as they’ve communicated very little to me about this. From what I’ve been reading on various blogs, it seems that they may have had a political motivation to get me off the show, but again, you’d have to ask them.
I wish all of you the best and thank you for your support.”
– It appears that the WWE title match at Night of Champions will remain a Six Pack Challenge, despite Chris Jericho being removed from the match. The WWE website has removed Jericho’s name from the participants in the match but is still promoting the match as a Six Pack Challenge, so it appears there will be another participant.
– Movie news website AintItCool.com has posted an interview with WWE star John Cena, who talks about his role in “Legendary.”
– TMZ.com recently caught up with former WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He is currently filming scenes for the new “Fast & Furious” movie and was spotted leaving the gym, looking jacked as hell .. TMZ got it right when they said it looks like he could be playing the role of a diesel truck .. Check it out:
Lindsay Hayward, the 6-9, 240-pound woman given the name Aloisia for the third season of NXT, was actually dropped from the program due to erotic photos WWE officials uncovered of the giant grappler shortly after her television premiere last Tuesday.
The reported reason of Hayward being pulled from the program due to being deemed ‘not ready’ is said to be a cover excuse.
A set of photographs labeled “Tall Amazons Erotica” depict Hayward in a manner unbecoming to World Wrestling Entertainment’s family friendly product. A number of the shots feature Aloisia positioned erotically, including nude. There are also images of the she-giant engaging pleasantries with a petite blonde woman.
The storyline reason given for Hayward’s hastily dismissal from NXT was that Aloisia had been fired by her Pro, Vickie Guerrero, after an argument over her influence. Guerrero will reveal her new Rookie Diva during tonight’s season 3 premiere.
Hayward currently remains under contract to WWE.
Credit to PWInsider.com for the information used in this report.
– After Monday’s WWE RAW went off the air, WWE Champion Sheamus defeated Wade Barrett, John Cena and Randy Orton in a four-way match. Sheamus got the pin on Orton after Cena hit Orton with the Attitude Adjustment. Barrett ended up taking an RKO and Orton was left in the ring to end the show.
– Tonight from the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland will be the season 3 premiere of WWE NXT on SyFy with the Diva Rookies. WWE will also tape this week’s SmackDown with a TV main event of CM Punk vs. The Undertaker. Kane vs. Taker is advertised locally for the dark main event.
– Jerry Lawler’s Memphis Wrestling promotion will be shutting down officially after this Saturday’s TV episode airs, according to Rassling Riot News. Apparently Lawler had a falling out with his business partner Joe Cooper, who had been securing sponsorship deals for the promotion.
– Next week is the season premiere of WWE RAW and the show will have a special “RAW Roulette†theme. The show will take place from the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. WWE has not had a RAW Roulette show in 3 years, where a roulette wheel is spun and matches/stipulations are randomly selected for the wrestlers.
– The main event of next week’s RAW will be John Cena vs. Randy Orton.
– The November 15th episode of WWE RAW will be a special 3-hour show, airing from 8 to 11 PM on the USA Network.
– The WWE website has changed wording of the RAW “Guest Hosts” – who are now referred to as “Guest Stars.”
– In a dark match that took place prior to Monday’s RAW, Evan Bourne defeated Zach Ryder. After the match, Ryder attacked Bourne and hit him with his Rough Ryder finisher.
– Matches taped prior to RAW for this week’s Superstars show were:
On Monday’s RAW, it was announced that The Miz will defend the United States championship against Daniel Bryan. Also, Chris Jericho lost a match and has been eliminated from the WWE title match.
Below is the updated card for Night of Champions, which takes place September 19th at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
WWE Championship 6-Pack Challenge
Sheamus (c) vs. Wade Barrett vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cenavs. One More Competitor
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker
Divas and Women’s Championship Unification Lumberjill Match
Team LayCool (Layla or Michelle McCool) (c) vs. Melina (c)
United States Championship Match The Miz (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Updated 9/6: After announcing last week that he’d leave WWE if he didn’t win the WWE title at Night of Champions, Chris Jericho is no longer a part of that match and his WWE future is uncertain. On Monday’s RAW, the anonymous RAW GM put Chris Jericho in a match with John Morrison with the stipulation being that Chris Jericho would lose his spot in the 6 Pick Challenge at Night of Champions. Jericho lost the match and as a result, will not be able to compete for the WWE title at the show. Jericho took a few minutes after the match to gather his thoughts, with the live RAW crowd cheering for him. We’ll see how WWE handles Jericho’s possible departure from WWE in the coming weeks.
====
On the 8/30 episode of RAW, Chris Jericho announced that he will be leaving WWE once and for all if he does not win the WWE Championship in the 6-pack challenge match at Night of Champions. With Jericho’s WWE contract expiring soon and talk that he’s strongly considering leaving the company to pursue his career in the entertainment industry, it appears WWE has begun setting the stage for his possible departure.
As of this past weekend, a WWE source informed us that Jericho still has not signed a new contract. It’s still entirely possible that Jericho re-signs, but since Jericho has acknowledged in several recent interviews that his contract is expiring and he’s considering moving on, WWE has incorporated the real situation into WWE storyline.
Jericho has said he wants more time off to to spend with his family, record music and tour with his heavy metal band Fozzy and pursue other opportunities in the entertainment industry.
On Monday night, Jericho posed a message on Twitter stating that he was invited to be a participant on the next season of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” show but had to decline due to scheduling conflicts.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated the blog section of his website, JRsBarBQ.com.
Jim Neidhart’s Arrest: “The recent arrest of Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart came as a surprise. The 55 year old Neidhart was arrested in Tampa for alleged possession and conspiracy to distribute pain meds, as I understand it, not to mention alleged burglary of said items. It certainly sounds to me that Jim may well have a n obvious drug issue that needs addressing in the form of a long term stay in a rehabilitation center. If my assumption is accurate, then 30 days likely won’t do the trick but be that as it may one thing is for sure and that is that recovery always starts with the individual truly wanting to want to stay clean and sober.”
“I can’t see Jim Neidhart being a ‘burglar’ but I can see him having drug and alcohol issues that may have manifested themselves to the point that Jim needs to seek help and, more importantly, truly want to stay clean and sober.”
Reports that WWE Will Be Unifying More Titles: “Emailers are hitting me with the rumor that WWE is preparing to unify ALL their titles. I have no idea if that is accurate or not but I doubt it. I see the WWE Title and the World Title remaining as well as the Intercontinental and United States Titles. I could be dead wrong on the latter two. Perhaps having only one tag champion and one womens champion will allow those two, specific title to mean more and earn more focus. Time will tell on all this ‘net gossip as I certainly don’t know the long term direction of any of the titles.”
Visit JR’s site for more of his blog and his great line of BBQ products.
– WWE Monday Night RAW takes place at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C tonight. Locally advertised for tonight’s show are the following matches:
* John Cena vs. Wade Barrett
* WWE Champion Sheamus vs. Randy Orton
– New WWE diva Aloisia, who was announced for and then removed from the NXT Season 3 roster last week, now has a website at AloisiaOnline.com. Following the news that she was abruptly removed from the Season 3 cast before the first episode even aired, her website gives an update on her WWE status:
“Currently, I’m signed with WWE and was originally cast as one of the six rookie diva’s on NXT season three. However, due to a dispute with my NXT Pro, Vickie Guerrero, I was fired from NXT for the season. I’m looking forward to continuing my career with WWE in whatever capacity they see fit to use me for.”
WWE sources have informed us that Aloisa has been sent back to developmental because she is extremely “green” and is not even close to being ready for television.
– WWE Diva Beth Phoenix mention on her Twitter page that she and Joey Styles will be providing thoughts and commentary on NXT season 3 on the WWE website.