— The WWE website is pushing fans to vote for John Cena for ESPN SportsNation’s 1st Annual Awesomest Dude Of The Year Award. The WWE Superstar currently leads the poll with 47% of the vote, beating such sports stars as Landon Donovan, Cain Velasquez and John Wall.

The poll is available here.

— Melina revealed on Twitter that she was dumped by her boyfriend on New Year’s Day.

“Getting dumped must be the new trend this new years. The feeling sucks. I’d rather be baby face and b in love than heel & dumped.”

“I wish I could b perfect enough.”

“I wish I was him. I truly wanted to be the perfect woman for you.”

— The WWE website removed Kaval’s bio from the SmackDown Superstars section on Friday, over a week after he was released by the organization.

— WWE posted tonight’s episode of SmackDown prematurely as it was available for viewing for a few hours today on YouTube prior to its national airing on Syfy. The video has since been set to private.

— Kane appeared on The Wease Show on radio station 95.1 in Rochester, New York on Tuesday and notably remarked that he was disappointed that his program with The Undertaker was cut short due to injury. He also commented on Paul Bearer’s return to WWE and subsequent departure from television. The interview can be accessed here.

— Dutch Mantell, who is credited for launching TNA Wrestling’s women’s division in 2007, took to Twitter to congratulate former colleague Awesome Kong on signing with World Wrestling Entertainment.

“Congrats to Awesome Kong for her WWE signing,” he wrote. “She was always one of my favorites…glad to see her in a position to make some real money.”

— The Dec. 27 Monday Night Raw taping in Albany, New York drew 6,000 fans. Sunday’s SmackDown live event in Chicago, Illinois drew 8,500 fans paying $320,000, while the following night’s show in Pittsburgh garnered 9,000 fans.

— 2005 Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro has resurfaced online as she has launched accounts on Twitter and Facebook. She explained that she deleted her former Twitter account several months ago due to an ‘asshole (boyfriend) in (her) life’.

She added, “K so I’m finally breathing again, single and free, like I said I made mistakes- HUGE- like deleting you-never happen again, not fo NO MAN.”

Since parting ways with WWE over two years ago, her public appearances have largely been limited to hosting club parties. She hosted a party last night at The Chelsea Room in New York City.

— Konnan indicated in a recent radio interview in Mexico that he’s interested in bringing Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Booker T, Carlito and Big Daddy V to AAA for big events in 2011.

— The newsstand edition of the January 2011 issue of WWE Magazine features a hologram cover. John Cena is pictured.

ESPN.com Page 2 writer Josh Stewart posted comments on his blog from an interview he recently conducted with Mickie James that weren’t featured in the piece.

The TNA Knockout said her former employer, World Wrestling Entertainment, had a chance to coordinate her music career, but didn’t. She feels it’s difficult for talent to have outside projects under their auspices.

“They had every opportunity to jump onboard if they wanted to, and I would have welcomed it,” she said. “If they wanted to wrap a tour around some of the live event shows, or maybe market the album itself.

“I think because it’s an industry they really don’t know anything about… I think they had a really killer idea on their hand that they probably dropped the ball on.”

She also commented on her national singing debut earlier this month on TNA iMPACT!, which was interrupted when Tara attacked her (producing a near wardrobe malfunction as she fought back while holding up her dress).

“I was really singing during that performance, because I thought in my mind as a performer, you know, you can do it one of two ways. Because it is a show, and TV, and you can do things a number of ways. Honestly, I found we were going to be doing that pretty much the day before we taped it. So, we were given the option, ‘Do you want to sing to your backup track?’… And I said absolutely not. I want people to see that I’m serious about this. And if I got up there and for whatever reason something goes wrong, then I only have myself to blame.”

— Advertised for tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown is a tag team match featuring Rey Mysterio and World Heavyweight Champion Edge against Kane and Alberto Del Rio. Other matches scheduled to take place include: Big Show vs. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Barreta, Lay-Cool vs. Beth Phoenix and Divas Champion Natalya, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger in a Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship.

— Shawn Michaels will be participating in an autograph signing on Sunday, February 27 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Detroit Auto Show at the Cobo Arena.

— WWE is posting episodes of WWE Superstars online again via Youtube.com.

source: PWInsider.com

— WWE announced on their official website Wednesday that John Cena is being evaluated on a day-to-day basis after suffering a hip injury at a Raw live event Tuesday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. In an update on the matter, while he won’t be wrestling much over the next few weeks, he is not expected to be sidelined for a lengthy period of time.

— Reigning FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion Mason Ryan, who worked SmackDown live events this week, is expected to be called up to the main WWE roster and receive a large push from the onset. Organization officials reportedly want to utilize the Welsh grappler similarly to former WWE Champion Batista. He notably bears a striking resemblance to “The Animal.”

source: f4wonline.com

— Goldust noted to fans on Twitter that he hopes to return to the ring in six months after undergoing shoulder surgery.

He wrote, “Recovery is like watchin paint dry…but me as an impatient person…has to watch it dry…shoulder will be better than ever in time.”

— Johnny Curtis scored 3 immunity points via this week’s NXT Rookie Challenges; Power Punch and Talent Show. He has 5 immunity points heading into next week’s show, which will feature the season’s first elimination. Curtis is trailed by Derrick Bateman (3), Johnny Curtis (2), Byron Saxton (1), Jacob Novak (1), Brodus Clay (0), Conor O’Brian (0).

— NXT standings following the Dec. 28 episode are as follows: Conor O’Brian (2-0), Byron Saxton (2-1), Brodus Clay (1-1), Jacob Novak (1-1), Johnny Curtis (1-2), Derrick Bateman (0-3).

— WWE officials have granted Rey Mysterio a less taxing road schedule. While he won’t be taking time off from the road entirely, he will be performing at less house show events from this point forward due to lingering injuries.

— WWE is offering refunds at all Raw live events to any fan dissatisfied with John Cena being unable to appear. Big Show is filling in for Cena in bouts against Wade Barrett.

— Florida Championship Wrestling has announced that their upcoming New Years Explosion event will feature three specialty matches; a TLC Match, a Generation X Rumble and a Lumberjill Divas Match. Participants of said bouts have yet to be disclosed. The event takes place Friday, Jan. 14 at the Port Charlotte Fairgrounds.

source: f4wonline.com

— It was reported last week that with WrestleMania XXVII taking place in Atlanta, Georgia near the ten-year anniversary of the death of World Championship Wrestling, there will be some sort of tie-in involving the defunct wrestling promotion at the event. Former WCW stars Lex Luger, Ron Simmons and Arn Anderson are considered the top candidates to be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the extravaganza and it was noted this week that organization officials are considering negotiating again with Bill Goldberg.

— Mexican luchador Mistico has made inquiries to World Wrestling Entertainment officials about joining the organization. He took part in a tryout match prior to a television event in San Jose last year and was said to have impressed officials with his chain wrestling. However, he was making a lot of money in Mexico at the time and therefore did not join the company.

sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— Maria Kanellis announced on her Twitter account that she, Jillian Hall and Taryn “Tiffany” Terrell will be doing a tour across the world in 2011 called Divamania. Details, however, have yet to be disclosed.

— WWE will tape the 600th episode of SmackDown on Feb. 15, 2011 at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California.

— The WWE SmackDown taping on Mar. 22, 2011 will be held at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Tickets go on sale Jan. 15, 2011.

— Regarding WWE’s take on Awesome Kong being arrested last week after driving with a license that had been either canceled, suspended or revoked, sources claim they had issue with it. Her deal with the organization was finalized yesterday.

— Joey Mercury, who has been sidelined since September due to a torn pectoral muscle, is now working as a trainer in Florida Championship Wrestling.

— Ring announcer Justin Roberts celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday.

source: f4wonline.com

— Former WWE Diva and ring announcer Lilian Garcia will be signing the national anthem prior to this Sunday’s New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

— Chris Masters vs. Tyler Reks headlines tonight’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America. Also scheduled to take place is William Regal vs. David Hart Smith and The Usos vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Darren Young.

— WWE Monday Night Raw on March 14, 2011 will be held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Tickets go on sale January 15, 2011 via Ticketmaster.com.

As we’ve been reporting, WWE creative is currently planning out what the top matches will be for WrestleMania 27 in April. As of late last week, WWE had a tentative WrestleMania line-up that included WWE Champion The Miz defending against John Cena and Randy Orton vs. CM Punk. We’ve had also heard that the new John Cena vs. CM Punk feud would result in a match at WrestleMania, so the company is currently discussing a few scenarios.

WWE had a major scare this week with John Cena suffering a leg injury at Tuesday night’s live event from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. While he is in a lot of pain and his condition is being monitored on a day-to-day basis, there has been no definitive word yet on whether he’ll be out of action for any significant amount of time.

There is still talk of having Wade Barrett vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 27, if the Undertaker is healthy enough to return for a singles match. Based on what we saw on Monday’s RAW, it looks like Wade Barrett could be on his way out of Nexus, but there’s been no confirmation on his status. It’s possible he may end up on SmackDown. A babyface turn for Barrett has also been rumored, but that would likely take place after WrestleMania.

• Related News: Report On WCW Tie-in At WrestleMania

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

John Cena’s Injury: “I thought that John might have suffered a hip pointer which is a severe bruise. That speculation was erroneous on my part. He is day to day according to www.wwe.com. Knowing Cena he will be back in action much sooner than many, many others suffering the same injury. Athletic, hip injuries are hard to define or so they seem to be with football players. I certainly wish John a speedy recovery.”

CM Punk’s Popularity: “What do I feel is CM Punk’s attraction to the WWE Universe? IMO, it’s simply his overall talent. Punk is simply being himself which translates well on the TV screen. His skill set is unique and he is extremely confident in his abilities. The guy is a student of the game and will do what ever [sic] it takes to be the top guy in WWE. Plus, he has great verbal skills.”

Whether He Hates Michael Cole: “Of course I don’t ‘hate’ Michael Cole. He’s doing his job and has simply interjected more of his natural personality into his work than he did previously. Some folks like it and some don’t. People said the same thing about my announcing back in the day. My guess is that Cole doesn’t care what fans think of him. Cole is garnering more attention than ever before in his career so something must be working, right?”

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

Brandon Silvestry (a/k/a Kaval) requested his release from World Wrestling Entertainment after being frustrated with his position in the organization. The company’s creative department was told to bury him after winning the second season of NXT, until a decision was made that he be built up for a few weeks for an Intercontinental Championship Match against Dolph Ziggler at the Survivor Series. After losing at the pay-per-view event, creative was told to resume burying him.

Following his quick loss to Drew McIntyre on the Dec. 21 episode of SmackDown, he reportedly asked organization officials if he had any heat with them, to which he was told no. He then queried if they had any future plans for him and was told they didn’t. He subsequently asked to be released from his contract, which was officially granted two days later.

Silvestry joined WWE in late 2008 while reigning as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in Japan. Original creative plans called for him to adopt a masked character and feud with Rey Mysterio. As he was awaiting his call-up to the main roster, he suffered a severe leg injury in January 2009, which sidelined him for nine months. Creative lost interest in utilizing the program by the time he healed and he remained in developmental until June, when it was announced he would be a participant in the second season of NXT.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch

— Big Show is substituting for the injured John Cena at Raw live events for the remainder of the week. He is facing Wade Barrett in a Steel Cage contests.

The remaining SmackDown live events will be headlined by Triple Threat matches featuring World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. CM Punk vs. Kane.

— WWE has removed Ashley Valence’s profile from the company website’s Divas section. No official announcement was made her regarding her departure.

— The self-proclaimed “Original Diva” Tammy Sytch (a/k/a Sunny) revealed today on her Facebook account that she was interviewed by WWE.com. It will be posted next month.

source: PWInsider.com

The WWE website acknowledged John Cena suffering an injury at last night’s Raw live event in Wilkes-Barre, PA, claiming he has a ‘hip injury’. His return to action will be evaluated on a day to day basis.

Fans at tonight’s live event in Baltimore, Maryland were informed that Cena would not be appearing as advertised. Ring announcer Justin Roberts said Cena had suffered a “serious injury” and was “medically prohibited” from competing.

WWE is believed to have offered former TNA Women’s Knockouts Champion Awesome Kong a contract.

She wrote the following earlier today on her Twitter account:

“My dreams just came true today. I got my dream job. Yes, THAT one.”

WWE sources indicate there’s been discussion of Kong joining the organization in recent weeks. One source claims she paid a visit to WWE’s headquarters Stamford, Connecticut a month ago.

While the signing has not been confirmed, sources believe it was finalized last week.

source: PWInsider.com

WWE announced on Wednesday that the WWE Universe community website is shutting down after Friday. Here’s the official announcement:

We’ve had a great run WWE Universe … but all good things must come to an end.

I’m writing to you all today to let you all know that WWEUniverse.com will be closing its doors this Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011.

While the site is going away, some of the site’s most popular features will live on:

* The popular Monday Night Raw and pay-per-view Live Chats, hosted by WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel, will move to a new location on WWE.com’s main site (WWE.com/social/livechat).

* Finkel’s weekly blogs, as well as The Ross Report from Hall of Famer Jim Ross, will move to their Facebook pages.

* Our make-your-own-highlight-reel video creation factory known as “Smash-Ups” will be added to WWE.com in the near future.

While the site is going away, the WWE Universe will continue to live online. Please consider joining us on our popular outposts on the following social networks:

* Twitter: twitter.com/WWE

* Facebook: Facebook.com/WWE

* YouTube: YouTube.com/WWE

Our WWE Universe Twitter account, @WWEUniverse, will continue to provide answers to your fan questions, re-tweeting the best comments from our followers, Superstars and Divas, and provide live coverage and pictures from select WWE events.

In parting, I just want to say thank you to all the dedicated long-time members of this site that participated, contributed photos, blog posts, and comments in the Forums.

WWE appreciates your support over the past two years, and I hope you enjoyed your time on the site.

Thank you all for supporting WWEUniverse.com. We’ll see you on Facebook and Twitter.

Sincerely,
Corey Clayton
WWE Online Community Leader

— It was announced at last night’s SmackDown taping in Rochester, New York that Alberto Del Rio would face Rey Mysterio in a 2 of 3 Falls Match and Kane would face Edge in a Last Man Standing Match on the following week’s show.

— A match pitting Chris Masters against Tyler Reks was taped last night in Rochester, New York for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars.

— Percy Watson beat Curt Hawkins in a dark match prior to last night’s SmackDown taping in Rochester, New York.

source: PWInsider.com

WWE Champion The Miz was interviewed this week by Kevin Eck of the Baltimore Sun. Here are some highlights of what The Miz said about:

Reports That JBL Hazed Him Backstage When He First Joined WWE:

“It’s funny with JBL,” Miz said. “In front of all the boys back in the day he would always be making fun of me or saying [imitating JBL’s voice], ‘Miz, I look forward to your amazing work. You’re a gift from God.’ But whenever no one was around, he would come up to me and say, ‘You’re doing a good job.’

“He’d always give me a little pat on the back. Most people think he was really, really bad to me and this kind of stuff – and, granted, there were times – but there were also times when he sat me down and said, ‘Listen, you’re doing a good job. This is what you’re doing wrong. This is what you have to do to get to the next level.’ So he has helped me as well.”

Whether He’s Had His “Austin 3:16” Career Defining Moment Yet:

“I think there are defining moments in everything. If you asked me a year ago, I could find a defining moment. But as of right now my defining moment was Money in the Bank. It kind of set the tone that I’m the next main-eventer, I’m the next “future of this business,” and it set the tone for me winning the WWE championship, which then became the next defining moment in my life. Not many people get to say “I’m a WWE champion.” It’s pretty incredible just to hear those words coming out of my mouth. But as for what happens next, there are going to be so many defining moments in my career. My career is just getting started.”

His Time Working As Daniel Bryan’s NXT Coach:

“We were very cordial with each other, but you could tell on the inside that we were both trying to one-up one another because I thought I was better than him and he thought he was better than me,” said Miz. He also went on to say, “I thought I was better than him just because I’ve been in WWE for four years now and how long had he been in WWE? Zero time. He basically performed in front of 25 people at a bingo hall and was called the best in the world…”

You can check out the full interview at BaltimoreSun.com.

NXT Season 4: Week 3

John Cena suffered an apparent leg injury during last night’s Raw live event in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He was working a cage match against Wade Barrett that was stopped abruptly.

Below is a reader account of the ordeal:

“The Main event was a steel cage match between John Cena and Wade Barrett. A back and forth match with Wade Barrett trying to get out and Cena stopping him. After about 20 minutes, Wade gets Cena in the Wasteland and puts Cena on the mat. Everything seemed to stop. The trainers came to the ring and were talking to both Wade and John. All the sudden John throws a Lebell Lock type of hold (it was not the STF) and Wade tapped out. Wade left the ring rather quickly.

The announcer came out and brought the mic to John. John said, “I got a little beat up tonight and if I need to take some time off I will but I will not be carried from the ring.” The injury appeared to be to one of his legs. He wasn’t putting any weight on it. We couldn’t tell if was a hip injury, or something to do with his leg.”

Here is video from after the match, where John Cena acknowledges the injury:

WWE taped this week’s Smackdown tonight from the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. Thanks to Wrestling News World for this live report:

WWE Smackdown (Airing Friday on WGN America SyFy):

* The show opens with WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler out with Vickie Guerrero. Excuse me, there’s so much heat her words are nearly inaudible. They talk down John Cena as Vickie says she has vertigo. Kofi Kingston interrupts and talks about their match at WWE TLC. Jack Swagger comes out to join the two. Ziggler and Swagger get into it but Kofi ends up cleaning house. Teddy Long comes out and announces a triple-threat rematch for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

* Big Show b. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. Rhodes walked out on Show, getting himself counted out.

* Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Baretta ends when McIntyre flips Baretta over the top ropes to the outside. Baretta never got up and the referee called for the bell. Referees and trainers came out to check on Baretta but McIntyre pushed them out of the way and hit his finisher.

* World Heavyweight Champion Edge & Rey Mysterio b. Kane & Alberto Del Rio. The finish saw Mysterio hit the 619 on Del Rio followed by a spear by Edge.

* WWE Divas Champion Natalya & Beth Phoenix b. LayCool. The finish saw Natalya lock Layla in the Sharpshooter when Michelle McCool came in to break it up. Beth ended up getting tagged in and getting the pin.

* WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler b. Jack Swagger & Kofi Kingston in a triple-threat match to retain the title.

* Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio in a 2 out of 3 falls match and World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Kane in a Last Man Standing match are announced for next week’s show.

* Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero wearing jingle bells do a New Year’s singalong in the ring. Rey Mysterio comes out and hits a 619. Big Show comes out and hits a chokeslam. Edge gets out and hits a spear on Ziggler. Big Show gets on the mic and starts singing “goodbye” to Vickie with the crowd. He wishes everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. They all three beat up on Ziggler and celebrate.

Ashley Ann Vickers (a/k/a Ashley Valence) announced today on her official website that she has decided to part ways with World Wrestling Entertainment.

“As many of you know, I have had an amazing run the past 6 months with the WWE, but all good things must come to an end, and I am going in a different direction with my career at this time,” she explained. “I can’t express enough how appreciative I am of the experience and friendships I’ve made during my stay with WWE.”

She added that she is moving to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

The former emcee of the Memphis Grizzlies debuted in June as the co-host of NXT season two. She disappeared within weeks, but would resurface in Florida Championship Wrestling as a ring announcer. She appeared recently on two episodes of WWE Superstars, but disappeared once again.