— WWE has released developmental wrestler Kyle Rasmussen (a/k/a Conrad Tanner), a 6’4″, 300 pound former Michigan State football player John Laurinaitis signed last year following a tryout.

Also released this past week were developmental talents Daniel Skyler, Devin Allen, Dr. Cable Jones, Fahd Rakman, Ron Myers and Rhys Ali.

All seven have been removed from the roster page of the official website of Florida Championship Wrestling.

— Two additional matches were taped for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars last night in Richmond, Virginia: JTG vs. Chavo Guerrero; Trent Barreta vs. Curt Hawkins.

A tag team match pitting Melina and Gail Kim against Maryse and Alicia Fox was taped Monday in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

— The pre-sale password for Monday Night Raw in Little Rock, Arkansas on Jan. 17, 2011 is CENANEXUS. The pre-sale is ongoing on Ticketmaster.com.

The results of the latest NXT Poll were revealed on Tuesday’s episode of WWE NXT and it was disclosed that Aksana has been eliminated from the competition.

Immediately following the announcement, “The Billion Dollar Baby” pretended to faint. Aksana grabbed the mic from the floor and said, “Somebody make mistake.” She vowed to come back and said she will go to Vince McMahon’s office and write a letter. She then blew kisses to the crowd and walked up the ramp before being stopped by Goldust. He pulled out a piece of paper and said he wants a divorce. She screamed and stormed off.

It was announced that an elimination would occur on next week’s show.

Three contestants remain—AJ, Kaitlyn and Naomi. The season finale takes place in two weeks.

UPDATE: WWE employee Joey Styles actually spoiled this week’s NXT elimination on Twitter before it occured on WWE.com. Styles wrote on Tuesday:

“Oh the hell with this, this show was taped over three hours ago. Aksana was eliminated. Who cares?”

“I can’t watch this episode any more.”

“Yes I spoiled the end of this awful episode. Tweet your complaints to me @joeystyles.”

WWE’s official NXT Twitter account posted the following apology in response to Styles’ “unprofessional” actions:

“WWE apologizes for @JoeyStyles’ tweet spoiling tonight’s @WWENXT elimination. His actions were unprofessional & unacceptable.”

Ticketmaster.com is advertising two matches for Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view that have yet to be officially announced by WWE.

Advertised for the event is an Intercontinental Championship bout between Dolph Ziggler and Kaval. This match was made official at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings, where Kaval announced he’d be cashing in his open title shot (from winning NXT Season 2) against Ziggler on Sunday.

Also advertised by Ticketmaster is Daniel Bryan defending the United States Championship against Ted DiBiase.

With those matches set, here’s the updated card for Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series PPV:

WWE Championship Match
Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett (with John Cena as the special guest referee)
Should Barrett win, Cena is freed from The Nexus. Should Barrett lose, Cena is fired from WWE.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge vs. Kane (c)

WWE Divas Championship Match
Natalya vs. Michelle McCool and Layla (c)

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater (c)

Survivor Series Elimination Match
Rey Mysterio, Big Show, MVP, Kofi Kingston and Chris Masters vs. Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Tyler Reks

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

— There is talk that if WWE officials are satisfied with the rating for last night’s “Old School” episode of Raw, they’ll hold another one next year.

The show garnered an overall cable rating of 3.1, and a 3.2 during its regular time slot. The show averaged a 3.1 cable rating the prior five weeks.

— The Nov. 13 episode of A.M. Raw scored a 0.47 cable rating, with 516,000 viewers.

— Eliminated NXT season three contestant Maxine set a manipulated photo of herself donning a Nexus T-shirt as her avatar on Twitter. She teasingly wrote “Never know!!” in regards to joining the faction.

sources: F4WOnline.com, PWInsider.com

— Numerous wrestlers had a great time last night at Raw, particularly those who grew up around the wrestling industry. Likewise, a number of legends were excited to meet some of the generational wrestlers, particularly Michael McGillicutty (a/k/a Joe Hennig) since his dad was beloved. The show also gave th legends a chance to see the likes of Tamina and Husky Harris, who they observed growing up.

Members of The Nexus reportedly watched “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s promo intently and the biggest reaction backstage occurred when Mae Young referred to Lay-Cool as “sluts” and “bitches.” Her remarks reportedly made Vince McMahon laugh.

— It is said that most everyone in WWE wants Jim Ross to return to the broadcast booth. However, the final decision lies with Vince McMahon.

— The person who fell down hitting the ring during last night’s pull-apart brawl between John Cena and Randy Orton was WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Lauranitis.

source: F4WOnline.com

Monday’s 3-hour “Old School” edition of WWE RAW drew a 3.1 rating and averaged 4,527,000 viewers.

The final two hours (the normal timeslot) did a 3.2 rating with 4,758,000 viewers.

The show did hours of 2.74, 3.20 and 3.22.

Last week’s show did a 3.1, which is also the 5-week average.

• COMMENT HERE: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF “OLD SCHOOL” RAW?

(Source: pwinsider.com)

Bonnie Hammer

The LA Times is reporting that USA Network President and longtime WWE ally Bonnie Hammer is getting a big promotion as part of the corporate merger between NBC Universal (parent company of USA Network) and Comcast. Hammer, who is currently in charge of USA and SyFy networks, will now also run E! Entertainment Television and the G-4 network.

Bonnie Hammer has been working with WWE since the late 1990s and was instrumental in bringing WWE back to the USA Network when its contract with Spike TV came up.

Hammer gave the green light to bringing ECW, NXT and SmackDown to Syfy.

Hammer has a track record of creating synergy among the NBC Universal properties. Having a strong ally in such a powerful position at NBC Universal could certainly be beneficial to WWE.

For more on this story, visit LATimes.com.

Former WWE star Shawn Michaels was forced into retirement after losing his WrestleMania rematch against The Undertaker back in March and he’s been very firm that his days in the ring are over.

Michaels returned to the road last week promoting ticket sales for WrestleMania XXVII in Atlanta, Georgia. Both he and Triple H made numerous public appearances throughout the city, with HBK addressing his current WWE status in interviews. Michaels said he was happy with his career and that he went out on top. He was asked to help promote the event since most of the top WWE stars were overseas touring.

Company officials want to continue utilizing Michaels as they are hopeful he returns at the event to appear as a special guest referee for a match involving The Undertaker. Creative has a storyline in mind where Michaels would have the opportunity to gain revenge on The Deadman by ending his undefeated streak at WrestleMania. However, said plans are extremely tentative due to the SmackDown star recently undergoing shoulder surgery. It’s said to be touch-and-go on whether he’ll be healthy enough to compete in a singles match at the event.

Creative has a worst-case scenario in place which would involve him teaming with Kane in a multi-man tag team match against The Nexus where he could be protected.

(source: F4WOnline.com)

— Evan Bourne has resumed training and is taking part in physical therapy after undergoing surgery last month to repair a torn rotator cuff. He is expected to return to action in February or March.

— Former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler stars in two upcoming direct-to-DVD films; Fixing Pete (set for release in January) and Dysfunctional Friends (out in May).

— Former WWE star James “Jimmy Wang Yang” Yun appeared on this week’s Right After Wrestling radio show and revealed a pretty interesting news item. Yung takes credit for being the person who discovered WWE newcomer Sheamus:

“I’m the one who got Sheamus his job. I picked him out in Milan, Italy and said ‘I’m gonna test this guy out’ and look at him now, he’s done great. I saw the workouts earlier and they told me that I could work with anyone I wanted. It came down to him and another German guy. I went to both guys and I asked ‘who does Italy hate the most, Germans or Irishmen?’ They both told me Irishmen so I ended up picking Sheamus to work that night. The rest is history.”

– Prior to Monday’s Old School RAW, two matches were taped for Superstars:

* Melina and Gail Kim vs. Maryse and Alicia Fox

* Yoshi Tatsu vs. Primo.

CM Punk joined the announcer’s table during these matches.

– After RAW went off the air, Randy Orton got up and took out Wade Barrett with an RKO. The advertised dark match main event of Orton vs. Barrett vs. Sheamus vs. John Cena did not take place.

– With Mae Young’s win over LayCool on last night’s RAW, she becomes the only pro wrestler in history to compete in nine decades! Mae Young has wrestled matches in the 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s and now the 2010’s. Congratulations to her on this historic achievement.

– Based on several live reports sent in from fans who were at RAW, Jim Ross got the loudest pop of the night by far. Randy Orton and Slick also got big reactions from the crowd.

– Not much happened during the commercial breaks aside from a few Kiss Cam segments.

– The Iron Sheik came down the ring in a wheelchair. He had a very tough time entering and exiting the ring.

– Overall everybody said it was a fun night and the crowd was very into the whole show.

– WWE Legends who appeared on last night’s RAW were Jim Ross, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snukka, Howard Finkel, Mean Gene Okerlund, Slick, Ted DiBiase, Dusty Rhodes, George “The Animal” Steele, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, IRS, Tito Santana, Cowboy Bob Orton, Ron Simmons, Tony Atlas, Tatanka, Arn Anderson, Gerald Brisco, Mae Young, the Brooklyn Brawler, Harvey Whippleman and Chavo Classic.

WWE superstar Triple H was recently interviewed by SBNation Atlanta while in town to hype WrestleMania 27 tickets going on sale last week.

During the interview, Triple H took a few shots at former WCW and WWE star Bill Goldberg. When asked about his favorite opponents, Triple H responded:

“For me, from my singles career, would probably be Rock and obviously Shawn. Between there I had a lot of hodge-podge guys, which weren’t really what you’d call classics. The Goldbergs and guys like that.”

Goldberg is a former Atlanta Falcons NFL player and made his name in the Atlanta-based WCW promotion. When asked wether Bill Goldberg deserved to be inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame in Atlanta during WrestleMania 27 weekend, Triple H responded with:

“Bill’s trying to get into the Hall of Fame. If there’s a rumor about him coming back, he probably started it. I’ve not seen any mention of his name.”

Goldberg has now responded to Triple H’s comments, writing on Twitter:

“I read HHH and HBK’s views on the #WWE HOF….everyone is entitled to their own opinion.They do have a point if induction is based on tenure”

UPDATE: WWE star Chris Jericho has also commented on the possibility of Goldberg in the WWE Hall of Fame. Jericho, who has had issues with Goldberg over the years (Goldberg not wanting to put him over in WCW and Jericho getting the best of Goldberg in a backstage scuffle), wrote:

“Hope Goldberg gets inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame! Why not, Greg Valentine, Tito Santana and Koko B. Ware are in….”

— It has been confirmed that Devin Allen, Dr. Cable Jones, Fahd Rakman, Ron Myers, Rhys Ali and referee Daniel Skyler were released from their developmental contracts with WWE over the weekend.

FCW talents Byron Saxton, Eli Cottonwood, Lucky Cannon and Rhys Ali were also removed from the FCW website’s roster page, but have since been placed back. They have not been cut.

— David Hart Smith noted on his Twitter account that he met former WWE star Dynamite Kid (a/k/a Tom Billington) during the company’s recent tour of Europe. Billington is best known for being half of the tag team The British Bulldogs with Smith’s father, Davey Boy. Billington currently resides in Manchester, England and suffers from the after-effects of steroids and his high-impact wrestling style, which has left him confined to a wheelchair and partially paralyzed.

— Multiple WWE related terms trended on Twitter during Monday’s “Old School” episode of Raw including “#OldSchoolRaw”, “Brawler” and “Jim Ross.”

– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross went on Twitter last night shortly after appearing on WWE RAW and had this to say about his return:

“Had a blast tonight seeing so many old friends at Raw. Working with King against was a hoot. It felt like old times.”

He later added:

“After 13 months off commentary I was a little rusty on Raw. Hope my work wasn’t too bad. Hope 2 get another shot. some day. Who knows?”

– Jericho also commented on Jim Ross’ return to the announcer’s table on RAW and gave this analogy:

“The difference between Jim Ross and Micheal Cole is the difference between Paul Newman and Paulie Shore…”

– CM Punk will be doing ringside commentary on this week’s episode of WWE Superstars. Punk will be calling a match between Primo and Yoshi Tatsu.

– Last week’s episode of WWE SmackDown garnered a 1.7 cable rating, with 2.69 million viewers. Both numbers are down from the previous week’s show, which drew a 1.8 cable rating, with 2.77 million viewers. (Source: PWinsider.com)

WWE Survivor Series 2010

Several new matches were added to Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view on this week’s RAW. Here’s the updated card:

WWE Championship Match
Randy Orton (c) vs. Wade Barrett (with special guest referee John Cena)
(If Barrett wins the WWE title, Cena is free to leave Nexus. If Barrett does not win the WWE title, Cena is gone from WWE)

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kane (c) vs. Edge

WWE Tag Team Title Match
Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel (c) vs. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov

Survivor Series Elimination Match
Rey Mysterio, Big Show, MVP, Kofi Kingston and Chris Masters vs. Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Tyler Reks

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

WWE Divas Championship Match
Michelle McCool (c) vs. Natalya

BE HERE on Sunday, November 21st for our LIVE COVERAGE of WWE Survivor Series!

— Jim Ross noted on his Twitter account last night that Jerry “The King” Lawler will be on hand for tonight’s “Old School” episode of Raw. A knee injury forced him to miss last week’s show.

— WWE.com has added a new section to its website previewing upcoming movies, entitled “WWE Viewing Room.” Currently featured on the site is Faster, starring former WWE talent Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The action thriller drama hits theaters Nov. 26.

— WWE is offering discounted tickets for the Dec. 13 Raw taping in New Orleans, LA at the New Orleans Arena. With the password 440WWE, four tickets to the event can be ordered for $40, plus Ticketmaster charges.

– WWE legend “Macho Man” Randy Savage is celebrating his 58th birthday today, November 15th.

Check Out: Randy Savage Marries Girlfriend Lynn (Wedding Pictures)

– To update the story that WWE is planning to build a pysical Hall of Fame, we’ve heard the company has sent out letters to various potential host cities explaining the potential benefits to the cities. WWE is looking for the host city to contribute to the costs associated with building and maintaining a Hall of Fame facility. The project is in its very early stages and nothing is expected to happen for 2-3 more years.

– NASCAR driver Carl Edward has been celebrating his recent racing victories by running into the crowd and celebrating with the fans. Edwards recently wrote on Twitter that this new celebration was inspired by WWE star John Cena, whom he worked with on a Gilette commercial shoot.

– According to reports out of India, celebrity Pamela Anderson will joining the cast of India’s “Big Brother” reality show, which currently features WWE star the Great Khali.

— Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Justin Credible declined an offer from WWE to appear on tonight’s “Old School” episode of Monday Night Raw. It is likely that Credible would have reprised his former Aldo Montoya character, which has been the butt of jokes in WWE Magazine.

— The Nov. 11 episode of WWE Superstars scored a 0.56 cable rating, with 627,000 viewers.

— All December, WWE Classics On Demand celebrates “Season’s Beatings,” featuring memorable holiday shows and festive moments.

sources: prowrestling.net, pwinsider.com

One of the big topics of discussion over the weekend is WWE’s new “Top 50 Superstars Of All Time” DVD. The list was posted online and has left many longtime fans scratching their heads.

For example, one has to wonder how WWE can seriously rank Rey Mysterio at #9 ahead of Hulk Hogan, who barely made the Top 25 at #23.

• View Here: WWE Ranks The Top 50 Superstars Of All Time

WWE Hall of Famers Steve Austin, who was ranked #3, and Jim Ross went on Twitter and spoke about the curious rankings.

Steve Austin wrote, “i dont know the criteria for the WWE top 50 list…but i disagree with 85% of it.”

Jim Ross said: “Hogan & Rock not being in top 10 n wwe top 50 dvd shocked me. Is shock 2 strong a word? Everyones entitled 2 their opinion.”

The Rock actually was listed at #5, and Jim Ross later corrected himself:

“My bad on Rock’s lofty rtg on wwe’s top 50 dvd. Hulk should have been higher but argument can b made 4 others too. I liked the dvd. Buy it.”.

In this week’s SEScoops.com “Sound Off” audio show, our own Solomonster shared his thoughts on WWE’s Top 50 list – you should definitely check that out below:

• Listen Here: Sound Off 134: Ripping WWE’s Top 50 Greatest List To Shreds!

World Wrestling Entertainment released five developmental talents over the weekend; Dr. Cable Jones, Devin Allen, Fahd Rakman, Ron Myers, Rhys Ali and referee Daniel Skyler.

All six were removed from the roster page of the official website of Florida Championship Wrestling.

Saturday, November 13th marked the 5-year anniversary of the death of former WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero.

WWE stars Edge and Rey Mysterio paid tribute to Eddie at Saturday’s live WWE event in Germany. Rey talked to the crowd about Eddie after he and Edge defeated the team of Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger. He and Edge celebrated in the ring after their match doing some of Eddie’s signature poses.

“Eddie Guerrero” was one of the top trending topics on Twitter on Saturday, with Eddie’s family and former colleagues paying their respects on Twitter:

Chavo Guerrero: “5 yrs ago today we lost 1of the greatest of all time. Wrestler and person. Eddie Guerrero!”

Vickie Guerrero: “Today is a day of remembrance that is heavy on my heart”

Chris Jericho: “Eddy Guerrero was a good friend and a good man. I miss his friendship, humor and wisdom every day. Que Paso Putillo Falso?!?”

Kurt Angle: “Today is a day to honor the greatest wrestler I had the privilege to wrestle with. Eddie guerrerro left this world 5 years ago. I miss him.”

Taz: “Eddie G, u r missed & loved by millions. I miss your humor, amazing talent & your friendship! U will never be forgotten….RIP bro.”

CM Punk: “I wake up and plan to try to get Eddie Guerreros name to trend and it already is! Good Job people.”

Goldust: “I am a big fan of the boys who can actually work…like eddie”

Mickie James: “R.I.P. Eddie =) “Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.” Eskimo Proverb.”

— WWE has made an aggressive effort to erase the rogue “producer’s cut” version of the Nov. 2 episode of NXT from the Internet as the video has been removed from websites other than YouTube including a popular Japanese video sharing site and megaupload.com.

— English women’s wrestler Britani “The Norfolk Doll” Knight, who is 18 years old, participated in a tryout match for WWE prior to last Wednesday’s Raw live event at the O2 Arena in London. Knight’s brother, Zak Zodiac, also took part in a tryout.

Knight’s parents are also professional wrestlers and she has been wrestling since she was 13 years old.

— On Monday, Nov. 22 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Kelly Kelly will be appearing at the KIA of Orange Park located at 6373 Blanding Blvd. Jacksonvvile, Florida, 32244.

— Former WWE talent Chris Chavis (a/k/a Tatanka) was on hand for yesterday’s Ring of Honor event in Mississauga, Ontario and confirmed to Live Audio Wrestling that he was contacted by WWE official John Laurinaitis to appear on tomorrow’s “Old School” Raw in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Chavis told The LAW that he expects to work a tag match on the show and was instructed to bring his ring gear.

— Tickets for WrestleMania XXVII went on sale to the public yesterday. It’s said to be the slowest advance in years.

— With most of the WWE crew overseas, those in Atlanta promoting WrestleMania XXVII besides Shawn Michaels and Triple H were Ricky Steamboat, Evan Bourne and the Bella Twins.

sources: pwinsider.com, f4wonline

Triple H and Shawn Michaels appeared at the Atlanta Falcon’s NFL football game on Thursday night and actually got some microphone time to address the stadium crowd.

The duo was in town to promote the release of WrestleMania 27 tickets, which went on sale Saturday.

Here’s a video of  Triple H and Shawn Michaels representing DX at the Georgia Dome:

— Bret Hart returned to the ring Friday at WWE’s SmackDown live event in Cologne, Germany. “The Hitman” teamed with David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd to defeat Husky Harris, Heath Slater and David Otunga. The match concluded when Slater tapped out to Hart’s Sharpshooter.

— Shawn Michaels and Triple H were at the Georgia Dome Thursday before the Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Ravens game. They briefly discussed WrestleMania XXVII before doing the signature ‘Are You Ready’ bit. HBK explained they had to say ‘Rise Up’ instead of a certain catchphrase because it’s the Falcons slogan this year, and also because they don’t want to get in trouble.

To view video from their appearance, click here.

— According to an SPC stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, signs have been posted around the military base advertising WWE’s annual Tribute to the Troops event for Saturday, Dec. 11.

The hour-long special will air 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST the following Saturday on NBC and chronicle WWE Superstars and Divas visiting Fort Hood to meet with the troops and their families, culminating with a live in-ring performance in front of thousands of military personnel.

— A clip of Edge’s profile in WWE’s forthcoming Top 50 Superstars of All Time DVD has been released. The clip highlights his WWE career in under three minutes and features comments from fellow colleagues such as John Cena and William Regal.

To view the video profile, click here.

— Former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia has been announced for Wizard World’s Miami Comic Con, which takes place Feb. 26-27 at the Miami Airport Convention Center in Miami, Florida.