— John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio is advertised for the July 30 Raw live event show at the Rockford MetroCentre in Rockford, Illinois. CM Punk, however, is not advertised for the show taking place in his home state. The Straight Edge Superstar has not renewed his contract with WWE, so it appears that if he does indeed leave the company, it would be by then.

— Randy Orton, Alicia Fox, Jinder Mahal, The Great Khali and Sheamus, among others, were trending on Twitter last night during SmackDown.

— This week’s episode of WWE Superstars featured 23 minutes and 45 seconds of wrestling action, up from the 21 minutes and 59 seconds the week before.

— WWE developmental wrestler Tyler Black celebrates his 25th birthday today while Kamala turns 61 years old. WWE Diva Natalya turned 29 years old on Friday and former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro turned 32 years old on Saturday.

— NXT Season 3 contestant AJ debuts on this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown. The WWE developmental wrestler partners with Kaitlyn in a tag team match against Alicia Fox and Tamina.

A product of the Northeast independent scene, AJ has been wrestling since September 2007. She signed a developmental contract with WWE in May 2009 and has accumulated the FCW Divas Championship and Queen of FCW crown since that time.

— Alberto Del Rio celebrates his 34th birthday today.

— A WWE SmackDown taping will be held on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 will be held at the Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, California.

— A SmackDown live event scheduled for Monday, August 29, 2011 in Topeka, Kansas has been canceled.

source: PWInsider.com

— A number of WWE Superstars were on hand for a press conference in Mexico City today, where WWE announced that for the first time ever, Raw and SmackDown will be broadcast from Mexico this October. Alberto Del Rio stated during the conference that his goal is to end The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania, reports SuperLuchas.net.

— Tough Enough will begin airing in Canada on the Fight Network on Monday, May 23.

— John Morrison is scheduled for an appearance at the FYE located at 40 Massachusetts Avenue NE in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 19 at 11:00 a.m. The signing is open to the first 200 attendees who purchase WrestleMania XXVII on DVD and Blu-Ray or the John Morrison: Rock Star DVD.

— Booker T is advertised to appear at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, June 4 as part of the annual FanFest.

source: PWInsider.com

— Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes are advertised to wrestle at this weekend’s SmackDown live events since Sin Cara is touring with Raw in Mexico and Mysterio isn’t.

— THQ held their first meetings yesterday regarding plans for the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2012 video game.

— Alberto Del Rio is scheduled for a rare autograph signing at the Best Buy in Davie, Florida on Friday, June 24 at 6:00 p.m.

— WWEShop.com has released a new WWE Divas Bling T-Shirt, a retro Raw is Waw T-Shirt and a retro WCW hat and T-Shirt.

– Vince McMahon’s appearance on Monday’s RAW and the special video tribute that aired during The Rock’s birthday celebration were kept secret from The Rock.

– During today’s investor conference call to discuss first -quarter WWE earnings for 2011, Vince McMahon revealed that WWE will soon be unveiling two brand new “live event” TV programs “in the not too distant future”. McMahon also stated that finding a network for those shows “would not be a problem.”

– WWE is currently discussing a summer program between new WWE Champion John Cena and RAW newcomer Alberto Del Rio, with a match between the two stars planned for SummerSlam in Los Angeles.

– Matches booked for upcoming WWE RAW live events include John Cena vs. The Miz, Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth vs. John Morrison and CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston.

– John Cena and The Rock will be using Twitter over the next 11 months to keep their feud heading into WrestleMania 28 next April.

– According to a WWE source, Sin Cara’s new merchandise is selling better than expected.

(Partial Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

— WWE.com is now listing Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez as a member of the Raw roster. While Del Rio was moved to Raw in last week’s Draft, Rodriguez, however, was not officially.

Meanwhile, Ranjin Singh is still listed a member of the Raw roster despite being drafted to SmackDown along with The Great Khali last Tuesday.

— Bret Hart posted the following on Twitter regarding the death of Osama bin Laden.

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

— WWE.com has posted a photo retrospective of Christian’s career. “Captain Charisma” captured the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time last night at Extreme Rules.

John Cena is a 10-time World Champion after defeating The Miz and John Morrison in a Steel Cage Match tonight at Extreme Rules.

The match concluded with The Miz teased the Skullcrushing Finale, which was countered by Cena using an Attitude Adjustment from the top rope. Cena made the cover to become the new WWE champion.

Earlier in the evening, Christian beat Alberto Del Rio in a Ladder Match to capture his first-ever World Heavyweight Championship.

The 21-minute contest concluded following interference from Edge, who made an unadvertised appearance to distract Del Rio. Christian proceeded to scale a ladder to capture his first major title in WWE.

Also changing hands was the United States Championship. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long scheduled an impromptu Tables Match between Kofi Kingston and United States Champion Sheamus, which resulted in the high-flyer smashing The Celtic Warrior through the hardwood to capture the title for a second time.

— Alberto Del Rio has been described by WWE sources as a master politician behind the scenes because he has figured out how to navigate the organization’s cutthroat environment quicker than almost anyone.

— Current plans call for Jim Ross to remain on WWE programming throughout the duration of Michael Cole’s ongoing storyline. His segments have performed strong quarter-hour numbers, which could factor into the company’s decision to keep him on television. Also note, there are no plans for Ross to permanently return to announcing.

— The August 1 Monday Night Raw taping will be held at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tickets go on sale May 14, 2011.

— The pre-sale code for the June 27 Monday Night Raw taping in Las Vegas, Nevada is CENA. The pre-sale is ongoing via Ticketmaster.com.

— This week’s episode of NXT featured 16 minutes and 30 seconds of in-ring action compared to 16 minutes and 12 seconds the week before.

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— John Cena was drafted to SmackDown with the first overall pick in the 2011 WWE Draft only to end up drafted back to Raw with the final draft pick of the night. Through Sunday night, there was discussion of permanently moving Cena to SmackDown with the belief that Randy Orton was a hot enough babyface to carry Raw on his own. Ultimately though, Orton was moved to SmackDown with Cena staying on Raw.

— Seldom seen Raw Superstar Michael Tarver is teasing a return to WWE programming. He wrote on Twitter, “I will bend without question but I DON’T BREAK I’ll come back BIGGER STRONGER and ANGRY.”

Tarver has continued to appear for Florida Championship Wrestling during his hiatus.

— Raw Superstar Alberto Del Rio’s theme song, “Realeza,” is now available on iTunes.

source: F4WOnline.com

– After a rocky WWE debut, SmackDown star Sin Cara continues to rub people the wrong way and has been described as “the guy with the biggest target on his back” in the WWE locker room. Sin  Cara was a major star in Mexico and is one of WWE’s biggest acquisitions in recent years.

Despite the fact that he’s a rookie in WWE, he acts like he’s an established star in WWE – which nobody likes. One person in particular that is not a fan of Sin Cara (to say the least) is Alberto Del Rio. While there is no real evidence that Del Rio is “out to get” Sin Cara in WWE, the two had heat from their time working together in Mexico and it’s no coincidence that Del Rio and Sin Cara were kept on separate brands after the Draft.

– Prior to Monday’s RAW, a video WWE posted a video of Mark Henry, who broke down crying when he spoke about getting back in shape. Henry weight got up to 450 pounds in recent months before he was able to drop down to 398.

Henry said he deserves to be World champion and will Henry said he feels like he deserves to be World Champion. This was filmed before Henry’s heel turn in the main event.

(Partial source: pwinsider.com)

— WWE officials are strongly considering awarding Christian the World Heavyweight Championship next Sunday at Extreme Rules.

Multiple sources expect his opponent, Alberto Del Rio, to be transferred to Raw during tonight’s WWE Draft.

— The April 22 episode of WWE SmackDown on Syfy scored a 1.87 cable rating, down nine percent from 2.05 the previous week.

The two-hour program averaged 2.8 million viewers, which is down six percent from April 15 and down fifteen percent from April 8.

The overall rating was the lowest since February 11 and the second-lowest of 2011.

— The Smackdown live event on September 10 in Halifax, Nova Scotia will be held at the Halifax Forum. A Raw live event taking place the same day in London, Ontario will be held at the John Labatt Centre.

sources: PWInsider.com, Pro Wrestling Torch

As we’ve been reporting here on the site, the recent surprise retirement of Edge has left the SmackDown brand in dire need of a top baby face. This is one of the main factors that led Vince McMahon to move this year’s WWE Draft from June to this Monday night’s episode of RAW.

WWE officials have discussed moving Alberto Del Rio to Raw during next Monday’s WWE Draft as he is currently penciled to headline SummerSlam against John Cena. It has also been broached for Del Rio move to the brand as World Heavyweight Champion, with The Miz, as WWE Champion, heading to SmackDown.

With that being said, the identities of who gets moved are constantly changing.

The entire mid-card, with Cody Rhodes, The Nexus, The Corre, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre and R-Truth specifically cited, are also strong candidates to change brands during the Draft.

COMMENT BELOW: We want to know who YOU think should switch brands at Monday’s Draft! If you are not already a member of SEScoops.com, REGISTER NOW and comment below!

– There are already plans for a sixth Fast and Furious movie, which will likely see The Rock return to the franchise. Fast Five premiers in theaters next weekend.

– Former WWE announcer and current ESPN news correspondent Jonathan Coachman has contacted The Rock and said that he may be at RAW next Monday (5/2) from Miami.

– In an interesting bit of trivia … the WWE Championship ladder match at at Extreme Rules between Christian and Alberto Del Rio is believed to be only the second time in company history where a match guarantees that someone will become World Champion for the first time. In the rare cases when there’s a vacated title on the line, at least one of the contenders has been WWE champion before. The only other WWE match when two superstars battled for a vacant WWE championship was on March 27th, 1988 – when Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase in the title tournament finals at WrestleMania 4.

– Jim Ross’ BBQ sauce business seems to be doing well since WWE’s shop website started carrying the products as Ross noted on Twitter this week that their online business is up almost 200% from last year. WWE’s shop website takes domestic and international orders from fans and then places the order with JR. JR noted that they just received their biggest order ever from WWE’s shop website.

— It was announced at Monday afternoon’s WWE RAW tapings from London that former World Heavyweight champion Edge will be appearing on Friday’s broadcast.

It was also announced that Alberto Del Rio will host a retirement party for Edge this Friday.

— WWE recently filed for the trademark “Kharma.” According to PWInsider.com, this will be the new in-ring name for Awesome Kong. The trademark was reportedly filed last Tuesday (April 12th.)

WWE aired the first promo video for Kong on last week’s RAW, which you can check out here.

With Edge having announced his retirement on Monday’s Raw, the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated last night on SmackDown.

Christian triumphed in a No. 1 Contender’s World Heavyweight Championship Battle Royal to face No. 1 contender Alberto Del Rio for the vacant World Title at Extreme Rules. The two will face off in a ladder match.

Below is the updated card for Extreme Rules, which takes place May 1.

WWE Championship Triple Threat Match
The Miz (c) vs. R-Truth vs. John Cena

World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match
Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match.

Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross vs. Jack Swagger and Michael Cole

– Following the surprise retirement of Edge, it’s widely assumed in WWE that it’s only a matter of time before Alberto Del Rio is crowned the new World Heavyweight champion – and it will most likely happen at Extreme Rules when he faces Christian in a Ladder match for the vacant title.

WWE has had plans for Del Rio to win the title this year at the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 27, but scrapped those plans both times.

– Injured WWE star Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes has been backstage at WWE’s recent television tapings. Goldust has reportedly been trying to get a job as an agent behind the scenes.

– Former WWE star Chris Jericho appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night to promote his Undisputed book and his current run on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Of course the question came up of when Jericho will return to wrestling. He said that he’ll return when he feels stimulated to go back and can do something different than he’s done in his previous runs.

Regarding the Tonight Show appearance, Chris Jericho tweeted:

“Had the best time on The Tonight Show! Thx to @jayleno for adding me to the amazing list of guests that have been on over the last 50 yrs…”

He also posted this picture of himself from the appearance:

(Partial Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

SESCOOPS will be doing LIVE COVERAGE of EXTREME RULES

Following Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings (set to air this Friday), here’s the updated card for Extreme Rules:

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship
The Miz (c) vs. John Cena vs. R-Truth

Ladder Match for the Vacant World Heavyweight Title
Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio

Tag Team Match
Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole and Jack Swagger

— WWE issued a press release touting WrestleMania XXVII as the most attended entertainment event in Georgia Dome history, with 71,617 in attendance.

WWE claims the previous attendance record at the Georgia Dome for an entertainment event was set by The Backstreet Boys, which attracted 65,658 fans on February 19, 2000. WWE’s statement is false as according to a 2009 article on Billboard.com, that particular Backstreet Boys concert drew 73,337, not 65,658.

— Alberto Del Rio’s loss to Edge last night at WrestleMania XXVII marks as the fourth consecutive year that the Royal Rumble winner has failed to win the title at WrestleMania.

Edge, Randy Orton, John Cena and Del Rio have all lost their respective title matches at WrestleMania after winning the Royal Rumble. The last WWE Superstar to win a championship at WrestleMania after winning the Royal Rumble was The Undertaker in 2007.

— WWE Champion The Miz is featured on the promotional poster for WWE’s Over the Limit pay-per-view event, which takes place May 22, 2011 at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington.

— The theme for WWE Classics On Demand programming during the month of May is the 90s.

— Alberto Del Rio is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Inside Wrestling.

Rumors recently surfaced online indicating that Rey Mysterio asked World Wrestling Entertainment officials to release him from his contract following WrestleMania XXVII. Mysterio, however, shot down the rumors on his Twitter account, saying he did not ask to be released and that he will be around for a while.

Former WCW star Konnan, a longtime friend of Mysterio, told Pro Wrestling Torch writer Jason Powell via e-mail that the assumption that the SmackDown star is bothered by the recent signing of Mexican sensation Sin Cara is way off. He said Mysterio isn’t the type to be jealous. Rather, he welcomes new talent as potential rivals or teammates.

It would appear that Mysterio and Sin Cara will be kept on opposite WWE brands for the time being as the newcomer is slated to initially work Raw live events. He made his first appearance inside a WWE ring at last night’s Raw house show in Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois, defeating WWE Superstars fixture Primo.

Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rio was asked to comment on WWE signing Sin Cara during an interview published earlier this week on latino.foxnews.com. While the article says he is “pleased” to hear WWE sign a fellow countryman, he doesn’t acknowledge Sin Cara in particular. He instead says that he’s happy WWE is using a number of Latino wrestlers, before turning the subject back to himself.

“I’m just happy this company uses so many Latino talent,” Del Rio said. “There is so much talent out there, from Puerto Rico to Mexico, just to name a few. I hope it continues like that. Because of that, I am here and getting all these opportunities.”

According to f4wonline.com editor Bryan Alvarez, the claim of Del Rio being “pleased” about Sin Cara joining WWE is contrary to a behind the scenes story he heard. However, he would not elaborate.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch, f4wonline.com

Alberto Del Rio was interviewed recently by the Fox News website, here are some highlights of what he said about:

His WrestleMania Title Match: “It’s incredible. It’s going to be the peak of my career. My family, my entire country is going to be proud of me. As a kid, all I wanted to do was be a wrestler. Now that I’m here in WWE – WrestleMania is our NBA, our Super Bowl, our World Series of professional wrestling. As a wrestler, as a performer, I always dreamed of being in something like that. I’m fulfilling my dreams. It is the reason I left my country, my family and friends behind.”

WWE Signing Sin Cara: “I’m just happy this company uses so many Latino talent. There is so much talent out there, from Puerto Rico to Mexico, just to name a few. I hope it continues like that. Because of that, I am here and getting all these opportunities.”

Taking His Mask Off & Coming To WWE: ““I’m not missing anything from Mexico or my former characterThat was a time in my life when I wore the mask in Mexico and Japan and I enjoyed it. I have been to 14 different countries since being here [in WWE]. I can say I’m writing my own story, a bright story, because I am doing incredible things in the most important [wrestling] company in the world. I’m totally happy about my present and about my future.”

To read the full article, visit Latino.Foxnews.com.

– As previously reported, Jersey Shore star Snooki will be hosting Monday’s episode of WWE RAW. John Cena tweeted the following about Snooki coming to RAW:

JohnCena CeNation. Very excited bout @sn00ki comin 2 raw. Now I can beat up a washed up reality star ( miz). In front of a real one! :)

– SmackDown star Alberto Del Rio revealed in a MyFox Houston interview this week that his current WWE contract is for three years.

– MTV has announced that WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper will be appearing on the new season of Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.

– In a dark match that took place after Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from Houston, John Cena, Big Show, Rey Mysterio  and Christian beat Alberto Del Rio and The Corre. John Cena got the win for his team.

As reported earlier, former WWE superstar Shelton Benjamin wrestled a tryout match prior to the tapings. To read more on that, check out:

Shelton Benjamin Works Dark Match Prior To SmackDown Taping

Here are some highlights of Fanhouse.com’s recent interview with WWE superstar Rey Mysterio:

Sin Cara Signing With WWE: “I think the opportunity now shown is that the doors are open for anybody that has the quality to be part of WWE,” Mysterio said. “You have the talent, you have the desire to be a superstar, come and the doors will be open and if you can make it, you’ll be one of the top dogs. Alberto (Del Rio) is a big proof.

• Pictures of Sin Cara UNMASKED

“When I came into the United States, I pretty much followed the Guerreros and Jerichos, a path as they just left Mexico and went on to ECW, WCW and WWE. So it was kind of a little train that we were taking around. It kind of feels good in a way that those doors have been opened for other Mexican wrestlers. Like you said, now with Mistico coming in, I want to say that I think those doors were eventually opened by the talent that myself, Eddie and a lot of wrestlers that started their careers in Mexico have opened up for other guys.”

Alberto Del Rio’s Big Push: I think it’s awesome. If there’s anything that is not part of myself and who I am it’s jealousy and envy. I always wish Alberto the best even though we clash in the ring. But he comes from a second-generation family. Growing up, his father was one of my all-time favorite wrestlers (Dos Caras). Even though for the short amount of time that he’s been a part of this company he’s succeeded very well.”

“It took me a lot of years to adapt to [the WWE] style and learning from the best, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, the (Chris) Jerichos, the (Chris) Benoits. But I think for Alberto it’s been a learning process. He’s adapting slowly but surely and I think in this business there’s always something new to learn and that you’re always evolving.”

Retirement: “I’m 36 years old right now and I feel good. Besides my knee, after the first surgery, it’s always slowed me down a bit but I’ve been able to adapt and modify my work to the extent of being able to still entertain the fans. If I can still entertain them and do what I do best, then I’m good for still a good amount of years. There’s still nothing in the back of my mind. I think that whenever I do call it quits, it’s quits and it’s family time for me. My kids are growing and I’ve missed out a lot on being with them. I definitely have told myself throughout the years that, even to my wife, that whenever I do plan to retire, whenever that day comes, it’s going to be complete family time.”

Royal Rumble winner Alberto Del Rio was interviewed for the latest issue of WWE Magazine. Here are some highlights of what Del Rio said about:

Comparisons To JBL: “JBL was one person, and I’m a different person. He was American, and I’m Mexican. And our styles are totally different. Sure some things are alike…the money, the big entrance, our classic manliness, our hatred of Rey Mysterio. But to say we are the same is lazy, which is why so many of you Americans are making the comparison, I think. All rich people aren’t the same!”

His Promo Videos: “A guy like me needs 100 weeks of promos,” he said. “Eight weeks was enough to let people get a feel for who I am, but I could have talked about myself for another 92 weeks. I’m not a new guy, I’m not a rookie. I’m a third-generation wrestler. And I’m a guy with experience. The long promo time made it so that people were aching to see Alberto Del Rio. And when they finally did, they said, “Oh, he’s not just some rich guy—he’s someone who can really, really wrestle.” Because I am, and I can.”

His Flying Arm Bar Finishing Move: “That is because there is no name worthy of how amazing it is,” Del Rio responded. “The commentators call it the cross-arm breaker, but it’s so much more than that. If a fan came up with a really good name, I might pay them for it. Perhaps I’ll have a contest. That’s how my father’s name, Dos Caras, came about in Mexico. It was in a magazine, and a fan designed the mask and came up with the name.

“I certainly have the money to spare. Americans are always coming to Mexicans with work opportunities, so it’s the least I can do.”

John Cena prevailed over Randy Orton, CM Punk, John Morrison, R-Truth and Sheamus in Raw’s Elimination Chamber Match tonight at Elimination Chamber, last pinning The Straight Edge Superstar. He is set for a WWE Championship Match at WrestleMania XXVII against The Miz, who retained his title against Jerry Lawler.

Earlier in the show, Edge retained the World Heavyweight Championship in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber Match, outlasting Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Kane, Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre. His triumph in the Elimination Chamber solidified his main event match with 2011 Royal Rumble winner Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania.

WWE Championship Match
The Miz (c) vs. John Cena

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio