— Bret Hart criticized WWE’s utilization of Drew McIntyre, who headlined last week’s episode of WWE Superstars against Chris Masters.

He wrote on Twitter, “I honestly can’t believe that the best way 2 utilize a talent like Drew McIntyre is 2 waste him on Superstars. Who’s genius is that? Idiot!”

— NXT Season 3 contestant AJ is on the road with the SmackDown brand this week. She worked last night’s SmackDown live event in Lake Charles, Louisiana, teaming with Natalya in a match against Rosa Mendes and Alicia Fox. Natalya made Mendes submit to the sharpshooter.

The bout marked as Fox’s first in-ring appearance since suffering a shoulder injury at the May 3 SmackDown taping.

— Ron Simmons celebrates his 53rd birthday today.

source: PWInsider.com

Tough Enough contestant Christina Crawford hopes to one day win the WWE Divas Championship. But the person she would like to take the belt from is the same person who inspired her to be a Diva in the first place — her sister, Victoria — better known as Alicia Fox.

* PICTURES of Christina Crawford

“I would love love love to win that title one day,” Crawford told CentralFloridaFuture.com. “But it would be the best if I could take it from my sister.”

Ever since her sister joined WWE, Crawford wanted to follow in her footsteps. She said Tough Enough is a once in a lifetime opportunity that she can’t pass up.

“What started my dream of working with the WWE was when my sister got hired, but I was too young at the time to apply,” Crawford said. “My dream was to go to school and then I would try out for the WWE.”

She is excited that she may work with her one day.

“She is on the main roster and I haven’t gotten the chance to work with her yet,” Crawford said. “But we do hang out together and it’s great moral support.”

One of the most important things the trainers teach the contestants is how to avoid getting hurt. Even though wrestling is staged, the injuries are real.

“I am not worried about injuries because the training environment is always safe,” Crawford said. “The trainers are helping us learn to build and to protect our body.”

The article is available here.

— The Raw crew concludes their near two-week long international tour today and tomorrow in Qatar. The shows, however, will be without the “Sexy, Smart and Powerful” WWE Divas as they are prohibited from wearing clothing that doesn’t cover their legs or shoulders in public. Qatar is an Islamic country with strict dress laws.

Eve Torres and The Bella Twins, among others, have already flown back to the United States.

— Michael Cole had his Extreme Rules tag team partner, Jack Swagger, join him as a woman, who looked vaguely like the Queen of England, enter the ring and knight him on this week’s episode of Raw. The entire segment was cut from the encore telecast on Sky Sports in the UK, as well as most references to it.

This was not the only segment cut from the replay as R-Truth smoking a cigarette was also edited out.

— Donald Moore (a/k/a Dr. Cable Jones), who was released from his developmental contract with WWE in November, is considering resuming his wrestling career on the independent scene after undergoing major shoulder surgery. (Thanks to Don Tintle)

source: PWInsider.com

— Vickie Guerrero introduced the “new and improved” Dolph Ziggler on Monday’s episode of Raw as he unveiled a freshly trimmed head of brown hair just before facing Evan Bourne.

The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion is not thrilled with his new ‘do as he wrote the following on his personal Facebook account the morning after the show: “I feel like ‘bender’ from Futurama, when they chopped off his antenna….”

— Tyler Reks is in action on this week’s episode of WWE Superstars as he faces JTG. Also featured is Maryse vs. Natalya and Mark Henry vs. Ted DiBiase.

The episode is available here.

— Alicia Fox has replaced Melina on the last leg of Raw’s ongoing tour of Europe. The brand’s tour concludes Saturday in Doha, Qatar.

— Footage has surfaced from the live feed of Monday’s Raw of Melina, Maryse and Alicia Fox apparently ad-libbing a promo prior to their Divas Tag Match against Natalya, Eve Torres and Brie Bella.

Melina gives a half-hearted explanation for her recent actions against Natalya by simply saying, “I guess I don’t really have anything to say other than, I guess I just get a little emotional.” She then laughs and passes the microphone to Maryse, who proceeds to speak in French. Alicia Fox then says, “This is true class right here so just get used to it.”

Click here to see the video.

— Several top World Wrestling Entertainment executives received major stock options at the end of 2010. For instance, Executive Vice President of Television Production Kevin Dunn sold 18,000 shares for $258,300 on Dec 29. Shares of WWE stock owned by Dunn are currently worth $1.77 million. A trust fund Vince McMahon earmarked in 2008, which is separate from his own stock portfolio, sold 2,866,944 shares on Dec. 29—equal to $41,140,646. The current value of his trust fund following the sale is approximately $146 millio

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

– Monday’s episode of WWE Monday Night RAW scored a 3.3 cable rating and averaged 4,850,000 viewers. The show did hours of 3.26 and 3.34 and is up a bit from last week.

– WWE was very happy with the live crowd at Monday’s RAW from Orlando, Florida and regards the city as one of the best in the country. The city hosted WrestleMania 24 a few years ago, has a great relationship with WWE and is one of the front runners to host the discussed WWE Hall of Fame facility.

– The backstage segment on RAW between John Morrison and Melina that resulted in Melina slapping Morrison’s butt was an acknowledgment of the couple’s real life romantic relationship.

– Roddy Piper and his Piper’s Pit segment have been added to WWE’s return to Madison Square Garden on December 26th.

(Sources: f4wonline.com, pwinsider.com)

Warning: The following article contains a *Spoiler* for next Monday’s RAW:

Melina made her return to WWE programming during Monday’s television taping in San Antonio, Texas. She performed a run-in following a Six-Diva Tag Match pitting Alicia Fox, Jillian and Tamina against Eve, Gail Kim and Natalya, attacking the Divas Champion. Her return will be televised during next Monday’s episode of Raw.

It was her first appearance inside a WWE ring since she underwent surgery for a torn ACL suffered last December. She spent the past few weeks at the company’s developmental facility in Tampa, Florida training for her return.

WWE creative brass initially planned on inserting Melina into the ongoing John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase program as means to feature mixed tag matches, but said plans were nixed last week. Instead, she will going after Fox’s Divas Championship. A three-way feud between Melina, Fox and Eve is tentatively planned, though Maryse may be put in the mix.

Meanwhile, Maryse and DiBiase’s “power couple” placement is an offshoot of plans initially tapped for the French beauty and The Miz last year. Plans were changed when Maryse took a hiatus to recover from knee surgery and Miz got over well enough with the audience that she was no longer needed by his side. Maryse was ultimately placed with DiBiase in an effort to get him over.

Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the info used in this report

(sources: www.f4wonline.com, PWInsider.com)

— WWE officials are said to be “very high” on Divas Champion Alicia Fox. Her sister, Christina Crawford, is currently training in developmental. She made her Florida Championship Wrestling debut at last Thursday’s live event in Tampa, competing in a Divas Bikini Contest.

— NXT Rookies from both seasons are scheduled to compete at SummerSlam.

— Following last night’s Raw, a match pitting Randy Orton against Edge and Sheamus began. Moments into the match, John Cena appeared, after being tended to backstage by medical personnel as a result of a cut suffered during the conclusion of Raw. Cena spent most of the match on the outside, but made the save for Orton to win the bout. A woman jumped the barricade after the match and began clinging to Cena’s leg, but was quickly escorted by security.

— WWE has a new DVD project in the works entitled Best of the High Flyers. This title is set to be released on Oct. 12.

— WWE developmental wrestler G-Rilla is now going under the name Brodus Clay. He recently formed a partnership with Donny Marlow, referring themselves as “The Colossal Connection.”

— The sister of WWE Divas Champion Alicia Fox, Christina Crawford, worked Thursday night’s Florida Championship Wrestling live event in Tampa, competing in a Divas Bikini Contest. It is not known if she has signed a developmental contract with WWE, but FCW shows are typically limited to contracted talent.

— “Dashing” Cody Rhodes debuted a new theme song on this past week’s episode of NXT. The song is called Smoking Mirror and it is performed by Matt White.

— Tickets for WWE SummerSlam Axxess yesterday morning via Ticketmaster. The event will take place Saturday, August 14 and Sunday, August 15 at Nokia Plaza at LA Live in Los Angeles, California. (Press release)

— WWE has added a new video feature to its website highlighting ‘the hottest Diva action of the week’. You can view the inaugural edition of Diva Shorts Action at the following link.

— Dave Batista will be taking part in the independent film Blood Out, which is slated to begin filming next month in Baton Rogue, Louisiana.

According to a report on 2theadvocate.com, the film is described as an action/western focused on “a small-town sheriff who goes undercover to avenge his brother’s death.”

The film is being directed by Jason Hewitt, who worked as a producer on Wrong Side of Town, which features Batista as well as former WWE performers Rob Van Dam and Nelson Frazier (a.k.a. Big Daddy V).

According to IMDB.com, Batista will be playing the role of Michael King in the movie.

— Tickets for the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony go on sale next Saturday at 10 a.m. MST/noon ET. Tickets cost $55. For more information, click here.

— Alicia Fox is today’s “Daily Diva” on WWE.com while John Cena is the “Superstar of the Day.”