— To update the story that WWE will be overhauling the ECW brand in the coming months, the latest is that big changes are planned but won’t be made until after WrestleMania. While many ideas have been tossed around, the most likely scenario is that the ECW letters will be dropped and the show will be rebranded featuring mostly younger superstars. SyFy executives have been pushing for WWE to incorporate themes such as science fiction and conspiracies. (Source: prowrestling.net)

— ESPN.com features an interview with Raw superstar MVP, who talks at length about his feud with The Miz. MVP says he’s known the Miz since their days training at the now-defunct Deep South Wrestling and thinks the two will be headlining WWE shows in the years to come.

— There is talk of the RAW the night after WrestleMania being a 3-hour show, according to f4wonline.com.

The ECW Homecoming Qualifying matches kicked off on last night’s show with Kane and Ezekiel Jackson picking up wins. Over the next few weeks, former ECW Superstars will return to the brand to compete in these qualifying matches with the winners advancing to an eight-man Homecoming Finale Over-the-Top Rope Challenge on January 12th.

The winner of that will go on to face Christian for the ECW Title at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

Jack Swagger will return to ECW on next week’s show to face Yoshi Tatsu in a qualifying match.

The ECW brand will be put to rest once and for all in the near future.

According to a reliable source, WWE officials have had several meetings with the Syfy network about re-branding WWE’s Tuesday night show. Both sides are in agreement that WWE’s version of ECW has been a bust and plans are already being made for a new weekly series. While several ideas have been tossed around (including a magazine-style recap show), right now the most likely option is that WWE will drop the ECW letters and “identity” (whatever that is) and create a new brand that will feature young and-and-coming stars. The Tuesday night timeslot will likely stay the same.

WWE relaunched the ECW brand back in 2006 after the undeniable success of the “Rise and Fall of ECW” DVD set and later the ECW One Night Stand Pay-Per-View events. After ECW was relaunched as a brand, it quickly became apparent that WWE had no intention of keeping the elements that made the original ECW special and turned ECW into a watered-down, generic “C” show. The first week of ECW on Syfy back in 2006 drew around a 2.8. These days a 1.1 is considered a good week.

While it may be bittersweet to see the ECW letters go, ECW has been dead for a long time and a brand featuring primarily young stars sounds like it has potential.

Stay tuned for the latest.