— WWE has announced that Edge will be bringing back his talk show segment on tonight’s episode of Raw, “The Cutting Edge.” His guest will be Randy Orton.

After Raw acquired “The Rated-R Superstar” in the 2010 WWE Draft, Edge made immediate impact with a Spear to Orton, enabling Batista to become the No. 1 Contender to WWE Champion John Cena.

— The following synopsis has been released for WWE’s forthcoming book release, Rumble Road: Untold Stories from Outside the Ring: “In this follow-up to Robert Caprio’s collection of road stories Are We There Yet?, WWE superstars and divas dish the dirt on the late night shenanigans that take place behind the scenes, on the road, and in hotels all across the world. If you think all the WWE drama unfolds inside the wrestling ring, then think again. Sometimes the action outside the ring can be just as exciting — and as dangerous — for the wrestlers as they drive, fly and occasionally fight their way from city to city to entertain their millions of fans. In Rumble Road the superstars of the WWE recount their shocking and hilarious road trip misadventures. From classic pranks to the particular habits of the baddest of the bad guys who ever set foot inside the squared circle, these are the untold stories of life on the road — straight from the mouths of those who continue to live it one trip at a time.”

This title will be released on Tuesday, July 20, 2010.

— Paul Bearer was backstage visiting friends at a Raw live event held in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama this past weekend. The former WWE manager revealed on his Twitter account that his “Legends” contract with WWE was recently extended.

— Ezekiel Jackson was apparently injured at yesterday’s SmackDown house show in Glasgow, Scotland.

Competing against Kane, “The Big Red Machine” threw Jackson over the top rope within a few minutes into the match. When Jackson returned to the ring, he laid down and Kane covered him for the win.

A fan in attendance believes Jackson blew out his right knee. After Kane made his quick exit, company personnel came out to assist him to the back.

— Edge is featured on the cover of the May 2010 issue of WWE Magazine. He was also made the “guest editor” for its 4th annual guest editor issue.

— The Miz will be appearing on Blue Peter on BBC One this Tuesday at 4.35 p.m.

– At Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown! tapings, Jack Swagger cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and pinned Chris Jericho to capture his first World Heavyweight championship, just 18 months after making his WWE television debut. Swagger will be feuding with former champions Chris Jericho and Edge in the coming weeks. Adding to this is news that WWE has booked Jack Swagger vs. Edge vs. Chris Jericho as the dark match main event for the 5/25 Smackdown taping from Cleveland, OH.

– The Undertaker is also being advertised for the Cleveland SmackDown taping, contrary to reports that he will be taking time off soon after WrestleMania,

– CM Punk and Rey Mysterio will continue their feud from WrestleMania.

Also, as we reported last week, Batista is Leaving WWE For Several Months, so expect an angle to explain his departure.

— Edge appeared on multiple FOX affiliates yesterday promoting WrestleMania, discussing his Achilles tendon recovery, his television feud with Chris Jericho.

During his interview with WTTG FOX 5, the SmackDown Superstar talked about David Beckham similarly suffering an Achilles tendon injury recently, saying he can relate.

“It’s been about a month-and-a half I’ve been back now. It was one of those injuries that really tests your patience and it was probably the worst one I’ve had,” Edge said. “I felt sorry for him (Beckham) when I saw it because you don’t expect it and all of a sudden you’re standing there and it goes.”

You can view video of his interview with WTTG FOX 5 at the following link. You can also see Edge’s appearance on Good Day Tampa Bay here.

— In an interview with NickNemeth.net, Dolph Ziggler gives his take on a number of topics unrelated to pro wrestling including women, whether a movie has ever brought him to tears, his biggest weakness, which famous person he’d like to meet, and much more. You can read the interview in its entirety at the following link.

— Today is Evan Bourne’s birthday as the WWE Superstar turns 27 years old.

— The WWE website is advertising a match between Unified Tag Team Champ Big Show and Edge for this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown.

— Both Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes have officially been moved to Raw following their appearance on Monday’s show as their respective profiles are now listed on the Raw Superstars section within the company website.

Likewise, Shelton Benjamin has officially been moved to SmackDown. He appeared on last week’s broadcast, winning a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match.

— Former WWE manager William Moody (a/k/a Paul Bearer) noted on his Twitter account last week that he did voice-overs for WWE’s forthcoming video game, SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.

WWE recently announced a new advertising partnership with Slim Jim,, with the meat snack company being the official sponsor of WrestleMania and SummerSlam. Also part of the campaign will be a series of commercials that will feature the new WWE Superstar Slim Jim spokesman, Edge .. The first one aired this week on RAW, check it out:

WrestleMania XXVI - March 28, 2010

WrestleMania XXVI is still over a month away, but the card began to take shape on Monday’s RAW.

– New World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho came out on this week’s RAW and gloated about his victory at Elimination Chamber. Jericho bragged that he’s in elite class of Superstars who hold two wins over the Undertaker. As Jericho was yelling that he was going to WrestleMania, Edge’s music hit and the Rated R superstar hit the ring and speared Jericho. Jericho left the ring and ran to the outside. Edge grabbed a mic and said he’s also going to WrestleMania – to challenge Chris Jericho.

– Later in the show, Shawn Michaels came out and talked about screwing the Undertaker out of his World Heavyweight title at Elimination Chamber. Undertaker came out and confronted Shawn, telling him he’s finally got his attention. Shawn laid down the challenge once again for a match at WrestleMania and The Undertaker accepted – with the stipulation that if Shawn Michaels is not able to beat him, he must retire. Michaels agreed and the rematch is set.

– John Cena defeated Batista by disqualification in the main event of RAW to earn a World Heavyweight title shot against Batista at WrestleMania.

– Also on RAW, Christian defeated Carlito to qualify for the Money in the Bank match.

The first four matches for WrestleMania XXVI are as follows:

World Heavyweight Title Match
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge

WWE Title Match:
Batista (c) vs. John Cena

Streak vs. Career
The Undertaker vs. Shawnk Michaels

Money in the Bank
Christian has qualified

Slim Jim(R) Named Presenting Sponsor of Wrestlemania XXVI(R)

STAMFORD, Conn., Feb 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — World Wrestling Entertainment(R) and Slim Jim(R) announced today an integrated promotional deal. Slim Jim, a ConAgra Foods(R) brand, will be the “Official Meat Snack of WWE” and is the presenting sponsor of WWE’s WrestleMania(R) XXVI, in Glendale, Arizona on March 28 and SummerSlam(R), in Los Angeles, California on August 15. As part of the deal, WWE Superstar Edge(R) will serve as a spokesperson for Slim Jim.

The one-year deal extends the relationship begun last year as part of the brand’s “Spicy Side” campaign and shows consumers what happens when their alter ego encounters the snap of the bold and spicy flavor of a Slim Jim. It will feature numerous promotional activities involving WWE’s television programming, WWE.com, live events and publications throughout the year.

On behalf of Slim Jim, Edge will be making personal appearances and hosting the “Live Like Edge” sweepstakes as well as “The Slim Jim Showdown,” a mobile phone contest. A new “Spicy Side” commercial featuring Edge will debut on USA Network and MyNetworkTV during Monday Night Raw(R) and Friday Night SmackDown(R), as well as online at SpicySide.com and WWE.com. The commercial will also be seen at more than 300 WWE live events throughout the year.

The “Spicy Side” campaign demonstrates the constructive energy one’s alter ego may experience following the over-the-top, ‘rip-and-tear’ eating experience of Slim Jim. The campaign integrates TV, experiential marketing, in-store, online and public relations activities, as well as an interactive Web site at www.spicyside.com that offers gaming and social networking experiences.

SmackDown superstar Edge signed autographs at Friday’s Florida Championship Wrestling tapings in Melbourne, Florida and got physically involved at the end of the show, making the save for developmental star Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson).

Bryan was attacked after the main event by Curt Hawkins, Caylen Croft and Trent Beretta. Out of nowhere came Edge to the ring, taking out all three men and saving Bryan and FCW Heavyweight Champion Justin Angel.

Edge shook hands with Angel and Danielson before posing for the crowd and leaving.

– Another title match has ben added to the WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on 2/1, as Drew McIntyre will defend the Intercontinental championship against Kane.

– SmackDown GM Teddy Long has announced that Edge will make his in-ring return against Batista next Friday on SmackDown.

– The man who is trying to bring WrestleMania to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is Dave Teixeira, better known as the promoter of Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling.

– The official theme song for WWE’s NXT is “Wild & Young” by the band American Bang, according to the Wrestling Observer.

— Devin Cutting sent in the following: The WrestleMania Vancouver Bid Committee has been formed and is attempting to bring WrestleMania to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in either 2013 or 2014. (Official Website | Facebook | Twitter)

— To set the record straight, the tournament final for the vacant Divas Championship was scheduled to take place last week on Raw, but ultimately pulled due to time constraints. The match would have likely taken place had there not been Elimination Championship qualifying matches.

While Gail Kim vs. Maryse has been teased tonight, it has not been officially announced.

— Edge is featured on the cover of this week’s issue of Super Luchas magazine in Mexico, which has coverage on his in-ring return at last week’s Royal Rumble. You can view the cover at the following link.

(credit to www.f4wonline.com for some of the information used in this report)

– The WWE Unified Tag Team Titles will be on the line at next week’s RAW as DX will defend in a Triple Threat against the teams of CM Punk & Luke Gallows and Big Show & The Miz.

– Next week’s Raw will be hosted by NASCAR driver Carl Edwards.

– 2010 Royal Rumble winner Edge will host “The Cutting Edge” show on Friday’s SmackDown with special guest The Undertaker.

– Former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler will be appearing on USA Network’s Psych this coming Wednesday night.

– The 2010 Royal Rumble had some stiff television competition on Sunday night. The NFL Pro Bowl, which went head-to-head with the Rumble, drew 12.3 million viewers and did an 8.2 rating. It was the highest rated Pro Bowl game in 10 years and the males 18-34 demographic was up a sharp 72% from last year. (Source: f4wonline.com)

– Chris Jericho’s Chasing the Grail album peaked at No. 1 on the UK Amazon.com sales charts last week.

— Regarding last week’s report of an Edge vs. Triple H vs. John Cena match taking place this May in Lubbock, Texas, WWE actually doesn’t have a show scheduled for Lubbock that night as the commercial advertising the match is actually four years old. However, it wasn’t a false report either as the commercials really did air in the Texas market.

— Chris Jericho and his Fozzy bandmates will be autographing copies of their new album Chasing The Grail tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. at J&R Music World in New York City.

— Matches taking place on tonight’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America are as follows:

* David Hart Smith vs. Matt Hardy
* The Bella Twins vs. Jillian and Katie Lea Burchill
* Chris Masters vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Primo (Royal Rumble Qualifying Match)

– In a bit of great news for wrestling fans everywhere, WWE superstar Edge will be returning from injury well ahead of schedule. Edge is currently doing physical rehabilitation following foot surgery last year and WWE officials expect him to be healthy in time to appear at the Royal Rumble in 2 weeks. The plan is for Edge to wrestle his former tag team partner Chris Jericho and WrestleMania and there is talk of Edge showing up as a surprise entrant in the Rumble to eliminate Jericho. However it goes down, Edge will be back soon to start his program with Jericho.

– Many within WWE are very concerned about The Undertaker’s body and how much longer he can wrestle. WWE’s World Heavyweight champion is a shell of his former self these days, clearly in pain as he moves around and no longer possessing the agility that has made him such an impressive “big man” wrestler over the years. After the WrestleMania classic he and Shawn Michaels put on last year, its believed that Shawn Michaels will have to do a great deal of bumping around to save this year’s rematch from being a total letdown.

(Credit to PWInsider.com for the information used in this report)

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here’s what JR said about the health of Edge and whether he’ll be ready to return in time for WrestleMania:

“Received a nice text from Edge during the holidays from his mountain retreat in the Carolinas and it is my understanding that Edge is still questionable as it relates to him being physically ready to compete at WM26.”

“I do understand that Edge is healing well from Achilles tendon surgery but it has always been a photo finish as to whether or not Edge will be able to wrestle at the end of March. I hope so and would hope that it would be Edge vs. Jericho. I’m certainly not counting Edge out of WM26 but Mother Nature has more to say about this matter than any one else.

“Edge returning prematurely and not being 100% would make no sense.”

Bubba The Love Sponge

WWE superstar Edge appeared on the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show this morning.. He talked with Bubba for about 20 minutes .. Here are some highlights sent in from reader Terri Bey:

* Edge mentioned he was in North Carolina in the mountains in his new property there, and will be there for Christmas. He said he didn’t mind sitting out and getting paid.

* Edge and Bubba talked about Vince and competition and Edge said that Vince thrives on competition and even though he (Vince) doesn’t like it, he works hard when he has to compete. Edge said Vince never stops working.

* Edge and Bubba then talked about his deal. Edge said it ended in October, but they tacked on injury time and said however long this takes, that much time will be tacked on.

Bubba mentioned some upcoming dates and Edge joked that he listed every city in Florida.

* Edge talked about he and his girlfriend went to a movie in North Carolina where he is living and when they came out of the theatre, he said they saw a bear. Bubba asks how she is adapting since she is a Florida girl, and Edge said she had not seen snow since she was four.

* Edge and Bubba banter about his looks, with Bubba saying he looks like a Neanderthal, and Edge said when he is done, he should be a caveman in those Geico commercials.

* They discussed his return and he said he went to Dr. James Andrews for follow-ups and he is doing some explosive therapy in NC, and he is doing some other therapy in Tampa. He jokes that if they want him to work, he is sitting in the mountains.

* Edge talked about Chris Jericho telling him he met Joe Walsh, and Edge then talked about the PPV. He said Christian and Benjamin had the best match. He also enjoyed the main event. He said Christian looked pissed off when they stopped the match due to the new rule. He said Christian wanted to keep going.

* Edge put over Sheamus and said he was a good kid, and talked about how Ireland is wild about him. He joked how Sheamus is so pale, he is blue.

* Edge put over FCW. He said when he was breaking into the business, he didn’t have all that (FCW). He talked about McIntyre, and Ted Dibiase coming out of FCW.

* Edge said he was close with Umaga (called him Eki). He said he was super. He talked about when he dressed up as Umaga for a house show. He said Umaga cracked up. He said Umaga called him the night before he died, and didn’t think to keep the message. He said Umaga’s death hit him hard.

* Edge was asked about the Undertaker and he said he has no idea how Taker performs so well. Bubba said Taker had best entrance. Edge said when he was wrestling Taker, he was in awe of Taker. Edge said Taker put him over a couple of time. He said Taker is about respect. He said he and Taker have always been on good terms. Edge then said he busts his ass with no crap and Taker respected it.

* Edge was asked about rehab and return and says he doesn’t know when he will be back. The doctors told him 6 months to a year. He said when he heard six month, he thinks six months, but he said he has to see Andrews and get in a ring to see how it holds up. When he tests it he will see where he is at. He said that he is gunning for the first quarter of the year. Edge said he didn’t’ realize that he uses the Achilles for everything.

* Bubba told Edge to say hi to his girlfriend for him and show ends.

– Jamie Noble, Edge and Ricky Steamboat were all on hand at FCW this week. Steamboat and Edge were specifically there as guest speakers to give advice to developmental prospects, while Noble was assisting with training. With regard to Edge, he was said to be moving well and told one person that he is aiming for a return in the first quarter of 2010. The former World Champion may actually be slightly ahead in his rehabilitation schedule following surgery to his torn Achilles tendon in July.

– Yesterday on the Dennis Miller Radio show, Monday’s RAW guest host claimed that he had been given advice by a former pro wrestler in preperation for his appearance. Dennis was told to tell the RAW locker room that he was a a graduate of the Terry Garvin School of Self Defence.

– WWE Diva Maryse was recently interviewed by SLAM! Wrestling .. Here’s what she said about:

Sheamus: “Sheamus is really different,” she said about the challenger. “He’s got a really unique look. He’s so white, and with his red hair and beard, it’s so weird! John Cena is pretty white, but he looks really tanned compared to Sheamus. I like his charisma in the ring, his aggressive style, and he’s got a great bad guy personality.”

The Infamous Heel Hand Flip: “I never planned on doing it .. I just did it one night and it caught on. People would come up to me to take a picture and they’d ask me to do the hand thing. So I thought I should keep it. It’s not something I would do normally, it’s really the character.”

Her Inspiration: “The Rock. Even though I’m a girl, I look at him as an inspiration. He was just amazing. He had a lot of range in his character, he had the crowd reacting every night no matter what he was doing. It’s really hard to do, and he did it really well.”

– Rey Mysterio is said to be working through a lot of pain at the moment, with news that his ACL and PCL are completely destroyed. It’s said his injured joint is virtually bone-on-bone and that he requires knee surgery as soon as possible, according to the Wrestling Globe newsletter.

– In an interview with Australia’s Daily Telegraph, Edge talks about injuries saying, “Look, guys in the WWE wrestle hurt all the time – that’s a given.” He also talks about the point where he nearly ended up in a wheelchair after pushing himself too far.

“And with the neck stuff, yeah, I thought I was hurt. So I kept going and going, basically. Kept training and wrestling to the point where I almost ended up in a wheelchair. And it all came to a head one afternoon when I was lifting weights in a San Francisco gym. Curling dumbbells. I was curling away when I went to go with my left and – boom – it just wouldn’t go. Even when I tried to flex my bicep, it stayed soft.” He then wrestled the next day.

In an interview with Frech PlayStation3 website Play3-Live.com, WWE superstar Edge gives an update on his health status following surgery to repair a torn achilles tendon . “I’m doing stairs on it now,” Edge said. “I started therapy. I’m on the long road to getting back. I’m on the road now. Before I wasn’t even on the road. I had crutches and I was in a cast, but now I can I can actually do some things like walk again and I can wear shoes.”

The former WWE World Champion asked whether he will be ready to return to action in time for WrestleMania in March, but he’s not so sure about it. “It will definitely be next year,” Edge said. “It won’t be anytime before next year. I would love to come back in time for WrestleMania and earlier, but it’s too soon to tell. It’s been four months. They said six months, so who knows.”

Before his injury, Edge had been teaming Chris Jericho and the two Canadians were WWE tag champions. Jericho cut some scathing promos on the Rated R Superstar shortly after his injury, setting up what could be a killer program in early-mid 2010 when Edge is healthy.

In his latest blog at JRsBarBQ.com, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross said the following about Edge’s health status:

“I think Edge being 100 percent by Wrestlemania 26 is going to be a photo finish and I hope that I am wrong on that assumption. Edge had taken his game to another level prior to his injury and he will no doubt return to the ring fresher and ready to turn more heads if he makes sure that he is totally healthy. Torn Achilles obviously cannot be taken lightly. Edge would arguably need to be close to ready by January to really be able to capitalize on the promotional, TV build up for Phoenix or at least that’s one school of thought.”