— The Wrestling Observer reports that a few more releases are discussed and could be taking place as early as this week. There are particular names who people with power are trying to save. Of the five released this past week (Maria, Paul Burchill, Gregory Helms, Charlie Haas and Scott Armstrong), there were people who tried to save Helms.

— The WWE website has removed Savannah and Josh Mathews from its ECW Superstars section. While both individuals now appear on WWE NXT, they have yet to be added to the WWE NXT section.

— WWE returns to the Fed-Ex Forum in Memphis, Tennessee on Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 5 p.m. Tickets go on sale Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 10 a.m. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

— Dolph Ziggler, Kane and Shelton Benjamin won qualifying matches on tonight’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown and will join Christian in the Money In The Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania. Four spots remain.

Ziggler qualified with a victory over John Morrison and R-Truth while Kane qualified by handing Drew McIntyre his first loss in WWE. Benjamin qualified later in the show with a victory over CM Punk. Christian qualified on Monday’s Raw with a victory over Carlito.

— TMZ noted Gregory Helms’ untimely release from WWE in a post on its website, adding it could be due to his arrest one month ago today for public intoxication.

— As a result of his title win at Elimination Chamber, Chris Jericho takes control of the No. 1 spot on this week’s edition of the POWER 25 on WWE.com. Meanwhile, Sheamus drops from the top spot to No. 5 after losing the WWE Championship.

WWE.com has announced that Shane “Hurricane” Helms and Paul Burchill have been released.

Shane Helms’ most recent WWE run began back in 2008. Since then, he has served as both a backstage interviewer and wrestler and performed as both Shane Helms as well as The Hurricane. He was arrested along with Chris Jericho in late January for public intoxication and was part of the ECW brand when it folded earlier this month.

Paul Burchill had been with WWE since 2005 and was also part of the ECW brand before it folded. There was talk he’d be moving to RAW.

Both men were wished the best in all future endeavors.

Additionally, we can confirm that WWE is planning to release several more superstars in the coming weeks as part of the annual “spring cleaning” (yeah, we know it’s still February) .. Several members of the ECW roster as well as one WWE diva in particular is believed to be at risk.

As we reported here earlier in the week, WWE superstar Gregory Helms was found with a Soma pill (a schedule four narcotic muscle relaxer) in his bag when arrested with Chris Jericho. Helms was unable to produce a prescriptionfor the pill at the time of arrest, but it did not get him into any trouble with the police.

If Helms didn’t have a prescription for the drug as he told police, WWE would be forced to suspend him for 60 days on his second Wellness violation. WWE’s current policy says that every prescription a wrestler has is supposed to be filed ahead of time with Dr. David Black. All prescriptions are supposed to be written by the company doctors who travel with the WWE crew. Helms has a previous violation against him for his name coming up in the Signature Pharmacy scandal in 2007 and has never failed a WWE drug test.

There has been a lot of talk backstage regarding Helms’ future with WWE after the incident. It’s estimated that Helms missed out on a $5,000 payday when he was pulled from the Royal Rumble PPV days after the arrest. Helms was said to be apologetic to WWE officials for the incident. He appeared on this week’s ECW show, getting beat down by Ezekiel Jackson and William Regal after they talked about his “rough week.”

Read More: Chris Jericho & Gregory Helms Arrested (MUGSHOTS)

(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)

Gregory Helms

TMZ.com has provided some new details on the January 27 arrests of WWE superstars Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms. According to the police report, Gregory “Hurricane” Helms was in possession of “one white round pill” at the time of his arrest for public intoxication. Police determined the white pill was the muscle relaxer Soma, the generic version of the muscle relaxer Carisoprodol and a “schedule four narcotic.”

Helms told police he had a prescription for the pill but was not able to produce any proof of it at the time of his arrest. Cops did not press charges against Helms over the single Soma pill. Should Helms be unable to produce a prescription for the narcotic found on him at the time of his arrest, he would be in violation of WWE’s Wellness policy and more importantly, the laws of the state of Kentucky, where he was arrested.

It’s worth noting that Gregory Helms was pulled from the Royal Rumble on Sunday after being advertised for the show.

TMZ reached out to WWE about these new details but did not hear back. The wrestling industry is all too familiar with muscle relaxers such as Soma. Dr. Phil Astin was recently jailed for 10 years after he was busted for prescribing Soma (among other drugs) in large quantities to Chris Benoit before he died.

Former WWE Superstar John Bradshaw Layfield posted a message on Facebook about Chris Jericho & Hurricane Helms getting arrested last week for public intoxication:

“I see in the news that a couple of my good friends got a free ride the other day and a little fine to go with it. I understand why this is news-Chris Jericho and my boy Hurricane Helms are on a TV show that is watched by hundreds of millions of people around the globe-getting arrested is big news even if it is a minor deal. And believe me, from what I have heard this is a minor deal.

But come on…there were no drugs and both guys were smart enough to plan not to drive while under the influence. In these days of celebrities that aren’t as big as these guys and some bigger doing drugs and being completely irresponsible this is akin to a parking ticket.

Most people out there if they were surrounded by friends and doing what they love would be guilty of having a few too many at times. This is all this was. Repeat…no drugs and no one was driving. Just a few too many and in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I have known both of these guys for a long time and consider both friends. They are great guys who did what most Americans and nearly everyone in the world has done at some point. Have a few cocktails…good for them.

Also, I have to say for a mug shot pic-both looked pretty good.”

Chris Jericho's Mugshot

Below are some tweets from Chris Jericho and Hurricane Helms who have been mocking their recent arrest:

Jericho:

“At a live band heavy metal karaoke bar. Just rocked Creeping Death… Where’s TMZ when u need em?”

“Some drunk just did the worst version of Fire Woman ever. He should be arrested for Alcohol Intoxication…”

“At a rock n roll church with The Duke and Big John. It’s been a crazy week and I needed some fellowship and some humbling. Feels good.”

Helms:

“Been off the grid for a few days, what I miss?”

As always, you can keep up will the Twitter posts of all pro wrestlers and divas at PWTweets.com.

Both The Hurricane and Santino Marella have been removed from Sunday’s Royal Rumble match, while as noted earlier, Matt Hardy and Chris Masters have been added. Thus far, 24 participants have been announced.

It should be noted that R-Truth has not yet been officially added to the Royal Rumble match.

Here is the updated card:

Raw: Big Show, Carlito, Chris Masters, Cody Rhodes, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger, John Cena, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, MVP, Shawn Michaels, Ted DiBiase, The Miz and Triple H

SmackDown: Batista, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Kane, Matt Hardy and The Great Khali

ECW: Shelton Benjamin, William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu and Zack Ryder

It was also announced on Friday that Michelle McCool would defending her WWE Women’s Championship against Mickie James at the event.

Matches announced thus far include:

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Undertaker (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

WWE Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs. Randy Orton

ECW Championship Match
Christian (c) vs. Ezekiel Jackson

WWE Women’s Championship Match
Michelle McCool (c) vs. Mickie James

Props to TMZ.com ..

A TMZ camera guy caught up with Randy Orton at an airport this week and aske him his thoughts about fellow WWE stars Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms getting arrested on Wednesday morning for public intoxication. Orton could not believe the news, saying “No, no, no, not Chris.”

When asked if pro wrestlers are living a rock and roll party lifestyle, Orton said wrestlers don’t get in trouble and they represent WWE “in a very positive manner.”

— Apparently in response to the negative publicity Gregory Helms’ arrest Wednesday morning for public intoxication is receiving, the WWE website pulled his “Superstar of the Day” photo this afternoon, replacing The Hurricane with Cody Rhodes.

In another note, WWE forgot to remove the hyperlink beneath the photo leading to The Hurricane’s bio.

— This week’s episode of ECW scored a 0.9 cable rating, the same number as last week. (source: PWInsider.com)

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross posted a blog update on JRsBarBQ.com today regarding Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms being arrested on Wednesday morning for public alcohol intoxication. Ross wrote:

“TMZ making a semi big deal about a situation that Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms found themselves in this week. Both these guys are great people and are credits to the biz and I suggest that this well could be much to do about not much”

Ross thinks we should wait to hear Jericho and Helms’ sides of the story and downplays the significance of the situation.

“No one should rush to judgment about this issue especially since neither individual has addressed there side of this overblown story. This matter definitely deserves a ‘Lighten Up Francis.’ Wrestling needs more hard working, students of the game who are still fans of the biz like Jericho and Helms.”

To read his blog in its entirety, click here.

TMZ.com is reporting that WWE star Matt Hardy was also involved in the Wednesday morning incident that led to the arrests of Chris Jericho and Greg Helms, according to law enforcement sources.

Witnesses told police that Hardy was in a taxi with Jericho, Helms and several others, when Helms allegedly struck three people (including a female).

Matt Hardy allegedly took off on foot with Helms. After they bailed, the cab driver called 911.

Helms returned to the scene and was arrested along with Jericho. Police are not pursuing any sort of action against Hardy.

Gregory Helms

TMZ.com has released some disturbing new details regarding the Wednesday arrest of WWE superstars Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms.

Kentucky police officers say witnesses told them Gregory Helms struck three people, including Jericho, a man named Gary Kelley and a female passenger named Ashley Storer, at a gas station.

Helms then allegedly ran from the scene right after the violent incident but returned after where he and Chris Jericho were arrested for public alcohol intoxication.

Cops say Helms was not arrested for the assault because the alleged victims have not pressed charges, which in Kentucky if police do not witness the attack.

Update: Matt Hardy Involved In Jericho-Helms Arrest Incident

WWE superstars Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms were arrested in Kentucky early Wednesday morning when police were called to a gas station and found the wrestlers “extremely intoxicated” and fighting.

Local newspaper The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the two were arrested at a Shell gas station around 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday and charged with public alcohol intoxication. TAfter spending about an hour in jail, they were released after each paying $120 fines.

The two had been in nearby Cincinnati, Ohio the previous night for this week’s SmackDown taping.

Jericho posted the following message on Twitter hours before the arrest: “Listening to zakk Wylde and having a GG contest with Hurricane. It’s the woods vs the praries. Praires are winning…”

It’s pure speculation, but some are guessing “GG” stands for Grey Goose (vodka).

UPDATE: Gregory Helms Allegedly Struck A Woman Before His Arrest