— CM Punk and Colt Cabana briefly reunited on the latest episode of Art of Wrestling Radio, which features an interview with Ring of Honor performer Chris Hero.

Punk appears early in the podcast to discuss his “little match on Sunday.” When asked if people should order the pay-per-view, Punk replied, “Yeah, they should. I get paid more that way.”

The interview is available at WeLoveColt.com.

— WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race is advertised to appear at WWE’s upcoming SmackDown live event in Springfield, Missouri. The event takes place Sunday, August 28 at the JQH Arena.

— Beckett announced that WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be featured in Topps’ upcoming Allen & Ginter autograph trading card set, comprised of everyone but baseball players.

— SmackDown Superstar Heath Slater celebrates his 28th birthday today.

The latest issue of WWE Magazine features an interview with Wade Barrett and he comments on a rumor that occurred last year indicating that both he and Drew McIntyre had been deported from the United States due to their respective work visas expiring. Neither wrestler was deported, but in Barrett’s case, he had to return to the United Kingdom to apply for a new work visa.

Regarding the rumor, Barrett said, “I once read a rumor that I’d been deported. After the original Nexus invasion, it was reported that WWE had failed to arrange my necessary working papers. Allegedly, there had been a mix-up or a huge oversight, and the Internet claimed both Drew McIntyre and I had been deported. Nonsense.

“I’ve come to realize how little attention I should pay to the “news” as reported online.”

Barrett was also asked on resisting the urge to punch Heath Slater in the face everytime he sees him backstage.

“I pride myself on being an intelligent human being. I encourage other people to educate themselves as well. And, without of a doubt, Heath Slater is the dumbest human being I’ve ever met,” Barrett says.

“I love Heath; he’s a great guy. But Heath Slater is an imbecile. I can tolerate his ridiculous haircut and his over-the-top mannerisms—floating around the room and such—but when he opens his mouth, my blood really starts to boil.”

– Vince McMahon was said to be furious about Sin Cara’s botched entrance on RAW last week, when he barely cleared the top rope after jumping off a trampoline at ringside. (VIDEO)

Last night on RAW, there was another big botched spot with Sin Cara that took place when he had Primo in the corner and both men were standing on the top turnbuckle. Sin Cara was setting up for a C4 suplex, but Primo fell before the move could be executed and Sin Cara was thrown to the floor outside. Sin Cara got back in the ring, kicked Primo in the head and hit the impressive top rope move – but many WWE stars were watching the match backstage and were joking around that “that was it” for Sin Cara and Primo would probably get released for blowing that big spot.

– The feeling at RAW last night was that John Morrison would have got R-Truth’s spot in the WWE Title Triple Threat at Extreme Rules if it weren’t for the heat on him right now for his actions towards Trish Stratus.

• Read More: Morrison Acknowledges His Backstage Heat & Beef with Trish

– With Edge set to surrender his World Heavyweight title on SmackDown, the future of the championship belt is currently up in the air. One idea discussed for tonight’s SmackDown tapings is for Edge have Christian to take his place against Alberto Del Rio in the Ladder Match, with the winner being crowned the new champion.

— CM Punk missed last night’s Monday Night Raw taping in Bridgeport, Connecticut. While the reason has yet to be disclosed, the matter was resolved with company officials ahead of time.

— Former WWE talent Tony Anthony (a/k/a T.L. Hopper) celebrates his 51st birthday today.

– There has been talk of putting The Corre in a multi-man match at Extreme Rules with Wade Barrett’s Intercontinental Title on the line and Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater’s Tag Team Titles on the line.

(Partial Source: f4wonline.com)

— The WWE Tag Team Championship will be on the line this Friday on SmackDown as Edge joins forces with Christian to take on Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. The duo has won the WWE Tag Team Championship on seven occasions.

— No members of Nexus will be in CM Punk’s corner for his match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania XXVII. Just as Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga, “The Viper” punted Ryan in the skull following his victory tonight on Raw, which would indicate that he has been written off television for the time being. The Welsh grappler was stretchered out of the arena during the commercial break.

— Evan Bourne’s family as well as Randy Orton’s daughter and wife all sat ringside at tonight’s Raw taping in St. Louis, Missouri. Bourne, however, did not appear make a live appearance.

source: PWInsider.com

— Members of The Corre, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett, have been added to the SmackDown Superstars page on WWE.com.

Barrett announced the formation of the group last night on SmackDown.

— Lizzy Valentine recently revealed to fans on her Facebook account that the casting director for the upcoming season of WWE Tough Enough urged her to submit an application for the USA Network reality show. In an update on the situation, Valentine said she declined registering for the show. She will instead perform for MTV2’s Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors as she is on hand for this weekend’s tapings at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

— As of Sunday, the idea was that guest hosts would be used on Raw every other week instead of every week. (source: www.f4wonline.com)

— As seen last night on Raw, Bret Hart was removed from the Raw General Manager position by Vince McMahon for not attending the previous night’s Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view (kayfabe). McMahon then informed fans that a new, anonymous General Manager would take control of the show, emailing announcer Michael Cole his orders. His profile has since been removed from the Raw Superstars section.

— It was also announced on Raw that the Rookies from the first season of NXT have earned contracts with World Wrestling Entertainment (kayfabe). Their respective profiles have been added to Raw Superstars section. It was also revealed that Wade Barrett had been granted a future pay-per-view title match again by the mystery General Manager.