— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been well-received amongst the WWE locker room. One WWE employee noted that everyone in the company should be pleased he’s appearing at WrestleMania because it means more money for everyone.

— WWEShop.com has marked down all Kofi Kingston merchandise by 50 to 75%. Also note, WWE has not released new Kingston merchandise in several months.

The reigning Intercontinental Champion did not appear on this week’s episode of SmackDown.

— Former WWE Women’s Champion Lita appears from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Frank & Son Collectibles (located on 19649 San Jose Ave. City of Industry, California) on Saturday, April 16.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch

— IMDB.com lists WWE performers Mike Mizanin (a/k/a The Miz) and Layla El (a/k/a Layla) as cast members of the upcoming movie Stainless Steel.

The synopsis of the film reads: “Former underground out-law, John Steel is hired from the CIA to bring down 4 members of a silent corrupt group within the FBI.”

The movie also stars Cam Gigandet, Mia Wasikowska, Paddy Considine and Tamzin Merchant. It is scheduled for release in 2012.

— Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston’s losing streak extended to six as a result of his loss to Jack Swagger on last week’s SmackDown.

— Last Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America garnered a 0.57 cable rating, with 540,000 viewers. The midnight replay drew a 0.18 cable rating, with 157,000 viewers.

source: PWInsider.com

– Steve Austin met with officials from WWE and Tough Enough yesterday in Venice, California. Austin wrote on Twitter:

“Had a great meeting with Tough Enough and WWE folks today…this show is going to be very cool and and thats the bottom line…”

– Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston has been discussed for WWE’s next pay-per-view event, Elimination Chamber.

– THQ had WWE All Stars setup backstage in the locker room at Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble. WWE talent and management were said to be very impressed with the game, which hits stores in the United States on March 28th, the Tuesday before WrestleMAnia.

– There are very limited tickets left for the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in Atlanta during WrestleMania 27 weekend.

– Speaking of the Hall of Fame, we’ve heard that former WCW champion Lex Luger has been in talks with WWE about being involved in WrestleMania weekend, likely the Hall of Fame ceremony.

— Edge and Kelly Kelly vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool in a 3-on-2 mixed tag match. Edge’s World Heavyweight title will be on the line, so hypothetical – if Michelle McCool pins Kelly Kelly, Dolph Ziggler is the new champion. That makes a ton of sense.

– Last Friday’s SmackDown did a 2.01 rating with 3,024,000 viewers.

– In an interview with ESPN.com, Kofi Kingston was asked who his dream WrestleMania opponent would be. “My dream match would be against Ricky Steamboat,” Kingston said. “You saw him comeback a few years ago and he still had it. He’s phenomenal, and I’d love if he could come back one more time to challenge for the Intercontinental belt. It could be like a student versus teacher type match. For me, being in the same ring as the guys I watched growing up just means so much and that would be amazing to me if I got that chance.”

The high flying SmackDown star was also asked about playing video games while he’s not on the road and which superstars he plays against. “Big Show, myself, Cody Rhodes, Tyler Reks, and that savage Hornswoggle,” he said. “There are a handful of us who form this underground wrestling gamer community.”

— The Wrestling Observer has indicated a few times in the past year that a WWE main eventer plans on leaving the organization once his current contract expires. The wrestler has been speculated as Edge, who’s deal runs out next year.

The Wrestling Observer also notes that four other wrestlers are looking to leave WWE when their contracts expire.

— The official website of Florida Championship Wrestling has added Mike McGrath, Monty Lynch and Kenneth Cameron to their roster page.

McGrath is Canadian wrestler Mattias Wild, a graduate of Lance Storm’s wrestling academy. Both Lynch and Cameron are from England. Lynch previously performed under the name Rampage Brown and did job duty to Mark Henry on the November 10, 2008 episode of ECW.

— Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston appears today at 6:00 p.m. at the Kmart located on Beechmont Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio. A wristband policy in effect for the first 300 attendees.

source: www.f4wonline.com

— Kofi Kingston reclaimed the Intercontinental Championship last night on SmackDown, defeating Dolph Ziggler with a high cross body off the top rope. Moments later, Ziggler attacked the new champion, inspiring SmackDown’s Official Consultant Vickie Guerrero to call for her boyfriend’s immediate title rematch. Kingston defeated Ziggler a second time with Trouble in Paradise to retain his newly-acquired championship.

With General Manager Theodore Long absent, Guerrero used her temporary authority to add Ziggler to the scheduled Triple Threat Match — set to decide the No. 1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship — making it a Fatal 4-Way Match. It culminated with Ziggler hitting the Zig Zag on Cody Rhodes for the pinfall victory.

— Following the Intercontinental Title swap on Friday’s SmackDown, both Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston were the top trending topics on Twitter.

— Paul Bearer, who is still listed on WWE.com’s SmackDown Superstars page, is accepting independent bookings via PercyPringle.com.

— The Huntsville Times recently conducted an interview with Kofi Kingston promoting next Monday’s SmackDown live event in the area. The article contrasts WWE’s family-friendly, PG product to the “Attitude Era.” Kingston adamantly feels that wrestling can be PG.

“Absolutely,” Kingston said. “It’s one of those things where anyone can come to the show. Back in the day, it was a little more different and more intense. There were a lot of teenagers and adults in the crowd and you didn’t want to bring your kids to the show.

“We’ve done a better job and tried to be more creative to tell a story that everyone can enjoy. We want to create an experience the parents can bring the kids to. We’ve worked hard to do that and it’s a route we want to go.”

— In a sharp contrast to her plucky underdog babyface character on the third season of NXT, AJ portrays a snooty heel in Florida Championship Wrestling. Click here to see video of AJ bragging about being the first and only Diva to hold the Florida Divas Championship and Queen of FCW crown.

— Joey Styles announced today on Twitter that photoshoots of Divas who choose to pose will be posted every Thursday on WWE.com. The website posted new photos of Gail Kim.

Warning: The following contains a Spoiler for Friday’s WWE SmackDown:

At Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from the Tucson Convention Center in Arizona, Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to capture the Intercontinental Championship. Kofi pinned Dolph to capture the belt when Vickie Guerrero came out and demanded that the match be restarted. It was restarted and Kofi won again, walking away champion.

Later in the tapings, there was a #1 Contender’s match for the World Heavyweight championship with Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show. Vickie Guerrero came out and added Dolph Ziggler to the match. Ziggler pinned Cody Rhodes to become the number one contender. Former Nexus member Wade Barrett came out during the match and attacked the Big Show.

• Related News: Wade Barrett & Nexus’ Future Revealed

As the new #1 contender, Ziggler likely challenge for Edge’s title at the Royal Rumble.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com Here are some highlights of what Jim Ross had to say about:

Helms’ Verbal Attack On Shawn Michaels: “I’m not getting involved in that matter nor am I commenting on it. You would be amazed at how many people have asked me my thoughts on this subject of which I have none.”

Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston: “Saw a short clip of Kofi-Swagger from Smackdown Friday Night. These two hungry, athletic young men have chemistry without question. Next to Lawler’s show stealing performance with Miz last Monday on Raw, IMO, once again, Swagger-Kofi was the best WWE, TV match on the air last week.”

MVP’s WWE Release: “MVP requested his WWE release to explore other options as I understand it. I personally like MVP and have always enjoyed our relationship. He’s a talented guy who has endured and overcome some major league challenges in his life. MVP’s life might make for a good movie as a matter of fact. I always preferred the antagonist MVP better than the fan favorite MVP but that’s merely a personal preference. The guy is a survivor and he will perceiver and be just fine. Being off the road during the holidays isn’t a bad thing and it gives him time to assess what he wants to do. We had some particularly fun conversations when Oklahoma had their home and home college football series with MVP’s fav team, ‘The U.’ ”

Visit JRsBarBQ.com for Jim Ross’ great line of BBQ products.

— Rey Mysterio is active for the SmackDown brand’s live event tour of Europe, but has not been wrestling. An angle is taking place at live events where Mysterio comes out to face Alberto Del Rio in a match, but is then attacked. This subsequently leads to Kofi Kingston facing Del Rio.

Mysterio is suffering from an inner ear imbalance—which is causing him dizziness and nausea.

— Tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw will be pre-recorded due to the time difference in England. The event is being held at the Manchester Evening News Arena and begins at 2:30 p.m. EST.

— WWE returns to the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales on Apr. 19, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale Nov. 10, 2010 at 9:00 a.m.

— It has been confirmed that Sean Morley (a/k/a Val Venis) is returning to World Wrestling Entertainment, and it may occur as early as tonight’s Raw. The former Intercontinental Champion was spotted at a hotel in New York yesterday with other WWE talent.

— A pay-per-view special entitled WWE Presents: Kofi Kingston – Boom! is advertised to begin airing on Saturday, Dec. 4. It has a two hour runtime.

— WWE’s Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view event is being presented by THQ’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2011. The event takes place on December 19, 2010 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

BUY IT HERE: SmackDown vs. RAW 2010 (Amazon.com)

The hosts of the Monday Night Mayhem Internet radio show sent in the following recap with THQ’s Bryan Williams, a developer of the new Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 video game:

THQ’s Bryan Williams Discusses The Release Of WWE’s SmackDown vs. RAW 2011, The Changes & Improvements From Last Year’s Game (Highlighted By The All-New “WWE Universe” & “Road to WrestleMania” Modes), The Feedback Received From WWE Superstars Thus Far, Which Match Was Focused On The Most (From A Game Designer’s Perspective), Taking The Royal Rumble Online For the First Time Ever, & Which Potential Additions Could Be Made As Part Of The Forthcoming DLC Release Later This Fall

THQ’s Bryan Williams was a featured guest on this week’s live edition (10/25/10) of the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem. You can feel the “MNM Fall Tour ’10” every Monday night (at 7PM ET/6PM CT).

• Listen Here: THQ’s Bryan Williams/Monday Night Mayhem Interview

Interview highlights courtesy of The Mayhem’s official correspondent, Paterson from New Jersey:

The changes & improvements that THQ made from last year’s game (SmackDown vs. RAW 2010) to this year’s game (SmackDown vs. RAW 2011) & why the Hell in a Cell Match, from a game designer’s perspective, was focused on the most:

“Where do you start? We’ve added so much new content to 2011, which is a major feat, because SmackDown vs. RAW 2010 had a wealth of content as well. We added dynamic physics into the game for the first time and added it to all the objects in the game: tables, chairs, & all the objects that reside under the wrestling ring. It makes all the matches, like TLC or Chairs Match, or any match involving weapons that much more lifelike & representative of what you see on Pay-Per-View or weekly television. We also revamped the Hell in the Cell Match. Fans have been asking us for years to update that experience and for good reason. It was the match that needed the most attention. We enlarged the cell and made it more of the scope of the structure.”

Taking the Royal Rumble Match online for the first time ever:

“We redid the Royal Rumble match in 2010, and this year we brought it online. You could have up to 12 human players in the match, and I gotta tell you, it’s fun as hell. Even if you get eliminated, you’ll still be able to control a Superstar coming in from the 30, so you never have that feeling like you’re just watching the match and waiting to play.”

The feedback THQ has received from SmackDown vs. RAW 2011 thus far from the WWE superstars & which ones in particular will go as far to play the game as themselves:

“Yes, they play as themselves. That’s why they get so upset when their attributes are on the lower side of things. There’s a couple of guys that I know for a fact play the game, Kofi Kingston plays the game a bit, Dolph Ziggler plays the game, Evan Bourne plays it. Those are the guys I know for a fact plays the game, and Kofi is pretty good at it.”

Which potential additions could be made as part of the DLC (downloadable content) for SmackDown vs. RAW 2011, in addition to what’s being released later this fall & which one superstar he would love to see sooner vs. later into the game itself:

“I can’t really say. There has been some talks about maybe doing another one, but a decision hasn’t been made one way or another. I think what we’re gonna do is take a wait & see approach and see how the first couple of packs do, and if there’s success, and we get a lot of people downloading the DLC’s, I think that will definitely help & urge us to do a fourth pack. I would like to do another so we could get Daniel Bryan in the game, but all these decisions are not mine to make. I could only voice my decisions and hope & pray.”

Much more is included in Bryan’s highly-anticipated Mayhem return, including his thoughts on the game’s all-new “WWE Universe” mode, what fans can expect in this year’s “Road to WrestleMania” mode, the creation upgrades from SmackDown vs. RAW 2010, plus much more! Follow The Mayhem right now on Twitter (at www.Twitter.com/FeelTheMayhem), as one lucky Mayhem follower/listener will score a copy of the game for the Nintendo Wii this coming weekend! Eight more giveaway copies are coming your way throughout the rest of the “MNM Fall Tour ’10” leading through our “2010: Year In Review” special on December 27th. Log on to the official website of SmackDown vs. RAW 2011 (located at community.smackdownvsraw.com), and be sure to follow the “SD vs. RAW” franchise on Facebook & on Twitter right now (located respectively at www.Facebook.com/WWEGames & www.Twitter.com/WWEGames).

— Jillian Hall announced on her Twitter account Saturday that she is taking a break from World Wrestling Entertainment airwaves to work as a trainer for the company’s up-and-coming female talent.

“Taking a break to sharing my knowledge with the younger ladies,” she wrote. “Hoping to guide them in the right direction…Just wanna put rumors to rest.”

It was reported last week that WWE officials had decided to remove Hall from the main roster and assign her a trainer role within the organization.

— Kofi Kingston, who was featured on numerous commercial advertisements promoting the debut of SmackDown of Syfy, was noticeably absent from Friday’s show. The Ghanaian grappler was actually on hand for the event as he took part in a dark match before the live broadcast, defeating Tyler Reks. (source: PWInsider.com)

— Viewers can catch replays of WWE SmackDown on mun2 every Saturday night at 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. The program can also been seen in high-definition on Universal HD at 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.

– TNA Knockout Tara posted a blog on her Myspace a few days ago announcing that she recently had a mole removed that turned out to be cancerous. Tara, a lifelong “sun worshiper” who grew up in the desert in Southern California, is now urging her fans to be cautious of skin cancer and check themselves out:

“I went to the dermatologist because I had a bump on my hip. It turned out to be nothing. But the doctor noticed a mole near my collar bone that didn’t look quite right. He cut it off and tested it, and it turned out to be Basal Cell Carcinoma. That is the most common form of skin cancer. He cut most of it off, and next week, they are going to cut out the surrounding tissue and I should be 100% It’s it super minor, because they caught it early. So that some of my MySpace friends can possibly catch it early also, here is a link on what to look for… http://www.wikihow.com/Check-for-Skin-Cancer. Also, always wear sun block for extended periods outdoors.”

– WWE star Kofi Kingston was married earlier this month, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Kingston was married on Saturday, September 11th and was given the weekend off by WWE. He married his longtime girlfriend, who was with him in the audience at this year’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. Here they are together:

— Cody Rhodes’ lack of major push is said to be attributed to Vince McMahon’s lack of faith in the second generation wrestler.

“Cody Rhodes is capable of a breakout, but Vince McMahon just can’t commit to him,” said a WWE source. “He thinks he overacts.”

— The writing for weekly episodes of NXT is said to be a collaborative effort. While lead Raw writer Ed Koskey heads the show’s creative effort, former Kevin Dunn assistant Jen Bloodsworth has great input in the show’s content.

— SmackDown Superstar Kofi Kingston was given a recent weekend off to get married.

sources: Pro Wrestling Torch, Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— As seen last night on SmackDown, brand General Manager Theodore Long interrupted Vickie Guerrero and new Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler’s plans for a celebratory vacation. Ziggler must first defend his title in a rematch against former champion Kofi Kingston at SummerSlam.

— The cover art for WWE’s upcoming DVD set on Chris Jericho, Breaking The Code: Behind The Walls of Chris Jericho, has been released. To view its cover, click here.

— Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored a 0.65 cable rating, with 686,000 viewers. The midnight replay drew a 0.18 cable rating, with 150,000 viewers. (source: PWInsider.com)

— After a one year odyssey, Dolph Ziggler dethroned Kofi Kingston on Friday’s episode of SmackDown to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion. The episode was taped on July 28 in Laredo, Texas.

Ziggler was scheduled to win the title from Rey Mysterio last year, but the former World Heavyweight Champion reportedly refused to drop it to him. Mysterio, however, agreed to drop the title to John Morrison once it had been announced that he violated the company’s drug testing policy.

— On Wednesday, Aug. 11, John Cena will appear at Pentucket Regional High School in West Newbury, Massachusetts to sign autographs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then, with his brother, he will oversee the raffle of a classic 1969 Chevy Chevelle. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Kenny Fowler Foundation. Click here for more information.

— John Cena is featured on the cover of the September 2010 issue of WWE Magazine, which hits newsstands this Tuesday.

— At Wednesday’s SmackDown television taping in Laredo, Texas — airing next Friday — Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Though the title switch has yet to be officially acknowledged by WWE, Ziggler is nonetheless working as the belt’s holder during the company’s ongoing tour of Australia. The former Spirit Squad member retained the championship against Kingston at last night’s SmackDown live event in Sydney.

— During a sequence taped last Monday in San Antonio, Texas, Melina made her return to the squared circle — her first appearance inside a WWE ring in seven months. 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. The attack culminated with Fox being laid out by the multi-time champion’s finishing maneuver, the Sunset Split.

SuperLuchas.net has posted images of Melina’s return to the ring, which will be televised this Monday night on Raw.

— As confirmed by WWE, Santino Marella has joined Twitter. His account is located at twitter.com/milanmiracle.

— After a several year absence, The Ross Report has returned to WWE.com. In J.R.’s returning column, he asks whether John Morrison can be trusted, whether Melina will ever return to in-ring action, what Alicia Fox’ greatest assets are, whether the WWE Universe has seen the last of Eli Cottonwood, and much more.

— After scoring two non-title wins over Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler faces the champion for the title next week on SmackDown.

— The Smackdown house show in Ocean City, Maryland on September 6th, 2010 has been canceled. Refunds are available at the point of purchase until September 20th, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

In an interview with Fanhouse.com, Kofi Kingston noted that there’s pressure to come up with new spots for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

“It gets harder and harder every time,” Kingston told Brian Fritz. “I definitely do put a lot of pressure on myself to come up with something new and innovative. I think that’s what the WWE Universe looks forward to. I know they’re like ‘well, how are they going to top the last one’.

“It’s gotten to the point where everybody knows it’s going to be awesome but there’s definitely an expectation as far as new and innovative things. We’ll see what happens man. This Sunday there’s going to be a lot of that going on especially being that there is a Raw and Smackdown Money in the Bank ladder match. We’re going to be competing which each other to try and put on the better show. People are definitely going to get their money’s worth.”

When asked to give his original thoughts on being moved to SmackDown, Kingston said, “I thought it was a very good opportunity to be honest.

“Smackdown was the only roster that I had never been a part of. I was with the Raw side, I was with ECW when I first came out. I had a few appearances on Smackdown but I never actually had a chance to be on the roster. So now that I am, I think it’s been an opportunity to be one of the main guys in there and be one of the guys, one of the flagship guys on the show. I thought it was an opportunity again to step up and kind of encounter a new frontier. It’s been very good so far and we’ll see where it all goes.”

The WWE Intercontinental Champion also commented on whether he expects Shawn Michaels to return for another match.

“I don’t know,” Kingston said. “He seems pretty adamant about not coming back. I don’t know. I guess you never say never but I’m leaning towards … Shawn is a really big family guy. He’s really wanting to spend a lot of time with his family and he’s earned that right. Yeah, I think that’s probably what he’s going to do. Who knows.”

The full interview can be read here.

— WGN America will be airing a baseball game on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 7 p.m. (ET), so WWE Superstars is being bumped to 10 p.m. (ET), head-to-head with hour two of TNA iMPACT!. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

— Beth Phoenix, who is currently out with a torn ACL, said on Twitter that she was backstage at last night’s SmackDown taping in Tampa, Florida. She wrote: “In attendance at Smackdown taping in Tampa for a great opportunity that I’m so thrilled about! Its an emotional visit.So hard to not work”

— Kofi Kingston and MVP will be appearing at the Toys “R” Us located in New York City on Saturday, June 19th at 1:30 p.m. The first 400 customers to purchase $50 worth of Mattel’s WWE merchandise will receive a ticket to the signing. Fans must purchase said merchandise through the Personal Shopping department on Level 3 of the Times Square store. Kingston and MVP will only be autographing their respective Mattel action figures or a provided WWE trading card.

– WWE needs another strong heel on the SmackDown brand and two names that have been discussed for the spot are Kofi Kingston and MVP.

– Developmental talent Brett DiBiase, brother of Ted DiBiase, will be going in for knee surgery next week and will be missing several months of action. There had been plans for Ted DiBiase to lead a new group of second generation wrestlers, which would include his brother Bret as well as Joe Hennig, son of the late Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig. With Bret out of commission, there’s been talk of putting Carlito and Primo in the stable but that hasn’t been officially decided on.

With the fate of DiBiase’s new “priveleged sons” group on hold, WWE still wants to bring Joe Hennig to the main roster and pair him with DiBiase. Hennig, a standout developmental talent, was originally scheduled for this season of NXT until officials decided not to have any second generation stars on this season.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

SmackDown *SPOILERS*

Thanks to reader Archie for these live spoilers from Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings:

Dark Match:

* Jimmy Wang defeats Tyler Reks with a moonsault in a good match. Reks cut a heel promo before the match.

SmackDown, Airing Friday:

* Chris Jericho comes out to start SmackDown and says he will win the Chamber. Edge comes out to a big pop. He talks about spearing Taker last week. Jericho tells Edge to pick the RAW Champion for WrestleMania for his own good. The lights flicker and Edge spears Jericho.

* Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler takes place until Drew McIntyre comes down in a suit. Dolph tries to take advantage but Kane chokeslams him for the win. Drew comes in and hits his finisher on Kane but Kane reverses it.

* Rey Mysterio cuts a promo backstage and says he will win the Elimination Chamber.

* John Morrison & R-Truth vs. CM Punk & Luke Gallows is announced for tonight.

* Cryme Tyme defeated Trent Baretta and Caylon Croft in a good tag match.

* John Morrison is interviewed and says his ankle won’t make him miss the Chamber. Truth comes in and says he will win the Chamber but tonight, he and Morrison will beat Punk and Gallows.

* CM Punk and the Straight Edge Society come out. Punk cuts a promo and says he will win the belt at Elimination Chamber this Sunday. Tons of heat for Punk.

* Punk & Gallows vs. Morrison & Truth ends in a no contest. What looked like Undertaker’s pyro went off during the match, everything stopped but nothing happened. Match is restarted. Morrison was really playing up his ankle injury. The referee called for the bell when Morrison went to kick Punk but kicked the ring post and went down in pain. SES beats Morrison and Truth down until Rey Mysterio comes in for the save. They beat him down and pose in front of Rey to a ton of heat.

* Teddy Long is shown backstage. He says he will take action against Shawn Michaels for super kicking him on RAW. Mickie James comes in and Vickie Guerrero announces it will be Mickie vs. Michelle McCool next week with Vickie as the referee.

* Maria, Matt Hardy and The Great Khali vs. The Hart Dynasty is up next. The Dynasty gets the win when Natalya pins Maria. Maria walks up the ramp pissed off with Matt right behind her apologizing.

* Maria is shown backstage arguing with Matt Hardy about him letting their team down. Michelle McCool and Layla come in and make fun of them.

* Edge vs. Batista is next. No pyro for Batista, simple entrance but a big pop. Edge comes out to a big pop also. Batista stalls to start the match. Edge takes the mic and says John Cena was right about Batista. Finally they wrestle and it’s a good match. Edge spears Batista and Taker’s bell hits and he appears in the ring. Taker chokeslams Edge. Taker chases Batista off. Chris Jericho appears in the ring and hits the Codebreaker on Edge. Taker comes back out and stares down Jericho to end SmackDown after Jericho motions to the World Title.

– The current plan is to not start any new major angles for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view until the first or second week of January. Monday’s RAW will feature the 2009 Slammy Awards and the December 21st and 28th RAW shows will likely be used to continue the pushes of Kofi Kingston and Sheamus. The original plan was to shoot a big angle for the Royal Rumble at the January 11th edition of RAW, but with TNA airing Monday Night iMPACT! the week before, we could see that Rumble storyline air a week early.

– With this week’s edition of ECW on Syfy drawing the lowest rating ever, speculation regarding the show being rebranded entirely continues. With WWE’s television deal with SyFy set to expire soon, major changes are almost a certainty. Changes are also in store for the SmackDown brand, but it will likely be after the new year before we see anything.

– ECW’s newest tag team, Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft, have been added to the roster page on WWE’s website.

– The guys who played Mark Cuban’s security on RAW this past Monday were indy wrestlers Danny Matthews, Mark Vaughn, Ryan Davidson and Kristopher Haiden.

(Credit to F4Wonline.com and PWInsider.com for some of the information used in this report)

In an interview with Sky Sports, Kofi Kingston talked about this coming Sunday’s TLC pay-per-view and more. Below are some highlights of what Kofi said about:

Kofi’s Native Ghana In The World Cup: “Hopefully we can make our mark. We did alright the last time. We’ll try and take it to the top this time. I’ll definitely be rooting for them. It’s not going to be easy for sure. I know they’re all very good teams. We’ll see how we’ll stack up against them but I know Ghana are ready to bring it.”

Wrestling Randy Orton On Sunday: “I’ve been training hard. It’s going to be a battle. I think I have learned a lot these past weeks. I know that I don’t just fight one member of Legacy, I’m always having to fight all three. This is going to be a brawl to say the least.”

Sheamus; Rise In WWE: “I don’t think Sheamus would have stepped up to that role if he wasn’t ready to carry the ball. If you pick a fight with John Cena you better bring it. I hope Sheamus knows what he is doing. Some people might be jealous, I wouldn’t be surprised. But me, I’m not jealous for sure. I’m sure that for Sheamus and I, our paths will cross in the near future.”