— Former WWE star Luke Gallows worked a tryout match for TNA prior to tonight’s Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando, Florida.

— Jesse Neal posted a message on his Twitter account yesterday stating how glad he is that he and his girlfriend now qualify for food stamps.

“Yayyyy we qualified for food stamps!!! I can eat now! RT @CVEvil_138: Things are looking up! Just recieved some good news!!! :)”

A follower then wrote the following to Neal: “It’s a sad state of the business that you can make a joke about Food Stamps and people wonder if you are serious.” Neal replied, It’s not a joke.”

Neal also debunked rumors that he plans on leaving TNA.

“Plz guys don’t feed into the rumors, I have no plan to leave Ink Inc. I have just started my career and very grateful for what I have.” He continued, “Rumors r nothing but made up stories and lies from idiots!! Don’t believe them.”

source: PWInsider.com

— Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly vs. Lay-Cool was taped last night in San Antonio, Texas for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars. David Hart Smith vs. Zack Ryder and The Usos vs. Yoshi Tatsu and Darren Young were taped Monday night in Austin, Texas.

— Former women’s wrestling champion Madusa has relaunched her official website, www.madusa.com. She has also opened accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

— The main event for Ring of Honor’s return to Charlotte, North Carolina on Jan. 15 will feature Roderick Strong defending the ROH World Championship against Jay Briscoe.

— Recently released WWE star Luke Gallows celebrates his birthday today as he turns 27 years old. He was 23 years old when he debuted as Festus.

— World Wrestling Entertainment dismissed two to four creative team writers last week, in addition to Christopher DeJoseph, according to pwinsider.com. Their names have yet to be disclosed.

The writers were reportedly cut loose because company officials were displeased with the results of the last financial quarterly report and felt it would be in their best interest to acquire new writers with fresh ideas.

WWE has been actively scouting potential writers in recent months.

— WWE removed the profiles of those released Friday from the company website Monday. Those removed were Tiffany, Jillian Hall, Luke Gallows, Shad Gaspard, Vance Archer and Caylen Croft. Referee Aaron “Goose” Mahoney, however, was not removed.

— Those released last week by WWE were informed they were victims of budget cuts across the organization.

The confirmed list of those cut is as follows: Shad Chad Javier Romane Chittick Gaspard (a/k/a Shad Gaspard), Andrew Hankinson (a/k/a Luke Gallows), Kris Pavone (a/k/a Caylen Croft), Lance Hoyt (Vance Archer), Jillian Faye Farole (a/k/a Jillian Hall), Taryn Nicole Terrell (a/k/a Tiffany), creative write Christopher DeJoseph (a/k/a Big Dick Johnson), and referee Aaron “Goose” Mahoney.

— Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the official on-camera debut of The Undertaker. At the 1990 Survivor Series, he was introduced as the mystery partner of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase’s “Million $ Team.”

— The term “John Cena fired” was the fifth most searched for term on Google.com last night, with “Survivor Series” placing in thirteenth.

— Multi-time WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus congratulated Natalya on winning the Divas Championship last night at the Survivor Series, her first title capture in the company.

She wrote on Twitter: “Big PPV last nite! Congrats to my girl @natbynature on becoming new Divas Champ–so proud! And welcome back @thebethphoenix…I see some good wrestling on the horizon ~T”

Beth Phoenix, who saved Natalya from a Lay-Cool beatdown following the match, added, “Congrats Nattie. Few people know how hard and long you worked for this moment. I’m so proud of you, my friend. Enjoy your moment.”

— Former WWE star Paul London and his brother have made it to the final round of casting for a spot on the CBS reality game show The Amazing Race. They’ll know soon if they make the cast.

— Luke Gallows will discuss his release from WWE tonight on Right After Wrestling at 11:05 p.m. The show airs on SIRIUS Radio Channel 98 and at www.thescore.com/radio.

— On SmackDown, WWE made official an Intercontinental Championship Match for tomorrow night’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Dolph Ziggler will defend his belt against Kaval, who is cashing in his pay-per-view title shot from winning NXT season two.

— Former WWE Diva Tiffany has launched an account on Facebook and changed her Twitter handle to Taryn_Terrell. She is also accepting bookings and media appearances through Hollywood agent Mike Esterman (Mike@Esterman.com). Finally, she noted on Twitter that she is featured in Playboy’s Special Edition “Big Boobs, Hot Buns” issue, which is currently out on newsstands.

— Luke Gallows, who was released yesterday by WWE, is accepting bookings via bookbiglg@gmail.com. He wrote on Twitter: “Hey everyone, time to turn it UP! Im taking bookings and ready to rock out!!!!!”

World Wrestling Entertainment confirmed this afternoon that the organization has come to terms on the release of the following superstars and divas:

• Shad Gaspard
• Luke Gallows
• Vance Archer
• Caylen Croft
• Tiffany
• Jillian

In typical fashion, WWE wished each them the best in all future endeavors.

After checking with a WWE source – we can confirm that even more releases are expected either today or in the very near future.

WWE recently released 7 wrestlers from developmental contracts and a long-time WWE is also gone .. You can read more on those stories below:

• WWE Releases 7 Developmental Talents
• Creative Writer Parts Ways With WWE

Joey Mercury will be out of action for several months after undergoing surgery over the weekend to repair a torn pectoral muscle. It’s considered a six month recovery process.

Despite the injury, Mercury is expected to remain on television since he had his arm on Monday’s Raw just days after surgery. Many feel that with Serena’s recent release, it wasn’t a good time to remove Mercury from television since the Straight Edge Society wouldn’t be much of a group with two people. However, Punk and Gallows broke up at the following night’s SmackDown television taping, so the injury may have been the catalyst to disband the group.

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— It was announced during tonight’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown that CM Punk and Luke Gallows will challenge D-Generation X for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships at next week’s show in Cincinnati, Ohio.

It was also announced that Drew McIntyre will be defending his Intercontinental Championship against John Morrison in a No Disqualification Match.

— A match taped this past Tuesday in Greenville, South Carolina pitting Dolph Ziggler against Jimmy Wang Yang was cut from tonight’s Friday Night SmackDown broadcast due to time constraints.

— Rey Mysterio is featured on the cover of the February 2010 issue of WWE Magazine — which hits newsstands next Tuesday — wearing wings.