— Sunsports‘ WrestleCast has won another two prestigious Wrestling Radio Awards as their “highly-controversial” chat with former WWE star Mr. Kennedy was voted Male Interview Of The Year while its in-depth Bret Hart podcast picked up a prize for being AudioWrestling.com Editor’s Choice Male Interview Of The Year.

In an interesting note, WrestleCast host Simon ‘LilsBoy’ Rothstein reveals that WWE demanded they edit its chat with Kennedy regarding his controversial remarks on the use of steroids last March.

“We stood firm, pointing out that everything said was clearly Ken’s own opinion and he was more than happy to have his views air – even though most would disagree with them,” Rothstein said. “It actually cost us pre-arranged interviews at WrestleMania, which WWE pulled as a result, but this Award says standing up to them was worth it.”

On the subject of steroids, Kennedy explained why he fell foul of the WWE’s Wellness Policy shortly after saying he didn’t take them in his last chat with WrestleCast in August 2007. He explained how “vigorous” the company is over testing for banned substances, including having an independent official watching their wrestlers give urine samples on an almost weekly basis. But he also adds that, while he knows they’re for the good of his health, he feels the tests are “a little much” and expresses his own personal view that: “If you’re not hurting anybody – then what’s the big deal?”

— WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James released her first country music single, Are You With Me?!, today ahead of her first album release on Mar. 23. She’s appearing on local radio stations today promoting the new single, the album, and her venture into the world of country music.

Those of you in the Arizona area can catch her today on KRDE 94.1 FM at 4:30 p.m.

— WWE Monday Night Raw on June 14th, 2010 will be held at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets go on sale April 9th, 2010 at 10 AM. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

— The Wrestling Observer speculates that Bret Hart is being paid $500,000 for his return storyline with WWE as well as a handsome WrestleMania bonus.

— Subway Jared appeared on Raw this past Monday night due to guest host Carl Edwards’ affiliation with the restaurant chain as he is the driver of the No. 99 Aflac/Subway Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion. Subway announced yesterday that Edwards was bringing the company’s “Footlong Nation Appreciation” campaign to Daytona, Ohio.

— Click here to view a preview image of the promotional photography being used for Mickie James’ debut single, Are You With Me?.

The single will be released to country music radio stations this Tuesday. The full album is currently slated for a Mar. 23 release.

– WWE developmental star and former Ring of Honor champion Bryan Danielson has a new name in Florida Championship Wrestling. At last night’s television tapings, he was introduced as “Daniel Bryan.” WWE almost always requires that they own the ring names of their talent, so Danielson likely refused to sign over the rights to the “Bryan Danielson” name – thus, Daniel Bryan.

– John Morrison worked the SmackDown/ECW live event last night in Ecuador, teaming with Matt Hardy in the opening match of the night. Morrison and Hardy defeated The Hart Dynasty. Morrison appeared to be fine and showed no signs of a broken ankle. As we reported yesterday, Morrison’s claims on Twitter that he broke his ankle were not true and he was simply “working the Internet fans.” (Editor’s note: Man, he really got us good!)

– Mickie James will make her live concert debut on February 22nd in Nashville, TN as a part of the Dustin Wells Gift of Music concert. Mickie will share the stage with country music stars Rascal Flatts, Kellie Pickler, Jason Michael Carroll, Keith Anderson and Little Big Town.

— To put any doubt to rest, Bret Hart will indeed be appearing on Raw tomorrow night after being “invited” back by Vince McMahon. The WWE Hall of Famer wrote the following note on his Facebook account this past Friday: “20,000 fans in a couple weeks! Thank you fans! Watch me on WWE RAW this coming monday.”

— The winner of the Women’s Championship Match between Michelle McCool and Mickie James, as well as WWE Champion Sheamus, will be taking part in tonight’s Royal Rumble Live Chat. Click here for more info.

— The pre-sale password for the 3/14 Raw show in Bakersfield, California is CENA. Tickets went on sale yesterday.

— Mickie James has launched an official website promoting her musical endeavors at MickieJames.com.

— Today is WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool’s birthday, who turns 30 years old.

— WWE has released the Cryme Tyme Runnin’ the Block T-Shirt at the following link.

— WWE returns to the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Massachusetts on August 28th, 2010 and the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts on August 29th, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

The following press release was issued last week, announcing that Mickie James had signed on with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, an organization that tracks and protects recording artists’ royalties and compensation:

WWE’s® MICKIE JAMES JOINS ASCAP FAMILY AS DEBUT ALBUM NEARS COMPLETION

(Nashville, TN) – Mickie James, one of the WWE’s® (World Wrestling Entertainment) top female competitors, announced today the signing of her ASCAP membership.

ASCAP Senior Vice President Connie Bradley and Nashville Director of Membership Relations Mike Sistad were on hand as James signed off on her affiliation with the organization.

James co-wrote with Nashville songwriters on several of the cuts scheduled for inclusion on her debut album.

James and producer Kent Wells expect the project to reach completion this week, with the album’s first single impacting radio in February. The full album is currently projected for a March, 2010 release.

— This past Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored a record high 1.1 cable rating.

source: PWInsider.com

— The latest issue of Sky Sportszine has a feature on the top 10 WWE Divas to ever hold a WWE Women’s title. Though it should be noted that half the women listed have never held a title in WWE. Nonetheless, the rankings are as follows:

1: Mickie James
2: Maryse
3: Melina
4: Michelle McCool
5: Beth Phoenix
6: Natalya
7: Kelly Kelly
8: Maria
9: Eve Torres
10: Tiffany

You can view the piece at the following link.

— Maryse spent her birthday yesterday having her teeth repaired. She wrote the following on her Twitter account: “Awesome day besides the 4 hrs @ dentist to repare 3 broken teeth! I ll try to not fall on my face again!”

— Nikki Bella, whose weight was recently the source of a few mean-spirited jabs on the part of former WWE performer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, noted on her Facebook account this past week that she has hired a personal trainer. She also said in a recent post that she’s hitting the gym harder “to lose the holiday pounds.”

— Dolph Ziggler attended last night’s Cavaliers vs. Lakers game in Cleveland.

— Booker T was close to returning to World Wrestling Entertainment, but negotiations fell through after the former World Heavyweight Champion asked for a deal that included a very limited number of house show dates. A well-placed source notes that he asked for “an HBK-style deal,” which led to negotiations between both sides falling apart. (source: prowrestling.net)

— When asked on Twitter why she wore a bandage around her arm at Saturday’s night WWE live event, Mickie James simply replied, “9stitches… I’m tough!”

— The recently released Bret Hart Emblem T-Shirt is currently the top selling item on WWEShop.com.

– To update the story of WWE Divas champion Melina suffering a torn ACL at Tuesday’s WWE RAW house show, she went with the WWE crew to the live event in Syracuse on Wednesday and was on crutches backstage. Melina is expected to undergo surgery and will drop the title to Maryse, who was was actually scheduled to win it soon anyways. Melina has been pulled off Raw house show lineups through February.

– CMT.com, the official website of the Country Music Television network, has an article up looking at the budding music career of Mickie James. Her debut country music album will be released in March with the first single coming in Feburary. While it may seem that a new careerin country music came out of nowhere, James told CMT that she’s written poetry and stories her whole life and played the violin in high school. James knows first hand that the entertainment industry can get ugly and will take the knowledge gained in pro wrestling all the way to Nashville. “As in any entertainment industry, you have to see the sheep in wolf’s clothing and you have to be able to differentiate who’s being real and who’s just hopping on board for all the wrong reasons. Lucky for me, I’m very blessed to have come across some really, really good people and gotten them on my team.”

As seen last week on SmackDown, Mickie James was introduced to Michelle McCool’s personalized version of “Old McDonald,” a video designed to degrade the curvaceous SmackDown Diva with its starring character “Piggy James.” For those wondering, the segment was indeed designed to send a message to the multi-time women’s champion.

WWE brass aren’t happy with James venturing outside of the company for her country music aspirations as they believe she’s heading down the same path as the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” and Stacy Keibler, who let their outside endeavours overtake their commitments to the company.

Additionally, company officials have not been pleased with James’ weight in recent months, which was another reason for the degrading segment.

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

– Tonight’s three-hour RAW from Hershey, PA will be a Thanksgiving themed show, feature Superstars from all three brands and will be hosted by Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura.

– There were a lot of people within WWE upset about the “Piggy James” segment on this past Friday’s SmackDown where fun was poked at Mickie James. Management has been down on James due to what they perceive to be her “letting herself go” and the locker room didn’t find it as funny as Vince probably did.

– Referee Scott Armstrong suffered a concussion during the Team Morrison vs. Team Miz at last night’s Survivor Series pay-per-view after the kick from Sheamus. This is the only real injury coming out of the show.

– One of the other complaints WWE officials have with Michael Cole is that they feel he says things to entertain himself more than getting over what he is told to get over. His “stock” has been higher than its been recently.

– WWE will debut the official trailer for The Marine 2 starring Ted DiBiase on tomorrow’s tonight’s three-hour RAW show from Hershey, PA. The trailer was actually leaked online about a month ago and you can view it below:

(Credit to F4WOnline.com and PWInsider.com for some of the information used in this report)

— World Wrestling Entertainment officials are said to be down on former Divas champion Mickie James. According to a source within the company, recent weight gain and work rate are the main problems. While she’s arguably still gorgeous and in great shape, she had put on some weight (mostly visible in her abs & lower body) and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Additionally, the quality of her matches has been sliding and she is no longer seen as the “reliable hand” that she once was. There have been various Internet reports this week that James is frustrated with the way she’s been booked as of late, which seems to jive with our source’s findings.

— WWE’s will be holding a “Supershow” live event at the 50,000 seat Carrier Dome in Syracuse on Wednesday, December 30, 2009. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at the arena box office, all Ticketmaster outlets and www.ticketmaster.com/wwe.

— Likely as a result of her appearance on Raw last night, Maria Menounos is No. 10 on today’s “Popular Searches” chart on Yahoo.com.

– The rating for this week’s Raw is not in yet, but it looks like WWE may have a tough time matching last week’s low 3.1 number. Last night’s NFL Monday Night Football game on ESPN featuring Bret Favre leading the Minnesota Vikings over his old squad, the Green Bay Packers scored a huge 14.2 metered-market rating, according to SportsBusinessDaily.com. The game is expected to be the most watched program in the history of cable television, once the final numbers come in.

– The plan as of this past weekend was to have Beth Phoenix as the next challenger to Mickie James’ Divas Championship.

– SEScoops reader Alex sent in the first official promotional poster for WWE’s WrestleMania 26. Next year’s big event takes place on March 28th, 2010 from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona: