— In the following video, Bret Hart talks about getting his revenge at WrestleMania XXV. He says Vince McMahon was “excellently executed.”

— There was a production error during Rey Mysterio’s entrance last night at WrestleMania, though it was not shown on the pay-per-view broadcast. He was set to be shot into the air via trap door, but the entrance failed to work. He was forced to crawl out of the hole and on to the stage.

— The Arizona Republic has an article discussing what WrestleMania has meant to the cities of Phoenix and Glendale.

— Some people in San Francisco and the UK reported problems with WWE.com’s Wrestlemania XXVI feed.

The involvement of Rey Mysterio’s family in his storyline with CM Punk was proposed to the creative team by Mysterio and was the original idea of a fellow wrestler. Mysterio’s daughter Alliyah is actually a model and actress and has impressed everybody with her performing so far.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original idea for the storyline with Rey’s family was to be something like the Raven-Sandman angle in the original ECW but a lot of that idea was nixed because of WWE being kid-friendly. Punk would have became friendly with Rey’s children and eventually turn them against their father. Another idea would have had Punk cut Rey’s daughter’s hair but that was nixed as well.

Punk was pushing for a Mask vs. Hair match, but WWE wasn’t interested and didn’t think anybody would believe Mysterio would lose and remove his mask.

Mysterio has been working with a bad knee for several months and it will require surgery after WrestleMania. Right now the plan is for Rey to stick around and work as long as possible before he needs the procedure. The feud with CM Punk is scheduled to go past WrestleMania.

— A match between Rey Mysterio and CM Punk was made official for WrestleMania XXVI during last night’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown. The stipulation for the match is that should Mysterio lose the bout, he must join The Straight Edge Society. (Match preview)

— Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored an 0.89 cable rating with 974,000 viewers. The midnight replay drew an 0.16 rating with 143,000 viewers. (source: PWInsider.com)

— WWE returns to the Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia on June 11th, 2010 at 7:30 PM. Tickets go on sale April 10th, 2010 at 10 AM. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

— Undertaker — and Michelle McCool — missed Sunday’s SmackDown/ECW live event in Cleveland due to a death in his family. Triple H appeared instead and wrestled Chris Jericho in the main event.

— Rey Mysterio’s autograph session at a Kmart in Chicago Sunday afternoon did not go off without a hitch as many fans were left angry. Customers who purchased $35 in WWE merchandise could get an autograph from the SmackDown Superstar, but he arrived late and had to leave early for that night’s show while people waited in line. Things then got out of hand as he was leaving the discount department store as people began rushing towards him. Many people who didn’t get autographs subsequently asked for refunds on purchased merchandise.

source: f4wonline.com

— 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.

— WWE has reportedly given thought to having a Mask vs. Hair Match between Rey Mysterio and CM Punk take place at WrestleMania. (source: f4wonline.com)

— The USA Network will be airing the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, March 27, 2010 from 11:00 p.m. to midnight. There is no replay this year. The event is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. in Phoenix (7:30 p.m. Eastern). (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

In an interview to promote his new book, Rey Mysterio tells U.K.’s Daily Star that he checked himself into rehab last year after becoming dependent on prescription pain pills.

“I’ve been wrestling for 20 years now, and after several operations, five on my left knee and three on my right arm, the medication caught up to me,” Mysterio told the Star’s Patrick Lennon. “I realized it, my wife realized it, and I knew it was time to make a change for myself, my family, and for the business I’m in.”

Mysterio says he was tired of living the lifestyle of an addict and implied that he did not want to let addiction lead him down the same path as his dear friend, the late Eddie Guererro.

“When you realize you’re in the right moment – that you haven’t lost your family, or lost your job it’s a good thing, and with the support and help of my wife and kids, I’ve moved on to something better,” Mysterio said.

** BUY Rey Mysterio’s New Book “Behind The Mask” From Amazon.com

A few WWE superstars and Divas returned to the ring this weekend at their brands’ respective live events:

– Rey Mysterio returned to action at the SmackDown live event in Maryland, defeating Chris Jericho in the main event. A fan report from the show says Rey wasn’t selling the injury from Batista at all. Mysterio suffered a brutal attack at the hands of Batista after their match at Survivor Series. Read More: Rey Mysterio Surgery Update

– WWE Diva Maryse returned to the ring at Friday night’s RAW live event in Johnson City, Tennessee.

– Carlito made his return to action at that same show defeating WWE developmental talent Alex Riley. There have been reports that Carlito is currently in the “dog house” and not on good terms with WWE management. Read More: Carlito In The WWE Dog House?

As previously reported, Rey Mysterio’s knee is in bad shape and the former World Heavyweight champion will need surgery to repair the situation. The beatdown he suffered at the hands of Batista following their match at Survivor Series was done to set up his time away from the ring.

While there was talk that he’d undergo an extensive surgery to fully repair the ACL, Mysterio is now is said to be considering a less invasive procedure on his ACL that would allow him to return sooner than later.

The more invasive procedure would have kept him out of action for upto 9 months and he would have missed WrestleMania 26. While this other surgery he’s considering will allow him to return at the Royal Rumble, he will still need major surgery down the road, likely after he retires.

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

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. In this update, Ross gives his thoughts on Sunday’s Survivor Series PPV and more. Some highlights:

Undertaker’s Next Feud: “I assume that ‘Taker is Batista’s next target as I can’t see a return match from Sunday night. Taker-Batista seems the most logical but I don’t have any inside info to base this on FYI.

Rey Mysterio: “I assume that ‘Taker is Batista’s next target as I can’t see a return match from Sunday night. Taker-Batista seems the most logical but I don’t have any inside info to base this on FYI.

WWE’s Young Talent: “The key, young guys got the chance to shine in the first tag bout including (Dolph) Ziggler, Miz, (Jack) Swagger, (Drew) McIntyre, and Sheamus. All these guys are ‘keepers’ and are counted on to be future, PPV headliners. The creative debate aside, the level of success these young men find will largely be up to them, how innovative they can become, and how willing they are to dedicate themselves to getting better and being reliable and problem free individuals. Good, solid opening contest.”

Two of WWE’s top superstars are set to undergo knee surgery and will be out of action for several months.

As we’ve reported over the past few weeks, Rey Mysterio’s knee is in bad shape and he needs his ACL repaired. Batista’s brutal attack on Mysterio after their match at Survivor Series and the stretcher job that followed was the setup for him taking time off. Many within WWE are concerned that this may be it for Mysterio’s career, but it’still s too soon for that to be confirmed. He could be out up to 6-9 months from the surgery, which would make Wrestlemania 26 the third out of the last four Wrestlemanias Mysterio has missed due to injuries.

Additionally, Unified tag champion the Big Show also needs knee surgery, according to PWInsider.com. He got choked out by the Undertaker at Survivor Series and will be off WWE television shortly. This will likely be the end of the surprisingly solid JeriShow tag team. Had Edge been ready to return to action, this would have been the perfect set up to reintroduce him into storylines and feud with Chris Jericho. Jericho and Edge were teaming together before Edge got injured and Jericho ran down Edge for being injury prone and the weak link in the team. Jericho selected Big Show as his new partner, but now that he’s on his way out as well, it should be interesting to see where Jericho winds up.

– John Cena is not currently scheduled for any WWE live events in January of 2010. Cena will begin filming his next WWE Studio movie “Brother’s Keeper” on December 7th in New Orleans. For a few months, Cena will not be wrestling on any WWE live events and will only be appearing at TV tapings and pay-per-views.

– The LA Times had an article up yesterday speculating that the extension between WWE and the USA Network might lead to bigger things like a WWE network or WWE on NBC’s HD Universal channel. There have been preliminary talks between the two about the WWE TV network. They also talk about how Comcast may be taking over NBC Universal soon and if they do, that could be a plus for WWE as Comcast reaches almost 25% of the country.

– As previously reported, Rey Mysterio is in need of knee surgery. He’s expected to take time off soon which may cause the feud with Batista to be rushed.

– WWE will tape ECW and SmackDown tonight from Philadelphia with The Hurricane vs. Paul Burchill on ECW with Hurricane’s mask on the line and Burchill’s ECW career on the line. SmackDown this week will feature Kane and The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho and Big Show plus Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison in a 2 of 3 Falls Match for the Intercontinental Title.

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

– Rey Mysterio is said to be working through a lot of pain at the moment, with news that his ACL and PCL are completely destroyed. It’s said his injured joint is virtually bone-on-bone and that he requires knee surgery as soon as possible, according to the Wrestling Globe newsletter.

– In an interview with Australia’s Daily Telegraph, Edge talks about injuries saying, “Look, guys in the WWE wrestle hurt all the time – that’s a given.” He also talks about the point where he nearly ended up in a wheelchair after pushing himself too far.

“And with the neck stuff, yeah, I thought I was hurt. So I kept going and going, basically. Kept training and wrestling to the point where I almost ended up in a wheelchair. And it all came to a head one afternoon when I was lifting weights in a San Francisco gym. Curling dumbbells. I was curling away when I went to go with my left and – boom – it just wouldn’t go. Even when I tried to flex my bicep, it stayed soft.” He then wrestled the next day.

In a revelation that will be considered shocking to many and “not so much” to others, Rey Mysterio reveals in his newly released autobiography, Rey Mysterio: Behind the Mask, that he checked himself into a drug rehabilitation facility last year as a result of a persistent issue with prescription pain medication

According to the book, Mysterio’s issues with pain killers became an issue again last year after dealing with a nagging biceps injury. Mysterio suffered a biceps injury during an overseas tour in February 2008 and underwent three surgeries within the space of a month to correct the problem.

Mysterio was suspended from World Wrestling Entertainment for 30 days this summer after violating the company’s Wellness policy.

For more details on the book (which is now on sale), visit Amazon.com.

— The current plan is for Rey Mysterio is to return from his Wellness Suspension at the Trenton, NJ Smackdown taping on 10/6, according to PWInsider.com.

— WWE has signed has signed independent wrestler Steven Andrew Slocum to a developmental deal. He was trained by Booker T as Cyrus and is now working in Florida Championship Wrestling as Jackson Andrews.

— After ten-plus years with World Wrestling Entertainment, the one and only Lilian Garcia thanked the WWE Universe and informed everyone that Monday was her final night greeting fans, belting out the national anthem and announcing the start of matches. In case you missed her heartfelt and emotional goodbye last night on Raw, you can see the video clip at the following link.