— With Randy Orton’s latest WWE title run having concluded, “The Viper” now ranks at No. 10 for most days spent as WWE Champion, surpassing Shawn Michaels with 420. No. 9 would be Randy Savage at 529, Steve Austin at No. 8 with 529, Triple H at No. 7 with 539, and Bret Hart at No. 6 with 654. John Cena is in fifth place with 947, while Pedro Morales ranks at No. 4 with 1,027. The top three spots are Bruno Sammartino (4,040), Hulk Hogan (2,184) and Bob Backlund (2,138).

— Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez donned a mask at Thursday night’s Florida Championship Wrestling live event in Tampa. He worked under the name Chimaera, a masked identity he has used in the independent scene since 2006.

– Jim Ross commented on news of MVP’s release from WWE with the following.

“MVP released 2day from WWE. Good guy who will do well going forward. He’s a survivor,” he wrote on Twitter.

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— People within WWE thought the timing of Alex Riley’s arrest last week for Driving under the influence didn’t do him as favors, but he survived the company’s latest round of talent cuts in spite of many speculating that he would be fired.

Shawn Michaels and his family were involved in a car accident the night after termination papers had been finalized, while Riley’s arrest on a DUI charge took place the day before. Many feel Riley is lucky Michaels nor his family were hurt, because if they were, it is very likely that he would have been let go.

— WWE cleverly edited the episode of SmackDown held in Manchester, England so that it would appear that Alberto Del Rio’s ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez was on hand for the event when he actually wasn’t—due to a cost-cutting measure. A clip of Rodriguez introducing Del Rio was played to the live audience while clips from other television events were shown during the broadcast.

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— A match pitting CM Punk against The Undertaker has been announced for Friday’s live SmackDown debut on Syfy.

Also announced for the show is Alberto Del vs. Rey Mysterio and appearances by John Cena and The Nexus.

— The following two matches have been announced for tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America:

* Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger
* The Bella Twins (with Jamie) vs. Jillian & Alicia Fox (with Maxine)

— For those unaware, Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, has long had an account on Twitter. His Twitter handle is located at RRWWE.

He was recently added to the SmackDown roster page on WWE.com and is thus considered a full fledged WWE Superstar.

— The official WWE website has added profiles on both Paul Bearer and Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, to its SmackDown roster section.

Bearer’s appearance on Friday’s episode of SmackDown was not a one time occurrence as he will be a featured character going forward. Meanwhile, Rodriguez showed on Friday’s show that he was not above getting involved in the action as he grabbed Christian’s ankle in order to help Del Rio gain an advantage during the melee with the injured SmackDown star.

— Paul Bearer has changed his Twitter handle to wweURNiverse.

— Both Giant González and Paul Bearer were top trending searches on Google.com yesterday, according to Google Trends.

González died Wednesday following a long battle with diabetes. WWE has yet to acknowledge his passing.

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.