– WWE Chairman Vince McMahon celebrates his 69th birthday today. McMahon was born on August 24, 1945.

– As noted earlier this weekend, WWE has announced a segment for Monday’s RAW that features Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels all commenting on the upcominng rematch between John Cena and Brock Lesnar at WWE Night Of Champions. One of the reasons WWE is loading up this Monday’s show is because it is the first time in history that WWE will be going up against the Emmy Awards on NBC.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan spoke to Brian Fritz of the Orlando Sentinel during SummerSlam weekend and revealed that he signed a 3-year deal with WWE back in January. Hogan admits that WWE could have used him more so far this year, but he believes Vince McMahon has a vision of how to use him long-term.

“I think they want to keep mystique and keep me more valuable than me standing there with the microphone and saying the same crap every week and it basically meaning nothing. I think they’ve got a plan and that’s what I’m praying for.”

Hogan said his in-ring work at the end of his WCW was “embarrassing” and called his one match in TNA a “nightmare.”

“The thing is, I watch the old tapes of myself, WCW, and it’s embarrassing because towards the end I was getting to where it was embarrassing to kind of like be in there and then I watch the TNA stuff and that was a nightmare,” Hogan said.

“I tried to get in there. I was in the middle of the back surgeries trying to keep up. The doctors would say, ‘You’ll be fine,’ but to watch it now is embarrassing.”

Hogan doesn’t want his TNA match to be the last thing fans remember about his in-ring career and is pushing hard for a grand retirement match in WWE. He feels that he’s healthy enough to compete, but he’ll have to convince Vince McMahon and Triple H.

“Not that Vince would want this, not that Triple H would want this but I keep telling everybody that my goal, because I’m not in pain anymore, that my goal would be to get back in there, not embarrass myself if that’s possible and have that one more match. And if that works, if that really were to work I would love to contribute and participate and do some stuff because I miss it so much,” Hogan said.

He added that he wants to face John Cena at WrestleMania 31 next year, but “if that’s unrealistic, I get it.”

Prior to Vince McMahon taking part in the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge,” McMahon extended the challenge to three celebrities — Donald Trump, Maria Menounos and Kermit The Frog.

As of today, both Menounos and now Kermit The Frog have accepted his challenge. Below is a video of Kermit doing the “Ice Bucket Challenge” in response to McMahon’s challenge. Kermit extended the challenge to Tina Fey, Ty Burrell and Ricky Gervais.

Kurt Angle recently made inquiries to WWE about a return to the company, attempting to speak with Triple H, who reportedly blew him off. Angle apparently called Vince McMahon at this point, who told him that Triple H handles the talent decisions.

As a result, Triple H is said to be upset with Angle for what he feels was an attempt to go over his head.

Angle has noted in recent interviews that he would like to return to WWE, but also mentioned that he doesn’t feel he can work a full-time schedule these days.

Alberto Del Rio, who is now going by the name Alberto El Patron in Mexico’s AAA promotion, recently appeared on the Televisa show “Primero Noticias.” Below is a recap of the appearance, courtesy of PWInsider.com.

On being fired, Del Rio said there was an incident, an altercation with a WWE employee, that one day he’ll give all of the details on. Right now he’s assessing the best way to do so via legal means, so that everything he says isn’t used against him, since legal matters in the U.S. are handled differently than they are in Mexico.

He said there was an incident where he was offended, where he was completely the victim. He said WWE made a statement that he displayed unprofessional conduct, and that yes it’s true, that he smacked the WWE employee because as he always says, you can take away his job but you can’t take away his dignity and his pride, nor try to offend or humiliate where he comes from, which is of course Mexico, and he doesn’t forget his roots. This problem led to the termination of his contract with WWE.

The interviewer asked if ADR was the victim of racism. Alberto says yes, that there were comments this employee made, and that he admitted he reacted in an inappropriate manner. He said that he wouldn’t advise anyone to conduct themselves in the manner that he did. He admitted that he “smacked” the WWE employee and that he is completely embarrassed by his own attitude and by his own reaction, but in that moment, he demanded an apology.

The interviewer interrupted ADR and asked what the employee said to him, Alberto says that part he’s gonna keep to himself for now. He said he’s a few days away from being able to tell the world exactly what happened. He said that a lot of people know what happened because there were many people present there in the WWE catering area. The interviewer asks who else was there, Alberto says right next to him was Jack Swagger, one of the referees was behind him, people from the crew, etc. They were all eating in Laredo, Texas at a TV taping.

ADR said he spoke to Vince McMahon after the incident occurred and everything appeared to be fine. Interviewer backs up to the incident, Alberto says someone said something to the WWE employee, and when he responded to the comment, the response was directed at Alberto.

The interviewer asks if he’s had any incidents with this employee before and Alberto says yes. He said that “a while back” there was a time the WWE employee was pretending to read something on his laptop and said, “It says on here Alberto is a ‘tal por cual’ “ (Mexican slang for a slut) and that he tried to play it off like it was a joke and shake Alberto’s hand. Alberto refused and told the employee to get away from him. He said this incident occurred 7 or 8 months prior to the slap. So when this incident occurred recently, Alberto demanded an apology, but that the WWE employee walked right up to Alberto’s face, smirked at him and said nothing. That’s when Alberto smacked him. Again, he said he is embarrassed by his reaction, but he doesn’t regret it. He said that yes, it cost him his job, but he thinks WWE is the one who loses the most in this situation.

The interviewer asks if it was another wrestler who he had this incident with, Alberto says no, that it’s their Social Media Manager. He says he never even knew this person’s name until after all of this happened. WWE released a statement saying Alberto was fired due to unprofessional conduct, but he wonders why they didn’t mention there was an isolated incident that led to his unprofessional conduct.

Alberto said after the incident happened, Vince McMahon asked to speak to him. Alberto said that Vince himself told him that he understood where Alberto was coming from and why he was upset by the comment, because first he’s insulted and then after the insult the guy smirks in his face. Vince said that he understood ADR’s reaction. Everything appeared to be fine after his talk with Vince.

ADR was suspended the next day, which he understood, but that for reasons WWE later decided, they changed their mind and was let go.

Alberto said Triple H called him Thursday morning and told him that it hurts WWE more because they’ve invested a lot of time and money into him, but that they need to let him go. Alberto told him that it was fine, and that once his release was made public AAA contacted him, Japan contacted him, some North American promotions as well.

Alberto said that he has not had any other conversations with WWE since his release, but that word got out of what happened from other people who witnessed the incident occur.

He said going forward, he’s using El Patron now since WWE owns “Alberto Del Rio” (his real name is Jose Alberto Rodriguez). They asked him if he’s going to sue WWE, he said he’s not sure. He said that the reason he went to a lawyer is because when he received his release in the mail, they mentioned he couldn’t wrestle in the United States for a year. ADR admitted he’s not fully familiar with the laws in the U.S. but he thinks it’s unconstitutional to prevent him from wrestling, since that’s how he makes a living and feeds his family.

Del Rio was asked if he wants to wrestle again in the U.S. He says no and that he was already considering not signing a new contract when his contract was up next February. He said he wasn’t sure if he was going to stay or go, so he’s not sure what would have happened, but unfortunately this incident happened which forced him out of the company. He spoke with his wife after he was let go and decided he wasn’t going to pursue legal action against WWE, but then he received his termination letter with the 1 year no compete clause and that changed everything.

Heading into Sunday’s match between Chris Jericho and Bray Wyatt at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, one of the original ideas was to center the entire match around building up the Wyatt character.

Apparently, Wyatt was also scheduled to win the first meeting between he and Jericho at the WWE Battleground pay-per-view, however Vince McMahon reportedly changed his mind at the last minute.

Jericho has mentioned in the past that he is scheduled to wrap up his current run with WWE after the upcoming WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, as he is going on tour with his rock band Fozzy. As things stand now, the current plan is for a third match between Jericho and Wyatt at Night Of Champions, with the match having some sort of stipulation.

Stephanie McMahon posted the following tweet on her official Twitter account of herself backstage with Maria Menounos, UFC star Ronda Rousey and her Four Horsewomen friends (Jessmyn Duke, Marina Shafir and Shayna Baszler).

The photo in the tweet alludes to the fact that Stephanie has accepted the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge” from Menounos, who accepted the same challenge from Vince McMahon last week.

Thx UFC Champ @rondarousey & @jessamynduke @marinashafir @qosbaszler @mariamenounos #IceBucketChallenge #SmackDownALS pic.twitter.com/jWt9OCiJV7

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) August 18, 2014

Speaking of Stephanie’s Twitter account, she also tweeted this photo of herself in her ring gear at SummerSlam.

It's time. #SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/f2nCZB0Aku

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) August 18, 2014

According to various sources, Vince McMahon has lost interest in the new Bo Dallas character.

Dallas, who for a while had a notable undefeated streak on WWE television, suffered his first loss against R-Truth a few weeks ago and since then, hasn’t been used in a prominent role the way he had been since debuting on the main WWE roster.

There are some rumors going around lately that there have been some issues backstage in WWE between Triple H and Vince McMahon.

Apparently the word going around is that McMahon has been undercutting HHH on certain issues, however some feel this could be a case of “good cop, bad cop,” in the sense that HHH is just playing the good guy in front of talent backstage.

Regardless of what is really going on, there have definitely been situations as of late where HHH would say one thing to a talent and then Vince would over rule him.

In addition to the many current and former WWE Superstars, as well as other mainstream celebrities that have taken part in the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge,” Vince McMahon is the latest person to join the list.

Earlier this week, McMahon’s son-in-law Triple H took part in the challenge, which includes the person who does it challenging three other people to do it next. HHH’s three challenges were to Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and McMahon.

Prior to dousing himself with ice water, McMahon extends the “Ice Bucket Challenge” to Donald Trump, Maria Menounos and Kermit The Frog.

Check out the video above to watch Vince McMahon take part in the “Ice Bucket Challenge.”

WWE issued the following press release:

STAMFORD, Conn. – WWE today announced it has officially changed its corporate logo to convey a more contemporary, bold and powerful image while maintaining the iconic “W,” which has been a part of the company’s long-storied history. The logo, originally designed for WWE Network, will become the beacon of sports-entertainment and will represent the brand as it continues to bring together a passionate, diverse and global fanbase with a unique blend of live action, excitement and drama.

“We are excited to launch a new logo that reflects the evolution and future of WWE’s global brand,” said Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon. “While we usher in a new iconic brand identity, WWE’s best-in-class entertainment, which has stood the test of time for the past 50 years, will continue to reward our fans’ passion with our exciting blend of unique characters, incredible athleticism and engaging storylines.”

The new logo was unveiled on Twitter today by Vince McMahon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, WWE, at the company’s headquarters in Stamford, Conn. Fans will begin to see it during SummerSlam, this Sunday, August 17, live on WWE Network and pay-per-view as the logo is rolled out across all platforms including live and televised entertainment, consumer products, digital media and WWE Studios.

On Friday, August 15th, Vince McMahon tweeted out photos of WWE debuting their new logo at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

Below is McMahon’s tweet, showing off the new logo.

Raising the new official @WWE logo. #ThenNowForever #WWENetwork #9.99 pic.twitter.com/Y3qvHXkiNO

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) August 15, 2014

The following are highlights of a new Yahoo! Sports interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan:

YS: How close were you to coming to tears during Monday’s birthday tribute video during Monday Night Raw?

HH: That was brutal, dude. They do things at WWE sometimes because I’m what they call a “veteran.” Vince [McMahon] trusts me and he doesn’t let me in on all the secrets like at WrestleMania XXX when I’m out in the ring and here comes The Rock and Stone Cold [Steve Austin]. It could have been an explosive situation. I didn’t know what these two were up to, but Vince thought that was really, really funny. It’s kind of like when I went out on Monday for my birthday and they gave me a little sheet that said you’re going to go to the ring and “Mean” Gene [Okerlund] is going to play a package.

I didn’t think about what they were going to do but the package was so compelling. It just really rocked me because it showed all these WrestleMania moments. These high points in my career like my son, Nick, and my daughter, Brooke, when I was getting inducted in the Hall of Fame. Thank goodness I had my yellow sunglasses on, bro, because they had me really off balance with that deal. I wasn’t expecting that package to be so compelling.

YS: Despite all the clashes with Vince McMahon in the past, you always find yourself back with the WWE. Is this final run the proper closure you need to end your career?

HH: Yeah, this is the period at the end of the sentence. This is where I need to be. Vince McMahon and I have always been good friends. On a personal level he would do anything for me, for you, for anyone he loves. He would give you the shirt off his back. On a business level? He’s a different animal. Cut and dry. Black and white. Sometimes I would wobble between the lines and mix up business and personal. If anyone kind of defected over the years, it was me. So for me to be back with him — I did start with his dad in the late ’70s, Vince McMahon Sr. — and for me to come full circle and Vince and everybody to be gracious enough to let me end my career where I started my home in the WWE is really a great way to wind things up and just put a period at the end of the sentence. I’m really glad to be back.

YS: John Cena, who was sporting the red and yellow t-shirt on Monday Night RAW. Did you sign off on that?

HH: Don’t get me started.

YS: In a recent interview, Steve Austin said he’s a bigger legend than Hulk Hogan. What are your thoughts about that?

HH: I think that’s in his own mind. My career was twice as long as his. I’ve been a main eventer since 1978 when we sold out Shea Stadium. I just totally disagree with him. I know he had a good run when he was in the Attitude Era. I don’t know how long the Attitude Era was — four years, eight years — I don’t know how long it was. That’s where we totally disagree. Maybe he and I should lock up and figure this thing out. That would be a nice match.

YS: Do you think we will see Sting in a WWE ring?

HH: Sting and I last talked when he made his appearance at Comic-Con and they announced he was part of the WWE Universe and that his dolls were coming out. We had a long talk on the plane and I said, “Brother, you have got to wrestle. I mean, I don’t care what kind of deal you signed, I said you can still go. You’ve never made a mark in the WWE.

I was begging you to come here in the ’80s and the ’90s and now you just show up out of nowhere. You’ve got to wrestle.” So, I hope it happens really soon. And I think by the time I beat on him for the three hours from Los Angeles to Dallas that I think we were on the same page and he knows that he needs to get in that ring and leave his mark in the WWE and make a huge statement. I hope it happens sooner than later.

Check out the complete interview at Yahoo.com.

WWE issued the following today:

This morning, outside of Staples Center in Los Angeles, site of this weekend’s SummerSlam, Triple H answered the “Ice Bucket Challenge” from Pittsburgh Steeler Ben Roethlisberger. In turn, he challenged Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon.

– The woman who played Daniel Bryan’s physical therapist on RAW, Megan Miller, was independent women’s wrestler Chelsea Green, who trained one time under Lance Storm in Calgary.

– After the RAW cameras went off the air, Vince McMahon came out and joined the Hulk Hogan Birthday Celebration, which was shown on the WWE Network.

As reported on Wednesday, Triple H took part in a “Fireside Chat” with Senior Business Analyst Laura Martin this week and explained why he feels UFC isn’t competition for WWE. Below are additional highlights from the chat.

On a question about whether or not Vince McMahon is still active and engaged: “He’s the most active person I know. He works at two in the morning because he’s absolutely dedicated to driving himself and the executive team as hard as possible to create the best product as possible.”

On Husky Harris evolving into Bray Wyatt: “He wasn’t quite connecting with the crowd. Decent hand. Talented kid. Right person. They were going to let him go and I said, ‘Let me take him and do something with him.’ We moved that character to NXT. We put some other people around him that fit the package. Moved him back onto Raw and Smackdown, and he’s one of our most popular superstars Bray Wyatt. I’ll go out on a limb and say in 10 years Bray Wyatt will be one of the most memorable characters in WWE.”

On how they prevent “being held up” by talents: “There is no one performer who is bigger than the WWE. There are superstar performers and megastar performers like John Cena. But he’s still not bigger than the WWE. Why doesn’t anyone ‘hold us up’? Because it would only be a short-term gain. There’s no upside for them behind it

On the WWE creative team: “We have a whole creative writing team that fluxes over time. We produce eight hours of in-ring content each week. It’s a ton of content. There can be anywhere from 20 to 35 writers on with us. There’s a churn rate on that as well. At the end of the day, it’s all about churning out as many storylines as possible and looking at the business as a whole. You can write the greatest story in the world and have an actor with no charisma. The story will tank. They’re interdependent on each other.”

For more, visit BleacherReport.com.

The following are highlights of a new Busted Open Radio interview with Paul Heyman:

On his early days in the business hustling to get press passes: “I just didn’t want to be another face in the crowd. I was a huge fan of the product. On Sunday my parents would go to the lower east side of Manhattan because my Mother likes to shop there and my Father and I would bum around before we picked up my Mother. One of the things My Father liked to do was we would pick up these radical lower New York free news papers with their own social agenda because their writing was always very passionate. Whether we agreed with their politics or not doesn’t matter, you would find great emotions in the writing. In one of these papers was a sports column and it was more of a sports gossip column and the writer mentioned that after Madison Square Garden, Vincent J McMahon would take his inner circle to lunch at Ben Bensons Steak House in midtown Manhattan.

“Now I don’t know the readership of this article, so I don’t know if a lot of old WWWF fans got to see this, so I figured this was some inside information. I found out that the office was at the Cape Cod Coliseum which was owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon, so I called and said ‘My name is Paul Heyman. I was told to call by Vince McMahon to get my press pass for Madison Square Garden’. I’m put through 3-4 assistants until I got patched through to Vince J McMahon. I said ‘This is Paul Heyman from the Wrestling Times’ because we have The New York Times. I said ‘I was talking to you at Ben Bensons and you said to call you about a press pass at Madison Square Garden.’ He said ‘I did?!’. I said ‘Yeah you did.’ Because who else would know he dines at Ben Bensons and who would tell him that he was in a radical news paper in the lower east side of New York with a readership of a couple hundred, so I must have been real.

“He said ‘Go to the Holland Hotel at 42nd street and 8th Ave and talk to Gorilla Monsoon and Arnold Skaaland and I look forward to seeing you at the Garden.’ I got a ride down to the Holland Hotel and I saw Monsoon and Skaaland playing pinnacle with a bottle of booze, I got my press pass, BS’d my way into Madison Square Garden with my press pass and got in Vince Sr’s good graces by snapping some photos with him and Andre The Giant and bringing him some 8X10 the next month. For the rest of the time he was in charge, I would bring pictures they could use in their programs or on posters and they would give me 50 bucks for my transportation and trouble. I’ve always found that honesty is dramatically overrated.”

On Brock Lesnar vs John Cena at SummerSlam: “Brock Lesnar is going to beat John Cena. That’s not a prediction, that’s a spoiler. Brock is going to win and it will bring more prestige and box office draw to the championship title than anybody in the past 25 years. Brock Lesnar is going to make that title mean more than it ever has before and people are going to understand that when the title is on the line it is special and it’s going to mean something.”

On the shock of Lesnar ending Undertaker’s Streak and why people didn’t believe him when he announced that Taker will lose to Lesnar: “You should have listened to me. I’m gonna tell you this again, Brock Lesnar is going to deliver an F-5 that will drive Cena with such force he will pin John Cena and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. You can believe what I’m telling you and you won’t be surprised next time you interview me and you can say ‘every time Heyman says something it comes true. He’s not Nostradamus and he doesn’t have a crystal ball or any special voodoo powers’ Brock Lesnar is going to beat John Cena. Take it to the bank.”

On where the moment Brock pinned the Undertaker ranks in his career: “As an advocate and performer, it is the moment. Absolutely. Nothing else is even close. John Cena brought it up on Monday night. 40 men have held the WWE championship. Only one man can say ‘I beat the streak’. That’s a moment. The only equivalent I can give you is if someone was announced as the President of the United States and someone comes up and says ‘I’ve been elected God’. There have been a few men who ever had the title. Only one man beat the streak.”

On his relationship with Vince McMahon today: “Strictly platonic. I think Vince McMahon serves his company well as the chairman and recognizes the talents and exploiting the ability of Paul Heyman every Monday night on Raw.”

Check out the complete interview at BustedOpenNation.com.

The following are highlights of a new Newsday interview with Paul Heyman:

On his rocky relationship with the McMahon’s: “I look at it from many different perspectives. Number one, I don’t think I ever had any bigger advocate, besides my father, than Vince McMahon during the 1990s. There’s a story that is recounted on the documentary. I was sitting in the office with Steven Chau in 2000, who was the president of the USA Network reporting directly to Barry Diller. This was at the time when WWE was in federal court in order to jump to Viacom off of USA Network. And USA was looking to fill the programming slot, and ECW was the frontrunner for that option at the time. And during the meeting, Steven Chau showed me a printed-out email that he had received the night before from Vince McMahon that said, “If your network doesn’t do business with ECW and, more specifically, with Paul Heyman, you will be depriving your network of a great resource and your viewers of guaranteed great programming.” And Vince had no reason to do that except it’s what he felt at the time. He felt ECW was a great shop for the industry in terms of developing talent. So I can’t tell you that I’ve spent my life butting heads with the McMahons. I’ve had my ups and downs with them, as anybody else in my position would. I would not have guessed three or four years ago that a documentary on my career would have been released by WWE. But I wouldn’t have guessed three or four years ago that I would have been back in WWE.”

On criticizing Long Island fans in the past during RAW: “I called them “the worst audience we ever performed in front of,” and said “We shouldn’t ever tape television here.” I’m fine with it. It was a reaction for the moment. They were a lousy crowd that night. Here’s the funny thing: Nothing drives a performance like an audience that gives back, and even takes over. ECW was a product that will be remembered as much, if not more, for its audience interaction as for the things that happened in the ring. The WWE Superstars look forward to every time they see Chicago on the schedule. We spend a year building toward WrestleMania, and the number-two thing everybody looks forward to is the “Raw” the day after WrestleMania, because it’s the wildest crowd of the year. I’m from New York and I go to Chicago or the day after WrestleMania and see these wild crowds, and as a New Yorker, you want to say, “If this was in New York it would be even better.” And you think about the legendary crowds at Madison Square Garden. So we bring a live, worldwide TV show, not to the Garden, but to the Nassau Coliseum, and the crowd is just sitting there with their thumbs up their tuckuses. It’s like, “Hey, we’re all New Yorkers and you’re making New York look bad. Get up off your butt and make this show. And if you don’t like the show, take over. Boo the show. Vociferously and energetically and passionately boo us out of the building. But don’t just sit there.” The opposite of loving the product isn’t hating the product. It’s apathy. And it makes for terrible television. Why is John Cena the biggest star in the industry? Because, whether you love him or you hate him, you’re at the top of your lungs about him.”

On TNA taping in NYC where Taz and others referenced ECW, and if they should let it finally die: “I think it’s very much time for anybody and everybody to move on, especially on a product that you’re trying to push forward. Nostalgia tours are great, but not in a youth oriented and dominated industry. I think the lesson learned in all this is that Spike TV didn’t renew them. And one of the reasons has to be that the most passionate reaction they can get is for a product that went away in 2001. And they’ve been trying to brand themselves since their inception and they can’t get it done. They should have spent that time and energy trying to brand themselves and not trying to elicit a response of an audience based on a product that they don’t even own.”

Check out the complete interview at Newsday.com.

It was announced today that WWE released approximately seven percent of their staff today, which is around a total of 55 employees, as part of their massive budget cuts to offset losses from starting up the WWE Network.

According to one source, Vince McMahon sent out an e-mail today to notify WWE employees that the current staff reduction process is now complete. Basically, anyone who wasn’t cut today is still employed by the company moving forward.

The following are highlights of a new WrestlingINC.com interview with Vince Russo:

On his vision for WCW: “The vision was to flip the roster to get the middle guys out of that middle slot and start rising them to the top to be built around. With this format, I went into WCW with a giant target on my back from the veterans. I still went ahead with the plan because it was the right thing to do. As much as these guys are going to kill me, bury me behind my back, try to get me out quicker than I came, I stuck to the plan because I knew it was the right thing to do. To this day, I don’t regret that because that’s what needed to be done at the time.”

On the reason Vince McMahon turned down his idea to bring WCW back in 2002: “Probably because it was my idea. The last person I should have been pitching was Eric Bishoff, but he was a phenomenal on-air talent. Anything personal between us wouldn’t have mattered. Bishoff deserved to be on TV. I literally laid out this plan and then obviously things didn’t work out. I left WWE and Eric was hired. I watched it unravel at home on TV and I was like ‘are you freaking kidding me?’ They had a goldmine and week after week they were butchering it. They killed a million dollar idea.”

On how close Paul Heyman was to signing with TNA: “I don’t know if he was close. I called Paul to bring him into TNA and we had a couple of conversations that were hours long. I was under the impression Paul wanted to come in and have things 100% his way, but that’s not how TNA works. I turned it over to Dixie [Carter] and was out of the loop. I didn’t care how I was going to be working with Paul or who had what title. I thought Paul Heyman could make TNA a better product and that’s why I made the original contact.”

On Bret Hart’s issues with him and if he likes him: “Deep down inside, I don’t know if he does. When I went to WCW, I wanted Bret Hart in a position he longed to be in. I approached him my first day there and we sat down for an hour and discussed the Owen [Hart] incident. We talked about it man-to-man and I thought everything was behind us. Six months before I left TNA, I had a phone conversation with Bret about bringing him to TNA. He was very excited about that idea and I spoke to him personally on the phone for an hour. Face-to-face or on the phone, there has never been an issue between me and Bret.

“I find it hard to believe Bret feels that way because he had the opportunity on more occasions than one to tell me — especially when I tried to bring him into TNA. There’s the perfect opportunity for Bret to say ‘Vince I’m not working for a scumbag.’ That’s not how the conversation went; it was a very positive one. I find it hard to believe at his core that he feels that way, but I also know bashing and burying Vince Russo to the internet wrestling community is the cool hip thing to do. Some people think that’s what gets them over. Just throw a Vince Russo barb in the wrestling community and you’re over. All these people that have these issues with me and do interviews, never have I been confronted to my face. That’s unfortunate. I worked as hard as I could in the business, was very respectful, and am a family man. To consistently have to deal with all the negative comments, it gets old after a while.”

Check out the complete interview at WrestlingINC.com.

– WWE will return to the Amway Center in Orlando on February 16th, 2015 for a live RAW. A pre-sale is going on now with the password RAWTV.

– As previously reported, WWE will not be hosting a SummerSlam Axxess fan fest this year. Instead, the company will be hosting a series of Superstar panels in Los Angeles, including one that will feature the WWE 2K15 roster reveal. in Los Angeles due to the ongoing budget cuts. While it was originally speculated that Axxess was cancelled as a cost-cutting measure, PWInsider.com reports that it was actually an issue related to finding a location to host the event.

– Several NXT stars were backstage at Tuesday night’s SmackDown tapings from Orlando, including newly-signed Japanese star Kenta. WWE posted the following photo of Kenta meeting with Vince McMahon and Triple H:

“Backstage at #WWE: Vince McMahon, @tripleh, and Kenta talk backstage. #WWE”

Today is the final day that WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross is officially under contract with WWE. He tweeted late Tuesday night:

Tomorrow is my last, legal day w/ @WWE It was a great 21 year run. Best biz decision ever was coming to WWE '93. Grateful to all involved.

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) July 23, 2014

JR’s active role with WWE ended last summer following his hosting gig of the infamous WWE 2K14 panel at SummerSlam Axxess. Shortly after that event “going off the rails,” Jim Ross and Vince McMahon mutually agreed to part ways.

Jim Ross Says He Wants To Do MMA Announcing

Ross took a lot of the blame for the way Ric Flair handled himself at the event and says that one day, he plans to write about what went down and suspects that some people will be embarrassed about the details he reveals.

He wrote at JRsBarBQ.com:

“No, I haven’t been invited to Summerslam to be involved in the WWE2K15 video game presentation. Yeah, it’s a funny question but you wouldn’t believe how many people are asking.”

“I have no plans to be in L.A. during Summerslam time unless I’m there to do work for Fox Sports or Podcast One. That weekend (in 2013) will be an interesting read when I write about it some day. It could be embarrassing for some.”

He added that he’s already received his first WWE Alumni newsletter.

For all of his ups and downs with WWE management, Jim Ross is viewed by many as one of the greatest wrestling announcers of all time. it was one hell of a run.

– Vince McMahon recently posted the following tweet regarding Sting and the new WWE 2K15 video game:

#WWE2K15 with @Sting. Does art imitate life? http://t.co/vrlgCsbsis pic.twitter.com/wfrK6sCazp

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) July 17, 2014

– Speaking of WWE 2K15, it has been confirmed that both Xavier Woods and Rob Van Dam will be part of the video game roster.

The following are highlights of a new interview with former WWE Superstar Camacho:

On NXT: “The growth is amazing and the brand has incredible fans. One of my close friends who loves wrestling used to watch ECW a lot and now he goes to the NXT shows.

“I love the environment of NXT because it’s more intimate and close-knit. At Raw or SmackDown, I feel like people enjoy the show but they don’t have much of a chance to be a part of the show. NXT allows them to have more of a say.”

On his WWE run: “It was an enjoyable experience even though it was short. I got to see parts of the world that I’ve never seen before. Hopefully one day, I get to do it again.”

On his relationship with Vince McMahon and Triple H: “Vince and I talked to each other maybe once or twice. Most of my conversations were with Triple H.”

On his WWE release: “I think creative did not have anything for me. We were running with Camacho in NXT and then I talked about changing my character. Camacho was going to be scrapped and a different character was going to be created altogether. I was going to start a tag team with Wesley Blake in NXT, but because of my release, it didn’t happen.”

Check out the complete interview at PWMania.com.

– The official Twitter account of TNA is now following recently released WWE announcer Josh Mathews. As noted in the past, Mathews was backstage at the recent TNA tapings in New York City immediately after his WWE release. Mathews has a long-standing relationship with former WWE executive John Gaburick, who is now in charge of TNA’s talent department.

– Triple H posted the following photo on his official Twitter account of Vince McMahon watching the action at last night’s WWE live event in Madison Square Garden:

Backstage @TheGarden You never know who's watching…. pic.twitter.com/EBqzzVXuyn

— Triple H (@TripleH) July 13, 2014