Vince McMahon’s evil “Mr. McMahon” character is said to be finished, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The character was spawned back in 1997 following the infamous Montreal Screwjob. McMahon’s on-air character turned heel for the first time and it became the antagonist to the company’s top star “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in arguably the best run in the history of the company.

With Bret Hart’s return to WWE after 13 years, McMahon felt WrestleMania would be the perfect chance for Bret Hart to get his ultimate revenge and wipe out Mr. McMahon once and for all. The over-the-top beatdown he sustained at the hands (and feet) of the Hart family signified the end of the character.

McMahon is a firm believer in pushing younger acts and is not blind to the fact that he’s in his 60’s and the character more than ran its course.

Earlier this week, Acorn Online asked Vince McMahon about TNA moving to Monday nights. McMahon said that despite the fact that TNA “threw the kitchen sink” at WWE, they still only drew a fraction of RAW’s audicence. He said their small audience doesn’t speak well for the type of product they’re presenting, which vince called, “tawdry, blood-soaked action” that today’s audience isn’t interested in.

TNA president Dixie Carter responded to Vince McMahon’s criticism of TNA in an interview published yesterday with a post on Twitter:

“To be called tawdry from the King of Tawdry, that is some compliment!”

Furthermore, Taz also noted the following in regards to McMahon’s comments about TNA programming being “tawdry:”

“Mae Young stuff is all high road, or when JR was sick Dr Hynee bit (classy)! Pot, meet Kettle. Nice to see VKM is a TNA viewer!”

Trump Parc tower in Standford, CT

Connecticut’s Stanford Advocate is reporting that Vince and Linda McMahon  purchased a $4.1 million penthouse duplex in Donald Trump’s Trump Parc luxury tower, located in Stamford Connecticut.

The sale was actually finalized back in October. The penthouse unit has 3,900 square feet of living space.

Political blogger Aaron Blake of TheHill.com wrote this week that Linda’s political opponents “will surely be after her for the timing” of purchasing yet another luxury piece of real estate.

Vince and Linda already own eight multi-million dollar real estate holdings and do not plan on living in their latest acquisition.

Linda’s campaign spokesman Ed Patru is defending the purchase by stating, “I’ll remind you that unlike (two of her opponents), Linda didn’t inherit her resources. She was born in a middle class family, started with bankruptcy and earned the money herself through hard work.”

For more on the building, visit TrumpParcStamford.com.

sources: PWInsider.com, Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— WWE has reportedly purchased the Ultimate Pro Wrestling video library.

The California-based UPW — which is now defunct — was often used as a training ground for prospective wrestling talent as it was stepping stone in the development of many past and present mainstream performers including John Cena, Samoa Joe, Chris Masters, Tara (a/k/a Victoria), Christopher Daniels, Jon Heidenreich, The Miz, Melina, Sim Snuka, Mike Knox, SoCal Val and Lena Yada.

— Vince McMahon was reportedly pleased with Daniel Bryan’s performance on last night’s premiere episode of WWE NXT as he felt they made him “a star” in one night as a result of his interaction with The Miz and match with Chris Jericho.

— The final episode of ECW drew a 1.14 cable rating with 1.45 million viewers, up from its final weeks.

— It would appear that Bret Hart has been cleared to wrestle and that a “Hitman” vs. Vince McMahon match will be taking place in the form of a singles bout at WrestleMania XXVI. At the conclusion of tonight’s Raw, Cena convinced The Chairman to accept a match with the WWE Hall of Famer at WrestleMania. When Hart, who had been banned from the arena, actually appeared and retaliated against his longtime nemesis, however, McMahon retreated behind his security and canceled the bout. A none too pleased “Hitman” proceeded to go on a tear inside the Cajundome. Should he end up competing at WrestleMania, it will mark as Hart’s first wrestling match in over ten years. He was forced to retire from in-ring competition in late 2000 after sustaining a career-ending injury several months prior.

– WWE is planning on promoting WrestleMania weekend in Phoenix this year so hard that hopefully fans won’t have any interest in attending the other wrestling shows
that weekend such as DGUSA and Ring of Honor. They’re also looking at keeping the WWE talents extra busy so they don’t have time to attend the shows either.

— Newly crowned Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show turned 38 years old on Monday.

This week on RAW, we may have seen the groundwork laid for one of the top matches at WrestleMania XXVI. It’s been assumed for months that Bret Hart’s return to WWE would culminate at WrestleMania in some sort of match with Vince McMahon. Bret’s physical abilities are not what they once were due to a series of concussions and a stroke several years ago, so his physical involvement would be limited and a Street Fight match was discussed.

On RAW, Bret Hart confronted Vince McMahon and was ready to extract revenge before he was attached by none other than Batista. McMahon ordered Batista to restraint Hart and then got his own revenge on Bret Hart for something he did at Survivor Series 1997 by spitting in the Hit Man’s face. The crowd in Nashville went wild, chanting for John Cena as the show went off the air. (What Happened After RAW) The angle was red hot and unfolded with a level of excitement rarely seen on WWE television these days.

With that match looking likely, here’s an updated list of WrestleMania matches we’ve heard talked about among WWE employees:

Bret Hart and John Cena vs. Vince McMahon and Batista

Edge vs. Chris Jericho

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

Triple H vs. Sheamus

Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Cody Rhodes

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (Hair vs. Mask)

Money in the Bank

WWE has announced that McMahon will be appearing on tonight’s edition of ECW on Syfy to make a big announcement regarding the future of the ECW brand.

The WWE.com episode preview reads:

FUTURE OF EXTREME
Tonight Mr. McMahon himself will appear in the Land of the Extreme to address the WWE Universe on the future of ECW! Don’t miss this important announcement, tonight at 10/9 CT on Syfy!

With all the talk that the ECW brand will be undergoing big changes very soon, it appears those changes could begin tonight.

Read More: ECW Getting a MAJOR OVERHAUL: Weird Ideas Being Planned

(Partial source: F4wonline.com)

– At Monday’s WrestleMania 27 press conference , Vince McMahon talked about how the city of Atlanta has a rich history of pro wrestling but never took a jabs at Ted Turner or WCW. Vince later appeared on a local radio station and was asked by the host if it gave him satisfaction coming to Atlanta because of his rivalry with Turner. Vince said that it hadn’t even crossed his mind. (Of course not, ’cause Vince isn’t the kind of guy to hold a grudge!)

– The original ending for the 30-man Royal Rumble match was for Edge to eliminate Chris Jericho for the win. WWE wound up using Cena as the final elimination instead of Jericho.

– The decision to add MVP vs. The Miz United States title match to the Royal Rumble PPV was made on Sunday afternoon.

– This year’s Royal Rumble match was the third shortest Rumble match ever (just 49 minutes long.) The 1988 and 1995 Rumbles are the other two shortest.

TNA President Dixie Carter spoke to Fred Tropel of CanMag.com and explained that TNA Wrestling is going up against a corporate juggernaut that will stop at nothing to put them out of business.

“Our competition may not have the same opinion that competition is good for an industry and take every opportunity to try to shut us down. I mean, it is the truest of David-and-Goliath situations, but we are scrappy. We will not take no for an answer, and we are going to have great success.”

With everything that WWE has going for them, Carter believes her company has a better in ring product and knows what the fans want.

“I think that these days you don’t have to be a bigger-than-life cartoon character. I mean, it’s much more about reality and what these guys can do in the ring. They are amazing athletes. I can have an all-pro football player, an NBA star on, and they say, ‘We could never do something like this.’ You have no off season. It’s 52 weeks a year, and then we tour in between that. These guys are incredible athletes, and we do focus on the athleticism on our show much, much more.”

Visit CanMag.com to read the full interview.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog update at his official website, JRsBarBQ.com.

Dule Hill’s Job Hosting RAW: “USA’s Psyche star Dule Hill has tons of talent and charisma and was fun to watch host Raw Monday night. Hill has a bright future in television and film, without question. I plan on watching Psyche for the first time Wednesday night when John Cena guest stars.”

Cena’s Interaction with Vince McMahon: Ross called the segment “spot on” and some of the best verbal confrontations he’s seen in a long time. Ross said, “The dialog between Cena and the Chairman of WWE was organic, emotional, and really has me anxious to see Raw next week when Bret “Hitman’ Hart returns to confront McMahon.”

DX’s Promo On RAW: “The serious nature of winning the Royal Rumble match and what it means individually to every competitor was underscored with Monday Night’s DX in ring promo. This was another verbal exchange that captured my interest. DX in a serious tone really captivated my attention.”

To read about who Jim Ross likes for the SuperBowl and much more, visit JRsBarBQ.com.

Our Thoughts: Dule Hill had several entertaining segments and held his own with some of WWE’s best talkers. Cena’s performance showed just how good he can be on the mic and the confrontation felt special. As does Sunday’s Royal Rumble. It’s one of those years where you could see a number of superstars coming out on top and there are several storylines in place that will all come to ahead on Sunday.

— As announced tonight on Raw, Bret Hart was invited back to the show by Vince McMahon. “The Hitman” is being advertised to appear at next week’s event in Nashville.

— Tomorrow night’s episode of ECW will see Christian and Kane take on Ezekiel Jackson and William Regal.

— It was officially announced tonight on Raw that the one and only William Shatner will guest host next week’s show. “The Shat” last appeared on Raw fifteen years ago in a memorable segment with Jerry “The King” Lawler.

Mike Tyson shows he's still got that knockout punch

WWE’s website has a video of Mike Tyson talking about what hosting WWE RAW meant to him.

The boxing legend talked about being a wrestling fan his entire life and said former WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino is a longtime hero of his.

Tyson says he owes Vince McMahon his life and got emotional when thanking McMahon for allowing him to have a moment in the ring with his son on RAW.

To see the footage, click here.

— While Vince McMahon was no-selling Jeff Hardy appearing on TNA’s three-hour iMPACT! broadcast last week backstage, it’s been said that he was “privately seething” over the former WWE Champion’s decision to jump ship to the competition. As noted earlier, WWE promptly removed Hardy from its opening video montage. WWE officials were hoping his legal issues would be settled in time for a match with CM Punk at WrestleMania, but with those plans now out the window, they’ll likely go with Punk vs. Rey Mysterio in a Hair vs. Mask Match.

— WWE has released the trailer for its Best of Raw 2009 DVD, which hits stores two weeks from now. The video segment highlights Raw’s most notable moments from the past year — many of which courtesy of DX. You can view the trailer at the following link.

— Former WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly was backstage visiting friends last night at the Target Center. The former WWE Diva lives in Minnesota and typically visits friends when WWE tours the area.

— The new media blurb NBC put out regarding the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice makes zero mention of Maria Kanellis and Bill Goldberg.

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

THQ and WWE issued the following this morning:

Dec 28, 2009 — THQ Inc. and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. announced that they have entered into a new eight-year agreement granting THQ the exclusive worldwide rights to develop and publish video games based on WWE’s content effective January 1, 2010.

“This agreement ensures that WWE games will continue to be an important cornerstone of THQ’s annual release schedule for the long term,” said Brian Farrell, THQ President and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working directly with WWE to expand their brand in the video game space through continued game play innovation and increased online delivery of WWE content.”

“As one of the most successful video game brands, WWE is excited to work directly with THQ to translate WWE’s colorful characters and ever-changing content into exciting and fresh video games for our fans,” said Donna Goldsmith, WWE Chief Operating Officer.

“This year’s highly rated WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 video game demonstrates the innovation and creativity that THQ brings to WWE,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “This new licensing agreement will ensure that we continue our tremendous success in the video game industry in the years to come.”

WWE Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart

The short-term deal that Bret Hart has signed with WWE is a performer’s contract, so he will be an integral part of the storylines heading into WrestleMania. It’s still believed by many that he will be wrestling one match, most likely against Vince McMahon at WrestleMania.

Bret is old-school and is trying to keep everything about his return quiet. Because of this, a lot of news might not get out about plans for him in WWE before his first appearance. It’s still not confirmed that Bret will be hosting the January 4th RAW. WWE has announced guest hosts for the weeks before and after that date and that’s the night TNA challenges WWE for the first time on Monday nights, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Bret is a bit heavier than he has been in the past and is trying to get back into ring shape. He has been suffering from an unknown back injury that has made it hard to train.

Bret hasn’t talked with Shawn Michaels or Triple H since Montreal so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out between them.

WWE officials are said to be unsatisfied with the performance of RAW guest host Dennis Miller.

According to sources who were backstage at Monday’s 3-hour WWE RAW, Miller was late to arrive at the building and showed up just hours before the show went live on the air.

Miller made a remark during the show that Vince McMahon was trying to give him some comedy pointers -  it turns out Miller’s remark was unscripted and a “shoot” – as McMahon really did try to give Miller some jokes to tell.

Overall, Miller’s performance was considered sub-par. Many felt his humor missed the mark and he was unable to connect with the live crowd.

WWE Hall of FamerBret "The Hitman" Hart

Amid speculation that Bret Hart is in talks to return to World Wrestling Entertainment to host an upcoming edition of WWE RAW, it now appears Bret Hart’s involvement with WWE will extend well beyond a 1-night appearance. WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart has signed a short-term talent contract with WWE that goes into effect on January 1, 2010 and runs until April 10th, approximately two weeks after WrestleMania 26. The news was originally reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and has since been corroborated by our own sources and other reliable sites.

WWE had been in talks with Bret Hart for several months trying to bring him in for an extended program. There has been talk of talk of Hart returning to the ring for one match, but he will not be a full-time wrestler considering he’s 52 years old and has not wrestled since suffering head injuries (and later a stroke) a decade ago.

The storyline that virtually writes itself is Bret Hart feuding with Vince McMahon to settle the 1997 Survivor Series screwjob once and for all. Whether Hart is able to participate in a full match or a less-taxing street fight, seeing the Hitman finally get his hands on Vince McMahon will be a sight to see.

As reported here earlier this week, Bret’s former tag partner Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart recently said WWE was working on a new Hart Foundation DVD project. The DVD release is part of Bret’s deal.

Bret Hart is expected to debut on the January 4th edition of WWE RAW, head-to-head with TNA’s Monday Night iMPACT! special.

We’ll have more details on this blockbuster story in the coming days – stay tuned!

— WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has been named one of the Top 100 People in the cable industry by CableFax magazine. He earned the #40 spot. To see the full list, visit CableFaxMag-Digital.com.

— At Monday’s WWE Slammy Awards, Batista interrupted Maria’s acceptance speech for Diva of the Year in what appeared to be a parody of the infamous Kanye West – Taylor Swift incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. “That’s great, congratulations, I’m really happy for you,” Batista said. “No disrespect, but let’s talk about the greatest award ever: The Screwjob of the Year award, which goes to me! I got robbed last night. I should be World Heavyweight Champion, and I should be up for the Superstar of the Year award.” MTV writer Kyle Anderson implied the joke is dated and has been done to death already on countless award shows since the VMAs.

Hulk Hogan tells the UK Sun that he really pissed off WWE CEO Vince McMahon when he held his TNA press conference at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“I don’t think he’s too happy. Knowing Vince the way I do and holding the press conference at Madison Square Garden…I know some people in house at the WWE and I know he didn’t respond favourably. There’s been nobody in the Garden for about 100 years really except Vince, his dad, his grandfather and his great grandfather promoting events and I kind of slipped in there and made the press conference for TNA. Then the other night I announced we’re going head to head with WWE on Monday nights.”

Hogan also hyped TNA’s live 3-hour Monday Night iMPACT! special January 4th, which he says could re-ignite the Monday Night Wars and begin a new era in the pro wrestling industry. “I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when the Monday night wars start again but it’s great because it gives the fans a choice and the talent room to negotiate and have somewhere else to go.”

– With January 4th shaping up to be an eventful night, WWE’s top star will not be appearing on WWE RAW for the “Monday Night War.” WWE champion John Cena will miss the January 4th edition of Raw (from Ohio) because he’ll in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl coin flip to promote Wrestlemania XXVI.

– On the TNA side, we can confirm that Team 3D’s Brother Ray and Brother Devon will be in Japan on January 4th as they’re booked to work that day’s New Japan Tokyo Dome event.

– In related news, there has been no talk of making the January 4th edition of RAW a three-hour broadcast yet. While many within WWE management have taken notice of TNA’s Monday Night iMPACT! special, Vince McMahon is said to be “no-selling” the move and is not giving the imprsesion that he feels threatened in the least.

— The most recent issue of WWE Magazine has an interview with the Bella Twins answering questions on psychic links between twins, “the creepy girls” from The Shining, one day battling each other for a WWE championship, and more. When asked how people can tell them apart, they replied with the following.

“I have two beauty marks on my chest, and our faces are shaped differently,” Brie told WWE Magazine. “We joke that I have more of a banana head, and Nikki has an apple head. She has the bigger booty, too, which she’s proud of.”

Nikki added, “Oh, heck yeah! I carry way more curves than Brie. And I usually have a flower in my hair. I love celebrating my Mexican-Italian heritage, and a flower makes me feel Spanish…and pretty!”

— On recent episodes of WWE Raw, we’ve seen the likes of Jesse Ventura and Carlito talking about there being  some backstage resentment towards WWE Champion John Cena. While the storyline exaggerates the locker room’s feelings towards Cena, there is some truth to it, as a number of wrestlers do reportedly resent Cena’s standing with management. There is naturally some jealousy towards Cena’s comfortable spot at the top of the roster while others are turned off by his “company guy” attitude.  Sources say his public airing of grievances with The Rock, regardless of the fact that he was likely reading company-fed lines, did not help his standing with “the boys.”

– Timing issues also played a factor in “little people’s court” with DX and Hornswoggle not airing on RAW this past week. WWE’s talent relations that were to book the little people weren’t getting answers back from creative as to how many they needed, who would get what roles or a male/female breakdown. The original idea for the segment came from Vince McMahon and nobody wanted to commit to doing anything about the angle until it came from Vince first and since Vince didn’t get around to it until the weekend, it was too late to throw everything together for Monday. Word is that those in creative weren’t really crazy about the idea to begin with. For what it’s worth, there is consideration of Hornswoggle doing a run-in near the finish for the DX vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show match at the TLC pay-per-view.

– This week’s edition of ECW on SyFy scored a 1.0 rating.

– The Great Khali returned to action at the SmackDown live event this past weekend. He recently had his knee scoped.

– WWE may have had plans to continue something between Jerry Lawler and Sheamus before changing it. Lawler was scheduled for an independent wrestling show on November 21st, five days after he was attacked by Sheamus on RAW. After the angle on RAW that week, Lawler’s people sent a text message to the indy promoter saying, “due to an ongoing storyline, Jerry Lawler can’t make his appearance.”

(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)

Rob Van Dam tells Simon Rothstein of the UK Sun that Vince McMahon ripped his heart out and stomped on it with the way he handled the resurrection of ECW back in 2006. The former WWE & ECW champion goes in depth about how poorly he feels Vince McMahon handled ECW, the various steps McMahon took to make his version ECW completely different while burying the ECW legacy, Paul Heyman’s reaction to the whole fiasco and more.

Winning the WWE Title & Vince’s ECW: “RVD wasn’t going to be WWE champ, but I brought ECW back because that was my spirit and the spirit of the fans. I knew they wanted to see it and I was feeding off that energy. Winning the world title meant a lot. It gave creditability to ECW. At least for the moment…so we thought! But very shortly afterwards Vince McMahon’s long-term plans started to unfold.

“We were faced with the fact that he would give ECW no credit for anything up until that point and wanted to create this new brand of wrestling that would be a global product and mainstream in every way, with Extreme Rules only as a stipulation every once in a while. Our hearts were ripped out of our chests and stomped on. Vince said: “Nobody remembers the old ECW anyway, Rob. This is something new.” So it was a fun moment, it was short-lived and it’s definitely gone now.

Paul Heyman’s Feelings About the new ECW: He would come to work and just tell me how much disdain and loathing he had for Vince. I remember him saying it was like Vince had raped his wife, because ECW was so close to his heart and Vince f***ed it. He felt Vince enjoyed watching him suffer, while ripping apart the fabric of ECW week by week. But Paul has no resentment now and no desire to get back at Vince. He has made balance and is in a peaceful stage, like I am. It’s just something we laugh about.

There’s a lot more to this interview and it’s definitely worth reading – check it out at TheSun.co.uk.

Source: PWTorch.com

— There’s no definitive word on when Hogan will show up in-person on TNA television. There is talk that TNA will film something in a private studio to keep the details of his first appearance on iMPACT from leaking to the internet. For what it’s worth, there’s speculation that he may not make his first real appearance for the company until January.

— The decision to hold the Hogan press conference at Madison Square Garden was meant by the Hogan camp as a shot at Vince McMahon, due to the McMahon family’s long history with the building. A source claims Hogan did not inform MSG management that he would announce anything related to TNA, and simple told them there would be a press conference with television cameras.

There are mixed reports of Vince’s reaction to Hogan’s signing. Some witnesses say Vince was in a lousy mood at the Smackdown tapings following the news, while others say Vince was still the same old Vince with his “poker face on.” One source says that there was initially some curiosity within WWE regarding the signing, but that went away when TNA iMPACT drew a 1.3 rating with Hogan’s segment being the lowest-rated.

BREAKING: WWE Announces The Rock’s Return [THE ABSOLUTE LATEST DETAILS >>]

– There has been some preliminary talk about having the Undertaker wrestle Chris Jericho at WrestleMania. Original plans were for Undertaker to wrestle Vince McMahon and Chris Jericho to wrestle Edge, but with Edge’s health status up in the air, Undertaker-Jericho is now being considered.

– Business man Marc Cuban is rumored to be hosting WWE Raw on December 7th from Dallas, TX.

– Cryme Tyme vs. The Hart Dynasty is slated to be a dark match at WWE’s Survivor Series PPV, according to Wrestling Observer.

– The three-hour RAW the night after WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA has an advertised main event of DX and John Cena vs. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Big Show. This will likely be a dark match.

Hulk Hogan spoke to Minnesota’s City Pages newspaper this week and made some interesting things to say about his relationship with Vince McMahon in the 1980s, how much power he’ll have in TNA and what it meant to announce his partnership with TNA at Madison Square Garden. To read the whole interview, visit Citypages.com.

Hogan claims that Vince “didn’t really understand the business” after buying the company from from his father, Vince McMahon, Sr. “I moved in next door to him in Connecticut and taught him all about lifting weights and riding motorcycles and partying like a mad man; and then I taught him about the wrestling business and making money,” Hogan said. “And now I’m doing that again with TNA Wrestling.”

Hogan also talked himself up as the savior for TNA. He said the company agreed that he could have a “Vince McMahon role” calling the shots for TNA. Hogan says he will be “unofficially” running the promotion and will have the same if not more influence than he had during his run in WCW.

“All I told these guys was that they should give me a chance. If they didn’t like what I was doing they can tell me to take a hike, but let me have the chance to come in and take a shot at it,” Hogan said. “Let the fans and the other wrestlers take a look and decide for themselves what they’re in to and I’m confident that I will get this thing rockin’.”

Hogan is already crediting himself with generating the most buzz for TNA in its history and explains the significance of announcing his partnership with TNA Wrestling at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“The proof is already out there. In the course of a few days we’ve got more buzz going for TNA Wrestling then it’s had in seven years. For example, no other wrestling organization had ever been able to get into Madison Square Garden in New York for like, 100 years, because Vince owns it and his family owned it before him. So I came in and was like, ‘Watch this.; And we did a press conference at Madison Square Garden.