WWE News: Raw Star Out Following Shoulder Surgery, Another WWE Star Returns, Hennig Not Signed, D-Lo vs. Kane

– Devin Cutting sent in the following… Here’s the updated card for the WWE house show at the Jaffa Shrine Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania on July 27th, courtesy of the venue’s website:

CM Punk vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho & JBL
Kofi Kingston vs. Lance Cade for the Intercontinental Championship
Cryme Tyme vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes for the World Tag Team Championship
D’Lo Brown vs. Kane

Go to http://prowrestlingevents.webs.com for information about upcoming pro wrestling shows.

– Jimmy Wang Yang made his first appearance in a WWE ring since his 30-day 6/9 drug suspension at Tuesday night’s SmackDown taping. His last television appearance took place at the 6/3 SmackDown taping in Los Angeles in a quick loss to Vladimir Kozlov.

– Contrary to a number of Internet reports, Amy Hennig, the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, is actually not under a developmental contract to WWE. However, she is indeed training at Harley Race’s wrestling school in Missouri and they have plans for her to debut soon for his World League Wrestling promotion.

– Val Venis is out of action following shoulder surgery. He should be good to go in three to four months. His last appearance in a WWE ring took place on 4/18 during a tour of Spain in a loss to Paul Burchill. Venis hasn’t been on television since the 4/14 Heat taping in London when he lost to Snitsky. In other Venis-related news, he has opened an online travel business with his wife. You can find the website at BrisaTips.com.

WWE News: An Update On John Cena Following Car Crash Angle On Raw

In WWE.com’s Raw results, they’re saying that John Cena was simply “grazed” after John Bradshaw Layfield appeared to have crashed an automobile into him at the end of the show. Cena is fine enough in the storyline to fight JBL in their NYC Parking Lot Brawl match at The Great American Bash next Sunday.

Here is what WWE.com wrote regarding Cena:

“After knocking Cena unconscious, Layfield propped him up and attempted to smash a car into the prone Superstar. Luckily, John Cena managed to escape at the last minute and was only grazed, meaning that Cena vs. JBL will still take place on Sunday night.”

WWE News: Backstage Reaction To Tony Atlas As Mark Henry’s Manager, Big Daddy V Scratched, JBL’s Drink

– Some people within the company are scratching their heads over WWE’s decision to bring Tony Atlas in as the manager/associate of ECW Champion Mark Henry. reports prowrestling.NET. The move came as a bit of a surprise to some. Two years ago, WWE wanted to bring Atlas in to serve as an on-air coach/mentor for the rising Bobby Lashley, but officials quickly scrapped the idea after receiving negative reports regarding him from other people within the company.

It is believed that Vince McMahon made the decision to bring in the WWE Hall of Famer. One source said, “Vince has always loved Tony.” The source also recalled some bizarre backstage behavior involving Atlas in the past. The source noted that one time, Atlas hid backstage because he was startled by the pyro that went off just before he was supposed to join the other members of his WWE Hall of Fame class onstage at WrestleMania 22. Atlas was so rattled he had to be calmed down and then talked into going onstage with the the rest of the Hall of Fame members.

No word yet on how long Atlas’ partnership with WWE will last, but multiple people within the company aren’t too optimistic. Many are predicting that it won’t last long regardless of what they have planned for him.

– Just yesterday, the official website of the Time Warner Cable Arena, the site of next week’s SmackDown/ECW taping in Charlotte, N.C., listed Big Daddy V as one of the stars scheduled to appear. However, his name has since been pulled. The site also confirmed the report of Ric Flair giving his farewell speech to his hometown fans.

– JBL’s company Layfield Energy has inked a deal placing the “Mamajuana Energy” drink product on the shelves of 500 MAPCO Express, Inc. stores, reports PrimeNewswire. The stores are generally located in the southeast.

WWE News: When You Can Catch The Supplemental Draft, Jim Ross Apologizes, Cole Comments

– The administrator of the WWE Fan Nation site announced that the WWE Supplemental Draft will be taking place tomorrow at noon on WWE.com. The WWE Fan Nation plans on holding a live blog with Howard Finkel and other WWE.com editors to give their expert analysis of the draft picks live as they happen. No other details have been revealed about the draft. They wrote: “The amount of picks and the format of the Supplemental Draft are still unknown, but we’ll be holding a Live Blog here on WWE Fan Nation tomorrow as all the action unfolds.” Last year’s Supplemental Draft featured 13 draft picks, so you can probably expect the roughly same amount tomorrow. And just a few moments ago, WWE put up an announcement on the front page of the site regarding the draft. For their preview, click here.

– Jim Ross has posted a follow-up blog on his website apologizing for his comments in his first blog earlier today. Ross wrote: “Changes in one’s life take some adjusting to especially at my stage of the game. This week I received an unexpected change in my professional address. Within hours of writing an emotional blog, I am positively moving on. I am going to do all I can to make Smackdown the best program the WWE produces.” He also added: “The abruptness of the “trade” shocked me. I most likely responded in a non professional way in the eyes of some fans. That’s their prerogative and each has the right to their opinion, As do I. Not to be cliche, but wrestling has been great to my family and me. I owe it to the business to “man up” and to kick ass on Smackdown. That’s my plan. My emotions are what they are and I will not apologize for my candor or honesty. My feathers were ruffled…poor me. I still bring bona fide passion to every broadcast and fully expect to deliver come show time.” Ross closes his post by saying: “For those of you that were offended by my earlier rant I apologize. For those that think “old J.R.” can’t get the job done, I suggest you sit back and watch. I wish my good pal The King and Michael Cole great success but my professional priority is to help Smackdown kick ass. In more ways than one, “the game is on.” You can read the blog in its entirety at this link.

– WWE.com posted an after-Raw video interview of Michael Cole and Jim Ross talking about the announcer swap. Even WWE.com is acknowledging Ross’ unhappiness regarding the move. They wrote: “Michael Cole and J.R. talk about swapping announce teams with the Draft – a move that made Ross none too happy.” You can see what they have to say at this link.