WWE Making Major Changes with Referees

 WWE is in the middle of changing their policy on referees. In the past, the company’s referees have been assigned to certain brands and tours but now WWE is doing away with that distinction.

WWE will now have one group of referees on the road one week, then another group on the next loop. WWE will be going by seniority, so referees who have a longer tenure will get more work while others may be sent back down to WWE developmental or possibly eliminated altogether. This is another financial cutback being made within the company due to the current economic situation.

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WWE News: Former WWE Star Shows Up At WWE Summerfest, Tonight’s Raw, SmackDown Star Changes Ring Name

– Former WWE star Chris Masters showed up in the middle of the day at this past Saturday’s WWE Summerfest event in Venice, California, reports PWInsider.com. Masters lives in Los Angeles and was there visiting friends. Masters also signed autographs, posed for photos and talked with the fans.

– The cable guide preview for tonight’s Raw reads: “Previewing “SummerSlam” and Cena and Batista’s tag-team effort.” WWE.com has only announced one match thus far, John Cena & Batista defending the World Tag Team Championship against Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase. Also announced for Raw is JBL challenging Cm Punk to a contest “he can’t win,” and Raw General Manager Mike Adamle revealing the contents of Kane’s bag.

– It was noted on SmackDown this past Friday that the bodyguard of The Brian Kendrick, Ezekiel, has a last name. His last name is Jackson, so it would appear that his official WWE ring name is now Ezekiel Jackson.

WWE News: Update On Mick Foley’s Contract Expiring: Unhappy, Possibly Leaving

Source: prowrestling.net

As we reported here earlier this week, Mick Foley has been unhappy with his role as color commentator on SmackDown! and is considering leaving WWE when his contract expires in the coming weeks. There has been talk of holding him off television this week to sell the angle he did with Edge at the end of last week’s Smackdown, but it should be noted that the Edge angle was not specifically written as a way to get Foley off television.

The main factor contributing to Foley’s unhappiness is Vince McMahon yelling into his headset during SmackDown! broadcasts. McMahon regularly feeds lines to and communicates with WWE announcers while they are working and Foley is said to be at the end of his rope.

There was an incident that took place several months back while Mick Foley was calling SmackDown! with Michael Cole. Foley felt that Vince got so out of line with his yelling that he called Vince later that night to discuss the situation. Although sources indicate that Vince has toned i down while producing Foley since then, Mick is still bothered by the way he and other announcers have been produced.

Foley is expected to appear at SummerSlam in some capacity, but that show is being seen as a possible end-date for Foley if he chooses not to sign a new deal the company.

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WWE News: An Update On Chuck Palumbo, The Brian Kendrick, Cena & McCarthy Promoting SNME

– Since being drafted to Raw, Chuck Palumbo still has yet to make a television appearance on his new brand. Reader Ronzilla sent in the following regarding his encounter with Palumbo at last week’s Raw at the Mohegan Sun… First off I am a HUGE fan of Lordsofpain and I have been for years. I check it religiously everyday. My girlfriend makes fun of me lol.. Anyway I was at Mohegan Sun on Monday and I met Chuck Palumbo. He was shopping with his son ( i belive it was his son ) in a music shop and I got a chance to talk to him. He said he hasn’t been on raw because he has been having nagging shoulder injuries and his knee has been bothering him.. I told him that I enjoyed the stuff he did with Jamie Noble and he didn’t seem like he was too pleased with how it came about.. He said “It’s all politics.. That’s all it is..” Referring to his angle with Jamie Noble. I told him that I heard about Noble and HHH/HBK being friends backstage ( I read it off of your site of course ) so it looks to be true.. Anyway Chuck was a really nice guy and HUGE in person. Just some info thought you guys might like to know!! peace out, RONZILLA.

– SmackDown star Brian Kendrick is now going under the name “The Brian Kendrick”. WWE.com changed his profile to reflect his new ring name. You can see the updated profile at this link.

– John Cena & actress Jenny McCarthy did media this past week to promote tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event telecast, as well as Generation Rescue, to inform and raise money to combat Autism. The two appeared on Extra, Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood last night. They also appeared on Fox & Friends on the Fox News Channel this morning.

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WWE News: Unhappiness With Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler Combo, J.R. Back To Raw?, New ECW Talent, Ric Flair

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

– Second guessing of the announcers switch increased this past week. Internally, there is said to be a tremendous amount of unhappiness with the Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler combination on Raw. Some officials have actually discussed shooting an angle that would put the old teams back together, but pretty much everyone believes that it’s not happening anytime soon. Also, Vince is said to not be thinking about reverting the change, and just trying to get Cole to be the Raw announcer he wants him to be.

– According to a wrestling magazine in Mexico, Lucha libre star Damian 666, 47, from the CMLL promotion said WWE was interested in bringing him into ECW along with Mr. Aguila (Essa Rios), but he hadn’t been formerly offered the position. He also said he would turn it down. Even though he said he would turn it down, he recently had a tryout anyway in an empty arena with the likes of Batista, Undertaker, Edge, Mick Foley and others watching. He said it was intimidating. It should be noted that you can’t always trust what the Lucha libre wrestlers say regarding their WWE/TNA prospects to the magazines as they’re obviously not going to say that they were rejected. Instead, it makes them look better by saying they rejected the big leagues.

– As noted last week, Ric Flair’s finance company, Ric Flair Finance, shut down with the mortgage business in turmoil. Flair originally had plans to make a big push for the business with a heavy ad campaign back in January, but he then made the decision to wait until after the retirement. However, that’s when things started to going really bad for the mortgage industry and it became the worst time to start a new company.

WWE News: JBL Frustrated With Wrestling Career, The Latest On Carlito, Hardys Kept In The Dark On The Draft

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

– There is talk going on regarding JBL’s in-ring future. His back is still in a lot of pain (the original reason for his hiatus) and he is frustrated that he can’t wrestle at the level he’d like. His back problems likely hinder his ability to train as effectively as he’d like, not to mention that he’s in his forties and presumably not on anything, which is why his physique sometimes doesn’t look up to par in comparison to the other wrestlers.

– At the moment, Carlito is talking like he’s staying put in WWE. He was said to be really unhappy with his push, particularly after Raw two weeks ago when he and Marella jobbed to Cryme Tyme. At one point it looked like Marella & Carlito were going to get the tag titles, but it never materialized. The company made the decision for them not to get the belts due to storyline plans involving Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly, and he was said to be really upset. Carlito gave his notice at the end of last year but Vince McMahon talked him into staying, saying he would get a bigger push. The push never materialized and he got upset again. He got conflicting stories from the Raw creative team on his long-term future, and he got a sense that head writer Brian Gewirtz wasn’t really looking to pushing him. In light of declining ratings, Gewirtz has been pressured to devote more time on the show to the biggest stars on Raw. Some friends suggested he try getting moved to ECW, where he’d be a headliner, or Smackdown, which before the draft, had less depth, as well as a huge Hispanic television audience that WWE is paying great attention to now. The feeling on his move to SmackDown is that head writer Michael Hayes would at least start him out with a push and give him an opportunity to sink or swim. The knock on Carlito is that he usually works well enough to get by, but not well enough to headline and move past mid-card status.

– Both Matt and Jeff Hardy weren’t told about their respective brand moves beforehand. After their one match together on Raw, Matt was sent to ECW and the reaction you saw from them was their real reaction because both brothers had no idea it was going to happen. In Jeff’s case, he was told about the move to SmackDown a few moments before the announcement on television. On another note regarding the brand changes, pretty much all of the draftees with the probable exception of Triple H have no idea what the moves mean or what their new roles will be as creative hasn’t given them an explanation on anything.

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.

WWE News: Why Triple H Was Moved To SmackDown, Top Raw Star Gets Stitches, Kozlov Hurts Wrestler During Match

– One reason Triple H was moved to SmackDown is due to a scheduling matter. The schedule on Smackdown is actually a lot more convenient for him, especially considering that wife Stephanie McMahon-Levesque is due to give birth in about a month and will be taking the babies on the road upon her return to work. The regular Raw show schedule runs from Friday to Monday, so he is always on his own on the road because Stephanie doesn’t attend house shows. However, Stephanie always attends the weekly Tuesday SmackDown tapings, whereas Triple H is at home or on a plane going home. When he was on Raw, they pretty much only saw each other on Monday, the latter part of Wednesday, entire Thursdays, and the early part of Friday. Now that he’s on SmackDown, he can see Stephanie and the kids Monday through at least Friday. The weekly SmackDown schedule doesn’t start until Saturday night, so that gives them part of another day to be together some weeks. Instead of seeing his family for parts of three or four days a week, he should usually be able to see them as many as six days a week.

The scheduling issue wasn’t the only reason for the move because the SmackDown brand was in dire need of a huge new star to say the least. Also, Triple H’s move to SmackDown should give the show a ratings boost when it moves to MyNetworkTV this fall.

– Both Batista and Edge are fine after the two accidentally butted heads on Raw last night. Although, Batista needed several stitches to close the wound on his head following the match.

– Jamie Noble had the wind knocked out of him following an errant headbutt from Vladimir Kozlov during their match on SmackDown last week. It wasn’t shown on television, but some medics helped him to the back following the match.

source: www.f4wonline.com

WWE Draft 2008 Follow Up: J.R. Issues Statement on Being Traded

 

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In my last column I ranted and raved about the Draft, and made it clear that the Jim Ross/Michael Cole switch was ratings suicide.I guess I am not the only one who thought this was a bad idea.

On J. R.’s official blog (http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/), he has issued this statement about being sent over to SmackDown:

As many of you know, I was “drafted” to Smackdown Monday night in the “random lottery”. Obviously that means I will be leaving Monday Night Raw and my long time partner Jerry Lawler.I am not happy about this surprise development.

I also contemplated calling it a career Monday night and not going to Houston to tape SD.

After speaking with my wife and thinking on this matter until 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, I have decided to do the right thing for the fans who care and the talent who care and begin my new assignment.

It has been explained to me that the WWE’s Smackdown tenure on My Network is a high priority within the corporation. Allegedly, my presence is needed in that effort.

Many are speculating about when I learned of this development…the same time those of you were watching at home. I should have detected something with the demeanor of certain individuals either thru their plastic, poker faces or the perceived smirk that I thought I might have seen on some of their faces during the day.

As far as going to Connecticut each week to do Smackdown post production, that’s not going to happen. Either Mick Foley can handle it or the WWE can install a DSL line in my home to facilitate the work.

I think this, by itself, shows how unexpected and unpopular this decision was.  If a man like “Good Ole” J. R. will open up about how upset he is, and “shoot” a blog like that, I would be trying my best to remedy the situation.

In my opinion, the backlash from this will, ultimately, either have this “trade” undone, or swap Ross and Foley to Raw, and King and Cole to SmackDown.

Nevertheless, this situation will continue to be monitored as it continues to play out.

 

Taken from:

http://bleacherreport.com

Pro Wrestling Top 25: Week Two

Anyone want seconds? Good! After last week’s groundbreaking submission, I return with the top performers of Week Two. And all I can is that the WWE Draft isn’t the only thing that’s getting shaken up this summer!

Here are the rankings and the top performers of Week Two.

 

1) The Dirt Sheet (ECW, LW: #2): 880 points

After a great performance last week on ECW and SmackDown!, the WWE Tag Team Champions suffered a major setback with two straight losses en route to Night of Champions.

 

2) CM Punk (ECW, LW: #1): 667 points

Mr. Money in the Bank drops mainly because of just one appearance this week. Other than that, he had a great performance against John Morrison on ECW, and he is eyeing the World Heavyweight Championship at Edge’s nuptials on July 11.

 

3) Motor City Machine Guns (TNA, LW: #13): 528 points

After two straight weeks of World X Cup action, the Guns are riding high with two straight victories, including one to give Team TNA an early advantage in the World X Cup.

 

4) Batista (SmackDown!, LW: #4): 528 points

The Animal has been unstoppable the last few weeks, but after an ambush from La Familia, Batista will have to watch his back a lot more with just a week until his match at Night of Champions against Edge.

 

5) Kane (ECW, LW: #9): 507 points

The ECW Champion made a huge impact during his confrontation with The Big Show on ECW, and kept bringing the noise against MVP on SmackDown! With the pay-per-view a week away, what’s next for the Big Red Monster?

 

6) Kaz (TNA, LW: Unranked): 498 points

The captain of Team TNA suffered two setbacks last week with losses to Petey Williams and Samoa Joe in championship matches. But he got back on track with a victory over Alex Koslov.

 

7) John Cena (RAW, LW: #21): 492 points

The Doctor of Thuganomics kept the Night of Champions momentum on his side by surviving the challenges of JBL last week and Umaga this past week on RAW. His night could have ended better if not for the sneak attack from Lance Cade.

 

LAX (TNA, LW: Unranked): 472 points

The TNA Tag Champs got monkey-whipped last week by Robert Roode and James Storm. Now they have a Fan’s Revenge Match against the Odd Couple at Victory Road. Revenge is sweet sometimes, ain’t it?

 

9) Mickie James (RAW, LW: 18): 468 points

The Women’s Champion survived Beth Phoenix last week, but thanks to an interference from Paul Burchill, she now has to go one-on-one against Katie Lea at Night of Champions for the gold.

 

10) Christian Cage (TNA, LW: 10): 468 points

The Instant Classic made up for the loss from last week with a huge win over Team 3D. Now he will be looking for payback for the attack on his partner last week on IMPACT!

 

The Rest of The Top 25

11) Team 3D (TNA, LW: 8): 468 points

12) AJ Styles (TNA, LW: 14): 463 points

13) The Great Khali (SmackDown!, LW: 5): 461 points

14) Umaga (RAW, LW: Unranked): 458 points

15) Matt Hardy (SmackDown!, LW: 16): 443 points

16) Paul Burchill (RAW, LW: Unranked): 441.5 points

17) Finlay (SmackDown!, LW: Unranked): 441 points

18) Triple H (RAW, LW: 23): 437 points

19) Sonjay Dutt (TNA, LW: Unranked): 432 points

20) Kennedy (RAW, LW: Unranked): 431.5 points

21) Hornswoggle (SmackDown!, LW: Unranked): 422 points

22) MVP (SmackDown!, LW: 19): 418 points

23) Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes (RAW, LW: Unranked): 416.5 points

24) Armando Estrada (ECW, LW: 22): 416 points

25) Cryme Tyme (RAW, LW: Unranked): 411 points

Honorary Entrants: “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, SmackDown! referee Charles Robinson, Future TNA Knockout Taylor

Close but no Cigar: Kofi Kingston (ECW, 390), Jesse & Festus (SmackDown!, 386.5), Deuce & Domino (SmackDown!, 386.5), Awesome Kong (TNA, 314)

Dropped Out: Kurt Angle (TNA), Tomko (TNA), Rhino (TNA), Matt Morgan (TNA), Samoa Joe (TNA), Mark Henry (SmackDown!), Chuck Palumbo (SmackDown!), Jeff Hardy (RAW), Beth Phoenix (RAW)

Winning Brand of the Week: RAW with eight entrants followed by TNA with seven, SmackDown! with six, and ECW with four.

That’s the rankings for the second week. Next week’s will be insanity thanks to the 2008 WWE Draft. Don’t forget that any superstar that gets drafted will receive an additional 90 points added to next week’s score. See ya Monday night.

 

Taken from:

http://bleacherreport.com/