WWE news

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- WWE officials had talks this past week to shake up the roster in the near future. They plan on doing another draft after WrestleMania.

- Plans are in place for WWE to release DVDs on Batista, Bobby Lashley, Steve Austin, The Rock and "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig in 2008. They will also be releasing a Summerslam Anthology box set, which will feature every edition of the company's annual August pay-per-view from 1988 through 2007. They will also be releasing a compilation DVD on Hell in the Cell matches. Furthermore, it is believed that matches featuring Chris Benoit will be utilized in future Anthology sets, but they won't be marketing his name, nor using him in compilation DVDs on select WWE stars. It is believed that the Steve Austin DVD was delayed (it was originally scheduled to be released in November) because it was going to feature his mid-2001 feud with Benoit.

- Regarding a possible return to WWE, Tammy "Sunny" Sytch told the Fight Network out of Canada last week that she spoke to some important people in WWE, but she didn't want to jinx anything. She simply said, "you never know." She indicated that she is interested in having another run with WWE. Sytch said she was first contacted about being apart of the Raw 15th Anniversary show two weeks before the show, but was told by Howard Finkel to keep it a secret so that it would be a surprise. However, she was surprised to learn that WWE's official website announced her return a few days before the show. Sytch, 35, credits her return to her "Sunny body" to her boyfriend (who happens to be a police officer in New Jersey) for encouraging her to return to the gym and dieting.

- Francisco "McGyver" Gaztambide of PRWrestling.com sent this along: Scott Hall no showed his scheduled appearances in Puerto Rico for WWC where he was scheduled to wrestle Friday in Ponce and Saturday in Caguas. Hall, along with Rico Casanova, arrived late Friday to the Island, the reason why he no showed the Ponce event. In Saturday's case, even though he was on the Island, the wrestler was too affected emotionally because of several family issues that happened this past week that have taken a toll on him. Hall wishes to let everyone know that right now he has to deal with his problems and for the time being those are more important than wrestling itself.

- Bret Hart appeared on on Off the Record with Michael Landsberg on 12/7. Bret said that he doesn't want to watch much wrestling anymore because he and wants to get passed what happened with Chris Benoit because it brings too much grief. The host said it could take forever for Bret to get passed it considering how many guys Bret knew well who have passed away. Hart says there are guys he worries about now, specically naming his former tag team partner Jim Neidhart. Bret says there's more being done for the wrestlers of today, but he feels the wrestlers being ignored are "the ones who have been used up and pushed out the door," like Jim Neidhart, not to mention wrestlers that have already passed away such as Brian "Crush" Adams, Sherri Martel and Bam Bam Bigelow. Bret said they end up broke and have nothing left. "Someone might say, hey, there's Bam Bam Bigelow, but he's passed out in the back of his car. No one helps them with their pain, they paid for their own surgeries, and the addiction to painkillers spiraled out of control. The WWE is focusing on their current guys, but they don’t care about the guys they’ve already let go," Bret said.

- WWE Hall of Famer Greg "The Hammer" Valentine has been telling people he's in the upcoming movie "The Wrestler" starring Mickey Rourke. The movie was originally going to star Nicholas Cage, but he pulled out of the movie for undisclosed reasons.

- It appears as though that JBL is returning as a full-time wrestler. There has been talk for several weeks of JBL giving up his announcing spot on SmackDown. Television producer Kevin Dunn has been auditioning people with Michael Cole to find him a new announcing partner.

- WWE officials had serious discussions this past week about what they want to do at WrestleMania. They're trying to get a gameplan down and then they'll start the booking process to reach the destination that is WrestleMania.

- A lawyer for Michael Benoit, father of Chris Benoit, told the Associated Press that the fight over the Benoit estate could be resolved soon.

Cary Ichter, the lawyer, said that he hopes to soon determine whether the dispute can be resolved without further litigation. The estate, worth between $1.5 and $3 million, is subject to a dispute from the family of Chris' wife Nancy, who was killed during Benoit's double-murder-suicide, and Benoit's father, who is advocating on behalf of his son's children from a prior marriage.

Much of the dispute hinges on the order of the murders. The Associated Press story says that if Benoit killed his wife first, before killing his son Daniel and himself, as is believed to be the case, the estate would pass to Benoit's living children.

If, however, the child was killed first, Nancy's family would be entitled to at least a portion of the estate.

The story also notes that WWE rejected an offer to pay Benoit's children $2 million in recognition of the wrestler's work for the company. It is unclear if Michael Benoit will sue World Wrestling Entertainment.

- Ron Killings' release from TNA was confirmed last weekend. He asked for his release after TNA held a meeting where TNA said they would let anyone who wanted to leave, out of their contract. It was pretty much considered to be a formality he'd be let go. The two parties formally agreed last weekend.

Killings has a spot waiting for him in AAA in Mexico if he decides to take it. As soon as his working papers are complete, which should be in February, he will likely be working there.

On his MySpace page regarding his release, he talked about going back to his "original stomping grounds." Early in his career, he worked the indies in Georgia and the Carolinas, and of course, there was his brief run in WWE. It is unknown at the moment if WWE is interested in him or not. However, what is known is that Jeff Hardy and Umaga are pushing company officials to sign him to a contract.




Source: Wrestlezone

Despite a report earlier this week following the big Raw 15th Anniversary show stating otherwise, there is some rumblings within WWE that the company is interested in bringing back Rob Van Dam full-time and that his appearance on the anniversary show could be the start of things to come.

RVD opted to not sign a new deal with WWE this year and made his last appearance back at the One Night Stand PPV on June 3. He did state in interviews following his WWE run that he wanted to take time off from the road for a while.

Strong sources that I have spoken with have indicated that WWE has some strong interest in bringing him back and although RVD did speak with TNA, the company wasn't able to come close to matching his asking price. Van Dam supposedly wants to stay with the WWE and the WWE wants to keep Van Dam. According to sources, it's just a matter of time before the deal's done.

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Some more news:

WWE officials have been discussing creative options for the coming year, including another draft lottery after WrestleMania 24. As previously reported, the Elimination Chamber will return at No Way Out, with the participants fighting for the WrestleMania title shot not chosen by the winner of the Royal Rumble. Early marketing has already listed the participants as Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Ken Kennedy, Umaga and Bobby Lashley. There had been talk in recent weeks of Batista and Triple H working a WrestleMania match again but they did nothing to tease that direction during the Evolution quasi-reunion on Raw XV. Plans remain in flux.

Furthermore, the Ric Flair retirement angle, which again was not mentioned on Raw XV, might not go ahead after all. Flair has reportedly still to sign the new two-year contract that was verbally agreed upon a few weeks ago, while his current deal expires on 08 January. The Wrestling Observer revealed the extensive plans that were originally considered for this angle, which was initially pitched by Steve Austin directly to Vince McMahon after WrestleMania 23. Brian Gerwitz, who never watched Flair in his prime and had existing heat with Austin, was reluctant to do anything with it at all, yet Michael Hayes and Court Bauer wanted to run it on Smackdown. That led to Flair being brought over from Raw in the draft and the ensuing plan, primarily booked by Bauer and Vince, was to run as follows... Flair would be taken off TV for a few weeks as they ran highlights of his greatest moments to build to his Smackdown debut. He would then have challenged Khali for the World Heavyweight Title at Saturday Night's Main Event in August. It would have been built up as a major event, with numerous comments from other legends and the Flair family about his chances of winning the title, similar to the Flair/Vader match from Starrcade 1993. Flair would have arrived at the arena in a limo, cut a promo, get some offense in but ultimately lose the match. He would refuse to speak to any interviewers afterwards and no-show Smackdown the next week. The announcers would have hyped a Flair interview the following week, mentioning rumours that he was going to announce his retirement. When the time came he would say that if he could no longer be the old Ric Flair then he would indeed retire, since he wanted people to remember him the way he was rather than what he had become. He would have then challenged himself, saying that the next time he lost, it would indeed be his last match. He would then have gotten a few victories as more legends were brought in to make comments, with one of them actually criticising Flair. This would have lead to Flair challenging MVP for the US title at Unforgiven, only for the critical legend ,at one point slated to be Terry Funk, to interfere and cost Flair the title but giving him a DQ victory. This would then have lead to Mick Foley seconding Funk and building to a final Four Horsemen match at the Survivor Series as Flair brought them in to combat his foes. After that would have come Flair vs Foley at Armageddon, another legend opponent at the Royal Rumble, and then Flair entering Money in the Bank at WrestleMania. He would have then won it and challenged for the title that night. He would have lost that match, placed his robe and boots in the middle of the ring, and then walked off. Of course, none of it came to pass and was more than likely never actually discussed with Flair.

Carlito was talked into staying with WWE after a talk with Vince McMahon on 03 December. The main reason behind them keeping Carlito around is that they are planning to expand further into Central and South America and he is one of the few wrestlers they have who speaks Spanish, although there was some concern about losing another wrestler to TNA right now. Vince had been very critical of Carlito's work over the past year, saying he wanted more high spots and a faster pace from him. According to Dave Meltzer, Carlito and Ric Flair went into their Judgement Day match without a finish because Vince was threatening to fire Carlito immediately afterwards if he didn't deliver an improved performance. He made the call for a finish mid-way through the match and informed the referee (Carlito submitted to the Figure-Four). When Carlito came through the curtain Vince was waiting on him but all he said was "Better." Carlito has complained that he wants his character to be a deeper and edgier heel, like how he was first used during his John Cena feud in 2004. Meanwhile, Carlito's father, Carlos Colon, is still trying to get WWC a deal as a WWE developmental territory but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Ron Killings is expected to start working full-time with AAA in February. However, Umaga and Jeff Hardy are understood to be trying to get him a WWE deal.

Sting is expected to finalise a new one-year deal with TNA very soon. It is thought that he would work some Impact tapings and most PPVs but not house shows. Dixie Carter is keen on keeping him around as a big-name that will help TNA get licensing deals.

CREDIT: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 17 December 2007