The first news story of the day is an interview with Bret Hart. He mentions that he would be happy to induct long-time rival Shawn Michaels into the WWE Hall of Fame this April if asked by WWE. Michaels has said in the past that he would like to be inducted by Hart, who would be able to tell about both sides of HBK's life. I personally would love to see this happen. It would bring both men's careers and their backstage history to a respectful close. The two of them keep in touch now, which would be unfathomable years ago.
Hart says that he's "in limbo" in regards to his WWE future and isn't expecting to be part of WrestleMania, but that could change at any time. He also talks about the serious effects of concussions following the one that ended his career in 2000.
After the break, Samoa Joe says why he isn't in the TNA World Title picture.
Samoa Joe, in an interview with 1Wrestling.com, says that people in TNA don't want him to be in the World Title picture. However, the interview was mostly conducted "in character", so don't read much (if anything) into the comment as he could very well be referencing the people who are in power in TNA's storylines (Immortal). Here's the link to the video.
Jim Ross will NOT be broadcasting the Royal Rumble this year. He won't even be in attendance. He's also not interested in being an on-screen manager. You'd think these kinds of questions would be winding down by now. He doesn't want to travel with WWE full-time period. Not as a GM, a referee, a commentator, wrestler, cameraman, agent, planted fan in the crowd, backstage cameo in a Hornswoggle segment, mascot (like The Eagle), or anything else you can think of that would require semi-regular appearances.
There's a rumor going around that Edge will retire once his contract expires next year. The rumor dates back to some comments last year suggesting the possibility. At this point, it's considered to be up in the air. Even if he doesn't retire, it's possible that he'll at least take a break from the business. Edge will turn 39 in 2012. He has been with WWE since 1998.
Ex-Nexus member Michael Tarver recently returned from injury, and wrestled at FCW. His future is unknown, but his appearance on Smackdown (in Teddy Long's locker room when he was laid out) would suggest him joining the Corre.
There was apparently a rumor over the weekend that Vince McMahon was considering buying a soccer team in the UK It's since been debunked. Talk about an out-of-left field suggestion. Why would he? He's busy enough being CEO and Chairman of WWE. I don't see him doing any kind of XFL-like venture any time soon, if ever.
WWE's stock continues to take a downfall. It is now lower than at any point in the past year. This is definitely cause for concern. They need to have a good gameplan at the next conference call.
Update: The stock rebounded some mid-day, but is still largely down from Friday.
Today's PWInsider.com questions were posted and responded to yesterday after a mix-up. Check yesterday's post for them.
Skip Sheffield is hoped to be back in WWE by shortly after WrestleMania, if not before. I'm not entirely sure that Nexus and The Corre will be around by then.
Jamie Dundee has challenged Joey Styles to show up at a wrestling event that he'll be at soon. He even gave out his phone number for Styles to call him, not knowing or caring that anyone listening can (and almost certainly will) use that to prank call him. I wonder what will actually go down between them. Styles hasn't made any more comments on Dundee that I've seen.
Smackdown did a 2.12 rating this week, a significant improvement from months past. Not only was this the highest rating Smackdown's gotten since moving to SyFy, it was the highest rating for any Friday night SyFy show since the premiere of Stargate:Atlantis back in 2004. Very good news for WWE on that front.
Percy Watson worked another dark match before Raw, defeating William Regal. It's unknown when and where he'll debut for WWE. They shouldn't put him on a main show before he's ready, and they don't want to throw him on a show so close to a PPV, so I suspect it'll be a few weeks at least before he gets the call up.
That's all of today's news. I'll be back tomorrow with more.
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