More on Mistico's signing, biggest recent secret in wrestling, WWE mentioning TNA, WWE giving wrestlers time off, Five good things about Eric Bischoff, Divas' Title match, new TNA signing, more to come, Booker T. autobiography in the works, Diesel, Flair, and Rock updates, Smackdown rating, Raw dark match

The first news story of the day is more on the signing of Mexican wrestling star Mistico. He was offered a chance to go to WWE several years ago, but turned it down. He now wishes he had taken them up on their offer then. He was dissatisfied with with the company he was working for (CMLL), as they pushed a talent to his level that he didn't feel was ready. He considered going to rival promotion AAA, but decided against it.

He doesn't own the rights to the name or gimmick of Mistico, so he won't be using it in WWE. It's likely that he'll start his tenure there in FCW.

Update: CMLL now claims that Mistico is still under contract with them. However, some speculate that this is a plan to reuse the gimmick for someone else. Any other updates will be reported on.

It's time for questions again. The first asks about the best-kept secret since the internet starting covering backstage happenings. They say John Cena's big return at the Royal Rumble. That's hard to argue with. We didn't think he was coming back for months, and I believe he had said as much in an interview.

Next up, why doesn't WWE mention other wrestling companies?

I don't see why they would mention any of them, TNA in particular. They want to be the top dog. Why would they risk telling the large portion of their audience who doesn't know about the other promotions details on them? When I watched WWF from 1998-2001 when WCW was in business, I don't recall them mentioning them. McDonald's doesn't bring up Burger King. They're concerned with being the best. They don't care too much about what the competition's doing. Now if TNA were to overtake WWE in the ratings, then maybe things would change. But I don't see them bringing them up any time soon.

Someone talks about the positives outweighing the negatives in giving wrestlers mandated time off. I don't think many people would disagree with giving some wrestlers time off when they need it. I'd like to see wrestlers getting a breaks when they're needed. That usually happens these days unless a wrestler is stubborn and pushes themselves through it.

I don't like the idea of one big off-season for everyone though. I think that WWE has enough wrestlers that if some people need time off, they can take it and everyone else can still work. Why take your whole car off the road if it just needs a tire changed? I'm not saying that time off wouldn't be beneficial (and maybe in this metaphor it's a tune-up), but the off-season thing is too clumsy and wide-ranging of a solution. And I've yet to hear a good plan for what to do for TV and PPVs in the off-season.

Someone wants to hear five good things about the oft-criticized Eric Bischoff. Here you go:
1. He plays the heel authority figure very well, and can certainly cut a promo.
2. He was at least partially responsible for Nitro beating Raw 83 weeks in a row in the ratings. No easy task.
3. He doesn't mince his words or hide his opinions.
4. He has guts. Not everyone would put their show head-to-head with Raw.
5. He came up with the nWo. Yes, it was inspired by a Japanese promotion's idea, but you can't deny it was a huge success.

I'm not a huge Bischoff fan, but I'll give the devil his due.

Back to news: the Divas' Title match at the Rumble was advertised on the back of the Royal Rumble shirt, so it wasn't a last-minute change.

TNA signed a new Knockout recently. She wrestles as Divina Fly.

TNA is planning to hire more X-Division wrestlers, and focus Destination-X on them. I hope for their sake that that's a good business move for them. Puma and ROH's El Generico could be two of the names that they pick up.

Booker T. has signed a deal to co-write an autobiography due out in September 2012. It sounds like a great read. Here's a link to the press release.

Diesel did an interview with Joey Styles at this link. At this point, his future with the company is up in the air. The proposal last year was for him to return in that role as a reference to him being Shawn Michaels' old bodyguard, and for him to seek revenge against Undertaker for beating him. Michaels being retired last year would be even bigger motivation for the Diesel character. But for now, he feels that if that's the last of him, it was a nice moment.

Perhaps the best part of the interview was Diesel saying that it was nice to be in a building with people in it, presumably a shot at TNA's mediocre attendance. Ouch. I wonder what the future holds for Diesel, WWE, and TNA after that appearance.

Ric Flair is not at tonight's Impact tapings, and it doesn't look like he'll be used at any of this week's tapings at present. Some speculate that he has been released from TNA, but there is no confirmation of that at this time.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stated recently on his Facebook page that he will not be returning to WWE for a match. However, he will return someday in a different role. He mentioned the idea of a "Rock Raw" that he has discussed with the company. I'd definitely like to see a special Rock Raw, maybe when he goes into the Hall of Fame or something. I didn't exactly expect him to return to the ring, but I always kind of hoped that we'd see him mix it up with some of today's stars. But I guess that's what WWE All-Stars is for?

The latest edition of Smackdown dropped to a 2.01 rating. Still nice but not as impressive as some other recent shows. It should be noted that PWTorch.com is reporting a slightly lower figure for the official rating. If there's any other clarification on the rating, I will mention it in a future post.

The dark match before Raw this week was William Regal defeating NXT Rookie Johnny Curtis. What this means for his future isn't currently known.

That's all for tonight. More tomorrow.