Mickie James CMA Fest update, Bizarre happening at Smackdown taping, Foley done with TNA?, Questions on Sarita, an old Tough Enough finalist, Lacey Von Erich, and WWE's tributes to Randy Savage, Plenty of UWF news,Tough Enough III winner interview, Morrison update, Piper talks Green Lantern, and a long Angle interview

I'm starting to want to post "wrestlers doing non-wrestling things" stories less and less, but since I've already mentioned it before: Mickie James will make 5 appearances at the CMA Fest in Nashville. From now on, I'm going to try to only post things that connect to people's wrestling careers.

In one of the most absolutely bizarre things I've ever heard of occurring at a wrestling taping, Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn played a big joke on Mark Henry this past Tuesday. I had heard this during the week, but assumed it was made up because of the sheer ridiculousness of it! I'm at a loss for words to describe the situation. Those two have an odd sense of humor, for sure. It's amusing in one sense, but is that worth what they put him and the fans in attendance through?

Speaking of bizarre relationships, here's the latest on Mick Foley and TNA. Here's a little more to the story: Quite a number of fans wanted Foley to appear at WWE's birthday party for The Rock. Foley was under contract to TNA, and thus unable to go. Likely partially to do with that online buzz for him, TNA used him as the representative for The Network in their storylines. Fans didn't react nearly as strongly to that (they faced a similar conundrum with Sting's return this year), and as was mentioned there was already friction between the two sides, so this looks to be the end of their relationship.

Why they wouldn't utilize Foley is beyond me. They're paying him the same whether he shows up or not, so they might as well get the most out of him. He's a best-selling author who wrote a book about some of his time in the company. They had a DVD on him. He appeared at a major political rally. These things weren't very highly promoted. Not to mention that they completely glossed over his charity work, another thing that would give them a nice positive boost. One of your top names raises that much money for charity, and it's not even promoted on your show? You can't get much better press than that.

As expected, a lot of fans want him to go to WWE when his deal is finally done, possibly as the Anonymous Raw GM. TNA's loss (like WCW's before it) could once again be their gain. As far as the Network storyline goes, I'd take just about anyone to challenge their on-screen authority at this point. It's definitely time to change things up from Hogan and Bischoff running the show.

After the break, I go into PWInsider.com's questions and the rest of the day's news, starting with something on Sarita.
(Nothing to add to #1, so I skipped it)
2. That's right. They actually mentioned this in her earlier days in TNA before the Mexican America gimmick. For more fun with that stable: Hernandez was born in Texas, Rosita was born in New York, and Anarquia was born in California. Though I guess you could say that those birthplaces refer to the people themselves and not the characters. Come to think of it, it would be a pretty good heel tactic if they all renounced their citizenship (in kayfabe of course, otherwise they'd need visas) from their birth countries and pledged allegiance to Mexico.

3. To add to what they said, she at one point was considering a career in make-up. She retired in 2003.

4. I actually recently answered this. Last I read she ran her own advertising business.

5. Wow... um... where to start. First off, that's not what a demographic is. As for the rest, they actually did run several video packages on him. If they hadn't have then you wouldn't have been the only one upset, but I think they're covered there. Perhaps next time you should wait a bit before sending something like that in to make sure you have your bases covered?

This post goes into all sorts of details from the taping the UWF had in the Hammerstein Ballroom. This will be the last I cover of them, as the plan is to only cover "major" promotions. If the UWF or any company gets a major national TV (non-syndicated) deal and cable PPVs, I will give them the same coverage as WWE and TNA.

Here's an interview with the co-winner of Tough Enough III. Not much to say on it, really. It's unknown whether he'll ever return to WWE.

And here's an injury update on the other co-winner of that show. You might know him as John Morrison. Good to know that he's getting better. I see him as a future headliner in WWE.

WWE.com has an interview with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper about doing voice work for an animated Green Lantern movie. He does go into how the role relates to his experiences in wrestling, so it counts as something this blog should cover.

Kurt Angle gave a lengthy interview to a major UK newspaper. He makes a solid point about doing such huge bumps in front of relatively small crowds. The whole thing's really interesting.

That's all for Saturday's news. More to come tomorrow! Thank you for reading.