UWF clothing deal, FCW student profiled, new member on WWE's board of directors, Kharma discusses JR, Bischoff fires back at online fans, Questions on Sin Cara's future, Draft moves, and the Intercontinental Championship, more on Hogan's wrestling game, SpikeTV press release snafu, and a WWE Hall of Famer on Tough Enough finale

The Urban Wrestling Federation has signed a merchandising deal. That's pretty cool.

Slam! has an article about an FCW trainee. I'm assuming he's part of their tryouts.

A new member of WWE's board of directors has been elected. She brings a phenomenal resume to the company.

Kharma clarified the situation she mentioned on Raw regarding Jim Ross. She makes good points.

Eric Bischoff made a much-talked about statement on Twitter. This one takes some explanation: He's referring to the fact that the segment he was in on last week's edition of Impact Wrestling (with Hogan, Foley, and the X-Division) was the highest rated on the show by a sizable margin, despite that segment and similar ones being heavily derided by some online fans (the 10% he mentioned). "IWC" means Internet Wrestling Community, which seems pretty self-explanatory but generally is used to refer to those who follow wrestling news and the like online (because obviously there are plenty of wrestling fans online, but only some follow it as closely as that). "Smark" is a term people use to describe themselves as smart to the inner workings of wrestling. As for who really matters? Whoever makes them the most money over the longest period of time. If they get 2.0 ratings for shows that the IWC despise, that's better than 0.5 ratings for shows that the IWC adores. Does that mean that their opinions don't matter? I wouldn't say so, but they don't matter as much as the people giving them a higher rating. If those groups were one in the same, it would indeed matter, but that doesn't seem to be entirely the case.

After the break, I look at the questions sent to PWInsider.com today, starting with one on whether Sin Cara is in any danger of being released.
1. As much time and energy as they've put into Sin Cara, and as over as he's getting so far, I'd say he's pretty safe from getting released. Especially considering they just signed his biggest rival from Mexico specifically to work with him.

2. Raw's a different animal from Smackdown at times. For one thing, it seems like there are more angles and less matches on Raw, and people are more likely to be lost in the shuffle there. They consider that the main show, and as such they're more careful in what they do with people and where they put them on the card.

3. For it to be regularly defended and featured in storylines. Like it is right now. As for it being treated as highly as it was before the brand split? Probably it being combined with the US Title or World Title challengers regularly competing for it. The thing is, I mostly like where it is right now. I see it like there are a number of tiers people on the roster fit in (when they're not in the tag division): the tier alternately referred to as Lost in the shuffle/Purgatory/Midcard Hell, then IC Title level, Upper midcard, and World Title Level. It's a steeping stone that separates you from the pack. If you do well with that, you get closer to the not-quite World Title level, say #1 Contendership match level or multi-man match participant level, then of course you actually get to the World Title. If the IC Title is treated similarly to the #1 Contendership, what's the point in having both? I see it as something to help the midcarders move up the ranks. If it's up there close to the World Title, what the heck are all the people below it fighting for?

Nothing really to add to the other questions, other than WWE presumably likes how the IC Title looks now.

The new Hulk Hogan-branded wrestling game will be shown off at E3.

A press release advertising Stacy Keibler for Spike TV's 2011 Guys Choice awards refers to WWE as "the premier wrestling organization in the world". Spike TV of course airs TNA's Impact Wrestling. They're correct as far as WWE being the bigger company with the highest level of prestige, though, at least in the majority's opinion.

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat will be training Andy and Luke on the Tough Enough finale. That will be great for them.

That's all for Thursday's news. I'll be back tomorrow for more. Thank you for reading!