Layla appearing for FCW, Angle to work for TNA for free?, Henry interview and update, Rollins works Smackdown house show, Questions on Angle in the bar, Hornswoggle, Batista, and contracts, Toxxin update, false Hardy rumor, Punk writing a comic?, Smackdown house show change, more of new live event set, Duggan autobiography due next year, WWE signs CZW student, Lashley interested in WWE return, Orton update, and a new match made for Genesis

Layla will be a part of autograph sessions/meet and greet sessions before FCW shows in January. Still waiting on word for when she'll be back in the ring, but apparently it's on the "sooner" side of the sooner/later equation.

Kurt Angle gave another fun interview before a TNA house show, in which he claimed that he'd work a year with TNA for free if he doesn't reach a certain number of appearances with them because of his Olympic training. He's either extremely dedicated or off his rocker. Either way, he's a very driven man and workaholic.

Mark Henry gave an interview about an upcoming Smackdown house show, presumably conducted before his recent injury. I can appreciate the old-school keeping of kayfabe.

Update: He worked the main event of that house show against Big Show and Dainel Bryan in a triple-threat cage match, but reportedly showed signs of his injury. Not sure what that means for his future and what his condition is.

Seth Rollins defeated Tyson Kidd on the 12/28 Smackdown house show. Looking forward to seeing this guy on one of the main shows.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news, beginning with a look at PWInsider.com's questions.
1. There are jokes to be made here, but my guess is that Spike's still not ok with the idea of showing male on female violence. They could have still had women, but I guess they wanted Angle to take out the whole bar and couldn't have done that with them there.

2. I think Dusty Rhodes, R-Truth or Booker T. would be more believable talking like Yoda, but, no I don't see anything like that happening with the angle. It would be pretty interesting to see if Kane could make Cena hate Ryder for screwing up his WWE Title match opportunity, though. Hmmm....

Not much to add to 3. That's pretty much the gist of it. Some would even say he hates the company being PG and the direction of Cena's kid-friendly character.

4. As they mentioned, there are some legal issues at play there. Sadly, that's not my level of expertise, so I can't go too deeply into it.

5's pretty straightforward, so I'll move on:
With Jesse Neal gone from TNA, there's been a lot of speculation about the status of his girlfriend, Toxxin. She's not under contract with the company, so her status is really up in the air right now. I also wonder what the plans are for his ex-partner Shannon Moore.

Apparently a Mexican magazine is claiming that Jeff Hardy will be leaving TNA for WWE. This was a prank put out for their equivalent of April Fools Day.

C.M. Punk, noted comic book fan, could be working with Marvel (and noted wrestling fan Jill Thompson) in the new year as a writer. That'd be great. Both sides should promote it heavily if it happens.

To partially offset the loss of Randy Orton, Air Boom vs. Epico and Primo (with Rosa Mendes) has been moved from Raw's live events to Smackdown's. Not a bad idea. Hopefully people stay to see that WWE has talented superstars besides Orton.

Here are more pictures of WWE's new live event set. I like it. Quite spiffy.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan's autobiography is set for a 4/1/12 release date. Sounds like it could be good.

WWE has signed a student from the CZW Academy by the name of Even Singleton. He'll start with FCW shortly. I guess as more people get ready for the main roster, some new blood is needed at the training level.

Bobby Lashley told Slam! Wrestling that he'd be open to a WWE return. I think I'd like to see it. he was a pretty credible powerhouse.

The latest on Randy Orton is that he'll be out a number of weeks, but the full extent of his injury is not yet known. Some are speculating a return for the Rumble in St. Louis, but it could be too early to tell.

Finally, after the main event of Impact Wrestling, Mickie James will get a rematch with Gail Kim for the TNA Knockouts Championship at Genesis. Good move. Should be a pretty strong match.

That's all for Thursday's news. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading!