Miz interview, Divas match/heel turn cut from Smackdown, Questions on experimenting with Cena as a heel, Bryan in WWE or TNA, what an FCW contract entails, and Jackie Moore, Miz on Conan, Morrison on TLC ad, HHH DVD in the works, Z! TLIS #43, Indonesian WWE TV deal, more on Abdullah lawsuit, Wild Samoan interview, lots of book news, another troop meet and greet, Snuka surgery, announcer leaves WWE, Sheamus on Fallon, Raw GM talks NBA GM, more from Foley interview, and the Impact Wrestling rating

The Miz was interviewed ahead of the Slammy Awards. Entertaining guy and a natural heel.

The following might contain spoilers (if they re-shoot it or add it to a future episode of Smackdown): WWE filmed a Divas match at Tuesday's Smackdown taping where Natalya and Beth Phoenix once again defeated AJ and Kaitlyn. After the match, Kaitlyn (reluctantly?) left with the victorious team. Here's footage. Very well acted, though I'm obviously a big fan of both NXT alumni. I'm split on whether they should go that route with the characters, since they seem like such a natural duo given their interactions in the past. Though, this would theoretically mean that both of them would be used more, and that sounds good to me. No word on why it wasn't used. It could have just been a case of having too much content taped and needing to cut that to fit timing constraints. I guess we'll see in time.

And speaking of heel turns, guess what Friday's first PWInsider.com question was about! Here's my take on them:
1. I also don't think it'd be a good idea. I'm not so sure how willing the target audience would be to accepting him back after a turn. I think they'd at least be weary of fully trusting him again. I get that a lot of older fans are tired of Cena as the top face, but a heel turn of that magnitude isn't something to be so careless about.

2. Hmmm... I'm not sure that he wouldn't get lost in the shuffle in TNA. WWE's been (slowly but surely) building him up for a while now, and I agree with the optimism that one day he'll be someone they're confident at using at a higher level if things go as they're going for him now. He's already been in World Title matches and theoretically has another one at WrestleMania. And he only debuted for them (post-FCW) last year! So, be patient. It certainly looks like good things are on the horizon for him.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news and questions, beginning with what a developmental contract means.

3. That's really about the best metaphor there is for it, except of course there's more than pure athletic skill involved. You learn the ins and outs of the business and so forth. Also, if you're not cut out for the big time (or Creative can't find anything for you to do), they'd rather find that out there than after putting you on TV!

Nothing to add to 4, since they brought up the sobriety blog. Glad to hear that news.

5. I think that over however many years she's wrestled on TV, she's done pretty much everything there is to do. There's really nothing left, in my eyes, to do with her as a character or performer on-screen. It was time for something new in the division and for newer performers to have their time in the spotlight. Not to diminish her accomplishments by any stretch, as she's had a very distinguished career. I'm just ready for something different.

The Miz appeared on Conan O'Brien. This man can TALK. One of the greatest talk show appearances I've ever seen. I loved the match footage. Very well done.

John Morrison was in an ad for the upcoming TLC PPV, which the company had presumably made and sent out some time ago. He hasn't re-signed or anything of the sort, and there's no indication that he will.

A new Triple H DVD is due out 3/13/12. I'd think a career retrospective would be coming sooner rather than later. If he isn't in his last run currently, I'd be surprised.

Here's episode 43 of Z! True Long Island Story. Mr. Belding's a wrestling fan!? That's awesome. I could do without all the Raw recaps, but I see why he has them. Props to him for parlaying this into so much success. Ziggler's solid, too. Very fun Christmas segment at the end. Why can't wrestling be this entertaining on TV!?

WWE has a new TV deal in Indonesia. Good for them. Hopefully it catches on there and they get a longer deal in the future.

Here's the latest story on the Abdullah the Butcher-Hepatitis C lawsuit.

Afa of the Wild Samoans was interviewed about his training school and more. A truly great man. Very enjoyable piece.

Here's a lot of updates on wrestling-related book projects. Sounds like some good stuff. I like that they're branching out into eBooks and going towards children as well.

There was another WWE signing at Fort Bragg for the troops ahead of the big Tribute show.

Jimmy Snuka is scheduled for ankle surgery soon to clean up some issues.

Jack Korpela's WWE contract has expired and he has opted not to re-sign. That's kind of a shame. We didn't see/hear too much of him, and there are others I'd rather hear on commentary, but he wasn't horrible.

Sheamus was on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to promote Tribute to the Troops. Video is upcoming in tonight's news post.

John Laurinaitis made a reference to the NBA lockout. Well played, WWE.

Here's more from the recent Mick Foley interview. Another guy who really "gets it". I like that he's putting over the future stars. Hats off to Arda Ocal for his work here, too.

Impact Wrestling did a 1.07 on Thursday night, which is a shame, because the show's been a lot better lately.

That's all for Friday's news. More to come later. Thanks for reading!