Lawler talks ahead of Rumble, house show notes, Angle's Olympic hopes profiled, Sting injured?, another planned Legend in Rumble, who wasn't at the UK TNA tapings and why, TNA promotes PPVs, Questions on Brodus, the Rumble, Punk-MMA, Biggest Loser, Laurinaitis, Dana White, Heyman vs. Cornette, competing with WWE, the WWP, and cameras, another former WWE star planned for Rumble?, Swagger in FCW, USA Today profiles Ryder, and the dark match for the Rumble

Jerry Lawler talked about the Royal Rumble at an independent show on Saturday. His act gets staler every time he talks. Obviously he did end up in the match. WWE apparently wanted to have fun and be surprising this year moreso than build their current stars and do stories leading to WrestleMania. There's a place for comedy and nostalgia, but that was a little much for my tastes.

Ryback defeated Santino Marella at this weekend's WWE live event. He's being billed as the "Sin City Cyborg". Ok then. Mark Henry was absent from the World Title match due to his injuries.

The New York Times mentioned Kurt Angle's Olympic quest.

Sting claims to have blown out his heel wrestling recently for TNA, but doesn't believe it's serious. More on this as it comes in.

Road Warrior Animal was contacted about being a part of the Royal Rumble, but there wasn't enough time to put a deal together. I think we had plenty of nostalgia as it was, though I know a lot of fans would have appreciated him being there.

After the break, a top TNA performer wasn't at their UK Impact Wrestling tapings. Read on for why, as well as the rest of Sunday's news and a double dose of PWInsider.com questions.

Jeff Hardy wasn't booked for TNA's stops in the UK, likely due to his criminal record preventing him from appearing. And there's another reason not to do drugs.

TNA put out a video previewing its 2012 PPV line-up and a number of its stars. From that, it seems like Destination X will showcase the X-Division again this year. We'll see how well or poorly that works out for them. I wonder if they'll ever do a Knockouts PPV?

PWInsider.com decided to put out two sets of Q&As so here goes nothing:
1. He does seem kind of awkward in the role at times. It certainly wasn't his first choice, and if he hadn't tweeted that he was facing John Morrison on Morrison's last night on the company, things would likely have gone as they initially seemed to be building to.

2. Jericho and Orton were the top picks. Barrett and Sheamus weren't too far out in left field, either.

3. He wouldn't have had to plug UFC on his programming at all! I think it could very well have been more of a control issue and I guess not wanting him to appear for the company that they say isn't competition.  WWE logic, right?

4. I guess maybe because wrestling isn't viewed as a serious sport, they stay away from it? I'd personally want to see Scott Steiner cut a promo on the contestants, but I agree that there would be some helpful tips from WWE personnel. Trish Stratus' yoga and Kaitlyn's dieting tips come to mind.

5. I half-expected him at the Rumble. Maybe if there were 40 entrants (or WWE wasn't focused on comedy and nostalgia).

6. Man, you two have totally outsmarted WWE. They haven't addressed that at all and definitely aren't doing an angle where Laurinaitis' job status is under review. Great attention to detail!

As for set 2:
7. He already does. It's just legit. As for something like WWE, I very much doubt it. I think it would negatively affect his credibility in the MMA world, since some would question whether or not his MMA fights were staged.

8. While I'm not an expert on both men and their philosophies, on the surface I would say yes. Heyman's past shows that he gets things like unique characters and good angles whereas Cornette's much more of an old school guy where everyone's a wrestler wrestling. I think there's a reason WWE and WCW took ideas and talent from ECW moreso than in the current day modeling themselves off of ROH.

9. To get the obvious out of the way, WWE doesn't see themselves as wrestling. As for what they do and call sports entertainment, I agree that it's not on the radar just yet. It would take a lot of lucky breaks for everything to fall into place well enough for someone to compete at that level. TNA might be headed that way some day, but aren't in that league yet.

10. It disappeared! They had some press releases and talents signed to contracts, but that's as far as anything got apparently. Some say they weren't really serious about getting it together.

11. I actually fall on the other side of the fence. When they go out of their way to show that they ARE using cameras via zoom-ins and shakiness and "the cameraman hiding behind things" and all that kind of stuff is when I find it harder to suspend disbelief. It is more of a soap opera than a sport and should be seen as such.

Moving on, the former "Eugene" Nick Dinsmore teased that he'd be in the Royal Rumble, but obviously nothing came of it. Interesting. I wonder what happened there.

Jack Swagger made an appearance at a FCW live event. Not his best promo. It sucks that a lot of the talent there will end up in the background while the company focuses on performers of years gone by and (intended) comedy.

USA Today talked with Zack Ryder about his YouTube show. You might have heard of it? Good little appearance, minus the Cole commentary and the interviewer's miming of Ryder.

Finally, the dark match at the Royal Rumble saw Yoshi Tatsu defeat Heath Slater. They couldn't have used Jey Uso there and one of them in the Rumble? Hopefully the company decides to shift focus and do what they can to foster growth for their careers. Those cameo guys aren't going to be around full-time.

That's all for Sunday's news. More to come tonight. Thanks for reading!