Piece on Layla at FCW, Lawler talks HoF, celebrity to be at Raw, Averno-WWE update (?), latest on Ryder, Questions on Brodus Clay, Cole, learning from the greats, and a women's wrestling retrospective, Lockdown update, Hogan with TNA in the UK, more on the former Britani Knight, Natalya interview, Stephanie in EW, celeb blogger hits Raw, Impact Wrestling rating, no WM29 or 30 in Dallas, and Sting joins Twitter

Layla was quoted in a piece promoting her appearance at an FCW event.

Jerry Lawler talked about the WWE Hall of Fame and more. I'm in agreement that it should be for performers who have at least retired from a WWE in-ring perspective. I'd also love to see Andy Kaufman go in, along with Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T. Lawler's a very good person to have on hand. He can still get a pretty good reaction all these years later, even from people who didn't see him in his prime.

Dennis Haskins, a.k.a. Mr. Belding, will be in attendance at Raw this week. Maybe he can have a came with the Vegas-related shenanigans that week on NXT or Smackdown. With a wedding on NXT, anything can happen.

Here's one that's pretty much been under the radar lately because there hasn't been anything new to discuss but apparently there are still rumors swirling around about Mexico's Averno heading to WWE. I haven't heard anything about this story in a LONG time, and assumed it had been squashed. Maybe it eventually comes to pass and maybe it doesn't, but there's nothing really concrete to add right now.

Zack Ryder is still being advertised for this weekend's Raw live events, so take from that what you will as far as him possibly disappearing from TV to sell his injury is concerned.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's news, starting with my take on PWInsider.com's questions. First up, what was WWE doing with Brodus Clay?

1. While it's certainly very puzzling on the surface, it could end up working out. If it catches on with the crowd in a positive manner, WWE will presumably roll with it. He certainly stands out from the pack, and the gimmick in all of its oddity could end up surprising everyone and being successful. Then they'll probably crap on the gimmick years after the fact, wondering how they came up with that idea (see Vito in a dress, Kizarny).

2. It does seem like things have been somewhat better on commentary lately, but there's definitely still work to do in that regard. Time will tell if they realize that it's a good idea to not make the commentary the focus of the show. Smackdown should follow suit.

3. That. I think it's pretty common in FCW in particular. That's a REALLY awesome idea for the stars of tomorrow to take advantage of.

4. I don't see it coming to pass any time soon, given how little focus they give to their female competitors. Especially when not much of an audience is familiar with a lot of those pre-Attitude Era names.

5. Not that I've heard, no.

TNA Lockdown will be on the road once more this year. No word on the location yet.

Hulk Hogan has confirmed that he'll be making appearances on TNA's tour of the UK. That makes sense to draw attention to the tapings. Hopefully that attention will benefit the performers they're trying to build as stars and draws.

Update: He's specifically confirmed for Manchester and London.

Update: The Sun covered it, so it's officially a big deal now.

The mother of the former Britani Knight, now in FCW under the possibly temporary name Saraya, talked about her daughter being signed there (and her son getting evaluated in April). I'd be kind of surprised if she made it to TV so soon after being signed, but she apparently has a good deal of experience and pedigree. Then again, it only took Kelly Kelly a month. Wrestling's hard to predict sometimes...

Natalya spoke to Slam! about a number of topics. Good read. I look forward to that book. She seems like a pretty smart person and is a very hard worker.

WWE.com covered Stephanie McMahon being in "Entertainment Weekly". I'll have to check that one out.

Perez Hilton will be the guest ring announcer for a Divas match on Raw in conjunction with a number of them guest blogging on his fitness website. I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to that.

Thursday's Impact Wrestling got a 1.13 rating. With the big matches they put on there, that's a pretty big letdown. They might need to re-examine what they're doing.

Due to scheduling conflicts (NCAA Regionals in 2013, and the NCAA Final Four in 2014), neither WrestleMania 29 nor WrestleMania 30 will be at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. That sucks. Hopefully they still get a pretty good venue.

Finally, Sting has joined Twitter. I imagine we'll be getting some kayfabe-related Tweets from him in the coming weeks and months in a similar vein as Dixie Carter.

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