WWE live event notes, Del Rio returns, NYC man of all trades passes away, big names to miss Raw?, Y2J return update, status of original Sin Cara, what's Brock's future?, Raw audience, another Cornette shoot, wrestling legend reference, another Striker seminar and Questions on wrestling music, Davey Richards, Ziggler conspiracy and Bryan's push

A number of notes about WWE's recent Madison Square Garden show:
Bob Backlund was on-hand, as the show was just past the 30th (!) anniversary of Backlund losing the WWE Title to the Iron Sheik. I wish Sheik was there...

Michael P.S. Hayes appeared in front of the crowd, alongside Booker T.

Alberto Del Rio worked the opening match, losing to Rey Mysterio. I wonder where he fits into things now. Mysterio was said to be limping at one point.

El Torito teamed with Los Matadores to beat 3MB (with Ricardo replacing Slater).

NXT's Brandi Rhodes was backstage and DMC was in attendance.

Batista was advertised for the 3/9/14 return.

Kane wrestled Big Show in his previous wrestling outfit, minus the mask. That had to be kind of weird. Show was also noticeably limping.

Everything else from yesterday is after the break.

At WWE's other set of live events, The Miz did a MizTV segment with Kofi Kingston, leading to Vickie Guerrero making them team against PTP. PTP won because Miz and Kofi couldn't get along. So that's still a thing.

Also on that loop, Bad News Barrett went over Tyson Kidd. Kidd hasn't been seen on TV that much lately, so there's an update on him.

Scott Epstein, who had quite the busy career in New York City, has passed away at 64. More details here. The wrestling business is more than just the people in the ring. It's also people like Epstein doing what they do.

WWE is running a live event opposite Raw (for some reason). Raw's in Richmond, VA while the live event is in Toronto. John Cena, Randy Orton, Kane, Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, the Wyatt Family and the team of Cody Rhodes and Goldust are advertised for the live event. WWE putting all their eggs in a few baskets hurts when they have to fill so many live events and TV shows. That's a good chunk of the top names.

Chris Jericho claims he's not coming back to WWE anytime soon, though notably he didn't mention the "WWE" part, so he could be messing with us again. We'll see. I'm kind of glad he keeps it somewhat ambiguous to keep us guessing.

It's been reported that the contract of the original Sin Cara is due to expire in early 2014. All signs seem to be leading to Hunico being in that role for the time being, and the first SC could be on his way out. That's probably for the best, since the original didn't mesh as well with the WWE way of things.

There's talk of Brock Lesnar going back to UFC. I believe he's signed with WWE until WM31 for what that's worth.

Raw dropped to 3.82 million viewers for Monday's show. That's really not bad for a holiday-themed, taped show.

Here's a NSFW preview for a big shoot interview with Jim Cornette talking about Ring of Honor. Oh, boy. Pretty funny stuff. That sounds like quite the situation.

Andre the Giant is referenced in "Anchorman 2". Cool. That looks like a fun movie.

Matt Striker is hosting a seminar on 1/18/14 in Newark, Delaware. More here. He's got quite the mind for the business.

For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
Nothing to add to 1 from a legal standpoint, but that's pretty hilarious. I hope that was some kind of knock/rib on those guys.

Nothing to add to 2.

3. Yeah, that can really rub people the wrong way. I'm glad they've worked things out. That's truly what's best for business.

4. That could apply to a LOT of questions sent in. I haven't seen anything to suggest that Cena's screwing Ziggler over. It's ultimately Vince's call who gets pushed and who doesn't.

5. Well, there was no "killing Bryan's push", but I think the perception of that being true really helped get some fans behind Bryan.

More wrestling tomorrow.