Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

Since Thursday, five WWE talents have been released as SmackDown Diva Maria (Maria Kanellis), Superstar Paul Burchill (Paul Birchall), Superstar Gregory “The Hurricane” Helms, WWE Referee Scott Armstrong (Joseph James, Jr.), & SmackDown Superstar Charlie Haas have all been shown the door. The general backstage feeling in the WWE is that most of these five releases are not at all surprising, but the two that people were surprised to hear about was the releases of Maria & Scott Armstrong.

Not too long ago, Maria had finished her participation in the new season of the NBC series, “Celebrity Apprentice”, where she joined such names as Sinbad, Rod Blagojevich, Sharon Osbourne, Bret Michaels, Cyndi Lauper, and fellow wrestler Bill Goldberg. This is one of the key reasons why there is so much surprise regarding Maria’s release as many people expected to see Maria’s appearance on the NBC show to be pushed hard by the WWE. A number of weeks ago, it was reported that NBC forbids any of the participants in “Celebrity Apprentice” to appear on other television shows while “Celebrity Apprentice” is airing. While other wrestling sites have stated that it is a false rumor, many people are starting to think that this was the reason for Maria’s release as, if this is true, Maria would not be able to appear on any of the WWE shows once this season of “Celebrity Apprentice” begins on March 14. The fact that Maria was released just a few weeks before the show’s season was set to begin adds fuel to the fire of this rumor as, if Maria remained employed by the WWE, then the WWE would be paying Maria to, more or less, stay at home as they would not be able to use her on television until the end of the “Celebrity Apprentice” season, which is slated to end on May 23.

Another rumor regarding the release of Maria is that Maria herself requested the release so that she could focus on other projects. On her Twitter account, Maria said that she did not request her release, but many people still believe that she either asked for her release or was telling people she was going to and word got to the “higher ups” in the WWE.

The other surprising release was WWE Referee Scott Armstrong as Armstrong is a legendary member of the Armstrong family; the son of “Bullet” Bob Armstrong. His wrestling roots is not what makes this release surprising to most; it is his reputation backstage as the senior referee is well-liked by pretty much everyone backstage. For the most part, no one is suspicious of anything “gossip worthy” regarding Armstrong’s release and many people believe that WWE released him because they see him as being too old and they are looking to have referees who can adapt to the new style WWE has (temporarily stopping matches for cuts, what qualifies as a disqualification, etc.).

Given his recent arrest, the only real “surprise” regarding the release of Gregory “The Hurricane” Helms is that they are surprised he was not released earlier. While current World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho was also arrested and Helms’ good friend, Matt Hardy, were also involved in the incident, Helms’ offenses are seen as the worst. Initially, Helms & Jericho were both arrested for public intoxication, but shortly after this was reported by TMZ, it was made known that Helms had also struck a woman during their “celebration”. The woman opted not to press charges, citing that they were “play fighting”. While both Helms & Jericho were bailed out, allegedly by CM Punk, and both men have since settled their legal troubles stemming from the event, WWE still feels that they needed to punish someone for the incident. With Jericho’s status as a main eventer and WWE wanting to keep Matt Hardy around (and away from TNA, where he could join his brother, Jeff), Helms was seen as the only viable option and that is, reportedly, why he was the one let go.

A while back, it was reported that Charlie Haas requested his release, but the WWE denied Haas’ request and, instead, gave him a raise as an incentive to stay with the company as Haas had reportedly shown an interest in joining TNA. Reportedly, the raise did not deter Haas’ desire to leave the WWE and, after realizing that there was nothing they could do with Haas, WWE opted to release him.

When it comes to Paul Burchill, the general feeling is that Burchill’s release was a “long time coming” as WWE has been brainstorming ideas for Burchill for months with nothing usable coming of it. The determining factor on Burchill’s release came after the end of ECW as the WWE had no ideas for Burchill on either RAW or SmackDown and the decision was made to let Burchill go.

More WWE releases are expected to be coming soon, especially with the debut of WWE NXT as the WWE talent brought up from FCW to the NXT brand will get a raise in pay and releasing some of the unused talent is a way to allot more money for the new idea behind NXT and to clear some room on the RAW & SmackDown rosters for any of the NXT talent who are promoted to one of the brands.

There is expected to be at least three more WWE releases before WrestleMania as Tyler Reks, Byron Saxton, & Mike Knox are the three to most likely be released next. Reportedly, WWE is “on the fence” with the releases of Tyler Reks & Mike Knox as some people see promise with both Superstars, but it does not change the fact that WWE does not have any ideas for either them beyond being jobbers when necessary. When it comes to former ECW commentator Byron Saxton, the WWE feels that bring Saxton to the main roster to serve as a commentator was a “mistake” as the WWE is not impressed with the quality of work Saxton has done. WWE is contemplating whether to send Saxton back to FCW to serve as a commentator (where he was before being brought up to ECW) or to simply release Saxton from his contract.

While they are not expected to be released, there are several talents whose WWE careers can be described as “endangered”. Caylen Croft, Abraham Washington, Alicia Fox, Slam Master J, Shad, Jillian, Hornswoggle, & Jimmy Wang Yang are all being looked at as potential WWE releases. If any of these talent are released, it is not expected to happen until after WrestleMania.

WWE feels that the team of Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta is not really working out and are looking to try a singles run with Barreta and WWE plans to either release Croft or send him back to FCW. When it comes to Abraham Washington, WWE can not see “The Abraham Washington Show” taking place on RAW or SmackDown. Currently, WWE is looking at a couple of different options for Washington; one of the options would see Abraham continue to host the show, but host it on WWE Superstars. The other option is to have Washington serve as host of WWE NXT, which Matt Striker currently hosts in addition to being a commentator on SmackDown. With Alicia Fox, WWE just has no ideas for her at the moment. With Jillian, WWE thinks that Jillian’s gimmick has run its course and there are no other ideas for her, currently. With the quiet split of D-Generation X, WWE does not see a future in the WWE for Hornswoggle as being the DX “mascot” was the last option for the character. As reported in a previous Rumor Mill article, WWE is looking to push JTG as a singles star with Shad either playing a “bodyguard” roll for JTG or being release from his contract. With Slam Master J & Jimmy Wang Yang, WWE plans to keep them around as jobbers, but plans can change. At some point in the last year, WWE tried to use the current members of the roster as jobbers instead of using the “hometown talent” like they have in the past, but have recently realized that, in the long-term, it would be cheaper to pay the “hometown talent” a lower price when they need to use them as opposed to regularly paying a lot more for the talent they have contracted.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

The big story of the week is the WWE conference call where WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that, after twenty-three years, WWE will no longer be having the Survivor Series pay-per-view starting this year. This was followed up by a WWE.com survey asking the fans about future event concepts that they would like to see with options like the War Games, Battle Bowl, & WWE Draft pay-per-view events. While the WWE is searching for the fans’ opinions on the new event(s), it is being treated as more of a “second opinion” to the decision-makers in the WWE as the War Games and Single-Elimination Tournament concepts are reportedly the favorites to replace the Survivor Series event in November.

While the change will more than likely not happen until next year, WWE is reportedly looking to rename the annual Backlash event to something along the lines of “WWE Payback” or “WWE WrestleMania Revenge” and the WWE is also looking revert back to the original idea for the Backlash event where there would WrestleMania rematches and general fallout from the big event.

The rumor has been floating around that, if Linda McMahon does not win the Connecticut Senate seat, she has no plans to come back to the WWE and serve as the company’s CEO. The general feeling among the WWE employees is that Stephanie McMahon will leave the WWE in the future to try and give her kids a shot at a normal life. While Stephanie is rumored to be leaving, it is expected that Triple H will continue to compete in the WWE for several years to come.

There has been discussion in the WWE of having RAW become a three-hour show permanently, starting with the RAW after WrestleMania, where the plan is to hold the 2010 WWE Draft on a three-hour show.

An idea being tossed around in the WWE is to have an “animated” RAW Guest Host sometimes this year with The Simpsons being the most likely first animated hosts of the show. The way it would work would be to have the animated Guest Host(s) appear on the WWE big screen and announce the matches and other decisions typically seen made by the Guest Hosts.

On the subject of Guest Hosts, there are a number of names being discussed for future Guest Hosts with the WWE looking to find some Guest Hosts that would appeal to the younger demographic, particularly teenage girls. One of the potential Guest Hosts that WWE is in talks with is singer and star of the Nickelodeon TV series, “iCarly”, Miranda Cosgrove.

WWE are currently trying to get The Kardashian family to come in as Guest Hosts, as well as Robin Williams, comedian Daniel Tosh, “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon, Oprah Winfrey, comedian Sinbad (who stars in “Celebrity Apprentice” with WWE Diva Maria), legendary baseball player Willie Mays, Ashton Kutcher, singer Kesha, Mario Lopez, Ryan Seacrest, James Van Der Beek, & Mel Gibson.

As far as WWE Legends and Hall of Famers hosting RAW go, there are some names being discussed; such as Jimmy Snuka, Pat Patterson, Jimmy Hart, Diamond Dallas Page, Ron Simmons, Dean Malenko, Lita, and even The Iron Sheik. WWE continues to have discussions with John “Bradshaw” Layfield, but JBL continues to refuse the WWE offers; citing that he has been too busy with his financial career.

WWE is apparently looking to “restructure” the Cryme Tyme team to where JTG is the focus of the duo while Shad serves as more of a “bodyguard” of sorts; similar to the CM Punk & Luke Gallows team where Punk is the main focus. This rumor is further backed up by the fact that JTG competed, alone, in the Royal Rumble Match and JTG had a one-on-one match on WWE Superstars against Dolph Ziggler, with Shad nowhere to be found. As it stands, there is no real push in mind for JTG, but the WWE feels that JTG has more promise and is more over with the crowd than Shad is.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

Welcome back to The Rumor Mill, this will be the first Rumor Mill of 2010, as well as the first one since October 8, 2009. Let’s get started, shall we?

The big talk around the WWE is about the future of the current ECW roster following the announcement that ECW will be put to rest in a couple of weeks so that the new WWE NXT show can take its place. It’s been revealed that, when ECW ends, the current roster will become “free agents” and will be allowed to join either RAW or SmackDown with the decision being theirs. It is being reported that some of the ECW roster will be allowed to “sign” with the new NXT brand; the talent that fall under the umbrella of NXT where new up-and-coming Superstars are featured.

The future of the ECW Championship, currently held by Christian, is still up in the air with some within the WWE wanting to keep the ECW Title around under a different name while others think that retiring the title is the easiest and most logical thing to do. At the end of the day, the decision lies with Vince McMahon and it is being rumored that, with just a couple of weeks to decide, Vince is till undecided on what to do with the championship, but that retiring the championship seems to be the direction Vince is heading.

Rumors are flying as to where the members of the ECW roster will end up once they become “free agents”. While it was teased on RAW that Christian might be joining RAW following the end of ECW, it is actually expected that Christian will be heading to SmackDown for a potential feud with Edge later in the year. Ezekiel Jackson is reportedly heading to RAW, as is Zack Ryder & Rosa Mendes while Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust are slated to join SmackDown. William Regal is slated to rejoin the RAW roster and Vladimir Kozlov is heading to SmackDown. It is expected that Abraham Washington & Tony Atlas will be heading to SmackDown and will continue The Abraham Washington Show there. Vance Archer & Shelton Benjamin are rumored to be joining RAW, while Trent Barreta & Caylen Croft will either join the new NXT show or will be placed on SmackDown. Gregory Helms/The Hurricane is slated to be joining the RAW brand.  The status of Tyler Reks is still up in the air and it is being rumored that he may be one of the upcoming releases WWE plans on making.

WWE is also pondering the possibility of keeping the “free agents” as such until the annual WWE Draft after WrestleMania, where the roster decisions will be made.

Despite any indications pointing in other directions, the plan for WrestleMania is to have the rematch between The Undertaker & Shawn Michaels, but that The Undertaker is slated to lose the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber Match at WWE Elimination Chamber. Unless plans change, it is expected that Chris Jericho will win the World Heavyweight Title and defend the title against Edge at WrestleMania. As far as the WWE Championship goes, the current plan is to have Triple H win the WWE Title in the Elimination Chamber Match and then defend the title against Sheamus at WrestleMania.

Also planned for WrestleMania, as teased on RAW, is Bret Hart Vs. Vince McMahon and Batista Vs. John Cena. As it stands, the annual Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match is rumored to feature CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, Drew McIntyre, Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy, & The Miz. WWE also intends on having a RAW Vs. SmackDown Divas contest at WrestleMania; possibly a tag match featuring both the Women’s & Divas Champions.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

The biggest rumor that is making the rounds at the time of this article is that six-time World Champion, Booker T, wants to leave TNA and return to the WWE after his TNA contract expires next month. Reportedly, the reigning TNA World Tag Team Champion (with Scott Steiner) refused to job to Matt Morgan at a recent taping of TNA iMPACT! Allegedly, Booker was telling people about these plans during an overseas TNA tour. The former TNA Legends Champion feels that he is being misused by TNA, which, ironically enough, is one of the reasons why Booker left WWE and came to TNA in 2007. Reportedly, Booker feels that, even if he is misused again, at least he will be misused on the grander stage of WWE. There is no word yet on if WWE is interested in Booker T or what reaction TNA has had to these rumors, as of the date of this article. However, it is being said that someone with some strong backstage influence has voiced their approval of a return by Booker T and that discussions of his potential return are already underway.

Speaking of WWE returns, rumors are also saying that Umaga might be returning to the company soon. Umaga was released on June 8 of this year after violating the WWE Wellness Policy for a second time. This would normally result in a 60-Day Suspension from the company, but Umaga also refused to got to rehab, so WWE let him go. Now it is being said that, after his release, Umaga did indeed go to rehab in the hopes of getting “clean” and returning to the WWE. On the WWE side of things, they are open to Umaga coming back to the company, but only if he has indeed been in rehab. WWE also feels that releasing Umaga was a mistake, but that they were left no choice.

Reportedly, there are several WWE talent who are in danger of being released from the company. Some of them have alleged reasons behind them and some are just to “make room” for some new or returning talent. One of the names rumored is Mike Knox. While WWE is happy with the character Knox has been portraying lately, they feel that Knox has “let himself go” in terms of some recent weight gain. WWE is currently planning to keep him off of television for the time being. Another name on the list is Festus. It was rumored not too long ago that Festus might be moved back to SmackDown to serve as the on-screen bodyguard of CM Punk. However, WWE management is rethinking this decision since CM Punk’s recent “comment” upset management. A Diva potentially on the “chopping block” is Kelly Kelly. WWE feels that there is really no place for her on RAW at the moment and it is currently up in the air whether or not Kelly Kelly will be moved to ECW or SmackDown or if they will just let her go. After making only one appearance on ECW, Courtney Taylor looks like she might be let go soon. Courtney debuted on ECW in August, but after her first week in ECW, she was replaced with Savannah. Tyler Reks is also being considered as a potential release from the company. The general feeling is that Reks is not over with the fans and are considering the surfer gimmick a flop. The word going around is that Reks may be sent back to developmental or he may just be released.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor,
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

The big rumor going around currently is CM Punk reportedly being in the “dog house” with WWE officials. Apparently, the now former World Heavyweight Champion got a talking to by The Undertaker about how CM Punk dresses outside of the ring and that he is the World Heavyweight Champion and should appear accordingly. However, it was not Punk’s attire that got him in “hot water”, but it was he said to The Undertaker. When Undertaker gave him the talk, Punk responded by saying “well, what about John Cena?” This did not go over well with The Undertaker and the people within ear shot. WWE management then got wind of the comment and that is when the trouble started for CM Punk. At Sunday’s Hell in a Cell event, The Undertaker defeated CM Punk to win the World Heavyweight Title in a Hell in a Cell match. The general consensus is that dropping the title to The Undertaker is not all the punishment that CM Punk is going to get. Don’t be surprised to see CM Punk lose some matches and generally be presented as weak on television for a little while now.

Coming off of a pay-per-view where there are title changes and some rough matches, there are almost always a lot of rumors to be discussed. It is pretty much general knowledge by now that The Undertaker is not in good shape nowadays. As previously reported, Undertaker’s hip surgery over his time off was more severe than originally thought; he might have even had a hip replacement. A sharp-eyed fan (or a fan with high definition) might notice that The Undertaker was wearing padding around his “hip” during the Hell in a Cell Match against CM Punk. After a little while, Undertaker did adjust his tights to hide the padding, but “that area” was still puffy looking, so the cat was out of the bag at that point. Given Undertaker’s condition, there are discussions ongoing about having Undertaker retire at Survivor Series next month instead of WrestleMania as there is doubt that Undertaker can make it until March 28. There are also some backstage that believe Undertaker’s career ending at Survivor Series might be more appropriate since Undertaker made his WWE debut at Survivor Series in 1990. Whether or not The Undertaker will retire early is yet to be seen, but the general idea is that Undertaker can not have a long reign as World Heavyweight Champion and, whether he retires or not, he is expected to drop the title at Survivor Series.

On Monday’s RAW, it was announced that the Randy Orton/John Cena feud will come to an end in about three weeks time at WWE Bragging Rights when Randy Orton defends the WWE Title against John Cena in a 60-Minute Iron Man Match. In addition to an Anything Goes stipulation, if John Cena loses the match, he will be forced to leave RAW. Reportedly, the Iron Man Match has been planned for awhile to take place at the end of October pay-per-view (discussions were going on before the decision was made to change Cyber Sunday to Bragging Rights). Originally, it would be a 60-Minute Iron Man Match where the fans would get to vote for an additional stipulation, with Anything Goes being one of the voting options. However, with the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view being replaced with Bragging Rights, the decision was made to add the Anything Goes stipulation to the contest. Initially, there was no stipulation for Cena leaving RAW if he loses, but after WWE officials realized how bad of shape Undertaker was in, talk of moving Cena to SmackDown was discussed. As it stands, there is no definite answer being made available as to who will win the match, but if Cena loses, it will become apparent that he will move to SmackDown. The fact that they put the WWE Title back on Randy Orton less than a month after John Cena won the title may prove as backup to this rumor.

Anyone who watched or read about Sunday’s WWE Hell in a Cell event will notice that the lineup of the card was kind of odd with the Hell in a Cell Match for the World Heavyweight Title actually opening the event and then having the tag team Hell in a Cell Match between D-Generation X and Legacy as the main event of the evening. Now anyone who saw the Hell in a Cell Match with CM Punk taking on The Undertaker will notice the match was kind of short. As with Breaking Point, WWE are going with short matches for Undertaker and with the match being short, the decision was made to have that Hell in a Cell Match open the show as it was originally going to take place in the main event. Basically, they swapped the World Heavyweight Title Match with the DX Vs. Legacy match as the idea for the event was always to have a Hell in a Cell Match first regardless.

On Friday’s Decade of SmackDown special, we learned that former General Manager of both RAW & SmackDown, Vickie Guerrero, would be returning, full-time, to the WWE to manage her “boyfriend” and newest SmackDown Superstar- Eric Escobar. Back in June, Vickie Guerrero “quit” her job as RAW General Manager on-screen, but the reality was that Vickie wanted to take some time off so that she could spend time with her kids. The rumor is that once Vickie’s kids went back to school in September, Vickie contacted the WWE and inquired about a role for her in the company. With the Guest Host idea replacing the General Manager position on RAW, Vickie returning as the GM was not an option. When Vickie called the WWE, they had already made plans for what went down at Breaking Point, resulting in SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long being abducted by The Undertaker, resulting in the Hell in a Cell match that took place on this past Sunday’s pay-per-view. With a plan laid out for Long, a spot for Vickie as the GM was also not an option and the general feeling was that having Vickie return as the Assistant General Manager would seem out of place. There was also talk of Vickie returning to her General Manager role, but this time on ECW and, with General Manager Tiffany out with a broken arm, it seemed like the spot was wide open for Vickie to come in as GM. At the last minute, it was decided that it would be a more interesting angle to have William Regal fill in as the Interim General Manager of ECW. Allegedly, Vickie was supposed to return around the time of Breaking Point, but these complications delayed her return to the company. After realizing that Vickie could be a manager on SmackDown, the discussion turned into who would Vickie manage. It turns out that Drew McIntyre was the first pick, but McIntyre had already debuted and the backstage feeling is that McIntyre does not need a manager. The writers of SmackDown then came up with having Vickie manage a Superstar that was even younger than Edge to try and recreate a similar angle that Edge & Vickie had. The writers then turned their attention to WWE’s developmental territory, FCW, and reviewed the potential talent and decided that Eric Perez was the best choice, so Eric Perez debuted as Eric Escobar on the Decade of SmackDown special with Vickie Guerrero and the rest is history.

It’s being passed around that Vince McMahon is going back to his idea of using ECW as a glorified developmental territory. Vince had this plan for ECW last year, but kind of put it on hold for awhile, which is why ECW was left off the WWE Hell in a Cell card and will be left off of the Bragging Rights event. ECW will retain its current roster and will remain at the same time on Syfy, but ECW will not be taking part in pay-per-views. Instead, ECW will “live” exclusively on ECW on Syfy and on WWE Superstars. This means that ECW Title matches will take place on “free television” from here on in.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor,
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

It’s being passed around within the WWE that having Rev. Al Sharpton serve as Guest Host this past Monday on RAW actually hurt the show more than helped it. It’s been reported that the official rating for RAW is a 3.1 rating, which is down from the 3.4 the show has gotten the two previous weeks. Even though NFL Monday Night Football almost always causes trouble for the ratings, many believe that the boycotting that took place due to Sharpton being on RAW was why the rating dropped. Many also believe that there are a lot of fans who dislike Sharpton and refused to tune in.

Speaking of Guest Hosts, it was announced on this week’s RAW that next week’s Guest Host will be Ben Roethlisberger from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Allegedly, WWE is looking to bring in “Big Ben” to try and lure NFL fans to the WWE product.

In an earlier edition, it was rumored that World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk might be receiving an on-screen bodyguard soon. In an update to the rumor, it looks as though this new bodyguard might be debuting this Sunday at the Hell in a Cell event. As previously mentioned, Festus is currently the top pick for the role.

It looks as though WWE is interested in another ROH star in addition to Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness, as it’s being rumored that WWE wants to bring “That Young Breakout Kid” Chris Hero into the company. It’s expected that WWE will present a contract to Chris Hero any day now.

Anyone who looks at the card for this Sunday’s WWE Hell in a Cell event will notice that there is no involvement from the ECW brand. Allegedly, this is because the decision-makers backstage believe that the feud between Christian and William Regal over the ECW Championship should come to a close on an episode of ECW on Syfy instead of being placed, and most likely out-shined, on the pay-per-view. The writers for the ECW brand have pushed to make the third match between Christian & Regal for the title a special one.

Also regarding the ECW brand, it appears as though ECW’s exclusion from pay-per-views may turn permanent before long. Discussions are currently on-going backstage as to whether or not ECW should be on pay-per-view or if ECW should just stick to having all their feuds culminate on ECW or on Superstars.

A lot of talk of the ECW brand in this one, but it’s being said backstage that one of the newest ECW Superstars, Yoshi Tatsu, is being looked at as a possibility for the next ECW Champion. The backstage feeling is that no one expected Tatsu to be as over as he is with the crowd and that he is one of the most promising stars to come out of the recent ECW debuts. When he originally was called up to the main roster, it was determined that he would remain at a certain level on ECW where he would be used occasionally, but not presented as a main star on the show. However, his unexpected popularity has made those backstage feel confident in Tatsu as the next ECW Champion. Time will tell.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor,
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

One of big rumors making the rounds lately is that Bret “Hitman” Hart may return to the WWE sometime in the future. It’s a rumor that many people have been talking about since Bret reemerged onto the wrestling scene when he made appearances for Ring of Honor in Chicago recently. Whenever asked about returning to the WWE, Bret will steer away from the question. Many believe that “The Hitman” really is returning to the WWE and it may be sooner than later.

Well, it looks like WWE has found a replacement for Lilian Garcia in the former of singer and actress Lauren Mayhew, who made her debut at the SmackDown tapings on Tuesday. It’s being reported that Mayhew will be the new ring announcer for SmackDown, while Justin Roberts is the most likely one to move to RAW to serve as the ring announcer there. The rumor going around about Mayhew’s contract with the WWE is that WWE offered to help her promote any future albums and/or movies/TV shows to help sign her to a contract.

The general feeling backstage is that Chris Masters will be a mainstay on WWE Superstars and will only make rare appearances on RAW. It’s rumored that they rehired Masters without really having a spot in mind for him on the roster. WWE is also trying to get a select number of Superstars from all three brands to be mainstays on the show as well. When it comes to ECW, the Superstars of that roster will probably appear regularly on both shows since they have a smaller roster. Some names from RAW, SmackDown, & ECW who are either going to remain mainstays or become mainstays are: Chris Masters, Primo, The Bella Twins (Brie & Nikki), Carlito, Paul Burchill, Katie Lea Burchill, Goldust, Tyler Reks, Santino Marella, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Charlie Haas, Finlay, & Kane.

It’s being said that WWE is unsure of where to put Kane on the SmackDown roster now that The Great Khali is on the injured list as they intended for that feud to go on a little longer than it did. The idea for a run with the Unified Tag Team Titles has been tossed around, but nothing serious has been discussed. It looks as though the plan for now is to have Kane compete on WWE Superstars until they come up with a better idea for him.

Allegedly, Vince McMahon is not too happy about the RAW rating this week as the show drew the same 3.4 number that it did last week and Vince feels that the rating should be going up due to the celebrity Guest Hosts. It’s being reported that Vince is willing to pay quite the sum of money to get particular celebrities that are more of the “A-List” status like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Drew Barrymore, or Scarlett Johansson and that, by doing so, it may edge RAW up in the rating. Vince is looking to utilize an upcoming three-hour edition of RAW to highlight one of the major Hollywood stars. As it stands, it looks like the November 16 show in New York City might be the three-hour special, though nothing is confirmed.

With the “limited” roster on ECW, the rumor going around is that we may see Bryan Danielson and/or Nigel McGuinness make their debut on the show in the near future. No matter what brand they are on, it is expected that the two former ROH stars will be a part of the main roster by the end of the year.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor,
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

With just a couple of hours to go before he defends the ECW Title against Zack Ryder on ECW on Syfy, a fresh rumor has come out stating that ECW Champion Christian may have suffered an injury during his match with Paul Burchill last week (aired as a part of WWE Superstars, but was taped before ECW). The type of injury is currently unknown and thus, the severity is unknown. While it could be a minor injury, many believe that Christian may be dropping the ECW Title to Zack Ryder tonight so that he can get it taken care of. Time will tell…

On last night’s RAW, Ring Announcer Lilian Garcia gave her farewell speech before leaving the WWE after ten years with the company. Just one day after her departure, the WWE is currently considering her as a Guest Host for RAW on November 16 when RAW comes to her hometown of New York City. An early plan was to have her Guest Host next week’s RAW in Albany and have that be her final night with the WWE, but it looks as though that will be held off until they are actually in her hometown, not in her home state.

One of the big rumors going around now is that WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin may be making a surprise appearance at the Decade of SmackDown special on October 2. The general idea for the show (besides celebrating ten years of SmackDown) is to put an emphasis on the former Superstars of SmackDown.

Another rumor going around about the Decade of SmackDown special is that it may feature a special Champion Vs. Champion Match between Intercontinental Champion John Morrison and United States Champion Kofi Kingston. Both champions will be defending their titles at WWE Hell in a Cell just two days after the show, so it would make sense.

An early idea for the TLC pay-per-view in December (replacing Armageddon) was to have the top three matches on the card represent one of the elements in a TLC Match. For example, the WWE Title match would be a Tables Match, the World Heavyweight Title match would be a Ladder Match, and the ECW Title match would be a Chair Match (the same way a Singapore Cane Match is contested). The idea has allegedly been scrapped for now in favor of having the main event matches all be TLC Matches. There are still a few months before the event happens, so plans can always change again. The general consensus backstage is that they will still use the Tables Match, Ladder Match, & Chair Match idea, but it will more than likely be on the RAW, ECW, & SmackDown leading up the pay-per-view (likely non-title as well).

Reportedly, the original idea was to announce CM Punk Vs. The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell Match for the World Heavyweight Title on last week’s SmackDown, but the concern about Undertaker’s health made them second guess it. It’s likely that the match will be announced this week, but that the match will be shorter and, to make up for it, they will make the DX Vs. Legacy Hell in a Cell Match longer.

An early rumor going around after last night’s RAW is that a “famous singer” will be filling the role of RAW Ring Announcer left by Lilian Garcia and her departure last night. It is expected that the singer will be a female singer and no one name has been passed around, but the gig would only last a week or two while WWE finds a new Ring Announcer.

Yesterday, many sites reported that WWE had contacted singer Kanye West with a $10 Million offer to do one pay-per-view and two television appearances for the company that would see him wrestle at said events, but that rumor was debunked yesterday by Jim Ross via his blog. It’s being said now that WWE has offered an unknown sum of money to Kanye to serve as Guest Host sometime in the future and that the rumor going around about Kanye wrestling were fabricated by the original source.

It’s believed backstage that, with Vince McMahon, little by little, allowing footage of Chris Benoit to be shown on DVD releases that, in a few years, Vince may even agree to have Benoit inducted into the Hall of Fame. While it seems unlikely now, in a few years time, a lot of people feel that it could very well happen.

Reportedly, Vince McMahon has been taking more of an interest in the SmackDown brand than he has since the RAW Guest Host thing started and Vince was allegedly unhappy with Batista’s match with Chris Jericho on SmackDown and that he wanted to see Batista with the World Heavyweight Title as soon as Survivor Series. It looks as though Vince has pulled the plug on that idea for now and an alternate direction is being discussed.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor,
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

It’s being said that the WWE is very concerned about the health of The Undertaker since his return. While his hip surgery was said to be “minor”, sources say that the surgery may have actually been a hip replacement; a much more serious surgery. Reportedly, The Undertaker has had two matches since returning; he had a “warm up match” at a live event in Puerto Rico and then he had his match with CM Punk at Breaking Point. Many people are saying that the concern for The Undertaker is so severe that they are already making plans for his retirement at WrestleMania XXVI. Combined with the rumor in the previous Rumor Mill that Batista could be retiring at WrestleMania XXVI, it is very likely that there could be a match similar to Goldberg Vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XX, where both competitors have their last match against each other. With this decline in Undertaker’s mobility and health, some backstage believe that Undertaker may be bumped to the top of the list to be inducted into the 2010 Hall of Fame.

It was originally planned that The Undertaker would win the World Heavyweight Title in Hell in a Cell at the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but the aforementioned decline in Undertaker’s health and mobility has caused the scrapping of Undertaker’s title run.

After the Breaking Point pay-per-view, it was decided to change the angle between CM Punk and The Undertaker and, instead of having Undertaker continue to feud with CM Punk directly, they would have Undertaker pursue SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, which started on SmackDown this past Friday night. While it is believed that CM Punk and The Undertaker will still have their Hell in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell event, different finishes are being considered for the match to where Undertaker could have a short match while still making the match good. One of the ideas thrown out is to have the first ever Triple Threat Hell in a Cell match at the pay-per-view that would see CM Punk defend against The Undertaker and Batista and that would allow CM Punk to get a “backdoor” victory in the match.

It has been discussed backstage that World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk will be getting an on-screen bodyguard in the near future. Originally, Ezekiel Jackson was scheduled to fill the role, but it’s been decided that Ezekiel is better off staying on ECW. Right now, it looks as though Festus will serve as the bodyguard. Allegedly, the reason for CM Punk needing an on-screen bodyguard is because many backstage feel that CM Punk can not realistically go over stars like Batista or The Undertaker on his own and others feel it is a good way to enhance the heel character of CM Punk.

It’s being said that the angle between Batista and the Unified Tag Team Champions Big Show & Chris Jericho that started on SmackDown will lead to Edge returning to team with Batista to challenge for the titles. With both Edge & Batista being fresh off the injured list, many feel it would be a better idea to have them work as a team to limit their in-ring time until they are fully recovered.

Reverend Al Sharpton has been approached about serving as the Guest Host of next Monday’s RAW and Sharpton has reportedly accepted the appearance. Sherri Shepherd from “The View” has also been approached and she is expected to be the Guest Host sometime next month; the idea of Sherri being the Guest Host has been passed around for quite some time so that they can continue the angle that has MVP and Sherri in a relationship.

Other names being considered as future Guest Hosts are: Regis Philbin (possibly co-hosting with Kelly Ripa), Lebron James (did not accept initially, but WWE is reportedly still trying), Jay Leno, Will Ferrell, Tim Allen, Joel McHale, Jason Bateman, Megan Fox, Shia LeBeouf, Drew Barrymore, Michael Moore, Paula Abdul, & Stone Cold Steve Austin. It’s being rumored that the WWE is even trying to get former president Bill Clinton to come in and serve as Guest Host. WWE has an infinite list of “back up” names to come in if the stars are unable or refuse to serve as Guest Host.

Allegedly, Vince McMahon plans to keep Matt Hardy off of television until after the whole Jeff Hardy situation is forgotten about. Vince feels that putting Matt on the show will remind people of Jeff and that is something he wants to stay away from right now.

The Truth Is Just A Confirmed Rumor,
-The Informant-

Welcome to The Rumor Mill, I’m The Informant and I’ll be your host! Think you know what’s really going on in the wrestling world? Find the latest rumors doing the rounds here. Truth or fiction? You decide!

The Informant has received word that the recently returned Batista requested his move to SmackDown so that he could have his final match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI.

It’s being said that Carlito’s recent hair growth is not a result of his heel turn a while back, but that the former Unified Tag Team Champion is, once again, unhappy with his role in the WWE and has an uncaring attitude both in the ring and backstage and that the angle splitting the Primo & Carlito team up was a result of Carlito wanting to compete as a singles star.

Eric Bischoff may be one of the inductees into the 2010 Hall of Fame since WrestleMania XXVI will be held in Glendale, AZ which is close to Bischoff’s hometown of Phoenix. Speaking of Vince, it’s being passed around that Vince might finally let “Macho Man” Randy Savage into the Hall of Fame this coming year. Jake “The Snake” Roberts is another name being thrown around.

Allegedly, the TNA release of BG James has gotten the attention of, not only Vince McMahon, but Triple H as well. It seems as though Vince & Triple H have been discussing a role for James in the company; even going as far to discuss BG James being a future replacement for Shawn Michaels in DX. While Jim Cornette was also released from TNA, the WWE has no interest whatsoever in bringing him back into the company.

While Jim Ross has recently denied that Jerry “The King” Lawler will be leaving his post as Color Commentator on RAW if elected the mayor of Memphis, the general feeling within the company is that Lawler would have no choice but to leave RAW if elected as the mayor of Memphis would not be able to travel around the world.

WWE Legend Jesse Ventura, the host of the new show on TruTV called “Conspiracy Theory”, has been rumored to be a future Guest Host of RAW whenever RAW heads to Minneapolis, MN; the hometown of the wrestler turned politician turned television personality.

After learning of the 0.4 drop in the RAW rating this week, Vince McMahon has been putting extra pressure on the writers for Monday Night RAW to improve the second half of the show as the premiere of “The Jay Leno Show” at 10/9c on Monday has hurt the viewership of RAW. Vince is allegedly unhappy with NBC Universal executives deciding to put a new show featuring Jay Leno up against the second half of RAW. NBC executives responded by offering Vince the chance to showcase one of the RAW Superstars (most likely John Cena) on Leno’s new show in the future. No word on Vince’s response to the offer.

With Rey Mysterio allowed to return from his 30-day suspension on or after October 1, the writers are trying to come up with a plan to have Mysterio return at the WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 4. It is likely that, if Rey returns at the pay-per-view, that it will somehow be connected to the Intercontinental Title match.

-The Informant-