– Jakks Pacific announced yesterday that the one and only Virgil has been signed for their WWE Classic Superstars action figure line.
– Jimmy Snuka was at last night’s Raw taping in Charlotte, North Carolina as he was supporting his son, who works as Deuce Shade. Deuce had a dark match with partner Domino (Cliff Compton) and valet Cherry (Kara Slice) last night. Cherry actually spent some time before the taping practicing going down the Raw ramp on rollerblades, which she wears for her character. It was finally decided that the team would pick her up as she was 3/4th of the way down the ramp. The three do a throwback 1950s style gimmick that a few people have praised to me.
– World Wrestling Entertainment released developmental talent Dean Visk sometime over the last several days. Visk had been working in Ohio Valley Wrestling doing a pretty entertaining character that was all hyped up on caffeine.
The word going around was that Visk’s work inside the ring hadn’t improved (although he was considered to have a good WWE-style physique and good promo ability), and when WWE agents were in Kentucky last week, they soured on him, which led to the decision on releasing him.
– Following yesterday’s unexpected announcement that UPN and WB would be forming a single, new network called the CW, there’s been tons of talk and speculation in the media. Obviously, the item that most wrestling fans are interested in is whether WWE Smackdown was going to be renewed, as the current deal expires in August of this year, the same time that the new network will be formed.
There was some encouraging news in that Smackdown was mentioned in the press release regarding the new network, and now Variety is reporting that “UPN has quietly worked out a deal to keep WWE’s “Friday Night Smackdown” on the air for at least two more seasons.”