Tomko Quits TNA, Returning to WWE?

In regards to Tomko and TNA parting ways last week, Tomko worked the Monday and Tuesday tapings on July 28 and 29 and quit at the Tuesday taping.

Many feel Tomko hurt himself in the eyes of the company when he missed a "FanFest" the day before a PPV to take a date in Japan with IGF even though he was told by management not to go. As a result, he was suspended for 30 days and his push was cut way back. He was said to be visibly disappointed when he wasn't booked for TV after this took place and felt he could have been used better. So, he decided to quit and is already booked for the August 15 IGF show at Sumo Hall.

It should be noted that WWE management has been interested in him since he started getting over in TNA. Shane McMahon in particular thinks he is "cool." Tomko left WWE on good terms telling them he would rather go to Japan and up his game and come back in a few years instead of stay in WWE and not get much ring time to improve. It remains to be seen if he has a non-compete term in his deal with TNA, but many won't be surprised if he ends up returning to WWE.

Randy Orton Accident Real or A Work ?

i was ran off the road last night at 1030 by a car that had its hi beams on and was veering into m lane during a sharp turn a the top of a hill near my home. i had no choice but to crash, and was thrown 300 feet from the concrete block that sent me flying. i was traveling about 30 miles per hour. i'm lucky to be alive. i have some pretty severe skinned up areas such as my left knee right foot, and left shoulder trap. wwe. com should be posting that it wasn't 30 feet but 300 soon. i just called and b*tched em out, for the typo. i was wearing a helmet, and if not for that i would have without a doubt been a goner. i see what the extent of my rebroken collarbone is tommorow. ill let you all know. the bike was a harley fat bob, and it was a rental. it is totaled.im happy im alive, and that the bike wasn't mine. all i could think about was my daughter and samantha. God was definetly watching over me!!
rko

Note: There's some questioning behind the legitimacy of WWE's story on Randy Orton re-injuring himself in a motorcycle accident. While we don't want to go all out and say it's a work, it sure does look suspicious and a few people close to the situation are feeling the same way. Other than the WWE story, there has been no outside confirmation on the accident. The belief among some is that it is real, but the story hasn't been reported in any St. Louis media outlets as of this writing and seeing how Randy Orton is a celebrity, a motorcycle accident would at least have been picked up by someone by now. If the story isn't reported elsewhere in the next few days, then you can start to ask more questions. You have to ask how a guy rolled 300 feet on the ground and only re-injured his shoulder. Like I said, I'd hate to call it a work and it turn out to be true but the WWE story had a lot of details in it making it look credible, but is it too detailed? Furthermore, as of this writing, the Missouri Highway Patrol lists no accident report for anyone with the last name Orton for August 8th through the 11th. One would like to think that Orton is okay and will make some sort of surprise appearance at Sunday's SummerSlam pay-per-view but we'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Mick Foley Gone From WWE?, Heading to TNA?

Could Mick Foley already be through with World Wrestling Entertainment? Mick Foley did not appear at last night's SmackDown taping in Norfolk, Virginia. Tazz took his place alongside Jim Ross for the second week in a row. Also, Matt Striker joined Todd Grisham at the announcers table for last night's edition of ECW on Sci Fi. It was believed that Foley was only going to be held off television for one week to sell his beating from Edge, but by the looks of things, the removal of Foley from the announcers' booth could be permanent. Last week, Foley told the Long Island Press that there was a good chance he would not be renewing his contract with WWE after it expired on September 1, 2008 because the announcing job wasn't working out too well.

The Sun out of the UK is reporting a close friend of Mick Foley has informed them that the hardcore icon is headed to TNA Wrestling when his WWE contract expires on September 1st. Foley's friend told the Sun, "Mick's body cannot handle a full time schedule, even in TNA. But he's hell bent on doing everything he can to further his legacy and put them on the map. The friend added, "Mick's plan is to wrestle select dates, like Sting currently does. He feels he will legitimately make a big difference in the way TNA Wrestling is perceived by the public!" Back in 2005, Foley was in talks with TNA and was very close to signing with the company before he wound up back in WWE. He did not work this week's SmackDown! taping.

Carlito Unhappy With WWE, Will Carlito Leave?

Carlito's long-term future with WWE appears to be in doubt again. While he's worked a few live events, he still has yet to debut on television on SmackDown since the draft seven weeks ago. Once again, he has talked with friends about a release from the company. In his homeland of Puerto Rico, he can do what he wants and be the top singles star in WWC. However, business isn't too good at the moment and he'd be going from working in front of thousands of fans to a few hundred. The last time Carlito talked about departing from WWE, he had talks with the AAA promotion in Mexico about coming in as a full-timer, where he could be a top heel. Regarding a possible jump to TNA, he has supporters there as he has worked with booker Dutch Mantel in the past not to mention that the company is looking to expand to the Hispanic audience. Should he depart from WWE, Carlito should also do well in the U.S. indies as well as the NWE promotion based out of Europe featuring a slew of "name" stars 

Heat On Benjamin

There is currently a lot of pressure on Shelton Benjamin to step up and take advantage of his current WWE push. Benjamin has some heat with management for being a little too complacent. Benjamin is said to be very comfortable with his mid-card role after already having made more money than he ever though he would. Management feels he could be a strong upper-card player if he aspires to do so, and have been impressed by his matches in recent weeks.

The Great Khali Possibly Retiring Or Leaving WWE Soon

The Great Khali's banged up knees are a major source of concern within WWE. There are members of management who feel Khali didn't follow the rehab program closely enough after his previous knee surgeries, which may be part of his problem now. Khali isn't expected to be a long term full-time wrestler simply because his body cannot handle the workload.

My Opinions

I wouldn't be suprized if Tomko came back to the WWE now Tomko has improved his in ring skills and gain more experience from being with TNA, I think Tomko could become a major player within the WWE if used right which i hope does happen cause Tomko is a good wrester and desevers a push within WWE

On the Randy Orton Accident, if this "Accident" turns out to be a work, i would be really disappointed with WWE reporting it as a real accident and in a way it's disrespectful of WWE towards people who have loss people in this way. Since no other news paper or news tv program has picked up on this "Accident" i think this is a work by WWE.

It seems like WWE and Mick Foley have parted ways since Foley hasn't been on WWE since his beating by Edge so it looks like Foley is heading to TNA which i'm not to happy about since i don't like TNA but i think Foley has every reason to leave since Vince was yelling at him down the headsets which no legend should take. Good Luck to Mick Foley in the furture.

With Carlito being unhappy with WWE, i dont really care if he leaves cause he always seems to be unhappy with WWE, he may be a good wrestler and he has gave us some good matchs but i didn't really see a future for him in WWE. Carlito would be better in TNA cause he would be used better.

Heat on Benjamin for not wanting to be a high card player is kinda stupid but thats just WWE, i hope Benjamin does make the jump to the higher card because Benjamin is a great wrestler with great in ring skills, i think once he improves his mic skills then he will be a perfect high card player and maybe one day hold the WWE Heavyweight Title or World Title.

With Khali's knees being messed up i can't see him being around for much longer and all i say is i hope Khali is gone soon because he is terrible in the ring and on the mic. Khali should just stop wrestling all together to stop any further damage to his knees and hopefully he will retire. The sooner the better.

Thats it's for now, i will report more news with my opinions when i find more news to report.

bye for now

Kane  

WWE Making budget cuts again?

Yesterday we announced that former TNA World Tag Team Champion Chris Harris (a.k.a. Braden Walker) was released from his WWE contract. Today, WWE announced the releases of 6 more stars. Big Daddy V, Shannon Moore, Domino, Nunzio, Nick Patrick (a referee), and James Curtis (known to some as KC James) have all been released by WWE.

Moore released the following statement on his MySpace page at 3:27 p.m. EST:

No longer with WWE I just wanted to let all of you know that as of today me and WWE have parted ways. I will update you in the near future.

WWE.com still has yet to announce any of these releases. However, Shannon Moore's profile has been deleted from the SmackDown roster section. When you visit the URL to his profile, you get a "Page Not Found" message.

Also as reported earlier, Mick Foley has stated that he will most likely not be renewing his contract when it comes up later this month

Bob "Hardcore" Holly Gone For Good ?

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Bob "Hardcore" Holly may very well be on his way out of WWE. Holly, who is now 45 years old, is not being used on WWE TV right now. It's being reported that creative has no plans to use him in the near future. It is believed that Holly would need someone like The Undertaker to vouch for his return to the ring. If something like that does not happen, he may not have a chance at returning.

Vince McMahon has always had a good relationship with Bob Holly, which is why he always seems to bounce back following absences, but this time around some backstage are not so sure that will happen again.

Holly is known for working very stiff in the ring and carries an old-school philosophy of making rookies earn their "stripes" by working them over very hard during bouts. This backfired in a match with Brock Lesnar when he was new with the company, and Holly didn't 'go' with a scheduled powerbomb from Lesnar, which resulted in a broken neck

Financial Problems for the WWE

The following statement, buried in WWE's quarterly stock filing, could have major future ramifications.

"Levy et al. On July 24, 2008, we were served with a summons from three of our former talent purporting to be on behalf of themselves and a class of similarly situated persons. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and unjust enrichment arising from our treating them as independent contractors rather than employees, which the plaintiffs allege is an erroneous classification. We have not formally responded to the suit but intend to deny any liability for claims asserted against us and to defend vigorously against the suit."

The Levy being mentioned here is Scott "Raven" Levy who is apparently challenging WWE's classification of wrestlers. The identities of the other two wrestlers have yet to be revealed.

For those wondering, WWE classifies its wrestlers as "independent contractors" which allows them to not have to pay benefits and do other things that they otherwise would have to do for "employees." This has been a topic that has been debated for years. Some think WWE is grievously at fault while others think they do just enough to get away with it.

If the court sides with Levy, it would lead to major financial ramifications for WWE.

Mr. Kennedy Injured, Out For Weeks or Months?

Source: ProWrestling.net

-- WWE superstar Mr. Kennedy suffered a dislocated shoulder on Monday night during his match with Shelton Benjamin in Macon, GA. According to Jim Ross at JRSBarbq.com, Kennedy will be out for a few weeks depending on results from an MRI.

HHH hating CM Punk

According to a new report by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the suggestion for CM Punk to win the World Heavyweight Championship initially didn't go over very well, but arguments were made that since the company was pushing a new "youth movement" and to shake things up that Punk was the guy to push more than anyone else. Interesting enough that since decisions like this have gone down, ratings have seen a jump across the board for all three shows (more so for Raw and ECW).

The general discussion at the time was that Punk was more popular than he really should have been giving his push and that he sells much more merchandise than someone in his position should have. When Vince McMahon green lighted the move to make Punk the new champion, sources noted how everyone in creative suddenly were 100% backing his decision and very behind it. It should be noted that ..."adlinkMouseOut(event,this,0);" onclick="adlinkMouseClick(event,this,0);" onmouseover="adlinkMouseOver(event,this,0);" oncontextmenu="return false;">the producers (agents) were very quiet when they were told of the decision as many reportedly don't think highly of Punk's work, but none argued against Vince's direction since they were afraid of losing their job.

It's no secret that Triple H has never been a big supporter of Punk behind the scenes dating back to his arrival in the company. One source has indicated that Triple H was overheard joking that they needed to turn Shawn Michaels heel so Punk had someone who could actually work him through what a World Title match should look like. Needless to say, jokes like those have really made Punk look like a punk to members of management.

The current direction of Punk's character not looking as strong or coming off as the underdog was Vince's idea as he feels Punk as a babyface always "clinging to the belt" against guys who are looked at as stronger and better will work out in the end with the fans getting behind him. This was roughly the same idea Vince had with Rey Mysterio as champion on Smackdown, although many felt he was never truly behind Mysterio to begin with looking at him as a transitional champion at that time.

Vince Perfers RAW

Vince McMahon's creative focus remains on Monday Night RAW, despite SmackDown now being viewed by some as WWE's superior product. Well placed sources estimate that Vince dedicates between 75-85% of his energy towards RAW.

Ed Koskey handles the bulk of the creative workload for ECW.

Michael Hayes and Chris DeJoseph are currently writing SmackDown as a team. Hayes serves as the lead writer, while DeJoseph maps out the show. One source summed up their working relationship by saying, "Michael doesn't know what's cool and hip, while DeJoseph lives for VH1 and MTV."

Kane to Reveal Whats In The Bag, Is It The Mask

Rumors are circulating within WWE that RAW GM Mike Adamle will order Kane to reveal what is in his bag, or Adamle will take his bag.

The WWE creative process has been extra hush-hush over the last few months, by orders of Stephanie McMahon.

The REAL Reason Why Flair Requested For HIs Release, Bidding Was For a Shoot Interview On WWE

Ric Flair wanted out of his WWE deal because in recent months, he had been forced to give up nearly 30 NWA appearances, as well as several other appearances, due to WWE not wanting him to make them.

Flair would have gotten paid up to $10,000 per appearance, so he missed out on a lot of money by not being able to work those events. Flair decided to ask for his release from WWE so he could pursue these other opportunities. Since Flair announced his departure from WWE, he has gotten around 250 offers and there is apparently some type of bidding war going on for a Flair shoot interview.

While TNA would love to have Flair, it is still unknown whether Flair is allowed to work for another nationally televised wrestling promotion.