Brock Lesnar has made a personal decision to put his WWE career on hold to prepare to tryout for the National Football League this season. Brock has wrestled his entire professional career in the WWE and we are proud of his accomplishments and wish him the best in his new endeavor.
Ron Simmons released
Ron �Faarooq� Simmons has been released from WWE, effective immediately, according to the WWE Talent Relations Department.
What you didn't see at WMXX
After Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit hugged and soaked in the cheers of the crowd, Benoit's wife Nancy, his two children, and his father came to the ring and celebrated with Benoit.
As the group left, Benoit was given a standing ovation from the fans at Madison Square Garden.
Smackdown Superstars Talk About Guerrero And Lesnar
Since Chavo Guerrero Sr. has joined the company, he has become a locker room favorite and really provides a comical relief with his sense of humor.
* With Eddie Guerrero leading the Smackdown roster as their champion, he has really started to get the support from the locker room. One wrestler was quoted saying �Eddie represents this company well. He�s great. Houses are up. We had two sellouts recently, something that didn�t happen when Brock was headlining as champion. People are chanting Eddie�s name before shows. He�s a phenomenal champion for us. Eddie eats, talks, and sits with us. If anyone deserves his success, it�s him.� In addition to Eddie�s growing popularity with the other wrestlers on the roster, attendance has been noticably higher since he won the title.
* Now that the WWE and Brock Lesnar have made his departure from the company public, those in the locker room have become more vocal about Lesnar�s status while with the company. One wrestler was quoted saying �He�s not a team player at all. No one likes him. He�s a jackass. He�s not very social. He�s not one of the boys. How you see him on TV is pretty much how he is in real life.�
After Wrestlemania
- The official website of Bret Hart, BretHart.com, has a poll up asking if fans thought Hart should have been at WrestleMania XX. Out of 36,950 votes tallied, as of this report, 86% believe he should have been there.
- After WrestleMania was over, word has it that Brock Lesnar and The Rock couldn�t be found anywhere. Bill Goldberg did stay behind, however. He said goodbye to friends he had made over the time he spent in the company.
Edge Return
There is still no word on what brand Edge will join when he makes his return from neck surgery within the next few weeks. He has already started training at OVW but the concern is whether putting him on RAW will make that brand too strong compared to Smackdown!. Either way, when Edge returns, it is expected that he will be pushed into a main event feud with either Triple H or Brock Lesnar depending on where he is placed.
The Rock Boosts Sales
WWE recently aired commercials in Atlanta during RAW this past Monday teasing the return of the Rock at the show next week. This has in turn caused ticket sales to rise considerably and WWE will no longer need to block off sections for the show as they planned to do and the show may indeed sellout.
Ernest Miller released
Ernest "The Cat" Miller has been released from his contract by World Wrestling Entertainment.
Chris Kanyon Released From WWE
The following is from WWE.com:
WWE�s Talent Relations Department has announced that Chris Kanyon has been released from his contract as of Monday, Feb. 9.
NEW MEMBER OF EVOLUTION
Maven will be returning from injury before Wrestlemania XX to join forces with Evolution. This will be part of Maven's push.
Henry Injury
Mark Henry�s shoulder injury actually happened at the house show match with Chris Benoit in Youngstown, OH. The angle on RAW was used to sell the injury fro storyline purposes.
Gowen Fired!
This is a quote taken from the WWE website
"WWE elected today to end its contractual relationship with Zach Gowen after Zach met with EVP of Talent Relations Jim Ross earlier today. "Zach is only 20 years of age and I would be very surprised if we don�t see him in a WWE ring again some day," Ross said. "We all have great respect for Zach�s passion and wish him nothing but success."
RAW Locker Room
There is much 'ploiticalness' about the RAW locker room. It is said to be very serious, much unlike the Smackdown! locker room which has jokes being cracked all the time and the wrestlers enjoy it. The RAW Locker Room is being compared to the old WCW locker room before it folded.
New brand?
Believe it or not, there is talk going around backstage in the WWE that officials might be thinking about coming up with a new brand to compete against Raw & Smackdown. If created, this brand would be almost like ECW, with a more hardcore formula to the shows, and would most likely be shown late at night. They could even call it ECW if they wanted, since they own the rights to the name. However, if the WWE did decide to create a hardcore brand, it would contradict their new "safer mat wrestling" formula that officials have been trying to get across to superstars on both Raw & Smackdown. Despite the possible safety concerns, officials know that if they do decide to create a new show & brand, they have to do something very different in order for the idea to get across with fans and critics.
Details on Crash Holly's Death
We have been able to gather more details concerning the passing of Michael Lockwood (aka Crash Holly).
From what we have gathered, Holly passed away at 1 pm EST at the home of his good friend Steven Richards in Florida. Holly and Richards had traveled together back in Holly�s days in WWE. There are unconfirmed reports circulating that Holly could have choked on his own vomit. He was only 34 years old.
Once again, I would like to pass my deepest condolences to the friends and family of Holly (Lockwood), this is a time where we should all morn.
Gail Kim breaks Collar Bone
The official WWE website has confirmed that Gail Kim suffered a broken collar bone at this week�s Sunday Night Heat taping before RAW this past Monday while wrestling Trish Stratus. Kim said that she is not sure whether or not the injury occurred during the match and at first thought it was something with her shoulder. However, when she was finally taken to the hospital it was confirmed that it was her collar bone. The break was clean, which means that it will be a faster heeling process and will keep Kim out of the ring 4-6 weeks.
Kevin Nash Not Returning
Many sources close to Kevin Nash do not expect him to wrestle for the company again. He did not recover from his neck surgery by Dr. Jho as well as other surgeries and still remains in pain. His contract will expire on 2/1, and at $700,000 per year, it doesn�t seem WWE will resign him at that rate. It wouldn�t be too surprising to see him remain in the company helping out the writing team or in some other non-wrestling position.
Jones Quits WWE
Nathan Jones officially quit WWE earlier this weekend while in Australia while on the Asia-Australia tour that the SmackDown brand wrestlers are currently on. Apparently Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, and the Big Show all tried to talk Nathan Jones out of leaving the company at Saturday's show in Perth, Australia. Their attempts were unsuccessful and Jones grabbed his bags and said he can�t take the business anymore.