– Ricky Gibson, Rock & Roll Express member Robert Gibson’s older brother, passed away earlier this week according to WrestlingObserver.com. We wish his family the best.
– In a mailbag edition of his personal blog, Jim Ross responds to emails he has received regarding his comments on TNA, wrestling vs. talk on TV, “too many” hardcore matches and more. A good read, despite him using a phrase I’m not a fan of.
– As previously reported, the Spirit Squad was told in mid-July that they would be broken up. The angle has been put on hold for now, reportedly because midcard storylines aren’t high on WWE Creative’s priority list, with Vince currently focusing on the top two RAW programs: DX/McMahons and Cena/Edge.
– An anonymous wrestler complained about Bill DeMott’s training process down in Deep South Wrestling, saying it was too tough, but WWE’s still backing up DeMott, having handled this issue months ago by making DeMott tape all training and submit the tapes back to WWE’s offices.
– Thursday night on Entertainment Tonight Canada, Trish Stratus talked publicly for one of the first times about her upcoming nuptuals. She and her fiance Ron have been together for 14 years, according to Trish, and he’s been fine being in the background. Also Sports Illustrated’s Web site has a story up on Trish here. We’ll all miss Trish on TV every week following her final match tomorrow.
– The Score in Canada is removing the RAW replay show Bottom Line from the lineup, and adding “WWE Xperience” each Sunday at 6pm, featuring highlights from RAW and SD and features on the superstars, and hosted by Ryan Paton of the network.
– WWE.com’s “Five Questions” with John Cena has the former Champ talking about the possibility of moving to Smackdown. Also, Heat is now online as a special edition (no new matches were taped Monday, since the show featured ECW tapings prior to RAW going live) on the DX/McMahons feud. WWE.com also has a story up about WWE Champion Edge throwing out the first pitch at last night’s Blue Jays game in Toronto (Edge also joined the announce team on commentary mid-game).
– ECW.com has posted several Matt Striker-related items, as well as Tazz’ and Dreamer’s latest commentaries and this story on Booker T coming to ECW next week. Dreamer’s commentary is particularly good, talking about how Trish almost came to ECW years ago, and giving her a very nice sendoff heading into her retirement match tomorrow. Also, Paul Heyman is interviewed about ECW in the Calgary Sun.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information), PWInsider, WWE.com, JRSBarBQ.com
