Updates on Mercury, Burchill, Phoenix, Benoit & More

News

Joey Mercury returned to the ring for this weekend’s OVW TV show, facing off against Paul Burchilll. Mercury has been off of Smackdown for the past few months due to Wellness Program-related personal issues which in part led to the splitting up of MNM. Former partners Johnny Nitro and Melina Perez are now, of course, members of the RAW roster, and there is no word yet whether Joey will return to Smackdown, be moved to RAW or even to ECW, where he had a stint in the original ECW years ago. Mercury, as Joey Matthews, was also once a member of the OMEGA indie wrestling promotion along with the Hardyz, Helms, Moore and others, so writing him into the Helms/Hardy or Punk/Moore storylines based on past history might be a logical possibility.

Paul Burchill, who was removed from the Smackdown roster in a storyline that saw Mark Henry injure his knee, in fact had to have knee surgery and is with OVW as he prepares for his comeback. They plan on repackaging him away from the pirate gimmick. Beth Phoenix, who was also injured while on RAW, is now in OVW as well.

Gunner Scott/Brent Albright has been in OVW for months, as it was felt he wasn’t ready for prime time after his short spell on Smackdown, where he got a win over Booker T and teamed up with Chris Benoit. Benoit was scheduled to be at some early-September house shows, but is still recovering from hernia surgery. He’s expected to re-join the Smackdown roster when he’s ready, and according to WWE.com, he is now scheduled to be at the November 5 show in Cadillac, Michigan.

Also returning to Smackdown – probably this week – are Gymini. They have been down in Deep South Wrestling training for a return after one of the members of this team was injured. Simon Dean (Mike Bucci) has moved into the WWE office, working in Talent Relations, and no longer appears on the Smackdown roster page on WWE.com, so it is as yet unknown if he will resume his on-air role as their manager once they return.

In ECW news, Rodney Mack (formerly Redd Dogg in ECW and early on in his WWE run, when BRIEFLY associated with John Cena, and then part of Teddy Long’s “Playas Club” stable on RAW with real-life wife Jazz, Mark Henry and Chris Nowinski) made his “new ECW” debut at house shows this weekend. Also debuting for the brand was DSW’s Eric Perez, with recent signees Marty Jannetty and Brad Armstrong expected to work ECW house shows in the future (Jannetty – who seems to have changed his mind, and has once again been posting blog updates on MySpace – was scheduled for shows this weekend, according to WWE.com, but was in fact not a part of them). Bob Holly (gash in his back) and Big Show (several nagging injuries) were given the weekend off from ECW house shows.

Credit: PWInsider, Wrestling Observer

Matthew Michaels is editor emeritus of Pulse Wrestling, and has been since the site launched.