Vickie Guerrero might not replace Teddy Long as Smackdown’s General Manager after all. The idea is not dead but on life support. Some feel Vickie is losing momentum as a character and she might not even make it back onto TV at all. Backstage, some think she is not that good at acting her role, while others think she is doing very well considering her limited experience, yet even most of her supporters don’t think the GM role would suit her.
Mark Henry is scheduled to return to Smackdown house shows this week, working with Kane. WWE is also sending Umaga to work with Bobby Lashley on those shows so they can get their WrestleMania match planned out.
Deuce & Domino’s push is dead. They are not being released or dropped from the Smackdown roster but criticism of their in-ring work, in particular bumping for hot tags, has ended their chances of getting any decent angles.
Candice Michelle seems to have as much backstage heat as Melina these days.
Chris Masters, losing his hair at an early age, is getting hair plugs from the same surgeon Chavo Guerrero went to last year. The doctor has also worked on Chavo Classic, Jimmy Hart and Larry Zbysko.
Ricky Steamboat worked as a special guest referee for the Cena/Orton house show main event on the 18th March in Valparaiso, IN. Now that the legal difficulties with his wife have been settled and he is clear to use the Ricky Steamboat name again, he is expected to be making regular such appearances on house shows. He will also sign a Legends merchandising deal so he can appear in video games and get an action figure, as well as one day go into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Chris Benoit recently did a podcast interview for The Sun newspaper in the UK. When asked about TNA he said “I don’t watch the product. Once in a while. There was one week, we had a night off. It was the Monday the dog show was on. They were unopposed and they had two hours and I was appalled. I could not believe the show they put on. We were sitting there looking at each other, scratching our heads. They have some incredible talent there but no direction… [Samoa Joe] is great. From all I’ve seen and heard, I’d love to wrestle him. I’m a big Samoa Joe fan, big A.J. Styles fan, Christian Cage, obviously.” Benoit also predicted big things for Ken Kennedy, Bobby Lashley and MVP, that he wanted Bad News Allen to be inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame, and that he was a massive MMA fan and watched that whenever he could. On WCW he said “The amount of talent and the amount of money they had at the time, they were spending money like it would never end. It was absurd. Looking back on it now, it was a great learning experience. I learned a lot of what not to do, how not to run a company. Back at the time there were a lot of miserable people there, that’s why we left. I had just won the World Heavyweight Title and it meant nothing. I wanted to get the hell out of there.”
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
