At present, WWE is not expecting John Cena to return until May.
SummerSlam 2007 has an early estimated buyrate of 535,000, with 330,000 domestic. The final number for last year’s event was 541,000. This year’s card has also proven a bigger draw than the Royal Rumble 2007, which pulled 491,000.
The original plan for Chris Jericho’s debut was for their ‘viral’ marketing campaign to build towards a pay-off at Cyber Sunday. Brian Gerwitz was keen on putting Jericho over Randy Orton for the title at No Mercy, which was discussed but then rejected by Vince McMahon the day before that PPV. They plan on building to Jericho vs Orton at some point down the road, although Orton vs Triple H is a strong possibility for WrestleMania 24. The whole “save_us.222” campaign seems to have originated from the Nine Inch Nails’ promotion for their Year Zero album earlier in the year. A man called Saint Laurent working on an ROH DVD release in Florida is thought to have discussed the potential for a similar marketing campaign in wrestling with his friends Gabe Sapolsky, Court Bauer and Teddy Hart. Sapolsky kept it in mind for the Age of the Fall angle in ROH. Bauer was on the WWE writing staff and presented the idea to Stephanie McMahon in June for either the New Hart Foundation, which at the time would have included Teddy Hart, or for a returning Chris Jericho. Ultimately, it led to WWE running a similar angle as ROH, which if they had known about beforehand would probably not have bothered with.
Dwayne Johnson is in talks for another Disney movie project, which would involve him playing the Tooth Fairy.
Snitsky served a 30 day suspension in September.
Don Muraco’s daughter, Kelli, has been in touch with John Laurinaitis about getting a WWE tryout.
WWE has commissioned a book on Andre the Giant.
On the DVD of The Condemned, Steve Austin says that John Cena only got the lead role of The Marine because he turned it down, but that if he could go back and choose that movie instead he would.
Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 15 October 2007 (subscribe here)
