Vince and Shane McMahon and John Laurinaitis are heading up the latest WWE survey into the MMA industry. Shane, along with Michael Selick and Ed Kaufman, are keen on the company launching its own MMA promotion. It’s a notion of Shane’s that has been developing since the late ‘90s, yet Vince has always been reluctant to give it the go-ahead and neither Stephanie McMahon nor Triple H have any interest in the idea.
David Lagana was told he was fired from his spot as ECW’s head writer whilst on vacation. The firing had reportedly been a long time coming, reflected in the colder-than-usual phrasing of the termination letter – said to be even less grateful than the one Paul Heyman received. Lagana was both a Heyman protege and a vintage ECW fan, both of which counted against him in Stephanie McMahon’s eyes. The Undertaker had received a complaint from another wrestler about Lagana, passed it onto management, and they made the call to fire him. In early 2006 a number of agents reported to Stephanie that Lagana was leaking storyline information and he was demoted from his role but kept on. For what its worth, Dave Meltzer has stated Lagana never contact him. Stephanie has become ever-more paranoid about leaks in recent months, to the extent that all the writers’ computers and mobile phones have been inspected. One of the writers even went out and bought himself a secret second mobile just so nobody would be checking up on his personal calls. From now on Michael Hayes will be supervising the ECW writer Ed Koskey, with Dusty Rhodes assisting Koskey as a consultant. Rhodes turned down the writer position as he still wants to be involved but not take on board the added workload of the job.
WWE has been sending out their annual ballot lists for Hall of Fame inductions lately. Some of the most popular candidates include Mae Young, Gordon Solie and of course Ric Flair. Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia will be going in provided Dwayne Johnson can attend the ceremony. Ultimately, of course, Vince McMahon has the final say on who gets inducted.
Chris Jericho has been offered a book deal to write a second autobiography. Ric Flair has also expressed an interest in writing another one, whilst another Flair DVD is said to be on the cards for later this year.
At 268 days and counting, Montel Vontavious Porter is now the fifth longest-reigning United States Champion ever (including WWE, WCW and NWA reigns). If, as expected, he is still champion by March then he’ll have surpassed Barry Windham’s 288 day reign in 1988-89 for fourth place.
Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 11 February 2008 (subscribe here)
