Originally Matt Hardy vs. Chris Benoit was scheduled for the U.S. Title finals, but it was changed when Eddie Guerrero's character took off so strong... If WWE wrestlers were polled right now, Guerrero would be considered the hottest act in WWE. Nobody begrudges his success, either, since he's considered a good guy who has more than paid his dues and is so versatile as far as personality, promos, and working in the ring. There is fear that McMahon isn't going to recognize how over Guerrero is because Guerrero isn't the bodytype he normally sees big money in... Bill Goldberg walked out of a storage closet on Raw for his match against Flair this week... Nick Dinsmore played the role of Doink on Smackdown two weeks back. Aaron Stevens played the role of the Easter Bunny on the PPV...
Paul Heyman may or may not have been involved in the Brock Lesnar turn, but because he didn't get physical clearance from doctors after his physical late last month, his return was delayed. His building disc, a result of taking F5s, has not healed enough yet... Kidman and Torrie Wilson were on their honeymoon last week in Bermuda... The company is in the process of training a backstage interview woman named Rue for Smackdown. She's been at the last few tapings and is expected to debut on television shortly... The Smackdown writing crew is said to be going out of its way to find a role for Nikita, a female developmental worker. Although her start date has been pushed back several times, the latest word is that she will debut shortly...
Although Smackdown writer Dominic Pagliaro has been criticized in some circles for not knowing enough about the wrestling business, he is praised in others for being "the only writing team member who doesn't act like he knows everything and has all of the answers." Those in favor of his work say Pagliaro is the only writing team member who is approachable when it comes to wrestlers who would like to make changes to what the writing team has formatted. He works mostly with lower card wrestlers which is an area that Vince McMahon isn't as involved or a hardliner about. Meanwhile, Bruce Prichard continues to have the reputation as someone who will only work with the top wrestlers, and Dave Lagana is considered the worst of the Smackdown crew when it comes to accepting suggestions or criticism from the lower card wrestlers...
TNA's Alexis Laree has come up in several talent discussions. At one point, the creative team was even attempting to come up with an angle for her character... Last week's TORCH stated that the first Elimination Chamber involving Hunter and Michaels was earlier this year. It was actually last November at Survivor Series... Vince McMahon told a group of wrestlers at the Raw house show on Sunday that they should pay close attention to what he does because he knows how to draw heel heat and most everyone else doesn't... Rey Mysterio vs. Kidman appears to be off of SummerSlam at this point, even though that was the plan at one point... Rather than laying off more wrestlers, Jim Ross has gone to booking a group of lower card wrestlers part time at house shows on a rotational basis, but those wrestlers are still earning enough money to get by despite the scaled back dates. It's better than getting laid off, too, which many of them feared would happen at various times over the past year...
John Cena took the loss to Undertaker at the PPV in stride, despite some people in the locker room expressing serious disappointment in how far Taker went to protect himself in the match even though he was winning. Cena considers it an honor to be working with someone at Taker's level at this point in his career, which is an attitude that is going endear him to management (and Taker, for that matter). Taker is held in high regard by most everyone in WWE, although some of the veteran wrestlers do see his actions primarily being self-preservation oriented rather than always doing what's best for the company...
Some eyebrows have been raised in reaction to ads in New York for the next MSG house show. On the local ads, WWE promotes a four way title match with Brock vs. Angle vs. Big Show vs. Undertaker. Then, another frame comes up, "with special referee Mr McMahon" followed by a promised appearance by Stephanie McMahon. No mentions of the red-hot Eddie Guerrero or John Cena or Sable, but Stephanie was mentioned... Neil Lawi has been hired to be VP of Publicity for WWE. Dan Levy has been hired as VP of Brand Marketing. Both report to Executive VP of Marketing, Kurt Schnieder... When Triple H was unable to go on the Australian tour due to his torn groin, Goldberg was willing to make to the trip as a replacement, but WWE hadn't applied for him to get a working visa for the trip, so he logistically couldn't go...
Ultimo Dragon speaks broken English, but enough to get by and talk through the basics of his matches with his opponents before matches. He still works a Japan/Mexico style where he's very "businesslike" in his matches rather than interacting with the crowd, which is why his push subsided so quickly. Vince McMahon was expecting a second version of Rey Mysterio Jr., and instead got something completely different - not worse, but different, and threw him off his plan... There haven't been any major uproars about Zach Gowen being treated as one of the wrestlers now that he's moved on from his "novelty act" position with Roddy Piper and Vince McMahon...
