ECW Logo

Sad news for some, but the ECW brand will be discontinued once and for all shortly.

According to a reliable source, WWE officials have had several meetings with the Syfy network about re-branding WWE’s Tuesday night show. However, both sides are in agreement that WWE’s version of ECW has been a bust and plans are already being made for a new weekly series. While several ideas have been tossed around (including a magazine-style recap show), right now the most likely option is that WWE will drop the ECW letters and “identity” and create a new brand that will feature young and-and-coming stars. The Tuesday night timeslot will likely stay the same.

For those who remember, WWE relaunched the ECW brand back in 2006 after the success of the “Rise and Fall of ECW” DVD set and later the ECW One Night Stand Pay-Per-View events. After ECW was relaunched as a brand, it quickly became apparent that WWE had no intention of keeping the elements that made the original ECW special and turned ECW into a watered-down, generic “C” show. The 1st week of ECW on Syfy back in 2006 drew around a 2.8. These days a 1.1 is considered a good week.

While it may be bittersweet to see the ECW letters go, ECW has been dead for a long time and a brand featuring primarily young stars sounds like it has potential.

Stay tuned for more news.

Umanga WWE

The WWE website issued the following statement on Friday evening:

Umaga passes
WWE would like to express its deepest condolences to Mr. Fatu’s family, friends and fans on his tragic passing. Mr. Fatu was under contract with WWE at various time periods and most recently performed under the name “Umaga.” Mr. Fatu’s contract was terminated on June 11, 2009.

We Also would like to express our deepest condolences to Mr Fatu’s family for this terrible loss.

WrestleMania XXVI

WrestleMania XXVI – March 28, 2010

With WWE Survivor Series already in the history books, we’ve turned the corner on WWE’s calendar year and the road to WrestleMania 26 has begun. Here’s the latest on what WWE is currently planning for the big event:

- There is a feeling in the WWE that something special needs to be done with The Undertaker for WrestleMania 26. WWE knows that more and more fans are tired of the same old matches and want to deliver a match that fans have not seen before. The Dead Man’s health continues to deteriorate and he’s less mobile now than he’s ever been, so his years as a Wrestlemania draw are certainly winding down. Right now, a match with John Cena is being strongly considered as the main event for WrestleMania.

- There is also talk of a Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels match at WrestleMania XXVI. The 2 have wrestled each other many times before, but not in several years now and never on the grand stage of WrestleMania. While DX is still one of the top babyface acts in WWE, this one makes sense and WWE may have planted the seed for the match at Survivor Series with HBK superkicking The Game in the opening moments of their triple threat match with John Cena.

- At one point, there had been a plan for a CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio Hair vs. Mask match at WrestleMania 26, but this is unlikely to happen now considering Mysterio’s injury problems.

We’ve heard an update on The Big Show, he will indeed need to be undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. However, what does that mean for his Unified Tag Team Championship belt as he will need to be in recovery for a while?

Hit the jump for the news!

Luckily, The Big Show will not be forced to relinquish his Unified Tag Team Championship because he is not expected to be kept out action for too long.

However, the story doesn’t end there. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is effectively rejecting what they call Chris Jericho’s “insincere and worn” apology for using anti-gay and racist slurs that day at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival.

GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios issued the following statement to TMZ.com this week:

“Just three months ago Chris Jericho’s boss and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon acknowledged to GLAAD that words matter.

There is no time, context or occasion in which it is acceptable to utter racist and anti-gy slurs. Jericho’s hollow apology ‘if (he) offended anyone’ is a template used by many and is insincere and worn.”

Are the Walls of Jericho really coming down?

Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan called in to Bubba The Love Sponge’s satellite radio show Monday morning and as always, the Hulk Hogan Hype Machine (patent pending) was in full force. During the Hogan said that some big names in the pro wrestling world could be headed to TNA Wrestling. Hogan said we could see Steve Austin, Randy Savage and the Nasty Boys in the future.

Steve Austin is a working actor and it’s highly unlikely he’d ever appear for any company outside of WWE. Hogan said he’s buried the hatchet after a long personal feud with Randy Savage, who is 56 years old and did not look very good during his last TNA run several years ago. The Nasty Boys are close with Hogan and actually could wind up in TNA at some point.

Hogan also joked with Bubba and asked if he wanted a spot on TNA’s creative team with him.

WWE Ex-Star Eugene

Just days after he made his first return appearance on WWE television, Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore has been released from the company.

“WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar Eugene as of August 14, 2009. We wish Eugene the best in all future endeavors,” read a WWE.com statement.

Eugene wrestled a masked The Miz in a “contract on a pole” match that determined who would become part of the RAW roster. Miz won the match, but few would have figured that Eugene’s failure to capture the contract would be his final WWE appearance.

Stay tuned for further details.

WWE Chris Jericho

The immediate creative reaction to Edge suffering a torn Achilles tendon at the live event this past Friday was to figure out a way to get the belts on Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. Over the weekend, those plans changed as they were looking to have Edge make one final appearance on television by giving his Unified WWE Tag Team Championship belt to Dolph Ziggler, and proceed from there. However, it was noted that given how things work in the company, that plan would likely change a dozen times between now and this Monday’s television taping in Orlando, when the final decision would likely be announced. At this point, they no longer have plans to make Ziggler Jericho’s tag team partner.

At one point over the weekend, there was talk about keeping the Colons together, editing out Carlito’s turn on Primo on this past Monday’s taped airing of Raw. However, that idea is off the board because they ended up airing the turn on Raw.

Creative was looking at footage of the SmackDown show taped on 7/1 in Bakersfield, California to see if there was a spot they could point to on this week’s episode they could use for the injury. The hope was to find a spot during Edge’s run-in during the Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio match, since that would be his last physical appearance. It would appear that they found nothing because on Tuesday, the WWE website acknowledged the injury and the surgery, and listed it as happening in his match with Jeff Hardy match from a leapfrog spot as opposed to trying to create a storyline reason for it.

Edge had been working hurt even before his ladder match with Hardy at last month’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view. He noted during a recent radio interview promoting the television taping in Fresno that when he was younger, he was able to recover quickly from those type of matches quickly. He then said he was hurting just walking for a week after the match.

John Cena's Marriage Proposal

Reportedly, John Cena was in a Boston court on Friday asking that the 3 day waiting period for getting married after receiving a license in the state of Massachusetts be waived. It is believed that the WWE Superstar is going to be getting married this weekend.
Click the jump for more pictures of Cena proposing to his now Fiancee, Elizabeth Huberdeau.

The WWE Superstar was in court with his fiancée — Elizabeth — as well as another female, who appeared to be his publicist. They filled out paperwork and were there for about a half hour, which saw the judge waive the waiting period. Cena waited in line like everyone else, but signed a few autographs in the meantime. He later thanked the staff for helping him.

John Cena Wedding Proposal Pictures

WWE Diva Candice Michelle

Candice Michelle wrote on her Twitter account recently that she is expecting to return to the ring sometime this month. The problem is, there is reportedly a lot of bad sentiment towards Candice Michelle right now, similar to what caused Vince McMahon to release Mr. Kennedy; her perception that she is often injured and a lousy worker.

So does that mean Candice Michelle is getting pushed out of the door of the WWE?

One company source told The Sun: “She doesn’t exactly help her cause when she’s running around in LA hanging out at bars and going to Dodger games… What happened to rehab and getting back in shape? There are guys on our roster with far worse injuries sucking it up and still coming to work.”

One of the few positive notes though, one of her biggest supporters in the company is said to be none-other than Stephanie McMahon.

When you’re not doing what you’re paid to do, it helps having the support of the boss’s daughter.