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.

Lauren Mayhew WWE Announcer

Sad news for fans of the blonde bombshell Lauren Mayhew, who appeared on ECW as the ring announcer, has parted ways with World Wrestling Entertainment.

Both parties were working together on a short term deal, but could not come to terms on a full term contract.

The word going around at today’s television taping in Bridgeport, Connecticut was that the aspiring actress and WWE parted on amicable terms and the door was open for her to return to the company in the future.

Moving swiftly and silently, Mayhew’s profile has already been removed from the WWE website, and Tony Chimel handled the ring announcing duties during tonight’s episode of ECW.

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.

WWE Jim Ross aka J.R.

In what might be bad news for some, its being speculated that announcer  Jim Ross has yet to sign a new contract with World Wrestling Entertainment.  On top of that, due to the uncertainty regarding his condition, reportedly there has not been any real serious contract talks nor any offer made.

Jim Ross will see his contract expire in only a minimal 3 weeks time.

Thoughts on how this will turn out? Would you stop watching if J.R. isn’t going to be the announcer?

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

Dave Batista - The Animal

According to insider sources, Batista is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning for a torn biceps muscle that he sustained in a match just before his bout with Randy Orton at “Extreme Rules” 2 nights ago. The injury was most likely the reason their match only lasted just over 7 minutes.

Why the WWE decided to go through with the title change despite the injury is still a question, but not doubt the reason will be revealed in a storyline in the near future.

Expect an injury storyline or something similar to be done on RAW to get the title away from Batista, as once he undergoes surgery, he’ll be out of commission for a while.

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.