Ratings Summary
- RAW: 4.5 (4.4 / 4.6 / 7 Share) Up from 3.9 (3.7 / 4.1 / 6 Share)
- Heat: 1.1 (2 Share) Up from 0.8 (1 Share)
- Velocity: 0.9 (2 Share) Same as last week
- Confidential: 0.8 (2 Share) Up from 0.7 (1 Share)
Smackdown was taped in Grand Rapids, MI tonight, so spoilers should be out soon. There are off air notes and Heat spoilers from last night in Detroit, MI. During the main event commercial break, a fan jumped the barricade and into the ring, but was quickly detained by security.
WWE.com announced Kurt Angle as the new General Manager of Smackdown, as well as additional trades of HHH back to RAW for the Dudley Boys and Booker T, and Chuck Palumbo/A-Train for Rico/Jackie Gayda. The RAW and Smackdown rosters were reportedly happy the trades were fairly limited. A-Train's name was moved to the RAW page earlier, but then moved back to the Smackdown page prior to the official announcement of his trade. Paul Heyman's name has been removed from the Smackdown page, although there are plans for him to return as a manager possibly in an ECW related angle.
WWE issued a press release boasting of their highest ratings since April 2002 for last night's RAW. Thursday's Byte This! will be a referee edition with Mike Chioda in the studio and other referees on the phone. Linda McMahon will speak at Sacred Heart University tomorrow.
WWE.com has an article on Edge's long awaited return from neck surgery, as well as his recent foot injury in OVW and being drafted to RAW. WWE's Diva Challenge has been narrowed down to four competitors. Stacy Keibler is on the cover of this month's Gold's Gym magazine. Brock Lesnar is in Arizona now training for NFL tryouts.
Get In The Ring interviewed Jonathan Coachman about being a heel, Wrestlemania, the lottery and independent wrestling. Kane's theme, Slow Chemical by Finger Eleven, is on the Punisher movie soundtrack. There's an autographed Wrestlemania XX shirt up for auction on Ebay with proceeds benefiting the Jamie Wells Fund.
DVD Talk has a review of Beyond the Mat: Ringside Special Edition rating it highly recommended. Larry Matysik is working on book on the history of professional wrestling in St. Louis, and Jimmy Hart will be releasing an autobiography.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers enlisted Hulk Hogan to help them sign wrestling Orlando Brown, but he ended up re-signing with the Baltimore Ravens. The Boston Herald has a brief article on Jesse Ventura's presidential ambitions including that he's picked Charles Barkley for his Vice-President, which he did on his former MSNBC show. Former boxer Scott LeDoux discussed his time in AWA as an enforcer referee and wrestler.
Tomorrow night's NWA TNA PPV will feature Sting's return, Abyss vs. Ron Killings, the start of the NWA Tag Team Title tournament, X Elimination match to determine a #1 contender, and Monty Brown vs. Don Harris. Insane Clown Posse posted a news update on their website saying they'll be back in NWA TNA as soon as their schedule clears up a bit. NWA TNA is now attempting to limit news leaks, and they'll be cutting back on security at their shows while ICP are gone.
That's it for today. Thanks for reading.
