Today's News

Tough Enough:

WWE will name the replacement judge on next Tuesdays episode. Current favourite Ric Flair has raised some eyebrows within the WWE offices, as he has a colourful back catalogue of faux pas' himself. Other ideas would see host Chris Jericho take over, or if not him The Miz, with a third option being the coaches (Billy Gunn, Booker T, Lita) alternating a spot on the panel. This may be poplular with the contestants, as they are the people that spend most time with them, and know them best, both in terms of strengths and weaknesses, and therefore would be better placed to make decisions relating to the public vote off. The fourth and final option would be Mick Foley, but he is not happy with the show so would be the longest shot.

Vince McMahon has taken complete control of Tough Enough as he is not happy with the numbers, he is in Florida full time and is very hands on with the production of every aspect of the show.

All episodes currently taped have been removed from catch up services, due to the Hulk Hogan situation.

Hulk Hogan:

WWE continue to purge Hulk Hogan from it's history. They have decided, like with Chris Benoit, not to remove all footage of him, from PPV events and so on, there is far too much of it, but have removed all Hogan centered shows, such as specials about him and the Hulk Hogan cartoon from the 80's. He has been officially pulled from the next WWE game, the makers released a statement that they felt obligated to respect the WWE request not to include him, despite their promise to make it the most expansive game ever, and his movie with David Hasselhoff is hoping to be edited, but he is so prominent in the film that it may need to be re-shot to cut him out, and he is to be dropped from a new WWE cartoon show.

TNA have also now followed suit and deleted him from their roster page, and removed all of his merch, including a new DVD set, from sale.

Most worryingly for Hogan it is now reportedly confirmed that WWE are discussing revoking his 2005 Hall Of Fame induction. Dave Meltzer says the feeling he got from his source is that they are going to take time over making the decision, and that time will likely heal the situation as people cool off, from what is currently a very heated standoff. Hogan is furious at the double standards of being made a scapegoat by WWE for using a term that Vince himself used on a live WWE PPV, while Vince and WWE are hot about the embarrassment the promotion is facing due to the negative publicity, and the $50 million wiped off the WWE share price since the scandal.

Unfortunately wounds may still be open for a while yet, the National Enquirer say they have more footage to be released, and will do so periodically, to get as much mileage out of it as possible.

Hogan has threatened legal action over the leak of the tapes, and is blaming his opponent in his court case over the sex tape, during which he made the remarks, for doing it to smear his character, Gawker have firmly denied being involved in the leak.

WWE have come under such strong criticism that they released a statement to TMZ about the 2005 Vince McMahon skit, saying the two incidents are incomparable...

''Everyone recognizes the 2005 segment with Vince was an outlandish and satirical skit involving fictional characters, similar to that of many scripted television shows and movies."

Hogan has been busy on Twitter thanking fellow wrestlers, fans, and TE cast members for their supportive messages, and also received a poem from his daughter Brooke, expressing her love for her dad, and asking fans to forgive him.

UFC star eats his words:

Elias Theodoru said he gave wrestling a go this week for a bit of fun, but after having his first wrestling match in Canada, has now declared his respect for the sport and the skill and courage of the performers.

Movies:

The Rock has confirmed he will star in a movie adaptation of popular US TV show Baywatch, and Scott Steiner will appear in Tangled.

NXT:

The Rock's mum and daughter attended last nights NXT live to support their relative Lina, who was working her debut event.

We are still fans:

Seth Rollins attended a PWG show last night as a fan. William Regal was also at the show, as a scout for WWE.

Gimmick officially dropped:

The Mega Powers 2.0 team of Curtis Axel and Damien Sandow have lost their popular gimmick, returning to their original characters at last nights lives.

JR vs WWE:

Jim Ross is unhappy with WWE's NXT special, as he has a one man show in town the night before SummerSlam, and his tickets are not selling well in competition with the NXT show.

Daniel Bryan says there is a chance he won't work for WWE again:

"Yes, there is that chance. But I told them, regardless of them, if they won't clear me … we're independent contractors, in theory … and I WILL wrestle again. I am cleared by the neurologist in Phoenix that I've been going to see. It's not like he's a quack doctor. He was the neurologist for the Super Bowl … who has no problems in clearing me with no limitations. But you also have to understand that WWE is not only looking out for my best interest, but they have to look out for their company as well, and I understand all of that too. There is nothing vindictive or anything there's just a lot of hurdles to go through at this point with getting cleared by WWE. I had a sit-down with Vince and Hunter about this and said, "Hey, this is my passion. I understand why you guys wouldn't clear me but we only get, as far as we know, one life. And you're not going to let me do my passion?.'"

QUESTION OF THE DAY...

What do you make of the WWE handling of the Hulk Hogan issue, are they right to remove all ties to him, and possibly revoking his HOF status, or are they being overly harsh by deleting him from their history books???.