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Archive for May 26th, 2008

Former ECW champion Bobby Lashley, who featured prominently in WWE storylines just over a year ago, prior to a career-interrupting injury, has returned to the pro ring, but not for WWE. Instead, Lashley made an appearance recently at Booker T’s PWA promotion out of Houston; word is, he only made an appearance and did not wrestle in the show.

Beyond that, babydolls, word on the street has it that Lashley is considering following in the footsteps of Ken Shamrock and Brock Lesnar and turning to ultimate fighting/MMA, rather than going back to pro wrestling. If so, down the road, it would be a nice card to see Lesnar and Lashley hook up in the MMA ring.

People washing their hands in a glass sink shouldn’t throw… stones? Whatever; the point is that there are some big changes on the way for ECW that could conceivably improve that show’s standing in the ratings.

Traditionally, ECW tapings have been the “warm-up act” for Smackdown shows, ever since the WWE brought ECW back a couple years ago. However, the company recently unveiled a plan to move ECW tapings from Tuesday nights with the Smackdown brand to Monday nights with the Raw brand.

There are some natural fallouts of this strategy, of course. First, it means curtains for WWE Heat. Second, it means more cameos on ECW tapings by Raw-branded WWE superstars, and fewer by Smackdown-branded superstars.

This is a huge hit against the Smackdown brand; not only is it moving from The CW this fall to MyNetworkTV, a huge step down, but it is losing the extra draw the ECW brand brought to its tapings. While details like two ECW superstars currently holding the Smackdown-branded WWE tag team titles are sure to be worked out before the switch is made, one can only hope that the switch will also means Raw and ECW won’t brand-blend to the extent that Smackdown and ECW did.

For me, that diluted both brands. I’d hate to see RAW dragged down that path. No start-date has been announced just yet.

After working out and hitting the ellipticals, RVD… Rob Van Dam… is finally headed back to the pro wrestling ring, though not for WWE and, surprisingly, not for TNA, either.

Instead, RVD will be appearing in a taping for Nu-Wrestling Evolution. The show will be taped in the Canary Islands. NWE is a minor pro circuit that mostly works Spanish-language territories. Other one-time WWE talent currently featured on NWE cards include Rikiski (wrestling now as Kishi), Jackie Gayda, and Juvi Guerrerra. Ultimate Warrior will also soon be added to their roster.

It’s certainly not the big-time, but only time will tell if RVD can build on the appearance and work his way back to either WWE or TNA.