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Archive for May 26th, 2010

The next three guest hosts for Raw have been announced; apparently the guest host concept is alive and well, despite Raw naming Bret Hard the new Raw general manager.

Next Monday, Ashton Kutcher will appear to host and promote his new movie, The Killers. After that, there will be a three-hour Raw on June 7 featuring the cast of the new A-Team movie, which includes UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the Mister T role, as well as Bradley Cooper and Sharlto Copley.

Finally, Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein will host on June 14 in a tidy cross-promotion between Raw and the USA dramedy. With a lineup like this, it looks like Bret Hart won’t have to work too hard as the new Raw GM after all. Guess he won’t have to peruse the PA job listings any time soon, then! Good deal!

Carlito Colon, son of legendary Puerto Rican wrestling promoter Carlos Colon, was released from WWE last week, and Carlos has stepped forward with details on his son’s WWE release.

Officially, WWE stated that Carlito had a first-offense violation of the company’s wellness policy and that he was released when he refused to submit to WWE’s rehab program. In order to fend off rumors of his son possibly using illegal narcotic drugs such as cocaine or marijuana, Carlos revealed to the Primera Hora newspaper that his son had developed an addiction to painkillers in the course of dealing with back pain related to an injury.

Painkillers and other prescription drugs, when abused, can lead to untimely deaths just as easily as illicit narcotics. Painkillers may seem as harmless as the best natural acne treatment compared to cocaine, but the untimely deaths of wrestlers like Eddit “Umaga” Fatu and Andrew “Test” Martin are the most recent reminders that the WWE Wellness Policy includes painkiller abuse in their guidelines for good reason.

According to Carlos’ account, Carlito did not recognize his own addiction when confronted by WWE with the violation, and refused rehab because of that. Carlos also claims that WWE is willing to accept Carlito back into their employ if he agrees to submit to rehab.

That claim has not been verified by WWE, which simply has released its brief PR statement on Carlito’s release and has made no further on-record comment on the matter, per WWE policy.

Former WWE and TNA wrestler Bobby Lashley has been pulled from June’s big Strikeforce card, due to a knee injury. Lashley, who has posted an impressive 5-0 record in his MMA career thus far, was scheduled to headline the card.

The fight, scheduled for Los Angeles, has no HGH connections; Lashley is considered a rising Strikeforce star, though he has not yet drawn the interest of UFC President Dana White.

The injury is believed to be minor; Lashley’s fight will be rescheduled once his injury and rehab process have been more closely evaluated.

In becoming Raw general manager, Bret Hart announced he was vacating the US Title he won off The Miz last week and that Miz would face top contender R-Truth to determine the new champ. R-Truth, coming off a nice win over Ted DiBiase Jr. at the Over the Top PPV, put on a show and was awarded the title.

This win sets up a natural feud over the US title between R-Truth and the Miz, which ought to make for more good matches, if this title match was any indicator. They displayed good in-ring chemistry and told a good tale from a ring psychology standpoint without over-relying on high-spots.

The Miz, who has obviously been laying off the weight loss diet supplements since his Real World New Orleans days, has matured into a solid heel, though he hasn’t yet rid himself of that youthful, Real World look.