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In a surprise move, The CW network has confirmed that WWE SmackDown no longer fits in with their network concept. Of course, this move has been a long time in coming, seeming inevitable ever since UPN merged with The WB.

Word on the street has it that The CW wants to gear its programming more toward a female demographic, which of course SmackDown doesn’t fit into. The WWE is said to be actively marketing the SmackDown program to other networks, including MyNetworks as well as NBC/Universal, with an eye toward forging a home for the show on USA or SciFi, both of which already play host to WWE programming.

In other WWE-related TV news, USA Network just signed an extension with WWE to keep Raw on their network until 2010; no word on whether ECW will be renewed on SciFi, moved to a new media partner, or combined with SmackDown.

Of course, none of this is cause for panic; WWE’s contracts were up and change was inevitable. It will be interesting to see if WWE continues the three-brand approach or retracts. It could easily be argued that the main reason for WWE SmackDown being removed from the CW’s schedule is not only falling ratings, but the fact that the show lacks any significant star power, while Raw is overflowing with it.

Prediction: For SmackDown to survive, WWE will have to shake things up significantly on their roster, balancing the shows far more evenly than they currently do. While MyNetworks is a good underdog destination for the show, we expect USA to stand pat with Raw, while SmackDown will go away as a brand, and ECW will be expanded to two hours while staying on SciFi. To protect their brands, expect an ECW Invades SmackDown storyline this summer, coinciding with the One Night Stand PPV, that creates the new product, which we think will be called ECW SmackDown. Yes, that’ means no WWE on broadcast network TV, though NBC may agree to increase the number of Saturday Night Main Events to as many as six broadcasts per year, coinciding with the bigger PPV events, as alternate programming to Saturday Night Live reruns. And finally, yes, by eliminating SmackDown and expanding ECW, some wrestlers will lose their spots in the company; but a leaner, two-brand approach is just what WWE needs to regain a foothold on viewership.

Former WWE champion John Cena, sidelined last fall with a shoulder injury that promised to keep him out beyond WrestleMania, returned to the active roster on Sunday as the 30th entrant in the Royal Rumble and went on to win the match and earn an automatic title shot against the champion of his choice at WrestleMania. It is almost a guarantee that Cena, who was injured by Orton, will focus on regaining his WWE title from the Legend Killer, rather than jump brands to take on Edge on SmackDown or C.M. Punk on ECW.

The Rumble event featured classic wrestlers Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Mick Foley, all sporting their retirement luxury watches; Cena’s spot had been teased to be the return of The Big Show, Paul Wight, who did not appear at the Rumble. Instead, Cena returned at least four months ahead of his announced recovery schedule, a turn of events that, while likely planned, has to have Vince McMahon and WWE stockholders sighing in relief.

Unlike previous Rumbles, no one Superstar was given a dominating run; Undertaker, Triple H and Kane all eliminate three or four guys, but only the eventual winner, Cena, had a real dominant stretch leading to the win. Even then, Cena eliminated only four, including Triple H for the win. In previous years, some WWE superstars have been allowed “ring-clearing runs,” eliminating up for six or more superstars to establish their dominance despite not being given a Rumble victory. That didn’t happen this year.

The when and where of Paul “The Big Show” Wight’s return remains a mystery but is still expected to take place, despite being used as a red herring to cover the return of Cena.

Ric Flair earned a victory over MVP as part of the opening match to the 2008 edition of the WWE Royal Rumble PPV. In the ongoing storyline for Flair, the Nature Boy will continue to have a job with WWE until the next time he loses a match. The storyline has led to Flair winning five consecutive matches, including the win Sunday night over MVP.

While Flair wasn’t vamping it up by wearing a bustiers or another other such showman nonsense, his matches since this storyline began did have the feeling of being a retirement / final tour storyline. The PPV event was held at Madison Square Garden. Flair wrestled at the facility for the first time in 1976, do to still be in the ring, winning matches, 32 years later and in his 50s is an achievement worthy of the Verne Gagne era of pro wrestling.

Professional wrestler Paul Wight, better known to WWE fans as The Big Show, has signed an all-new WWE contract and is set to return to television any time now; in fact, he could conceivably end up as a Royal Rumble surprise guest, either in the Rumble or inserted into one of the other championship matches scheduled for that PPV event.

Wight may be hard to recognize when he returns to the WWE ring. During his year-long hiatus, Wight spent 2007 training as a professional boxer. In that time, he dropped 60 pounds to 440, and at a solid seven feet high, may be a bit shorter but is now cutting a figure a bit closer to the physique The Great Khali has achieved. In some online interviews, he has also confessed to giving up a smoking habit, which may help him breathe better and therefore perform better in the ring.

While out of the WWE, Wight wrestled an indy match against Hulk Hogan and adopted the new moniker of Paul “The Great” Wight; however, it is expected that, at least initially, WWE will reintroduce him to their audience as The Big Show. Whether the company will eventually incorporate Wight’s new in-ring persona into his wrestling career remains to be seen; it’s just too early to know.

There are several ways for Wight to make an impact in his return. The most obvious would be to have him be a surprise entrant into the Royal Rumble. With his new, trimmer physique, he could be sold more credibly as an unstoppable threat.

When Wight last appeared in a WWE-owned ring, he was part of the ECW on SciFi franchise and his return could help that broadcast, which is struggling in the ratings as more and more people are tuning out of TV as the writer’s strike has a bigger and bigger impact on audiences with new episodes drying up. Even though WWE broadcasts are unaffected by the strike, and feature new episodes every week of the year, it seems a receding tide lowers all boats and as viewers abandon TV in general, WWE’s broadcast numbers are sinking at a time one might expect them to be gaining.

If handled well, Wight’s return could help reverse this trend. Inserting Wight into the ECW title match at the Royal Rumble would be another way to go; he could be used to cost CM Punk the title and become an immediate title shot threat. Or Wight could be shipped to SmackDown to help that show’s ratings.

About the only place ProWrestlingViews.com doesn’t want to see Wight is the already overstocked with main event talent Raw broadcast. If Wight is placed on the Raw roster, he’ll almost certainly sink to second-tier status, as happened to Chris Jericho, who also recently returned after an extended hiatus from the Fed.

One thing’s for sure: if Wight is as fit as billed, an eventual clash with the Great Khali, if built up correctly, could be a match that would be WrestleMania-worthy. Just be sure to keep the medical supplies on hand at that one!

This week’s SmackDown featured what could become Montel Vontavious Porter’s big chance to grab a portion of the WrestleMania spotlight in the first weekend of April. In a match that featured relatively little setup, Batista battled MVP over the “honor” of Ric Flair’s legacy.

Now, it is ProWrestlingViews.com’s position that, far from being the 2007 wrestler of the year that WWE claims him to be, Batista is the most overexposed and overhyped performer of 2007. However, it’s also clear that main event status runs through Batista over on SmackDown, so even though he doesn’t hold the belt, clashing with Batista can only help MVP in his rise to main event status.

Clad in tights and sheepskin boots, MVP and Batista had a great TV match that showed the potential of the feud without giving away so much that it would diminish PPV buy rates. Batista does the “unstoppable force” thing well, and MVP is a versatile enough performer to pull a watchable match out of him.

Most think Batista is headed for a title match against Edge at WrestleMania, but if the company (hopefully) changes course from overexposing the Beast in the WWE title picture, a feud with MVP that reaches its zenith at WrestleMania might be a good use of Batista outside the title picture, and help push MVP into main event status. That could be good for both mens’ careers.

The worst storyline going on on Friday Night SmackDown lately has to be the “Edge is dating Vickie Guerrero” storyline. Granted, in real life, Vickie Guerrero does not have to eternally remain Eddie’s widow. She has the right to move on with her life.

Yet does that real-life fact have to be played out in such a disgusting, in-ring manner? Exploiting real-life tragedies for ratings has long been a staple of WWE programming, but it rarely pays off well; it costs the company fans in the long run and any temporary ratings bump is short-lived.

We all know that in real life, Edge is not involved with Vickie Guerrero, so using that as an in-ring storyline makes the tale seem all that more sleazy and exploitive. More than any other WWE broadcast, SmackDown is in need of some serious home improvements prior to WrestleMania. Quickly resolving and flushing this storyline should be at the top of WWE’s to-do list.

You don’t need Delta machinery to determine that the main attraction for the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV will be the Royal Rumble match itself. Here’s what we know about the event so far.

We do know, thanks to a Ric Flair “win or retire” match, that Triple H will not be in the Rumble. Thank the L-rd!

We also know that the match will feature both Mick Foley and Hornswoggle, which means there will be at least some retro superstar appeal as well as some comic relief in the match, which is good. Umaga will be there, but will likely be the target of an early “gang up on the big guy” ejection, which is a Royal Rumble tradition.

The next few weeks leading up to the PPV will have a lot of Royal Rumble qualifying matches. Let’s hope WWE makes it a great one!

With all the top-name wrestlers on the Raw roster these days, it’s no wonder ECW and SmackDown seem like second-rate broadcasts for WWE. While having big names on one roster can make some fans so joyful they’ll toss wedding flowers even at Stephanie McMahon, the power-shift could be hurting the evenness of WWE’s brands.

Consider for a moment all the main-event caliber talent on the Raw roster, including wrestlers who are scheduled to return from injury eventually. We have:

• Randy Orton
• Triple H
• John Cena (injured)
• Bobby Lashley (injured)
• Jeff Hardy
• Umaga
• Shawn Michaels
• Mr. Kennedy
• Chris Jericho

That’s nine headliners on one show. Compare that to ECW:

• CM Punk
• John Morrison

ECW is so talent-dry right now (even Rob Van Dam isn’t listed on WWE.com) that The Miz is probably in the ECW main event mix. That’s sad. And SmackDown isn’t much better off.

• Edge
• MVP
• Batista
• Undertaker
• The Great Khali
• Rey Mysterio

Now, SmackDown has former main eventer Kane, who wore out his welcome long ago, and Matt Hardy, who’s never really taken off like his brother Jeff, primarily because WWE got skittish about truly capitalizing on the real-life heat between Edge and Matt over real-life girlfriend issues. And they’ve tried and failed to transform Chavo Guerrero and Mark Henry into main eventers. And of those names listed above, Batista, Undertaker and Rey Mysterio, for various and different reasons, should all be one rung down below main event status.

Obviously, some roster shuffling needs to happen to rebalance the three brands; and it needs to happen well before next summer, when the annual draft usually mixed things up. Sending Ric Flair to SmackDown, as seems to have happened recently, isn’t enough of a fix.

Finally past the holiday break, expect Raw, ECW and SmackDown to really gear up from here on out, not only for the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV, but for WrestleMania as well. Like a sturdy colon cleanse, this time of year usually sees WWE jettison storylines that aren’t working and concentrating on building toward big ultimate showdowns for each of their brands.

In ECW, the push seems to be putting off too many clashes between John Morrison and CM Punk, so that they can have their biggest clash at WrestleMania. Here’s hoping it will be an ECW Rules match.

Over on Raw, it’s a bit tough to guess where the Fed is going with Randy Orton. Would they risk switching champs at this late date, putting the strap on Jeff Hardy at the Royal Rumble? Could the Rumble winner become the presumptive challenger for the WWE title on Raw, or the World Championship title on SmackDown? There are more players and uncertainty here, considering John Cena’s out of the picture until after WrestleMania, perhaps returning in time for SummerSlam if things go well.

On SmackDown, as usually, things are grim. Batista is the most overpushed superstar on their roster and yet another Undertaker showdown seems inevitable. While Edge is providing some freshness, Finlay is both annoying and boring. The Great Khali might figure into the picture, but the best all-around personality would be the under-utilized MVP.

The next few weeks could determine a lot.

WWE Monday Night Raw turned 15 years old this past week, and it doesn’t take Doink the Clown dressed in a pair of golf shoes to point out what a watershed moment that marks. The 15th anniversary show had plenty of guest appearances for nostalgia’s sake, including Marty Jennetty, Mick Foley, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a 15-man battle royale involving a lot of lesser-name jobbers from the past decade and a half.

Of course, personally, I had a lot of favorite moments that I appreciated. It was fun seeing Chris Jericho confront Eric Bischoff so soon into Jericho’s return after a two year absence; Bischoff, in the storyline, fired Jericho when Y2J left WWE to pursue his music career. Having Jericho come back and get his revenge was a satisfying storyline moment for longtime fans.

I also enjoyed the Evolution reunion, especially the flashback when Evolution betrayed Orton. Back then, Orton was the babyface and Evolution were the heels; now those roles have changed and it was surprising how well the betrayal moments still worked.

The only two notable superstars missing on the night were Bret “the Hitman” Hart and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Too bad.

Mutilchannel News broke the story that NBC-Universal and the WWE have extended their current TV contract by an additional two years, through 2010; the current deal only ran through 2008.

Although no Cartier watches were exchanged, the new contract does call for a higher payout to WWE for programming, above the current level of $31 million per year.

NBC-Universal airs WWE Monday Night Raw on the USA Network, as well as ECW broadcasts on the SciFi Channel; the agreement also means there will be more WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event specials on NBC periodically throughout the year, when Saturday Night Live would normally be broadcasting reruns.

The agreement keeps the lion’s share of WWE-branded programming on NBC-Universal venues; the exception is WWE Friday Night SmackDown, which airs on the CBS-Warner Brothers-owned CW Network.

For the second PPV in a row, WWE is ending things with a SmackDown World Heavyweight title match involving Batista and Undertaker. I enjoy ‘Taker, but the only way anyone could ever get me to admit that Batista’s a good champion is if the ONLY alternative was to make Finlay champ. Yes, that would be worse, so no thanks, my friend.

I guess what salvages the choice to put it at the end is that it IS a Hell In A Cell match; too bad Mick Foley isn’t involved. But I guess he’s better off hawking diet pills than trying to maintain an in-ring career at this point.

Taker dominated early and I’m kind of pleased to say that it wasn’t a “lazy big-man” match like last month. Something about the Hell In a Cell match seems to bring out the best in whoever is involved, and this one gets pretty brutal and pretty amazing at the same time. The action seems faster and more brutal.

Taker seemed on his way to the win when the all-too-publicized return of Edge screw-jobbed him out of it. Edge was hiding under the ring and gets up inside and breaks up the count. He then hits Taker with a variety of objects, including a chairshot of the sort that I thought he vowed would be banned in WWE, in the wake of both the Chris Benoit Family Tragedy and the drug-steroid scandals that followed. But then, Edge is one of those rumored to have suffered a ‘roid-related suspension, so maybe he wasn’t exactly setting at home watching when the word came down from VKM.

Anyway, Edge knocks Taker senseless, drapes Batista over Taker and allows The Beast to get a cheap win. So I guess he figures Batista is more of a clear-cut good guy for him to feud against in his quest to regain the World Title. Maybe that’ll help business on Smackdown pick up. Time will tell.

WINNER: Batista (with some help from Edge)
RATING: 8.6