NEWS UPDATES 05/03

Here are a couple of news stories.

JOEY STYLES "QUITS" RAW, ACTUALLY FIRED

Many viewers were shocked to hear Joey Styles bombastic comments as he "quit" RAW on Monday night. In all actuality, Joey is being let go because management at WWE was never happy with his announcing. Joey actualy wrote the "I quit" script, handed it into the creative department and it was approved. It is thought the harsh comments were meant to help the formulation of ECW becoming it's own entity really soon. Joey Styles was the announcer for ECW back in the day, but it was a world of difference because he did play by play post production work, that is he added his voice to the weekly shows while it was not live but in a sound stage. (Paul Heymans basement.) Joey did call live PPV's all by himself, but in keeping with WWE's story telling formula, Joey was never able to cross that bridge. WWE was looking for a younger face, and wanted Joey to be a younger version of Jim Ross, a step Joey Styles just couldn't make. Speaking of Good Ole' JR...

JIM ROSS COMING BACK TO RAWS ANNOUNCING BOOTH

WWE has announced that Jim Ross will make his way back to the announcers booth. WWE has made this statement on it's website today: “In the wake of Joey Styles decision to quit World Wrestling Entertainment, Mr. McMahon has been forced to reluctantly give Jim Ross his old job back. Mr. Ross will handle the play-by-play duties on RAW on a probationary basis.” This, of course, is weaving a bit of the storyline into the actual facts. Joey did not quit RAW, he was fired, but I think Joey would have stayed a bit longer had WWE not decided to bring ECW back in a fulltime basis. Don't buy into the probationary basis for JR though, Vince conceded that he made a mistake in replacing him with Joey Styles, and the trio of Joey, The King and Coach wasn't a very good pairing. Speaking of the Coach...

COACH LEAVING ANNOUNCERS BOOTH, TO PLAY MORE OF CHARACTER ROLE

WWE announced that they are taking Jonathon Coachman out of the RAW announcers booth, and they plan on giving him a greater character role in the company. I think Coach is good hosting a particular event, such as the Diva Search, or internet shows, but a full color commentator is not his genre. Overall I think this is a good move. Two people, King and JR are plenty in the booth, ad a third person and it get's to crowded.

BROCK LESNAR SPEAKS!

Brock Lesnar settled his lawsuit he had with WWE over the long no compete clause he signed to earn his release so he could try a football career, but after he got cut by the Minnesota Vikings he wasn't able to wrestle, or compete in any MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, UFC). So, while the actual details of the settlement are confidential, both sides declare victory, and Brock is free to continue wrestling in Japan, where he has been wrestling once a month for a while. Brock spoke at length in an interview with a radio station in Minneapolis, here is highlights from his interview, courtesy of Patty Therre and "On The Fringe".

LESNAR TO MMA, MARRRYING SABLE, NOT GOING TO WWE-5/2 ww.pwinsider.com on 4/28/2006 Brock Lesnar was on the Minneapolis radio station 93X's morning show today. The interview was around 10 minutes in length. He used to be a regular on the show when he was in the WWE, and would come on the air to promote events when the WWE was coming to MN. Highlights included: He got burned out from the travel involved in wrestling. He wanted to pursue an NFL career because he didn't want to be retired and think "what if". Now he has no aspirations to continue to pursue an NFL career. He's currently wrestling in Japan once a month. He just settled his lawsuit with WWE (no details about the settlement). He wants to get into MMA in the US. Sable and Brock are getting married next month. No mention of wanting to come back to the WWE.

HOGAN KNOWS BEST PICKED UP FOR THIRD SEASON

VH1 has announced that a third season of "Hogan Knows Best" will begin filming this fall. Right now they are firmly entrenched in season two, and the show remains very popular.

NEWS AND LAYOUT COURTESY OF PATTY THERRE AND "WRESTLINGONTHEFRINGE.COM"