• Wrestling News & Wrestling Rumors – WWE & TNA

- WWE has signed a deal with Gorilla Nation, a digital brand sales company, to help them better integrate their digital media and videos with online ad sales.

- Former ECW head honcho Paul Heyman updated his Heyman Hustle blog today with a critique of Undertaker’s return at Summerslam:

“Punk did not cheat to win. His only beef has been with Jeff Hardy, whose lifestyle Punk finds offensive. While Punk’s antics on Smackdown are starting to paint him as preachy hypocrite, he has not picked a fight with anyone other than Hardy. He certainly has done nothing to earn the wrath, or deserve a beating from The Undertaker.

The babyface picked a fight with the heel … beat him up after a grueling match in which the heel did nothing to cheat or deprive another babyface, who happened to be champion, of an outcome that could be deemed “honest and justified.” Justice was not served at the end of SummerSlam, and the Big Dog did not need to protect his yard from this newest top tier performer.

So, why was it right for a babyface to chokeslam a heel, when the heel did nothing in the match to elicit a hostile, disdainful response except win the match in which he was competing against a more popular performer? Why was it right for this babyface to chokeslam the heel, who has never crossed that babyface’s path? Why is this storyline different from all other storylines?

The reason is because World Wrestling Entertainment smartly wanted to shift your attention away from the wounded warrior Jeff Hardy, and place the emphasis on the new direction the championship story on Smackdown will need to take. If Jeff Hardy was going to stay in WWE, this would be a shortcut to Undertaker challenging Punk, and it would be all wrong for business. But it’s the very fact that Hardy is taking a hiatus from WWE that makes this not only a memorable moment in SummerSlam history, but also the right move at the right time with the right players involved.

When SummerSlam went off the air, the majority of the audience was excited by the possibility of hero-crushing CM Punk getting his comeuppance and facing a heavy dues-paying session from the legendary Demon of Death Valley. The clean-living champion, who doesn’t suffer from facing personal demons, must now face the biggest baddest Demon in the land … and by his actions in the final moments of the SummerSlam broadcast, that Demon signified he wants to take from Punk what Punk took from Hardy … the World Heavyweight Championship.

Hardy, whose spectacular falls and crashes pale in comparison to the amazing feat he accomplished by busting through the WWE Main Event Glass Ceiling, will take time off after this week’s Smackdown taping. Having the audience thinking about Hardy’s remarkable performance at SummerSlam means zero dollars for WWE and its shareholders. An audience that dreams of Hardy gaining retribution and winning back his championship is an audience that contributes nothing to the WWE till. Something had to be done to shift the focus, and place the spotlight directly on where the championship storyline was immediately headed.”

- Following Raw last night Pat Patterson sang “My Way” in celebration of Vince’s 64th birthday. Prior to the show Jamie Noble defeated Alex Riley in a dark match.