JBL Announces return as Smackdown commentator:
Former WWE Champion JBL has announced he will be returning to his old gig as Smackdown announcer on a full time basis. “Very happy WWE and I have worked out a deal for me to return on a full time basis. There came a need when my friend Jerry Lawler had a heart attack and was not able to work, however, I realized how much I enjoyed being back and this was the basis for my decision to return,” Bradshaw wrote on Facebook. “I will doing Smackdown with Josh Matthews. I have filled in on Main Event some but mainly when Miz has a large part in the show and can’t do commentary. Raw is 100% Jerry’s. He and Michael are a great team, I enjoy listening to Jerry and there are no plans for a three man booth with me in it. I am happy on Smackdown. It looks like I will be doing PPVs as a representative for the Smackdown brand as part of a three man booth with Cole and King.”

JBL had a successful run as Smackdown commentator in 2006-2007 alongside Michael Cole. Since Cole now plays the heel, it make sense to put him with Matthews and also gives the show some star Power in the booth. Discussing his old partner JBL wrote:

“I cannot say enough how impressed I am with Michael Cole, there is so much more to the commentary game now and he is the best I have seen. Josh prepares well and we don’t have the sync that Michael and I have yet, but we will get there. Josh is fun to work with, I love when I get him so frustrated he throws his hands up in the air not knowing what I will say next. Michael and I had a year of commentary behind us already when I returned, Josh and I have only been doing it for a short time.”

“I truly love this business, one of my youngest memories as a kid was watching The Von Erich wrestling out of Dallas on Saturday nights. I missed being a part of it over the last few years. I have been amazed at how hard these guys work, it is a pleasure to be calling their matches. And a pleasure to do homework on each guy so that I can do my part. When I first had to retire it was the same as my first year coaching football at TVCC in Athens Texas-I was still too close to it to really enjoy the work. When I was coaching I was still playing in the World League so I had more desire to play than to just coach. My first commentary run I had just found out I was hurt and couldn’t wrestle and my desire was to return to the ring. I was doing commentary thinking that I might be able to return one day. I now just enjoy doing commentary, and no, have no desire to ever be in the ring again. I am in the best shape I have probably ever been in due to the mountain training, but a twisted knee, ankle or back and I lose my dream of the Seven Summits-not worth the risk to me and I had my time and I loved it. Commentary is where I want to be.”

JBL also discussed the upcoming Survivor Series PPV and the time he lost a major push because Tim White erroneously counted three and eliminated him from a Survivor Series match back in 1996:

“My first Survivor Series my team was to go over and it was to be my first big push. It was one of first times refs used ear pieces, or at least, different ear pieces. So, I do a ‘false finish’ and Tim White counts me out! I had kicked out on ’2′ but Tim was listening to someone in his ear and wasn’t paying attention. He looked up and said, ‘Oh my God, kid, I am so sorry’ but then had to pantomine he was sending me out of ring. I got to the back and was chewed out, I couldn’t stooge Tim so I just took it-later they realized Tim made a mistake and told me they were sorry. It was my pal Gerald Brisco that had chewed me out as he ran ‘Gorilla’ back then. My push was killed and pretty much so was ‘Justin Hawk Bradshaw’, but that is a different story-which I’ll tell later. I thought about this today as I was reading some tweets from folks about Survivor Series.”
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Rowdy Roddy Piper slams Linda for expensive senate run:
Wrestling legend Roddy Piper has never shied away from criticizing the McMahons even though they sporadically give him work. Hotrod took to Twitter yesterday to slam Linda McMahon for her expensive Connecticut Senate run: “[Linda] can spend 90 million on a losing election but won’t give the people that earned that money for them medical or retirement help of any kind!”

Linda broke political records by spending nearly $100 million on two failed campaigns, one in 2010 losing to Richard Blumenthal and the most recent attempt which culminated this week, with her loss to Democratic Representative Chris Murphy.

Piper has always been at the forefront of talks about a wrestling union and medical care. He was fired from WWE in 2003 after appearing on HBO’s Real Sports investigation in to pro wrestler deaths and drug problems. He claimed promoters run wrestlers in to the ground and that’s why they were dropping like flies. “[Promoters] take them and mess them up so much…I remember doing 90 one night stands in row,” he said in the piece.

The WWE Hall of Famer compared Linda McMahon’s exorbitant spending failures to Vince McMahons failed body-building promotion from the 90s:
“It’s like the WBF all over again; money spent on alternate endeavors earned from the blood & sweat of the boys.”

Piper also took the WWE to task for forcing lower card talent to often cover their own travel expenses. “They can spend 90 mill on elections but still make midcarders pay their and their family own way for wrestlemania. crazy.” This year’s mega-event generated a record-breaking $102.7 million for the Miami, Florida, economy and revenues of $67 Million for WWE through ticket sales and PPV buys.

Hotrod was not the only one upset with Linda. Hilarious footage captured from her concession speech shows Vince McMahon looking like he’s about to cry. Jump to the 2 minute mark:

As reported yesterday, despite Linda’s loss its not feasible for WWE to ditch the PG content for at least another few years as business deals are already in place that ride on the child-focused content.
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How does being British affect overness in WWE?:
In a recent interview with DigitalSpy.com Wade Barrett and William Regal were asked whether being British was a curse or a blessing in getting over with the American WWE audience.

Regal said its talent that matters not nationality:
“I don’t think it’s any harder than for anyone else once you get yourself over there. Getting over there is the hard thing. If you’ve got the talent it’ll shine through. I went over there when there was no-one there. It was difficult. But I think it helps if anything, just to be English, just to be a bit different. It definitely helped me. I was the only English character at the time. Obviously there was the Bulldog, but he was his own entity – he was a completely different thing away from what I was doing. It gave me a bit of a boost really.”

Wade Barret said that in the current climate it actually helped him get his job:
“I think increasingly WWE is a global company – as much as they can they want to push out into new markets like Europe. I think it’s definitely been a help in a sense that I’m English. But again it’s ultimately down to talent. Being English helped me get a foot in the door, but ultimately it’s down to my talent and hard work in trying to get to that top level.”

Regal currently works with NXT, which still airs in international markets, and Barrett is verging on main event status.
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Chris Jericho talks future:
There is still no new negotiations between Chris Jericho and WWE about returning to the company. WWE wanted Y2J back full time, but Jericho stood his ground and wanted to continue with his various outside projects. If he does return at some point in the future, Jericho wants it to be a short term deal meeting his outside demands. “If I do come back to the WWE, it’s just going to be for a short term, that’s just the way it is now,” Jericho told the Radio Caley show.

Jericho has two passions and he doesn’t want to give one any more attention than the other:

“The only things I wanted to do when I was a kid was I wanted to be in a rock and roll band and I wanted to be a wrestler — you know, entertainers. That’s kind of what I realized I was early, early on in my career. I’m not this, I’m not that, I’m just an entertainer. Anything that falls within those boundaries that I feel I can do to the best of my abilities, I’m going to do it. I’m going to give it a try and I’m going to make it work. So, yeah, it’s kind of cool to have you list all of those things. I’ve done a lot of s–t in my time which is cool. But it also comes from the same place of wanting to entertain people and wanting to be a showman.”

Jericho said his current focus his latest book and his band Fozzy:

“There won’t be a return to Monday Night Raw anytime soon. My whole schedule now is based around Fozzy. So, I think probably — the book is what we’re working on now and we’re already writing songs for the next record. If Fozzy’s taking a break making a new record, maybe I’ll come back. But, until then, wrestling is kind of the last thing on my plate. I’ve got so many other things going on. Most of it is Fozzy at this point in time and that’s the way I want it.”

Listen to the full interview below, including Jericho’s thoughts on Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler:

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WWE Attitude Era DVD cover:
The cover art for WWE’s upcoming Attitude Era DVD has finally been released. Rumor has it that all promotional material was held back until Linda’s senate campaign was over because her opponents began to point out that WWE were still making money off their past controversial content:

The three disc DVD and two disc Blu-Ray set is scheduled for release on November 20th:
“In the late-90s, WWE was struggling for ratings survival while a cultural shift in the viewing audience’s taste was occurring. “Saying your prayers and taking your vitamins” had lost its luster amongst the rebellious masses who preferred “flipping the bird” and “laying the smackdown”… Enter Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H and Mankind and the notorious crop of edge and fearless Superstars who ushered in The Attitude Era. Now in this 3DVD set fans can own all the infamous moments from this controversial and revolutionary era that redefined sports entertainment for an entire generation. Over 8-hours of envelope-pushing content includes all the aggression, antics and innuendos that proved to be the perfect cocktail for an explosion of popularity.”

It features a documentary and some of the era’s greatest matches, but some of the edgier content has been stripped to reflect the current PG Era.