Daniel Bryan Screwed On Raw:
While it’s generally accepted that WWE fix a lot of their polls, Daniel Bryan himself seems to be working it in to a storyline following Raw.

“Hmmm… I smell corruption! “This week: #WWEBryan 585 – 408 #WWEKane http://hashtagbattle.com/#battle/w/%23WWEBryan/%23WWEKane … via @hashtagbattle”, wrote the Tag Team Champion on Twitter.

The WWE Universe were given the chance to vote on who would take on CM Punk, but it was quite surprising that Kane “won” the vote.
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Earl Hebner & Julie Hart remember Screwjob:
Bret Hart‘s ex-wife and TNA referee Earl Hebner discussed the anniversary of the Montreal Scewjob on Inside the Ropes last week.

Hebner, the former WWE referee who called for the bell said: “Bret had plenty of time to drop the belt.”

“He could’ve dropped it in the United States. I didn’t know much about the deal with those two but he could’ve dropped the belt to anyone, hell he could’ve dropped it to me. But he had an ego and he didn’t wanna do it. Time was running out. If you’re leavin you drop the strap, he didn’t wanna do it. If you remember Alundra Blayze went down there and dropped the Womens belt in the trash. Now if you have a $3 million deal to go to another company, why would you even hesitate to drop the belt? I mean why? Your moneys already guaranteed when you get there. Just drop it and go. A lot of people put him over, made him who he is. So he’s gonna refuse to drop it and make those guys look like idiots? This business is a work.”

Swearing on his kid’s lives to Bret that he wouldn’t screw him:
“I was sitting on a plane with Bret. His very words “Will you count me out?” I said “If you keep your shoulder up, I will not count you out” Which I didn’t count him out. Did he get pinned 1.2.3? You stop and think about my position. I’m thinking about the guys in the back. Austin, Undertaker, Rocky all the guys that put him over as being the Worlds Champion, we made him what he was, so he’s leaving us and he’s screwing us because he doesn’t want to drop the belt. So on my way to the ring, I’m thinking it’s not fair. Someone asked me, I won’t say who, about two minutes before I walked to the ring, I said I can’t tell you what I’m gonna do, but when I walked to the ring, I thought about all the boys back in the dressing room, so it wasn’t right for him to screw 25 guys because of his stubbornness, so thats why I did what I did. When McMahon and Sgt Slaughter came to the ring, whether I had done it or not, that bell was gonna ring. The only thing that made it more official is that I motioned for the bell.”

Could it have been a work?:
“It could have been a work. McMahon, Bret, WCW could’ve all been in on it for all I know. I’m gonna go 50/50 on it. I think it was but I can’t say for sure, but look where Bret is now.”

You can listen to Hebner’s interview here:

Julie Hart, Bret’s wife at the time, discussed when Bret first got suspicious:
“It wasn’t really till we got to Montreal. I remember someone came to Bret and told him that they’d saw Shawn getting into an elevator with Vince in his hotel and that kinda got Bret a little worried. That was earlier in the day. The kids and I had gone shopping and when we got back, Bret said he had to go talk to our lawyer who was in town with us as well. The source, I can’t tell you who it is, but the source had said what happened, so bret went over to our lawyer to talk about it and that’s when Bret really started getting nervous.”

The emergence of the Mr. McMahon character:
“I thought that was horrible but thats what Vince does right? Thats how he markets things. I felt sorry for Bret because he was such a good person to Vince and I felt like “jeez why did you have to go and do that?” But you look at everything now and how things have played out. It was all about the business, and it’s still all about the business. Those things, I guess, shouldn’t have been taken so personal.”

Could it have been a work?:
“Firstly, no it wasn’t work. It was as raw as…..you’d have to be there to experience the emotions that Bret went through. I can honestly say on my childrens head, that none of that stuff was set up. It was as real as you would ever get. That camera was in the place in the right time. It was never set up, it’s sad that people would think that. I know, I was there, my kids were there, I saw what it did to Bret emotionally, for our marriage after that, we were never the same…..”

The Montreal Screwjob took place at Survivor Series 1997, on November 9th.
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Thanksgiving Impact rating:
Last week’s episode of TNA Impact Wrestling drew a 0.8 cable rating on Spike TV, with with an average audience of 1,187,000 viewers.

While it’s a low number, it’s to be expected due to the holidays.
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Chuck Palumbo remembers career:
Former WCW and WWE star Chuck Palumbo discussed his career during a recent interview with the Wrestling101 website.

The 5 time Tag-Team Champion revealed that he wasn’t actually a wrestling fan before he broke in to the business:
“I actually saw an advert on television when I was watching WCW Nitro, they had an ad for the Power Plant. At the time I was in college and I was on a full basketball scholarship, but I decided to leave school early and go for it, it was just one of those things where I made the decision pretty much based on instinct. I never really watched WWE on television and to be honest with you I only really watched WCW for a few months before actually getting into the business.”

On his short WCW run:
“It was great working with guys like Kevin Nash, he was so instrumental in helping the younger guys develop, I appreciated it back then but looking back now having had a long career in the wrestling business it was really cool what they did for us.”

On being present on the final episode of Nitro in 2001:
“It was very strange, we found out about it pretty much that day and the next thing you know here comes Shane McMahon, Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco, and that’s when I realised they were taking over. It was a very surreal experience but at the same time I was very fortunate to be on the last Monday Nitro ever. That night it was Sean O’Haire and myself against Mike Awesome and Lance Storm, so it was a good experience.”

On WCW vs WWE hear during the invasion angle:
“There were some egos in the WWE and WCW, and I never understood this and I think they regret it now, but when we first came in it was like the WWE guys against the WCW guys and if you think about it that’s kinda foolish, if anything the boys should have been bonding but there was a lot of heat in the air.”

On Vince McMahon vs Eric Bischoff:
“Similarities, they are both go getters and hustlers but obviously Vince McMahon is much more disciplined, hungrier, I think he is more intelligent and it shows, Vince is still on top of a huge industry and Eric Bischoff is working as a talent in a very low grade wrestling company,” said Palumbo. “Vince is a very hard worker, he loves the business, respects the business whilst Eric, I don’t think he does as much, I think he is a smart guy but I don’t think he has the same respect for the business, and he did a real number on WCW letting his ego get the better of him.”