Joe's 411: B/R Pro-Wrestling News (May 4)

Welcome to Joe's 411-B/R Pro-Wrestling News May 4 installment. All the news you want to know for today, will be here as of the time of the article being published.

Word has been going around that Shawn Michaels will be out of action for a few months because of knee problems he is trying to recover from. However word has it that Shawn Michaels is being advertised by WWE for tonight’s WWE RAW.

Now these are planned months in advance usually, but the fact that he has not been taken off the card yet is puzzling.

They have known that HBK would be taking time off after Wrestlemania for a while. So you would think they would have never put him on the card if he wasn't going to appear.

We will have to watch tonight and see if he does indeed return for his first appearance since Wrestlemania 25 against the Undertaker.

Speaking of The Undertaker...

He is still suffering from knee and hip problems and was not brought to the SmackDown tapings this past week in Madison Square Garden. Word is that Taker would be undergoing some minor surgery on his knee and will be out of action for a few more months.

People backstage have no idea what would happen if Taker went in for surgery and they found more serious damage once inside. He may have to retire sooner than expected if that happens.

This is one of the reasons that WWE is wanting to go with the John Morrison face turn and one of the reasons why they made sure CM Punk is being seen as a top face on the SmackDown brand.

The WWE isn’t certain about Jeff Hardy or The Undertaker’s future right now. With Hardy's contract and Taker's medical issues, you cannot blame them. People have wanted to see Morrison turn face for a while.

He did the heel role for most of his career, but when he was with the Miz, fans loved his tweener role. They wanted to see him succeed more than Miz. People knew he had the most talent out of the two.

However the problem is that SmackDown has two big name heels in Edge and Jericho. And even having Shelton Benjamin there as a third heel. He would be lost if he stayed in the heel role.

The reason the WWE took him out of the Scramble match and we saw a Fatal Four Way match instead was to put Morrison over against Benjamin and make him look great. He wouldn't have won the Scramble match.

He would have been looking good, but plans were to put Hardy in the World Heavyweight Championship match anyway.

So they felt they needed to put Morrison over. And now with his backstage altercation with Jericho, we may see a match between the two Friday on SmackDown. WE also may see Morrison go over on Jericho too. Obviously to push his face run.

The WWE knew fans wanted to cheer for Morrison for a long time, they just needed a face version of him to really make it work.

On the TNA Front

Dennis Rodman was hanging out in Miami, Fla., this past week with TNA’s Jeremy Borash. Apparently Rodman was asking about coming in to work for TNA like Danny Bonaduce did.

Rodman was the winner of Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling and worked for WCW in the past as a member of the nWo for a while.

While I like Rodman, I do not think he should go to TNA. The Bonaduce thing did not work out for TNA and they really knew it was a bad idea to begin with.

Which is why they pushed it off the LockDown PPV and never showed a thing on it on iMPACT other than telling people to go to TNAWrestling.com to see it.

I watched the Bonaduce match with Eric Young personally. It was not that great, sorry to say. With that said, I do not see Rodman making his way to TNA anytime soon. That is, if TNA is smart.

Going back to the WWE

ECW GM Tiffany has been talked about by WWE management, and there are already talks of replacing her in the near future. A lot will depend on what Tommy Dreamer decides to do.

His contract will legitimately be expiring in a few months and there is talk of making him the General Manager of ECW should he decide to re-sign with the company.

Internally, the feeling is that she isn't projecting well enough in her role as a result of her poor delivery on the mic, which I can understand.

She could do so well there, but if she talks monotone or keeps talking as if she is trying to remember her lines, that will hurt her in my mind.

She was not in FCW for a long time before moving up to ECW to be Teddy Long's assistant. When Long left she was put in as ECW GM, while Long went to SmackDown to be the GM there.

She is only the third woman to ever hold a GM spot in the company, the first was Stephanie McMahon, then Vickie Guerrero. So she would have to be liked by management to even get the role as ECW GM.

Long would have still been there if Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes would have taken the spot as SmackDown GM, which was offered to them by Stephanie, but turned down.

So Tiffany was a last choice, however she is the GM there right now. If she can improve, I see her staying. Of course Dreamer is still a prime factor here too.

On SmackDown Commentator Jim Ross' Blog he talked about Tag Team Wrestling in the WWE:

"We get tons of emails about tag team wrestling in today's TV wrestling marketplace. Bottom line is this.....great tag team wrestling has its place in the business without question and I am a long time fan of some of the greatest tag teams ever in wrestling.

"Back in the day, no one wanted to follow a Midnight Express vs. Rock 'n Roll Express bout on any card if they didn't have to. However, teams like that don't exist any longer. Period. Bottom line. End off story.

If teams can come together organically and develop natural rivalries with other quality teams, then I say go for it. However, to simply throw teams together, as some fans suggest, for the sake of having a tag bout on TV makes little sense to me.

"Over the years, with some exceptions, the big money in wrestling has always been in one on one bouts and that fact hasn't changed today in my view.

With the overall lack of quality, main event level depth within the business today, I do not see red hot, tag team wrestling returning any time soon to the scene especially if fans are looking for several, established teams to dot the landscape."

I have to really disagree with Good Ol' JR. Sounds like he is making excuses for the WWE. Does he watch TNA?

There are guys like Midnight Express and Rock 'n Roll Express out there and teams just like them. Heck they had one in the WWE in Miz and Morrison.

TNA has the Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money Inc. The Dudleys, LAX, etc. All are there to be part of the tag team division.

I say if you want to get good tag teams, bring in a tag team and not just a wrestler and then try to put them together with another.

JR has a significant role in doing that, so it can happen.

I remember back in the '90s we saw them bring in Edge and Christian, The Hardy brothers, The Dudleys, and others as a tag team. They were not singles wrestlers in the WWE at the time. At least not big name wrestlers anyway.

They made a huge impact as a tag team and many of them made a big name in the singles wrestling scene too.

If you actually want to make the tag division get better you can, don't say there are not any other teams out there who can be big in the company, JR. If you want to actually prove your a tag team wrestling fan, prove it and get some better talent in.

I know you can do it JR, as you are the key member in getting talent in the WWE along with the McMahons.

I am starting something new here in the wrestling section, at least for me.

When looking for news across the Internet, you look for specific news many times. Like when will Christian make his WWE return, when will Randy Orton win the WWE Title, etc.

Of course all of those have happened already, but you get it.

So to save you the time, I am going to look for the news you want to see and bring it to Joe's 411: B/R Pro-Wrestling News.

Leave a comment about what you want to know, or shoot me an e-mail at: [e-mail]

And of course if you want to comment on the news I brought today, please do.

That is all for today.

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