— Local advertising in the Richmond, Virginia area is promoting the Apr. 26 edition of Monday Night Raw at The Richmond Coliseum as a three-hour WWE Draft spectacular. The show will mark as the 2010 roster draft with Superstars from both Raw and SmackDown changing sides. Ticketmaster.com is running a pre-sale for the event through 10:00 p.m. tonight. The pre-sale code is DRAFT.

— Eve Torres and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel are in Phoenix today doing media and making appearances to promote WrestleMania. Torres noted on her Twitter account that she will be throwing out the first pitch at today’s Los Angeles Dodgers spring training game at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix. She will also be taking part in an autograph signing with Finkel today at 2:30 p.m. at Food City (located 9020 W. Thomas Rd. Phoenix, Arizona). Finally, both Torres and Finkel will be on 101.5 JamZ tonight with the SuperSnake at 5:00 p.m.

— Daniel Bryan has been sparring with David Hart Smith as of late, working on European Catch-style takedowns. The Hart Dynasty member has been training this particular style in recent months. (source: PWInsider.com)

*SPOILER* on the 10th Money in the Bank participant ->

— On his Facebook account, Eric Bischoff responded to a fan’s post regarding Monday’s iMPACT!. He wrote: “On the contrary, we are all convinced (as are most fans) that we proved definitively that we can produce a superior product. While it is going to take some time (and consistency) to gain the market share we hope to gain, we are thrilled with the product we presented, and are more than excited about the future.”

— Former WWE performer Ken Doane (a/k/a Kenny Dykstra), who worked a dark match with Homicide before Tuesday’s iMPACT! taping, received high marks for his tryout. No word yet on whether he’s been offered a contract. (source: PWInsider.com)

— Today is the last day to bid on a few ring worn items TNA Knockout Angelina Love has up for auction including platform boots worn on several episodes of iMPACT! and a beekeeper outfit. You can view the auctions at the following link.

Ring of Honor star Colt Cabana was a guest on the UK Sun’s One Sided Ring Podcast this week and spoke about his short stint in WWE last year. Cabana said his character was never given an identity, he never won any matches and many of the people in WWE didn’t even know who he was. “It was almost like there were two different types of people in WWE. There was the people who knew who I was, and the people who had no clue who I was,” Cabana said. “The people who knew who I was were the ones that liked me doing commentary, were the ones who fought to get me my own Internet show. I was never able to develop as a wrestler or a person. It was upsetting and ignorant.”

He says he likes WWE’s new NXT concept and thinks he would have been a perfect candidate for the show if he was still under contract. “Timing is everything. I think that show was made for me. I think I would have been on that list. A guy like Heath Slater who has been around there forever, they are constantly giving him darks [tryout matches] and bringing him up and they don’t know what to do with him. It’s a perfect scenario for these guys they don’t know what to do with. Just let them go on TV and be themselves. A little bit of me is like ‘man, what I could do with that’. But when I saw that opportunity for NXT and I knew I wasn’t in it, that kinda hit me in the heart a little bit.”

You can listen to the entire interview on iTunes: (One Sided Ring Podcast)

(Credit to TheSun.co.uk for transcribing the quotes)

— Here is the synopsis for WWE’s upcoming DVD set on Undertaker, The Undertaker’s Most Dangerous Matches: “He’s the most ominous presence in the history of Sports Entertainment, known for his remarkable “WrestleMania” streak and taking the souls of scores of superstars. Now the Undertaker’s most dangerous conflicts are collected in one 3-disc DVD set, “Undertaker’s Deadliest Matches”. This set includes “Casket Matches”, “Buried Alive Matches”, “Hell in a Cell”, “Last Ride Matches”, “Body Bag Matches”, “Boiler Room Brawls”, “Concrete Crypt Matches” and numerous other brutal bouts.”

— Today, Batista moves into eighth place all-time of longest reigning WWE World Champions, surpassing “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. He surpassed Randy Savage last week as well. Here is the complete list:

1) Bruno Sammartino – 4,040 days
2) Hulk Hogan – 2,185 days
3) Bob Backlund – 2,138 days
4) Triple H – 1,151 days
5) Pedro Morales – 1,027 days
6) John Cena – 969 days
7) Bret Hart – 654 days
8) Batista – 530 days
9) Steve Austin – 529 days
10) Randy Savage – 520 days

— WWE will be holding a “WrestleMania Kick-off Party” on Friday, Mar. 20 at the Westgate City Center in Glendale, Arizona. WWE Superstars and Divas are scheduled to appear. Click here for more details.

— Former WWE star Shawn Stasiak, 39, claimed recently on Right After Wrestling that he would likely be joining TNA soon. For what it’s worth, people in TNA who would know whether he’s joining or not say his name hasn’t even been mentioned.

The second generation wrestler has been looking to get back into wrestling lately and has been working as a chiropractor since retiring from the industry several years ago.

— A six-episode television series entitled Rob Van Dam’s Extreme Championship Comedy is currently in post-production. It was shot this past January at the Ontario Improv in California with the likes of RVD, Sabu, The Sandman, Paul Heyman, Shelly Martinez, Bill Alfonso, Raven and MMA fighter Justin McCulley appearing in various episodes.

— Jessie Godderz of Big Brother fame, a bodybuilder looking to join the wrestling industry, attended Monday’s iMPACT!.

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— Conspicuously, no Hall of Fame announcement was made this past week on Raw. It is believed that the announcement was cut out due to time constraints as WWE still has three names to announce, with one being Stu Hart. It is believed that his announcement will tie into next week’s WrestleMania contract signing between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon, with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin presiding.

It’s being speculated that WWE and Ultimate Warrior may have come to an agreement on him joining this year’s Hall of Fame class as he appeared in the opening montage before Raw, replacing Ric Flair. At last word, Warrior is not among the scheduled three to be announced. The only thing known about the other two names is that “they are not names that would be expected.”

— Last night’s episode of WWE NXT on Syfy took a twenty-five percent dip in viewership, dropping to 1,298,000 viewers overall. This is down over 400,000 viewers from last week’s 1.73 million viewers and 1.70 million viewers on the debut episode. Overall, the show scored a 1.0 cable rating.

— “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will be the Grand Marshal of the Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Mar. 21, which airs on FOX at noon that day.

sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com, Pro Wrestling Torch

As noted earlier today, there is an unconfirmed report that The Iron Sheik was arrested last week after behaving belligerent on a flight and personnel discovering alcohol among his belongings. The story appears legit as Jim Ross made note of a flight incident involving the WWE Hall of Famer on both his official website and Twitter account last week.

J.R. wrote in a blog post last Friday: “Small world….an old friend of mine was on a flight from Vegas to Atlanta this week and was seated on the same row, row 10, with a reportedly rowdy Iron Sheik. My friend, who is not in the wrestling biz, sent me a few text messages describing the scene which apparently was a little wild. It’s hard to believe that when I first met the Iron Sheik that he was quiet, weighed about 195 pounds or so, had hair, and was then a regular traveling partier with Danny Hodge.”

He then wrote on Twitter, “Friend called from Vegas airport boarding flt 2 Atl. It was loud & noisy. Reason: Iron Sheik was boarding! Maybe 2 many jabroni’s” and “My friend called me and Sheik got met by PO-leese @ ATL airport. Ouch, Daddy.”

The ex-wife of Steve Austin, Jeanie Clarke, who previously worked under the name Lady Blossom in World Championship Wrestling in the early 90s, was scheduled to undergo hip replacement surgery this week in her home country of England. Clarke has suffered from osteoarthritis in her back and hip for the past several years stemming from what she believes was a bad bump during a wrestling match years ago.

Clarke is credited with helping Austin develop his “Stone Cold” persona; While he was contemplating a change in gimmick from “The Ringmaster,” she told him to drink his tea before it got “stone cold,” inadvertently inspiring the nickname. She has two daughters with Austin (Stephanie, now 18, and Cassidy, now 14) as well as another daughter to the late Chris Adams who was legally adopted by Austin.