Once rumored to be heading to WWE for a possible Hall of Fame induction in Atlanta at WrestleMania, Sting instead returned to TNA to defeat Jeff Hardy for the company's world heavyweight championship in a match that aired this past Thursday on Impact.
Meanwhile, everything is building quite nicely in WWE for this year's WrestleMania as the recent Elimination Chamber pay-per-view was one of the company's best shows in several months and the returns of Rock, Undertaker and Triple H have spiked television ratings and interest in the upcoming Mania.
Monday's Raw will feature the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He will be hosting Tough Enough and is also rumored to be the guest referee for the Jerry Lawler-Michael Cole bout slated for WM. That angle is expected to go down at Raw and it is also anticipated that the Undertaker and HHH will be on the scene to up the ante for their matchup. Triple H dusted up Sheamus big time last Monday to take care of the loose ends for the Tuesday morning bookers who noted that he should have been Hunter's primary target before challenging the Dead Man.
Randy Orton vs. C.M. Punk was officially added to the card on last week's episode of Raw. Smackdown recently saw Cody Rhodes unmask Rey Mysterio with a little help from Big Dusty to give those two a reason to go at it at wrestling's Super Bowl. WWE also called a big press conference to announce that Mysterio's heir apparent, the former Mystico (who will now be known as Sin Cara, since the company wants to own you lock, stock, barrel and name) has been plucked from the Mexican wrestling scene and added to the WWE roster.
Cena will challenge the Miz for the WWE title, but everybody is counting on some kind of altercation between Cena and the Rock as the true hook on the Mania show. Edge also defends the Smackdown belt against Alberto Del Rio.
TNA not only brought back Sting, but Hogan returned for the first time in many weeks since his most recent back surgery. In the storyline, he and Bischoff won the court ruling giving them control of TNA. For the sake of their customers, let's hope that doesn't mean they are also now in charge of Panda Energy.
The Angle-Jarrett wedding farce went down about as expected for the average wrestling wedding event. There was chaos and cake everywhere. No Uncle Elmer or Butcher Vachon, but bedlam nonetheless. The company also got some mainstream sports publicity for bringing New York Jet star Bart Scott in to do an angle with Kurt Angle in which the footballer sold the ankle lock pretty convincingly.
The WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies will be telecast following Raw the night after WrestleMania this year. The Road Warriors, Abdullah the Butcher and Tammy "Sunny" Fytch are expected to join the already announced Shawn Michaels, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Bullet Bob Armstrong in this year's class.
The Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling Alliance is advertising on its website a return to Mount Carmel at the American Legion Building with a card slated for March 19 at 6 p.m. They also have an April show scheduled for Palo Alto, near Pottsville, that will feature former ECW star Justin Credible. More details as we get them.