When WWE ran an injury angle on Raw this past Monday with Zack Ryder, it caught many by surprise that he did a stretcher job and the reason given on-air was that he suffered a broken back.

Knowing how WWE operates, it would have been no surprise if he had come back in a week and no-sold the injury. Instead, they took care to add an update on the company website that will explain how he can come back much sooner:

WWE.com caught up with WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann regarding Ryder's condition. "When he was taken to the trauma center, the initial working diagnosis was vertebral fracture. However, after further review of the imaging studies, we determined that his injury is in fact a herniated disc," Amann said.

"At this point, his neurologic exam is stable, so no surgery is anticipated at this time. We plan on getting him into rehab and treatment with anti-inflammatory medications, to help with the swelling around the nerve. We'll be monitoring his progress."

This was also announced on Smackdown by Josh Matthews tonight.

Speaking of Smackdown, Mark Henry may or may not have suffered a knee injury. Indeed, we heard nothing after the tapings throughout the week but the Wrestling Observer noted before the show aired tonight that it appeared as though Henry injured his knee going for a punch.

From watching the Henry vs. Big Show match on video, it certainly appears that Henry hyperextends his knee throwing a punch. He went down hard for no reason and eventually ended up getting himself counted out. Haven't heard anything on his status for Sunday, which probably means he's going to tape it up and work on it, but who knows.

Henry did, in fact, throw a punch and then suddenly drop like a ton of bricks. Show backed off, recognizing that something wasn't right, and Henry rolled out of the ring. On the SyFy broadcast, Smackdown then went to commercial and by the time they were back, Henry was gone and Matthews was explaining his absence on commentary.

Even if he is legitimately injured, it won't be much different than how it's been for him in recent weeks anyway, as he's been nursing a bum groin for over a month. Because his match at the Royal Rumble this Sunday night is a steel cage triple threat match, there are ways to get around his injury.

It probably won't be pretty but again, we're not entirely sure he's injured. It certainly looked like it, though.

It's now possible Ryder will be a Rumble entrant, though that seems unlikely still, and Henry is probably going to be gimping around even more than normal. Just another day in the life.

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting caught up with CM Punk recently for a half hour chat about all things MMA and pro wrestling. There's a lot covered, so let's just hit the quick notes:

• Punk thinks Chael Sonnen is great and what he does is good for MMA because it draws interest. He believes both MMA and pro wrestling can learn from each other.
  
• When asked who is the best talker in MMA, Punk pointed to Sonnen. He also brought up the Nick and Nate Diaz, Rashad Evans and Josh Barnett.
  
• Punk said he believes Chris Jericho was "just being Y2J" when he accused Brock Lesnar of taking a dive and he doesn't think Jericho was serious.
  
• When asked if he thinks it would be good to have Lesnar back in WWE, he said he would welcome him back but he doesn't think Brock wants to come back. Punk isn't sure modern day WWE is a place Lesnar belongs, though he would be great for business.
  
• Kevin Nash comes up as being one of the guys Punk believes can't cut it on the road 24/7 like the schedule demands. Mick Foley is another. "I love these guys to death but to come back and work a scheduling that is so demanding is tough."
  
• CM Punk trains jiu-jitsu, y'all.
• He would love to give MMA a chance but he's got other obligations, obviously. Plus, he's no spry chicken anymore. But in two years, "we'll have to see."
• Because he doesn't know Dana White personally, he can't speak to how similar White and Vince McMahon are. As promoters, they are alike, seeing as they've both been wildly successful.
  
• He talks about being so burnt out before signing his new contract around Money in the Bank. He's still burnt out (and it has definitely seemed that way) but he's happy with what he's doing right now.
• Finally, Punk says he will NOT be in the Rumble match and he's bummed about that. Could be a swerve, of course, but he doesn't bring it across that way.

This takes the cake, Cagesiders.

The folks at Foogos Art took the time to construct the above photo of John Cena using only Fruity Pebbles. The Rock started this madness by telling Cena in a promo that he "runs around here looking like a big fat bowl of Fruity Pebbles."

WWE and Post quickly hopped on board and cut a deal to have Cena appear on over three million boxes of the cereal everywhere. And now it's led to the photo above.

What do you think, everybody? Awesome? Or a waste of time?

Edited and promoted to the front page by CagesideSeats.com.

In every Royal Rumble match since its inception, there has been one man who has lasted longer than all the rest. We'll call him the "Iron Man" of the Rumble match.

So who do you guys think will survive for the longest time in the 2012 Royal Rumble and be this year's "Iron Man?" And how long will that time be?

Here are the wrestlers who earned that distinction from previous Royal Rumble events. Each wrestler's name is preceded by their entrance number for the match. The names of any Royal Rumble winners will be in bold.

Continue reading this post »

On January 27, 1993, pro wrestling fans around the world said goodbye to André René Roussimoff, who passed away in his sleep due to congestive heart failure after a lifelong struggle with acromegaly.

In short, his body never stopped growing.

"Andre the Giant," who would find his greatest success as part of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), would be one of very few stars from his era to find mainstream crossover appeal, appearing as a guest on The Tonight Show, television shows The Six-Million Dollar Man, B.J. and the Bear, The Greatest American Hero, and of course, the role of "Fezzik" in the1987 cult classic The Princess Bride.

He was also featured as "The Giant Among Us" in the December 21, 1981, issue of Sports Illustrated, which is a fascinating read. See it here.

But I, along with many WWF fans, will best remember him as the foil who gave Hulk Hogan purpose, selling over 90,000 seats as part of one of the best good guy/bad guy programs of all time.

More on Andre the Giant in his Larger than Life documentary, after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

In a move of jaw dropping insanity, as reported by the Pro Wrestling Torch, Hulk Hogan wrestled unannounced on TNA's first house show of their UK tour in Nottingham, England, earlier tonight. Further details are also available in two subscriber only posts on f4wonline.com.

It all started innocuously enough with TNA World Heavyweight champion Bobby Roode and James Storm starting their main event as scheduled. Roode was disqualified after just five minutes for a low blow. At least TNA weren't stupid enough to end the show on that sour note.

Then the wheels were set in motion in convoluted fashion for the real closing match. Authority figure Sting marched out to demand a rematch, but was interrupted by Kurt Angle, who suggested doing a tag match instead between the four of them. Cue Bully Ray, who had lost to AJ Styles earlier in the night to make it officially a three on two handicap bout (when on earth did he start having match making powers?). So the stage was all set for the ageing Hulk Hogan to miraculously hog the spotlight and save the day, coming out to his mid eighties theme of Eye Of The Tiger to maximise the cheap pop and make it an even trios affair. Roode sold his ass off before Hogan did an embarrassingly bad big boot and Storm dropped the leg, so the decrepit Hogan didn't have to. At least Hogan was gracious enough to allow Storm to pick up the pinfall I suppose.

The fact that this whole scenario was unadvertised is mindbogglingly crazy. Hogan's first match in the UK in over seventeen years could have sold tons of extra tickets for the struggling TNA promotion that needs all the help it can get at the moment, if this was a long thought out plan. But no, Hogan only decided to latch onto the tour at the last minute when he caught wind of how well tickets were selling, mainly thanks to Sting's decision to take a final opportunity to wrestle in front of the always enthusiastic British audience in what may very well be his last ever year as a regular pro wrestling performer.

This is sadly far too reminiscent of the declining days of WCW, where Hogan on a whim dropped the WCW World Heavyweight title to rising phenomenon Bill Goldberg on the July 6th Monday Nitro at the Georgia Dome, costing the promotion millions of dollars in pay-per-view revenue by airing their first ever match on free television. You see, there was a huge demand for tickets before the main event, originally supposed to be a dark match, was ever announced due to how hot Goldberg had become in his local market. Atlanta was also the home base of Turner Broadcasting, guaranteeing that tons of corporate executives would be on hand to see his magic in person and the record breaking house that he wasn't really responsible for drawing, but those ignorant fools wouldn't know any better. So Hogan is up to his same old tricks again to fool Dixie Carter and Spike TV into continuing to push him as the centrepiece of their Impact programming and keeping his mammoth pay cheques coming.

Even if Hogan's match had been promoted properly, it would still have been ill advised. As Hogan admitted to ITV's London Tonight, he really should be retired right now, due to the eight back surgeries he's had in the last few years. Sure he took no bumps in Nottingham and probably won't on the rest of his UK wrestling jaunt, but the long transatlantic flights on their own must be hell for his mangled back, yet alone trying to do what little there is left that he can still do inside a wrestling ring for three consecutive nights. Are the cheers really worth the pain he will needlessly endure?

The plan for WrestleMania 28 is reportedly coming along nicely and, in fact, all but a few matches on the card are already made. Officially, nothing has been set just yet but that will slowly start to change beginning with the Royal Rumble match this Sunday night (Jan. 29, 2012).

Here's how things are looking at present time:

-- The Rock vs. John Cena

Really, no other match is even necessary after this one. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of hype there's going to be for this by the time it actually rolls around. The Rock is now officially being advertised for Raw dates as early as March 12, which is about three weeks out from WrestleMania. I would hope he shows up for a few more than that and he comes around earlier. Either way, this is the biggest match WWE has had in the last decade.

-- Triple H vs. Undertaker

Probably the most controversial match on the card, simply because no one seems to want to see it. Opinions are wide ranging, from those who simply think 'Taker shouldn't waste his few remaining matches on old warhogs like Triple H to those who believe Trips might actually be insane enough to get himself over as the guy who broke "The Streak." I can't ever see that happening. The good news for this match is that Shawn Michaels is reportedly going to be added in as a new wrinkle. Apparently, the angle is going to be that HBK will be the referee and they'll build to whether or not Michaels will help "The Game" because he wants his friend to end "The Streak" or he'll help Undertaker because he doesn't want someone to do something he himself could not. He could simply call it down the middle, but then there's really no point in bringing him in other than the hype. The story sounds interesting but I still can't decide whether to look forward to this or not.

A look at the rest of the card after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

There is no match that compares to the Royal Rumble. It is, perhaps, Pat Patterson's greatest achievement. Even when business is down for every pay-per-view and ratings are sinking on Monday and Friday nights for Raw and Smackdown, respectively, the Rumble always draws a good buyrate.

And that's because it's a spectacle like no other.

The biggest talking point heading into the event each year, of course, is who will win. Some years it's obvious, like it was in 1998 when Stone Cold Steve Austin was the clear-cut choice. Really, no one else would have made sense. Other years it's murky, which is the category this years match falls under.

The big stipulation, which is reportedly going to lead to some sort of angle, is that every single superstar on the roster is eligible to enter. That could mean many things, from old legends showing up for a surprise to acting champions entering the match. How much of a swerve would it be to have CM Punk retain his title against Dolph Ziggler and then go on to win the Rumble later in the night?

Bryan Alvarez broke down the match and its possible scenarios in the latest edition of the Figure Four Weekly (subscription is required):

Continue reading this post »