– The decision was made last week to remove Brodus Clay from television as Vince McMahon is not happy with his work in the ring. Vince feels that he’s unsafe and reckless in the ring, and it will eventually lead to injuring his opponents. Vince said that he doesn’t want Clay competing until his ring work is brought up to par.

Eyebrows were raised backstage about McMahon pushing forth talent safety since Mark Henry and Cody Rhodes competed on this week’s Raw SuperShow hurt.

Clay dismissed last week’s negative report via Twitter, writing, “Don’t believe the hater hype plant funk still in orbit ya dig!”

– Vince McMahon is looking to tap into digital publishing as he feels it could be a major revenue stream for WWE as early as this year. His belief is based on what colleagues have told him about the Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader.

The author continues, “According to some reports, the show’s first episode garnered 14 million viewers. If that’s true, it makes the Ring Ka King TV by far the most-watched pro wrestling program on the planet, with an audience several times larger than the American crowd who watches Monday Night RAW every week.”

You can read the whole article here.

– TNA president Dixie Carter confirmed that Bobby Roode will defend the TNA World title against his former tag partner, James Storm, at TNA Lockdown in April:

“Couldn’t ask for a better Heavyweight title bout than Roode vs Storm at Lockdown in Nashville. Hometown advantage???? I CANNOT wait. 4/15.”

As it was announced on Impact, Roode will first have to get through Sting, when the two headline next month’s Victory Road pay-per-view.

– Mickie James is finishing up her second country CD, and plans to have it available for a spring release.

In an update on this, Kurt Angle claims he didn’t delete the tweet. He then wrote the following:

“I deleted It? No I didn’t. I meant what I said.”

The tweets have been removed from Kurt’s Twitter feed. Apparently, they have mysteriously disappeared and he claims he didn’t delete them. Nonetheless, he “means what he said”.

NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer initially filed a complaint with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office asking to temporarily suspend Diaz’s fight license pending a formal hearing, and that was granted today. Also, NSAC commissioners requested that Diaz’s full license application and purse information be made available during the formal hearing.

Diaz broke Rule 467.850 of the commission’s administrative code, this rule bars the use of banned substances, including performance-enhancing drugs and drugs of abuse such as marijuana. He also failed a post-fight drug test following PRIDE 33 in 2007 due to marijuana, and the NSAC fined him 20 percent of his purse and suspended him six months.

Kizer stated that the commission could levy fines or suspend him, as well as revoke or place conditions on the license. He also stated the following…

“In the past, the norm for a positive test for marijuana is six months, but we have had two repeat offenders, and they both got a 12-month suspension. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what will happen here.”

– WWE.com also has a new article up stating that Shaq will not be actually wrestling at WrestleMania 28.

– Thanks to reader David Rider for sending in the following from Rockford, IL: After the live WWE SmackDown on SyFy went off the air, The Big Show came out to face Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Title. During the match, Cody Rhodes hit the ring and caused Bryan to get disqualified. Rhodes and Bryan then attacked Show until CM Punk came out to make the save. Punk hit a GTS on Bryan while Big Show hit the Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). That was it…. and the crowd went home happy.

“I’ve never contested a singles match at ‘Mania—I’ve always been in either Lumberjill bouts or a Battle Royal. I’m praying that, in years to come, I will have that tag bout or singles match or whatnot,” she says in their WrestleMania XXVIII issue.

“At The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, we had Torrie Wilson, Jackie Gayda and Molly Holly come in. They’re Divas I used to watch when I was younger, so it was really cool just to be in the same ring with them. I’ve rewatched the match, but I’m still waiting for that moment.”

She continues, “I make sure to keep all of my outfits, though; they’re in a big suitcase. But they’re little outfits, so they don’t take up much room.”

– WWE.com has a feature on all of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania victims.

– WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart appeared on Busted Open, which airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Sirius 92 and XM 208 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. He briefly spoke about WrestleMania:

WrestleMania coming to New Jersey: “When I heard about that I thought Holey moley! That might be a little chilly for a WrestleMania 29 coming up there around the Northern area. But we spent so much time back in the day up there, and I think for people in New York, they’re a different breed there, and New Jersey and that whole area up there. They’re more used to the cold than we are down here in Florida now. But I’ll tell you why I like it: because people ask me today ‘Jimmy, you’ve done so many things for the wrestling business.

“You hit the Hall of Fame ring in 2005, 93 thousand plus people in Detroit up there with the Honky Tonk Man… and of course the Harts against The Bulldogs.’ But WrestleMania I is still the most important thing to me because whoever was on WrestleMania I, we were kind of the pioneers back then because we didn’t know if this was gonna work or not. It was on closed-circuit TV’s and movie theaters, and if it had not been successful, we probably wouldn’t be talking on the phone now.”

WrestleMania being at stadiums instead of arenas: “Here’s what I think happens: We’re gonna be on course for Miami for this upcoming WrestleMania 28…65 or 70,000 have already been sold I think. So I think so many people (82 thousand) wanna go see this now you almost have to have it in the arenas outdoors that can hold that many because the pay-per-views do so well around the country and everything else, and—I don’t care where you go—if you drive by one of the local establishments, all the PPV’s are held there, the WrestleManias, they just have everything there. It’s such a big thing because a lot of people can’t drive down this year to Miami because I’m sure it’ll be sold out in no time.”

On Hulk Hogan and TNA: “I love Hulk Hogan. I spoke to him 3 days ago. I think he went up to do the Wendy Williams Show. He asked me: “Can you do me a favor? Can you watch the TNA show?” I said: ‘Sure.’ And so I watched the one from London and he said, ‘Give me your opinion.’ So I said, ‘You packed on a few pounds.’ He goes ‘Jimmy Hart you always tell me the truth. You were right, I gotta slim down a bit.’ He said, ‘What else?’ I said, ‘To me everybody wearing blue jeans and their t-shirts hanging out…this doesn’t look professional. If you’re a major company trying to get 50 or 60 bucks from your fans…’If you dress like the audience, one day you’re gonna wind up sitting in the audience!’ And so that’s why I still wear the crazy flashy jackets and carry the megaphone because you wanna stand out, and think that’s what’s helped me be around 30 years in this crazy business doing music and doing this. I told Hulk, I said, ‘AJ Styles and all these guys are phenomenal…and Christopher Daniels, I love those kids. For him to go out in blue jeans, it’s just not professional.’

Vince Russo: “He was OK with me. When he first came to WCW he made an announcement, and said: “Hey look, you’re gonna see wrestling like you’ve never seen it before because I don’t think you really care too much about the wrestling part.” (Which if that’s the way you feel, that’s the way you feel) And so I think that’s what he really wrote about. I have nothing bad against him one way or another. I did my little stuff down there, he had set a few little matches this, that, and the other…

“I think it’s hard to be a writer, especially when you’re by yourself like that. You’ve gotta worry about people going and coming and quitting, and some of the bigger stars not wanting to do this thing, or not wantin’ to be part of this. Also, there’s always someone who’s got a friend of a friend who wants to be involved. Maybe a guy’s wife wants to be on TV or a girlfriend, and, if there’s enough pressure on you, then you gotta work them in because the strongest force in the world is a woman! I’m sure he had to run through a lot of things that went up against him. I guess they were successful all these years ‘cause, if not, I’m sure he would’ve been gone years and years ago, so I have nothing bad to say about him.”

WrestleReunion: “I jumped on about 5 or 6 years ago—it’s kind of a different type thing. I didn’t really know what to expect on anything, but you know once you get there, nobody rushes you through the line, it’s not like everybody’s sitting down and not paying any attention to the fans that come by to get their autograph or take pictures of everybody. And that’s what I love about it. They let the wrestlers know: Look, if you’re gonna be involved with this, then you’ve gotta definitely take your time with the fans because if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing now.”

WWE Champion has challenged singer Chris Brown to a fight after they exchanged words on Twitter. Punk originally tweeted, ”I would like @chrisbrown fight somebody that can defend themselves. Me curb stomping that turd would be a #wrestlemania moment.”

Brown wrote back and slammed Punk for “taking steroids” and insinuated Punk has problems pleasing women. Brown tweeted: “@CMpunk needs more followers. He’s such a leader! Not to mention the roids hes on has made it utterly impossible for him pleasure a women… Positivity regardless of how u feel! @CMpunk contact my assistant and I’ll have em send u an autographed pic for my biggest FAN!!!”

CM Punk then posted the above video, to which Chris Brown replied to with: “@cmpunk the video u just posted was cute! It’s so funny how defensive u are. And the fact that I really don’t know who you are and could give a sh*t is the funny part! I really hope this 15 minutes of fame is paying you for the long run becuz music last forever! Wrestlers come and go according to ratings! I miss the real wrestlers! ( Hacksaw Jim duggan, Brett the hitman heart, coco beware, rowdy roddy piper) #Notnopunks Bret “the hitman” Hart! ***** typo. @KREAYSHAWN u got that one! Goldberg was the shit! THE ROCK #Notnopunks”

“Yes, sir, we promised you a great main event…”

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Booker T, and Josh Matthews

We open the show tonight with the World Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan coming down to the ring with his girlfriend AJ Lee. Daniel clears his throat before explaining that when he announced his intentions to cash in the Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania no one believed him, but here he stands tonight as your World Heavyweight champion heading into the “main event” of Wrestlemania (good luck on that one Daniel). Bryan talks a bit more about him being a role model before listing off the men he defeated in the Chamber this week and claims to be the real “Rocky story”, not Santino (“Yo AJ! I did it!”). He claims that he’s going to thwart Sheamus’ dreams come Wrestlemania time, but before he can elaborate on his opponent tonight, CM Punk, he’s interrupted by…The Miz?

The Miz hits the ring with his own mic to inform Bryan that he apparently knew all along that Bryan would become a World champion from their first day together on NXT. Miz isn’t here to gloat though, he’s just here to say congratulations on being in the Wrestlemania main event this year, continuing to “follow in his foot steps”. Miz extends an offer to Bryan that when Wrestlemania is done, they should form a tag team together, but Sheamus has heard enough backstage and comes storming out to interrupt both men.

Sheamus would also like to congratulate Bryan it seems, but on being an arse, hypocrite, and coward. Miz gets in Sheamus’ face and Sheamus responds by taking him aside so the people who actually have Wrestlemania matches can talk. When he turns around Bryan hits him with a cheap shot though and takes off out of the ring with AJ, leaving Sheamus to attack Miz and toss him out of the ring as the World Champion sneaks away again to wrap up our opening segment. Nice way to kick off the show and I’m curious now what kind of interactions Miz and Bryan will have going forward.

Sheamus vs. The Miz
When we return from commercial we join our first match already in progress, having been booked by Teddy Long during the commercial break. Miz gets sent to the apron where Sheamus lays in the ten clubbing fists to his chest. Sheamus hits a slingshot shoulder block on Miz for a two count but gets his arm nearly yanked out of it’s socket by a diving Miz to the floor. Sheamus gets that same shoulder sent right into the steel post in the corner and Miz goes right to work on the arm with an armbreaker and a loose armbar. Miz hits the running clothesline into the corner and follows with a double axe-handle off the top but Sheamus won’t stay down. Sheamus starts the comeback with a clothesline and the Irish Curse backbreaker. Miz counters out of a powerslam attempt into a swinging neckbreaker and looks for the Skull Crushing Finale, but Sheamus tries (and misses) the Brogue Kick before finishing Miz off with the Finlay Celtic Cross at 5:56 (shown). What we got to see was pretty solid, but nothing you haven’t seen a thousand times before. *3/4

Backstage Teddy Long and Aksana do a bit of flirting before John Laurinaitis and David Otunga walk in to interrupt and chastise Teddy for his unprofessional behavior. Teddy tells them he has a special office set up for them tonight, in the men’s bathroom. Otunga tells him his office should be in a dumpster and the two heels take off as we cut to commercial.

Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger
So I guess Truth is Kofi’s new token partner with Evan Bourne out because of his spice tokin’. Swagger starts off with Truth and quickly hits him with a Swagger Bomb in the corner before tagging Dolph in. Ziggler hits a leg-drop but can’t contain Truth, who tags in Kofi for some high-flying fun. Kofi hits the huge flying cross-body off the top, but Swagger breaks the pin attempt up. Truth and Swagger both get dumped out to the floor and while the ref is busy checking on a fallen Vickie Guerrero outside, Ziggler thumbs Kofi in the eye and hits him with the Zig-Zag to pick up the quick pin at 2:47. Well that was rather quick and did no favors for Truth or Kofi. It did make Ziggler and Swagger look like actual threats for once though.

Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger
So I guess Truth is Kofi’s new token partner with Evan Bourne out because of his spice tokin’. Swagger starts off with Truth and quickly hits him with a Swagger Bomb in the corner before tagging Dolph in. Ziggler hits a leg-drop but can’t contain Truth, who tags in Kofi for some high-flying fun. Kofi hits the huge flying cross-body off the top, but Swagger breaks the pin attempt up. Truth and Swagger both get dumped out to the floor and while the ref is busy checking on a fallen Vickie Guerrero outside, Ziggler thumbs Kofi in the eye and hits him with the Zig-Zag to pick up the quick pin at 2:47. Well that was rather quick and did no favors for Truth or Kofi. It did make Ziggler and Swagger look like actual threats for once though.

We get a video package for the latest entrant into WWE 2012 Hall of Fame class, Ron Simmons. If you only know him a Faarooq, you probably won’t understand why he’s a great pick for the Hall of Fame. Watching the reaction of the fans in the front row when Simmons won the WCW title back in 1992 still sends chills down my spine (the one black guy jumping up and down, freaking out is a classic image I won’t ever forget).

Backstage Santino Marella and his Cobra do a bit of target practice with some plastic cups when Heath Slater enters and knocks all of the targets off of Santino’s table in what can only be described as something O’Doyle would do in Billy Madison.

The Great Khali (5-7) vs. Drew McIntyre (5-13)
This doesn’t bode well for Drew. Khali gives him a chop and then finishes him off with the double-arm chokeslam at 0:33. I wish I understood the point of matches like these, because it doesn’t do anything for anyone. Squash city. 1/4*

Backstage the Big Show lets Cody Rhodes know that he’s a marked man for eliminating him in the battle royal on RAW last night, promising to break his neck.

Big Show (17-6) vs. Mark Henry (12-9)
Ugh, if I never see these two wrestle each other again it will be too soon. Slugfest to start (duh) before Mark decides to stand on Big Show’s chest a bit. Henry starts trash talking Show while he stomps away at him in the corner. Show starts his comeback with a few clotheslines and then hits the spear. He calls for the choke slam when Cody Rhodes interrupts in the middle of their match to come out with a mic and play old Big Show Wrestlemania clips on the titan tron to try and humiliate him (this time going with an extended clip of Show vs. Akebono at Wrestlemania 21). Henry takes advantage of the distraction and hits the World’s Strongest Slam and a splash, but Show still kicks out at two. Show hits Henry with the WMD fist and then exits the ring to chase Cody Rhodes to the back, apparently ending the match around the 5:00 minute mark, though we never get a closing bell to confirm. Why wasn’t Show just counted out? More of an angle than a match, but like all of Henry and Show’s encounters, it was slower than molasses while it lasted. 1/2*

We get clips of WWE’s new YouTube show “Are You Serious” in which Road Dogg and Josh Matthews cut MST3K-style commentary over amusing old wrestling videos. Is that a dream job, or what?

David Otunga (2-2) vs. Ezekiel Jackson (14-14)
This is a rematch from RAW last night, and one of the few occasions where David Otunga isn’t the worst wrestler in the ring. Sloppy slugfest to start with Zeke getting the upper hand in the corner. Zeke tries for the torture rack but Otunga escapes and hits a terrible spinebuster to pick up the win at 1:21. I imagine it’s pretty hard to lift a guy as big as Zeke up, but man, that spinebuster was flat out BAD. Quick, harmless filler. 1/4*

CM Punk is with Matt Striker backstage, where Striker wants to know Punk’s thoughts on his match with Daniel Bryan tonight. Punk talks about knowing Bryan for years and then notes how he’s become the new “rebel” of Smackdown like he once was because of his unpopular vegan ideology. Punk wraps up by promising to teach Bryan how to lose tonight.

CM Punk (1-2) vs. Daniel Bryan (15-15-1)
We’ve got about 25 minutes of TV time remaining, so this should rock. Great chain wrestling to start as you’d expect from these two with both men kipping back up to their feet after an exchange as we take a commercial break. When we return Punk fights out of a side headlock and sends a huge knee into Bryan’s gut. Punk misses a cross-body from the second rope and appears to injure his arm, so Bryan targets the arm immediately and begins driving his knee into it. Punk counters a back suplex into one of his own, dropping Bryan neck first across his knee on the way down! Nasty. Punk lays in some kicks and hits a leg lariat but can’t capitalize because of the injured arm. Both men tease going for their respective finisher’s until Bryan bails out of the ring and calls for his title to leave the match. Sheamus runs down and tosses him back into the ring to meet the same stiff spin-kick from Punk that knocked Jericho out at the Chamber and that’s enough for Punk to seemingly pick up the win at 6:34 (shown), but John Laurinaitis comes running down to re-start the match because of the interference by Sheamus. Johnny grabs a seat at ringside as we take our last commercial break. When we return we get clips of Punk hilariously mocking Bryan’s overzealous ring celebrations but in the ring Bryan rolls up Punk and grabs the second rope for an unfair leverage to seemingly win the match cheaply at 8:18 (shown) but now it’s Teddy Long’s turn to come out and re-start the match.

Punk and Bryan go at it trading shots in the middle of the ring. Bryan ducks a clothesline and they trade holds again. Punk dumps Bryan out to the floor and dives through the ropes to take him out.

Punk hits the high knee in the corner but Bryan blocks the bulldog and works on Punk’s arm. Bryan hits a hue dropkick to Punk’s face in the corner and covers him for 2. They come off the top rope and Punk rolls Bryan up for 2. Punk takes kicks to the chest but catches Bryan’s leg from a roll up. Punk blocks the LaBell Lock and catapults Bryan into the corner. Punk drops Bryan with a roundhouse kick but Bryan gets his foot on the bottom rope to stop the pin.

Punk goes to the top for the big elbow drop but Bryan cuts him off. Bryan goes for a superplex but Punk fights him. Punk headbutts Bryan back to the mat. Bryan runs right back up but Punk shoves him back to the mat. Bryan runs up once again and stops Punk from coming down on him. Bryan hits the superplex this time. They stay connected when they hit the mat and hook each other’s legs for the pin. It appears that both men got the pin. Teddy and Laurinaitis both think their man won and the referee looks puzzled. Laurinaitis comes in and raises Bryan’s hand while Teddy raises Punk’s hand in victory. Laurinaitis and Teddy start arguing in the middle of the ring and take their coats off. Teddy storms off up the ramp as Bryan tries to calm Laurinaitis down and SmackDown goes off the air.

The dark match before last night’s RAW Supershow at The Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota saw “Ryback” Skip Sheffield defeat JTG.

– Reminder: SmackDown will be broadcast live tonight, as opposed to being taped and aired Friday like usual.

– WWE tweeted the following update on Wade Barrett following Monday’s RAW:

“BREAKING NEWS: @WadeBarrett suffered an injury to his left arm during tonight’s Battle Royal and was rushed to a nearby medical facility.”

Barrett was taken to the back during the match with his arm in a splint as we noted earlier here on the site.

WWE.com then posted the following:

“WWE.com has learned that during Raw SuperShow’s 10-Man Battle Royal, Wade Barrett suffered an injury to his left arm.

Wade Barrett is being taken to a nearby medical facility for further evaluation. Stay with WWE.com for the latest updates on Barrett’s”