Luke Gallows Speaks - CM Punk Angle, SES, 'Fake' Kane

Former WWE star Luke Gallows Luke Gallows did an interview with TheBradyHicks.com discussing his experience on the road with World Wrestling Entertainment, which began when he was 21 years old. Highlights:

Teaming with CM Punk in Straight Edge Society: "They wanted a big guy with [CM Punk]. He didn't really need it, nor do I think he thought he did. I thought we made it really work though. I tried to change my look, change a little my style in the ring. I think a little character development may have helped us more, but on the other hand - and he's one of my best friends so this isn't me kissing butt - he is one of the best on the mic. I could understand why they wouldn't give us more to say, but I always wish they would have."

The Straight-Edge Society In general: "We called ourselves the Addams Family. You had me, the big Cowboy. then you had Serena, the bald-headed girl, then you had the unshaven CM Punk, picking stuff out of his beard. We'd be sitting there in Cracker Barrel and people would just stare."

Portraying the "Fake" Kane: "I didn't end up liking the result, but when you're a 21 year old guy, I tried my best. Bill DeMott to his credit would come back with me at night for secret Kane training. I remember that first night on Raw. I looked like I was a member of that '80s hairband. That hair kinda killed me in the water right out of the gate. It was what it was though. I always appreciated and respected Kane in the business, and it helped promote his movie coming out. So it was what it was."

Appearing as Festus: "I loved Ray Gordy. I was wrestling in developmental as the Freakin' Deacon, but they had The Boogeyman and they felt that it would be too '80s. I remember Vince pulled us aside and laid out the idea for this Festus character. At the time, you look at it I was 23 years old. I just wanted to be the best damn whatever it was. So hopefully that's what I was able to do. People still ask me the most about that. There were times when I thought we could have done more with that character than we did."

Nash Speaks On WWE Return & TNA

-- The Miami Herald recently spoke with Kevin Nash, here are some of the highlights…

On Returning To WWE: "Circle of life. Vince was the first one to give me the big break. I was back before asold-out crowd at the Boston Garden [TD Garden]. I got a response beyond what I expected. I knew I made the right decision."

On Working For TNA: "I had a good relationship with Dixie and enjoyed my time there. I have a lot of friends in TNA. It was just time for me to move on. There are so many more opportunities in a larger organization like WWE, especially outside of the ring, that it was pretty much a no-brainer."

CM Punk Pissed At NFL Star + Post-RAW News

-- John Cena and Randy Orton def. WWE Champion The Miz and CM Punk with Michael Cole as special guest referee in a post-Monday Night Raw bonus match in Buffalo, New York. After the match, Cena mentioned they flew 15 hours to be at Raw tonight. He confirmed the sold out attendance as 16,700.

-- CM Punk and Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman engaged in a war of words yesterday on Twitter in regards to the NFL star encountering some WWE Divas during the Raw brand's stay in Costa Rica. When reached for comment, The Straight Edge Superstar explained the matter to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"All I did was observe him walking around poolside, back and fourth, around in circles. I had no clue who he was, just knew that this guy was obviously trying to get noticed. When that didn't work, he sent his publicist after the girls, which is the most lacking of testicles thing ever. That's how we found out who he was.

"When THAT didn't work I watched him run after them as they tried to leave. Dude clowned himself and all I did was report the facts and laugh about it. On the road, the WWE is a family. The divas are my sisters, and like any big brother, I don't want creeps around my little sisters."

Evan Bourne Returns On RAW, 'Taker-SD! Update

-- Evan Bourne returned on RAW this week and defeated Sheamus. This was kept very short as Bourne is still recovering. Sheamus had a bad night on RAW as he was squashed by Triple H in the opening segment and then defeated by Evan Bourne. We noted earlier that there is major heat of Sheamus these days and RAW producer Kevin Dunn is not a big fan of his.

-- The Undertaker will appear at tonight's SD! tapings. Of course, the show will air this Friday. We'll have live spoilers later tonight from Cleveland.

Steve Austin On RAW Next Week + HOF-RAW?

-- It's interesting to note that there was no WWE Hall of Fame video package on RAW this week. B.G. James (Road Dogg) tweeted the following yesterday: "Look for Bob Armstrong package on Raw tonight. Fifty years in the business." It's possible they'll air it on SD! this week instead (timing issues?). "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Shawn "HBK" Michaels have already been announced for this years WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.

-- It was announced on RAW this week that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin will appear live on RAW next week. This is likely to promote Tough Enough and WrestleMania.

SD! Scores Huge Rating + Sting Return Video Leaked

-- The February 25 episode of WWE SmackDown! scored a 2.31 (2.3) cable rating, the program's highest mark on Syfy. The episode topped the 2.03 (2.0) rating the show drew the previous week. Smackdown! averaged 3.5 million viewers over the course of two hours. The show's previous Syfy high occurred on January 21 with a 2.07 rating.

-- WWE.com has posted photos of Evan Bourne's trip to Brazil last week.

-- The Bella Twins have taken their on-screen feud with Eve Torres to Twitter as they posted a message tonight mocking the Divas Champion. They wrote: "Wow @EveMarieTorres looks super tired backstage. Guess she couldn't handle South America! We beliEVE homegirl needs some makeup! BESOS BeliEVErs!"

-- We have received exclusive video of Sting's return to TNA at last Thursday's TNA iMPACT! tapings in Fayetteville, North Carolina. You can click here to view the video. The crowd was estimated at 3,500.

CM Punk & NFL Star In Twitter War Of Words

CM Punk and Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman engaged in a war of words yesterday on Twitter in regards to the NFL star encountering some WWE Divas during the Raw brand's stay in Costa Rica.

Punk wrote: "Watching Shawne Merriman of the buffalo bills hit on our divas and strike out, reminds me of the Bills in the super bowl. #choke."

Merriman replied: "I was just giving you guys some hope look like you were struggling by the pool. Sympathy from Lights."

Punk said: "If you could get to a QB as fast as you ran after our divas maybe you'd make headlines being a pro bowler and not a creep."

Merriman added: "How about I come and deliver a nice special lightsOut ass woopin tonight Costa Rican Style."

Punk closes: "Clearly, I have defeated you. However, You will have plenty of time to think of a better come back while you ride the bench for another entire season. Good luck getting to the Super Bowl! With love, CM Punk."

Merriman replies: "Do me a favor turn your little wrestling underwear around and give yourself a wedge – see you later Punk without the CM."

Another Big RAW-HOF **SPOILER** Revealed

B.G. James (Road Dogg) tweeted the following earlier today basically confirming what we've been reporting - "Bullet" Bob Armstrong will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:

"Look for Bob Armstrong package on Raw tonight. Fifty years in the business."

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Shawn "HBK" Michaels have already been announced for this years WWE Hall of Fame ceremony.

Goldberg Denies WrestleMania Rumors, The Rock-RAW, Y2J

-- Chris Jericho is now finished with his current book tour. He'll be focusing all his attention now to Dancing With The Stars. A WWE return is not in the cards right now.

-- Bill Goldberg tweeted the following regarding a WrestleMania 27 appearance: "No WWE plans on the horizon.....don't believe rumors. Is what it is."

-- Bret Hart tweeted the following today: "The Hitman is on Twitter! (finally!) So any thoughts from fans on how I can verify my account and get rid of the fakes on Twitter?"

-- Shawn Michaels then tweeted the following: "Just saw the Hitman is on twitter. U all gotta help him out. I'm followin fer sure:-)"

-- WWE tweeted the following this afternoon: "TONIGHT on #WWE Raw: @TheRock answers @JohnCena's stinging comments. What will go down? Find out LIVE at 9/8 CT @USA_Network"

The Rock-WWE PG Rating, Steve Austin-WWE Update, More

-- The Rock tweeted the following regarding WWE's "PG" rating: "It was a very smart choice to go PG. It may not have been the popular choice a few years ago - but it was very smart."

-- Steve Austin tweeted over the weekend that one of his "greatest competitors" made an appearance on WWE's Tough Enough. As we noted earlier, numerous WWE talents and Divas are expected to appear in cameos during the season.

-- The Miz is featured in the new issue of Men's Fitness magazine.

-- WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat turns 58 today.

Vickie Guerrero's SD! 'Firing', Mysterio-Mistico, Kofi

-- After losing a Mixed Tag Team Match against ex-husband Edge on SmackDown, Vickie Guerrero was fired by SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long. However, unlike Dolph Ziggler and Kelly Kelly, her profile remains on WWE.com's SmackDown Superstars section days after the dismissal.

-- Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston's losing streak extended to six as a result of his loss to Jack Swagger on last week's SmackDown!.

-- Rey Mysterio tweeted the following on Sin Cara to WWE: "Wish the best 2 SinCara! & hope that more Latino wrestlers make it to the WWE! I think We all deserve a chance to make it Big in Life!"

Bret Hart Joins Twitter, Del Rio Note, Sin Cara-WWE

-- Bret Hart has launched an account on Twitter. The account is verified by Hart's official website, BretHart.com, as well as his page on Facebook.

-- Alberto Del Rio is featured on the cover 200th issue of Power Slam.

-- Sin Cara is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Super Luchas.

Chris Jericho Talks TNA's 3/3/11, WrestleMania, More

Chris Jericho appeared on The LAW Sunday night with Dan Lovranski and Jason Agnew to promote his new book 'Undisputed, How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps' as well as various other topics including discussions about a return this past January as well as his assessment of TNA's show closing trailer to end 'Impact' this past week:

On being contacted for WrestleMania this year: 'The original plan was for me to come back in January and then other things came up and other things were going on. There was no rush for me to come back I realized because the one good thing about me is that you can't teach experience and I have 20-years of experience worldwide so I can come in whenever I want and still be - like when I left I think it was the best work of my career over the past three years and I left at the top of that still so I can still come back and make an impact at anytime. Then when these other things started happening and then The Rock came back, Triple H came back, The Undertaker, Booker T. and all these other guys are coming back, I don't need to come back right now because if I was there who cares? The Rock is back, it doesn't matter who else is on the show and then Triple H and The Undertaker are working together, so that's going to eclipse everything else. It goes to show that those guys have been around just as long as I have, been gone longer than I have and come back and made a huge impact so I can wait in the weeds and pick and choose my time and that's the beauty of it, I can call Vince and say this is when I want to come back or talk to him about it but there were discussions about it, absolutely, but ultimately they just didn't transpire'.

On TNA's 3-3-11 video from 'Impact': 'It drives me nuts and I'll tell you the reason why. I am the biggest fan of TNA as a concept. I want them to be huge, Vince wants them to be huge because the more competition there is, it's better for the business, it's better for the boys, it's better is for the fans. I don't understand their obsession with copying the WWE I think it's lame, I think its bush league and I don't get it, they have some of the best talent, some great idea men. Why do they do this? Why do their guys go out there and say 'When I was in the WWE I was left behind and I was held back'. If I was working for TNA I would project that it's the greatest wrestling company in the world because if you're not projecting it, why is anyone going to believe it? When we were in ECW it was small, I never made more than $250 a show but you would die for that company and when you came across that way, the fans came across that way and suddenly you have this underground revolution going on and it was real, it was a revolution, people believed it was the best. No one in TNA believes they are in the best company and if they don't believe it then why am I going to believe it as a fan? Why am I going to buy their product? It's just so bush league, they can do better than that and the guys on top there should know better and it really makes me mad because they're wasting money and they don't have to be wasting money but I'm not burying TNA I'm saying you should be ashamed of yourself because you can do better.'

The Latest On Numerous New WWE Talents

The following talents have been added to the WWE Developmental system…

* Russell Walker (real name Reuven de Jong) has fought for K-1 (1-3) and in MMA (2-0) and has a pretty extensive resume doing stunts for television productions. He had been working independents in New Zealand prior to signing.

* Jarrod Locke, a seven footer who competed in the UK version of American Gladiators as Warrior.

* DT Porter aka Donovan Ruddick from the Missouri area.

* Erick Rowan aka independent talent Thoruf Marius from the Minnesota area.

* Deshean Bishop, who wrestled as Navy Blue from WWA4 in the Illinois area.

* Rick Victor, a seven footer who worked for the most recent version of Stampede Wrestling as Apocalypse and later in OVW as Apoc.

* Jason Mullens, who has worked the British independent scene as Nightmare.

Rey Mysterio Shoots Down Retirement Rumors

Rey Mysterio recently posted the following on Twitter, shooting down retirement rumors…

"The rumor is I might B retiring soon! NOT TRUE, got many years left of entertaining my FANS!U guys keep me going! Luv it! Los quieroUnChingo"