U.S. WWE News(January 11, 2011) (with Undertaker, HHH, D-X DVD and Matt Hardy ne

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From ProWrestling.com
Date Added: January 11, 2011
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Latest on The Undertaker's WWE Return, SmackDown Rating

Story By: Steve Carrier
- This past Friday's episode of WWE SmackDown on SyFy scored a 1.95 cable rating with 2,845,000 viewers.

- The Undertaker was backstage at WWE's TLC pay-per-view in Houston last month and was said to be in good spirits and looked to be in good shape, despite the rotator cuff injury he's still healing from.

Taker is optimistic about returning in time for WrestleMania and that's the goal he's shooting for. Taker's doctor told him WrestleMania would be the earliest he would be able to return so nothing is official yet.
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WWE Superstars Match, Matt Hardy Removed from WWE

Story By: Steve Carrier
-- Former WWF Mania host Todd Pettengill, a longtime radio disc jockey for WPLJ 95.5 in the New York area, is among the top ten finalists for a male co-host spot on Live with Regis and Kelly. Visit AllAccess.com for more information.

-- Following Matt Hardy's TNA Wrestling debut last night at Genesis, he has been removed from WWE.com's Alumni section.

-- An 8-Man Tag Team Match was taped tonight in Nashville, Tennessee for this Thursday's episode of WWE Superstars pitting Yoshi Tatsu, David Hart Smith, Primo and Darren Young against Zack Ryder, William Regal and The Usos. Also taped was a match between Gail Kim and Alicia Fox.

-- John Cena is featured on the cover of the latest issue of WWE Kids Magazine.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Diva Works as a Heel, More on Punk-Lawler in Memphis

Story By: Steve Carrier
Thanks to readers Danny Welch and RanSting for the following notes from this weekend's RAW live event in Memphis, Tennessee:

- CM Punk teamed with Husky Harris at last night's RAW live event in Memphis to take on the team of Mark Henry and Jerry Lawler in a Special Attraction Match. Punk cut a promo before the match talking about beating Terry Funk in Amarillo, Ric Flair in Charlotte and other legends in their hometown. Punk said he would do the same to Jerry Lawler in Memphis.

Lawler and Henry ended up winning the match and Lawler almost got jumped by Nexus after it was over but the RAW locker room made the save. Everyone hit their finishers on Michael McGillicutty before Lawler ended it with a piledriver.

- Gail Kim worked as a heel at the RAW live event in Memphis, teaming with Maryse and Alicia Fox to lose to SmackDown's Kaitlyn and The Bella Twins. One fan in attendance thought that Gail's work as a heel was better than what WWE has been doing on TV with her. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________First Name for the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame Announced

Story By: Marc Middleton
- Former WWE Champion Shawn Michaels was announced on last night's RAW as the first member of the WWE Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

This year's ceremony will take place at the Phillips Arena from Atlanta, Georgia on April 2nd during WrestleMania 27 weekend.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Backstage Update on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

Story By: Marc Middleton

- Stephanie McMahon has been less involved with the creative content of WWE programming than many expected her to be at this point. She took maternity leave following the birth of her third child in August and has largely worked via telecommuting since that time. One company source said Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) appears more creatively involved than he has ever been after his promotion in the fall to Vince McMahon's Senior Advisor.

Though Levesque does not attend creative meetings, he is more involved in the creative process and has a lot of stroke in producer meetings. He also filled in as a show runner when Vince McMahon missed a few recent television tapings.

"I would say Vince McMahon is the executive show runner and Hunter is the associate show runner," said one WWE source. "He's the apprentice."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Details on WWE's Upcoming DX DVD, Truth vs. Del Rio

Story By: Marc Middleton
- WWEDVDNews.com has confirmed that World Wrestling Entertainment will release a video on D-Generation X titled Final Conflict April 5 in North America. It will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray. The three-disc set will pick off where the 2007 set left off with matches from their rivalries with The Legacy and JeriShow. It will also contain brand new interviews with Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

- Continuing their angle from last Monday's RAW, SmackDown Superstar Alberto Del Rio lost to R-Truth in a singles match at Friday's RAW live event in Augusta, Georgia. He lost to the former United States Champion for the second consecutive night at Saturday's SmackDown live event in Lexington, Kentucky. They also wrestled on RAW last night
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