source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— Former TNA Superstar Johnny Devine was backstage at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, and according to SLAM! Wrestling, at Monday’s Raw in Cleveland as well. Devine was also backstage at the Raw in Toronto a few weeks ago. There has been talk between both sides.

— WWE flew in Bill Watts last week to get him ready for his upcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, and also tape a couple of “Legends of Wrestling” discussion show episodes for WWE 24/7. WWE taped one episode focusing on the history of African-American wrestlers with a panel of Watts, Dusty Rhodes, Jim Ross, Teddy Long and Tony Atlas. Ron Simmons was scheduled to participate in the show, but when he got released two weeks ago, Tony Atlas got the slot. WWE also taped a show with Watts and Rhodes regarding the history of wrestling in the state of Texas.

— TNA iMPACT is not the only wrestling video game having sales difficulty as sales for the SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 are reportedly down as well. Sales were down 22% at of the end of the year compared with the same time period for the 2008 version of the game. THQ was hoping to break even this year, but lackluster sales for the WWE game as well as the SpongeBob SquarePants game (down 19% from last year) will make it difficult for the video game publisher. “The WWE decline is particularly concerning since that franchise had been one of THQ’s last bastions of strength,” said Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz. The decline was said to be more alarming since this year’s game has considerably better critical reviews compared to last year. {THQ Will Miss Targets – Analyst}

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