RAW dark match & partial Superstars *Spoilers!*

DARK MATCH:
Reigning Florida Heavyweight Champion Bo Rotundo worked a dark match prior to tonight’s RAW taping in Hampton, Virginia. Bo Rotunda beat Primo.

- Fairly solid action. Not much crowd participation, though. It started off good and was all right, but didn’t last long. Rotunda won with a springboard bulldog from the turnbuckle.

- Rotundo is the son of Mike Rotunda (a/k/a Irwin R. Schyster) and brother of Raw Superstar Husky Harris. He has been competing in Florida Championship Wrestling since December 2008.

WWE SUPERSTARS:
(1) WWE tag champs David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty beat Santino & Chris Masters. New entrance music for Nexus and “Santino” chants early on. Good back-and-forth, then Santino was isolated for a while. Hot tag to Masters, who was nailed from behind by Mike for Nexus to win.

(2) Alex Riley beat Jack Swagger. Fair heat for Swagger. Big pop for A-Ry. Swagger with a waistlick take down early on followed by stiff slaps to the back of Rikey’s head. Riley came back with a flurry of offense. Swagger regained control and threw Riley in to the barricade, taking control for a few minutes. Riley mounted the comeback and nailed the Impaler DDT for the three count.

The rest of WWE Superstars will be taped tomorrow night at the SD! tapings in Philly.

SD! main event revealed, Orton-Punk-WrestleMania update

– The WWE Tag Team Championship will be on the line this Friday on SmackDown! as Edge joins forces with Christian to take on Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. The duo has won the WWE Tag Team Championship on seven occasions.

– No members of Nexus will be in CM Punk’s corner for his match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania XXVII. Just as he did Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga, “The Viper” punted Ryan in the skull following his victory this week on RAW, which would indicate that he has been written off television for the time being. The Welsh grappler was stretchered out of the arena during the commercial break.

– Sheamus is getting a spot on the cover of Muscle & Fitness along with an article on his training schedule. WWE.com has an article on that which you can read at WWE.com.

Report: WrestleMania 27 card not finalized yet!

Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Last week, we released the rumored match lineup for WrestleMania 27, which was then verified as legitimate by two backstage sources: The Undertaker vs. Triple H; The Miz vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship; Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship; Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole with Steve Austin as the Special Guest Referee, Randy Orton vs. CM Punk; Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes, John Morrison, Kelly Kelly and Trish Stratus vs. Dolph Ziggler, Michelle McCool and Layla; The Corre vs. Big Show, Christian, Kane, Kofi Kingston; Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus, and another match featuring the Divas.

While the card appears legitimate, company sources have stated that the match lineup has not been finalized as changes may still be made to matches that have not been announced. The latter four matches have yet to be made official.

John Cena-The Rock-RAW + Punk’s WrestleMania corner man?

Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer

– John Cena has promised to deliver a “final knockout” to The Rock on Monday’s RAW.

– Nicholas Graves sent this one in: On the NXT show that airs in New Zealand, at the start of the show they had John Cena give a message dedicating the show to victims of the recent earthquake and praising the firefighters, Red Cross and rescue workers.

– CM Punk is expected to have one Nexus member in his corner for his match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania XXVII. His second would be Mason Ryan.

McMahon high on Sheffield, Nexus plans rejected and Usos note

John Piermarini, a recent former writer with WWE, recently started a blog (http://www.wrestlingrecall.blogspot.com/) recalling numerous behind the scenes stories that occurred during his two year stint with the organization. Highlights include:

* Piermarini says the original concept of the Uso brothers was to present them as the opposite of the stereotypical Samoan wrestler—educated, intelligent and wear boots. “Usos would essentially have been the Russell Simmons of the WWE. That preppy hip-hop style,” he says. Piermarini attributes their lackluster push in the organization to Vince McMahon not understanding hip-hop culture, and thus couldn’t comprehend the appeal of the brothers Uso. He also says they fell victim to bad timing due to The Nexus debuting shortly after them.

* Vince McMahon views Skip Sheffield as a potential number two babyface, behind John Cena. He remains sidelined after suffering a compound fracture of his ankle in August. Expect a major push when he returns but as always, things can change. Sheffield has always reminded me and others within WWE as a young ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. He’s definitely got mic skills as well.

* Piermarini says he originally proposed that Mason Ryan fill Sheffield’s powerhouse role in The Nexus shortly after “The Cornfed Meathead” fractured his ankle. Vince McMahon, however, rejected the idea at the time.