Post by Snitsky on May 19, 2009 17:28:01 GMT -5
Jeff Hardy - Jeff Hardy has continued to turn down all offers made to him by WWE. The plan internally is to continue to push Jeff as a top babyface chasing the WWE title but all signs continue to be that he will be leaving this summer. Hardy has been adamant that he wants time off, which has led to a lot of the workers privately championing him as he's bucking the usual fear that if you walk away, you won't be utilized down the line by management. WWE is still pushing him hard to sign a new deal, offering him basically everything from a 12-18 month deal to a 3-5 year deal just to lock him in, but Hardy continues to insist he is leaving to take time off, possibly work on some sort of "reality" project and won't return until he wants to return to the WWE grind. He's expected to be gone by the end of the summer, one of the reasons why Matt Hardy interfered at Judgment Day as they want to use his exit as a way to continue to put momentum behind Matt as a heel.
Ric Flair - Flair and WWE have agreed to terms for him to return for the next 4-6 weeks. There are several reasons why this has gone down. WWE wants to use the time period as a bridge to keep from bringing Triple H back against Randy Orton as the plan has been to headline them against each other at Summerslam in the Hell in A Cell. Flair has been pushing hard to come back as a wrestler as financially, between alimony issues with his ex-wife Tiffany and upcoming legal-related costs regarding his son Reid, Flair realizes he's going to be hurting. His belief is that if he "can just wrestle again" he'll quickly make a ton of money to help offset those expenses, so he's completely motivated by what he can make at this point. Flair has been hoping to do some sort of return match in WWE and have their approval to return so he can take some big money offers in Japan. There has been talk of Flair wrestling at Extreme Rules but it's a Vince McMahon call and he hasn't been high on allowing that yet. Flair has not signed a WWE deal and will still be making all of his independent and ROH appearances.
Taz - The word making the rounds is Taz's WWE contract included a 90-120 day no compete on the back end, so don't expect to see him officially debut in TNA until June or July as Samoa Joe's mentor. Mick Foley and Jonathan Coachman had similar circumstances when they departed World Wrestling Entertainment as well, as it's a clause to keep announcers off other broadcasting entities, not just rival wrestling companies.
Tommy Dreamer - As noted, Dreamer has a new 3-5 year deal on the table from WWE, but has not signed it yet. It's been said that if he gets what he wants from the company, he will sign and if not, he'll be leaving in June. It's interesting to note that all the verbiage of the angle has been that he will "leave ECW" if he doesn't win the title, which could leave a creative loophole that would allow him to be moved to Raw or Smackdown down the line if he signs a new deal.
credit:pwinsider.
Ric Flair - Flair and WWE have agreed to terms for him to return for the next 4-6 weeks. There are several reasons why this has gone down. WWE wants to use the time period as a bridge to keep from bringing Triple H back against Randy Orton as the plan has been to headline them against each other at Summerslam in the Hell in A Cell. Flair has been pushing hard to come back as a wrestler as financially, between alimony issues with his ex-wife Tiffany and upcoming legal-related costs regarding his son Reid, Flair realizes he's going to be hurting. His belief is that if he "can just wrestle again" he'll quickly make a ton of money to help offset those expenses, so he's completely motivated by what he can make at this point. Flair has been hoping to do some sort of return match in WWE and have their approval to return so he can take some big money offers in Japan. There has been talk of Flair wrestling at Extreme Rules but it's a Vince McMahon call and he hasn't been high on allowing that yet. Flair has not signed a WWE deal and will still be making all of his independent and ROH appearances.
Taz - The word making the rounds is Taz's WWE contract included a 90-120 day no compete on the back end, so don't expect to see him officially debut in TNA until June or July as Samoa Joe's mentor. Mick Foley and Jonathan Coachman had similar circumstances when they departed World Wrestling Entertainment as well, as it's a clause to keep announcers off other broadcasting entities, not just rival wrestling companies.
Tommy Dreamer - As noted, Dreamer has a new 3-5 year deal on the table from WWE, but has not signed it yet. It's been said that if he gets what he wants from the company, he will sign and if not, he'll be leaving in June. It's interesting to note that all the verbiage of the angle has been that he will "leave ECW" if he doesn't win the title, which could leave a creative loophole that would allow him to be moved to Raw or Smackdown down the line if he signs a new deal.
credit:pwinsider.