Jeff Jarrett return rumors, Curry Man not unmasking, Jim Ross sample platter

Thursday, MAY 15 - 1:53 P.M.

-There is plenty of speculation that Jeff Jarrett is gearing up for a return to the ring. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated that Jarrett has been waiting for the right time, and backstage sources I've spoken with say he's in great shape these days.

Although nothing is official, the timing feels right for a Jarrett return. Obviously, the big question is whether Jeff is ready to come back given everything he's gone through in his personal life. If he does return, I'd like to see a new Jarrett minus the guitar gimmick. I'm sure he'd be tempted to use it since he's had a lot of success with it over the years, but the guitar ran its course and it's time for Jeff to try something new.

-As much as I was hoping that Curry Man would win the TerrorDome match and reveal himself to be Christopher Daniels before the main event, I was told by multiple sources in TNA that the idea never came up. The company is happy with the Curry Man character and they don't have any plans to abandon it at this time.

-Memo to the website that cited my story on Kurt Angle's health update: I reported that Kurt's doctor told him not to wrestle at the pay-per-view, but I did not report that the doctor claimed Kurt should never wrestle again.

-I've been tempted to try Jim Ross's BarBQ products for a while now and the Slam Wrestling article on his restaurant was the final push I needed. I'm going to try the beef jerky and order a bottle or two of sauce. I'm sure some of you out there have ordered from J.R. before. Any recommendations? Pass them along to dotnetjason@gmail.com.

-Thanks to all the readers who pointed out that I used a two-week old figure in my ECW ratings article last night. I play beer league softball on Wednesday nights, and me and my teammates don't take the beer part lightly. I may have to refrain from posting late Wednesday nights. Heaven help us if I ever stumble through the door and decide to record a podcast. We may not win every game, but my team's motto has remained consistent over the years: "Win or lose, hit the booze."

Wednesday, MAY 14 - 11:04 A.M.

-You won't believe this, but I dozed off during ECW last night and dreamt that the show had a purpose beyond just filling an hour on the Sci-Fi Network. Get this, in my dream, The Miz actually pinned C.M. Punk. Hilarious, right? Oh, and then John Morrison pinned Kane in the 15-minute main event. I knew it was a dream because Punk and Kane didn't beat up the heels at the end of the show and render all the work that went into building them up useless.

-Dreams can be crazy sometimes. I remember this one time I dreamt that I was on a private jet and Ashley Massaro was giving me a lap dance. Wait, what do you mean the first dream wasn't a dream? That really happened? ECW on Sci-Fi had a purpose? The heel tag team champions that just did a non-title job to Chris Jericho and a one-legged wrestler just went over strong on Kane and Punk in singles matches? Are you sure? I thought the standard formula was for the babyfaces to prove they can beat the heels heading into the pay-per-view?

-I wonder what Sandman dreams were like when he got drunk and fell asleep during a recent 2CWwrestling match. Thanks to Dot Net readers Uncle Duke Fan and Kris Lovins for passing that one along.

-It's encouraging to hear TNA officials admit that they are disappointed with Sunday's Sacrifice pay-per-view. It's only natural that they would be given that it was their worst effort in recent memory, but getting them to admit their disappointment is rare. For what it's worth, the company was happy with the TerrorDome concept and plan on using it again in the future.

-My head is still spinning after reading Daniel Ruth's column in the Tampa Tribune regarding Nick Bollea being sentenced to eight months in county jail. Don't get me wrong, the Hogans deserve much of the criticism they're getting these days, but this next passage was a real reach.

Ruth writes: "Not to put too fine a psychological point on this, but when your entire life is wrapped around having a jughead father who has made millions pretending to be some faux macho hero to the gun-rack/dentally challenged crowd by engaging in over-the-top cartoon violence where everybody always manages to survive phony beatings, perhaps young Bollea convinced himself John Graziano, too, would awaken from his coma bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

Well, I would write more, but I need to work on my pickup so that I can drive to the gun shop and pick up some ammo for the three shotguns I proudly display on my rack. Oh, and I'm going to pick up a blender for pureeing food so that it's easier to swallow given that I only have one tooth left in my mouth.

Monday, MAY 12 - 5:03 P.M.

-It was encouraging to hear that Jeff Hardy has matured following the fire that cost him his home shortly after he was suspended from WWE. It would have been easy for him to slip into self-pity mode and spiral downward, but reports I'm hearing are that he's done the opposite. I'm curious to see how WWE will play up his return on television (no word yet on when that will take place). They never acknowledged his suspension on Raw. He was advertised for WrestleMania 24 one week and then he was just gone the next week. WWE was in a tough spot, but I think they made a poor decision by not letting their fans know that Hardy was going to be gone for a while.

So how will WWE reintroduce Jeff? Will they acknowledge the reason he was off television? Will they use the fire as an excuse? Will they just reintroduce him and offer no explanation? I'm also curious to find out whether the slumping ratings will cause Vince McMahon to give Hardy a push faster than he otherwise would have if ratings had improved while he was away. No matter what they do, I sincerely hope that Hardy is doing as well as I've been told he is. With two strikes against him in the Wellness Policy, he can't have another "slip."

-Is John Cena's return enough to get people excited about Raw again? The ratings for WWE programming has been dropping in recent weeks, yet the company hasn't announced any details regarding tonight's show beyond hyping on their own website that Cena will make an appearance to hype his Judgment Day match with JBL. I realize that Cena is WWE's top merchandise seller and one of the biggest names in the company, but it's not like he's been off the show for a while. I'm sorry, but those late match plugs on WWE.com just aren't enough. WWE needs to work harder to create a positive buzz about Monday Night Raw.

-It will be interesting to see how they follow up with Mr. Kennedy tonight. They've been trying to establish him as a babyface for the last two weeks and his initial push hasn't been all that great. There's still time to pull back and feature him as a heel if they choose to go in that direction, but all indications are that the creative team believes they can get him over as a babyface. I still feel like having him job to Chavo Guerrero in the main event last week was a lousy decision.

-Speaking of Kennedy, I spoke to a friend who had a very positive meeting with him at an airport recently. Kennedy took a few minutes out of his day to talk with the man, who was looking for an autograph for his nephew. Kennedy made sure he had the correct spelling and was very gracious throughout the conversation. Yes, he did sign the autograph "Mr. Kennedy... Kennedy." The friend isn't a huge wrestling fan, but he was raving about how nice Kennedy was later on Friday night. Just thought I'd pass that along.

-Rob Van Dam has been helping Ultimate Warrior train for his upcoming return to the ring. I'm not sure whether Warrior indulges, but I can't even imagine how great some of their conversations must be after RVD tokes up. I'm not an RVDTV subscriber, but I'd have to seriously consider trying it out if he features Warrior on his website show.

-Attention fantasy football players. My former Fanball boss Bo Mitchell has launched his own free blog site. Bo is a hell of a writer, a good friend, the world's biggest Anchorman fan, and I hear he's big in the horse racing community. If you're a serious fantasy player or you simply enjoy a humorous take on sports, I strongly encourage you to bookmark FantasyFootballLegend.com.