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.

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