Update On Masters To TNA, Commercials On Impact, More

-- If you noticed on Impact over the last few weeks there has been in increase in commercial breaks. TNA made the call to go from a nine-segment show to an eleven-segment show, which would slightly shorten both the commercial breaks and the segments by 22%. The initial feeling was that the 4:00 breaks were too long so the new breaks will be more along the lines of 3 - 3.5 minutes.

-- Judas Mesias was at the last few Impact tapings filming vignettes. He is currently booked for a singles match against Abyss at the January 6th Final Resolution pay-per-view. If he doesn't show up on television before then, at least the vignettes will air.

--- Sylvan Grenier has also been at the tapings recently but there are no plans for him past being the company's French language announcer.

-- As things stand right now there is no interest in bringing Chris Masters into TNA.

--The Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, South Carolina wouldn't allow TNA to announce that Against All Odds was going to be held at that venue until after the November 25th WWE house show was over.

WWE Disappointed With Y2J? Feud With Orton/JBL, More

-A number of people within WWE are obviously happy about the extension of their TV deal with NBC Universal. There was some fear internally as to what would happen if USA opted to not renew their contract with WWE.

- According to a press release regarding the 15th Anniversary of Raw, WWE will be releasing a special retrospective magazine on December 31, reviewing and celebrating the 15 year history of Raw.

- Chris Jericho's feud with Randy Orton looks to be a short one as it should be over soon. He may move on to a "war of words" feud with JBL, cultimating in a match at WrestleMania. Some people within WWE are already disappointed with Jericho's mic work, in-ring work and mild crowd reaction. Jericho was never expected to get a long period of grace, but the tide has turned against him fairly quickly.

Battle Royal added to Raw, Live Events, More...

- WWEshop.com has released several "Superstar Bop Bags" and "Superstar Cell Phone Charms."

- Their are no WWE Live Events in the States this weekend. The SmackDown/ECW brands will finish up their European tour before heading home this weekend. WWE has the big RAW Anniversary show on Monday and no Live Events next week either. SD and ECW tape on Tuesday and then it's onto Armageddon the following weekend.

- From WWE.com:

Raw’s milestone celebration on Monday promises to be spectacular and what would be more fitting for this extravaganza than to have a very special 15th Anniversary Battle Royal? There is no word on who will compete in the Battle Royal, but it will involve Superstars who have been on Raw in the last 15 years. Given this type of match and Raw’s penchant for unforgettable moments, Monday’s 15th Anniversary Battle Royal could provide a memory that will go down in WWE history.

TNA makes changes to IMPACT, Abyss vs. Judas, More News

- Footage from the new TNA iMPACT video game will be shown at the SpikeTV Video Game Awards this Sunday at 9PM ET on Spike. Karen and Kurt Angle were advertised to be at the show last week, but online reports suggest only Kurt made the appearance.

- Tickets went on sale today for the 2/10 TNA Against All Odds pay-per-view in Greenville, SC at the Bi-Lo Center.

- Abyss is booked to face Judas Mesias in some sort of gimmick match at the TNA Final Resolution pay-per-view on 1/6 in Orlando.

- TNA has decided to go from a nine-segment show to an eleven-segment show. This new format should shorten the commercial breaks, but also shorten the segments themselves.

Hoganvs. Austin at WM24? More

-- WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is said to have reached out to Hulk Hogan to get him to come to Monday’s 15th Anniversary show for RAW. Obviously, the show has been pumped full of talent to try and draw a very high rating. As we have been reporting, there are plans to try and get Hogan to work WrestleMania 24 next year. While chances are not that good it is said that Vince will at least ask Hogan and Steven Austin about a potential match at the big event. Austin is said to be the holdup on the match, as Hogan has already said he would do it in a heartbeat.

-- Former Extreme Expose member Brooke has publicly came out and said she has big plans to do a Playboy shoot and will be working in TNA Wrestling soon. Late last summer, plans were to have her Kelly Kelly, and Layla in Playboy right before WrestleMania. With Brooke being released these plans have obviously been scrapped.

-- Torrie Wilson is being held out of action for the next few weeks to receive physical therapy on her back that has been bothering her.

Big Name removed from RAW Anniversary show!

-- WWE.com has updated the preview for this Monday’s RAW Anniversary show and apparently former Women’s Champion Trish Stratus has been taken off the show. They have replaced her name with Lita.

Here an excerpt from the preview:

-- A host of WWE legends and alumni have been invited to honor the most groundbreaking show in sports-entertainment: Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Eric Bischoff and Lita are just a few on the list of invitees.

WWE trying to get major star at WM24, etc.

Jimmy Hart is currently trying to persuade Hulk Hogan into coming back for WrestleMania this year. The thought is that if NBC's American Gladiators is a hit they can use WrestleMania as a vehicle to cross-promote the show.

Hogan and Vince initially had a fall out early in 2007, largely because of his SummerSlam payoff. He was originally scheduled to be Donald Trump's representative at WrestleMania 23 in the role that went to Bobby Lashley. There were also ideas last year of having Hogan face Big Show or Great Khali at Ford Field with the idea of duplicating the famous Andre the Giant slam from 20 years earlier. Another idea that was pondered was to have Shane McMahon be Hogan's opponent with Khali in the corner (with the idea they couldn't trust a Hogan vs. Khali match) to build to a slam. The final straw for Hogan was when the WWE creative team did an angle where they used Jillian Hall to mock his daughter Brooke.

Hogan and Eric Bischoff had also talked about starting a new wrestling promotion as a nostalgia tour. The idea would be to take Hogan outside of North American to markets he had either rarely or never appeared. The talk of doing a U.S. tour lost a lot of interest after the Memphis show which tested the market for Hogan vs. Paul “Big Show” Wight by only drawing 2,200 fans. This was the only Hogan match this year, and since Nick's accident in August all talk in direction of the promotion has seemed to have been dropped.

With Hogan confirmed for next week's WWE Monday Night RAW 15th Anniversary show it does appear that his relationship with Vince is improving.