WWE News (Page 14)

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the identity of the WWE fan pulled from the audience on Monday Night Raw last night in Milan, Italy, who was announced as only Santino, is actually OVW's Boris Alexiev.

Now the new WWE Intercontinental Champion, he will go by the name of Santino Marella and has a profile listed at WWE.com already.

In the wake of requiring Jerry Lawler to withdraw from the 4/27 PMG "Clash of the Legends" match with Hulk Hogan, WWE pulled Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas and The Boogeyman from Friday's Memphis Wrestling event, as well.

As a general rule, WWE is now barring its wrestlers from appearing on events run by the promotion. It remains unclear whether Lawler, who is contracted as an announcer but not a wrestler, will be allowed to work with the promotion in the future.

According to WrestlingObserver.com, the decision to pull Lawler from the show was not due to plans for VH-1, a USA Network competitor, to air footage from the show on "Hogan Knows Best." Sources say the reason was WWE's refusal to have a WWE-contracted worker appear in a high-profile match with Hulk Hogan.

In fact, WWE officials plainly told Lawler that he could not appear on the show if Hogan was also booked for the event.

• Tuesday’s edition of ECW on Sci Fi did a 1.7 cable rating with a 2.7 share. This is the same number as last week and was the next-to-highest rated program on the network that day.

• Felony charges have officially been filed against former TNA Wrestling and WCW star Glen Gilberti (a/k/a Disco Inferno) for an illegal gambling operation. Gilberti is being charged for commercial gambling and violation of the controlled substance act. At the time of his arrest, he was living in the home of Walter Tyree, who was also arrested in the sting as one of the conspirators of the operation.

• King Booker underwent surgery this afternoon to remove bone spurs from his joint; WWE is reporting that it all went successfully. Booker is expected to return toward the back end of June.

• Speaking of injuries, Hardcore Holly will undergo surgery on his injured elbow in a few days to try and resolve ongoing nerve issues. Holly is expected to be out for around 3-4 months, hence the Snitsky attack storyline on ECW.

The following news is courtesy of the Wrestler Observer Newsletter ...

Carlito has a massive amount of heat on him backstage right now after he voiced his displeasure with the decision to remove his match with Ric Flair from WrestleMania to make room for Melina vs. Ashley and Kane vs. Khali.

The feeling at the office was to send him on a permanent vacation from WWE RAW to Heat until he faded away from the fans. Carlito was telling friends that he expected to be fired and was already making plans for his life should it happen.

The plan was for the Flair/Carlito angle to go well past WrestleMania 23, but it has been put on the backburner for now. Ric Flair was also feeling down about not being on the show, especially since in his mind he only has one or two WrestleManias left in him. Flair didn’t speak publicly about it, but definitely did not hide his disappointment when talking to people throughout the week about it.

The feeling within WWE is that nothing will really happen to Carlito, but management definitely put the fear into him that it will.

• Expect the Undertaker to have a long run as the World Heavyweight Champion. As a result, Vince McMahon has approached Taker about working a full-time schedule.

• Ric Flair is happy with what he's seen of the Four Hourseman DVD; however he still remains miffed at being left of Wrestlemania and realizes his pro wrestling career is coming to an end.

• The finish of the Chris Benoit-MVP match at Wrestlemania was changed when it was decided the Rabid Wolverine would not be sent to WWE RAW, as had been rumored.

• Stephanie McMahon-Levesque has had her official job title changed to Executive Vice President of Creative. She now has more power on the Board of Directors and has gotten a nice pay raise.

• As an update on last week’s WWE RAW rating, the show did a 4.3 cable rating with a 6.6 share. Each hour respectively did a 4.3 cable rating.

• Steve Austin will be appearing on “The Hour” in Canada this Wednesday at 11 p.m. EDT. According to a few readers, the network streams most of their shows after they air.

• Confirmed for tonight's edition of RAW in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton; Mick Foley will also be making an announcement regarding the Make-A-Wish foundation.

• WWE champion John Cena will be appearing on MTV’s Punk’d this Tuesday, April 10th, at 9:00 p.m. EDT.

• Former (and future?) WWE superstar Chris Jericho and former WCW World champion David Arquette will be appearing at the Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey next week.

• ECW champion Bobby Lashley will be appearing on the April edition of Salute Magazine. The publication is available only on military bases and internationally.

• WWE RAW announcer Lilian Garcia was the fourth most searched term on Yahoo yesterday. It appears many people wanted to seen a screen capture from her in her underwear on this past Monday’s RAW.

• Speaking of WWE RAW, this week’s post Wrestlemania edition did a 4.3 cable rating.

iTunes is exclusively selling the latest album from WWE.

The album consists of themes for 18 active wrestlers, as well as the music used for last December’s Armageddon PPV, plus entrance music for Ron Simmons (basically a “remix” of the old APA entrance music but with Simmons saying “Damn” over the top) and Vladimir Kozlov, is currently in Ohio Valley Wrestling after a series of ringside interviews that aired on RAW prior to WrestleMania 23.

It's worth noting that most of the tracks chosen for the album are those of midcarders or newcomers, which is likely a reason for the relatively low price, and lack of marketing campaign from WWE.

‘WWE: The Music - Volume 7‘ is available for download now via iTunes, priced $9.99 for the full 21-track album, although tracks can be purchased and downloaded individually.