We'll be honest, we're not sure what Kurt Angle is doing in ECW. He's a brand name, the WWE obviously wants him to carry this new brand - but he's also a wasted talent now.

Angle may feel the same way. Reportledly, he's quite vocal in how he is being used in ECW, to the point that one insider described him as being “whiney.” Ouch!

Most wrestlers don’t have any problem with it, however, and view Angle as simply standing up for himself. But the writers do see it as a headache sometimes. In the past, Angle has always just gone with the flow and not offered any input for his character or storylines.

Making matters worse, The Wrestling Machine is really hurting at the moment. He usually puts up a tough fight before he lets an injury get the best of him, dating back to his amateur wrestling days. Therefore, there is major concern now that Angle could be out for awhile

ECW ratings, we're sure, would suffer if that were the case.

First, the Miami Heat win the NBA title. Now, a former team dancer is dancer was crowned the winner of the 2006 WWE Diva Search. There must be a perpetual party on South Beach!

Yes, Layla won a $250,000 contract with WWE by receiving the largest combination of text and online votes. The outcome was revealed last night on a televised special, hosted by Todd Grisham and Ashley Massaro.

Michigan's Jen England came in second place, while Arizona native J.T. Tinney rounded out the top three.

Neither of the on-air competitions affected the result, but Layla the all-important lingerie competition, while Jen was the top arm wrestler.

The race to see who can be the next Torrie Wilson is now on!

With Mick Foley calling out Ric Flair to begin this week's ECW show, fans were as interested as they've been in the product all month.

Led by such a strong opening segment, this week's rating came in at a 2.3. The first forty five minutes notched a 2.2 rating, while the fourth quarter posted a 2.1 and the overrun did a 2.5.

Surprisingly, the main event ladder match did not lead to a major spike in the numbers. Perhaps this was due to the announcement to start the hour that Kurt Angle - sorry, The Wrestling Machine, Kurt Angle - wouldn't be participating in it.

There are rumors that Trish Stratus is on her way out of the WWE. If that's true, it'll be more important than ever to keep Torrie Wilson around.

If Vince McMahon is somehow unsure, he should pick up a copy of next month's FHM magazine.

A topless cover shot of Wilson is followed by an in-depth interview. In it, the WWE Diva talks about etiquette within the ring: She doesn't apologize to her opponents for groping them - fellow diva Candice Michelle "always appreciates it," evidently - but she does ask for forgiveness if she actually hurts them.

Aside from that, it's your typical job. Well, almost. There's one potential problem that Torriw often encounters.

"My chest pops out quite a bit. I use half a box of double-sided tape very time but these suckers do not want to stay in," she said.

Yeah. Major issue there. All male WWE fans should do whatever is possible to help.

Coming off a RAW rating of 4.2 a week ago, it was a slight let down for Vince and crew when this week's edition scored a final 4.1 cable rating.

As the show before a big pay-per-view, especially a major one such as Summerslam, we're sure WWE higher-ups were hoping for an improvment.

The following report is courtesy of lordsofpain.com …

Paul Heyman and The Big Show are backstage and Heyman says he has remove Angle from tonight's ladder match due to a groin injury. This is not a good beginning for any wrestling fan.

ECW intro is shown.

Mick Foley's music hits and he makes his way to the ring. They recap Foley's beatdown on Flair last night on RAW. Foley says he invited Flair to show up tonight but Flair declined. Foley says he knows Flair has a lot of guts but he's not showing up tonight because he's at home resting and trying to heal his injuries sustained from Foley last night on RAW. Foley said Flair called him a knowbody until he was thrown off of a hell in a cell by The Undertaker.

He says he fought back that night with injuries. Foley said he didn't quit that night because of the fact is if he did he would have thought less of himself. Foley says Flair can't beat him and that "I quit" isn't in his vocabulary. But for tonight Foley has promised something a little extreme. He introduces Kelly Kelly. Kelly comes down to the ring looking hot as ever. Foley then invited Melina out!

Melina comes out to MNM's music and does her split legged entrance for the ECW fans. Foley announces a three way dance! Music hits and Melina, Kelly, and Foley dance together. Foley dances laughably bad as Melina and Kelly are dancing very sexy. Ric Flair's music hits and he runs down to the ring and attacks Foley. Flair nails Foley with two low blows and throws Foley into the ring steps on the outside. Flair takes off his belt and whips Foley with it. Flair then chokes Foley with the belt and ties it to the ring post. Foley is bleeding. Flair says that Foley's gonna quit and yells at a fan telling him to kiss his ass as Melina checks on Foley.

"The Reject" Shannon Moore talks backstage, questioning authority.

Match 1: CM Punk vs. Justin Credible
They show Credible talking earlier saying Punk's win over him two weeks ago was a fluke. Credible slaps Punk but Punk snapmares Credible in return. He covers and gets a two. Punk kicks Credible right in the face in the corner. He covers and gets another two. Credible gets his knee up when Punk jumped off the rope and covered for two. Credible locks in a arm lock. CM counters with an arm drag. Credible counters and nails a DDT for a two count. Punk comes back with a high knee in the corner and another kick in the face. Punk follows up with the uranagi and locks in the Anaconda Vice and Justin taps.
Winner: CM Punk

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How do member of The Spirit Squad spell legal trouble? With a K-E-N-N-Y, it looks like.

Based on an incidient with a fan in July, charges of vandalism, assault and battery have been filed against Ken Doane (Kenny of The Spirit Squad). The tag titles don't seem so important all of a sudden.

Doane was served with the warrant last night at the RAW taping in Charlottesville, Virginia and has a court date set for August 31 in Roanoke.

In early July, Jason Wilson claims to have approached Doane and WWE Diva, Mickie James, for autographs after a Roanoke event. The pair were in a car, stopped at a red light at the time. Mickie agreed to sign, but Wilson claims when the light turned green, Doane allegedly started to take off with Wilson's sign, causing Wilson to fall and his sign to tear.

The complete wuss is now claming he has a strain shoulder and promised to file a warrant at the time, saying:

"And it's not my fault he did what he did. I'm innocent and I'm going to take a warrant out. And nobody's going to stop me over my dead body!"

Sounds like Wilson is auditioning for a role of scared, whiny heel for the WWE. Chris Jericho could give him a lesson or two.

The following report is courtesy of lordsofpain.net …

The show opened with Lillian Garcia introducing WWE Champion Edge, who came out to the ring with Lita. Meanwhile, JR and King spoke of some disturbing news reported on wwe.com earlier today (involving Edge and Lita going to John Cena’s parent’s house). Edge took the mic and said that the “champ is here.” The former champ, not so much. He said he wanted to tell us a story, as the crowd chanted for Cena.

He said the story was about a champion, him, that was stressed out over having to face Cena at Summerslam and being able to lose the belt via DQ. Edge informed us that he’d be facing Carlito later tonight, so all that being said…he’d been very busy. Thus, he and Lita decided to take a joy ride earlier today to the home of John Cena. Edge showed footage of him and Lita in the Cena house. He insulted Cena’s wrestling skills and wiped his nose on Cena’s Larry Bird throwback jersey. They perused the home and talked to Mr. Cena. Edge said that he told Cena’s dad that he was going to beat the hell out of his son. He also smacked the hell out of him.

They showed the footage of Edge slapping John’s dad several times. JR said it was pathetic, while Edge commented on Cena being at home w/ his dad. He then gave us a history lesson, taking us back to Wrestlemania 21 (where he won the MITB ladder match to get a shot at the belt), New Year’s Revolution (where he won the belt), Live Sex on TV that brought really strong ratings, the Royal Rumble rematch where Cena regained the title, Edge regaining the title on Raw, Cena sitting at home nursing his dad back to health, and the final chapter w/ a happy ending that’ll see Edge retain at Summerslam.

Match 1: Women’s Champion Mickie James vs. Lita (w/ Edge)
- Lita got first strike points with a headlock and a hurricanrana. She maintained control in the corner, hammering away on the champion. Mickie came back and mounted Lita for several right handed shots. James then connected with a dropkick and headed to the top rope. Lita recovered, though, and threw Mickie back to the mat via the hair. She then draped Mickie’s neck across the bottom rope and came down on it with her knee. James tried for a comeback, but Lita thwarted it with a side-Russian leg sweep. The challenger proceeded to lock in a surf board stretch.

James rolled through and kicked Lita in the face. Edge looked concerned as Mickie drilled Lita with a flying forearm and a running back elbow. She then hit a hurricanrana of her own and clothesline for a near fall. Lita came back with a rake of the eyes and tried for a spike DDT, but Mickie held onto the ropes and caused Lita to throw herself to the mat. Mickie tried for a pin with the ropes as leverage, but Edge threw her legs off. Lita tried the same thing, but the ref caught her. Mickie tried for a roll-up with a bridge, but Lita kicked out! Lita then countered the Mickie James DDT finish and took advantage of an Edge distraction by drilling Mickie with the championship belt. Thus, Lita became the new Women’s champion at 5:03.

Backstage, Mick Foley congratulated Lita on winning the Women’s title. He said he’d been very upset with himself for the last week for accepting Ric Flair’s challenge. He said he was comforted only by the fact that he’d get to destroy Flair’s career at Summerslam. Foley said that the facts state that he’d only been busted open 4 times in his ten year WWE career, whereas Ric was a bleeding machine. Thus, may one of them bleed to death at Summerslam. He invited Flair to come to ECW tomorrow night. He concluded by saying that he’d look forward to seeing Melina accompany her man, Johnny Nitro when he faces Flair later tonight.Match 2: Umaga (w/ Armando Alejandro Estrada) vs. Alex Sage
- Umaga dominated the jobber with his usual offense before getting the win with the Samoan Spike. Umaga got the squash victory.

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ECW fans are quite proud of how extreme their behavior can get. Apparently, it's gotten the best of WWE star, Batista.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the animal has recevied backstage heat after his reaction at a recent ECW show. Once fans started booing him, the former champion lost his cool.

But can you blame the ECW faithful for expressing their negative sentiments toward a wrestler appearing on their program who had nothing to do with the original company or extreme idea?

Vince McMahon, especially, was mad at his superstar. He and Johnny Ace had warned Batista that he'd receive a less than popular reaction.

In the end, Batista’s appearance was heavily edited for the broadcast, with WWE putting in footage of fans cheering him and holding up signs supporting him. The negative chants were covered up with a long “ECW” chant, and any remarks Joey Styles or Tazz made in regards to the fans were removed.

For a guy who supposedly isn't pleased with the current angle he's in, Shawn Michaels must at least be thrilled to be healthy and performing again in the WWE.

The Showstopper has reportedly signed a new, five-year year deal with the company one that guarantees him $1.5 million per year. He should be able to afford his share of DX shirts for a long time now.

Many within WWE were said to be "shocked" at how high of a contract was given to Michaels, according to The Wrestling Observer. These days, the business is offering superstars less guaranteed dough - even Michaels himself was expecting a lower contract and saw no choice but to sign on the dotted line once he glimpsed the numbers.

Truth is, if anyone has earned these riches, it's HBK. The man fought back from a crippling back injury and has been the most consistent performer on RAW for months and months now.