Lashley's WWE Release, Cena's Surprise Return, CM Punk/Doghouse Rumors

One source of Bobby Lashley's discontention with WWE had to do with his payoff from WrestleMania 23. He received $250,000 for his efforts in his heavily-hyped match with Umaga. Lashley was said to be furious with the payoff, and he complained about it. Considering that he was the winner of the biggest-drawing match in WrestleMania history, he believes that was entitled to more. Also, even though he was injured for nearly half the year, several sources have indicated that Lashley earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million in 2007, and that's without being much of a merchandise draw.

Doctors medically John Cena in time for the January 7th Raw at the Mohegan Sun Casino. The original plan was for Cena to come out and announce that he would be making his in-ring return at the Royal Rumble. If you recall, it was reported that Cena was at the building that evening, and that there were plans for him to appear on Raw that night. Vince McMahon and Raw writer Brian Gewirtz wanted Cena to make his return that night, but Stephanie McMahon and Bruce Prichard argued for the surprise return. Vince changed his mind and opted to keep Cena's return as a Royal Rumble surprise.

Don't believe the CM Punk doghouse rumors. The person that disliked Punk the most has recently been fired -- that person being writer Dave Lagana, who was responsible for Chavo Guerrero's push to the ECW title. Lagana was also the one person pushing for John Morrison to go over on Punk. Dusty Rhodes is a big fan of Punk and Michael Hayes has been trying to get him on Smackdown.