A New RAW General Manager, Kendrick's New Gimmick Revealed, More
In case you missed it, Jerry Lawler noted on commentary during Monday's Raw that Shane and Stephanie are looking for a new General Manager for Raw. Here is what WWE.com wrote regarding this in their Raw recap: "As rumors swirled about that Shane and Stephanie McMahon were currently in the process of searching for a new Raw General Manager, World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defended his title against Batista in a match that saw involvement from Kane, JBL and John Cena."
A slew of celebrities including Ben Stiller, Toby Keith, Jewel and Billy Ray Cyrus, among others, will send their messages of support in Generation Rescue's fight against autism during the Saturday Night's Main Event program on NBC on August 2nd. As noted on Raw, actress Jenny McCarthy is heading the cause. "I love the WWE and when Vince McMahon called me and said he wanted to join the fight and help families suffering with autism I was really excited," said McCarthy. "Who better to have on your side in a fight than WWE?" McCarthy has previous ties to World Wrestling Entertainment as she accompanied Shawn Michaels to the ring for his title match with Kevin "Diesel" Nash at WrestleMania XI in 1995 when she was 22 years old.
Brian Kendrick's new heel act appears to be similar to his "Leonardo Spanky" gimmick during his time in the ZERO1 promotion in Japan earlier in his career. Kendrick took on the gimmick due to his resemblance to actor Leonardo DiCaprio, at least in the eyes of Japanese wrestler Shinya Hashimoto. In a 2004 interview Kendrick did with SLAM! Wrestling following his initial release from WWE, he said, "When I got there, the guy picked me up (at the airport) and in broken English pretty much told me that Hashimoto thinks I look like Leonardo DiCaprio. I was like, okay, whatever." He also added, "Doing it in the States, I'd get killed. If they had brought me into the 'Fed doing that, I'd be the biggest heel in the company, and not a good kind of heel. People would just hate it. But over there, for whatever reason, Hashimoto knows what he's doing because it worked, so I just ran with it." Also, the jacket he wore at last week's SmackDown taping was probably an old jacket he used for his Leonardo DiCaprio gimmick.