WWE Playing Inside Joke On New Wrestler?, Flair/WWE, More

Apparently, some people in WWE may be playing an inside joke on ECW wrestler Ricky Ortiz, who recently started on television. On last week's edition of ECW, Ortiz appeared in a backstage segment with Theodore Long and his assistant Tiffany. Ortiz told Long he had ideas for catchphrases & nicknames, saying he wanted to be called "The Latin Assassin." Long reminded Ortiz that he has only had one match. Ortiz then told Long he's undefeated. Long informed Ortiz that he will have a chance to make it 2-0 on this week's edition of ECW. His match on Tuesday will be one to watch as it should be a good indication of where he's headed in WWE. Anyway, Ricky's gimmick is said to be based on a developmental wrestler in Ohio Valley Wrestling from a few years ago who was constantly thinking of catchphrases, ideas for T-shirts as well as gimmick ideas when he hadn't really learned to wrestle yet. Ortiz is relatively new to the wrestling business as he trained for a few months in late 2006, debuted in January 2007, wrestled the entire year, and went down with a knee injury at the start of 2008. The injury put him of action for a while, and he only wrestled a few matches in Florida Championship Wrestling upon his return to the ring a few months later. And unlike a number of other recent call-ups, he was brought up to the main roster without having to go through the dark match/house show match trial that sometimes make or break developmental wrestlers.

Ric Flair was scheduled to make some appearances in Canada in Brampton and Niagara Falls on 8/11 & 8/12, but the dates have been postponed. No new dates have been announced.

The Register-Herald out of Beckley, West Virginia has a story on Raw Superstar Jamie Noble, who is from Hanover, West Virginia. He talks about how he got into wrestling as well as his career including his time in WCW. The article notes his departure from WWE in September 2004 (Although, never mentioning how his steroid usage at the time came to light following a staph infection on his buttocks. In a 2005 interview, he said he requested the release because he felt he should be punished.) and signing with New Japan a month later. He stayed there for eight months before returning to WWE, never mentioning his time in Ring of Honor, where he became champion in August 2005. The article also said he works behind the scenes with WWE (as a road agent/"producer").