Original HTM/WWE Plans, Goldust Backstage Update, Palumbo's Future
? In the days leading up Cyber Sunday, Honky Tonk Man wasn't originally scheduled to appear at the event. They didn't call him until the Thursday before the pay-per-view. In an interview with Live Audio Wrestling, Honky Tonk Man said the original plan at Cyber Sunday was for Charlie Haas to come out dressed as him. "They were originally going to have Charlie Haas dress up and go out and do this," Ferris said. "The rehab came along very well and Thursday they had called and said 'can you still do the shake, rattle, and roll?' and I said 'well of course I can do that' and that was case closed." Ferris is still rehabbing an injury suffered at an autograph signing over the summer when an overzealous publicity person nearly severed his finger when they were horsing around with two guitars. Ferris wasn't sure if he would be able to make the show as a result, and he didn't think he would be voted in to the match against Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella. "This voting thing is extremely legitimate. It was a very close race between myself and Piper," Ferris said. "I went there thinking I wasn't going to have to do anything either. I'm just making a little cameo appearance, but I ended up being in the ring for about 40-45 seconds and it worked out very well."
? WWE is still thinking about using Goldust as a regular character since they are short on wacky gimmick characters, not to mention that he surprisingly garnered nearly as many votes as Honky Tonk Man & "Rowdy" Roddy Piper for Cyber Sunday. Discussions have gone back-and-forth over the past week regarding using him. Head Raw writer Brian Gewirtz is a big advocate of Runnels as he's pushing for more comedy on Raw, and he thinks he can write good lines for him. Gewirtz also believes it's a good time for the lapsed WWE audience to see a familiar character from the past. Should Goldust get brought in, he'll pretty much be used in a way to put guys they're trying to elevate over as he's a credible opponent. Internally, there was said not be much support in bringing back Goldust, but the legit fan response greatly helped his cause in landing a job with WWE. There's also an interesting scenario WWE can eventually do with brother Cody Rhodes.
? Chuck Palumbo is already looking at life after WWE as he's got former Natural Born Thrillers members Jon Hugger (a.k.a. Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli) working on getting him in AAA, as well as Mark Jindrak (Marco Corleone) getting him in CMLL. Hugger is currently in AAA under his "Rellik" gimmick.