Masters/WWE Update, More New ECW Stars?, Backstage News
Source: The Wrestling Observer
? Former WWE developmental wrestler Shawn Spears, who appeared briefly on the WWE roster, will be working the upcoming Ring of Honor TV tapings for HDNet on July 17 and July 18. Spears recently had a tryout match with TNA earlier this month in a match with former WWE star Elijah Burke.
? As reported on earlier, former WWE star Chris Masters was hired back by the company recently and had a meeting with Vince McMahon at the TV tapings a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, CA. According to sources, Masters was recommended by Randy Orton. This rehiring started lots of discussion within the company with many wondering how his new deal applies in regards to previous violations with the company's Wellness policy. Masters violated the drug testing policy twice and was fired in late 2007 over his second violation, which is something normally done when a third violation takes place. Whether or not he will start with a clean slate remains to be seen. If he does it creates an interesting situation on how it applies for someone like Jeff Hardy who might be leaving the company for a while when his deal expires and already has two strikes going against him.
? As noted earlier, Tuesday night's episode of ECW saw the debuts of four wrestlers in Yoshi Tatsu (Naofumi Yamamoto), Abraham Washington (Brian Jossie), Sheamus (Stephen Farrelly) and Tyler Reks (Gabriel Tuft). However, both wrestlers and fans alike shouldn't get too comfortable quite yet as the four newcomers were considered in the eyes of creative as not full-fledged ECW wrestlers, but rather, wrestlers being looked at for possible spots on ECW. At this point, none are considered to be official members of the ECW roster. Keep your eyes peeled on ECW over the next few weeks as more developmental wrestlers will be tested out for possible spots on the roster. Given the limited amount of roster spots in ECW and extraordinary number of wrestlers in developmental, unfortunately, not everyone will make it. Given WWE's lack of patience for young stars, it's definitely a "sink or swim" situation.