WWE news and notes: 27th July

Triple H

• MVP was recently backstage at Thursday’s Smackdown taping in Houston, TX. He was there to see friends, and made it clear on Twitter that fans shouldn’t jump to any conclusions. MVP is currently sporting an eye patch as a result of being poked in the eye while training in jiu-jitsu.
• It’s the Game’s 44th birthday, and would have been the 56th birthday of Matt “Doink the Clown” Osbourne, who recently passed away due to substance abuse.
• The Big Show was working in the current Australian tour, but has been removed as a result of concerns regarding his injuries. He is still expected to team with Mark Henry against the Shield in a 2-on-3 Handicap Match at Summerslam.
• Despite the rumours, former WWE diva Stacy Keibler will not be returning to the company. WWE themselves have denied the talks with bringing Kiebler back on the roster, although friends close to Kiebler say she has turned WWE down several times over the last two years.
• Although no official deal has been made outside of work on WWE 2k14, WWE seem to be more open than ever in working with Ultimate Warrior and possibly inducting him into the Hall of Fame next year.
• Speaking of inductions, D-Generation X is pretty much a lock for next year’s Hall of Fame class, and all members of the group (save for Rick Rude) are expected to be inducted. What is most surprising about this is that word is going around the company that Chyna will be invited to the ceremonies and join the group in the induction.
• Former star Ahmed Johnson has recently being doing interviews where he makes claims of rampant racism in WWE, claiming that WWE was going to make him the first African-American champion in company history, but changed their mind. He is also making claims that Pat Patterson, who is openly gay, used to sexually abuse wrestlers in exchange for giving them a push. This rumour has been floating around for many years, but there has never been any proof that it is true. In regards to the racism issue, no one has stood up for Johnson at this point, so take this as angry talk from a bitter former employer for now. The more likely truth is that WWE fired him due to being injury prone, sloppy with his moves and flat-out dangerous in the ring, which are all 100% true. While wrestling has dealt with racism many times over the years (WCW was faced with a class-action lawsuit by former employers several years ago, with the plaintiffs winning a large, undisclosed sum in the process), the fact that Johnson, who hasn’t been seen in wrestling in over 10 years, would come out of nowhere with this claim raises a lot of questions about Johnson’s claim being valid.