Mark Bright looks at the first Smackdown of 2009.

WWE’s Jim Ross on cutting costs, releasing talent and more.

Jim Ross has posted his latest blog, looking at Brock Lesnar’s UFC Heavyweight title win over Randy Couture at UFC 91 on Saturday night.

Welcome to the latest Roundtable discussion here at iFight365.com where this week, we’re asking the question: If you could choose anyone from any promotion, at anytime, to be your dream announce team, who would you choose?

Mark Bright: As soon as I read the topic title I knew instantly what my answer would be. The dream announce team of all time in pro wrestling would be “Good Ol’ JR” Jim Ross circa 1998 and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan circa 1992.

Heenan could be the pure heel commentator without edging into being annoying like Jerry Lawler has done and JR would be excellent at…

An update on Lance Cade’s recent release from WWE.

Ross talks Cena and more in his latest blog update.

Jim Ross has revealed the reasons behind Lance Cade’s surprise release from WWE this week.

Jim Ross will call Tuesday night’s edition of ECW on Sci-Fi alongside Tazz.

- WWE tapes Smackdown and broadcasts ECW from Milwaukee, WI tonight. No matches have been announced for the TV tapings at time of writing however its likely that we’ll find out what’s next for Triple H and his WWE title ahead of next month’s No Mercy PPV, plus the show will likely feature the continuation of the Big Show/Undertaker angle from Sunday night’s Unforgiven PPV. Triple H and The Undertaker vs. The Great Khali and MVP has been advertised as a dark match.
We’ll have spoilers up on the front page …

- The Sun have an interesting interview with WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt online, looking at the lawsuit filed against the company by former employees Scott ‘Raven’ Levy, Chris ‘Kanyon’ Klucsarits and Mike Sanders.
McDevitt again insisted that WWE has no case to answer and was quoted as saying: “I think the key point to be made here is that every one of these people signed contracts acknowledging they were independent contractors.
“They contractually agreed that they would take care of their own health benefits and all the rest of that stuff.
“The IRS …

- Raw takes place tonight from Wilkes-Barre, PA and for those of you in the United States, don’t forget that the show goes out tonight on Sci-Fi rather than on USA due to coverage of the US Open tennis. USA will air a replay at 11pm EST.
As always, we’ll have a full Raw recap up on the site early on Tuesday morning courtesy of Todd Martin.
- WWE will also be taping tomorrow night’s edition of ECW on Sci-Fi tonight prior to Raw going live. If you’re attending the show tonight …

- TNA ‘Knockout’ Gail Kim appears to be close to finalising a return to WWE. PWInsider.com broke the news last night that Kim was on her way out of TNA, with the company removing her profile from their website at around the same time.
The Baltimore Sun today ran a small piece on the news, with Kevin Eck reporting that a source had told him that WWE were interested in re-signing her should contract talks with TNA break down.
Kim joined TNA in September 2005, signing a three-year deal. That may well …

- Smackdown and ECW tape tonight in Moline, IL with Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy for the ECW title in a Summerslam rematch announced for ECW.
No matches have been announced for Smackdown at time of writing, although I think its fairly likely we’ll learn of who Triple H will defend his WWE title against (my guess is Big Show) and who will work with Undertaker next. The plan at the weekend was for Edge to be kept off tonight’s show to sell the beating he took at Sunday night’s awesome …