The return of Bret “The Hit Man” Hart to WWE on January 4 seen a significant rise in viewing figures for WWE programming on Sky Sports at the turn of the year.

Hart made his much-anticipated return to the ring on WWE’s flagship Monday Night RAW programme which recorded an impressive viewing audience of 105,000 viewers in it’s LIVE 2am timeslot on Sky Sports 3.

I’m pretty sure a fair percentage of those viewers may very well have been using Sky+ facilities, and who would blame them considering the 2am start time. A repeat of the show, which airs in the UK on Thursday Nights also recorded 69,000 viewers.

Tickets for the Smackdown taping on April 6th in Chicago go on sale February 20th at 11 AM.
WWE has posted ticket info for Backlash at: http://www.wwe.com/schedules/events/rw/eventdetail/13464110
Backlash takes place on Sunday, April 25th, 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Go to http://prowrestlingevents.tk or http://prowrestlingevents.webs.com for info about upcoming wrestling shows worldwide.

On the next “WWE Superstars,” the brash young Dolph Ziggler will take on his fellow SmackDown ring warrior, the streetwise JTG. Does Ziggler have what it takes to defeat the Cryme Tyme member?
ECW may be coming to an end, but Zack Ryder is still gunning for ECW Champion Christian and will compete against Captain Charisma on the next “WWE Superstars.”

Monday Night Raw on May 17th, 2010 will be held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and the Smackdown taping on May 18th, 2010 will be held at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Tickets for Raw go on sale March 13th, 2010 at 10 AM and tickets for Smackdown go on sale March 6th, 2010 at 10 AM.
The WrestleMania Vancouver Bid Committee has been formed and is attempting to bring WrestleMania to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in either 2013 or 2014

Ohio Valley Wrestling is moving it’s weekly TV tapings to Fridays. The first Friday taping will be on March 5th, 2010. For many years, OVW has held it’s tapings on Wednesday nights.
Colin Delaney will be appearing at the Pro Wrestling Rampage event in Erie, Pennsylvania on February 19th, 2010.
The Smackdown taping on April 27th, 2010 will be held at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The city of New Orleans will be hosting a parade to honor the New Orleans Saints football team on Tuesday, Feb. 9, whether the team wins or loses the Super Bowl.
Since this parade conflicts with WWE’s SmackDown/ECW live event, WWE will be postponing their event in New Orleans and moving it to Baton Rouge at the Baton Rouge River Center at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010.
The New Orleans event has been rescheduled for Friday evening, May 28, 2010. Tickets from the Feb. 9 date will be honored.
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WWE Smackdown spoilers from the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio for the final show before Sunday’s Royal Rumble PPV.

Mark Bright recaps the latest edition of Friday Night Smackdown.

Mark Bright recaps the latest edition of Friday Night Smackdown!

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Mark Bright recaps Friday Night Smackdown as WWE get ready for the Royal Rumble later this month.

Mark Bright recaps the first edition of WWE Friday Night Smackdown of 2010.

Full spoilers for this week’s editions of Friday Night Smackdown, ECW and Superstars from Sunday night’s WWE TV tapings.