With Extreme Rules less than three weeks away, WWE Friday Night Smackdown kicks off at 8 p.m. Friday with a big time lineup.
Ryback, currently slated to take on WWE Champion John Cena at Extreme Rules, is scheduled to take on Daniel Bryan.
Ricardo Rodriguez will be taking on Zeb Coulter, while new sensation Fandango will look to shimmy up the ranks when he takes on Zack Ryder.
With one eye on the Big Show possibly for Extreme Rules, Randy Orton will be taking on Damien Sandow. Sheamus and "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry will be in action and in the main event, The Shield's Dean Ambrose will be taking on "the Big Red Machine" Kane in singles action as The Shield continues their war with WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell-No.
In other news, Pro Wrestling Scoops.com reported that WWE star CM Punk was much closer to quitting the company than originally thought.
According to the website, Punk was reportedly fuming after he learned the plans for Undertaker vs. CM Punk at WrestleMania 29, which received high praise from several websites and fans as the best match of the night. WWE officials had reportedly told him that he would end up beating the Undertaker that night, only for Punk to later find out that the plan had been for Undertaker to get the win all along.
Furious, Punk reportedly told officials that they could eat the remainder of his contract, as he was about to quit the company. At that point, WWE owner Vince McMahon stepped in to set up a meeting with Punk, where the two hashed out their issues. Reportedly, McMahon and Punk clashed over giving Punk time off, as the five-time world champion and one of the company's most popular stars wanted to heal from injuries and from burnout while McMahon wanted him back quickly. Given that Punk has been off WWE TV for a month, the two have reached an agreement on that.
The site reported that Punk was also unhappy with young and upcoming midcard talents such as Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston and Antonio Cesaro not getting the attention he felt they warranted while the WWE was busy with "hot shot booking"-a term used for booking PPV-level matches for free TV-that ended up taking opportunities for those men away.
In other news, it looks like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might be done in WWE after all as an in-ring competitor. On Thursday, the People's Champion celebrated his 41st birthday, earning him well-wishers from Hollywood, the wrestling world and from fans around the world.
One of those who sent a message to the Rock was Vince McMahon in a rather interesting tweet.
"Happy Birthday to @TheRock who went out on his shield a hero @WrestleMania," McMahon tweeted.
The tweet seems to indicate that despite his reported hopes, McMahon might be resigned to the idea that Johnson might be done with wrestling. The Rock underwent surgery weeks ago to repair abdominal injuries that he sustained against Cena at WrestleMania 29; and while reports have speculated that the WWE had originally planned to have Rock appear at WrestleMania 30 next year to face ex-UFC champion Brock Lesnar, the Rock has also sent out messages on Twitter hinting that WrestleMania 29 may have been his last match.
And in other news, former WWE superstar Batista gave a rather cryptic tweet regarding the rumors that "the Animal" is thinking about returning to the company.
The star of "Man with the Iron Fists" left this message regarding his MMA and WWE future on Wednesday on his Twitter account.
"Here's a cryptic message: I'm focused on movies now. No #MMA anytime soon. No #WWE plans either, but not opposed. Hopefully #MyFansSupportMe," he tweeted.
That message both debunked rumors that he was thinking about heading back to the WWE and at the same time, left the door open for a possible return. These days, the six-time world champion is more focused on his movie career, including his role as Drax the Destroyer, a major character in Marvel's upcoming 2014 blockbuster "Guardians of the Galaxy," scheduled for release in August 2014.
However, with WWE loving to have its hand in mainstream things, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the company could strike a deal with Batista, a wildly popular champion in his time with WWE, to return at some point, possibly even just before the Marvel movie's release date.