Layla El’s friend posted on El’s MySpace a paragraph explaining why she’s been absent from WWE TV lately (her mother recently passed, and we send our condolences).

In other news:

- Scotty 2 Hotty’s launched a new Web site.

- Matt Hardy is really happy.

- Ken Shamrock is returning to the MMA main event scene with a fight scheduled vs. Kimbo Slice at the October EXC show.

- Howard Finkel has updated his blog with thoughts on MSG and more.

- Lance Cade writes about his daughter.

- Jim Ross, in his latest blog post, talks about the legends video game, Lou Thesz and more. He’s also been regularly updating the Q&A section of his site.

Tags: ECW, Howard Finkel, Jim Ross, ken shamrock, Lance Cade, Layla El, Matt Hardy, MMA, Other, Raw, Scotty 2 Hotty, Smackdown, WWE