Tomko’s return may be a short-lived one and MVP and R-Truth remain in the WWE doghouse. But the good news is that “SuperStars” is coming back. God I hope Vince McMahon still has that powdered blue suit hiding in the back of his closet somewhere.

Opening Witty Banter
I hope everyone out there is having a great holiday season, celebrating however it is you celebrate and enjoying whatever it is you enjoy. Today’s edition will be brief, but loaded with all the gooey E goodness you came for.

Let’s take some ‘E…

The News of the Week
“Superstars” is coming back! Word came out on Friday that WWE and WGN SuperStation have reached a deal to broadcast a weekly, one-hour primetime show called “Superstars.” No other information has been released other than the show will debut in April 2009.

YES! WWE needs a fourth show to balance out the bottom of the roster that has been neglected since both Heat and Velocity went away. Now this is of course assuming the show will feature original matches. But I can’t imagine WGN broadcasting a prime time show that is just magazine-style filler. I’m intrigued for more details to emerge. With the Superstars moniker coming back does this also mean Brooklyn Brawler, Barry Horowitz and Iron Mike Sharpe come back too?

Thanks to new downloadable content from XBOX Live you can now download Ted DiBiase, Jr., Evan Bourne and Charlie Haas as playable characters for SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009. You can also get alternate attire for Chris Jericho.

I’m not much of a video game guy but I think it’s cool that video games have gotten savvy enough that you can update rosters to keep them up-to-date with the current roster. Yeah for Charlie Haas.

R-Truth is apparently in the WWE doghouse as they feel his basic wrestling skills are limited.

Did they not watch him at all before they re-signed him? Since when has WWE cared about basic mat skills? R-Truth can pop a crowd with his unique entrance and flashy highspots. I thought that’s all you needed to make it in WWE these days.

MVP’s current losing streak was created by management to see if Porter will stick it out after guys like Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar “flaked out” after their major pushes.

I find this to be ridiculous reasoning for a number of reasons. First, Porter never reached the levels of Lesnar or Lashley. Plus Porter had a wealth of wrestling experience before he came to WWE; it’s not like he was a true WWE project like Lesnar or Lashley. And even though he’s losing all the time, he still gets a wealth of television and pay per view time. A guy like Paul Burchill or Jimmy Yang is actually worse off right than Porter is when it comes to exposure.

It’s been said that Tyson Tomko, who worked a dark match against Paul Burchill at last week’s RAW taping, is dealing with a torn pectoral muscle. Apparently he was wearing a sling the day after the dark match. Apparently he got a good reaction from the live crowd on Monday, but Vince McMahon was not a fan of his performance. Vince apparently thought his performance was poor and he looked heavy. Thus talk has surfaced that his return will be a short one.

I hope Tomko gets another shot on WWE TV. I was never a big fan of his during his first run, but like many others, I took to him during his TNA run. I think with Christian perhaps also on his way back to WWE and the company constantly trying to find naturally big men, Tomko will get another shot at the big time.

The Road to…Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble is always my favorite pay per view of the year thanks to the Royal Rumble match itself. Nothing is set in stone yet for the January 25 card that will be emanating from Detroit, but it has been announced that John Cena will defend the World Heavyweight Championship against one of eight top contenders, and of course there will be the 30 man Royal Rumble main event match, but so far no participants have been announced.

Wrestler of the Week
Week of December 15 – 21: John Morrison
It was a fairly slow week on WWE TV this past week so I have to go with the most consistent performer from this past week’s show – John Morrison. He and The Miz won the World Tag Titles a week ago Saturday at a house show and then successfully defended the belts against CM Punk and Kofi Kingston in a rematch on RAW. Then on ECW he and Miz teamed with Jack Swagger to beat Ricky Ortiz, Punk and Kofi in a six-man tag. And then on SmackDown!, Morrison beat Festus in singles action. To top the week off he competed on Saturday night’s airing of Tribute to the Troops, in a losing effort with Miz and JBL to R-Truth, Jeff Hardy and Punk. Four shows, four matches, three victories. Pretty good showing for the young Morrison.

RAW’s On Tonight!
RAW is going to be airing a pay per view quality card tonight thanks to the mini tournament starting tonight to crown a number one contender for John Cena’s World Heavyweight Championship and a match at the Royal Rumble. Only former World Champions were invited to participate in the four singles matches. We will see Rey Mysterio versus JBL, Shawn Michaels against Kane, CM Punk against Chris Jericho and Batista versus Randy Orton. The four winners will then go on to the next week’s show to compete in a four corners match to crown the new contender. Looks like RAW is busting out the big guns as the year winds down and they start down the road to WrestleMania.

On Last Week’s Episode…
Raffi continues his run over covering WWE’s on-line shows.

Marshall covers one of WWE’s most important shows each year – Tribute to the Troops.

Norine puts a little SmackDown! on it.

Marshall has all the RAW love you crave.

How They Rated
SmackDown! (12.12.08) – 2.0

A.M. RAW (12.14.08) – .8

RAW (12.15.08) – 3.0

ECW (12.16.08) – 1.3

This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Wiswell looks at the recent run of DQs in Ring of Honor.

Ditch looks at NOAH’s recent troubles.

Marshall continues to stand on the rooftops and shout T-N-A.

For more relevant wrestling information from your truly, check out my other gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.