Hogan out, Hardy in

WWE.com has released two major stories within the last 24 hours. Hulk Hogan has been injured and will apparently be unable to compete at Summerslam, and Jeff Hardy has been given a "second chance" with the company.

The Hogan situtation comes hot on the heels of a "Great American Bash" pay-per-view that should have been renamed "Subject To Change". Now, the match that was supposed to sell "Summerslam", 'Hogan-Orton', appears to be off. How on Earth did the Hulkster manager to get injure himself?

The former world champion told .com, "[On] Friday, I did a couple of leg exercises at a gym. When I got home, I sat on my new couch and it was like sitting in a hole. When I got up, it sounded like a snap, an explosion in the kneecap. I can stand and walk a bit, but its hard for me to sit and get up and down the stairs."

Orton's standard heel response: "Typical Hogan. I have been around the man since I was a child. It seems that every time he gets in a situation that he can't handle or if he gets in over his head, he blows out a knee or his back. Case and point, the old man (chuckling) blew out his knee getting up from the couch."

Hogan's Raw appearance for Monday has been said to be in doubt.

Jeff Hardy was a red-hot superstar three years ago. He had started to carve out his own niche as a singles star in the WWE when he apparently just "burned out". Hardy didn't put his heart into his work, and created a lot of heat for himself by arriving at shows late, and not fulfilling his contractual expectations.

Hardy, who first worked for the WWE/F when he was just 16, has also had drug problems, and claims to now be recfocused and clean.

This does remind me of when the WWE rehired Eddie Guerrero who had been released for substance abuse problems. Guerrero went on to the biggest pay days of his career and main event status before having his wreckless past catch up with him.

Jeff hasn't exactly been a boyscout sice leaving the WWE. He spent time in TNA and had been in management's doghouse for arriving late to events or no-showing all together. He has been informally suspended by TNA twice.

The first thought would be that the WWE would try to reunite the popular Hardy Boys tag team - but to what end? To feud with the dysfunctional and soon to be defunct Spirit Squad? To feud with London and Kendrick? There is no tag team division on either brand to speak of.

My next thought is - are surprise returns dead? Remember that feeling you used to get when the WWE would bring back an old fav with a shocking run in or as a surprise tag team partner? Are those days gone? Hey - we here at Tha "O" Show aren't the ones spoiling this bit of news - it's the WWE themselves.

Is this simply a case of not wanting to be scooped by the internet so they'd rather spoil it themselves? Whatever the rationale, it sucks.

I hope Jeff Hardy nothing but health and big pay days. I hope Hulk Hogan manages to rub some magic lotion on that knee so he's able to compete at "Summerslam". Hell, you know he wasn't gonna put Orton over, and one more loss on that dick makes me a happy guy.

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