Backstage News/Notes from the RAW Brand, Favoritism in On-Air

By Chris Walters on June 30, 2004 at 2:32 PM EST

WWE continues to have Steven Richards dress up in drag at house shows and have him help Victoria against Trish Stratus and Tyson Tomko. They have not explained on TV why this continues to happen nor do they lead on about Richards being the person in drag.

According to sources, many people within the RAW band felt a lot of wrestlers were left off RAW last night, which some felt was far from the norm. There is also a feeling that WWE will have their hands full trying to get new talent over if they never use them or only give them limited TV time. It's bad enough that time on the air is hard to come by, with the current state of the business, people want some new faces on the air in hopes of generating a new spark and hopefully build a buzz back in the business.

There is also a sentiment that most guys who are getting over, such as Randy Orton, Batista, Eugene, Chris Benoit, etc. all have ties to Triple H.

As reported earlier, Test has reinjured his neck. All this comes on the heels of returning from a neck injury. WWE has decided to place him on the injured list to be safe.

Here are some house show numbers from the weekend. Buffalo drew about $100,000. The Madison Square Garden show drew about $350,000 with about 10,000 in attendance. Salisbury, MD was the lowest draw at about 2,200 in attendance for about $70,000.

The "Deadman" Character to be canned? Undertaker to re-surface as the American Bad Ass?

[ Source: Pro Wrestling Insider ]