WWE News: Latest On Melina's Injury, Batista Busted Open, Jim Ross, More Draft Coverage
Submitted by Daniel Pena on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 2:38 AM EST



-- While it seemed to play right into the storyline regarding the announcers switch, Melina suffered a legitimate ankle injury tonight on Raw during the Divas tag match. On the Raw homepage they wrote: "On Raw, Melina severely injured her ankle during a tag encounter with her fellow Divas." The WWE site posted a video of medics tending to her ankle injury backstage, which was heavily bandaged. The video shows a close-up of Melina's swollen ankle, proving that the injury is legit. You can see the video of this at this link.

-- Batista was obviously busted open hard way during the tri-branded 15-man battle royal tonight on Raw. What happened is that Batista collided head-to-head with Edge by accident, which triggered the burst of blood.

-- In recent months, Jim Ross had been quite vocal about changing brands in his weekly online blogs. He'd usually say that the fans probably don't care about announcers changing brands and that the moves should be reserved for the wrestlers, pretty much indicating that he wasn't too keen on leaving his position on Raw. As it turned out on Raw tonight, Ross's name came up on the TitanTron and as a result, be will be leaving the show to become the new play-by-play announcer for SmackDown. Ross was taken aback by the sudden announcement because as noted earlier, no one besides possibly the top players on the move were informed of the brand changes beforehand. Judging by J.R.'s reaction upon the announcement, he didn't look too pleased to say the least.

In case you missed it, here is what Ross wrote on his blog last Saturday regarding the draft: "I swear that I don't think that even as I write this on Saturday that the draft has been finalized. If you are like many wrestling fans, including me, and like surprises then Monday night is certainly the night for you. I would wager a case of "J.R.'S BBQ Sauce" that virtually no talent knows for sure what fate awaits them come Monday night," Ross wrote. "I was asked by a WWE fan in the DFW Airport on Friday afternoon if I thought any of the announcers would be drafted and I answered "no" because at the end of the day does any one truly care who announces what brand and the same goes for the referees. I would be shocked to see any draft pick wasted on an announcer or a referee as WWE fans want to see major superstars change addresses and begin new rivalries along with making fresh matches."

-- WWE.com posted videos featuring comments from a few of tonight's draftees. Click here for comments from Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy.

See candid photos on the scene of the sign collapse on Raw (>>)








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