WWE news and notes: November 7th, 2012

Here are some of the current goings on in WWE this week:

- The head of the RAW creative team, David Kapoor, is off the road this week, and has been for several weeks due to ongoing medical issues. Head Smackdown! writer Ed Koskey is taking his place until he returns. For those that may not know, Kapoor is also the man who played The Great Khali‘s manager/translator/brother Ranjin Singh on television for several years.

- On this week’s RAW, a vignette was aired for a new wrestler going by the name of “Fandangoo” (also spelled “Fandango” at this week’s Smackdown! taping). Although you could hear his voice and an outline was shown, Fandangoo’s face was never shown, leading people to wonder who would be playing the role. it has been confirmed that the role will be played by Johnny Curtis. Curtis, you may or may not remember, won season 4 of NXT. Shortly after winning the pseudo-reality show, nothing was done with Curtis for several weeks before he began appearing in vignettes where he would use really tired cliches and do little else. He was used sparingly on Smackdown!, mainly in battle royals, before being moved onto season 5 of NXT, where he engaged in a feud with Derrick Bateman over former WWE diva Maxine. Curtis tried the gimmick out in a recent dark match in Providence, RI, defeating Sami Callihan. Video of the match is available online.

- Also on RAW, WWE furthered the storyline with suspended referee Brad Maddox. Maddox claimed that he acted alone in regards to costing Ryback the WWE title at Hell in a Cell, and that his reasons for doing so were to get noticed and get people to know his name. He went over his history with WWE, from paying $2,000.00 to go to a tryout camp, as well as his time under a developmental contract, saying all he ever wanted to be was a WWE superstar. Vince McMahon came out and said he wasn’t buying all of it, but made a deal with Maddox: if Maddox can beat Ryback on next week’s RAW, not only will he become a WWE superstar, but he will get a $1,000,000.00 contract in the process. Regardless of what happens, this is a good indication that Maddox has been officially re-hired by WWE in reality.

- Jerry “The King” Lawler, who had a heart attack recently, has made a full recovery, and is expected to be back to work on RAW next week.

- A rumor surfaced online Sunday about former World Champion Jack Swagger asking for his release from WWE. The rumor was started by the Twitter account @CrankyVince, which many believe may be run by someone anonymous within WWE. Catalina Hager, the wife of Jack, responded to the rumor on Twitter with the following tweet: “Has jack asked for his wwe release @CrankyVince seems to think so. Absolutely NOT TRUE.”