The secret is out.

For all of us who have been scratching our heads over the logic behind the endless parade of guest hosts, I found the answer in this morning's newspaper. According to an Associated Press article by David Bauder, the guest hosts are part of the image-polishing process that is taking WWE from TV-14 to a family friendly PG rating.  WWE's quest is to provide a more sophisticated and less extreme product and create more of a variety show atmosphere. 

Ya know, if I wanted to watch a sophisticated variety show, I wouldn't tune in to rasslin' every Monday night. 

However, as I continued to read the article, I began to question whether Mr. Bauder was familiar with WWE's product on anything other than a superficial level.

He claims that the practice of using "fake blood" has been abandoned. That is probably news to those who have practiced the custom of blading for years, which, in turn, resulted in a lot of scarred foreheads.

Mr. Bauder also alleges that "scantily clad" divas are a thing of the past, as is the attitude era. Divas now wear standard workout clothes. Is that right? Well, they are hardly wearing the standard sweat suits worn at the gym I go to.

And isn't DX a middle-aged left over from the attitude era?  The attitude era lives on, but with a receding hairline.

The article also cited UFC and MMA as WWE's competitors. "You really can't compete with that. It made little sense for WWE to ramp up the attitude with violence and sexuality," McMahon is quoted as saying. Since when has WWE ever given up a share of that audience for the greater good?

"We just followed our audience and tried to listen to them, McMahon, WWE chair, said. It’s a more sophisticated product. It's just the right move business-wise, but more specifically the right move in terms of reaching our audience."

How very high-minded of Mister McMahon. With all that sophistication being bandied about, I feel like I should dress up to watch Raw and Smackdown.

But the last paragraph of the article seemed to hold the real reason for McMahon's sudden concern for sophistication and family entertainment. According to Bauder, "It may not be a coincidence that Vince's wife, Linda McMahon, has just stepped down as WWE CEO to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut."

Ahh…now it all makes perfect sense.

* * *

Alas, Chuck Liddell has danced his last dance on "Dancing With the Stars."  Chuck and Anna were eliminated on Tuesday night's show.

On Monday night they had two-stepped around the dance floor to "Boot Scootin' Boogie." Liddell seemed to be in his element with this dance, wearing jeans and a leather vest instead of the usual fussy sequined dancing costumes, and his size, strength and training helped as he easily lifted his partner over his head. Judge Bruno, who had called last week's dance the samba from Zombie Town, said Liddell had given this dance an air carnage and mayhem. Of course, he said that in the nicest way.

The dancing duo received 17 points from the judges, and the call-in votes were added to the final score.

One interesting feature of Tuesday night's show was a segment where the dancers' kids stopped by dance practice to see what their famous parents were up to.  The kids got to sum up the dance lessons, and Liddell's young daughter had the best line of the night, saying "My dad can beat up your dad."  I don't think anybody ever doubted that.

* * *

Thanks for reading and see ya next week.