Batista Leave WWE

word making the rounds in Baltimore, where the WWE crew has already arrived for tomorrow night's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, is that Batista is finishing up with the company this week.

Batista has made noise about leaving in recent months and it appears to have come to fruition.

He's challenging John Cena in what may ultimately be his final match inside a WWE ring.

Tonight's TNA iMPACT, Kurt Angle Opening a Cafe, Sacrifice

TNA will shoot tonight's iMPACT live from the iMPACT Zone in Orlando, Florida tonight at 8pm EST.

- The official theme song for TNA's Sacrifice pay-per-view will be Shake It Out by the Manchester Orchestra.

- Kurt Angle wrote on Twitter last week that he has five movies finishing in 2010. Angle also mentioned that Kurt Angle's Foodies Cafe will open in Pittsburgh's strip district next Monday. Angle will be appearing for the cafe's opening

Final 4/2 WWE Friday Night Smackdown rating

The post-Wrestlemania edition of Friday Night Smackdown on 4/2 dropped to a 1.68 broadcast rating, down from a 1.9 rating the previous week. The show was viewed by 2.79 million viewers, down from 3.24 million on 3/26

TNA Impact Quarter Hour Ratings

TNA Impact ended up doing a .80 rating last night off hours of .82 and .78. The show was down 10% from last week. Here are some quarter hour details...

* The show opened with a .74 in quarter hour one.

* Quarter hour four was the highest rated full quarter hour, with a .85. The segment featured Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, and the Knockouts.

* Quarter hour five, the first against RAW, dropped to a .78. The segment featured Angelina Love vs. Velvet Sky, the Abyss angle, and the beginning of Motor City Machineguns vs. Matt Morgan & Amazing Red.

* Quarter hour six fell to a show-low .65. The segment featured the rest of the Motor City Machineguns vs. Matt Morgan & Amazing Red match, more of the Abyss angle, and intros for Jeff Hardy vs. Robert Roode.

* Quarter hour seven increased to a .72. The segment featured Hardy vs. Roode and the fireball angle.

* Quarter hour eight increased to a .80 for the AJ Styles/Pope brawl.

* The highest rated segment was the two minute overrun which did a .97 rating.

DVD Wrestlemania 26 Cover

New Match to Open TNA's Lockdown PPV, Rumor on Christy Hemme's New TNA Deal

For what it's worth, The Honky Tonk Man wrote on Facebook that Christy Hemme's new three-year deal with TNA is worth $175,000 a year, far more than the other TNA Knockouts are earning. Honky's Facebook says that Eric Bischoff played a big part in getting Hemme her new deal. Honky also claims that Hemme's new deal with TNA has left some of the other Knockouts upset.

- The opening match for this Sunday's TNA Lockdown pay-per-view will be James Storm vs. Rob Van Dam. The winner of the match will get the "numbers advantage" for his team in the Lethal Lockdown main event

WWE Smackdown Is Moving To SyFy

According to a report by The Los Angeles Times, WWE Smackdown is leaving MyNetwork TV and heading to SyFy. The deal will fully be announced later this week, but the report noted that SyFy will be paying $30 million a year for the show, up from the $20 million the company was getting for the show. WWE was free to shop the show around to new channels, but had to move the series to a network owned by NBC-Universal on cable. Smackdown will continue to air on MyNetwork TV until late September or early October. SyFy formerly hosted ECW, and now airs WWE NXT.

Sheamus Works as Face, Cody Rhodes Update, Swagger/Mysterio

Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger for the World Title is being advertised for the main events of the SmackDown shows in Tennessee on May 1st and 2nd.

- Cody Rhodes has been wearing amateur wrestling head gear during the WWE European tour, to go along with the punt kick he received from Randy Orton at WrestleMania.

- After the RAW live event in Dublin this weekend, John Cena cut a promo on the hometown hero Sheamus following their match that Cena won. Cena put Sheamus over as a WWE Superstar and handed him the WWE Title. Sheamus then cut a babyface promo to the hometown crowd, laid the WWE Title down in the ring and said that was for them. The crowd popped big for Sheamus as he celebrated with the fans to end the show.

7 eleven & WWE

"This is much bigger for us than what we did in the first film," he tells Marketing Daily. "For the first, it was about Slurpee; this includes Big Gulp, so it's about 10 different cups." He says retail elements include front-of-store and window banners. There is also a separate promotion with Reese's candy, which is sold at 7-Eleven.

Brody says films are just one part of the company's promotional strategy, which includes sponsorships around gaming, sports and TV programs.

"We have had success with anything that's exciting; in the case of blockbuster films, it's something where excitement is building well before the premiere," he says, adding that 7-Eleven has programs with WWE Summerslam, and a big promotion planned around a video game. "But films do very well -- no question about it. There is so much support as well from studio and distributors. It really gives lots of buzz to a property

Details Behind Lance Cade's Departure From World Wrestling Entertainment

As reported earlier, Lance Cade was released again last week by World Wrestling Entertainment.

He was re-hired this past October, but was conspicuously never used sans a one-off appearance in developmental. In an interview last week with PWInsider.com, Cade said John Laurinaitis told him last December they were going to call him up to the main roster, but he was having problems going through pain killer withdrawal and it was keeping him awake.

He said that led to getting hooked on sleeping pills, so he called the office and asked to be put into rehab. Cade completed four weeks of rehab and in early March, talked to his mentor, Shawn Michaels. He claimed HBK told him "he's done" and would never be used a top guy.

During the interview, Cade expressed his displeasure with being let by WWE as he couldn't understand why they would fire him for asking to go to rehab considering that everyone else is given an ultimatum to take up rehabilitation assistance or have their contract terminated. He felt he was doing the right thing by addressing the issue and asking to enter rehab, especially considering that his ongoing pill problems stemmed from working for WWE.

He then said he doesn't want to be part of a company that says they want to help wrestlers with their issues, but then turn their backs on them when they ask for help. He also feels it sends a bad message to the wrestlers in the locker room that if they get injured and take time off, they'll lose their spot. Or, if they have issues medication and ask for help, they'll be fired. Additionally, Cade implied during the interview that there are top guys doing stuff much worse than he had done, saying WWE's drug testing policy "doesn't apply to everyone.

" Cade was previously released from WWE on October 14, 2008. Jim Ross later stated on his official website that "he made a major league mistake while utilizing bad judgment" and that it was instrumental to his departure. J.R. also made reference to Cade having a seizure on a plane and needing emergency medical care.