?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Monday, August 15, 2005 at 2:32 PM EST

According to many WWE wrestlers, the small crowds at weekend House Shows and really this whole year have made it hard for many to want to go to work when they are working in front of 1,000 or less people. The smaller crowds have no doubt affected how the talent see the success of the company at the moment and would obviously prefer to both perform and improve themselves in front of much larger crowds. Plus, the big factor that comes into play that most people forget about is the bonus money that is paid to the workers based off how strong the gate is. So, if crowds are down, pay is down as well. The false advertisement of John Cena the past two weeks at RAW House Show events reportedly didn't help either.

Since taking time off following the Vengeance PPV in June, Triple H has been working backstage for WWE in numerous off camera roles. The general feeling is that Hunter is taking advantage of his time off to understand the various facets of the business given that he will play a much larger role in that department in the future. Triple H's name has also been appearing on TV format sheets appearing as a writer, so it appears he is "officially" helping out in the creative department as well. He has done this in the past, but was never given a credit on the format sheets.

It was made public recently that nude photos of current WWE Diva hopeful Ashley have made the rounds on the internet already. From what is understood, Ashley posed for Playboy a year ago and appeared in the website's "Cybergirl of the Month" area in January of 2004. However, she went by the name "Ryan MacKenzie" instead of Ashely Massaro. We can't link the photos here for obvious reasons, but a simple search on Google.com by typing in "Ryan MacKenzie Playboy" will help you find what you are looking for. Also, Ashley's phone number is still active and she left a new voicemail just before she boarded her plane to Montreal for RAW tonight noting that she couldn't answer until Tuesday. (Thanks to Erin Hayes for sending word of this)

Credit: Dave Scherer & Buck Woodward @ PWInsider.com