— The January 26th edition of WWE Raw did a 3.6 cable rating, down from last week’s 3.9. The show did hours of 3.52 and 3.75. Considering this was the night after the Rumble and post-PPV shows typically do solid numbers, it’s safe to say Mr. McMahon’s return last week was a big part of that 3.9.

— CNN.com features an article about former WWE superstar Christopher Nowinski’s Sports Legacy Institute, which is researching the effects that concussions have on athetes’ brains. The article says that Nowinski’s dreams of a long career wrestling were dashed by a kick to his chin. That kick, which caused Nowinski to black out and effectively ended his career, capped a career riddled with concussions. “My world changed,” said Nowinski. “I had depression. I had memory problems. My head hurt for five years.” Nowinski began searching for studies, and what he found startled him. “I realized when I was visiting a lot of doctors, they weren’t giving me very good answers about what was wrong with my head,” said Nowinski. “I read [every study I could find] and I realized there was a ton of evidence showing concussions lead to depression, and multiple concussion can lead to Alzheimer’s.” Nowinski decided further study was needed, so he founded the Sports Legacy Institute along with Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon. The project solicits for study the brains of ex-athletes who suffered multiple concussions.

— WWE issued a press release this morning announcing a new partnership with European television network Eurosport. The two-year agreement will see Eurosport broadcast two new original WWE shows, ‘This Week in WWE’ and ‘WWE Vintage Collection’, in all its European territories excluding the UK. The new program will be seen by 200 million viewers and 58 countries across the continent. Launching on February 9, 2009, the shows will air back-to-back in primetime.

** VIDEO of MICKEY ROURKE & CHRIS JERICHO on LARRY KING: Will they Fight at WM25?!