1) Yeah, Nathan Jones is still a rookie. He is a former "Worlds Strongest Man" contestant. He had to stop doing that after having his arm broken in an arm wrestling match that was part of the competition. He spent some time with John Cena in one of the smaller companys. WWE sent him back to OVW for some additional work, and he also negotiated a new contract and salary. Apparently, he thinks he is worth more that he is worth.
2) Johnny "the Bull" Stamboli, and Chuck Palumbo. Oh yeah. Nunzio. :P Anyway, I think Stamboli is an overlooked talent. He has a great build, and good enough technique. Chuck Palumbo, on the other hand, reminds me of Bart Gunn. He's big, rough, and generally isn't very much liked by the crowd. He needs a great tag-team partner to do anything special.
3) Taker, everyone loves and idolizes the Taker. I know I do.
4) The PPV schedule, as Daval mentioned, is changing. Expect the storylines to become deeper, as the plot grows over 2 or more PPV's. Currently, there is a shelf life of one month per storyline, because so many new contenders for the Belt have entered WWE lately. VinnieMac is trying to get the pecking order straight. At least we don't have "In Your House" anymore.
5) The split brands is a great idea!! Look at WCW in its later years. It had tons of wrestlers that nobody cared about. By keeping the rosters cut down to 30-40 wrestlers each, you are able to rotate a few wrestlers each show. Ignoring untelevised house shows, and dark matches, all of the wrestlers can wrestle on TV either on RAW/Heat or Smackdown/Velocity. This allows everyone to work on storylines, and to work out new routines.
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More news: Jeff Hardy worked a small, very small, indie ring over the weekend. About 30 people were in the crowd, and he was using his old moniker, "Willow The Wisp". He's wearing a mask that is a cross between Psicosis and Rey Mysterio. Its a more or less Luchadore mask, with a flow of white sprouting out of the head.