2012 Royal Rumble winner Sheamus was interviewed this week by HollywoodLife.com to hype Sunday’s WrestleMania pay-per-view. Aside from a few fluff questions about which female actress he wants to kiss on screen and what he loves the most about his fans, he also talked about wanting to steal the show at WrestleMania and gave his prediction for the big Rock vs. Cena match. Here’s what the Celtic Warrior said about:
His Prediction for Rock vs. Cena: “It’s always controversial to pick the winner and a hard thing to do, but I honestly think that John Cena is going to come up the winner on April 1st,” Sheamus said. “Both of them are icons, both are legends, both have achieved so much. Cena is here night and day and I think that will take its toll on The Rock, who has been back for one match. But Cena is the one without the ring rust and the one who I think will win at WrestleMania.”
His Match With Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania: “For two up and coming superstars, we are looking to steal the show,” said Sheamus. “We are hungry and we have spent a lot of time getting to where we are today. Whether it was on the independent scene where we scratched and clawed, we want to be where John Cena and The Rock are, we want to be where The Undertaker and Triple H are, so you are looking at two guys who really want to go out there and steal the show!”
Former WWE diva Trish Stratus recently spoke to the Miami Herald to promote Sunday’s WrestleMania 28 pay-per-view. Trish spoke about her acting career, the state of the Diva’s division, a possible second season of Tough Enough, how yoga affects her life, and more.
As one of the most successful WWE divas of all time, Trish is familiar with the lack of time and focus given to the Divas division:
“Jazz and I were given that same two-minute timeslot and were regarded the same. We were just two chicks where there were the puppy chants and things like that. It was up to us to put something together that was so memorable or out of the box or giving them a certain level of entertainment or performance for the fans. At the end of the day it is what Vince [McMahon] and the other members of production want, but they are very much about what the fans want.
“We said we need the fans to demand more women so we went out there and tried to give them a match where they think, ‘Man, I’m not going to chant puppies anymore. I’m actually going to cheer for more of this.’ Then suddenly we found that because the interest has grown from the fans that allowed our ideas to be spoken louder to the production team. I kind of see it as my or their responsibility.
“I always said, whatever time they give you, it is your responsibility to make those the best one, two, three or five minutes you have because that is your opportunity to give the fans what they demand to see more of you.
Stratus then explained how she feels WWE could improve the Women’s division:
“I think what WWE got away from was keeping it just the women. You have two women feuding then they put a mishmash of eight people in there, so nobody gets a real focus. I think what was key was seeing the women in the men storylines like we have seen with Rosa Mendes out there with the guys. It gives them the opportunity to be out there with other characters. We are seeing them in valet roles a little bit more, and that helps highlight them and allows character development happen. It seems like they are moving in the right direction.”
The Rock spoke to Variety.com this week to promote Sunday’s WrestleMania 28 pay-per-view. The Rock spoke about a number of topics, including his ex-wife Dany leading his management team, how difficult it was to transition from action roles to dramas and family comedies and why he feels the time was right to return to WWE. Here are some highlights of what The Rock said about:
Only Getting Roles In Action Movies At First: “I didn’t have a lot of choices when I first started acting. I was grateful for the projects that were coming in, but they were all action (‘The Mummy Returns,’ ‘The Rundown,’ ‘Doom’).” It took five films before he got his chance at comedy with MGM’s “Be Cool,” which helped transition him into the family genre, including Fox’s “Tooth Fairy.” “I was hoping I could do these action movies and do well enough where I could get more opportunities (in other genres). I knew doing action would get old for me.”
Winning Over Studio Executives & Getting Better Roles: “I knew it would take some convincing to get studios to invest in me. Through small steps we were able to accomplish big things throughout the years. But a point came a few years ago that I felt there were bigger movies to be made that entertained a much bigger audience than I was entertaining.”
Why He Returned To WWE: “I’m back for no other reason than to entertain the fans that had been so good to me over the years. It’s not about the dollar. I’ve been very fortunate. When you go out there and you perform, it becomes really magical. So to be able to go back and create the biggest match of all time for them means the world to me. I took the biggest risk of my life by leaving WWE when I was on top. To be able to go back means the world to me.”
Randy Orton recently spoke to CNYKiss.com to promote his match against Kane at Sunday’s WrestleMania 28, which he caims is the fourth biggest match on the card. Here are some highlights of what Orton said about:
Not Being In A Top Match This Year: “Being a part of WrestleMania is big enough whether I’m in a title match or not or whether I’m in a main event match. WrestleMania, there’s four main event matches every year. They have four top billed matches. We might still be one of those top four. We’ll know more as we get closer to the show and they start running ads and promos and vignettes for the matches. You definitely have Rock-Cena, Punk-Jericho, Triple H-Taker, and I think we might be that fourth. You never know, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan could take that from us. It is a title match, but I think there might be a little more people out there that want to see Kane-Orton as opposed to Sheamus-Daniel Bryan. That’s just me. Sheamus has been around a couple years, Daniel Bryan has been around less. I don’t know, I don’t know, we’ll just wait and see what happens. But no matter what match I have at WrestleMania, as long as I’m healthy and I can make the show and be a part of it, that’s good enough for me. This will be my eighth WrestleMania, I believe, that’s in a row, so with the few injuries I’ve had throughout my career, especially earlier on, I haven’t missed a WrestleMania, 20 all the way through 27.”
Triple H Returning At MSG Last Week: “He doesn’t do too many live events, so I think that was special for him. I think he’s getting the ring rust off, knocking it off and getting ready for April 1 is what he’s doing there, but there will always be a place in his heart for coming and entertaining the fans, whether it’s on TV or not. It just goes to show that anything can happen at The Garden.”
Rock vs. Cena: “Don’t be fooled, this isn’t all show right here. There is some legitimate hatred between these two guys and I think it’s going to make it all the more interesting, because they get in that ring with that many people, 80,000 some odd people, who knows what’s going to happen? Now what’s going to happen when we take the gloves off?”
Who Will Win Rock vs. Cena: “Oh, John Cena. I’d love to see him win 1-2-3 fair and square in the ring, no kind of stipulations last minute, no kind of run-ins at the last minute, no big schmoz going off the air where you see ten Rock Bottoms. I want to see John Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment in the middle of the ring.”
Mick Foley and The Miz have been going back and forth via Twitter after Foley teased that he may join Teddy Long’s team at WrestleMania. Foley tweeted over the weekend:
“Guess it’s about time I listen to some of these voicemails from Teddy Long. Wonder what he wants. Catch you all tomorrow.”
Foley followed up with the following joke, but his initial tweet was enough to get a reaction from The Miz:
“No big deal. Teddy was just hoping I had Buff Bagwell’s number – apparently, it’s pretty important.”
Miz, who still does not have a match at WrestleMania and has been petitioning for a spot on Team Laurinaitis, replied to foley:
“Hey @realMickFoley quit trying to make yourself relevant again. Unlike u I don’t settle I make things happen.”
Foley responded with:
“Yes, @MikeTheMiz you ARE awesome…as a character in my new children’s book, in which The Miz learns a valuable holiday lesson from @CMPunk”
There has been talk of The Miz may replacing Alberto Del Rio in John Laurinaitis’ team, which may put Mick Foley and Miz on opposite sides of the match.
In part 3 of Arda Ocal of theScore’s in studio sit down with Bret Hart, the “Hitman” talks about why Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan never happened in WWE back in 1993:
“I’m the one that needs to be tied to the stake and burned as a witch. “I’m the one who ‘disgraced the WWE Championship.
“Side note, the WWE spinning championship is not only the most requested item from anyone who wants any merchandise from WWE, and that goes all the way up to Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers people, but it’s also the most sold championship of all time.”
Cena agrees it’s time for WWE to introduce a newly redesigned WWE Championship belt – and it’s not just because the spinner belt is ugly:
“I don’t know if it will go back to the winged eagle, but being the guy who truly invented it, it needs to change. It has been the way it’s been for years now. It’s had it’s run. It doesn’t even spin anymore. It’s heavy, it’s awkward. It really is.”
“An average championship belt weighs about 12 pounds. The current WWE spinning championship weighs about 27 pounds. So we need a rehash. I’m proactively trying to do that. I only have so much stroke, guys. I can’t do everything.”
John Morrison recently spoke to Phil Strum of the Poughkeepsie Journal about the possibility of returning to WWE one day. Morrison says he left on great terms and his body simply needed a break from the hectic WWE schedule:
“The door is open to go back. I left on really good terms with everybody and what I wanted to do was take time off to heal, get refreshed and take a little vacation…”
“I was working a 250-plus day a year schedule and I wanted to be refreshed.”
He also revealed that he wasn’t enjoying himself anymore towards the end of his most recent run:
“Right before I left, I felt like I was going to work. I wasn’t enjoying it as much as when I started.”
Morrison will be wrestling his first match in the Untied States since leaving WWE back in November on Friday night at Northeast Wrestling’s Wrestlefest 16 at Poughkeepsie, New York’s Mid-Hudson Civic Center.
– WWE’s upcoming No Way Out pay-per-view on June 17th from the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ will feature an “all cage matches” format, much like TNA’s annual Lockdown event. It remains to be seen whether WWE will build up feuds that are developed & mature enough to warrant a cage match. No Way Out will be facing stiff competition on pay-per-view that weekend, with the big Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch rumored to be taking place the night before from Brazil in an 80,000 person stadium.
– Last week on RAW, the Undertaker made a mistake during his promo, stating that WrestleMania takes place on April 21st. Virtually nobody said anything about it backstage, but there was a feeling that anybody else without the Undertaker’s locker room clout would have gotten heat for the mistake.
– WWE plans to call up several wrestlers from developmental in the months after WrestleMania 28. Among the top prospects at FCW who are ready for a spot on the main roster are Seth Rollins, Dean Amborse, Damien Sandow and Husky Harris. No word yet on who will be the first to debut on WWE television, but it’s worth noting that WWE plans to debut them one at a time once there is a storyline in place for each wrestler.
– Another talent at Florida Championship Wrestling who is seen as having big potential is Shaul Guerrero, the daughter of Vickie and the late Eddie Guerrero. While several of the women at developmental have showed up for tryouts knowing nothing about wrestling, Guerrero stands out for her great attitude, ability to take criticism and learn from mistakes as well as her ability to cut promos and alter her character when needed.
– In preparation for his match with John Cena at WrestleMania 28, The Rock has been doing his in-ring training with Curt Hawkins.
– Randy Orton is being considered for the lead role in upcoming WWE Studios film, The Marine 3. Orton was originally supposed to star in Marine 2, but was injured at the time, so that role went to Ted DiBiase.
– Did you know .. Daniel Bryan is not the only vegan title holder in WWE. During an appearance on Much Music in Canada this week, WWE Champion CM Punk revealed that he is also now a vegan. However, because of how WWE has portrayed being a vegan as a heel characteristic, don’t expect Punk’s latest lifestyle change to be mentioned on television.
– TNA has reportedly been pushing for WWE to mention them at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, but it’s unlikely to happen. Flair will be appearing at the Hall of Fame ceremony whether WWE mentions TNA or not.
WWE Champion CM Punk appeared at Tuesday night’s Chicago Blackhawks NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks. During the 2nd intermission, Punk got to skate on to the ice and take a few shots on the open net. Punk noted that he played ice hockey as a kid but his skating was “atrocious.” He said his shot was good and he was a good fighter, which certainly pays off in his current profession.
WWE made history last year when they announced the main event of WrestleMania 28 the night after Wrestlemania 27, giving them an unprecedented 12 months to build towards this year’s blockbuster main event.
According to sources in WWE, the company is strongly considering announcing the main event of next year’s WrestleMania 29 on April 2nd, the night after WrestleMania 28. The RAW after WrestleMania is typically the highest-rated episode of the year and they are pleased with the year-long build that Rock vs. Cena has had.
Right now, WWE is expecting that John Cena, The Rock, The Undertaker and possibly Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar will be the top stars that can potentially be booked for the main event of WrestleMania 29. A Rock vs. Cena re-match is a possibility and both Austin and Lesnar have feuds that make sense for next year (CM Punk for Austin, Undertaker for Lesnar).
COMMENT BELOW and tell us what you think about WWE announcing WrestleMania main events 1 year in advance and what matches you want to see headlining WrestleMania in 2013.
John Cena appeared on Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks Podcast this week and spoke about having legitimate issues with The Rock. While Cena respects what The Rock accomplished during his in-ring career, his major issue stems from the things The Rock said after he left for Hollywood:
“I disagree with the way he does business. I congratulate him on all his success. He’s had a Hall of Fame resume in WWE. His movies have grossed over $1 billion worldwide. But if was my career path, I would have done it differently…I disagree with some of the decisions he made.”
“All that time being gone, and the total process he took to try to reinvent himself. I can show you magazine covers that say ‘The Rock is Dead,’ or ringside interviews where he’s said, ‘I’ll never go back to wrestling.’ Just talking bad about the vehicle that got you to the dance, and then when the dust settles wanting to come back to the dance.”
You can listen to the full interview at SportsIllustrated.com.
Following the announcement that Yokozuna will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame next weekend, the WWE Youtube channel has published the following videos looking back at some of his career highlights:
Show: Wrestling Voice Radio’s “WrestleMania Moment” Series Host: Duane Doogan Guest: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
WrestlingVoiceRadio.com & iTunes
In the first episode of the “WrestleMania Moment” Series that will be on Wrestling Voice Radio over the next week, Duane Doogan speaks with WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper about his favorite WrestleMania Moment.
His favorite WrestleMania Moment:
“I’d have to say the very first WrestleMania, there was no hand-book for it, there was a lot of tension between the guys, (Hulk) Hogan & myself, Orndoff at (Mr.) T, (Jimmy) Snuka was there, he felt slighted. Bob Orton was there, Mohamed Ali was the special referee. It was just all over the place, so when you went out there that night, there was no pyrotechnics or anything, but you didn’t need it. Those people never stopped. The tension going into it was real significant, because after the first one they had a little bit of a road map but the first one they kind of stumbled into it, and that was definitely the hardest one but I think that was the best of all time because it set the mark for all the rest to come.”
On returning in 2009, 25 years later to wrestle at the event again and still being a draw:
“Well I just hung up the phone and I’m going to be at WrestleMania 28, and I think what that says one strong statement, if I’m still a headliner in WrestleMania 28 and I started wrestling 14 years before there was a WrestleMania anything, then Roddy Piper’s commodity has proved itself time and time again and that’s why they call him an icon.”
Why haven’t The Rock & John Cena appeared on Piper’s Pit:
“Unless they try and put it down Monday, and I’m just communicating with them now. It takes a lot of guts to go on Piper’s Pit, I’ve seen other people and do this show… and none of them have come close. The reason is, it’s dangerous in there and I’m not sure the WWE wants to risk it’s two stars in that zone. I think that’s closest to the truth.”
John Cena appeared on CNN affiliate HLN on Wednesday night during a discussion about Jersey Shore star Mike “The Situation Sorrentino entering rehab. Cena laid down a challenge for the cast of Jersey Shore to show up to next year’s WrestleMania 29 from the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey (“NY/NJ”).
Credit to Devin Cutting for sending in this schedule of when the USA Network will be airing the “Once In A Lifetime: The Rock vs. John Cena” special. As you can see, WWE is going all-out by airing the show on many of NBC Universal’s affiliate stations:
– Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez will be teaming together during WWE’s upcoming tour of Puerto Rico. The duo will be facing WWE tag team champions Primo and Epico at the three scheduled shows.
– Zack Ryder noted on Twitter he will be testing out a new format for his Z! True Long Island Story show this week, which premiers on Friday.
– Former WWE superstar Matt Bloom (Albert/A-Train) will be debuting in the coming weeks as Lord Tensai. Upon his return, Tensai is expected to push him into a top feud with either John Cena or Randy Orton, much like we’ve seen with Kane.
– WWE has published the latest episode of WWE Inbox, featuring superstars and divas talking about the Most Annoying Superstar and predictions on who will win at WrestleMania 28 between The Rock and John Cena:
WWE ribbed Lilian Garcia at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Newark, NJ after she made yet another bad error in front of the live crowd.
During the show, Lilian Garcia introduced Zack Ryder last night as “Mr. Long Island Iced Z, Jack Swagger.”
After the SmackDown tapings concluded, John Cena was scheduled to wrestle in the dark match main event steel cage match. Cena brought out ring announcer Tony Chimel and Zack Ryder with him. Cena took the microphone and said he’s going to bring in a ring announcer who is professional.
As Tony Chimel was introducing Zack Ryder, they kept cutting off his microphone as a prank. Cena grabbed the mic and properly introduced “Mr. Long Island Iced Z, Zack Ryder.” The whole thing was apparently done to embarrass Lilian Garcia.
Following all the confusion this week regarding the future of WWE’s developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, we have an update on FCW and a new developmental program in the works.
WWE plans to open up a new branch of its developmental system in Stanford, Connecticut in the next few months. The project has been described to us as something in between Florida Championship Wrestling and the main roster, where talent that is “almost ready” will work closely with WWE officials to get them ready for their debuts.
Triple H issued a statement to WWE.com on Tuesday saying that WWE is not shutting down its developmental program. In fact, they are getting ready to “ramp up” their process of cultivating new talent – with a major announcement coming shortly after WrestleMania. Triple H told WWE.com:
“WWE’s developmental system is being revamped, not shut down. If anything, it’s going to get bigger and better than ever. By no means is it going to get smaller or shut down.”
WWE already has someone in mind to run the new Stamford-based developmental program, but it has not been made public yet.
As for Florida Championship Wrestling, there are no plans to shut down the school/promotion. WWE is looking for new locations in Florida to film the FCW TV show (including Orlando) and will also look for a new television partner to air the shows.
WWE officials are said to be extremely upset about the reports of FCW shutting down this week.
(Partial Source: PWInsider.com)
Posted March 21st, 2012 in News, WWE. Tagged: FCW.
Angle made a lot of bold statements during his latest rant, but his comments about WWE legends Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels are getting the most attention.
Angle stated that it only took him 1 year to reach the top of WWE – when it took Austin and Michaels 15 years. Angle added, “Could Either of U take Me as a Shoot? Be Honest!” He later clarified, “by the way! I Love Austin and Michaels. Just Joking. U guys are legends!”
He tweeted the following apology on Wednesday afternoon:
“I Do Want to Apologize to Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin for My Comment. Without them I Would Have never had my Opportunity in Pro Wrestling,”
“I don’t get twitter.I Love tweeting What I feel-or responding to idiots. But I’m Supposed to be”Politically Correct” w/ My tweets?Forget It”
Extreme Pro Wrestling Radio with Edge
Hosts: Big D, Crisco, and Road Warrior Animal
Available at KFAN.com.
Edge on his actual retirement plans:
“I was going to get through WrestleMania 27 and then wrestle through the year and call it quits after WrestleMania 28. So I was planning on sticking around for another year.”
Edge on whether it was easy to retire knowing that if he continued it could affect his quality of life:
“I had no choice. The WWE medical staff kept a real close eye on my health and the situation with my neck and we knew it could be anytime now. They wouldn’t clear me to compete so it was pretty easy.”
Edge on who is inducting him into the Hall Of Fame:
“Christian. The WWE asked me the other day and it wouldn’t make sense to have anyone else. I mean if I showed up and Sarge (Sargent Slaughter) was inducting me, I’d be like, ‘I love ya’ Sarge, but why you?”
Edge also confirmed the release of his DVD set the first week of April.