During an interview with Associated Press sports writer Dan Gelston, RAW superstar John Cena talked about how badly he wants to wrestle The Rock and what his return to WWE means to the overall WWE product.
When asked about when we’ll see him get a shot at The Rock, Cena said, “I have been willing to do anything for that match. I will do anything for that match. If I have to talk more trash about The Rock, I’m your guy.”
Cena also praised the impact The Rock’s recent return has had on the company.
“I can’t tell you how much it plugs our product back in,” he said. “It’s like getting hooked up to defibrillators. It’s the one little jump-start we needed.”
Cena put over WrestleMania, saying “WWE will always be the greatest show you’ll ever see.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson spoke to Associated Press sports writer Dan Gelston this week about his return to WWE, the build to WrestleMania and beyond. The most newsworthy part of the interview, which you can read at Sports.Yahoo.com in its entirety, is that The Rock is more open to wrestling another match than he’s been in the past several years.
“I’ve never said never,” Rock said. “I’m open to it. For years when I was asked that, I kept my emotions very close to my sleeve.
“I would say, ‘No, I don’t see myself wrestling a match,’ because I didn’t want to leave that open too much. I wanted to make sure I was concentrating solely on my goals in acting.”
Rock thinks he can handle his movie career while still making appearances for WWE, which would include getting back in the ring.
“It’s ‘The People’s Era’ that’s getting ready to happen,” he said. “It’s just beginning.”
– Former TNA knockouts champion Awesome Kong is expected to debut for WWE next month, shortly after WrestleMania. There had been plans to debut her a few times since she signed in December 2010, but she’ll be on WWE television after WrestleMania.
– WWE is looking to hire a new VP of Talent Relations to work under John Laurinaitis. That spot was formerly held by Ty Bailey, who is now working for Triple H behind the scenes.
– Former Ring of Honor champion Tyler Black, who is currently training at WWE developmental, is currently slated for the next season of WWE NXT.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the info used in this report)
Former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis stars as Lady Jane in the upcoming horror film The Purple Plague. Chapter one of the movie will be available on the Humboldt Storms Volume 2 CD and DVD set for release in October.
Check out the trailer below, featuring former Playboy cover girl battling zombies:
— Mark Henry indicated during an interview with The West Australian that he plans to retire from in-ring competition within the next 18 months despite having “a good three years left.”
“The World’s Stongest Man” also said there isn’t much friendship behind the scenes amongst wrestlers and that when he departs, he hopes someone will take his role of trying to step in to smooth down incidents on the road.
— The Undertaker celebrates his 46th birthday today. Also celebrating birthdays today are WWE developmental wrestler Tito Colon (29) and former WWE star Barry Horowitz (51).
— Dolph Ziggler indicated on his Twitter account that he will soon debut a book column for WWE Magazine.
The Score Television Network’s Arda Ocal & Renee Paquette interviewed future WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels. Highlights:
Was WrestleMania 14 being the “toughest day at the office” in his career? (2:00)
“Yeah. Yeah it was. I wasn’t in a good place physically, obviously. But also mentally. It was just bad, all around. It was the culmination of a lot of things – a lot of bad things. And I would love to tell everybody that I was faking – and fooling – everybody, but it was a pretty rough day at the office, to say the least. And I guess, because I was in such a horrible place at that time, I never really envisioned people really grasping the fact that – ‘holy cow man, I don’t care if I don’t like him, that dude is beating the heck out of himself and he’s not in any shape to be doing it’. Over time, people now get it. But when you’re doing it, you don’t realize that people are sort of uncomfortable watching you while you’re doing it.”
How he felt emotionally & physically after WrestleMania 14 (3:45)
His thoughts on Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 27 (5:45)
How he would feel if Triple H is the one to break the streak (7:40)
What he felt when wrestling Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 22 (9:10)
“What I really enjoyed about that WrestleMania is that I didn’t feel the pressure as I did in every other one. Because that one wasn’t so much – ‘hey, Shawn Michaels has got to be Mr. WrestleMania and steal the show’ – because I was in there with Vince McMahon, I don’t think people expect a phenomenal wrestling match. Just from a pressure standpoint, that being off my shoulders allowed me the fact the enjoy that I was out there with my boss and I get to beat the heck out of him.”
What he thinks of Vince McMahon, as a performer (10:00)
What was bigger for his career: the infamous barbershop incident or the creation of DX? (11:40)
Why a charity raffle draw to be HBK’s guest at WrestleMania 27
– WWE newcomer Sin Cara is expected to wrestle a dark match prior to next week’s episode of Monday Night RAW from Chicago. WWE is also advertising Sin Cara for the company’s upcoming tour of Mexico. Sin Cara will wrestle CM Punk on May 11th from Hemosillo and on May 14th in Arena Monterrey. From what we’ve heard, there are a few younger members of the WWE roster who are a bit upset that Sin Cara is being brought straight to the main roster without having to learn the WWE style in developmental for a few months like most of them had to.
– Actress and singer Jennifer Hudson was recently interviewed by USA Tody and had this to say about whether she is married to WWE superstar David Otunga yet:
“Not yet! I’m engaged. Everything is all ready to go. Originally I wanted the biggest, grandest wedding in the world. Now I don’t know.”
– Trish Stratus’ new action movie Bail Enforcers will premiere at the ActionFest 2 event on Saturday, 4/9 from Asheville, North Carolina. Trish will be on hand at the event to promote the movie and meet her fans.
After things appeared to have died down, Bret Hart is back with another jab at Hogan, this time posting a cartoon he drew depicting “Hulk Hogan: Roid King” .. The picture, which you can see below, shows a skinny old Hulk Hogan with a cane and a needle with a crown on it (“steroid king”) .. Check it out:
WWE Champion The Miz appeared on Conan O’Brian’s late night TBS show on Wednesday night to hype WrestleMania 27 .. During the interview, Miz came up with a great wrestling name for Conna – the Ginga Ninja. Miz posted the following backstage picture of him and Conan doing a staredown, teasing that we could see The Miz vs. The Ginga Ninja at WrestleMania 28 next year:
Check out the video of The Miz’ appearance on Conan here:
Developmental star Richie Steamboat, son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, was recently interviewed by The Miami Herald. Here are a few highlights of what the second generation Steamboat said about:
Training at WWE Developmental (FCW): “This is the best facility in the world. We’ve got some of the best trainers in the world, Dr. Tom Prichard, Norman Smiley, Joey Mercury, my father Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes. They’re open to all of us, seven days a week. It’s great. You can come in here with any questions, any concerns about moves, anything at all. They’re open and honest, and they’re here to help. It’s a very, very good establishment.”
Growing Up Around Other Wrestler’s Sons: “Growing up I knew the Usos [Rikishi Fatu’s sons] and Brett DiBiase [Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase’s son] and Joe Hennig [Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig’s son]. A lot of those guys I would see them around the buildings at shows, and we would try touch the forklifts and get into trouble like that, being kids.”
His Amateur Wrestling Feud With Reid Flair “We would travel to about 80 percent of the same wrestling tournaments, and there would be an occasion where I would look across the mat, and I would see Reid and his father, Ric, standing there, and I would be competing against him. It was always a very friendly rivalry. The fathers had a little bit more of a rivalry than we did, but I’ll tell you this; Reid never beat me.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Not Getting The OU Commentating Position: “I missed out on the OU Football play by play position but the University made an excellent hire with 37 year old Toby Rowland. I’m disappointed that I didn’t get a shot at my childhood ‘dream job’ but I’m happy for Toby and know that he will do a great job of underscoring the ‘theater of the mind,’ better known as radio, to the Sooner faithful. ”
Brock Lesnar Coaching UFC’s Ultimate Fighter Show: “Look for Brock Lesnar to pop up on ESPN over the next few days, perhaps with Jonathan Coachman, for a ‘unique’ feature on the former WWE, UFC and NCAA Champion. Brock next fights June 11, at this time in Vancouver, against Junior Dos Santos. Of course Lesnar is one of the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter which debuts soon not to mention that Brock’s book, co-written with Paul Heyman, will be in stores in a few weeks. I’m anxious to read Brock’s book and hope that you check it out as well.”
Abdullah The Butcher In The Hall of Fame: “In my four plus decades in the wrestling biz, I can’t name anyone who stood their ground against a variety of power brokers and stayed loyal to their in ring persona more than new WWE Hall of Fame Inductee Abdullah the Butcher. Abby perfected his game plan decades ago and never deviated from it to any significant degree. He stayed independent in his thinking and managed his own career while becoming a financially secure, Global, main event performer. ‘Butch’ as the late, great Gary Hart used to call him, is also very astute. If someone pulled the wool over Abdullah’s eyes, they only did it once. He gave me some great advice as a young man who was just getting into corporate management within this wacky business.”
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Former WWE Superstar “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels stepped inside the WTR Squared Circle this past Wednesday to talk about his his charity auction for how you can win a chance to Meet Shawn Michaels and see him get inducted in to the WWE Hall of Fame, along with more memories from his WWE Career.
On deciding who will induct him in to the WWE Hall of Fame.
“Its one of things where I find myself debating whether I make it different or do what I want to do or do I make it interesting or do I make it controversial, its hard for me to get out of the performance mode, they keep telling me its about you just enjoy it, its just hard not to feel like people are expecting something. Its hard for me not to think that I have to do something and I have had a tough time narrowing down whether I am just going to enjoy it or make it a performance.”
On how Shawn Michaels & Chris Jericho came up with the aftermath of their Wrestlemania 19 Match Up.
“I always likened it to Godfather 2 when Michael Corleone kisses Fredo and says I knew it was you. We thought about numermous different things and I said how about nothing works better than a swift kick to the nuts.”
On working with Chris Jericho
“One of the sheer joys he and I had, we both love sitting around with each other and coming up with things to make things just a little better and really get in to the creative process.”
The USA Network issued the following press release today:
THE ROCK®, JOHN CENA® AND THE MIZ® TO FACE OFF LIVE ON RAW® NEXT MONDAY ON USA AT 9/8c
Final Raw Prior to WrestleMania® XXVII
STAMFORD, Conn., March 23, 2011 – After their war of words, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will finally confront WWE Superstar John Cena® and WWE Champion The Miz®, live in person, March 28th on Monday Night Raw at 9/8c on USA Network. The verbal sparring was ignited when The Rock triumphantly returned to WWE last month. The fireworks will emanate live from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL.
The Rock will be The World’s Most Electrifying Host in Entertainment at WrestleMania XXVII on Sunday, April 3rd at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, live on pay-per-view. The Rock is expected to lay the SmackDown® on all the pomp and festivities that make WrestleMania the world’s greatest, annual pop culture extravaganza.
For all the latest updates, ‘Like’ The Rock at www.facebook.com/DwayneJohnson or follow him at www.twitter.com/TheRock.
WrestleMania XXVII will be broadcast in more than 100 countries around the world. Check with your local cable operator or satellite provider to order the pay-per-view on Sunday, April 3rd. For more information on WrestleMania and WrestleMania events, please visit www.wrestlemania.com.
— Former World Wrestling Entertainment Diva, Playboy cover model and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Maria Kanellis proudly announced today the release of her signature perfume line, Maria Kanellis Signature Perfumes.
The perfume comes in three unique scents; Sandalwood, Mimosa and Ylang Ylang.
— Shawn Michaels appears live tonight on In Your Head at 8:00 p.m. EST. He will discuss his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, his retirement match last year at WrestleMania XXVI, his ongoing Wrestlemania raffle, and much more. The interview is available at InYourHeadOnline.com.
— A Raw live event is scheduled for Saturday, May 28 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
— Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro has been announced for K & S presents Super Saturday taking place April 9 at the Ramada Philadelphia Airport 76 Industrial Hwy. Essington, Pennsylvania. The one-time Playboy cover girl will also be filming a shoot interview with Highspots.com that weekend in which she discusses her involvement with the professional wrestling industry. Fans can submit questions to Highspots@aol.com.
— WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper has canceled his planned comedy performances on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2 in Atlanta, Georgia in order to appear for World Wrestling Entertainment functions WrestleMania XXVII weekend. He will, however, still perform on Thursday, March 31 at The Punchline. Piper announced yesterday that Sgt. Slaughter would appear at the event.
— Santino Marella, Brie Bella and Nikki Bella’s appearance on the latest episode of Cake Boss replays Saturday at 7:00 p.m. on TLC.
— The Road Warriors, Animal and Hawk, are expected to be announced as inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame 2011 Class during next week’s Raw in Chicago, Illinois.
Promoting The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling on Monday Night Mayhem, Animal commented on rumors of the duo being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
“I don’t know man. Have I envisioned it? Yeah. You always want to be in there, and you want to be recognized for your trade,” he said. “I thought I was going in last year. I thought I was going in the year before that and the year before that. I thought ‘What are they waiting for here?’ But who knows man. Most of the time, the wrestlers are the last ones to find out anything. The thing I know for sure is that I’m going in the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in (Amsterdam) New York in May.”
— Tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. on NBC, The Great Khali will appear on the hit sitcom Outsourced. WWE.com sat down with Parvesh Cheena, who plays Gupta on the show, to get his thoughts on The Punjabi Playboy, WWE and more. (Interview link)
— Former WWE talent Ray Gordy (a/k/a Jesse) turns 32 years old today, while Tyson Tomko turns 35. Also, former WCW talent Midajah turns 38.
— Last night’s SmackDown taping in Columbus, Ohio was the “go-home” show for the brand heading into WrestleMania XXVII because no taping is scheduled for next week. The episode, which takes April 1, 2011, will consist of footage from WrestleMania Axxess at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia and video packages.
— WWE Niagara Falls, a retail establishment located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, is scheduled to be closed down effective March 31, 2011. The facility opened on August 1, 2002.
— Triple H will be signing copies of WWE Studios’ The Chaperone at Sam’s Club in Elmsford, New York this Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. The autograph session is limited to the first 300 attendees.
— Ten years ago today, World Wrestling Entertainment announced the purchase of World Championship Wrestling from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. WWE Director of Digital Media Content Joey Styles took to Twitter to chastise his employer for botching the subsequent “Invasion” storyline.
He wrote, “10 years ago today WWF bought WCW…tried a WCW vs. WWF story without Flair, Sting, Nash, Goldberg, etc…BOMB! Then tried WWECW…BIG BOMB!”
It is widely believed that WWE cost themselves millions of dollars by not utilizing big-name WCW talent for the storyline, such as Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, Sting and Lex Luger.
— WWE Hall of Famer Sunny appears In The Room with Pro Wrestling Illustrated contributing writer Brady Hicks to discuss being the youngest inductee in the organization’s history, as well as her thoughts on being involved with World Wrestling Entertainment again. (Listen Here)
— WWE has a huge media day planned for Friday, April 1 in Atlanta, Georgia as a good portion of the roster will be on hand for interviews at the Georgia Dome.
— Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar is scheduled to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon next Monday.
He will be promoting The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos, which debuts the following Wednesday on Spike.
— RGV Vipers radio voice Alex Del Barrio sent Jim Ross well wishes on Twitter in regards to the WWE Hall of Famer not landing the play-by-play job for Oklahoma University football.
“Thanks, man,” he replied. “I’m disappinted in not getting the OU PXP gig but felt all along I was a long shot. Still love #BoomerSooner!”
— The official Twitter account of the Georgia Dome said yesterday that WWE crew members have arrived in Atlanta to begin preparation for WrestleMania XXVII.
— John Cena is filming Fred 2 for Nickelodeon today and teased something huge in the works:
“Day #2 of filming Fred 2! But first 3 hours worth of WM interveiws. Then late tonight, off to silicon valley for sumthin HUGE. Details hopefully on the way. Then of course..back to what we do. 4 more shows to the dance!”
— Chris Masters vs. Tyler Reks was taped last night for tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Superstars.
— Big Show, Christian, Kane and Rey Mysterio beat Alberto Del Rio and The Corre in a dark match following last night’s SmackDown taping in Columbus, Ohio.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is in negotiations to star in Snitch, an action thriller set to begin filming in June.
The Rock would star as a suburban father who is hit hard when his teenage son is sentenced to 30 years under mandatory minimum drug laws. In order to reduce his son’s sentence, the father goes undercover to serve up a senior drug dealer.
The Rock, who has been going between family-friendly movies and fast-paced blow-’em-up action flicks, most recently starred in CBS Films’ Faster and will be appearing in the latest Fast and Furious movie, Fast Five, alongside Paul Walker and Vin Diesel.
– WWE’s corporate website has posted the preliminary buyrate for February’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and this year’s show is way down from 2010. WWE Elimination Chamber 2011 drew approximately 200,000 buys, down a staggering 30% from last year’s 285,000.
– Chris Jericho spoke to Digitalspy.com this week and had this to say about the differences between wrestling and dancing:
“It’s funny because when there are a lot of things about [dancing and wrestling] that are similar. There’s a lot of leverage and weight distribution and balance. Then there’s performing in front of a live crowd, your marks, choreography and as a musician, following the beat. It’s not that foreign as it seems at first. The training’s really hard. It’s probably the hardest training I’ve ever done, but it’s not futile. There are moves in dancing that I’ve never done before – you’re turning your knee outwards, your elbow on the side. And hunching over – dancing’s very elongated, very regal. Your neck stretches, your shoulders are down. So I’m focusing on getting rid of those bad habits.”
WWE taped Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown on Tuesday from Columbus, Ohio, courtesy of WrestlingNewsWorld.com:
* Booker T comes out to an amazing pop. Cole comes out to heat.
* Smackdown starts off with a backstage segment where Teddy Long is telling Edge that if he or Alberto Del Rio touch either other before Wrestlemania they will both be banned from the event.
* Rey Mysterio b. CM Punk
– Rey had a quick start to the match then missed a flying cross body allowing CM to control. Punk mainly focusing attacks on the ribs of Rey. Eventually he goes for an attack off the ropes but Rey countered with a dropkick to gain the upper-hand. Rey hit CM with an Asia moonsault. Cody Rhodes comes in as a distraction and the match ends in disqualification. Rey is helped out of the ring by officials.
* Edge and Christian are shown backstage. Edge says he’s still going to be in the corner for Christian tonight. He walks away.
* Edge vs. Drew McIntyre
– As soon as the bell ring Edge goes after Drew. Drew quickly gains the upper-hand working on Edge’s arm. Edge eventually gains control and wins via his finished. After the match Edge connects with a spear.
* LayCool b. Rosa Mendez & Kelly Kelly
– Layla has the Snooki hair do and they were both fist pumping they are also not even wearing their ring gear. Rosa and Kelly go straight for the attack. Quick match ending when Layla hits a reverse neck breaker for the win. After the match Laycool cut a quick promo saying that their opponents for Wrestlemania are no challenge.
* Wade Barrett b. Kofi Kingston to win the Intercontinental Championship.
– Kofi was going for trouble in paradise but ref got distracted. He connected trouble on heath allowing Wade to hit wasteland following a pinfall. After the match Justin hit a 450 splash.
* Teddy Long & Albero Del Rio are backstage.
* Undertaker is on stage cutting a promo. He says that Triple H has figured out how to win. He then says he can’t wait till Monday to tell Triple H what he thinks.
* Jake Swagger b. R-Truth
– R-Truth had a close call… He launched himself over top rope and it looked like Swagger barely caught him. Quick match winner via ankle lock, Swagger.
* Christian w/ Edge b. Alberto Del Rio
– Alberto has Brodus Clay with him. During the match Brodus attacked Edge on the outside. Edge returns the favor with spear then attacks him with a chair. This distracts Alberto allowing Christian to hit the Kill Switch for the win. Edge looks like hes gonna attack Alberto with the chair but Christian stops him. He hits Alberto with the chair instead. That concludes this week’s SmackDown.
John Cena participated in a sitdown interview with Madison Square Garden correspondent Alex Iglesias prior to Saturday night’s Raw live event at the venue. Highlights are as follows:
— Cena says that while Shawn Michaels is his all-time favorite tag team partner, it took time for the two to become friends.
“He was one of those guys that – when I started – wasn’t too fond of me, but we ended up actually becoming really good friends,” Cena said. The fact that I was fortunate enough to hold the Tag Team Championships, even though it was for a short amount of time, was my most memorable.”
— Cena commented on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s return to WWE.
He said, “I’ve wanted him to come back for five years now. I’m glad he’s finally back. I just hope he sticks around. I guess time will tell.”
— Regarding Nicole “Snooki” Polazzi’s involvement at WrestleMania XXVII, he said, “I’ve seen her get in some crazy situations on that television show. She will be just fine. If she goes out there and is just herself, she will make a WrestleMania Moment.”
— When asked if his wife gets upset with his strenuous road schedule with WWE, Cena said, “She does. But, we’ve known each other for quite some time. She knows that’s the way I’m built.”
He added that he prioritizes things as “work first and everything else will sort itself out.”