— Last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw scored a 3.3 cable rating, down from last week’s 3.64 and a prior three week average of 3.85. Overall viewership was down 12% from last week as the show drew 5.1 million viewers compared to 5.8.

Raw drew hours of 3.28 and 3.41.

— The March 19 episode of A.M. Raw scored a 0.55 cable rating, with 670,000 viewers overall.

— Trent Barreta defeated Curt Hawkins in a dark match prior to tonight’s SmackDown taping at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch

Right After Wrestling with Roddy Piper
Hosts: Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas
Available at TheScore.com or at Itunes.

Piper on working with WrestleMania celebrities: “The acts I did were to further the business. It took a lot of balls to say you’re not pinning my shoulders at WrestleMania. I was protecting the business. You never let somebody come from outside the business, have their way with the business and then leave the next day and laugh at you. How the hell does David Arquette become World Champion. Maybe you can have – in the Hall of Fame – the lifetime achievement award. Bob Uecker would fit in right there. It’s the way you categorize it I think. Because there were guys who got stabbed three times to get into that Hall of Fame!”

Piper on his WrestleMania boxing match with Mr. T: “It was one of the worst matches of my life. Why? In that match with Mr. T, they didn’t trust me. I had done some boxing. I trained for five weeks for this fight. They taped my fists up solid and then put it in the gloves. He was scarred. At the end of the day it was my fault, let’s make that clear. Those boxing gloves are thumbless. Mr. T was supposed to throw a left-cross. They asked my for a little show-business. So when he threw the left, I was supposed to go through the ropes to the floor. But when he threw it, he missed. He was all tired. They really protected him. We got an old saying, I would rather you punch my teeth down my throat then throw a popcorn punch!”

Piper on an idea he provided for WrestleMania 27: “I did shoot an idea to the WWE. I said put Cena and The Rock in Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania. Because I knew he wouldn’t wrestle but everybody would wanna see him. They should use people who have given to the business – like The Rock, like myself – who are powerful enough to entertain. Instead of just putting in Snooki.”

Other Topics

Addressing rumors and responds to false accusations about him and his health and missing appearances, from unreliable sources, over the years (6:15)

Discussing how to handle celebrity involvement in professional wrestling, particularly at WrestleMania (11:30)

Discussing the current WrestleMania landscape – including The Rock, John Cena, Snooki and the possibility of Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania 27 (16:00)

Thoughts and memories from the first WrestleMania, and thoughts on the age old argument: “who sold WrestleMania 1?” (19:03)

Why WrestleMania 1 didn’t feature a 1-on-1 main event between Piper and Hulk Hogan (22:05)

On his thoughts with working with Mr. T at both WrestleMania and WrestleMania 2 (30:10)

Would his career have been far different financially and from a legacy standpoint if he ever became World Champion (39:13)

Alberto Del Rio was interviewed recently by the Fox News website, here are some highlights of what he said about:

His WrestleMania Title Match: “It’s incredible. It’s going to be the peak of my career. My family, my entire country is going to be proud of me. As a kid, all I wanted to do was be a wrestler. Now that I’m here in WWE – WrestleMania is our NBA, our Super Bowl, our World Series of professional wrestling. As a wrestler, as a performer, I always dreamed of being in something like that. I’m fulfilling my dreams. It is the reason I left my country, my family and friends behind.”

WWE Signing Sin Cara: “I’m just happy this company uses so many Latino talent. There is so much talent out there, from Puerto Rico to Mexico, just to name a few. I hope it continues like that. Because of that, I am here and getting all these opportunities.”

Taking His Mask Off & Coming To WWE: ““I’m not missing anything from Mexico or my former characterThat was a time in my life when I wore the mask in Mexico and Japan and I enjoyed it. I have been to 14 different countries since being here [in WWE]. I can say I’m writing my own story, a bright story, because I am doing incredible things in the most important [wrestling] company in the world. I’m totally happy about my present and about my future.”

To read the full article, visit Latino.Foxnews.com.

– The Rock wrote the following on his Twitter on Monday following RAW:

“Great ending on RAW tonight….I promise RAW in CHICAGO next week will be electrified like you haven’t seen in years…in years.”

– John Cena tweeted that he was cut open on RAW when the Miz scratched his face:

“CeNation. Fear in the eyes of the miz tonite. He now knows WM will not be a Gimmie. Rock at Raw next mon live. Do not miss it. Yes miz tried to scratch me. A tactic uses mostly in cat fights. he was given a haymaker for his efforts. Then he ran. Dauwsh.”

– WWE fans who are attending the Fan Axxess convention during WrestleMania weekend are being invited to participate in focus groups to evaluate various parts of the WWE product. Fans who give feedback are being given free tickets to the final Axxess session and a private meeting with a WWE Superstar.

– Former WWE Diva Angela “Savannah” Fong is currently in the running for Maxim’s Hometown Hottie contest, representing Tampa, Florida.

WWE has confirmed that the next member of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011 will be Abdullah the Butcher.

WWE has posted a video announcing Abdullah’s induction to Youtube, as well as footage from some of his classic moments:

Check out these pictures of Randy Orton & his wife Samantha:

[nggallery id=48]

After Monday’s episode of WWE RAW from Pittsburgh went off the air, it was time for the dark match main event.

CM Punk teamed up with Sheamus against John Cena and Triple H. The match did not go for too long, with both Cena and Triple H hitting all their signature moves.

The finish came when Cena and Triple H simultaneously and Cena pinned Punk. The heels left the ring and Cena and Triple H celebrated for a few minutes before heading to the back.

– Chris Jericho made his debut on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars tonight and scored a 19 out of 30 points, better than a lot of the other teams. Jericho and his partner Cheryl Burke performed the Cha Cha.

– Next week’s WWE RAW from Chicago will be the final episode prior to WrestleMania 27. The show will feature an in-person appearance from The Rock and a face-to-face confrontation between Triple H and The Undertaker.

– Alex Riley is back on the RAW brand as WWE’s new “Vice President of Corporate Communications.”

– WrestleMania Rewind week continues on Friday’s SmackDown, which will feature a rematch from a past WrestleMania event.

— The March 18 episode of WWE SmackDown scored a 2.03 cable rating, up one-tenth of a rating point from the previous week. It was the first episode in three weeks to surpass the 2.00.

The program averaged 3.1 million viewers, slightly above the year average so far of 3.0 million viewers.

— The following matches were taped Monday night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for this Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America:

* The Great Khali and Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso

* Daniel Bryan and Gail Kim vs. Tyson Kidd and Melina.

— R-Truth beat Zack Ryder in the dark match prior to last night’s Raw taping in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch

— According to the official website of Trish Stratus, she will be appearing on Raw tonight.

— The official website of Florida Championship Wrestling has announced that WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and his son, WWE developmental wrestler Richie Steamboat, will be participating in an autograph signing at the April 8 show in Largo, Florida (located on Largo Minnreg Hall 6340 126th Avenue North). Bell time is 7:30 p.m.

— Rey Mysterio is featured on the cover of the latest issue of WWE Kids Magazine.

— ESPN.com has an article on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars highlighting the athletes on the show, Chris Jericho and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward.

IGN.com features an interview with multi-time WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus promoting the USA Network’s revival of Tough Enough, who appears as a trainer on the show. She notes that many of the contestants have previous wrestling experience.

“A lot of the contestants have a background,” Stratus said. “They come from wrestling backgrounds. They’ve been doing it for a few years, but it’s an entirely different thing to be doing it on the big stage and to do it professionally and to do it with the grind of the big WWE machine.”

Stratus said of current WWE talent, Natalya is “untapped.”

She explained, “Fans are starting to get to know her more and more and I’m just waiting for the day where she goes out there and really can do her thing because I don’t think she’s been given the opportunity to really get out there and show everybody what she’s got.”

In light of Sunny’s induction into this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class, Stratus suggested that Chyna be enshrined next.

“I think Chyna should be next in because she did a lot of stuff to bring attention to the women’s division itself and just presented women as a different thing,” Stratus said. “I think fans were conditioned to see women as eye candy for a long, long time and she really broke the mold with that.”

Stratus also discusses her favorite opponent, her favorite WrestleMania match, incorporating yoga into the Tough Enough contestants’ warming up regimen, as well as the program. The article can be read here.

World Wrestling Entertainment announced this afternoon that Abdullah the Butcher will inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 2 in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s interesting to note that WWE.com’s bio on The Butcher notes that while he never brawled two-time WWE Champion Bruno Sammartino or went the distance with Bob Backlund at Madison Square Garden, all three wrestling icons will be together when he’s inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The text reads: “Still active today even though he’s in his 70s, The Butcher has battled every legend in nearly every promotion on the planet — except WWE. Despite his decades in the ring, Abdullah never brawled with Bruno Sammartino for the WWE Championship or went the distance with Bob Backlund in Madison Square Garden. These are dream matches that will never happen, but these icons will all be together when The Butcher takes his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011.”

It appears to be a mistake on the website’s part as Sammartino and Backlund aren’t members of the WWE Hall of Fame, not to mention that it is far fetched that Sammartino would involve himself with WWE. Since his retirement from in-ring competition in 1987, he has been highly critical of the organization’s lurid storylines, over-the-top theatrics, and drug and steroid abuse. The living legend has been particularly critical of Vince McMahon, saying that “Junior” has been detrimental to his father’s creation. Sammartino has refused induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, as well as to provide commentary on retrospectives of his career.

Meanwhile, Backlund reportedly refused an invitation into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004 because he didn’t consider himself retired. He competed for TNA Wrestling in 2007 at the age of 58 and made an appearance at the 15th Anniversary of Raw on December 10 of that year, participating in the 15th Anniversary battle royal.

WWE announced this afternoon on their website that Abdullah the Butcher will inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 2 in Atlanta, Georgia.

To view his profile, including induction video, click here.

While not officially confirmed, Abdullah stated during an interview last month that he will be inducted by longtime rival Terry Funk.

WWE is branding The Butcher ‘as one of the most vicious competitors to ever enter the ring’. They also acknowledge The Butcher has battled every legend in nearly every promotion on the planet, with the exception of WWE.

The Butcher lives in the Atlanta area, where he operates a restaurant called Abdullah the Butcher’s House of Ribs and Chinese Food.

— WWE Legend The Honky Tonk Man has been announced as a downloadable character for THQ’s upcoming WWE All Stars video game.

For details on the character, click here. It also features a quote from The Honky Tonk Man recalling the night he dropped the Intercontinental Championship to the Ultimate Warrior.

— It was reported earlier that a publicist for WWE issued a stern e-mail to a television industry news website demanding that they not refer to the organization as a wrestling company.

The publicist stated, “No, we don’t do wrestling events. They’re entertainments. And we don’t call them wrestlers. They’re superstars and divas.”

Contrary to the publicist’s statement, the official Twitter account of WWE Magazine sent out a tweet on Saturday promoting WWE’s live event at Madison Square Garden as a ‘wrestleshow’.

“#MSG It’s a wrestleshow!” they wrote, with a photo of the arena enclosed.

— WWE Legends Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Greg Valentine have been announced for the Boston Comic Con at the Hynes Convention Center 900 Boylston St. Boston, MA. The event takes place May 1.

— WWE.com has announced that Randy Orton will face Rey Mysterio tonight on Raw. The bout is billed as a WrestleMania 22 rematch, in spite of Kurt Angle’s participation.

— The latest trailer for THQ’s WWE All Stars has been released, which highlights the game’s “Path of Champions” mode.

WWE All Stars will be released in North America on March 29 and in Europe on April 1.

— A WWE Supershow is scheduled to take place the night before Capital Punishment; June 18 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

— Former WWE manager Paul Bearer said yesterday on Twitter that he filmed a DVD. Additional details were not disclosed.

— The Great Khali’s cameo appearance on NBC’s Outsourced airs this Thursday at 10:30 p.m. The Raw Superstar can be seen wearing suspenders and donning a handlebar mustache.

— Former Monday Night Raw ring announcer Lilian Garcia recently appeared on Telemundo’s Crossover program to discuss her musical endeavors and time with World Wrestling Entertainment. To view the video interview, click here.

The only “Decade Diva” has spent the past year working on the follow-up to her 2007 Spanish album ¡Quiero Vivir!. Her latest project will be predominantly English, with possible Spanish nuances featured. She plans to release her second album or at least a single by the end of the year.

— A Monday Night Raw taping is scheduled for June 13 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

source: PWInsider.com

— WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper said last week on his Twitter account that he will be on hand for WrestleMania XXVII, which takes place April 3 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

— The latest issue of WWE Magazine includes a one page advertisement promoting “The Road To WrestleMania XXVII” on WWE Classics On Demand and a large photo of TNA star Hulk Hogan is solely featured.

Speaking of the video on demand service, next month’s theme is dubbed “Over the Top” as outrageous Superstars and unusual matches will be featured.

— WWE developmental wrestler James Bronson, a former mixed martial artist, has launched an account on Twitter.

Tonight is the season premiere of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, featuring former WWE superstar Chris Jericho.

Did you like Chris Jericho’s dance moves? IT DOESN’T MATTER if you liked his dance moves! We’ve gotta support one of our own – and here’s how you can vote for Jericho and his partner Cheryl Burke:

The show begins at 8 p.m. (eastern) .. As soon as the show goes live on the air, the voting begins.

To vote for Chris Jericho and his partner Cheryl Burke, call 1-800-VOTE-409.

Once again, that’s 1-800-868-3409.

For more on how you can vote for DWTS, visit ABC.com.

• Check Out: Pictures of Chris Jericho’s DWTS Partner Cheryl Burke

— Tough Enough, which premieres April 4 on the USA Network, wrapped up filming last week. Trainers Trish Stratus and Bill DeMott noted on Twitter that the show concluded “principal shooting” and that the top two finalists have been determined.

— Abdullah the Butcher is expected to be announced as the latest member of the WWE Hall of Fame tonight on Raw.

— Jim Ross said on Twitter that Saturday’s Raw live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City drew 19,000 fans for an estimated gate of $800,000.

— Mark Henry missed last week’s Monday Night Raw taping as he was in Australia promoting WrestleMania XXVII as well as WWE’s upcoming tour Down Under. “The World’s Strongest Man” appeared on the breakfast television program Weekend Sunrise discussing the WWE experience. (video)

— Brodus Clay, who debuted two weeks ago on Raw as the bodyguard of Alberto Del Rio, is now officially a member of the SmackDown roster. TheNXT Season 4 contestant has been added to the Superstars page on WWE.com.

The latest issue of WWE Magazine features an interview with Edge and the “Rated-R Superstar” is asked why anyone should care that he’s held the World Championship ten times (now eleven).

“I never expected to be able to say that I’m a 10-time World Champion. I was hoping to one day say I was a one-time World Champion,” he replied. “Growing up, that number was impossible to reach. It was a different time, place and climate then. Things have changed. It’s harder to recreate yourself and stay relevant. I guess I’ve changed enough to stay relevant, which is one of the hardest things to do. For me, anything past one title is pretty much gravy on top of mashed potatoes.”

He also explains why he has yet to join Twitter.

“I will never be on Twitter,” he said. “Here’s my thing: I really don’t want people to know what I’m doing. I’m off the grid by choice. It doesn’t mean I have anything against anybody. If I’m out and I see you, let’s have a conversation. Cool. But I’m not going to tell you where I am. I’m not the most technological guy in the world, nor will I ever be. I will be in the mountains growing a massive beard at some point and hiking with my dogs and thinking about climbing Mount Everest. This is all ties back into my attack on the Raw GM’s computer. There was real frustration there. I’m not a computer guy. I can appreciate what computers do, but all I need is e-mail.”

Finally, Edge discusses how he remains inventive after several years inside the squared circle.

He says, “One of the most difficult elements is figuring out how to do new things within our parameters. How can I stop Kane in a Last Man Standing Match? How can I defeat three other guys in a TLC bout? How can I win a match when my signature move has been “outlawed”? Those are problems that I really enjoy solving. I love creative solutions, and I don’t like to take the easiest path.”

WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper wrote the following on Twitter in response to recent war of words between The Rock and John Cena. Piper Tweeted:

“Saw interviews with Cena and the Rock talking how They paved the road to Hollywood. They did great, but only ONE man paved the way. Fact!”

He then proposed a Piper’s Pit segment with Cena and Rock:

“The Rock and Cena in Pipers Pit….Straight improv!..Book it!! I an’t scared of no ghost…”

While high school classmates and teachers of Lilian Garcia knew she could sing, it wasn’t until Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson found out, that her singing career began to blossom.

“The Rock likes to sing, too, and he found out I could sing,” the former ring announcer of Monday Night Raw told the Miami Herald in an interview.

“I was talking to him one day, and ‘The National Anthem’ came up as a subject. I said, ‘Yea, I sang ‘The National Anthem’ at my high school graduation.’ There was 600 people in the auditorium. I was in drama in high school, and I always sang in high school. So people there knew me as a singer.

“So he goes, ‘Wow. We actually play ‘The National Anthem’ [at house shows]; it’s always an instrumental [recording] that plays, before we go out.’ He goes, ‘I’m going to talk to the agent, and we should get you to sing ‘The National Anthem.’

“It was Feb. 11, 2000, and I was doing my first live event [house show] because I had only done Raw, and we were in Denver. Rock mentioned it to one of the agents, and they had me sing it there that night. It went over so well that the agent had me do it that whole weekend – Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

“By Monday morning, Vince McMahon heard about it, and he mentioned it at the meeting. He said, ‘So I hear that someone took the house down and can sing. I’ve got to see it for myself. So I want you to sing it tonight.’ It was in San Jose for Raw on Feb. 14 on Valentine’s Day 2000, and I sang it ever since.”

Garcia knows all too well that being a ring announcer is a daunting task in WWE.

Garcia said: “I think they’ve gone through four girls already after me, and some of them talked to me and said, ’Wow. We never knew how hard this job was. You really do have to think on your feet all the time, and you’ve got to know everything.’ For me, it was years before. I mean I started getting more and more comfortable. Some of the rules for the matches were so long. When it’s rules, it’s different than when you’re talking to somebody 1-on-1. You can’t deviate from the rules. You can’t adlib the rules. You really have to memorize it.

“It can be they gave you the rules 45 minutes before the match or 15 minutes before the match. Then you have to memorize something really, really fast that’s technical. There were times even [near the end of her career] that my stomach was like because I didn’t want to mess up.”

The songstress also recalls auditioning for WWE and her first day on the job, which was a rocky experience to say the least. To read the article, click here.

Garcia is hoping to release her second music album or at least a single by the end of the year. Visit LilianGarcia.com for the latest on the progress of the album.

Prior to his WWE return last month, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had stated publicly in several interviews that his in-ring career was likely forever. Fast forward to 2011’s red-hot feud with John Cena and The Great One appears to have changed his tune.

The Rock is on the cover of the latest issue of WWE Magazine and tells them he’s ready to throw down in the ring once again.

When asked how many of his old ring outfits he still has, Rock said, “I still own it all. It’s still with me in my house. It was never going away because I knew I would one day use it again.”

That sounds like he’s talking about wrestling again, so The Rock was asked, “So does that mean you’re coming back to fight as well?”

He responded,”Making movies is something that I love to do, and I know that it brings a lot of people joy, which in turn brings me and my soul great gratification. Being in the ring and entertaining the audience and kicking ass physically brings me and my soul great gratification as well. I can guarantee that I can always do both.”

Check Out: John Cena Says He Wants To Wrestle The Rock “Many, Many Times”

A publicist for World Wrestling Entertainment demanded last week that a television industry news website not refer to them as a wrestling company.

The website in question, TVWeek.com, ran a story on Drew Carey’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame last week with the headline “Drew Carey Inducted Into Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. Huh? Drew Carey??!!” The headline drew the ire of WWE publicist Kellie Baldyga, who sent a stern e-mail to the author demanding that the headline be ‘corrected’.

Baldyga wrote in her email, “We are no longer a wrestling company but rather a global entertainment company with a movie studio, international licensing deals, publisher of three magazines, consumer good distributor and more.”

During a subsequent phone conversation, the publicist stated, “No, we don’t do wrestling events. They’re entertainments. And we don’t call them wrestlers. They’re superstars and divas.”

Rather than change the headline, the article was removed from the website altogether. Baldyga sent a follow-up e-mail, reading, “I know the perception is that we are a wrestling company but we are actually much more than that–we are a global media company which is how our Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, positions us.”

The ordeal is chronicled here.

Former WWE diva Sunny made a surprise appearance at Saturday night’s Raw live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City. She served as the special guest referee for a tag team match pitting Kelly Kelly and Eve vs. The Bella Twins, which was won by Kelly and Eve.  The Bellas attacked Kelly and Eve after the match but Sunny came to their rescue and chased the Bellas off.

She wrote about her experience on Facebook, saying:

“Very big thanks to (Vince McMahon), (John Laurinaitis), and the WWE for having me back at MSG tonight….see you all in 2 weeks at the HOF and WM!! Let’s hope it’s the start of more great things to come!!”

Check out these pictures of Sunny’s return to WWE at Saturday night’s MSG live event: