– It was announced during the WrestleMania XXX pre-show on the WWE Network that the pre-show match for the WWE Tag-Team Championships, which features The Usos defending the titles against The Real Americans, Los Matadores and Ryback & Curtis Axel, will now be an elimination style match.
– The following is a photo of the Hogan family in attendance at the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony on Saturday night.
– John Cena posted the following message on his official Twitter account talking about the energy in New Orleans this weekend and hyping the big WrestleMania XXX event on Sunday.
New Orleans is ALIVE! #Wrestlemania30 is here! The energy on the streets of this city is an inspiration! Do NOT miss this event tomorrow!
– At the Scott Hall and Jake Roberts WrestleMania XXX party at the House Of Blues in New Orleans on Friday night, a number of WWE Superstars and legends made appearances. Among them, as pictured below, are Big Show, Diamond Dallas Page and Ric Flair.
– The latest edition of The JBL & Cole Show, which features Hulk Hogan this week, has been added to the official YouTube channel of WWE. The official description for this week’s show reads as follows:
“In case you missed anything, this edition of The JBL & Cole Show recaps ALL of the past months events involving the controversy around the infamous Golden Boot. Kane drops by and adds a new hashtag to the mix – #DropJBL #FreeCody #DropCody. Which will you choose?”
Check out episode #71 of The JBL & Cole Show below:
WrestleMania XXX host Hulk Hogan spoke to SportsIllustrated.com this week and commented on the possibility of John Cena turning heel and questioned whether Daniel Bryan will able to be the face of WWE for years to come. Here are the highlights of what he said about:
John Cena Turning Heel: “He’s at the perfect time to pull a ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan on everybody. If he was to switch and take that hustle, loyalty, and respect and tell everybody how he was running game on everybody the whole time, he’d have another ten years wide open without even looking back,. So maybe in five years, it’s John Cena running the game on everybody.”
Questioning Daniel Bryan’s Longevity: “When I look around the roster, Daniel Bryan is on one hell of a roll right now, but he gets beat to death every night he goes out there. The big guys just go out and stomp on him. Can he handle that for five more years? I don’t know. It’s anybody’s game at this point.”
WWE Hall Of Famer and WrestleMania XXX host Hulk Hogan appeared on The Sam Roberts Show recently to promote this Sunday’s big event in New Orleans. The official description for the appearance reads as follows:
“Sam Roberts talks to Hulk Hogan on SiriusXM’s The Sam Roberts Show, about returning to the WWE, the current generation, and his interactions with Ric Flair, Ultimate Warrior, and Bret Hart, and more.”
You can watch Hogan’s appearance on the show above.
The following are highlights from an AP article on WrestleMania, which features quotes from Hulk Hogan and Triple H. Below are excerpts from Hogan’s part of the interview:
On where he’d start watching footage at on the WWE Network: “I’d probably start when I had a full head of hair. I’d probably roll back to 1977, ’78 when I first went to work for Vince McMahon Sr. I’d probably start with my first match ever at the TV tapings in Allentown, Pa.”
On the success he’s had in his career: “I got to go from WrestleMania I to a career I could have never, ever dreamed of having. It doesn’t even feel real.”
Check out the complete article, which also features comments from Triple H, at BigStory.AP.org.
For those wondering who will be inducting this year’s inductees for the 2014 class of the WWE Hall Of Fame, here is a breakdown of what we know thus far.
– The Ultimate Warrior will be inducted by Linda McMahon.
– Jake “The Snake” Roberts will be inducted by Diamond Dallas Page (DDP).
– Paul Bearer will be inducted by his sons Michael and Daniel Moody.
– Mr. T will be inducted by Hulk Hogan.
– Lita will be inducted by Trish Stratus.
– Carlos Colon will be inducted by his sons Carlito and Eddie (Diego), and his nephew Orlando (Fernando).
– As far as Scott Hall (as Razor Ramon) is concerned, no one is confirmed as the guy who will be inducting him, however Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels are the leading candidates at this point.
The following are highlights of a Red Eye Chicago interview with WWE Hall Of Famer and WrestleMania XXX host Hulk Hogan:
On the possibility of a new Hulk Hogan-based reality show on the WWE Network: “I would love to do a reality show for the network, brother. I would never bring cameras into my home again, but I have a place in Tampa [Fla.] called Hogan’s Beach. It’s kind of a restaurant and bar setting where it’s on the beach. It’s a huge party place and on the weekends I have 3,000 to 4,000 people coming in, along with these great DJs to host a great time. I would love to have some WWE superstars come down and tend bar or cook. It’s like a “Baywatch” meets “Cheers” sort of thing.”
On possibly doing more movie work: “You know what is so cool, man? I am way beyond of what The Rock is doing now. I would be much more of a great supporting actor because I’m not that type directors are looking for as the lead man. We all know how great of a bad guy Hollywood Hogan can be, so forming into an older Clint Eastwood would be awesome. I would like to be a serial killer or going above the law and doing things that might be illegal, but for the right reasons.”
On the CM Punk situation: “I don’t know why he quit and what the situation was about, but I was really looking forward to meeting the man and getting to know him. As far as me, I have a personal opinion on it and I would love for him to come back. If he needs time off whether it was business or personal, it’s none of my business. Whatever it was, he was such a great superstar and I would love for him to come back.”
Sam Roberts interviewed John Cena, Hulk Hogan and Daniel Bryan after Tuesday’s WrestleMania XXX press conference in New York City. During his conversation with Cena, Roberts asked him for his thoughts on being in the mid-card of WrestleMania, instead of the main event.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I have a match at WrestleMania 30,” Cena answered. “I like to think that any match I’m in is the match.”
The official website of Rolling Stone has published a new article which looks at the rise of Daniel Bryan in WWE, as well as the explosion of popularity behind his “Yes! Movement.”
When asked about his popularity as compared to Steve Austin, “When you look at Steve Austin, if he’d happened in different eras, he would have been hated. Hulk Hogan, if he came out now saying, ‘America, take your vitamins,’ and he’s this jacked-up dude, you would get people going, ‘Wait, what? I hate this guy.’ To me, it’s whether you fit into the atmosphere.”
He also spoke about what he wants for his future with his fiancee, WWE Diva Brie Bella. “Brie and I would like a simple organic farm that’s not farming to sell stuff, but just to be self-sufficient. You never know what the world’s gonna be like.”
Brie put over her future husband as a guy who is changing the perception of “smaller guys” in the business. “Daniel is making not only your hardcore wrestling fan base, but your casual viewer, look at the smaller guys differently.”
“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff sat down with CJ Sabia on the debut episode of the Blue Steel Cage on the VOC Nation Radio Network. Check it out as “Mr. Wonderful” about his body and extensive training regimen in the 1980s, his shoot-style wrestling ability, recovery from neck injury, thoughts on Mr T, wrestling for WCW, and experiences turning on and wrestling Hulk Hogan.
Blue Steel Cage airs weekly, Friday nights at 9 PM ET on the VOC Nation Radio Network at vocnation.com, and simulcast on thebradyhicks.com. The show takes a look at professional wrestling from the viewpoint of an experienced former wrestling promoter, covering today’s wrestling news from both The WWE and the independent wrestling scene. Call into the show (855) VOC-RADIO.
On Not Beating Hogan for the WWF World Title:
“That’s what they should have done. And instead of making hundreds of millions of dollars they could have made thousands of millions of dollars if they had done that. We talked about it some and that’s what they should have done … I guess for some reason because [Hulk] was 6’5” and weighed 320 pounds that he was this big huge thing that nobody should beat him for the belt. If they would have said “Let’s go out there, Paul, and you fight for your life and Terry, you go out there and you fight for your life,” you can bet your ass I would have fought. I guarantee … I would have won and [Hulk] knows it.”
On Today’s Product:
“It’s been so downgraded. You look at boxing, you look at MMA fighting, that’s what people are watching. It’s more believable. That’s what people want to see. They don’t want to see that phoney baloney out there. They want to see something real. They want to see somebody lose a tooth, have a black eye.”
On Working with Hulk Hogan
“It worked out because the heel ran the show. I ran the matches, and I worked off of [Hulk Hogan]. [Hogan did] his best to work off of me because [he’d] never be able to keep up with me. I did that with Hogan. That’s why we worked together good. We [were] two Florida boys. I wasn’t buddy-buddy with him. I didn’t weigh 300 pounds but I weighed 240 pounds and I was a badass and he wasn’t.”
On the Art of Being a Great Wrestler:
“I still call it a sport, because it is a sport. To me it takes years and years and years and you’ll never master it. As long as you have an opponent, you have to work around that opponent. And you’ll never master it. Never. You can be good at it, you can be great at it like I was. Or you can be good at it and okay with it. Whatever.”
Here we are the Raw before WrestleMania XXX. The go home show of all go home shows. Did Raw deliver? Check out our YES! and NO!
Brock Lesnar Finally F5’s after circling the ring 10 times. NO!
The Undertaker & Brock Lesnar The Undertaker comes out and cuts seeming the same promo he has each week he’s had a mic. Out pops Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, eventually Brock circles the ring seemingly a dozen times, before the obligatory Paul Heyman distraction where he slips in with a chair, to distract The Undertaker enough so that Brock can “sneak” in and get his hands on The Dead Man.
I had such high hopes for this program, but I must tell you, I’ve been less than impressed. Paul Heyman cut an amazing promo a few weeks back simultaneously putting over The Streak, and why Brock Lesnar would break it (Undertakers age, wear and tear). Since then this has been a lackluster build for me. Am I really to believe that a huge man like Brock Lesnar is THAT afraid to get into the ring? I can buy into some trepidation, but this was ridiculous. NO!
Alberto Del Rio takes it to Big E. Good Match YES!
Big E. vs. Alberto Del Rio I thought Big E and Alberto Del Rio put on a great match, with several near falls and a clean Del Rio win. Of course why they constantly beat a champion, I’ll never understand. Does anyone remember when they actually had in-ring introductions for a Big E intercontinental championship match? That being said, YES!
Summer Rae vs. Natalya I liked how a clip was shown from this past weeks Total Diva’s and there was a match to tie things in. I suppose that’s the one thing we lack when it is seemingly all the Total Divas ganging up on AJ who didn’t want to be on the show. However, the conflict was clearly 100% manufactured, and if there was any ounce of reality to Total Divas before this, there isn’t now. YES!
The Authority implying that Daniel Bryan is a “Flavor Of The Day” like Fandango was last year.
The Authority’s Farewell To The “Yes!” Movement, Batista, Randy Orton Triple H and Stephanie come out and cut a brutally honest promo that blurts the lines between story line and reality. They made some interesting arguments about people wanting to be on a bandwagon, and support a cause. This brought out chants of CM Punk, Yes, and others including boring. After a Stephanie McMahon narrated promo about Triple H always beating the “Flavor of the Day” including Booker T, Chris Jericho, RVD, Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy, Out comes BOOtista, and Orton. Pretty much the same song and dance. Objectively I think this was a good Heel Triple H Promo. But I’m exhausted from these Authority promos, and Batista and Orton coming out in succession. I’m tired from Daniel Bryan not getting anywhere in the stratosphere of equal mic time. By itself this was good, but after weeks of this, I’m over it. So I say NO!
The Usos & Los Matadores vs. The Real Americans & Ryback and Curtis Axel
This is basically the Pre-Show match with two teams combined. Less reason to get excited about the match itself. After an incredible year of tag-teams in the WWE in 2013, everything that I have enjoyed up to this point has vanished. Cody Rhodes and GoldDust were the hottest Tag Team attraction in WWE last year, they should have been in the tag-team titles mix, or facing each other, in a brother vs brother match that has been rumored for two years. The USO’s have been in line to win the Tag Titles since July of 13. What better way to elevate those titles then have them win it at WrestleMania XXX against the Outlaws? So another match, similar to what we will see on the small big stage, and I fear that The Uso’s who should retain this, may not possibly, so that a title change gets a reaction, or creates some sort of moment. NO!
Backstage Segment: The Shield & Roman Reigns vs. Kane I enjoyed this backstage segment from The Shield, they seemed like a cohesive unit here, and I hope to see more of this at WrestleMania. Could The Shield stay together for a while longer? Many thought the match would be all three members of The Shield in a triple thread at this years WrestleMania. I would dislike it to see someone like Dean Ambrose accidentally or deliberately cause a loss for the team. I’d like to see The Shield show their dominance over the last two years. YES!
View Page 2 to find out more YES and NO from WWE RAW
The following are highlights of a recent NOLA.com interview with Hulk Hogan:
On returning to WWE: “When I came around the corner and the people saw me (the first night), it felt like I was standing behind a 747 and all the engines were firing. It was just so much energy, and the people were so loud, I went, ‘Wow. It still works.’ Second appearance was better. The crowd was electric. And then this last one in Brooklyn. I’m definitely cool now. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m OK.”
On the reason he says “brother” all the time: “It kind of started after WrestleMania I. As soon as we became mainstream, I would fly into cities and do newspapers and go to radio stations and just meet kids in hospitals. Sometimes, I was meeting up to 100 to 200 people a day. If you meet 10 people a day, it’s hard to remember everyone’s name. So as I was meeting a couple hundred people a day, the word brother just stuck because I couldn’t remember everybody’s names.”
On his health: “Everything’s good. My body kind of went through some drama with back surgery and stuff, but I’m pretty much patched up and ready to go. I feel like I got a shot in the arm when I came back to the WWE. So, I’m all charged up with gas and ready to rumble.”
Hulk Hogan, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar are all scheduled for Monday’s WrestleMania XXX “go-home” edition of WWE RAW, which takes place at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
The show will be a combined RAW and SmackDown taping, with both shows for this week taking place in the same venue on the same night. RAW will of course air live, while SmackDown will be taped to air on Friday as usual.
The following are clips of Hulk Hogan’s recent appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show:
Hulk Hogan on John Cena: ‘Somebody Needs To Drag Him Around The Ring For 30 Minutes’
Hulk Hogan has some surprising things to say about WWE star John Cena, but it’s why he says it that might shock you the most.
http://youtu.be/Zy99k9i_BHE
How Mr. T Changed Wrestling Forever
As Hulk Hogan preps for Wrestlemania 30, he looks back on the first Wrestlemania ever. He tells Arsenio that it was Mr. T who changed professional wrestling forever.
http://youtu.be/phAfcG6MmBA
Hulk Hogan Owns Up To Problems With Vince McMahon
Hulk Hogan is taking the high road when he looks back on his days with Vince McMahon. See what problems he takes credits for.
http://youtu.be/S6a2NPUXpsI
Hulk Hogan Opens Up About The Toll Reality TV Took On His Family
Hulk Hogan speaks very candidly about the issues his family faced following their reality show.
– Hulk Hogan, John Cena and Shawn Michaels are scheduled to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, April 1st to promote the WrestleMania XXX press conference, which takes place later that same day and airs live on the WWE Network, as well as the rest of the WrestleMania week festivities in general.
– The Hulk Hogan superfan documentary “Sadermania” is now available via digital streaming ($2.99) and digital download ($9.99) at Sadermania.com.
You can check out a trailer for the documentary below:
– 25 years after the Megapowers exploded at WrestleMania V, WWE.com has published an interview with Hulk Hogan talking about his personal relationship with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
Here’s what Hogan said about reconciling with Randy Savage after not speaking for eight years just 3-4 months before he passed away:
“We ran into each other at a doctor’s office. I was on my seventh or eighth back surgery, and I couldn’t pass an EKG because I was getting just jammed up with anesthesia every three or four months. They couldn’t get my back right. My back was collapsing and they were telling my new wife Jennifer I’d never walk again and all of this craziness. Jennifer and I were sitting on those little seats in the doctor’s office in Tampa and all of a sudden the door opens and in comes Randy. “Yeeeah! Ooooh yeah! What’s up?” I went, “[Gasp].” Freaked me out, scared me to death. And he goes, “Hey, brother. What’s up, Hogan?” He had that gleam in his eye and looked really healthy. He gained his weight back and he had a wedding ring on. I said, “Hey, Mach, what’s up with the ring?” He said, “Hey, just married my childhood sweetheart.”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on CBS news this week at the premiere of his new movie “Sabotage” and commented on his appearance on Monday’s WWE RAW:
Michael Cole’s latest guest for his weekly sit-down interview series at WWE.com this week was WWE Hall Of Famer and the host of WrestleMania XXX, Hulk Hogan.
Hogan spoke to Cole about a number of topics, including the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Mr. T being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame, his history at WrestleMania and more.
The following are highlights of a new FatDuckTech.com interview with Booker T:
On whether or not his upcoming second book was easier to write than his first: “This book here was totally different to the first book. The first book was really personal, this was just wrestling. Not a whole lot of wrestling stories about certain guys, drunken stupors or anything like that, like most wrestling books, it’s just a chronicle of Booker T’s career. Where he came from, totally the bottom of the totem pole, to close out a company, to be one of the only guys from that company to make it in WWE, and still to be here this many years later, a Hall Of Famer. it’s a quite a telling tale, both for the fans that read it as well as young wrestlers I think they’ll be intrigued.”
“Everything is chronicled in the book. Thank god for YouTube and Dailymotion. You can go back and find all of that stuff, and everything is there. Some of this stuff, I have to go back and watch it and go “Wow, OK, NOW I remember that.” It’s going to be totally accurate in terms of every little bitty thing that I did in professional wrestling. As well as a lot of cool stuff too.”
On his infamous promo about Hulk Hogan from WCW Spring Stampede: “Yeah, yeah (laughs). You know — Live TV? We weren’t taught as well as we were in WWE, especially back then.”
“We had the reigns to just talk and do whatever we wanted to do. I tell you, it’s a promo that’ll live in infamy, but there’s nothing you can do to run away from it, you know. Perhaps my most embarrassing and regretful moment in my wrestling career, but I bounced back from it.”
On the chances of a Harlem Heat reunion tour: “You know I never say never, but I’m so far past putting my tights and my boots on, going out and being a wrestler. I’m just over that stage of my life.”
“Some guys it’s just really hard for them to let it go, but for me it’s been really easy to let that stage of my life go, just because I’ve done everything that I’ve wanted to do in pro wrestling. I’ve won all the titles, I’ve been all over the world, I’ve seen it all. There’s just nothing left to prove.”
“Now I just want to be the greatest promoter I could possibly be, and perhaps follow in the footsteps of Paul Boesch and Vince McMahon and have my own mega-company one day.”
The Monday, March 24th edition of WWE RAW averaged 4.27 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The number marks a five-percent increase as compared to last week’s show.
Monday’s RAW had the benefit of advertised appearances by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, as well as being the second-to-last RAW before WrestleMania XXX.
The hourly breakdown for Monday’s RAW is as follows:
Hour One: 4.22 million viewers
Hour Two: 4.39 million viewers
Hour Three: 4.21 million viewers
The final cable rating for the show should be out shortly, and will likely fall between a 3.0 and a 3.2.
As previously reported, WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan appeared on Huffington Post Live on Monday to promote WrestleMania XXX. Beyond the sex tape information that was reported yesterday, Hogan also talked about a couple of current WWE-related topics.
As far as his actual WWE return, Hogan noted that it came about when Triple H saw him at a charity event in New York City a few years ago. He said Triple H approached him and asked him straight out, “when are you coming home?” Hogan said that he mentioned to Triple H that he didn’t think Vince McMahon wanted him back, but Triple H assured him that he did. Hogan noted that TNA public relations executive Mike Weber was standing right next to him when Triple H was talking to him.
Hogan again dropped the “never say never” line when asked about working one final match, but did note that he wouldn’t ever be able to do his trademark leg drop again.
When the subject of The Ultimate Warrior came up, Hogan mentioned that he and Warrior don’t communicate much these days, but did say that he’s excited to see him be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame this year.
You can watch the complete appearance of Hogan on the show by going to HuffingtonPost.com.
While there have been some rumors that the reason WWE is inducting Scott Hall as “Razor Ramon” to the WWE Hall Of Fame this year is because they plan to induct him again as Scott Hall next year as part of a faction-induction with the nWo, that likely won’t be the case, at least not in 2015.
From all accounts, it appears as though WWE is hoping to induct The Rock next year, and the guys in the nWo (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) probably won’t want to be inducted the same year as Rock, as they would likely be featured as the “co-main event” of the ceremony with The Rock being the obvious headliner.