– The next edition of WWE Countdown, which airs this coming Tuesday night on the WWE Network, will focus on the top ten most memorable Superstar debuts in WWE history.

– Also on the WWE Network this Tuesday, the latest edition of WrestleMania Rewind will take a look back at the memorable showdown between Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage from WrestleMania V. This episode was originally scheduled to air this past Tuesday night, but for whatever reason was pushed back a week.

– On next week’s edition of WrestleMania Rewind, which will air Tuesday night on the WWE Network, the show will be centered around the historic showdown between the “Mega Powers,” Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

– John Cena has been announced for the upcoming Wizard World convention at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas on Sunday, August 3rd.

– WWE has added the following video of Adam Rose and “The Exotic Express” to their official YouTube channel:

The following are highlights from a recent Jim Ross Q&A update:

On if he’d like to have Eve Torres on the Ross Report: “It could and I’d enjoy it as well. TBD.”

On if top MMA heavyweights from this era could beat up Haku: “Hmm, I havent heard those rumors but they sound like figments of someone’s imagination. Where were these yarns printed? The answer is in a bar or in the street your assumption is likely inaccurate.”

On his blogs and regular Q&A updates at JRsBarBQ.com: “My time, repetitive questions, one persona submitting multiple questions in one day all factor in. Plus, I like when people are honest and let me know that hey use our products. There’s little reason to devote all the time to the blogs and Q&A’s if we aren’t monetizing the effort and time selling some of our products. Plus, I don’t like to delve too deeply into questions that are so subjective that they have no right or no wrong answers. It’s futile to address. Some I eliminate simply because they are embarrassingly illogical or profane.”

On working with “Macho Man” Randy Savage: “Randy was very unpredictable and could be volatile at times. He did not trust many people but was a very charismatic and talented man.”

On pro wrestling rankings: “Ranking pro wresting within a company would still work and wold add realism to the equation.”

On Chris Benoit’s son Daniel entering the wrestling business: “Mixed feelings and I don’t know what to expect from this matter. I know that his journey like most others won’t be easy.”

Check out more JR Q&A updates at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.

On Tuesday, April 8, 2014, the professional wrestling world lost another one of the greats. The Ultimate Warrior, who for millions of fans who jumped on the pro wrestling bandwagon during the late 1980s boom period, was among the biggest and most recognizable Superstars in history. Today, we are going to look back at five matches that helped establish Warrior as the undeniable legend that he became.

It’s no secret that Ultimate Warrior wasn’t what one would call a “catch-as-catch-can” classic type of in-ring performer, but if you look back at his career from an unbiased point of view, there were certainly some diamonds in the rough. He had some great moments in the ring, and at times was absolutely more than just “a cool ring entrance.”

WWE SummerSlam 1988 (vs. The Honky Tonk Man)

On August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, The Ultimate Warrior captured his first WWE Championship. In just 31 seconds, Warrior ended The Honky Tonk Man’s legendary 454-day reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Going into the show, which was actually the inaugural edition of what became WWE’s annual summer tradition, Honky Tonk Man was originally supposed to square-off with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. Beefcake ended up on the sidelines, however, and it was announced, live during the show, that Honky Tonk Man would still have an opponent and would still be defending his title.

To make a long story short, the infamous guitar riff hit the big speakers, thousands of fans in MSG exploded, and 31 seconds later, Warrior’s first WWE title reign began. History was made.

WWE SummerSlam 1989 (vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude)

Nearly a year later to the day, Ultimate Warrior found himself capturing WWE Intercontinental gold once again at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. Several months prior, Warrior suffered his first official defeat in WWE at the hands of “Ravishing” Rick Rude, who was arguably Warrior’s best in-ring opponent.

This was the rematch.

The bout took place on August 28, 1989 at The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the second annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event.

In what turned out to be a pretty good little contest, Warrior prevailed and in the end, managed to get his hand raised and once again become the WWE Intercontinental Champion.

– The following is a photo of the Bret “The Hitman” Hart’s King Of The Ring display at WrestleMania Axxess in New Orleans:

King Macho Man outfit on display at #Axxess #WWE #WrestleMania30 #WWEHOF #WM30 @MBoone420 @RyanClarkWZR #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/JTWqXVZLmT

— Jorge Romero (@Jromer0) April 5, 2014

– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin posted the following message on his official Twitter account regarding his surprise appearance at Jim Ross’ “RINGSIDE” stage show on Thursday night in New Orleans:

Had a blast shooting the breeze in NOLA with my buddy @JRsBBQ. Great crowd. #WM-30 pic.twitter.com/GNs4qjP9U2

— Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) April 4, 2014

– 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:

– A fan recently uploaded a video of Daniel Bryan, who didn’t appear on RAW this week, to the show on Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. You can check that out at Instagram.com.

– Speaking of Monday’s RAW, there’s a video on Instagram of celebrity guest Joe Manganiello doing his “Macho Man” Randy Savage impersonation backstage at the show. You can check that out at Instagram.com.

The following are highlights of a new WGD Weekly interview with Diamond Dallas Page:

Working with David Arquette in WCW and the reaction of the fans to his becoming WCW Champion: “…David Arquette is his own animal. As much heat as he ever took, for him, …all the money he made for that pay per view when he busted me over the head with the guitar and Jarrett took the World Title, the money he made, he gave to Melanie Pillman…When he pinned Bischoff, not me, and I will go on record as saying that was the biggest cluster fu*k ever! and it never should’ve happened, but it did. That being said, that was the booking committee, it was not David Arquette, and every fan that has ever roasted him should dip their own ass in boiling oil, because everyone of you that has buried David Arquette if put in the same position, you would’ve jumped through a hoop of burning oil to do the same sh*t. That’s why when everybody busts balls on that, I just want to smack someone. I’m like really, you, ‘marko mark?’ You would’ve died for that…”

A conversation he had in his early days wrestling in WCW backstage with Hulk Hogan: “…I walked through the curtain after my match and Hulk pulls me over and he says, ‘how are you getting so much better?’ I said, ‘wow, Hulk, thanks, how do you even know?’ He goes, ‘I’ve been watching your match the last couple nights.’ I’m thinking, your watching my matches? So, he says, this is what they are doing, I don’t hardly ever see you on TV, just once in a while. He says, this is what they are doing with you, they’re letting you learn your craft on the road here…I said, I go to the Power Plant, he said, what is the Power Plant…I told Hulk, I figured out that the more that I train people down there…and if you only work when they book you, then you never really get any good, because you’re not wrestling enough…I go down there every day I’m not wrestling and what I figured out is the more I train people, the more I learn and the more I learn! the better I got. Hulk really didn’t understand it because he came from a different generation where you went from one territory to another, but he said, well, whatever it is your doing you need to keep doing it because it might not be this year, or next year, or even the year after, but if you keep doing what you’re doing, somewhere down the line, you and I can draw huge money together, and then he walked away…”

A great reaction from Paul Orndorff backstage before the spot on Nitro with him and Randy Savage, where he was disguised as LaParka: “…when I did LaParka against Savage, it was one if my favorite moments in wrestling. Nobody knew that was coming. There has never been a moment that was like that in professional wrestling…you had no fu$#*ng idea…Bischoff pulled me aside in a room, with Sullivan…he goes okay, here is the deal, we are going to dress you up as LaParka and keep you guys in here the whole time, no one is going to know…so, you’re going over with a Diamond Cutter, I said, ‘Oh my god,’ he says, and then you rip off the mask and the place is going to go bat sh*t, and it did. So, I’m in the back with LaParka, and he can barely talk English, so I’m mimicking him, how do I do your walk, how do you play the guitar, what do you do with the chair? He is showing me his sh*t, so then to get to Mr.Wonderful, he is an agent at the time. He is walking around giving finishes. He gets to the door and knocks on it. I open the door in full LaParka gimmick. Now LaParka is about six foot! but I’m six four, legit, so, Orndorff is a good six one, he knows he is taller than LaParka. He is looking down his glasses at the sheet and he looks up and he goes, ‘You’re going over?” Then he looks back up at me and he sees my blue eyes, and it LaParka, but he goes, ‘ You’re not LaParker.” Then he could just see my eyes light up and they just went, ‘ding,’ and he realized it’s me, and he just says, ‘ I love it,’ then I do the thing and he says, ‘mums the word,’ then he walks away…”

A life lesson he learned from agreeing to do the “stalker” angle in WWE against the Undertaker: “…I’ve already learned, walk away from the table. I learned that in WWE. If I walk away from Vince and I don’t do the stalker angle, and I go, ‘wow, good stuff, but not for me.’ If I walk out and say call me when you want to do people’s champion versus people’s champion, I wouldn’t have made it to the elevator. All I had to do was walk away from the table, but I just thought, they know what they are doing…what I learned out of that was never be afraid to walk away from the table. After that, I have never signed a contract the first time, I don’t care what it is. I don’t agree to anything the first time, let me think about it…”

Thoughts on the comments from fans he reads across the internet: “You know, I read a lot if what people write on YouTube, as obviously I have my DDP TV videos, which is hundreds of them…and people write a lot of comments. I also read when there is something I said in an interview…now I don’t remember the article, but you know, you get these jerk offs that go online and they think they know the business…I don’t know who they are, but there are certain people who just don’t like me no matter what I do, for whatever reason…I get that, not everybody is going to like you, but when they just write stupid sh*t, I can’t help but laugh…No matter how rude some of the comments can be, I find it entertaining…”

Check out the complete interview above.

Wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page joined Doug Mortman and Dave Lagreca on this week’s Busted Open radio show, which you can hear on satellite radio on SiriusXM Channel 92. Here are some highlights of what he said about:

If The Ultimate Warrior is a Hall of Famer: “Are you kidding me? Abso-f**king-lutely. I mean you have to look at how guys drew. And there are fans that don’t like the Warrior. There are plenty of fans that don’t like Diamond Dallas Page. I get that. And the people who don’t like him, really don’t like him. But the people who love the Warrior; they f**king love the Warrior. And that was really obvious when we did in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia–they can be the most critical fans on the planet. Me and Jake Roberts we smoked through autographs while we were there for those couple of days, but Warrior and Hogan came in and were doing the 100 to 150 dollar autograph thing and that line went out the door all day long. So you say what you want about Warrior, but the cat is true. He brought his energy. He brought a dynamic to wrestling at that time that was original. And I wasn’t a big fan of his interviews but people fricking loved them! People loved that guy. I was a Jake Roberts guy back in the ‘80’s, so I skate more that way.”

His thoughts on Warrior going in before Jake Roberts & Randy Savage: “Well I think in Randy’s case, I think Randy he was pissed. I don’t think he really wanted to go in. That’s just my observation from a far. I never heard that from Randy but I’m sure now that the great Randy Savage has passed on, at some point he will be put in there. But I think there was–you have to accept. You have to go there and show up. And there was some heat there. And I think it was just about to get fixed too, just like the Warrior had a lot of heat there. I think he absolutely would’ve gone in. Maybe this year cause Randy was just coming out–when he died, Randy was just starting to come out. About to do a comic-con and stuff; do some autograph signings and stuff. So I think you would have seen him in there. Right after; not too long after his death, I don’t think it had to happen right away but I would imagine that Randy will be in there. And I believe that Jake Roberts will get in. I think I’ll get in. I think there will be a lot of guys that will get in there from Kevin Nash, Scott Hall. I think a lot of those guys will get in. Sometimes it just takes time and I think that Jake doing his turn around that he’s done over these last 16-17 months–or 16 months I think it is–people are buzzing everywhere about Jake. So I think at some point, it would be awesome if it was this year but who knows? You never know.”

His thoughts on his involvement with helping Jake Roberts change: “Well you know Jake put all the work in. Jake was at my house today cause he doesn’t know if he’s going to get that call for Rumble. But you know what if he gets it; he’s gonna be ready. If he doesn’t get it, he’ll still be ready. And Jake worked his skin off–he had the flu bad too the last four days. And he came to work out today and I’m like Jake you can come tomorrow and he’s like nope, let’s go. We did about an hour; Jake lasted about 46 minutes. I was proud of him that he fought through it and he’s really done an amazing turn around. And he’s had some serious adversities. When people get a chance to see what we have; the footage that we have for The Resurrection of Jake The Snake. I’ve been doing this documentary for close to 15 or 16 months now. You know that right? We’ve been documenting everything. We put pieces up on DDP TV, if anybody wants to see the trailer that we have for The Resurrection of Jake The Snake. We did that the first three months. We’re about to open up with another one of Jake’s that is coming up right around in the next couple of weeks. And it will really–it’ll give you goosebumps. And there is so much–my guys; I got five guys working. I’m a production company more than anything now. DDP yoga is the center piece but everything is happening around from Scott Hall to Cody Hall, who was rookie of the year according to (Dave) Meltzer’s sheet. I didn’t see that but that’s legitimate as it gets. But Cody got out there because of DDP TV and what we put out there with him and Scott and everything. It’s just been awesome. I got my editors; I’ve got five of them. And there’s two guys that are new and they’re going through our footage like oh my god I can’t believe you have this. This is going to be a completely different movie than Beyond The Mat. This is about the resurrection of a legend.”

Doing DDP Yoga on WWE TV: “Well I got to say first of all; no one and I repeat no one puts anything on Vince McMahon’s TV without his okay. And I’ve had people say to me so what do you think about Vince McMahon trying to ruin your career with the whole stalker thing, blah, blah, blah. Over the years, right? Anything that anyone thought cause I made a lot of those decisions myself and they were stupid decisions by me. Anyone who ever thinks that there has ever been anything between Vince and me or whatever and I’ve always told everyone; no, there’s not. What Vince did for me two Monday’s ago with DDP Yoga was–he couldn’t have given me a better angle. He couldn’t have given me a better spot. He let me go on there for a minute and a half. It was written into the copy! They gave it to me. I didn’t pick up the DVD’s and do that. That was written for me. “Wear your shirt.” Hunter told me do the foot over the head, that always blows people away. You know I was like okay! I expected to be in something but I didn’t expect it to be what it was. And to have Booker T involved too, who is one of my good buddies. Cause he’s the one guy from WCW who really got over. He’s a five time World Champion and he got the strap there. So bottom line is to be able to do it with him and then have Ron (Simmons) come out; it was just–we did so many takes of it, every one was funnier than the next. I had liked the last one the best but there were other ones that were laugh your ass off funny. And we just had a blast. And Ron said (DDP imitating his voice), “Man, Diamond they’re really working you today. This one’s gonna be a shameless plug but you working for that s**t today…DAMN.”

2014 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee The Ultimate Warrior was recently interviewed by Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard blog. Hare are some highlights:

How much of an impact did headlining WrestleMania have on your career?

“Back at the beginning of my career, I had to make all these sacrifices—sleeping in a car on nights where I’d wrestle in front of 20,000 people—because I wasn’t making any money. Then for two years leading up to WrestleMania, I would hear all the background chatter of how popular the character was becoming. Merchandising and licensing are huge in our business, and back then they actually had a guy, Jimmy, who would set up a table and sell merch before the matches. One day Jimmy took me aside and told me how I wasselling more merchandise than Hogan. “Don’t tell anyone I told you this,” he said. [Laughs]

At that time the typical storyline for WrestleMania was that one of Hogan’s friends would turn on him and set up a good guy-vs-bad guy scenario. But if WWE had done that with Ultimate Warrior, they would have been slicing their wrists, because merchandising was getting ready to go through the roof. So instead it became the Hulkamaniacs versus the Warriors. It was an incredible match—all the excitement, all the drama of the false finishes, and then the first time Hogan lost clean, and that really meant something. Of course, everything is choreographed, but that speaks even more strongly about what type of impact The Ultimate Warrior was going to have on the business.”

Is that your favorite match of your career?

“I have a lot of great memories, including my match against Randy [Savage] in WrestleMania VII. A lot of people say they enjoyed that more than the Hogan match. The Hogan match had so much meaning that it’s impossible not to list among my favorites, but I had all kinds of incredible matches against guys like Rick Rude and André the Giant. I had an incredible run against André all over the world, body slamming him.”

Man, André the Giant. What was he like? 

“André either really cared about you, or he hated you. He liked me, I know he really did. Randy worked with him right before I did, but they killed that program because André didn’t like Randy. But André liked me. Hogan always talks about slamming him the one time at WrestleMania, but I travelled to hundreds of places and slammed André all over the place, and I just couldn’t believe that he’d let me do that. I was the last guy to really work with André before he passed away, and he was unbelievably gracious toward me. I’ll never forget what he did for my character. During one match at Madison Square Garden he told me to put him in a bear hug. So I did, and he squealed like a f—ing pig, man. That’s how you sell the power, and he did that for me to convince the people that The Ultimate Warrior was that powerful. Then he told me to slam him. He was a really great guy.”

It’s incredible that Sting is still wrestling. Do you think you still have one big match left in you? Maybe a Royal Rumble run out?

“The 90s version of The Ultimate Warrior, that beast? No. [Laughs] But I’m still very intense, I’m still in great shape, and the way the business is today, I think something could be arranged. But that 90s version of The Ultimate Warrior can’t be done. He’s my muse. I wake up every morning and I’m inspired by him, but trying to go back and bring him back 25 years later, there’s just no way.”

The following are highlights from a Shining Wizard Podcast interview with Lanny Poffo:

On letting WWE induct Randy Savage into the Hall of Fame against Randy’s wishes, and the general lack of respect shown to him: “It occurred to me that I decided “what a minute, I’m not going to be put in the middle of all this.” The thing is the WWE did not ask my permission to run the parody of the Huckster and the Nacho Man, and I don’t have a battery of lawyers on retainer, so my belief is, do what you want. You want to honor him? Go ahead. This is the same company that didn’t send its condolences to my mother who is going to be 87 in January. Now I know they made a nice video tribute, but don’t you understand that that’s just PR. Just like when they fire you, they wish you luck on your future endeavors? That’s PR, they have a public relations department. So naturally, when somebody dies, and everybody always has, you know, because it’s either suicide or an overdose. In Randy’s case it was one of the few honorable deaths they’ve had. His toxicology report was crystal clear. Clean. And that meant a lot to me. Well, name a wrestler that died and they’ve all got something wrong with their toxicology report… Remember the Huckster and the Nacho Man? Everyone says “What’s the matter? Can’t you take a joke?” Well, some of those jokes were a little bit… like they accused Hulk Hogan of doing Elizabeth. Remember that one, when they did the Larry King one? And I thought that was- they said “How was Elizabeth?” “Not too good.” The guy imitating Hulk Hogan and Randy looked at each other. And they made fun of his balding, and that was a little bit of lack of respect. So I said wait a minute, it’s true that Randy wanted the Poffos to go in as a family but you can’t make them do that. So I figured, rather than put myself in the middle for the rest of my life, I said hey, go ahead and do whatever you want. I only have two requests. Leave me out of it- don’t invite me- and please don’t pay me, because I don’t need the thirty pieces of silver. That was the amount Judas Iscariot took to betray Jesus.”

On whether he was an innovator: “I like to consider myself just a guy that was in the right time and at the right place. Everybody says I invented the moonsault. Well, the truth is I invented it like moments after I saw video of Tiger Mask doing it to the Dynamite Kid. I thought, wow, I think I can do that. I don’t know if he innovated it. And then people say “you mind if I do the moonsault?” I said hey, I stole it, too. Just don’t get hurt and don’t hurt anyone, because those are possibilities. I don’t know if I innovated anything, except I can honestly say that every poem you ever heard me recite, I wrote on my own. I don’t consider plagiarism to be a joke.”

On owing his career to Randy and becoming the Genius: “Let’s get something straight. Anything good that happened to me was indirectly or directly because of my brother. If I weren’t the brother of the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, you wouldn’t know who the hell I was. He opened doors for me. We were in the car discussing gimmicks. And he was always on my team trying to help me. We came up with this Genius thing and he was a stickler for details. He presented it, he got it done. I tried to follow through with it and did the very best I could to try to recreate myself. To reshuffle the deck and try to make the people forget that was ever “Leaping” Lanny by changing my personality. And I did my very best to entertain the people; it is sports entertainment… one of the people I really stole from was Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther… It was a one-joke movie. “I knew that, you idiot. I was only testing you.” I thought the Genius would be a good character if he was not that smart, just thought he was. Because if I was really that smart, I would have to be a babyface. But if I’m a heel I would like to be a buffoon genius- to be something hilarious in a business that was very serious at the time. Now they’ve got other comedians sometimes I’ve noticed, but I was like the only one. I have to say, God bless Bobby Heenan, you know he’s a cancer survivor and I hope he’s doing well. He didn’t raise any objection to me being the Genius. After all, he was already the Brain. But what was I going to do? Point to my arms? I have garden-hose arms compared to Hercules Hernandez, the Warlord, the Barbarian, Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. My arms are just as long, but much thinner. I couldn’t point to my arms… I had to point to my head because I didn’t have what they call a body in wrestling.”

The circumstances of Randy’s death: “First of all, he didn’t die from an automobile accident; he had ventricular fibrillation… the heart is divided into the left and right atrium and left and right ventricle. That’s four chambers. And the bottom chamber, which is v-shaped, fibrillated, which means it quivered, which meant he wasn’t getting enough oxygen into his blood; the blood wasn’t going everywhere, and he said “I think I’m going to pass out.” And that was his last words… And his wife, she was the hero because when he passed out at the wheel, his foot was on he accelerator, and she grabbed the wheel of the Jeep Wrangler and steered it into a tree, because they would’ve hit a motorcyclist and behind that was a bus. So when they’re going the wrong way going about 35-40 miles per hour- and that’s just what happened. When you have a heart problem, it would be nice if you’re not driving at the time, but that’s what they were doing, and Lynn was the hero.”

On Randy leaving for WCW and his relationship with Slim Jim: “Randy wanted to work with Shawn Michaels. He wanted to have a two-year program with him. They said they were having a youth movement, and that’s why he quit. He said “I think I’ll get a second opinion on that.” He would’ve lost the match to Shawn Michaels, at WrestleMania, but his goal, and one of the things that bothered him the most, was that he was never able to have a match as good as the one he had with Ricky Steamboat. He felt, even his his advanced years, I guess he was 41, that he could have a Ricky Steamboat-caliber match with Shawn Michaels. I don’t know if he could or if he couldn’t any more that if, you know, if he was already too old or whatever, but wouldn’t you love to see him try? He would’ve put him over, in the middle of the ring, and retired to the announce booth… but instead he went to the WCW and guess what he brought with him? Snap into a Slim Jim. And Vince doesn’t like to lose even one round. You know the difference between WWF and Slim Jim? Slim Jim sent to me and my mom and Randy’s widow? A beautiful bouquet of flowers, and best wishes, and condolences. And we didn’t get anything from the WWE. The only condolences I got are from two guys. They are Howard Finkel, and last month I got a call from Steve Lombardi. Now in these two cases, this is not management, this is labor. So there’s a little bit of a difference there. If I embarrass anybody then so be it. You know what? I’m gonna be 59 years old December 28th… and I’m gonna say exactly what’s on my mind all the time.”

Why wrestling is better now: “First of all, I don’t watch it now. But there’s two reasons why wrestling is better now than then. Number one, we didn’t have iPhones back then, so, you know, that Google Maps? I really love my Google Maps. Before, I couldn’t find my ass with two hands. Now I don’t have to worry about “turn left, stupid.” The other one is I really didn’t like when I wrestled, that all the fans were allowed to smoke cigarettes and whatever, and we had to breathe in all that second-hand smoke. Now almost all the venues are non-smoking. I wish they had been that way when I was breathing in all that smoke.”

Check out the complete interview online at www.shiningwizards.com.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what he said about:

His One Man Show: “Monday, Live Nation is scheduled to send out a press release regarding all the info one will need to know on my first, one man show coming to New York City in March of 2014. Tickets will go on sale in a few days for this event that has special significance to me.”

Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XXX: “Seems as if the topic of one of my blogs a few weeks ago is beginning to pick up steam. I suggested that I’d personally like to see Hulk Hogan be a part of WM30 in New Orleans but I never implied that I wanted to see Hogan in a match. I don’t. I do think that Hulk can add viable cache to the landmark event and timing seems to be favorable to do so as it relates to his business obligations.”

Warrior/Savage In WWE HOF: “If Savage and/or Warrior were to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Hulk would fit perfectly in that process.”

Goldberg At WrestleMania XXX: “I have no idea if Bill Goldberg wold return to WWE for a special, WM30 appearance but it would seem that it will now or never simply based on my fellow Oklahoman’s age and time away from the ring. I think WWE will need to import some alumni to give WM30 the sizzle that it’s going to require for the 30th addition of their biggest event of the year.”

TRIPLE H In Talks With GOLDBERG About Appearing at WRESTLEMANIA

– In spite of a lengthy absence from the squared circle, David Otunga is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Muscle & Fitness.

Check out @WWE Superstar @DavidOtunga on the cover of this month’s @Muscle_Fitness! #brainsandbrawn pic.twitter.com/rvZNdSbfrp

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) November 13, 2013

The Harvard-educated attorney, who has not competed on television since the March 18 edition of Raw, resurfaced last month in an interview for WWE.com as he weighed in on Big Show’s counter-lawsuit against The Authority.

– CM Punk saved a message on Twitter from an upset fan about being snubbed by him on Wednesday in Nottingham, England outside the Nottingham Capital FM Arena. Writing to AJ Lee (and not Punk), the message states, “Wish I could of said hello to you today. My mum asked cm punk nicely and he made me and my mum cry. I don’t like him anymore.”

The fan is claiming that as fans were snapping photos of Punk outside the venue, her mother asked Punk permission to do so as well. Punk gave an angry response, as the fan claims he shouted at both of them.

Last week on Twitter, former WWE star Bob “Hardcore” Holly criticized Punk for not being friendlier to fans.

@carlaking900 @CMPunk Yea i will NEVER understand , u all made him who he is, he didnt do it by himself, if not for u, they wouldnt be paid

— Bob Holly (@TheBobHolly) November 5, 2013

– Friday would have marked as the sixty-first birthday of “Macho Man” Randy Savage. The legendary wrestler died of cardiac arrhythmia while driving with his wife in Seminole, Florida on May 20, 2011.

-WWE returns to the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, the site of Sunday’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, on January 31st. The pre-sale password for tickets to the show is WWELIVE.

-On this day, 18 years ago, the famous fire incident in ECW took place with Terry Funk, Raven, Tommy Dreamer and Mick Foley in the original ECW Arena.

-Former WWE Superstar MVP celebrates his 40th birthday today. Also celebrating birthdays in the world of pro wrestling today are Christy Hemme, Les Thatcher and Rocky Romero.

-WWE Hall Of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch will be doing a live Q&A on November 14th in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as at Collector Mania in Milton Keynes, England on November 16th and 17th.

-TMZ posted an article today that noted Brian Wilson of the Los Angeles Dodgers dressed up as “Macho Man” Randy Savage at a Halloween party this past Saturday evening.

Randy Savage & Ultimate Warrior In The WWE HOF In 2014? — DETAILS HERE!

The following are highlights from a recent interview with WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler:

On his first memory of watching WrestleMania: “WrestleMania IV when they had the tournament for the title (won by Randy Savage). I was cheering for Ricky Steamboat. I was a big fan of Steamboat as a kid.”

On his dream opponent for WrestleMania: “Shawn Michaels.”

On his favorite match in WrestleMania history: “Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV (won by the Undertaker). They could have just had a good match, and we would all still be talking about it. But they went out and had one of the best storytelling matches of all-time. I went into the crowd and just watched it.”

Check out the complete interview online at NOLA.com.

Related News: Update On The Undertaker’s Opponent For WrestleMania XXX

SESCOOPS.COM reader Derek Gash sent along the following post-show notes from Monday’s WWE RAW in Toronto, Ontario, Canada:

The crowd was chanting “Thank You Savage” during matches as there was a fan dressed as Savage and looked just like him. The crowd kept getting live whenever he stood up.

Edge got the pop of the night being here in his hometown, followed by Santino Marella and Goldust,

During the commercial break after the RVD match, “The Macho Man” fan was spoken to by WWE staff. I’m not sure what they said to him but he toned it down from that point on. This seems like the fan incident last week on RAW where WWE staff came out and told fans dressed as Hogan, Piper, etc. to tone it down. The crowd had been distracted since the match between ADR and R-Truth due to the fan.

Damien Sandow had repeated a part of his promo that he did during the commercial break when the cameras returned live. It was the same stuff that he had already while during the break

After RAW went off the air, Curtis Axl and Paul Heyman came out. As they hit the ring, Punk’s music hit he came out with the kendo stick and hit Heyman a couple times. Heyman took off back up the stage and a match started between Axel and Punk. Punk landed a GTS on Axl and won via pinfall. Punk then proceeded to hit him with the chair and then celebrated with the Toronto crowd sending everyone happy.

BACKSTAGE RAW NEWS: Vince McMahon FURIOUS At WHO?? And WHY?! [FIND OUT HERE >>]

This week on Because Wrestling, we talk about Randy Savage’s possible induction (more…)

“Leapin” Lanny Poffo, real-life brother to the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage recently spoke to the Pro Wrestling Torch about the latest on his brother being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

Poffo originally noted that his brother’s wishes were for he, Lanny, and his father Angelo Poffo, to all be inducted as a family into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Since then, Poffo has apparently given WWE permission to induct Savage by himself.

Poffo told PWTorch.com:

“I gave them permission to do it without my permission. Just don’t invite me and don’t pay me. I don’t need their 30 pieces of silver to defy my brother’s wishes. Kayfabe Commentaries had my best interview regarding the reasons Randy had for this position.”

Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage & Owen Hart In WWE HOF 2014 Class [READ >>]

-WWE Superstar CM Punk recently made his argument for The Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. In a new tweet, Punk wrote:

“Ultimate Warrior. Better be hall of fame bound. Savage too. All them Poffos.”

-WWE posted the latest edition of “Backstage Fallout” for this week’s RAW on their official YouTube channel. The description for the video reads: “Miz tangos with Fandango, and the Divas division breaks down.”

Check out the RAW “Backstage Fallout” for this week below:

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. CM Punk “99% Likely” For WrestleMania XXX [READ MORE >>]

–WWE.com posted video today from the “Booker T Day” ceremony held prior to the SmackDown television taping in Houston on Thursday evening. Additionally, Houston’s KHOU Channel 11 news ran a feature on the ceremony, as well as a profile on Booker’s wrestling school in the local area.

Check out our quick recap from the “Booker T Day” ceremony at the following link: Notes From “Booker T Day” Ceremony In Houston On Thursday.

-Speaking of WWE.com, the official WWE website recently ran a feature titled “The 50 greatest ring names ever!” The top ten were: 10. Cactus Jack, 9. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, 8. Gorilla Monsoon, 7. The Fabulous Moolah, 6. Bam Bam Bigelow, 5. Killer Kowalski, 4. One Man Gang, 3. Abdullah The Butcher, 2. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and 1. “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

Check out the full list, which includes the other top 40 ring names in WWE history, at WWE.com. You can also check out the old “15 absolute WORST ring names in history” list from back in January at this link.

Outcome Of John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan Match At SummerSlam Leaks Online

WWE legend The Ultimate Warrior recently spoke to the New York Daily News to promote his involvement in the new WWE 2K14 video game. Here are some highlights of what Warrior said about:

If He Watches WWE, CM Punk & Ryback:

“I know some of the characters, but I don’t watch it. I like all the guys. I guess because I don’t know anybody, I like them all.”

“You would think maybe I would go for a Ryback guy. He’s impressive. He’s a monster of a guy. I don’t go against him, but I’m indifferent. I know a little about CM Punk, in that he does his own thing. I’m inspired by people who do that in their own life. That they just do their own thing no matter what the consequences are.”

His Career Highlight:

“My match with Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI. The buildup to that, where the business was at the time. Prior to Wrestlemania, usually they would do an angle where Hogan’s best friend would backstab him out of jealousy or envy. Cut some promos and say, “if only I had the chance for a match I could take (Hogan).” That’s how they’d set up the match.”

“But the Ultimate Warrior was becoming so popular and selling so much merchandise at the time that if they’d done that they would have slit their own wrists. So they did a match where it was the Warriors vs. the Gladiators. And then a bunch of urban legend stuff has grown out of that.”

A Memorable Road Story:

“I always loved working with Randy. He was so intense. In public, he spoke like he did in his promos. I remember one time, he came out to stay with me in Arizona. And he was there for a couple days. We went out to eat one night.”

“I said, “Randy, just do me a favor, don’t say anything. Just enjoy the food and we’ll go.” Because we were going to go to the gym after.”

“About a half-hour of being there, he said something about the food being good. It was all kinds of chatter going on, people talking. As soon as he said that to me, the whole place went absolutely totally dead silent. Everybody was leaning in their ear, trying to figure out where that voice came from. Then that was it, we were there signing autographs for the next two hours.”

Ultimate Warrior To Be Inducted Into WWE HOF & Wrestle At WMXXX? [Latest Rumors >>]

[rybackrules]- While WWE has written Brock Lesnar off television as having “fulfilled his obligations” to the company, Lesnar is expected to be back on television in time for SummerSlam in August. Lesnar’s “Paul Heyman Guy” stablemate CM Punk is also expected back before SummerSlam.

– There has been talk of turning Mark Henry babyface in the coming months. Henry stated on the Extreme Rules post-show that he’s “going home” and will be taking time off.

– As noted in recent reports, WWE superstar Kane has been getting involved in the ongoing political debate regarding the proposed Internet sales tax. There have been rumors that Kane is interested in running for United States Senate when his WWE career is over. Kane was asked about his political aspirations by the Tennessean newspaper and said:

“[I have] no plans on running for political office at this time…..things get a little carried away on the Internet sometimes.”

Of course, “at this time” does not rule out a political run when he eventually retires from the ring.

– The family of “Macho Man” Randy Savage gathered together at an Olive Garden restaurant in Florida on the 2-year anniversary of his passing. Savage’s brother, Lanny Poffo, told TMZ.com:

“I have to be strong for my family now. I’m just glad to have had him as a brother and wanna celebrate his life as much as I can instead of continuing to mourn.”

(Partial Source: f4wonline.com)

– Brian “Road Dogg” James turns 44 years old today.

– Today marks two years since the unfortunate death of wrestling legend “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Savage suffered cardiac arrhythmia while driving with his wife Barbara in Seminole, Florida. RIP Macho Man!

– Bleacher Report has published a great article on the life and final days of Randy Savage, written by former WWE writer Keith Elliot Greenberg.

– WWE Superstar Kane, who is rumored to be running for United States Senate in his home state of Tennessee, continues to make waves in the political world. Kane (Glenn Jacobs) is listed as the co-founder of the Tennessee Liberty Alliance, an organization that is protesting the Marketplace Fairness Act (related to Internet sales tax).

Kane has also challenged Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey to “a policy debate on the issue of the Marketplace Fairness Act in a public forum at his convenience.”

For more on the story, visit JohnsonCityPress.com.

* PAUL HEYMAN’s Next Client: Who Should It Be? Discuss It HERE

This week’s edition of WWE Inbox is now online – looking at who should be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame next year. WWE superstars and divas overwhelmingly name “Macho Man” Randy Savage as a potential inductee, with Paul Bearer also being suggested.

Former WWE superstar Lanny “The Genius” Poffo has stated publicly that before his passing, his brother Randy Savage was willing to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame only if the entire Poffo family was inducted together, including Lanny and their father Angelo Poffo.