— Shawn Michaels and WWE.com writer Craig Tello are collaborating on an e-book titled Diary of the Heartbreak Kid. It is scheduled for release this December. Further details on the book have not been disclosed.
— 7-Eleven has released eight collectible Slurpee and Super Big Gulp cups featuring WWE Legends and Superstars. The Miz, John Cena, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock are featured on Slurpee cups while Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper are featured on the Super Big Gulp cups.
— CM Punk has been removed from WWE.com’s roster page. He is also no longer listed as WWE Champion.
— WWE Hall Shawn Michaels celebrates his birthday today. He stated on his Twitter account that he turns 46 years old.
— Former WWE Diva Maria is advertised to appear at Dreamwave Wrestling’s Adversity event. The event takes place Saturday, August 6 in La Salle, Illinois. Visit www.dreamwavewrestling.com for more information.
— Kofi Kingston is scheduled to appear at the Maverick Store in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, August 5 beginning at 2:00 p.m.
– WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin wrote the following on Twitter on Monday regarding his new WWE DVD set, which is being billed as the “final” Austin DVD:
“WWE film crew to come down to the Broken Skull Ranch in a few days. Filming last SCSA DVD. Please send your questions to my twitter acct. “
“Also send any suggestions on matches you would like to see from WCCW, USWA, WCW, ECW, and of course WWE. Thanks for the help. Gonna be good.”
– WWE Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine, who was profiled on Monday’s RAW, is currently training at Florida Championship and wrestled on last Saturday’s show from Fort Meyers, where he lost to Peter Orlov.
– RAW announcer Michael Cole is the latest WWE personality to appear on Shawn Michaels’ hunting show on the Outdoor Channel. Michaels tweeted the following about tonight’s episode:
“Just reviewed [tonight’s] MRA show. I sure hope everybody has a sense of humor. @MichaelCole is gonna b hated in the outdoor biz as well:-)”
Shawn Michaels discussed the new Outdoor Channel Show Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures during an interview with FoxNews.com. The WWE Hall of Famer justifies his endeavor by saying that he eats what he kills.
A representative for the animal rights group PETA said in response, “Jeffrey Dahmer ate everything he killed, too, but that didn’t justify taking innocent lives.”
Michaels, however, isn’t concerned about any backlash pertaining to the show or his passion for hunting. He issued the following defense:
“In every aspect of my life, I live under the protection of and in accordance to the laws of this nation. At the end of the day, it’s a wildlife biological fact and a conservation fact that the game must be managed. There’s only so much habitat, i.e. food, out there. If you have 100 acres worth of food and you’ve got 500 animals out there, the young ones and the old ones are going to starve to death, because they can’t compete,” Michaels said.
“When they starve, they start to eat things they shouldn’t be eating and spread disease not only to them, but to us.”
He adds that the Michaels household rarely goes to the grocery store.
“We are a family that lives probably 90 percent on wild game. We’re certainly working our way toward 100 percent self-sufficient. Looking to raise chickens for eggs, things of that nature, start a garden. We enjoy the simple life. It’s a beautiful and wonderful adventure being out there. Hunting and fishing, processing your own game and eating what you hunt – that’s a long and arduous process, but a joyful kind of work. The satisfaction that you get when you see the look of affirmation and validation on the face of my son when he’s supplied dinner for the family, it’s an awesome thing, and I think a lot of people are missing out on that these days.”
— CM Punk and Colt Cabana briefly reunited on the latest episode of Art of Wrestling Radio, which features an interview with Ring of Honor performer Chris Hero.
Punk appears early in the podcast to discuss his “little match on Sunday.” When asked if people should order the pay-per-view, Punk replied, “Yeah, they should. I get paid more that way.”
— WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race is advertised to appear at WWE’s upcoming SmackDown live event in Springfield, Missouri. The event takes place Sunday, August 28 at the JQH Arena.
— Beckett announced that WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be featured in Topps’ upcoming Allen & Ginter autograph trading card set, comprised of everyone but baseball players.
— SmackDown Superstar Heath Slater celebrates his 28th birthday today.
Following the successful premiere of Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures, the Heartbreak Kid looks to have a promising career in Hollywood – with another reality show in the works.
According celebrity blog PopWrecked.com, Michaels and his management team are meeting with several major cable networks about bringing Shawn aboard in another new reality series – which could begin shooting as early as this fall.
Popwrecked.com blogger Doug West was quoted last week as saying:
“Shawn has a lot of fans in Hollywood. and Shawn appears to be weighing several different options in the reality show business right now.”
Stay tuned for more updates on HBK’s acting career.
As we’ve been reporting in recent weeks, WWE has been working on a new project set involving former rivals Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. According to a report on WWEDVDNews.com, the DVD will be part of a series titled, “WWE’s Greatest Rivalries.”
The next rivalry in the series will be Steve Austin vs. The Rock, which is also sure to be a doozy.
The working title for the two-disc Blu-ray and three-disc DVD is simply “Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart” and will be released on October 25th in North America.
Here’s the synopsis:
“For more than a decade, Bret “Hit Man” Hart and Shawn Michaels engaged in perhaps the most storied rivalry in the history of sports entertainment, from their teams (the Hart Foundation and the Rockers), through battles for the Intercontinental Championship and the richest prize in the business, the WWE Championship.
Their enmity spilled out of the ring, and led to the most infamous incident in the history of professional wrestling, The Montreal Screwjob. More than a decade later, the two men buried the hatchet as both are now WWE Hall of Famers.
Now, for the first time ever, the two sit down together and rehash their intertwined destinies in Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart. These new, never-before-aired, interviews will shed new light and insight on controversies fans have speculated about for years.”
Here’s a clip of the memorable handshake and hug between Bret and Shawn on the January 4th, 2010 episode of WWE RAW, the night Bret Hart returned after 13 years away:
Check out this video clip from Episode 1 of Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures, which airs on the Outdoor Channe Tuesdays at 11:30pm eastern (8:30 pm pacific), Saturday at 7:00pm eastern (4:00pm pacific) and Tuesday at 3:00am (12:00am pacific).
Michaels wrote on Twitter this week that he was gator hunting with fellow DX member Triple H for an upcoming episode – stay tuned for more on that.
— Shawn Michaels noted on his Twitter account that Triple H will appear on an upcoming episode of his new television series Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures (airing Tuesdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on the Outdoor Channel). Michaels and “The King of Kings” filmed an alligator hunting episode today in Florida.
— Randy Orton appeared on 98KUPD’s Real Rock on Tuesday promoting this week’s SmackDown tapings in Arizona. During the interview, one of the hosts said Ziggler, who resides in Phoenix, went on a date last week with adult film star BiBi Jones. He said Ziggler met Jones at a recent Britney Spears concert.
— The Bella Twins stated on Twitter that they will be launching their official website, NicoleandBrianna.com, on Friday.
— WWE Hall of Famer Sgt Slaughter appears at the Salem Red Sox game on Friday, July 8 at LewisGale Field 1004 Texas St. Salem, Virginia. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Call 540-389-3333 for more information.
— Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer reported yesterday that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman have either made a deal or at least are in very serious negotiations to have a business relationship with WWE. In the case of Lesnar, it is not to wrestle, nor would he be a television character. Meltzer claims Heyman’s deal is similar to Lesnar’s. Award-winning Canadian mixed martial arts journalist Ariel Helwani stated this afternoon on his Twitter account that Meltzer’s report is somewhat inaccurate. He wrote:
“Meltzer report on Heyman/Brock going 2 WWE, according 2 sources, is somewhat inaccurate. What is being discussed is a consumer product deal.”
— WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels posted a lengthy blog on his Facebook account explaining why he hunts animals. He wrote:
“I recognize that no matter how much love, faith, and factual information I provide there are going to be people who simply will not agree with the lifestyle I have chosen. Personally, it’s that diversity that makes us so great. I would ask that as I respect your right to disagree, you show me the same courtesy. I spent 25 years defending myself and you against the stereotype that we’re all a bunch of “dimwitted toothless rednecks,” what’s the harm against doing it again for another group of people I believe in? And at the end of the day there will still be those who just love to be difficult because…well, just because. To you I say this, my lifestyle is 100% protected by and in accordance with, the laws of this land…in every sense. You wanna challenge me in that? I’ll knock you sox off!!
“And if you’re not down with that…I got two words for ya…”
– REMINDER: WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels’ new outdoor lifestyle TV show, “Shawn Michaels Macmillan River Adventures” premieres tonight at 11:30pm EST on the Outdoor Channel.
– WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper wrote on Twitter that he’s considering taking Drew McIntyre under his wing. Piper got good feedback about the idea and said he’s going to consider it.
– Michael Cole said on RAW that Mason Ryan was injured over the weekend. We haven’t heard anything about Ryan being injured, but he didn’t wrestle on this weekend’s live events, so we’ll ask around about this.
– Former WWE Superstar JBL wrote on Twitter that he’s currently involved in helping troubled youth in Bermuda:
“Helping some great folks put a program together for gangs here in Bermuda-giving kids an alternative. Most exciting thing I have ever done!”
Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW will take place from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and will feature a special RAW Roulette Theme, where match stipulations will be chosen by spinning a roulette wheel.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be appearing on tonight’s show – and there’s been talk that HBK will be the person in charge of spinning the wheel throughout the evening.
One match confirmed for RAW is Sin Cara vs. Evan Bourne, which was supposed to take place on last week’s “Power to the People” RAW but did not due to technical difficulties with the voting.
WWE will also be taping next week’s episode of RAW tonight after RAW goes off the air. This double taping is a result of the WWE crew leaving for the upcoming Australian tour later this week.
The dark match main event that’s being advertised locally is John Cena, Rey Mysterio and the Big Show vs. CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio and R-Truth.
Here’s a look at the RAW Roulette wheel that will be used tonight:
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read over at JRsBarBQ.com. JR spoke about another of topics this week, including Chavo Guerrero’s release from WWE, Jesse Ventura, being honored by the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, whether WWE will ever draw more fans than they did for WrestleMania 3 and more. Here are some highlights of what JR said about:
Chavo Guerrero’s WWE Release: “Sorry to hear of Chavo Guerrero leaving WWE after many years with the company. I don’t know the details but from what I read Chavo asked for his release and wanted to explore other options. Chavo is a talented guy who comes from a regal, wrestling family who I respect greatly. Chavo strikes me as the type of wrestler who has given his post wrestling career adequate thought and even though Chavo can and likely will continue to wrestle, one can never over stay their welcome inside the ring and everyone has to have an exit strategy at some point.”
Whether WWE Will Ever Break WrestleMania 3’s Attendance Record: “Will the WM3 attendance record ever be broken? In my opinion, yes. It could happen in a variety of venues but specifically, in my eyes, it will be when WWE has a Wrestlemania in Cowboys Stadium in Dallas which could accommodate close to 100,000 for the event. With DFW being an American Airlines hub and Love Field being a Southwest Airlines hub, getting to Dallas from virtually any where in the world is doable. Of course, how well any event does or doesn’t do is always dependent on the main event attractions.”
Participating In The Shawn Michaels-Bret Hart DVD Project: “The HBK/Hitman DVD will be released worldwide this October and I have high expectations for the project. The two legendary, WWE stars sat side by side during the shoot facing yours truly who asked them a battery of questions … To be able to sit and talk to two WWE Hall of Famers such as Michaels and Hart who did have a bona fide rivalry at one time but also respected the other’s work was a privilege for me. I’m honored to have been assigned this project and hope that it lives up to the expectations we all have for it. I know that both Shawn and Bret were very happy with the day.”
Ross added, “I’ll tell you this, it takes a lot of courage and character to be honest to the core on these types of productions and Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were definitely honest, open, emotional, and had some compelling things to say. My respect for both men, which was already immense, was elevated even higher after this DVD taping.
JR has much more to say about the Michaels-Hart DVD, which you can read at his site.
lYou may have heard some buzz here on the site that WWE is working on a special DVD project that’s set to be released this fall. Jim Ross dropped a few hints on Twitter, calling the project “groundbreaking” and saying he was very fortunate to be a part of it. To follow up on this story – it appears the project will be an in-depth profile on the rocky relationship between WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.
Jim Ross announced on Twitter this week that he interviewed Bret and Shawn for several hours yesterday in Stamford, CT for a DVD project that will be released this October.
While the DVD will certainly cover the infamous Montreal Screwjob, but their entire relationship during the 1990s will be covered, including both men breaking out of top tag teams and their paths crossing several times en route to WWE super stardom.
While the Montreal Screwjob has been analyzed and scrutinized from every possible angle, never before have we been given an inside look at Bret and Shawn’s rocky relationship.
Comment Below and tell us what you think about this DVD project – are you interested in hearing what each man has to say?
WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels was a guest on this Monday’s edition of Wrestling News Live. “The Showstopper” joined WNL for a 70 minute interview that can be heard here starting at the 80 minute.
Below are some of the highlights:
Shawn’s thoughts on Scott Hall missing his WWE Hall Of Fame induction: “You have to admire him, You’ve gotta start somewhere and I remember Kevin telling me and me thinking “you know what, that’s gotta be a good start. The fact that he is aware of it and I think that’s good as that’s what we all want for(him). I know everything one is synthetic and everyone cares about Scott and we all do and I was actually really happy to hear that he’s at least aware of it to the point where he can make a statement like that. As we discussed that night, we all know there is going to be several other Hall Of Fame moments for some of the dudes in our group.”
Shawn’s thoughts on his induction into the WWE Hall Of Fame: “It’s one of those things like winning your first world championship that you always tell people about and its moments like that when it is all real. It doesn’t matter what all the nay-Sayers say about our line of work and those moments, it’s the most real thing in the world and to get to share it with your present family and your work family and the guys that were the only family I had for many years on the road and being acknowledged in my line of work and having all the people, my extended family (there), it is very easy for me to well up and cry like a baby when I think about it because there is such an attachment for me to all of those people….. There is such a special connection from me to the people and I think it’s because they they knew how I felt about that line of work and how much it meant to me.”
Shawn’s thoughts on how the product has changed: “I don’t wana be one of those old timers that continually knock everything because on one hand it’s very tough on the younger talent these days as they are not having the luxury of what we had which is years of experience and countless matches with countless different styles before we came to the WWE. They are getting thrown from the frying pan into the fire.”
Shawn’s thoughts on a return to WWE: “One, honestly I really don’t watch much right now and I do that purposely. I’ll tune in every now and then and I’ll tune in for a little bit then see something that I don’t care for and I go away. The reason I do that is because if I watch and I see something I don’t like and I turn away, I know that I’m not ready to come back and look at it objectively yet . I think there will be a time when I’d like to come back and help and contribute in the back if needed but to do that, I feel like I need to have a real washed, clean, objective, constructive point of view and for me personally, it feels like whilst I was working, I did not watch that much as I always felt I was too close to it to be objective.”
Shawn’s thoughts on John Morrison: “His name comes up a lot, and a lot of people say “I like him but…” and he’s a young guy and it’s my understanding that he just got injured and as much as you hate hearing about a guy getting injured, it’s never good but at the same time, I remember telling John Cena when he got hurt, “Dude they need to see you come back”. It’s part of the “warrior making” stage and so I think John (Morrison) some time but as the kids like to say, “He has to get some street cred”, He’s got to take some lumps, gotta take on a couple of scars, get beaten up a little but I certainly think there is potential there. He certainly has all the physical attributes that he needs. He is a sweetheart of a guy and I think that is what hurts him, I just don’t think he has a bad bone in his body.”
Shawn on why he choose not to hold the World Title one last time: “No, No I didn’t. That’s(holding the belt) is a full time commitment and the guy that does that needs to make every show, doing absolutely everything and that just wasn’t for me. The deal with me coming back was still worth quite a bit but I didn’t do all the live events and I was taking darn near every Wrestlemania off. That was just something, it was more important to me just to come back and I’m gona be honest, I like it more than the way I did. I know there are some people like “You only held the world title this many times” I just didn’t think it (was fair), I think the guy who does that needs to be the work horse and I no way wanted to be that.”
A brief video trailer has been released for WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels’ new hunting show “Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures” – which premieres later this month on the Outdoor Channel.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels was interviewed this week by Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca of the Busted Open radio show to promote his new “outdoor lifestyle” (hunting) show.
Here are some highlights of what Shawn said about:
His Classic Feud With Chris Jericho & How It Influenced The PG Era:
“Me and Chris (Jericho) would bury ourselves in the writer’s room…..just continue to add and we didn’t have any direction and I guess that my point, and I guess we just sort of said it ourselves and went from there. The process was phenomenal, thought the angle was phenomenal and truthfully we were the reason the PG thing came down and I bled like a stuck pig, there where people wanted to sponsor something and they saw me bleed like a stuck pig, they left and there was no more of that stuff.”
His reconciliation with Bret Hart:
“It was very genuine. He and I, we had been texting each other. I can’t give you a time frame. Some time before that you know me and Tyson Kidd were talking…Holy Cow! This whole thing needs to end. Tyson had passed his number along to me. And he and I had been texting, but not getting in to any detail, but we were testing the waters, like ‘Hey, we can do this, it’s been a long time and it sucks and its time to end to end it.’ We saw each other at Raw, we asked each other, but we didn’t talk about what we were going to do out there. But we did get to have a very long chat about everything and look the man in the eye and tell him I was sorry, for being a pain in his back side and it was very genuine. We have since texted one another, I think we will see each other again next week up in Stanford doing something. It’s been very nice and its been a great weight lifted off our shoulders….it was important to us and it was important to the people that saw it.”
John Cena As The Face Of WWE:
“I think John does a great job…..it’s gonna be impossible not to be partial to John. Because I like him and I like him because he is a good guy. He is the hardest working guy in that company. There isn’t anyone who puts in more time then John Cena. The only thing that works against John, and I tell you this with love…..you hardcore guys just decided to dislike him.”
Staying Loyal to WWE and Vince McMahon:
“There where times when I was going threw my very tough times, just let me go, just let me go. He would say ‘No, look you would be miserable, they wouldn’t do with you what needs to be done. They wouldn’t know what to do with you, and that fact that they put that kind of time in to me.’ That was really the end of it, that’s why I always sound like a company man….its genuine, and I know the real guy, the real guy has cared for me a great deal, and no one is more committed to this business then he is. It was easy to stay l
Busted Open airs Mondays and Wednesdays on Sirius 92 and XM 207 from 2-4 EST.
Check out this video WKSBY conducted with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels.
HBK talks about his new “outdoor lifestyle” show (don’t call it a hunting show), training his 11 year old son to be a pro wrestler, whether he’s been contacted by TNA, Scott Hall’s recent problems and much more in this interview.
– CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio on Monday’s RAW to earn a WWE title shot against John Cena at Money in the Bank on July 17th. Punk stated that it will be his final match in WWE and vows to leave the company with the WWE championship.
– WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has been announced as making a special guest appearance next week on RAW, which will feature a “RAW Roulette” theme.
– There was no dark match after Monday’s RAW went off the air.
-Zack Ryder defeated Drew McIntyre in a dark match that took place prior to RAW. Ryder got a nice pop. Apparently he’s a full-fledged babyface now. About a five-minute match. Drew dominated, but Ryder came back and hit the Rough Ryder for the win.
– In matches taped for Superstars, Gail Kim wrestled Melina and WWE tag champions David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty squared off against Santino & Kozlov.
— Randy Orton stated on Twitter that he passed the ‘Impact test’ he underwent on Friday. Therefore, he is cleared to wrestle Christian at tomorrow night’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view event.
The WWE World Heavyweight suffered a concussion during Sunday’s SmackDown live event in Spain and had to pass the test in order to be medically cleared to return to the ring.
— Shawn Michaels participated in an interview with Joey Styles yesterday that will soon be published on WWE.com. The wrestling legend will discuss his new hunting show, which premieres on the Outdoor Channel later this month.
— Monday Night Raw will be held on September 12, 2011 at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario.
— Dark Rising, a 2007 horror movie Christian appeared in, is now available on Netflix.
— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson continues to tease John Cena online as he compared the WWE Superstar to the Disney character Goofy while at Disneyland yesterday.
He posted a photo of himself alongside Goofy with the caption reading: “Just bumped into John Cena! I was gonna knock the goofy off his ass, but I’ll save that ass whuppin for Wrestlemania.”
— WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan has signed a deal with Triumph Books to write his autobiography. Scott E. Williams, who co-wrote autobiographies on Terry Funk and Bill Watts, will help Duggan write the book.
— Shawn Michaels will be speaking at the Atascadero Bible Church in Atascadero, California tonight from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. He will discuss his faith in God, tell stories about his wrestling career and discuss the outdoors.
“I’ve accomplished far more than I ever possibly could have imagined. It was a phenomenal run and I enjoyed every second of it. As I say, I enjoy going back and visiting everybody. I’ll always be a part of that company and I’m thankful that those are just a few of many, many memories that I have because I’ve got a bunch.”
“When you do that for as long as you do it, you’re not sure you can be normal and have normal friends and have other friends outside of it. So I’ve enjoyed seeing that that’s possible. Knowing that I can meet people that weren’t in my line of work and have the same amount of trust and friendship with them that I have with the other guys.”
His New Hunting Show on the Outdoor Channel:
“I’m not doing a reality show, it’s not really even a hunting show, it’s more of an outdoor lifestyle show. We’re just two guys who have families who live an outdoor lifestyle so some of that will be captured on film.”
— Chris Sabin injured his knee during a match against Anarquia that aired on tonight’s episode of TNA iMPACT!.
The Motor City Machine Gun member attempted a springboard clothesline and tweaked his knee due to Anarchia being out of position to receive the move. The referee was instructed to end the bout when it appeared Sabin was injured. Anarchia performed a small package to conclude the match.
Mexican America beat down Sabin before Alex Shelley appeared to fend them off.
— Shawn Michaels posted the following message on his Twitter account in response to Hulk Hogan giving him a shout out while hosting the National Spicy Chicken Taste Test yesterday in The Heartbreak Kid’s hometown of San Antonio, Texas.
He wrote, “Hear from u all the Hulkster’s in town. I hope our city is treating him well. I appreciate the shout out from him. Hope he is well.”
– The Undertaker was backstage at this past Monday’s RAW from Raleigh, NC with Michelle McCool. Sources describe Taker as still hurting and said he gave no indication as to when he would be coming back.
– Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV is not sold out yet. Ticket sales for The Rock’s return to RAW this Monday (May 2nd) from Miami are also selling slow.
– As noted before, Shawn Michaels has filed trademarks on “Mr. HOF” and “Mr. Hall of Fame”, so it looks like those will be the nicknames WWE uses when talking about him from here on out. Since Shawn retired, WWE has wanted to market him as the greatest wrestler of all-time since he has a very long-term contract with the company.
– Sean Waltman said in an interview this past week that he thinks there’s a very good chance he could appear on WWE TV at some point in the future. Waltman appeared at the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony with Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Kevin Nash.
– The 2012 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view is scheduled for St. Louis, Missouri.
