The following are highlights of a new interview with Seth Rollins:
On The Rock: “Uhhhh…I mean there’s a little bit of resentment there there’s gotta be, but it’s mostly envy because we all want to have the level of success that he has. We want to have the ability to walk into a room and um, ya know be as well received as he was. Although, he did take the cheap route I think by um just talking about all the boroughs and wearing his little Brooklyn jacket. But that’s the Rock, that’s how he does his thing.”
On the in-ring style in WWE changing lately: “The style is getting faster and faster. The athletes are getting better and better. The future is pretty bright for WWE.”
On how The Shield measures up against factions like the Four Horsemen and D-X: “The Shield was only around for..what? Two years? And we did A LOT in 2 years. I think the fact that people even take those 2 years and put them up against the reputations of those other groups really says a lot about what we were able to accomplish in that short period of time…It’s definitely something, two years I’m very proud of and I’m happy to say we certainly left a scar on WWE.
The Friday, October 10th edition of WWE SmackDown, which was the 15th anniversary special edition of the show that featured an appearance by The Rock, drew a final cable rating of 1.94, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The 1.94 final draw marks a decrease as compared to the 2.02 final rating that the show drew the previous week.
As noted earlier today, last Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.671 million viewers, which was also down from the average of 2.749 million viewers who tuned in the week before.
The Friday, October 10th edition of WWE SmackDown, which was the special 15-year anniversary of the show, averaged 2.671 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Friday’s SmackDown actually dropped in viewership, down from the previous week’s average of 2.749 million viewers, despite the anniversary theme and an appearance by The Rock.
SmackDown last week drew a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The final rating should be out soon.
– The Rock is scheduled to star in the film adaption of the book, “Not Without Hope,” according to a new Deadline article. E. Nicholas Mariani is set to handle the adaption of the book, which is centered around four friends who were capsized during a deep-sea fishing trip. The Rock is expected to play the role of Nick Schuyler, who wrote the original book.
– Speaking of Deadline, the website reports that AMC is getting out of the unscripted television business, outside of keeping “Talking Dead” and “Comic Book Men.” If true, this would mean Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan will have to find a new cable home for his “Resistance Pro Wrestling” promotion, as he was originally slated to run his shows on AMC.
The following are highlights of the latest Jim Ross blog:
On The Rock at WrestleMania 31: “Does it automatically mean because Rock was in NYC Monday on business and he did a promo segment with Rusev that the Great One is automatically ‘booked’ for WM31 in Santa Clara, California? The next reason the Rock will be booked at WM31 is because his grandfather, the great, High Chief Peter Maivia, wrestled in that territory for years for Roy Shire. Rock delivered the magic that I assume Brian Gewirtz wrote for him. Don’t get me wrong, the WWE could drastically use @TheRock at WM31 but only if there was a valid story behind the match/return and if he could make enough RAW TV’s to engage the audience in his rivalry even considering the ‘pop’ he received Monday night in Brooklyn. The surprise visit by Dwayne Johnson Monday night was by far the highlight of the broadcast. By far….”
On Rusev: “Many old school bookers would have never allowed Rusev to be bounced around as he was Monday night but instead would have had Lana step between the two men and ‘forced’ Rusev to exit the ring.”
On Brock Lesnar: “Been reading where Brock Lesnar is not expected back on WWE TV until January which I find extremely hard to believe. Can that be true? If it is, I’m astonished.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
TMZ.com caught up with WWE legend The Rock on the streets of New York City on Wednesday and asked him if he’ll be competing at WrestleMania 31 next March.
The Rock responded, “I don’t think so.” He jokingly added, “I might get hit in the mouth, I don’t want that.”
The Rock will make an appearance Friday’s SmackDown 15th Anniversary special. In a backstage segment that was taped at Monday’s RAW from Brooklyn, The Rock and Triple H discuss who would win a potential match between the two of them at WrestleMania 31.
On this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, there will be a backstage segment involving The Rock, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The segment sees Rock and HHH going back-and-forth over who would win if they wrestled again, including each guy taking shots at the other.
Apparently this was a tease for a potential WrestleMania 31 main event between Rock and Hunter. A match between the two was actually discussed at one point for WrestleMania XXX, but obviously ended up not happening.
During the segment taped for Friday’s SmackDown, The Rock actually brought up the main event of WrestleMania 31 and WWE generally does not tease something that big if it’s not in the plans.
As noted, John Cena tweeted The Rock after his surprise appearance on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Brooklyn, New York. The Rock has since responded to Cena, which you can read below.
@JohnCena Thank U homeboy. Great seeing ya backstage. Keep hustlin and grindin and one day I will beat you in a squat competition. #Never
– Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio will be competing at the WRESTLE-1’s big Sumo Hall show in Japan on November 1st. The show will mark Keiji Muto’s 30th anniversary as an active wrestler.
– The Rock will be appearing on Friday’s SmackDown in a backstage segment with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The segment was recorded on Monday at RAW.
– The dark main event that took place after last night’s SmackDown tapings saw John Cena and Dean Ambrose defeat Kane and Seth Rollins. Late in the match, Ambrose got a hot tag and unloaded on Kane and Rollins. Cena and Ambrose hit their finishers for the win.
After the match, they played to the crowd to see who could get the bigger pop (like they did after RAW) and Ambrose won (again).
As seen on Monday’s RAW, The Rock made a surprise return during an in-ring promo segment with Rusev and Lana, which led to The Rock attacking Rusev and knocking him out of the ring.
WWE officials reportedly did not want Rock to do anything more physically than what he did to Rusev. They did not want a Rock Bottom, People’s Elbow or anything of that nature, likely to keep Rusev strong going forward.
The feeling among those backstage at the show on Monday is that a match between Rock and Rusev is doubtful, although a possibility when WrestleMania 31 season rolls around.
Once an occasional treat for the WWE Universe, the Hell in a Cell match has become a yearly event since the introduction of the eponymous pay-per-view in 2009. Since its inception, the company has yet to truly knock it out of the park with Hell in a Cell, although fans have witnessed some memorable moments.
This year, it will be either John Cena or Dean Ambrose headlining the event against Seth Rollins inside the most ominous structure in sports entertainment. As the company builds up its next pay-per-view, here is a look back at the first five Hell in a Cell events.
5. 2012
This event really didn’t have a pay-per-view feel to it. The undercard was primarily filled with forgettable matches that had little impact on future storylines. The main event was also lacking due to injury.
It was clear that the company had no idea what to do after John Cena went down to injury, leading to Ryback receiving a premature main event push. From top to bottom, this event was lacking and easily locks up the honor of being the worst Hell in a Cell pay-per-view to date.
Main Event: CM Punk vs. Ryback (Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship)
Best Match: Big Show vs. Sheamus
Worst Match: Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. The Prime Time Players
On Monday’s edition of RAW, WWE legend The Rock made a shocking surprise return during an in-ring segment with Rusev and Lana.
As luck would have it, The Rock was already in New York City for non-WWE business reasons, as he was meeting with Time Warner executives. It appears as though WWE did not bring Rock in to NYC, so he legitimately was only there for his own business.
Additionally, The Rock was not listed in any early version of the script for Monday’s RAW, so it’s highly likely that his return just happened to be a case of perfect timing as far as WWE is concerned.
For those who missed the show, you can read a detailed recap of The Rock’s segment on the show by clicking here, and/or you can read a full, detailed report of the entire show by clicking here.
Rusev and Lana make their way to the ring. Lana cuts a typical Lana-style promo addressing The Big Show. She tells Rusev to follow up, and in broken English, he basically says he’s going to beat up Big Show, etc. He demands Big Show come out. They wait, but nothing happens. Finally (pun intended), THE ROCK’S music hits. And this ain’t no fake-out, FOLKS! The Brahma Bull appears on stage to an enormous reaction from the fans in the Barclays Center.
After a super-long entrance, The Rock finally speaks. He cheap-pops the five Burroughs and also references Rusev’s “Moscow Moose Knuckle,” mocking him for wearing his tights up to his nipples. From there, he finally hits the “Finally!” speech, which the fans in Brooklyn ate up with a spoon.
Lana asks The Rock who he thinks he is, coming in here and interrupting the great Rusev. She informs The Rock that he needs to “shut-tup” (not a typo). The Rock says, “and you need to stop dressing like a Soviet Street-Walker!”
Rusev grabs the mic, but is cut off by loud “Rocky! Rocky!” chants. Rusev says, “listen, you American piece of garbage. Leave now, or I will crush you!” The Rock repeats what Rusev said and then informs him that his breath smells like “Chewbacca’s hairy bean-bag.”
Rock goes on to tell Lana that in person, she’s beautiful, gorgeous and stunning. Or as we say here in America, smoking! But it’s too bad that she’s walking around like someone shoved a Smirnoff bottle up her “Putin.” Word-for-word what The Rock said. He questions what Rusev claimed he was going to do. Rusev tries to respond, but Rock cuts him off with a lovely, “it doesn’t matter what you’re going to do!”
The Rock goes on to explain to Rusev and Lana that the fans don’t boo them for being Russian, they boo them for being a couple of international a-holes. The fans chant “a**hole” at the two. Lana gives Rock another warning, which prompts Rusev to take his gold medal off and move closer to The Rock. Rock says like Jay-Z says, “allow me to re-introduce myself.” He does a Rock-rhyme and starts firing away at “The Bulgarian Brute” with punches, knocking him out of the ring.
He challenges Rusev to come back into the ring, but Rusev just throws a fit outside the ring on the floor instead. He concludes by saying, “here’s something that needs no translation — if you smell what The Rock is cookin’!” (only he said it in Rock-fashion).
– As we noted earlier today, former WWE Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is rumored to have a role in the upcoming Paramount Pictures “Baywatch” movie. The Rock himself has since confirmed the rumors via social media with the following tweet:
– Tommy Dreamer has been teasing a big announcement for his upcoming House Of Hardcore VII event. The announcement is expected to be unveiled on Monday and early speculation is that it will involve additional ECW “originals” being added to the lineup.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has signed on to star in the Baywatch movie that is being produced by Paramount. He tweeted on Friday:
“This is my beach bitch!” Rumors are true… we’re making #BAYWATCH the movie. Edgy, raunchy and hopefully, funny as all hell. Cue slo mo running on the beach… #WhoNeedsMouthToMouth #RedShortsBeHugginABrotha”
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently filmed some scenes for “Fast & Furious: Supercharged,” which is a new theme park “experience” that is coming soon to Universal Studios Hollywood.
– WWE Network recently posted the following regarding the delayed launch in the United Kingdom:
“The launch of @WWENetwork in the U.K. will be delayed given discussions with potential partners. A launch date will be announced by Nov. 1.”
It looks as though WWE is talking with various potential partners regarding the possibility of launching the WWE Network as a channel, similar to how they did in Canada.
Back in June it was reported that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was in discussions with Universal to star in a film called “The Janson Directive.”
The film is about a former consular ops agent, Paul Janson, that goes into business as a private security consultant after. The agent leaves the covert ops business after a high number of sanctioned killings. He teams with a sharpshooter and only takes assignments that he believe will help people in need.
The Rock has since confirmed that he was will be taking the role and also noted that Academy Award winning writer Akiva Goldsman will be writing the script.
On Instagram, The Rock wrote the following about the project:
“A real pleasure teaming up w/ Academy Award winning writer, Akiva Goldsman (A BEAUTIFUL MIND) to write THE JANSON DIRECTIVE. Very cool and honored to bring this iconic novel and character to life. Can’t wait… #RobertLudlum #Conspiracy #UniversalStudios #JansonDirective”
– WWE developmental Diva Lina Fanene, who is The Rock’s cousin, noted on Twitter that she recently received her new NXT name, which is “Zada.” Fanene tweeted the following:
It's official guys my ring name is ZADA! This journey is going to be hard, but I'm willing to put in the work for life!#DivasBeware@WWENXT
The following are highlights of a new Muscle & Fitness interview with The Rock:
On if he’d like to return to the ring: “Yeah, I’d love to. We just have to figure out what it could be and what the most ideal matchup would be, and who it would be with. Because I always feel like if I go back to the WWE, then it has to be bigger and greater than what I’ve done in the past, and I don’t know what could be bigger in terms of marquee value—in terms of value across the board—and to me it has to surpass what we’ve done.”
On having tension with John Cena: “It got really uncomfortable for a lot of people. And it gets uncomfortable for the fans–that they sense something. But then when it gets uncomfortable for the wrestlers and to the executives and the company, then it’s something special. I’d say ‘John, here’s what I’m going to say tonight: Go f— yourself.’ He’d say, ‘Well, here’s going to be my response: F— you too.’ I mean, it was like that. And it was palpable for the fans, and it was palpable backstage. And I would never be like that under any other circumstance. I’m collaborative with everyone I work with. And I take a lot of pride in that, and you know something? So is John.”
On nearly coming to blows with Cena backstage: “He’s a great guy. He’s one of the best guys out there, but here’s what we realized: If we wanted to build the two biggest matchups back-to-back and create something special in Miami and in New York, we’re going to do it this way. And we might fail miserably at it. People might think it’s not real or you run into the challenge of the potential for people to go, ‘It’s so real that it’s not real.’ But in this case it worked out very well and through all that edge and attitude and bite that we had and nearly coming to blows backstage and one night in the ring—literally we were nose-to-nose, it was any second. And through that in a crazy, weird completely unexplained way, we became great buds.”
As we reported a few weeks ago, Dwayne Johnson, better known to WWE fans as The Rock, was deciding which character he would play in the new “Shazam” comic-based film.
On Wednesday, Rock confirmed via Twitter that he will be playing the role of “Black Adam,” who is considered more of an anti-hero type of character than an actual villain.
– Below is the new “Are you ready for WWE Network” promo video:
– Chris Jericho wrote the following message on Twitter, talking about what an honor it is to be included on the new WWE production trucks:
“Then. Now. Forever. Glad to a part of the history of this great company!! Such an honor to be included on the side of this production truck with two of my all time favorite rivals (@TheRock & @ShawnMichaels) along with HOFs Lita, Sarge & Brock Lesnar! @wwe”
You can check out a photo of the trucks he is referencing below:
Then. Now. Forever. Glad to a part of the history of this great company!! Such an… http://t.co/LIIq5ymrE2
