According to BoxOfficemojo.com, The Rock’s new movie “Pain & Gain” is estimated to have drawn $20 million in its opening weekend, on par with industry predictions.
The $20 million haul would put Pain & Gain at the top of the box office, ahead of “Oblivion,” which drew approximately $17.4 million in its second week “The Big Wedding” came in at #3 with $7.5 million, below expectations.
Overall weekend box office revenue and attendance was down 12% compared to the same weekend last year. Pain & Gain faces stiff competition next weekend, when “Iron Man 3” premieres.
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:
The Rock’s In-Ring Future: “@TheRock says that he ‘might’ have wrestled his last match. I say its not the season for ‘mights’ and that a performer/athlete like Dwayne Johnson goes out on his terms and not because of a fixable injury.”
Appearing On Steve Austin’s Podcast: “I’m not planning on doing a podcast at this time but will be a guest on @steveaustinBSR podcast in the future.”
WWE PG: “Some fans still believe that a TV rating, specifically TV14, is what makes a wrestling show either good or not. Some fans continue to clamor for WWE to return to a TV14 rating but I don’t see it happening. What made the Attitude Era successful was the talent roster that was dotted with main event level, hungry, competitive athletes who had no issue pushing a peer out of the way to get to the main event level and then fight like hell to stay there. I contend that great talents can make PG rated TV be ultra successful over the long haul if the presentation is smart and strategic.”
Jack Swagger Stepping Up: “I see @RealJackSwagger stepping up his game, especially lately, and @WWEZeb deserves much of the credit. Even a pet coon goofy blind man can see that Swagger is a great athlete but there is more to becoming a star in ring performer than just athleticism of which many of us covet. It’s the intangibles such as in ring psychology that must also be in place. The veteran Zeb looks to be an excellent tutor for the former Sooner wrestling all American.”
– Deadline.com projects that The Rock’s new movie “Pain & Gain” will do approximately $19 million this weekend. Reviews for the movie have been mixed (47% on Rotten Tomatoes), but The Rock and Mark Wahlberg have both been praised for doing their best with an otherwise lackluster script.
– Here’s the latest installment of WWE Backstage Fallout:
“What does Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett think of William Regal? Hear from the brawling Brit in the SmackDown edition of “Backstage Fallout.” Plus, find out how Jack Swagger plans to become the next World Heavyweight Champion.”
– The Rock has responded to Steve Austin and Kevin Nash’s tweets wishing him a speedy recovery after undergoing surgery earlier this week. The Rock tweeted the following:
– WWE has launched a new YouTube series called WWE Hangouts, hosted by Howard Finkel. The Fink hosts a discussion panel with WWE fans on Google+ Hangouts and they discuss current events in WWE. This week’s special guest is Tyson Kidd:
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include Amazing Red (31), WWE Tag Team Champion Kane (46) and former WCW & UFC star Tank Abbott (48).
– NXT star Richie Steamboat, son of WWE legend Ricky Steamboat, has been out of action since last October due to a back injury. He continues to do physical rehabilitation, but there’s no timeline as to when he’ll return.
During a recent interview with USA Today, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was asked directly if he used steroids to play a bodybuilder in his new movie, Pain and Gain. He replied, “Oh, no.”
Looking at his co-star, Mark Wahlberg, Johnson said, “How about you? You did all kinds.”
Walberg replied, “What?” Steroids? No. I don’t (mess) with those.”
Rock also revealed how he maintained so much muscle mass during filming:
“It wasn’t that easy. It was a lot of protein and growth naps (laughs). I would say the hardest thing was probably the schedule at that time that I had to keep between having a big match down in Miami for WrestleMania and preparing for this,”
– WWE confirmed on this week’s Main Event broadcast that the Undertaker vs. Dean Ambrose match taped at the end of Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings will in fact air on Friday’s SmackDown broadcast. There had been a lot of confusion as to whether the match was a dark match or not.
It’s worth noting that this will be the first time a member of The Shield wrestles a singles match on WWE TV.
– Stephanie McMahon revealed on Twitter earlier this month that The Rock will be on the cover of the new WWE 2K14 video game, due out this fall. While the official box artwork has not yet been revealed, the @WWEGames Twitter account tweeted the following image, playing off The Rock’s surgery from earlier this week:
“Hey @TheRock, what do you think about this for a #WWE2K14 cover? Wishing you a speedy recovery!”
“Pain & Gain” Director Michael Bay has clarified his remarks about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson needing to “grow up and stop wrestling 300 pound men.” (Video above)
Bay wrote on his official website:
“Wrestling fans, it was a joke said on Entertainment Tonight–with a laugh. You can see the clip for yourselves. The most important person to see the on-air joke was Dwayne. I love seeing The Rock wrestle. I hope he wrestles 10 more years. I joked on air because Dwayne was not at our LA premiere due to his injury.”
As noted earlier, The Rock responded to the controversy earlier today:
The official YouTube account of WWE website released the following video of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler presenting a special clip of the new Michael Bay film that hits theaters on Friday, Pain & Gain, starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Johnson was forced to miss Monday night’s Los Angeles premiere of the film due to an emergency hernia operation earlier in the day. Speaking to E! Online on the red carpet, Bay suggested the injury stemmed from Johnson’s wrestling exploits. “He was pushing it too hard,” Bay said. “[He] needs to grow up and stop wrestling 300-pound men.”
Triple H, Chief Operating Officer of WWE, humorously responded to Bay’s remark on Twitter this afternoon:
WWE superstar and Hollywood action hero Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson underwent successful abdominal surgery on Monday to repair injuries sustained at WrestleMania 29.
The injury caused The Rock to miss RAW the following night as well as the Los Angeles movie premiere of his new film, “Pain & Gain.”
It’s been known that The Rock’s decision to wrestle for WWE was not looked upon fondly by his associates in Hollywood, who rely on their leading man to be healthy in order to shoot and promote his movie projects. Now, director Michael Bay (Pain & Gain, Transformers) is speaking out about The Rock’s decision to juggle wrestling and movies.
At the recent Pain & Gain premiere event, Michael Bay explained why The Rock was not in attendance and gave him some career advice:
“Dwayne’s hurt tonight. He was pushing it too hard. [He] needs to grow up and stop wrestling 300-pound men.”
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 JR wrote about:
The Rock’s In-Ring Future: “Has the Rock, @TheRock, wrestled his last match due to injury? Seems as if Rock has left that matter open for speculation depending on the results of the surgery and his non stop schedule, etc. However, knowing Dwayne as I do, I would think that he would want to go out differently and be remembered for one, last major bout. If I had to make a wager, I’d say we haven’t seen the last of @TheRock. The one wild card may be his movie partners who may not want to risk their franchise player stepping back in the ring. That’s all TBD. I would speculate that if Dwayne can’t do WM30 for any reason that he may be closer to done than many want to see.”
Steve Austin Wrestling Again: “Interesting note….recently I read about @steveaustinBSR being in great shape physically and looking excellent ala being in ‘show shape’ but not wrestling shape for a return to a WWE ring. News flash or as the one person in the world that I would really NOT want to take a long, care trip with, Nancy Grace, might say….BOMBSHELL….Steve is ALWAYS in great shape. Old habits die hard and the Texas Rattlesnake (Thanks, JR) is a gym guy in that he hits the gym regularly and with P&V. With all that said, the only way that I see Steve returning to the ring for one, final bout is obviously on the biggest stage (WM30), with the exact, right opponent (Who is that?) , and with a strategic game plan that Steve can emotionally invest . That’s a bunch of if’s so the door isn’t closed but it’s not exactly standing wide open either. Austin fans will continue to hold out hope until it’s either a done deal or not but a Stone Cold return at WM30 would help insure that the biggest event of 2014 would be a can’t miss event. AS I have said in the past, I’d gage an Austin return to WWE for a farewell promotion as 50/50 or less.”
New WWE Divas & New Divas E! Reality Show WWE is bringing some new Diva prospects to NXT to begin training soon plus with the new, WWE Diva reality show that will be airing this Fall, I assume, on the E Network, I’d say that WWE is essentially setting the reset button on the Divas division sooner than later. E cameras were all over the place at WM29 as some new talents are also featured in this new show. Being the reality show junkie that I am, I’m looking forward to seeing this production and from what I could tell all the ladies were just being themselves, for better or for worse, and not doing ‘canned’ reality.
He also indicated to media that he will filming for the movie Hercules for over 4 months between May and October. This brings into question his involvement for SummerSlam, as he would have very little time to promote any potential match of his for the PPV.
Our friend Peter Rosenberg (@Rosenbergradio) of New York City’s Hot 97 radio station recently interviewed The Rock and as The Rock put it, “this is some exclusive shit you’re getting right here.” The Rock discusses the controversy surrounding his injury and whether WrestleMania 29 was his final match:
– Former WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has issued an update on his claim of an abdominal tear injury mid-way through his match with John Cena at WrestleMania.
Johnson wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, “Injury update: Physical therapy starts tomorrow. Hardcore training starts today. Thank U guys for the love. 5 weeks out..#RoadToHercules.”
Johnson had previously indicated on Twitter that he believes he suffered the injury while delivering the Rock Bottom to Cena during the bout. Last Saturday, Johnson revealed that he and his physician had elected to not re-attach tendons to his pelvis as part of the rehabilitation process. “They’ll just scar up,” he noted.
– According to the Orlando Sentinal, WWE is scheduled to make an announcement tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in Orlando, Florida, regarding a “new developmental.” State Gov. Rick Scott, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent and Live Events Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) and Garry Jones, president of Full Sail University, are expected to attend the conference.
WWE representatives would not provide any additional details to the publication. The Sentinal notes that “several wrestling-insider websites” have speculated that the WWE will open a training facility.
– CM Punk will be taking some much-needed time off and might not be back on television until this summer. Punk has been burnt out and working through several nagging injuries in recent months.
– Following The Rock’s injury at WrestleMania 29, there is concern in WWE that he might have wrestled his last match.
– After all of his previous tweets were deleted, Ryback tweeted the following on Wednesday:
On Monday’s RAW, WWE set the stage for Triple H and Brock Lesnar to wrestle each other for a third time at next month’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view.
Originally, WWE’s plans called for Brock Lesnar to attack The Rock the night after WrestleMania 29 to and build to a match at SummerSlam (not WrestleMania 30, as previously reported). Lesnar and Triple H’s rubber match would have taken place later this year.
The Rock’s injury at WrestleMania led WWE to change gears and go right into the third chapter of the Lesnar vs. Triple H feud.
The Rock tweeted the following on Tuesday night about his upcoming movie, “Fast & Furious 6” as well as a sneak peek of his character in the movie, Hobbs:
Plans are already underway for a seventh installment for the Fast and Furious franchise, which is tentatively scheduled for a July 11, 2014 release. Several movie news websites are reporting that The Rock’s filming schedule for Hercules could conflict with the production of Fast & Furious 7.
During a recent interview with Collider.com, The Rock said it would be impossible for him to work on Fast & Furious 7 this summer:
“It’s not possible for me because I’m shooting Hercules this summer starting in 6 weeks in Budapest, so, possible for them I’m not too sure. I haven’t heard anything about that and I’m pretty sure I would have gotten a phone call pretty early in the morning if that was the real plan. Not quite too sure though.”
– The April 12th edition of WWE Smackdown did a 1.91 rating with 2,844,000 viewers, up from the previous week.
– WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair was backstage at Monday’s RAW from Greenville, S.C.
– Superstar Billy Graham was hospitalized this week with pneumonia.
– Due to the injury he suffered at WrestleMania 29, The Rock was forced to pull out of scheduled media appearances for “Pain & Gain” this week as well as Sunday night’s MTV Movie Awards.
As reported on Monday, original plans for this week’s RAW included appearances from The Rock and Brock Lesnar. The Rock was scheduled to open the show talking about his loss at WrestleMania, which would have led to Brock Lesnar coming out and beating up The Rock, setting up an eventual showdown at WrestleMania XXX.
The Rock’s getting injured at WrestleMania 29 and flying home to Miami led to the angle being called off, for the time being. According to those close to the situation, Rock was the one who came up with the angle with Lesnar.
The absence of The Rock and Brock Lesnar on RAW led to a chaotic environment backstage at RAW, since the script had to be re-written.
While The Rock was out of town on Monday night, Brock Lesnar still could have been used. However, due to the nature of Brock Lesnar’s WWE contract (limited appearances), the decision was made to not use one of those limited dates if they didn’t have something big for him.
– We’ve got an update on the injuries suffered by The Rock at WrestleMania 29. The Rock suffered a hernia, torn adductor and torn abdominal muscle during the match with Cena, with the initials signs injury occurring when he took the first Attitude Adjustment from Cena.
As Rock continued to wrestle, the muscle continued to tear from his pelvis. By the time the match was over, both his abdominal and adductor muscle had torn completely off the pelvis. As we’ve been reporting, The Rock is trying to rehab the injuries without surgery in order to prevent delaying production for his new “Hercules” movie.
– WWE filmed a lot of footage over WrestleMania weekend for the WWE Network and future DVD releases.
– WWE planned to utilize the WWE App a lot more than they did during WrestleMania, but the app crashed early into the show and announcers were told not to mention it.
– The new WWE Performance Center in Orlando that is opening in June has been molded after a football training facility. There will be several rings set as well as a full gym, coaching staff and medical personnel on staff.
– WWE will return to the XL Center in Hartford, CT on June 3rd for RAW. Tickets go on sale April 19th.
– Titus O’Neil will be appearing at tonight’s Tampa Bay Storm arena football game, with a meet & greet event taking place before the game. For tickets, visit TampaBayStorm.com.
– Tyson Kidd tweeted the following injury update on Thursday:
3 months since my knee surgery-for those asking I'm still a few months away from getting back in the ring#workhorse
