– WWE newcomer Sin Cara is expected to wrestle a dark match prior to next week’s episode of Monday Night RAW from Chicago. WWE is also advertising Sin Cara for the company’s upcoming tour of Mexico. Sin Cara will wrestle CM Punk on May 11th from Hemosillo and on May 14th in Arena Monterrey. From what we’ve heard, there are a few younger members of the WWE roster who are a bit upset that Sin Cara is being brought straight to the main roster without having to learn the WWE style in developmental for a few months like most of them had to.
– Actress and singer Jennifer Hudson was recently interviewed by USA Tody and had this to say about whether she is married to WWE superstar David Otunga yet:
“Not yet! I’m engaged. Everything is all ready to go. Originally I wanted the biggest, grandest wedding in the world. Now I don’t know.”
– Trish Stratus’ new action movie Bail Enforcers will premiere at the ActionFest 2 event on Saturday, 4/9 from Asheville, North Carolina. Trish will be on hand at the event to promote the movie and meet her fans.
TNA iMPACT! Tapings Results For 3/24
Credit to Wrestling News World for this report
* They’re setting up for the start of Impact. They have a whiteboard with formulas, graphs and calculations in the center of the ring. Mr. Anderson’s music starts and the crowd erupts. He comes to the ring with a gentleman in a suit. He’s Professor Shubert from the University of Green Bay. He’s one of the finest mathematicians to ever come out of Wisconsin. Anderson admits they didn’t get along because when the professor was talking about integers he was thinking about Mary Beth Kapowski. Now he’s here because these two a–holes backstage, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan, their math is off. Last week he had a match with Reefer Van Dam. Both guys had their shoulders down. 1 2 3 = tie. Add that to the fact he never got his rematch. 0 + his one rematch he didn’t get = I WANT MY FRICKING REMATCH! Now back to Mary Beth Kapowski. Professor, did you not approve because he was teaching integers or because he was into her? She told Anderson that Shubert told her he was gay. Anderson asks if that’s true. Shubert admits it was true. Anderson says that’s cool, one of his best friends is gay. So let me give you something to remember me by. Anderson Mic Checks the professor. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff then come out. Eric asks if he’s trying to be funny? He’s a bad comedian. Eric asks Hulk if this is the same guy he sees something in? Eric asks Anderson if he goes around beating up every teacher he didn’t like. Eric says he’s done with him. Hogan says hold on, he thinks Anderson is hilarious. He’s spot on. But he’s been running amuck, breaking the rules, breaking my rules. He says Anderson can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is the Immortal way and every perk that comes with it. He tells him there is no rematch unless Anderson earns it and he hasn’t earned it. Anderson says he’s earned it already. Hogan says all he has is a contract signed by Dixie Carter. He can take that contract and wipe his a– with it.
* Hogan says if Anderson can beat Rob Van Dam then he gets his shot. Anderson says RVD isn’t even in his league. RVD’s music immediately hits. RVD says don’t act surprised. This is pro wrestling. You talk smack, the guy’s music hits, he comes out, you answer for what you said. RVD isn’t happy about this but will do what he has to to get the title. He was here because everybody called him to come to TNA but came because Hulk Hogan called him and said be who you want. If that’s true then this is RVDTV. Sting comes out to the ramp. He said that he spoke to the network since they’ve been talking to Hogan nd Bischoff so much. They said in RVD vs. Anderson they want him to be the special enforcer. And if something goes wrong then he’s in charge and that means it’s SHOWTIME!
* Mickie James vs. Tara. Winner via Last Kiss Goodnight, Mickie James. TNA Knockout Women’s Champion Madison Rayne stood on the entrance ramp after the match. She and Mickie had a stare down until Madison left.
* Okato vs. “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero. Winner via DQ after Pope hit Okato while wearing rings, Okato. After the match, Dinero knocked the referee out with a backhand. Samoa Joe ran out but Pope bailed. Okato got his mouth busted open during the match. Afterwards trainers checked him while he bled. They helped him to the back and cleaned the blood from the ring.
* Ric Flair “styles and profiles” to the ring with Bully Ray and Matt Hardy. Flair likes to steal the show but tonight “god” is here for others. He’s here with two of the best tag team wrestlers of all-time. Hardy says he has some guys they’ve all had problems with and those guys are Fortune. He wants them all out here right now. He and Ray were young and hungry like those guys once. But he and Ray changed the industry. Crowd chants we want Fortune. He says they became mega celebrities, making lots of money and gaining lots of success. But the same people shaking their hands along the way and saying they were great were also working against them knowing they couldn’t control them. Crowd chants boring and is very against Hardy talking. He goes on saying that he, Ray, Flair, Immortal are where it’s at and need to get with them to achieve their dreams and aspirations. Bully Ray says he sent AJ Styles a message last week, powerbombing him through a table. Why did he do it? Because he can. Now that they’ve taken care of AJ, how about the rest of Fortune take them on? Or do they not have the balls for it? Fortune comes out and attacks Immortal. They beat them all up and get ready to take Flair out. The lights go down except for red lights.
* Abyss appears, wearing a duster and a new outfit. He takes out Fortune and Immortal start laying a major beat down on Fortune. Bully Ray uses his chain, Abyss hits some Black Hole Slams as Fortune can’t do anything about it. Immortal leaves a battered and bruised Fortune laying in the ring.
* Hernandez, his new associate, Sarita and Rosita come to the ring. He says he knows you know who Sarita and Rosita are. His new friend is Esteban something or other. He’s his assistant in this new association of Mexican Americans. They’re taking your women and your jobs. They keep mixing in things in Spanish so I don’t always know what they’re saying. Hernandez says they’re the superior race. Soon the people will stop worshiping this (an American flag comes down) and will soon worship this (a giant Mexican flag comes down). Loud USA chant starts. Hernandez says Matt Morgan and Devon want a fight, they can have a street fight right now. Matt Morgan and Devon come out and accept.
* Street fight, Hernandez & Esteban vs. Matt Morgan & Brother Devon. During the match Sarita and Rosita interfere so Velvet Sky ran down and attacked them. She couldn’t handle both and a beatdown occurs until Angelina Love comes out. She slowly walks towards Sarita and Rosita. She looks weird and has a vacant look. Winter comes out and screams at Angelina to leave. Angelina leaves and the beat down on Velvet continues until Morgan stops it. While this is happening, Esteban hits Devon from behind with a loaded forearm shot for the win. Winners via loaded forearm, Hernandez & Esteban.
* Brooke Hogan and Hulk’s wife are here again.
* Rob Van Dam vs. Mr. Anderson with special guest enforcer TNA Champion Sting. Referee Brian Hebner got knocked out during the match so Sting took over as referee. No winner as Sting and Anderson started fighting. Anderson slid a chair in the ring. While Sting got rid of it, Anderson kicked RVD in the groin and then hit a Mic Check on RVD into the ring post. Anderson demanded Sting count him out but they argued and ended up fighting. Security and agents ran down and had to break the two apart.
It hasn’t been announced yet by WWE, but Monday’s RAW will feature a segment with Snooki, Trish Stratus and LayCool.
The angle was filmed on Wednesday at Miami Mike’s Sports Zone in East Hanover, NJ, according to Popthecrowd.com.
The segment sees LayCool searching the bar for Snooki and Trish. Snooki fights with a guy trying to hit on her before LayCool finds her and they brawl in the bar.
The segment, which was produced by WWE agents Finlay and Ranjin Singh, also sees LayCool put through a table.
According to a correspondent who was at the bar and saw the whole thing go down, Snooki was supposed to begin filming at 10am but she didn’t leave her hotel room until 1pm and filming didn’t start until 3pm and finished around 8pm. Snooki was also said to have been heavily drinking the entire day.
Snooki was also reportedly bragging to the bartender that she would be a full-time WWE Diva once her stint Jersey Shore is over.
After things appeared to have died down, Bret Hart is back with another jab at Hogan, this time posting a cartoon he drew depicting “Hulk Hogan: Roid King” .. The picture, which you can see below, shows a skinny old Hulk Hogan with a cane and a needle with a crown on it (“steroid king”) .. Check it out:
WWE Champion The Miz appeared on Conan O’Brian’s late night TBS show on Wednesday night to hype WrestleMania 27 .. During the interview, Miz came up with a great wrestling name for Conna – the Ginga Ninja. Miz posted the following backstage picture of him and Conan doing a staredown, teasing that we could see The Miz vs. The Ginga Ninja at WrestleMania 28 next year:
Check out the video of The Miz’ appearance on Conan here:
Developmental star Richie Steamboat, son of WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, was recently interviewed by The Miami Herald. Here are a few highlights of what the second generation Steamboat said about:
Training at WWE Developmental (FCW): “This is the best facility in the world. We’ve got some of the best trainers in the world, Dr. Tom Prichard, Norman Smiley, Joey Mercury, my father Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes. They’re open to all of us, seven days a week. It’s great. You can come in here with any questions, any concerns about moves, anything at all. They’re open and honest, and they’re here to help. It’s a very, very good establishment.”
Growing Up Around Other Wrestler’s Sons: “Growing up I knew the Usos [Rikishi Fatu’s sons] and Brett DiBiase [Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase’s son] and Joe Hennig [Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig’s son]. A lot of those guys I would see them around the buildings at shows, and we would try touch the forklifts and get into trouble like that, being kids.”
His Amateur Wrestling Feud With Reid Flair “We would travel to about 80 percent of the same wrestling tournaments, and there would be an occasion where I would look across the mat, and I would see Reid and his father, Ric, standing there, and I would be competing against him. It was always a very friendly rivalry. The fathers had a little bit more of a rivalry than we did, but I’ll tell you this; Reid never beat me.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Not Getting The OU Commentating Position: “I missed out on the OU Football play by play position but the University made an excellent hire with 37 year old Toby Rowland. I’m disappointed that I didn’t get a shot at my childhood ‘dream job’ but I’m happy for Toby and know that he will do a great job of underscoring the ‘theater of the mind,’ better known as radio, to the Sooner faithful. ”
Brock Lesnar Coaching UFC’s Ultimate Fighter Show: “Look for Brock Lesnar to pop up on ESPN over the next few days, perhaps with Jonathan Coachman, for a ‘unique’ feature on the former WWE, UFC and NCAA Champion. Brock next fights June 11, at this time in Vancouver, against Junior Dos Santos. Of course Lesnar is one of the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter which debuts soon not to mention that Brock’s book, co-written with Paul Heyman, will be in stores in a few weeks. I’m anxious to read Brock’s book and hope that you check it out as well.”
Abdullah The Butcher In The Hall of Fame: “In my four plus decades in the wrestling biz, I can’t name anyone who stood their ground against a variety of power brokers and stayed loyal to their in ring persona more than new WWE Hall of Fame Inductee Abdullah the Butcher. Abby perfected his game plan decades ago and never deviated from it to any significant degree. He stayed independent in his thinking and managed his own career while becoming a financially secure, Global, main event performer. ‘Butch’ as the late, great Gary Hart used to call him, is also very astute. If someone pulled the wool over Abdullah’s eyes, they only did it once. He gave me some great advice as a young man who was just getting into corporate management within this wacky business.”
Wild Talk Radio Network http://www.wildtalkradio.com
Daily Original Programming
Former WWE Superstar “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels stepped inside the WTR Squared Circle this past Wednesday to talk about his his charity auction for how you can win a chance to Meet Shawn Michaels and see him get inducted in to the WWE Hall of Fame, along with more memories from his WWE Career.
On deciding who will induct him in to the WWE Hall of Fame.
“Its one of things where I find myself debating whether I make it different or do what I want to do or do I make it interesting or do I make it controversial, its hard for me to get out of the performance mode, they keep telling me its about you just enjoy it, its just hard not to feel like people are expecting something. Its hard for me not to think that I have to do something and I have had a tough time narrowing down whether I am just going to enjoy it or make it a performance.”
On how Shawn Michaels & Chris Jericho came up with the aftermath of their Wrestlemania 19 Match Up.
“I always likened it to Godfather 2 when Michael Corleone kisses Fredo and says I knew it was you. We thought about numermous different things and I said how about nothing works better than a swift kick to the nuts.”
On working with Chris Jericho
“One of the sheer joys he and I had, we both love sitting around with each other and coming up with things to make things just a little better and really get in to the creative process.”
The USA Network issued the following press release today:
THE ROCK®, JOHN CENA® AND THE MIZ® TO FACE OFF LIVE ON RAW® NEXT MONDAY ON USA AT 9/8c
Final Raw Prior to WrestleMania® XXVII
STAMFORD, Conn., March 23, 2011 – After their war of words, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will finally confront WWE Superstar John Cena® and WWE Champion The Miz®, live in person, March 28th on Monday Night Raw at 9/8c on USA Network. The verbal sparring was ignited when The Rock triumphantly returned to WWE last month. The fireworks will emanate live from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL.
The Rock will be The World’s Most Electrifying Host in Entertainment at WrestleMania XXVII on Sunday, April 3rd at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, live on pay-per-view. The Rock is expected to lay the SmackDown® on all the pomp and festivities that make WrestleMania the world’s greatest, annual pop culture extravaganza.
For all the latest updates, ‘Like’ The Rock at www.facebook.com/DwayneJohnson or follow him at www.twitter.com/TheRock.
WrestleMania XXVII will be broadcast in more than 100 countries around the world. Check with your local cable operator or satellite provider to order the pay-per-view on Sunday, April 3rd. For more information on WrestleMania and WrestleMania events, please visit www.wrestlemania.com.
— Former World Wrestling Entertainment Diva, Playboy cover model and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Maria Kanellis proudly announced today the release of her signature perfume line, Maria Kanellis Signature Perfumes.
The perfume comes in three unique scents; Sandalwood, Mimosa and Ylang Ylang.
— Shawn Michaels appears live tonight on In Your Head at 8:00 p.m. EST. He will discuss his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, his retirement match last year at WrestleMania XXVI, his ongoing Wrestlemania raffle, and much more. The interview is available at InYourHeadOnline.com.
— A Raw live event is scheduled for Saturday, May 28 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
Since the disaster of a main event at Victory Road where Jeff Hardy was found backstage “in no condition to perform,” TNA has decided against using Hardy for various appearances.
Hardy had been booked to appear at the TNA iMPACT! tapings following Victory Road, but was told it would be best if he did not appear.
Hardy’s next scheduled appearance for TNA was going to be TNA Lockdown weekend in Orlando, when TNA holds a VIP Weekend “fan fest” for the people attending Lockdown on April 17th. He has since been removed from the preview page of the event – which you can see here.
Hardy has a court date on his pending drug charges on .. 4/20 (heh).
— Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro has been announced for K & S presents Super Saturday taking place April 9 at the Ramada Philadelphia Airport 76 Industrial Hwy. Essington, Pennsylvania. The one-time Playboy cover girl will also be filming a shoot interview with Highspots.com that weekend in which she discusses her involvement with the professional wrestling industry. Fans can submit questions to [email protected].
— WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper has canceled his planned comedy performances on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2 in Atlanta, Georgia in order to appear for World Wrestling Entertainment functions WrestleMania XXVII weekend. He will, however, still perform on Thursday, March 31 at The Punchline. Piper announced yesterday that Sgt. Slaughter would appear at the event.
— Santino Marella, Brie Bella and Nikki Bella’s appearance on the latest episode of Cake Boss replays Saturday at 7:00 p.m. on TLC.
— The Road Warriors, Animal and Hawk, are expected to be announced as inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame 2011 Class during next week’s Raw in Chicago, Illinois.
Promoting The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling on Monday Night Mayhem, Animal commented on rumors of the duo being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
“I don’t know man. Have I envisioned it? Yeah. You always want to be in there, and you want to be recognized for your trade,” he said. “I thought I was going in last year. I thought I was going in the year before that and the year before that. I thought ‘What are they waiting for here?’ But who knows man. Most of the time, the wrestlers are the last ones to find out anything. The thing I know for sure is that I’m going in the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in (Amsterdam) New York in May.”
— Tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. on NBC, The Great Khali will appear on the hit sitcom Outsourced. WWE.com sat down with Parvesh Cheena, who plays Gupta on the show, to get his thoughts on The Punjabi Playboy, WWE and more. (Interview link)
— Former WWE talent Ray Gordy (a/k/a Jesse) turns 32 years old today, while Tyson Tomko turns 35. Also, former WCW talent Midajah turns 38.
— Last night’s SmackDown taping in Columbus, Ohio was the “go-home” show for the brand heading into WrestleMania XXVII because no taping is scheduled for next week. The episode, which takes April 1, 2011, will consist of footage from WrestleMania Axxess at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia and video packages.
— WWE Niagara Falls, a retail establishment located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, is scheduled to be closed down effective March 31, 2011. The facility opened on August 1, 2002.
— Triple H will be signing copies of WWE Studios’ The Chaperone at Sam’s Club in Elmsford, New York this Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. The autograph session is limited to the first 300 attendees.
— Ten years ago today, World Wrestling Entertainment announced the purchase of World Championship Wrestling from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. WWE Director of Digital Media Content Joey Styles took to Twitter to chastise his employer for botching the subsequent “Invasion” storyline.
He wrote, “10 years ago today WWF bought WCW…tried a WCW vs. WWF story without Flair, Sting, Nash, Goldberg, etc…BOMB! Then tried WWECW…BIG BOMB!”
It is widely believed that WWE cost themselves millions of dollars by not utilizing big-name WCW talent for the storyline, such as Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, Sting and Lex Luger.
— WWE Hall of Famer Sunny appears In The Room with Pro Wrestling Illustrated contributing writer Brady Hicks to discuss being the youngest inductee in the organization’s history, as well as her thoughts on being involved with World Wrestling Entertainment again. (Listen Here)
— WWE has a huge media day planned for Friday, April 1 in Atlanta, Georgia as a good portion of the roster will be on hand for interviews at the Georgia Dome.
— Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar is scheduled to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon next Monday.
He will be promoting The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos, which debuts the following Wednesday on Spike.
— RGV Vipers radio voice Alex Del Barrio sent Jim Ross well wishes on Twitter in regards to the WWE Hall of Famer not landing the play-by-play job for Oklahoma University football.
“Thanks, man,” he replied. “I’m disappinted in not getting the OU PXP gig but felt all along I was a long shot. Still love #BoomerSooner!”
— The official Twitter account of the Georgia Dome said yesterday that WWE crew members have arrived in Atlanta to begin preparation for WrestleMania XXVII.
— John Cena is filming Fred 2 for Nickelodeon today and teased something huge in the works:
“Day #2 of filming Fred 2! But first 3 hours worth of WM interveiws. Then late tonight, off to silicon valley for sumthin HUGE. Details hopefully on the way. Then of course..back to what we do. 4 more shows to the dance!”
— Chris Masters vs. Tyler Reks was taped last night for tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Superstars.
— Big Show, Christian, Kane and Rey Mysterio beat Alberto Del Rio and The Corre in a dark match following last night’s SmackDown taping in Columbus, Ohio.
Monday Night Mayhem with Eddie Edwards
Hosts: The Big Mosh and “The Chairman of the Board” Todd Vincent
Report by Paterson from N.J.
Airs every Monday at 6:00 P.M. (CT)
Show available at MondayNightMayhem.com.
His reaction on becoming the new ROH World Champion after defeating Roderick Strong at Ring of Honor’s “Manhattan Mayhem IV” this past Saturday night in New York City and why he describes that moment as “a surreal feeling”: “It’s still sinking in now. I’m still getting text messages and calls. When I heard that three count, and just to see that crowd, and hear and feel what was going on. People are saying that the building was vibrating, and it’s crazy to think about that it was something that involved me. It was a surreal feeling, and it still is.”
His feelings on being Ring of Honor’s biggest social media story ever: the first Ring of Honor talent currently working in ROH to be trending worldwide on Twitter: “I know trending is a good thing. I don’t have a Twitter, so when (Dave) Lagana told me I was trending, I know it’s a good thing. It is an honor, especially with everything going on in the world today, and to be the first one on the roster, that’s always quite the accomplishment. I’m proud of not just myself, but for Ring of Honor as a product and the company.”
With the challenges and challengers already lining up at Edwards’ door, why he believes that he is ready for the responsibility that comes with being the ROH World Champion: “I am ready. Being put in a situation to wrestle for the championship, if you come out on top, you have a lot of responsibility, considering the guys who had the championship in the past. I have to do this thing right and prove that I’m worthy of it. I’ll defend this seven days a week and twice on Sunday if need be. I just have to go out there and be ready for anything.”
Why it is his mission statement to represent ROH well as its World Champion and to show why Ring of Honor is “the best wrestling in America”: “It’s an enormous challenge with a company like Ring of Honor, and now for me to be champion and representing the company the way I am, it’s a huge challenge. I know I have to go out there and perform the best, I have to be the best on each and every show, and it’s not at just Ring of Honor. It’s at every place that I go. I’m representing Ring of Honor. I need to show what I can do and and show people not only why I’m the champion, but why Ring of Honor is the best wrestling in America.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is in negotiations to star in Snitch, an action thriller set to begin filming in June.
The Rock would star as a suburban father who is hit hard when his teenage son is sentenced to 30 years under mandatory minimum drug laws. In order to reduce his son’s sentence, the father goes undercover to serve up a senior drug dealer.
The Rock, who has been going between family-friendly movies and fast-paced blow-’em-up action flicks, most recently starred in CBS Films’ Faster and will be appearing in the latest Fast and Furious movie, Fast Five, alongside Paul Walker and Vin Diesel.
– WWE’s corporate website has posted the preliminary buyrate for February’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and this year’s show is way down from 2010. WWE Elimination Chamber 2011 drew approximately 200,000 buys, down a staggering 30% from last year’s 285,000.
– Chris Jericho spoke to Digitalspy.com this week and had this to say about the differences between wrestling and dancing:
“It’s funny because when there are a lot of things about [dancing and wrestling] that are similar. There’s a lot of leverage and weight distribution and balance. Then there’s performing in front of a live crowd, your marks, choreography and as a musician, following the beat. It’s not that foreign as it seems at first. The training’s really hard. It’s probably the hardest training I’ve ever done, but it’s not futile. There are moves in dancing that I’ve never done before – you’re turning your knee outwards, your elbow on the side. And hunching over – dancing’s very elongated, very regal. Your neck stretches, your shoulders are down. So I’m focusing on getting rid of those bad habits.”
WWE taped Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown on Tuesday from Columbus, Ohio, courtesy of WrestlingNewsWorld.com:
* Booker T comes out to an amazing pop. Cole comes out to heat.
* Smackdown starts off with a backstage segment where Teddy Long is telling Edge that if he or Alberto Del Rio touch either other before Wrestlemania they will both be banned from the event.
* Rey Mysterio b. CM Punk
– Rey had a quick start to the match then missed a flying cross body allowing CM to control. Punk mainly focusing attacks on the ribs of Rey. Eventually he goes for an attack off the ropes but Rey countered with a dropkick to gain the upper-hand. Rey hit CM with an Asia moonsault. Cody Rhodes comes in as a distraction and the match ends in disqualification. Rey is helped out of the ring by officials.
* Edge and Christian are shown backstage. Edge says he’s still going to be in the corner for Christian tonight. He walks away.
* Edge vs. Drew McIntyre
– As soon as the bell ring Edge goes after Drew. Drew quickly gains the upper-hand working on Edge’s arm. Edge eventually gains control and wins via his finished. After the match Edge connects with a spear.
* LayCool b. Rosa Mendez & Kelly Kelly
– Layla has the Snooki hair do and they were both fist pumping they are also not even wearing their ring gear. Rosa and Kelly go straight for the attack. Quick match ending when Layla hits a reverse neck breaker for the win. After the match Laycool cut a quick promo saying that their opponents for Wrestlemania are no challenge.
* Wade Barrett b. Kofi Kingston to win the Intercontinental Championship.
– Kofi was going for trouble in paradise but ref got distracted. He connected trouble on heath allowing Wade to hit wasteland following a pinfall. After the match Justin hit a 450 splash.
* Teddy Long & Albero Del Rio are backstage.
* Undertaker is on stage cutting a promo. He says that Triple H has figured out how to win. He then says he can’t wait till Monday to tell Triple H what he thinks.
* Jake Swagger b. R-Truth
– R-Truth had a close call… He launched himself over top rope and it looked like Swagger barely caught him. Quick match winner via ankle lock, Swagger.
* Christian w/ Edge b. Alberto Del Rio
– Alberto has Brodus Clay with him. During the match Brodus attacked Edge on the outside. Edge returns the favor with spear then attacks him with a chair. This distracts Alberto allowing Christian to hit the Kill Switch for the win. Edge looks like hes gonna attack Alberto with the chair but Christian stops him. He hits Alberto with the chair instead. That concludes this week’s SmackDown.
John Cena participated in a sitdown interview with Madison Square Garden correspondent Alex Iglesias prior to Saturday night’s Raw live event at the venue. Highlights are as follows:
— Cena says that while Shawn Michaels is his all-time favorite tag team partner, it took time for the two to become friends.
“He was one of those guys that – when I started – wasn’t too fond of me, but we ended up actually becoming really good friends,” Cena said. The fact that I was fortunate enough to hold the Tag Team Championships, even though it was for a short amount of time, was my most memorable.”
— Cena commented on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s return to WWE.
He said, “I’ve wanted him to come back for five years now. I’m glad he’s finally back. I just hope he sticks around. I guess time will tell.”
— Regarding Nicole “Snooki” Polazzi’s involvement at WrestleMania XXVII, he said, “I’ve seen her get in some crazy situations on that television show. She will be just fine. If she goes out there and is just herself, she will make a WrestleMania Moment.”
— When asked if his wife gets upset with his strenuous road schedule with WWE, Cena said, “She does. But, we’ve known each other for quite some time. She knows that’s the way I’m built.”
He added that he prioritizes things as “work first and everything else will sort itself out.”
— Last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw scored a 3.3 cable rating, down from last week’s 3.64 and a prior three week average of 3.85. Overall viewership was down 12% from last week as the show drew 5.1 million viewers compared to 5.8.
Raw drew hours of 3.28 and 3.41.
— The March 19 episode of A.M. Raw scored a 0.55 cable rating, with 670,000 viewers overall.
— Trent Barreta defeated Curt Hawkins in a dark match prior to tonight’s SmackDown taping at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Right After Wrestling with Roddy Piper
Hosts: Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas
Available at TheScore.com or at Itunes.
Piper on working with WrestleMania celebrities: “The acts I did were to further the business. It took a lot of balls to say you’re not pinning my shoulders at WrestleMania. I was protecting the business. You never let somebody come from outside the business, have their way with the business and then leave the next day and laugh at you. How the hell does David Arquette become World Champion. Maybe you can have – in the Hall of Fame – the lifetime achievement award. Bob Uecker would fit in right there. It’s the way you categorize it I think. Because there were guys who got stabbed three times to get into that Hall of Fame!”
Piper on his WrestleMania boxing match with Mr. T: “It was one of the worst matches of my life. Why? In that match with Mr. T, they didn’t trust me. I had done some boxing. I trained for five weeks for this fight. They taped my fists up solid and then put it in the gloves. He was scarred. At the end of the day it was my fault, let’s make that clear. Those boxing gloves are thumbless. Mr. T was supposed to throw a left-cross. They asked my for a little show-business. So when he threw the left, I was supposed to go through the ropes to the floor. But when he threw it, he missed. He was all tired. They really protected him. We got an old saying, I would rather you punch my teeth down my throat then throw a popcorn punch!”
Piper on an idea he provided for WrestleMania 27: “I did shoot an idea to the WWE. I said put Cena and The Rock in Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania. Because I knew he wouldn’t wrestle but everybody would wanna see him. They should use people who have given to the business – like The Rock, like myself – who are powerful enough to entertain. Instead of just putting in Snooki.”
Other Topics
Addressing rumors and responds to false accusations about him and his health and missing appearances, from unreliable sources, over the years (6:15)
Discussing how to handle celebrity involvement in professional wrestling, particularly at WrestleMania (11:30)
Discussing the current WrestleMania landscape – including The Rock, John Cena, Snooki and the possibility of Piper’s Pit at WrestleMania 27 (16:00)
Thoughts and memories from the first WrestleMania, and thoughts on the age old argument: “who sold WrestleMania 1?” (19:03)
Why WrestleMania 1 didn’t feature a 1-on-1 main event between Piper and Hulk Hogan (22:05)
On his thoughts with working with Mr. T at both WrestleMania and WrestleMania 2 (30:10)
Would his career have been far different financially and from a legacy standpoint if he ever became World Champion (39:13)
ABC sent out the following press release on Tuesday touting the ratings success of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, featuring Chris Jericho:
On the heels of its dominant victory the prior week with The Bachelor finale, ABC turned in another big Monday win with the 12th season premiere of Dancing with the Stars leading into Castle. During prime, ABC beat out its closest competition (CBS) by 10.3 million viewers (19.1 million vs. 8.8 million) and by 61% in Adults 18-49 (4.5/13 vs. 2.8/8). In fact it was the 2nd straight week for ABC to win all 6 half-hours on Monday evening in viewers and young adults.
Hitting a season-high on the night, ABC generated the most-watched Monday for any network in nearly 1 year – since 3/29/10.
DWTS: Dominating each of its half-hours from 8-10pm, ABC’s 12th season opener of Dancing with the Stars towered over second-place CBS in the time period by 13.5 million viewers (22.3 million vs. 8.8 million) and by 89% in Adults 18-49 (5.1/15 vs. 2.7/8). In fact it was ABC’s 5th consecutive week to lead the time period in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 and the 8th consecutive week in Adults 18-34.
DWTS’ audience surged from its first hour to its second hour, gaining 2.8 million viewers (20.9 million to 23.7 million) and by 19% in Adults 18-49 (4.7/14 to 5.6/15).
DWTS was up from its most-recent season opener in September by 1.0 million viewers (21.3 million on 9/20/10). In fact it was Dancing’s 3rd-most-watched premiere ever.
