A few WrestleMania notes, Kurt Angle upset at WWE/takes it back/claims he was hacked, new wrestling reality show, Questions on whether Rock used gay slurs, Hogan-WWE-TNA on mainstream appearances, Finlay's release, WCW pre-Hogan, and the Divas, JR update, Tough Enough note, new pre-show match for Lockdown, Rock on Ellen, Orton talks All-Stars, DGUSA talent signs with WWE, Smackdown rating, former WWE Diva on Tough Enough, Raw dark match, and a note on Jericho's DWTS performance

Today's news starts with a few Mania notes:

-There were no major injuries coming out of the event, thank goodness.
- Matt Hardy, Tommy Dreamer, and Luke Gallows visited after the show.
- The Tough Enough contestants were watching in the crowd.
- The "Barbarians" for Triple H's entrance were FCW talents. This isn't unusual, as a pre-ECW C.M. Punk was part of John Cena's entrance in Chicago a few years back.

Kurt Angle took offense to WWE wrestlers using his signature moves at the event (which they've used before). Randy Orton fired back that others had used the Ankle Lock before Angle. And PLENTY of moves have been re-used between superstars over the years. Way to come across like a whiny punk, Kurt.

Update: Angle now claims to have been hacked, and has talked it out with Orton. Then he said that "There's a big difference to using a finish somebody did (before you), and (doing it) while (you) still wrestle. The fact is, I don't care". So, he calls him out one night, but doesn't care the next? Yyyyeeaaahhh... and now he's happy Orton used his finisher, and it's "over and done", then hours later he brings it up again that he doesn't care. Not to mention that he was hacked, but didn't delete what the hacker wrote... a little suspicious.

Update: C.M. Punk and Joey Styles respond.

Here's WWE's press release for the show. For some reason that website calls it "World Wrestling Entertainment". Didn't they get the memo? The show didn't get as big of an attendance as a sporting event there, but was tops in entertainment.

TMZ is reporting that there will be a reality show built on wrestler's wives. Sounds good.

After the break, I tackle PWInsider.com's questions of the day. Starting with my take on whether The Rock's use of "Fruity Pebbles" is a reference to homosexuality.

In a word, no. The "respected" writer who made that suggestion and the website he works for/helps run is known for becoming more and more sensationalist and politically left-leaning over the years. I use them as a source mostly when they are backed up by the more credible PWInsider.com. This incident particularly brought the point home on how far they've fallen from being such a credible source in wrestling. For the record, I'd be against their being that political no matter which direction their politics went. They're supposed to report the news, not be the news. And at times, they have problems with the first part since they've taken rumors from less credible sites and reported them as facts, as well as posting things that have been completely disproven by more credible sites and official sources.

The second question was kind of a multi-parter. Should Hogan have talked up TNA at American Idol? It's possible that they told him not to promote something on their show, but that's just a guess. I have seen him on TMZ recently where he didn't mention it (at least not in the clip they showed). Cena and Miz go out of their way to mention WWE, for sure. And I don't think WWE went to "Jersey Shore" for a ratings pop just because TNA did. Punk did name-drop Snooki before New Year's after all. I didn't know about the guy on "American Idol" getting a WWE Championship, but he was known to be a wrestling fan and Hogan's appearance wasn't announced before the show, so it could very well be a coincidence. WWE doesn't need to one-up TNA. They're doing a good enough job staying at #2 without WWE's help.

For the third question, WWE offending one of their biggest sponsors is a pretty big deal. I'm not happy that Finlay's gone either, but I definitely understand why they let him go. To say that WWE's saying it's "not okay to make a mistake" is ridiculous. They didn't fire someone for flubbing a promo or falling off the top rope here. This is pretty serious in the corporate world.

WCW was definitely not awesome pre-Hogan from a business standpoint. I'm not so sure it would have turned out well if it went down that path instead of the one it did.

And question #5's right up my alley: Yes, I think the Divas should get more TV time. I'm not a HUGE fan of them but I think they could be used better, and it would pad out the card more to have more of them around who can wrestle so we don't get a lot of the same people each show.

Jim Ross is not expected to re-unite with Jerry Lawler on commentary long term.

The winner of WWE Tough Enough will be announced live on Raw when the season concludes. Smart move.

Brother Devon vs. Anarquia (which I misspelled as "Anarchia" when the character was introduced) in a steel cage will be on the free PPV pre-show of Lockdown. Fine with me.

More Mania notes:
-WM27 was the first Mania that no titles changed hands. Granted, they only had two title matches.
-Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan was only bumped because of timing issues.
-Correction: The Barbarians for HHH's entrance were talents from NWA Anarchy, Ultimate NWA in Alabama, and some Nashville talents. As far as I know, this was a one-night gig for all of them.
-WWE plans to have at least one celebrity and female inductee a year going forward, but that can obviously change
-Billy Gunn also visited

The Rock will be on Ellen DeGeneres on 4/11. Mainstream publicity can mean money if done right.

Chris Jericho will be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on 4/13.

Randy Orton talks WWE All-Stars and more here. God of War and Dante's Inferno? Cool by me.


Dragon Gate USA's Jon Moxley has signed a WWE developmental deal. He's finished his DGUSA commitments and will finish his Evolve commitments on 4/19.

The promo-filled WWE Smackdown did a 1.96 rating, which is pretty good for mostly repeat content.

Stacy Keibler has said that she will make an appearance on WWE Tough Enough. That'll be interesting.

Mark Henry beat Zack Ryder in Raw's dark match.

Chris Jericho performed "as Chris Irvine" on Dancing with the Stars in an emotional moment.

And that's a wrap. A lot of news and Tough Enough going past midnight is what made this post late. I apologize. More news tomorrow!