The Rock talked wrestling and more in conjunction with his new movie. Very hard-working, one of a kind guy!
For my take on PWInsider.com's questions from Monday:
1. I definitely think he CAN do that role, but I don't know if he should. They've also got The Great Khali as a face so I don't think things are too heel-centric.
2. Mainly what they said. They also probably wanted to get the most out of him that they could while he was physically able since he was such a big deal to the company for a while. I also hope he gets a nice spot at WrestleMania. The card could end up pretty crowded with all the cameos and part-timers. It'll be interesting to see how they fit everyone in (or don't).
3. Looks like we're at the same impasse about pessimism and jumping to conclusions. A lot of people are fine with his character and entertained. He's got a fairly steady TV spot and something going for him beyond "big monster who squashes people". I'll be very surprised if he goes to the WWE/World Title in the gimmick, but it's pretty rare that someone makes it that high early in their on-screen career anyway. Right now getting over should be what we're looking at, and he's doing that.
After the break, I go into everything else from Wednesday, starting with another question on cameras.
4. As long as what goes on in the segments is believable and/or entertaining, I'm ok with the camera being ignored. It's a really minor "problem". Other forms of media ignore the camera frequently, but if people are still liking what they're seeing, they can completely forget about that. The show is about the characters/wrestlers, not the camera holders. When you go out of your way to point out that there's someone there with a camera, you take attention away from the wrestlers. Not to mention that a lot of times TNA performers will be in perfect position to see the person with a camera (who makes his presence pretty obvious to the viewers with all the zooms in and out), but never comment on it or move away from him or her. It's really making a mountain out of a molehill.
5. WWE saw the match is more of a place to surprise people with cameos and have fun than give 30 people on the active roster a chance to headline WrestleMania. They felt (perhaps rightly) that some of those names had such a small chance of winning in kayfabe that fans wouldn't care as much about them being involved in the match. So we got the nostalgia and comedy approach. It's kind of a vicious cycle since you're just reinforcing that the undercard competitors are less important than the special entrants.
Jake "The Snake" Roberts was interviewed about a good number of things. Good listen. I agree for the most part about character lacking in modern wrestling, a lot of performers doing pretty similar things, and the lack of selling what should be big moves. It's pretty telling that people are still talking about him all these years later. On the flip side, I think you can rebuild credibility. The Miz was involved in some pretty terrible skits earlier in his WWE career for instance.
The Rock is being advertised for the Raw taping after WrestleMania, presumably to either wrap up his angle with Cena or set things up for a future rematch. Raw stars are advertised for the Smackdown tapings that week as well.
Beth Phoenix isn't a part of WWE's show in the United Arab Emirates due to restrictions on females performing there. Booooooooooo.
Matt Martlaro, who was previously an announcer in FCW, is now a part of WWE Creative. Maybe he can get some of the graduates from there some decent TV time.
Deadspin looked at Abdullah The Butcher and Bruiser Brody's rivalry. I can't stress enough how much that style of wrestling isn't my cup of tea, especially in this day and age where some matches just become excuses to beat each other bloody and senseless in lieu of being a good storyteller. Ugh.
The current plans for this year's Hall of Fame inductions are:
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin inducting Mike Tyson,
Triple H and Shawn Michaels inducting the Four Horsemen,
Christian inducting Edge,
Alberto Del Rio inducting (his uncle) Mil Mascaras,
JBL inducting Ron Simmons, and
The Rock inducting Yokozuna (the two are part of the Anoa'i family by the "blood brothers" link).
All good picks.
Alberto Del Rio is being advertised for this weekend's live events, facing off with Sheamus in an inter-brand match-up. He's another guy I hope gets a nice spot at this year's Mania.
That's all for Wednesday's news. More to come tonight. Thanks for reading!
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