WWE put out a press release on their solid attendance from WrestleMania. Of course, they lag behind the night THE HULKSTER SOLD OUT THE PONTIAC SILVERDOME, BROTHER. I like that they snuck in a plug for WrestleMania 30.
Triple H had some x-rays on his arm, and it seems like he has some muscle bruising. "It ain't ballet", though ballet can also be brutal. Fortunately for him, he's probably not expected to get in the ring any time soon.
C.M. Punk is said to be "badly banged up" following his elbow drop spot at Mania. He was said to be in a lot of pain after his match. I don't think he should wrestle for a while. He's going way too hard.
WWE smartly gave HHH vs. Lesnar, Cena vs. Rock, and Punk vs. Taker as much time as they wanted. That's why they cut the intergender tag match, as well as Lilian Garcia singing "America The Beautiful". Time was also cut from Del Rio vs. Swagger (including a golf cart entrance for Swagger and Colter), but they still told a pretty good story. I imagine we'll see the golf cart in the future.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
A lot of names who weren't on the WrestleMania card were bummed that they didn't even appear in backstage segments. In past years, there's generally been some kind of battle royal before the show that let everyone go out and compete. I understand why they'd be upset. There was also disappointment from fellow workers that Antonio Cesaro wasn't used. You can definitely make the argument that he deserved to be on the show as the United States Champion. Great talent. Hopefully he's on there next year.
Mae Young was backstage at Mania and thankfully not used! I've had more than my fill of segments involving her.
Also backstage was Dennis Rodman, who was a part of the nWo. lolWCW. Nah, he was a serious badass back in the day.
Here's a John Cena interview from the WM29 press conference. The Fandango reference was actually kind of funny. I was somewhat unimpressed with him in the ring, but I think he can recover. Nice political answer to the question of being booed, and nice response to why he faced Rock.
Maria Menounos released her Hall of Fame speech due to the boos it received possibly overtaking it. It was a very good speech.
Cox Cable and Comcast/Infinity also had issues with broadcasting WrestleMania. Someone at both companies needs to do everything they can to make sure that this doesn't happen again.
Here's a look at WrestleMania's economic impact. Basically this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Xo75bh7no.
WWE had to rewrite Raw because The Rock no-showed due to injury. This caught a lot of people off guard. He had left for LA on Monday morning. There were plans to do a big angle with either Undertaker or Brock Lesnar, but obviously that didn't come to pass. No word on what they'll do going forward.
Update: The Rock was scheduled to open the show and discuss losing the WWE Championship, which would have led to a confrontation with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Lesnar would have taken Rock out to set up a future match. That would have been pretty cool, but the injury happened and WWE had to scramble to come up with something else.
Update: Rock was told after WrestleMania that he tore abductor and abdominal muscles, and immediately went home to get treatment since he has to film a movie soon. A lot of people were unaware of his injury and he got a LOT of heat for leaving the company high and dry. Now that it's known that he had a legitimate reason to be out, he's not in hot water. WWE didn't find out about Rock's condition until the afternoon. There better be a really good reason for that. Talk about having a failure to communicate. Why didn't Rock or the doctors or someone phone WWE? It's pretty important to know when one of your headliners is hurt. Following this business can be extremely frustrating at times. I can now understand why Jim Cornette's so pissed all the time.
John Cena talked to the Huffington Post after WrestleMania. Interesting talk about the Wellness Policy. There is the argument to be made that having a steroid-enhanced body would help someone's look and make them more likely to succeed.
Smackdown drew 2.52 million viewers, which is actually pretty good for a show that was a lot more "fluff" than matches and nothing revolutionary really happened.
Here's another Cena interview about Mania and more (recorded before his match). He comes across well in most public appearances, other than the shot at his coworkers the other day. He had good points that Rock did come back for more appearances, though of course he wasn't full-time. But it can be argued that Rock shouldn't have been full-time since he's such a big deal.
Here's a story from the perspective of someone at their first WWE event. Lucky guy. Of course, he's a @$@#*$@ douchebag and refers to wrestling as a "juvenile activity", points out that it's fake and predetermined and involves sweaty men, and uses performers' real names. So many journalists act like they're above covering wrestling and have to show this to their readers. Because heaven forbid you be ok with covering something that's consistently a top-rated show and draws in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. I wish I could hate this guy to death. Especially for hating the two main events.
Finally, C.M. Punk was off Raw to sell his match with The Undertaker. No word on whether his physical state was also taken into account. WWE's in a treacherous place with some of its top-pushed acts gone, soon to be gone, or hurt. They're pushing Ryback and Ziggler, but is it too little, too late?
More wrestling tomorrow, and Blue Echo podcasts coming up.
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