bronnen:
www.pwtorch.com, WrestlingObserver
-- WWE Films is scheduled to release a movie starring Triple H in 2009 called Journey of Death, which is a modern-day Western. This movie has been in the works for a few years. WWE will also be releasing a movie called A Chance for Both Barrels. The plot is as follows: "A mercenary wants to bring a killer to justice." It's also listed for a 2009 release. A WWE star has not been named as the lead actor yet.
-- The Orlando Sentinel, which has been covering the build-up for WrestleMania in the city, is planning on publishing a story on the apparent steroid issues in pro wrestling within the next few weeks. This is according to an email exchange between wrestling author Irv Muchnick (who published WRESTLING BABYLON: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death and Scandal) and reporters from the newspaper.
-- TheSportsInterview.com features an interview with Jake "The Snake" Roberts. After the death of Chris Benoit, World Wrestling Entertainment set up a rehab program for current and former employees and Roberts was one of the first to take them up on it. Regarding his trip to rehab, Roberts said, "Well, it's been wonderful. First off I want to say, thanks to the WWE I have a new lease on life. I feel like I’ve truly exercising the demons I carried for so many reasons. Without the help of Vince McMahon and company I wouldn’t have had it. It’s been very expensive. It’s been very intense. It’s been a whole lot of damn hard work. Truth be known the first time I went to rehab and the second time I went to try to save a job. This time I truly went to save my life." You can read & listen to the interview at this link.
http://www.thesportsinterview.com/jake.html-- Former WWF Intercontinental Champion Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall has been in a drug treatment facility in Atlanta, Georgia for seven weeks and is said to be embracing rehab fully for the first time in his life. Hall was given an intervention of sorts by family & friends and agreed without a struggle to accept World Wrestling Entertainment's offer to pay for rehab treatment. Hall had been out of circulation for so long that WWE wasn't able to get him his merchandise royalties, so along with the company paying for his treatment, he received a nice check for back royalties as well. After his stint in rehab comes to a close, Hall plans on resuming his wrestling career as he is already accepting dates from indy promoters for the summer. Hall is staying at the same rehab facility Jake Roberts and Ron Simmons are situated at. Friend Sean "X-Pac" Waltman is also in a treatment facility on WWE's dime, although he's staying in Houston, Texas.
-- At Sunday's Raw brand house show at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, during a largely heatless match between Brian Kendrick and D.H. Smith, a fan shouted, "That is what steroids will do for you" towards Smith. Smith acknowledged the fan by smiling at him and flexing his bicep. Smith came out as a babyface, but seemingly transitioned into the heel role as the match progressed, according to a fan's report. The 175-pound wrestler eventually scored the pin over Smith.
-- ECW star John Morrison now has a page on MySpace, which you can see at this link.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=58099702-- CM Punk is reportedly back in the dog house. The road agents aren't particularly fond of his wrestling style, they believe that he's a mark for himself, and he's gotten some bad house show reports in recent weeks stating that he's inconsistent and sloppy.
-- WWE promised Ohio Valley Wrestling owner Danny Davis that they'll be sending talent over for their shows at Six Flags this summer. In other OVW news, the WWE wrestlers were told that if they wanted to work with OVW and it's their day off, they can do so, but WWE would no longer pay them for it, or their transportation costs either. WWE told Davis to renew his expensive lease a short while ago. They also told the wrestlers stationed there that there was nothing to the rumors of the company dropping OVW. Of course, WWE dropped their affiliation with OVW within a matter of weeks.
-- A Raw house show in Cape Girardeau, MO on 2/29 drew 5,000 fans for $160,000. 3/1 Raw in Louisville drew a sellout of 5,500 and $165,000. 3/1 Smackdown in Fort Wayne, Indiana drew 4,500. 3/2 Raw in Danville, IL drew a sellout of 3,500 paying $120,000. The 3/2 SmackDown house show in Muncie, Indiana drew 3,000 paying $100,000.
-- The reaction regarding Jeff Hardy's 60-day suspension is pretty much unanimous among a number of his current and former co-workers. Hardly any of them have much sympathy for Hardy in his current situation. The general concensus among them believe that he's an "idiot" for blowing a golden opportunity with the company. One former co-worker of Hardy summed things up by saying, "He doesn't take anything seriously and doesn't seem to care that he is his own worse enemy. He thinks rules don't apply to him and lives in a completely different world than the rest of us. If he hasn't gotten the message by now, he never will." As noted earlier, Hardy has been removed from Wrestlemania as he will not be participating in the Money In The Bank match at the show. Furthermore, one more violation of WWE's Wellness policy will result in Hardy being let go.
-- WWEShop.com is holding a sweepstakes promoting WrestleMania with the winner getting $500 in merchandise. In the entry form, they ask you who your favorite WWE Superstar is, and ECW wrestler James Curtus is listed, so it would appear that he's an official 'WWE Superstar'. WWE.com still has yet to put up a profile on Curtis. Regarding the contest, they have a rule where winners residing in Canada must correctly answer timed, math question in order to be confirmed as a winner.
-- Matt Hardy posted a new blog on his MySpace page this afternoon, which you can read in its entirety at this link. Here is one really interesting thing he wrote: "I know two people of different genders who are in a dilemma at this time. One of these individuals I am extremely close with-the other one I used to be. The thing that worries me is that they're both playing around in the deep water and can't swim. I can swim."
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ogID=365856212-- John Morrison has an account on YouTube called "THEPALACEOFWISDOM" at this link. He has a video on his page that is a take off of the Mortal Kombat video game with him using his powers to defeat John Cena.
http://youtube.com/thepalaceofwisdom-- Regarding the actual drug Jeff Hardy got suspended for, it is unknown, but it isn't believed to be steroids.
-- WWE.com has a video up from last night's Raw with announcer Mike Adamle conducting an interview with Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. During the interview, Sheik calls Hogan a "Hollywood blonde (bleeped out word)." You can see the video at this link.
http://www.wwe.com/content/media/vid...ch8-14/6611852-- Former WWE star Andrew "Test" Martin will be making a rare indy appearance on May 3 in Lima, Ohio at the UAW Hall for Global Wrestling Alliance.
- “Wildcat” Chris Harris worked tonight’s ECW/SmackDown tapings at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois in a dark match against Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin pinned Harris for the victory. Harris was said to be over with the crowd as some fans actually chanted “TNA.”
- Last night’s edition of WWE Raw did a 3.6 cable rating on the USA Network. The first hour did a 2.78, the second a 3.92, and the third did a 4.02. If you calculate the rating in its normal timeslot (leaving out the first hour) the show actually did a 4.0 cable rating.