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Tickets
are on sale Friday 28th January, opening at 9am via
Ticketek. WWE has thus far named for the "World
Tour" - John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, The
Miz and Wade Barrett.
Dates
and venues:
Friday
1st July - Sydney (Acer Arena)
Saturday 2nd July - Melbourne (Rod Laver Arena)
Sunday 3rd July - Perth (Burswood Dome)
Monday 4th July - Adelaide (Entertainment Centre)
Tuesday 5th July - Brisbane (Entertainment Centre)
Wrestling
News Media: Snooki, 'The Rock' and 'Mania: When Headlocks
and Hollywood Collide - 1st April 2011
One
is the queen of MTV's Jersey Shore; the other is WWE's
resident Mexican aristocrat. One is famous for being
perhaps the worst of the tanned, bouffant-wearing,
gum-chomping Italian stereotype. The other invites
fans' wrath with a wink and a smile as he drives the
world's most expensive cars to the ring and insists
on being introduced by his own personal ring announcer
- in Spanish.
Only
one entity - and one extravaganza - could bring these
two very different stars together: World Wrestling
Entertainment's 27th annual WrestleMania on Sunday.
Snooki will participate in a six-person, inter-gender
grudge match while Alberto Del Rio will vie for the
World Heavyweight Championship in his WrestleMania
debut. Both promise to thrill 70,000-plus screaming
fans in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.
"It's
going to be the peak of my career," said Del
Rio, a native of Mexico. "My family, my entire
country, is going to be proud of me because I'm going
to go out there and become the new World Heavyweight
Champion. I'm going to die out there trying to become
the World Heavyweight Champion."
So
what's behind the infatuation with WrestleMania? Why
do fans come from around the world and dole out hard-earned
money to watch this spectacle on pay-per-view? What
is it about WrestleMania that makes fathers and sons
and daughters jump out of their seats and grown, muscle-bound
men in tights speak in hushed reverence?
Simply
put, it is pro wrestling's greatest annual event.
All wrestlers who grew up as fans dream of performing
in it and look forward to watching it. Even in the
choreographed world of professional wrestling, there
is nothing staged about the emotion and excitement
from anyone who performs at WrestleMania.
"As
a kid, all I wanted to do was be a wrestler,"
said Del Rio. "Now that I'm here in WWE - WrestleMania
is our NBA, our Super Bowl, our World Series of professional
wrestling. As a wrestler, as a performer, I always
dreamed of being in something like that."
For
the fan, WrestleMania's appeal is as nuanced as wrestling's
longtime popularity. Wrestling's magnetism goes hand-in-hand
with the dawn of the television age in the 1950s,
but WrestleMania took it to another level. It is a
marriage of headlocks and Hollywood that began in
1985, when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon teamed up the
charisma of Hulk Hogan and the diabolical lunacy of
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper with the star power
of Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper. (Credit:
News Corporation).
Wrestling
News Media: Shawn Michaels' Speech At WWE Hall Of
Fame Induction 2011: 'Thank You' - 2nd April 2011
Thank
you. ["HBK!" chant. "Thank you Shawn!"
chant. Whoa! Some other chant.] The damnedest thing
on my way to my Hall of Fame speech, a damn roast
broke out. Thanks. I knew there was no way you was
gonna say anything nice about me. For the 15 years
we've known each other he never has, and he never
will. He's like the Fonz trying to say he's sorry.
[Muttering.]
I
know how tough it was for you to say . That was a
huge deal for him to even recognize that I worked
in this line of work for 36 years. You're not aware
of this, but we shared a big moment there. There's
some psychiatrists going, "They're starting to
heal."
I'm
nervous, so don't give me cat calls. [Cat calls.]
I've been going over what I'm gonna say. ["One
more match!" chant.] You're killing me with the
one more match thing. Seriously, I know it's good
TV, he'll have a nervous breakdown. We sold out the
building! He had a heart attack!
["We
love you Shawn!"] I'm serious. For the love of
God, help me out here. I don't even know where to
start. You know there are things that go between ...
I can't say, I'm not supposed to say. That's one of
the reasons I was OK to retire. Coincidentally, this
is the first year where we're not doing it live. They'll
chop it up in post to make sure it's ok to air.
When
I was 19 years old, I didn't want to be a sports entertainer.
I didn't know at the time. I told my mom and dad,
I want to do what those guys do it on TV. Making it
was going to be going out in San Antonio and wresting
in front of 25 people. Fast forward, and I'm a 45-year-old
man, and I get to stand here and say thank you.
Along
the way, I wasn't really aware of it. I was raised
by a loving family, sitting right down here, who loved
me every step of the way and supported me. But for
whatever reason when I started doing this line of
work at 19 I spent the next 26 years searching for
validation. I don't even know why. But what my peers
thought of me and what you thought of me was the most
important thing in my life. And I worked myself into
the ground. It was so important to me that you thought
I did a good job. I know that sounds patronizing,
but I want to thank you so much for giving me that.
I'm
very thankful to all the other inductees and especially
Triple H for making this fun and amusing. Because
as much as I've tried to not make it a deep and heavy
cry fest, I can't do it. There are no words to express
how much I lived and breathed to do this every night
for so many years. And it begs the question, how am
I gonna be OK away from this?
Last
Monday the Undertaker had mentioned Shawn Michaels
will walk into the Hall of Fame with a ton of regrets.
If this had happened in 1998, that might've been true.
At that time, I was good at my job, but there's no
way I could've stood here with no regrets. And although
my family would've been proud of me, I know there
would've been a little disappointment for them and
a certain guy backstage whose name I'm not allowed
to mention. [Crowd WOOs. Guy next to me says "RIC
FLAIR!" I believe him!]
I
came back in 2002 after being told I'd never wrestle
again, for one more match. That was nine years ago.
I'm thankful I can stand before you with absolutely
no regrets. [Missed a part about God and his family.
Sorry.] Since they came into my life, I've had not
a regret. Not a second goes by that I'm not thankful.
The most precious gift of all is my little family.
I love you all so much, and I want to thank you for
being so selfless and letting daddy finish what he
started.
It
was very important to me to come back and go away
on my own terms. I love my two children more than
anything in the world. Thank you so much for letting
daddy go wrestle. [I have a daughter. Totally about
to tear up.]
There
are countless WWE superstars that I've had to create
with. I'd love to mention everybody, but I don't want
to make this too long. I don't wanna be that guy.
[Crowd WOOs.] You guys are implying that. I'm not
saying that. Every year there's somebody, and we're
like, dude there's WrestleMania tomorrow. I'm gonna
assume you know who you are.
Because
I did my best to make sure before I left to tell you
how awesome it was for me, and how much I appreciate
you guys [makes crazy hand gestures] putting up with
me when I wanna do something you don't do all that
much. I appreciate your time and patience. I appreciate
you being a part of my life. A lot of times all we've
got is each other. We're like guys in a fox hole together.
But when we're with each other, we're all we got.
We can stab each other in the back, but can't nobody
else do it.
I
wanna thank you for allowing me to be a part of that
fraternity. We're always gonna look at everybody else
and say you're not gonna understand it. And that's
OK. It's something we're gonna take to our graves.
And
lastly there's all of you. The WWE universe, the fans.
I love every one of you, even when you bother me at
5 in the morning, even when I cuss you, you still
come back and forgive me. You have been a part of
my life and family for so many years, it begs the
question, why would a 19-year-old kid from a wonderful
upbringing seek validation from strangers?
One
thing people used to always say that separated me
is that I could make a connection with you. I don't
know if I did a good job, but for the last 26 years
whether you were connected to me I have no idea, but
I was connected to you. I have never won Most Popular,
I wasn't the prom king, I wasn't the homecoming king,
so I guess in my adult life the most important thing
to me was that you believed in me and thought I was
good. On this night, 2011 Hall of Fame, I feel it,
I thank you, I love my ring. And I love each and every
one of you.
I
know this has been sappy. I can't help it. And if
you're not down with that, I got two words for you.
("Suck it!" from the crowd.)
WWE
News: Jim Ross new blog on WWE Hall of Fame &
announcing future, Daniel Bryan interview on Miz,
Cena, cattle mutilation (Credit:
Pro Wrestling Torch)
By
James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor
--
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has published a new blog
on jrsbarbq.com
discussing this year's WWE Hall of Fame class, Paul
Orndorff's cancer revelation, historical Royal Rumble
events, his announcing future, and other topics in
the news.
On
the Hall of Fame: "I hope that the class does
have a WCW/Atlanta feel but the class will likely
be 6-8 inductions tops. Plus, WWE will want to not
over do posthumous inductions if at all possible."
On
his announcing future: "Have I called my last
event in any thing? I hope not and that's not my plan
but my broadcasting work may not include regular WWE
work but something outside the genre." Ross said
he feels he's a "long shot" for the Univ.
of Oklahoma announcing job, but he's "not retreating"
on pursuing his dream job.
--
WWE U.S. champion Daniel Bryan has an interview with
Jon Waldman of Slam Wrestling covering a variety of
different subjects from his first year in WWE.
Bryan
said he would have liked to have learned more from
The Miz on Season 1 of NXT, he hasn't seen his infamous
2003 Velocity match against yellow-pants-wearing John
Cena "in years," and he won't use the Cattle
Mutilation submission on TV.
On
possibly wrestling Cena again: "I thought it
was a good match and it gets me excited because I
know we both progressed in our careers and if we ever
got to wrestle again it would be really good."
On
not using Cattle Mutilation on TV: "I didn't
really believe the Cattle Mutilation would get over
with the WWE Universe, and the reason why is because
it's such a TV-oriented product. There are a lot of
downfalls to it. You can't see the other guy's face,
and on top of that, it's very difficult to do it to
big guys; I don't have long arms."
Tough
Enough Returns, by Greg Tingle - 7th January 2011
WWE
officially announced on Monday that USA Network has
ordered ten episodes of the "Tough Enough"
series beginning Monday, April 4, the night after
WrestleMania 27.
Media
Man Australia is often quotes and featured in the
press regarding pro wresting. Portfolio includes:
ABC
Radio, ABC TV, The Australian Worker, Pro Wrestling
Torch, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Oregonian,
The New York Times Online, Baltimore Sun (Ring Posts),
Gambling911...
Professional
wrestling, or pro wrestling, is the performance, management,
and marketing of a simulated sport and performing
art which combines elements of catch wrestling, mock
combat and theatre. Modern professional wrestling
usually features simulated striking and grappling
techniques, which are modelled after diverse sets
of global wrestling and pugilistic styles.
Professional
wrestling can vary from sports entertainment like
WWE to a legitimate sport like Japanese wrestling
and even lucha libre style wrestling found in Mexico.
(Credit:
Wikipedia).
