What the WWE is cookin’ for the Rock’s new 3-disc DVD, tentatively scheduled to layeth the smacketh down on store shelves June 10.*

(Credit to Wrestling Observer)

HHH vs. Rock 3/13/97 for IC title
Rock vs. Owen Hart 4/6/98 for IC title
Rock vs. HHH 6/22/98 King of the Ring tournament
Rock vs. Mankind 11/15/98 Survivor series WWF title match
Rock vs. Mankind 2/14/99 Last man standing for WWF title
Rock vs. Mankind 2/15/99 Ladder match for WWF title
Rock vs. Steve Austin 3/28/99 WWF title
Rock vs. HHH 7/5/99 cage match on Raw
Rock & Mankind vs. Undertaker & Big show 8/30/99 WWF tag title
Rock vs. Kane 12/30/99 Smackdown
Rock vs. HHH 4/30/00 WWF title
Rock vs. Shane McMahon 5/1/00 Cage match for WWF title.
Rock vs. Kurt Angle 2/25/01 WWF title
Rock vs. Booker T 9 8/19/01 SummerSlam for WCW title
Rock vs. Chris Jericho 1/20/02 Royal Rumble for WWF title
Rock vs. Hulk Hogan 3/17/02 Wrestlemania match
Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kurt angle 7/21/02 for WWF title
Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero 7/22/02 on Raw
Rock vs. Steve Austin 3/30/03 at Wrestlemania

Is it too early to start standing in line at Best Buy? Because that DVD sounds awesome.

*Sorry, I know that was bad. It won’t happen again. At least not tonight…

The Big Bossman beats the shit out of Hulk Hogan:

There’s only one thing better than this:

And that’s this:

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You may have already heard that Ric Flair will be salsa dancing in the new CBS show Secret Talents of the Stars, but there are plans now for WWE to work heavily with NBC Universal to place wrestlers and divas in this summer’s reality TV shows. The reason being is that WWE will have a post-Wrestlemania marketing campaign that will underscore the fact that they were the original “reality” programming and will lead up to casting a new $1,000,000 Tough Enough series to air before Summer Slam. Here are some of the rumored shows and castings:

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Results from Gerweck.net:

I don’t know about you, but I thought all of the news coming out of Orlando last week leading up to Wrestlemania last night was pretty dull.

And then, as if to appease my disappointment, there was Robbie-Gate.

If you didn’t watch TNA Impact last Thursday night, then you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. WWE wrestler Robbie McAllister was in attendance at last Thursday’s live TNA Impact show. It’s been reported that he was there just to visit his friend Johnny Devine, but oops! That’s in violation of an edict sent down earlier in the week from WWE management to stay away from situations where they could be seen with TNA wrestlers.

Obviously, there is a point to such a decision. There were literally thousands of wrestling fans in town for the festivities last week, and many of them probably went to Universal Studios where TNA tapes their shows. Stupidly, WWE asked for some of this by staging events there as well, but hey, I guess you go where the people are instead of expecting them to come to you. I doubt they would get a welcome reception at Downtown Disney. By the way, WWE, there were still TNA guys getting into your events and past your security. Just so you know… hopefully, these guys will not include last weekend in their work experience on their job applications with the TSA. By the way, AJ Styles, Earl Hebner, and other TNA wrestlers got into this event and told fans to watch TNA Impact.

The best part now is that some of the TNA wrestlers are mad at their own TV production people for putting Robbie on camera and outing him in the first place as a cheap publicity stunt. Apparently these guys were never around for TNA’s other cheap publicity stunts with those guys that got kicked off of Survivor, Pacman Jones as tag team champion, offering Bob Knight a job, etc. So, obviously they would be shocked SHOCKED I SAY that TNA would engage in YET ANOTHER cheap publicity stunt like that. Here’s what I have to say about it: if Robbie wanted to watch Impact so badly, do it in your hotel room, but telling a wrestler to stay in his hotel room when everybody else is out partying is like telling a Catholic priest to keep his hands off the altar boys.

You know what? I’m going to use the same argument that I use on my father-in-law every time he complains about not getting to see his grandkids often enough. The roads go in both directions, so do the cars and the airplanes. If Robbie wanted to hang out with his buddy Johnny Devine so badly, then he should have done it some other time in the week that wasn’t a TV night or let Johnny come to him. Don’t do it the week that every jackoff mark is going to be watching your every move and ready to snap every misstep with his jackoff camera phone. Don’t go to the other company’s turf and expect that no one will know you are there. It’s just utter stupidity on his part, and he got what he deserved.

By the way, as far as this “edict” from management goes, it apparently didn’t apply to Jeff Jarrett and Johnny Ace, Edge and Christian Cage, MVP, Mr. Kennedy, Shelton Benjamin, and the Undertaker (who was seen with Booker T). But, hey, I guess only Vince McMahon ordered the wrestlers to do stay away from TNA… it’s not like it was LINDA or anything. She’s the REAL boss.

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He’s the “limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’, kiss-stealin’, wheelin’ and dealin’ son of a gun,” and there will never be another like him. Thanks for all the memories, Naitch.

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It’s Wrestlemania weekend, so let’s celebrate by taking a look at some of the greatest moments in wrestling history.

First up: From 1990, Sting’s new tag team partner saves him from an attack by the Four Horsemen.

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Time to shoot on the granddaddy of them all. This time Birdsong sits in and gives his obviously pro-Hulk Hogan rhetoric on this year’s Wrestlemania. (Actually, that’s not true. This is the first time I’ve read something of his for more than 5 minutes were the big yellow-and-red cheese isn’t mentioned, and that’s not Captain Marvel either.)

Anyway, here’s the opening question for the roundtable: will Floyd Mayweather’s involvement in Wrestlemania help WWE recoup his $20 million price tag?

Jonathan Birdsong: Buyrates go up in general when it comes to Wrestlemania. In theory this is a good card, so depending on the performances I imagine DVD sales of this show will be up too. It has the potential to be GREAT, but in the same breath it also has the potential to be mediocre. There’s nobody from the International scene (Japan/Mexico) wrestling on the card, so we’re not really seeing anything new here. $20 mil, recoup…smells like Jay Leno and Karl Malone in WCW all-over again. There will be budget-cuts come Summer Slam!

The Russ: I’m not sure how much money Donald Trump made last year, but did he really do anything to help sell the show besides show up on video every so often on Raw? They didn’t even do anything on The Apprentice with any cross-promotion. At least Mayweather is heavily involved in doing appearances and physically getting involved on Raw, and his name gets a lot of run on the sports talk shows, which is WWE’s target demographic. But, you’re right… Wrestlemania is traditionally the end of WWE’s fiscal year, and April is generally when people get released. If they don’t do some Mike Tyson-like numbers, I would bet that a lot of folks will get whacked next month and they will quite rightly point the finger at this particular business decision.

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This was the debut of Daimon Striker on WCW Pro in 1996. His match was against Meng, accompained by Hugh Morris. The match doesn’t go one long, but the young star gets proper television time. If the name “Daimon Striker” doesn’t sound familiar, it is because the jobber now goes by another name…

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Steve Austin shoots on WCW during his “cup of coffee” in ECW:

Two things I love about this promo:

1) Austin’s great impression of Dusty Rhodes, including the requisite lisp;

2) Austin calls himself the “biggest potential superstar in wrestling” at least two years before becoming the biggest superstar in wrestling history.

Say it with me now… “WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

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From early 1994, here’s the one and only match-up between Rick & Scott Steiner and Bret & Owen Hart. Check out the wild post-match brawl.

Part 1:

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Today I want to run through a few quick-hit reviews of some recent releases that I’ve quite enjoyed.

Aspen Showcase:  Grace #1 (Aspen MLT) Written by Vince Hernandez; Art by Sana Takeda.The Aspen Showcase titles will feature one particular character from Aspen’s various regular titles including Soulfire, Fathom, Shrugged, and their new properties to come. Think of it sort of like those old anthology titles from Marvel Comics like Marvel Spotlight or Marvel Premiere. This first issue feature’s Soulfire’s heroine Grace as she journeys throughout time from the period of the Crusades to the year 2200, looking for a return of the age of magic. Highlighting the issue is simply gorgeous artwork by Sana Takeda with a moderate Manga look. Grade B+

Halloween: Nightdance #2 (Devils Due) Written by Stefan Hutchinson; Art by Tim Seeley. I really love Tim Seeley’s art and have been a fan for some time now. His rendering of Michael Myers is very well done. Michael is cold and almost mythological in this series. Hutchinson is doing a nice job presenting Michael’s driving madness, particularly in the way be painted one victims face like a clown before cutting her throat. But I’m having trouble wrapping myself around the convoluted storyline. The running first-person narrative from multiple characters makes the storyline difficult to follow. This series has enormous potential but needs to pickup up the juice a little bit moving forward. It was a boon for Devil’s Due to nail down the rights and it would be a shame to toss it away. Grade C

Urban Monsters #1 (Image Comics) Written by Will Wilson and Joanne Moore; Art by Tone Rodriguez and Rick Ross. Combine monsters with a good ol’ fashioned buddies on a road trip, and you’ve got Urban Monsters. Monsters are real and live in our world but they are strictly second-class citizens, doing the kind of drudgery work that no one else wants to do. Randy is a fishman, Eddie is a zombie, Arnaud is half man half goat beast, and Bet is a Sasquatch-like creature. When Randy and Arnaud read about an open casting call for monsters in Variety, the four friends hit the road from New York, heading to L.A. for what they hope will be fame and fortune. The buddy road trip plot is usually always fun and toss in monsters and you’ve got yourself an enjoyable first issue. I was surprised by the art as I thought they might go for a more minimal, cartoony look, given the subject matter, but the art was a real strength. I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the series. Grade A-

WWE suspends Jeff Hardy

Way to go, Jeff. Wrestlemania’s just a few weeks away, and you were the odds on favorite to win the Money in the Bank ladder match, thus ensuring a future World Title shot. You’re in the midst of the biggest push of your entire career, and given the insane amount of support you’ve been receiving from the fans, it was just a matter of time before the WWE would have to relent to public demand and give you the belt. So naturally, you fuck it all up by failing yet another drug test and getting suspended for sixty days. You’re not quite as stupid as Rob Van Dam, who was arrested for possession while holding both the WWE Championship and the ECW Championship, but you’re pretty damn close.