Facts from Wrestlemania 30, 6th April 2014

The wrestling fan’s ersatz bank holiday weekend, Wrestlemania 30 was last night, and I had a lot of thoughts about it. Spoiler, obviously.

Question: what was your WWE Best PPV match of 2013?

Idly watching WWE’s latest home DVD release – Best PPV Matches of 2013 – was an odd experience for me.

To be honest, give me a show or compilation with Renee Young presenting and you can guarantee I’ll watch – she’s smart, she knows her stuff, and she has a real personality – a terrific addition to the WWE’s reporting team.

But even with Young doing the links between matches, it seemed a bit strange to me to watch PPV matches in isolation – out of the context of their PPVs and their broader storyline. Although I saw all last year’s WWE PPVs, watching them back in this setting was like watching them for the first time, entirely free of the baggage I brought to them initially.

Obviously MY best PPV matches of 2013 would mostly involve the Shield, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, but I understand and appreciate that this has to be evened out to appeal to people who aren’t ladysmarks, so of course you’ve got John Cena v the Rock and Alberto Del Rio v Rob Van Dam as well.

Question: does it matter what you think?

You might have seen the kerfuffle on Twitter this week as The Rock defended himself against the accusations of a wrestling blogger.

As The Rock picked up the Slammy for “LOL Moment of the Year” for the song in which he called Vickie Guerrero “bee-yotch” and likened her to “a hooker, but not the expensive kind”, he tweeted her to warn her to to get her “stink pickle halitosis” on his award.

So far, so Rock.

With Leather’s Brandon Stroud replied to this to ask him: “Any chance you could stop talking to women like they’re garbage for five seconds?”

And The Rock defended himself by saying: “Vicky [sic] and I are actually good friends” and later adding: “[W]e all write our promos – together.”

Taking The Rock’s words at face value – I have no reason to doubt them, though I’m fairly sure if a good friend of mine called me an ugly whore on international TV I’d be moderately upset – does Vickie’s agreement to these skits make them OK?

Some facts about RAW 1000, July 23rd 2012

Last night was the 1000th episode of RAW, and marked a new era – from now on, we’ll have three hours of live promo action with a bit of wrestling every Monday night!

So here are my thoughts on last night’s show. Spoilers abound, obviously.

Review: Wrestlemania 28 – what the hell was that?

Good grief. I mean, it’s not as if I expect stellar pay-per-views from WWE any more, but I was starting to get marginally excited. (Mostly because Jon at Progress Wrestling kept telling me to expect a Kings of Wrestling run-in at the end of the pre-show tag-team title match.)

However, when you begin with an 18-second squash of your World Heavyweight Champion (YES! YES! Um – no?), you’ve kind of set a tone for the evening.

Interview: The Warden Phil Ward talks The Rock, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and tax

I reported from FPW this weekend that I was very taken with ‘The Warden’, whom I likened to “Mr McKay in Porridge, except younger, with more hair and with sunglasses”. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a big shouty slightly crazed heel.

So I decided to have a chat with wrestler Phil Ward to find out about his character and his career…

First of all, congrats on a great show at FPW on Saturday – we really enjoyed it! Is the story I’ve heard about your gimmick’s genesis true?

Haha, yes, it’s all true. I was literally given the idea with the explanation that my name was Ward (Ward…Warden…get it?) and that everyone hates prison. Full credit to Steve (HD) Evans, though, because if he hadn’t pushed me to do it, then the Warden never would’ve seen the light of day. 

Question: Are you going to buy the WWE Survivor Series PPV?

So having watched the WWE RAW go-home show prior to Sunday’s Survivor Series PPV (yes, OK, Smackdown’s on Friday, but that doesn’t really count, does it?), will you be forking out your hard-earned cash for the show? It’s on Box Office in the UK as well as the US, as are all the important shows, so you’ve got six days to decide…

Question: will the Rock accept John Cena’s invitation to team up at Survivor Series?

This is the question that WWE are seriously posing to us on tonight’s Smackdown. So I thought I’d take a vote and see what TOWIS readers think.

Exclusive: Mickie James – ‘I can walk away with a smile on my face!’

Mickie James has to be one of the hardest-working women in pro wrestling. Not only is she on the road with TNA – “for 200 days out of the past year,” she sighs – but she’s also working on her new album. It’s a cliché, but how does she balance two demanding and creative careers?

“Wrestling, for me, I feel I know it well enough that I can get in there, do my dance and do it rather well; but I’m tapping into adrenalin-based emotion,” she says. “Music is more like the heart and soul. I try to write songs that aren’t what everyone’s said a million times, and that takes you back to a place in your life that you can relate to. It’s fun, because it goes off in a different creative pattern. Being on the road so much, I have a lot of road stories that I can play with!”

But something has to give, surely? “I think sleep is the one thing I give up. And my sanity!” she laughs.