Rock News

Wow, have I ever mentioned that it's absolutely awesome to have Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson back in the WWE?

Since coming back to WWE to host the upcoming WrestleMania XXVII, the product has arguably become more entertaining with the three-way dynamic he has with WWE Champion The Miz and John Cena. WWE has also announced that Rock will also be at the first Raw show after WrestleMania XXVII, but nothing else past that date has been announced.

It's also being reported that The Rock is going to be the cover boy for the April 2011 issue of WWE Magazine. That's all the information I have about that, no word on interviews or anything, though I'm sure they'll have something to that effect in there.

Also, ProWrestling.net is reporting that Dwayne is indeed set to appear on the reboot of Tough Enough some time this season. The show is hosted by Rock's old WWF-E nemesis and WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, with trainers Booker T, Bill DeMott and Trish Stratus.

This is certainly great news for Rock fans.

Jericho On SmackDown

SEScoops.com is reporting that Chris Jericho will indeed be making a pre-taped promo appearance on SmackDown tomorrow night.

According to the wrestling news site, Chris Jericho will make an appearance in the effect of a pre-tape, discussing the upcoming match between Triple H and the Undertaker at this year's WrestleMania.

For what it's worth, Chris' gig on Dancing with the Stars begins on Monday, where he is teamed with professional dancer Cheryl Burke, in a team they've coined "Team Chericho".

Basically, what I'm saying is that don't be too surprised if WWE throws a bit of a Dancing with the Stars promotion his way for making the appearance on SmackDown.

Superstars Cancelled!

Chris Shore of ProWrestling.net is reporting -- and it has been confirmed by television station WGN -- that WWE's Thursday night program WWE Superstars has been cancelled.

The final airing of Superstars is April 7, 2011.

I feel horrible for all the mid-card stars who really only got to show their craft on this show. Expect a good chunk of them to be released within the coming months thanks in part to a creative team that drops the ball.

Impact Spoilers, March 31

In the TNA Xplosion tapings prior to the show, Hardcore Country Knockout Mickie James pinned Rosita.

We open with Anderson dragging Hebner down to the ring and demanding to know why the match the week before ended in another no contest. Anderson demands the decision to be reversed, but Hebner refuses. Hebner is laid out, his son Brian comes to check on him, and Sting comes out to chastise Anderson for ragging on a referee. Sting and Anderson start brawling and RVD comes out to join in on the fun, demanding Hebner put Anderson in the Lockdown main event. True to typical TNA form, Hogan and Bischoff come out in the opening segment to finally make it a three-way match at Lockdown.

Bischoff announces that the main event will be Sting & Anderson & RVD vs. Naitch's team of Matt Hardy, Abyss and Bully Ray in a steel cage. He says the Network wants ratings, and he's going to give it to them. Insert joke here. Just too easy.

Sting and Anderson start brawling again, but they are pulled apart.

With Eric Young and Orlando Jordan doing commentary, Scott Steiner defeated Jesse Neal. Doug Williams and Magnus attacked after.

Max Buck defeated Jeremy Buck.

Winter defeated Velvet Sky. Angelina came out during the match and left with Winter.

Anderson calls out Sting to apologize, but slaps him instead. They brawled into the crowd. Abyss, Hardy and Ray attacked, but RVD made the save.

Angle calls out Jarrett and states he will not wait for Lockdown. Rob Terry comes out instead. Angle beats Terry and chases Jarrett.

In a steel cage, the team of Bully, Matt and Abyss defeated Sting, Anderson and Van Dam. Sting attacked Anderson during his intro. Anderson did not want to enter the cage until Hogan made him do so. Anderson screwed over RVD, allowing Bully to get the pin.

The heels continue to beat on RVD and Sting. Fortune and Immortal both hit the ring. Flair locks the cage as the babyfaces get massacred. Christopher Daniels hits the ring. He hits a flip from the top of the cage and wipes out Immortal.

Superstar Spoilers

Here are some spoilers for tonight's WWE Superstars telecast that was taped Monday before Raw.

*Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov defeated The Usos.

*In an eight Diva tag match, Natalya, Tamina, Gail Kim and Eve defeated The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox and Melina.

*Tyler Reks defeated JTG in a one-on-one match.

Impact Spoilers, March 24

So, here are the spoilers for tonight's Impact tapings, which will air on March 24.

Anderson comes out with a professor. There's a white board in the ring. He runs numbers and announces again that he wants his rematch. Anderson hits the Mic Check on the professor.

True to a typical TNA opening segment, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff come out. They tell Anderson that he hasn't earned his rematch yet. They set up Anderson and RVD again. Sting comes out and announces that the Network wants him to be the special guest referee.

Hardcore Country Knockout Mickie James defeated Tara, then had a staredown with TNA Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne.

Samoa Joe's little cameraman defeated The Pope. Samoa's lackey was bleeding pretty badly in this match. Samoa Joe ran off The Pope.

Flair comes out with Hardy and Bully. Calls them the best tag team wrestlers. The crowd chants for Fortune and then chants boring. Guess what TNA? The fans aren't cutting slack to even Ric Flair these days. Fortune comes out and brawls with them. Then Abyss returns, apparently sporting a new look.

Hernandez comes out with Sarita and Rosita and introduces the guy behind all the attacks as their new associate Esteban.

Hernandez and his new partner defeat Matt Morgan and Brother Devon. Rosita and Sarita get involved which brings out Velvet Sky and Angelina Love. Angelina seemed to be helping Velvet, but Winter called her to the back, leaving Morgan to tend to Velvet.

RVD and Anderson ended in yet another no contest. Wow...is it just me or does it feel like TNA is just sticking it in and turning the knife? Two weeks with two main events that end in no count out, preceded by an 88 second main event.

Minor Spoiler for Tonight's Taping

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net is reporting that Abyss has returned to TNA at tonight's Impact tapings, set to air a week from Thursday. Abyss has not been seen on television since he had his nail studded 2x4 Janice stuck in his back.

According to Powell, Abyss helped Ric Flair, Matt Hardy and Bully Ray when AJ Styles and the Fortune faction got the better of them. So it appears that Abyss is still a heel and very much still aligned with Hulk Hogan and Immortal.

I have to admit, it's been great having Abyss gone, since people were starting to object to having him shoved down their throats. However, with him coming back now after such an absence, I think it could do huge things for Abyss as a character.

Spoilers For Impact This Thursday

So, for the ten people who are still die-hard TNA and want to continue watching the program after their blatant show of disrespect to the fans on Sunday, here are some spoilers. For the rest of the people that don't want to watch the product, but still want to follow it, the spoilers for last night's taping are here as well.

Sting is introduced as the new TNA Champion. I could only imagine how good of a mood Sting is in, considering how pissed off he looked at Victory Road.

And, because it's TNA Impact, that means we can't have an opening segment where Bischoff and Hogan stay backstage. So apparently they come out and state that they can't change what belongs to them. Unfortunately, they can't change the fan's perception of their once-favorite show. Bully Ray -- yes, you read that right -- Fortune, Anderson and Van Dam come out claiming that they want another title shot. Fatal four way match is then set up to determine who will face Sting at TNA's next underselling pay-per-view Lockdown.

Crimson and Scott Steiner defeat Ink Inc. Apparently the Ink Inc. relationship begins to deteriorate more with Shannon Moore seemingly being the heel.

Pope D'Angelo Dinero holds a "healing ritual" that is apparently interrupted by Samoa Joe and Okada, his Green Hornet Kato-rip-off of a stalker/photographer.

Madison Rayne holds yet another open challenge and this time she gets to squash former TNA Knockout Alissa Flash. Afterwards, Hardcore Country Knockout Mickie James challenges Madison to a match at Lockdown for the Knockouts Championship. Madison claims that she will accept if Mickie James will put her hair on the line...oh, great, another stipulation match. Don't do it, Mickie -- you've seen what happened to the last Knockout that put her hair on the line for management.

Jeff Jarrett tries to make a truce with Kurt Angle, who obviously refuses. Chaos ensues, Karen goes for a low-blow, but Kurt's wearing a cup, apparently. Jarrett is split open with his guitar. Kurt wants a match at Lockdown. Jarrett says no. Kurt promises that things are gonna happen that are going to suck harder than an episode of Impact. No, not really. I made that up. It's a fate worse than death apparently, anyway.

The TV title was apparently vacated. I missed this. Jeremy "I Wish Death on Your Family" Borash comes out and announces a triple threat. Gunner -- yes, Gunner -- defeats Murphy and Rob Terry to win the TV title.

Matt Morgan, Angelina Love and Winter defeated the team of Hernandez, Sarita and Rosita. The fan makes a run in again.

AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray vs. Ken Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam ends in a no contest, which means that TNA is screwing the fans yet again. Terrific. Instead of apologizing to the fans for being screwed, it's just business as usual for Dixie and crew. Disgusting.

Tough Enough Contestant

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net has confirmed that the woman pictured here to my right, Michelle Deighton, is a confirmed cast member for the reboot of Tough Enough, hosted by WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin the night after WrestleMania.

Michelle is a reality television star, having competed on a season of America's Next Top Model. She is married to former Survivor competitor and former TNA wrestler Jonny Fairplay.

Michelle will join other cast members Miss USA Rima Fakih, Christina Crawford (who is Diva Alicia Fox's sister), Ariane Andrew, Matt Capiccioni, Ryan Howe, AJ Kirsch, Andy Leavine, Jeremiah Riggs, Luke Robinson, Ivelisse Velez, Eric Watts and Michael Zacki.

Trainers for Tough Enough this season will be current WWE commentator and former TNA Superstar and 5x WCW World Champion Booker T, former WCW and WWE Superstar Bill DeMott (who was known as Hugh Morrus back in his WCW days ), and former WWE Diva and seven-time Women's Champion Trish Stratus.

New Mania Match!

Last night's Raw has us chugging down the road to WrestleMania 27, emanating on April 3.

Last night, Trish Stratus and Snooki (pictured left) found a common enemy in Vickie Guerrero, Dolph Ziggler and LayCool, setting up a six person-intergender tag match between Dolph, LayCool, Trish, Snooki and John Morrison. Already this morning, Perez Hilton and TMZ have covered Snooki's appearance on Raw, which included a Lou Thesz Press to Layla El.

We have a new United States Champion in the form of Sheamus, who threatened to quit the WWE if he didn't win it. He defeated Daniel Bryan.

Also, the feud between The Rock and John Cena is heating up, and now with the Miz making his presence known, it could be one of the more interesting WrestleMania main events in recent history. Miz defeated The Great Khali last night, opening up his back with a steel chair.

Preview For Impact

Hot on the heels of last night's Victory Road pay-per-view, TNA put out a preview of this coming Thursday's Impact, which is set to tape tonight. Jeff Hardy is still listed on the preview, but we'll see what's going on now that reports state that Jeff was sent home.

*Karen and Jeff Jarrett have a proposal for Kurt Angle.

*The aftermath from Sting retaining his championship and the double count-out contender's match between Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam.

*A six-person intergender street fight that pits Hernandez and new TNA Knockouts Tag Champions Rosita and Sarita against Matt Morgan and The Beautiful People.

Victory Road 2011: Mr. Anderson vs. RVD

Next up is the number one contender's match for the TNA World Championship, pitting former champions Rob Van Dam against Mr. Ken Anderson.

This match started off shaky, but did seem to pick up a little bit of momentum. Anderson had a sense of humor early on in the match when the fans called out a botched leapfrog.

Unfortunately, the finish for this match was weak. It was a double-countout at 12:45. I hate weak finishes on pay-per-view when the fans have to pay for them. Unfortunately, TNA is great at this.

*There is no sense in creating another blog for the main event. Sting defeated Jeff Hardy in about 90 seconds to retain the championship.

Victory Road 2011: Matt Hardy vs. AJ Styles

Up next, we have AJ Styles vs. Matt Hardy, who was accompanied by Ric Flair to the ring.

Quite frankly, I'm stunned at the way Matt Hardy has been treated since coming to TNA, and this is coming from someone who wishes he would just disappear and go away. When Matt left WWE, he was something of an important free agent, albeit a loose cannon with a YouTube video blogging fetish. It was assumed he would go to TNA with Jeff there, but since Matt has shown up, he's become just another regular guy, much like Mickie James became just another Knockout. Unfortunately for Matt tonight, the match highlights belong to the "Phenomenal" AJ Styles, the man who is arguably the face of TNA.

Styles pulled out a lot of his great arsenal tonight, including the Spinal Tap, a move that he does not use very often. AJ Styles defeated Matt Hardy at 16:35.

Victory Road 2011: Beer Money vs. Ink Inc.

Up next was the Tag Team Championship match that pitted Beer Money against Ink Inc.

There was a cool double team roll up further into the match done by Beer Money. Shannon Moore clearly had some female followers in the crowd, while Beer Money appeared to have a great male following.

The problem with this match is I don't think anybody truly expected Ink Inc. to win. Unfortunately, the build to this was a bit weak, what with Hulk Hogan's return, the court case verdict and the Jarrett-Angle Saga. Anyway, at 14:25 into the match, Beer Money defeated Ink Inc to retain the TNA Tag Team Championship.

Keibler Alert!

The WWE Universe's favorite former WWE Diva will be reprising her role on the NBC series Chuck this coming Monday. Chuck airs at 8/7 central on NBC.

This will be the second time Stacy Keibler will be appearing on the NBC series. She plays a character named Greta. Apparently -- I don't watch the series -- she is the third Greta in the series, which is a CIA undercover agent. According to 411mania.com, the other Greta joining her on this series is going to be none other than Isaiah Mustafa, who is known to the entire world as the "Old Spice Guy".

Since leaving WWE in 2005 following her stint on Dancing With The Stars, Stacy Keibler has managed to keep up a steady profile both in acting and in modelling. It's always nice to see someone do well outside of the WWE umbrella.