John Cena Grants Wish, Edge & Bret Hart Attend Hockey Game, Rock Note

- John Cena made an appearance on Today’s Kathie Lee & Hoda show to grant eight-year-old Nick Santillo, who was born with just half a heart, his wish of meeting the WWE Champ. Embedded below is footage from the appearance.
- Washington Wizards center Jason Collins told Sports Illustrated that he’s gay. The Rock commented on Collins’ decision to come out, writing on Twitter, “Being real & authentic is very powerful. Well done Jason Collins for having the courage to take a monumental step forward. #LiveReal”
- Former WWE Superstar Edge was with Bret Hart attended Sunday night’s Edmonton Oil Kings at Calgary Hitmen minor league hockey game. Edge commented on the game, writing on Twitter, “What a night! Calgary Hitmen game with @BretHart , won in OT, followed by a great dinner. Never get’s old sharin Owen stories”

The Rock was Considered for Transformers Role

Director Michael Baby stated tells E! Online that The Rock was up for the lead role in his next Transformers movie, which ended up going to Rock’s Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg. Bay wouldn’t reveal who the first choice for the movie was, but did say that it came down to “availability.”

The Rock and Wahlberg discussed some of the controversy over Pain & Gain. The movie is based on a true story about a murder case, and several of the victims are upset that the killings are being used for a comedy. The Rock admitted that “it was a crazy time” in Miami when the actual murders took place, but didn’t say much more about it. Wahlberg said they they did try to protect the victim’s identities and that he was sensitive to the victims and their families.

Ryback Says Change Is Inevitable, Extreme Rules Theme, The Rock Honored

- Here are Ryback’s latest tweets:

“First rule of #RybackRules is there are no rules. Change is inevitable. I am on a mission. Target not John Connor, but JC is who I see. Workout tip #1. Hard work always works. In Dublin on zero sleep and legs will be destroyed in gym. You will understand me soon. #RybackRules”

- The theme song for WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view is “Live It Up” by Airborne.

- The Rock was recognized by the University of Miami’s Alumni Association with the Edward T. Foote II Alumnis of Distinction Award on Thursday night.

Rock Provides Physical Therapy Update, HBK & NAO Added to Live Events

- The Rock provided an update on his physical therapy, writing on Twitter, “Workout #1 starts now. AM cardio. These machines are gettin’ their ass kicked. Cue music..#BackInBlack”

“Today’s AM cardio plan: 35min. Empty stomach. Average heart rate 135-155 5 weeks out & prepping: HERCULES”

As noted earlier, The Rock will be heading overseas in five weeks to start filming for Hercules.

- John Cena will miss three Raw live events next month. Shawn Michaels and The New Age Outlaws have been added to those events to make up for his absence. Those dates and locations are as followed:

* Friday, May 24th at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, UT
* Saturday, May 25th at Enmax Centrium in Red Deer, AB
* Sunday, May 26th at ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge, AB

Big Announcement Scheduled for Tomorrow, Rock Provides Injury Update

- The Rock provided an update on his Injury, writing on Twitter, “Injury update: Physical therapy starts tomorrow. Hardcore training starts today. Thank U guys for the love. 5 weeks out..#RoadToHercules”

- WWE will make a major announcement tomorrow at 11:30AM at 5505 Forsyth Commons Road. The announcement will most liley be about the opening of the new WWE developmental facility.

Triple H, Florida Governor Rick Scott and Full Sail University president Garry Jones are scheduled to appear at the event.

The Rock Not Returning for Fast and The Furious 7?

According to Deadline.com, shooting for Fast and The Furious 7 will kick off in August, which may present a problem for The Rock, who will be filming Hercules this summer. The Rock told Collider.com that it would be impossible to shoot for the film that soon.

“It’s not possible for me because I’m shooting Hercules this summer starting in 6 weeks in Budapest, so, possible for them I’m not too sure. I haven’t heard anything about that and I’m pretty sure I would have gotten a phone call pretty early in the morning if that was the real plan. Not quite too sure though.”

Fast and The Furious 7 is currently scheduled for a release date of July 11th, 2014.

Original Plans for Brock Lesnar and Triple H, Early WM Buyrate News

- It will be a few months before we get an official buyrate for the WrestleMania 29 pay-per-view but F4Wonline.com reports that three different sources this past week stated that very early estimates do not look good. One number being floated around was “downright shocking.” WWE’s own internal projections were lowered substantially in the final week before the pay-per-view based on the Elimination Chamber buys coming in lower than expected.

- Original plans for Brock Lesnar and Triple H had them re-visiting the feud later this year, not doing a third match at Extreme Rules. The planned angle with The Rock and Brock Lesnar for the post-WrestleMania RAW that didn’t happen would have built to a SummerSlam match, not a WrestleMania XXX match as previously reported.

Regarding The Rock, there is a lot of concern, or maybe just paranoia, among people within WWE that he will never wrestle again.

The Rock Talks Fast 6, Triple H Confirmed for Monday’s RAW,

- WWE has confirmed that Triple H will be on Monday’s RAW to answer Brock Lesnar’s challenge for Extreme Rules.

- The Rock tweeted the following about Fast 6 last night:

“Just watched private screening – FAST & FURIOUS 6. EPIC. Very proud of my director Justin Lin! A real pleasure bringing the character of HOBBS to life – an old school gunslinger who loves saying the word “Sumbitch”"

Taker Has Surgery Before WM 29, Another Big Movie Date for The Rock

- Entertainment websites are reporting that Fast and Furious 7 will be released on July 11th, 2014. There is some speculation that The Rock will have problems filming the movie due to his obligations with Hercules.

- The Undertaker reportedly underwent minor knee surgery just a few weeks before his WrestleMania 29 match against CM Punk. The operation was described as a simple cleanup.

Kofi Kingston Talks About Returning Overseas, Part Time Wrestlers Returning for WrestleMania & More

WWE U.S. Champion Kofi Kingston was interviewed by The Evening Times. Here are some highlights.

If he would turn heel: “”Everybody on Twitter seems to want me to turn bad… I would try my hand at anything and I think I could do it well.”

Part-time wrestlers involved in the top WrestleMania matches: “The Rock and Brock Lesnar have really paved the way for guys like me. Maybe somewhere down the line we can be the ones coming back for the big appearances and there is certainly a desire for young talent to come through to high profile matches. I’m sure you’ll see that in the coming years.”

Returning overseas: “This is one of the tours we look forward to the most as the environment and culture are both very different to the USA. We often hear some pretty unique football chants at the Scottish shows.”

Dolph Ziggler on Being a Flair Fan Growing Up, Rock’s Part Time Status & More

Dolph Ziggler was interviewed by The Rise Guys. Here are some highlights.
Does he hate John Cena: “Yep. Question number two.”
If most male wrestling fans over the age of 16 hate Cena: “It depends. What he represents for our company is awesome. He is our franchise guy. He’s the go to guy. He’s never not delivered with something. He connects with the crowd. He’s a great guy to have as the face of the company, for now. Until I’m ready. So for right now, baby steps made. New World Champion. I got my lovely lady next to me, AJ. And we also have Big E and I think over the next couple weeks and months we’re going to make some great strides. I think it’s going to be a show, Monday’s and Friday’s are going to be about us because we’re starting to draw attention.”
If Big E Langston is the illegitimate son of Mark Henry: “[AJ Lee speaking] Is he the hand? [Laughter, Dolph Ziggler speaking] We saw the grown up hand at RAW 1000, it looks nothing like Big E.”
His opinion of The Rock’s part time status: “The Rock is not just a huge movie star, he’s one of the biggest stars in the entire world. If you don’t think that it’s a smart business move to have one of the hugest stars in the entire world going head to head with our biggest franchise player on the main event of our biggest show of the year, that’s just dumb. It’s going to come out, it’s great business. It’s great to have him back, but it also really makes me angry. Angrier than you can even imagine because I want to be in that spot. I want a full time guy to be there every single night doing what we do best, giving back to our fans. Live events, pay per views, Monday Night RAW, Friday Night Smackdown, name it and we do it every single night. But it’s a special attraction to have guys like that back and it’s just good business.”
If he was a Ric Flair guy growing up: “Absolutely. At a very young age my uncle showed me Beta tapes of Ric Flair and when you were supposed to you know, eat ice cream bars with Hulk Hogan and look up to that guy, and I had the sand weights that leaked [laughter]. And he was like okay cool, this is the guy [Hogan] and at a very young age I go wow, no Flair is the guy. This guy looks cool. He’s like a James Bond guy in a suit, girls around him, goes out there, has the best match. Right back onto the helicopter, gets out of there with the Horsemen and those go out to party all night and probably not sleep.”

Bret Hart Gives Another Match a 4/10 Rating

Arda Ocal conducted a live Q/A with Bret “Hitman” Hart. In the session which was primary questions from the audience, many questions were covered including:

* Opponents we wished he had a chance to work and would have liked to work one more match against

* His interactions with Batista

* The Rock vs John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania

* Opinions of John Cena and the opinions of him from critics

* Who he considers today to be the “Best There is, Best There Was and the Best There ever will be”

Ocal also asked Bret about comments he made when the pair last spoke in an interview a few weeks ago about Triple H not being in his Top 1000 wrestlers and giving Undertaker vs Triple H at Wrestlemania 28 a 4 out of 10.

Bret is aware that this has become a phenomenon among the internet wrestling community and also gave the match between Triple H and Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 29 a 4/10. He also reveals that he and Triple H dont speak today and when they see each other its typically nothing more than “Hi, bye”. Though he does keep in contact today with Shawn Michaels.

The Rock Avoids Surgery, Batista Attending Fights Tonight, Fandango Note

- WWE Superstar Fandango and movie site Fandango.com had a brief Twitter exchange yesterday after a fan Tweet-hummed Fandango’s theme to the movie site’s Twitter account.

<strongFandango@Fandango</strong
@CODEX911 @WWE We think you are looking for @WWEFandango but thanks for the tweet!

Fandango@WWEFandango
@Fandango We need to talk

- Batista will be walking bantamweight boxer Nonito Donaire Jr. to the ring tonight for his fight against Guillermo Rigondeaux at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

- The Rock commented on avoiding surgery for his injuries suffered at WrestleMania, writing on Twitter, “Injury update: Dr’s & I elected not to reattach tendons to my pelvis. They’ll just scar up. Now I prep to shoot HERCULES #TheDemiGOD”

Fandango Featured on VH1, Top 10 WWE Debuts, Rock Talks Physical Shape

- Embedded in the video below is footage of looking at the top 10 WWE debuts. Some debuts include Brock Lesnar, Kane, Big Show, Tazz and Chris Jericho.

- Fandango fittingly also made VH1′s Best Week Ever this week.

- The Rangers Football Club in Scotland played Fandango’s theme before a match earlier today.

- Access Hollywood published an interview with Wahlberg and The Rock about Pain & Gain. During the interview, both actors discussed their physiques for the movie. Wahlberg admitted to undergoing “huge preparation” to change his look, while Rock noted that he was already in physical shape for the role.

“I was really fortunate because I was coming off of ‘G.I. Joe,’ I was coming off of ‘Fast & Furious’ at that time too,” Rock said. “So a lot of those projects supported and fostered the type of training I was doing.”

Tonight’s SmackDown, The Rock Attends Premiere, Foley on Rock’s Injury

- WWE taped the following matches for tonight’s SmackDown, which will also include an appearance by Triple H:

* Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett
* Kane and Daniel Bryan vs. Darren Young and Titus O’Neil
* The Bella Twins and Tamina Snuka vs. Kaitlyn, Cameron and Naomi
* Big Show vs. Sheamus and Randy Orton in a handicap match
* Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro
* Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler

- Mick Foley tweeted the following about The Rock’s injury:

“Very sorry to hear about the injury suffered by @TheRock. A torn abdominal muscle I suffered in 1993, was BY FAR my most painful injury.”

- Speaking of The Rock, he attended the Pain & Gain premiere last night in Miami. Here is a photo from the red carpet:

Carlito Suggests The Rock Is Using Steroids

As noted earlier, The Rock announced on Twitter the he had tore his ab and abductor tendons during his match with John Cena at WrestleMania 29.

Former WWE star Carlito took to his Twitter following the announcement to call the Rock out, stating that the injury may be due to steroid use.

“Rock tore his ab & adductor tendons? Hmm, I guess instead of getting in tremendous shape for mania…he got in TREN-mendous shape!”, the ex-WWE star wrote.

For those of you who are unaware, Steroid.com lists Tren as one of the most popular steroids to date. The site notes that some of the drugs benefits include “increased muscle mass, increased strength, and increased recovery.”

Rock Working Out with Injuries, Which NXT Stars Are Close to Debuting?

- The Rock noted on Twitter early this morning that he was doing a cardio workout. An hour later he tweeted the following:

“My dr’s said that starting back training w/ torn abdominals would be a bitch. Just found out they were right;). We gotta push thru..”

- It’s said that the top three WWE NXT wrestlers who are close to being called up to WWE’s main roster are Bray Wyatt, Kassius Ohno and Adrian Neville, the former Pac.

The Rock Comments on Injury, Raw’s Atmosphere Story

- The Rock has been thanking fans for their support on Twitter. The Rock also tweeted this pic regarding the muscles being completely torn off his pelvis, and noted in the caption that he will be undergoing rehab immediately instead of having surgery:
“My “Hmm.. I think I just tore tendons off my pelvis” face. Love you guys for all your support!!”

- The Sun published an article about the rowdy crowd on Raw this past Monday night, and how British fans helped create the “incredible atmosphere.” The article noted that Fandango’s theme was rising on the U.K. charts, which is at #14 now.

WWE Signs Irish Women’s Wrestler, Backstage Speculation on The Rock

- Word going around at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings was that The Rock will not be undergoing surgery for his injuries suffered at WrestleMania 29 because it would force his Hercules movie shoot to be delayed. This has led to some speculation within WWE that The Rock’s injury is fake but all signs point to it being legitimate.

- WWE has reportedly signed Irish women’s wrestler Rebecca Knox to a developmental deal. She debuted back in 2002 but retired in 2008 after an injury. She returned to the ring in October 2012 and has competed for top women’s promotions including SHIMMER. She also has experience in personal training, nutrition consulting, yoga, mixed martial arts, gymnastics, acting and stunt work.

Rebecca told The Herald newspaper in Ireland: “I want to make the most of this opportunity. Sheamus has shown that Irish pro-wrestlers can go all the way to the top.”

More News on The Rock Skipping Raw & His Injuries

As noted earlier, The Rock suffered a hernia during Wrestlemania 29 and was unable to attend last night’s Raw event.

According to sources, The Rock flew himself back to Miami to be examined quietly without notice. Rock informed WWE around 3PM that he was unable to attend the event, which led to WWE’s chaotic rewriting of the show.

A lot of people were upset initially about The Rock pulling off the show but now they seem to be more concern that he really might be hurt and the injury could conflict with his Hollywood schedule.