This story seems to change day by day. It looks as if the WWE is/was going to have some sort of match with Mickey Rourke and Chris Jericho. It would apparently be the match that features a celebrity outside the wrestling world, which is what WrestleMania does every year.

If you saw Raw this past week, you saw a clip of Mickey Rourke being interviewed on the red carpet before the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles this past weekend, and calling Chris Jericho out, of all people. Later on Raw, Jericho came out to the stage and basically excepted.

Using Rourke as this year’s celebrity at WrestleMania 25, is a good move. Rourke has gotten rave reviews for the Wrestler, even from the mainstream media. I am sure this would bring more interest to WrestleMania from people who would like to see how well he performs, and if his acting skills from “The Wrestler” carry over.

For Jericho, it should be a nice pat on the back for him to be involved in this high profile match, and will get bigger exposure because of it. He already pops up on VH1 shows and the like from time to time and has hosted a weekly radio show on XM Radio.

Now, it isn’t known yet if this would be a normal 1 on 1 match with the 2 of them or not, of if there will be any stipulations in the match. Both were on Larry King Live Tuesday night and seemed to get the ball rolling. When Rourke was asked if he would wrestle Jericho, he said that wrestling was Jericho’s world, not his, although he does have experience boxing. So, it might be some sort of gimmicky match.

However, yesterday the Associated Press reported that a spokeswoman for Rourke said he won’t be taking his role as a professional wrestler into a real-life ring after all, and that he will be entirely focussing on his acting career.

Apparently, the thought is his appearance could hurt his chances of getting an Oscar. However, Vince McMahon still sounds confident that a match will take place. He issued a statement on www.EOnline.com, stating “I am pleased that Mickey Rourke will be in attendance at WrestleMania to support the WWE Superstars who support him and the film in which he stars, “The Wrestler”.”

I guess all we can do, is stay tuned.

I was fortunate to attend the 2009 WWE Royal Rumble last night, and I had a great time! Detroit is a pretty big wrestling city. I think the WWE knows this, since this is the second pay per view event they held there in the last year and a half, the last one being WrestleMania 23. In a way, I am kinda surprised they held another one so soon, but I am not complaining! It seemed to go by pretty quickly. There were only 5 regular matches, including the dark match, and 4 of them were title matches. There wasn’t much backstage segments, and no interviews, so the show pretty much stuck to the action. There weren’t many divas present, though. Rosa Mendez didn’t even interfere.

A funny thing that happened just before we went on the air, Lillian Garcia, when she welcomed the crowd said “Welcome to the 2008 Royal - excuse me - 2009 Royal Rumble!”

The arena was pretty full, and the crowd was fairly hot all night, as far as I am concerned. They really seemed to like Randy Orton. He got a big cheer when he came out and entered the Rumble. In fact, at the end of the match, I thought that Triple H eliminated Orton, because of the crowd reaction. But, it was in fact Orton that was the last man standing. It seemed like, at least in person, that when Matt Hardy turned on Jeff, many of the fans were happy he nailed him with a chair. It seemed to get a pretty good cheer, unless those people were confused and at first thought Matt hit Edge. I thought that Christian might make an appearance, even though I am not sure if he officially signed with the WWE yet. From the sounds of the crowd, it sounded like I wasn’t the only one, as chants of “We want Christian” were going on during the match.

As far as the biggest pops go, Triple H and the Undertaker, naturally, got some huge ovations. But, the biggest ovation of the night, and one I actually cheered loud for as well, was the surprise entry of Rob Van Dam. Totally unexpected. (At first, I wondered if it was just Charlie Haas in another impersonation, but luckily not). RVD chants continued on for a little while after he entered. It made sense that he was involved, since Michigan is his home state. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a one night only deal, though. Apparently, the WWE contacted him just a couple days before the event to ask if he would participate. As far as the crowd reaction goes, it was a good idea!

During the Royal Rumble match itself, after a while, it gets hard following everything because there is so much going on. At times, I wouldn’t know who got eliminated. I kind of thought they would announce who got eliminated each time, for the benefit of the crowd, but they didn’t.

All in all, it was a fun and entertaining show to be at, and that is all I was looking for. Not sure how it was perceived by the actual viewing audience at home, but there is just something about being at a live WWE event, especially a pay per view. With the pyro, lights, music, and all, it is very entertaining, even if you aren’t a big fan of wrestling. One of my friends that went with me, doesn’t follow wrestling and doesn’t know one wrestler from another, but he still enjoyed the experience. I also attended WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field, and even though nothing will surpass that for me, in some ways the Royal Rumble was better. For one thing, the arena was much smaller, so I was actually in the same zip code as the ring, and was probably only about 150 feet away. Also, you don’t know when each wrestler will come out, so there was always a bit of a surprise as to who was next. Plus, for me, there were so many wrestlers involved, I completely forgot about the Undertaker being in the event, so when he came out to his music, it was a sweet surprise.

Well, the McMahons have a dilemma on their hands. Randy Orton won the 2009 WWE Royal Rumble match at Detriot’s Joe Louis Arena. So, what cause of action do the McMahons have for him after punting Vince in the head last week on Raw? Randy now is guaranteed a title shot at Wrestlemania 25. Do the McMahons and WWE risk screwing up the main event by firing Randy? He is legally entitled to the match, now. Oh, what choices the WWE faces now from the events of last night. Things should be very interesting on Raw.

I will soon post my first-hand accounts and reaction of the Royal Rumble PPV itself, as I was priviledged enough to be in attendance. Please check back later to the Frenzy for that!

Isn’t that a kick in the head? Vince McMahon made his long awaited return to Monday Night Raw last night, only to get viciously kicked in the head by Randy Orton. Apparently, he didn’t take kindly to Vince demanding an apology from him, for disrespecting Stephanie minutes early. Oh sure, Vince was about to fire him, but still, I don’t think that will win him any brownie points.

Just before the punt, I was wondering where this angle might be headed. Of course, I looked at the whole 2nd generation angle, and since Vince is a 2nd generation McMahon to run the WWE, maybe they will somehow align themselves. But then, I thought maybe Shane, who hasn’t been seen since he and Stephanie had words on Raw a while back, might align himself with Randy and his group. Maybe that will still happen. And, Vince could still have something to do with Orton, I mean after all, Ted DiBiase, Jr. still sided with Orton after getting his own head kicked in by him, causing him to be out for quite a period of time. So, you never know, especially in wrestling.

When I first heard of the movie “The Wrestler”, starring Mickey Rourke, I didn’t really think it was going to amount to much. I thought it was probably going to get panned by the critics, and that it probably wouldn’t last long in the theaters. Boy, was I wrong. From the beginning it got really good reviews, and Time Magazine has called it Mickey Rourke’s comeback film.

“The Wrestler”, directed by Darren Aronofsky, stars Rourke, Earnest Miller, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood, premiered at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, and won top honors. Fox Searchlight then acquired the rights to distribute the film in the US, and was released in a limited capacity on December 17, 2008.

The film is centered on retired professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson, once a headlining professional wrestler and now at the end of his career, as he makes his way through the independent circuit, trying to get back in the game for one final showdown with his former rival.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Rourke being interviewed on NBC’s Today Show. I thought, maybe people are going to give this film a chance. Famous film critic Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars, stating “I cared as deeply about Randy the Ram as any movie character I’ve seen this year. I cared about Mickey Rourke, too. The way this role and this film unfold, that almost amounts to the same thing. Rourke may not win the Oscar for best actor. But it would make me feel good to see him up there. It really would.” Other critics have applauded Rourke for his portrayal of Robinson. Some have said this work could earn him the Oscar. Well, if he doesn’t win that, his performance was good enough to win him a Golden Globe award.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to see “The Wrestler” yet, since it hasn’t played in my area. But, I will be sure to watch it when it comes out on DVD. I will watch it as a wrestling fan, to see what it is like for wrestlers like him and what they go through during this stage of their lives/careers, and not as someone looking for some artistic masterpiece. But, if I do find it to find it to be that way, then that is just gravy!

This certainly is a no-brainer. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who revolutionized the wrestling industry and helped revitalize the WWE back when it was losing the battle in the “Monday Night Wars” over a decade ago and losing it’s title as the #1 wrestling organization to WCW, will be included in the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame Class. The six-time WWE Champion will be inducted into the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame on April 4 in his home state of Texas the night before WrestleMania XXV. Austin is the first superstar to be announced for this year’s induction.

If anyone deserves it, it is Austin. After moderate success in WCW and other organizations as “Stunning” Steve Austin, he broke into the WWE without much fanfare as “The Ringmaster”, a protégé of the Million Dollar man. But, as time went on and as Austin’s frustration with the character grew, he transformed into “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and with that, plus his 1996 King of the Ring speech where he first coined the phrase “Austin 3:16″, he became one of, if not the most popular superstars in WWE history.

And he did it unconventionally, and you could say, it was the fans that helped turned him into what he became. Even when he was first “Stone Cold”, his character wasn’t supposed to be the “good guy”, and for a while, he wasn’t. He was just a tough, bitter, no-nonsense SOB, that did what he wanted, when he wanted, and didn’t give a damn what you thought. He definitely didn’t do anything to please the fans. And, for a while, fans didn’t like him. But, as time went on, and because of his no-nonsense attitude, he started gaining fans. During his famous King of the Ring speech, where he went off on Jake “The Snake” Roberts, who he had just beaten to become King of the Ring and who was billed as the babyface, Austin proclaimed “Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!”. That got a reaction from the crowd, as if they said “Whoa, bad guy or not, that was kinda cool!” “Austin 3:16″ became a huge trademark and marketing machine. His “Austin 3:16″ shirt out grossed any of the other wrestling shirts in WWE’s history. Not only that, wrestlers never really swore before, they would always talk tough, but use really tame words like “butt” or “stinkin’”. Austin always said “ass”, and then, more wrestlers would say it. Nowadays, a lot of wrestlers not only use that word, but other words, too. After that speech, Austin’s popularity started to grow. He was still supposed to be the “bad guy”, but when he started feuding with Bret “The Hitman” Hart, he started becoming more and more of a fan favorite. Partly because I think the crowd was getting a little tired of Hart’s act. Austin turned into a full fan favorite during his “submission match” with Hart during WrestleMania 13. Austin lost, but not because he gave up. He refused to give up. He lost because he lost consciousness from the intense pain he was in in Hart’s sharpshooter, and the referee stopped the match.

The fans really respected the fact that he never gave up. And then, during his famous feud with Vince McMahon, Austin’s popularity not only grew at a record rate with wrestling fans, but people also knew about him who didn’t even follow wrestling, and created more wrestling fans in the process. He acted out what many people always wanted to do, but of course never could. He stood up, toe-to-toe, against his boss, and continued to beat the snot in him. Just what many blue collared workers would love to do to their boss, so they lived vicariously through him. Practically every night, Austin would swig numerous beers in the ring after another successful “ass-whipping”. That too, became a trademark. Stone Cold merchandise sold more than any other wrestler in WWE history, including Hulk Hogan.

Nobody could match the pop he would get from crowd. The instant the crowd heard the sound of the glass breaking, which was at the beginning of his entrance music, they would go absolutely bananas. The WWE knew this, so they would continue to use his music to signify a “surprise” entrance by Austin, or any reason for that matter, whether to come to somebody’s aid, or just to come out and clobber someone. The WWE from then on started playing entrance themes more often for wrestlers, regardless on why they were coming out, just to get that extra reaction from fans. Even when the WWE tried to turn Stone Cold heel, when he sided with McMahon during WrestleMania X-Seven, the crowd didn’t really want to boo him. He was one of those rare wrestlers who will get cheered no matter what he does. He also started the trend of wrestlers, who were in that gray area of, are they a good guy, or bad guy?

Unfortunately, a serious neck condition has shortened his career. But, he continues to make special appearances, and always create that huge pop when he does.

The WWE and Vince McMahon owe a lot to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. He not only kept the WWE from going belly-up, much of how their superstars act today and how they are promoted was started by Austin. I could go on all day writing about Stone Cold, as I just touched on a teeny tiny bit of his legacy. But, this is a blog, and not a book. There are many “Stone Cold” Steve Austin DVDs and books and wrestling DVD’s and books that chronicle his career. So let’s raise a beer to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. 2009 WWE Hall of Famer!

WWE.com has actually posted “nude” pictures of Vickie Guerrero (I just threw up a little bit in my mouth). Luckily, they are censored, with black bars over her naughty parts. Can you believe that searches for “Vickie Guerrero nude“ was the eleventh hottest search on Google Trends, which has, as of this post, dropped to 48? Still, there are actually people out there that want to see that? I am sure that these people were hoping to see uncensored pictures of her. I know that Vicki was never a model, and never brought into the WWE to compete with the Divas in the looks department, and even though I am sure she is a nice lady…….eek! With all the hot Divas in the WWE people would like to see nude, they give us Vicki Guerrero? It is kinda funny, if you think about it. And, it looks to have brought some buzz, so mission was probably accomplished. Who knows, maybe she will be the next WWE Diva to be in Playboy. Gee, then maybe Hef will want her as a girlfriend. At least she would be a little closer to his age! Well, it could be worse. They could have given us Mae Young!