WrestleMania: Day 4-Monday, April 6th

For the finale, we attended RAW at the Toyota Center on Monday. While waiting in line, I spotted a familiar face. It was Downtown Bruno. Some of you may remember him as Harvey Wippleman from his time in the WWF. I started to holla at him, but I didn't want him to get swarmed by all the people because he was on a mission. I noticed he was carrying a bag that appeared to contain some food in it. Could it have been Vince's dinner?


In the dark matches, prior to RAW, Evan Bourne defeated Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston defeated Shelton Benjamin.



The Colons, Primo and Carlito, had another great lumberjack match on RAW with Miz and Morrison.





Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat stole the show with another incredible performance in the 10-man tag match. He received a huge pop from the crowd, that were chanting, "You still got it!"



Everybody was caught off guard with the return of "The Animal" Batista. When his music hit, the place went crazy!


With the close of RAW, came the end of our wrestling adventure. It was now time to leave Houston, Texas, and head on back. With that being said, Houston is a great place. I really enjoyed my visit and there are lots of nice folks over there.

Let's see: Booker T's Legends Convention, 3 WrestleMania Axxess Sessions, Ring of Honor PPV, 2009 WWE Hall of Fame, The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, and Raw the night after. It doesn't get any better than that. Wow! I still can't believe I was there!

I would like to thank all of you for coming along for the ride. I hope you enjoyed my AWESOME journey. There truly is nothing like WRESTLEMANIA!!!


D-Rock-Good Call

Special thanks to Ricky Murphy for all the great photos

WrestleMania: Day 3-Sunday, April 5th-Part 2

As we were walking toward Reliant Stadium, we noticed there was already a sea of people waiting in line to get inside. Check out who else we spotted making their way to check out the show. Apparently, the "dark side" are also some big fans of Double Double E.


Once we made it inside, it was on like Donkey Kong! This place was HUGE!




It wasn't long until the pre-show match began, pitting The Colons, Primo and Carlito, against Miz and Morrison to unify the tag belts. This was a very good opening match. It really got the crowd going. Speaking of the crowd, we had a group of very opinionated New Yorkers sitting behind us that shared their thoughts loud and often. So there was never a dull moment, to say the least.



Then, it was time to get this party started! The countdown was over! So after the lovely Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls sang her beautiful rendition of "America the Beautiful" it was going down! This is what we had been waiting for. A fireworks extravaganza followed. What a sight it was. Woohoo! Way to kick the show off with a BANG! Oh yeah! Thankfully, there were no injuries this year, that I'm aware of.




The Money in the Bank match was great. I just wish CM Punk would not have won it two years in a row. I know, I'm being a hater, but I can't help it. Maybe he will cash it in and somehow rob either Cena or Triple H of their belts so he can turn heel. Also, Kofi Kingston was very impressive in the match.

Up next, was a performance by Kid Rock, which is always a treat. He performed a medley of songs, that consisted of Bawitdaba," "Rock N Roll Jesus," "Cowboy," "All Summer Long," and "So Hott." During "So Hott" all the Divas started making their way down for the special 25-Diva battle royal to crown the first-ever "Miss WrestleMania." To be honest, I couldn't really tell who was in the match because they were not introduced. However, I couldn't help, but notice there was one that was slightly larger and more manly than the rest.



Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat proved that he's still got it with a great showing against Chris Jericho, in the three on one handicap elimination match while teaming with fellow Hall of Famers, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, who were accompanied to the ring by "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. I was thinking that Frank Shamrock was going to jump in at the end since he was sitting with Mickey Rourke.

The Extreme Rules match between the two siblings, Matt and Jeff Hardy, delivered with all of the the high flying action and spots that we've come to expect from them. Matt connected with a pretty sick Twist of Fate on Jeff to win the match.

The only part of the Intercontinental Championship match between Rey Mysterio and JBL that I liked was Rey's Joker mask. I thought that was cool, but the match was way too short and JBL quit.... Alrighty then.

Then, it was time for one of the best matches ever. The Undertaker versus "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels. Wow! Words cannot even begin to do this match justice. You've got to watch this match, but to actually be there in the crowd of over 72,000 fans and witness this epic encounter of these two is something that I will never forget. It was unbelievable! Everyone's eyes were glued to the ring and fixated on every move. Back and forth....Back and forth. Some were cheering for Taker, while others were rooting for HBK, but they all knew they were seeing something special. When Taker fell on his head, not only did I think the match and his streak had come to an end, I thought his career was over. Boy, did that look bad! At one point, after Michaels kicked out of the tombstone, I glanced up at the screen above us, and seen the camera shot of Taker's face. His look was priceless, because in all my years of watching Taker's matches, I've never really seen him get shaken up and show this level of concern. That was a Kodak moment to the fullest that really helped with telling the story of this instant classic.



Of course, The Undertaker got the win and remained undefeated at WrestleMania, extending his record to 17-0, but at certain moments, during the match, I was saying, "Hey, Michaels may do it." This match should have ended the show because it set the bar so high, that neither of the championship matches could really follow it.



The triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship that followed, featuring Edge, The Big Show, and John Cena had its moments. Cena ended up winning the match and becoming the new champ. After seeing all of the look-a-likes during Cena's entrance, I thought we could possibly be seeing another moment like Edge did a couple years ago with Hawkins and Ryder, but that didn't happen. I guess that's why they call Edge "The Ultimate Opportunist" and John Cena the No-Limit Soldier. I mean, "The Chain Gang Soldier. My bad. Make Em Say Uhh! Nah, Nah, Nah!




What an awesome moment it was to hear the glass shatter and to see "The Texas Rattlesnake" Stone Cold Steve Austin's beer bash. Oh Hell Yeah!


The show ended with Triple H battling Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. I thought Triple H's entrance was very simple and cool. However, this match just didn't thrill me. I don't think I was alone because the crowd was dead. I'm not sure if everyone was still give out from Taker and HBK from earlier or what, but this match just lacked a lot. This past Monday's match between the two was much better in my eyes. Maybe it was because at Mania, within the first few minutes, both men had connected with their finishers. I was also surprised that Rhodes and DiBiase didn't make an appearance and try to interfere. This wasn't the best match to end The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania on, but I think I saw one of the best matches of all-time in The Undertaker/Shawn Michaels wrestling clinic.




To actually be there and experience WrestleMania was a dream come true.


The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania-Good Call


That was Day 3.

But wait, there's more. Raw on Monday!

Thanks to Ricky Murphy and Kim Gray for all the great pictures

WrestleMania: Day 3-Sunday, April 5th-Part 1

We got off to an early start on the morning of WrestleMania because we had tickets to the opening WrestleMania Axxess session that began at 8 a.m. The main reason we purchased these tickets was because we thought that maybe we would get the opportunity to meet "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair at 10 a.m. To say that my friend is just another fan would be an understatement.


From our experience on Friday night and knowing how HBK, Triple H, and Edge all ended up having a Q&A session, we kinda figured that Flair would probley participate in one of those on Sunday, as well.

"The Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy made his way out to the Main Event ring for the first Q&A session. At this time, we started browsing around, checking out what all was going on. During this time, we met the lovely Maria.


The other superstars that were on hand signing at this time were Goldust, Ron Simmons, The Honky Tonk Man, Candice, Jesse and Festus.

Speaking of Jesse and Festus, perhaps one of the funniest moments ever occurred when the first match of the day got underway. This match featured Paul Burchill and his provocative sister, Katie Lea, in action against ECW's dancing duo, DJ Gabriel and Alicia Fox. You see, Jesse and Festus were signing autographs at a table. They had a pretty long line, too. We were nearby. Well, as soon as the bell rang to begin the match, we heard this wild racket. Guess who? It was "The Corn-Fed Colossus" Festus. He had heard the bell, and suddenly went bonkers at the meet and greet table. Festus stormed through the fans and over the barriers, towards the ring, but right before he was able to get inside, Jesse managed to ring the bell. Festus was calm, again. So Jesse took Festus back to the autograph table, where they continued to meet with the fans, until the match ended and the bell sounded. Festus flipped out, again, and made his way back to the ring. He got in there and roughed up Paul Burchill. Jesse rang the bell to stop him. Then, Jesse rang it, again, while DJ Gabriel and Alicia Fox were dancing to their music. I guess Jesse thought it needed more cowbell. Uh oh! Instead of doing severe bodily harm to both Gabriel and Fox, Festus started dancing! Then, he started doing some hoochie dancing with Alicia Fox. He was throwing that poor girl around like a sack of potatoes. It was hilarious! Very clever on WWE's part to let Festus stay in character. Everybody got a kick out of it. Sim Snuka also wrestled Dolph Ziggler.

Next, I got the "Extreme" honor to do a little play-by-play, alongside the original voice of ECW, the one and only, Joey Styles!



How cool is that? We called the Shawn Michaels/Ric Flair match from last year's WrestleMania. Yes, he did say, "Oh my God!"

While making small talk with Joey, I commended him for his work on WWE.com. Some of you may not be aware that Joey is, currently, the Director of Digital Media Content for WWE.com. I also plugged the Wrestling News Center and gave him one of my cards. Joey said that he would check it out. That was AWESOME!

Ten o'clock came around and they announced that "Nature Boy" Ric Flair would be participating in the next Q&A session. That was a bummer, but I managed to get over it rather quickly because......

I met Gail Kim!!! Thank you, Jesus! Oh happy day! I love me some Gail Kim! She's my favorite. Oh yeah! Eve Torres is smoking hott, too. Wooo Mercy! Just makes me wanna sing. Unforgettable......Ok, gotta snap out of it. Did I mention Gail's my favorite?

The second batch of superstars that were taking part in the meet and greet was "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Sgt. Slaughter, Jack Swagger, Kelly Kelly, and The Great Khali.

We thought it was the perfect time to check out The Undertaker's Graveyard.



That's Not Fair to Flair, but "The Nature Boy" turned that frown upside down when he got to help prepare the resting place for the man that ended his career, Shawn Michaels.

After that, we decided to get a bite to eat at Frenchy's. We went ahead and bought another ticket for the Axxess session that began at 1:00 because we had already spent the twenty bucks to park.

The evening list of superstar appearances included Tyson Kidd, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Harley Race, Nick Bockwinkel, Tito Santana, and a few others.

Check out who else we spotted walking around at Axxess. Linda McMahon!


For all the NASCAR fans out there, here is the number 88 National Guard NASCAR, driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Also on hand, were the the No. 4 National Guard IRL car and the custom Patriot Chopper motorcycle designed by the Orange County Choppers. You could also test your climbing skills on the rock wall.


Mr. Kennedy......KENNEDY had a Q&A session. This is actually the only one that I got a chance to listen to because a lot of the people were just getting in town, so the place was getting packed and the lines were long for everything else. Kennedy was a trip. He brought a little kid up into the ring and gave him the microphone to say Mr. Kennedy. Then, he put him up on the turnbuckle so he could finish it with KENNEDY! Kennedy also shared that he would like to do a comedy film, next. When asked who his toughest opponent was, Kennedy said The Undertaker. Then, he followed it with a story. He said that one night, before their match, he asked Taker what they were going to do out there. He said that Taker told him that we would go out there, roll around for a while and then, he would drop him on his head. Kennedy said that's what they did. I thought that maybe Kennedy said a little bit too much, there. Hello, kayfabe. Fun session. While Kennedy made his way to the back, he signed autographs and took pictures with the fans.

Hold up! Wait a minute! Is that? Pete Rose dressed as a chicken?


With that came an end to our WrestleMania Axxess experience. If you're a wrestling fan, you have to check it out. It really is amazing! And believe me, there were people from all around the world there. That's the great thing about it. The fact that wrestling brings people from so many cultures together. That's something that no other sport can really say. What a beautiful thing. I met people from Israel, Australia, Japan, and the UK. There was this one guy that looked just like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Hell, I thought it was him, but when we started talking to him, he said, "Hey, Mate!" He was from Australia. After being a part of an event like this, you realize the magnitude of just how huge WrestleMania is. I now know the power and incredible force that is the WWE Universe. That totally sounded like something The Ultimate Warrior would say.


Now, it was time for "The Grandaddy of Them All", "The Showcase of the Immortals", The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania!


Pictures by Ricky Murphy

WrestleMania: Day 2-Saturday, April 4th

It was another beautiful day in Houston on Saturday, April 4th. Saturday's agenda included checking out the Ring of Honor ''Take No Prisoners'' PPV at the George R. Brown Convention Center followed by the 2009 Hall of Fame Ceremony, which was being held nearby at the home of the NBA's Houston Rockets, the Toyota Center. On a special note, Ring of Honor changed the start time from 3:00 PM to 2:00 PM, so that it would not interfere with the Hall of Fame and the fans could enjoy both events.


One thing about the Ring of Honor show was they checked everyone at the door and warned us that no video or digital cameras were allowed in the building. If you had a digital camera we were told not to be caught with it out because it would be confiscated. This was understandable considering that ROH makes all its money from PPVs and DVDs. Disposable cameras were ok. I had a disposable camera and snapped a couple pictures, but have not gotten the pictures developed, yet.

If you're not familiar with Ring of Honor, they distinguished their image from other promotions through the "Code of Honor": a set of rules dictating how wrestlers should conduct themselves during matches. These rules are:
1. Shake hands before and after the match -- if you respect your opponent
2. Keep the playing-field level
3. Respect the officials

There was a pretty good size crowd there to witness all the action. They began the show with a few dark matches. Then the PPV began.

The Second City Saints Partners Collided as Colt Cabana defeated Ace Steel. You may remember Cabana from his recent stint in the WWE as Scotty Goldman. He had a show on WWE.com, called Good as Goldman, formerly known as What's Crackin'? Cabana got a big pop from the crowd. This was my first time seeing Ring of Honor live and it wasn't long before I noticed the wide array of similarities between ROH and the original ECW. Both performed in smaller venues, but were cheered on to do their very best from their audience of loud and passionate fans. This group of fans would also come up with some fun and witty chants, that included, "Check the top rope!" A fan told us that at the show on Friday night, the top rope broke, so during Cabana's match with Steel, the crowd began chanting, "Check the top rope!" during the opening moments. It wasn't long until both Cabana and Steel began checking and testing the top rope. This was met with a standing ovation. The fans were also passing around cake in the stands.

Oh yeah! Before I forget, instead of using the fancy and very expensive pyro that you see in the WWE, ROH created a much easier and cheaper alternative that added a pretty cool visual effect. Party streamers! That's right, once the wrestlers would enter the ring, streamers would start flying in the ring from every direction. Good stuff.

Bushwacker Luke was also in action. Yes! It was great seeing Luke in action. He was still in great shape. I believe he lost to Rhett Titus, who was from the Temple of Lust. I got a kick out of that.

Brent Albright defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Blue Demon Jr. Albright is perhaps best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, during which he appeared on SmackDown as Gunner Scott.

In an International Challenge, former TNA talent Roderick Strong defeated Alex Koslov, who was a member of Team International in TNA Wrestling's 2008 World X-Cup Tournament. Koslov hit that Cossack dance, during the match.

Jerry Lynn defeated D'Lo Brown, Bryan Danielson and Erick Stevens in a four-way match to retain the ROH World Title after connecting with his cradle piledriver. This match was a little bit of a disappointment for me. I was really looking forward to seeing "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson in action for the first time, but since it was a four-way match, two guys ended up taking a tumble to the outside and leaving the other two in the ring to battle. Danielson did leap into the crowd with a flying attack during the match. I just thought it would have been better if they would have split the four up into two separate matches, in order to, really showcase their great wrestling abilities.

These next three matches were my favorites from the show:

First, the 8 Man Tag Team Grudge Match, featuring Magno, Jay Briscoe, ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Chris Hero, Incognito and the American Wolves. This match was AWESOME with highflying at its best. El Generico was in it so everyone was singing, "Olé!"

Next, The No Disqualification War between Necro Butcher and Jimmy Jacobs. This was INSANE! Necro Butcher is one crazy SOB! These two fought into the crowd and up to the top of the risers. Signs, chairs, and tables were all used in this bloody brawl. In the end, Necro Butcher defeated Jimmy Jacobs. CRAZY!

The Main Event featured Former TNA star Austin Aries and Katsuhiko Nakajima squaring off against Tyler Black and KENTA. KENTA got a HUGE pop! I was not that familiar with KENTA, I had just read his name on certain results. Well, he is a big deal, to say the least. He is a master kickboxer and lit up Nakajima, during the match, with his vicious strikes. I was amazed at the reaction he got. I thought the place was going to come unglued. Austin Aries did a great job of getting heat and was very entertaining. He even threw some of the streamers back into the crowd. Tyler Black and KENTA got the win after Black connected with an innovative fisherman ddt that he floated over into a small package. Sweet finisher! With that, came the end of the Ring of Honor PPV. I was very impressed with my ROH experience.

Next on the list, the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony.

As we were walking towards the Toyota Center, we noticed that Bryan Danielson was ahead of us going to check out the Hall of Fame, as well. We weren't able to catch him before he went inside.

While waiting in line to get in and once we entered the building, you could tell we were in store for a special evening as everyone was dressed up. I'm sure some of the people that were working at the local businesses probley thought we were all going to prom instead of a wrestling event.

When we made it to our seats, they started showing all of the wrestlers as they entered on the big screen. This was fun to see all of the legends, as well as, current WWE wrestlers and divas walking to take their seats on the floor, which were the best in the house, right in front of the stage. This was really cool.

Todd Grisham kicked off the event. For a while, I was thinking that maybe Jerry "The King" Lawler had missed his flight and was running late because Grisham was doing all of the hosting, but Lawler took over when the show went live on USA with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat's induction.

It was truly an honor to be in attendance at this special gathering to hear these larger than life characters share some of their greatest memories and receive the highest accolades from their peers for their hard work and respect that they've earned throughout their prestigious careers that has paved the way for so many stars of today and tomorrow.

"The Birdman" Koko B. Ware was the most entertaining with Frankie by his side. Frankie was trying to get Koko's paper while he was reading. That was funny. Frankie also left a little present for everyone when he left.

It was cool seeing Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat lock up with "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, again.

The most emotional moment of the night was when Kevin Von Erich represented the Von Erich family as they were inducted by Michael Hayes. Kevin let the Texas crowd know that the Von Erich legacy is not over because he has two sons that are getting ready to enter into the business.

You could really feel Howard Finkel's excitement, during his acceptance speech. He was so happy, eventhough, he had to read his speech really, really fast, due to time constraints. It's true! There was a big countdown on the screen. I thought this really took a lot of the fun out of it because the legends had to settle for reading their speeches very quickly, instead of really being able to soak in the moment and speak from the heart.

With that being said, "Cowboy" Bill Watts had the best speech of the night, hands down, for the sheer fact that he didn't care about the countdown. He just kept on going. Very good speech.



I was hoping that Terry Funk was going to snap if they tried to cut him off because Dory talked for almost all of their time. Terry wasn't able to say much, but he was entertaining, as always.

And then there was the man of the hour, Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was inducted by his long time rival, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Vince mentioned how the "What?" saying was created and how Austin would always say "Sorry" during their in ring skirmishes. Austin was greeted with a standing ovation that lasted several minutes. Stone Cold apologized to the fans of Atlanta for no-showing that show in 2002. He said he never got to do that and always wanted to. Austin said he decided to walk out because of the bad storylines that were presented to him by the creative team. During his speech, the crowd started chanting, "One more match!" What a surreal moment to see "The Texas Rattlesnake" take his spot alongside the rest of the sport's all-time greats. Oh hell yeah!


As we were leaving the Toyota Center, we saw a few fans recreating some memorable moments of the past. One guy cut the classic Ric Flair promo from WCW when he went off on Eric Bischoff on Nitro. Then, there was a guy that sounded like Stone Cold, so they had a little interview that ended with Stone Cold giving Flair a stunner. I thought the cops were on the way, then, but everything was cool. Everybody got a kick out of it. The guys were recording it, so I thought, maybe, they would put it up on YouTube. I checked and couldn't find it.

We finished the night, by getting a bite to eat and catching some of the local tunes at The House of Blues.

That was Day 2. Next, is the BIG day!

Pictures courtesy of Ricky Murphy and Kim Gray

WrestleMania: Day 1-Friday, April 3rd

Howdy, Dudes and Dudettes! I just made it back from Houston, Texas, where we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania! I'm still trying to recover, but I thought I would start sharing some of my wonderful experiences from this AWESOME wrestling weekend. I will begin with Day 1, which was Friday, April 3rd.

We began our journey Friday morning, just after midnight. When we made it to Houston, later that afternoon, we immediately saw the beautiful home of the Houston Astros, Minute Maid Park. Also, nearby we saw the Toyota Center, where the Hall of Fame and Raw would be taking place, as well as, the George R. Brown Convention Center, where we would be heading to in a few short hours for Booker T's Legends of Wrestling Fanfest and also where the Ring of Honor PPV would be taking place on Saturday. These two venues were really close to one another. In the process of our sightseeing, we kinda got turned around and didn't know how to get to our hotel. Lucky for us, we got some help from this nice man who offered to let us follow him to get to the street that we needed to take, in order, to reach our hotel. As we were following the man in his energy truck, we noticed that a policeman was approaching us on the left side. He honked his horn at us. Uh oh! We hadn't been in town, no time and we're already in trouble! We rolled down the window. The cop said, "Hey! You guys in town for wrestling?" "Yes, Sir! We sure are," We replied. The cop continued, "You know all the wrestlers are staying at the Marriott. They've got an open lobby and everything." We had completely forgot about having our windows decorated with window chalk. We had HBK, RKO, Rated R Superstar and WOOOOOO! Nature Boy wrote on the vehicle, as well as, WrestleMania 25 Bound. We informed the cop that we was following a truck to try and find our hotel, but the truck was out of sight, by now. The cop answered, "Oh s&#$!" We thought that was pretty cool about the cop telling us where everyone was staying. I know for a fact that nothing like that would ever happen back home. We did end up catching up with the truck we were following and made it to our hotel.

We dropped our stuff off and before long, it was time to hit up Booker T's Legends of Wrestling Fanfest. We knew that we could not stay too long because we already had tickets for the WrestleMania Axxess event for that night, featuring Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Edge and many more. It started at six o'clock. While pulling into the parking lot close to the George R. Brown Convention Center, we noticed some WWE trucks.


After purchasing our tickets, we were inside the George R. Brown Convention Center, waiting for the second session to begin. It was suppose to start at 4:30 p.m. and feature Booker T & Sharmell, Jimmy Hart, The Nasty Boys, Samoa Joe, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Team 3D, Christy Hemme, DDP and Kimberly. Everyone was there, including Debra, Daffney and Missy Hyatt. Also, Sting was signing autographs and taking pictures in the very back, behind a black curtain for seventy-five dollars a pop. Well, five o'clock came around and there was this big, long line of fans and nobody was moving. Considering that the Axxess event started at six and we really didn't know where the Reliant Center was located, we decided to leave. This was a little bit of a bummer for me because I was decked out in my DDP gear and had my copy of Positively Page for him to sign. When we decided to leave, I even went back to meet Sting, but they said that I would have to go to the front and get a special ticket. No time for that. It was not a wasted trip, though, because we did get to meet one of the original members of the Four Horsemen, the great Tully Blanchard, who was truly a gentleman.

From there, it was on to the Reliant Center, where we would get our first taste of the WrestleMania Axxess festivities. When we got there, we had to wait in a very long line, but it was moving pretty fast. Once we made it inside, I was like a little kid. It was unbelievable!

There was something for everyone. The fun included: The Undertaker’s Graveyard, WrestleManiArt, Superstar Entrances, Call-A-Match, Memorabilia, Superstar Signings, Diva HotShots, Superstar Ink, WWE Studios Presents 12 Rounds, 3 Count Trivia, WWE KidZone, Hornswoggle’s House, Hell in a Cell, WWE Championship Belts, THQ Presents WWE Legends of WrestleMania Video Game Zone and so much more.



There was also a ring in the middle of everything, which was called The Main Event area. The Main Event was the focal point for WrestleMania Axxess because this was where the top superstars appeared for exclusive Q&A sessions with the fans. Needless to say, after all that rushing to get there, we did not get to meet HBK, Triple H, or Edge. They all took part in Q&A sessions. That's right! D-Generation X reunited for a special Q&A.



Everyone was under the impression that they were going to actually get to meet those guys. Should have known better. We were disappointed and if we had known about that we would have stayed at Booker T's convention, a little while longer. Oh, well! What can you do? We still had a blast!

While DX was having their Q&A session, we decided to get in line to meet Jeff Hardy because we thought that when he left at eight o'clock, maybe Edge would be next. Well, they announced that Edge would be participating in the next Q&A, so when Jeff Hardy left, ECW's Ricky Ortiz and Champion Jack Swagger made their way to the table.


There was also some live matches take place in the ring, as well as, a variety of games for fans including trivia and impersonation contests. I believe Cryme Tyme defeated The Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel Jackson on Friday night.

Other notable appearances from Friday night's Axxess: Matt Hardy, Charlie Haas, Mark Henry, Kung Fu Naki, Hurricane Helms, Vladimir Kozlov, Torrie Wilson, Candice, and Eve. Rick, The Sign Guy, was also in attendance.

I also got the chance to meet the singing sensation, Jillian Hall, and Rosa Mendes. They got a kick out of me because I started singing, "I know you want me!"


On Friday, THQ had it's Superstar Challenge, which featured sixteen current WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends battling each other by playing the NEW Legends of WrestleMania video game. The participants included: Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Beth Phoenix, The Brian Kendrick, Ezekiel Jackson, Cody Rhodes, The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, Ted DiBiase Jr., Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, Hornswoggle, Finlay, CM Punk, Michelle McCool, and Jimmy Hart. Kofi Kingston won the tournament, but that didn’t keep past THQ Challenge champ Shelton Benjamin from interrupting Kingston’s celebration. An exchange of words quickly evolved into an impromptu challenge that led to a match between Kofi and The Gold Standard. In the end, Kingston bested his rival for bragging rights to boot.


You could even be “Your Own Action Figure”!

That was Day 1.

Photos by Ricky Murphy

Remembering Andrew "Test" Martin

What's up, Everybody! Hope everyone is getting ready to party like Finlay and Hornswoggle for St. Patty's Day. Please be safe and be sure to wear green or you'll get pinched. Although, getting pinched is not always a bad thing. I enjoy it myself.

Unfortunately, our latest fallen brother, Andrew "Test" Martin, will not be able to celebrate his 34th birthday with us on Tuesday. This is such a difficult time for everyone in the wrestling community that are all shocked and saddened by this tragedy.

I, like many, many, others was a big fan of Test's work. His social skills were also very impressive, as well, because the big man managed to work his way into relationships with two of wrestling's super hotties, former WWE Diva, Stacy Keibler, and recently, current WWE Diva, Kelly Kelly. Not too shabby. Test had game.

To me, I felt that Test was really at the top of his game in the ring, during his last run in ECW. The reason I say this is because I got to witness his talent firsthand, in person, at a ECW houseshow that was held in Jackson, Tennessee, at the Oman Arena. To this day, the only thing that I really remember about that show is the enormous amount of heat that Test got. It was amazing! This is the main purpose and meaning behind this special post. A few weeks after his release from the WWE in 2007, I found Andrew Martin on MySpace. You can visit his MySpace account at http://www.myspace.com/7439092. The pictures above are actually from his MySpace. I added him and sent him a little message talking about that show in Jackson. He replied.

As soon as I heard the sad news, I asked myself, "Hey, I wonder if I still got that message from Test?" I checked and there it was. I thought it would be neat to share it. So, this is my special memory of Andrew "Test" Martin. I hope you like it. Some people may not think it's a big deal, but it meant a lot to this fan.


Happy Birthday to you, Test

Thanks for the Memories

You will be missed

Andrew "Test" Martin

~March 17, 1975 – March 13, 2009~


Here is my message to Andrew and his response in its entirety. His reply is first, followed by my original message that I sent him.


From: andrew
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myspace.com/7439092
To:
• D-Rock

Date:
Mar 30, 2007 2:07 PM
Subject:
RE: Hey Test!
Body:
Lol...Thanks for being a great fan and yes I do actually remember that girl crying cuz I felt bad....for about 2 seconds..lol...thanks for being a fan and you never know where I might turn up...take care

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Derick
Date: Mar 30, 2007 4:44 PM


I was just browsing around and found you. I thought I would holla at cha and tell you that I'm a big fan of yours. I seen you last year in Jackson, Tennessee, at an ECW houseshow and thought you did one hell of a job, man. I mean, you can really piss some people off. That was awesome! You came out and slowly walked around ringside telling the fans about it and even tore a girl's sign that she had for Tommy Dreamer, who you wrestled that night. That girl started crying when you tore her sign. I loved it!!! I thought WWE really misused you, man and thought they could have done so much more with your angle with Lashley. I wish TNA would sign you because I think you could be their top heel. I hope you come to the South soon. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks for your time, man

Derick

Thanks to Elite 17 for the pic

Woooooo! Welcome to an all-new edition of Good Call/Bad Call, right here on hollywoodjimmy.com. Is that "The Nature Boy" or G.I. Joe? As much as I would like to say that's a photoshopped picture, I'm afraid it's not. That's right, Electronic Arts added Ric Flair to the cast for Red Alert 3's new PC-exclusive Uprising expansion pack. To me, it looks like Flair could very well be Bubba and Devon's daddy. Whassup?


WARNING: The following views expressed are in no way, shape or form, linked to the views expressed by Hollywood Jimmy, Joe Torre, Matt Hardy, Paul London, or anyone else that's associated with hollywoodjimmy.com or wrestlingnewscenter.com. Hollywood Jimmy already knows all, anyway. That's why he was the recipient of the 2008 Rasslin Riot Online's Award for Manager of the Year. I've been trying to reach Mike Knox to ask him some questions, but no luck, thus far. Apparently, Knox has been busy having some serious negotiations with GEICO, as of late. They are trying to reach an agreement so that he can be featured in some of their new cavemen commercials. D-Rock's views may be wrong, but he highly doubts that.


WWE


What in the hell is up with The Legacy? One night, Orton, Rhodes, and DiBiase are dominating the Royal Rumble and the next, all three are getting owned by Shane McMahon. That's mind-boggling! Why would creative choose to make their next big heel stable look so weak? I have no idea. Now, don't get me wrong, I thought Orton did a good job of explaining why they didn't do anything to Shane McMahon, but it's just not realistic. Did you see those phantom punches Shane was throwing? They looked really bad. I know it's entertainment, but at least try and make it halfway believable. Who is actually going to believe that Shane O-Mac can defeat The Legacy all by himself. That's like watching little Rey Mysterio win the Rumble, a few years back. The only difference is that the fantasy was going on, at that time, and I actually had Rey on my team, so I scored some major points. Now, the WWE chose to do away with the fantasy, so that crap just ain't gonna cut it.

How about Orton's newfound disorder, IED? That son of a gun has been kicking people in the head for two years and now you wanna claim he's got some sort of disorder. Don't feed me that. He's "The Legend Killer". The reason he kicks people in their head is because he can and he doesn't give a damn. If they don't watch out they will screw up Orton's character like they did Kane.

I'm excited about the Hardy Boys storyline. I thought they did a great job with that. I'm anxious to see Matt as a heel. They are going to put on one hell of a show at WrestleMania.

What a pleasant surprise it was to see Christian return to the WWE on ECW of all places. Who would have thunk it? He should get that ECW belt in no time and then he'll probley be like Miz & Morrison and start popping up on every show. I'm liking the new talent initiative on ECW because with the additions of Christian, Tyson Kidd, Jamie Noble, Paul Burchill, and DJ Gabriel they are presenting something fresh with some new faces and utilizing some of the talent that flies under the radar on the two major shows. Oh yeah, I can't forget about the lovely additions of a few Good Call Girls, Katie Lea Burchill, Natalya, and Alicia Fox. Ha-ha! Probley wanna refrain from calling a lady a Good Call Girl the next time you go to the store. You might get the Kizarny knocked out of you.

They really shook things up at No Way Out. That was a good thing. I'm so glad nobody took me up on my bet that Cena was going to walk out of there with the belt. As Edge would say, I was WRONG!..........WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

I'm thinking this year's WrestleMania lineup is going to be really good. Looking forward to see how everything unfolds.


TNA! TNA! TNA!

TNA had one of the most entertaining shows that I've seen in quite some time, a few weeks ago. Their January 29th edition of iMPACT! was full of non-stop laughs, thanks to the commentary of Black Snow(Booker T) and the ring announcing of "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner. These two have been on a roll, here lately, with some funny stuff.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed after I read the results of their recent Against All Odds pay-per-view. It just seemed like a regular iMPACT! that they decided to charge everyone for. Hopefully, Destination X will be a lot better with the return of the Ultimate X match.

The Main Event Mafia is beginning to crumble from within since the Frontline has yet to pose any kind of a threat, whatsoever. Whoa! Hold the phone! Samoa Joe just painted his face! It's on like Awesome Kong, now! I'm positive that has struck absolute fear into the hearts and minds of all mankind. Just look at what a little bit of face paint did for the career of Christopher Daniels.

I wished they would have waited a little while longer before they pulled the trigger on the Kurt Angle/Sting feud, but oh well. It's still like a dream match to me. The Empty Arena Showdown on iMPACT! between Kurt and Sting was alright. I wish they would have given it more time, since they hyped it up the entire show. You could really see the similarities that Kurt Angle had with one, Terry Funk, from his classic Empty Arena Match with Jerry "The King" Lawler. For your viewing pleasure, I posted the Lawler vs Funk: Empty Arena Battle. Funk is the man!





The Call List

Congrats to all of the Winners of the 2008 Wrestling News Center Awards-Good Call

Memphis Wrestling having more live events-Good Call

Michael Phelps:Bong Medalist-Bad Call

Kara DioGuardi, The new judge on American Idol-Good Call

Disturbed with Sevendust and Skindred-Kicked my ass

Christian Bale's temper tantrum-Bad Call

TNA having a Headdress on a Pole Match-Bad Call-As Corey Maclin would say, "This is ridiculous!" I don't know why they released Petey Williams, but after participating in a match like that he probley wanted out. Headdress on a Pole Match.....Geez! This just screams, Russo!

Trying to stop Chris Jericho from leaving the arena-Bad Call

Midnight Gold-Good Call

Plaxico Burress-Good Call-Wait a minute! Let me explain. I'm sure you're asking yourself, why in the hell would Plax get a Good Call after "accidently" shooting himself a few months ago. Well, that will definitely be one of the biggest Bad Calls and bonehead moments of all-time. With football season just wrapping up, I thought I would update you on Plaxico's recent progress off the field as he's been educating others on the importance of gun safety. Take a look:


A-Rod-Bad Call

TNA pursuing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich-Bad Call-I think one Gov. is enough

Leg cramps while driving-Bad Call

Joaquin Phoenix's career move-Bad Call

Jack Swagger-Needs to duct tape that ECW belt so it will stop falling off him, but there's a logical explanation for all this: Mark Henry had the belt so it was either specially made for "The World's Strongest Man" or he stretched the hell out of it. My money is on the latter, but if you can't duct it-Funk is well on his way to the Hall of Fame

Edge calling the fans, "Big, fat failure turtles"-Hilarious!

TNA releasing Lance Rock and Jimmy Rave-I guess everyone got infected

Gambling.............Gotta get started on my 2009 collection. I did get a fortune cookie the other day that read:) You will become more and more wealthy:)

AC/DC at the FedExForum-FIRE!!! We salute you!

Giving Mr. Crackerjacks Xanax in a cup of tea-Bad Call

Wrestling News Center being the 2008 Rasslin Riot Online Website of the Year-Thanks to all you loyal and AWESOME readers for making it all possible-Good Call



---------------------SPECIAL BULLETIN-----------------------

Be careful when shopping.........

Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naïve enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends.

Here's how the scam works:

Two very hot 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your stuff into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead they ask you for a ride to Lowes.

You agree and they get in the backseat. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen January 1st, 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th & 29th. As well as, February the 8th, 12th, 14th, and today.

So tell your friends to be careful.

P.S. Wal-Mart has wallets on sale for 2.99 each-GOOD CALL!!!


Thanks for reading and Good Calls to All!!!


D-Rock-Good Call



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