Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker - Wrestlemania 25

This is one interesting rumor. It seems that the heartbreak kid, Shawn Michaels, is trying to convince people to have an Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels match at Wrestlemania. In this case Shawn will surely lose but the pay day would be huge for both wrestlers. It seems that many wrestling fans are eager to see something like this. We are talking about Mr Wrestlemania going against the one man that has never been defeated at this incredible event. Although such a match would be simply incredible and surely both men would do a great job, it is a feud that should be built in time. If this one is too fast then it will not be special at all. I do hope that (if the match happens) the Shawn vs Undertaker match would be planned properly.

Forgotten Wrestlers - Big John Studd

Big John Studd is one professional wrestler that was forgotten and younger wrestling fans do not know much about him. His real name was John William Minton and was trained by well known legend of wrestling Killer Kowalski. Both of them started working together and Big John's first ever major title was the WWWF Tag Team title won in tag team with Kowalski. Both were then masked and members of a team called the Masked Executioners.

Big John Studd left the WWWF and eventually wrestled under different names like The Masked Superstar II, Captain USA and Chuck O'Connor. As time passed he had interesting feuds with Barry Windham, Sweet Brown Sugar and Dusty Rhodes. Some older wrestling fans will definitely remember his heel gimmick and the stretcher he brought to the ring. In 1982 Studd started a feud with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and would eventually turn towards the WWF. That was when he started a huge feud with the WWF World Champion of the time, Hulk Hogan. In the WWF of the time we saw the wrestler managed by Bobby Heenan and we noticed one of the most memorable feuds of John Studd's career against Andre the Giant. There was a huge tag team match that showed Andre the Giant's hair being shaved after the match and the end of the feud was huge. Big John Studd offered $15,000 to anyone that could body slam him and this eventually led to a match between John Studd and Andre the Giant at the first ever Wrestlemania. The highlight was Andre body slamming Studd and claiming the money while also winning the match. The feud with Andre the Giant was probably the best feud that Big John Studd had in his wrestling career.

Big John Studd also participated in the well known Wrestlemania 2 Over the top Battle royal match. Studd set his focus on eliminating William Perry but eventually was eliminated by the professional football player, after the wrestler eliminated him. The winner of that Battle Royal was Andre the Giant. After this match and a tag team run with King Kong Bundy, Studd did not appear in the WWF for around 3 years. Big John returned to feud against members of the Heenan family and he eventually won the Royal Rumble of 1989. Unfortunately this was the most important moment of the wrestler's career. After serving as a special referee for the match between Andre the Giant and Jake "The Snake" Roberts at Wrestlemania V he started to take time off and eventually had to retire because of problems caused by taking growth hormones. Big John Studd eventually died because of Hodgkin's disease and liver cancer in 1995.

In conclusion, I would like to point out the ending of the famous Body Slam match against Andre the Giant at the first ever Wrestlemania! Enjoy!

The Best Wrestling Entrances

I am trying to figure out what I think is the best entrance in wrestling. The truth is that there are a lot that I like and a lot are really special. I think the two entrances that I enjoyed the most along the years were the following ones. Motorhead playing Triple H's theme as an entrance:

And the Undertaker's entrance for his Wrestlemania match against Kane:

Ted Dibiase Jr and The Undertaker's Wrestlemania Streak

Now this is something that I really do not like and I do hope that it will not come to this. It seems that there are big plans in the backstage area of the WWE to make something huge happen with the Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak. Inside sources said that Vince wants to use the Dead Man's streak to establish a huge up and coming superstar. Check this out! The one person he thought about was Ted Dibiase Jr. Still, it is highly not likely that the Undertaker will lose the next Wrestlemania and all would depend on how Ted Dibiase Jr. evolves. It looks like VInce does want to turn the young wreslter in a new Randy Orton. It would be a Ted vs Taker feud linked with Ted Dibiase Sr. and the fact that he brought him to the WWE.

I personally hope that this would not happen and I think I am not alone in thinking that The Undertaker should have no loses at Wrestlemania until he retires. Retire the Undertaker at Wrestlemania or leave the streak alone. He will probably be inducted in the Hall of Fame but this streak is something that will forever remain as the legend that is the Undertaker.

Ric Flair versus Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Ric Flair had to end his career in style and this is what happened at Wrestlemania 24. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame of the WWE and got to wrestle against Shawn Michaels, the man that was chosen to end Ric Flair's career. There was no doubt about the fact that he was going to lose but what everyone wondered was how it was going to happen. We got to see a much better match than most people expected. Ric Flair delivered some interesting wrestling moves including a flying crossbody. The figure 4 leg lock did come into play of course, a lot of WOOOOOO chops, 2 moonsaults outside the ring by Michaels, a nice low blow by Ric Flair, Sweet Chin Music and a whole lot more. The end of the match was the one that was truly touching as Shawn Michaels delivered a second Sweet Chin Music to a stunned Flair. Prior to the finisher we could lip read Michaels saying "I'm sorry, I love you!" and then the move, the pin and Shawn near the body of Ric Flair looking destroyed of having ended Ric Flair's career. Then Ric Flair got up, looking at the crowd, everybody was applauding and he was almost crying. He probably did actually cry and you can only imagine what he felt since wrestling was his life and still is. His family was also ring side, one of his sons was crying. Ric Flair's career is truly huge and the ending was also huge, as it should have been. Congratulations Ric Flair and may your son be at least as successful as you were in the world of professional wrestling.

Trish Stratus and the Bunny Mania match at Wrestlemania 24

We all saw the bunny match at Wrestlemania 24. Some people loved it while I am sure that most of them did not due to the fact that we are basically dealing with a promo match for Playboy and not wrestling in the women's division. Beth Phoenix is currently the WWE women's champion and had to compete in a Bunny Mania Match at Wrestlemania. SHe got the pin but it was all simply publicity. Snoop Dogg was also involved, got to do a clothesline on Santino and kiss Maria, the newest addition to the WWE divas that posed naked for Playboy magazine. It does look like the WWE storyline writers are not doing much for the women's division and during Bunny Mania Maria did get the pin (looked like she will get the pin) on Beth Phoenix but Santino interfered. Jerry Lawler also had a punch in the face of Santino moment and we also had a power surge that left the entire Bunny Mania match without power. Luckily for the WWE that their backup system worked well.

Regarding the Bunny Mania match at Wrestlemania 24, Trish Stratus also commented in an interview she had for Fight Network Radio. She openly lashed out at the fact that when she was women's champion she had a storyline and she did not have to compete in a Bunny match, which is basically a tag team wrestling match but with the other divas as lumberjacks. It does seem like Melina is also upset with the Bunny Mani match but hey, Snoop Dogg and Playboy must have been satisfied with this. Too bad WWE is only focusing on great bodies for women and not on wrestling like TNA does.

Wrestlemania 24 - 2008 Facts

Wrestlemania 24 does seem to shape up as a huge wrestling event. It is currently the grand stage of all wrestling events around the world. Wrestlemania 24 will happen on March 30 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, with a seated capacity of 70,000 places. At the moment we have around 100 people that are working 16 hours daily in order to build the Wresltemania set and this will also bring in the largest pyrotechnics display in the history of professional wrestling. To make it even more special, we will see a new steel roof that is being constructed above the ring in order to protect all wrestlers (and hopefully spectators) from rain. This steel roof will also be the set used to hang lights and even a massive video board. We will also see a new wrestling structure built on the North End of the stadium and this is where the entrance ramp will be set up for the wrestler's entrance. WWE wants to end building the entire structure by March 29 in order to make rehearsals for the various technical parts of the show.

What is interesting is that after the show will be over we will need to wait for around 4 days until the entire structure will be pulled down. Then the WWE will immediately start planning for Wrestlemania 25 and various cities are interested in hosting the wrestling show in the future. Orlando is already pushing to host it in around 2012 again and Phoenix wants to host Wrestlemania in 2010. Wrestlemania 25 will be held in Houston, Texas.

The matches for Wrestlemania 24 are also going to be quite interesting. We have a triple threat match for the WWE Championship that features John Cena, Triple H and the current WWE Champion, Randy Orton. Then the undefeated at Wrestlemania Undertaker takes on the Rated R Superstar Edge for the World Heavyweight title. The entertainment match of Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs. Big Show (this should be interesting). A Career Threatening Match for Ric Flair as he takes on Shawn Michaels. The Smackdown vs Raw match will see Batista taking on Umaga. We also have a Belfast Brawl match between Finlay and JBL (I sincerely hope Finlay will win it - he is hard working and should get a win at Wrestlemania). There will also be a match that I will not be watching: BunnyMania Lumberjack Match featuring Candice & Maria vs. The Glamazon & Melina. We also have the Money in the Bank match of course, one that is so far filled with controversy due to Jeff Hardy's suspension. I don't think we will see Jeff in it and we will probably have to see a Money in the Bank Match at Wrestlemania 24 that features: John Morrison, CM Punk, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, MVP, Chris Jericho (the man that won the Intercontinental title from Hardy and qualified for the match by defeating the same Jeff Hardy) and Mr. Kennedy. Two champs (US and Intercontinental) are put in this Money in the Bank - it should be a huge match.

The Undertaker vs Umaga

It has been reported that Umaga is going to receive a huge push in the following weeks after Wrestlemania. On that huge pay per view he will take on Batista and it is rumored that this is the match that will mark the start of the Umaga push on Smackdown. Umaga is currently wrestling for Raw but there should be a draft lottery after Wrestlemania and it is believed that the wrestler will make the switch. It is also expected that once on Smackdown, Umaga will have a big feud with the Undertaker, which will most likely win his match at Wrestlemania and become the new World Heavyweight Champion. It is also highly probable that Umaga will surpass JBL and Edge as the top heels on Smackdown, which would be a huge accomplishment for the Samoan Bulldozer. Such a feud between the Undertaker and Umaga would be something nice to see as the two have never actually crossed paths. This basically means that a new flair would be added to Smackdown. It should be quite interesting for the wrestling world to see and for WWE fans in particular. The Phenom versus the Samoan Bulldozer. Should be nice if all turns out to be true.

Big Show at No Way Out 2008

OK! We all expected the Big Show to appear at No Way Out and to see him with a lot of weight lost but we probably did not really expect what happened there. Big Show came out and almost attacked Rey Mysterio although no attack really happened. Then Floyd Mayweather jumped in the ring and eventually gave Big Show a couple of strong shots. Now I did some boxing in my life and those were real strong hits. That did look like a broken nose that Big Show got. Now whatever the case is, we do know that Big SHow has been training and tried to follow a boxing career and now Mayweather in the WWE ring on RAW with a titantron movie and coming on the entrance way is no coincidence. So let me get this straight, whenever somebody calls Floyd Mayweather out he has to retaliate. Now Big Show was probably not the one that should have said he was sorry but hey, who am I to judge? We are going to have a match with Floyd Mayweather versus the Big Show, one on one but we do not know what kind of match it will be. It will surely be at Wrestlemania but will it be a REAL boxing match? In any case, here is what happened at No Way Out:

And here is the episode that made it official, in some way, Floyd Mayweather versus the Big Show:

Update on Bobby Lashley Leaving the WWE

Although Bobby Lashley did announce on the Internet that he is going to leave the WWE it seems that he still did not sign the release forms that were sent to him. This might be a very similar case to what happened with Brock Lesnar. Lashley did have a long term contract with the company and this might mean that if he asks to be released there might be a "no-compete clause" somewhere in there. If you are not aware, this would mean that Bobby Lashley would not be able to compete in other companies for a given time. This includes MMA, the company that Lashley wanted to work with. Many individuals think that this clause is what will get Lashley back in the WWE.

We still do not know why Lashley wants to leave the company but we might assume that it is because of his Wrestlemania fee. He did complain to the fact that he only made $250,000 dollars that night. A lot of people think that this is simply ungrateful from Bobby Lashley but we do need to think about the fact that his wrestling match against Umaga with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special referee and the whole Trump versus McMahon storyline is the one that brought in the biggest amount of money that night. Rumors also have it that some comments that Michael Hayes, head writer for Smackdown, made regarding Krystal Marshall. It seems that Bobby Lashley took the comments personal and this immediately led to a bad relationship with Hayes.

Royal Rumble 2008 Winner - John Cena

I must say that it has been a while since I saw a WWE pay per view that would make me happy. The Royal Rumble 2008 did and not because of the matches but because of the Royal Rumble itself. It was a pretty good Rumble, with a tremendous amount of stars and wrestlers that did make a name for themselves in the industry. I must say the Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper moment was interesting although not really spectacle in terms of wrestling. Then number 29, this is where it all started to be really interesting. Triple H comes out and I thought we were going to see a Triple H vs Batista as the final two, although The Undertaker is one of my favorites and I would have loved to see him win it again. Then, number 30, a little suspense and John Cena's entrance theme starts. I was like WTF? Everybody was expecting a John Cena appearance and him to be back in action at Wrestlemania. I mean the guy had a big injury and to be back in action so fast would be a tremendous achievement. I got over the moment and thought that he was going to get out quickly, just making an appearance. Well, it was not like that and the final three men were John Cena, Batista and Triple H. Triple H eliminated Batista and then John Cena eliminated Triple H. So the 2008 Royal Rumble winner is John Cena.

Now love him or hate him, it is true that John Cena is not that much of a wrestler but his intensity and capacity do make a show and make the fans get on their feet is respectable. This guy is a great entertainer and we saw that at the Royal Rumble as well. So John Cena is back in action from a torn pectoral muscle injury and he will headline Wrestlemania against a champion of his choosing. One thing that I think I noticed was that the crowd kind of wanted Triple H to win it and it did seem that he had a lot more crowd heat behind him. But on the other hand, it's the show that counts! John Cena will probably go for Edge or Randy Orton for the title, as ECW is too small for him. I do think he should be on RAW and go against Edge but, then again, Randy Orton should lose his title in my view, not a great champion, not that entertaining for me. We will have to see what happens next. But here we have it, John Cena, the surprise of the year so far for the WWE, the 2008 Royal Rumble Winner.

PS: We also saw some other interesting matches, Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy (As expected), JBL defeated Chris Jericho by disqualification (not really expected but Chris Jericho took it to another level - the future might be a no DQ at Wrestlemania), Edge defeats Rey Mysterio (as expected but after Vickie Guerrero got in the way and not the Edgeheads as we thought) and Ric Flair defeated MVP (As expected). Oh, did I mention John Cena won the Royal Rumble?

Memorable Wrestling Matches Steve Austin vs Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13

This was an incredible wrestling match that saw Bret "The Hitman" Hart fight against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13. It was really a special fight and it was actually a submission match. We were faced with Bret Hart, we all know his submission wrestling capabilities, the man that basically put the Sharpshooter on the map and Steve Austin, who is not really a submission wrestler. The match was great! We saw the excellence of execution at work and the street fighting style of Austin coming into play. Chairs were of course used and we did see Austin try submission moves. Hart focused on the knee of Austin and utilized a figure 4 leg lock on the turnbuckle. We also saw the Stunner of course and Steve Austin did end up a crimson, bloody mask. The special referee of the match was another individual that is known for his submission style. I am talking about Ken Shamrock. He did not get involved and did call the match correctly. We saw a superplex by Austin and then he used electric cables to try and choke out Bret Hart. But then came a ring bell shot and the sharpshooter was applied. Steve Austin did not tap out but Shamrock had to stop the match because Stone Cold was out. He passed away from the pain but he did not give up. This match was so special and one of the best ever in the WWE. Here are the highlights of this tremendous submission wrestling match at Wrestlemania 13:

Historic Wrestling Matches - Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania 14

This was a history making wrestling match in the WWE. We saw the world champion at the time, Shawn Michaels going at it against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Those were the days of the original Degeneration-X and in Michaels' corner stood Triple H and Chyna. To make the odds even worse for Steve Austin, there was also special enforcer Mike Tyson, who came to the ring wearing a DX T-shirt. We saw Shawn Michaels getting thrown on Triple H and of course, we also saw Triple H interfering in the match. Then we saw a shift in the momentum as Triple H and Chyna were forced to leave ring side. This did not have an immediate impact on the match. Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels battled outside of the ring, hit each other with whatever they got their hands on. This includes the ring bell, chairs and throwing the opponent into the crowd. We saw a figure four leg lock by Michaels and soon a sleeper that saw Stone Cold trying to escape and the referee was knocked out. Shawn Michaels delivered the elbow drop from the turnbuckle and then went for a Sweet Chin Music finisher but only received the Stunner from Steve Austin. Then we did not have a referee but Mike Tyson shocked the world by counting the 1-2-3 and making Steve Austin the new World Heavyweight Champion. To make it even better, he also punched out Shawn Michaels. Here is the end of that match. Sorry for the low quality but I couldn't find this wrestling match in higher quality anywhere: