Paul Bearer interview

One of the neatest part about my job as Community Manager for WWE Games at THQ (aside from, you know, working in video games for a living) are the opportunities I’ve had to speak with folks in the wrestling industry. Of the folks I’ve met so far, one of the most fun and enlightening experiences I’ve had has to be my chit-chat with the legendary Paul Bearer.

I was fortunate enough to talk with the future WWE Hall of Famer a few weeks back as part of an interview promoting his appearance as a manager inĀ WWE ’13. But while we started off talking about the game, the more than two hour long interview covered a multitude of topics, including his time with the Undertaker, the role of managers in WWE and even some thoughts on country music icon George Jones.

I had a blast talking with Paul (and meeting him the following Sunday at a Championship Wrestling from Hollywood taping!), and you can check out some of the highlights from the interview over at the WWE.THQ.com mothership.

 

WWE Monday Night Raw recap – April 9, 2012

The future of WWE?

On this week’s Monday Night Raw, John Laurinaitis referred to Brock Lesnar as the future of WWE. Of course, this is a little strange considering that Brock already had a WWE heyday around a decade ago. While it’s probably not how Johnny Ace meant it, I think that he could very well be onto something here, as the return run of Brock (and the Rock before him) points toward a different way of booking main event wrestling feuds.

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WrestleMania 28 results and what they mean

As expected, WrestleMania 28 blew the previous year’s event completely away in terms of match quality, signal-to-noise, celebrity wrestler performances and any other metric you might care to apply. While it wasn’t a perfect show, and there were quite a few finishes that left me…puzzled, it was a stand-out pay-per-view that felt overwhelmingly huge and important. I watched the entire show amongst an awesome, rowdy crowd at Highland Park in NYC, so I didn’t tweet as much as I probably should have last night – besides I was trying to enjoy the show! So, instead, check out my assembled thoughts below, post late-night Mad Men catch-up and good night of sleep:

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WrestleMania 28 Poll-o-Mania – You pick the winners

WrestleMania XXVIII has a really phenomenal card. Rock vs. Cena, Triple H vs. Undertaker, CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus – no matter what type of wrestling fan you are, the show has something to make you happy. But even outside all the great talent on display, what makes this event truly great is that outside the fact that Taker will almost certainly maintain his streak and Maria Menounos will be victorious, broken ribs or no, most of the matches on the card could go either way.

If you want to give your picks for the biggest wrestling event of the year, head over to GuySpeed now, where you can take part in the inauguralWrestleMania Poll-o-Mania event. You’ll get the chance to sound off on the winners, as well as answer some secondary questions, including how many times you think new WWE Hall of Famer Ron Simmons will say “DAMN!” throughout the night.

WrestleMania Poll-o-Mania

WWE WrestleMania 28 preview

If you aren’t excited for WrestleMania XXVIII, you should probably quit calling yourself a wrestling fan. The event has something to please everyone, from casual observers (John Cena vs. the Rock), to lapsed Attitude Era fans (Triple H vs. the Undertaker), to technical wrestling geeks (CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho). If your girlfriend/wife/live-in-lover puts up with your wrestling habit so that she can have the television for celebrity gossip shows, there’s even something for her, as Extra‘s Maria Menounos will be competing in a Divas tag team match.

Over at GuySpeed.com, we’ve just posted a full, complete, detailed WrestleMania XXVIII preview. Whether you’ve been religiously watching every WWE show on the “Road to WrestleMania” or just need the basics to understand what’s what going into each match, this is the web feature for you, with individual commentary on each of this weekend’s eight matches, including four (!!!!) main events. First, make sure you’re all caught up with this week’s recap of the Raw go-home show, then check it out and tell us in the comments what you’re most looking forward to.

WrestleMania XXVIII preview

WWE Monday Night Raw recap – March 19, 2012

This week’s Raw recap is now live, but eagle-eyed readers will notice something very different about the piece: It’s firmly installed in its new home at GuySpeed.com. I’m going to be doing “Best of…”-style Raw recaps that go live every Tuesday morning, but as opposed to the larger, more expansive focus of the “Good, Bad & Ugly” series, I’ll instead be focusing on the six most important segments or moments from the show – the stuff you’ll want to be conversant in at the watercooler this week, assuming you work with a bunch of marks.

Also, starting this Thursday, we’ll also be running pieces for SmackDown. Since I started doing “Good, Bad & Ugly” for Raw, a lot of people have requested that I do the same for WWE’s Friday night show, but unfortunately, with the timing of it, with internet traffic dropping off over the weekend, and the newscycle having moved on by Monday, it just didn’t make sense. So, instead of a weekly review, we’ll be doing SmackDown previews, where I discuss the announced matches, dirt sheet reports and ongoing storylines, anticipating all the stuff you’ll see come Friday night.

All of this is a work in progress though, as GuySpeed’s audience is no doubt different from UGO’s, so please, let us know what you’d like to see from your internet wrestling writing. More detail and analysis? Less recap? Diva pictures to ogle? Whatever it is, tell us in the comments of this week’s recap. And of course, if you don’t already, please come follow me on Twitter – it’s the best place to keep up to date with my writing and projects across the web, and/or read snarky 140 character comments during your favorite wrestling shows.

WWE Monday Night Raw recap – March 19, 2012

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