http://www.jrsbarbq.com/b...etejrs-bee

Saturday Blog...National Wrestling HOF..Eskimo Joe's..Brisco-Funk..Lesnar-HHH.. UFCONFOX..Best Athlete?..JR's Beef Jerky Rocking

Fri, 08/03/2012 - 10:04pm — J.R.

Random Thoughts:

I think that Booker T will do a nice job as Smackdown General Manager as he seemed comfortable in his role Friday night. I also thought the two man booth of Michael Cole and Josh Matthews did well. Some three man combinations have and can work but my preference is a two man broadcast team not just for WWE but for football, hoops, and baseball.

Best Olympic athlete ever? Easy...Jim Thorpe..arguably the best athlete ever. Do your research.

Sorry to digress but the Oklahoma fires that are destroying homes by the hour was apparently started by an arsonist. I hope the person is quickly found. It would be O.K. with me if due process was forgotten, if there was proof of this crime, and the individual or individuals were hung from the highest tree.

Spoilers and tape delayed broadcasts have had little if any affect on NBC's Olympic TV ratings or so it seems. Does the same hold true for sports entertainment? Likely so in most cases if the broadcasts are on free TV.

One is reminded how young many fans are when they ask if I miss never working with Gorilla Monsoon which I did in the mid 90's. Read my article about Gorilla and The Brain at wwe.com at the classics section.

How many cowboy hats do I own? Not sure why this is asked so much but I own several. Most are of the Resistol 200X variety as I've in directly promoted @resistolhats on national TV for years and years and I assume that they're not even aware of it.

Food tip...often times chicken breasts can become dry when grilled. I suggest marinating them in liquid smoke and JR's All Purpose Seasoning over night and then basting them in JR's BBQ Sauce on one side during the last 2-4 minutes of the grilling process.

Oklahoma is the pre-season #4 ranked college football team in the first USA Today Coaches Poll. I'm think that might be a little high. The Sooners play 5 teams in the top 25 and if they can survive that schedule they will have earned their way into the 'Big Game.' I'm planning on going to every Sooner game, home and away, so I might be meeting some of you this fall. I will keep you posted. I might do some informal meet and greets during road games.

Love the Tweets I receive with photos of folks using JR's products. Got a great pic from @RickWWESignGuy Friday as he stopped by Norman Homeland Store to stock up. Rick may be the most traveled and devoted fan I've ever known.

Really looking forward to the new WWE Encyclopedia written by Kevin Sullivan @SullivanBooks...BTW that's not the Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan of wrestling fame. Many fans are pre-ordering the long awaited publication now and saving money by doing so. The amount of work that is done for this particular book is staggering.

I was talking to WWE HOF'er Jerry Brisco Friday on my way back from his stomping grounds of Stillwater and we got to talking about HHH vs. Lesnar at Summerslam. We both agree that the match will likely be off the page thanks to the personal issue that is brewing and the fact that both men will be of the mindset to steal the show. I expect a smart, physical contest from two men who are comfortable in the spotlight and with pressure on them to deliver in a big way.

Some athletes thrive being in the cross hairs of the audience especially when the lights are their brightest while other main event level talents have been known to occasionally wilt under the pressure of main eventing a major PPV.

I will say that the broadcasters who get the opportunity to call the HHH-Lesnar bout will have every thing provided them to make the match a classic.

I'm headed back to Orlando next week for another round of tapings at Full Sail University for NXT. Thursday night's show starts at 6:30 p.m.

Anyone who thinks that I might actually not enjoy broadcasting a few NXT bouts and helping the young talents achieve their goals is pet coon goofy. It's damn near insulting to think that I would rather stroke my own ego and appear on Raw or Smackdown each week rather than help a great team of young people grow as professionals and, hopefully, contribute to the long term success of the company of which I am loyal.

Watching UFC on Fox Saturday night unless I'm over ruled by the Mrs and the Olympics win the battle of the TV in which case I will DVR the UFC on Fox. I assure you that @steveaustinBSR won't like the Fox Sports music because he identifies it with NFL football. The card Saturday night doesn't overwhelm me but I'm curious to see how Fox handles the production and the fight is on free TV.

Best story of the week...Olympic Champion Gabby Douglas just signed a $90M contract with Kellogs and this is after her single Mom worked three jobs before the Olympics to provide for her family.

Nothing new on our business arrangement with @americansoda out of Manchester, England but product is in route and big news should be coming soon for folks in that part of the world.

NFL fans keep an eye on @RyanBoyles now with the Detroit Lions and formerly a #boomersooner as he will sooner than later contribute in a positive way for the Lions. Great hands, route runner, punt returner, team guy with a truck load of character. If I had a son in the NFL, I'd want him to be like Ryan Broyles.

Had lunch Friday with former Olympic Wrestling Coach Lee Roy Smith who is a huge asset to our recruiting efforts with amateur wrestlers throughout the nation. Lee Roy is also the Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. We went to a Stillwater landmark, Eskimo Joe's. @eskimojoes is an awesome place to eat and drink when one is in Stillwater. Great food and service.

I'll come clean...I blew my diet Friday at Eskimo Joe's. Shared an order of home cut fries..with cheese and bacon! Damn near felt guilty...damn near. Yes...cheese fries with bacon @eskimojoes. Whew...I feel better getting that off my chest.

Favorite match that I did not call but watched as a 'fan'...one of the many Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk, Jr. one hour draws. They are timeless classics from which every wrestling earning a pay check can learn.

Food tip...scrambled egg whites with JR's Chipotle Ketchup and Salsa. Healthy, quick and easy.

Last I looked we were about 1500 followers shy of 500,000 on Twitter. This could be a milestone weekend in that regard for us. @JRsBBQ.

Rookie to keep an eye on...Big E Langston...fiercely strong...amateur champion..DT at Iowa...intelligent and driven. Tipping the scales at 283 down from 300 and he looks great and moves excellently. An athletic, big man.

.WWE officials along with Mark Henry are in London at the Olympic Games doing some important due diligence for WWE Developmental. Stay tuned.

Check out the Q&A Section of the site. It's updated.

Hopefully you will take the time to browse our page at http://www.wweshop.com and embrace our BBQ Sauces, Chipotle Ketchup, Main Event Mustard, All Purpose Seasoning and FIVE flavors of 87% Fat Free Beef Jerky. Our Jerky biz has really picked up and I can attest that JR's Beef Jerky is a great snack especially late at night when temptation lurks.

Be well and thanks for the visit.

Boomer Sooner!

J.R.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

L4OATheOriginal said:

just so someone doesn't get their signals crossed ..ns tesmacher was saying "i love u baby" 2 me after her commentary cause i had sent her a text saying i loved her and she was doing a good job. she had nothing 2 sweat about madison rayne" and that was her way of thanking me on air..and last night we had a nice dinner and spent quality time 2gether ..unlike some mofo taking rosita to see batman again .lawd have mercy

It was Rosita, bitch, and don't be hatin' on me just because the only one who'd want to go to the movies with you is "Rosey".

no the only one who is gonna see total recall is u and mae young remembering how ur 1st date was each other ..pure love i tell ya ..i'm happy 4 u mayne

http://www.tmz.com/2012/0...lity-show/

Former WWE star Kharma tells TMZ ... she fell into a deep depression after suffering a miscarriage last year ... and put on so much weight, she fell out of wrestling shape.

But now, Kharma says ... she's finally broken out of her funk and is on a renewed mission to shed the fat so she can get back in the ring.

We broke the story ... Kharma's baby died before she was able to give birth on December 31. Kharma says she had put on a lot of weight during the pregnancy and believes the extra pounds caused her health to suffer and may have contributed to the miscarriage.

In the months that followed, Kharma became depressed, put on even more weight and was dropped by the WWE.

But in the past couple of weeks, with the help of some friends, Kharma motivated herself to get back into fighting shape ... and has vowed to reclaim her career.

We're told she's already recruited a team of fitness experts and therapists ... and plans to document the transformation in the hopes of scoring a reality show. In fact, sources tell us ... Kharma has already been in touch with multiple production companies.

Good luck.

^^ Hmmm, so it seems what happened was WWE (and she probably thought it was best for both parties too) decided to let her go until she could get herself together and then she'll probably come back. No need in paying her for the length of her contract when she really hasn't done anything yet.

Just hope she gets herself together at some point. Miscarriages can be a bitch.

http://www.baltimoresun.c...0284.story

WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels talks about tonight's HBK Appreciation Night on Raw

By Arda Ocal

7:00 a.m. EDT, August 6, 2012

Shawn Michaels, the man widely recognized as the greatest WWE superstar that ever lived, is thoroughly enjoying his life outside the ring.

His new television endeavor, Shawn Michaels' MacMillan River Adventures, is a success, with the Outdoor Channel offering the program a multi-year deal. Michaels and company are currently filming more episodes.

Michaels recently entered a sponsorship agreement with Deuce Brand to be the face of and creative force behind the "Showstopper" watch, an HBK-themed wrist piece.

Yet despite having many irons in the fire, Michaels still finds his way back to WWE, even if only sporadically. Tonight on Raw, Michaels will make his second appearance in the past three weeks. "Mr. WrestleMania" was part of the DX reunion at Raw 1,000, and now, in his hometown of San Antonio tonight, will partake in "HBK Appreciation Night."

"I honestly don't know [what to expect]," Michaels admits. "I have probably less information than you guys do, which is [WWE's] doing. I do my best to always take that as a compliment. I like to feel that they basically know that they sort of let me know what's going on that day, then we can go ahead and get it done."

It would be safe to assume that his long time friend Triple H will somehow be involved. Hunter inducted Michaels into the WWE Hall of Fame, and was front and center with "HBK jokes" at Raw 1,000. Michaels almost expects his buddy to be behind the planning for the evening.

"If this turns into a one-time roast for me, I enjoy that as much as everybody else does," Michaels said. "That's the reason I've hung around [Triple H] for all these years -- it's because he's always made me laugh. So if that's what it entails, then that works for me."

The timing of these two events were likely coincidental, with Raw 1,000 and a Raw event in Michaels' hometown falling within weeks of each other. Barring any coincidence in the future, it would be safe to say that we will see HBK in a WWE ring far less, though he won't ever be too far away.

The new sponsorship with Deuce watches is special to Michaels, because it bears his favorite nickname of the list.

"In all the years with WWE, I never really got to really establish the branding of 'The Showstopper' as well as I would have liked to. When you're calling yourself 50 different names, it's tough for them to focus on just one of them. Of all the nicknames I had that was my favorite, so obviously I wanted to have that on [the watches]. It's one of the things, certainly for me anyway, I'm learning to take a bigger role in the things that I'm associated with. You know my years in the WWE, a lot of stuff came out that you're not even aware of because they come out with it so fast and there's so much of it. It's tough, certainly, to have any hands-on association with it, so I was happy to be able to have some input into the 'Deuce Brand' watch."

Michaels was heavily involved with the creative process, including picking the Red/White/Black "HBK" color scheme for the watch. There is also a charitable component. Five percent of proceeds from sales benefit the Children’s Hunger Fund. Michaels noted during our interview that it was imperative that there be a charitable component to the sponsorship agreement, particularly with this charity that he feels strongly about.

In our 25-minute interview, HBK also discussed being impressed with Damien Sandow during Raw 1,000, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan being talked about as this generation's Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, how MacMillan River Adventures is allowing him the opportunity to show sides of him he never could while being the "Heartbreak Kid" in WWE, the reason and inspiration behind his many nicknames (Showstopper, Headliner, Mr. WrestleMania, etc) and much more.

both nattie and beth were pleased that the woman's division was shown on raw, they were pissed that the division was showcased using stupid kelly kelly and the hoeski tonight. must have been that crazy ass skippy gm that made that match...yeah wwe keep putting out weak shit like that..

so i had 2 take care of my ladies beth and nattie tonight while velvet watched for a few then she joined in ...

and alex stop the hating ur doing reading this, u shuld be happy that ur hero cena was giving the main event slot instead of the wwe champion

Uh oh, it looks like my boo needs me!!

http://www.tmz.com/2012/0...n-andrews/

WWE diva Rosa Mendes told police her fiancé is a habitual woman-beater ... and she's afraid the guy will eventually try to kill her ... this according to a police report obtained by TMZ.

And sources tell TMZ ... the guy Mendes is afraid of is a former WWE talent.

According to the report, the San Antonio Police Dept. found Mendes crying in a bathroom stall at San Antonio International Airport late Sunday night, repeatedly stating that she needed help. Mendes had just flown from her home in Vegas to S.A. for a WWE event.

According to the police report, Mendes -- real name Milena Roucka -- told cops her fiancé had "hit her several times at their shared residence in Las Vegas."

Sources connected to the case tell TMZ ... Rosa's fiancé is Andy Slocum ... a former WWE talent who went by the stage name Jackson Andrews. Slocum was fired by the WWE in 2011 for breach of contract after continually blowing off training sessions.

In the report, cops note Mendes was under the influence of alcohol at the time they made contact with her.

Cops say Mendes told them "she was afraid [her fiancé] would try and kill her. She also stated the abuse had been an on-going thing."

S.A.P.D. spokesman Officer Matthew Porter tells us Mendes filed a battery report around 10:17 PM. Cops took roughly 30 photos of her body ... which appeared to show bruising and scratches.

A rep for the WWE tells TMZ ... "Milena Roucka contacted a WWE Talent Relations representative this morning to notify WWE that, upon her arrival in San Antonio last evening, she contacted police at the airport to report alleged domestic abuse that occurred just prior to her flight."

The rep adds, "WWE is supportive of Rosa and will provide her with professional assistance."

We reached out to Slocum for comment -- so far, no response.

[Edited 8/7/12 14:45pm]

L4OATheOriginal said:

both nattie and beth were pleased that the woman's division was shown on raw, they were pissed that the division was showcased using stupid kelly kelly and the hoeski tonight. must have been that crazy ass skippy gm that made that match...yeah wwe keep putting out weak shit like that..

so i had 2 take care of my ladies beth and nattie tonight while velvet watched for a few then she joined in ...

and alex stop the hating ur doing reading this, u shuld be happy that ur hero cena was giving the main event slot instead of the wwe champion

So what...you've moved up to doing bath salts now?? Cuz you're one delusional muthafucka!! No hatin' here, pardnah. Only the truth.

Oh, and what did I tell you about talking about Eve like that? Cut out the name calling, or it'll be yo' ass!

http://www.jrsbarbq.com/b...biz-boomin

RAW Blog..San Antonio Raw Thoughts from JR's La-Z-Boy..JR's Beef Jerky hits new level..WWEShop.com Biz Booming!

Tue, 08/07/2012 - 12:47pm — J.R.

With a busy week ahead of me, I thought I'd better hammer out a blog with some Monday Night Raw observations/opinion and some random thoughts. Here it is...

I enjoyed Monday Night Raw from San Antonio as the live crowd helped make it a better show. The crowd was hot, or so they sounded, and WWE had them mic'ed well. (This is a common complaint that I have with UFC...I wish that they would mic their live crowds better.)

It's no mystery nor does it take a wrestling savant to realize that any three hour, live television broadcast has its challenges in our short attention span world. I thought the first hour particularly zoomed by Monday night.

On my personal list of Raw favorites from San Antonio:

AJ Lee's continued development as the Raw GM which I feel is a good role for the talented, young woman. She adds a different dynamic to the role made famous by Mr. McMahon who was the hand's down best at it.

@WWEDanielBryan...arguably WWE's most interesting star at the moment and who seems to NEVER have a bad match with anyone. Back in the day, Bryan would have been a great candidate to have been the traveling, NWA Champion because of his skill level and believable personality. However, egocentric NWA promoters and power brokers would have bemoaned Daniel's lack of size and found other lame excuses to exclude him from the process.

@CMPunk vs. Rey Mysterio...excellent chemistry and a match/rivalry that I could see much more of in the future. The more time these two have the better.

Wade Barrett vignette...I loved it. Extremely well produced. "Barrett Barrage" might take some getting used to but the vignette itself featuring a man who has yet to remotely approach his potential was a hit.

Big Show's right hand...has it's own zip code and is more meaningful now than it ever has been. The repackaging of the World's Largest Athlete has been successful thus far. He's much more effective, in my view, as a villain than as a fan favorite.

AW's mic work is largely entertaining and is uniquely presented. I look at it as a sign that a 'manager' is at least getting a shot and that tag teams are getting some exposure on WWE's flagship program. For some critics, that won't be enough but I consider it a start and an improvement from over just a few weeks ago. Yes, it's a work in progress as it the entire tag team scene but I, for one, am willing to watch it evolve. These are classic examples where every team needs to truly maximize their minutes. AW is out there working without a net of which he has to remain constantly aware. But...the man can talk.

Really enjoyed the HHH/Lesnar business with @ShawnMichaels and @HeymanHustle adding greatly to the process. The segment left me wanting more which I perceive as a good thing. I was thinking that it would be a potentially long night for Shawn in his hometown, I speak from experience, but I was wrong. I was looking for the 'heater' and got an off speed pitch. Now I have even more to look forward to regarding this high profile matter heading into Summerslam.

Lesnar telling HBK that "I'll see you before Summerslam" is a major declaration.

I wish I had been in San Antonio for the HBK Appreciation Night portion of the evening that was held after RAW went off the air. I'm a major HBK fan for many reasons and not all of them have to do with wrestling. I am grateful that I was a small part of the process that helped facilitate Shawn's WWE return after four years off.

I was working for Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling when Shawn had his first match there and remember him being taken under the wing of the Rock 'n Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson.

I don't know if Shawn Michaels is hand's down the very BEST of all time, it's an overly subjective topic, but I can make a valid argument that no one that I've ever seen with my own eyes has been BETTER.

@HEELZiggler and @IAmJericho is a match made in grappling heaven. I hope that they compete at Summerslam and if they do their bout will be tough to follow. I thought Jericho was money at the announce table.

The three hour Raw broadcasts certainly provides an opportunity for the occasional guest broadcaster IE Jericho Monday night. For some talents that's a blessing and for others, I know of what I speak, it's the kiss of death.

Punk's closing promo to King was entertaining and provocative. I hope that Punk gets back to more of his eye opening, shocking verbalizing style in the week's to come.

Enjoying Damien Sandow's TV growth. The more aggressive and physical he is the better for me. Sandow's promos are delivered organically and professionally.

I've updated the Q&A Section of the site. Submit questions there and see what others are asking.

As always, I invite you to visit http://www.wweshop.com and go to the JR page to see our complete line of products and the offers that await. Hope that you will consider JR's for your Summerslam gatherings. We sincerely appreciate everyone's support of our family's endeavors.

As I pointed out recently, JR's Beef Jerky, five flavors all 97% Fat Free, has really been selling well. We're not the biggest dog in the Jerky hunt by far but I will put our product up against any of the big boys. There's is mass produced and our's is custom made.

We exceeded over half a million Twitter followers a few days ago @JRsBBQ. Thanks to all our followers.

Looking forward to working with @THQ and @WWEGAMES during Summerslam weekend plus seeing many old friends. I don't expect to be a part of the PPV other than being a very interested fan. My lovely wife and our cash love visiting LA.

No one is more happy that football season is essentially upon us. My Oklahoma Sooners are pre season ranked number 4, which I think is too high, especially considering all the unanswered questions and recent rash of serious injuries that they have incurred. With my manageable WWE schedule, I'm planning on traveling to every OU away game and of course will attend all games here in Norman. For those who may be thinking about asking, I have no extra tickets for the OU-Notre Dame game OR the OU-Texas game. Sorry but my 6 are spoken for.

No new news on getting JR's products into grocery stores at this time. We're working on some possibilities but there are no guarantees.

Heading to Orlando this week to tape three more NXT broadcasts Thursday night at Full Sail University. This is one of my favorite assignments in WWE. I sort of feel like a coach and am blessed to be able to help so many young, deserving kids. Tickets for the NXT tapings are on sale daily this week from 4-7 pm at the Full Sail Box office.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to #SauceIt! Http://www.wweshop.com

Booner Sooner!

J.R.

Backstage Report From RAW On Why JTG And Other WWE Superstars Are Upset

As seen last night, WWE Superstar JTG spoke out about being unhappy with his role in the company and how he was tired of being taken advantage of.

There have been some payoffs come out in the past few weeks, mainly the WrestleMania 28 payoff, and that is part of why JTG is upset. Word is that JTG isn't the only midcard talent upset about the WrestleMania payoffs. Apparently with WWE touting the success of the WrestleMania buyrate, the talents expected the payoffs to be more than what they actually were.

Word going around is that many talents are upset about it and lots of are talking privately about it but everyone is afraid to speak out because of fear for losing their jobs.

It's always possible that JTG may be released soon but the feeling backstage was that he was not trying to get released. Talents were keeping their distance from him before RAW went on the air last night but after the show, officials were coming up to him asking if he was okay and what the problem was.

source: F4WOnline

WWE Expected To Offer Lesnar Another Deal, Heyman's Future, HBK Returning To RAW

- Shawn Michaels is expected to make more RAW appearances leading up to SummerSlam, where he will be in Triple H's corner for the match against Brock Lesnar. Lesnar promised Michaels on RAW last night that the two would be seeing each other before SummerSlam.

- A lot of people within WWE are expecting the company to offer Brock Lesnar a second deal once his current one expires around WrestleMania 29 next year.

Regarding Paul Heyman's future, it's said that the angle with Stephanie McMahon at RAW 1000 had some real meaning behind it as Stephanie does not like Heyman personally. With that said, most expect Heyman to continue working with WWE in some capacity.

source: F4WOnline

Dixie Carter Wants Velvet Sky Back In TNA, Two Wrestlers Upset With Contract Re-negotiations

- TNA sources confirm that shortly after Velvet Sky was released from TNA, she received a phone call from TNA President Dixie Carter. Carter contacted Velvet to see what it would take to get her back. No word yet if the two sides are working on a new deal but as of this writing, she has not signed one.

There were people in TNA, possibly Dixie, that were upset that Velvet had been released, citing the recent music video she shot with Montgomery Gentry and the time TNA put into developing her as a personality for the company.

- The TNA contracts for Bully Ray and Television Champion Devon are set to expire in about three weeks. The two sides have been negotiating but word going around over the weekend was that the former Team 3D, specifically Ray, are angry over the way things are being handled, mainly the last minute nature of the re-negotiations.

source: PWInsider

^^ I told Jamie just last night that she should do what her heart tells her to do for her career. As soon as we decide what's best for her and us, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

Also, wouldn't it be great if the Dudleys were able to go back into the WWE and just fuck everybody up? And none of that "Wassuuuuuup!!" bullshit either.

StonedImmaculate said:

I was never a big Ron Simmons fan, but I will never forget when he slammed Vader and won the title. An awesome moment...not because Simmons was black, just because it was so unexpected.

That being said, am I the only one that thinks that THIS is the first black World Champion?

I don't give a damn what they say...Harley is a brotha! And if he doesnt know it, somebody in his family is lying!

Naw not at all but he does look like Hamish Stuart or one of those guys from

Average White Band.

I watched WWE last night and was stunned to see The Viper back.

Has it been two months already. Cool he took the Big Show to the limit.

http://www.grantland.com/...eeps-night

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Kevin Nash's Next Angle

The controversial wrestling star has made a fortune in the ring and is making headway in Hollywood. So why can't he sleep at night?

By Thomas Golianopoulos on August 7, 2012

Last December, during his final match in World Wrestling Entertainment, Kevin Nash, one of the most successful and recognizable professional wrestlers of his generation, fell off a ladder and through a table. He thought the table would cushion the blow. Instead, it caused his second concussion of the night. Minutes later, Paul "Triple H" Levesque pinned Nash. It was a worthy swan song. Backstage, Nash ran into Vince McMahon. "I think we saved your best for last," the WWE chairman and CEO told him.

Once he returned home to Daytona Beach, Nash, 53, buzzed his long black mane, allowing it to grow in gray. He first wore the gray hair and beard a few years back in TNA Impact Wrestling to resemble one of his favorite movie tough guys, Wade Garrett, Sam Elliott's character in Road House. Now it keeps him grounded. "When my hair is dyed, I feel like I'm 35 again," he says. "Our business feeds that Peter Pan mentality."

During his wrestling career, the sarcastically charismatic Nash was the smartest guy in the room. The center of attention. Big Sexy. Big Daddy Cool. Here, sitting in a restaurant in Daytona, cupping a glass of unsweetened iced tea, the veneer's gone; he's introspective. His face is smooth, unwrinkled. (He denies having undergone plastic surgery.) His Native American features are more pronounced in person than on television. He is, of course, still massive — 6-foot-10, 295 pounds, thick chest, round biceps, and forearms the size of a normal man's quadriceps. And he is now in the midst of a career change. Kevin Nash, like so many wrestlers before him, is trying to make it as an actor. The results, so far, have been encouraging.

He didn't do much other than look tough as Tom Cruise's bodyguard in the musical Rock of Ages, released in June. But his work as Tarzan, a broken-down stripper, in the sleeper hit Magic Mike impressed and hints at a future. Still, he's not ready to give up wrestling.

Nash still works on the independent scene. He likes the weekend schedule — it allows him time to bond with his 16-year-old son, Tristen, but it's a hustle compared to WWE's global monolith. He peddles 8x10s at autograph sessions before events where the crowds rarely top 1,000. Still, it's hard for Kevin Nash to turn down a paycheck. "I'm a Detroit kid who grew up with that assembly line mentality: You go to work to make money," he says. "My wife is like, 'Why do you still wrestle?' If you go to an ATM for a hundred dollars and it keeps spitting twenties, when would you walk away? When it wasn't spitting twenties no more. As long as you can take the money out, you'd stay there. That's what the wrestling business is like."

Nearly every conversation with Kevin Nash leads back to money. He grew up in a working-class family in southwest Detroit in an 800-square-foot house. His parents met while working at Ford. Dad was in the graphics department; mom was a secretary. From his first job delivering newspapers, Nash has adhered to what he calls a "blue-collar, dollar-is-a-dollar outlook."

Then there came a point in his life when he realized that a million dollars wasn't a whole lot of money, especially for an athlete with bad wheels. He's haunted by the memory of Tony Conigliaro, a gifted outfielder for the Boston Red Sox in the 1960s whose career was derailed following a horrific beaning. "So many people buy the ideal that this money is always going to be there," Nash says. "I bought the ideal that this could be over tomorrow." It's what keeps him up nights.

He's struggled with insomnia since he was a child. It's intensified in recent years. Every night, after a few hours gorging on cable news, Nash lies in bed replaying the day's events. His mind races. He starts sweating. Sleep drifts further out of reach. Deep-breathing exercises are no help. Counting sheep is useless. He'll get to 17 or 18 and fall deeper down the wormhole. What kind of sheep? What are they hurdling? Is it a barbed-wire fence? Why are they even jumping? His brain won't shut down. Sometimes, he kicks around ideas for a screenplay in which he'll play a good Samaritan shot for his troubles and bound to a wheelchair. Sometimes, thoughts of China and the EU crisis creep in. That gets him thinking about his personal finances, which then triggers an anxiety attack.

"In '08 when, basically, we were going into a Depression, I was beyond hyperventilating," he says. "I had to go to the doctor and get Xanax. I almost couldn't breathe. My guy from Merrill Lynch, my guy from Edward Jones is telling me, 'It's just on paper.' 'So, it's just on paper but if I want to live on that tomorrow, where's it at?' 'It's 3.7 [million].' 'Dude, it's not on paper, it's fucking real.'"

Everywhere he looks around Daytona Beach, Nash is reminded of the recession. He points out of his black 2005 Mustang GT convertible toward a stock, one-story home that, he says, was once on the market for $599,000. Now, he bets it's available for $199,000. We pass a condominium built before the bubble burst. Nash doesn't think any of the lofts were sold. His own place, a duplex with pristine views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Halifax River, was recently appraised. It has depreciated $480,000 in value over the past three years.

It's tough for a colossus to get acting gigs. But 2012 isn't Nash's first Hollywood moment. He broke into the business in 1991, portraying Super Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. He waited 13 years before appearing as The Russian in The Punisher. He says he paused his acting career because of money. "It's hard," he says. "When you're in that upper echelon in wrestling, any movie you take is gonna be a pay cut. If you're gone for three months and they pay you 150 grand, you're getting killed."

Professional wrestling has always had a covetous relationship with cinema — wrestlers want to be actors. Dozens have attempted the leap. All, with the exception of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, have failed. Nash, however, has a plan: After dipping his toe into the genre,¹ he's eschewing the D-grade action movies favored by his peers. He wants to be the next Paul Giamatti, not the next Schwarzenegger.

Last year, Nash auditioned for Magic Mike casting director Carmen Cuba over Skype for the role of Tarzan, the towering elder statesman of a male strip club revue. He met all of Cuba's requirements: He was older and had his own fan base; he was taller than Joe Manganiello, the 6-foot-5 True Blood actor who plays Big Dick Richie in the movie; fit enough to wear a thong; and he was accustomed to juggling a public and private guise.

"Who Kevin is as a person was very attractive to us," Cuba says. "In his personal life, he's an art lover and very sensitive. He's a family man and gets sentimental when he talks about his son. For us, the contrast between that and his larger-than-life persona, combined with his physique, was [appealing]."

Tarzan wasn't much of a stretch for Nash. "It mimics where I am in the other world," he says. "I'm beat-down." On set, he told Academy Award–winning director Steven Soderbergh that he wouldn't dance without his knee brace. Soderbergh thought it was funny. The knee brace stayed.

Eric Charbonneau/WireImage/Getty Images

It's jarring to watch Nash strip to "It's Raining Men," but he found humor and sadness in the part, holding his own onscreen against Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, and flourishing in the largely improvised scenes. "It was very Altman-esque," says co-star Matt Bomer. "There were times when we would just be sitting around, shooting the shit, and Steven would say, 'I like that conversation. Talk about that when we're rolling.' There were certain times when everything was improvised. The whole conversation about Kevin being ashy and asking The Kid to rub cocoa butter on his legs and then me saying, 'We all had to do it.' That was all improvised. Kevin was an amazing improviser. He brought so much in rounding out the ensemble and giving it depth and character."

It was a richer experience than Rock of Ages. Nash sang backup for Tom Cruise on "Wanted Dead or Alive," but he had no dialogue. He also cursed out Cruise's makeup artist toward the end of shooting.²

He'd like to pick up more character-actor work like Magic Mike, maybe a romantic comedy or even a film set in the wrestling world; Nash pitched Tatum an idea for a film called King of the Road. "The Wrestler was a good movie, but The Wrestler is the end of the run," Nash says. "There's never been a movie about the run. That's what people want to see."

Nash isn't as garrulous about a potential appearance in the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire. Earlier this year, rumors floated him for the part of Brutus, but casting wasn't finalized when Nash mentioned the film while on the red carpet at the Magic Mike premiere. Now, Nash refuses to address the project.

Nash was a top basketball recruit, and after his junior year at Aquinas High School he says he attended a basketball camp with Magic Johnson. The following year, they teamed on a Midwestern All-Star squad and defeated the Russian Junior National team in an exhibition. Every time they played together, Johnson told Nash to keep his hands up. "Early in the game, Magic came down the lane, I had my hands by my chin and all of a sudden, I had the ball in my hands," Nash remembers. "If Magic Johnson was my point guard, I probably could have had a couple of scrub years in the NBA."

But Nash was a step slow and clashed with head coach Don DeVoe during three years at the University of Tennessee. The relationship detonated following a loss at Kentucky during which Nash was tossed for throwing a punch. "We go back to the locker room and DeVoe kept saying, 'Hey, hothead, you cost us the game,'" Nash says. "He grabbed my jersey and tried to spin me around. He kept running his mouth so I bitch-smacked him. I bear-pawed him." He washed out of Tennessee, spent two years in the Army, played professionally in Germany, and then, after tearing up his knee, returned to the assembly line in Detroit.

He worked as a floor manager in an Atlanta area strip club when he broke into wrestling, attending the Georgia Academy of Wrestling in a little town called Lovejoy. His trainer Jody "The Assassin" Hamilton says Nash was "destined for success." He made his big television debut in September 1990 as part of a tag team, the Master Blasters, a Road Warriors knockoff that flopped immediately.³ World Championship Wrestling officials were high on Nash, however, and quickly repackaged him as Oz. Not the Wizard of Oz, just Oz, as in the fictional geographical region.⁴ Nash wore a rubber mask to the ring, an emerald-green cape, and was accompanied by the wrestler Kevin Sullivan, who also wore a rubber mask and, for some reason, handled a pet monkey. Oz's introduction at a Ma...ng history. The gimmick didn't last.

Soon after, Nash crafted a character inspired by Steve Martin in My Blue Heaven. The crowd remained apathetic to the newly christened Vinnie Vegas, but he had one fan.

"I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever laid eyes on. I saw a guy that was incredibly talented and thought he should be on a much bigger stage," says Michael "Shawn Michaels" Hickenbottom. "What sealed the deal for me was that he was humble and appreciative. And then the fact that he was so darn funny."

Nash jumped to the World Wrestling Federation in 1993 and became Diesel, a belligerent trucker moonlighting as Michaels's onscreen bodyguard. He didn't wrestle much but learned from being ringside, taking in Michaels's high-flying series of matches with Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall, an underrated mat-based powerhouse. That's when he fell in love with the business. Nash quickly blossomed into a main-eventer, and in November 1994, won the WWF Championship in an eight-second match.

Nash believes he was awarded the title because Vince McMahon wanted a "clean" big man as champion following his acquittal on steroids charges.⁵ His ascent wasn't greeted warmly by the locker room. Rivals like Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow complained of his push; wrestling manager/booker Jim Cornette once famously declared th... maneuvers. Nash was green, especially compared to Michaels, who is now considered one of the greatest performers ever, but his size, charm on the microphone, and imposing finisher, the "Jackknife Powerbomb," won fans over. His greatest attribute, however, was his appetite for backstage politics.

AP Photo/Ed Bailey

Along with close friends Michaels, Hall, and Sean "The 1-2-3 Kid" Waltman (later known as X-Pac), Nash formed The Kliq, a collective that dominated the main-event scene and conspired for higher paychecks. (Triple H joined later.) "We were like the Five Musketeers," Nash says. "You have five guys telling each other what we're getting paid, so they know they couldn't fuck us. We broke the system. It's like those fuckers that go to Vegas and count cards. We cared more about each other than about the individual because we knew as a pack, we'd all prosper from it."

It wasn't enough to stick around. Even as WWF champion, Nash says his contract was limited, for just 10 matches and $1,500. Merchandising and payouts⁶ could push earnings into the millions, but that money wasn't guaranteed.⁷ In spring 1996, he, along with Hall, signed with WCW to what he says was a five-year deal worth approximately $9 million, guaranteed. (Tristen was born six days into his WCW run.) He also shrewdly negotiated a "favored nation clause" into the contract — if another wrestler received a fatter deal from WCW, Nash's salary was adjusted to reflect the increase.

"He's smart as hell," says "Diamond" Dallas Page. "I used to call him 'The Locker Room Lawyer.' If I let Kevin Nash totally control my career, I would have made at least another 2 million dollars."

As we pull into the driveway at Nash's modest home, he gestures toward the residence across the street. "How much do you think he pays in property taxes? $36,000. I pay $7,200," he says, cackling. We walk through his garage, past a Bronco — "This is what I drive to my tea party meetings"⁸ — and into the house. Peja, a brown Yorkie named after Peja Stojakovic, greets him. We walk through his wife's home gym, past framed photographs from Nash's wrestling and basketball career, up a spiral staircase, and onto his rooftop deck. "I come up here and just take a breath," he says, looking past the ocean banks.

Daytona Beach is special for another reason: It's home to the biggest moment in Nash's wrestling career. On July 7, 1996, at WCW's Bash at the Beach pay-per-view, Nash, Hall, and Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea formed the New World Order, a stable aimed at destroying the WCW. Turning the beloved Hogan heel was shocking. The Ocean Center crowd pelted the trio with garbage. One fan even charged the ring. It inspired a parody vide...Decision."

The resulting nWo angle catapulted WCW past the WWF in the ratings for more than two years, until the emergence of the WWF's Attitude Era in spring 1998. By then, WCW was beset by creative problems. The nWo became diluted — black-and-white nWo shirts were slapped on generic mid-carders (Marcus "Buff" Bagwell), Hulk Hogan lackeys (Ed Leslie), and jobbers like Mike "Virgil"/"Vincent" Jones — and there was never any conclusion to the angle. Older stars like Nash and Hogan were also perceived to hold too much backstage power.

"As far as politics goes, Kevin and I worked pretty good together as good-cop, bad-cop when we really needed to get things done in the back," Hogan says. "If we needed something done from Ted Turner or [former WCW president] Eric Bischoff or Vince McMahon or [TNA president] Dixie Carter, we'd be like, 'Kevin won't be happy if he doesn't get this. Or, 'Hogan might flip out if he doesn't get this.' We were good at double-teaming the 'enemy' in a political situation. We were ruthless."

Along with Hogan, Kevin Nash might be the most despised man in the Internet wrestling community, a hive of hard-core wrestling nerds and snobs once known in the business as "smart marks," or "smarks." He's mocked in the comments section of wrestling websites and YouTube for, among other things, no-showing the Starrcade '97 pay-per-view because of a heart attack (he'd eaten a pan of pot brownies⁹), nearly killing Paul "The Big Show" Wight with a botched Powerbomb,¹⁰ allegedly booking himself to end Bill Goldberg's undefeated streak at Starrcade '98,¹¹ and tearing his quad muscle during a match in 2002.

"I'm never going to be an Internet darling. I could hit an 890 hurricanrana tomorrow and they'll say, 'Oh, his left knee hit before his right knee,'" he says. "You're not supposed to be 7 feet tall, handsome, smart. You're a giant, you should look like a giant and fee-fi-fo-fum around. You shouldn't know anything about art. You shouldn't be well-rounded. Look at the core of the hard-core wrestling fans. What do we have in common? When they go to New York City, do they go to the modern art museum and can't believe that Picasso's early work is not cubism? Do they know that? Do they care? Have they ever spent a day at an art museum ever in their life? Do they go to Amsterdam to see Van Goghs, then go to a coffeehouse and then go see Van Goghs again?" He laughs. "They don't. Sorry, man." It sounds like a great Kevin Nash promo.

Here's one reason Nash will never be an Internet darling: He called Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero — small-statured, gifted technical wrestlers that lacked big in-ring personalities but were beloved by fans — "Vanilla Midgets." He now claims the comments were a double work. It drew heat from the marks that cheered for Benoit and Guerrero because they were baby faces. It drew heat from the smart marks that cheered for Benoit and Guerrero because they were great wrestlers. Even though both are gone now,¹² he still thinks they never belonged in the main event.

"When Benoit and Guerrero hugged [at the end of WrestleMania XX], that was the end of the business," he says. "Has business been the same since that WrestleMania? Has it come close to the Austin era? Has it come close to the nWo or the Hogan era? You put two fucking guys that were great workers that were the same height as the fucking referees, and I'm sorry, man. Are you going to watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick? Even if you're not gay, you will not watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick. That's not the standard in porno films. So you put a 5-foot-7 guy as your world champion."

He has the same problem with today's Internet heroes, Phil "CM Punk" Brooks and Bryan "Daniel Bryan" Danielson.

"They are not bigger than life," he says. "I bet they could both walk through airports and not be noticed unless they have a gimmick shirt on and the belt."

We walk downstairs and wait for Nash's wife Tamara; they're going out to buy Tristen's first car, a steel-blue Jeep Wrangler Sport. John Lennon and Elvis Presley portraits hang in the foyer. Two more paintings hang in the living room. One has tepees and a '59 Cadillac. Its counterpart features more cars and pink dinosaurs. "Acid trips and cars," Nash says. And then, suddenly, without warning, he pulls out a .50-caliber Desert Eagle semiautomatic pistol. "Of course you have this for home protection. I love it." I don't know how to respond.

A lot of people have guns down here.

That's why I have one.

Are you an NRA guy?

No, I'm a stay-away-from-my-fucking-shit guy.

He disassembles the gun. It's not loaded.

Later that night, after dinner and two bottles of wine with his family at a riverfront seafood joint, Nash sits in his living room with another bottle. Talk soon turns to his lengthy reign as WWE champion, which was plagued by weak challengers (the rotund, immobile Nelson "Mabel" Frazier Jr.) and his babyface turn. After losing the title to Bret Hart in late 1995, Nash met with McMahon to discuss the direction of the business. "Did you see Heat? Did you root for Pacino or De Niro?," Nash asked his boss. McMahon admitted to cheering for the villain. "Don't you understand that the antihero is the new hero?" He thinks it inspired the Attitude Era and the subsequent ascent of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.¹³

He uncorks another bottle of wine. The booze makes him reflective. He talks about specific memories from the road: Watching Waltman and Levesque lay out a match together before Summer Slam '95; jobbing to local wrestler Mark Vandy at a recent independent show in Indianapolis; a brilliant promo he taped leading up to the Starrcade '98 collision with Goldberg. He'll occasionally watch that match on YouTube. "It had the electricity of a prizefight," he says.

Around 1 a.m. Nash offers me a ride, and 15 minutes later we pull up to valet. We decide to grab another drink, but the hotel bar is closed. So is room service. Somehow, he convinces the night manager to send a bottle of Cabernet to my room. It's rare seeing a giant win an argument without intimidation.

Once upstairs, Nash goes on for another hour on a variety of subjects. He talks about visiting a friend struggling with alcoholism (not Scott Hall¹⁴), extols Keith Richards's autobiography, his memories as a 4-year-old of President Kennedy's assassination, his property in St. John, his 161 IQ, and, again, money. He estimates he'll bank $525,000 yearly in retirement. "If I can't live on 525," he says, "I'm in trouble." He credits a handful of business decisions — buying early in silver and gold commodities and taking a chance on Ford when its stock was in the tank. Still, he's stressed. "The fucking peaks and valleys are so … jeez, man."

Workers will arrive early the next morning to install hurricane shutters on his home. By the weekend, Kevin Nash will be in the Caribbean vacationing with his wife and son. His wrestling career made him a multimillionaire. His acting career is taking off. It's 2:40 a.m., another sleepless night in Daytona Beach.

I'm not feeling three hours of raw .It just feels like a bunch of randomness to fill all three hours it's not connecting .

babybugz said:

I'm not feeling three hours of raw .It just feels like a bunch of randomness to fill all three hours it's not connecting .

It wasn't even connecting at two hours, so I never had hope for this new 3-hour shit.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

babybugz said:

I'm not feeling three hours of raw .It just feels like a bunch of randomness to fill all three hours it's not connecting .

It wasn't even connecting at two hours, so I never had hope for this new 3-hour shit.

Right? I only care about Brock vs HHH. I like AJ but not as a GM.

babybugz said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

It wasn't even connecting at two hours, so I never had hope for this new 3-hour shit.

Right? I only care about Brock vs HHH. I like AJ but not as a GM.

AJ as the GM has already run its course, and it's only been 2 weeks!! I'm hoping they get someone else for that role and that they really had no intentions of having her in that position for too long. Her "crazy" gimmick was starting to wear thin on me even before the so-called wedding, so you can imagine where I am on her being the GM!

alexnvrmnd777 said:

L4OATheOriginal said:

both nattie and beth were pleased that the woman's division was shown on raw, they were pissed that the division was showcased using stupid kelly kelly and the hoeski tonight. must have been that crazy ass skippy gm that made that match...yeah wwe keep putting out weak shit like that..

so i had 2 take care of my ladies beth and nattie tonight while velvet watched for a few then she joined in ...

and alex stop the hating ur doing reading this, u shuld be happy that ur hero cena was giving the main event slot instead of the wwe champion

So what...you've moved up to doing bath salts now?? Cuz you're one delusional muthafucka!! No hatin' here, pardnah. Only the truth.

Oh, and what did I tell you about talking about Eve like that? Cut out the name calling, or it'll be yo' ass!

ur just a hating bitch and can't deal with the truth that they are with me and not with u and it stings u 2 ur core! ..and i ain't scared of u mayne ..that HO eve ain't all that , her, skippy and now u claiming rosa? smh ..damn u need help ..but hey u can have the scraps just like a little puppy dog after a family gets done with dinner ..sit ubu sit ... good dog

alexnvrmnd777 said:

^^ I told Jamie just last night that she should do what her heart tells her to do for her career. As soon as we decide what's best for her and us, I'll be sure to let you guys know.

Also, wouldn't it be great if the Dudleys were able to go back into the WWE and just fuck everybody up? And none of that "Wassuuuuuup!!" bullshit either.

she likes having u as a friend but she's tired of u throwing a hissy fit every time she and i sleep next 2 each other, she told me if u step out of line again u won't even have her as a friend so back up mayne and go stick with your whack ass stable of skippy, hoeski and rosa of all people ..smh

that isn't a bad idea 2 have the dudley's back and start creating a real tag team division

btw did wwe release bourne? shouldn't his suspension been up by now?

alexnvrmnd777 said:

babybugz said:

Right? I only care about Brock vs HHH. I like AJ but not as a GM.

AJ as the GM has already run its course, and it's only been 2 weeks!! I'm hoping they get someone else for that role and that they really had no intentions of having her in that position for too long. Her "crazy" gimmick was starting to wear thin on me even before the so-called wedding, so you can imagine where I am on her being the GM!

that's how u do? u throw ur girls under the bus like that? damn ..but she's whack as a gm ..but they have 2 give her something cause she's whack in the ring as a wrestler too ..so maybe she can take her skippy having ass the fuck on and go see Jif

http://www.tmz.com/2012/0...sa-mendes/

Andy Slocum's week has gone from bad to worse ... 'cause AFTER the former WWE talent was accused of beating his fiancee Rosa Mendes in Vegas ... his OTHER fiancee in Texas dumped his two-timing ass ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Slocum -- who wrestled under the name Jackson Andrews -- was named in a police report filed by Mendes, in which she claims Slocum beat her up on multiple occasions in the home they shared together in Vegas.

But the story REALLY came as a shock to a woman named Amber Stovall ... who thought she was EXCLUSIVELY engaged to Slocum ... who she had been dating for the past 4 and a half years.

“I was not aware of his double life with Rosa," Amber tells us ... adding, "I'm incredibly angry and I feel betrayed."

Amber -- who says the two shared a home in Houston and have two bulldogs -- tells us, "I was blindsided by the TMZ story. He had just flown me out to Vegas the weekend after July 4th and we made plans for him to return home to Houston at the end of August. “

For the record, Rosa -- who's a WWE Diva -- was in Texas on the weekend after July 4th ... when he flew Amber to Vegas. Basically, he pulled off a fiancee switcheroo.

Despite the lies, Amber insists Slocum was never violent with her ... telling us, "He's never even raised his voice to me."

Obviously, Amber has since called off the engagement ... noting, "He has not reached out to me despite my efforts to contact him since I found out about Rosa. So as of today, I have cut off all joint accounts which includes his cell phone."

Multiple calls to Andrews have not been returned ... and maybe now we know why.

[Edited 8/8/12 9:28am]

^^ L4OA, this guy sounds almost as pathetic as you.

WWE Smackdown Spoilers (to air on 8/10):

Dark Match:

* Wade Barrett returned to defeat Zack Ryder.

SmackDown:

* General Manager Booker T kicks off the show to a big hometown pop. He talks about Sheamus taking Alberto Del Rio's Ferrari on RAW. Booker thinks Sheamus should apologize. Sheamus comes out and apologizes. Del Rio comes out and threatens trouble with the police for Sheamus taking his car. Del Rio is upset with Booker for not punishing Sheamus. Booker grants Del Rio a World Heavyweight Title shot for tonight's main event.

* Sin Cara beat Cody Rhodes in a fairly quick match. Rhodes kept trying to take off Cara's mask.

* Christian defeated Antonio Cesaro with a spear. Cesaro attacked Christian after the match and beat him around the ring.

* Randy Orton beat Jack Swagger in another quick match.

* Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins walk in on Booker T and Teddy Long in the back. Booker says only the best are welcome to perform on Friday nights. Reks tries to plead his case but gets ignored.

* Jinder Mahal squashed two local wrestlers. He attacked them after the bell but Ryback ran out and chased him off. Ryback came back in the ring and hit the Shellshock on the two local wrestlers. Ryback got a bigger pop than he has been getting.

* Chris Jericho hosts The Highlight Reel with Vickie Guerrero. For some reason Dolph Ziggler isn't with her. Jericho shows footage of Ziggler losing to Alex Riley and Vickie challenges him to a SummerSlam match. Jericho says he's bringing back Y2J and accepts the match. Ziggler ran through the crowd, rushed the ring and laid Jericho out with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Ziggler stood over Jericho before leaving.

* Backstage segment with Eve Torres and Booker T, who refuses to hire her again. Kaitlyn comes in and gets a job. Booker makes Eve vs. Kaitlyn for next week with the winner getting the job of his assistant.

* Darren Young and Titus O'Neil beat Primo and Epico by DQ in a #1 contenders match. Kofi Kingston and R-Truth interfered from commentary after AW threw a drink on them. Primo and Epico argued with Kofi and Truth after the match.

* They air the Wade Barrett return promo.

* Rey Mysterio beat The Miz in a non-title match.

* Backstage segment with Daniel Bryan walking around yelling no.

* The Miz is still in the ring complaining until Triple H comes out for an off-camera segment. He hit a Pedigree on Miz and that was it.

* Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring and calls AJ Lee out but Kane comes instead. AJ eventually comes out and it ended with Kane knocking Bryan out. They brawled until Kane chased Bryan through the crowd.

* They re-tape some footage of AJ coming out and skipping.

* Lilian Garcia announces that RAW will come to Houston on January 14th, 2013.

* Police come to the ring but Alberto Del Rio stops them because he wants his title shot. Sheamus tries to fight the cops away but they get the best of him. Del Rio join in and beat Sheamus down, working on his arm and applying the cross armbreaker. Trainers came out to help Sheamus to the back as SmackDown ended.

source: WI

alexnvrmnd777 said:

^^ L4OA, this guy sounds almost as pathetic as you.

and if anybody knows about pathetic, it would be u

http://www.tmz.com/2012/0...ole-model/

WWE superstar C.M. Punk is furious with Nike ... claiming the sportswear giant is sending a HORRIBLE message to kids by signing UFC champ Jon "Bones" Jones ... who happens to be a convicted drunk driver.

FYI -- Nike announced it signed Jones to a MAJOR global endorsement deal yesterday ... a deal likely worth millions of dollars.

But moments after the announcement ... WWE champ C.M. Punk unloaded on The Swoosh ... saying, "Let's reward more drunk drivers with endorsement deals! #responsibility."

Punk -- who doesn't drink or smoke -- is referring to Jon's DUI conviction, stemming from a May 19 incident in which Jones drunkenly crashed his Bentley into a utility pole.

Jones apologized for the incident ... and after cutting a deal with prosecutors, his driver's license was suspended for 6 months.

So far, no comment from either Jones or Nike.

L4OATheOriginal said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

^^ L4OA, this guy sounds almost as pathetic as you.

and if anybody knows about pathetic, it would be u

I only know it because I know you. Jerk.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/...r-26043223

In the annals of sports-entertainment, few calls are as inexcusably underrated as the way in which Michael Cole closed out SummerSlam 2002.

“Brock Lesnar has defeated The Rock! Brock Lesnar is champion!” Cole announced after the bell had rung, signaling the end of the Undisputed WWE Championship bout between two former NCAA national champions. (HYPE VIDEO | FULL MATCH)

At age 25, Lesnar toppled The Great One to become the youngest WWE Champion in history. The barrel-chested rookie from the woods of Minnesota couldn't have asked for a better way to notch the glorious achievement. That night, the frenzied Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum hosted a WWE Universe of split allegiances, though if a crowd favorite had to be chosen, let it be known that the chants of "Let's Go, Lesnar" and "Rocky Sucks" significantly drowned out the cries of "Rocky, Rocky."

Having already cruised to victory in the King of the Ring tournament and dealt Hulk Hogan a decisive loss within the first six months of his WWE career, “The Next Big Thing” rolled into SummerSlam with monster truck force. Though he was then, as he is now, tied at the hip to Paul Heyman, the WWE Universe was so in awe of Lesnar’s destructive energy that a significant portion of the crowd in New York couldn’t help but to root for him, even as he opposed the much beloved Most Electrifying Man in All of Entertainment.

Chris Jericho, who competed that night against Ric Flair and held the same Undisputed WWE Championship earlier in the year, vividly remembers how raucous the Long Island, N.Y., crowd was for the Lesnar-Rock match.

“This was before the ‘Let’s go, Cena’/’Cena Sucks’-type thing where it becomes more of a sports event and people are just cheering for who they like, not necessarily cheering the good guy or booing the bad guy,” Jericho said. “This time, it was like going to a Super Bowl and some fans are fans of the [New York] Giants, some are fans of the [New England] Patriots, and whoever’s doing well, they’re cheering for. It was a really special moment.”

Lesnar’s victory over The Rock wasn't easy, but in the end, the winner was academic. It was the young monster with the gold title strapped around his waist.

In the 10 years that have passed since SummerSlam, there's no doubt that both Lesnar and The Rock have become more cerebral competitors. But in August 2002, the two giants of sports-entertainment were perhaps in their athletic primes. On his seventh reign as WWE Champion by that point, The Rock entered the arena as lean and agile as ever — the result of a stepped-up strength and conditioning program. Lesnar was characteristically burly, yet hiccup-quick. Neither Superstar would let subpar physical conditioning be the reason for losing the match.

That much was made clear by the pre-match hype video, which conjured up thoughts of Rocky Balboa and contributed to one of the most anticipatory builds toward a championship bout in WWE history. (WATCH) The WWE Universe watched with curiosity as cameramen filmed Lesnar's and The Rock's training sessions. In true outdoorsman form, the farm-strong Lesnar did road work while carrying a massive log on his shoulder. He relentlessly practiced sit-out drills and worked over a heavy bag. At the end, Lesnar jumped into an ice bath. The Rock, conversely, ran up the steps of the Orange Bowl, which was the home field for his 1991 National Championship Miami Hurricanes football team. The Great One was also shown performing foot-speed drills, leaping hurdles and muscling through sets of towel-assisted pull-ups.

Their intensified training proved necessary, as the Lesnar-Rock match got off to a furious pace and never let up. The two heavyweights plowed each other over with clotheslines and took turns whipping one another into the ringside barrier. The Nassau Coliseum crowd reacted to each big move as if it had match-ending ramifications. Lesnar defiantly pounded his chest after absorbing several big knockdown attempts by The Rock. The Great One somehow managed to survive Lesnar’s death grip of a bear hug — the same maneuver that had incapacitated Hogan only weeks earlier. Late in the match, when both men were knocked down and the referee began administering the 10-count, Lesnar and The Rock both simultaneously kipped up at five, further proving they were an even matchup.

However, nearly 20 minutes after the opening bell — following a “Brock Bottom” by Lesnar and a distraction by Heyman — Lesnar gained the upper hand in a quick exchange and lifted The Rock into the F-5. A pulverizing propeller swing later, The Brahma Bull was down on the mat and a 25-year-old Lesnar was the brand-new champion. Though Heyman had inserted himself into the action, that footnote did little to diminish the significance of Lesnar’s victory. (FULL MATCH)

As Jericho points out, the Undisputed WWE Title had become something of a hot potato by mid-2002, having bounced from Jericho to Triple H to Hogan to The Undertaker to The Rock in a matter of four months. But, Lesnar’s first title reign ended up lasting a relatively stable three months, and it all began with a hot main event at SummerSlam.

“It just brought [the title] back to a certain level because it was the first really big match, I think, that Brock had and he was really hot, and obviously, The Rock was still The Rock, even though people knew he was on his way out to do movies,” Jericho recalled. “It was almost a changing-of-the-guard, passing-of-the-torch vibe, which is really interesting, and I think the reason why the crowd reacted the way it did.”

A decade later, Lesnar will again main event The Biggest Party of the Summer, this time against Triple H in a true “Perfect Storm” of a match. Will he be able to repeat history with another remarkable win?

Kevin Nash Discusses His Remarks About Guerrero & Benoit, HBK's Size, If He Has A Problem With Punk

Kevin Nash was on Busted Open with Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman.. You can hear Busted Open from 2-4 ET on Sirius 94, XM 208, and Sportszone 860 on the internet. Here are some highlights from the interview:

On his recent comments about the size of today's top guys: "I'm talking about them as wrestlers, I'm talking about them as their wrestling persona as far as visual. I'm not talking about anything [else]. I've stated before, these guys are incredibly great technical wrestlers. All of them. But there's a reason why Christian Bale in Batman has armor on and is bigger than life. There's a reason why in all these Marvel movies if [the guys] don't have gigantic muscles and aren't oversized, they're CGIs. I don't remember Stan Lee when he started Marvel Comics making a 5-foot-7 guy."

On Shawn Michaels succeeding despite not being a 'big guy': "Shawn Michaels was 6-foot-1 and a half and weighed 225 pounds in his prime. That's a big difference between 5-foot-7. That's a difference between a 6-foot-8 power forward and a 7-foot-1 center. CM Punk doesn't have Shawn Michaels' physical ability. I mean, Vince Carter and [Michael] Jordan are the same size."

On the PG Era and CM Punk: "I think the number one thing that hurts still is the fact that they're PG. I'm a huge fan of Punk's [but] I'm sorry, it's hard for me to watch two grown men say they're going to beat the crap out of each other. That's my personal opinion.

"I'm also saying that it doesn't look to me like he spends a lot of time in the weight room. I just think it would enhance his look and everything. We were all drug free and drug tested for years at the WWE, and there were a lot of guys that had great physiques. I think that comes with it."

On the widespread reaction his comments received: "You guys aren't backstage, you guys aren't around when the brass makes decisions. You guys aren't around when they all say, 'God, I wish he was bigger,' [or] 'God yeah, but the guy just doesn't have enough size.' It's their opinion. I'm just stating my opinion. I'm not saying I'm right. But am I not allowed my opinion? I pay taxes, I'm allowed my opinion. In my opinion, that's how I feel. That doesn't mean anybody else has to jump aboard and say I have to agree with him because he says so.

"Number one, I've always been an Internet darling and always will be and if I were to say something and was just somebody that didn't have an opinion, you wouldn't be calling me. It's just because Kevin Nash said it. Oh my God, Kevin Nash said it. Oh my God, Jericho rebutted.

"For Eddie [Guerrero] and Chris [Benoit], Eddie was a friend [and] Chris was a friend. When the tragedy went down with Benoit I think I was one of the few guys that went on TV and tried to make some sense of it. These people that think I'm desecrating deceased wrestlers; I'm talking about them as [wrestlers] and not the person. Sometimes I look at it and I just go you know what, don't even have an opinion, be a sheep like everybody else."

On Chris Jericho's tweet that the worst year of WWE business was when he was champion: "[I] Absolutley disagree. When I walked in the door in 1993, we did a $100,000 gate at Madison Square Garden. My last show at the Garden we did $309,000 before I jumped to WCW and I was in the main event with Shawn Michaels. I absolutely disagree. The business was better when I left than when I got there."

On if the company's future is in good hands with Triple H: "Absolutely. I think he'll change the product in the way that he feels is good to change the product. I don't think the product will stay the same. I think that he has a different vision than other people do.

"I'm just saying other people; I mean, Vince isn't the only one that is in the meetings and has a voice. There's other people. Kevin Dunn . . . There's a lot of people that have a voice in that company."

On John Cena: "I think he's fantastic. I think he's stayed true, I think he's playing the hardest part in wrestling which is the white-meat babyface. He never looks anything but fantasitc. Even though he's not a giant, tall man, he has a bigger than life personality."

On a problem WWE has that many people don't realize: "The biggest problem that the WWE probably has right now, and which people don't think about, is they've got guys down there that have been on handheld cameras for 25 years. It's not easy to shoot pro wrestling. Somebody sooner or later has to take Kerwin [Silfies'] spot, has to take Dunn's spot in those trucks [and] has to make those incredible last-second calls that makes a near-miss look like the person gets their head taken off. Their prodcution alone is impeccable. When you look at the company and the scope of its international ability and everything that it does, it's beyond first-rate."

On if the WWE went in a different direction because of MMA: "No. I think what happened is MMA got hot, and just like anything else, you buy a $60 fight, it goes a minute and 12 seconds, [and] you're not that apt to buy another $60 fight the next month. This is where I'll always say pro wrestling will always have a great advantage. If it's The Rock vs. Cena at WrestleMania, you know it's not going a minute and a half. You know it's going to go 20-25 minutes. You go to a movie and you know the action on the movie is not real [and] yet you're enthralled, you have complete escapism. I think that's what pro wrestling gives you, it gives you that escapism. It gives you that ability to watch a main event for 30 minutes and feel like you've got your money's worth."

On the essence of his comments: "Number one, one of the classic stories of all-time is always going to be David and Goliath. Now I doubt it would be a biblical story if it was David vs. David. I think that you always need that bigger than life [wrestler], especially in a heel role. I always want the heel to be bigger than the babyface . . . That's my preference. I hated playing the babyface. I never liked the role because it just doesn't make sense; they end up working your leg for 20 minutes because they're not gong to be able to pick you up and throw you around. It just doesn't work."

On if he has an issue with CM Punk: "Yeah, I have such an issue with him that we fell asleep next to each other in the locker room in London and I knew he had a bad back and I made sure that he got up so he wouldn t have to be in too much pain. I hung around with him most of the time that I was on the Europeran trip. I talked to him on a daily basis. We were handed edits to our live intereviews 30 seconds before we went on live to Raw and basically had the ability to look at each other like we're going out into a fox hole together. I have nothing but respect for Phil, I've said that a million times."

On his feud with CM Punk last year: "I think I was so rusty; I basically spent five years doing taped interviews. I was so out of my element and plus, it's very controlled. It's not like it used to be where you just kind of went out there and were able to wing it. I never felt comfortable in my element one time. I was told by Vince not to yell. 'Don't yell,' 'Don't do this,' 'Your cadence is too slow.' I was like, 'Dude, I've been doing this for 25 years I talk like this.' So it was difficult for me, I'm not going to say it wasn't. It never felt comfortable, and you walk in the door and you don't know anybody. I'm not saying that it was a bad experience, I wish I could have done the favor for Phil. I wish we could have had the match and I wish I could have put him over."

On why he was pulled from the feud: "What happened was I was on Plavix. And the WWE wellness doctor said that there was a chance that if I was to get an internal injury or something like that during the match that I could bleed out and die. So they had to pull me and get me off Plavix whatever the amount of time was and by that time, Triple H had to fight Punk."

On the 'What' chants: "The 'What' chants go away if you can combat them, but if you can't say anything that's beyond PG then you can't . . . it's horrible. It's just one of those things where it takes away so much from the show, it just makes you feel like you're watching a circus sometime. It's horrible. It sold T-shirts but you know what? It's the only thing Steve did wrong."

source: WI