Jerry Lawler Does Interview Discussing Wrestlemania And His Feud With Michael Cole

One of the more unique match-ups at Wrestlemania 27 is the battle of the announcers between Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole. For Lawler, this match has to feel like something of a dream come true because he has been with WWE since the early-90's and this will be his first Wrestlemania match ever.

Lawler was interviewed by Alex Marvez, a syndicated sports columnist. Here are some highlights from the interview.

On finally working a match at Wrestlemania:

""I had pretty much given up hope," Lawler said. "Every single year it just seemed like something else would come up. I'd get pushed to the backburner or it just wasn't remembered (by WWE owner Vince McMahon).

What he's talking about is a promise that Vince McMahon made to him years ago about working a match at Wrestlemania, but when the time came he was never on the card.

On why he doesn't see himself retiring:

"I think the reason I've lasted as long as I have is that I never looked at things like winning a title or having certain kinds of matches as accomplishments," said Lawler, "I had that attitude about this business from the get-go. I'm getting paid to do something I enjoy. As long as people still want to come see me do it, I want to continue."

Why he was fine with incorporating his mother, who recently passed away, into the storyline:

"Lawler said some of the comments 'pushed the envelope but nothing derogatory was said (about her). That's why I was OK with it.'"

You have to feel good for a guy like Lawler, who is 61-years old and has been with this company for nearly 20 years but never had the chance to work a match at the biggest event that wrestling has to offer. He is finally getting his shot, and the feud has been really good.

It may not be the main event of the show, or even the most technically sound fight on the card, but the fans will be into it.

I mean how do you not root for "The King?" He's better than a lot of the wrestlers on the roster right now, but is at least twice their age.

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Gay Professional Wrestling Organization Calls For Michael Cole To Be Fired After Ill-Advised Tweet

Over the weekend, WWE announcer Michael Cole got himself in some trouble for sending a tweet to fellow WWE announcer Josh Mathews that contained a gay slur. The tweet was quickly taken down, but not before someone snapped a photo of it and sent it to TMZ.com.

Now, in a story that really has to be read to be believed, a Gay Pro Wrestling organization has come forward and asked that Cole be suspended for the tweet.

From NBC Sports.com:

"In a story I’d swear as an April Fool’s Day prank except that it’s a couple days early, a Pro Gay Wrestling Federation performer named The Gay Avenger is calling for the suspension of World Wrestling Entertainment broadcaster Michael Cole for calling fellow WWE announcer Josh Mathews a “Fa****” on Twitter recently."

As best I can find, there has been no public reprimand made of Cole by WWE. I am sure that someone within the company saw the original tweet, and told him to take it down and offer an apology.

Frank Minks, founder and CEO of the Pro Gay Wrestling League, was interviewed by TMZ about the situation.

""How can ANYONE at the WWE say anything derogatory about gay people??" Minks said. "Look at what they do and have been doing for a living for years! Big muscles, small tights rolling around! I'm just saying, honey."

The tweet and everything that has come after it look even worse because WWE just had to take care of a mess with John Cena making derogatory comments in a promo about The Rock a couple weeks ago.

In fact, WWE has been working with GLAAD to film some anti-bullying spots to make amends for the Cena fiasco, according to wrestlingobserver.com.

If anything suspension were to happen to Cole, it would not happen until after Wrestlemania because the WWE has spent so much time building up his feud with Jerry Lawler. Whether you agree with that or not, you know it's true.

What Does One Wrestling Expert Think Will Happen When Michael Cole And Jerry Lawler Meet At Wrestlemania 27?

One of the more interesting feuds of Wrestlemania 27 is between two announcers, Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Despite how ridiculous the idea of these two having a match on the biggest wrestling show of the year might sound, they have actually had a pretty strong build.

In fact, you could make a case that if it weren't for last week's pretty lukewarm angle, this match would have had the best build of any match on the show.

Cole has been verbally attacking Lawler for months, he cost him the WWE championship in a surprisingly great ladder match with Miz and has been transformed into one of the top heels in the company.

Lawler is a legend in wrestling. He has worked for over 40 years, but this will be his first ever Wrestlemania match. He has turned in some strong performances, both in the ring and on the mic, in the last three months with Cole and in two different matches with Miz.

So what should we expect from this match?

Don't anticipate the best wrestling match on the show, but so long as Lawler gives Cole a piledriver and drinks a beer with special referee Stone Cold Steve Austin, I think everyone will be happy.

Here's what Dave Meltzer from Wrestlingobserver.com expects:

"Nobody expects a classic match out of the battle of television announcers. It’s been one of the best put together angles the company has done and seems to have peaked at the right time. What’s probably more important long-term is what they do with Cole, and with Lawler, after WrestleMania. The basic feeling is Cole has been a fantastic heel, but it’s been at the expense of getting the talent, particularly new faces, over. The gimmick of Cole announcing from the “Cole Mine” while Lawler is sitting there will be past its peak unless they come up with something creative out of this. Jack Swagger at ringside likely ends up being stunned in the final scene by referee Steve Austin when he tries to interfere."

I don't think there's anything wrong with what they have done with Cole, so long as they don't keep it going. He is not a wrestler - up until three months ago, he wasn't even a performer - he is an announcer, and he should be returned to his announce post full-time after this.

I believe that they wanted to get Lawler, who has been with the company for nearly 20 years, into a match at Wrestlemania and this is what made the most sense. It's not a long-term, big money feud, but it's been entertaining. So long as they do the right ending, order can be restored to the announce table on Raw.

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Do Twitter And Facebook Have The Power To Sell Wrestlemania 27?

In recent years, the explosion of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have caused all of us to change the way that we do everything. We no longer communicate via telephone, we communicate via text, tweet, chat, etc.

Professional wrestling is finally catching up to the rest of the world. WWE has had many of their performers create twitter accounts and facebook pages, to go along with their youtube page. In fact, the social media boom in wrestling has gotten some people in hot water (see: Michael Cole).

They are using these sites as promotional tools, instead of using their television time to do so. The Rock and John Cena have been going back and forth on twitter for weeks. In fact, shortly after Cena laid Rock out with an attitude adjustment, Rock responded via twitter, saying, "John Cena - God himself can't save you from the ass kicking I will give you this Sunday at Wrestlemania.

But is using social media as a key promotional tactic a smart thing to do?

From Wrestlingobserver.com:

"...will social media in 2011 mean anything when it comes to making a difference in PPV business. Clearly, it has not so far, with numbers down on almost every show since the company has made that move. But the ups and downs of regular business often don’t apply to WrestleMania.

In a Multi-Channel News article, Michelle Wilson, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, pushed the key differences between last year’s disappointing number and a prediction of beating 1 million buys as the addition of The Rock, Snooki and social media, in particular facebook.

She said the goal was to do more than traditional advertising through television and cable partners, with the idea of using social media to promote word-of-mouth buzz.

'We’re trying to pull in past fans with The Rock, new fans with the Snooki angle, so it’s been a strategic push to getting the word out.'

She noted telling fans to go to Rock’s facebook page to get his response to what happened with Cena.

'That allows us to continue the storyline even after we’re off the air. It’s really a 24-hour engagement that our fans have with the WWE going into WrestleMania.'"

You are going to have more people watching your television show than following you on twitter, so simple logic would tell you to promote everything you can as best you can on television.

While I can appreciate trying to keep people searching and keyed in on storylines all day everyday, it's not likely to help. People want to see these things, not just read them on twitter or facebook.

I think Wrestlemania will do fine from a buyrate standpoint, but I don't think they are adding any buys because of what is being posted on these social media sites. That's why it doesn't make sense to use it as another promotional device.

Show everything that you can on television and people will buy it.

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Will Alberto Del Rio Walk Out Of Wrestlemania 27 As World Heavyweight Champion?

When you want to find out what's going on in the world of wrestling, there's one man that stands out above all the rest: Dave Meltzer. He has been writing about professional wrestling for almost 40 years, and has been on top of all the insider news for 30 years.

Every year at Wrestlemania time, Meltzer publishes his preview and prediction article in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

This year is no different, and we are going to look at what he expects from the World Heavyweight Championship match featuring Edge defending against Alberto Del Rio.

This would seem to be Del Rio's time, not just because he keeps telling you that in his promos, because he won the Royal Rumble, has been one of the best performers on Smackdown since his debut last summer and has a natural charisma that makes him a championship level performer.

Here is what Meltzer had to say about the match:

"Del Rio was originally booked to go over, and Christian was originally booked to have nothing to do with this match. The dynamic of him having two clean TV wins over Del Rio before Del Rio wins can elevate Christian to a challenger if they want to take Edge in another direction. Or Christian can cost Edge the title. But the expectation is Del Rio will win the title."

Christian is an interesting part of this match. As Meltzer pointed out, he won twice over Del Rio in the last couple of weeks. There has been speculation from fans, myself included, that Christian is going to screw Edge out of the title and turn heel.

The obvious storyline would be Christian costs Edge the belt because Edge is the bigger star and has had the success, while Christian has never gotten his big break in WWE.

Either way, Del Rio needs to go over in this match. I would prefer it be a clean win because the idea of building someone up by having them cheat to win doesn't really do anything for me.

Edge has held the title long enough and things need to be shaken up a little bit.

What do you guys expect to happen?

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The Rock Says That He Will Be Involved In The Final Angle At Wrestlemania 27

For weeks there has been speculation about what the "real" main event of Wrestlemania will be. It's come down to two matches, Triple H vs Undertaker and John Cena vs Miz for the WWE championship.

According to wrestlingobserver.com, Triple H and Undertaker was planned as the main event for a while. It was even listed as the top match on the show on WWE's website up until last weekend.

Now, WWE.com has the WWE championship match between Cena and Miz listed as the top match on the show.

Regardless of what match you think will be better, personally I believe it will be Undertaker-Triple H, the biggest thing on the show is whatever happens between The Rock and John Cena. Nothing could or should follow that.

That's not an opinion, either. That's the sentiment from everyone who covers wrestling.

Case in point, another posting from wrestlingobserver.com:

"Whatever The Rock does physically is clearly the main event and top selling point of the show. He has to do more than he did on television..."

We finally got a little bit of clarity on what will close the event, when The Rock was interviewed by Josh Horowitz for MTV.

"Like with any show, like with any movie, you want to make sure the final five, 10 minutes of the show are worth every penny," Rock said.

The one thing that is selling this show is Rock and the idea that there is going to be a physical altercation with him and at least one of the two guys in the WWE championship match. If WWE tries to follow that with anything, it will be exactly like it was when Undertaker fought Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25 - everything after will fall flat on its face.

As much as Undertaker and Triple H - with a little help from Shawn Michaels - did to get people interested in their match with that fantastic angle on Raw this past Monday, The Rock standing tall over Miz and Cena needs to be the last thing that people see at Wrestlemania 27.

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Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Rapper Snoop Dogg To Attend Wrestlemania 27, Will He Have An Angle On The Show?

Rapper, mogul, entrepreneur and WWE fan Snoop Dogg is going to be attending Wrestlemania 27 on Sunday.

He wrote the news on his Facebook page, writing, "Fo’ Shizzle WWE Univizzle!! The one-and-only Snoop Dogg will attend WWE WrestleMania XXVII!! Click LIKE if you’re down with the D-O-Double G!"

Here's the official press release from WWE.com:

"WWE's longtime friend and past Monday Night Raw guest star, Snoop Dogg, will be in the ATL to attend WrestleMania XXVII!

The last time Snoop attended WrestleMania was in 2008, when he was Master of Ceremonies for the BunnyMania Lumberjack Match at WrestleMania XXIV.

Snoop has made numerous appearances on WWE television in the past. Will he have an angle at this year's Wrestlemania?"

Right now, there's no definitive answer. The best one that I could fine was from Dave Meltzer at Wrestlingobserver.com.

"Snoop Dogg will be at the show and is likely to have a cameo," he wrote." That's not much of an answer, but given that WWE is looking to get as much mainstream publicity for the show as possible it's almost a foregone conclusion that he will do something.

Knowing Snoop's affinity for the ladies, don't be shocked to see him do something in the six-person intergender tag team match.

Snoop is entertaining and he really does like the sport, so he will probably do an infinitely better job with his potential angle than Snooki will in the tag team match. I know I am going out on a limb with that prediction, as crazy as that sounds it's what I believe.

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Jim Ross Hints At Doing Something This Sunday At Wrestlemania

Watching WWE television over the past two years you can tell that something isn't quite right. There's something missing when you tune in to watch Raw or a pay-per-view. The emotion and the passion seems to be lacking from the announcers, and that's because Jim Ross hasn't been on the broadcast team during that time.

Ross brought a level of emotion and caring about what he was seeing to the product, even if the product was horrible.

At Wrestlemania last year, both Undertaker and Shawn Michaels fought hard to get Ross to call their match. Ultimately, Vince McMahon decided against it.

This year, some of the wrestlers have pushed to get Ross back in the chair once again, and it's possible Ross could do some matches at Wrestlemania on Sunday.

From Dave Meltzer at Wrestlingobserver.com:

"Booker T and Josh Matthews are expected to do the show. Everyone expects Jim Ross, probably doing the last few matches as opposed to the entire show, but from an official standpoint, the announcing chores have not been told to anyone and what, if anything, Cole and Lawler do is unknown other than a week ago they were scheduled to do the first half of the show. But to me, that makes no sense."

I agree with Meltzer. You can't have two people who are going to wrestle on the show sitting at ringside calling the action. There's no logic to that, even in the world of wrestling that makes no sense at all.

Everyone wants Ross to do something at the show, but McMahon has it in for him because he is so popular with the fans I guess.

However, Ross, on his personal blog, teased doing something on the show.

"I have no 'assignment' for Sunday but I'm channeling Ricky Vaughn, Charlie Sheen's character in the film 'Major League,' Ross wrote, "and assuming  the role of the relief pitcher while standing by in the bullpen and ready to 'throw the heater, Ricky' if needed."

I don't have any faith that McMahon will put Ross on the show, I mean if Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, two of the most powerful backstage guys, couldn't get Ross on last year's show, it's hard to believe that a match featuring two announcers will make McMahon bite the bullet and put Ross on the show.

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Two Of Wrestling's Most Respected Writers Predict The WWE Championship Match At Wrestlemania

When you think of professional wrestling journalism, the first name that pops into your head is Dave Meltzer. He is the Godfather of professional wrestling writing, and his Wrestling Observer Newsletter is the most trusted source of news around.

Meltzer, along with his wrestlingobserver.com partner Bryan Alvarez, have given their Wrestlemania predictions in the latest issue of their newsletters - Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly.

Here is a brief rundown of their thoughts on the WWE championship match between The Miz and John Cena, with likely interference from The Rock.

Meltzer: "The major title match, no matter how it’s sliced, is still an afterthought to the post-match. Most expect Cena to win, and that was the plan when this match was first put together. There are number of different ways this can go, including Rock costing Miz, Rock costing Cena..."

Alvarez: "The big question is what Rock's role will be. He laid out Miz on Raw Monday and then ate an FU from Cena...It's pretty much impossible to predict exactly what they're going to do because we don't know what Rock's plans are, but I'd say the one thing guaranteed is that at either WrestleMania or Raw the next night, Cena is getting Rock bottomed."

This is the most confusing match to try and predict on the show because we don't know what Rock is going to do. He HAS to lay out Cena at some point, but will Vince McMahon actually have Miz walk out Wrestlemania as WWE Champion is the big mystery.

Honestly, I think Cena wins and Rock comes out like he's going to congratulate him and then gives him a Rock Bottom. That could be too simple, probably is, but it's what I am going with.

Either way, like Meltzer says and Alvarez points out, nothing about the match between Cena and Miz really matters. What people are interested in is what is going to happen with The Rock and these two men.

There's no way that the show ends before Rock lays out Cena. If it does, then all the build, all the hype, all the money that people spend on the event will be for naught. That is what people want to see, and what people are paying to see.

If you are paying to watch Cena win a title, rent last year's Wrestlemania.

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Two Well Respected Pro-Wrestling Journalists Predict Wrestlemania XXVII

When you think of professional wrestling journalism, the first name that pops into your head is Dave Meltzer. He is the Godfather of professional wrestling writing, and his Wrestling Observer Newsletter is the most trusted source of news around.

Meltzer, along with his wrestlingobserver.com partner Bryan Alvarez, have given their Wrestlemania predictions in the latest issue of their newsletters - Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly.

Here is a brief rundown of their thoughts on The Undertaker-Triple H match.

Meltzer: "People expect interference in some matches, and deep down want it in others. I think they want Michaels involved. This is a show where it at least appears that at least when it comes to the key matches, they are easy to predict. In this case, it’s Undertaker winning. Because of that, I kind of expect at least one major surprise result."

Alvarez: "My interpretation [of the angle on Raw] was that Hunter and Shawn had a plan, perhaps involving Shawn being guest referee or guest enforcer in the match (which was the original plan), but after Taker thwarted Shawn's superkick Shawn got cold feet and decided to back out. He'll then show up at ringside Sunday (also the plan) to put doubt into people's minds about the inevitability of Taker winning.  The streak isn't ending, that's pretty much the only thing guaranteed."

We know the streak isn't ending, as both these men acknowledge. How we get to that point is the only question. Both men expect Michaels to do something, as do I, but what that is we don't know. They don't offer a solution. I think that Michaels is going to cost Triple H the match, because deep down his ego can't allow his best friend to do what he couldn't.

If you look at the angle that the three men did on Raw, Michaels asked Hunter that very question. "What makes you think that you can do what I couldn't?"

Michaels costing Hunter the match would fit into the storyline, and Undertaker is able to get the win that we all know he is going to get.

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Stone Cold Steve Austin Talks A Number Of Topics In ESPN.com Interview

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin will be all over WWE television for the next few weeks. He will be the special-referee for the Michael Cole-Jerry Lawler match at Wrestlemania on Sunday. After that, he can be seen as the host of "Tough Enough," the WWE's version of "The Ultimate Fighter," starting the night after Wrestlemania.

Austin, who has been absent from television since signing the contract to be the guest referee, did an interview with ESPN.com to talk about Wrestlemania and other topics. Here are some highlights from the interview, conducted by Jon Robinson.

When asked about who on the current roster he would like to have worked with:

"John Cena has done well for himself. I like the way he talks, I like the way he handles his business, and he works his ass off. Another guy is Randy Orton. Everyone thinks Randy has gone down the same path as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, so I think that would be another natural storyline."

Cena is like Austin in some ways. He is the biggest star and drawing card that the company has today, he sells more merchandise than anyone else. Austin drew more money than anyone in the history of wrestling from 1998-2001.

WWE, as Austin pointed out, is clearly trying to make Orton into Austin, when Austin was stunning everyone and the rebellious guy that everyone got behind. The biggest difference is Austin knew how to work as a babyface and Orton still hasn't figured that part out.

Who his favorite person to work with was:

"...the chemistry that I had with Bret "Hitman" Hart in the ring, and the respect and the trust we had for each other was unbelievable. Another guy was The Rock. We brought out the best in each other and every time we got in the ring, magical things happened."

It was Austin's feud with Hart that helped make him a player in WWE, which he acknowledges in the follow up question. The submission match between those two at Wrestlemania 13 was one of the best matches WWE has ever had.

The Austin-Rock feud was probably the second-most important feud during the "boom period" of wrestling, behind Austin-Vince McMahon. Those two had something special that has really been missing in wrestling for about 10 years.

If he ever has the "itch" to wrestle again:

"I'll tell you what, sometimes you do, but it's just like an itch that you scratch and it goes away," he said. "Could I still do it? Damn right I could. It may not be quite as good as I used to, but I got it out of my system."

Everyone wants to see one more match with Austin, but sadly he is so beat up and focused on doing other things that the chances of it ever happening again are very remote.

Austin was one of the great characters in wrestling history, he's arguably the most important character in history and he is still great whenever he appears on WWE television. Thankfully, Wrestlemania will have him and it will be better because of it.

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How Many Buys Will The Rock Add To Wrestlemania 27

No matter what any of us may think that the "real" main event of Wrestlemania is, the event will be a success or failure depending on one man and one man only. That would be the person who isn't even wrestling a match on the show: The Rock.

It's no secret that professional wrestling has gone stale. Fans have grown tired of seeing the same two guys, John Cena and Randy Orton, headlining every single pay-per-view and the buyrates have plummeted.

According to figures from Bryan Alvarez of Wrestlingobserver.com, Wrestlemania buys have declined each of the last four years. Here are the numbers for each of those shows, according to numbers in the Figure Four Weekly newsletter.

Wrestlemania 23 was the biggest event in WWE history, with over 1.2 million buys.

Wrestlemania 24 was very successful, thanks to Ric Flair retiring and Floyd Mayweather, with just over 1 million buys.

Wrestlemania 25 did better than expected, with 960,000 total buys, despite only one match really worth seeing (Undertaker-Shawn Michaels).

Wrestlemania 26 was supposed to do big numbers, but disappointed with only 885,000 total buys.

Here are the domestic buys for the shows in order 825,000, 700,000, 600,000 and 495,000.

Last year's event was coming one day after a big UFC event, headlined by Georges St-Pierre. This year, Wrestlemania has the weekend all to themselves. They have gone all out in promoting the event, so it should do better than last year's show.

The Rock was brought in to give the show that extra something, a little more mainstream appeal. Plus, knowing that he is (most likely) going to lay out John Cena has a lot of people interested in the show.

Alvarez thinks that this show is going to fall even further than last year's bad number, predicting 525,000 total buys in the latest issue of Figure Four Weekly.

Dave Meltzer, Alvarez's partner at wrestlingobserver.com, is expecting big things from the show. He said on Wrestling Observer Radio that he thinks the show does 700,000 domestic buys, and over 1 million total.

I think the number falls somewhere in between those two. Rock has injected some life into the show, but not enough to compete with the biggest shows ever. I look at this show and I see about 750,000 total buys. The price of the show ($64.95 for HD) and the fact Rock isn't in a match will cost it some buys.

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Shawn Michaels Finally Settles On Who Will Induct Him Into The WWE Hall of Fame

When it was first announced that Shawn Michaels was going into the WWE Hall of Fame, there were quite a few choices that he could have picked to induct him. The two most obvious choices were Triple H and Kevin Nash. Ultimately, Michaels went with Triple H after weeks of doubt and speculation.

The Michaels-Triple H relationship has been very well documented. The two have talked about it on-camera numerous times, they started D-generation X in 1997, they have been inseparable for nearly 16 years. When Michaels got his send off on Raw after Wrestlemania last year, Hunter showed up on-stage and gave him a hug on the ramp.

Nash owes his success to Michaels in a lot of ways. Nash was floundering in WCW in 1993, when Michaels pushed Vince McMahon to bring him in as his bodyguard. Nash was given a push soon after he came in and parlayed that success when he went back to WCW to form the NWO in 1996.

One name that got thrown around was Bret Hart. As much animosity as those two men had in the mid-90's, that would have been interesting - even though the two men are on good terms now.

Hart was asked about the possibility of inducting Michaels two months ago on Live Audio Wrestling.

"I wouldn't have any problem inducting Shawn, the truth is Shawn was a great wrestler and I had a lot of great matches with him," Hart said. "The Ironman match I had with Shawn was as good a match as wrestling has ever had. I'm proud of some of the great memories I had with Shawn and I'd be happy to induct him into the Hall of Fame if they asked me."

According to Kevin Kellam of The Examiner, the news that Triple H would induct Shawn Michaels was announced during the Wrestlemania press conference on Wednesday.

The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on Saturday night and will air on the USA network Monday before Raw.

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The Rock Teases Getting Physical At The Wrestlemania 27 Press Conference

When The Rock came back to the WWE on February 14th, the idea was that he would host Wrestlemania and not do any wrestling to protect his movie career. But this is professional wrestling, and when you step back into the ring it's almost inevitable that something is going to make these guys change their mind.

Not only did Rock get into on Raw with The Miz and Alex Riley, but there is talk of a match with John Cena in the future.

At the Wrestlemania press conference in New York on Wednesday, Rock talked about what he plans to do this Sunday.

"The best part about this Sunday, entertaining and electrifying over 70,000 passionate fans, is when the time is right, and that time will come, I will layeth the smack down on somebody's candy ass like only The Rock can," he said. "Enjoy the show."

It's not any great surprise that Rock is going to get into a physical altercation with someone at Wrestlemania, if you saw Raw you know John Cena is the most likely victim.

One thing that I didn't like about this was that he didn't say it on Raw. It's been implied, heavily I might add, that Rock was going to lay someone out on the show, but to not have him say anything like that with roughly 6 million people watching on television Monday night was kind of dumb.

He even addressed it on Twitter, right after Cena gave him the attitude adjustment on Raw, but again it wasn't on the actual show.

"John Cena - God himself can't save you from the ass kicking I will give you this Sunday at Wrestlemania" he tweeted.

Nevertheless, at least he did say it before the show took place. Wrestlemania's success or failure rests on Rock's shoulders. If the ratings and attendance boom are any indication, it could do very, very well.

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