Ringside Review: Movie execs want Rock to leave squared circle
The success of “The Scorpion King” has Hollywood executives wanting The Rock to stop wrestling.
They believe that no one will take Rock seriously as an actor if he still wrestles. Another reason is that no movie studio can take a chance on him getting hurt while in the ring.
What the Hollywood people need to remember is wrestling is where The Rock’s fan base is, and that the WWE owns the name “The Rock.” His real name, Dwayne Johnson, will not sell tickets like “The Rock” will.
• Joanie Laurer, aka Chyna, will fight Joey Buttafuoco on “Celebrity Boxing” Wednesday, May 22, at 7:30 on Fox. Buttafuoco was scheduled to box John Wayne Bobbitt, but Bobbitt was arrested last week.
By the way, Joanie became the first female to wrestle in the New Japan Pro Wrestling Federation last month.
• The real fun on “Smackdown” happened after the camera was turned off. Jericho and Angle came back down and tore Edge apart until Triple H came down. He got a beating as well, until Rikishi saved him. Then Billy and Chuck ran down and pounded Rikishi. Then Hogan saved the day, as the good guys won. Rikishi, Triple H, Edge, and even Hogan gave Billy stinkfaces.
• The E-net is full of reports that Scott Steiner has signed with the WWE, but there’s no news from the WWE.
I don’t see Scott in the WWE until July, because he just won the World Wrestling All-Stars title, and we all know how much Steiner loves having a title.
• Jim Ross’s Report on the WWE.com Web site says: “The charter flight back from London last week was not as bad as reported. The flight was seven hours long, and at times was lowlighted by a handfull of people who consumed too much alcohol and acted like children whose parents were away.”
Jim also says, “The conduct of this inebriated minority was unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
You can say J.R. took steps to make sure at least two wrestlers won’t be “inebriated” on a WWE play again, as he fired Scott Hall and Mr. Perfect.
• The WWE’s daily poll, on which “Judgment Day” match fans are most looking forward to watching, has Triple H vs. Jericho as the most anticipated match. The least vote-getter was RVD vs. Guerrero. I think that match (RVD-Guerrero) will be the best. Over 140,000 votes have been cast.
• Tonight at Jake’s Auction House, the Outlaw Wrestling Federation will be having a Hard Core – “Fans bring weapons” match, where Bad Company will be facing Outlaw Lee Condry and Shawn Williams.
Bad Company’s sidekick, Rock Dawg, will be handcuffed to OWF promoter Wayne McWhorter to keep Rock Dawg from interfering in the match.
Vicious Vandy will be chasing Mikey Woods in a return grudge match which ended up bloody last week.
There will be three more matches to start the show, which begins at 8 p.m.
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