Former Creative Team Member Speaks, Punk/Mysterio, HOF Update
– As expected, it has been very busy here on the website. This will continue until late next week. Saturday and Sunday are going to be VERY busy. It'll be even busier on Monday and Tuesday following WrestleMania. Please check back in often for the latest updates! It's only going to get busier as we move closer and beyond WrestleMania. Also, there is a Strikeforce challengers event tonight on Showtime. Showtime is having a free weekend for many people so if you don't normally get it I'd check to see. You may have a free weekend. Tomorrow night has UFC 111 + boxing on both Showtime and HBO. A CRAZY night of fights. You all know what Sunday is. CHECK BACK IN OFTEN!!!
– An interview with Chris Gough, a former WWE Creative Team member who was fired two weeks before WrestleMania XIX, is available at https://blogs.pitch.com/. Some highlights: On planning WrestleMania: "I would say probably right after Survivor Series [in November] it kicks in. Even after WrestleMania the year prior, Vince is already working on what the main event is going to be the next year. ... When I was there leading up to XIX, it was basically like because WCW was gone, because we have like carte blanche of anybody that's available in terms of big names of the past. You can basically start throwing out names and dream matches that you would like to see. Hogan-Vince obviously that year was one because Vince had obviously been a wrestler for a while so that one came to fruition. Of course, there's always like matches that a person is either not physically able to do it, such as an ["Stone Cold" Steve] Austin-Hogan ... where Austin's neck was too messed up to come back and work a match with Hogan. But you start off with dream matches, and at this point, there's not a lot left." On Shawn Michaels retiring: "You know, he's talked about it for a longtime. ... He's my all-time favorite wrestler. It's great that he got his start here in Kansas City. That's always cool to think that he's been going on for 25 years when he first started in KC. But he's still one of the consistently top five box office guys in the company, and if he does retire, I can still see him occasionally coming back for a big match. When he quasi retired before, he came back in the commissioner role, so it didn't seem right that he didn't have any kind of in ring ability. ... I don't know. He's talked about it. It's rumored. I"m assuming that's what's probably going to happen. But as in retirement matches in WWE or wrestling in general don't last very long. I see him retiring like Mick Foley did. Take some time off, come back for some big matches down the road." On Undertaker's Streak: "Oh yeah. Gone are the days of the streaks in wrestling. If you went back 20 years, you had Tatanka, Mr. Perfect, still unbeaten. And ... the Goldberg streak was a huge streak as well. But to be able to win for almost two decades ... at WrestleMania is a pretty big deal. But so is Shawn Michaels' career. So I guess if you're going to book that match, I'd assume that you'd have 'Taker go over and Shawn retires because you can always take back retirement. But you can't take back a loss in the streak."
– An interview with CM Punk is available at https://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/ He discusses the Straight Edge lifestyle, his match with Rey Mysterio and more. When asked if he's going to steal the show, he replies "Oh yeah, very much so. I'm looking forward to stealing the show. And letting everybody know that that's exactly what I plan to do."
– An article on the money that WrestleMania will bring to Glendale is available at https://ktar.com/
– The Score in Canada, which airs most WWE programming and has carried the Hall of Fame ceremony in the past, is not carrying it this year. No other Canadian network has picked it up.