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Jim Ross Discusses Hulk Hogan Not Being A Part Of WM XXV, Mickey Rourke's Potential Role @ WrestleMania, and more

Posted: Mar 30th 2009 By: mikeiles

Courtesy: www.MondayNightMayhem.com

WWE Hall Of Famer & "the voice of WWE SmackDown," Jim Ross, was the special guests on this past weekend's special "Road To WrestleMania" edition (03/27/09) of Monday Night Mayhem, hosted by The Big Mosh & Blade. You can feel The Mayhem live & in streaming audio every Monday night (at 8PM ET/7PM CT), exclusively on The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network (www.MondayNightMayhem.com, www.ITunes.com, www.AudioWrestling.com, www.OnlineWorldOfWrestling.com, & www.MySpace.com/MondayNightMayhem).

"Your Home Of Wrestling Radio" is officially presented by ReelWrestling.com: the latest & hottest innovation from the coverage of professional wrestling online, and features exclusive video found nowhere else from your favorite superstars of the squared circle (featuring an amazing set of several spectacular videos: RAW superstar, Chris Jericho walking with security & police officers right by fans at Madison Square Garden, former WWE Champion, Jeff Hardy & former ECW Champion, Matt Hardy, exclusively interviewed mere hours Jeff?s Armageddon title victory, "The Animal" Batista & Kelly Kelly checking out a Broadway show together in New York City, Legacy members Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes alongside "The Glamazon" Beth Phoenix, R-Truth giving his candid thoughts on being a part of the Academy-Award nominated Mickey Rourke film, "The Wrestler"), & the newest RW footage of WWE superstars Kane & one-half of Cryme Time, Shad Gaspard! Your favorite performers are just one click away! Some exciting announcements are forthcoming leading into next weekend's WrestleMania XXV, that you will only be able to find thanks to Monday Night Mayhem & www.ReelWrestling.com.

The award-winning Monday Night Mayhem (voted on by you, the fans as the "Show Of The Year" in the 2009 Wrestling Radio Awards), is also sponsored by: Old Time Wrestling (the official independent promotion of The Mayhem), The History Of WWE.com (celebrating seven+ years of bringing you the best in the illustrious history of our business), & TicketRelief.com (the official online traffic school of The Mayhem).

J.R.'s interview is now available for free in Windows Streaming Media, or via The Mayhem's official Podcast On ITunes:

Jim Ross/Monday Night Mayhem Interview (Streaming Audio): www.mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/waxfiles/032709.wax

Jim Ross/Monday Night Mayhem Interview (MNM Podcast On ITunes): www.mondaynightmayhemarchives.com/mar09/032709.mp3

Here are some of the highlights of J.R.'s return Mayhem appearance on the show, provided by MNM listener, "Patterson" from New Jersey:

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The Big Mosh & Blade welcomed J.R. back to the program for his third-consecutive yearly pilgrimage into The Mayhem's squared circle. As we are now just one week away from the celebration of the 25th Anniversary Of WrestleMania, Mosh began the interview by asking J.R. about his WM preparations & his feelings for next Sunday night's event at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX. "Every year at WrestleMania, I put in more time to prepare, and you wanna be ready to go as with what you want to broadcast."

The economic troubles of the country are indeed affecting wrestling fans in today's wrestling climate, and the question was raised to J.R. if he saw this year's show as a challenge, considering all of the problems & economic issues facing people around the United States over the past year since WrestleMania XXIV. "WrestleMania, of course, is very special, and if you are a wrestling fan, wrestling fans are very resourceful, very resilient, & they're very loyal...Obviously, there is a concern for everybody. Anybody that's in business or an American citizen that isn't concerned about the economy isn't paying attention, because it is an issue."

Last year at WrestleMania XXIV, Floyd "Money" Mayweather made an appearance at "The Showcase Of The Immortals" to take on The Big Show and this year, speculation has turned into confirmation, with the star of the Academy Award nominated film, "The Wrestler," Mickey Rourke, coming to the Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX. There was plenty of rumors being bantered about for several months that Rourke would actually compete against Chris Jericho at WM. J.R. had some pretty unique & opinionated takes on this celebrity involvement, which very well could have an impact in Y2J's Handicap Match against WWE Hall Of Famers, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, & Ricky "The Dragon Steamboat. "I never was one that thought Mickey was going to be a in a match. A lot of people would jump to that conclusion & thought that was automatic. I never was one that thought Mickey would be actually wrestling, because it has so many months since Mickey was in the film & training...It's just a different ball game than making a movie, playing a character, and getting in the ring, competing, & performing in the ring...From what I understand, he's gonna' be there...What he's gonna end up doing, I have no clue."

Mosh brought up the match that fans will see this Monday night on the "go-home" edition of RAW (in Dallas, TX) between Jerry "The King" Lawler & Chris Jericho at WrestleMania as part of the Jericho vs. WWE Legends storyline, and asked J.R. how close were we from seeing that match take instead of the three-on-one Handicap Match that is taking place. "I think a lot of it was wishful thinking...I think it was 'Hey, that would be a neat deal.' It would fulfill a lot of things. It would be a great match for Jericho to have. It would Lawler's first WrestleMania match.....You know it all sounded good on paper, but it wasn't in the cards."
With this being the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, many fans are wondering why WWE Hall Of Famer, "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan, is not involved in some way with the festivities in "H-Town." According to JR, "Terry doesn't have to have a match to come to WrestleMania...He know he's welcome, and he knows a lot of us would love to see him." He also strongly feels that just because he does not have a match, that doesn't mean he cannot be part of WrestleMania weekend with many of his friends & former WWE colleagues.

With such prominent names as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, The Funks (Terry Funk/Dory Funk, Jr.), The Von Erichs, & several others, this year's WWE Hall Of Fame "Class Of 2009" could very well be the best class of all time...so much so that many fans across the globe are more exciting about the Hall Of Fame Ceremonies more than WrestleMania itself. Mosh & Blade wanted to get JR's opinion on those fans feeling that way, what does that say about the WrestleMania card itself, & his feelings about the Hall Of Fame class. "I think the Hall Of Fame has built it's on brand. I think there are some older fans look at the Hall Of Fame as a very special event as they should." J.R. in some ways agrees with some fans. "In just pure enjoyment & nostalgic feel, I enjoy the Hall Of Fame as much if not more than the actual event of WrestleMania." He went on to say that "when people say that they are more excited about the Hall Of Fame than I am for WrestleMania, I don't really see it as knock on the WrestleMania card, because a lot of people have said that over the years about the Hall Of Fame, and we still go out have a great card."

Blade discussed the "brother vs. brother" battle at WrestleMania XXV between Jeff & Matt Hardy in an Extreme Rules Match. JR was asked how this will be different from the quick feud they had several years ago. "The bigger difference between now & then is that they are both bigger stars now." He went on to add that "he would expect nothing more than a heart stopping, extreme rules environment."

One of the most anticipated matches at this year's WrestleMania is "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker: "Mr.. WrestleMania" vs. "The Streak." The Mayhem Nation spoke in large volume with their feedback on this match...many believing this belongs on the card as the main event of the night. JR hopes he gets the opportunity to call the action for this historic bout: "I think both of them can get it done without question...I think they will tell an amazing story. They'll take us on a phenomenal ride. And because I have known both guys for so long, I am probably looking forward to this match on an old-school personal level more than any on the card, simply because I know what having a great match with each other means individually to both guys & what it means to their everlasting legacies."

The Triple-Threat Match between "The Rated-R Superstar" Edge, The Big Show, & John Cena will see not only the World Heavyweight Championship on the line, but the winner of the contest also getting the heart of SmackDown General Manager, Vickie Guerrero. Blade asked J.R. for his thoughts on the "love triangle" & what many fans are saying that this storyline is taking away form the match itself. "It's getting a lot of airtime...It's a lot of soap opera involved, and for a lot purists & old-schoolers, it might not be their cup of tea. But the thing that I harkin' back to is that, when the bell rings on my end of things, I wanna forget about Vickie Guerrero...When the bell rings, it's a wrestling match. I'm not dissing Vickie, but when the bell rings, it's about those three guys."

The World Tag Team Titles & the WWE Tag Team Titles will be unified at WrestleMania XXV, between The Colons (Carlito/Promo) & The Miz/John Morrison. This is the first time in several years that the tag team gold will be defended on "The Grandest Stage Of Them All," but this could come at a price, with a possible decrease in the focus of tag team wrestling...something that has been more evident over the past few years. Does J.R. feel this match will be a good or bad? "I think the Tag Team Titles unifying will allow more focus to be put on one title....I think having one set of Tag Team Champions probably is going to enable those champions to have a long-term, long-range issues with other teams." He also believes that having one set of champions might "motivate the powers that be to look at the tag team situation a little bit differently, because they don't have to look at two Tag Team Champions."

The upcoming 2009 WWE Draft will be headed our way in two short weeks, on April 13th in Atlanta, GA. Last year, saw J.R. move from being the long-time voice of Monday Night RAW to becoming the voice of SmackDown. What does J.R. see happening this go-around? "I think this draft is going to be big....I think this draft is going to have some ground shaking elements to it, and I didn't know where anyone was going last year, and I do not this year, nor do I want to know until I sit down at ringside." He went on to say that "it will certainly dictate the course where all three brands are embarking upon." In response to last year's draft & his shocking move to Friday nights on SmackDown: "I didn't handle it well last year, and I should apologize for my disappointment in leaving RAW, because it was a real selfish way of looking at it on my part."

J.R.'s former SmackDown broadcast colleague & one of TNA's newest stars, Mick Foley, has been in the news recently, especially after his comments on a recent edition of TNA iMPACT, saying that more people are talking about his TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match with Sting "more that other wrestling show in April." J.R. responded openly to this, by saying: "I have no issues whatsoever with Mick Foley...I have all the respect in the world for him, but he is working for a company that he is doing his best to promote, and he's trying to sell tickets & Pay-Per-Views...What else would he say but that their show is going to be good." He also went on to say that "for anyone to say that any Pay-Per-View is going to be better than WrestleMania in the month of April, is a lot of hyperbole."

More topics are discussed in this hour+ long Mayhem interview with "Good Ol' J.R.," featuring more insight into the card of WrestleMania XXV, including the "Miss WrestleMania" Diva Battle Royal (and the rumors that have been reported & speculated of which former WWE Divas will be a part of the festivities), the Money In The Bank Ladder Match (and who J.R. sees coming out on top, as well as being the "dark horse" of the night), which match should close out WrestleMania XXV, JBL's future plans (and if J.R. honestly believes Bradshaw's in-ring career is winding down), why he would not mind moving over to the ECW announcers table, WWE Diva, Tiffany, dating of all people...Alfonso Ribero ("Carlton" from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"), & Kurt Angle's chances of a return to World Wrestling Entertainment (and his recent comments on The Howard Stern Show/Opie & Anthony. Why does J.R. believe Angle has "more sound bytes than Larry King?" In order to find out the answer to this & so much more, you have to tune in exclusively to "Your Home Of Wrestling Radio."

The Mayhem strongly encourages you to log onto JR's official website, located at www.jrsbarbq.com. While there, purchase some of JR's world-famous BBQ sauce/official merchandise, read JR's official blogs, & check out his Q&A sessions with fan interaction from across the globe. "The Road To WrestleMania XXV" continues, and goes through the Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network!

Tags: Jim Ross, WWE, ECW, Beth Phoenix, Roddy Piper, Jerry Lawler, Von Erichs, TNA, Mick Foley, Sting