Arrived in Miami

So we're here after a lovely flight and a somewhat scary shuttle ride, in Miami Florida. And it looks like Wrestlemania got a bit more exciting while we were gone, as a match involving Epico and Primo Colon defending their Tag Team Titles vs. the Uso brothers and Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd has been added to the card, and rumours have begun abounding that Brock Lesnar might have plans for an appearance. This is shaping up already to be a great weekend - heading out shortly to a lovely dinner date with my hubby and partner in crime Ari.

Also wanted to put a quick congratulations out there to the Undertaker and his wife Michelle McCool - Vicki Guerrero let the cat out of the bag today on Twitter that the 'Takers are expecting a baby! :) What impact this will have on UT's future plans in terms of sticking around or hanging 'em up remains to be seen.

Ric Flair to appear at Hall of Fame Ceremonies

So after some ballyhooing, considering his contractual status with TNA, there has been confirmation today that Ric Flair will be appearing with his fellow 4 Horsemen inductees at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday night. No word on exactly what this entails - appearing onstage, or in televised vs. 'dark' inductions etc. but he will be present and I assume at least an onstage appearance 'with his fellow inductees', as Dixie Carter put it in her statement on behalf of TNA, which 'graciously' (again, her words) allowed him to accept "yet another honor he truly deserves."

ITVR Podcast - Wrestlemania Predix and More!

CLICK HERE to listen to our official 'go home' (well ... 'go Miami'?) ITVR show.

And CLICK HERE to listen to the longform John Cena interview I mention in the above podcast - really good and interesting stuff.

See you again soon ... In This Very Ring. :)

John Cena's Car Accident, and Happy Birthday to a WWE Diva

Hi all,

So I got plenty of work this week and the weekend was too nice to not spend outside in favour of podcasting ... but I just wanted to take the time to let you all know we will be podcasting either after the show tonight or, depending on energy level, tomorrow evening at the latest.

In the meantime though, John Cena was involved in a three-vehicle collision this morning, being rear-ended in his SUV by a Honda Civic which in turn had been rear ended by a tractor-trailer. Thankfully there were no injuries and Cena has been cleared to wrestle, although the Civic was totaled. Cena was the passenger in his vehicle doing a phone-in interview at the time which wasn't even interrupted by the accident.

Glad to hear - whatever one thinks of Cena, car accidents - especially those involving 18-wheelers - are scary beasts, even if minor, and it's great he's still in fighting form.

I also want to take a quick second to wish a happy birthday to WWE Diva AJ, the 'girlfriend' of Daniel Bryan and a surprisingly fun gal to watch in terms of the women's product on WWE of late. She turns 25. Also celebrating a birthday today - Evan Bourne. Here's hoping WWE holds off on the 'future endeavouring' on this day ...

You will hear from us soon with our thoughts on last week's Raw and Smackdown, as well as tonight's show; until then, peace out.

XO Sar

In This Very Ring

CLICK HERE for this week's podcast.

This N That

So any of our readers know we've both been sick as dogs most of this week - but I wanted to take the time to comment on a few things generally - we didn't get to do an audio show this weekend but we will try to do a short one tomorrow night after Raw, which is set to be stacked. Meanwhile though, a few quick hits:

• Raw was strong this week as John Cena did really well in his promo with the Rock - although I think demonstrating his professionalism by NOT having been at the Daytona 500 was something they should have played with. Their unscripted promos, as well as Jericho and Punk's, really stripped wrestling back down to the bare bones of how good talented people can be if just allowed to go for it.
• That said - Raw's 3.1 rating was dismal considering it was the Rock's return and thereby the REAL start of his and Cena's Wrestlemania build. I'm assuming the Daytona 500 hurt the ratings given its delay from the day before - it would have been a competitor anyway, and then in light of a major fire on the track, I'm guessing it took some eyes away from the wrestling programming.
• Smackdown was also not a bad show featuring the return of Randy Orton to face Daniel Bryan, as well as a strong match between Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler. The build to Wrestlemania wasn't as strong as it could have been - I feel this General Manager feud is distracting, both from Wrestlemania, and the potential greatness of a Daniel Bryan-CM Punk feud which is playing second banana to a mediocre story featuring non-wrestlers - but we still have a few weeks. Only a couple for Smackdown though so hopefully they get in gear going forward.
• Speaking of the GM story - Teddy Long and John Laurenaitis will be switching the shows they run this week, with TL going to Raw and JL going to Smackdown - like I said, I'm not so sure this is great timing for a non-wrestler story with no real payoff, unless it's leading to a Team Long vs. Team Laurenaitis match at Mania ...
• And this week's Raw should be strong as Undertaker, Triple H, Rock and Shawn Michaels are all expected on-air. Let's see what THAT does for the ratings!
• Jeff Hardy missed TNA tapings this week due to food poisoning, officially. Here's hoping that's the case!
• Happy Anniversary to Ring of Honor, which turns 10 this week. They are celebrating as I type with an online pay-per-view at the storied Hammerstein Ballroom - the original home of WWE's Monday Night Raw, and the two WWECW "One Night Stand" pay-per-views.
• RIP Doug Fournas, a former WCW and WWE wrestler who died this weekend after a several-year struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Our thoughts and condolences go to his family at this time.

Be well, stay tuned for our Raw thoughts tomorrow night after the show, and take care of yourselves, and each other. XO