John Cena

Well this big boy’s slogan might be “you can’t see me” but that sure doesn’t apply to reporters. John Cena had yet another chance to share his opinion in the media, this time talking about sports stars, steroid use, and jail time. Cena said that New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez should receive jail time after failing Major League Baseball’s steroid testing.

“[Steroids] are the personal choice of the athlete,” Cena was quoted saying to the New York Daily News. “And [Rodriguez] got defensive, saying he used because he felt he needed to. If there was a set of [legal] stipulations set in place, he may never have even considered it.”

Cena went on to say: “The government should take the initiative, and if you get caught using drugs, then you should go to jail. A criminal record will hurt your endorsements and long-term contracts.”

Those are some serious words Mr Cena. Can’t we all be friends? Head over to NDN to read the article.

HHH - The Game

MSN had a chance for an online interview with Triple H while he was promoting the 500th episode of SmackDown. It was at least worth pointing out some highlights:

On the grueling WWE schedule:
Tripe H started this by saying: Sometimes people say, “It’s so rough, it’s so rough.” It’s not that bad. It used to be a lot worse. But I have two kids and I am home three days a week. But when you do go on the road, it’s hectic. You’re in a different city every day. You fly in to a new town, you do a show, you go to the next town, you sleep, you wake up and do it again. It’s basically just a series of transportation, to the gym, to the arena, to the plane.

On revealing Stephanie McMahon as his real wife:
For story lines and business, we try to keep that stuff separate. But people knew and we joked about it when I was in DX [comic wrestling tag team formed with fellow superstar Shawn Michaels]. The only reason I was apprehensive is where do we go on the flip side of it. Look at it like this: There is the real world and the WWE Universe. So the cat is now out of the bag in the WWE Universe and it now exists there. So anything that has to do with me story-line-wise, you have to be conscious of the fact that I am married into the McMahon family. That throws a different curve into it. So my only concern was it tainting future story lines. Say something happens, and it’s like, “Well, why doesn’t he get that change through his father-in-law?” [Laughs.] We have created a wrinkle in the fabric of the WWE Universe.

On what it’s like working for his father-in-law:
[Laughs.] Well, the good thing is I had a really good relationship with him before I even met Steph. We had a great relationship not only from a talent standpoint, but I used to work a lot with Vince hand-in-hand to create story lines behind the scenes, not just for myself but other guys. But if you have ever met Vince, he’s a complex man and it can be trying. There are times he wants to choke me and there are times when I want to choke him.

Whether he likes being a baby face or heel:
Heh heh, I love being a heel.

Nothing that we didn’t really know about the guy. But good for him.

WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart recently sat down with ESPN.com to discuss WWE’s new “Legends of WrestleMania” video game. During the interview, the Hitman discusses a number of topics, including the rocky atmosphere in the WWE during early 1990’s, his favorite WrestleMania match, his beef with Shawn Michaels and more. It’s a long interview, but one that’s worth reading.

Bret said things changed drastically in the WWE when they started drug testing in 1992 and made the transition from muscle heads (e.g. Hogan, Warrior, Legion of Doom) to the “workers” (Bret, Shawn Michaels, Marty Janetty). When asked whether he was upset that Hulk Hogan never gave him a match at WrestleMania, he replied:

Bret Hart: I just thought that somebody preempted my run. For somebody like Hulk Hogan, when he was on his run, nobody preempted it. Everyone was happy to make him. But when I needed some of the bigger guys to make me, especially some of the bigger names like Jake Roberts or Ultimate Warrior or Hogan, when it came to passing the torch down and doing me a favor…I had always been loyal, working my ass off on their undercards and I was always respectful of those guys and paid my dues, but I always felt short changed by some of those guys who didn’t do anything to help me. And that was a critical time in the business. The wrestling business back then was kind of like the stock market right now. There were some tough times business-wise, and everyone was fearful of the future, especially after they implemented the drug testing. But they handed me the ball, and back then I was only six feet tall, I wasn’t a giant, I didn’t have 24-inch arms, and I wasn’t a good interview. Then all of a sudden I found myself carrying the torch at a tough time and trying my hardest.

Hart continued, “If you look at wrestling when I started to get my big break back in 1992, I changed wrestling from the cartoons of Hulk Hogan and Iron Sheik and the matches with the leg drop and the hand behind the ear and the playing to the crowd. They were just cartoon characters if you ask me. Hogan had the same match every night for years and so did Warrior. They didn’t tell great stories, to be honest. I went out there and had those matches with Piper and Perfect and the match with Davey at Wembley. I went out there and tried to have great matches all the time, and it wasn’t about Bret Hart, it was about these matches. I think I changed the style of wrestling, and even today, there’s not another Hulk Hogan out there, it’s guys like Edge, and it’s all about work rate. When you see Bret Hart versus Steve Austin, it just seemed so much more real than Hulk Hogan versus Sgt. Slaughter. All of the storylines started to be more realistic and the belt started to mean more. I made the belt seem like the world to me and to my fans. I kind of pat myself on the back today and think that I did more good for professional wrestling than people realize.”

SI.com has gotten a chance to interview WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena at the Gillette-EA Sports Champions of Gaming Global Finals last week. Cena talks about his favorite WWE Diva, watching the Super Bowl, future WWE stars and his true favorite baseball team.

First things first, Super Bowl Sunday. Cena said it was the first time he got to watch a whole game in a long time. He was also happy with the game’s outcome and believes it over-delivered.

When asked about his favorite WWE Diva, Cena said: “My No. 1 has always been Candice Michelle. She understands what we do in our business. She’s an unbelievable athlete, works very hard and is unbelievably gorgeous.” Who can argue with the champ?

Cena also admits that his finisher’s name was changed due to WWE attracting so many children now. Cena said: “It was totally my call. It’s actually Attitude Adjustment. I realize that our audience has changed now and when I look out past the ring now I see so many children. Originally the FU was a pun in response to Brock Lesner’s move, he used to wrestle in the WWE. I never really called it that. It’s something I said once and the announcers picked it up. I know that kids are watching my every move and there are a lot of parents know their kids look up to me and I know a lot of people watch our program with closed eyes and I kind of live by the motto — “Hustle Loyalty Respect.” If someone is out of line, I think instead of giving them an FU, it’s better to give them an attitude adjustment.”

And who’s the future of the WWE? As far as Cena is concerned, he names Cody Rhodes. Ted DiBiase and Harry (”DH”) Smith as stars people will be talking about in 5 years.

While Cena was spotted wearing a Tampa Bay Rays hat late last season, his true allegiance is with his hometown Boston Red Sox. “I was just trying to stir up a division rivalry that was dead in the water,” Cena said. “I actually went to Fenway Park in a Rays jersey and hat and I was sitting in the middle of Red Sox nation and I was answering Red Sox trivia all night long so my fandom is not in jeopardy,” Cena said.

You can read the interview in its entirety at the following link.

Jake Roberts was a recent guest on a radio show called Pain Clinic where he gave us his thoughts on the current state of pro wrestling. “I’ve always loved wrestling and my passion hasn’t diminished over the years. I had a choice to either quit watching wrestling or start doing something about it.”

Jake has also been reviewing WWE TV on his very own Myspace page. Roberts said he hopes someone in WWE will read the blog reviews and learn something from his knowledge and experience. Although he’s not really that fond of today’s wrestling business, Roberts says one WWE wrestler is impressing him right now.

“There’s a few good guys out there coming along – Randy Orton is stepping his game up a little bit right now,” Roberts said. “So there are so many out there that don’t have a damn clue.”

Roberts said his current biggest pet peeve about the wrestling business right now is that WWE’s TV isn’t even a wrestling show, in his eyes. “They call it a wrestling program and it’s not,” he said. “It’s not even a show anymore. It’s an infomercial. It sucks!”

Roberts recently released his own DVD, titled “Snake Tales” where he talks about “road stories, practical jokes, the ribs that are played on each other or played on me.” He claims it’s much better and less-depressing than WWE’s recent DVD on his career and life.

“All of a sudden, Vince McMahon raised his ugly head and thought we were threatening his company and he’s been doing everything he can to shut us down,” Hogan told the radio station. “We’re just a reality show.”

Hogan said he was intitially worried the celebrities wouldn’t take wrestling seriously because they were paid upfront, but he had a positive experience so far.

Hogan claimed even the great Regis Philbin inquired about being on the series when it was first announced, and now people from “all of the major companies” are calling wanting to be part of Celebrity Championship Wrestling.

Hogan mostly hyped CCW during the interview, but he did find time to take a shot at Triple H and WWE. When asked about the wrestling business’ history of exposing its inner workings, Hogan said McMahon smartened up the public in the 80s when he said pro wrestling isn’t a real sport, and then created the Tough Enough series on MTV. However, Hogan believes the worst offense of exposing the business is Vince McMahon keeping the WWE Title on Triple H for so many years, and that it exposes the wrestling business more than Celebrity Championship Wrestling does. “The biggest expose is putting the World Title on your son-in-law for the last five or six years,” Hogan said. “That’s probably the biggest expose I’ve ever seen keeping Triple H as champion.” Triple H has taken a number of unwarranted shots at Hogan over the years (usually when Hogan’s been out of favor with Vince), even though Hogan was mostly positive when talking about him.

And after all that, Hogan still found more to hype up, saying he will be in New York this weekend with Steve Austin doing promotional work for liveautographs.com, which films celebrities signing merchandise that customers are buying to authenticate the merchandise.

You can listen to the entire interview here.

In yet another interview with SLAM Wrestling, this time with Kurt Angle instead of Angelina Love, Angle offered up his view on TNA’s status in the community. Kurt Angle however was openly critical of TNA and how they are “going overboard” on the number of gimmick matches the company holds. “I believe pay-per-view matches should be straight up, one-on-one,” Angle said. “One on one, or tag on tag, nobody else involved, no run-ins, no gimmicks. I feel TNA sometimes thinks we’re being innovative by having matches that are gimmicks.”

Angle then gives us a few examples. “Like on one pay-per-view, we had a cage match with weapons, and a Last Man Standing match, and a New Jersey Street Fight. We don’t need to have gimmick matches. We have the talent to have great wrestling matches. That’s why we are different than WWE. We have amazing wrestlers that can put on incredible matches.”

Angle believes TNA will one day be on the same level as WWE. “But within four to six years, we will be comparable to them as far as ratings. As far as value of the company, we’re getting there. If, God forbid, Jeff and Mrs. Carter wanted to sell the company right now, it’s worth a lot of money. I think eventually the company will be almost every bit as valuable as WWE.”

Angle also talks about differences between WWE & TNA, TNA’s growth, and more. All in all, it’s actually a really good interview which can be read in its entirety here.

That’s right, TNA Knockout babe Angel Williams – a.k.a Angelina Love, recently spoke to Slam Wrestling in Canada to promote this Sunday’s No Surrender PPV. You can read the entire thing at their site. But you can catch the highlights from the article after the jump:

What makes TNA Knockouts different from WWE Divas: Everybody has their own different look, and that means you’re going to see different things each week. We can all wrestle, which is a huge difference between the (WWE) Divas and the Knockouts. When I got signed by the competition, I had my hair all braided and I was told to take them out, it was too different of a look. I asked, ‘Do they not want something different, or do they want twenty of the same girl?’, and I was told twenty of the same girl. I became Random Blonde 14, and it really didn’t mean much.

About the TNA roster: The X Division (are) all young with very bright futures ahead of them — (Styles) can do anything in the ring … I think everybody would put him at the top of their list. I think all of them are up-and-comers and can really change women’s wrestling from what it’s been for a while to what it should be.”

Current status of TNA: Getting Spike TV was a huge move. And I’m really glad that they’re doing more house shows and travelling for pay-per-views, because the Orlando crowd (where TNA tapes their weekly television) is spoiled.

If you aren’t up on your TNA wrestlers, that would explain why you don’t know who Angelina Love is. And if you’re interested in getting to know the girl, we’ve thrown in one more pic to help. For the full story, head over to Slam Wrestling.

Angelina Love

The Ottawa Sun posted an interview with Triple H today. He gave his candid thoughts on the wrestling business in terms of younger wrestlers, determining the greatest wrestlers, preferring being a bad guy, parenthood, and more.

“I hate to sound like an oldtimer, but sometimes I get upset about the young guys,” Triple H said. “We’ve got guys like Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat and Michael Hayes around. That’s a wealth of knowledge, and they still have to make it mandatory for guys to show up early and go into the ring with them.”

Triple H believes there’s a disconnect between him and the younger wrestlers, saying that a number of them are more concerned about with their iPods or playing Guitar Hero than getting better in wrestling. “When I got into the business, you couldn’t get me out of the building. I had a burning desire to get better. Now, the young guys seem more interested in their I Pods or playing Guitar Hero,” Triple H told the Ottawa Sun. “I see guys complaining: ‘I’ve been here for five years and they’re not doing anything with me.’ I say to the guy: ‘Dude, you’ve been doing the same thing now that you were five years ago. What do you expect?’”

Triple H also gives his take on determining who the best wrestler in the business is. “If you go to the internet, there’s always somebody saying ‘this guy is the best wrestler in the world’ and you’ve got somebody else saying, ‘no, this guy is the best wrestler in the world.’ But it’s not about what they like. It’s what the masses like,” Hunter said. “These guys they’re talking about are wrestling in front of 50 people, not 20,000. And that’s because the masses don’t want to see them.” Triple H then praises Hulk Hogan. He said, “The biggest name ever, if you look at Hulk Hogan, what big move did he ever do? But he knew how to tell a story, how to get fans to interact with his character and keep them entertained. It’s not about how high or how far you can jump, it’s about telling stories.”

Triple H admits he’s rather be doing what Edge is doing by playing a the bad guy on television. He said he watched Dark Knight and would rather play The Joker than Batman. “It’s more fun playing a heel,” Triple H said. “I look at a guy like Edge, and I mean this in the nicest way, he’s getting to do such cool things.”

On moving from Raw to SmackDown, Triple H said the schedule is actually worse for him, but he was willing to do what was necessary for the good of WWE and Vince McMahon. He said, “You know when you get into this line of work you’re going to be gone a lot. It’s really important that the time I get to spend with my family is quality time.”

Triple H also went on to say that being a parent has changed his view on relationships, especially with women. “It’s changed my perspective about what’s important in life,” Triple H said. “I don’t know if it’s softened me up, but it changes the way you look at women. I’m probably going to pay for my past.”

The Sun has published an interview with Randy “The Legend Killer” Orton while he was in the UK last week. The interview touches on which wrestlers Randy Orton likes, as well as who he dislikes.

Orton starts by praising Ric Flair, Undertaker and Triple H, but took aim at Hardcore Holly, Bubba Ray Dudley (TNA wrestler Brother Ray), and former WWE star Test. “I never liked him,” Orton said of Bubba Ray. “I never liked what he did because he only thought of himself. In the match my foot was broken, it was his fault… Bubba Dudley is the most out of shape, fat, non-work-ethic-having person I knew. And you had a bad taste in your mouth when you met him.”

Strangely, Orton was happy that he suffered a broken collarbone. “It is really great that I got hurt,” Orton said. “I thank God that I broke my collarbone. At the time I wasn’t thankful. I missed work, but being home with my wife the last two months of the pregnancy and witnessing the birth of my baby, which could have missed if I was on the road, that would have been horrible.”

Orton also talked about his bad behavior in the role, how he’s adapting to his new role as a husband and father and why he likes it when the fans chant “boring” during his matches. Orton also mentions that he took up motorcycle riding as a hobby related to his anger management.

Orton teases returning at or around SummerSlam, but this interview was conducted before the motorcycle accident reported on WWE.com last Monday.

You can listen to the interview here, with reports that the transcript is coming soon.