Rourke Speaks On Piper Crying, Cena Comments On Hardy

Alfonso Castillo of Newsday.com has just posted some highlights from a roundtable discussion he took part in with “The Wrestler” star Mickey Rourke. Here are some highlights: On whether he tried to achieve the look of a certain wrestler: “Yeah, like Lex Luger. And then when we Googled him, we were surprised to see how he ended up.” On meeting Roddy Piper at a screening: “He went on to pay us like highest compliments that we could wish for. And actually he got a little emotional about it. And it was kind of like, it was hard holding this guy and hearing him and talking back to him and understanding where he’s been – the journey that he’s been on and all the others that were like him. Because when your time has come and gone and that’s the only thing you know, you can’t go and be a godd— bus boy somewhere. You just can’t do it. And the options aren’t a lot. And it’s not very pretty.” On what wrestlers he became close with during the movie: “Mainly, Dwayne Johnson’s uncle. His name is Afa. He was one of the Wild Samoans back in the 80s. And I talked to The Rock the other day I told him, ‘We’re sending you [the movie] and we want to hear what you have to say, too.’ And I didn’t know it was his uncle. All the Samoans say they’re related to each other. I thought when Afa’s going on about his ‘nephew,’ ‘Yeah, every Samoan is related to Dwayne Johnson.’ And they are related. And when he spoke very fondly of him, it was like, ‘Wow.’ On learning to wrestle: “We had choreographed the wrestling matches pretty basically [with moves] that any half-assed athlete could do. And then what started to happen after about like two and a half months was, one of the guys was very gymnastically inclined. He, like, got bored and started doing these f—ing moves. And I thought, ‘Wow. Man, I want to do that.’ So I’d go in on Sundays with him alone and do it and not tell Darren. And so what I said was, ‘I want to nail three or four f—ing moves that nobody could do.’ And I got so hurt. I had three MRI’s in two months. I’ve never flipped over in my life – like done back flip and a scissors into the ring. And I couldn’t do it. Weeks would go by and I couldn’t do it. And then you finally… If you work hard enough at anything in your life, you’re going to f—ing do it.” Rourke also talks about similarities between his life and that of his character in “The Wrestler,” and his intense training regimen to look transform into a pro wrestler.

During a conference call promoting the Tribute to the Troops show airing on NBC next week, John Cena was asked about WWE’s recent “news story” on Jeff Hardy being found unconscious prior to the Survivor Series pay-per-view in Boston last month being reported in the same context as a legitimate news story. “I didn’t hear anything about that,” Cena said before a reporter refreshed his memory. “Oh yeah. I can’t believe CNN actually picked that up right? … I don’t know how to tell you this, but WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment. Have I answered your question?” Cena was also asked about this Sunday’s Armageddon pay-per-view. “I’m just really, really happy to be back. I don’t like sitting on the sidelines,” Cena said. “I’m glad I could go on this Tribute to the Troops trip. I’m glad I could come back for Survivor Series, especially, and win the world heavyweight championship. And for me, this being my first heavyweight title defense on pay-per-view, those are always really, really important matches for us. So I just want to show the WWE fans that I haven’t lost it. I haven’t lost a step. I’m as healthy as I ever was. I’m as strong as I ever was. And I just don’t want them to have any doubts about me.” Cena also spoke out on the WWE Divas being the stars of the annual Tribute to the Troops tour, his new T-shirt being a take-off of the old AWA logo, and more.

SITE NOTE: Hey guys, I figured I’d give you an update on the ‘ice storm’ update from Albany, NY. First and foremost, I want to apologize for not getting any news up until now as our office lost power at 3AM last night and it returned briefly this morning for about an hour before going out until right now (8:45EST). It’s brutal up here with trees and power lines down everywhere you look. I’ve never seen anything like it in my 27 years of being here. I told you I’d throw up a few pics (for those of you in the south) who have likely never seen an ‘ice storm’. A few more will be coming tomorrow. It got MUCH worse throughout today and I’ll put up some ‘newer’ pics tomorrow for those who care. Here they are:

WWE releases 2 more tonight…. (Friday)