The Sunday Papers

Between the ‘sheets

– Paul Bearer passed away on Tuesday at the age of 58. Bearer (real name William Moody) suffered respiratory problems while at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion, and was treated for a blood clot soon after. By all reports Bearer was a universally liked and respected man and performer, and among many, many tweets addressing his passing, this one from Shane Helms could be the most telling. WWE has uploaded a tribute video. Funeral information has been released and includes a wake open to the public, and there’s a guest book for fans and friends to leave comments here.

– Along with Rock v Cena and Del Rio v Swagger, we can now add Undertaker v CM Punk to the WrestleMania card.

– The Rock has agreed to work the Extreme Rules pay per view in May. Rock was always planning to work the Raw after Mania, but then was expected to leave for several months. There’s no word yet on what the plans are for his Extreme Rules match, but I’ll be having a guess in Speculation Corner.

– Following on from Triple H and Stephanie McMahon joining Twitter last week, boss himself, Vince McMahon, has signed up too! He’s yet to say anything though, so we’re stuck with Cranky Vince for now.

– Gunnar Eudy, son of Sycho Sid, noted on Facebook this week that Sid had been in and out of hospital with heart problems. A Thursday update says that Sid is back home and in stable condition.

– Kayfabe was broken for the millionth time this week as The Simpsons aired a wrestling-themed episode. There’s little more to add, except that whoever drew these turnbuckles clearly isn’t a fan.

– Rey Mysterio is fearing yet another ACL tear. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Mysterio feared the worst until being convinced to see WWE’s Dr James Andrews, who suspects Mysterio may be able to work through the injury. Mysterio later tweeted that all he can do is leave things in God’s hands, which begs the question why did he go to the doctor?

– AJ Styles announced his TNA return, next week on Impact from Chicago.

– Vince McMahon and Triple H presented Mae Young with a divas championship belt for her 90th birthday. Not shown on the video is the part where Mae throws the belt down and yells “What the fuck is this shit?” Which probably happened.

– X-Pac is the latest WWE legend! He was given the contract on Thursday. This along with the return of the New Age Outlaws to the house show circuit appear to be Triple H’s influence at work.

– TNA’s Teryn Terrell was Maxim’s woman of the day on Thursday.

Speculation corner: WrestleMania edition!

– A brief stare down on Raw has started rumours of Ryback v Mark Henry. Henry appears to have nothing better to do, while Ryback’s feud with the Shield looks to be over.

– The Shield attacked during an Orton v Sheamus v Big Show match on SmackDown, making this a fairly easy one to predict.

– Team Hell No’s feud with the Prime Time Players seems to be continuing, but is there enough to it to keep them rolling for another four weeks? I’m not so sure. The New Age Outlaws are scheduled to wrestle the Rhodes Scholars on Raw tomorrow night, which makes it look like they could be going to WrestleMania for something.

– Dolph Ziggler is still without a feud for WrestleMania and is now losing to Miz-level talent like The Miz. This is a bad thing. Is Ziggler in the dog house? Could be. And/Or it could just be that he’s killing time until Chris Jericho comes back from his Australian Fozzy tour.

– Antonio Cesaro and Wade Barrett are directionless too, which is a bad sign for the midcard titles. If they weren’t both heels I’d suggest unification, but as it stands I’m guessing Miz gets inserted somewhere.

– What will The Rock be doing at Extreme Rules? The obvious answer would be a rematch with Cena, but I’m thinking they’ll avoid doing that one again so soon. I’m going with a bit of a long shot instead: Rock & Triple H v Punk & Lesnar. I’m likely way off, but hell, this is Speculation Corner and it’s going to live up to its name this week!

And finally…

– It’s been a slow week for #BabyfaceDickery, which is great! I’ll give it to Ricardo Rodriguez for soaking AJ with his water bucket and, somehow, getting her ejected while acting innocent.