In Contention

Tag: WrestleMania

  • ‘Iron Man 2’ insurers kept Rourke out of the ring at WrestleMania

    UPDATED (4/7): An interesting story out of the UK’s Guardian newspaper today:

    The flesh was willing, but the insurers were weak. Mickey Rourke, star of The Wrestler, was forced to abandon plans to enter the ring for real after being vetoed by the insurance company working on his new film Iron Man 2.

    Rourke, 56, had been expected to display his acting, sorry, sporting prowess by taking part in yesterday’s WrestleMania 25 extravaganza in Houston, Texas. In the event, however, he was reduced to simply explaining why he couldn’t.

    “My agents said it would be detrimental to my career to take the focus off of acting after making a comeback in The Wrestler,” he told reporters at the show. “Also, I’m doing Iron Man 2 now, and the insurance company said under no circumstances could I get into the ring.”

    Here’s a clip of the showdown:

    Covered in detail here.

  • Rourke ringside at WrestleMania

    Ricky SteamboatYeah, I shelled out the cash this evening to see WrestleMania 25, which might mark some skewed end to the 2008 Oscar season with Best Actor nominee Mickey Rourke’s decision to participate after all (news reported last month).  First pay-per-view in a decade.  Guilty.

    Anyway, I haven’t been keeping up with the WWE so forgive me if you have and are very much up on the story, but it seems the whole thing has been spun into a pretty good (as sports entertainment angles go) Chris Jericho versus the legends of wrestling kind of thing.  Tonight Jericho finds himself in a one against three handicap match with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka.  Three dudes who wear their nicknames on their sleeves.  Jericho is valiant.

    Rick Flair is in their corner, by the way.

    So Rourke is at ringside.  He gave a few hugs to the vets on their way to the ring but he looked a bit agitated with the whole scene right before that.  Maybe a run-in was in the cards…

    Piper and Snuka were eliminated pretty fast.  But Ricky Steamboat held in there, which to an old fan of these shenanigans (and as a guy who grew up in North Carolina where Steamboat is kind of the shit), was kind of cool to see.  But Jericho won out in the end, fair and square.  Flair, of course, ran in to avenge his buddies but was also made short order of.

    On cue, Jericho grabbed a mic, mouthed off to the audience about “erasing the Hall of Fame wash-ups forever” and called out Mickey Rourke point blank.  Well, he demanded an apology, which he didn’t get.  Further mouthing got Rourke out of his seat and into the ring.  The old boxing stuff came out and Rourke got a few quick pops to start before landing a left hook that decked Jericho and…

    …that was it.  Flair hopped into the ring, raised Rourke’s s hand, Jericho slumped off and that’s the victory lap on this performance I guess.

    (Oh, and Rey Mysterio Jr. came out with a mask and face paint in homage to Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight.”)

  • Mickey Rourke will be at WrestleMania after all?

    Cover of The Wrestler DVDI knew this would happen.  Back in January and February, the buzz was that Mickey Rourke would be spring-boarding from his success in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” to the real squared circle at the WWE’s WrestleMania on April 5.  But some shrewd publicist told Rourke to can it and, indeed, the denials started flowing soon after.  Pete Hammond got Rourke to admit he was coerced away from the gig at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February.  After all, who’s going to win an Oscar when you’re about to lace up the boots and get in the ring for real?

    Well, sadly, Rourke didn’t win the Oscar after all, but now Elizabeth Snead is reporting he’ll be at the big event after all.  And my guess is he was going to be a part of it all along but had to zip it up as he did the song and dance Oscar campaign stuff.  From The Dish Rag:

    Despite recent reports of award-winning “The Wrestler” actor Mickey Rourke focusing on his film career, he will definitely be in Houston at WrestleMania 25 on April 5.

    At least that’s what I was just told by a publicist for Wrestlemania.

    But will Mickey jump in the ring? Or will he be dragged in?

    One never knows.

    I might just order my first pro wrestling pay-per-view since Sting squared off with Hollywood Hogan at 1998’s Starcade!  Here’s a clip of Chris Jericho talking smack to Rourke on Larry King Live, which really kicked things into high gear on this story.  You can tell he wants to get out of that seat and rip Jericho’s face off, but little gold men were dancing in his head at the time:

    (By the way, what do you guys think of the “Wrestler” DVD cover art, pictured above? Some days I like it, some days I don’t.)

  • 1/27 Oscarweb Round-up

    Stephen DaldryA late installment today.  Relaxing.

    • Kvetching over the “Dark Knight” slight, with stats to assist.  “The Reader” is officially the worst reviewed Best Picture nominee since 2000 and the lowest grossing as well. [Film.com]

    • The ‘Slumdog’ smear sure is relentless.  It’s just sad to see smart reporters like Dennis Lim taking the bait from publicists and an all-too-convenient backlash. [Slate]

    • Peter Bart dug the SAG Awards. [Peter Bart]

    • Dave Karger runs down some 2008 Oscar trivia, including the Stephen Daldry hat-trick of Best Director nods that, I believe, one of our commenters was all over on Thursday. [Entertainment Weekly]

    • Mickey Rourke is gonna lace up the boots for real at WrestleMania. [MSNBC]

    • David Carr and the value of an Oscar, monetarily speaking. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Patrick Goldstein checks out David Denby and A.O. Scott going at it on Charlie Rose. [The Big Picture]

    • The Weinstein Company brings on Lionsgate honcho Tom Ortenberg.  Hey, that might actually work. [Los Angeles Times]