Thanks to Mike Informer for this link to Mike Mooneyham's article in The Post & Courier

McMahon gets a kick out of Orton

Randy Orton is a favorite to win tonight's Royal Rumble.

Randy Orton officially arrived last Monday night.

It was a heel moment worthy of special recognition when the self-proclaimed “Legend Killer” delivered a slap heard around the WWE Universe to the face of Vince McMahon at the conclusion of last week’s edition of Raw.

But it was the stiff kick and punt to the WWE owner’s head that cemented Orton as a Steve Austin-caliber nemesis to the “Mr. McMahon” character.

The 28-year-old Orton, despite his controversial out-of-ring behavior in the past, has always been an effective heel and a top-tier performer. But it now appears that he has finally taken his game to a new level and has become the top heel attraction in the company

McMahon’s much-anticipated return to WWE television may have been short-lived, as few expected to see him get kicked in the head and carted off in a stretcher.

One could sense the importance of the angle since the show ran nearly 10 minutes over its normal air time, and the final segment featured four of the top characters on the show (Vince, daughter Stephanie, Orton and Chris Jericho).

Stephanie and Jericho played off one another to perfection, while McMahon presumably was there to serve as arbiter. But the angle picked up steam when Orton hit the ring and demanded an apology from the “billionaire princess.” The WWE chairman then threatened to fire Orton unless he apologized.

With much of the Chicago crowd chanting for Orton to deliver an RKO to his boss, he instead slapped McMahon, kicked him the face and delivered a punt to McMahon’s unprotected head, prompting Stephanie to hysterically run back into the ring to check on her fallen father.

The slow-motion replays of the incident revealed that the stiff kicks caused damage, with Jim Ross later reporting that McMahon may have suffered a concussion along with a cut around his ear.

“If you watch the replay, I wasn’t too careful. I definitely let him have it,” Orton told the ESPN Web site. “My wife DVR’d it for me because I had to watch it for myself. My foot still hurts. And if that’s the case, I’m sure he has a nice migraine right now.”

 

The late Bruiser Brody, one of wrestling's greatest brawlers, fought Ric Flair to a 60-minute draw in front of 19,000 fans at the St. Louis Checkerdome in 1983.

The continuing storyline is expected to propel Orton into the main event of Wrestlemania against WWE champ John Cena. In the meantime, though, the most likely direction is that either Stephanie or brother Shane will be in cahoots with Orton and will join his “Legacy” group, also making one of them a suspect in the “accident” that sidelined McMahon last June.

McMahon’s return to Raw also is credited with a spike in the ratings, up to 3.9 from the previous week’s 3.5, including a second hour that drew more than six million viewers.

- Momentum for a Ric Flair appearance at Wrestlemania 25 weekend continues to build, although no official announcement has been made. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin reportedly asked specifically for the Nature Boy to do the honors in inducting him into WWE’s Hall of Fame. Flair has said he would love to induct Austin and would put him over in style.

Flair, who left the company shortly after last year’s Wrestlemania to pursue other projects, would naturally be a boon to WWE’s biggest event of the year.

“It would be great to have Ric make an appearance at Wrestlemania,” said one source. “It would be like Flair in the main event again with Austin. But they’d have to find a way to keep it down. How would they stop him from going ‘Whoo’ all night long in Houston?”

- Flair said he got a nice surprise when Geoff Goodish, son of the late great Bruiser Brody (Frank Goodish), approached him at a San Antonio Spurs-Charlotte Bobcats NBA game last week in Charlotte.

“What a small world,” said Flair. “A young kid, 22 years old, came up to me at the game, and said his name was Geoff Brody, Bruiser Brody’s son. I’d seen him one time when he was about 2 years old. He looked great — just a small, skinny kid, nothing like dad. A very nice and polite young man. He had been wanting to meet me but didn’t know how to get ahold of me.”

The 6-5, 280-pound Bruiser Brody, regarded by many as the greatest brawler in the history of the business, was stabled to death in a dressing room in Puerto Rico in 1988. He was 42 years old.

Flair said the young Brody is now living in Columbia where he does construction work.

MVP, in a recent interview with the U.K. Sun, discussed his match with Ric Flair at last year’s Royal Rumble at Madison Square Garden where Flair defeated him with a figure-four leglock. He noted the significance of the match as it was his first at MGS and Flair’s final.

- MVP (Alvin Burke Jr.) also noted how the two set up the match with an angle on Smackdown, and how Flair, in his inimitable style, carried their “VIP Lounge” segment by altering the script given to them from the creative team. MVP recalled how Flair nodded in agreement as writers went over the segment, all the while winking at MVP, who figured the Nature Boy had no intention of going by the script.

 

MVP enjoyed working with Ric Flair.

“Verbiage that was written for us was out the window when we went through the curtain,” said MVP, who added that they went on to do a shoot promo that far surpassed what they had been given by the writers.

- Randy Orton also heaped praise on Flair during an ESPN.com interview last week.

“Everything is five star with that guy, from the hotels to the wine and champagne. Before I was married, before I was with my wife, I was traveling with Ric Flair and women were everywhere. It was crazy. The lifestyle he leads, he’s the wheelin’, dealin’, kiss-stealin’ son of a gun. He’s Ric Flair and there’s no one like him, there won’t ever be another like him in the wrestling world again. No one will match up to Ric Flair and how he lives. He’s a great man and a great tutor of the game.”

- Hulk Hogan’s estranged wife Linda Bollea reportedly made a scene at the once-prestigious Sundance Film Festival. She attended Robert Redford’s 25-year-old independent festival with her 19-year-old boyfriend.

Reports noted that Bollea and her friend cruised the Sundance Main Street Strip posing for photos and holding up traffic so they could be photographed.

“Donning a terrible fur coat and pink lipstick, Bollea paraded her 19-year-old boytoy Charlie Hill up and down Main Street to fully utilize the photo op, and at one point traffic controllers had to stop the cars in every direction as so many ‘fans’ and paps were crazily rushing to get a snap of the happy-to-pose twosome,” Fox News reported.

Son Nick Bollea, recently released from a prison sentence for negligence in causing life-altering injuries to friend John Graziano, also attended the event.

- Although “The Wrestler” failed to get an Oscar nomination for best film, Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of Randy “The Ram” Robinson earned him an Academy Award nomination for best lead actor. Marisa Tomei’s portrayal of a stripper in that movie also picked up a best supporting actress nomination.

Darren Aronofsky failed to receive a nomination for best director. Bruce Springsteen’s Golden Globe-winning title song, written specifically for the movie, also wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.

- George’s Sports Bar, 1300 Savannah Highway, will air the Royal Rumble pay-per-view at 8 p.m. today. Those arriving before 6:30 p.m. will be admitted free; cover charge is $5 after 6:30 p.m.

- Halligan’s Restaurant and Bar, 3025 Ashley Towne Center, Suite 201, will air the Royal Rumble at 8 p.m. today. Admission is free.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or [email protected]. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at (843) 937-6000, ext. 3090.