Injury may keep Batista on shelf for Mania

WWE

Batista is expected to miss several months of ring time.

A torn hamstring may prevent one of WWE’s top stars from competing at next year’s Wrestlemania.

Batista is expected to be sidelined the next several months after undergoing surgery for a lingering hamstring injury.

Batista was headed for a projected main-event spot against either John Cena or Randy Orton at the company’s annual extravaganza next April.

Batista’s storyline absence is being attributed to an injury he received at the hands of Orton during a recent angle in which Orton kicked him in the head. The injury opens the door for Orton to face Cena in the main event at next year’s Wrestlemania.

“There is never a good time to be injured, but perhaps this will allow Batista to come back fresher than ever, and sometimes absence makes the fans’ hearts grow fonder. The controversial Randy Orton is proof of such,” WWE announcer Jim Ross posted last week.

The injury is a major setback for Batista (Dave Bautista), who is approaching his 43rd birthday, and he’ll most likely miss his biggest payday of the year. A torn triceps cost him an appearance at Wrestlemania XXII in 2006.

He should be back in time, however, for a ready-made showdown with Orton at next year’s Summer Slam event.

Orton’s career, which has seen its share of ups and downs due to injuries and out-of-the ring issues, appears to be on the upswing.

With Triple H (39), The Undertaker (43) and Shawn Michaels (43) all having their most productive years behind them, the 28-year-old Orton is being heavily counted on to help fill the void at the top of the roster. Having married and settled down over the past year, Orton seems to be slowly shaking the “bad boy” status he earned during his first few years in the business, and has gained respect among his peers and, more importantly, the office.

Mat mastermind Paul Heyman, who once worked for WWE creative, is among Orton’s biggest boosters and predicts that the third-generation performer, who he considers the most complete heel in WWE, will be the company’s superstar of the year in 2009.

“There’s a certain look in his eyes now, a confidence that permeates the room, a comfort with one’s self that overshadows his natural arrogance,” Heyman wrote last week in The (U.K.) Sun. “Orton’s ring work was always excellent and gets better by the day, but now he’s learning great control on the mic. Six months from now, play back Orton’s promos from the past few weeks, and you’ll be amazed at how the solid promos he’s doing today pale by comparison.”

WWE

Former WWE Intercontinental champion Santino Marella.

WWE Intercontinental champion William Regal told The Sun in a recent interview that former champ Santino Marella is extremely entertaining as a character, but he isn’t where he should be as a wrestler.

“I think what he does, the entertainment aspect of it, is brilliant,” Regal said. “I try and help him a lot because obviously his wrestling is not where it should be — but he can get there.

“He’s been thrown in the deep end straight out of wrestling school and he does a great job at what he does. I think he’s got a great future, but you can only get by doing so much comedy,” added Regal (Darren Matthews).

Actually Marella, whose real name is Anthony Carelli, is well versed in a number of mixed martial arts disciplines and wrestled at the high school and collegiate levels. He established a reputation, though, as a street fighter, competing for his native Canada as an MMA fighter in Japan for several years before moving to the U.S. in 2005 to learn to become a pro wrestler.

Marella, who practiced judo for 20 years, ended up in the former WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling after being banned for a year in Japan due to overstaying a visa.

Marella, incidentally, was given his ring surname by Vince McMahon. Marella was the real name of the late WWE great Gorilla Monsoon, Gino Marella, and his son, the late WWE referee Joey Marella.

“Nature Boy” Ric Flair remembers where he was the night Danny Ford led the Clemson Tigers to the NCAA football title by defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1982.

“I was in a dressing room in St. Louis watching the game with Jim (Baron Von) Raschke. It was me and (Bruiser) Brody that night at the Checkerdome.”

Flair, who is a South Carolina fan and longtime friend of Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier, had won his first of many world titles just months earlier by defeating Dusty Rhodes for the NWA championship.

Raschke was a 1958 Nebraska state high school heavyweight champion and an NCAA All-American and Big Eight Conference heavyweight champion at the University of Nebraska during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.

Among the many wrestling personalities we said goodbye to in 2008:

Rollin’ Hard (Dec. 26, age 34), Mike Bell (Dec. 14, age 37), Steve Bradley (Dec. 4, age 32), Margaret Garcia (Oct. 29, age 66), S.D. Jones (Oct. 26, age 63), Lia Maivia (Oct. 19, age 81), Jack Reynolds (Oct. 16, age 71), Pee Wee James (Sept. 16, age 75), Walter “Killer” Kowalski (Aug. 30, age 82), Ron “Golden Gladiator” Hill (Aug. 27, age 73), Ole Olsen (Aug. 21, age 85), Sonny “Roughhouse” Fargo (Aug. 20, age 80), Alfonso Dantes (July 30, age 65), Igor Volkoff (June 28, age 71), Oni Wiki Wiki (June 23, age 88), Rudy Kay (May 26, age 68), Chief White Owl (May 23, age 72), Kurt Von Stroheim (May 19, age 76), Ricky “The Crusher” Cortez (May 16, age 83), Penny Banner (May 13, age 73), Leo Garibaldi (May 12, age 78), Judy Grable (May 9, age 82), Yvon Robert Jr. (April 30, age 65), Rocky McGuire (April 11), Sara Lee (April 5, age 76), Ron Slinker (March 28, age 62), Chase Tatum (March 23, age 34), Don Curtis (March 6, age 80), Playboy Gary Hart (March 16, age 66), Johnny Weaver (Feb. 14, age 72), William “The Elephant Boy” Olivas (Feb. 6, age 86) and Randy Barber (Jan. 1, age 49).

Provided

"Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels (left), better known these days as Curry Man in TNA, and Rowdy Roddy Piper were among the guests of Fox Searchlight at the recent premiere of "The Wrestler."

“The Wrestler” continues to draw rave reviews among film critics and Hollywood insiders. A recent AP article listed it tops among new movies.

Said reviewer Christy Lemire: “It couldn’t have had a more cliched premise: A washed-up athlete struggles against the odds for one last chance at greatness. But Darren Aronofsky reinvents this well-worn genre, and in the process, allows Mickey Rourke to reinvent himself with disarming charisma and unexpected vulnerability. He gives the performance of his long and infamous career in a stripped-down film that’s brutally honest yet funny, touching and even sweet.”

Turner Classic Movies guru, “At The Movies” co-host and former Channel 5 reporter Ben Mankiewicz is among those high on the film.

“To put it simply, this is the best film I’ve seen this year. And I gotta tell ya’, it’s not even close. It’s number one and it’s solidly number one. Mickey Rourke is so good ... This is a really impressive film.”

It was reported last week that NBC’s “American Gladiators” will not be back for a third season.

The competition-series revival enjoyed strong ratings for its initial run during the Hollywood writers strike early this year. A second season launched in May and suffered a sharp drop in viewers with ratings fading throughout its summer run.

A reader sent along this funny line he recently overheard: “With the Legacy group, Orton, Manu, DiBiase, Rhodes, along with debuts of Reid Flair, Ricky Steamboat Jr., and now Deuce going by Sim Snuka, we now have Rasslin’ Muppet Babies.”

- TNA Knockout Traci Brooks (Tracy Brookshaw) recently announced her engagement to TNA performer Frankie Kazarian.

“Best Christmas present I’ve ever received ... love you, Frankie,” the 28-year-old Brooks posted on Facebook.

TNA

TNA president Dixie Carter.

TNA president Dixie Carter recently purchased a million-dollar mansion in Nashville from country music star LeAnn Rimes.

The 1986 Ole Miss graduate, under her legal last name of Salinas, and her husband, Sergio, purchased the home for $2.125 million. The house was built on three acres in 2002 and has 13 total rooms, including five bedrooms and five baths, along with a library and a yoga room.

Carter’s parents, Bob and Janice Carter, who own Dallas-based Panda Energy International Inc., own TNA. They bought the company in 2002.

Provided

Former WWE diva Cherry (Kara Drew).

Former WWE diva Kara Drew (Cherry) has decided to put her wrestling career on hold and return to school.

Drew was released from her WWE contract in August. Rumors had circulated that those in key positions said she wasn’t thin enough to be a WWE diva.

“It has become tremendously hard for me to continue knowing the comments about my weight are being recognized,” she recently wrote. “I have to look at myself everyday in the mirror, and just being a girl, I am hard enough on myself. Meeting the fans and taking pictures or signing autographs was such a special thing for me. Lately, it has become emotionally stressful because so many people, meaning well, have continued to bring up my physical appearance and directly correlate that with my release from WWE.

“Another reason was that I wasn’t viewed as a wrestler. Let me tell you something, I’ve had years of experience and came out of the best WWE training facility learning from the top trainers in this entertainment industry. Please don’t believe that ‘Cherry’ didn’t know what she was doing when she entered that squared circle.”

Drew, who was signed to a developmental contract by WWE in 2006, made her debut as Cherry Pie, valet of The Throwbacks (Deuce and Domino), in OVW and became part of their ‘50s gimmick. She made her TV debut in January 2007 on Smackdown as manager of Deuce and Domino. The team won the WWE tag-team in April of that year.

WWE developmental performer Milena Roucka, who has been given the name Rosa Melendez, is the Beth Phoenix superfan being shown at ringside for her matches.

WWE

Former WCW heavyweight champ and WWE on-air personality Ron Simmons was inducted into the 2008 College Football Hall of Fame.

WWE personality and former WCW world champ Ron Simmons recently was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Simmons, a former nose guard for Florida State University, was elected in May by the National Football Foundation’s selection committee to join the prestigious hall alongside Troy Aikman (UCLA), Lou Holtz, Billy Cannon (LSU), Thurman Thomas (Oklahoma State), coaches Lou Holtz and John Cooper, and other former players and coaches in the 15-member class.

Simmons, FSU’s first two-time consensus All-American, becomes the sixth player or coach with FSU ties to receive college football’s most prestigious recognition. Simmons follows Charlie Ward and coach Bobby Bowden, both inducted in 2007, Darrell Mudra (2000), Fred Biletnikoff (1991) and Ron Sellers (1988).

Simmons led the Seminoles to three consecutive top-20 finishes and two straight berths in the Orange Bowl, and in 1979 was a top-10 finisher in the Heisman Trophy balloting. His number is retired by the school.

Old School Championship Wrestling will present its first show of 2009 on Jan. 18 at Weekend’s Pub, 428 Red Bank Road, Goose Creek.

WWE

Chris Mordetzky, formerly WWE’s “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters, will headline an OSCW show Jan. 18 in Goose Creek.

Chris Mordetzky, formerly WWE’s “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters, will meet “The American Nightmare” Sixx in the main event. OSCW Universal champ Lodi also will compete in “The Match of Champions” along with the other OSCW titleholders.

Bell time is 6 p.m. Adult admission $8; kids 12 and under $5. Call 743-4800 or go to www.oscwonline.com for more information.

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.

Credit:  Injury may keep Batista on shelf for Mania