photo credit: WWE.com

For anyone who has harbored skepticism about the earnestness of AJ Lee’s love for video games (a medium that the Diva has repeatedly raved about), the October 31, 2011 edition of Monday Night Raw busted the hell out of that myth. During a Halloween-themed Divas battle royal, Lee hit the ring as the spitting image of Kitana from Mortal Kombat. Witnessing someone dressed up as the Princess of Edenia of all characters on WWE programming was surreal in itself, but the true coup de grâce to the skeptics was when Lee broke out a Fan Lift at the beginning of the match. Disappointingly, “Kitana wins” would not be uttered that night (Eve, who went as Robin, won), but it still was the most loving shout-out to the gaming faithful on Raw since John Cena did that Punch-Out!!-themed promo in 2010.

The New Jersey native born April Jeanette Mendez originally got into gaming as a child via her brother. The first game she played was either Super Mario Bros. or Excitebike, but as she seriously fell for the hobby later on, she became loyal to the PlayStation. “I was so obsessed with it. Now, I have an Xbox and I love that, so I can’t pick one or the other. They’re both really, really cool,” she says. “Growing up, I was like, ‘Ah, screw Xbox,’ which is terrible because I’m obsessed with it now.”

As of now, Lee’s plans for WrestleMania 29 on Sunday, April 7 involve scheming alongside Dolph Ziggler and newly crowned Twitter demigod Big E Langston when they face against Team Hell No for the tag titles, but hey, a Divas Championship match could always fall out of the sky. Way before the big show, we had a chance to speak with the ex-General Manager of Raw about her 10 most beloved vidja games. Not only was Lee up for the challenge, but she compiled the whole list before the call and put them in order. That’s dedication. (Also, check this space again shortly for another similarly gaming-informed WWE talent dropping knowledge about his favorites.)

Read the rest of this entry »

For some reason along the lines of “F*ck it, I was bored”, I was checking out celebrity birthdays yesterday and I noticed a strange coincidence about celebrity birthdays for today, December 18. Celebrating birthdays today are “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam and Trish Stratus. They, of course, all share one main thing in common – those aren’t their real names. Oh, and I’ve also been told that they’re each professional wrestlers who had notable stints in the WWE. I’m still waiting on our fact-checking team to get back to me on that one.

Austin (Steven Anderson) turns 48 today and has since gone on to make forgettable films that I otherwise love, like the hilariously watchable The Condemned, and Knockout, in which Austin plays a janitor who – and I cannot make this up – mentors a bullied teen to fight back against the school’s boxing champion. Rob Van Dam (Robert Szatkowski) turns 42 today, and he also tried his hand at awful action films like Wrong Side of Town and Black Mask 2, but wisely returned to TNA, where he is currently the X Division champion.

As much as I have appreciated the wrasslin’ efforts of those gentlemen over the years, they’re just not as inspiring as Stratus (Patricia Stratigias) when it comes to putting together a little tribute like this one. I can’t really put my finger on it, but Stratus just has that certain something that makes it easier to concentrate. She was really good at what she did in the WWE, I think is the point that I’m trying to make, and some people have told me that she’s also attractive.

Again, the fact-checkers are hard at work on that one for me, too. In the meantime, please enjoy our tribute to the First Lady of Stratusfaction on her 37th birthday.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t seen it by now, WWE.com put together their list of the 50 Most Beautiful People In Wrestling Sports-Entertainment History. Like a lot of WWE.com lists, it was fine, but it was also full of sketchy choices. Erick Bischoff? Jack Brisco? Sable higher than Maryse? Triple H at #44?

For better or worse, the list got us talking. Pro wrestling wasn’t created as a job opportunity for pretty people, but a lot of beautiful people have wandered through it in our lifetime, so who would I pick? Who would my friends pick, or the people I know who write about wrestling online, or wrestlers themselves?

The answer? We’re doing a re-list.

I got together with 27 (!) important internet wrestling types — including pro wrestlers from WWE to the independent circuit, comedians, writers, podcasters, the UPROXX network staff and even fans — to put together a more in-touch rebuttal to WWE’s list. It’s a look at who we think really deserves a spot on the top 50, and … you’re already flipping through the list, aren’t you? Fine, I’ll shut up.

Here is your CELEBRITY (AND OTHER PEOPLE) GUEST PANEL. These people were nice enough to help out, and deserve your love and follow:

Read the rest of this entry »

In one of the stranger WWE Diva storylines in recent memory, Amy Weber was promoted from the WWE’s Diva Search to Smackdown!, on which she played Bradshaw’s “image consultant”, as well as valet/manager for The Cabinet’s Orlando Jordan and Basham Brothers. Weber, though, eventually quit the WWE because she claims she was being harassed by wrestlers and loathed the “frat house” atmosphere, so her departing storyline was that Bradshaw fired her because she accidentally shot him with a sleeping dart instead of the Big Show. Seriously, that was a plot line.

Anyway, the reason that I had to research all of that on a top secret website that only I know about is because Amy’s name is in the gossip news today and when I read it, I thought, “Who the hell is Amy Weber?” But since the news is that she’s releasing naked pictures, I felt compelled to find out who she was. Oh, and if you think she’s releasing these pictures for attention, you’re so wrong. She’s doing it because she’s brave.

Read the rest of this entry »

For the first time in my life as a casual wrestling fan, I tuned into Monday Night RAW specifically to watch a Divas match. I say specifically because I obviously never complained about watching Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler or Torrie Wilson battle it out back in the day, but this time I was doing it as a brand new superfan of the WWE’s Divas Champion Eve Torres.

Before I had the chance to spend some time talking with her last week, I admittedly didn’t know much about the woman who has held the Divas title more times than any of her peers in the four years since it was created (she’s also tied with four other WWE women’s champions for 4th on the all-time women’s champions list). I knew that Eve was a dancer for the Los Angeles Clippers back when they were still the laughing stock of the NBA and I knew that she had recently won the NBC reality series Stars Earn Stripes.

But after talking to her, I can say with confidence that she’s going to be a star well beyond her days in the WWE, as her combination of talent, confidence and compassion have developed her into the rare breed of entertainer that welcomes challenges and the chance to bust her ass for success. Eve gave me some insight on what it’s like to jump blindly into the WWE, how she kicked Superman’s ass, why she should be the star of the WWE’s next action movie, and how learning Jiu-Jitsu has made her one of the most influential women in the country.

Read the rest of this entry »