Wrestlemania

This is a major coup for WWE, to have Mickey Rourke in the ring at the company's marquee show. I think it's bigger than Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23 and certainly bigger than Floyd Mayweather's match last year. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/ringposts)

Kevin Nash is wrestling at the Big Time Wrestling show at the Maryland Theater in Hagerstown on Friday night. We were able to talk to him about what he's been doing since last being on WWE television, and as well as his memories of Wrestlemania over the years. Last time most people saw you, it was at the TLC pay-per-view in Baltimore in December of 2011.  What have you been doing since then? Kevin Nash: I've been keeping busy.  I've been making personal appearances as well as doing independent bookings.  I've been working on a movie project locally with some writers and a production group.  It has a good script, and a medium-budget of about $1-to-1.5 million.  There's also a reality show that I've been in talks with.  I also have a legends deal with WWE, so I go in from time-to-time for DVD commentaries, and I sometimes go to developmental (NXT)

This Sunday's WrestleMania promises to be a memorable one. The card is stacked from top to bottom with a variety of matches featuring superstars of the past, present and future battling it out on the grandest stage of all. Amidst the promotion and hype of the two top matches - John Cena vs. The Rock and Triple H vs. The Undertaker in Hell in a Cell with Shawn Michaels as the guest referee - WWE has been building the next generation of...

I would like nothing more than for Brock Lesnar to score a convincing and emphatic win over John Cena at Extreme Rules. Ridiculous match name aside (really, what's the difference between an Extreme Rules match, a no-DQ, no-countout match, a Chicago Street Fight, a No-Holds Barred Match and a match where “anything goes” other than the name?), Lesnar scoring a clean win at the upcoming pay-per-view has multiple benefits. For one, it solidifies Lesnar as a killer, the anti-superstar that fights and wins.

WrestleMania 29 is shaping up to be a blockbuster event. I know it's eight months away, and WWE has at least six pay-per-view events before it, but hear me out. Today, we live in a big-name, part-time environment. What I mean by that is that the biggest draws in WWE - like Brock Lesnar, The Rock, etc. - appear sporadically. One place you can almost guarantee they will appear is at WrestleMania, the biggest event of the year. The Rock appeared at the WrestleMania 29 press conference in February and confirmed that he would be a part of the festivities.

A significant portion of the WrestleMania hype has been built around a rematch between Triple H and the Undertaker, but in reality, that's not the only rematch fans will be treated to April 1. This year's WrestleMania will see another repeat contest, though it's one viewers at home missed the first time around. At last year's show, Sheamus was scheduled to defend his United States Championship against Daniel Bryan. The match was bumped from the pay-per-view broadcast and turned into a dark match.

It truly is WrestleMania season, isn't it? That's especially apparent when the “part timers” come out to play. Just 24 hours after The Rock won the WWE championship from CM Punk at the Royal Rumble, “here comes the pain” as they used to say. Just as Paul Heyman was going to get “fired” (his theme music conveniently hit just after Vince McMahon got out “YYYOOOUUU'RRREEEE....”). Brock Lesnar returned to WWE and circled the ring, much like his initial return the day after WrestleMania 28. Then he jumped into the squared circle, thought about it, then delivered an F5 to Vince McMahon.

For those who watch WWE on a regular basis, this headline might be confusing. After all, John Cena won the Royal Rumble and earned the right to face the top champion of his choice at WrestleMania. He chose the WWE champion, who is The Rock. At TLC, it was Cena who benefitted from a one-sided stipulation match against Dolph Ziggler, but next week on Raw it will be Cena who will put up a one-sided stake. It will be Cena vs. CM Punk, and the winner goes to WrestleMania to face The Rock.

On paper, Sunday night's WrestleMania looked as if it could be one of the strongest installments in the event's 28-year history. In execution, it was anything but. I personally avoided Twitter and Facebook, so that the thoughts I would be sharing here would be as purely mine as much as possible. The show lacked the feel of WrestleMania; the first hour felt rushed and most of the matches seemed to be missing something. The show wasn't bad by any means, so I don't want people to misread what I am saying, but I expected more.

I just cannot muster any excitement about a Tampa Bay Rays-Philadelphia Phillies World Series. If only the Fall Classic could be more like WrestleMania. By that, of course, I mean scripted. One of the reasons WrestleMania rarely disappoints is that Vince McMahon and his creative team are pulling the strings to ensure star-studded matchups and intriguing story lines. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/ringposts)