WWE issued a press release in support of its new comedy film "The Chaperone" Monday, confirming that a child actress from "Modern Family" will join WWE Superstar Triple H in the film.

Triple H, who also stars in WWE's "Inside Out," plays Ray Bradstone, a skilled getaway driver for a team of bank robbers. Recently, however, Ray has been looking to leave the world of crime in order to become a good father for his daughter Sally ("Modern Family"'s Ariel Winter) and make amends with his wife (Annabeth Gish, "Brotherhood").

Struggling to find honest work, Ray reluctantly accepts a final gig with his old bank-robbing crew, led by Phillip Larue (Kevin Corrigan, "Superbad"). At the last second, Ray backs out of the heist to serve as a chaperone for his daughter's school field trip. Without Ray at the wheels, the robbery goes awry, and Phillip seeks vengeance, chasing Ray and the school bus to the Museum of Natural History in New Orleans.

"Ray must deal with Larue, while supervising Sally’s class on what becomes one of the craziest school trips ever."

Stephen Herek ("Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure") directs the film, which began principal photography Monday in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Labels: hhh

Posted by Matt Loede at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

The final SmackDown before the PPV took to the airwaves on Friday night, and I thought for the most part it was your standard "go-home" show before a PPV, with a few small surprises which included the ending with Jeff Hardy laying out HHH after he beat The Great Khali. Now for the Good, the Bad and Our grade for the show.

The Good

Shelton Benjamin was asked a few weeks ago to step up his game, and again this week I felt like he did that. He's a high stakes player that will take risks, and I expect him to have a big impact on the Scramble match during Unforgiven. Look for Benjamin to keep on this recent streak, and for him to continue to get chances to raise his game. I'd love to see a program between he and HHH, not just one match on a SmackDown.

I spoke last week about Maryse and her ability and how she's improved as of late, and she showed that again this week in her win over Maria. I think it's too early to give her the Divas belt, but I think long term she is going to develop into a good female heel. Remember when she was simply welcoming people back to SmackDown sitting on a bed or in a bathtub? No more of that, and that's a good thing.

The lumberjack match was good for what it was worth. Khali is showing more and more as time goes by his limited skills, which we all knew, and he seems now to be the monster whipping boy on the roster. As for HHH, it was a good warm up for the scramble title match, and as stated above, I liked the back and forth and ending between he and Hardy, which should make things more interesting at the PPV.

The Bad

Smackdown is trying to become the feature WWE show, and that's why they have the two biggest healthy stars on the roster- HHH and Undertaker. So why is it there is such a drop off after the main event guys? I realize they are trying to establish guys like R-Truth and Vlad Kozlov and Super Crazy, but does anyone think long term these guys will be even decent second-tier wrestlers. Bottom line, they have to pick up some better mid-card guys.

Back on the R-Truth trip, Vince McMahon didn't like his debut, so I can't believe that he was much more happy with his match with Bam Neely this week. Truth has skills, don't get me wrong, but at the same time, he seems like he's going to get lost in the shuffle quickly, which means he may not last on the roster very long.

Final Grade for the Show: C

Labels: hhh, jeff hardy, mayrse, smackdown 2009, undertaker

Posted by Matt Loede at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments

It appears as if WWE plans on running house show events in the coming months that will feature HHH vs Big Show, leading most to assume that Big Show will be turning heel sometime soon.

Labels: hhh, the big show

Posted by Matt Loede at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: chris jericho, hhh, roulette, vince mcmahon, wwe raw

Posted by Al Gordon at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

It's a big WWE weekend with our final 2007 PPV - Armageddon, coming live from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh on Sunday at 8pm. The card, as we've talked about a few times, will be highlighted by the two title matches with Randy Orton vs the returning Chris Jericho for the WWE Title and for the World Heavyweight Title it will be Edge vs Undertaker vs the champion Batista. There is another match on the card though that has garnered a ton of attention and thought, that being Triple H vs Jeff Hardy.

It'll be the first singles match on a PPV between the two, and the stip involved is the winner will get a title shot at the WWE Champion (likely to be Orton from the reports we're hearing) at the Royal Rumble. With WrestleMania 24 just three plus months away, the rumor mill continues to put Triple H in one of the main event matches, meaning it looks as if they will let him go over on Hardy in this match to set up a match with Orton at the Rumble.

Right away when this match was announced the early thought was they would allow Hardy to go over and change things up in the company, along the lines that Hardy has everything to gain with a win and HHH has nothing to lose. That's fine in theory, and there's no doubt that in the long run Hardy is a player if he can stay on the straight and narrow. But right now I can't see, nor in my mind do I think I want to see Jeff Hardy in some sort of main event match at Mania, or even at the Rumble for that matter. Let's be real here - Triple H is still a main event guy, in and out of the ring, while Hardy's time in that area is yet to come.

This isn't to say that the match should just be given to HHH Sunday. I can and think we'll see an excellent match, one that could lift Jeff to another level to the point where by the time Mania rolls around, his match with whoever will be a top second-tier match. Can you imagine a Shawn Michaels vs Jeff Hardy match at Mania? That would be something to see for sure. The Matt and Jeff Hardy bandwagon has grown a great deal in the last year, year and a half, and while Jeff has been better than ever since before SummerSlam (even though he screwed himself with a suspension), I think the push for a win over HHH will have to wait and they will put HHH over to get the Mania ball rolling.

Labels: armageddon, hhh, jeff hardy

Posted by Matt Loede at 7:14 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well, Armageddon is now just three days away, and the two big matches a lot of focus is being paid to are the two title matches. For the WWE Title you have Chris Jericho vs Randy Orton, and on the SmackDown side you have Batista vs Edge vs Undertaker in a triple threat.

While you never see two big title changes in the same night anymore, I am fairly certain you will see one, and that one title change will be on the SmackDown side. Yes, the second title reign of Batista will come to a close, and Edge, the man who very well may still have had the title if it were not for his injury, will get the strap back. From reports we hear, this will set up the match for Mania with Taker and Edge, and then we'll have Taker's second reign when he wins it back in Orlando.

On the RAW side, I can't see them hot shotting the strap on to Jericho just a month after he gets back. I know that some are talking about doing it, but I can't see it. I am not all in favor of the Randy Orton title run going on, but at the same time, I think he'll keep it here and then at the Rumble lose it to HHH. It will be interesting to see the Y2J and Orton match in terms of seeing how good or bad the match is since it's really Y2J's first really big match back with the company.

Don't forget we will be doing our Let's Wrestle Pre and Post match Armageddon audio podcast shows on Saturday and Sunday. Tune into the site to hear John Sefcik and I break down the card, go over the matches, and give our predictions for the show!

Labels: armageddon, hhh, john sefcik, randy orton, y2j

Posted by Matt Loede at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

We touched on this awhile ago, but it looks as if the Triple H vs Batista rematch for WrestleMania 24 is going to happen after all. John Sefcik and I have been discussing the two main events for the show, and it looks like right now we are set for Edge vs Undertaker, and HHH vs Batista. The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter states that HHH will be going over on Jeff Hardy at Armageddon in two weeks, then he will win the strap from Randy Orton at the Royal Rumble.

From there, Batista will win the Rumble, and then challenge HHH for the WWE title at the event. Now as far as fan favorite is concerned, I would have to say that HHH makes the change to heel, and then Batista comes in the fan favorite, and as far as winning goes, that's totally up in the air at this point. The Edge vs Taker match is the biggest money maker from the SmackDown side, with Taker going over for the belt, and the HHH vs Batista rematch from WM 21 would be the main event from how it stands now.

Labels: batista, hhh, main event for wrestlemania, wrestling observer

Posted by Matt Loede at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Looking forward to RAW tomorrow night, as we will move along some programs and get some started as we have a couple of weeks to go till the next PPV - Armageddon in Pittsburgh on 12/16. First, we will have the program of Chris Jericho and Randy Orton head into high gear, as they will likely announce the match for the PPV. Y2J won't win the belt unless a lot of things are set to change, but he and Orton should have a decent program, and maybe it will be enough to turn around what I think has been a lackluster title run so far for Orton.

Ric Flair will make his return, and what role he will play will have to be seen. I think that Flair right now is better off out of the ring as a mouthpiece for a wrestler or a group of wrestlers. I personally think that it would be a great fit if Flair came in with a great ovation, gave a great promo, and later in the night turned on the fans and became Orton's manager. Think about it - it would work, and would give Orton's character a whole new dimension.

We also have one announced match, a tag with HHH and Jeff Hardy (what an odd combo that is) against Umaga and Snitsky. Why this company is in love with mean Gene is beyond me, but get use to seeing him on TV quite a bit, as sources say that the company is ready for a Snitsky push. We'll also see the Kennedy vs Shawn Michaels feud start, and I would not doubt if we'll see them announce their match for the PPV.

Labels: hhh, kennedy, RAW y2j, snitsky

Posted by Matt Loede at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

There has been plenty of talk as of late about Randy Orton and his title regin as WWE Champion. The talk has been about if Orton has been a good champion, or if he's lost his edge (no pun intended) since gaining the belt about two months ago. Well, I would have to say that based on Monday night, and what we saw at Survivor Series, the title regin has so far not lived up to what the company thought it would.

Orton was on a roll when chasing the belt, and he and John Cena were having a solid program before Cena went down with the injury that put him on the shelf of where he is now. Orton since has had his program with HHH at the PPV where he won the belt, then the program he just went through with Shawn Michaels.

Now we have the go-around with Chris Jericho, which should lead to the next PPV at Armageddon in Pittsburgh in a few weeks. The promo with Y2J on Monday night was not very good, and the reason why is because Orton didn't sell it one bit. Jericho was on, but the promo was not becuase Orton was basically a robot in the ring.

So for now, Orton's current run as champion has not been all that memorable. Does it have a chance? Sure. Will it go down as a bust? That's where I'd put my money on right now if I was a betting man.

Labels: hhh, randy orton, shawn michaels, y2j

Posted by Matt Loede at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments