the buzz log

Has Mickey Rourke lost it? The Oscar-nominated star of "The Wrestler" recently announced that he (or rather, his character in the film, Randy "The Ram" Robinson) will wrestle the WWE's Chris Jericho at this year's "Wrestlemania" on April 5.

The bizarre announcement came on red carpet at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards. According to the AP, Rourke said he was happy about how the movie had been accepted by pro wrestlers — except Jericho. Rourke then added that he was going to "toss Jericho around the ring like tossed salad." Really, we can't make this stuff up.

We're not sure if Rourke's alter ego going toe-to-toe with a real-life wrestler will boost or decrease his Oscar chances. But we do know that the stunt has set the blogosphere ablaze. Wrestling blogs across the Web are weighing in, especially after Rourke and Jericho appeared on the Larry King Show. Jericho said that, despite Rourke's claims, he loved the actor's performance. But that wouldn't stop him from stepping up to Rourke's challenge. Rourke then seemed to back-track a bit, saying that he may have "stuck his foot in his mouth" when he challenged Jericho. Too late, Mickey.

Still, Rourke is no stranger to combat. Several years ago, he famously turned his back on a promising acting career to become a professional boxer. Anyone who compares photos of the pre-boxing Mickey to the post-boxing version can see that he probably should have stayed an actor. Stay tuned to see if he's made another mistake by challenging Jericho.

Filed under: WWE

Don't mess with the WWE Divas. Outfitted in spandex and rhinestones, the ladies command attention—especially in Search. Queries on "wwe divas" are usually preceded with the one word description, "hot."

Did their appearance on Bravo's "Project Runway" this week give the Divas a boost in buzz? Not according to their core group of fans, who consistently type "wwe divas photos" into the Search box. A strong 45% of those lookups come from boys under 17, especially those in Texas, New York, California, and Ohio.

The majority of Diva dialups are on the ladies themselves, with Candice and Maria leading the way. How do they stack up in Search? Check out this week's top lookups on the WWE Divas and see.

Filed under: WWE

After a shocking televised ending, fans turned to the Search box yet again. And we're not talking about "The Sopranos." Nope, searchers have moved on from the mystery of the black screen to the riddle of the exploding limo. Searches on WWE chairman Vince McMahon burst on to the Buzz after the gruff head honcho was supposedly blown to bits in a fiery car bomb.

The audacious storyline helped lift the WWE and Mr. McMahon into the rare air of our top three searches. McMahon's fate elicited concerned queries similar to the same pattern we saw after Tony Soprano left the screen—namely, "is vince mcmahon dead," "did vince mcmahon die," and "vince mcmahon dies." But as much as it pains us to say it, much of what you see in professional wresting isn't real. Including McMahon's supposed death.

Truly intrepid fans delving deeper into the cataclysmic circumstances searched out local news outlets. We saw spikes on "wilkes-barre news," "wilkes-barre newspaper," and "wilkes-barre times leader" after the incident at Wilkes-Barre's Wachovia Arena. Those spikes led us to this Times-Leader news story, which explains the elaborate hoax.

Now that Mr. McMahon has escaped certain death, what's next? Will his enemies continue their malicious ways? Will he see the light and make the transformation from heel to good guy? Only the WWE's team of well-paid writers know for sure...

Filed under: WWE