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With the No Way Out pay per view in the books, it is now officially WrestleMania XXV season. For the next seven weeks before the WWE’s premier event all the company’s energy will be focused on the big event and everything that surrounds it.

In addition to building the event’s match card, all of other hoopla and pageantry add to WrestleMania season. And one of the major parts of WrestleMania season is the annual Hall of Fame ceremony. The Hall of Fame is always presented on the Saturday night before the WrestleMania pay per view as a way to celebrate the stars who came before today’s current entertainers.

With this year’s WrestleMania in Houston, Texas, this year’s inductees will be very Texas themed. A month ago it was announced that Stone Cold Steve Austin would be the first inductee in the 2009 class, and the class’ star inductee.

Last night on Monday Night RAW it was revealed that brothers Terry and Dory Funk, Jr. would be the next inductees into the 2009 Hall of Fame class.

Terry and Dory, Jr., sons of Amarillo wrestler and promoter Dory Funk, grew up in the wrestling business in the 1960s under their father’s watchful eye. Both were natural athletes and took to the business quickly. By 1968, Dory won the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship and kept it for an outstanding four-and-a-half year uninterrupted run. Terry followed him into the business and by 1975 he too had also picked up the prestigious NWA World Championship and held for fourteen months. To this day they are the only brother combination to both win the same World Heavyweight Championship.

Both brothers went to on to have outstanding careers, both as a team and as individuals all across the world. In 1985 they reunited as a tag team in the WWF although the pairing didn’t last more than a few months before Terry left the company.

Dory was known for his consummate scientific wrestling knowledge and clean-cut style. He was a definite throwback to the old-school days of wrestlers portraying the matches as legitimate sport. As the ‘90s dawned, Dory eased into a trainer role and successfully trained many of today’s top stars. Dory officially retired on March 1, 2008, after winning a tag team match in Japan.

Terry started out as a clean-cut scientific wrestler in his own right before turning into a wild man known for his crazy brawls and hardcore antics, well before “hardcore” was even a term in the wrestling lexicon. He tore through the entire country and Japan through the 1980s. By the early ‘90s, Funk helped put the original Extreme Wrestling Championship organization on the map as an “old-timer” willing to help the young stars catch a break. Although Terry has “retired” numerous times over the past twenty-something years he still attached to the business very closely.

They will be inducted into the Hall by Dusty Rhodes, a fellow native Texan who has battled the Funks all through the ‘70s

Here’s some news from the past week in World Wrestling Entertainment.

Apparently the company is back in talks to do a new reality show project, although no idea has come out as a clear favorite. Talk has been primarily between the creative staff. The leading project talked about has been a new twist on the Tough Enough concept.

THQ’s “Legends of WrestleMania” video game is the official sponsor of the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame special. There is talk of doing a “nostalgia” bout at WrestleMania XXV as a tie in to the video game.

The latest rumor is that Vince McMahon could induct Steve Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. The original plan was for Ric Flair to induct Austin, but Flair will now be inducting Ricky Steamboat.

With WWE’s move to a “PG-TV” rating, the One Night Stand PPV is likely receiving a name change. The possible name change maybe “Extreme Rules.”

The WWE “Legends of Wrestling” DVDs look to be selling well, as all of the DVDs are titles are on backorder on the Best Buy website.

The WWE Encyclopedia, which is being published through DK Publishing, will be released on March 30th.

In other WrestleMania news, WWE SmackDown will be live on April 3rd, from the WrestleMania AXXESS event in Houston, Texas.

Tomorrow night’s is WWE’s 22nd annual Royal Rumble pay per view, my favorite wrestling event of the year.

Here is a rundown of the entire card as it is presented so far:

30 Man Royal Rumble Match
Participants:
Triple H, Vladimir Kozlov, The Big Show, Shelton Benjamin, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, John Morrison, Kane, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Santino Marella, The Brian Kendrick, R-Truth, Carlito, CM Punk, Finlay, Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, The Great Khali
Seven participants have yet to be announced

World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena (c) v. JBL (accompanied by Shawn Michaels)

WWE Championship
Jeff Hardy (c) v. Edge

ECW Championship
Matt Hardy v. Jack Swagger (c)

Women’s Championship
Melina v. Beth Phoenix (c)

The WWE Royal Rumble, my favorite wrestling pay per view of the year, is a mere four days away. The big selling point of the Rumble is its namesake match of the 30-man Royal Rumble battle royal. Two men enter and every two minutes another man enters until all thirty have entered. The way to eliminate your opponents is to throw them over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. The last man standing earns a World Championship match at WrestleMania XXV in Houston, Texas on the first weekend of April.

Of the thirty men, twenty-one have been officially announced so far:

From the RAW brand:
CM Punk, Ted DiBiase, Chris Jericho, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes

From the SmackDown! brand:
Shelton Benjamin, The Big Show, Carlito, The Brian Kendrick, Vladimir Kozlov, R-Truth, Triple H, Undertaker

From the ECW brand:
Finlay, Mark Henry, The Miz, John Morrison

Another tragic wrestling death was reported yesterday, as independent wrestler Paul E. Normus was found dead on early Friday morning at his parents’ home in Sloatsburg, New York. Normus, real name Paul Fuchs, was only 33 years old at the time of his death. There isn’t any foul play being considered in his death, but rather it is assumed this was a “medically related death.”

Normus didn’t gain a lot of fame during his time in the wrestling industry but was one of the many wrestlers featured in the opening match sequence in “The Wrestler.” He worked for many different independent wrestling groups including Ring of Honor, 3PW, WXW and Ohio Valley Wrestling.

WWE continues to release more on-air talent over the past two days after their announcement last Friday that they would releasing 10% of their overall staff in order to alleviate $20 million from their overall budget.

Late on Tuesday, January 13, it was announced the company released two of their more legendary talents – former WWF World Heavyweight Champion Sgt. Slaughter and former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons. Slaughter retired from full-time competition in 1992 and has been working for the company in a backstage capacity since then, and made occasional on-air appearances and matches in the full “Sgt. Slaughter” character. Simmons retired from full-time competition in 2004 and since then had been doing promotional work for the company. He too would also appear sporadically on television, usually in comedy skits to provide the joke’s punch line with his signature catchphrase, “DAMN!”

Then on Wednesday, January 14, word came out that the company had also let go long-time referee Mickey Henson, who had been an official for over twenty years in the business, including a long stint in World Championship Wrestling as well. They also released “Tough Enough 3” reality show winner Matt Cappotelli. Cappotelli never made the big state as he endured a series of injuries and bad breaks while training. He was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumor in the fall of 2005 and has been fighting that ever since.

Now early this morning, January 15, it was announced that developmental star Hade Vansen was also let out of his contract.

WWE sent out a press release today that they would be releasing ten percent of their staff, both office personnel and on-air talent. The releases are coming after the company’s poor third quarter results that saw a 37% loss in profit from the previous year. The company mandated that $20 million would be cut from their budget in order to offset the profit loss.

So far eight on-air talents have been released, and it is unknown how many office personnel have been let go.

The men released include Val Venis (Sean Morley), D-Lo Brown (AC O’Connor), Bam Neely (Justin LaRouche) and Kevin Thorne (Kevin Fertig). Morley had been with the company since 1998. O’Connor worked with the company from late ’96 until his release in 2003. He was re-signed to the company in 2008. Fertig was originally with the company from 2002 until 2005. He was re-hired in 2006 and was worked various occult gimmicks. LaRouche joined the company in 2007.

Also released were referees and backstage talent Kevin Keenan, Mike Posey, Jimmy Korderas and Tim White. Korderas has been a referee for the company since 1987. White has also worked for the company since the mid-‘80s and was Andre the Giant’s personal assistant/handler/best friend while Andre worked for WWE.

It’s expected that more releases will be forth-coming.