WRESTLING NEWS
** During the WWE Crown Jewel media event in Saudi Arabia, it was announced that Lacey Evans versus Natalya is set to take place at Crown Jewel as they’ll be the first two women to wrestle in Saudi Arabia. All 35 minutes of the presser is up on WWE’s YouTube:
** WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins was one of the first guests on the After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves. Seth had the opportunity to further address the comment he made about Kenny Omega at a recent Q&A session during-which Rollins referred to All Elite Wrestling as the ‘minor leagues’ when asked about a potential match-up between himself and Omega:
“So, that was fun. We do Q&A sessions and so I had somebody ask me about a potential match-up between Kenny Omega and myself. Kenny and I worked together at Ring of Honor, nine, ten years ago or whatever it was. Maybe a little longer even, and we worked with each other and had some really good matches and I had a great rapport with Kenny. I actually considered him a pretty good friend and stuff and he told me about his time in developmental because he signed to WWE in Deep South [Wrestling] for a little while. He ended up getting sick of it and quitting and stuff like that and went on to have great success in his own right. But yeah, no ill will towards Kenny Omega and I’ve seen Kenny’s stuff since then and he’s an incredible performer but again, if I just sit there and say, ‘Oh, Kenny Omega, what a talent. I would love to wrestle him someday.’ Womp womp. That doesn’t make a headline man. That’s boring, then J.R. has nothing to talk about. God, just let us hate each other. Look, Kenny is great. Kenny’s gotta prove himself in the WWE. So, that’s what I was saying. It is what it is. WWE is the top of the mountain. I’m the guy sitting at the top of the top of the mountain and so if Kenny wants to come and like I said, play in the major leagues, get out of the minor leagues or whatever then that’s fine. The bottom line is, I [asked] Kenny to come to me because I’m not going to him anytime soon.”
** Keith Lee spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated prior to the 10/30/19 edition of NXT. Lee was asked about the Jordan Myles t-shirt situation and Lee had the following to say about the way black wrestlers and their characters are treated in WWE:
“My character isn’t a character. Keith Lee is Keith Lee. There’s not really a character involved here, so it’s hard for me to really answer that. I’m me, and the only thing that was ever given to me was ‘Bask In My Glory,’ which is thanks to Dusty Rhodes. So I can’t really have qualms about how I represent myself, because it’s by choice. In terms of story, its taken some time to get where I am. But with the work and buzz I’ve created, I’ve put myself in a position where I’m given opportunities that I feel like I deserve. My job is to continue to produce results, ones that continue my narrative—that Keith Lee is everything he says he is, and then some.”
** According to the Orlando Business Journal, between 2022 and 2025 is a timeline that the city wants to host either a WrestleMania, SummerSlam and/or Survivor Series.
** Ahead of Crown Jewel, Cain Velasquez spoke with the New York Post and stated that bringing his MMA style into wrestling matches is what fans will see from him but he also wants to learn the WWE style:
“Taking the match to the MMA side now is my strong suit and that’s what I have to do,” said Velasquez. “But still learning the game, the WWE style as well.”
** Nick Hausman welcomed IMPACT World Champion Sami Callihan onto the WINCLY podcast and Sami revealed that he is under contract with IMPACT Wrestling until December of 2020:
“I’m tied in with IMPACT Wrestling until next December. Not this one coming up. The one coming afterwards but right now, that’s not even on my mind. My mind right now, is being the full force behind saving IMPACT Wrestling and I think I’ve done exactly just that.”
The new World Champion then went on to boast about IMPACT Wrestling and how the company allows their referees to have range in matches. He brought up AEW’s debut on TNT and talked about Jon Moxley attacking Kenny Omega in the middle of a six-man tag match and the referee not calling a disqualification. Callihan said that an important thing that IMPACT does is making sure people understand what is going on:
“I think it has to be consistent. You can’t insult people’s intelligence and you can’t confuse people. Not completely burying AEW because they’re doing their own thing and they’re doing it very successfully, but I saw a lot of fans get really confused in the first episode when Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were in a six-man tag match and Jon Moxley attacked him [Kenny Omega] from behind and there was never no DQ. I think what IMPACT does better than everyone is explain exactly what they’re doing and I was watching the debut on AXS TV the other day and Don Callis put over one thing that made the world a difference. He said, ‘Everything in IMPACT Wrestling is up to the ref’s discretion.’ He said, ‘If the ref determines a match should go forward, a ref has that power to make that call.’”
** Finn Balor will be appearing on the 10/30/19 episode of NXT and Keith Lee and Matt Riddle are teaming up to take on NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish in a non-title match on that same show.
** Chuck Carroll of CBS Local Sports interviewed Corey Graves. Graves talked about the backlash he and Carmella received after their relationship was made public. Graves recalled the first time he came out in front of a live crowd following their relationship going public and expressed that the reaction was mostly negative:
“I’m telling you man, it was awful. It was absolutely awful. Again, just based on a rumor and the less said about that whole thing, the better, but that was a real issue. I remember it was one of the first times that I came out during a live event and got booed vociferously before the show. I make my entrance usually, ordinarily — not saying I would get like a huge, huge cheering reaction — but I walked out there, and it was like I just canceled Christmas man. I walked out… and the vitriol of the crowd was just raining down on me. It was unfamiliar. But yeah, I think, if nothing else, it made us both stronger people individually and together. So, I’m happy it’s in the past. So, hopefully, there’s another season of Total Divas, and we actually get to see fun and show people what our life is actually like, which has been an absolute blast through the last couple months.”
** Tyson Fury told talkSPORT that he is going to execute the “Stiff Idiot” and “Dosser Drop” maneuvers on Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel.
** Former Stampede North American Heavyweight Champion Tatanka was interviewed by Sportskeeda and he talked about the roster size being cut down for WWE 2K20 and how that correlates to wrestlers being paid more from the game:
“Well, one of my biggest thoughts is that they used to have a smaller roster. First, because of having a smaller roster, the payday was bigger. Some of the guys enjoyed those bigger paydays, but when you have 200 guys in the game, it’s a smaller payday. So, I can understand all that. I know the WWE Universe wants to see everyone in that game, but you can’t put everyone in the game. You have to be understanding, but it’s also great because I know the WWE Universe loves their legends, their Hall of Famers, because it reminds them of why they fell in love with this business. We’re larger than life characters with great storytelling in the ring with believable heartfelt characters. I hate to see certain guys not in the game. Again, I can see WWE trying to cut the roster down, maybe for benefits of talent, like better paydays. Again, I know the WWE Universe wants to see everybody in the game, but you have to be understanding that they’re doing certain things for certain reasons. At the end of the day, WWE and Vince McMahon are in charge, and they’re the number one sports entertainment brand in the world. Just to be involved, like me, to have a Legends deal, it’s an awesome blessing. The games are a big deal to the talent. They love to be in those games. If you’ve been in the games, not in the games, you’re like, ‘Ahh, I want to be back in the game.’ What’s awesome about all that is I’ve seen guys be taken out of the games, and brought back into the games. They’re just trying to share one of their top products with tons of talent they’ve got, so they have to rotate it around. As talent and the WWE Universe, we have to be understandable because they can’t have everyone in one game.”
** NXT’s KUSHIDA shared that he passed his driving and written test to secure his license.
** Finn Balor chatted with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. Balor said he has transformed back into who he previously was as a character. He added that he was caught up in the WWE bubble and what they wanted him to be and that is no longer the case.
“Everybody talks about ‘Finn going back to NXT’ when in reality I’ve gone back to who I was. I’d been caught up in the bubble of WWE and what they wanted me to be and how they expected me to perform as a character, and I took some time off to re-evaluate who I am and where I came from. I re-evaluated what I want to do and what I want to achieve, and I decided the best thing for me is to be true to who I am. I don’t fit the mold to play corporate ball and please everyone. I need to please myself, so I’m going to shake the trees and see what falls out.”
Balor also recounted the moments after he delivered a Pele kick to Johnny Gargano on last week’s episode of NXT. Balor shared that when he went to the back after that moment, it was explained to him by a producer that they were planning to have boos raining down on him as he left from fans’ view but there was a hush inside the building from the audience so Balor’s music was played.
“That was emotion. It’s very easy to walk out and get a reaction from a crowd, get a pop or a ‘This is awesome!’ or a ‘Holy s—!’ But to generate shock and create real emotion is something that is very rare. At the end of the TV show, they hit my music. When I went backstage, the producer told me that the only reason they hit my music was because there was zero audible noise in the venue. People were so in shock that there was no noise, and they were afraid that was going to translate poorly on TV, so they hit the music. The plan was to go out to boos, but that’s not what we got. We got pure, emotional silence.”
** To promote the ‘After The Bell’ podcast, Newsweek interviewed the host of the show, Corey Graves.
** AAA held a press conference today. It was announced during the presser that Kenny Omega will defend the AAA Mega Championship on December 1st.
** Tyson Fury spoke with Arab News.
** Paul Daley spoke with ‘Metro’ and gave his thoughts about the upcoming Nate Diaz/Jorge Masvidal fight at UFC 244. Daley touched on the ‘B.M.F.’ title that is rumored to be unveiled and be put on the line for the Diaz/Masvidal fight. Paul Daley called it “WWE silliness” and said if he could create his own belt, he’d be fighting for it in his next bout:
“I’ve beat Jorge Masvidal, so he’s not the baddest motherfu**** out there, that’s for sure. It’s interesting marketing, I guess. I like Nate Diaz’s character. I’m a fan of Nate. I’ll be watching that fight and Nate always brings it. The fact they’re making a belt for it is strange, almost WWE wrestling silliness. It is what it is. If we can just make our own belts, I’d be fighting for a title in my next fight.”
** Ahead of ICW’s ‘Fear & Loathing XII’ event on November 2nd, Sportskeeda spoke with the company’s Zero-G Champion Liam Thomson.
** Manchester Evening News interviewed Tyson Fury and Fury told the publication that if he were to continue working with WWE after Crown Jewel, he would want to work with Brock Lesnar next.
** Stephanie McMahon chatted with Bleacher Report and opened up about the news of Natalya and Lacey Evans wrestling in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel. McMahon made it clear that Natalya and Lacey will be wearing custom gear much like how Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss did in Abu Dhabi:
“I haven’t seen the designs but I do know there are certain restrictions and we want to be respectful of the culture. Their costuming will be different than what you would see in a typical WWE show. That being said, when you mention Abu Dhabi, I just don’t want to lose the significance of it. It took six years for us to be able to have a women’s match in Abu Dhabi and when we did, the reaction of the audience, both men and women chanting, ‘This is hope.’ That’s not a typical WWE chant. Both Sasha and Alexa talked about seeing tears in the eyes of little girls in the front row. When you consider the significance of what it means to be able to see women performing and competing in what was traditionally all men, it really does change the way you look at your future. I think this is a huge opportunity for WWE, for the WWE Universe and hopefully it will have a ripple effect around the world.”
Stephanie McMahon was also asked about a second installment of the all women’s pay-per-view Evolution. McMahon said that is was considered but a lot of focus has been put into having the first women’s match in Saudi Arabia. She added that there is more to come on Evolution but not in 2019:
“We did consider it. A lot of our focus has been on having this particular match as a part of this pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia. More to come on Evolution but it’s most likely not going to happen in 2019.”
** Poppy, whose band was a part of the soundtrack for NXT TakeOver: Phoenix and TakeOver: Toronto, hinted on Twitter that she’ll be a part of the October 30th edition of NXT.
** Former 3-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri expressed to Sportskeeda that he feels the popularity of pro wrestling in Japan has declined. Tajiri added that it is difficult to get new fans invested in today’s wrestling landscape and the fans that are invested are currently being competed for:
“Well, it may be different elsewhere in the world. The popularity of pro wrestling has declined in Japan. In the 80s and 90s everyone was familiar with what was happening in the wrestling world. Not just pro wrestling fans. It was a spectacle for everyone. It was entertainment for everyone,” Tajiri continued, “Yes, it is very hard to get new fans interested in wrestling now. There is a set amount of fans and everyone competes for them.”
** Per PWInsider, after Chris Jericho applied to trademark ‘Inner Circle’, All Elite Wrestling applied to trademark the group’s logo.
** SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley revealed during an interview with ‘Metro’ that Trish Stratus was always there for her when Sasha Banks was on her hiatus from WWE:
“It’s cool for her to be back – nobody knows how cool she is to us backstage and how much she helps us. When Sasha wasn’t there, Trish was there and I had somebody that I could talk to. Not that she replaced her in any way, but it was nice to have somebody that has the same mindset as me, that has the same heart for this as me. Trish being a friend is really cool to me.”
** Ring of Honor’s Vinny Marseglia shared his top five favorite horror movies as a part of ROHWrestling.com’s ‘5 Count’ series.
** The IIconics hosted a Q&A on WWE’s official Facebook page.
** Kamille Kaine did a Q&A session with her followers on Twitter.
** Inked Magazine has a feature up about Kyle Scarborough who is the tattoo artist that gave Bray Wyatt his new hand tattoo.
** The @Ring_Rules Twitter account pushed out a photo of Natalya, Lana and Lacey Evans arriving to Saudi Arabia.
** Tenille Dashwood chatted with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview and during their conversation, Dashwood further opened up about her release from WWE in 2017:
“No actually, it wasn’t,” Tenille said when asked if she requested her release from WWE. “It was actually a really big shock for me. I had no idea. So at the time, I had just wrestled — I was in a feud with Asuka and we had just done the pay-per-view and that was her pay-per-view debut. I think it was her actual debut as well, and we had like an awesome match and I remember everyone loved it and then, we had a match on RAW the night after, and then basically by the end of the week, I [got] a call saying that I was released. From what I heard, it was just that… honestly, I don’t even know because I feel like there’s more to it than what I was told and it was kind of a very brief conversation and not necessarily everyone agreed or whatever it was but basically, I think the boss wasn’t happy with something and that was kind of it, and I was very shocked because I literally was packed to go on the European tour so like a two week tour overseas. I had my bags packed. It was on a Sunday. I was on my way to the airport basically, and got a call and I was like, ‘What!?’ But it was little bit more aggressive,” Dashwood laughed.
When asked about the possibility of returning to the sports-entertainment company, she said, “Never say never”:
“You never know. I don’t think we left on bad terms and it was obviously a decision at the time and it wasn’t like a big long term [thing], leading up to or anything like that so, yeah. You just never know.”
** Former GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi will be doing a public signing on behalf of Pro Wrestling NOAH before the promotion’s Ryogoku Kokugikan tournament on November 2nd.
** Tommaso Ciampa took to social media to share his praise for the new IMPACT World Champion Sami Callihan:
“Sami Callihan and I attended the same TNA tryout years ago. Neither of us were offered a deal. He later signed with WWE. I signed with ROH. He quit WWE. I quit ROH. We both crossed paths countless times around the world. Tonight, Sami became the Impact World Champion.”
** Diamond Dallas Page joined Wrestling INC’s WINCLY podcast and talked about his recent appearance on AEW: Dynamite and made it clear that he has not signed a deal with the company and everything he does with AEW is for Cody Rhodes.
“I wasn’t supposed to be at the AEW show. Cody called me — he was like, ‘Hey, can you do this?’ And I go, ‘Yeah, okay’.” He continued, “I started with Cody on this. First of all, I don’t have a contract. I’m not employed by AEW. I’m doing this for Cody, and you have to understand that it’s a thing of… I’ll give you an example: Without Dusty Rhodes, there’s no Diamond Dallas Page. I don’t have… I probably don’t — I’m positive I don’t have everything that I’ve been able to accomplish, and a lot of it had to with The Dream giving me the opportunity. Well, being as close as we were, you know, I’ve known Cody since he was 12 years old and we just hit it off immediately.”
DDP went on to explain that the reason he hasn’t signed with AEW is that he wants to continue working with WWE:
“And I also wanted him to know as this was starting to grow, the reason I’m not gonna take a contract with AEW is because I still wanna work WWE, because my fitness and wellness plan is really important to me and I know how Tommaso [Ciampa] and [Johnny] Gargano and Lacey Evans and the people who are there I’ve done it with — Shayna [Baszler]. All the different artists that are there and I helped them by getting them in my program and helping them. So I wanted to help the boys and the girls, and of course AEW, but WWE, I’ve been doing for years. So I didn’t really want to take any kind of contract, but when I talked to Code about it, I also wanted him to know that if I was giving him any kind of advice, it wouldn’t be tainted.”
** The following has been announced for next week’s edition of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV: Michael Elgin versus Fallah Bahh, Moose versus Willie Mack, and Ken Shamrock versus Joey Ryan.
** Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture and Fightful interviewed IMPACT Wrestling Co-Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore.
** Sam Roberts pushed out his interview with Candice LeRae that was conducted at the WWE Performance Center prior to NXT’s two-hour premiere on the USA Network. Candice revealed that she was planning on stepping away from wrestling to start a family with Johnny Gargano and one day after she told her former partner Joey Ryan about her plans to step away from the ring, WWE contacted her and offered her a contract:
“I used to have the theory that, ‘Oh, I’m probably not gonna have kids and I’ll just do wrestling forever and it’s gonna be fine and even if it’s just indie wrestling, I’m fine with that because I just love wrestling’, and then I met Johnny and I was like, ‘Oh no, I want kids. How do I process this?’ So, it was a scary time, even with this company just reaching out and saying, ‘Do you wanna come here Johnny?’ Like, ‘Oh no, we want kids’. But, we both are on the same page just like — if I don’t do the thing I’ve been wanting to do my entire life at this place that I love more than anything in this world, am I really gonna be happy stopping all that? And I just didn’t imagine this would happen in my 30s and I’m not shy to admit I’m in my 30s”, Candice laughed.
“But like, I had gotten to the point with Johnny [Gargano] where we were married and he was here working and we were both living in Orlando and I told him, ‘I’ve already done the Mae Young Classic and I hadn’t heard back’, and I was going, ‘I don’t know if this is gonna happen man’ and it’s fine. Maybe if I’m not doing something or I’m not what they want, then that’s fine but, I guess we just have kids and I was even texting my tag partner on the indies — I was texting him and I was like, ‘I think I’m gonna be done after this year.’ It was December. I said, ‘I think maybe even next year sometime. We do our last little World’s Cutest Tag Team loop and we’re done’, and the next day, I kid you not — I wish I was making this up because it’s so ridiculous to tell people this because they’re like, ‘Oh that’s not’ — but this actually happened: The next day where I was like, ‘Okay, this is it’, I was contacted by WWE and they asked me to come in for a meeting and I came in and they offered me a contract. I got home, I was really cool and calm and collected here and I don’t think too many people know this but I don’t like to show my emotions in public places because I feel very vulnerable. So, when I was here, they were talking to me. I was very calm. I was like, ‘Yeah, cool. Oh my gosh, thank you guys’, and I get home and I’m just on my bathroom floor weeping and I’m texting Joey — I’m like, ‘Joey! They just offered me a contract’ and Johnny gets home, he’s like, ‘What’s wrong?’ Because I never… I don’t cry and I think it’s because it’s a disconnect and I think that’s what I try to do in the real world so I’m like, ‘Ah, I’m disconnected’ and then I get home and I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ So, I get home and cried in the bathroom.”
** Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi, Taiji Ishimori, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru have been added to New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s ‘Lion’s Break Project 2’ show[s] in Anaheim, California in December.
** Scott Stanford, Charly Caruso, and David Otunga will host the Crown Jewel kickoff show.
** ICW’s Jack Jester talked to Sportskeeda about the time he was able to meet former two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion Sabu.
** IMPACT Wrestling President Ed Nordholm joined the ‘Sitting Ringside with David Penzer’ podcast.
** Evening Standard spoke to Tyson Fury and Fury said that he’s keeping his cards close to his chest in regard to who his next target in boxing will be.
** Lacey Evans chatted with ‘Metro’ about mental health.
** GQ India interviewed Tyler Bate about his weekly workout plan, dieting and exercise routine.
** NJPW Road To Power Struggle/Super Jr. Tag League Results (10/30/19)
– TJP & Karl Fredericks def. Yota Tsuji & Tomoaki Honma
– Titan & Volador Jr. def. DOUKI & El Desperado
– El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori def. Jushin Thunder Liger & Clark Connors
– Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi def. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki
– Yujiro Takahashi, KENTA & Jay White def. Toa Henare, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii
– Super Jr. Tag League Tournament Match: Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (4-2) def. Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura (0-6)
– Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi def. YOSHI-HASHI, Robbie Eagles, Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada
** All Elite Wrestling’s Full Gear pay-per-view will feature German commentary on FITE TV.
** Scott Fishman of TV Insider spoke with Finn Balor.
** Kylie Rae will be wrestling for RISE Wrestling this weekend in the promotion’s elimination Ladder match and the winner will earn a shot at the Phoenix of RISE Championship. Rae is replacing the injured AQA and will now join Priscilla Kelly, Jake Atlas, Raze and Hyan in the match.
** Bestia 666 has been added to Jimmy Havoc and Mance Warner’s ‘Stairway To Hell’ match at MLW Saturday Night SuperFight.
** Jordan Myles took to Twitter and asked Booker T could he join Booker’s podcast to discuss the t-shirt situation and Booker’s remarks about him.
** As announced by the Cauliflower Alley Club, Jim Londos will be receiving the Posthumous Award. His daughter Christine will accept the award on his behalf.
** FPVenture released a video of a drone flying through the Mid-South Coliseum:
** Corey Graves will be doing an A.M.A. on Reddit on November 5th at 2 PM EST.
** Title Match Wrestling released their interview with Brian Pillman Jr. The beginning portion of the video features Pillman Jr. talking about why wrestlers may have stopped contacting his family after his father passed away and believes it may have been from the guilt that his mother, Melanie, placed on some of the wrestlers that were friends with Brian Pillman.
“I wanna say that for the longest time, Steve [Austin] tried to stay in touch with us. Steve, being the good friend of my dad that he was, he really tried to stay in touch and stay in touch and stay in touch. But, like I said, you go back to the — my mother constantly asking some of the boys for money, this, that and the other. ‘Can you come do this appearance? Can you come do this to help raise money?’ And she’d always use us kids as, ‘Aww, we’re the kids. For the kids.’ We’re the anchor, right? So then, for years and years and years, I’m sure a lot of the boys felt that guilt from her and they probably just cut her off and said, ‘Look Melanie, we’re done. We see the kids and you’re not using the money on them. You’re doing your own thing with you and your…’ So I think that — and I hate to use her as the scapegoat for it all because I’m sure there’s other reasons but everyone I met in the business said that my dad was one hundred percent good to them and treated them really good so I feel like there’s no heat or no ill will towards my father. I feel like the boys just either, A, figured we were doing alright. There wasn’t as much social media when I was growing up in the 90s so it was like, ‘Okay. They probably thought we were doing really good or B, they just had the bad taste in their mouth from dealing with my mother and dealing with her stuff’ so, I don’t blame anybody in wrestling for not snatching me up and taking me under their wing. I reached out to wrestling. I’m the one that — no one in the business said, ‘Hey, come here. We’re gonna train you to be a wrestler.’ I had to want it and I wanted it and I reached out to Lance Storm and I started the process of becoming a professional wrestler.”
** Richard Holliday who’ll be defending the MLW World Tag Team Championships alongside MJF at Saturday Night SuperFight spoke with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert for an exclusive interview. Holliday gave his thoughts about MJF’s mindset heading into the match as MJF also has his duties with All Elite Wrestling:
“Max is a busy guy. But I have to give credit to him. He is able to focus on what he needs to focus on in the present moment. I’m a believer in this quote: ‘Be where your feet are.’ What that means is to be present in the moment. When Max is with AEW, he’s with with AEW. When he’s with MLW, he’s with MLW. He’s very good at doing that.”
** Stephanie McMahon told Newsweek that the goal is to continue having more women’s matches in Saudi Arabia as WWE continues hosting shows there.
** Tyson Fury joined BBC Radio’s ‘5 Live’ and talked about the hectic schedule that WWE wrestlers have to grow accustomed to:
“At first, I didn’t really know what to expect going into it. Obviously, you watch it on TV but you don’t get the feel for what it really is until you go down there to the Performance Center where you’re training and you realize that this is full-on hard work. Not just the physical side of it all but the amount of travel and commitment the fighters do, the superstars. Absolutely, the work ethic is crazy. It’s one place to the next. I believe they wrestle five nights a week and they get two days a week off where they’re just traveling to the next destination. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and I’ve only been involved in it for the last few weeks, but I’ve traveled more places in three weeks than I’ve probably done in six months.”
** Erick Stevens chatted with Sports Illustrated and told the publication that he wants to retire from wrestling in April of 2020 during WrestleMania weekend. He specifically wants his last match to be against current NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong and explained how that match could come to fruition:
“My goal has always been to end my career where it started,” said Stevens. “I first wrestled in Tampa, and it would be very poetic to end there too. Maybe I’ll get to wrestle 14 matches that weekend and go until the wheels fall off. But if I could wrestle anybody in the world, I would wrestle Roderick Strong, WrestleMania weekend, at the armory. Our story would start where it began. WWN and EVOLVE have the armory booked, so what if I just started talking trash to Roddy?” said Stevens, who was trained by Strong back in 2002. “It’s a pipe dream, but he’ll be in town, I’ll be in town, so let’s go finish what we started. I’m very proud of Roddy. He’s doing now what he always dreamed of doing. People doubted him, but he’s continued to show he is one of the best in the world in the ring. That would have to be my last match because Roddy goes so hard.
** Stephanie McMahon spoke with TMZ to promote Lacey Evans and Natalya’s match at Crown Jewel.
** Sportskeeda interviewed ICW star Andy Wild.
** IMPACT Wrestling announced that Brian Cage will get his rematch for Sami Callihan’s IMPACT World Championship at ‘Turning Point’ on November 9th in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
VIDEO
** Here’s episode 4 of AEW Dark on the All Elite Wrestling YouTube channel featuring a three-way match between Darby Allin, Jimmy Havoc and Jack Evans, on top of a four-way match pitting Allie, Emi Sakura, Sadie Gibbs and Penelope Ford against one another and Dustin Rhodes and Sonny Kiss teaming up to take on QT Marshall and Peter Avalon:
** Here’s the newest episode of WWE ‘The Bump’ featuring Matt Hardy, Glenn “Kane” Jacobs, Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai:
** The WWEPC YouTube channel posted a mini-documentary about NXT and 205 Live talent Raul Mendoza:
** Kasey Owens is defending the ICW Women’s Championship against Aivil on night two of ICW’s Fear & Loathing XII event. ICW posted a clip to their YouTube channel of the moment it was made official that if Aivil loses the match, she’ll no longer be able to challenge for the ICW Women’s Title as long as Kasey is champion. Also, if Kasey’s manager interferes during the match, he’ll be terminated (in storyline) from ICW.
** Xavier Woods uploaded two new videos to his UpUpDownDown YouTube channel with the first being gameplay of the SmackDown vs. RAW video game and the second video being part two of his sit-down conversation with Liv Morgan:
*****
ASK-A-WAI (November 2018)
John Pollock and Wai Ting answer their patrons’ questions from the POST Wrestling Forum in the November 2019 edition of Ask-A-Wai.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/29/ask-a-wai-ask-us-anything-november-2019/
*****
RAR 10/28/19: Divorce Court, Jordan Myles Story
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring Rusev & Lana’s Divorce Court. We also discuss the Jordan Myles t-shirt story.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/29/rar-10-28-19-divorce-court-jordan-myles-story/
*****
THUNDERSTRUCK Ep. 1: Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano
In his new series that looks at Jushin Thunder Liger’s greatest matches, WH Park welcomes Damon MacDonald of the Super J-Cast (at the Voices of Wrestling website) to discuss Liger’s history as well as one of his most famous matches against Naoki Sano from January 31, 1990.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/26/thunderstruck-1-jushin-liger-vs-naoki-sano-1-31-90-w-damon-macdonald/
*****
RASD 10/25/19: Doom for Dominick, Jake Hager’s fight
John Pollock and Wai Ting review Friday Night SmackDown on FS1 featuring a final Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez confrontation before Crown Jewel. Plus, the result of Jake Hager’s Bellator MMA fight, Xavier Woods, Hana Kimura on Terrace House and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/26/rasd-10-25-19-doom-for-dominick-jake-hagers-bellator-fight/
*****
Café Hangout – Oct. 24, 2019
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss this week’s news including reactions to the glitch-filled release of WWE 2K20, AEW vs. NXT Week 4 ratings, Conor McGregor’s plans to fight in January, a report on Randy Couture, thoughts on this week’s NXT & NWA Power episodes, and our thoughts on “Joker”.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/24/cafe-hangout-wwe-2k20-reaction-aew-vs-nxt-week-4-joker-review/
*****
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