If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
** DDT Pro-Wrestling and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling have cancelled multiple events in the coming days/weeks due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Tokyo Joshi Pro, which is the sister company to DDT will be doing empty arena shows along with DDT that will be streamed. Click here to read the announcement on DDT Pro-Wrestling’s official website and below are events that have been cancelled along with a list of the events are set to be streamed:
Cancelled events
– February 28 (Friday) [DDT] ShinYuri Twenty one hole
– February 29 (Sat) [DDT] Yamadaguri – command – No Maebashi sub-event area
– March 1 (Sunday) [DDT] Osaka Plain Kumin Hall
– March 1 (Sun) [Tokyo Women’s Pro Wrestling] both countries KFC Hall
– March 3 (Tuesday) [DDT] Kitazawa Town Hall
– March 7 (Saturday) [DDT] dream Messe Miyagi West Building Hall
– March 8 (Sunday) [DDT] Mobara citizen gymnasium main arena
– March 8 (Sunday) [Tokyo Women’s Pro Wrestling] Kitazawa Town Hall
– March 8 (Sunday) [Ganbare ☆ Wrestling] Kitazawa Town HallEmpty arena shows
– February 28 (Friday) [DDT] No spectator game relay
– March 1 (Sunday) [DDT] No spectator game relay
– March 1 (Sun) [Tokyo Women’s wrestling-free spectator game relay
– March 3 (Tuesday) [DDT] No spectator game relay
– March 7 (Saturday) [DDT] No spectator game relay
** The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) did an interview with Comicbook.com and they talked about Marty Scurll deciding to stay with Ring of Honor instead of joining All Elite Wrestling. Nick Jackson said that he and Matt got the hint a few months prior that Marty was staying with ROH. Regardless, they are happy for him and Ring of Honor.
Nick Jackson: “We were kind of feeling him out for a while now and he always was very vague with us, anytime we would bring up storylines and stuff. So, we pretty much got the hint three months ago or so, and we realized, ‘Okay, he’s staying put.’ Good for him though, and that he knows how we feel, it’s a business. Yeah, it would’ve been great to have him with us because we’re good friends, but he got a great deal out of it and he seems to be very happy. He’s definitely going to try to paint his path on his own and more respect to him for doing that. We’re all cool though.”
Matt Jackson: “I feel the same way. Marty got a great offer and I think he wanted it to be more than just a wrestler and he got an opportunity to do that, and Marty is a clever guy and he’s very talented. I love him and I hope nothing but the best for him, and I hope he can make the place he’s working a better place. I want wrestling everywhere to succeed because as long as the boys are being taken care of and there’s more opportunities for the boys and girls to wrestle and make money, support their families, then great because the wrestling world needs Ring of Honor to do well, and I think Marty, if you can pinpoint any person right now that can help them, it’s him. Good on them, and I’m happy for Marty.”
** 2020 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Dave Bautista will be on ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ on February 26th.
** EVOLVE 145 will stream for free this Saturday at 6 PM EST.
** Ryback hosted another edition of his ‘Conversation With The Big Guy’ podcast and he spoke about Samoa Joe’s recent injury and how that could affect his WrestleMania plans. That conversation then transitioned over to WrestleMania paydays and Ryback revealed his pay for WrestleMania 29 and 30 and talked about the differences in main show and pre-show paychecks:
“Well, you wanna be on the main show, especially now and I don’t know what the payouts are now but obviously, guys are making higher downsides than they have at any period in recent history. It definitely plays a part. That WrestleMania payday is the best payday of the year. But again, my time there, we got f*cked over quite a bit. My first one with Mark [Henry] was decent. It was my best singles payout I’d ever gotten, which was still way under what it probably should’ve been from what other guys in that position in years past had probably made and then… we’re doing the pre-shows for the other four or whatever I did and they knew it drove me crazy and those payouts sucked. That’s just being honest. One of my lowest payouts of the year was WrestleMania [in] New Orleans where we did the tag match with Swagger and Cesaro, Usos, Primo and Epico and me and [Curtis] Axel — that four-way tag or whatever and that was, no joke, I think one of my lowest payouts of the entire year pay-per-view wise. No rhyme or reason which technically should’ve been my highest pay-per-view of the year probably still being WrestleMania, and it was… so, you never know what they’re gonna do or what’s going on with each guy, but typically if you’re on WrestleMania, you’re looking forward to a pretty decent payday. So, every talent should want to be a part of that.
I would say, that match [with Mark Henry] was either for $60-something-thousand or $70-something-thousand, because there might have been other things figured into that payout week of that, but the total check with WrestleMania figured in was like $70-something-thousand which is not — there’s guys that make way more than that but for that profile for literally working on top that year, that was a low amount. Grateful for it, nonetheless and then I wanna say that WrestleMania in New Orleans was something like $1,500 bucks or something ridiculous.”
** On next week’s episode of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV, Su Yung is taking on Jessicka Havok in a No-DQ match. Josh Alexander and Ethan Page are facing Fallah Bahh and TJP. Petey Williams and Moose are set to collide and Joey Ryan will clash with Acey Romero. On the March 3rd episode of IMPACT, Tessa Blanchard will defend the IMPACT World Championship against Taya Valkyrie.
** ‘PEOPLE’ posted an exclusive image from the film ‘Rumble’ that is set to release in January of 2021. The film was put together by Paramount Animations and WWE Studios. The likes of Terry Crews, Geraldine Viswanathan, Roman Reigns, Tony Danza, Becky Lynch, Susan Kelechi Watson, Stephen A. Smith, Jimmy Tatro, Ben Schwartz and Michael Buffer did voice over work for the film. Below is a trailer for the film:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrkGNaYOv5k[/embedyt]
** Steven Muehlhausen of Sporting News chatted with AEW World Tag Team Champion Kenny Omega. Omega was asked about the criticisms that his in-ring work in AEW has not been up to par with his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Here’s how Omega responded to that notion:
“It’s funny because I feel like when people… I could compare it to when your favorite player perhaps gets traded to another team. When your favorite player gets traded to another team, and he’s initially not the top scorer or leading in assists or playing the way that he used to play like he did for the home team, your team, it’s easy to criticize them and say that you made a big mistake, and that you’ll never be the same guy again and that it’s all downhill. Because I decided to take a different path in my career, because I’m not doing these long, drawn-out 45 (-minute) to one-hour matches in singles competition, it doesn’t mean that I’m not the same guy. This isn’t about tooting my own horn, but it’s like I’m now helping run a company that has live television every Wednesday. I’m part of a very successful tag team with “Hangman” Adam Page, a guy that I have a lot of chemistry with, and I’m existing within a division of guys that are amongst the top of all the tag teams on all of the planet and showing that it takes more than just having a good long singles match to be called the best in the world.
You got to be a good tag team wrestler. You have to be a good six-man tag team wrestler. You have to be good at your gimmick matches. You have to be able to appeal to the non-wrestling fan. So, I’m not only proud of sure, ‘The Best Bout Machine’ version of Kenny Omega that had the wrestlers wrestling matches, the 60-minutes classics with Okada. I’m just as proud of that as I am with my mixed tag team with Riho as a tag team partner. I’m just as proud of those matches as I am the lights out match with Jon Moxley. In ways, this is all me in my creative peak. I mean, I’m talking about my storyline with Kota Ibushi. I don’t know if you call that ‘The Best Bout Machine’ Kenny Omega or not. But to me, that’s something different. It’s these layers of these things that go into making what I think makes a true best in the world — not just one guy that has the same kind of match over and over and over again. Because I do not have that same match over and over again, does that not make me just as good? It just makes me something different. I’m trying to round out. I’m trying to fill the gaps around the edges and make myself a complete package in all of professional wrestling. That even goes beyond what I do in the ring, but actually behind the scenes too. There’s a business aspect to it — to balance all of that and still trying to kind of check off these boxes. Now, I even have a belt in AAA. I’ve went to a country that I never thought I’d be able to perform in and won ‘Match of the Year.’ I went back to my first promotion in DDT and go into Soloreal Goku when they haven’t been able to do high numbers there and did a good number. These are all things I can hang my hat on, and I’m very, very proud of it. My critics will say I have done nothing, and that’s OK. They can say it, but the truth is far from it.”
** BT Sport published their interview with Kurt Angle and Angle talked about Tyson Fury possibly joining WWE full-time and the level of commitment that Fury would need to make if he were to join the sports-entertainment company on a consistent basis.
** Bar Wrestling announced that Kris Statlander has come down with the flu and will not be able to compete at their show on February 27th. Statlander is slated to challenge Nyla Rose for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Revolution on the 29th.
** According to a report from the Texas Dept. of Licensing and Regulation, Tito Ortiz’s submission victory over Alberto El Patron at this past December’s Combate Americas show was changed to a “no decision”. TDLR public information officer Tela Mange told MMA Junkie that the result of the fight was changed pending further investigation.
** talkSPORT chatted with John Morrison recently. Morrison revealed that he was not aware he was going to be paired with The Miz on Friday Night SmackDown until the day before:
“In typical WWE fashion, in typical sports entertainment fashion, I didn’t know I was going to be back teaming with The Miz until the day before. So far, everything has been great. It’s been really cool catching up with Miz and working with him again. It’s made coming back really cool on a lot of levels. First of all, riding together and catching up in the car is one of the things that I miss about working for WWE while I was gone. It’s the camaraderie and the car drives. It’s almost like, when you’re riding with somebody, you’re catching up with a friend and you also have a little therapy session, because you’re sitting there for four hours, right? At almost no other point in my life now do I sit somewhere next to somebody for four hours. When you’re riding with somebody, I feel like you connect on a different level and it’s so great to do that with Miz again.”
** Two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is making an appearance and signing autographs at Autorama in Detroit, Michigan on February 28th.
** The National released their interview with John Morrison.
** Stephanie McMahon was a recipient of a Wonder Women Award at the Toy Fair in New York City.
** According to Fightful, there are a non-Starrcast series of events being planned for Double Or Nothing weekend in Las Vegas. The idea is to do panels, meet and greets and things of the sort.
** Before he formally retired on February 19th, Tiger Hattori did an interview with NJPW1972.com and during that discussion, he revealed that Karl Anderson invited him to his home during NJPW’s New Beginning USA tour and Hattori praised Anderson’s home. Hattori stated that the reason he retired is because he’s aging, has two grandchildren and also developed spinal stenosis several years ago.
Towards the end of the conversation, Hattori spoke about wrestlers both arriving and departing New Japan. He specifically mentioned Will Ospreay moving to Japan and Shinsuke Nakamura departing from the company to go to WWE:
“Well, a lot of times, it doesn’t just come down to what that person wants, but their families and a lot of other stuff too. There are a lot of foreign wrestlers who can make better money abroad, but still think, ‘Ah, Japan’s better. Japan’s a great country.’ That’s why Ospreay decided to live here, right? Shin-chan (Shinsuke Nakamura) is doing well over there though. I see him sometimes in New York. I always thought he’d do well over there. But you never know, maybe he’ll want to come back one day. He’s a smart kid too, went to Aoyama University. He had a tough entrance into this business, but I’m happy to see him doing well.”
** SunSport posted their interview with John Morrison and Morrison stated that he would love if Taya Valkyrie could work with him in WWE.
“Yeah it’s kinda funny, people ask her that sometimes — would she like to work at WWE, and yeah of course I would [like for her to work for WWE]. We’ve worked together at so many other places; Lucha Underground, IMPACT… she’s my favorite human which is why I married her. So if she was working for the company it would be great to have that together, experience this company and this part of our lives together.”
** New Japan Road Results (2/26/20) Naha, Japan
– Ultra Soki & GurukunMask def. Gosamaru & Hejor Kiddman
– Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask def. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura
– Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) def. Gedo & Taiji Ishimori
– Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma def. Jado & Yujiro Takahashi
– Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto def. Juice Robinson & Gabriel Kidd
– Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI def. Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi
– EVIL, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi def. Toa Henare, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi
– Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada def. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
** Both Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins were present at the Toy Fair in New York City.
** Ring of Honor announced Kellyanne for their ROH Women’s World Championship tournament.
** Nikki and Brie Bella documented their returns to SmackDown:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGXSKM6WQDA[/embedyt]
** Matt Hardy posted a new video to his YouTube channel in-which he reacted to Randy Orton’s attack on him on last week’s RAW.
** Hangman Page is releasing a children’s book on May 24th entitled “The Elite Team: Adam & The Golden Horseshoe”.
** Two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is present in Orlando, Florida for NXT. Charlotte Flair is taking on Bianca Belair on tonight’s show.
** Ring of Honor senior official Todd Sinclair was the most recent participant of ROHWrestling.com’s ’10 Questions’ series. During the interview, Sinclair revealed that the most embarrassing moment in his career occurred during the era of the ROH Pure Title which is returning to the company. He said he was supposed to announce the rules for a match between Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries and with an already-existing fear of public speaking, Sinclair’s mind went blank.
“Back during the initial run of the ROH Pure Title, before every match I would bring the two wrestlers to the middle of the ring and would explain the rules on the mic. Now, the biggest fear I have in life is public speaking, so the last thing I want to do is to have to speak over the microphone in front of a crowd of people. When I’m in that situation, my brain shuts down. I can’t ad lib, I stumble over my words, I’m sweating like crazy, etc. So the only way I could get the rules out over the mic was to memorize word for word what I had to say. If I didn’t say the rules in the exact order that I had them memorized, I would be lost. So one particular match was Nigel McGuinness versus Austin Aries on Long Island at Unscripted 2. At the time, Nigel was bending the Pure rules to protect his championship, and was carrying an iron to the ring for every match. I brought both guys to the middle of the ring, and Bobby Cruise held the mic so I could explain the rules. I started reciting them exactly as I had memorized them. As I said the line, ‘There are to be no closed first strikes to the face,’ Aries stopped me and asked, ‘What about irons? Are those legal?’ To that question, I answered, ‘No,’ and then my mind went completely blank. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to say next. I stopped talking for maybe three seconds, but it felt like an hour. I was completely panicked and I didn’t know how I was going to continue. But then, the hero of the day said, ‘Closed fists’ over my shoulder. It was Bobby Cruise, and him saying those words helped me to remember my spot in the rules, and I continued on from there. Bobby saved me. I’m begging the powers that be that when the ROH Pure Title is brought back, we remove the ‘rules said over the mic’ aspect. It’s my hell.”
Sinclair has been with Ring of Honor since 2003 and he listed off some of his favorite matches that he’s had the opportunity to referee:
“I could list a hundred different matches here. I’ve been with ROH since the end of 2003, and I’ve been so lucky to be in the ring for some absolute classic bouts. Some of my favorites are CM Punk versus Samoa Joe, Joe versus Kenta Kobashi, Bryan Danielson versus KENTA, The Briscoes versus Kevin Steen and El Generico, Jay Lethal versus Roderick Strong, Marty Scurll versus Will Ospreay, and Matt Taven versus Mark Haskins. But my favorite match that I’ve refereed is Matt Taven versus Jay Lethal from the 17th Anniversary in Las Vegas. It was a wonderful hour that I wish kept going and going.”
** NJPW1972.com released part two of a three-part interview with Manabu Nakanishi.
** NXT official Tom Castor suffered a broken leg during an NXT house show in April of 2019. For the first time since that injury, Castor will be back in the ring on the 2/26 episode of NXT on the USA Network.
** Mark Jindrak took to his personal Twitter page and quote tweeted a video of Triple H talking about Mark being one of the original members of Evolution. Mark was ultimately replaced by Dave Bautista. Jindrak tweeted the following in response to the video:
“Well it feels nice to have closure after 17 years. I understand why he didn’t want me in the group. But it won’t stop me from challenging him at Wrestlemania. HHH vs. Mark Jindrak. See you in Tampa Paul. Bring your black suit”
** The @Enjoy_Saudi Twitter page posted footage of WWE talents arriving for Super ShowDown.
** On the latest edition of Arn Anderson’s podcast, he and Conrad Thompson reviewed the 2018 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. The two began talking about Ronda Rousey and her run in WWE and Arn recalled a conversation he had with Ronda about herself, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir calling themselves the “Four Horsewomen” and being proud that they referred to themselves as that name.
“Ronda and her three compatriots who were team partners in MMA, which one of them is being featured in NXT right now [Shayna Baszler]… absolutely a killer. Two other ladies — I can’t recall their names but they call themselves the Four Horsewomen and it was a tribute to us, which I took very seriously and was very proud of. When Ronda Rousey is saying she wants to bleed off of your moniker and your gimmick, how do you feel about that? And we had that conversation one day in the halls of L.A. prior to this and I went, ‘Ronda, I am honored that you even know who I am’, and that’s the truth, and she got a little bit embarrassed and she’s a very nice person as well. It’s hard to believe underneath that killer, there’s a sweet soul but there is, and for them to do that, that was a big deal for me so I was honored to have her aboard.”
The main event of Elimination Chamber 2018 was the men’s Chamber match featuring Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, The Miz, Elias and John Cena. Arn discussed Braun Strowman’s ups and downs career-wise and questions why would WWE built him up to be a monster to not have him win the big matches.
“I think Braun Strowman, we all know to be a monster. But you don’t have to have him just do ridiculous things like pull the tron down and flip an 18-wheeler over to show me that the guy’s a monster. That goes beyond being a monster. You pick up the rear-end of a vehicle and tires are sitting there spinning… the question would be: If you push a guy and build a guy that hard, and you go that far with making him supernatural, what opponent is ever gonna get him hurt? And if you can’t hurt him, how can you feel for him? And if you can’t feel for him, how can he ever be your champion? When these things are being done for these guys, you just sit there and look and you go, ‘You’re just gonna do more damage than good here. This is not plausible. For a guy to turn an 18-wheeler over? Come on.’ So, there’s a hodge-podge of things going on. They probably hit Braun with how many finishes before they got him out of there? Ten? Everybody’s, maybe twice? Does that make you feel for the guy in a positive way or do you just go, ‘Aww come on. Enough is enough.’”
** IGN posted a video of Xavier Woods playing ‘Warface’ on the Nintendo Switch.
** Drake arrived to the Toronto Raptors vs. Milwaukee Bucks game with two WWE Championship belts.
** WWNLive released the full match between Mansoor and AR Fox from EVOLVE 144 this past January:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbzZuPoJrpM[/embedyt]
** Game Changer Wrestling will be in Brooklyn, New York on August 21st.
** Cesaro joined Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Teasy and Big Swole on the Swerve City Podcast.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3J3rSrESz8[/embedyt]
** Applications to New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s New Zealand dojo can be filled out at this link.
** Faye Jackson vs. Tasha Steelz vs. Marti Belle vs. Willow Nightingale is official for GCW ‘For The Culture’.
** Below is the video of the 2/26 edition of WWE’s ‘The Bump’. Aleister Black and Kassius Ohno appeared on the show. Jami Morgan from Code Orange called in to talk to Aleister Black about performing Aleister’s theme live at TakeOver. Black revealed that the board that lifts him up during his entrance was originally designed for The Undertaker. Naomi checked in from Saudi Arabia and Jimmy Uso called in to show support for Naomi. On next week’s show, Sasha Banks will be live in-studio. Dominik Dijakovic revealed during his appearance that he’ll be facing Cameron Grimes on NXT.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGfV54aZRlw[/embedyt]
** Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp chatted with Rhino for an exclusive interview.
** Inside The Ropes released their interview with Paige and during their chat, Paige said that it was Paul Heyman who contacted her about splitting from Kairi Sane and Asuka. Paige had to step away to have another neck surgery and she happily agreed to let Kairi and Asuka fly on their own.
“They don’t need me. They don’t freaking need me. Actually, it was like, me and Paul Heyman came up with the idea for me to leave them, because it was cool at first and I loved it, I love being with them. I love Asuka, I love Kairi, just everything about them. Like behind the scenes and what they do in the ring, but I had to have another neck surgery so they were kind of sitting backstage doing nothing and I didn’t wanna hold them back because of my health so, Paul called me and he was just like, ‘We could do this and like that’ and I was just like, ‘Yeah, I would love to do that. I’ll come back, they spit green mist in my face and then they can go on and do their thing. I know they’re gonna be successful. I mean, it’s Asuka and Kairi.’”
** Arab News put out their interview with John Morrison to promote Super ShowDown.
** Chris Van Vliet chatted with former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n40m7dDMws4[/embedyt]
** During the 2/25/20 edition of WWE Backstage on FS1, The Bella Twins revealed that it was Vince McMahon who called them about their Hall Of Fame induction.
** AEW’s Joey Janela appeared on The Wrestling INC Daily podcast and he chatted about working with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford on AEW TV and also opened up about if he feels uncomfortable working with an ex-partner of his in Penelope Ford.
“Not really, because I think… it’s not really at all. It’s nothing… I’ve been in the wrestling business for I think 15 years now so, nothing’s really weird and uncomfortable because I’ve seen it all, heard it all so, no it’s not weird and uncomfortable. I’m just trying to find my footing and they are as well so, who knows how things are going to turn out after this is all said and done.”
** MyTwinTiers chatted with Friday Night SmackDown ring announcer Greg Hamilton to promote WWE’s house show in Elmira, New York on February 29th.
** Episode 21 of AEW Dark premiered on the All Elite Wrestling YouTube channel featuring a singles match between Jimmy Havoc and Marko Stunt, a tag team match that saw Evil Uno and Stu Grayson pair up to face the duo of CIMA and T-Hawk. Also, there was a Falls Count Anywhere match between Kip Sabian and Joey Janela and the main event saw Brandi Rhodes accompany QT Marshall and Dustin Rhodes to the ring as they took on Shawn Spears and Peter Avalon who were accompanied to the ring by Tully Blanchard and Leva Bates.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hBK0YIfq8I[/embedyt]
** ‘Kitano Ace’ and NJPW’s Toru Yano have teamed up and are releasing a joint-line of Hamburg Steaks.
** Nick Vaerewyck, who is the Senior Vice President of Programming and Business Operations at NYCB Live in East Garden City, New York chatted with Darren Paltrowitz of The Paltrocast/Sportskeeda and he spoke about being open to working with AEW and WWE not having an exclusive agreement with NYCB Live.
“I think the potential of that is no more or no less than any other event coming here. WWE certainly doesn’t have any sort of exclusive agreement but it depends on a lot of things, whether the dates work out, the timing works out. WWE has been a great partner and wrestling has a great fan base on Long Island. We’ll see what happens as AEW continues to grow and continue to look for more dates for their events.”
** Flickering Myth is doing a giveaway for a 2020 WWE Royal Rumble PPV DVD.
** PWInsider did an interview with Austin Theory ahead of his match with Tommaso Ciampa on NXT. Theory responded to the high praise he’s received such as people saying he’s going to be a major player in the WWE and a future world champion:
“I really do appreciate it. Obviously when somebody’s saying something good about me, it’s great. When they’re not saying something good about me, it sucks. But honestly I put those just in the same kind of thing. They’re opinions of people and everybody’s entitled to their opinion. But I try not to say that, ‘Oh, other people think I’ll be great so I can kind of relax and I’ll get there because people know what’s going to happen.’ I try to just always tell myself like, ‘You’re starting over, you’re still learning. You have to improve in a lot of areas.’ Honestly, probably when I’m done wrestling I’ll still learn more about it. I just feel like once I get into my head that I’ve already got it all and I’m great, I can’t improve anymore. I think that’s a big mistake that could happen. To me, same thing with being signed to WWE. I told myself at a very young age that I would be here one day and I would do whatever I had to do to get here, and I did, and it feels good. Like when I got the contract, it was very surreal and an enjoyable moment. But I just keep moving. I know when people say that about WrestleMania and stuff, that’s definitely a goal and it’s a dream of mine to main event at WrestleMania. I know that I will do that, but I’m not going to hold back on my work ethic or my mindset or my passion for this just because I already know what’s going to happen. I’m still going to give it everything that I have because I feel as soon as I let off the gas a little bit, the car [is] going to slow down and I’m not going to get to the destination.”
** The Esports Observer chatted with Xavier Woods about everything concerning the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel. Woods revealed that he originally wanted to do a travel show on the WWE Network but WWE was not keen on the idea.
“So I actually didn’t want to create a YouTube channel. I had zero intentions of doing that – it wasn’t even like a thought on the radar. I wanted to create a show that was like a Travel Channel-type show [where] you go to different cities and try different things… because as we were traveling for WWE, what I would do most nights is find an arcade bar in whatever town we were in, go check it out, play the games, you know, play with people.”
** FOX 35 Orlando profiled Matt Morgan.
** Johnny Gargano and Ron Funchess will be on the 2/27 edition of WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves.
** Metro released another portion of their interview with Alexa Bliss.
** Hacksaw Jim Duggan spoke with the Des Moines Register to promote his live Q&A show in Iowa on February 28th.
** Demus is slated to compete at MLW’s ‘Intimidation Games’ on April 18th.
** Insane Championship Wrestling announced that a new ICW Women’s Champion will be crowned on April 5th. Kasey Owens will take on Molly Spartan on March 3rd and Isla Dawn will take on Angel Hayze to determine who’ll compete for the title on April 5th.
** Jon Moxley spoke with Rick Ucchino of ESPN 1530/Sportskeeda and Moxley explained that he feels that winning the AEW World Championship is going to be a greater feeling than winning the WWE Championship.
“Best way I can describe it… it was a giant sense of relief. I had been pushing the boulder up to the top of the hill and had it roll all the way back down so many times and I felt like I disappointed so many fans by failing to win the title so many times. Once I finally was able to check that box and get that thing… the biggest feeling honestly was relief. Chris Jericho is arguably hotter than he’s ever been, and that’s really saying something considering Chris Jericho’s career. I think he’s not just trying to be good every week, he’s trying to be the greatest of all time, and like I said I’ve been running through competition; killing dudes – you’re getting the best version of Chris Jericho and the best version of Jon Moxley at the same time and something’s gotta give, somebody’s gotta go down. This, I feel, will be a far greater feeling. You know this is me, on my own, doing things my way. Totally different situation. Not even a comparable situation – as good as a night as that [WWE Title victory] was.”
** Alex Shelley has been announced for the ROH Pure Title tournament. Angelina Love is joining the field of competitors in the ROH Women’s World Title tourney.
** The National’s ‘Art & Culture’ section interviewed Naomi and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley ahead of their match at Super ShowDown.
** While speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, MJF stated that if he didn’t have the personality that he does, he’d be the same as a Joey Janela, Jungle Boy or Luchasaurus in AEW.
“There is nobody I can’t hang with in our company or in all of professional wrestling. No one can do what I do, and no one has my personality. If you took my personality away from me, I’m nobody. I’m Joey Janela, I’m Jungle Boy, I’m Luchasaurus. But I’m not reading off a script. This is me.”
** All Elite Wrestling uploaded the following video to their YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNYJ_EQ_VJc[/embedyt]
** Ethan Page’s new vlog is live on his YouTube channel.
** PWInsider is reporting that MLW executives were present at the CBS/Viacom HQ in New York City for meetings about a potential streaming and/or TV deal.
** The most recent guest on ‘My First Match With Mark Andrews’ was NXT U.K.’s Jinny:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDFeYO7iESA[/embedyt]
** Here’s the latest upload from the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktF9SGO50iQ[/embedyt]
** Maria Kanellis noted on Instagram that she is ready to get back to work after giving birth just three weeks ago.
** Ric Flair spoke with TMZ and shared that he was hesitant to cut his promo at the Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Pelicans game because of the Kobe and Gianna Bryant memorial service that took place just one day prior.
** Rudy Boy Gonzalez and Canada’s Nick Foti are guest coaching at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando this week, per PWInsider.
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
