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 transcriptions.
** Lilian Garcia welcomed JTG onto her Chasing Glory podcast to discuss the passing of JTG’s longtime friend, Shad Gaspard. To open the discussion, JTG recalled how he received the news of Shad’s disappearance and after searching for hours on end, JTG began to accept what happened but he still held out hope.
“Siliana [Gaspard] called me Sunday night. I was getting ready to go to bed and she called me from Shad’s phone. When Shad calls me, I pick up on the first, second ring. We speak to each other every day. We text and we spoke to each other every day. But [his number] called me that evening and it was his wife and his wife told me that Shad was missing… the first thing I thought it was a prank because we always prank each other. That’s Shad and I’s relationship. We roasted each other, we pulled pranks on each other and that’s the first thing that came to mind but for some reason the tone in her voice, I’m like, ‘Either this is real or she’s a good actress.’ But I said I’m gonna go along with it. Jumped in the shower, brushed my teeth and I rushed over there and then we were on the beach with flashlights looking for Shad. I was there a little past midnight, and that day I think I accepted it. I had to accept it. I was waiting for a big bear hug from behind like, ‘Ah! Got cha,’ but a part of me is still waiting for that big bear hug from behind.”
JTG further expressed his feelings about Shad’s passing and said he has never dealt with losing somebody that he was that close with.
“I’ve been on this planet for 35 years. I’ve never lost somebody this close to me where you engage with them every day, where you share the most intimate stories with them and I’ve lost family, I’ve lost distant uncles and grandparents. But you know they’re older and it’s like, I don’t want them to be here and suffer, so when they transition you’re like, ‘Okay, they’re at peace.’ I’ve lost co-workers. We’ve lost a lot of co-workers but it never really hit home like this.”
Prior to Shad’s passing, WWE was interested in possibly bringing Shad and JTG back and JTG shared that those conversations occurred but nothing ever came of it. He added that WWE contacted them about being a part of the ‘Where Are They Now?’ series for WWE’s media platforms.
“There was a few rumors. The last time we went backstage two years ago, the head of talent relations saw us and [said] we look amazing. ‘You look great’ and he was like, ‘Oh man, you guys look good. We’d love to — the door’s always open. We’d love to have you guys back.’ There was talk and then you know, emails were exchanged and nothing ever became of it and then I also heard through the grapevine, our names were brought up a few times to bring us back [recently]. So I don’t know, and then he reached out to us right when the quarantine started. ‘Hey, you guys wanna do [a] Where Are They Now episode?’ And we agreed to it. Why not? They never did it, never shot it.”
** PWInsider is reporting that there was an attempt to resolve the lawsuit between Anthem Sports & Entertainment and Jeff Jarrett/Global Force Entertainment. The two sides were ordered by the Tennessee Middle District court to go into mediation and they attempted to negotiate a settlement to prevent them from going to trial but an agreement was not reached. Jeff Jarrett attended the meeting in person while Anthem President Ed Nordholm appeared via teleconference as he is in Canada. The trail is set to begin on June 30th and it’s expected to last 5-7 days unless an agreement is reached before then.
** WWE applied to trademark “WCW” on May 18th.
** According to ESPN’s NFL writer Kevin Seifert, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon said during a filing today in bankruptcy court that he will not be a bidder for the XFL. The unsecured creditors committee expressed that McMahon was trying to get one over on the process so that he could buy the league back without paying back debtors fully.
** Jennifer Bennett of Bloomberg Law published an update about the WWE investors lawsuit over WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. The investors will have a pension fund take charge of their lawsuit, per a New York federal judge. The Firefighters’ Pension System of the City of Kansas City Missouri Trust will represent the investors.
** Dalton Castle and Joe Hendry joined Kevin Eck on the most recent edition of the ROHStrong podcast. While conversing about their respective careers, Kevin Eck who is a former writer for WWE shared a story about the pairing of ‘Team Hell No’ (Daniel Bryan & Kane). Eck said that initially, the point of the team was to raise Bryan’s stock by turning him against Kane and it was Vince McMahon who wanted Kane and Bryan to remain a duo.
“We had this little tag team there during my run, my run in New York. They were called ‘Hell No’, Daniel Bryan and Kane, and I’ll let you guys behind the curtain at Titan Towers. We put those two together as a very short-term thing. It was mainly to get him more over as a heel. They worked off each other well. It was supposed to be a short thing and Daniel turns on him and they have a program and then we move on to other things. But I’ll never forget the day that we were pitching these ideas in the writers room with Vince McMahon, and — name drop, and we were pitching the next thing for them as a team and Vince said, ‘Hold on guys, I don’t think…’
‘God dammit guys, no one wants to see them fight. The fans don’t want to see them fight.’ So, the decision was made to keep Team Hell No together because they work so well together.”
Joe Hendry was the focus of the conversation at various points during the interview. Hendry spoke about his friendship with Kurt Angle and recalled when Angle told him to not sign with a specific company. The company was not mentioned by name but Hendry said had Angle not given him that advice, he likely would’ve signed with said company.
“And Kurt was amazing for advice as well. In fact, I think without Kurt Angle’s advice, I don’t know if I’d be where I’m at because there were certain things when it came to career decisions, he was like… he was there to kinda give me the pros and cons and tell me, ‘You should think about this, think about this, think about this’ and he actually — I’ll tell you this. So I’m not gonna get into any names but, there was a situation where I was seriously — this was years ago — considering going somewhere, and… I was at a show, Kurt was there. He literally walked right up to me and he was like, ‘Tell me you did not sign that contract that someone said you’re gonna sign’ and I was like, ‘Well I was thinking about doing it.’ He was like, ‘No, no!’ He was like, ‘This is what you’re worth at the very least and I better not hear about you signing anything less than that.’ So, I’ve got Kurt to thank for that,” Hendry shared.
During Dalton Castle’s run as ROH World Champion, he wrestled with a broken back and it wasn’t until the Summer of 2018 when he had to the drop the title due to the pain. Castle said that for a portion of his run, he didn’t know his back was broken but had he known, he would’ve relinquished the title to start the rehabbing process in a more timely manner.
“I didn’t know what was wrong with me, and that was the stupidest part. If I had knew, I would have relinquished that title and taken the time off, but then I found out right before England, as I was boarding a plane, my doctor called me and told me what was going on. So then I had to make some changes in my style and I still wouldn’t give up the title,” Castle said. “I was gonna hold onto it for as long as I could and I feel like I did a pretty good job. You know, [if] you watch a lot of those matches, you don’t know what’s wrong with me, you’re seeing real pain in my eyes but I wasn’t gonna let something like a broken back stop me from doing the one thing I believe I do best and the one thing that I love and that’s performing and entertaining at the highest level. So, I tried my best and then eventually it caught up to me where I couldn’t hold on anymore and then took the proper time off. Now I’m on my way back, feel like I’m back better than ever, stronger than I was in years prior, I’m wrestling smarter than ever, I’ve got a great tag team partner to help me along the way and, yeah… I don’t regret it, I just didn’t enjoy that time.”
** Bill Apter chatted with Al Snow about the passing of Shad Gaspard. Snow promoted the COLLARxELBOW shirt that is currently out and 100% of the proceeds are going to the family of Shad.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44_Wsy7QMUk[/embedyt]
** On June 2nd, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon will be a part of Variety’s ‘Rebooting the Entertainment Industry’ series with executives from the Los Angeles Rams, FOX Sports and PwC.
** Two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair joined The Wrestling Inc. Daily Podcast. Last week, Flair shared a photo of the new WWE contract he signed and he spoke about re-signing during the interview. Flair said he wasn’t going to go anywhere else but did recall a conversation he had with AEW President Tony Khan in-which Khan said that he would never bring Flair into AEW out of respect for Flair’s relationship with WWE.
“Well it’s not for life, no, but I hope they keep renewing me. You know, I’m obviously never gonna go anywhere else, so if they didn’t renew me, I gotta be honest with you and I thought about this answer so I’ll answer before you ask it, but Tony Khan was at my — when Hunter immortalized me with the statue. Tony was there and Tony had told me when I’ve seen him that he wouldn’t even ask me to come to work there, because he knows how tight I am with them.
Our friendship is one thing, but he respects my loyalty to the company. It’s like when we make a joke about it when we did — he said, ‘I won’t even ask you.’ That’s how much respect he has for me and my relationship with the company which speaks volumes to what kind of guy Tony is.”
Ric Flair also recalled his match against Vince McMahon at the 2002 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. When Flair was first approached about the match, he was not confident and went to go speak to Vince McMahon about it. Flair said that in the office was Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Vince, Stephanie and Shane McMahon and here’s how that visit unfolded:
“So, I’m not there for a week. I came back in November, right? So in January, Shane [McMahon] walks up to me and says, ‘What do you think of wrestling my dad at the Royal Rumble?’” Flair starts mumbling. “The way I’m talking to you is the way I was. I go, ‘That’s not what we agreed upon last month.’ Sure enough, what the hell? Here we are now… so, here’s the deal — this is even better because I’m recalling all this so, after Shane says this to me, I knock on Vince’s door, I walk in. It’s Vince, it’s Shane, it’s Hunter and it’s Stephanie, and I kinda break down saying, ‘Guys, I can’t do this, I’m not ready for this’ and this is the God honest truth: Everybody’s going, ‘Oh Ric, you can do it.’ I have tears in my eyes, and I go to hug Stephanie and she’s gonna pat me on the back and she opened the door. Like, ‘Get the f*ck out.’ I went to hug her and she opened the door like, ‘Get out. We got sh*t to do.’ I swear to God I’ve never told that story,” Flair laughed.
When the conversation turned over to Charlotte Flair, Ric was asked who he thinks Charlotte’s greatest rival is and he named Sasha Banks as Charlotte’s greatest rival.
“Snoop Dogg and I were talking the other day and I gotta tell you, I go back and I still have to go with Sasha [Banks]. When I see Sasha, I call her Ricky Steamboat. I go, ‘How you doing Ricky?’ She is, to me, Sasha is her — and I think Ashley [Charlotte Flair] feels the same way. They have this unbelievable chemistry. The only argument between the two of them is who’s gonna be the bad guy, because they both like that role. But whichever way they do it, they make incredible music and they have incredible matches and you could watch them wrestle — I could for 30, 40 minutes and they could do it without taking a deep breath.”
With The Undertaker’s ‘Last Ride’ series airing and ESPN/Michael Jordan’s ‘The Last Dance’ series having wrapped up, the idea of Ric Flair having a similar series was brought up and Ric said that he believes that’s something that’s being talked about.
“I think that’s being talked about… because there is so much more. Even starting over from when I retired as I’ve been the luckiest guy alive. Yes, I’ve worked hard and put in the time, but I feel God – and this is not me trying to sell religion – but I’ve been given this phenomenal gift called life. It was brought to me by wrestling and here I am.
I think there’s talks about it. It would be WWE and there’s a whole other chapter.”
** Due to the levels of uncertainty concerning Coronavirus, OTT has decided to postpone two of their upcoming events. OTT’s ‘Homecoming 3’ show, instead of this August will take place in January of 2021. Also, OTT is hopeful that their scheduled ‘Banjaxed’ show that was going to take place in August will take place in October of this year.
** Below is a video of Kylie Rae winning her first championship in the Reality Of Wrestling promotion:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x4eeCYxMPw[/embedyt]
** While making an appearance on ‘EL Brunch de WWE’, Humberto Carrillo stated that Rey Mysterio is his favorite wrestler in WWE history.
** Part two of Tama Tonga’s interview with NJPW1972.com was uploaded to the site. In a continuation of part one, Tama discussed AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson’s departure from New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2016 and said he wasn’t sure if he was going to stay following that.
“They were really uncertain times. We had a meeting in the hotel, and they told us. It was definitely sad, definitely unsure. You have to remember, I was on the same boat. There were rumors about me, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to stay.”
The next man up in Bullet Club was Kenny Omega and several years into Kenny’s run as the front man of the group, Tama began to see Kenny taking more to ‘The Elite’ side of Bullet Club but initially, he was all for Kenny being the top representative of the group.
“When we knew that Kenny was going to be leading the group, I was behind that. I’m a big picture thinker, I’m always thinking about what would be best for the group as a whole, and so I was absolutely fine with Kenny taking charge, but… I guess he had other intentions. He had different goals in mind.”
Towards the end of the interview, the interviewer played a word association game with Tama Tonga using members of Bullet Club. One of the names mentioned was Cody Hall and Tama said Cody’s a good kid and he has high hopes for him. Tama added that maybe Cody just wasn’t guided the right way.
** Below is the newest episode of NWA’s ‘Carnyland’ series:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tirGCsqGfdw[/embedyt]
** The Hashtag Show posted their interview with NWA Powerrr commentator Stu Bennett. While discussing some of the wrestlers within the organization, Stu praised the current NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa. Bennett said that he feels Thunder Rosa is the best professional wrestler in the world.
“The women’s wrestling is amazing. You got a lady called Thunder Rosa, a Mexican girl who for my money, the best professional wrestler on the planet, male or female. I’ll make that point. I think she’s absolutely phenomenal. I’ve never seen someone so aggressive, so technically sound, so tough, great persona. She looks fantastic. She has everything to be the best on the planet, male or female. I will stress that.”
** Ohio Valley Wrestling has a new episode of their weekly series up on their official YouTube channel.
** Access has an interview with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and in a clip posted to the program’s YouTube channel, Johnson spoke about his daughter Simone and her transition into the world of pro wrestling.
“It’s so cool and I’m so proud of her because that world, it’s a difficult world. Not only to be in, but it’s also a difficult world to make it in but it’s also, doubly difficult when you’re a woman, and she goes in there and she not only has big shoes to fill and is well aware of our family name but also has this desire to create her own path, which is the best part about it and also she goes in humble, hungry and is a student every day and just wants to learn so, yeah, very proud of her, and she’s bad ass.”
** Ring of Honor is hosting another trivia night on May 28th at 7 PM EST on Zoom. To participate, email [email protected].
** Former WWE talent Rusev hosted a Twitch stream recently and he shared his thoughts about AEW’s Double Or Nothing event and stated that he enjoyed the show.
“But speaking of wrestling though, last night was fun. I work out every now and again, and I set my phone or whatever and I watched a little of AEW. I don’t know if it’s legal to say. Is it legal to say? I’m looking at my lawyer. Is it legal to say? ‘Yeah, yeah. You can talk about it. Don’t worry about it,’” Rusev said sarcastically as he played the role of his ‘lawyer’. “Okay, so I guess I can talk about it. It was fun man. It was fun watching, especially that main event.”
** Lewis Nicholls has an extensive interview with former two-time WWE Tag Team Champion Rico Constantino. Towards the end of the interview, names were pitched to Rico and he would go on to share his thoughts about those names. Booker T was brought up and here’s what Rico had to say about Booker T:
“Booker T, I’m really mixed with that. When I had my full face paint instead of the lines, it was told to me that Booker T was complaining because the sparkles were coming off my face and then getting in his hair and his girlfriend at the time… was saying he was going to strip joints. Accusing him of going to strip joints after he wrestled me. So they asked me to tone down the makeup so it went from the full face to the lines to just the stuff over the eyes. So I had to tone down. That’s my memory of Booker T.”
In November of 2004, Rico was released from WWE. Prior to his release, Rico asked for a bump in bay and told WWE that if they did not give him that pay, he would no longer be a part of the company when his contract expired.
“I asked for a raise. I had a three-year contract and I asked for $1,000 a week raise, and then I found out by Johnny Ace [that] they were releasing me. That’s what I think it was because I just held the tag belts. I was just tag champion. We were going. We had pictures that were gonna be on the front of WWE Magazine. ‘You’re released.’ ‘Okay,’ and I told them, I said, ‘Listen, if I go I don’t come back,’ and I said, ‘I’ll give you 90 days and if you don’t give me that raise, I’m not coming back.’ Well, February 2nd was the 90 days. I didn’t go back. I was on a plane to Japan that night winning the All Asia Tag Titles with Bull Buchanan.”
Rico also reflected on the ‘ceremony’ segment with Billy, Chuck and Eric Bischoff from 2002. Rico said that the entire day, Vince McMahon was catering to the “minister” who Bischoff was dressed as and the ‘minister’ was introducing himself to everybody. Rico said that there were very few people who were clued in but the majority of those backstage thought the minister was who he appeared to be.
“Me personally, I feel like if that was on live or on RAW, that would have been the best kayfabe event in the history of wrestling, even better than the double Hebners with the Hulk Hogan thing. The reason why I say that is only a handful of people actually knew that the minister was Eric Bischoff and that was the people in the inner circle. Vince came to the arena in his limousine as he usually does, but he brought the minister, and he took him out of the limousine. He was already in makeup and everything, shaking and Vince catered to him the whole day. Now on a TV taping day, TV starts about 6:30, 7 o’clock, where whatever brand you tape Heat and go into RAW or tape Velocity, go right into SmackDown. So we’re there, at noon and everybody sees this old minister. Vince caters to him in the catering room, goes and gets him a plate of food and is walking him around introducing him to everybody, puts him in the green room and everybody thinks this is the actual minister for the ‘commitment ceremony’ of Billy and Chuck. So the only people that know about it is me, Billy, Chuck, Stephanie, Rosey, Jamal [Umaga], Eric, Vince, the agent for the show which Stephanie was basically the agent for everything. That’s all that knew.”
When Rico began working with Jackie Gayda [Miss Jackie], he wanted to speak with Adrian Street because what Rico was about to do was similar to what Adrian Street already had done. Rico chatted with Adrian and found out how to make that character work during that period in time
“I went and I interviewed with Adrian Street. I asked Vince [McMahon]. I said, ‘If you want me to plagiarize his character, I wanna meet with him and ask him how he did it and was successful and how to bring that type of character into the millennium’ because back then he mistreated his valet, which was his wife but stepped on her toe, step on her back to get to the ring. If I had did that in 2000, I would’ve been shot from a man in the grassy knoll. You can’t do that to women now. You can’t do that to anybody now. So Adrian and I discussed how to bring it into the millennium and the answer was Jackie Gayda.”
** Ahead of the 5/25 edition of Monday Night RAW, Seth Rollins spoke with Sports Illustrated and during the interview, Rollins was asked about Roman Reigns who along with his wife, recently welcomed new members of their family into the world. Rollins explained that-that is why Roman has been taking time off and overall, he’s happy for his friend.
“I was fortunate to get the news a while back, and it was nice to see him come out and explain why he’s been taking time off. He’s got five kids running around at home, and he’s trying to help the wife out and make sure everybody’s safe. It’s awesome. It seems like everybody is getting in on the new kid thing these days (laughs).”
On WWE programming, Rollins recruited Austin Theory into his group with Murphy. Rollins spoke highly of Theory and said that he wishes he could’ve been as good as Theory is at 22 years old.
“A little backstory to Austin Theory—he was a guy recently signed to NXT and kind of just fell into my lap. When WrestleMania was moved to Orlando and we had to make roster changes, Austin kind of slipped in there, and he made his WrestleMania debut at 22 years old.
I had heard his name, but I’d never actually seen him perform. I watched him for the first time leading into WrestleMania, and I was so impressed by his poise, his work ethic, his style, and his presence. Then I found out how old he is, and I was even more in shock. I felt so disappointed in myself for thinking about how terrible I was at his age (laughs). I’ve kept an eye on him since, and I put the feelers out there that, if he was available, I’d certainly take him. One thing led to another, now here we are.
We’re just getting started. Tonight is really going to be the first time we’ll see him side-by-side with me, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish.”
** The International Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame announced that they’ve acquired Bruno Sammartino’s WWWF World Championship.
** In a new video for New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s ‘Together’ project, Juice Robinson shared that it was Tetsuya Naito and Shinsuke Nakamura’s IWGP Intercontinental Title match from Wrestle Kingdom 8 that drew him into New Japan as a company.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswcVHjBs20[/embedyt]
** Chelsea Green uploaded a new video to her YouTube channel in-which she provides advice to independent wrestlers about how to bring in multiple streams of income.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrUIoGBv_4k[/embedyt]
** djvlad released another clip from his sit-down interview with Mark Henry. Henry talked about why he decided to officially retire from in-ring competition in 2017 and it came down to Henry not wanting the public to see a “watered-down” version of him in the ring.
“I saw myself on camera wrestling one day and I wasn’t the guy that I thought I was. I wasn’t the guy I was used to seeing handle people the way — I move differently and I decided if I’m not gonna be the guy that I used to be, then I don’t want people seeing a watered down product, and thus my exit.”
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling posted Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi’s match from the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors final:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCD7Jkk9aVg[/embedyt]
** TMZ Sports has a new clip up from their chat with Paul “Triple H” Levesque. In this clip, Levesque spoke about the possibility of Ronda Rousey returning to WWE. He recalled a time when Ronda was in training and she had bad food poisoning and he was ready to call the training session off but Ronda insisted that the day continued as planned.
“There was a moment in time where we flew one time to Orlando to train and we all flew after a show and flew there that night and Ronda ate some sushi and the next morning, I hear, ‘Oh my God, she’s really sick’ and bad food poisoning and so I say, ‘Let’s bag it, training’ and I get a call a little bit later, ‘No, no, she’s coming’ and she shows up and she’s green and she gets in there man and she’s just going and going and going and I’m watching her turn greener and greener and she’s going and going and finally I had to say, ‘That’s enough,’ and she was angry at first. Like, ‘No, no, no. I’m good, I’m good.’ I’m like, ‘Ronda, you’re done. I’m not asking the question. You’re done. Let’s go, bag it. Let’s get out of here. You’ve done everything you could.’ She’s the thoroughbred. You gotta put a jockey and pull the reins [or] they’ll run themselves to death, and that’s what she is so, yeah when she’s ready, we still have a great relationship on everything and when she is ready, absolutely.”
** ‘The Asahi Shimbun’ has a feature story up about Manabu Nakanishi and what he’s been up to post-retirement. Nakanishi is currently working on a tea farm that is managed by Nakanishi’s older brother and their father, Masanori who’s 89. Nakanishi’s father had the following to say about his son’s career in wrestling:
“He may have performed poorly in wrestling, but he is kind and doesn’t talk ill of others. I’m proud of my son.”
** Alexa Bliss, Ember Moon, Xavier Woods, Tyler Breeze and Dio Maddin will be a part of the ‘Dungeons & Dragons Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage’ stream.
** Fightful has an interview up with Ring of Honor’s Joe Hendry. Hendry spoke about a talent meeting that Ring of Honor held within the past several months and in this meeting, ROH opened the line of communication for wrestlers to voice their thoughts about the workplace and what improvements can be made, if any are to be made.
“Yeah. I was there. It was in Baltimore. They literally had this little stand at the front of the room and they were like, ‘Anybody on the roster that wants to speak to the entire room, to the company will have the opportunity to do so right now.’ Right now I can tell you first hand how awesome they’ve been at listening to suggestions. For example, I worked with a guy called Dave Hodgson, who does the YouTube stuff for Ring of Honor. [We] worked together previously and got on great and he got what I did. He was in between projects and I had the opportunity to say to management, ‘I think this person would do a great job here,’ and who am I? I’m a member of the roster. They wouldn’t need to listen to me on anything like that.”
Hendry shared that Ring of Honor has an anonymous channel that employees can communicate through to give honest feedback without the fear of facing consequences for giving criticism.
“I think that Ring of Honor have gone above and beyond any expectations anyone would have ever had about how a company might conduct themselves in this situation. They’ve so, not only been so supportive, but the communication’s been great as well. At no point were we going, ‘What’s going to happen?’ We were told very clearly that safety was the priority. The thing I love about Ring of Honor as well is we have an opportunity to anonymously give feedback. So, you know, there’s not a pressure for us to go, ‘Oh, we’re ready to go back to work.’ We’re not in a situation where we feel we have to say that. We have an anonymous channel that we can give feedback through there as well. So, not only have we been taken care of, but talent can actually give honest feedback without any kind of fear of repercussion or anything like that. So, I think it’s pretty awesome that they want to know what the talent really feel.”
** ONE Championship published an article on Sportskeeda’s website which features quotes from ONE Championship’s own Vitor Belfort. Belfort said that he’d like to have a tag team match in All Elite Wrestling with his tag partner being Mike Tyson. Belfort was present at AEW’s Double Or Nothing pay-per-view over the weekend.
“I think AEW should have Mike [Tyson] and myself do a tag team match against two of their champions. Tony [Khan], the owner of AEW is a good friend of mine. That for me is a great idea and I’m open to it.”
** NJPW1972.com has new videos up of Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi discussing their best match finishes in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
** Both Mandy Rose and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre were guests on a recent episode of the Gorilla Position podcast. During Mandy’s portion of the podcast, she talked about how involved Vince McMahon is in the storyline involving herself and Otis:
“Very involved, and he’s involved in everything but, he is. He’s very much involved in it. He’s a huge fan of it. He takes a lot of pride in it and really wants it to continue to grow and become the best it can be if it hasn’t already. So, that makes us feel great and obviously, we take so much pride in it as well, so as a team, we’re all willing to put our opinions in and kind of develop the best way we can come up with the ideas for our fans to enjoy it and it’s just a really great, genuine, happy story. Beauty and the Beast, it’s so relatable, fans love it. They could relate to this. The guy got the girl and it’s just such a classic I guess, but we haven’t seen it in so long or ever maybe but, yeah, it’s cool.”
The podcast then turned over to the Drew McIntyre interview. McIntyre reiterated his stance that he wants to be the first person to appear in front of a live crowd at a WWE event when fans are allowed to return. McIntyre said he plans on bothering Vince McMahon about it until McMahon confirms that he’ll have the honor.
“They know when I get to the arena, I want to be the first one to come out. I don’t want any dark matches, I don’t want any Main Event tapings or anything that we do prior to RAW starting and I’m gonna do whatever I can to harass Mr. McMahon until he says, ‘It’s okay Drew, you can do this.’ I wanna be the first person that walks out that curtain. The fans are gonna be rabid for it. I’m rabid to get back and I had my Mania moment, reaching out to the camera and I want that to be a wrestling moment when I walk out with the title for the first time and say, ‘We’re bloody back.’”
McIntyre is nearing two months as WWE Champion. He said he does not want multiple reigns and just wants one long run as champion.
“But yes, 2021. Screw that. What was Sammartino’s [record]? I don’t want as many reigns as Ric Flair, Charlotte Flair or anyone like that. I just want one very, very long reign. All I’m asking is ten years. I’m 34 now. Just until I’m 44, 45. Is that too much to ask?”
** Glenn “Kane” Jacobs spoke with ‘Deseret News’ about how he’s handling the COVID-19 pandemic as Mayor of Knox County.
** On the latest Sitting Ringside with David Penzer podcast, IMPACT Wrestling producer D’Lo Brown joined the podcast and chatted about his career and what he’s currently up to in the sport of pro wrestling. While on the topic of IMPACT, D’Lo feels that the company is producing creative content in the COVID era of wrestling. He added that IMPACT is excelling and is proud of what the company has done since fans were not allowed to attend wrestling events.
“And I think, and not that it’s ever a good time but I think our shows have excelled in this uncertain time of COVID. I think if you look at the major companies who are putting on shows with no crowd and that makes everything equal, so production value, everything is the same. It goes back to the core of what you’re doing. Your wrestling, your storyline and I think by far, we’re excelling at that, and I think we’re putting on damn good shows, we’re putting out damn good content and product and people watch us and they’re like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize they were that good. I hadn’t watched them in forever’ and then it helped that our switch to AXS which [got] a lot more eyes on us. I think IMPACT is doing some special things right now and it’s a joy to get on a plane or drive to go to work knowing I’m going to help create some cool ass stuff.”
D’Lo Brown also appeared in the latest season of Dark Side of the Ring. He was spotlighted in the New Jack episode of the series. D’Lo said that five more hours could’ve been done on New Jack and it still wouldn’t have scratched the surface of all the things that he’s done and been through in his career and personal life.
“You could’ve done another five hours on New Jack and not scratched the surface. Jack is about as real as it gets, in the ring and out of the ring, and man, there’s stories I can never tell again, that I wouldn’t tell again. Just know that everything you hear about Jack is real and everything you think you know about Jack is real.”
** Chris Hero hosted an A.M.A. session on Reddit and he answered all questions specifically about his match against Go Shiozaki from a Pro Wrestling NOAH show that took place in June of 2009.
** Roman Reigns and Dr. Louis DeGennaro, CEO of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society appeared on Good Day Rochester.
** NBC Sports Network will be airing classic episodes of Saturday Night Live and three of the shows that will be airing were hosted by John Cena, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Ronda Rousey.
** SmackDown’s Steve Cutler turned 33-years old today.
** Arn Anderson’s latest podcast was a Q&A based show.
** Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy spoke with NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner.
** Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s ‘most electrifying matches’ are up on the WWE Network.
** Tomahawk Nation has an opinion piece up about Ron Simmons being a better combination of a football player and wrestler than The Rock.
** Zack Ryder applied to trademark “Major Player” and Jordynne Grace applied to trademark “The Hossette”.
** Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote the following about Shad Gaspard on his Instagram:
“On my bike ride today I stopped to pay respects to Shad Gaspard. He was such a positive force in the gym and the world. He was a hero in bodybuilding, a hero in wrestling, and the moment he told lifeguards to save his son first, the ultimate hero. My thoughts are with his family.”
** Chris Killian of Comicbook.com conducted an interview with Mark Henry over Instagram Live.
** Brodie Lee made the media rounds to promote Double Or Nothing and he stopped past 106.7 The Fan with Chad Dukes.
** Dark Side of the Ring composers Wade MacNeil and Andrew Gordon Macpherson did an interview with Wrestling Inc. Andrew revealed that Dark Side of the Ring was originally supposed to be called “Falls Count Anywhere” and he also talked about the original concept for the series.
“Here’s my take on it: Ignore the title Dark Side of the Ring for a second. When we signed onto the show, it was supposed to be called Falls Count Anywhere,” revealed Andrew. “The concept of the show was that wrestling is one of the only worlds where an artist has to live their gimmick. So, for 24/7 Rowdy Roddy Piper had to live Rowdy Roddy Piper. Heels and babyfaces couldn’t sit in the same dressing room and that dedication to the show started to affect reality. Then reality started to affect the show of wrestling. The original concept was supposed to be the world of kayfabe and how it affects reality and how reality affects it. It wasn’t supposed to be World’s Deadliest Wrestling Shoots or anything like that.”
** TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose spoke with Sports Illustrated and Moose expressed that he prides himself on the mantra that is often said by Cody Rhodes, “Do the work”.
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 transcriptions.
