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.
** Shane “Hurricane” Helms was a guest on The Angle Podcast. Helms recalled being in Saudi Arabia during the travel delay situation that spawned the NXT Invasion angle on Friday Night SmackDown. In the days, weeks and months since that series of events occurred, there have been several recounts of why the majority of WWE talents were not able to leave Saudi Arabia in a timely manner. One of those reasons were attributed to flight troubles and recently, a confidential witness described it as a “hostage situation”. Helms detailed what he remembered from that day and how it was covered by the media.
“The media really blew it out. Like unless they completely hid everything from me… all the talk about the plane, we had the one plane. It wasn’t like in America when you own American Airlines and there’s a bunch of planes out there. We had the one, and we couldn’t interchange the flight crew because we brought them with us. You know what I’m saying? And the flight crew has to get a certain amount of rest and the pilot has to get a certain amount of rest and when the thing with the plane happened, the mechanical difficulties and now the pilot didn’t have enough rest, that’s a federal law that they can’t just go, ‘Hey I’m okay, I can make it.’ You can’t do that, and like I said, we brought him with us. They didn’t have just another pilot they can call and go, ‘Hey, we need you to fly to America. We got a bunch of angry assholes out here.’ But… and then that being said, they put us in five-star hotels, they were feeding us silly and I didn’t know about any of the drama that was being reported on social media whatsoever and I remember I was literally taking a picture of a dessert because we’re back at the hotel, and it was aggravating being delayed but I’ve been traveling for quarter of a century now so, delays happen. You either get angry or you roll with it. What are you gonna do? And so anyway, we’re back at the hotel and I’m over there with my phone taking a picture of a dessert tray to send back home, and then I get this text, because I guess — I mean maybe I didn’t have WiFi while we were on the buses from the… maybe from the terminal or something. I can’t remember exactly what happened but I hadn’t messaged home in a few hours and so then I get this message from my woman and she’s upset and she’s like, ‘I heard you guys are trapped’ and I’m like, ‘What?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m stuffing my face with this cake. That’s how trapped I am. If this is trapped, I’m gonna stay over here.’ But you know, then you hear all the weird stories so I can’t really tell you 100 percent for certain I know exactly what happened but I know I was treated fine. They treated us fine. A lot of the guys kind of get hysterical of anything. Some of the younger guys, you know? But I’ve had so many travel snafus, it was just another day at the office for me.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Shane Helms revealed that he and Jamie Noble were the producers for the 2019 men’s Survivor Series match that featured the often replayed sequence of moves between Roman Reigns and current NXT and North American Champion Keith Lee.
“The first one that really comes to mind actually is the Survivor Series, this past year where I had the men’s match where every match was a Triple-Threat the entire time just because that had never been done. So, me and Jamie Noble worked on that together and a lot of guys didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want it to be a Triple-Threat the entire time. They wanted it to be two guys in the ring and they could tag out to one of the three teams. You know, but we stuck to the guns and I remember telling the guys, ‘Hey, we don’t know this won’t work. Its never been done before. We don’t know it won’t work. If we try it,’ and it’s risky to try it on a pay-per-view, no doubt. It was risky as hell but I just knew with that talent and the amount of bodies that we had, we could get something good out of this if everybody put their best foot forth and I think it ended up stealing the show.”
Helms was furloughed by the WWE back in April but he stated that he has been in contact with the sports-entertainment company once a week and thinks that once things are back up and running, he’ll likely be back with WWE. Helms also is still training for a possible in-ring return.
“I’m still in contact with WWE. I chat with somebody from there every week and you know, when live events start back up, that’s probably when you’ll see me come back if that’s the case. I’m back training again because there have been offers for me to put [the] spandex back on. I never actually retired from in-ring competition.
I never uttered those words so, seeing how the body comes back together, I will be 46 in a week so, and I took my first bump at 13-years old so, the body’s a mess. If I’m being honest, the body’s beat to death but I got a couple more. I got a little bit left in the tank so we’ll see how that goes. I just really gotta — it’s a wait and see thing right now, you know?”
** Still Real To Us hosted an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on their Facebook page with EC3. One of the questions presented to EC3 was if there was an idea that he went to WWE creative or Vince McMahon with once he got called up to Monday Night RAW and here was his response:
“An angst filled, relentless fighter with his back against the wall after losing everything that he thought was important to him, but realized the only thing that truly mattered is his ability to tell his story. Control His Narrative.
That’s one.”
It was mentioned that EC3 didn’t appear to be that visibly pleased during the 24/7 Title segments. He replied that he was not in the best place and all of that didn’t relate back to his professional life.
“I wasn’t a very happy person and it wasn’t all based on profession.”
Elsewhere during the Q&A, when asked how did he feel about the move to RAW, EC3 responded that he was happy in NXT and that he enjoyed his time with working with Paul “Triple H” Levesque “immensely”.
** As first reported by CBS Philadelphia reporter Manuel Smith, all gatherings of over 50 people will not be permitted until the end of February in 2021.
** Mike Johnson of PWInsider has an extensive interview with AEW President Tony Khan. During their chat, Khan addressed the inevitable that he’ll have to one day cut ties with a few members of the roster for financial reasons. He made mention of suspending some people recently, being Sammy Guevara and Jimmy Havoc, until he figures out what to do with them.
“I haven’t been doing it. I’ve been baring the brunt, the financial responsibility, so there’s been a lot of people that for, not just a few weeks, I mean, for several months now, have not been able to actively participate in the company, and I have kept all those people on. We haven’t let anybody go through the pandemic, because I know it’s a very challenging time to go out and get work. I made this statement early in the pandemic that we haven’t let anybody go. We still haven’t let anybody go. I can’t do that forever. Eventually, this company will have to sever ties with people, but so far we haven’t let anybody go and there’s a lot of people overseas right now that have not been able to get over here. And, at some point, I had to look at how sustainable that is with travel, but to date we’ve kept everybody on. There are a couple people that have nothing to do with the pandemic, but due to their own conduct I suspended without pay while I try to decide what I’m going to do with them, but everybody else here we’ve kept on and paid through this whole thing, which hasn’t been easy, but I think it was the right thing to do. We had great revenue streams that would have made it a lot easier from the live events. Obviously, we do huge gates and we had tons of big six-figure gates coming up every single week, and it’s millions, and millions, and millions of dollars in gate receipts that are gone and we’ll never get [that] now. People always say, ‘You can go and you can do those arenas later,’ and it’s like, ‘Yeah, but we would have done that anyway. We do every Wednesday.’ We’ve lost months and months of revenue that we won’t get back, and that’s okay. I mean, there’s people with bigger problems in the world than this, and if we were a tiny company that was hamstrung and didn’t have financial resources, then we wouldn’t be able to sustain it. A company that didn’t have our resources would’ve almost certainly laid off a lot of people and let people go, but it wasn’t the right thing for us to do at the time. And, so far, through the last several months, it hasn’t been the right thing to do. Like I said, I think there will come a day when I’m going to have to reevaluate the roster, because I think, at some point, there’s people who aren’t actively participating I probably need to look at that. But, right now, I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault that they haven’t been able to be here.”
This Wednesday at Fight For The Fallen, Sonny Kiss is challenging Cody for the TNT Championship. Tony Khan spoke highly of Sonny and the improvements that Sonny has made in the ring and as a character over the past year in AEW.
“It shows how far Sonny’s come, because a year ago on Fight for the Fallen, Sonny was on the opening of the buy-in with the Librarian, Peter Avalon, and now to be wrestling Cody for the TNT championship, Sonny’s come a long way in a year, as a character, but also as a worker. Sonny’s gotten much better. Sonny’s wrestling is drastically better than it was a year ago in my opinion. I think Sonny being [in] the tag team with Joey Janela has been really good for both of them. And that is a product of the pandemic. When we were doing shows down here and putting people in the crowd, I was trying different things, and it was a different roster early in the pandemic than it was before the pandemic. And I think we’re seeing that with other places now. I watched New Japan’s Dominion over the weekend, and it was a very different set of people and stories than it was before they shutdown. A lot changed and it was clearly they pivoted a lot of their contests, and if they didn’t, then they were just going to jump into a lot of abrupt stuff. I think they must have changed a lot of what they were thinking. I think its affected what everybody was going to do. For me, going back to it… Over the past year, I mean, Sonny has come so far in the past year, as a wrestler, and the presentation. And I think the team with Joey has been a huge boost to both of them. Its been a vehicle for both of them to be on Dynamite a little bit more. They had a great match with Brodie Lee and Colt Cabana. Sonny got involved in Joey’s match with Brodie Lee. And now Joey can be there to support Sonny in this TNT title match. Its been good for them to get their ring time to get ready for this. They’ve had a great success on Dark, and it was really something that they got down here for the pandemic and I asked them to start doing tag matches on Dark, because it was a good chance to showcase both of them. They were primarily, early in the pandemic, being showcased on Dynamite more — but because they were here, and they were a big part of the roster that we had available to us, I wanted to find something for them that they could sink their teeth into, and that was that tag team. They’ve come a long way as a team and as individuals. I think its helped them both a lot. And so, for Sonny, I think it’s really cool that over the past year that Sonny’s earned this chance, and a very logical challenger for Cody. Cody and I sit together and put together the list of people to come in for these, and we talk them all through. This is one that there’s some he nominated, and I got very excited about. A good example of that would be Ricky Starks, where Cody brought the name in and was like, ‘Here’s a few guys. What do you think of these?’ And that was the one I really liked was Ricky Starks. This is one where I listed a couple people and Cody was like, ‘Yes,’ and he really liked that one. That’s a great idea with Sonny. For me, I think it’s going to be a really great match on the show, great card, and that’s one of the best stories on the show certainly is how far Sonny has come.”
Khan also dove into the duo of Taz and the new FTW Champion Brian Cage. Khan shared that it was Taz’s son who drove down to Jacksonville to deliver the belt so that Taz could present it to Cage at Fyter Fest. Khan added that it was Taz who mentioned that he still had the FTW Title and it was then when Khan decided to incorporate the belt into Cage and Taz’s storyline with Jon Moxley.
“Well, it was a few weeks ago. Taz told me he had it. And immediately, that’s when the idea struck me to do this. Then I asked him to bring it down and get it down here. And Taz’s son, Tyler, who is a great kid, traveled down with it and came down and got tested, and joined us in the bubble. Tyler brought it and then we had it. Taz presenting it to Brian was a really important part of the presentation. I think Taz and Brian, it was good that it wasn’t the first thing they did together, because they really had become associated. Brian was always supposed to debut in that casino ladder match, as soon as we got his diagnosis that he was going to be out until May. This thing had been planned for a long time for Brian to make the big intro, and make the big splash, and challenge Moxley. Brian and Taz, they’ve established a rapport on television. When Taz told me he still had the belt, it was a perfect thing to add to the story I thought. And so, a couple weeks ago, when it came up, I really jumped on it. Once I found out he had it, and we were able to use it, I wanted to make it a part of the story. I wouldn’t have done it without his blessing. I mean, he’s the one who told me he had it. So once he said he still had possession of it, and I checked, and we’re cleared to use it, then, at that point, I was like, ‘This is, to me, almost like a no brainer. It adds so much to the story, to the presentation of Brian. It’s so much credibility, the FTW title.’ I grew up watching ECW, as you know, and that belt meant a lot. Even though it’s not a recognized championship, when it was defended, or when you saw it, it felt like it was part of the presentation of Taz as one of the top wrestlers in the sport. And I think it can be the same thing for Brian Cage. So I was really excited about it, as soon as Taz told me he still had that belt, and then when I realized that we could use it. It was a few weeks ago.”
** Tetsuya Naito is releasing an autobiography on August 19th, 2020. In the book, Naito covers the start of Los Ingobernables de Japon, the New Japan Cup, becoming the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion and the ambition he had to become double champion.
** Diamond Dallas Page released an informative video about his family’s battle with COVID-19 and he also claimed that QT Marshall tested positive for COVID.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn6sLZCONhQ[/embedyt]
** The 2010 WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view was the focus of the latest ARN podcast. Conrad brought up how during this time period, Vince McMahon didn’t want his talents using chops because it would cause the crowd to “woo”, which is a signature of Ric Flair who was with TNA Wrestling at the time.
“Well, to this day, people are woo’ing, and they’re woo’ing on TV shows that doesn’t even warrant a woo or have anything to do with wrestling, you know? It’s just one of those things that stuck. Chops have always been part of the business and just to suddenly, when so many guys use them — okay, it’s a tribute to Flair, okay. But if it’s part of a guy’s offense, I mean how do you take that away from him because they pop for a guy that works for a different company or may not work for any company? It’s just real discombobulated to me,” Arn Anderson said.
** Pro Wrestling ZERO1 announced a new system under their umbrella entitled ‘Daiko ZERO1 Co., Ltd.’, which will be managed by Daiko Holdings Group Co., Ltd. At the press conference, Aja Kong was appointed the President of “Super Fireworks Pro Wrestling”. Proresu Today has highlights up of the press conference that Kong spoke at and here’s what she had to say about her new position and the launch of the new women’s wrestling project:
“I also did a plasma bomb in February and [I] am a player of the OZ Academy, but I think this is worth the rest of my life. At that time, I declared that, ‘If there is something that overlaps OZ and super-fireworks, I will be an interesting person,’ and when I hear this interview, I feel honestly frustrated. And I also thought about various things. Is super-fireworks absolutely called another brand of ZERO1 until now? I think there was a place where ZERO1 seems to be another thing, but I also belong to it. This is the result of my various thoughts as I decided to go as a chitin, so I took the lead today as President of Super Fireworks Pro Wrestling. I really don’t like super fireworks, so I would like to make Super Fireworks a brand that surpasses ZERO 1.”
** Here’s episode 42 of AEW Dark:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryh_qWfZx8w[/embedyt]
** AAW promoter Danny Daniels provided an update on when the promotion will be running shows again via a post on the promotion’s social media channels. Daniels stated that an announcement will be coming soon regarding their next potential show. The Chicago area currently has strict guidelines and precautions about shows taking place in the area. Daniels informed viewers to stick to AAW’s social media channels for more information about when they’re next show could take place. AAW’s last show was ‘The Art Of War’ in February at Logan Square Auditorium.
** Brillio, a leading digital technology consulting and solutions company announced that Alan M. Wexler is joining the company’s Board of Directors. Alex currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for WWE.
** Sonny Kiss sat down with Bleacher Report Live for an exclusive interview and Sonny shared that he and Joey Janela were scheduled to debut as a team at AEW’s Newark, New Jersey show which was billed as “Blood & Guts”.
“Well actually it was supposed to happen in Newark. Unfortunately, obviously due to our current climate that wasn’t able to happen but I think just over time, I think that it was like, ‘We’re still gonna make that happen’ just because we have a very authentic, genuine connection. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the vignette but all of that stuff is just who we are. That’s us so there wasn’t anything about it that was fabricated. There was nothing that was fake. It was completely just us being us and it just works so…”
** New York Post published their interview with AEW President Tony Khan. Khan was asked to elaborate on the suspensions given to both Jimmy Havoc and Sammy Guevara respectively. Specifically speaking about Sammy, Khan stated that had anybody in the company brought that clip to his attention earlier, he would’ve already addressed it but no one was aware of it until it surfaced as far as he knows.
“I suspended them both. Very different situations. I just needed to address both. We are addressing both. I think Jimmy really needed the counseling. If and when he were to wrestle again, the most important thing for himself and everybody here is that he sought treatment and counseling. When he asked for that help, we’re gonna help him.
With Sammy, I think the right thing to do was to suspend him. The comments he made were horrible. I can’t defend them. I can’t even comment on them because they’re unspeakably bad. He has also done a different kind of counseling and he’s in a different kind of counseling and it’s a different kind of coaching. Everybody here, male and female pretty much up and down the roster we talked to felt like Sammy had no history of this kind of behavior. Really people were shocked Sammy had said that.
Certainly, it’s an old clip. I think the video was four years old. I had never seen that video and it’s something I would have addressed with him before Sammy started here. I never had an opportunity to address it because I didn’t know it existed and neither did anybody else or if they did nobody told us. For both of them, we really needed to address the situation before talking about what to do in the future afterward.
I didn’t want to rush into making a decision on either person, so it felt like until I had all the facts suspending was the right thing to do. Then I could make whatever the right decision is. I knew the right decision wasn’t for those guys to just come to TV and not address this stuff.”
Tony Khan spoke highly of Brian Cage. Khan mentioned how Cage was one of the first guys he envisioned being in AEW and talked about how impressed he is by Cage’s move-set and speed.
“Two years ago at this time, Brian Cage I would say outside the group that was then members of the Bullet Club — you could call it expanded Elite — outside of that core group of guys, I’d say Brian Cage was one of my Mount Rushmore people I really wanted to sign in AEW two years ago when I was first putting together this plan.
I like Brian’s combination of physicality, obviously looks like a beastly pro wrestler and he’s a huge, huge dominant powerful person, but also great athlete. Brian’s got a move-set like, he’s something out of a video game you don’t really see in real life very often, if ever. Somebody that looks like Brian and has the athleticism and can do not only a variety of power moves in the ring but is also something of a high-flyer. Which is pretty amazing to see for a guy his size.
Brian really has a lot of charisma personally. I also think Taz adds a lot to the presentation because Taz is one of the great promos of all-time. I think there is a real synergy between them. They look great together.”
At the conclusion of the interview, Khan was asked about PAC being in England and not being able to appear on Dynamite. Khan added that he misses PAC but doesn’t think viewers will be seeing him until the travel situation is comfortable for the individual who has to do the traveling.
“I really miss PAC a lot. Right now the border is not a great situation. As I understand it, if he were to go back to England, if he were to come here and he was able to get in, do a quarantine after travel then he would also, when he tried to go home, he’d be in a two-week quarantine before he could do anything. So it just doesn’t seem like a sustainable situation right now because PAC lives in England, so until travel is sustainable and he could do what he used to do, which is come here and stay and do a few shows and then go back to England and really commute across the Atlantic, it’s very challenging right now. Until it becomes safe to travel back and forth for PAC to make those trips internationally, until the border is really ready, I don’t think we can rush him back even though we’d love to have him.”
** Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT chatted with AEW Co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes. During their conversation, Cody further elaborated on the brief conversations that were held between AEW and CM Punk and how things unfolded on social media.
“I like Konnan a lot. He’s kind of my AAA buddy. He’s a really smart, smart guy. I wish I could spend a little more time with Konnan – I know I’m waxing poetic on Konnan here but I think he’s a really great guy. As far as the CM Punk negotiations go, everyone heard the famous ‘he got a text from us’. Yeah, of course there were negotiations and he did ask for a great amount of money and Punk is worth a great deal of money. But you also have to – and this isn’t speaking to Punk specifically, this is speaking to recruitment and what we’ve learned in wrestling in general – a lot of people think, ‘These wrestlers are running this wrestling company. These wrestlers are doing everything they can to run the creative, the brand and the marketing and things,’ but there are some very smart and fiscally conservative people who surround us and flank us because this isn’t my money. At all. And I don’t want a situation that happened with WCW or Jim Crockett promotions where we think we’re flying so high that we can do anything. No – this is a business. And we have to turn a profit.
The fact we were able to turn a profit as a company within only two years of being alive, very few other companies within wrestling – it’s real limited, you can count on one hand who’s been able to do that versus who has bled money – but in that situation the negotiations, I don’t think they ever got too serious. Doesn’t mean they won’t one day, but they never got entirely too serious. I think there is a good relationship there. I think I have a good relationship with Phil, I believe Tony does too and I’m not sure really when it comes to him, it’s not so much about the money. It’s about are you interested in doing this? Because the price tag becomes a lot more justifiable if you’re genuinely interested in what we’re doing at the high speed we’re doing it. And again, that’s not even specific to him, just in general, if the passion is not there, the money is not there.”
** Conrad Thompson got Eric Bischoff and Tony Khan together for an hour-plus conversation that’s up on the All Elite Wrestling YouTube channel. Bischoff shared that while he was in WWE, he and fellow members of the writing team would watch AEW and NXT side-by-side.
“One of the things that I think has distinguished your show from anybody else’s, even when I was in WWE last year when you guys debuted, I sat and watched both shows side-by-side. NXT and AEW and clearly I was working in WWE at the time and I was actually watching it in a writer’s conference room with a bunch of other writers and one of the first things I noticed was that you’re handling your production so much better. When I watch your show, even under COVID — that was pre-COVID obviously but even under COVID, the way you’re shooting your show, it’s tighter, your shots tend to be tighter, you embrace your venue as opposed to trying to camouflage it quite as much. It feels — and I said this like the next day. Somebody, somebody! If you can imagine, said, ‘What did you think?’ I told him what I thought. Your show feels more like live TV to me because it has that grit — don’t take this the wrong way, please. I mean this is as a compliment, but your show feels gritty enough to convince me it’s live, and you don’t strive to be so perfect that you lose that sense of live energy.”
Following that conversation while discussing TV deals, Tony Khan revealed that initially, TNT executives were interested in WWE’s TV rights in 2018.
** AIW promoter John Thorne issued the following statement to PWInsider about where his promotion stands as far as running events again in the state of Ohio:
“The Ohio Athletic Commission met today to discuss combat sports moving forward in Ohio and upheld their decision from last month that events will not be permitted at this time. They are awaiting guidance from the Ohio Department of Health as they determine what the protocols will be for other sports specifically high school football and if those sports will happen before there is any movement forward for pro wrestling in Ohio. We specifically asked about doing an event with no fans in attendance that we could stream and they denied that request as they feel the competitors would be at risk.
Unfortunately it seems we are going to be forced to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks as it would appear AIW events are not returning any time soon in the state of Ohio. We are going to continue to try to raise money through merchandise sales and our patreon to keep the company alive and operational. It is our hope we can make minimal adjustments and continue to weather the storm as this continues, we did not anticipate 6+ months of no events and very little income coming in so we will be evaluating all aspects of our business to see where we can save some money.
I will not get into the specific details of of our monthly expenses but they do exist and we have been burning through our “rainy day” fund that we built up over the years these last 6 months and things are starting to get dire. If you would like any of the merchandise listed below please respond to this email.
With that said we have not spent any of your money from tickets purchased if you did not request a refund for any of our postponed events and that is still available for those who would like their money back. You can request your refund through Eventbrite and it will be processed this week.
This is a very difficult email to write to all of you and I do not want you to think I am giving up I just like to be as transparent as possible with everyone and this situation continues to be discouraging as the months go on. We are still trying to find ways to hold the events that are currently postponed and will be exploring possibilities over these next few weeks on how and if we can resume AIW.
Thank you as always,
John Thorne”
** NXT’s Tegan Nox spoke with Alicia Atout of ‘A Music Blog, Yea?’ ahead of her NXT Women’s Title match on 7/15.
** WWE Champion Drew McIntyre chatted with New York Post to promote the forthcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view. McIntyre spoke about his words via Twitter that were directed at Conor McGregor. McIntyre made fun of McGregor swinging on an elderly man last Summer and the man “barely flinching” when hit by Conor.
“Outside the fact that I’m WWE champion during a pandemic era and I try to cause a little buzz whenever I can, that’s a big mission of mine to get eyes on the product. I also notice a lot of people talk a big game and think they can just walk into WWE. I get why.
There is a lot of money to be made, but if you don’t have a passion for it, you don’t have a genuine love for it, we don’t want you. Unless you are willing to put in the effort, like Ronda Rousey, who had a genuine passion and was so successful because of it. Then I get a little bit frustrated when people just think they can walk on in the door. He put my title on his shoulders, the PR team mentioned Vince’s name. Yeah, I thought I’d throw a little jab at him. The fact that he did punch an older gentleman in a bar (last August) and the guy barely flinched. I assure you, if he punched Vince McMahon he’s gonna floor you. So I recommended he stick to whiskey McTapper.
I don’t hold back my punches, but if he’s willing to come in with the right opportunity for him and he puts in the work, he’s such a huge star, it would put more eyes on the product and at the same time it would put eyes on our other superstars.
So. I’m all about it if it’s the right situation, but they got to have that genuine passion and not just put things out like they are gonna waltz right in. Maybe contact WWE and have a private conversation. Don’t just think you’re gonna walk in the door.”
McIntyre also made it clear that he is looking forward to mixing it up with Randy Orton in the future. McIntyre said Orton is “on fire right now” and discussed some of the differences between himself and Orton during their younger days in WWE.
“He’s on fire right now, he’s firing on all cylinders. He’s giving it everything and he’s operating on another level and the true, true bad guy as well and being someone with so much equity, so established and so good, he’d bring up anybody. And for myself, I feel like if I’m the Batman and I’m kind of messing up all the top villains in Gotham City up until now, again things are going pretty well. Batman is my example because he’s kind of a flawed individual just trying to fight for right. But he’s my Joker.
I think there is such a compelling story there, besides pulling me up perhaps in-ring wise and teaching me some lessons, working up to the level he’s at promo wise, just the story behind Randy and I. The paths we’ve taken both being so young and being chosen ones and he would mess up all the time. I’d mess up quite a lot. He was on another level talent wise, but also he was so protected. He had so many people cleaning up his mess as he walked along. Whenever he screwed up there were always people trying to defend and protect him and make sure he made it. On the other side, I necessarily didn’t have that.
I was put off TV. Then I was in 3MB. Then I was fired. Again, my doing. But people were very much trying to make sure Randy was protected.”
On the topic of his ‘WWE 24’ documentary that’ll be released in the near future, McIntyre said it’ll include footage from when he was 22-years old up to his WWE Title win at WrestleMania 36.
** AEW President Tony Khan interviewed with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated.
** Tom Lawlor is debuting for New Japan Pro-Wrestling against Rocky Romero this coming Friday during the Lion’s Break Collision show.
** A new WWE ‘Day Of’ documentary will premiere on the WWE Network this Friday that’ll be focused around the 2020 Backlash pay-per-view.
** Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven was a guest on The Lewis Nicholls Show. Back in February, Raven appeared on an episode of AEW Dynamite in Atlanta. During the interview, Raven explained his cameo appearance on the show and stated that he would’ve liked to work with AEW in a larger role.
“I live in Atlanta. That’s where the show was and I came by to say hi to a bunch of people and so they asked me if I would be a red herring for a cameo, you know? Sure. A, I don’t mind but B, what am I gonna say no? That’s just disrespectful. Plus, if it helped them out, it was fine. But I would’ve liked to work with them some more but, they… they basically have what they need as far as where my skills are utilized best, you know? Like in creative, they have their creative. They have a system and it works for them so, that’s great.”
Elsewhere during he and Lewis’ chat, Raven claimed to have invented the triple suplex, also known as the “Three Amigos”, as made famous by the late WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero.
“And it’s funny. Like, there’s moves I’ve given away like the — what is it? The Three Amigos by Eddie Guerrero? Yeah I invented that, gave it to Simon Diamond and then Eddie got it from Simon Diamond.”
** RAW Tag Team Champion Montez Ford spoke with Inside The Ropes and expressed his gratitude to Paul Heyman for being helpful to he and Angelo Dawkins when they made the move to RAW from NXT.
“Paul Heyman, first off I would like to say I owe Paul Heyman my freaking life man. I know both [me and Dawkins] collectively owe him pretty much our life. He’s always been there since day one. I remember specifically the first time we encountered with Paul Heyman and him just giving us a wealth of knowledge and I remember when we first debuted on Monday Night RAW, he was the — I remember specifically he was the first person that came and found us and talked to us and just pretty much took us under his wing and there’s so much I can say and describe but he’s given us a whole bunch of stuff and he’s pretty much been there the whole way and gave us a lot of motivation man, insight and you guys know. Getting any type of insight or anything from Paul Heyman is… it’s golden so, just in short term I can say that and I’m just privileged to know and to have worked with him in the time period that we did.”
** ‘Chronicle Live’ ran a story about what Premier League’s ‘Newcastle United’ could learn from WWE’s business relationship with Saudi Arabia.
** Former 5-time TNA Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne guest appeared on the Sitting Ringside with David Penzer podcast. Rayne was asked about the possibility of being inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall Of Fame and she admitted that it’s something she thinks about.
“I mean I do [think about it], and I think that I am very humble and gracious and I don’t demand things or ask for things that I don’t think I’ve earned, and I’m not saying I’ve earned my place in the Hall Of Fame but I do feel that I’ve given a lot of years and a lot of bumps and some really good years of my life to this company and they’ve given so much back to me so, I would say that we’re even if I’m not still indebted to them but, would it be nice to be told, ‘Hey, this year we’re gonna induct you into the Hall Of Fame.’ Absolutely. Like, I would be honored to be in that list of names in the IMPACT Hall Of Fame for sure.”
Madison reflected on her WWE tryout from 2017. She said that behind childbirth, that tryout was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do and also talked about the negative feedback she got from those who questioned why she would need to attend a tryout because of her years of experience on television.
“There was a time in 2017 when the company [IMPACT Wrestling] and I parted ways, and I think that the timing of that was perfect because shortly after my leaving IMPACT, I was invited down to the Performance Center in Orlando for a tryout with WWE, and I heard so many negative comments about, ‘You’ve been on TV for so many years. Why are you doing a tryout?’ For me, that was the coolest thing ever to be able to go down there and experience what the very beginning of that machine is, like in their developmental territory and also to test myself and push myself to those limits because that’s not a, ‘Get in the ring. Show me what you can do in five minutes’ type of tryout. That was a days long, extensive, ‘We’re gonna push you to your physical max and then we’re gonna try and push you a little bit more,’ and I said in interviews that I did in the weeks after that tryout that second-only to maybe childbirth, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was intense, but it was such an awesome experience. I have never been more sore in my wrestling career I don’t think then the day I flew home from that tryout…”
** Here’s the premiere episode of the R-Truth Game Show featuring Alexa Bliss and Sheamus:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLD7VLxX5CQ[/embedyt]
** Drew McIntyre chatted with Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald. McIntyre shared high praise for the pairing of Bobby Lashley and MVP. McIntyre compared them to a more impactful version of Mike Tyson and Don King.
“MVP is phenomenal on the microphone, and the pairing of Lashley and MVP is absolutely perfect. It’s something that’s been talked about, even between the three of us, as something, ‘Well how cool would this be’ — in the past — to actually see it happen, which was really cool. I think Lashley’s somebody who for a long time should’ve been in the main event. Obviously was a part of that storyline and I always say, WWE has a little bit of something for everybody. Just a smorgasbord of different entertainment and cool, different storylines. Like the one he was entering, I don’t really know the details about it. I don’t think Bobby Lashley is somebody that should be in that. I think he’s somebody who should be in the top contention for the top titles and perhaps his speaking game which I think is good. If that was the one thing holding him back, who’s better than MVP? And he’s not just a manager, he’s not just a mouthpiece like a Lio Rush or whatever. He’s somebody, his entire success in the ring. He’s still able to compete in the ring which he is right now. It’s more of a tag team than him talking up Bobby Lashley is like, I don’t know. Like Don King-Tyson, except Don King is actually a badass himself, but it’s a lethal combination and I think those two together are perfect.”
** Faye Jackson was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast.
** AEW commentator Jim Ross consistently does a guest spot on CBS Sports Radio where he discusses college and pro football and basketball etc. Ross recently talked about the Black Lives Matter movement while on the topic of the Washington Redskins being in the process of changing their team name and here’s what Ross had to say:
“I’m very sensitive [to this]. I do believe that Black Lives Matter. I believe in equality for all human beings. We’re all God’s children. He made everything. I don’t think God makes any junk. I’m a big believer that we should treat everybody fair. It’s a sensitive question, but it’s time for all of us to change in that respect. A lot of things are changing that are traditional, and a lot of people – especially older people in my age group – don’t want to change. They want to resist change. I don’t understand the resistance to wearing a mask or any of those things, but I think Snyder is doing a good thing.”
** The Minnesota-based F1RST Wrestling promotion has cancelled their July 23rd, September 19th and October 15th shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
** Georgia Smith, daughter of “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith Sr., did an interview with Wrestling Inc. and she spoke about touching base with Oje Hart, son of Owen and Martha Hart and getting his thoughts about WWE inducting British Bulldog into their Hall Of Fame.
“I’m close to Oje, Martha and Owen’s son. We talk back and forth. He voiced his opinions about it. I asked him one time what the plan was and if they were going to do it. He said no and his reasons. He explained his reasons as you saw in the ‘Dark Side of the Ring.’ I feel like that is up to Martha and Oje. It’s their call. If they don’t want to do it, then people need to respect that.”
Continuing on the topic of WWE, Georgia stated that she would one day like to work with the sports-entertainment company and she also reflected on her time working with MLW.
“I had a lot of fun working in MLW. I loved working with Harry and Teddy and Brian Pillman Jr. I met a lot of cool friends there. It was fun traveling with my family and getting experience on TV because as you know I got my degree in broadcasting. I enjoyed it.
Where I’m looking in the future for it, I’d love to eventually work for WWE. At this time, I don’t know if that will happen with everything going on and what the future holds. I want to keep doing what I’m doing for my dad. It’s a labor of love for me. I love waking up and doing his social media and making people happy. It makes me happy. It’s a healing process. I would like to continue to grow my dad’s legacy and brand. I feel this isn’t it for my dad. I feel like there are different avenues and things that should be done for him.”
** FOX News covered the arrest of Tammy “Sunny” Sytch. The news of Sytch’s arrest was first reported by PWInsider on 7/13.
** TV Insider ran their interview with Sonny Kiss ahead of his TNT Title match against Cody at Fight For The Fallen.
** On the latest installment of Booker T and Brad Gilmore’s ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, Booker talked about Keith Lee becoming NXT Champion at NXT Great American Bash. Booker and Gilmore also discussed the possibility of an Evolution II pay-per-view and shared that they’d like to see Tessa Blanchard appear at the event if it does happen.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmgR0seHr7w[/embedyt]
** Thunder Rosa joined the Sports Guys Talking Wrestling podcast to chat about her ‘Mission Pro Wrestling’ promotion.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPMgsVSEFPc[/embedyt]
** LSG spoke with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp in-depth about the video game being put together by Virtual Basement.
** The ‘Mahoning Drive-Thru’ theater in Lehighton, Pennsylvania are showing movies that are wrestling-themed in August. More information about the films that’ll air that weekend can be found here.
** Per an article from ‘Variety’, on NBCUniversal’s ‘Peacock’ streaming service, there will be more than 100 hours of WWE-related content on the service such as ‘WWE Untold’, Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions and compilations like ‘John Cena’s Best WrestleMania Matches’.
** The season finale of ‘Dalton’s Castle’ is up on the Ring of Honor YouTube channel.
** Here’s AEW’s Road to Fight For The Fallen hype video:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqAs6PmhYus[/embedyt]
** NJPW1972.com uploaded part two of their interview with SHO. SHO is of the mindset of having the G1 Climax and Best of the Super Juniors tournaments take place at the same time, with fans having the power to vote which matches main event each night.
** Referee Todd Sinclair was the most recent guest on the ROHStrong podcast.
** Warrior Wrestling is returning on August 7th for their ‘Friday Night Lights’ show starring Brian Pillman Jr., Brian Cage and The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel).
** The finals of the ‘Best Rivalry in ROH History’ bracket is up for voting on ROHWrestling.com. It came down to Kevin Steen vs. El Generico and Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk.
** Former WWE writer Michael Notarile was the most recent guest on New Day’s Feel The Power podcast.
** Bully Ray turned 49-years old on 7/14 and Jeff Jarrett turned 53-years old on 7/14.
** The Ringer has a review up of the ‘Money Plane’ film starring Edge (Adam Copeland).
** The latest installment of Tama Tonga’s ‘Tama’s Island’ podcast covers the recent shift within Bullet Club with Dick Togo joining the group and EVIL becoming IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion.
** Mayu Iwatani is going live on the STARDOM YouTube channel on July 15th.
** Sonny Kiss was a guest on The Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz.
** Here’s the newest upload to the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_mmb21deBA[/embedyt]
** Beth Phoenix is joining the guest lineup for the 7/15 edition of WWE’s The Bump.
** Ahead of her IMPACT Knockouts Title match at Slammiversary, Deonna Purrazzo spoke with Steel Chair Magazine.
** The Hannibal TV has an interview with former Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC Tag Team Champion René Duprée.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmdbjfUDUXQ[/embedyt]
** While speaking with ‘Wide World of Sports’, Rhea Ripley spoke highly of NXT talent and fellow Aussie, Daniel Vidot.
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.
