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.
** WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon joined the Sports Innovation Lab Fluid Fan Podcast. McMahon spoke about the virtual concepts and ideas that WWE has experimented with this year, including having fans watch events together virtually as a part of the show and that was an experiment that did not receive positive feedback.
“We’ve experimented with various technology. We actually tested before WrestleMania having our fans virtually as a part of the show, and in the focus group that we did, some of the feedback was, ‘You know, we don’t really wanna see each other. So, we don’t love this experience right now’ and so at that point in time, we scrapped that and we pulled it back.”
** MVP joined former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide on the ‘Say Less with Kaz And Lowkey’ podcast. MVP was asked is he interested in creating a new version of the Nation of Domination with himself, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin. MVP stated that he has no interest in that and is focused on establishing that he, Benjamin and Lashley can be strong black men, role models and focus on the goal of holding championships and making money.
“No, no, short answer is no, because I’ve been hearing the chatter and I’ve been seeing that and I don’t wanna do the new anything. The Nation was done, it was awesome in the time that it was done. It was needed, stars were made. I don’t wanna rehash something else, I wanna bring something new, and I don’t necessarily, in our approach to The Hurt Business, me and Bobby, as you know are legitimate friends away from wrestling. We boys. Shelton is one of my closest friends. I just like making money with my friends, you know what I’m saying? And I see young, talented guys — I asked to worked with Apollo. I said, ‘Give me him, let me work with him. I know we can get it out of him.’ He’s got it, he’s tremendously talented. He just needs a little coaxing, he just needs a little help, some understanding and me and Apollo, we’ll work on things together, we’ll have conversations before certain segments and he’s coachable. That’s why he’s been successful. Now I’ve always wanted to work with Ricochet. Ricochet has been one of my favorite dudes for years. I used to tell him, ‘If you could talk like you wrestle, you’d be a millionaire.’ I used to tell him that all the time and now, unfortunately I also tell him all the time now, ‘At this stage of my career, I can’t have the kind of match that I’d like to have with you, but we can still have a great match just because of my veteranship and understanding of how things go’ but, I have no interest in rehashing the Nation of Domination and while I do wanna present myself and Bobby and Shelton as strong black role models, successful, we’re businessmen. We’re not trying to make a statement on race. We’re trying to just make a statement, and in our case, what we’re trying to do, it’s not about black or white, it’s about gold and green, and at that point, I love the fact that there are young men of color that can watch us and go, ‘Oh, I wanna be like them’ because when I was a kid, I used to wanna be like Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas. ‘Man, when I grow up, I wanna look like that. I wanna be like them.’”
MVP spoke about Paul Heyman during the interview and Heyman’s use of talents of color during his tenure as Executive Director of RAW. MVP stated that if one were to ask Heyman about that, he’d state that he was just using the cards he was dealt and putting the best talents he had in prime positions.
“I hear some of the social media chatter about uplifting black talents in wrestling and you have some people that say, ‘Oh they don’t do anything with black talent,’ and then certain black talent will win a championship and then those same people go, ‘You’re just giving them that because of whatever.’ But dude, how do you want it man? You want black champions and black talents uplifted but then when they do, your response is, ‘Oh well you’re just doing this because of’ blah, blah, blah. I don’t give a f*ck why they’re doing it, they’re doing it and let’s have more of that, and to [Paul] Heyman’s credit, if you ask him, ‘Aye man, how come you had all these people of color in these positions?’ His answer straight up was, ‘Man, I looked at the hand I’m dealt and I played my best cards. I didn’t go with people of color, I went with the best talented people that I could use in those situations.’”
** Sarah Logan appeared on D-Von Dudley’s ‘Table Talk’ podcast and was also joined by Ruby Riott. Logan stated that she’s not retired from pro wrestling and is sure one day she’ll be back. As for the immediate future, she wants to focus solely on being a mother to she and Erik (Ray) Rowe’s child.
“So, no one retires from professional wrestling. I never said I was retired but no one retires. Like Ric Flair can’t even retire, D-Von can’t retire. No one retires.
And so, I’m sure one day I will come back to wrestling but, I feel like I’ve been saying this quote out of the wazoo, but I’ve only been wrestling since I was about 17-years old, only, and when you specialize in something like I specialize in wrestling, you only show a quarter of who you are, like a fraction of who you are. So like, I’m really enjoying starting my farm and getting this YouTube thing together and I have some stuff within the hunting and outdoor community like really releasing soon-ish I’m really excited about and I’m exploring. So far [while] I’ve been pregnant, I’ve hunted hogs, I’m going on a bear hunt on my birthday. I got some whitetail hunts I’m going on. Like, I’m just gonna be this bad ass mom for a while and I’m just trying to wear that crown for a little bit. I’m sure I’m gonna get back to wrestling. It’s something that I grew up on, it’s something that’s in my blood and I will definitely come back but, I grew up in a house where my dad was always at work and so was my mom because they were supporting us and we had a poor family so my family was constantly working so, if I can just give my child the most stable life I can and introduce wrestling in there — I want that Beth Phoenix/Edge life is what I want.”
** Ring of Honor’s Kenny King was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. King was candid and explained in detail about the portrayal of black characters in pro wrestling. King mentioned how black wrestlers are often times stereotyped and pigeon-holed while there are white wrestlers who are allowed to have fully fleshed out, three dimensional characters.
“Well, I think — and it’s part of the roundtable and I said this during the roundtable and I’ll say it again. This is a conversation I had with Vince Russo about black talent and he asked me, ‘Why do you feel there’s been a lack of top tier black talent?’ And I said, ‘The finger goes directly at you Vince. It’s people like yourself who write the shows and you only write black talent from your perspective which is either gangsters or hustlers or pimps or these caricatures,’ right? When you look at Triple H, you look at Randy Orton, these are three dimensional fully fleshed out characters. Triple H can be the Cerebral Assassin, he can be The Game. He can be all these different things which allows you to say, ‘Damn, Triple H can be this main event talent because look how many layers he has.’ When you look at R-Truth who raps and… and if you know Ron Killings like I know Ron Killings, Ron Killings has multiple layers. There’s multiple more interesting things to Ron Killings than R-Truth, the rapper, dapper, dapper guy but we don’t never get to see that, we don’t get to connect with Ron on that level that we need to connect with him on that level that we need to [with] a world champion. You have to connect emotionally. I have to wanna care for your well being if I wanna see you as world champion or vice versa, depending on how it fits. But, if you’re not fully fleshed out, if my character — if I haven’t been allowed to show you all the things about myself that you need to care about or hate me, then that’s why these things fall flat so, where pro wrestling can continue the bridge in the conversation is in that case, right? And they’ve done it in certain cases but you know, why is Titus O’Neil’s — he’s a wonderful father and he’s this wonderful family man but that’s just his off-camera persona, and all these other things. Let’s start giving more detail and depth I think… and this is not just black people. Hispanics are stereotyped as Ese’s and Asians are always Ku Fung masters and all this same nonsense that happens over and over and over so, if we can just give these people characters. ‘This is Ron, and he raps but he also does this and he’s also this other stuff.’ Then I think, wrestling kinda mimics society so if we stop seeing black people as gangsters and thugs in wrestling culture, maybe we’ll stop seeing them as gangsters and thugs in regular culture. All of this kinda subliminal messaging, it all just kinda bounces off one another.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Kenny King mentioned that Jay Lethal was Kofi Kingston before Kofi Kingston. He was asked to elaborate on that and talked about Jay Lethal’s lineage of world title wins dating back to 2011.
“Well, Jay Lethal was a world champion, was Ring of Honor World Champion in I don’t know, 2011? Maybe 2012, right? And he was a double champ. He held both the top singles championships. So what I mean by that is, when people justly give Kofi his due for being the first black champion in World Wrestling Entertainment history and that’s a huge, huge thing of itself, Jay Lethal was doing it in Ring of Honor. I wouldn’t say to little fanfare but it was to less fanfare as Kofi Kingston got and it was just as — Ring of Honor’s never had an issue with that. Xavier was the first Ring of Honor World Champion and he was… I think Xavier’s Puerto Rican, or he’s someone of color so it’s not one of those situations [where] we’ve had to go back years and years in the history books to find anything like that. You know, it’s kinda been the culture.”
** NJPW1972.com published Master Wato’s first interview since his return from excursion in Mexico.
** PROGRESS Wrestling posted an update on their standing as a promotion coming off the heels of the #SpeakingOut movement. It’s noted in the article written on the official PROGRESS website that the promotion is continuing to support those who have spoken out and continue to speak out. Jon Briley is now the sole owner of PROGRESS and he has organized mental health counseling for talents. Jon Briley is currently on hiatus due to an ongoing health condition. Company operations will be overseen by James Amner. Lucy Cave will be overseeing safeguarding and digital communications. To read the full update, click here.
** BT Sport uploaded a clip to their YouTube channel of Big E and Kofi Kingston talking about police brutality in America against black women and men.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPELg8dWQlk[/embedyt]
** Alicia Atout chatted with Natalya for an exclusive interview. During their chat, Natalya spoke highly of Lana and what Lana brings to the table as an in-ring performer. Nattie stated that Lana is one of the greatest untapped female talents in WWE.
“And I feel like people don’t understand how good Lana actually is, especially in the ring. You’ve only seen a little bit of what she can do because she’s been a manager for so long. I truly think that once Lana gets her sea legs and people can actually see her compete in the ring, I actually feel like we’re gonna be tag team champions. I feel like we can take on Sasha [Banks] and Bayley for the Women’s Tag Team Championships and I think Lana is, and I’m gonna stand by this. I think she’s one of the greatest, untapped female talents in WWE that you haven’t even seen that in-ring side of her.”
** Davey Boy Smith Jr. spoke to Wrestling Inc. and told the publication that his contract with Major League Wrestling expires this December. He was hopeful that MLW could run shows with no fans and make talents take COVID tests but the organization is not running. Smith added that he’s unsure if MLW will be able to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If there was a happy medium where MLW could run shows in an empty arena with no fans and people getting COVID testing, I think that would be the right approach…Unfortunately, they don’t pay talent when they are sitting at home bored out of their mind, which isn’t good either. My deal is up with them in December. They’ve reached out to me about renewing my deal.
The only problem is renewing a deal when you don’t know if the company is running again. With all due respect and what I think with what is all going on right now, I think what we’re looking at is the new [normal] for a while for the next year to 18 months.
We keep seeing these waves of COVID, so I hope MLW can come back. It would be great for me to fulfill my commitment to them in October and December. If they’re back on TV, and back rolling. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances from COVID-19 in their situation. You take a look at these small businesses. They’re all down and not coming back from this. I hope MLW comes back. That would be great. At the same time I’m unsure about that.”
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Davey Boy Smith Jr. was gearing up to head to All Japan Pro Wrestling for their 2020 Champion Carnival tournament. He was also looking forward to possibly starting a feud with MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu. Smith Jr. went back to the topic of his contract with MLW and said that he did have his eyes on NXT UK.
“That’s what I had in mind and think what we were leading to was a feud with Jacob Fatu and myself. That’s why I wanted to learn how to do the moonsault because that was Jacob Fatu’s move. I thought we could have a moonsault versus moonsault battle and a good heavyweight style match. I remember Davey and Fatu had some good matches with the matches with the Bulldogs and the Islanders. I thought we could reinvent something for now.
Then when my MLW contract comes up in December, see if it was good to go in that direction or see if WWE, NXT UK would be a good option. Unfortunately, due to COVID there is no WWE NXT UK [right now]. That was what the plan was. My plan going forward is everything is up in the air because of COVID-19.”
Smith Jr.’s father, The British Bulldog was set to be a part of the 2020 WWE Hall Of Fame class. The last that Smith Jr. heard was that the ceremony was going to take place SummerSlam weekend but the ceremony has been pushed back yet again.
“With my dad going into the WWE Hall of Fame, we don’t know when that is going to happen. The last thing was they were pushing for SummerSlam,” he said of the Hall of Fame ceremony planning. “Now they are pushing that back. Things keep getting pushed back. That’s why I’m hoping MLW is able to survive this. I have my doubts for a lot of companies. It’s going to be a long time. We’re in a marathon, not a race here.”
** Matt Riddle was the most recent guest on WWE’s After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves. Riddle was asked about his recent series of matches with AJ Styles and reflected on what he’s done thus far on SmackDown. Riddle stated that he’s always looking to improve and also addressed those who felt that WWE would “ruin” him when he was called up from NXT.
“My mind is always more work to do. I can always improve, it could always be better and so is AJ [Styles], that’s why he’s as good as he is because after our match, we’re already talking about how we can make anything better and even after the last match it’s the same thing. But for me, I was just really happy, because people, the amount of trash people talk and that’s just what it is. It’s our era, trash. People talk trash. But, the amount of people like, ‘Aw, why? Why would he be called up? They’re gonna ruin him.’ This, that and the other thing. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and I was just like, ‘You guys just don’t get it. Nobody’s gonna ruin me. I wouldn’t go up if you were gonna ruin me’ and I was like, ‘Hey’ — I don’t care about money. I don’t. I’ll live on the streets, I don’t care. It’s like, but I want certain things a certain way and I respect you, respect me. It’s just one of those things and I think honestly, people might say, ‘Oh that’s stupid. It’s always about the money.’ It’s like no. If you become a legend, the money comes. So it’s like, I’m not about money, I’m about my status. I’m about where we all are and I told ‘em, ‘We’re about making you money.’ I’m never gonna ask for more than I’m worth, but at the same time, I know what I’m worth and he knows that. I think that’s why everything’s been so good and things are only gonna get better.”
Riddle also spoke about working with Drew Gulak and how much he enjoys sharing the ring with guys who have similar styles such as Oney Lorcan and Timothy Thatcher.
“NXT’s awesome and I’ve wrestled Gulak in NXT but, wrestling Gulak on the [WWE] Network for EVOLVE, Gulak is one of those guys, and it’s other people like Tim Thatcher, Oney [Lorcan]. There’s other people on our roster — Cesaro — where you don’t need to say nothing, because this is gonna happen at one point. Trust me, there’s plenty of people. Now granted, there’s plenty of people that can do it but we honestly don’t get to work like that most of the time because we have times and it’s a job. That’s one thing I loved about the indies, ‘Do whatever. Kill it,’ you know? Awesome, and NXT is a lot like that where they’re just like, ‘Kill it.’ But wrestling guys like Gulak, it’s something about it. That’s the kind of wrestling I love and I don’t look at it as sports-entertainment even though it is pro wrestling. I look at it as sport wrestling, because it’s a sport. The pace we’re pushing, the work we’re putting in, the physicality. Any normal man gets in that ring, you’re gonna be jacked up for a while. This was a fight, be ready. But, you agree to it, you know? You know what you’re getting into and you respect one another for it, and people might be like, ‘Oh, this is weird.’ No, this is man stuff…”
** Natalya dedicated her latest article for the Ottawa Sun to Kairi Sane who finished up with WWE on July 20th and is returning to Japan.
** The full first episode of ‘Heels & Faces’ is up on Eva Marie’s Facebook page.
** Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall’s ‘Nightmare Factory’ wrestling school will host development camps for those looking to become pro wrestlers starting on September 21st.
** Bleacher Report spoke with Ric Flair while Flair was making the media rounds. Flair provided an update on Charlotte Flair who recently underwent successful surgery to fix complications deriving from breast implants. Ric stated that Charlotte is doing just fine but she is missing being a part of the WWE more and more everyday.
“She’s doing great, she of course is climbing the walls. I just got a text from her about a half-hour ago, ‘Dad, I’m going crazy.’ She is so intense and so invested in our business, in the product, in her work ethic. This surgery was something that had to take place. Personally, I wish she had done it earlier, but she would never ever leave without fulfilling what she felt she had to do. This was something that was bad. … Nobody made her stay, nobody did anything. She’s never going to ever be any less than 100 percent committed to the success of the company and her career and her involvement. She’s doing great, but she’s missing every second of it. She does not know how to turn it off. But that’s what makes her how great she is. She can have the greatest match in the world and she won’t rest on those laurels for one second.”
** Chris Van Vliet chatted with Eric Young recently. Young spoke about his departure from WWE and said that prior to him being released in April, he and Paul “Triple H” Levesque agreed on a plan for Young to return to NXT. Young added that he and Levesque have a good relationship with one another.
“This is gonna sound weird but actually, Triple H was the very first [to reach out]. He was unaware that it was happening. He’s in a different position in the company now. Me and him have always had a very good relationship and the original plan after WrestleMania was for me to go back to NXT. So we had been talking a lot about ideas and what might happen, this, that and the other and then when they said they were going to release talent, I knew for sure I was going to be on that list.”
Young reflected on a period of time during his run in TNA when his contract was about to expire. Young said that he approached Dusty Rhodes and let Rhodes know that by letting his contract expire, he was making a big mistake and after having his match that night, Young was met with a hug from Rhodes and confirmation that he was receiving a new contract.
“It’s Victory Road. It’s America’s Most Wanted and Team Canada. I think we’re the champions at the time, me and Bobby Roode and they beat us that night. There’s a lot of reasons. It’s an unbelievable tag match in my opinion. I think it was kind of the first match that where people were like, ‘Woah, Eric Young can go’ and there’s lots of reasons for that at that point. I had heard rumblings that my contract was expiring and they were not going to renew it and Dusty Rhodes was the man in charge of booking at that point and just before the match, I went up to him and I don’t think it was kind. It was definitely not kindly. It was very forcefully said. Like, ‘You’re not renewing my contract, it’s a giant mistake. I know you don’t watch everything but you need to watch this match and I’m going to show you why you’re making the biggest mistake of your life,’ and we went out and we definitely — they definitely helped me and Bobby — America’s Most Wanted — both at the time, help me showcase me in that match. Selling and stuff. Basically just me getting my ass kicked. But when I said that to Dusty and when I walked back through the tunnel, he hugged me and said, ‘You’ll have a contract tomorrow.’ So yeah, that’s a very, very little known story. Me and him, we were not very friendly. I didn’t agree with a lot of the stuff that went on with him and the booking there but, he watched the match and he did right by me and I respect that forever, for sure.”
** On a recent installment of his ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, Booker T discussed Big E’s forthcoming singles run on the SmackDown brand. Booker did not dive too deeply into what he thinks but he believes there are a few things that Big E may need to tweak in order to be viewed as a world champion.
“Well, there again like you just said right there. I think Big E’s gonna have to shed a few things in order for people to look at him like the world champion, and I don’t know if it’s the gear maybe? Some forms of the gear. The colors as well but then again, people will say, ‘Oh, he shouldn’t change anything’ so I’m not gonna sit here and say… just because I don’t want the internet going off or saying, ‘Booker T’s saying he needs to do this’ just like Matt Riddle needs to put on a pair of boots. That’s another story but I just think Big E still trying to be The New Day is not going to work for him as far as him working at the top of the card. I’m talking about being the main attraction. I’m talking about being the guy that the company has put in position to be the guy. I don’t think… that’s gonna catapult him to that level as far as still trying to be The New Day and the thing is, you can’t try to rehash something that you’ve been doing for so long and think that’s what’s gonna take you to the top.”
Booker T recalled a conversation he had with Big E back in 2019 and told E that his time as world champion was coming. Booker claims that Big E appeared to be defeated and showed no signs of believing that he could one day become the world champion in WWE.
“Big E, I talked to Big E probably, I don’t know. Maybe a year-and-a-half ago, and I could tell he wasn’t in the best place and I was like, ‘Man, trust me bro’ — I think it was right after Kofi won the title actually and I said, ‘Trust me bro, your time is coming man. Your run is gonna actually happen’ and he looked at me and I could actually see he was like, ‘Nah, that ain’t gonna happen’ but I said, ‘Trust me, it’s gonna happen for you because your talent bro. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Cream rises to the top’ and now I see Big E getting ready to have a singles push. A singles run, the push is gonna come to him. At least, him continuing to get the push is going to be all up to him. That’s why I say, like you [Brad Gilmore] just said a second ago, coming out of a group, you gotta be able to change your level. Think about Shawn Michaels. He wasn’t the same guy he was with The Rockers. Myself, I couldn’t be the same I was with Harlem Heat. I had to be able to change up a little bit and evolve and I think — I know Big E can do it because this guy, he’s a very, very intelligent individual and again, I’m looking forward to seeing what Big E does in the singles ranks.”
** Hangman Adam Page did an interview with Bleacher Report prior to the 7/29 edition of AEW Dynamite.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhcDKfdHlsE[/embedyt]
** Sportsnet in Canada chatted with former WWE producer Lance Storm. Storm was released from the WWE as a part of the mass cuts/furloughs back in April. When asked would he consider returning to the company if they wanted him back, Storm said he’s open to the idea but it’s all a matter of when the pandemic’s hold on the world begins to lessen.
“I’m certainly open to the idea (of returning) and was of the impression that-that is a possibility. But the border has to open up and (WWE) have to get back to running a full-time schedule with fans and traveling again before they’re going to be in need of all the producers again. I can’t imagine that-that’s going to be any time before 2021.”
Storm also shared that while he was still with WWE pre-WrestleMania, had he caught Coronavirus in the United States, he would not have been medically covered in Canada and he and his wife would’ve had to used their retirement funds.
** According to PWInsider, a mistrial has been declared in the case of Jeff Jarrett/Global Wrestling Entertainment versus Anthem Sports & Entertainment.
** Taylor Wilde released the newest episode of her ‘Wilde On’ podcast. Wilde told the story of her time as a part of WWE developmental. She portrayed a character named “Sendai” which was a masked character. The plan for Sendai was to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship but Taylor claims that the champion at the time threw a temper tantrum and the plans were scrapped. It was soon after that she was released from WWE.
“I can’t even tell you how the match went, but I can’t imagine it went well. But, for some unknown reason, I was able to attempt it two more times and I don’t ever think it got better. I was never allowed to work out the kinks. I needed gear that fit, I needed my vision, I needed at least one session to practice. But that wasn’t the demise of Sendai, even though it felt that way because I didn’t feel I got the opportunity to deliver what I’m capable of. A great match, athleticism, a character. The idea behind Sendai was he was gunning for the Cruiserweight Title and eventually would win and be unmasked as a female, tadaaa! Me, the newest member of the WWE SmackDown Divas division. However, the person who will remain nameless who is the Cruiserweight Champion at the time had a full-fledged man tantrum. Refused to drop the title to a woman. Wan, wan, bullsh*t, wan, white male problems, wan. But, the tantrum worked. The idea was crushed. At the same time, a fire was blazing through the main roster and developmental system. After a year of employment, I was released from my WWE contract. I knew it was because the idea they had for me was nullified and instead of going back to the drawing board, I was disposable. It was easier and cheaper to hire a model that they could mold into whatever they needed. I wasn’t even bitter. I just felt deflated. Female wrestlers tended to have too many opinions and nothing’s changed.”
** Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated chatted with Johnny Gargano ahead of the 7/29/20 edition of WWE NXT. Gargano shared that he and Tommaso Ciampa have tried several times to set themselves up to wrestle Shawn Michaels and Paul “Triple H” Levesque in a tag team match.
“If we can still make that happen, I’ll still do it. That would be so great. Me and Tommaso have pushed in the past to wrestle Shawn and Hunter, and that is something that could potentially happen, or maybe something we’re just dreaming. But me and Tommaso against Shawn and Bret would be amazing. That would have been a really fun dynamic.”
During the interview, Johnny Gargano also heaped praise onto the NXT Champion Keith Lee. Gargano stated that Lee is immensely talented and has the ‘it’ factor and added that he’s extremely proud of his success.
“Keith is one of those guys that is just so special. A lot of people bring up the ‘It’ factor. Keith has that. He is immensely talented, and he can move like no big man can. As a big guy, at over 300 pounds, he’s more athletic and more agile than me. Winning that title, it’s a special moment.
For him to become NXT Champion, and make history by having the North American title at the same time, it validates everything he has worked for. I’ve had conversations with Keith about this–you doubt yourself when you get here. You question how good you really are, and you don’t know if you’ll ever get that opportunity. When you actually achieve that goal, that lifelong dream, it’s indescribable. I’m very happy that Keith, a genuinely good person, was able to accomplish and experience that.”
** Mike Tyson chatted with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.
** Devon Monroe was voted the best pro wrestler in the state of Minnesota.
** Chicago Tribune has a story up about the Warrior Wrestling show on August 7th in Chicago Heights, Illinois. The owner of Warrior Wrestling talked about the COVID-19 precautions that are in place for the show and when it comes to the match card, he said that Brian Cage versus Jeff Cobb will likely headline the event.
** SuperSport conducted an interview with Kofi Kingston.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxYjjK0V3Uk[/embedyt]
** FOX’s Las Vegas affiliate has a story up about former WWE talent Daniel Rodimer’s run-in with the law when police was called to his house in 2018 after his now-wife alleged that she was abused by him. Rodimer is running for Congress as a part of the Republican party. As this news surfaced, Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Molly Forgey released the following statement:
“There are many troubling aspects of Dan Rodimer’s past that should make Nevadans seriously question his ability to represent their families in Congress–but this latest report is at best disqualifying. The hardworking families of Congressional District 3 deserve a leader who they can trust to protect their loved ones. From pushing to reopen schools without a real plan to do so safely, to a long history of violent allegations, to a sketchy business past, to hiding his finances from voters–dangerous Dan Rodimer has proven he is not that leader.”
** Drake Maverick was the most recent guest on the Gorilla Position podcast. Maverick reflected on being brought back into WWE after many of his former colleagues were let go from the company. Maverick said the hardest day for him was his first day in NXT because he constantly overthought the situation and what people would have to say about him.
“And that’s what it was [survivor’s remorse] because there were some days, it really wasn’t fun being me, and that’s not, ‘Oh please feel sorry for me.’ There’s people going through way worse in the world. There was some days where it was a lot, and the worst day from the NXT thing was the first day when I had to go and wrestle Jake Atlas because I was so scared everybody was just gonna look at me funny… or make me feel embarrassed that I shed a tear about something I deeply care about you know, and that’s about being a man and that’s my issue with being a man. I work for a company that’s full of alpha males so I have to be one too, and that’s not me as a human being. So it was just, I’m just gonna be me and if I walk into work and everybody thinks that’s embarrassing and they’re embarrassed for me, then fine. But that was the one day I was overthinking everything, so much, and it was just because of… I had two weeks of just listening to other people’s opinions without knowing facts if that makes sense. So that was the worst day for me, going in that first day.”
** Rusev told the story of his first time meeting Vince McMahon in person:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3g5aCWbEnU[/embedyt]
** IMPACT X Division Champion Chris Bey chatted with WrestleZone for an exclusive interview.
** As a part of the L.A. Kings’ ‘Legends Series’, they brought on Ted Irvine, father of Chris Jericho and Chris Jericho himself to chat about Ted’s career in the NHL.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROwmqfYmo0Q[/embedyt]
** DDT Pro-Wrestling ‘Beer Garden-Like Pro Wrestling’ Results (7/30/20) Shinjuku FACE
– Three-Way Tag Team Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo def. Makoto Oishi & Mizuki Watase and Yuki Ino & Yukio Naya
– Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA def. Mad Paulie & Soma Takao
– Hell In A Blue Sheet Shin Numabukuro Deathmatch: Akito, Shota & Yumehito Imanari vs. Antonio Honda, Danshoku Dino & Muscle Sakai – No Contest
– Hideki Okatani & Jun Akiyama def. Keigo Nakamura & Naomi Yoshimura
– Four On Three Handicap Match: Jiroko Kuroshio, Sakisama & Yukio Saint Laurent def. Generic Martha, Kazuko Higuchi, Kazuko Hirata & Magaret Owashi
– MIKAMI, Tanomusaku Toba & Sanshiro Takagi def. Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno
** Ricky Starks was a guest on The Distraction podcast with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert. Ricky was asked if the reactions from wrestlers in the crowd during AEW shows are organic and Ricky stated that they are not told how to act or react to anything and it’s all a natural flow.
“No, we just go out and we have a natural reaction to what we’re watching and that’s it. I would hate to be told what to say or what to do when I’m out there because I’m trying to watch what’s in the ring. Not really put something in motion.”
** XFLBoard has a feature up about the next potential buyers of the now-defunct football league.
** The next portion of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s interview series with NJPW1972.com is live on the site.
** Maryland Championship Wrestling has a playlist up on their YouTube channel of Lio Rush matches that he’s had for the promotion.
** Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture interviewed Kurt Angle. During their conversation, Angle continued to speak highly of Ronda Rousey and her time in WWE. Angle feels that she had the best first year in WWE, even over himself and Brock Lesnar.
“She did an excellent job. The one thing Ronda didn’t do that she could/will do if she comes back, is that she never mastered the business. Because she wasn’t in that long enough and what she did that whole year is incomparable. She dominated and she put on great performances… but we had to tell her, this is what you’re going to do here, this is what you’re going to do there. We had to give her step by step instructions and go over it with her for multiple days, so she would be ready for the match, so she knew everything that was gonna go on. In the business once you get experience, which Ronda was getting it in the end before she left; you learn how to improvise and work on the fly. You come up with 50% of the match and then the other 50% you make it up as you go along…Ronda didn’t get the opportunity to learn that but what she did in her first year, I would even say she had a better first year than Brock Lesnar or myself. I think she did incredibly well. But I think that WWE did an incredible job getting her ready for it… Ronda Rousey isn’t just a plus for the women, she was a plus for the whole company. Whatever amount she got paid, I am sure it was a lot, she deserved it. Ronda is a household name, everybody knows who she is, everybody loves her and she made a big impact in the business and she deserves to have that notoriety. She’s one of the biggest names we’ve ever had, you can’t deny that. She was easy to work with, I love the girl, I consider her my sister.”
** Inside The Ropes released a clip from their stage show with two-time WWE Hall Of Famer, Ric Flair.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gMi5xoghCo[/embedyt]
** Taeler Hendrix wrote a long-form feature for Fightful about former IMPACT Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie.
** UPI.com chatted with The Miz.
** Former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Tom Lawlor was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast.
** Here’s the latest upload to Ruby Riott’s YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5pUEfLtbs[/embedyt]
** Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson revealed via Instagram that Tim Burton considered him to play Willy Wonka in the movie remake.
** Slipknot’s Corey Taylor announced a solo album and in his first visual for one of the singles on his album, Chris Jericho, Baron Corbin and Corey Graves appeared in the music video.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEPI69cx22E[/embedyt]
** Click here for the latest episode of The Bellas Podcast.
Pro Wrestling NOAH ‘NOAH Sanctuary’ Results (7/30/20)
– Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura def. Kinya Okada & Shuhei Taniguchi
– Seiki Yoshioka def. YO-HEY
– AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) def. Hao & Nio
– Daisuke Harada, Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke def. Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Naomichi Marufuji
** Karl Anderson joined Wrestling Observer Live.
** Doc Gallows was a guest on the ‘This Is Wrestling’ podcast with Zach McGibbon. Gallows stated that he would like to see IMPACT Wrestling form a working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and that it could be beneficial for both sides.
“I think it’s all about keeping momentum. I think there is more tag team championships in the future for us as a team. I think we’ll always be together but we can support each other through a singles run. One for him, one for me. That’s some stuff we’ve been talking a lot about. What we want to do is continue to grow IMPACT. I want IMPACT to continue to grow and get bigger and better so that when our friends are calling us and they got contracts up in other places, we can go, ‘Hey we can do this for you over here. What do you think? Come jump on board, come have some fun, and come party with us?’ I think it would be great. I would love to see New Japan and IMPACT form a working relationship at some point. I think it would be beneficial for both sides and I would really love to see that. Hopefully, (I) can be a part in making that come together.”
** Today is the birthday of Marko Stunt. He turned 24-years old.
** Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda hosted a Facebook Live Q&A session with Eric Bischoff. Bischoff was asked what was it like to work with John Cena in the early 2000s. Bischoff told the story of when he went one-on-one with Cena on an October ’05 edition of Monday Night RAW and having a spot where he had to really punch Cena in the face.
“The only negative moment I’ve had with John Cena, I actually worked a match with him once in — I don’t know when it was. It might’ve been 2005, and there was a spot in the match when John’s head was hanging on the mat. His head was hanging outside the rope, sorta on the edge of the ring mat and I was out on the ring floor. So I was just supposed to come up and wack him in the face. John’s got a jaw like a Tyrannosaurus rex. Just got this big ass jaw. Just big, big!
So, I walked up and I — I don’t like hitting people. Now if I’m angry, situation calls for it, that’s different. Then a different part of my brain fires up and that takes care of itself. But if that’s not the case, I have a really — I don’t like to swat flies, truth be told. So, I see John Cena there and I know if I don’t really lay it in there, then he will be pissed and kick my ass. I know, in my head I know, ‘If I hit him as hard as I can and knock out two of his teeth’ — not that I could but if I could, he’d probably go, ‘Good match! Way to lay it in!’ But if I go out there and [give him a soft punch] and then he has to sell it, that’s what they really get pissed off about. They don’t get pissed off because you didn’t really hit ‘em hard. They get pissed off that they gotta sell something that looked so terrible. So I reached back, I hit him [as] hard as I could and I’m not kidding you, my hand went numb. The little finger and the ring finger on my right hand went numb. His jaw was so hard. It was like hitting a brick wall.”
** Here’s the latest upload to Asuka’s YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1izVY3tSkE[/embedyt]
** Daily DDT has an interview up with Johnny Gargano.
** Kofi Kingston participated in Complex’s ‘SneakerBattle’ segment.
** Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda interviewed Tama Tonga.
** Xia Brookside joined NXT U.K.’s Andy Shepard on Instagram Live.
** Sonny Kiss was the most recent guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast.
** The Miz continued to make the media rounds to promote ‘Cannonball’ on the USA Network by speaking with Good Day Rochester.
** Below is a video of AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin vs. Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe in a Four Corner Survival match from Ring of Honor ‘Beating the Odds’ 2003.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MxF8mLsCtk[/embedyt]
** Below is the newest episode of GAW TV with Lisa Marie Varon, Mickie James and SoCal Val:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bsANp6sqSw[/embedyt]
** Lewis Nicholls interviewed Doc Gallows to promote Talk’n Shop A Mania.
** Ring of Honor’s Kellyanne hosted an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session.
** Booker T and Brad Gilmore welcomed The Miz onto the ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast.
** Scott Fishman of TVInsider chatted with Johnny Gargano.
** Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson spoke with Ringsiders Wrestling.
** Rocky Romero appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to promote Talk’n Shop A Mania.
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.
