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.
** Roman Reigns was a guest on The Bloodline with LLS podcast to discuss his Leukemia diagnosis. Roman discussed what he felt like leading up to discovering that his cancer was in remission and being grateful that the talents he worked with took care of him before he was able to find out about the remission.
“But my spleen had enlarged and I think that was something that kind of [is] one of the more short-term serious side effects that I had to deal with, just involving the physicality of being in the ring and God, I’m so lucky that fortunately nothing happened. Thank God that I worked with some really, really talented performers and some great professionals and guys who [are] as violent and as physical as our job can be, they’re very good at what they do and then no one hit me in the wrong place and caused a rupture or anything like that because as I’m sure you know, being out of town, in an arena, on the road away from your family, something like that happens and you get rushed to the emergency room, go into surgery, it just can, along with how serious it is it can just cause an emotional rollercoaster for everybody so, that was something that we really had to take into account and get me out of the ring and that’s why it all just started to happen so abruptly. But I think the main thing I was feeling was the fatigue. Always feeling tired. Not quite sure why, even if I were able to get good nights of rest. Even had a couple of days of recovery being off the road, it just never felt like it got off of me. It was just that monkey on my back at all times but along with that, I always thought it was that when you’re working hard and chasing your dreams and you’re busting your tail every single week trying to get the job done, especially when you’re performing at an elite level, at the very top of the biggest company in the world, as far as sports-entertainment, these are just the riggers that come with the schedule of the lifestyle so, I tried to as we say in the wrestling business, I tried not to sell it but thank God we’re taken care of, between the company and my doctors, my Oncologist doing our blood tests and our CVCs and keeping track of that stuff. I was able to see my white blood cells getting out of whack again.”
** Vicente Beltran posted their interview with Alexa Bliss. Bliss was asked what has changed in WWE since Ronda Rousey has been gone from the company. Bliss feels that not much has changed and added that a lot of people laid down in order for Rousey to succeed.
“I don’t think it has changed that much. Our whole roster is dependent on more than just one person and I think that there wouldn’t be an impact of Ronda Rousey if it wasn’t for the women opposite of her in the ring helping her get there. A lot of bodies laid down for her success and I think it just shows that you know, all of our women can be main-eventers and all of our women can have that spotlight and obviously it was great having Ronda in WWE but I think… it’s a group effort and it’s a team effort.”
** James Gunn made the announcement that he’ll be working with producer Peter Safran on the Suicide Squad spin-off series, PEACEMAKER on HBO Max that’ll be led on-screen by John Cena.
** Pro Wrestling Junkies hosted a virtual meet and greet with Erick Redbeard, formerly Erick Rowan. One of the questions asked of Erick was for his thoughts on Bray Wyatt’s ‘Fiend’ character. Erick feels that WWE “jumped the shark” with the character and explained his stance on that viewpoint:
“There’s been too many of the cinematic matches and to me, that kinda threw away a lot of what it was because they had a lot of opportunities with those cinematic matches to make it mean a lot more and I wasn’t a fan of the one with [John] Cena, some people were. I just thought that it kinda did nothing to help him avenge that loss that he had at WrestleMania 30 against Cena. That’s all.”
** WWE filed their opposition to prevent Cody Rhodes from trademarking “Slamboree” and “Match Beyond”. Per PWInsider, WWE’s claim is that they acquired those assets when they purchased WCW and are currently utilizing those concepts on the WWE Network. In addition to that, WWE’s representatives on this situation argued that the company has become linked with those concepts in eyes of the public and that Cody did this to “attempt to unfairly trade on the long-standing use and recognition”.
** According to Showbuzz Daily, AEW’s Late Night Dynamite show drew in 585,000 viewers on TNT. The show ranked #9 on the Top 50 original telecasts list.
** The ‘Sports Guys Talking Wrestling’ podcast welcomed Jay Lethal onto the show to chat about the ROH Pure Title tournament. Lethal detailed some of the COVID precautions that were in place as ROH filmed the Pure Title tournament.
“I’ll tell you this too, there were a lot of hoops to jump through with the commission. You gotta have your mask on right after you come back from the locker room so you’re tired but you still gotta put your mask on. There’s a room just for you and your opponent and then when you leave there, that room has to be cleaned and my match had to be at eight in the morning and then once your match is done, they have to clean the arena, clean the ring, change the canvas. It was a nightmare for the crew I’m sure. They were there from like 7 AM to like 11 PM and they get 20, 25 minutes after each match to disinfect everything. We had so many canvases because they changed them after everything but it was such a long day but everyone did it with a smile on their face because we were all just so happy to be back at work.”
** Fightful caught up with Tenille Dashwood and talked to her about her deal with IMPACT Wrestling. Dashwood said that she explored her options but IMPACT made it clear that they wanted her in the company as a priority. She then added that she is signed exclusively but basically works for herself.
“I definitely explored my options and didn’t rush into anything. But, I will say that IMPACT! made it known to me how important they saw me. It’s nice to be valued and appreciated and the conversations, the people, the atmosphere is all in line with what I’m all about. Like you said, I have been to basically every major company, as far as some people are concerned. So, I have been around, I have experienced a lot. I’m very happy with where I am right now and where things are going because this company values their wrestlers and, I was saying before, it kind of ties back in. Having input and knowing you have a direction and that things are going to keep going, getting better. They don’t just blow off all of a sudden. It’s just completely different. I’ve had years and years of cool experiences and things that got me to where I am today, forever grateful, but IMPACT! is perfect for me right now.
I’m signed with them exclusively. I work for me, basically. So, like I said, it’s perfect for me right now. As long as I’m enjoying things and doing big things, then I’m good to stay.”
** Sports Illustrated caught up with Miro (Rusev) for their ‘This Week in Wrestling’ column. Miro feels that he’s the best “all-around player” in professional wrestling and hinted that he’s going to top his WrestleMania 31 entrance while in AEW.
“It’s not a gimmick. I am the best. I am the best all-around player in professional wrestling. And people remember WrestleMania 31, the greatest entrance of any entrance, until you see how I top that in AEW.”
** TSN has a lengthy feature up about AEW broadcast team member Tony Schiavone which includes quotes from Schiavone. The longtime announcer discussed some of the talents on the AEW roster and who he’s been impressed with. Schiavone talked about MJF and the current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley who Schiavone feels is AEW’s Stone Cold Steve Austin.
“Obviously, MJF has because he is a throwback to the old heels. Jon Moxley – I didn’t see much of [his WWE character] Dean Ambrose, but only the Dean Ambrose from 2017 forward. I immediately said, ‘Man, Jon Moxley is kind of like our ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.’ And I like Jon Moxley better than Dean Ambrose. Again, I didn’t see the Dean Ambrose before 2017 and I heard that he was pretty rough and rugged, but I just love what Moxley does. I love the Young Bucks and not only because I respect them for being on the independents and the money they made and the following they got, but also just because they’re cool guys. They’re great guys to work with.”
Schiavone shared some of his thoughts from when he first found out he was going to be calling the action of AEW alongside Excalibur and Jim Ross. Schiavone was curious about what Excalibur had to offer based on his background.
“I like to think – well, I know I am – I’m easy to work with. I didn’t know Excalibur at all, and when I was told that you’re going to be working with a masked guy who used to run a promotion and used to be a wrestler, I’m thinking ‘Oh, boy. What do we got here?’ But he’s a very intelligent guy and he knows his stuff and he’s a good kid. He’s hardworking and he and I have struck it off. JR and I have known each other for ages, so I think one of the things that makes our chemistry good – if you, in fact, think it is that way and people think it is that way– is that I do know my role and I don’t try to force the issue.”
In terms of how he likes to call a show, Schiavone stated that he cannot watch the competition. He feels that if that becomes a habit, he may pick up certain things or incorporate a style into his announcing and wants to avoid that potentially happening.
“It’s hard for me to sit here and compare what we do to what the WWE does because here’s what I do – the exact same thing that I did when I did Nitro back in the day – I do not watch the competitor. If something is going on with the competitor, I’ll read about it or I’ll hear about it from somebody backstage, but I don’t watch it. The reason I don’t is an old thing Vin Scully used to say and, of course, I was a big baseball guy. Vin Scully said years ago that he never listens to any other announcer because he doesn’t want to get caught in the trap of trying to imitate what they say or how they call a game. And I don’t want to do that. I guess I can watch it with the sound down, but I can find out the information another way.
So I can’t sit here and say, ‘Hey, watch AEW because we are X-different than WWE’ because I don’t know what they’re doing. I just know that we have exciting wrestling, we have great storylines and I think it may be, from what I understand, a little bit more of what the fans really want in a wrestling program than what the WWE is providing.”
** Busted Open Radio did a tribute show for the late Road Warrior Animal, real name Joseph Laurinaitis. Jim Ross, Tommy Dreamer, Bully Ray and Billy Apter all appeared on the show. Ring of Honor paid tribute to Animal as well.
** In the newest portion of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s interview series on NJPW1972.com, he talked about Keiji Muto (The Great Muta) asking him to leave New Japan Pro-Wrestling for All Japan in 2002. The talks did progress to a point where a number was thrown at Tanahashi but in the end, Tanahashi decided that it was not about the money for him and Muto apologized for putting him on the spot.
** AEW World Champion Jon Moxley joined The Fight Game Podcast to preview UFC 253. At one point during the podcast, pro wrestling came up and Moxley talked about his forthcoming Bloodsport appearance in October and how he first discovered the event during WrestleMania weekend in 2019.
“That’s what I loved about the Bloodsport stuff in Jersey. That was the first indie show I’d been to or even really paid any attention to in years. I hadn’t been to an indie show or been in that environment in years. Years and years, and I walked in there, I’m laying low. I went with William Regal and my buddy Robert Anthony was there. We’re watching it, he’s kinda filling me in [on] the balcony on who some of who these people are. Some of the people I wasn’t familiar with. A lot of people [it] was the first time I’d ever seen them work, and, you know… I was just like I f*cking love this so much. Like I love [these] f*cking fans, I love this presentation, I love this style. It’s like, everybody’s here to fight, it’s aggressive, it’s violent, it’s f*cking testosterone, adrenaline, energy. This is wrestling. There’s no bullsh*t, nobody’s talking on the mic. ‘This is where I f*cking belong. I miss this so f*cking much,’ you know? And Robert Anthony says to me, I think we were watching Killer Kross and Davey Boy Smith, which is a great match from that show. Davey Boy Smith gives him a f*cking slap in the f*cking face like a God damn gun shot went off. He hits him so f*cking hard or at least created the illusion that he did if he’s that skilled. But, I wouldn’t wanna f*cking test it out, and we’re like, ‘This is physical, this sh*t is awesome. I’m loving this show’ and he goes, and at this point, he knew I was gonna be pretty much free and clear agent pretty soon and he was like, ‘Man, would you do this show?’ And I was like, ‘I have to do this show,’ and he was like, ‘Oh sh*t, it’s on’ and I was like, ‘We’ll get to it later. I still got a few more months’ but, so I decided about that.”
Moxley also shared that he would constantly bother Bobby Lashley about who to bet on in MMA fights because of Lashley’s background and the connections he has in the sport.
“Like I used to f*cking bug the sh*t out of Bobby Lashley, because he knows a lot of guys and trains with a lot of guys so I’d be like, ‘Yo, who should I put money on dude? What do you think is gonna happen? Like give me the f*cking dirt.’ Do sh*t like that all the time.”
** Here’s the newest episode of WWE The Bump. Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre and Jimmy Uso will be on the Clash of Champions edition of The Bump on 9/27.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0iJ_wZAM8[/embedyt]
** Lance Archer sat down with Wrestling Inc. to speak about the six-man tag team match that he’ll be involved in on the 9/23 episode of AEW Dynamite. Archer, a former IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion was asked if he’d ever be interested in challenging for the title again and Archer made it clear that he’s only focused on his AEW World Title opportunity against Jon Moxley on October 14th.
“The IWGP U.S. Title was the first title I got to hold as a singles champion, but going into this, this is my very first world title in any company at any point in my career in 20 years. So again, I’m just focused on that. As far as anything else and everything else, that’s in the past. My future is the AEW Championship on October 14, and that’s all I’m looking forward to.”
** Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has an extensive interview with Matt Rehwoldt, the former Aiden English. One of the topics covered during the interview had to do getting access to Vince McMahon and Rehwoldt admitted that trying harder to reach Vince is something he could’ve done better.
“A little bit. Not as much as I wanted and also that I should’ve made time for. You hear a lot from guys. I mean, number one, it’s Vince McMahon. It’s intimidating just on who he is alone, then he’s incredibly busy, especially on television [days] is one chance you get with him one time a week because that’s the only time you’re gonna see him. So he’s really busy, he’s trying to get the show together, he’s super passionate so sometimes he’s all involved in this segment trying to make it work so he doesn’t have time to talk with everyone or he’s in meetings with writers. But by the way, he’s still the CEO so he’s got phone calls from that stuff going on so, knocking on that door and getting in that room in one television day which is already busy is really hard, but I will say the guys who are more very successful make it a point to get that rapport and get that regular contact. That’s something on me that I wished I would have tried a little harder at, I’ll be honest. But I did get a couple of chances of kinda having one-on-ones with him and once you’re in there, once you can get that time, that’s the hardest part. Figuring out once you’re in that room with him eye-to-eye, he’s intense and if he’s feeling strong about something, he doesn’t mince words but he’s on the level, he’s real, he tries to make whatever he can work for you. He’s just a guy at the end of the day. That sounds so cheesy and banal but he is. Once you’re talking to him, he’s not so intimidating. It’s just getting in there and breaking that ice and getting it started.”
On the topic of television ratings, Rehwoldt feels that the era of ratings will be done away with over the next decade and he thinks advertising and all things related will be dumped into trending hashtags and SEO-related content.
“My thing is I’m pretty convinced and this is kind of a dive off but, I’ve always been convinced — if it doesn’t happen in the next ten years, I will be shocked. But I think television ratings are gonna go away. I think Nielsen is maybe gonna be around or something. I think advertising dollars are gonna be spent on trending hashtags and things like SEO and stuff like that. TV ratings I think are gonna get less and less important, so everyone talking about, ‘Oh, RAW’s lowest numbers ever.’ It’s like, yeah, maybe, but it’s like eight billion things to watch right now so, but people are still talking about X, Y, Z a ton on the internet and eyeballs are there. So that’s [where] I think advertising and media is going.”
** Corey Taylor of Slipknot will debut his new single “Culture Head” during the 9/23 NXT broadcast on the USA Network.
** Pentagon Jr. applied to trademark “Penta Zero M” on September 18th. On September 15th, AEW applied to trademark “Blood Brothers”.
** Pro Wrestling Sheet conducted an interview with Shotzi Blackheart ahead of NXT. Blackheart was asked if she thought that her being in the crowd at the Performance Center diminished her character a bit and she is not of that mindset in the slightest.
“It makes such a difference having us there. So I was really hyped for it. I don’t know if you’ve seen the dancing GIFs that come up for me doing audience work, but I loved it. I loved supporting my coworkers, so I was all for it and I took advantage of it. And I had a good time during everyone’s entrances. Some people kind of view it as we’re looked at as fans and not wrestlers when we do this, but I’m like, ‘Uh uh. I’m having the time of my life.’ And I’m supporting my coworkers. I know how I feel at NXT TV when I see the people that I train with out in the crowd giving me that energy. It just helps so much. So I can’t complain. They do it for me. I don’t mind giving back.”
** Glenn “Kane” Jacobs is hosting a live webinar on October 15th titled “Being Mayor During COVID-19”.
** Hindustan Times spoke with Seth Rollins.
** Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone chatted with Dustin Rhodes and Rhodes spoke in-depth about his ‘Rhodes Wrestling Academy’ that is opening in 2021. As of right now, the training will solely be done by him and said that January 8th or around that time is when the school will officially open.
“Right now it’s all hands-on training from me. [There are] gonna be three months camps, starting in January. Probably around January 8. It’s going to be our first camp and we’ll go for three months so you’re gonna learn a lot, but you’re going to learn the proper way. You’re going to learn the right way to do things, the wrong way to do things. I’m gonna teach you everything, very specific with my teaching.”
Rhodes feels that with the prestige of his last name and the experience he’s tallied up, if he was on the outside looking in, he would love to be trained by a Rhodes and gain that knowledge.
“I’m gonna make things happen, you have to stay positive about it and work your ass off for things to happen. They don’t just happen, you know? They don’t just fall in your lap. Good things just don’t fall in your lap. Money doesn’t just come to you and fall off of trees, right? So you gotta put work and effort into everything that you do if you want to see a successful thing and I want this school, Rhodes Wrestling Academy to be very, very successful and it will. It will grow and it’s gonna be great. If somebody wants to go to a pro wrestling school and you hear that a ‘Rhodes’ is opening a wrestling school, man, wouldn’t you want to be a part of that with my knowledge, with so long in the business and the lineage of our family and our history and the work that I’m doing right now? I would. I would want Dustin Rhodes to train me, all over again, you know?”
** Ring of Honor uploaded Nigel McGuinness and Cesaro’s Pure Title match to their YouTube channel.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwEVbtnEN58[/embedyt]
** Renee Paquette (Young) joined Scott Stanford and Sukanya Krishnan on their Facebook show.
** Tetsuya Naito previewed his G1 Climax schedule with NJPW1972.com and stated that he feels Hirooki Goto has just become another guy in New Japan. Naito questioned whether if Goto was around or not, would things in New Japan change.
“I think he’s great. I’ve always thought he’s been great. Every single move he has-has so much impact, so much forcefulness. There’s all this potential in him, but he’s become just a guy. If he’s around or not, do things really change all that much?
He failed his way into CHAOS after he faced me. He should have become Captain Kuwana like I suggested. He might have been better off. He’s just been fading further into the background ever since.”
** Stephanie Chase chatted with NXT North American Champion Damian Priest. Priest further talked about his hot tub moment after he won the North American Title at TakeOver: XXX. Priest mentioned that WWE built the deck and hot tub for him on the day of the show.
“They went and built me a hot tub, which was so cool. I couldn’t believe that they built a deck and everything, just to tear it down after I was done with it.
I don’t know where the hot tub is but yeah, the deck, they built it like the day of apparently. Wild, and then it was celebration time, to the hot tub and it was one of those things where I was just like, ‘Well, this is my Rockstar moment. I’m not gonna take my time and go get changed and let’s just do it, be in the moment. This is it, this is my moment. I don’t care about anything else,’ so I thought it came out pretty cool. I still think it was pretty cool.”
** Ring of Honor released the promo package to promote Fred Yehi and Silas Young’s match in the ROH Pure Title tournament:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rLjs5zGyV8[/embedyt]
** Josh Barnett announced Matt Makowski for Bloodsport on October 11th.
** The latest Uno session with the UpUpDownDown crew is available to watch below:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-_VZ2ivDyk[/embedyt]
** Outsports has an article up on their site about the bisexual performers in pro wrestling.
** Matt Hardy turned 46-years old on 9/23. Today is also the birthday of Kairi Sane.
** Miro (Rusev) uploaded another clip to his YouTube channel which features him talking about All Elite Wrestling.
** WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is going to be on the 9/24 episode of WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves.
** Killer Kelly did a live stream on Twitch and played ‘The Evil Within’.
** Newsarama did an interview with Shane “Hurricane” Helms about comics.
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.
