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 Hall Of Famer Edge underwent surgery for torn triceps following his match against Randy Orton at Backlash. It has been three months since the surgery and during Edge’s appearance on the ‘Squared Circle Pit’ podcast, he provided an update on how he’s doing.
“Recuperation is going good… today is two months and the first two months, there’s not a lot to do. You really just have to let it heal and let the surgery take and I think from this point going forward now, I’m gonna get the clearance to start going after it and pushing it and that’s what I do best honestly, in terms of injuries. That’s always what I’ve kinda done best and for whatever reasons, my mindset, I don’t get depressed. I just look at it as a challenge and when you look at it as a challenge, it’s just one more thing to try and conquer and come back from and that to me is really strangely exciting. To go, ‘Ok, this is another one, I got it. No problem.’ Once I can really put the nose to the grindstone, go after this thing, in a weird way it’s almost fun.”
Edge talked about wanting to help improve the overall WWE product with his input. As far as him directly being a part of that creative process, he stated that-that is not exactly the case but he just floated it out there that if a talent needs help, they can get in contact with him at any time.
“No, I’m watching basically to see who I could possibly help, whether that’s in terms of promos, whether that’s in terms of fleshing out character and I do see a lot of guys and girls that, ‘Oh okay, there’s something here. I don’t know if they’ve just fully figured out what it is yet’ and maybe I could help them figure that out. Maybe I could help them with their promos and help them figure out exactly what they’re trying to bring to the table in terms of their character and that to me is where I feel like I can help the most, while I’m out and having had 20 years of experience in this thing that is wrestling, right? So, I floated that out there as, ‘If anybody wants to take me up on this, I’m here to try and help do that’ and that to me is really exciting because I didn’t just come back to collect a paycheck. I really do wanna come back and try and help further the product and help talent that I feel, whether it’s underutilized or whether it’s just on the cusp of something but trying to figure it out and I might see something go, ‘Ooo, ok, right. That right there. If we can take that, magnify that, focus on that’ and that’s where I feel I can be really helpful.”
** Former NWA World Tag Team Champion Royce Isaacs confirmed that he has been granted his release from the National Wrestling Alliance. He wrote the following on Twitter:
“Now that its public; After a little over a year with the NWA I asked for and was granted my release. I’m excited for my next adventure and what the future holds, but I’m leaving with a lot of memories and friends and I will miss the awesome fans at GPB Studios. Stay tuned.”
** WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns was the latest guest to join Corey Graves on After The Bell. Reigns discussed his hiatus from WWE and returning at SummerSlam. Reigns stated that he put his family first and he was willing to step away from wrestling as a whole if it meant that he had to choose between keeping his family safe and performing.
“A lot of things to be honest. But I think the most defined thought that I had is I made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my family and this is one area that I’m not gonna make that sacrifice. I will sacrifice my career, I’ll sacrifice the performance, hell, I’ll sacrifice the audience if I have to. To protect my family, I’ll quit, I’ll hang up the boots. I’ve done everything you can do in this business, within sports-entertainment, professional wrestling. There isn’t an accolade, there isn’t a moment that I haven’t had, whether it was a WrestleMania moment, all the way to a house show in Lille, France. I have experienced everything that you could possibly experience. So for me, it was about putting my family first and right there, if I had to retire and that’s what was gonna be asked of me, I was willing to do it so for one of the first times in a long time, I put my family — they were 1A. There was nothing [that] was gonna change my mind. I needed to go away and wait until we were in a place of better understanding of the process of knowing exactly what this virus has done and how it’s affected everybody and I just feel far more comfortable. The way WWE was taking care of me to make me feel safe, to make my family feel safe, make my wife feel safe that I’m going out and then coming back in, that’s been huge and critical to get me back in the ring.”
Reigns talked about his journey to the top of the card in WWE. He feels that there are some guys who are around the top but explained why he has been able to remain at the top for the greater portion of his WWE career.
“It’s consistency man. I mean there’s a lot of different things that create the algorithm or whatever. There’s different pillars, but really, you gotta hold onto the ball man. When they tell you that analogy of don’t drop the ball, you gotta really run with the ball and it’s gotta show in every way. It’s gotta show obviously through the performance. It’s gotta show backstage with how you handle it, how you handle working your way up, how you treat people and then, I think a huge one which — it’s a popularity contest. So the numbers have to back it up. The numbers have to be behind you and you have to be able to draw that attention, you gotta be a ‘like’ machine. They gotta be hitting that button on the internet. There’s a lot of things, especially nowadays where the top executives, they’re all looking at these spreadsheets to this and that, social media likes and how much attention this is getting, how many views, all of this stuff but at the same [time], right when it’s about the numbers, you gotta be that substance behind it when it’s you on camera. When it’s all on you, when we put all our resources and we spend all that money for those seconds of time to broadcast you, whether it’s FOX or USA [Network], it has to be there. That it, it has to be there and it can’t just be the one night. Like you said, I love him to death, Braun [Strowman], he was on top for a little while, but in order to prove yourself, you gotta do it over and over and over and main event, main event, main event. I mean 20, 30 pay-per-views. You gotta show not just the locker room but the whole world that you can do this, you can be trusted with that amount of time, that amount of investment year after year and that’s something I think that I’ve done. We have guys who are around the top but nobody’s showing it like I have and I’m just now starting to show a different layer. I was able to do it in the same mode and keep numbers and I said it, the old Roman Reigns is still money. I could still throw on the vest and go out there and still do it and I’ve proven I can keep doing that in the same mode. I can do it. Man, I can do it sick, tired, off the plane, on the plane, it don’t matter. I can do it in my sleep. That’s how repetitious and conditioned I am at this game now.”
Reigns recalled when John Cena told him during a promo on RAW that he was only still around because Reigns “couldn’t do his job”. Roman stated that when someone or a few people come along that want his spot, they’ll have to prove that he’s no longer needed in WWE so can he step away in the manner that Cena has.
“When they’re really doing their job is when I won’t have to do mine anymore. Just like John [Cena] said the same thing to me [in] one of the promos and we ain’t seen him in a while, right? And we don’t rarely see him. When he does, it’s kinda what he does and then he’s gone. In order for me to leave, someone has to really come and hold it down. In order for me to be able and go do whatever I wanna do after this, someone has to be able to show that they can maintain and handle the responsibility to where I’m not needed and as long as I’m needed, as long as this company needs me, I’m gonna be here but somebody’s gotta be able to step up and do that. I mean we have a lot of guys who can be there, they just haven’t gotten themselves there yet, and I’ll help them as much as possible but I’m not gonna give it to you. From this Kung fu grip, you’re gonna have to take it from me because I took it from them.”
** Sadie Gibbs, who was released from All Elite Wrestling back in August, guest appeared on Vickie Guerrero’s podcast. Sadie didn’t dive too deeply into her release from All Elite Wrestling but did share that she initially felt like didn’t deserve to be signed by the company.
“And the biggest challenge I found I faced was when I got signed, because for me that was — that questioned my worth. I didn’t feel worthy of being signed which was the scary bit and that’s when you’re in an emotional battle because you’ve had all this belief in yourself, climbing the ladder and when you get to that point you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m here.’ That’s when it — I don’t know, yeah. That’s the first time I ever felt a sense of questioning myself, but I definitely grew. In the time I spent with All Elite Wrestling, I’ve grown and I’m so happy with the person I’m becoming so…”
** Alexa Bliss told the U.K. outlet ‘Metro’ during an exclusive interview that she pitched to work with Bray Wyatt years ago. Bliss and Wyatt have been involved in a storyline with one another this year for several months, dating back mid-Summer.
“Working with Bray has been awesome. I pitched working with Bray a long time ago, and it never really got off the ground just because it didn’t make sense at the time. This has been a lot of fun for me. Anything that’s out of the box or a bit different, I’m a big fan of – acting, portraying a character. So this kind of checks all my boxes of what I love to do. It’s been very interesting. We don’t know where it’s going – you know as much as I know – but it’s been a lot of fun and I’m [excited] to see where it goes.
The original idea was when I first debuted, and it was the same kind of deal. I wanted to have some kind of involvement with his character because it’s so good and so compelling. He commits fully into that and does so much research. He’s so good at his craft and who wouldn’t wanna work with someone like that?”
** Wrestling Inc. published another written version of their interview with Ring of Honor’s Jonathan Gresham. While discussing wanting more variety in the ROH women’s division, Gresham encouraged ROH to bring in more women of color and women from different pockets of the world to diversify the roster.
“So it’s a lot of different reasons but I think it’s really good that now, no one has an excuse to not know now that we’ve all come out and said our bit and told our stories, and hopefully for the next generation, things will be easier and more transparent for guys getting opportunities and being pushed to certain levels, and I’m really happy that a lot of the fans have taken to this movement and definitely the Roundtables and stuff. People of all denominations and backgrounds and races have taken to it, and this has been really positive.
So I think if we can all, together, just keep moving in a positive direction man, like the sky’s the limit because we can’t leave out other nationalities as well man. We have to start looking at more people from different backgrounds that are here in America that we can utilize as far as wrestling. I’m really interested in seeing more women of color in the women’s division as well. That’s something that we haven’t really paid a lot of attention to, and I think we really need to do something about that.”
** Alex Zayne shared on Twitter that he’s had to cancel the next two weeks of his bookings to self-quarantine because he was exposed to someone who has COVID-19. Zayne had dates lined up with Warrior Wrestling, Black Label Pro and Violence x Suffering.
** The Butcher and The Blade joined the AEW Unrestricted podcast. While talking about working with The Young Bucks, The Butcher (Andy Williams) called Matt and Nick Jackson the Michael Jordans of pro wrestling.
“Yo straight up, and like no joke and if we’re allowed to say anything, doing this, you honestly understand that Nick and Matt are the Michael Jordans of pro wrestling because they can call a match in 15 minutes, go out there and do that stuff like it’s nothing. I’ve seen it a few times in wrestling, these bright flashes but every single time in something with them, everything clicks as we’re doing it, as we were just walking around, it was just like, ‘Hey, what do you guys think of this?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh my God, that’s great’ and then they like elaborate and they’re listening to what you’re saying and elaborating on your idea, not just taking a lot. It was just like so… I don’t know. They’re the Michael Jordan I think, right now of professional wrestling.”
** The Battleground Podcast welcomed Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson onto the show. Gallows jokingly stated that he and Anderson text Randy Orton and AJ Styles every day to let them know to come to IMPACT Wrestling when their respective WWE contracts expire.
“Every day, we text AJ Styles and Randy Orton and we tell them to come to IMPACT when their contracts are up so, we’re trying to steal the whole wrestling world brother.”
** On next week’s edition of NXT UK, Noam Dar will meet Alexander Wolfe in the first round of the Heritage Cup. Pete Dunne will be the special guest referee for the match. Also, there will be a Triple-Threat bout with three (currently) unannounced names and they’ll compete for the final spot in the Heritage Cup.
** Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture chatted with The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson). Gallows and Anderson revealed that they’ll have their own special on AXS TV in the future.
Doc Gallows: “I am letting the cat out of the bag right here right now, I can’t say anything about titles or anything like that, but you’re gonna see us with our own special on AXS TV, that’s putting credit/belief into a ‘tag team’ or brand to come together, two guys that can entertain inside the ring and outside the ring. And I think that’s a big hats off to IMPACT Wrestling for realizing that yes, the single stars historically have been a draw in a New York state of fashion but that’s not always the case in modern day wrestling… {in regards to the series on AXS} I would say, think drunken late night talk show sprinkled in with IMPACT Wrestling stars of our choice and a little Talk ‘N Shop A Mania running wild brother…”
Karl Anderson: “A Good Brother Variety Show, that’s the way to put it. Everything that you could expect from us to just be stupid and fun and sitting down and drinking and talking. {laughs}”
Elsewhere during the interview, Anderson and Gallows expressed that they want to finish out their wrestling careers in IMPACT Wrestling.
Karl Anderson: “I want to be the World Heavyweight Champion at some point. Gallows and I want IMPACT to be built around us. That’s what we want. We wanna show people why they invested so much on the Good Brothers coming to IMPACT…”
Doc Gallows: “What he said is exactly right. We want the company built around us. We want to be the champions, we want to be the top guys, we want to extend their brand, we want to extend our brand, we want to co-brand.”
** Ringsiders Wrestling chatted with LuFisto to discuss her career in wrestling. LuFisto opened up about being inducted into the CZW Hall Of Fame in 2019 and explained that she initially did not want to go in because she sees a Hall Of Fame induction as a sign that a wrestler is done in the ring.
“The only thing I really regret about the Hall Of Fame is at first when I was told I was getting into the Hall Of Fame I didn’t wanna go. I felt like I was not ready. When you get into Hall Of Fames is usually when you’re done and I think it kinda cursed me because I got injured like a few weeks later and I felt like, ‘Yeah, this is bad, this is bad. I don’t wanna go’ and when I finally said yes because I was going to have a match too so I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to go. At least I’m going to wrestle’ and I was asking like, ‘Do I need to talk? Is there a speech? Do I need to dress up?’ And DJ [Hyde] was like, ‘No, no, no’ and when I got there, everybody was dressed up, everybody had speeches and I was like kinda pissed off and disappointed [in them]. I should’ve been ready and I was not. You see it in the pictures. Everybody’s like dressed nice and I’m in punk pants, like what? I was like, man, and I felt like I wasn’t ready and I always feel like there’s CZW today but I come from the John Zandig CZW and I tried my best to give him the credit for everything he did for me and he wasn’t there. I just wish he could’ve been there because I owe a lot to John and he’s forever in my heart for believing in me when I did not, and it’s a great honor…”
LuFisto recalled when she first competed for the SHIMMER promotion. Initially, she was not well received because she was viewed as a deathmatch wrestler only but after her match with Mercedes Martinez, LuFisto stated that the reception to her was much different.
“Well, the main thing with SHIMMER is people didn’t want me there. I mean not the promotion, but when I got announced first, I remember the backlash on the internet. ‘This is a pure women’s wrestling promotion. You’re bringing the deathmatch girl. We don’t want to see her’ and I was like, ‘Oh, sweet Lord baby Jesus.’ Other people were like, ‘No, she knows how to wrestle. Did you see her match against so and so and so,’ and it’s always something that’s been bothering me. A lot of people are judging without researching. When you Google, there’s so many things coming out. So I was like, ‘Man, I have to go there and prove to them that yeah, I do that deathmatch stuff’ but I’ve always been more fulfilled with doing great wrestling matches and telling a story than the actual deathmatches and actually, in all my deathmatches that I did, I always used the same psychology I would in a match. There’s a shine, there’s a hope, there’s a cutoff. It’s built the same way, it’s just that I’m wrestling with weapons. I’ve never really liked just hitting with stuff. I want to do a move with something and don’t get me wrong, there’s matches I did and I’m like, ‘[Sighs]’. I’m not too proud of them but there’s matches that I’m like, ‘Okay, it was a build, there was a story, there was a heel, there was a face, there was something built up there’ and with SHIMMER, when I got there and my first match was with Mercedes Martinez and I got there and people were like, ‘Yay.’ Some clapping and some like this [arms crossed], looking at me and when I got to the ring and then we started wrestling and we start chain wrestling so I could see people going, ‘Hmm…’ like their faces were changing while we were wrestling and then the finish comes, one, two, three, I lose the match, standing ovation and when we were selling merchandise, there was so many people who came up to me like, ‘We didn’t know you could wrestle like this.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m a wrestler.’ The limit’s a little bit too much sometimes but I love to wrestle.”
** NJPW1972.com published a piece about the career of Road Warrior Animal, real name Joe Laurinaitis.
** D-Von Dudley and his team hosted a new edition of the Table Talk podcast and the guest this week was Aleister Black. The former NXT Champion discussed the foundation of his character and how his entrance factors into that. Black stated that the lift in his entrance was originally meant for The Undertaker and talked about how he was able to incorporate that into his own entrance.
“I wanted to create something and luckily when we did, like Hunter [Triple H] was so on board with that and him and me started bouncing off ideas and then he texted me one morning with this idea for this lift that was actually supposed to go to The Undertaker initially but they couldn’t use it for The Undertaker so he asked if I wanted to use it, and I kinda felt like, ‘Yeah, that’s the finishing part that this character needs is to have this entrance this way’ and funny enough, a lot of people always think that, ‘Oh he’s the vampire.’ I’m not a vampire. There’s nothing vampiric about my entrance. It’s more… how do I explain this… it’s more Aleister Black materializes from nothing and he rises up from that.”
** SPORTbible did a Q&A with R-Truth and asked him who’s the best driver in WWE. Truth stated that half the roster must’ve gotten their driver’s license from Walmart because they can’t drive but added that William Regal may be the best driver.
“Other than myself? They can’t drive, I don’t road with a lot of people! I don’t know if they got their license from Wal-Mart or something… I’ve gotta dig deep for this one. William Regal. I rode with Regal years ago and he wouldn’t let me drive because he wanted to. It was good to be a passenger. I’d ask if he wanted to swap over and he’d say ‘No, no, get some sleep, I’m fine.’”
** Comicbook.com released their interview with Shotzi Blackheart.
** Kenny Omega did an interview with Matt Cardona and Brian Myers of The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VRTgheeoqI[/embedyt]
** ACH vs. Christian Casanova has been added to the Black Label Pro ‘Turbo Graps 16’ show on 10/3.
** Stephanie McMahon turned 44 on 9/24. Sonya Deville is also celebrating a birthday today.
** During the ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, Booker T and Brad Gilmore spoke about the possibility of Melina returning to WWE.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLdUWYo4XKM[/embedyt]
** NXT North American Champion Damian Priest guest appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast. Priest talked about potentially joining RAW or SmackDown and stated that he’d be happy to be a part of any roster in WWE, including being an NXT-lifer.
“And for me personally, it’s not so much [that] I look forward to going up. I think, for me, I’m in NXT, I work for the WWE. I’m extremely happy here. There’s a lot of goals and things and a lot of goals I wanna accomplish in NXT. But then I also have things I wanna accomplish on RAW and SmackDown and I consider it more of a lateral than going up, just because — obviously they have bigger reach, they have a much larger fan base so they are bigger brands, but I don’t think it’s so much like we’re not on par. I think talent level, we’re right there and production, we work with the best people in the world, so I don’t consider it that but, there’s a lot I want to accomplish in all brands in this company. So, I look forward to any move and I’ll be ready when asked to and if my future is just NXT, I’d be happy with that too. There is no wrong here because I’m in the company I’ve been wanting to work with since I was a child so, whatever happens, happens. I’ll be happy to be here for it.”
** NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray spoke with Inside The Ropes.
** Samoa Joe and Jerry Lawler called matches in WWE Battlegrounds.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO0jAqhOeaM[/embedyt]
** The Black Rasslin’ podcast welcomed Trish Adore onto the show.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InJoCdSoXcI[/embedyt]
** Tony Schiavone recapped the 9/23 edition of Dynamite on the AEW YouTube channel.
** Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wrote the following on Instagram about the passing of Road Warrior Animal:
“RIP brother.
Really saddened to wake up to this news today — the passing of my friend, Joe Laurinaitis (on the left) aka ROAD WARRIOR ANIMAL. Joe & Mike aka HAWK & ANIMAL, THE ROAD WARRIORS were the most intense, legit tough bad asses tag team in the history of the wild world of pro wrestling. When I was making my bones, still learning the business in the WWE as a very young “The Rock” – I wrestled these guys so many times on the road and they always took good care of me and made sure I learned. Tough as nails. Good men. Greatest tag team of all time. And apple fritters (our inside joke). Much love and I’ll always be grateful to you both. RIP.”
** Pro Wrestling NOAH ‘N-1 Victory’ Results (9/23/20) Korakuen Hall
– Daisuke Harada, Kinya Okada & YO-HEY vs. FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka) – Time Limit Draw (20:00)
– N-1 Victory 2020 Block B: Kenou [4] def. Yoshiki Inamura [0]
– N-1 Victory 2020 Block A: Kazushi Sakuraba [4] def. Masa Kitamiya [2]
– N-1 Victory 2020 Block B: Shuhei Taniguchi [2] def. Katsuhiko Nakajima [2]
– N-1 Victory 2020 Block A: Kaito Kiyomiya [3] def. Manabu Soya [2]
** Mia Yim did a live stream on Twitch and played Resident Evil 7.
** Click this link to read Natalya’s latest blog post.
** Chris Van Vliet did an interview with Daniel Puder. Puder talked about when Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Hardcore Holly all got their stiff shots in on him during the 2005 Royal Rumble match.
“I have no clue. I don’t even give them a second to think about it and at the end of the day, they did what they did and I’m blessed I’m not with WWE. At the end of the day, it’s not the culture I wanna build. It is what it is and it’s the brand in the world. Everybody wants to wrestle for them, and people talk to me and I’m like, ‘I have no desire’ because it’s the culture. It’s the context of how they live, doesn’t serve a bigger purpose in this world.”
** Fight Network did a mini-documentary about Destiny Wrestling’s first show back during the COVID-era of wrestling.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V956e9U1aYs[/embedyt]
** WWE partnered with Hyundai to create the ‘Drive For Better’ ten-episode series. WWE talents are included in the series as they tell stories and partake in appearances across North America.
** Ronda Rousey uploaded a video to her YouTube channel of she and David Arquette meeting at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de314aUwnvM[/embedyt]
** Miro told the story of how Arn Anderson could not properly pronounce Shinsuke Nakamura’s finisher.
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.
