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.
** Mickie James, Lisa Marie Varon and SoCal Val recorded another episode of GAW TV. During the show, Mickie shared that she recently suffered a broken nose and will not be able to wrestle for a few weeks. She did not say when she suffered the injury but she last wrestled on 9/21 on RAW against Zelina Vega.
“Of course I’m topping it off with this beautiful accessory that I have to wear for a week at least, until I can take it off because I broke my nose recently in a match.
So, legit broke my nose in a match, so now I can’t wrestle for a couple weeks. Unfortunately that sucks but, silver lining as we do, I went ahead and the doctor was so nice and so amazing that since I had to get my nose fixed, broken back, he let me record it.”
James said the injury is not severe, but it was more-so of her not being able to breath out of one side of her nose.
“And it wasn’t severe. It wasn’t like my nose was blasted across my face. It was more like a curve and I can’t breath out the one side and I’ll be honest, I thought it was gonna be a lot more painful. It was more like pressure to get it fixed.”
She added that her nose had to be relocated and the outer wall of her nasal cavity collapsed.
“Now, it has to be relocated but also, I have my nasal canal, my nasal cavity, this outer wall has collapsed, so that’s what we’re looking at here.”
** Taylor Wilde caught up with Samoa Joe for the newest edition of her ‘Wilde On’ podcast. Joe last wrestled on the February 10th edition of Monday Night RAW and has been a part of the RAW commentary team coming out of his last match. Joe stated that as far as his in-ring career goes, he’s nowhere near done.
“As of right now, I’m enjoying commentary on RAW and it’s been a fun challenge, something very, very new and I’m enjoying that. You know, obviously am I done in the ring? By no means. I think right now I’m just kind of exploring things, seeing how I feel about things and aside from that, doing a lot of voice-acting lately. It’s kind of fun and cool and [a] very enjoyable thing so some projects [are] on the horizon, project coming out pretty soon with Warner Brothers. It’s a cool thing man. I’m very, very fortunate and I’m very, very happy that I’m doing the things that I’m doing right now.”
Joe provided some advice for wrestlers who are establishing their names in the business. He feels that they need to treat themselves as if they are a business and in-turn, that’ll make it easier for companies to spot them and want to work with them on a grander scale.
“And I think that’s the biggest thing with young wrestlers coming up is they don’t think of themselves as a business, and I wish they would because even the companies that wanna deal with you, WWE, if you think of yourself as a business and you got your act together, you know, AEW, WWE, it makes it easier for them to transition over and do business with you. They understand, they know and I think that’s biggest thing is you need to run your career like a business. If it’s gonna be a hobby and a weekend warrior thing, that’s absolutely cool and I know some great wrestlers that-that’s what it is to them and their life but if you’re serious about a full-time gig and career in this, you gotta think of yourself as a business, you have to [watch] the way you act at shows. Being professional is not being stuck up or a nerd or whatever or overly, ‘Thank you,’ appreciative. It’s just showing up on time, being pleasant, doing what you’re asked, putting on a great show and leaving. I mean there’s no, ‘Should I shake everybody’s hand?’ I go, ‘You know, shake hands with people. Not everybody wants to shake your hand, trust me.’ I think that’s a weird thing too. If you don’t wanna shake my hand, I don’t wanna shake your hand, you know what I mean? It’s cool. At the same time, there are men in this industry, there are women in this industry that they deserve respect and they deserve going over there and getting a nod and it’s good to have a relationship with them because as you’ll [Taylor Wilde] attest to, sometimes those people’s opinions still carry a lot of weight. It may not carry weight all the way up to WWE but it might carry weight to the next promoter who then you’ll meet somebody who their opinion will carry weight and it’s always good to keep that in mind that this is a very interconnected community too and you’re not going to get away from it. You [Taylor] tried to get away for ten years and look, here you are back here, right back where you started. But it’s true, so you’re gonna see the same people on the way up that you see on the way down and it’s the absolute truth.”
** WWE is set to report their third quarter results on October 29th at 5 PM EST. Vince McMahon and Chief Financial Officer, Kristina Salen will host the conference call.
** Tokyo Sports published their interview with former NXT Women’s Champion Kairi Sane. Kairi described her time in the U.S. for the past three years as some of the darkest times of her life. She also confirmed that part of the reason for her move was because of her marriage. Her husband was supposed to leave his job in Japan and come to the United States.
“It was the darkest three years in my life. Of course, this is my first time living abroad. I was able to get results, but it was a really difficult three years.”
While speaking about her husband not coming to the US, she said she was not upset about it and she had faith in her own dreams.
“Actually, my husband was supposed to quit his job and come to the United States. Did [I] get angry? [Not] at all. I’ve never been angry. I’m the type of person who has always supported my dreams, and I’m grateful for that.”
** To celebrate Chris Jericho’s 30 years in wrestling, he joined Busted Open Radio with David LaGreca, Tommy Dreamer and IMPACT Co-Executive Vice President Don Callis. Jericho talked about wanting to work with younger talents at this stage of his career and nostalgia matches not working anymore. He recalled the Undertaker and Kane versus Shawn Michaels and Triple H match at Crown Jewel (2018) being the worst match he’s ever seen.
“It’s the same thing in AEW. There will never be a Chris Jericho versus Matt Hardy match, never. Never, never, never because we’ve seen that and if you put it on, suddenly it’s just two guys that worked 20 years ago in WWE. That doesn’t make any sense. There might be a Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara versus Matt Hardy/Darby Allin match. That’s exciting to me. But, I never just wanted to like — well… the worst match I ever saw and here’s your clickbait, was Saudi Arabia, Triple H and Shawn Michaels versus Kane and Undertaker. That was such a stupid idea in booking. It never should’ve happened. It should’ve been Shawn and Hunter against Roman and Seth and Taker and Kane versus, I don’t know. Give me two names of guys — Cesaro and freaking Kevin Owens, whatever you want. That’s exciting, but it’s like, ‘Ah, we’ll just go out there and wing it brother.’ That doesn’t work anymore. That old school mentality doesn’t work.”
While reflecting on his time in AEW and what he’s accomplished professionally over the past three years, Jericho stated that had it not been for All Elite Wrestling, he may not be wrestling right now.
“And I wasn’t interested in going back to wrestling until Don [Callis] put the idea of, ‘What do you think about working with Kenny Omega?’ And then when I went to New Japan, it was like this whole new world of creativity opened up where I was like, ‘This is what wrestling is supposed to be. There’s no scripts, there’s no cueing in the cameraman [with] what the bumps and the dives are’ and sometimes that’s bad, but it’s real and that’s when it all started coming back to me again. Doing those New Japan shows, I did six matches there which led into AEW. If there was no AEW, I might not be wrestling right now because I didn’t wanna deal with the sh*t anymore and that’s not a bad thing. It’s just the way it is there. Either you deal with it or you don’t and I was over it, and now in AEW, it’s me getting to be me and if you say the last three years of my career have been my best, I’ll tell you the last years have probably been the most fun I’ve ever had, because there’s no restrictions. How creative can you be? Can we do a match revolving around Mimosa? Because Orange Cassidy has orange juice and I’m the champagne guy. How can we do this? Let’s put it together and there was no restrictions, no problems, no hassle, no nothing. I drew the worst picture ever of what I wanted to do. I sent it to Tony Khan, five minutes later he’s like, ‘Let’s do it.’ That’s what we do here.”
Talking about his time in WWE, Jericho talked about the period when he was solely working house shows and then came back to work WrestleMania 32. Jericho said that originally, he was supposed to work with Jon Moxley on the show but WWE changed it to AJ Styles.
“I was just working house shows in 2015. I did 60 live events and I wasn’t interested in being on TV, and then after that I just decided to do a three-month contract in 2016, do something at WrestleMania. I don’t even remember — I was supposed to be with [Dean] Ambrose and then they changed it to AJ [Styles], but then I hooked up with Kevin Owens and I realized, ‘Man, this is really fun.’ It kinda reinvigorated my love and creativity.”
** Don Callis shared high praise for Chris Jericho during the show and thinks Jericho’s match with Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome changed the wrestling business.
“And I think that, I was listening off-air about the Tokyo Dome match and I think that really is — I would say that’s your greatest moment. I don’t even say ‘match’, because that’s the match to me that changed the wrestling business and that’s the match that shocked the world so I think, we can all get excited about in-rings and tackle drop downs and flips or whatever, five star, eight star.” Callis continued, “I think that match is the match that changed an entire industry and you were a part of it and you took a pretty big risk I think by doing what you said you’d probably never do which was work somewhere else and it changed the world and I think that to me, if I had to say one thing about your legacy, other than how kind you’ve been to your friends, it’s that so there you go.”
** The Miz, Charly Caruso and WWE’s SVP of WWE Studios, Susan Levison were a part of Ad Week’s ‘Virtual Equality Lounge’ and during that conversation, The Miz revealed that he and Maryse are working with WWE Studios on a game show which can be read about at this link. Elsewhere during their conversation, Susan Levison shared more details about WWE’s projects with A&E including their lost treasures show with Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque. Levison added that there are also documentaries coming out in 2021 about Randy Savage and Roddy Piper.
“Absolutely, we have a lot of fun stuff coming out. Next year, we’ll be launching our animated, theatrical feature we’re doing with Paramount, Rumble, which is voiced by Will Arnett. It’s a fantastic monster wrestling movie for the whole family, for kids and adults and we also have an unscripted show for A&E called Quest for the Lost WWE Treasures where we — 95 percent of WWE’s memorabilia has been lost to the wind. Ric Flair’s butterfly robe, Andre The Giant’s boots and Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque are sending off some of our legends around the country to track down some of our memorabilia and bring it back, not just to WWE but to our fans and that’s currently in production, actually at headquarters in Stamford today. That’s gonna be great, along with five two-hour documentaries about some of our most fascinating legends, Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage, Roddy Piper and that’s gonna be on A&E as well in 2021. That’s just some of the stuff that we have and hopefully we’ll have Brawl in the Family coming later in 2021 after we sell it.”
** According to Law360, investors of WWE asked a New York federal judge to classify them as a class in their suit against the company. They are suing WWE because they feel the company misled them in regard to their relationship with Saudi Arabia.
** Daily DDT caught up with Ember Moon on 10/6. Ember reflected on her time as a part of RAW and says she was cast away in the background and overshadowed by Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.
“My time on Raw and SmackDown, I thoroughly enjoyed. I learned a lot of stuff, I learned that anything can change at the drop of a dime. It’s crazy because Ronda Rousey was coming in and your stint is all about Ronda and Becky and Charlotte at that time because that’s what the match was at ‘Mania. If you look around at that time, there really wasn’t much time for anyone else. It didn’t matter if you were a good guy or a bad guy, there just wasn’t time because we needed to make sure the people Ronda was bringing in, the fan base Becky was accumulating and the fan base that Charlotte had made this masterful concoction and that they were going to stay and support us once Ronda was gone.
It’s crazy because I got lost in the shuffle. I’m not afraid to admit that. I did. I can at least say every time I got in that ring and got an opportunity in that ring, the one person you remembered at the end of that match was [me]. ‘Oh, Ember Moon did that cool thing,’ or, ‘Man, I sure do like that crazy Ember Moon.’ That was kind of what my time was on Raw and SmackDown. How can I make the people remember me? It sucks because I got traded to SmackDown and I was so happy with being on SmackDown. It started building up with Mandy [Rose] and Sonya [Deville]. Love them both, they deserve so much as well. And then coming into the match with Bayley at SummerSlam and then kind of losing that momentum a little bit. I really do feel like it was about to rev back up again. Then I’m gone.”
Ember’s Achilles came completely off the bone when she tore it. Someone who suffered a similar injury was WWE Hall Of Famer Edge and Edge gave her some advice about how to properly rehab her injury.
“I was so distraught in my own feelings and Edge reached out to me. I didn’t think it was Edge, I thought it was Braun playing a trick on me. I was like, ‘What? How did you get my number?’ He goes, ‘No, this is Edge.’ I said, ‘Oh! Hi, sir. How are you doing today?’ Honestly, because of him and Triple H, that’s how it started turning around. Edge was basically like, ‘Do this, get a sauna, get a bike, you have to do this.’ He basically sent me a Cliff-noted version of what he was doing because he had such a bad Achilles rupture, too, that they said he would never come back. When the complications started happening, that’s when they told me I might not be coming back.
The surgeon was top five in the country, but he hadn’t seen that ever. Part of me is a little proud that if I did it, I did it all the way. It was just insane. Edge helped me out so much with telling me what type of therapy to do and routines that would help. I sent that to my therapist and everything started to turn around. It was slow, but it started turning around. I remember the surgeon telling me in July, ‘Your foot’s actually looking a lot better now. This is what we’re going to do. We’re either going to clear you in six weeks to do in-ring procedure or you’re going to have the second surgery.’ That’s what it came down to, so it was one of the most nerve-wracking appointments I’ve ever had in my life. If I had that second surgery, I probably wouldn’t have come back.”
** Ronda Rousey appeared on ‘Hot Ones’.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZfKIE0m4vQ[/embedyt]
** WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley was a guest on the After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves. Lashley discussed some of the storylines he’s been involved in on WWE television over the past several years such as being in a “relationship” with Lana and having his “sisters” appear on television. Lashley said it was a challenge but views it as paying dues of sorts.
“It was challenging, it was challenging because at that time, I’m not gonna lie to you, when I first started, I started in the Summertime. My kids weren’t at school so my kids were going to the house almost every weekend. So it was an adjustment for me. My kids were going with me. When I first started this storyline, my kids didn’t even watch the show. They couldn’t watch the show. It was just a time for me to pay my dues but at the same time, you know what I thought about also? I said you know what? My first run, I left early and I know that I had a lot of possibilities and I know that they had a lot of plans for me on my first run but I left early, so I said, ‘Maybe this is a way of paying dues’ and it’s not like I haven’t paid dues before. It’s not a thing of, ‘I’m just gonna sell out and do whatever.’ It’s like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna pay my dues and I’m gonna show I’m here,’ and you can look at it this way, some people have to, excuse my language, some people have to eat sh*t and then have to deliver burgers or flip burgers or something like that. You’re actually having to do it and get paid a tremendous amount of money to take care of your family and do things that you can, on the outside of this. So, one, you just have to say, ‘I’m playing a character on TV. It’s not me.’ Some of the guys — ‘if I have to lose to somebody,’ it’s kinda one of the things like, are you serious? So ultimately, they have an opportunity to use me to the best of their abilities if they want to. If they choose not to, that’s their deal. But it’s like, ‘I have a show and I have all these characters for this show. This guy we really can push. We really can put this guy in a good position that’s beneficial for him and us, or we can just put him around here and lose that investment.’ For me, I’m gonna take care of that investment and ultimately put it where I want, but I can understand that you say, ‘Hmm, we have to sit back and see if this investment is not just gonna use us and take off.’ So if that’s the case, I think I’ve kinda proven that I’m here and I’m willing to work and do whatever.”
** Kamille Brickhouse of the National Wrestling Alliance joined Vickie Guerrero’s podcast. Kamille stated that when she was first paired with Nick Aldis in the NWA, she thought she was done wrestling because at that point in her career, she felt she was done with the in-ring portion of the sport.
“At first, I loved that I was paired up with Nick [Aldis] because — when that happened, I actually thought I was done wrestling. When I got the call from Dave Lagana, I was really kind of over wrestling but then, when you’re out of it for a while, you start missing it again and I didn’t… how I wanted sorta to be involved in wrestling. I just knew that I missed it, and so coming in with Nick as his bodyguard was a nice way of reintroducing myself into wrestling but in a different role, kind of dipping my toes back in and with that, it was nice because I also got to hear him put his matches together and he has such great psychology. So getting to be around that and all the people with great psychology and learning and soaking up all of that, put me in a really nice position for right now where I do feel like I’m ready to sort of be out on my own and that’s why [on] one of the episodes, he said, ‘Kamille is no longer my insurance policy’ and everyone’s like [shocked], but I’m still part of Strictly Business, so I am my own superstar in that faction and I’m just not with Nick. I’m now Kamille in Strictly Business, so it’s nice that I’m still part of something. It’s not like we just completely severed ties, but I get to kinda do my own thing now and shine a little bit so that’s nice.”
** Chris Van Vliet conducted an interview with Dominik Mysterio. It was brought to Dominik’s attention that David Benoit, son of Chris Benoit considered wrestling training and Dominik said he’d love to work with David.
“I’d love that. I think that’s… that in itself is a historic generational match because that — that’s so cool. I haven’t talked to David in a while but we’ve communicated when I was at Storm’s [Wrestling Academy] because I believe he lives in Edmonton and that’s a three-hour drive from Calgary so we communicated and we’ve talked before and I would like to say we were good friends back in the day because our parents would always take us out to dinner together, we would go eat at Rainforest Cafe and go to dinosaur museums together so, it was really cool and I’d love to eventually work with him one day.”
In the ‘WWE Day Of: SummerSlam’ mini-documentary, Dominik Mysterio was greeted with a hug from Vince McMahon following his match against Seth Rollins. Dominik talked about what that moment means to him.
“It meant the absolute world to me. Like I’m getting chills right now [by] you just telling me. It was surreal. Seeing everybody like a lot of superstars, my dad, Eddie, seeing guys like that get that hug and that embrace from Vince [McMahon] and actually me getting an embrace from him and getting those sweet whispers as they call it, it was surreal and I’m very thankful for the opportunity and it was a night I’ll never forget.”
Dominik stated that there are still talks of him possibly donning a mask but seeing as how everyone knows his identity, there would have to be a creative way to incorporate the mask onto his on-screen persona.
“There’s still talks about it. So we would like to eventually get into the tradition of Lucha Libre which would be putting the mask on me and taking on the name, but I think that’s all down the line in the future. But now everyone kind of knows my face and what I look like and the idea of wearing a mask is to hide your identity to be able to go out to places and stuff like that but I think I could find a unique way of bringing the mask into my character.”
** AJ Styles started up another stream on his Twitch channel. Styles further elaborated on WWE’s third-party edict and the company possibly taking over contracted talents’ Twitch accounts. Styles thinks that once the line of communication is open, things will be fine.
“Yeah you know, so I really think that the stuff that’s coming up soon, I think it’s gonna be okay because I just don’t think it’s what we think it is. When I say we, I associate myself with WWE. I don’t think there’s as much going on as some of the higher-ups think. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. I think it’s going to be okay. I think once the communication is open, we’ll all be able to work together and things will be fine.”
At the start of the stream, AJ sent his congratulations to Chris Jericho for his 30 years in wrestling. Styles praised Jericho for his longevity and being a friend.
“Oh! Chris Jericho, 30 years. You gotta give it to him. 30 years? I mean that’s a long time to be at a job. What’s retirement? Is it usually 30 years? Is that usually when you’re able to retire is after 30 years? Is that when retirement starts? I gotta be honest with you, I’m not sure, but kudos to Chris Jericho. A buddy of mine, a guy who’s been at the top of his game for so long, it’s ridiculous. Lionheart in Japan, the matches he had over there were awesome, so… you gotta give it to a guy where you’re continuously beating up your body. I love what I do but man you’re gonna pay the price as you get older and the way Chris has been able to survive has been unbelievable. Now, he is super entertaining in pretty much everything he does. Whether it’s in a band or it’s with a mic in his hand or whether he’s in the ring getting it done that way. Awesome dude, congratulations Chris Jericho, you are the man.”
Styles also touched on the topic of who created the Styles Clash/Faith Breaker (Michelle McCool). Styles reiterated that he started doing the move in the year 2000 and can also be seen performing the move on WCW programming in 2001.
“Well, if you wanna go back, you can go back to 2001 I believe, when I did it in WCW. So, and I was doing it before that of course. So, maybe 2000 [was] when I came up with the move. Like it was me who came up with the move, made it up, all by myself. So, there you have it.”
** Next week on NXT UK, the Heritage Cup will continue as Dave Mastiff takes on Joseph Connors. NXT UK Champion WALTER is teaming with Alexander Wolfe to face Pete Dunne and Ilja Dragunov. In three weeks, WALTER is defending his title on NXT UK against Dragunov.
** While appearing on the Gorilla Position podcast, Wade Barrett was asked if he’ll ever compete in the ring again and said it’s not off the table but it would have to be for something meaningful and not just for a short spot appearance like the Royal Rumble.
“Yeah so, I’ve never retired from the in-ring. My focus at the moment is 100 percent purely in broadcasting and working in the NXT booth and telling stories verbally. I will say there is some gas left in the tank. That’s not to say 100 percent I will be back in the ring, maybe I never will, but if the right opportunity presents itself at the right time, then I can see something happening. I will say though that a lot of people think that you can just jump back in the ring. ‘Okay, you’re in shape, you work out, you can get back in the ring next week.’ I mean to compete in the ring, especially if you’re aiming on getting in there with someone who’s a champion-level like Drew McIntyre or Finn Balor, you need to be so fit and so sharp that it would take minimum, three months for me of in-ring training behind the scenes to get up to a point where I’d be comfortable getting in the ring with either of those two. So that’s where I’d want to be if I was gonna be back in the ring. I would want to be competing against the very top people. It’s just a long process, a lot of commitment and hard work and bumps and bruises to get to the point where you can step in the ring with those guys so, not an easy decision. It’s gonna be a very big thing if I ever do-do it but I’m not gonna be coming back for a Royal Rumble spot where I come in and 60 seconds later I’m thrown out, wave to the crowd and leave. That doesn’t appeal to me and if I’m coming back, I’m doing it properly so, that’s why it’s a big decision for me.”
** Takayuki Ueki and Toshiyuki Sakuda are leaving Big Japan Pro Wrestling. A press conference about their respective departures was addressed by Big Japan’s Masaya Takahashi.
** D-Von Dudley welcomed Cedric Alexander onto his ‘Table Talk’ podcast. Alexander, the newest member of The Hurt Business shared his thoughts about joining the group.
“You know, I could say the classic thing, it’s humbling, it’s something I never thought would happen which is all true, but at the same time, it’s one of those things like, yeah, it felt like it was meant to be, because I’ve known Shelton [Benjamin] for almost ten years now. I’ve known Bobby [Lashley] and MVP for a few years, just off and on, and now seeing that I’m able to — and I’ve said it before, being able to learn from three of the most physically gifted, talented and decorated athletes in WWE, it’s… words can’t really describe it. I feel like I’ve been given the golden ticket to success and there’s no way I can mess it up.”
** WWE shared footage from Jerry “The King” Lawler’s 50-year wrestling anniversary celebration in Tennessee.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgYZP3iOAc[/embedyt]
** PWInsider pushed out part three of their interview with Kurt Angle. After a multitude of neck surgeries, Angle provided an update on how his neck is doing. He explained why he never did fusion neck surgery and revealed that he’s getting a tumor removed.
“Two reasons – one, the doctor that did my surgery told me that I would have to have three level fusion, that means I would have had to retire. You can’t have more than two levels, a doctor will not clear you to wrestle if you have more than two levels fused in your neck, so I didn’t have a choice, I had to go and get…I got the repair instead of the fusion, so I continued to do that throughout my career – repair, repair, repair, now I’m at the point where my neck is starting to fuse together on its own, and I gotta do a lot of maintenance now. I also have, what do you call it, a tumor in my neck, that’s sitting on some nerves, [I have] to get that taken out. I have an appointment this Thursday with a doctor so that’s also been a problem for me. It actually grew twice as big in the last three years, so they need to get that out of there. If they do that hopefully my neck will feel better. [Note: Angle did have that appointment and they are working on a treatment for that issue.]”
Angle shared that a camera crew has been following him for the past three years recording a documentary and said WWE purchased the footage. He is not aware of what WWE is planning to do with it.
“Oh yeah, I started a second book, and I had to stop because I got approached by the production company that did the Foxcatcher documentary, they wanted to do a Kurt Angle documentary, so they’ve been doing that for the past 3 years. We’re just finishing up and I wanted the documentary to come out first before the book.
So the documentary, WWE purchased it so I don’t know what they’re going do with it, I think they’re going to sell it to a network and then we’re going to go from there. Eventually I will write my second book and it should be a lot more pro wrestling involved but I’m going to make sure the amateur wrestling is in there as well. You’ll probably hear a couple of the same stories but you know, I want to get my book together from beginning to end and cover all corners.”
At the conclusion of the interview, Angle spoke about his time in TNA Wrestling. He said that if TNA could’ve stayed afloat financially to be able to offer him the right deal, he might not have came back to WWE in 2017.
“I was excited, you know, I had my eye on TNA for a good year, and watching AJ and Joe and Stinger do their thing and young guys like James Storm, Bobby Roode and Eric Young…Jay Lethal, Chris Daniels and Kazarian, I wanted to get down there and go with those guys, because I didn’t know, what’s crazy is, you know, half of them ended up in WWE but they all should have, they were all so good, but I was looking forward to working with those guys, they were incredible workers, and the WWE Universe didn’t really hear about them before, so being able to go down there and perform with those guys was a lot of fun. We had a great run, I enjoyed my time in TNA, you know, if the company would have stayed more afloat and didn’t run out of money, I don’t know if I would have came back in 2017 to WWE. I did like where I was and you know, but I knew the money was running out and I knew they weren’t going to be able to offer me the deals they were, so I knew it was time for me to make my final, you know, run in WWE and it worked out OK, it wasn’t my…the return I hoped for but at least I got back with the WWE fans and they got to see me one last time there.”
** Natalya chatted with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and the written version of their interview is up on the Calgary Sun wesbite.
** Chelsea Green is closing her Pro Wrestling Tees store.
** Wrestling Inc. chatted with Josh Barnett ahead of Bloodsport during The Collective weekend. Barnett shared that he was hoping to present four Bloodsport events this year but the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.
“Good, I suppose. I always feel very strongly that Bloodsport is going to deliver and going to continue to try and pick up the ante every single time. So I’m glad for the opportunity. Not being able to do Bloodsport earlier this year during WrestleMania week was a big tragedy for us and GCW, and we had a really killer lineup put together, but obviously, the whole thing falling apart was out of our control as everybody out there, minus WrestleMania itself, everything was just dismantled by a pandemic.
And understandably so much, as it sucks. Not much else that you could really say to that but I wanted to do four events this year if possible, and I’m glad that we’re at least going to be able to do one. While it’s not the third event of the year, at this point, that’s fine. We’ll work with it, and one is better than none. I feel like this one is going to deliver. It’s going to give people what they were missing out on.”
** All of AEW’s champions appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast to celebrate the one year anniversary of Dynamite. Now-former TNT Champion Brodie Lee was first up and he detailed how emotional it was for him to watch his TNT Title win on television after it was taped.
“When we watched it back at home, it was my two sons and me, my wife was at work. I had tears in my eyes. It was just a culmination of so much bullsh*t and so much questioning myself and questioning my career and just so much anxiety over the past eight years, and it all came out watching it on TV and it’s just an unbelievable experience.”
AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) later joined and Dax talked about some of FTR’s matches in AEW that they look fondly upon. He mentioned working with The Butcher and The Blade and helping put more of a spotlight on their abilities.
“The match with Butcher and Blade, because those guys, before we got here, they were great talents,” Harwood said. “They still are great talents but they hadn’t found their footing yet, and then we had that match with those guys and I think it showed the audience what they could actually do and now they’re on TV on a weekly basis so I’m very proud of that.”
** Comicbook.com ran their interview with Booker T and Sharmell.
** Xavier Woods, Adam Sandler and Kevin James talked about Halloween:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07smqSrZE0[/embedyt]
** Booker T talked about Ember Moon’s return to WWE during his ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast. Ember is a former student of Booker’s and he expressed his excitement for Ember and what’s next for her in NXT.
“Well I’m glad she’s back, first and foremost. [It] was touch and go with her, you know coming back or how soon she was gonna come back or if she was gonna come back there for a minute. She was really worried about that. I talked to her… a month-and-a-half ago or so. She was telling me that she was in the ring working, working out and I was talking to her. I was like, ‘How does it feel man?’ She was like, ‘Ah man, I’m a little unsteady right now’ so she was just getting the feel back in the legs and I know she’s been waiting to get back and just excited to get back and then, to come back the way she did, I loved the Road Warrior feel to what was going on.
That’s what I took away from it. Not The Road Warriors, but the movie. It had that feel to it. She had the clothes, she had the shaved head on one side, the motorcycle, the green lights. It had a Mad Max Thunderdome type-feel, you know? Tina Turner, she actually looked kinda like Tina Turner when she played that role in Beyond Thunderdome so, that’s what I took away from it. I was like, ‘Wow, it was really, really cool.’ The build-up, the walk, the reveal and I was like, ‘Wow, she’s back.’ I’m anticipating on watching Ember get back in the ring and see if she can recreate the magic all over again because I’m sure it’s something that she’s wondering in her head as well is, ‘Man, can I go out here and create, recreate that magic one more time?’ So it’s got to be in her head, but the thing is, she’s gonna be able to pull it off. She’s gonna find herself in that position where the lights are on, they’re gonna be bright and when that adrenaline starts flowing, you’re just like, ‘Oh man, I gotta go out here and get it done’ so I just can’t wait to see that man, seriously.”
** Fightful conducted an interview with Amber Nova. She stated that she’s ready for an opportunity to either work with AEW or WWE but on a full-time schedule opposed to enhancement work.
“I’m really local. I’m close by. I just don’t think now is a really good time for anyone in professional wrestling, or entertainment in general, with the pandemic. It’s really hard. I’ve been working really hard. Like I said, I’ve had matches with NXT, IMPACT!, I have been in contact with some people in AEW or other companies. But, I’m not looking just to do extra work or be used quickly. I’m an asset. I’m valuable. I’m waiting on that opportunity, hopefully next year, for a real try out and a real opportunity. So, I just don’t want it to go to waste.”
** Andrade and WWE collaborated with UNICEF to create a ‘Kid Power Up’ video for the UNICEF website.
** Darren Paltrowitz spoke with MLW’s Tom Lawlor.
** October 8th is the birthday of former MCW Champion Sean Studd, son of WWE Hall Of Famer Big John Studd. Michael Nakazawa turned 45-years old today. The Miz’s birthday is today as well.
** Below is a clip of John Morrison debuting for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS34bLibmys[/embedyt]
** LRMOnline has a story up about Booker T and Sharmell’s Reality of Wrestling ‘Swing Vote’ event.
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.
