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.
** Zelina Vega joined Lilian Garcia for the latest installment of the Chasing Glory podcast. Vega discussed her on-screen partnership with Andrade and how she initially wanted to keep her real-life relationship with Aleister Black out of the public eye. Zelina later revealed that during Andrade’s reign as United States Champion which lasted from December (2019) to May (2020), he was supposed to drop the title to Aleister.
“Because initially, we were supposed to drop our — I said ‘our’. Oh my God, what’s the title? Yes, that one, the United States Championship. We were supposed to drop that to Aleister and we were gonna add the element of my confusion into it and it didn’t end up happening obviously. One got hurt and another whole thing but yeah, I wanted to keep the reality of people believing that more than anything else so, it’s nice to keep it just for us but also to keep the storylines fresh and believable as possible.”
** New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) welcomed R-Truth onto their ‘Feel The Power’ podcast. Truth recounted a period of his career in WWE developmental when he was committed to quitting wrestling but it was Brian “Road Dogg” James who was able to convince Truth to stick around.
“Road Dogg saw me in developmental — I was about to quit because I was in developmental for almost nine months. They told me I was gonna be there for six months. I was there for nine months, didn’t seem like nothing was working out, nothing was going right. I was running out of money, I’m sleeping on Daniel Bryan and Spanky [Brian Kendrick] and Shooter Schultz, I’m sleeping on their floor man. I was ready to quit and I was discouraged because I was doing something new, something different. Wasn’t the typical streets, wasn’t the — and I was questioning myself. Dawg, this is a whole different route that I embraced. It’s not paying off, it’s not giving me what I thought I’d have. I’m not the big wrestling star, so it’s like I was discouraged, I was ready to quit that TV — matter of fact, it was Kevin Kelly and Bruce Prichard and Terry Golden. I told them, I said, ‘Hey man, I’m not re-signing, I’m done. I’m going back home,’ and Terry Golden was like, ‘You’re going back home? To what? To do what?’ And I wasn’t gonna go back to the streets but I didn’t know what I was gonna go back to. I just felt that it was too overwhelming, it was too much for me, it wasn’t working out. Wasn’t nothing paying off, showing, nothing and Road Dogg came to the TV taping and saw me rap, go down. I think I wrestled Jerry Lawler that night and when I came back to the locker room, two or three guys were like, ‘Hey man, Road Dogg was asking about you.’ I’m like, ‘Road Dogg with DX?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I’m like, ‘Okay cool.’ Got in the locker room and we all know Road Dogg. Road Dogg came right up to my face, ‘Was that you out there rapping that? Doing that dance and rapping to the ring?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘You wanna be my tag partner?’ I said, ‘What? Wrestle on TV?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ I’m like, ‘Man, I’m about to quit man.’ He said, ‘Quit!?’ I said, ‘Yeah man. Bruh, I don’t think this is for me. I think I bit off more than I can chew.’ He said, ‘I’ll tell you what, I know you’re discouraged, you’ve been going.’ He said, ‘If you give me one month, I’ll have you on TV.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll give you one month.’ Dawg, in less than one month, they were coming up with the idea of me and Road Dogg in New York [in a] restaurant and Road Dogg was texting back and forth, ‘I’m gonna get you out of there,’ and bruh, it happened [in] less than a month. I was making my RAW debut.”
** Last week, NWA President Billy Corgan clarified that former NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa is under contract through 2021. While appearing on Busted Open Radio, Rosa weighed her options and stated that she’d like to be in a company where she can continue her outside projects such as Mission Pro Wrestling.
“Because of all the projects I have on the side, it has to be a place where I’m able to continue to work with what I’m working on. As you guys know, I run and I’m part-owner of Mission Pro Wrestling. It’s an all-women’s show and I’m not just talking about in the ring. Everybody that runs stuff is women and there’s so much stuff that I’m working on with other projects that I have with this to make it bigger, so if I’m able to do it in [the] NWA, then NWA. If I’m able to do it with AEW, probably, but now knowing what WWE is doing with things that we have on the side, [it’s] gonna be very difficult for me to work on my personal projects and sometimes, those personal projects are the things that bring you the most joy in life and I don’t want that joy to be taken away from me for money. If that’s what I have to sacrifice sometimes, then I’d rather be happy than be enslaved somewhere where I’m gonna be there for like, I don’t know how long.”
Elsewhere on the topic, Thunder Rosa explained what she’ll be looking for when she makes the move to a bigger company.
“I am signed with NWA. I have another year with them and when it’s my time, it’s gonna be my time and when my time comes man, I am not gonna come as just another person on the roster, mark my words. I’m coming for everything, I’m coming to be on top, just like I did this first time. My value is gonna be bigger, because I’m gonna be a better wrestler, I’m gonna cut better promos. My body’s gonna look chiseled. I’m gonna have a better record [in MMA] so when I [get out there] I’m gonna be like, ‘This is all I have to offer. What do you have to offer me?’ That’s what I want when I get to a bigger company. It’s not the opposite way like, ‘Excuse me, excuse me! Can I get a contract?’ Like no, I want them to want me. That’s how it should be.”
Rosa also spoke about the dynamic between herself and Ivelisse. Rosa first clarified that there is no issue with Ivelisse from her side and says she’ll always handle her in-ring work with professionalism.
“Well you know, I never had any issues with her [Ivelisse]. I’m just gonna put it out there, never had any issues with her. I worked with her in Lucha Underground, I worked with her in other promotions and I mean, I thought the match was going well and then you guys saw what you saw. We made it work, we finished, nobody got hurt and that to me, that’s the most important part. I am not gonna — like you said, you gotta make it work and that’s what I attempted to do and even to the finish, I made sure my opponent was safe at all times, no matter what happened in-between. So, like I said, like I told you earlier, my promise with anybody that I step in the ring [with], regardless of our relationship inside or outside is to keep my opponent safe. I’m not trying to kill you. It’s not MMA. They’re not paying me a bunch of money to try to kill you. This is a dance and I try to have the best dances possible, so, that’s what happened.”
** During his ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, Booker T dove into the announcement of Kylie Rae’s retirement from pro wrestling. Rae worked for Booker T under the Reality Of Wrestling banner and she was also trained by Booker T as well.
“Man, it’s sad, it really is. Kylie, when she first came to Reality Of Wrestling, she trained for, you know, [it] seemed like a minute and she won the Diamonds Championship her first night she got in the ring, first match, and she was so special as far as being able to make fans feel a certain way and she had the Pikachu character-like and she always smiled and I tell you, I didn’t really gravitate to the gimmick or anything like that, myself personally, as far as the Pikachu thing but she obviously knew what she was doing, because fans picked her out and they loved her more than they loved all the other girls and I was like, ‘Don’t say nothing. If it’s working, let it ride. If it [isn’t] broke, don’t fix it, don’t say nothing.’ That’s the type of guy I am. So, I saw her growing, growing, growing to the point where she got a shot in AEW immediately. She was on the poster in Vegas. Yes, she was on the poster and I was like wow, and then she no-showed the show. She didn’t show up and then everything started kinda going crazy a little bit after that. She went away. I actually called her, I actually talked to her, and after I talked to her, it seemed like she got back on track, she got back in the ring and started doing indies and then boom, she got the IMPACT deal and I was like, ‘Wow, okay boom, she’s back on track’ because you know, everybody goes through something. It ain’t a day that we all [don’t] go through something. That’s just life.
So I thought it was just one of those deals and then now, to no-show another pay-per-view with another company and then this [comes out], it tells me, man, she’s in a place to where maybe the last place she needs to be is around a wrestling ring, around a bunch of wrestlers. It could be something that’s maybe not helpful to her right now. But, I do think she should probably concentrate on that more than her wrestling, than anything, just because her health and her well-being is more important than anything else, and obviously she’s dealing with something and I thought about calling her and saying something but, sometimes you just need to take a minute and try to regroup and find yourself. I’m sure I’ll find myself picking the phone up and making a phone call, but it’s sad to see her in this position that she’s in because there again, she is so talented but it’s like that a lot of times too. The most talented ones, sometimes, it might be something. It might be loose wire or something here or there. You never know what it is, or it could be something stemming from their past that you never really [know]. It could be any little thing that triggers so you know, I just want to see her safe, unharmed and happy, whether that be inside of the ring or out of the ring, it really doesn’t matter. I just want to see her well-being taken care of more than anything.”
** The latest guest on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast was Paul Heyman.
** Lio Rush was interviewed by Wrestling Inc. and Rush discussed the forthcoming dates he has coming up and has had with the likes of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, UWN Prime Time Live, GCW and MLW. With the opportunities that are on the table, Rush said that he’s in no rush no sign anywhere at the moment.
“I’m in no rush to sign somewhere. I think with everything that’s coming up–this is a new feeling for me. This is a good feeling for me, to be free, to be able to do what I want to do and not have you tied down or somewhere right now.
I feel like I want to capitalize on that feeling and on that moment of just being able to do what I want to do. I’m in no rush to sign somewhere, but if somebody offers me something, I’m not going to just turn it down. I’m going to take a look at it and see if it fits best for me and my family.”
Rush dove into how he got started in Major League Wrestling. He revealed that Grammy-nominated artist Wale has been trying to get him [Lio] and Court Bauer together for some time and things finally came together.
“I am mutual friends with Wale [who is friends] with Court. I think he’s been trying to get me in MLW for a while, but obviously, I was with WWE. It was a match made in heaven honestly, and he reached out to me and said he wanted me to have me in the company. And I jumped on the opportunity. I knew that I didn’t have any other dates with any other companies coming up.
So I said to myself, this is the perfect time especially after putting out that list and possibly seeing some people in MLW that I put out on my list. That was a huge driving point for me. I know that I had Myron Reed on there. I had Brian Pillman Jr. on there. I believe I had Jordan Oliver. There’s a few others I’m sure, but those are the three that I remember off the top of my head.”
** Chris Van Vliet sat down with Lilian Garcia for an interview and Lilian shared that Jake Rogal, producer of ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ docu-series reached out to her to be a part of a documentary that he’s co-creating about Stone Cold Steve Austin. Lilian has already filmed for the documentary.
“Well, the producer from The Last Dance called me and he was like, ‘Hey, hey Lil –’ actually WWE reached out to me first. They were like, ‘The producer from The Last Dance is gonna reach out to you. They want you involved in a documentary,’ and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ So I end up getting reached out by them and it was funny because my husband and I were currently watching that documentary as this message was happening so when Jake [Rogal] reached out to me, I was just like, ‘Jake, I’m literally watching your documentary right now. Like this is amazing.’ Come to find out, they wanna do a documentary for Stone Cold Steve Austin and it’s coming out next year, and [he] gave me the biggest compliment. He said, ‘Your interview with Steve that you did on Chasing Glory was what made us realize that we wanted to do a different documentary’ because he’s had a few already but he said, ‘We’ve never heard the story of him being so shy as a kid that he couldn’t even order from the dairy queen, that his sister had to order that’ and to see what he’s become was so inspiring and I was like, ‘Holy cow, that’s amazing.’ So then they said, ‘You had such dealings and you seem to have such a friendship with him, we want you in the documentary’ and I’m like, ‘That’s amazing, totally.’ So immediately I reached out to Steve. He knew they were going to reach out to me and I was like, ‘Dude, this is so special’ and he’s like, ‘Would you really be in it?’ And I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll be in it.’”
** Announced for the 11/4 episode of NXT is Shotzi Blackheart versus Toni Storm. Also scheduled for the show is Dakota Kai versus Ember Moon along with Tommaso Ciampa versus Velveteen Dream.
** Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae appeared on the Swerve City Podcast on the WWE Network. Johnny recounted when he first began training to become a pro wrestler and doing shows near his dad’s restaurant. At one of those shows, former WCW talent Buff Bagwell was booked and Johnny’s father asked Buff if he thought Johnny had what it took to make it in the business.
“When I was trained, I had my first match back there when I was 17-years old, and Buff Bagwell was on the show, and I remember this in particular. So I had my first match and my dad asks Buff Bagwell, he said, ‘So –’ my dad is very supportive now, but back then, he was kind of a little less supportive.
My dad wanted me to take over his restaurant and things like that. The safe route. He’s like, ‘This is a sure thing…’ and my dad asks Buff Bagwell because he’s on the show. He’s like, ‘Buff, do you think my kid’s got a chance?’ He’s like, ‘No way.’ He’s like, ‘He’ll never make it. He will never make it.’
He said, ‘Look at him, no way,’ and word got back to me obviously about that and for me — it almost kinda vindicated what he [Johnny’s father] almost thought I guess because he thought, ‘Oh, my son is –’ and I’m the biggest in my family, which is crazy. So I did not have anything working with me. I had nothing to work with guys. I tell my mom and dad all the time [that] they screwed me. They screwed me hard.”
** DDT Pro-Wrestling ‘Ultimate Party’ Results (11/3/20) Tokyo, Japan
– Dark Match: Hideki Okatani def. Keigo Nakamura
– Dark Tag Team Match: Hiroshi Yamato & Hoshitango def. Mizuki Watase & Yukio Naya
– MAO def. Shunma Katsumata
– Akito def. Danshoku Dino
– Four-Way Elimination Six Man Tag Team Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Saki Akai & Yukio Sakaguchi def. Antonio Honda, Makoto Oishi & Super Sasadango Machine and El Lindaman, Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani and Kazuki Hirata, Naomi Yoshimura & Toru Owashi
– DDT Extreme Division Championship – Weapons Rumble Match: Sanshiro Takagi def. Shinya Aoki (c)
– CIMA & Soma Takao def. HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji
– DDT Universal Championship: Yuki Ueno def. Chris Brookes (c)
– Jun Akiyama def. Konosuke Takeshita
– KO-D Openweight Championship: Tetsuya Endo (c) def. Daisuke Sasaki
** Per the Fightful Wrestling Weekly, IMPACT Wrestling’s next set of tapings are set for 11/17-11/20.
** Nyla Rose will be in action on the 11/4 edition of AEW Dynamite. She’ll be taking on Red Velvet in singles competition.
** Chris Dickinson sat down with Ringsiders Wrestling for an exclusive interview and Dickinson shared that one of his professional goals is to wrestle for New Japan Pro-Wrestling full-time.
“You hear a lot of stories about guys who get tied up in the contracts with these bigger companies, then you’re kind of like at their mercy and this and that. To be completely honest, after I wrestled in Japan in February, I knew that I left my heart in Japan and I should’ve been back in Japan twice already this year. So, my goals were set on basically finding my career going over there in a permanent, kind of a permanent to semi-permanent basis. So, to say is that something that would interest me? Of course. Entertaining any idea or any offer from any company would interest me but my goal is to wrestle for New Japan Pro-Wrestling full-time.”
Several weeks ago, Dickinson headlined Josh Barnett/GCW’s Bloodsport event against AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. Dickinson discussed what it was like to work with Moxley:
“So I made sure I was training, I made sure I was prepared. I wanted to make sure I was going to look my best because the match was going to have a ton of eyes on it. I wanted to make sure for the type, style of match we were gonna have, I was training in certain techniques that I knew I would be able to maximize the match to its fullest potential, and luckily Jon Moxley, being the superstar or being the big name that he is, he did exactly the same thing. He didn’t come in there and rest on whatever he had accomplished as Dean Ambrose or whatever and that’s why Jon Moxley is an amazing professional wrestler, an amazing athlete and person is because he had respect for Bloodsport. He knew exactly what he was getting into and he is somebody who I believe, even though he’s accomplished so much, wants to prove himself. He wants to prove himself as a versatile athlete and as a versatile wrestler. He doesn’t just want to be the guy you watched in WWE from the last however, ten years he’s been there or nine years or he doesn’t just want to be the guy from The Shield or be The Lunatic Fringe or whatever. He could mix it up any way he wants. He has a Jiu-Jitsu background. He’s legit, you know what I mean? He knows what he’s capable of and he wants to show the world. So good for that guy and good for him wanting to come back to the indies and do something like that because it only helps me, it only helps Game Changer Wrestling, it only helps Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport so it was an unbelievable experience honestly. I had a blast and it was a great match. I would wrestle Jon ten out of ten times. It was a pleasure.”
** WWE applied to trademark “Chigona Bomb” on 10/29.
** WhatCulture posted their interview with Lilian Garcia. On the topic of her ‘Chasing Glory’ podcast, Lilian shared that she originally came up with the idea for the podcast in 2004.
“So, I went to the WWE with the idea in 2004, but it was just ahead of its time and there was no Network at the time. I don’t think we were even using Twitter at the time, which is crazy to think about. When I left in 2016, I was talking to my dad who was passing away from bladder cancer and he was like, ‘Lilian, I hate that you’re leaving the company just to be my caretaker. Do you have any ideas?’ I said, ‘Well, I had this idea in 2004,’ and he loved the concept. I love the fact that my father was able to see the show live. It launched November 2016 and he passed away Christmas day that same year. Watching him watch the show, I was just in tears. He has his stamp of approval all over this and I really feel he’s helping the show along. It’s just a beautiful thing what has happened and now that it’s on the Network because more eyes are going to see it, too.”
Lilian discussed the idea of possibly taking on the ring announcer role for WWE again and she said she’s always open to the idea.
“I would love to be able to do that, whether it’s next year or something. I don’t know if they’re going to [be] bringing fans back in or even if it’s virtual. I’ve told them I’m always ready, so if they ever want to bring me in for a special occasion or anything like that, I’m there. WWE’s home. It absolutely is. Even though I do all these other projects and like we were just talking about with PFL, they’ve embraced me. MMA has embraced me. I love that and I love that I can do various things and just keep expanding my own chase for glory. It’s been exciting.”
** Here’s the newest AEW Dark episode:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjL-fKTuKqw[/embedyt]
** Bleacher Report Live posted the hype video for The Young Bucks and FTR’s AEW World Tag Team Title match at Full Gear.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgFXqrzfOco[/embedyt]
** Former ROH World Television Champion Shane Taylor was the most recent guest on the ROHStrong podcast. Shane told the story of when Keith Lee left Ring of Honor and began working with EVOLVE which put an end to he and Shane’s partnership in ROH. Shane recalled Kevin Kelly reassuring him that he earned his contract with Ring of Honor and it did not have anything to do with Lee departing for another promotion.
“Our goal when we formed the team was for us to both make careers out of this. Obviously, it would’ve been optimal at the time for it to be together. But, the goal was still reached all the same, and for me, it’s my job to be a star with him here or with him not here. So nothing really changed on my end, and what allowed me to sort of ease my mind a bit about that was Kevin Kelly and he — he emphasized it to me on multiple times. He’s like, ‘Hey, the contract that you’re getting is because of you. Yes we’re high on the both of you but this deal is not dependent upon him being here. This is your deal.’ So, that meant the world to me that he was able to and wanted to let me know, ‘Hey, we have the utmost confidence in you to be successful here. You keep doing what you’re doing and things are gonna be fine.’ So, huge hats off to him for that because that’s not something he had to do. So, having that confidence let me know, ‘Okay, there’s a reason I’m here, there’s a reason they want me here. Now, I have to go out there and just figure out what my lane is.’”
** During his ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, Booker T reacted to the news of WWE changing Matt Riddle’s in-ring name to “Riddle”:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIsAL5z-yXU[/embedyt]
** NJPW Road to Power Struggle Results (11/3/20) Shizuoka, Japan
– Yuya Uemura def. Gabriel Kidd
– YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Toru Yano def. DOUKI, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.
– Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay & Yota Tsuji & Kazuchika Okada
– Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi
– KENTA, Chase Owens & Jay White def. Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma
– SANADA & Tetsuya Naito def. Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL
** ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham was interviewed by Sports Illustrated.
** Prior to the 11/2 episode of Monday Night RAW, Cedric Alexander spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. Cedric reflected on his change in character since joining The Hurt Business and feeling that the change was needed.
“I needed a change of pace and the chance to let out a new side that people aren’t used to seeing. One of the things that made me love wrestling in general was my career in amateur wrestling in high school and college. Just being on the mat made me feel a type of aggression I wasn’t really able to produce in my regular life. Now, with the Hurt Business, this is my chance to let loose. Before, when I was frustrated, I couldn’t let it out. Sometimes being a bad dude just feels a lot better. I knew I needed this, and it feels good.”
Alexander’s goal[s] in WWE are to become the WWE Champion and become a grand slam champion in the company as well.
“If there is a title to win, I want it. Long-term, I want to capture the WWE championship. I want to be a grand slam champion.”
** Ringsiders Wrestling caught up with NWA National Champion Trevor Murdoch. Murdoch told the story of how he and the late Lance Cade began teaming with another in WWE and shared that originally, the option was on the table for Cade to work with Kevin Fertig, also known as Kevin Thorn/Mordecai.
“When they brought me up to wrestle with Lance [Cade], we had to do two dark matches and it was kind of a tryout to a certain extent, even though I was with the company, already signed, they wanted to see how Lance and I looked as a tag team one weekend and then the next weekend they were gonna have Lance and Kevin Thorn tag as a team and at the time, Kevin wasn’t doing the vampire gimmick. It was actually Kevin Thorn’s idea for the gimmick we were doing. The redneck, or the trucker and the cowboy. They brought me in and I wrestled that first weekend with Lance and we’re coming to the back and Johnny [Laurinaitis] stops us both and goes, ‘Guys, you know, Lance, you’ve already wrestled with Kevin down in OVW so you know what kind of worker he is, you know what kind of chemistry you have with him. You just wrestled with Trevor the last two days, which partner do you want?’ And right when I heard that, I was like, ‘Oh, well sh*t. I’m definitely going back to developmental’ because Kevin and Lance were friends in developmental so I would assume that Lance would be like, ‘Yeah, Kevin’s my guy.’ But he didn’t. He looked right at Johnny, he goes, ‘I’m gonna be honest with you, I think I got better chemistry with Trevor’ and he goes, ‘Okay, you guys are on the road next week’ and we were like, ‘Holy sh*t.’”
** The following lineup was announced for this week’s NJPW Strong show on NJPW World:
– Fred Rosser vs. Jordan Clearwater
– Chase Owens vs. Danny Limelight
– JR Kratos & Rust Taylor vs. Rocky Romero & Jeff Cobb
** Allison Danger chatted with Killer Kelly.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4_aRoVQSqQ[/embedyt]
** The following video is from Ring of Honor’s YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y3Br7-ngoQ[/embedyt]
** Part one of Kota Ibushi’s post-G1 chat with NJPW1972.com is up on the site.
** Scott Fishman of TV Insider spoke with Cedric Alexander.
** Ringside Collectibles are revealing their latest WWE Mattel figures on Thursday and participating in the reveal will be Liv Morgan and Keith Lee.
** Nikki Cross was a guest on the ‘Uncool with Alexa Bliss’ podcast.
** Dana Brooke was interviewed by Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald.
** SlamWrestling chatted with Lee Moriarty.
** Former NXT and WWE United States Champion Andrade turned 31-years old on 11/3.
** Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT chatted with NXT Tag Team Champion Danny Burch.
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.
