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 producer TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) joined New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods) on their ‘Feel The Power’ podcast. Earlier this year, Wilson revealed that he pitched to make his in-ring return at a Royal Rumble. During the podcast with New Day, he further elaborated on that and the conversations he had with Vince McMahon about it.
“I kind of did [play with the idea of returning]. I wanted to at least write the final page on that book of me being an in-ring performer, and I thought, ‘What better way than the Royal Rumble,’ in terms of I wouldn’t have to get slammed. I already showed Finn [Balor] how to get eliminated so I know I can get [over the top rope], things like that and I remember talking with Vince [McMahon] about it and he said, ‘You need an answer today or can you give me time to think about it?’ I said, ‘Of course, take your time.’ He said, ‘How much time do you need?’ ‘It’s not a rush.’ When I was just presenting it to him I said, ‘I can do next year’s Rumble. It doesn’t have to be in four weeks in this one,’ last year in Phoenix. ‘It can be anytime,’ and he called me one day and said they ‘Put a lot of thought into it and that we would try to control everything on our end but what if something outside of our realm were to happen and it were to undo all of the good that has happened over the last two years,’ in terms of me being a producer and physically I do feel very, very good and his thought was, ‘Why risk that?’ Don’t ask me why but in my mind, the visual that kinda played out when he was saying this to me was imagine I’m standing on the steps, like about to come into the ring and just for whatever reason — just [thinking] about some crazy stuff like a fan jumps the railing and pushes me from behind and it whiplashes me and my neck’s super messed up, and so I remember thinking like, ‘Okay, I offer this to Vince. He gave two or three weeks solid thought to it, and this was his answer’ and like I said, and then I had that visual, which is very weird and placed in my weird — not that this was a memory but I had this visual in my mind of a guy coming and pushing me. Three months later, what happens at the Hall Of Fame? Some dude slides in and takes Bret [Hart] and Nattie down, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is almost like what I envisioned happening to me’ and I remember taking that as a sign like, ‘Okay, know what I am, doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Yes it would be cool if I could write the final page of my in-ring career, that chapter. But, I can’t I don’t think’ so I’ve kind of — when Vince told me no — so the weeks prior, I started to have those and maybe you guys have always had them, maybe you haven’t realized them because they haven’t gone away or maybe — but as a wrestler, I have these anxiety dreams or wake up like, ‘Oh, it’s just a dream.’”
Wilson also shared that originally, he was supposed to be the producer for Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan’s WWE Title match at WrestleMania.
“I was actually supposed to produce Kofi and [Daniel] Bryan at WrestleMania, for the KofiMania. Originally, that was my match originally.”
** Pro Wrestling Junkies hosted a virtual meet-and-greet session with AEW’s Miro. Miro praised the young talent that AEW has on hand and mentioned a “young team/two twins from Minnesota” who compete in AEW which would be Air Wolf (Darius Martin) and Angel Dorado (Daunte Martin). Miro stated that the duo is signed. This has not been confirmed by AEW.
“We have such outstanding, young talent and I’m talking about the future of this business. I’m talking about these kids. I saw these kids and they’re signed so, these two twins that I saw, they’re from Minnesota I think. I think they’re from Minnesota. One of these kids had like an 80-inch vertical and they’re like 19-years old and they’re moving fluidly and once they find each other, they’re gonna be the future of the tag team division and those are just two guys and we have probably another 15 ready to go.”
** Tama Tonga wrapped up season one of the Tama’s Island podcast as he and Tanga Loa are currently in Japan in preparation for World Tag League. Tama detailed the steps he needed to take in order to be cleared to enter Japan and how thorough the COVID precautions were upon his arrival.
“So, they had to bring us in about two-to-three weeks early just so we could get the quarantine out of the way but, before we even left America, Japan’s borders are still closed unless you have a work visa and even if you have a work visa, you still gotta get another certificate of re-entry from Japan and you gotta go through the Japanese embassies in America and that was, holy sh*t and then 72 hours before you get on a plane to come here to Japan, you gotta take the test and you gotta bring that test. It has to be notified by a doctor. Japan has to know that you took the test before you get on the plane. They have people checking that and making sure that there’s a doctor’s signature on that.
They check you before you get on a plane. They check all the documents and everything. Make sure because, holy sh*t. We get on the plane, the plane seats like what? 200 to 300 seats? Maybe even more. I’m just ballparking it. There was only 40 of us on that plane.
That was the most that — I came here through Delta and the stewardess was telling us that was the most they’ve seen in months because there’s usually about ten or less people on the plane when they come to Japan. So we get into Japan, we get off, they have us — at the airport, it’s a quarantine area for the airport. You come in, they check all your documents, then you gotta stay there and take the test at the airport and they have like a rabbit test. They test you there and then they check your documents and see if you got tested while you’re at home. But you gotta wait until your results come in and then they’ll let you go. It’s just very tight security at the airport. It’s serious business man.”
** Hannibal TV conducted an interview with Chris Dickinson. During their conversation, a viewer in the live chat asked for Dickinson’s thoughts on Joey Ryan and the amount of times Ryan was accused of sexual harassment/assault during the #SpeakingOut movement. Dickinson also gave his opinion on the lawsuits that Ryan has filed against his accusers.
“Yeah, you know… Joey [Ryan] is cool with me. We were cool. You would think — first of all, I’ll say this: You wouldn’t think Joey would have a problem getting with girls would you? He’s a great looking guy, he’s nice, he’s charming. For all intents and purposes from the outside looking in, he seems like a good person, right? Then all those stories came out, so many of them that you didn’t even see really too and he’s fighting for his life I guess. If he feels like he was wrongfully accused or if he feels like he got the worst end of the stick there or he doesn’t think what he did was wrong… I don’t know. I don’t know what to say.
I do [know some of the girls and Joey] and… him going after them for like millions and millions and millions of dollars, what is he suing them for? Is it defamation of character? Where is he gonna go and where does he expect to get this kind of money out of these girls for what they did? Was the whole thing kind of sloppy and messy and all over the place? Yeah. Are the stories piled so high that you have no choice but to believe it? Yeah, obviously. Let’s be real, if this guy was really the guy taking a girl to his hotel room, was supposed to give ‘em a ride to the airport, and then he’s coming out of the bathroom naked and he’s like, ‘Oh, you want to make out?’ Meanwhile, this guy’s like 40-years old and this girl is 18. Yeah, bro you gotta go. You got a serious problem. This isn’t gonna work out for you and if there’s these girls that really did feel that intimidated to say anything because of his standing in the business — let’s be real, that guy was a superstar. He was like a self-made superstar and think about the intergender wrestling stuff we’re talking about. This is a guy who was making these girls grab his penis, he was grabbing their breasts. He’s sticking lollipops in his ass. I don’t wanna say the signs were all there but I mean, you don’t think that any of this is a little strange or off-setting? I mean, it’s gonna be a weird court case, let’s be honest. It’s gonna be a strange lawsuit to have on both sides so I — dude, I don’t even know what to say about it. Best of luck to the victims man, God.”
While on the topic of intergender wrestling, Chris Dickinson named Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale and Priscilla Kelly as women that he’s been in the ring with that have stood out among the rest.
“I think everyone individually has something to offer. But I mean… to talk about all-around, gifted, athlete, freak ability and just room for growth and improvement and so young and accomplished so much already, Kris Statlander. She’s under contract with All Elite Wrestling. The Galaxy’s Greatest Alien Kris Statlander. She’s tremendous. I mean talk about freak athlete. She has a background in stunts, so she brought that into pro wrestling with her and she just took to pro wrestling like a sponge. I mean like a sponge. There’s some great girls out there. I think Willow Nightingale is a great girl of the current kind of crop of talent. I really enjoyed working with her. Priscilla Kelly, I had a match with her over the Summer time that was — it was fantastic. I mean, just outside the box, but pro wrestling, tight pro wrestling, real pro wrestling. Just storytelling and just not nonsense. Not hijinks, not cheap heat, just doing your best to go out there and show something a little bit different but also still tell a good, compelling pro wrestling story.”
** According to Law360, a Connecticut federal judge dismissed three shareholder derivative lawsuits that claimed WWE lied about business dealings with Saudi Arabia.
** Alison Rosen welcomed Alexa Bliss onto her ‘Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend’ podcast. During the Q&A portion of their chat, Bliss was asked about WWE labeling their talents as independent contractors and if she feels safe working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“WWE takes care of us 100 percent. You know, we all are in a contract and anything that happens inside the ring, WWE takes care of. Our health is 100 percent priority. Our health and safety is 100 percent priority in the company and you know, unfortunately we’re living in the middle of a cancel culture where people try to start rumors and make their assumption of things and there’s never been a time where I’ve ever felt uncomfortable about being in the ring or have ever felt forced [to be] in the ring. Even when I was injured, I had concussions and Vince [McMahon] said, ‘Alright, we’re gonna send you to the best specialists there are’ and he did and I saw a concussion specialist and they went above and beyond to take care of me and I know everyone feels that way.”
On-screen, Alexa Bliss has been involved in a storyline with Bray Wyatt for several months now. Bliss praised Wyatt as a performer and voiced her happiness with how their story and interactions have played out.
“So, I’ve been having so much fun in my recent time with WWE. I’ve always wanted to be working alongside a character like Bray [Wyatt] and because he is so good at what he does. He puts so much background research into what he does and he is the true epitome of what a WWE superstar should be. He is compelling, he is always evolving and changing and being something new and fresh and to be able to work with someone like that, just always gets your creative juices flowing. I always feel you’re only as good as the person that you’re working with and if you’re working with someone who has a different approach, if you can adapt to that approach, it just makes you a better performer, and in the ring, out of the ring, it’s been a lot of fun.”
** Dominik and Rey Mysterio sat down with Lilian Garcia to record a new episode of ‘Chasing Glory’. Rey stated that initially, Dominik wasn’t supposed to make his in-ring debut until 2021 but the opportunity with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam came about organically.
“We weren’t expecting this opportunity so quickly. We were still giving it about another year of training. We started to negotiate with WWE to potentially sign [a] developmental deal, and we said, ‘Okay, he’ll sign. Go train at the Performance Center, get ready and be ready by 2021, mid [2021].’ This opportunity presented itself. I said, ‘I can’t say yes or no. It’s up to you, however you feel.’”
** Dave Marquez was interviewed by Wrestling Inc. Dave reflected on his time as Vice President of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and recalled the company wanting to refer to Finn Balor as “King Devitt: King of the Leprechauns”.
“I really like it [NJPW and UWN collaborating]. It gives a lot more opportunity to people that you probably would never see in Tokyo, especially during my time there. I had a hell of a time getting people booked in New Japan and from the dojo. Even Samoa Joe back in the day, they didn’t want him. There’s many others. The whole Fergal Devitt piece, and they wanted to call him ‘King Devitt: King of the Leprechauns’ back then. And I was like, ‘No, no, no, don’t do that. Please don’t do that.’ I pitched the ‘Prince’ name, and luckily, they went with him. I was like, ‘He’s young. He’s exotic-looking, and he’s a very handsome man. He looks like an underwear model. He’s a prince. He’s royal.’”
** The Miz and Maryse chatted with Sam Roberts to promote the return of Miz & Mrs. to the USA Network. Maryse was asked if she ever gets the feeling of wanting to return to WWE and she stated that-that feeling will always be within her.
“Always. Always. The thing about me is that, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I have kids, I have a family’ but also when I start getting excited about something, then that becomes something that my brain gets busy with and you know, my husband is Money In The Bank. WrestleMania might be in Los Angeles and you start adding all these elements. Also the fact that I love, I love WWE. I love everything about it so, it’s kind of been my family for so long also. I don’t think I’ll ever be not back. Somehow, in some capacity I always come back. Listen, I was back on SmackDown, I just had a baby five months postpartum and I had a match against Brie Bella on SmackDown. We were the main event. Like, [if] you would’ve told me that when I was pregnant, I would’ve started laughing, and that happened so, it’s really hard to say ‘never’. We’ll see, we’ll see.”
** FTW Champion Brian Cage versus Matt Sydal has been added to the 11/11 AEW Dynamite lineup.
** Below is the newest episode of AEW Dark:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpJhkkjeoR8[/embedyt]
** Andreas Hale and Kel Dansby hosted the first episode of Wrestling with Stereotypes on AdFreeShows. IMPACT Wrestling’s Head of Talent Relations D’Lo Brown joined them on the show. D’Lo was asked if he believes the Nation of Domination would be heels if they were a part of today’s wrestling climate. D’Lo thinks that the group couldn’t exist in today’s culture.
“No. No way, no way, no. We couldn’t even exist in today’s culture. I don’t think it would’ve worked. As we talked about earlier, we’re playing on not only our stereotype but the fans’ stereotype as well and that dynamic just doesn’t exist anymore. It’s just not there anymore, and thankfully it’s not. Now we’re moving past that, we moved past that so I just don’t think in today’s world, that would work in any way, shape or form.”
Specifically speaking about IMPACT, D’Lo heaped praise onto former X Division Champion Chris Bey. He feels that there are big things ahead for Chris.
“He’s one of those guys… he’s confident in himself and he’s confident in his own skin. So, when he goes out there, you believe what he’s doing because he exudes that confidence and not in a negative way or a heel way, just as a person. He believes in his skill so much that he’s never got a bad match, he’s never got a bad interview. He knows that and that comes off every time he goes to the ring. Comes off every time he talks. His ring entrance when he’s got that swag walking there, dude has got it and he’s going to be the future, trust me. There are big things popping for him.”
** The SHIMMER promotion was profiled by FOX 59 and the piece included interviews with Allysin Kay, Marti Belle, Kevin Fertig and SHIMMER co-founder Allison Danger. Danger talked about the amount of talent that has come through SHIMMER that have gone on to have successful careers in wrestling. She mentioned how WWE likes SHIMMER talent and AEW has more recently taken a bunch in.
“Dave [Prazak] and I really believed that women had the ability to be taken seriously as athletes. Now we are seeing women headline major events on TV, on our pay-per-views. Everything we do, we are building them to essentially leave the nest. WWE likes our girls, NXT likes our girls, but AEW took a bunch of our talent. You see Shimmer women so many places. We are like [a] web. One of my girls gets a title, and I’ll text them, ‘Ugh, baby I’m so proud of you!’”
** WWE filed to trademark “The Way” on 11/5.
** Brody King appeared on the ROHStrong podcast to chat with Kevin Eck. Various styles of wrestling was a focus point of their conversation at one period and Brody stated that the Pure rules-style of wrestling isn’t believable to him.
“There’s no rules in fighting. It’s whoever is victorious at the end. Whoever walks away at the end, that’s who wins, and the Pure style… it’s too many rules. It’s not believable to me. Sure, you just had a great technical wrestling bout, but did the best man really win? Because he didn’t get to really give it everything he had.”
** John Morrison was the latest guest to join Sheamus for Celtic Warrior Workouts.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnNQD0GF0Xs[/embedyt]
** NJPW1972.com posted part two of their interview with Kota Ibushi. While reflecting on some of his matches from the 2020 G1 Climax, Kota stated that there was an opportunity to wrestle Shingo Takagi six years ago but he turned that opportunity down because he viewed Shingo as “dangerous” when it comes to Takagi’s intensity.
“Yeah. For 12 years I ducked him. He’s a dangerous guy. Nobody knows this, but I actually got an offer to wrestle him six years ago, but I passed. And then it finally happened in New Japan.”
** CIMA and KOHEI SATO are making special appearances at All Japan Pro Wrestling’s show on 12/13 at Korakuen Hall.
** Katsuyori Shibata’s full virtual meet-and-greet session is up on New Japan’s YouTube channel.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l42i-2zBvc[/embedyt]
** E! uploaded a preview of the premiere episode from the next season of Total Bellas. In the clip, Brie and Nikki Bella’s mother, Kathy, talked about recovering from Bell’s Palsy.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKMa_OToZVg[/embedyt]
** IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann was announced for GCW’s ‘Slime Season’ show on 12/5. MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu will be on the show as well.
** Erik versus Arika Tozawa along with Humberto Carrillo versus Gran Metalik was taped for WWE ‘Main Event’.
** Xavier Woods recorded a promo video with Faye Jackson.
** Mickie James was a guest on CW33.
** The second presentation of Eddie Kingston’s ‘Grindhouse’ on WWN Live is scheduled for November 14th. The following matches have been announced for the show:
– Anthony Henry vs. Fred Yehi
– Besties In The World (Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) vs. Sean Maluta & Ariel Dominguez
– Savannah Evans vs. Lindsay Snow
– JD Drake vs. Joseph Black
– Thomas Shire vs. Jeremy Wyatt
– Hunter Law vs. Troy Hollywood
** NXT’s Jake Atlas is the feature guest on this week’s episode of the Swerve City Podcast.
** The newest episode of Ring of Honor television aired and the results are: Dak Draper defeating Brian Johnson and Brody King defeating Dalton Castle.
** A ‘Best of Eddie Guerrero’ catalog has been added to the WWE Network. Guerrero passed away on November 13th of 2005.
** Calvin Tankman was a guest on the Wrassle Rap podcast.
** ‘Metro’ interviewed WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn.
** The following video was uploaded to the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kys2fUqA9Fs[/embedyt]
** Peyton Royce turned 28-years old on November 10th. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett has a birthday today as well.
** Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald interviewed Kevin Nash about his acting career.
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.
