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.
** Former two-time WWE Women’s Champion Jazz was a guest on Vickie Guerrero’s podcast. During the fan Q&A portion of the podcast, Jazz was asked who she’d come out of retirement for and she stated that she’d do it for a match with Charlotte Flair.
“You know who I’d really, really — I would come out of retirement for this one, Charlotte Flair. Yeah! Because she’s a worker, you know what I mean? She’s a worker and that’s what I consider myself as and yeah, I could most definitely see myself and Charlotte, yeah. That would be a major draw.”
Jazz further spoke about how she felt she was treated in WWE as far as lack of promotion. She claims that WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon once told she and Trish Stratus that they were probably the only two women who were drawing money for the company.
“They flew me in. In fact, flew me in early from home for me to do this, my screening [for an action figure]. Like always on high-demand, blah, blah, blah. Whatever but I don’t know what happened. They never gave me an action figure the whole time I was the champ and Stephanie McMahon told me herself that her and Trish — no, that Trish and I at the time were probably the only two women making money for the company during those times and I never had any merch. No t-shirt, no bandana, not a nothing, and I just never understood that. I’m the champion, they never put me on a poster. I may not be the most gorgeous girl but I damn sure wasn’t the ugliest, you know? I could be on a poster. But you know, I just feel like they didn’t know how to market me. I don’t know what it was. It was nothing I did wrong, I had heat with no one. So I don’t know what it was. It was one of those things, I never understood it.”
** Boston Wrestling MWF conducted a sit-down interview with Lio Rush. On the topic of Velveteen Dream (Patrick Clark), Rush said he has not spoken to him in any capacity since the sexual harassment allegations against Clark came out.
“I don’t know man. It is all a weird situation. Of course [he was a good friend of mine]. I would go to the lengths of saying that he was like a brother to me honestly. Honestly yeah. Unfortunately, when all that news kind of broke, I haven’t spoken to him since.”
** Ring of Honor’s PJ Black revealed on social media that he suffered an injury after falling down a flight of stairs. Ring of Honor provided more details on Black’s injury and noted that he suffered a compound fracture in his left ankle. The injury occurred while practicing for a world record stunt and his bone broke through the skin. PJ had 13 screws and two metal plates inserted into his ankle and was advised to not put any weight on it for seven weeks.
** The following notes are from the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
– In December, AEW will be going live every other week. Their 11/25 show was taped this week. Their ‘Winter Is Coming’ special on 12/2 will be live and the following week’s show is scheduled to be taped on 12/3. That cycle will continue until January 6th.
– More details were provided about Mandy Rose’s shoulder injury and her being pulled from the RAW women’s Survivor Series team. The injury occurred on the 11/9 episode of RAW when she got tangled up in the ropes after being tossed out of the ring.
– Chael Sonnen had discussions with IMPACT Wrestling about coming there and working a program with Ken Shamrock.
– Rob Van Dam, Tommy Chong, Effy, Matt Sydal, Cholo, Mariachi Loco, Katie Forbes and Sabu are going to be in a wrestling film titled ‘Fist Combat’ that was recently shot in San Diego, California.
** John Brody, who was WWE’s Executive Vice President, Global Head of Sales and Partnerships and Head of International has departed the company, per PWInsider. The site noted that he was let go this week. John worked with the company for several years in the aforementioned role and also worked with WWE prior to being full-time. In addition, a number of employees who worked alongside Brody were let go as well.
** AEW President Tony Khan guest appeared on TSN’s ‘Jay and Dan’ show. Khan shared that AEW was scheduled to have a show in Toronto this past Summer but the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.
“We’ve had plans to come to Canada. We were actually supposed to be coming to Toronto this past Summer and the pandemic derailed those plans. We weren’t able to travel outside of America. We’ve been based in Florida for many months now and I’m really excited to eventually bring our live show to Canada. We had a plan to come to Toronto this past Summer and I can’t wait to come.”
** SPORF Wrestling spoke with Trent Seven to promote his match against A-Kid for the finals of the NXT U.K. Heritage Cup tournament. Trent was asked about Tyler Bate and how he’s doing, seeing as how Bate has not been a part of the NXT U.K. reboot thus far.
“Yeah, I’ve spoke to him obviously here and there and you know, been around to his house and met up with him and stuff and you know, this year has been incredibly complex for everyone, you know what I mean? I feel like no matter who you are in the wrestling industry, the year 2020 has taken a bit of a toll on you. So there’s a big part of it where he’s had to… he’s had to do a little bit of soul searching. He’s had to go have a look at how he spent his money, how he lives his life, how he — the time he spends away from wrestling, what kind of influences is Tyler Bate looking at to improve his life, you know what I mean? There’s so many little aspects of things that — and we have to remember and we have to remind ourselves, this guy is 22-years old. He won the U.K. Championship at the age of 19. That’s not a normal life for anyone. There are no 19-year olds on the planet that are WWE champions. It’s career-defining, and I think a lot of responsibility and a lot of power got put on Tyler’s shoulders at such a young age and I feel like that’s the point of this last year is him learning how to deal with that and like, him learning how to cope with the fame and how to cope with the pressure and how to cope with the limelight so, yeah. He’s been okay man. But, it’s a humongous learning curve for someone at the age of 22 to learn going into being a WWE Champion.”
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling was a part of a combat sports/government meeting in Japan. NJPW President Takami Obari spoke at the conference that AJPW, Cyber Fight, Tokyo Joshi Pro, ONE Championship and RIZIN were represented at. Hiroshi Hase talked to the company leaders about how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed across the board. He mentioned being asked by freelance talent what can the government assist them with and he’s also been asked about the idea of more foreign talents coming into Japan to work.
He praised the efforts of the wrestling business in Japan for coming together during the pandemic and acting as one. To read the article in its entirety, click here.
** Booker T and Sharmell were guests on the ‘Endless Hustle’ podcast. Booker was asked to look back at the moment he called Hulk Hogan the n-word during the WCW Spring Stampede show in 1997.
“Well you know, I’m from the neighborhood and the thing is, throughout all these years and all of the years I’ve been in the business and I always talk to the young people about knowing how to change your levels. So you know when you go for a job interview, you can’t be the same way you are like when you’re in the hood messing around with your boys. It’s something totally — you gotta know how to change your levels because you’re dealing with a totally different animal. Just the hood came out of me there for a second and I realized at that moment, and the thing is none of my peers [had] ever heard me say that word before or after that moment, and I felt like I let so many of my people down when I said that because I always looked at myself [with] respect as so many young people looking at me and a lot of young people took that and made that like an anthem and I’m like, ‘No, that’s not an anthem. That’s not the way we talk.’ I don’t want you to hear me say that because if you hear me say that, why shouldn’t you be able to say it, you know what I mean? And that’s why I felt like I let so many of my people down when that happened and that’s what I was thinking in that moment and thank God we wasn’t living in the social media era at that time, or perhaps you and I would not be having this conversation.”
** Righteous Reg of BlackWrecellence.com spoke to Fred Yehi for an exclusive interview. In 2017, reports made the rounds that Yehi was close to signing a deal with WWE and from what Yehi has heard through the grapevine, those rumors were legit as far as WWE having interest.
“But when I look back on it especially, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready. That wasn’t something that I would’ve — no, I don’t think I would’ve been ready for it so I’m glad that it didn’t happen. I remember the whole WWE news dropped and, ‘Oh, he’s gonna get signed’ and all that stuff and I heard through the grapevine that those rumors were true and it just didn’t happen. So yeah, which is fine because like I said, there’s just so much then that I did not know and did not understand about the business. So it’s a good thing that I didn’t go.”
** PEOPLE.com spoke to Renee Paquette about she and Jon Moxley expecting their first child. Renee discussed the announcement being made by Moxley live on AEW Dynamite.
“We are so beyond excited to start this new chapter, and now finally having the world know feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I am the worst at keeping fun secrets! However I definitely couldn’t have predicted that the world would have found out on AEW Dynamite.
I was thinking about all of these cute different ways that we could break the news to everyone and then bam, Jon just haphazardly spills the beans on Dynamite! But we’re a kinda no-frills couple, so I guess it actually fit perfectly.”
** Barring any unforeseen circumstances via the COVID-19 pandemic, every Ring of Honor championship will be on the line at Final Battle.
** Asuka and Kairi Sane recorded a joint-interview where they discussed the formation of The Kabuki Warriors and more topics were covered. It will release on 11/25.
** WWE announced that the ThunderDome will be moved from the Amway Center to Tropicana Field beginning in December. Ohio’s FOX affiliate chatted with Baron Corbin ahead of SmackDown and asked him for his thoughts about the relocation and the possibility of fans being live at events again.
“It’s 30 minutes away from my house versus an hour and a half. Now we’re going into an even bigger building. I know Vince (McMahon) pretty well and I feel like he’s going to ramp it up even more.
I think it [fans being back] would be awesome for everybody. People are craving that interaction right now.”
** The Undertaker continued his media tour and one of the many outlets he spoke to was CBS Sports. During their discussion, Undertaker talked about the locker room environment during his glory days versus what it is like today. He feels that there isn’t a governing body that presides over the locker room these days and everyone does their own thing.
“It appears to me that it’s more of an individualist locker room now. Everybody kind of does what they want to do and there isn’t that governing body that kind of keeps everybody together. I could be wrong. I’m not there enough to give a real insightful answer. That’s just the way it appears to me. I see guys with leadership qualities, I just don’t know it’s being exercised to the extent that it was back in the day. That’s not to say it’s good or bad, that’s just how it is. The business evolves and the locker room evolves. Sometimes that’s for the better, sometimes for the worse. We’ll see what happens, but it doesn’t feel as tight-knit as it used to.”
** Bleacher Report has an interview up with SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks. Banks discussed her lengthy storyline with Bayley and when asked if there were any points where she thought the company would make their big singles match happen earlier, she said she just goes with what Vince McMahon asks and tries to make the best of it.
“Whatever Vince wants, that’s what I’m going to do. Anything he gives me I want to take it and make it as magical as I can make it. I won’t just take a storyline and say, ‘Okay, let me just go through it.’ How can I make it the best? How can I make it the most talked-about and the most watched? As you can see, it is. We are the most viewed. We are the highest rated. I have to put in the work, but Vince is the creator. He has to tell me what he wants and I’m going to create that magic.”
** Paul Heyman was interviewed by Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT. Heyman reflected on his time as Executive Director of Monday Night RAW and thinks fondly of his tenure in that role as he described it as a “career highlight”.
“I’m one of those people that enjoy the behind the scenes aspect as much as I enjoy the on-camera aspects of this industry. And it’s two totally different spiritual highs that I’m blessed enough to be able to enjoy in my life. Working as the executive director of RAW was a career highlight for me. I enjoyed every single solitary minute of the job and the biggest reason I enjoyed it so much was because I got to work with so many insanely talented people, such as the names you mentioned. I’m very proud of your accomplishments and very proud of the individuals themselves for the success that they have all achieved through the greatness of the performances that they overdelivered.”
** FOX Sports caught up with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Looking back at his Hell In A Cell match against Randy Orton, McIntyre stated that the table bump off the cell was the worst bump of his career.
“The cell is technically a few feet higher than it used to be and I’m afraid of heights. So, maybe I won’t be jumping off the top. But I still, for the sake of history, I was like: ‘We gotta go up there! I hate heights with a passion, but we gotta go up there. That’s what’s gonna make us different. I’m gonna come off the cell.’ It sounds horrible. I hate heights. It’s gonna hurt like hell. I’m one of the bigger guys, aside from Foley, that’s come off the cell. I’m like 6’5, legitimately 270 pounds. That table’s gonna hopefully break my fall. It didn’t. It was the worst fall of my life.”
** WWE won an award at the ‘Shorty Social Good Awards’ for their barefaced photoshoot with the likes of Bianca Belair, Carmella, Io Shirai, Dana Brooke, Ruby Riott and Sasha Banks.
** Michelle McCool appeared on the Sports Guys Talking Wrestling show to discuss The Undertaker’s 30 years in wrestling.
** Phil Lindsey of Sportskeeda has an interview with AEW’s Anthony Bowens.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpH23dzoKmU[/embedyt]
** Digital Spy released a portion of their chat with The Undertaker and he talked about how early on in his career, he took himself out social circles and outings in order to really lock in on his on-screen persona.
“It was kind of by choice but I had to become somewhat of a recluse in my personal life. But that wasn’t so bad because you know, early on, I was on the road all the time year round. So I wasn’t really looking to come home and have this big social life anyway. But I would have to assess where I was going to go eat or where I was going to go because I didn’t want people seeing me not being Undertaker. So it was just, my mindset was so engrossed in making sure that character was legitimate and people identified with it in that way, so it was just something that I adapted and made part of my life.”
** Mike Mooneyham of The Post and Courier has an extensive feature up about the ‘Be A Mentor’ program which includes an interview with Lacey Evans.
** Below is IGN’s two-hour ‘Among Us’ stream featuring the likes of Xavier Woods, Adam Cole, Cesaro and Tyler Breeze.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM09Fqqj8jY[/embedyt]
** Coming out of the 11/19 episode of NXT UK, Kay Lee Ray is still the NXT UK Women’s Champion after defeating Piper Niven in a Falls Count Anywhere match. On next week’s show, Jordan Devlin is defending the NXT Cruiserweight Title against Amir Jordan. Devlin is claiming that he’s the rightful Cruiserweight Champion and not Santos Escobar. Also next week, Trent Seven and A-Kid will compete in the finals of the NXT UK Heritage Cup.
** NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Results (11/20/20) Korakuen Hall
– Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma def. Yuji Nagata & Gabriel Kidd
– Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match: El Desperado (2-1) def. Yuya Uemura (0-3)
– Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match: Taiji Ishimori (2-1) def. DOUKI (0-3)
– Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match: Ryusuke Taguchi (2-1) def. Master Wato (2-1)
– Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match: Robbie Eagles (2-1) def. SHO (2-1)
– Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match: Hiromu Takahashi (2-1) def. BUSHI (1-2)
** Complex has an interview up on their website with The Undertaker. On WWE Shop, there is a listing for a collaboration between Snoop Dogg and Undertaker and Taker spoke about that collaboration and what people can expect from it.
“Obviously, Snoop is such an iconic figure in pop culture. And then obviously, the Undertaker has been around a little while himself, and plays a role in pop culture. So, to the date this Sunday, Nov. 22, marks my 30th year with WWE and then Monday, Nov. 23, will be the 27th anniversary of Snoop Dogg’s groundbreaking album at the time, Doggystyle. As crazy as it sounds, it makes a lot of sense that two figures so relevant in pop culture have these anniversaries coinciding with each other. I couldn’t be more happy to be doing this with Snoop. Obviously, everybody knows, everything Snoop does turns to gold anyway, and then half of that turns platinum. So, I think it’s really cool, and just adds another layer to each of our legacies in the entertainment world.”
** Independent wrestler Christian Casanova was a guest on an F4WOnline’s ‘Punch-Out’ podcast.
** Daily Star posted highlights from an international media call that they were on with The Undertaker.
** Darby Allin was a guest on the Wrestle Buddies podcast.
** WWE announced a partnership with Credit One Bank.
** Part one of SHO’s preview/review of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament is up on NJPW1972.com.
** Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson covered WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view from the year 2000 for the latest Grilling JR podcast.
** The Undertaker chatted with Australia-based outlet ‘SEN’ about working the WWE Super Show-Down event in 2018.
** Here is Vicente Beltran’s chat with Drew McIntyre:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n9eHcufsRk[/embedyt]
** Sportskeeda caught up with Drew McIntyre for an interview.
** The Undertaker talked to talkSPORT about his Ladder match with Jeff Hardy from 2002.
** Shane “Hurricane” Helms and Crowbar will be the next guests on the ROHStrong podcast.
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.
