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.
** Magnum T.A., stepfather to Tessa Blanchard chatted with Hannibal TV about Blanchard’s situation with IMPACT Wrestling that unfolded over the summer. IMPACT terminated their relationship with Blanchard in June and stripped her of the world championship. Blanchard was advertised to defend the IMPACT World Title at Slammiversary in a five-way but that bout did not take place. In January, multiple wrestlers came forward and accused Blanchard of bullying and making racially offensive remarks in the past.
“I knew from the moment they came up with the idea of making her this intergender, now the World’s Heavyweight Champion that they were going down a dangerous path and they came to our home here in Charlotte and filmed the special with her mom and I about it and I support Tessa because she’s my step-daughter. But I’m not a fan of that portrayal of men and women in the ring. Not because women are incomparable or anything else. Just I don’t ever like anything that depicts a man being physically violent with a woman. I mean I’ve got a young daughter that’s 13-years old and whether today they know it’s all a work or not, it’s still not a portrayal I’m real comfortable with. So I told her that I knew she had reached the pentacle of what she could do with that organization. Of course we didn’t know this virus was gonna come along, and the fact of the matter is they had wanted her to extend her contract and do different things and the opportunity that-that experience with IMPACT afforded her was a step in her growth in what she was doing. But she needed to move on from that, so because she extended that contract, they were paying her peanuts for one thing. But on top of that, [she] met all the contractual dates that she needed to make. So, all I told her was, ‘Hey, do you wanna work one more shot?’ And I offered her up the psychology. I said, ‘Take whatever their top paid guy is and figure out what that would equate to in one month’s salary and say hey, if you want me to come in and do this, since I met my contractual obligations, this is what it would take for me to come do it’ and it wasn’t a ridiculous amount of money as what was rumored on the internet. It was just, ‘Hey, if we’re gonna extend it, they can extend to the equivalent of whatever you’re paying your top guy’ and they didn’t wanna do it and that’s really the truth.”
** Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke sat down with Lilian Garcia to record a new edition of Chasing Glory. Dana opened up about her time in WWE thus far and discussed the start and stop runs/pushes that she’s had throughout her career.
“It makes me really emotional because I know I can do this and I hate the start, stop, right? I hate it because it goes deep, it makes me excited. What am I excited for if it’s always a start and stop? Why can’t I go? Why can’t I run with something? Why can’t I just go out there and show the world, show people [backstage] that I can do this? It’s always start, stop. ‘Oh, you wanna do Titus Worldwide and be a statistician?’ Okay, I never complain, I never ask for things. I just always do what is asked of me thinking that I’ll get somewhere and then it’s like no and then going out there and cutting a heartfelt promo to the fans with Ronda Rousey. I was like, ‘Wow, this is everything’ which was a great opportunity, but then I was injured and then not being able to perform and carry that story anymore. Like you said, just sitting at the sidelines and being like, ‘Alright, maybe another time. Maybe another time will come.’
And I’m such a team player and I’m such a WWE girl that anything I do, everywhere I possibly go in the public’s eye, any interviews that I’m doing, I try to do things as far as talk about how good this company is in general as doing the outside community work with them and always trying to put WWE on a platform and it’s like, ‘But what I am getting from [it]?’ I’m trying to be the best possible person I can be but there’s nothing behind me to drive me to the next point and being with Mandy [Rose], it’s like I hope and I pray but at this point, it’s like I try not to get my hopes up.”
** The Miz was the most recent guest on MTV’s Official Challenge podcast. During the conversation, Miz was asked about Lio Rush being on The Challenge. Miz praised Rush for his athletic abilities and feels that Lio is one of the top athletes on the current season of the show.
“I think it depends on the person. It all depends on the person and I know Lio Rush and I don’t know him very, very well but, I know his abilities in the ring and let me tell you something, that guy is a physical specimen and is very, very, very athletic. Honestly he is, I would say if not the top, one of the top athletically gifted people on that Challenge right now and that’s me knowing Wes, knowing CT, that guy’s abilities — I’ve watched his matches and I’d be like, ‘I can’t do that,’ and then someone next to me would be like, ‘Uh, no one can.’”
The Miz further reflected on his days as a part of The Challenge and The Real World on MTV. He talked about how he used The Real World confessional booth as a way to cut promos and develop his pro wrestling persona.
“Yeah, I do actually [think The Challenge prepared me for WWE]. I think being on MTV, The Real World, The Challenges, it got me comfortable in front of a camera. When I was on The Real World, we had that little confessional room. I would go in there and by the way, we had tapes back then. We didn’t have the iPhones, we didn’t have camera phones. Like there were no camera phones. We had real, live VHS tapes that you put in, you close it, you press record on the camera and you start talking. We didn’t have all this digital-age stuff. So I would go in there and it was funny, they would mandate, ‘You had to have two tapes a week.’ Like you have to do two tapes a week. I still think I hold the record for literally the most ever in a season because I would just go in there and start cutting promos and it was my practice to develop into that character so, and honestly, it was like my therapist. I would just go in there and start talking to a camera and telling them all the feelings, everything that’s going on in my life, what’s happening and it would make me feel better when you walk out of it.”
Prior to Challenge competitors being featured on multiple shows, during Miz’s days as a part of the program, MTV didn’t allow him to be a part of WWE’s Tough Enough program while being a part of The Challenge.
“And finally, WWE had a reality show called Tough Enough and MTV wouldn’t allow me to do Tough Enough because it was on the same network and back then, you couldn’t be on two shows at one time. Now, you look at this show, I’m like, you see someone from Love Island, you see someone from Survivor, you see someone from — former WWE superstar. You see all these ‘formers’, that never happened back then. Back then, you were allowed to be on The Real World and The Challenges and that was it. You weren’t allowed to do anything else.”
** Wrestling Inc. released another portion of their interview with Jake Crist who recently departed IMPACT Wrestling. Jake stated that while he was away from IMPACT TV since June, the company did not pay him.
“My computer shop Nerd Reserve, we ended up having to close that. Big shout-out to Nerd Reserve. Pandemic’s been hard. I’ve lost pretty much everything. It’s all good though. [WINC asks if he was getting paid by Impact] No, just not getting paid. To be honest, if I was getting paid — I’m scared to death of this pandemic just like everybody else is.
So you wouldn’t be seeing me going out there as much as I have been during this pandemic if I didn’t have to go out to make money, to make ends meet, to put food on the table to be completely honest. You wouldn’t see me doing all the indie shows that I’ve been doing if I was still getting paid (Crist chuckles).”
** Ricky Starks appeared on the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast and was asked about causing Darby Allin whiplash on an episode of AEW Dynamite several months ago. Weeks after that, Starks took a thumbtack covered skateboard across his back and he does feel there was a bit of debt he owed Darby for what occurred in the weeks prior to the skateboard spot.
“Do you think so? Do we have the medical, accurate facts for that?” Ricky joked. “No, I understand what you’re saying. Maybe there was some type of debt that I felt like I owed him, sure. I don’t know. But, I don’t think that had anything to do with it because I think that was like two weeks later. Two weeks later? Maybe three weeks later than that and everything was fine so, I know a lot of people had that same theory as well but nah man. Everything was good as far as that goes. I don’t think he had a concussion. It was mainly whiplash from what I remember but I definitely felt bad about it. I’ll tell you that, obviously. I felt really bad about it just because no one should ever have to go through that. I was in that same situation six years ago no one knows about where I got drop kicked in the back of my head and it whiplashed on the top rope so I know how it is.”
** Jeff Hardy told Digital Spy’s Stephanie Chase that he’s interested in a on-screen feud with ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt. Hardy has an idea to form a team between ‘Willow’ and The Fiend and then convert that into a singles program.
“I think there’s something magical that can happen between Jeff Hardy and Bray Wyatt and The Fiend and Willow, my alter Nero that will come back to the life. I have this huge vision of, like a black wedding dress and Willow’s almost like, not him or her, but just God. Some kind of weird figure that doesn’t make sense to anybody.
Somehow him and The Fiend either team together or either fight each other. I think first, maybe we’ll team together and then fight each other. It’s crazy, it’s very cinematic and I think there’s something very special that can happen between The Firefly Fun House and the Fly Light Zone and the imagination here at my property. I can’t wait. I can’t wait because it’s possible, man. it’s totally possible.”
** Night one and two of Wrestle Kingdom 15 are airing on FITE TV. New Japan also confirmed that the STARDOM match at Wrestle Kingdom will be a dark match.
** Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp caught up with AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks. Prior to the public announcement of All Elite Wrestling being made, Matt and Nick were being courted by WWE and Matt spoke highly of Paul “Triple H” Levesque who he feels did a solid job of trying to get he and Nick to WWE.
“He was great. Charming dude. He said all the right things. I don’t know how many times I told him no. We must have declined the offer, in the end, I don’t want to exaggerate, it had to have been at least four or five times, and by the end of every conversation he would have another call scheduled with me in two weeks and I would go, ‘How did he do that? What, I just told him no.’ We’d be laughing by the end of the conversation. The conversation would start with me saying we’re so sorry, we’re going to pass on this, thank you so much, and an hour later I’m talking about our next phone call in two weeks. He’s a magician and no wonder he has the job he has because he’s a charming guy and he’ll charm your socks off. I have nothing but positive things to say about him. He’s very intelligent too. The things he said, the ideas he had. At times I told Nick, ‘Man, maybe this is something we should at least consider.’ There was a time when me, Nick, and Kenny, the three of us were all like, ‘Holy sh*t, I think we’re going to end up in WWE,” Matt said.
On the topic of Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling not offering them dual contracts so they could stay, Matt said he and Nick likely wouldn’t have left had they got that request on top of a bump in pay.
“Truthfully, we were happy. We probably would have never left if the right offer came. 100% honestly. I was having the time of my life. We were just waiting for a really good offer because we knew that this was the year where it was time to get paid. We were as hot as we’d ever been and we just did ALL IN, and like you said, the Garden sold out, most people say because of The Elite. So we knew we had a big price tag and when they made their offer it was so (much) low(er) than what we were thinking it was going to be that for the first time ever, Nick and I said to each other, ‘Oh my God, I think we actually have to go out and shop and see what our street value is.’ If they would have just hit a number, a number, we probably wouldn’t have even shopped. We probably would’ve just taken it because we were having so much fun going from town to town, closing every show with our little Being the Elite song and dance at the end. I was a great (and) wonderful time.
Why didn’t New Japan and ROH get together to offer all of us the money that we thought we deserved? I don’t know. In hindsight, they didn’t know that this new project was happening. They didn’t know All Elite Wrestling was going to be a thing. Nobody did, and I think maybe now looking back if they knew that there was this project blooming, then they probably would have offered us anything.”
** Jey Uso went live on Instagram with ProSieben MAXX and dove into how helpful Paul Heyman has been to his pro wrestling career.
“Real tight Uce, real tight. He’s damn near like my uncle. You know, real tight. I know a lot of people feel some kind of way about Paul Heyman but, that man is in this business for a reason. That man has been around this business for a reason. He does have a brain for this. Look at all the soldiers that he brought out. Brock [Lesnar], I mean just — [CM] Punk. Having him around and being around him every single week has sharpened me as a performer, right? Sharpened me as a co-worker, put me on game man. I’m always working and why would I not sit under the Paul Heyman learning tree?”
** RAW Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin dedicated his title win at the TLC pay-per-view to the late Shad Gaspard.
** WWE announced that Drew McIntyre has joined Cameo.
** Isaiah “Swerve” Scott guest appeared on the Notsam Wrestling podcast. Scott’s ‘Swerve City’ podcast moved to the WWE Network from YouTube and he and his co-host Teasy are nine episodes in. Scott shared that some WWE executives are pleased with the content he and Teasy have produced.
“Once again, I think we exceeded expectations with the WWE Network and the executives up in Connecticut really enjoy what we bring to the table. We’re a nice little corner of the WWE Network that’s starting to get a little bit bigger and we have a little niche that we are still figuring out and we’re gonna grow it. That’s for sure.”
As far as deciding to move the podcast from YouTube to the WWE Network goes, it came down to technological advances and feeling that the product was suffering on its previous platform.
“I know for me, I’m not really the most tech savvy person. I try to do it myself. I tried to do it and I wasn’t good at it and the product suffered because of that early on when we were doing just Instagram Live and YouTube. But I was able to reach out to people that knew how to make it happen. So this person branched off to this person that networked to this person, building a team of core people that can make it a well-oiled machine. So even if you’re not invested in the technology or the knowledge of knowing exactly how to make things work or financially, you build a team.”
** Episode 9 of the Swerve City Podcast featured NXT commentators Wade Barrett and Vic Joseph. Vic talked about his experience covering the Cleveland Browns organization and how he stepped away from covering the team during their 0-16 season. The week after his departure, Vic officially joined WWE.
“So, when the pass from DeShone Kizer, I think was the quarterback at the time, went through the hands of Corey Coleman and hit him in the facemask and fell against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh on a January Sunday and they went 0-16, I took my headset off because I had already signed and was already coming to the WWE that following week. I took my headset off, said, ‘Guys, thank you. It’s been a pleasure’ and I walked out the door and I never looked back.”
** Here’s the newest episode of Being The Elite:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmbimArBAs[/embedyt]
** All Elite Wrestling applied to trademark “AEW Dark” and “AEW Elevation”.
** LimaOhio.com has a feature up about Zachary Wentz.
** WrestleZone chatted with Taylor Wilde.
** Ulysses Diaz and Dana Brooke worked out with Sheamus for a new installment of Celtic Warrior Workouts.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xSdzKqL9Fc[/embedyt]
** WWE Icons is premiering on the WWE Network on January 31st, 2021.
** New York Post has an extensive feature up on their site about EC3.
** Don Callis was a guest on the Keepin It 100 with Konnan podcast.
** Scorpio Sky spoke with Bleacher Report Live.
** Carmella and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s respective wines were included on Glamour’s list of celebrity wine brands that would make good presents.
** The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) were interviewed by the Miami Herald’s Jim Varsallone.
** NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome Results (12/21/20) Korakuen Hall
– Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima def. Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd
– Juice Robinson & Toa Henare def. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
– Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato def. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens (w/ Jado) def. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
– Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb (w/ Bea Priestley) def. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma
– Jay White, EVIL & Dick Togo (w/ Gedo) def. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
** WWE put together a compilation of every title changed that occurred on WWE TV in 2020.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r0afDpE5Go[/embedyt]
** The following video is from Ring of Honor’s YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3FDME9KGN0[/embedyt]
** Alex Koslov joined the Talk’n Shop podcast.
** The latest episode of New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast featured replays of clips of the trio’s favorite segments that aired on the podcast this year.
** The Hashtag Show uploaded their interview with Acey Romero.
** Ice Ribbon Results (12/21/20) Saitama, Japan
– Mochi Miyagi def. Yuki Mashiro
– Risa Sera def. Satsuki Totoro
– Maika Ozaki & Maya Yukihi def. Hiragi Kurumi & Matsuya Uno
– Ibuki Hoshi, Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi Haruka def. Hamuko Hoshi, Suzu Suzuki & Yappy
** Tim Hornbaker’s autobiography about Buddy Rodgers is available to purchase.
** WWE’s Otis turned 29-years old on 12/21. Today is also the birthday of Eric Bugenhagen.
** Roddy Piper is the focus of Rob Schamburger’s latest ‘Canvas 2 Canvas’ episode.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKFHKYQIQ7w[/embedyt]
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.
