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.
** 71-year-old ‘Action’ Mike Jackson was a recent guest on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Jackson is still active in the ring and last wrestled in February of this year. Back in 2020, he competed for IMPACT Wrestling in a singles match against Johnny Swinger. Jackson shared that prior to the pandemic, he was supposed to work the next three sets of IMPACT tapings. Recently, he’s heard from the company and they want to bring him in once the pandemic is over.
Well, I don’t know if you saw the IMPACT tape, but when I went to do that, it was a deal kind of like it was gonna be one of The Young Bucks. M. Jackson, supposed to be Matt Jackson that they were trying to I guess get over, and then when I came out, it was a whole different thing. I think they thought — now they didn’t tell me this but I think they thought it was gonna be kind of a comedy thing. Old man, 70-years old wrestling these young guys, doing this, that and the other but after the match was over, I don’t know if you know it but it went viral. It just went crazy. It was like a wildfire. People calling me from all over the country saying, ‘Man, I saw that match on TV’ and they came back, as soon as my match was over and what really made me feel good was the whole dressing room gave me a standing ovation. I don’t know if you saw that. But when I came back to the dressing room, all the men and women were there and gave me a standing ovation and a lot of these guys I never had seen in my life, you know? So that made me feel real good and they offered me three more TV tapings as soon as I got back there. I don’t think that they had that planned, but it got over so good that they called me back and said, ‘Hey, I want you to do the next three TV tapings.’ But, the COVID hit and when the COVID hit, there’s no crowds and so, everything’s on hold. They did call me not too long ago and said, ‘Look, we want you to come back as soon as this COVID mess is over. We want to start you right back on TV’ so, who knows? Good Lord holds the future I guess. We’ll see.
Hopefully if everything goes good and this COVID ever gets over and they start doing back with the crowds and putting people in the building instead of just doing the TV tapings without anybody there, they promised me I would come back so, I’m hoping everything will work out to do that.
Jackson was asked about the possibility of retirement. He believes he’ll know when that time is but it is not right now.
Well, I think the good Lord will let me know when it’s time to retire. Right now, I think I’m okay. I work out hard everyday. Like you said, I’m not real strong or nothing like that but I’m in really good shape and my physical condition is good, my doctor says I’m in pretty good shape so, I’m gonna keep doing it I guess until the good Lord says it’s time to quit. He’ll let me know I guess.
When asked if he’s ever thought about retirement at any point, he jokingly said he’s thought about it when he wasn’t compensated properly. He then added that it has never seriously crossed his mind.
“Oh yeah, there’s been a lot of times when I was mad right after I didn’t get paid right. I thought I was quitting,” Jackson laughed. “But as far as just retiring and just totally not doing it, no, never have. No.”
** Rick Bassman welcomed Josh Barnett onto his ‘Talking Tough’ show. Barnett was asked what his response would be if WWE contacted him and wanted to put him under contract. Barnett said he’d be open to the idea and then went on to praise his friend Bobby Lashley for winning the WWE Championship.
Sure, let’s talk terms and as long as I get to keep doing Bloodsport on the side, we’re good. I have a relationship with Paul [Levesque] as it is because I’ve just got, as they say in the business, ‘my boys’ over in WWE so I talk to him, I talk to [William] Regal, I talk to those guys when needed. I trained Shayna Baszler from the ground up as a professional wrestler, and I manage her so I got her in the WWE. Both Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir are over there and then guys like Timothy Thatcher who I’ve worked with a lot, he’s also now in the WWE and there’s a few other folks who I’ve just had time a little bit with on the mat who I’ve worked with but they’re not maybe exactly my boys but I keep an eye on ‘em just to make sure they’re doing well and I’d love to steal even a few — I’d love to steal a bunch of ‘em actually to use for Bloodsport. I mean Bobby Lashley, come on. That guy, not only is he one of my boys, but the fact that he’s champion now only makes absolute complete sense to me because he is one of the best guys in that company and he’s tougher than sh*t in real life, he’s a solid fighter in real life, he’s great. I cornered him as he’s winning belts so it’s great to see him holding the belt in that WWE ring like he should.
Josh Barnett spoke about Jessamyn Duke during the interview as well. Duke has not been active on-screen since her Raw Underground appearance. It was reported by Fightful in January that Duke has been focusing on content for the UpUpDownDown brand and creates digital content full-time now. Barnett feels that Duke has untapped potential and can still carve out a spot for herself as a performer in WWE.
I mean, it’s really just up to her [if she wants to make it to the top of WWE]. She had her elbows fixed essentially so, years of training and fighting, debris and stuff like that in the elbow joints which that’s pretty common. So it wasn’t a very complicated surgery but they went in there and cleaned some stuff up and honestly, I think Jessamyn, even MMA to pro wrestling is one of those people of untapped potential and so I know and yeah, I’m bias, but I’ve seen not just under my eye in the gym but even in some moments out there of what I caught of her in NXT and doing stuff around that. She has some — this latent energy just waiting to get out and so it’s also a matter of what does she want to do with it and people need to understand that you can be really talented at something and also decide that that’s — I don’t wanna go down that path to that degree because it doesn’t — it’s not as fulfilling as I hoped it to be, even though the talent is there, so whether you choose to go that way or not, just be true to yourself so, she just needs to figure out how to allow that to happen and it’s not easy in an environment like the WWE because there’s a lot of cooks in kitchen all the time and it can be tough to know where you can have that freedom to do what you need to do, and I think that if she really wants to rise to the upper echelon, she could do that for sure. She’s got a great look and she has tons of talent that she could put on a display and as a person, she’s a very lovely, caring, a very goofy individual who has a great heart.
** Jim Ross partook in Highspots Wrestling Network’s virtual signing. As the conversation rolled on in-between signings, Ross spoke about scaling back from play-by-play commentary to allow Excalibur to shine.
I’ve actually fell back from doing a lot of the play-by-play to give him [Excalibur] more room to do his thing, because like I said earlier, the irony is that [Tony] Schiavone and Excalibur, JR are all play-by-by guys. It’s like dancing. If you’re used to being in the lead and you gotta follow, sometimes it’s not as smooth as you like and I think that’s what we’re still working on in our group.
** The latest episode for The Travel Wins podcast featured Mickie James. Mickie was a part of WWE Raw Legends night in early January. She is branded a ‘legend’ by WWE but Mickie doesn’t look at herself in that light. She admitted that it feels weird to be called legend. (This interview was recorded in December)
Well, I was just announced to come back for — and it’s so weird to say, to come back for the legends show in January, the first episode in January of Monday Night Raw so next week. But, it’s weird to say that out loud, like the legends show. I’m like, ‘Am I a legend? I don’t know.’ It’s funny because some of the co-workers and younger girls will say that in joking and I’ve said it in jest of like, ‘Oh yeah, legend Mickie James, ha, ha, ha’ but never not real life like where I thought of myself — I don’t think of myself as a legend, because when I think ‘legend’, I think of the people that I look up to who I think of as legends. So it’s just weird. It’s a weird space where I’m like, ‘Oh, wait, they’re serious. You’re serious? Okay, I’m a legend.’ It’s amazing and I’m grateful and it’s a huge honor but at the same time it’s weird to say. To even speak it out loud I’m like, ‘Oh, so strange.’
Mickie doesn’t see herself stepping away from the wrestling business. She feels she will always be involved in some capacity because she loves it on that level.
Well it’s just like I don’t think I’ll ever retire from the wrestling business because I love it so much, I will always be a contributor in some capacity, somewhere because I just love it and I’m passionate about it and I’m good at it. I’ve dedicated a lot of my life to cultivating this craft and to being the best, the best that I could be so I don’t think once it’s in your blood like that, it’s like uh… I don’t know that we’re really ever — we might be retired from professionally going out there and doing that physical sport but as far it being a part of our lives in some capacity, I think if you have a love and passion for something, you’ll never stop doing it to some level. Even if it’s like coaching the local kids team. Like you’ll still find yourself dabbling in it somehow because you love it too much. You can’t not.
** WWE producer TJ Wilson joined independent talent Jeremy Prophet on his ‘Jofo In The Ring’ show. During their conversation, Ricochet’s run on the WWE main roster was brought up and Wilson feels that Ricochet has what it takes to be ‘the guy’ in WWE.
He’s so talented, it’s literally, I mean, hopefully we look back on this and I’m right but he’s literally the epitome of ‘next Monday might be his Monday’. He might show up next Monday and Ricochet’s the guy, because he looks great, he works great, he has a great attitude. I really enjoy being around him, he’s very talented. Next Monday might be his Monday man.
Wilson also dove into the idea that Jinder Mahal only won the WWE Championship due to WWE’s expansion into India. Wilson believes Mahal got the title due to changes in his physical appearance, adding that Mahal was of Indian descent when he was let go from the company in 2014 so that is not a factor.
It’s funny. Obviously, different ethnicities and stuff definitely help out. They also make it, as we talked about earlier in terms of getting to America and getting your name out there to make it increasingly — it’s more difficult than if you are American. But it’s so funny, I’ve had a lot of people just in conversations say things — and of course, Jinder [Mahal’s] background helps, there’s no doubt about that but, I once said like, ‘Well, I think his world title push is based way more on the shape he got himself into and how hard he works more than being of Indian descent’ and someone’s like, ‘No, no, it’s just because he’s from India’ or something and I was like, ‘Okay, well do you remember when he got fired in 2014? He was still of Indian descent then too, just so you know. You know what he wasn’t? He wasn’t shredded, he wasn’t as dedicated and he wasn’t in the same shape he was in when he was champion in 2017.’ He’s still of Indian descent, it’s the exact same thing but do a side by side, those pictures are not the same. They do not look like the same person.
** ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey was a guest on Kevin Raphaël and Pat Laprade’s podcast. He confirmed that his U.S. ban is up in March. Bailey added that it does not mean anything right now due to the pandemic among other obstacles.
It’s ending soon, in March of this year. But it doesn’t mean anything really. People on the Internet believe that as soon as this is over with I will be able to go to the U.S. and wrestle, but unfortunately it doesn’t work like this. There are still many obstacles, mainly the pandemic.
** Sports Illustrated spoke with Jon Moxley prior to his IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title defense against KENTA. Moxley feels that KENTA has found himself again and he doesn’t need to go into any details about his run in WWE because once again, he’s the KENTA that influenced many wrestlers.
When the elements that make you so unique are stripped away, and the situation you’re in just isn’t allowing you to be you, you have to remind yourself who the f— you are. I was stoked the moment I saw Kenta walk in the AEW locker room. It can’t be stressed enough how important he is. From my generation, everyone stole their s— from Kenta. He was an influence on an entire generation, having the hottest matches in NOAH and Ring of Honor against all kinds of different opponents.
He’s realized who he is again. That’s why I can relate to him. He doesn’t need to go into any details about 205 Live or anything, he’s out there kicking a hole through your chest. That’s the Kenta we want to see. He’s f—— Kenta again.
** Chris Hero did a virtual signing with Highspots Wrestling Network and discussed his decision to return to WWE in 2016. He explained that he felt it was the right thing to do at that time but as far as the future goes, he’s excited to be an asset wherever he ends up.
You know, I just thought it was — I just felt it was the natural progression of things. I thought that the streak I had started would continue into another company, didn’t quite happen like that but I mean, you don’t know until you try, right? So I wasn’t quite sure what would happen and I have since been fired again and here I am.
Yeah, I have just a certain type of experience that not a lot of people have that are free and without contract right now so, I’m excited to become an asset to wherever I end up. Obviously I’m not in a hurry, pandemic etcetera, etcetera but I am excited to get something to sink my teeth into eventually.
** On the latest installment of ‘True Long Island Story’, Matt Cardona looked back at the time he and Brian Myers got in trouble with The Undertaker for being on their phones while a group of wrestlers were watching the main event of a show. Cardona and Myers had to apologize to Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov who were in the main event on top of apologizing to Undertaker.
Back in the day, we’ve talked about it before, one time I got in trouble by The Undertaker for being on my cell phone. For those who don’t know the story, it was overseas, we were in Mexico. I believe the main event is Vladimir Kozlov versus Triple H. This is like the last night of the tour, so how many times have I seen this match, you know what I’m saying? How many times have I seen this match. So like, all the boys, all the wrestlers, fellow wrestlers are sitting, watching the monitor and [Curt] Hawkins and I are on our phones. Hawkins claims he was just checking the time at this exact instant, but The Undertaker gives the Undertaker head snap. Basically, disrespectful for being on your phone, blah, blah, blah and he’s pretty pissed and I’m like, ‘Okay, this is The Undertaker, locker room leader, pissed.’ So afterwards, like Mark Henry, he pulls us aside and he’s like, ‘What up dude?’ But he says, ‘You need to apologize to Undertaker’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, you’re absolutely right.’ So Hawkins and I, we pull him aside, we apologize and he’s super cool about it, super cool, because we were very respectful. Super cool. He’s like, ‘You really need to apologize to the guys in the main event, okay?’ So we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll apologize to Vladimir Kozlov’ which I don’t even know if we did. Maybe we did but he doesn’t know what’s going on. We love Oleg [Vladimir], Oleg’s the best, one of our friends from Deep South [Wrestling]. I’m cringing right now thinking about it, but now, we have to stooge ourselves off to Triple H. So Triple H, I’ll never forget this. He’s like in a private dressing room and we’re like, ‘Um, excuse me Triple H. Um, we were on our cell phones during your match, we’re really, really sorry. That was very disrespectful,’ whatever we said, you know? And he played it off like he didn’t care. But I was like, ‘Oh man,’ and when that cell phone incident happened, this was like the Edge Heads were not with Edge anymore. This was like the beginning of the end so I’m sure that didn’t do us any favors. But flash forward, there’s literally something called the Social Media Zone where you’re encouraged to be on your phones. There’s literally phone chargers for people to charge their phones and stuff, to tweet and it has all the little hashtags to use and stuff like that so they don’t have that anymore, but obviously it’s more accepted. Come on, it’s 2021 now, be on your phone, tweet about it, promote.
** Gabbi Tuft (f.k.a. Tyler Reks in WWE) and her significant other Priscilla Tuft signed a digital multimedia agreement with Diana DesBois Digital LLC, which is a digital media firm in New York. Gabbi will be working on a project titled ‘The Digital Gabbi Transformation Project’.
** Daily DDT spoke to Shayna Baszler prior to the 3/3 episode of NXT. Baszler was asked about Raw Underground. She said that was the most comfortable she has ever felt.
I loved [Raw Underground]. I don’t know what fans thought about it, but that’s, like, the most comfortable I’ve felt. Obviously, you can bring up my MMA background and how I climbed my way… I was doing shows that looked almost exactly like [Raw] Underground in MMA that were just in a warehouse with people standing around with sign-up-at-the-door type stuff. That was very familiar to me. Even on top of that, coming up in pro wrestling, obviously being trained by Josh Barnett and Billy Robinson, that UWFI style is very Raw Underground. Honestly, I talk about finding my footing and feeling comfortable as myself, I think Raw Underground had a hand in that.
** During his interview with The Root, Big E was asked about the social media back and forth between Randy Orton and Soulja Boy. Big E said that he wants to see the two meet inside the confines of WWE.
Let’s not shotgun this [Orton vs. Soulja Boy] for Fastlane! We have WrestleMania 37 coming up, in my backyard, in Tampa. Two days, April 10 and 11, let’s build it! We got time to build it, maybe their first interaction can be at Fastlane and then at WrestleMania we payoff the program. This whole burgeoning, like, Bow Wow was beefing with some of my co-workers? We got Bad Bunny, who’s been killing it! He’s been training at the performance center, he’s really taken to this. I did not expect this to be a thing, if you asked me about these two months ago, I would not have expected to see all these rapper/WWE superstar beefs. But here we are, and I’m entertained by it.
** Brandon Walker welcomed Chris Jericho onto his ‘Rasslin with Brandon F. Walker’ podcast. While discussing what his next moves could be after wrestling, Jericho is considering commentary but feels that he can still go in the ring and have the match of the night.
I’ve never been the type of guy that wants to go behind the scenes after wrestling. I’m behind the scenes enough as it is as far as ideas and storylines and advice and all that sort of thing. I’ll always do it but commentary could be a way to stay on the show when the wrestling days are done. I mean it’s been 30 years, I still feel great, I still feel I have the potential to have the best match on the show or one of them and I think it happens all the time. Not every week but look at the guys we have on the show so as long as I feel I can still work up to the level that I’ve set for myself, I’ll continue to wrestle but it’s great to know that there’s still that kind of commentary side of things that we can do and there’s actually another show that’s gonna be starting very soon where I’m gonna be one of the regular commentators and that’s exciting. Once again, the more things you can do well in the entertainment business, the more valuable you are and this is just another kind of feather in the Chris Jericho cap that I can utilize whenever they need to me to utilize it.
Jericho spoke highly of MJF who he’ll be challenging for the AEW World Tag Titles with at Revolution. Jericho said that MJF reminds him of Kurt Angle as far as how quickly he has taken to wrestling.
Well I mean yeah, you could say he’s like Roddy Piper or he’s like a young Jericho, whatever you wanna say. The point is he’s none of those things and all those things. This is a guy — he reminds me a lot of Kurt Angle and what I mean by that is he’s a guy that picked up wrestling so quick, not just in the ring but character-wise. A lot of guys 24-years old — which is I believe how old he is — doesn’t understand that character is the most important thing in wrestling. It’s more important than any move you could do and any match you could have and Max [MJF] gets that. Combine that with the fact that I think he was a child actor, he was in musicals, all those sort of things that you need to really expand on that character and he also don’t give a sh*t. He will do anything to where we have to pull him back. Like you can’t yell at the five-year old kid at the signing and make him cry. That’s not what you need to do, so he comes up with a lot of ideas and sometimes he’ll put ideas in my face where I’m like, ‘Dude, this isn’t good, the answer is no. But the answer is yes for this, this and this’ so I’m trying to kinda teach him more about storytelling and stuff but all of the attributes he has at such a young age and that’s also why I always say, ‘You’re not as good as you think you are’ because in a year from now, he’s going to be even better. Two years, he’s gonna be even better. He’s one of the most natural talents I’ve seen. Also just being a total asshole. We were just talking the other day how weird it is throughout this whole thing, yes we’ve had fans but it hasn’t been full, sold out arenas where both of our shtick has just been 90 percent bagging on the fans, having the fans cheer for you, boo for you, whatever it may be. So we’ve been really working just on our own, hoping that it’s good, knowing that it’s good but you don’t wanna have those people chanting, ‘You suck, you suck’ or whatever it may be, it takes a little bit more to make sure that you’re doing the right thing but yeah, the guy’s definitely one in a million for sure.
** Bianca Belair is challenging Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Title at WrestleMania 37. Belair and Banks could be the first two Black women to headline a WrestleMania. Belair is hoping to close one of the nights, as she expressed to Bleacher Report during an interview.
I think that would be a huge deal. … I feel like women sometimes get asked the question, ‘What do you think you need to do more to get more media exposure, media coverage?’ And my answer is always, ‘We don’t need to do anything.’ Because we always show up and we always show out, we just need those opportunities. … I’m excited and I’m hoping that we can main event because…we continue to not just prove some people wrong, but we continue to prove ourselves right that we can go out there and we can put on a five-star match. We’re amazing wrestlers, and we’re not just amazing wrestlers to be women, we’re just amazing wrestlers who happen to be women.
** J.J. Garrett, who has been competing on AEW Dark was profiled by the Ames Tribune. He said it was AEW President Tony Khan who provided him with the opportunity to compete on Dark after seeing him on a Game Changer Wrestling show.
Tony Khan had seen me wrestling in Game Changer Wrestling and he picked me out the crowd and gave me a shot.
Garrett gave his take on the current state of the independent scene and how tough it is for those just getting started in the business.
Younger guys are literally starving in the indies. I remember when I started wrestling. I had just moved out of my grandma’s house and I didn’t know how to manage money. I remember looking for quarters in my car seats. I was digging for quarters just so I could buy bread from Jimmy John’s. Wrestling does not pay very much at the beginning. It is tough, but the business doesn’t owe us anything. [It] eventually gets better.
** George A. Romero’s wrestling TV pilot titled ‘Iron City Asskickers’ will be released on DVD. The show was originally created in 1998 and it stars Sid Eudy (a.k.a. Sid Vicious/Sycho Sid).
** Chris Van Vliet interviewed John Silver. The Dark Order member discussed the tribute show that was held for the late Jon Huber (Brodie Lee) who passed away in December. Silver spoke about how emotionally difficult it was to be a part of that show.
I’m a pretty emotional guy so, that was difficult but I thought I was gonna be worse, because like I said, I’m very emotional so it was difficult, the whole day was difficult, like being around people that — it was good too but it was also like I can’t stop thinking about this, you know? The match itself, I went out there — so if you look in the first match, the first match on the card was the Colt [Cabana] match and if you look, I wasn’t there during the entrance. I come in late because I just was — I was in the back, I went to our room and I was just kind of like — I was just not in a good mood and I totally forgot Colt was up and I totally forgot we had to do the entrance so I heard the music and I’m like screw it, I freaking started running there and I come in the last second. So you don’t see me come out with them and then once Colt eventually does the pose, I’m there but I went to the back and I wasn’t in good spirits then. But then, the match itself, I got there and I’m like okay, I have the match on my mind so it’s like taking me — in a sense, kind of taking me away from Brodie [Lee], so I had something to think about, you know? But it was like right after. Once I hit the clothesline, it kind of all hit me at once so, that was very difficult but it just all hit me at once so…
Silver’s tag team partner Alex Reynolds has given his recount of what transpired when he was hurt during an October edition of Dynamite. John Silver gave his recount of the situation:
Well I didn’t know, until Billy Gunn was on the side, I think he realized because I didn’t see it happen. I was on the floor, and then Alex [Reynolds] was in the corner so I go up to Alex and he was fine talking to me, so I go up to Alex because we had to do — during the match so, we had to do something coming up in the match so I go up to Alex, he’s laying in the corner so I’m like, ‘Alex, are you –’ Billy Gunn’s like, ‘Check on Alex,’ so I went, ‘Alex, are you good?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah I’m good,’ but he’s just laying there. I’m like, ‘Alright, well this is our thing right here, our spot.’ So then he starts to get up and I’m like, oh no, he isn’t good, but the way he was talking to me, he was fine. He wasn’t like slurring or anything weird and I didn’t see anything that happened so I’m just down [on] the ground, I look up, Alex is laying, ‘Alex, you good?’ ‘Yeah I’m good.’ ‘Okay cool. Well this is what — we gotta go up, we gotta do our spot now.’ So once he got moving — I could’ve grabbed him and pushed him down and then did everything by myself but at that point he’s up and he’s there. It would’ve — so I’m like, and it was like so quick that he got up and I was gonna try and tell Nick [Jackson], ‘Hey, he’s messed up’ but at that point, he’s already doing everything so, I think I said to Nick as that’s going on, I don’t know if he heard me or not but he realized too pretty quickly that Alex was a little messed up there.
** The following video is from the NWA YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC741HAL03k[/embedyt]
** The Wrestle Buddies podcast welcomed Shayna Baszler onto the show. Baszler feels now that she’s on the Raw roster, people are beginning to appreciate what she did in NXT.
Well, I think that the nature of Raw just being a much bigger show, it’s been around a lot longer. NXT’s like, just over a year, maybe a year-and-a-half been on TV, live TV. So I think the nature of Raw being so much bigger makes NXT a little more intimate and I think that that’s something that stays with you, and it’s something we’ve missed, you know? During this time without having that big live crowd. NXT fans really follow the stories, really grab onto the characters and what stories are being told and things like that and it’s just more intimate and that’s the nature of it because it is a smaller audience. That to me, I’m so glad I got to experience that, even though they hated me most of the time I was there. I love that at the end of it — and I didn’t see it until actually [when] I went to Raw, and then you don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone and I think people are appreciating what I did for the title and the division and just the girls that were there during that time.
** Asbury Park Press caught up with Matt Hardy for an exclusive interview. Hardy transitioned out of the ‘Broken Matt’ character and is now referred to as ‘Big Money Matt’. He feels that the ‘Broken’ character fits better when there’s an abundance of people in attendance.
Broken Matt Hardy is a very audience-friendly character. It needs a crowd, it needs an audience, and it just was not in the cards to be Broken Matt Hardy … because his debut was in the first-ever empty arena era, pandemic-era show, the first empty arena show that AEW had. Broken Matt Hardy is … very theatrical, and it doesn’t translate as well to the current AEW audience that sits at home and watches (on television) because I’ve realized that this is a much younger audience. It’s a much more sports-centric-type audience.
** Ring of Honor’s write-up about the passing of Jim Crockett Jr.
** Digital Spy released their interview with Chris Jericho and during the conversation, the two parties dove into AEW’s use of their talents who are considered legends. Specifically speaking about Sting and Paul Wight (The Big Show), Jericho feels both were almost insulted with their respective late career runs in WWE.
These are guys that were kind of almost insulted in their WWE runs. [Sting and Wight were] definitely not treated with too much respect over the last few years. We treat our legends with respect, we don’t make jokes out of them and WWE is notorious for that, whether it’s Sting, Paul Wight, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Jake Roberts, Dustin Rhodes, throw in Chris Jericho. We know how to treat our legendary performers with respect and make them all look great and make them all worthy of being in AEW because if they aren’t worthy of being in AEW why would they be there? Everybody that’s under contract in AEW is there and designed to be as much of a star as they possibly can be.
As the conversation progressed, Jericho continued speaking about Paul Wight and what he can add to AEW.
He was considered to be a WWE tentpole, one of the foundations of the company but they weren’t really using him. But I know the value of [Wight], he’s got one thing you can’t teach, experience and who he is as a character, understanding comedy, drama and when to be violent. I also know that he’s a great mentor for some of our bigger guys that we have, Lance Archer and Luchasaurus, those types of guys and most importantly I know how dangerous a motivated Big Show can be.
** Prior to the WWE Women’s Tag Title match on the 3/3 edition of NXT, Shayna Baszler chatted with Comicbook.com. She told the publication that she has a goal to make the Women’s Tag Titles the most important titles in WWE.
I’d like to see us… I’d like to bring, and I think we’re on the way to doing it, but I’d like to bring fear back into the titles, where the Champions are people to be afraid of. Too long, it’s been, the Tag Titles especially have been this side story, and it’s the other title to hold, but I think we’ve really done our job being so dominating like we are, and taking on all challengers, it doesn’t matter what brand they’re coming from, to make these be, not just one of the most important women’s titles, but most important titles in the WWE right now. And I think that we will continue to carry that flag all through [2021]. This is going to be… We’ve done it. It’s a long-winded answer to say more of the same, but that’s what we set out to do when we said we’re winning back the titles. We’re going to go and take these and make people know these are the most important titles and the Tag Team Champions are the most feared people to get in the ring with. And we’ve succeeded, so we’re just going to keep doing that.
Elsewhere during the interview, Baszler spoke about her partnership with Nia Jax. She didn’t expect them to be together long but does not have any problems with what they’ve been able to accomplish.
I didn’t foresee a permanent tag team or a long-term tag team. I wrestled on the indies too, I’ve been wrestling long enough to know that every now and then you team up for a match with someone or something along those lines. So that was not unexpected. It was unexpected to have a long-term tag team, and I think the nature of how Nia and I happened, it started off as more of a business proposal where it was beneficial to both of us to help take out problems for both of us, and it just ended up working. And you can’t argue with the results, we’re champs and dominating ones at that. So it was unexpected, but that’s how things work out sometimes, so you got to roll with the punches.
** Independent talent Dani Jordyn was interviewed by Ringsiders Wrestling. She last wrestled in late January and was becoming a regular on the AEW Dark program. She shared that she’s currently dealing with some knee troubles and is trying to get things sorted out.
I’m not sure [if I’ll be on AEW Dark soon]. I’m waiting on word on that. I’m going through some stuff with my knee right now. As people might know, I have a knee brace that I wear when I’m in the ring so, I went to the doctor recently, I’m trying to get things worked out and just have it more stable. It became a little bit unstable but I’m working with it and so we’ll see where that goes.
** Joining the MCW Cast were 2/3rds of the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions, Moses and Kaun of Shane Taylor Promotions. The duo reflected on their time as a part of Maryland Championship Wrestling and Moses shared that he thought his time with the promotion was going to end when he broke the ribs of the promoter during an in-ring segment.
I just knew I was done in MCW. Yeah man. Well you’re [Dan McDevitt] the boss. You control — even though R.J. [Meyer] and Dean may put the matches together, you’re the one who signs off on everything so…
MCW’s promoter Dan McDevitt joined in on the conversation and talked about Ring of Honor’s interest in Moses and Kaun early in their MCW runs.
And for you guys [Moses & Kaun] too, one of the things too is that they were interested quick like after you guys — I don’t know. A lot of the times, companies like that, Ring of Honor, whoever, WWE, they might be like, ‘Okay, these guys or that guy was good and we’re gonna keep an eye on ‘em. Let us know if there’s ever any interest. We like them, but let — let ‘em stay out there and get seasoning. Let ‘em stay on the indies and get seasoning’ but, they were interested in you pretty quick because honestly, you guys were just getting up and running and starting to get over so, I can’t remember, RJ [Meyer] or Dean told me, it was like, ‘Yeah, Ring of Honor wants them’ and I was like damn.
** Big E went live on Instagram with TK Trinidad on the Women’s Wrestling Talk page.
** Bobby Lashley spoke to Complex.
** Sportskeeda ran their interview with Jey Uso.
** Moses and Kaun of Shane Taylor Promotions did an interview with PWTorch. Kaun explained why he and Moses decided to join S.T.P. and it had to do with them not having a direction or story along with Shane approaching them at the right time.
We didn’t really have a direction or a story. Shane approached us with this idea about Shane Taylor Promotions and why not jump at the opportunity? We didn’t know where we were going to go from there, but we knew it was something. We saw him slowly getting a push as the ROH TV Champion and building this stable. The possibilities were endless from there.
** The Independent caught up with WWE Champion Bobby Lashley.
** Teddy Long was a guest on Busted Open Radio with Mark Henry and David LaGreca.
** Jon Moxley talked to ‘Metro’ about working shows in his home state of Ohio.
** A clip of Rey Mysterio at a Maryland Championship Wrestling show:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6iL1nevOT4[/embedyt]
** The latest Battle of the Brands episode:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNWa5wK0JF8[/embedyt]
** Stone Cold Steve Austin appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
** Punishment Martinez vs. Jay White from Ring of Honor ‘Death Before Dishonor’ 2017:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemJO12EJIg[/embedyt]
** Natalya’s latest piece for the Calgary Sun is about the WWE Network documentary ‘Heaven’.
** Jim Ross was a guest on The Paul Finebaum Show.
** Former ROH World Champion Dalton Castle turned 35-years old on 3/4.
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.
