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.
** Eric Young guest appeared on Nashville Sports Radio to discuss IMPACT Wrestling’s move to Thursday nights. Young feels that IMPACT might be the only wrestling company that is moving forward and they present the best pro wrestling product on television.
It feels like it’s not tradition, but that is where I feel IMPACT has had a lot of its very good success. You know obviously, there’s a hole on Thursdays where we won’t be running directly against another wrestling show and that’s the right decision. The people in management at IMPACT have done an unbelievable job, you’ve [radio host] been around. This is a company that’s grown by leaps and bounds during a global pandemic and… you don’t like it and you don’t understand what IMPACT’s doing, that’s fine but you have to at least respect the fact that it might be the only wrestling company that’s moving forward. It is on the smaller scale and for sure, it is the smaller fish in the big pond but the truth is they’re swimming in circles and we’re swimming forward and I believe that with my heart. It’s really cool to be part of something that was established by me and by James [Storm] and thousands of other men and women and put on the map and now it’s growing again, back into a prominent thing. I think pound for pound, if you’re a wrestling fan, this is the best professional wrestling show on television right now. It’s not the best television show, it may not be the best sports-entertainment show but if you’re a pro wrestling fan and you’re not watching IMPACT, then you’re missing on the best pro wrestling show written by professional wrestlers for professional wrestling fans so it’s, to me, there’s no doubt in my mind and I’m proud to be part of it.
** Battle Creek Enquirer spoke to 2021 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Rob Van Dam. According to Van Dam, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon spoke during the induction ceremony and told RVD that he changed the style of the business.
Being inducted into the Hall of Fame probably means more than being a world champion because there are probably a lot of world champions that will never be in the Hall of Fame. To have Vince McMahon stand up during the induction ceremony and tell me that I changed the style of the business was probably the highest compliment I could imagine.
** Chuck Taylor and Trent were a part of Highspots’ Virtual Gimmick Table and during their appearance, Chuck shared that those involved in the Arcade Anarchy match on AEW Dynamite were not allowed to break the actual arcade machines because they belonged to a local arcade that loaned the machines to AEW.
Well, I don’t know if anyone — I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this but we weren’t allowed to break the arcade machines, because I guess they rented them from a local place and they are still working arcade machines so, so we had to find other stuff to break. I had to go to Walmart by myself and buy those Legos.
** During his appearance on the Rasslin’ with Brandon F. Walker podcast, Karrion Kross stated that he currently does not have some ligaments in his right shoulder stemming from the separation of it at NXT TakeOver: XXX last August. Kross opted not to have surgery.
At that point in time, I had a real opportunity, a very serious opportunity to show people that I wasn’t just here for the good times, I’m here for all of the times. My shoulder was completely separated, like it was — I still don’t even have some ligaments in my shoulder right now. I opted out of surgery and took a holistic approach. I rehabbed it myself and I came back way faster than I could’ve.
** Paul Heyman joined Richard Deitsch on his Sports Media podcast. Heyman was asked about the possibility of starting his own podcast and he has come close to doing it in the past. Heyman shared that he and ESPN MMA reporter Ariel Helwani almost launched one and there was also another podcast launch that he almost went through with.
A podcast has always been of interest to me since podcasts first burst upon the scene. I’d been very close to doing a podcast twice. Once was actually with Ariel Helwani, where — and this was before I returned to WWE in 2012 where we would discuss, A, mixed martial arts, B, sports-entertainment slash professional wrestling, C, all other things in sports and media and there was another discussion that I had about an ‘all items on the table’ podcast a few years ago where I was very close to taking the offer and I felt at the time I was selling my services too early in the podcast game, let the market mature and let other people continue to build the forum known as a podcast, platform known as a podcast so that it reaches a maximum value and then get into the market place. I would be happy to do a podcast, whether it’d be looking back on the disruptive force that was ECW, whether it is a contemporary podcast about modern day sports, entertainment or whatever the discussion may be. But now, it’s a matter of the financial consideration bluntly, because it is such a huge market and it’s continuing to grow at a rapid pace and so my market value increases by the day. I don’t wanna sell short. Why would I want to? And also because it is not just an investment of time. Time is not my concern. It is an emotional investment, because if I do a podcast, I want to blow other podcasts off the map. I want it to be the undisputed best podcast in the world. I want the discussion to be, ‘What’s the best podcast? Well, other than Paul Heyman’s, here are the contenders to be considered number one.’
As the conversation progressed, Heyman presented a layout of how he would go about planning Becky Lynch’s return to WWE TV:
Becky Lynch is an extraordinary talent. It would not only be very easy to write Becky Lynch, 2022 WrestleMania and the scenario and the match and where we go and how we get there. The most difficult thing about that as it will be for what I envision for Roman Reigns, as it would be for how I would craft a Ronda Rousey scenario or a Brock Lesnar scenario, the most difficult part would be editing it, because the flood of ideas for these extraordinary talents who push themselves past their own limitations. It’s overwhelming at times and you can only pick so many different scenarios because you have to let them all play themselves out. So, coming up with something for Becky Lynch for next year’s WrestleMania is not the problem. Which one you decide on is the key, is paramount to the process because there’s an infinite number of scenarios that Becky Lynch would excel in. She’s just that talented and that willing to push her talents past her own parameters.
** Ring of Honor interviewer/correspondent Quinn McKay’s first match since March of 2020 will air on an episode of ROH TV. She is going to be taking on Angelina Love. Quinn spoke about her return to in-ring competition while on the MCW Cast and explained how her contract with Ring of Honor is structured in terms of being able to take bookings outside of the company.
So this is definitely my most high-profile match because one, it’s with a seven-time world champion and two, it’s on television. I was actually signed to an exclusive contract to Ring of Honor from the very beginning so I wasn’t allowed to take indie bookings and then, I was allowed to take indie bookings very shortly for a period of time last year and now I’m no longer allowed to take them again. But last March, I got to go to Barbados and that was the last match I actually wrestled. It was the first match I had wrestled in a year and then also the last match I have wrestled in a year. So in a two-year time period, just that one match in Barbados.
** According to PWInsider, WWE’s 2021 Money In The Bank pay-per-view is set for 5/21 and the Backlash pay-per-view is scheduled for 6/20 inside the WWE ThunderDome.
** Rhea Ripley joined Metal Injection’s Squared Circle Pit podcast to promote her Raw Women’s Title match against Asuka at WrestleMania. The topic of WWE merchandise came up and Rhea shared that the team who creates the designs come to her for approval to see if she likes it.
I was super excited. So, the first shirt that I have, they have the Rhea Ripley one with the sort of metal writing and the chains. But the one after that with my face on it, I actually designed that one so I got shirts from like Suicide Silence and I was like, ‘This look is really, really cool and I wanna make something like this but I wanna use this photo of me that they took with my tongue out, I want all this stuff. I want this sort of font’ so I sort of, I had a little input with my shirts which is really cool and now they just sort of like keep making them but they know what I like so I put that first input in and now they understand me so they keep making more and they’ll go through me. They’ll be like, ‘Which one do you like?’ And I’ll be like, ‘This one, definitely this one. People will love this.’ So that’s what happens with the shirts and the merch designs and all that.
Elsewhere during the conversation, Ripley stated that she was supposed to be a part of the first-ever NXT UK TV tapings in July of 2018. She couldn’t make it because she popped her eardrum. Ripley first appeared for NXT UK at the tapings that hosted the NXT UK Women’s Title tournament.
I was on the first Mae Young Classic. That was my official debut and that was two weeks after I moved here, and then after that, it was the second Mae Young and because I did so well in the second Mae Young, they wanted me to go to NXT UK and I was like super excited. I remember I was supposed to be on the first tapings of NXT UK but I actually had a popped eardrum so I wasn’t allowed to fly. But I went there for the tournament for the NXT UK Women’s Championship and I had no idea what was going on. No idea, no one told me anything. I was just like yeah, yeah, I finally get to wrestle. I was just super excited to wrestle because I hadn’t been on TV except for the Mae Young Classics.
** Dion Sekone-Fraser departed All Elite Wrestling. Sekone-Fraser worked for AEW as their Social Media Coordinator.
** GQ Magazine conducted an interview with SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks. She further opened up about the importance of two Black women in herself and Bianca Belair competing for a title at WrestleMania.
You just have to look at the times. That we can have two African-American women potentially main-event is huge, not just for the world of wrestling but for the world all over. For young women and people of every single color to know that nobody can hold them back from their destination and their purpose in life. To make things happen and grow. Because one day we’re not going to [have to say] ‘first time ever’ for anything. It’s just beautiful people, these beautiful human beings, living life and getting to fulfil their dreams like everybody else. Sometimes in this world, people make you hate yourself. People make you question yourself. People feel like they don’t deserve the world when they need to translate that and know that you deserve everything.
Banks looked back at her time off in 2019 and going to Japan to train at the Sendai Girls’ dojo with Meiko Satomura. Now that Satomura is with NXT UK, Banks wants to the universe to bring them together to compete in WWE.
Everything during that time was all for me, for a therapeutic feeling. Japan was one of my biggest dreams when I first discovered wrestling. I loved Japanese women’s wrestling and that was the style that I really wanted to do. I understood that women can do it exactly the same way as the men. So at that time, I was like, I still have this itch for wrestling but I never got to go to Japan and accomplish that one dream of training there. This is the time. And getting to train with Satomura was so awesome. She is incredible. And now that she is signed with NXT UK, we’re even closer to getting that match. Hopefully the universe can make that one happen.
** Ahead of his NXT Championship defense against Karrion Kross on night two of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, Finn Balor spoke to Steel Chair Magazine for an exclusive interview. Balor told the publication about the differences in the NXT locker room now versus the locker room during his first run with the brand. Balor feels that talents are more focused on their individual brands and careers opposed to the ‘NXT against the world’ feeling that was once there.
Very, very different. I feel like just so many similarities with regards to being pushed to the limits in the ring, but I feel like the brand has completely changed. NXT before was very much “us against the world” mentality, and it felt like a team effort that we were all pushing for the same thing. Now it feels like it’s very much a locker room full of individual superstars that are all invested in their own careers and their own growth, more than the growth of the brand. So that makes it very cutthroat, very ruthless. You can’t really have any friends, so I certainly feel a lot more alienated, there’s definitely a bigger target on my chest in the locker room. It’s something that has helped push me harder in the ring. I feel like the level of talent in NXT is so diverse. We got big guys, we got strikers, we got high flyers, and it’s very challenging to kind of put yourself in all those positions every week. It’s been a challenge, and it’s something that I’ve really enjoyed.
Balor was asked about the idea of going back to Raw or SmackDown. While he does see that as an option, he’s interested in returning to NXT UK.
There’s obviously a huge possibility in the future that [I] will be back on RAW or back on SmackDown, but something that really interests me right now is a return to NXT UK. I’ve been very keen to wrestle Walter for a long time, and that match got taken away from us by COVID. Hopefully, the world is starting to return to a little bit more normality and, hopefully, in the future, we’ll get that match with me and Walter.
** Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s interview with Paul Rabil on his ‘Suiting Up’ podcast was released. Levesque detailed how he used to respond to WWE talents when they asked why they were referred to as “superstars” opposed to just “wrestlers”.
A lot of people play football and I used to use this analogy a lot with talent because they would say, ‘Why can’t we — I’m proud to be a wrestler. Why can’t I say I’m a wrestler?’ It’s not that you’re not a wrestler, but you’re a WWE superstar. Anybody can wrestle. You can wrestle in your backyard and say, ‘I’m a professional wrestler’ but to be a WWE superstar is something different. It’s like saying, ‘I played football. I was in the NFL.’ It’s two different things and I think that branding is important so, there is that weird stigma to it sometimes and you’ll hear me quote Vince [McMahon] a lot but it’s part of one of the things he taught me is also the art of communication. It’s not what you say to people, it’s what they take in from what you say so you gotta know the audience you’re dealing with. If you’re dealing with somebody that’s going to see you, you particularly as if you say, ‘I’m a professional Lacrosse player’ and they go, ‘Okay, jock. Can’t do much else’ or whatever, right? ‘Spent his life in a gym, probably not that educated maybe’ or whatever and you say ‘executive’, it is perceived differently depending on who they are.
** WrestleMania 32 was the focus of Arn Anderson’s latest podcast and as the conversation rolled on, Arn dove into AJ Styles being defeated by Chris Jericho at the event. It was Styles’ first-ever match at a WrestleMania and Arn feels the decision to have Styles lose was done to see how he would react afterwards.
Of course [this could be a case of Vince McMahon wanting to beat Styles to see how he’d react]. It’s not the fact that you slow down his [AJ Styles’] progress and the ability to help the company. I never saw anybody — let me just make this statement. Put it in parentheses, put an asterisk by it. I never saw anybody in the history of my time in this business that lost his way into getting over. Name one. Any historians out there, name one and I will gladly bow my head and go, ‘I stand corrected.’ You have to win and you have to have momentum and you have to be in some wars and you have to earn your way and you have to beat some guys that you’re not supposed to beat to be in a position to draw money and all this did was stall AJ Styles I think, who I think a lot of people would say is as good as there is.
Earlier that night, Matt Cardona won the Intercontinental Title in a Ladder match. Arn emphasized that almost everyone in that match was happy to hear that Cardona was winning.
You know who more importantly really dug it? Almost and I’m gonna say almost every piece of talent in that match. When the word got out who they wanted to go over, almost everybody was thrilled. It just energized the room, I heard it from the talent themselves. Everybody was on board because let’s see, Zack Ryder, he looks like a million dollars, he’s a nice kid, he’s on time, works his ass off, is a good worker, went on social media during a time it was said, ‘Go grab the brass ring.’ He went and grabbed it and just got his ass in a sling for his trouble. He did all the right things and he was finally gonna get his due. My God, couldn’t you have just left that on him for a month and see where it went? Again, to cut his water off 24 hours later was insane but he had his moment with his dad that was real. His dad coming in the ring was a real moment and you could see on Zack’s face, he’s going, ‘Jesus dad, get out of here. I don’t think you’re supposed to be in the ring.’ But it was a feel good moment when a nice kid who’s done all the right things finally gets his due. We were all happy for him.
The 2020/2021 WWE Hall Of Fame classes are being honored on 4/6 on the Peacock service. Arn Anderson reflected on his experiences at the Hall Of Fame as the ceremonies can run for hours. Anderson mentioned that every active talent felt the same way at the ceremonies.
Every talent feels that way [WWE Hall Of Fame ceremonies being long]. I think there was a rush to jam too many people into the Hall Of Fame per year, felt like there was too many people, which made the show — because you can’t give someone an honor like the Hall Of Fame and ask them to go on stage and do three minutes. How do you do that? How do you thank everyone for a Hall Of Fame career that helped you along the way and thank all those people and relive a couple moments and basically soak it all in? How do you do that in three minutes? Well the answer is you don’t, and most people will go up there and do their ten, 12 minutes and you have your presenter do his six or seven minutes and whatever it is but before you know it, if you got eight of those presenters and you got eight speeches and one or two of ‘em go 25, 30 minutes, now you’re talking about a four hour event. You ever sat down and watched the movie Dances with Wolves? It’s a fabulous movie but it’s also three hours and 15 minutes and it’s almost unwatchable in one sitting. That is what the Hall Of Fame became I think.
That WrestleMania 32 show featured the return of John Cena who had been out of action after undergoing shoulder surgery. Arn worked closely with Cena and expected him to show up at WrestleMania and get involved in the show.
I remember it. I also remember not being sure exactly how long he was gonna be out. With John [Cena], he would always just say, ‘Yeah, I’ll be okay, I’ll be okay.’ He would downplay it so, and you never knew. I didn’t know if he was working me or not but I know not being on Mania is nothing that anybody wants. If you’re a talent, you certainly — that’s the highlight of not only your year but your life, and I just think I expected all along [for] him to say the day of the show, ‘Hey, I’m good to go, let’s do something.’
** Arab News caught up with Mustafa Ali for an exclusive interview. Ali said he was aggressively trying to get onto this year’s WrestleMania card and initially blamed everyone but himself for it.
I was aggressively trying to get on [WrestleMania], and when I found out I wasn’t on the show, I was blaming everybody but me. This year, I looked in the mirror and said I can get upset again, I can get mad at everybody else, but at the end of the day I’ve got to look at myself and realize I have to do something as a performer where they don’t have a choice but to put me on the card.
** JTG was the most recent guest on The Angle Podcast. He recalled the beginning stages of Cryme Tyme with himself and the late Shad Gaspard. JTG spoke about their first meeting with Vince McMahon and how McMahon wanted to present JTG and Shad on television.
Well the first time I went to Raw, I believe it was in Cleveland, Shad [Gaspard] and I had a sit down [meeting] with Vince McMahon and he told us exactly what he wanted and that is exactly how it manifested. He said, ‘I want you guys to be my babyface heels and I want to take the thug stereotype, the thug look and I wanna flip it. We want you guys to be loved. Instead of being people scared of the whole thug look and thug image, we want them to — want to flip it so we don’t want you guys coming out mean mugging or looking mad. You guys are happy. Stay in character but always be happy and when you guys steal, it’s never for yourself for personal gain, it’s always going to be — you’re gonna steal it and then sell it or auction it. We’re gonna have fun with this’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah, sounds great’ and it was actually very genius. Vince McMahon is an evil genius and we were babyface heels and it was a great character, great gimmick, I had fun doing it.
** Tampa Bay Times ran a feature story about Bianca Belair as her SmackDown Women’s Title match at WrestleMania approaches. Paul “Triple H” Levesque was interviewed for the story and he feels that Belair is becoming one of the biggest stars we’ve ever seen.
When she came in and tried out for us, I don’t know that she knew necessarily what we were. She came in and was just this crazy stud athlete, and then you see she’s just an amazing person and that charisma shines through.
It’s funny. Very shortly after she got with us, I was like, ‘It’s going to take a bit of time for her to learn to do this, but once she does, there’s no ceiling here.’ She’s got every tool. She’s got everything available, is humble, is hungry, and she’s going to be exactly what she’s becoming now, one of the biggest stars we’ve ever seen.
Belair has openly spoken about her costochondritis in the past. The pain caused by the inflammation can mimic what a heart attack or other heart conditions feel like. Belair said luckily enough, she hasn’t had many issues with it while in WWE.
Luckily I haven’t had too many huge issues with it so far, but it was a tough journey dealing with it and getting here.
** CBS Sports caught up with Daniel Bryan, Edge and Roman Reigns ahead of their main event Triple Threat match at WrestleMania 37. During Bryan’s portion of the interview, he expressed that he hasn’t truly thought about the magnitude of the match and within that, remembering that Brie Bella is going into the WWE Hall Of Fame.
What’s weird is that it’s crossed my mind, but I’ve not actually done any deep thinking about it. No deep appreciation of it. That’s something that needs to happen for myself. So many things in life go by so fast, right? Now, my family — and I’m sure all three families — are in this stage where as COVID stuff is getting lifted, that means my wife is busier and she’s also going into the Hall of Fame. We’re like ships passing in the night sometimes with coming and going with the kids and all that kind of stuff and the travel and all that stuff. Sometimes, you get too caught up in not truly appreciating how amazing it really is. I’ve taken a couple moments to appreciate how great it is that my wife is going into the Hall of Fame — that’s super cool for me as a husband and I’m very proud of her for that. I’ve taken a little bit less time to appreciate that, hey, I’m going to be in the main event of WrestleMania again. It didn’t seem like it could have been a real thing for me just a few years ago. And then really being able to reflect on two guys who I have an immense amount of respect for and the three of us being in it. I’ve thought about it for a second, but never sat down and deeply appreciated that it’s happening.
** TMZ Sports chatted with CM Punk to get his thoughts on AEW’s Chris Jericho being the next guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions. Punk feels that this shows Vince McMahon isn’t afraid of AEW and explained why he’s of that way of thinking:
You know honestly, my knee-jerk reaction, opinion on it is I think it shows Vince McMahon isn’t afraid of AEW at all, because if he was, he wouldn’t allow that to happen. Anytime anybody’s talking about you, it’s good. There will be people who don’t know AEW exists who will watch it and say, ‘Oh wow, cool, I didn’t know that. I just thought [Chris] Jericho was retired.’ But there is also something to be said about keeping your guys special and the only place you can see this superstar is on my television show. But you know, it’s a new age and I think both companies need all the eyeballs they can get at the moment so, kudos to everybody involved.
Punk believes the interview between Austin and Jericho will likely have more softball questions than the “tough” questions that many are looking forward to hearing. He thinks there will be a mention of All Elite Wrestling but not a deep dive into the company.
I think it’s interesting for sure. Obviously I understand the buzz. Maybe I’ll give it a shot and I’ll watch it but it feels like it’s going to be softball questions. I don’t know if they’re going to ask [Chris] Jericho all the tough questions and nor do I think they possibly should. It’s an interesting situation so it’ll probably just be a feel-good interview. They’ll talk about Jericho’s past in WWE, I’m sure they’ll mention AEW but they won’t get into the hard questions that I think a lot of people [will] be interested in, you know?
** The ‘Front Row Material’ podcast welcomed Ring of Honor’s Silas Young onto the show. Young gave his take on the idea of ROH having fans back at shows by the Summer of 2021. Silas also detailed ROH’s current taping schedule.
I mean, there’s rumors and stuff like that-that guys talk about and stuff like that they were hoping that — like I said, we’re doing tapings every two months. Our last taping was like a few weeks ago in March so we’ll go back in May and then July again but the rumors that I heard was that they were hoping maybe that July would be the last we have to do without fans but that’s all just rumor. That’s not even anything that was even said by anybody, you know? It’s just happenings or guys talking. So that’s what I’m feeling might happen. I saw a lot of stuff about how they think a lot of the country is gonna be vaccinated by July 1st so, that seems to make sense to me. I really hope so.
** Jey Uso went live on Instagram with WWE host Quetzalli Bulnes. Uso was complementary of Daniel Bryan during the conversation and further opened up about his respect for Bryan.
Right now, it’s supposed to Edge versus Roman Reigns which was fire, you know? But Daniel Bryan isn’t gonna lay down for nobody. I mean, I’ve been in the ring with him like a couple times and I think I lost most of the times but, that guy ain’t going nowhere. He’s got some hard grit to him that it’s not gonna water down. He ain’t gonna lay down for nobody whether it’d be a Hall Of Famer or a future Hall Of Famer. He’s not going nowhere and I like how Daniel — I have respect for Daniel Bryan so much because he’s been through a lot in his career and my hat’s off to him. You can never knock no one on their work ethic, how they grind man, I always respect that part.
** D-Von Dudley was a guest on the Jofo In The Ring show and reflected on his ‘Reverend D-Von’ character. D-Von heard that there was someone working for WWE at the time who wanted to rid of the character and was successful in doing so. D-Von thought highly of said individual and believed that this person was in his corner.
And a lot of fans have come, whether it’s Twitter or Instagram and had said the same thing that you [interviewer] said. I heard through certain people that talk why it went south. That will come out at a later time but it was somebody that I trusted and believed in I heard killed it.
They put the knife in back, and that is what hurt the most is this person, I actually thought was behind me and in my corner and it’s apparently he wasn’t at the time. But it’s okay. It is what it is. Again, I had a great career, I can’t complain at all. I am a little bitter about that part of my career because I know how far it most likely would have gone. But like you said, to take the legs from underneath me like that, it was just what I see all the time especially nowadays how so many guys try to get over and they can’t and they keep getting chance after chance after chance and it still doesn’t happen for them. But yet, I was only allowed what? Four months doing the Reverend D-Von gimmick.
** FOX Sports’ Ryan Satin welcomed Seth Rollins onto his ‘Out Of Character’ podcast. Rollins dove into the conversation of how it is difficult to keep people invested in babyface characters in today’s era of wrestling because to him, it seems like people’s natural reaction is to dislike everything.
This one [WrestleMania 35 vs. Brock Lesnar], as a babyface, was different because the landscape had changed drastically from when I won the title before. When you’re a babyface in this era, it is hard to keep people liking you. It is difficult because I think people’s natural reaction is, for whatever reason, to dislike almost everything, and I don’t know why that is. That’s what entertainment has turned into. So to be frustrated, unsatisfied or not like something, that’s what’s cool – especially when you’re told you’re supposed to like it – and so it becomes pretty hard not to let that go to your head. I would go to live events, our non-televised events, and the response was not what you would see on TV. The crowds were, to me, they were two totally different crowds. I’d be main eventing against a, say, Baron Corbin or whatever, and the crowd would be 100 percent, ‘Let’s go, Rollins,’ ‘Burn it down,’ nonstop, and it was a party. Then you’d come to TV, and half the crowd – the louder half of the crowd – would just be up in my throat. It was very confusing, and I think sometimes it pushes our creative process in directions we, maybe, shouldn’t be going. But that’s how it is. That’s how the business is these days, and so you gotta figure it out, and you gotta adapt. If you don’t, you’re going to get left by the wayside.
** In 2004, WWE and Edge collaborated on a book titled ‘Adam Copeland on Edge’. While partaking in Loudwire’s Wikipedia fact check series, Edge talked about the book and how it came together. WWE wanted him and fellow talents to write books to appeal to a different demographic.
I personally thought it was too soon to write a book, but the company wanted to start having some younger talents write books to try to appeal to a different demographic. I guess for me, the biggest was I wanted to write it myself. If we’re gonna do this at this stage of my career, I at least wanna write it myself. I don’t want a ghostwriter because I can always tell. I can just always tell, especially if I know the person. I’m like, ‘That’s not their voice’ and I knew after Mick [Foley] had written his, that is was possible. I think I wrote like 20 chapters or some kind of sampling size for them and yeah, that kind of got the ball rolling and then at that point too, I was off with a neck — from my first neck surgery and it just, it really, really helped pass the time and keep the creative juices flowing. Even to this day, I’m proud of that fact. I’m a New York Times best-selling author. That’s kinda crazy. Like that’s something I never thought — it wasn’t even on the checklist because I didn’t think that was a possibility but, I can look back and say that and that is mind-boggling to me.
** Tampa Bay Times has a feature story about Michael Dockins, who is a trademark attorney for professional wrestlers. The piece also includes quotes from AEW’s Big Swole who was assisted by Dockins in trademarking her in-ring/on-screen name.
** Sportsnet spoke with several Canada-based wrestlers about being out of the ring because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
** While speaking to Daily Star, Edge reflected on some of the highlight moments from his in-ring career that have done a great deal of damage to his body such as the spear through the flaming table with Mick Foley. Edge says he has no regrets and if he didn’t do that and other things, he might not be the on-screen character he is today.
I don’t really have any regrets. If I didn’t do that spear to Jeff Hardy or do that spear to Mick Foley through a flaming table, I don’t know if Edge the character would have got to where I thought he should be. I don’t look at it as a mistake, but as a learning process.
** Drew McIntyre spoke to News18 about The Great Khali’s WWE Hall Of Fame induction:
The fact is he (The Great Khali) is getting in the Hall of Fame, and I am very happy for him. He is a great guy and such a hero to a lot of people out there. And to see now how much Indian representation we have on our roster, it is really, really cool. We recently had the WWE Superstar Spectacle and a lot of our young Indian talent were on there; Jinder was featured on the show and to see everybody step up and put on such great performances and then to hear the feedback and the numbers and the number of people that watched the show was absolutely unbelievable.
** WZZM 13 profiled Big Kon, formerly “Konnor” of The Ascension. Despite being released in 2019, Kon stated that he will always love the WWE for everything they have given him.
** Booker T made the media rounds to promote his A&E/WWE documentary. He spoke to FOX 5’s Detroit and Washington D.C. affiliates. Good Day Sacramento also caught up with Booker.
** Grado invited Caelan McFaulds, a young child to achieve his dream of being inside of a wrestling ring at his ‘Big Family Wrestling Bash’ show in Glasgow, Scotland.
** Andrade launched a Pro Wrestling Tees store. The former WWE talent was granted his release from the company on March 21st.
** Logan Paul spoke to Yahoo! Finance.
** The Indian Express published their interview with Drew McIntyre. McIntyre went live on Instagram with BT Sports’ WWE page.
** Shawn Michaels joined ESPN’s SportsNation show to talk about his best WrestleMania matches.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyWVQ61Siww[/embedyt]
** FOX 13 Tampa Bay published an in-depth feature about the history of wrestling in the Tampa, Florida area.
** Independent wrestler Jordan Blade was interviewed by Bell To Belles.
** The family of British Bulldog, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus were all interviewed by Sports Illustrated to discuss The British Bulldog’s WWE Hall Of Fame induction.
** The following video is from the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0kHpD1VeCU[/embedyt]
** Orlando Sentinel ran their interview with Big E.
** Dakota Kai appeared on Taylor Wilde’s ‘Wilde On’ podcast.
** Georgia Smith gave comments to ‘Wigan Today’ about The British Bulldog’s WWE Hall Of Fame induction.
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.
