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.
** Dark Side of the Ring co-creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener talked to VICE about season three of their series. Evan shared that they do have interest in covering the #SpeakingOut movement that began in the Summer of 2020 where many women shared their stories of sexual and/or emotional abuse in wrestling.
Husney: We were definitely paying attention when that was happening, and it’s definitely something we’re interested in covering. In fact, there’s one story that I was quite passionate about that exemplified aspects of that movement, but the access to that story wasn’t there yet. It might be something we could possibly do down the line, but there are a lot of stories that we do pursue that don’t work out for access reasons. You don’t want to make a talking head piece that’s impersonal. For us, it just wasn’t the right time.
The season three premiere is covering the life of Brian Pillman Sr. Jason talked about the fallout from Brian’s passing and how his son, Brian Pillman Jr. initially thought it was all a part of an angle.
Eisener: Yeah, it’s kind of what Evan was talking about—what are the ramifications of living a gimmick and how does that impact the family? It was such a powerful moment to hear Brian Pillman Jr. talk about how when he was a kid and his dad passed away, he thought it was just part of the angle and he was just waiting for the cameras to pop up and for his dad to come back. I can’t think of any other sport or art form where families have to navigate those blurred lines. When you watch our shows, you’re seeing people grieve in different ways, and I think that’s really important.
** In September of 2020, Joseph Laurinaitis (Road Warrior Animal) passed away. Former manager of The Road Warriors, Paul Ellering recounted how he found out about Animal’s passing during a virtual signing with K & S WrestleFest. Ellering said losing both Animal and Hawk was like losing family.
Now I’m all alone. That’s what I said to my wife. I said, ‘Now I’m all alone.’ It’s like losing your family. It was early. It was like 7:30 in the morning, somewhere around there and my son calls me up and he said, ‘Have you seen Animal lately?’ And I said, ‘I just saw him last month’ and I sent him a birthday wish on his birthday, because he died a week after his birthday and I sent him a birthday wish for his birthday so I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Dad, they’re saying that he died’ and I’m going, ‘What?’ I said, ‘You can’t believe anything you read on the internet. That kind of crap goes on all the time. I wouldn’t believe it.’ He says, ‘Well, I’ll check again’ and he checked and he called me back and he said, ‘Yeah, it’s true, he died,’ and that was it. Sad day.
** Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone welcomed Kris Statlander onto the AEW Unrestricted podcast. Since her return, Statlander has been paired with Orange Cassidy, Trent and Chuck Taylor. She recalled initially being told that she and Orange Cassidy as a pairing was not wanted on TV.
When I first got signed, we [herself & Orange Cassidy] were doing a whole lot of skits on BTE and everything and we were told it would never happen on TV. This is gonna stay on BTE just because of, you know, personal reasons and whatnot. Not our reasons but it was just something that wasn’t wanted for TV and then, the fact that how we made me joining them my actual return is still incredibly mind-blowing to me. How often do you see a woman wrestler return in a men’s main event gimmick match to team up with them and save them? When does that happen? Never does but it was kind of a huge moment for me but I didn’t realize. I was just like, ‘Oh, I’m just doing a goofy ass spot right here,’ but it’s to make amends with friends that I hadn’t been here for this whole time and stuff so I think it was really cool how it all actually happened.
Statlander suffered a torn ACL in 2020 and she opened up about the emotional and mental struggles she endured. She stated that she cried every day for months and credited her significant other for helping her through those times.
You know, there’s one thing if you’re never not sure about yourself in a career, have it taken away from you unexpectedly and then you’ll see where you stand and being injured as badly as I was made me want to wrestle and get better and be the best more than anything ever could, because I couldn’t do it and I literally cried every single day for three-to-four months straight, because I was so upset that I couldn’t participate. I was so upset that I couldn’t help out, I felt that I had failed everybody and it just felt like it was all on me and it’s like I would watch AEW and I would get upset because I couldn’t be there and I’d get upset that I couldn’t help out and I’d get upset because I was like, ‘Oh, everyone’s doing great without me. Do they even need me back anymore?’ I’d try to work out and I’d start crying because I can’t do anything, I’m useless. I just wanna do everything, I just wanna be better and I can’t and kudos to my boyfriend for putting up with that because it was a long, a long time that I was crying every single day and that’s not an exaggeration. There might have been like one day or something where I didn’t get upset, occasionally throughout that time period. It was rough.
Although she is has wrestled several matches since her return, Statlander shared that she still has aches in her knee. She could’ve came back earlier than she did but hindsight being 20/20, she is glad that her return was held off.
Now looking back in retrospect, I don’t mind that they made me wait as long as I did because I probably wouldn’t come back from each match feeling as good as I do if I came back earlier, if that makes sense. Like I still get achy in my knee from walking around all day. We have long days when we’re there, standing on concrete and I have to tell myself to sit down more because I just got back from knee surgery but it’s not as bad as it probably would be if I came back earlier than I did. So I’m very happy that they made my stubborn ass sit down and be like, ‘No, don’t do it. Don’t do it.’ So, yeah. It was just frustrating for me because I mentally and physically felt ready and I was like, ‘It’s been long enough.’ I had almost two months before the surgery I had to wait and I had these seven-and-a-half, eight months after. I think I’m good to go. Please let me go. It’s just more mentally frustrating than anything where I know in my heart that it’s better for me to have stayed out as long as I did.
She and Trent both came back as a part of the Arcade Anarchy match which Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor won. Kris said the pop-up spot from the claw machine was originally supposed to be Orange Cassidy’s. She added that she was cleared the Tuesday prior to Dynamite.
Well okay, so, I don’t even know where to start with that because I know that was originally supposed to be Orange Cassidy’s spot [pop out of the machine], which that, I don’t get because he was in the match. So if you kind of think about it, how would he just not be a part of the match and the entrance and then Chuck [Taylor] would just be getting double teamed the whole time then Orange Cassidy pops out of it. To me, that didn’t make sense but, you know, I don’t write or book anything so it’s not my decision but, when I got cleared that week and was told I was doing something that week, I was like, ‘Oh…’ I got cleared the Tuesday I believe that we fly out to go to tapings and then I was not expecting anything at all to happen because it’s like you gotta build up storylines and stuff like that. I know they were talking about teasing a return and everything and I don’t know. I just got told that I was gonna be in the claw machine and I was just like, ‘Okay. That’s cool’ and then I was so worried that the plexiglass wasn’t gonna come off that I was like, I had to — me and Penelope [Ford] were like, ‘It’s just gotta be full force. Just gotta do it’ and then I was worried that I was gonna Shockmaster myself getting out of the claw machine, because it’s pretty tall to get over there so I was like, ‘Great, I’m gonna make my big return,’ because my leg can’t bend all the way with the brace on so I was like if my foot gets stuck and I f*cking eat sh*t, oh God. Like I was so worried that I was just gonna faceplant but then they told me they were gonna put a step in there for me and I’ll be able to grab onto the top so I was like okay.
** Jerry McDevitt, longtime lawyer for WWE was interviewed for the WWF Steroid Trail episode of Dark Side of the Ring, as confirmed by Evan Husney and Jason Eisener during their interview with the New York Post.
** Jake Hager told Daily Star that he did not and does not view the AEW versus WWE programming as a “war”. He feels it is solely about longevity for AEW.
For the most part. We don’t really look at it as a war because a lot of us come from that company and a lot of us work and have worked with those people, are friends with those people and hang out with those people in social sets and things. Really, it’s all about wanting AEW to last. We’re doing good numbers and a great demo, and that means AEW is going to be here to stay. That’s really what I’m worried about and what I want. I think every wrestling fan wants Monday Night Wars 2.0, but the fact of the matter is that the industry has changed. We’re different wrestlers, we’re doing different storylines and telling different stories. Can we have a healthy competition and see how far we can grow our company? Sure… (but) to get back to where you’re trying to put each other out of business? That’s just not really this day and age.
** Back in February, Miranda Gordy, daughter of the late Terry Gordy, had a tryout with WWE. Miranda began her wrestling career in 2019 and she told the Front Row Material podcast that she did not want to reach out to Michael P.S. Hayes and ask him to help her get into WWE, despite his close relationship with her father.
I started training after that [her first hands-on experience in wrestling], just a couple of weeks and you know, that goes — I wanted to go to local training because I have a daughter and I was married at the time and I didn’t wanna immediately just call uncle Michael [P.S. Hayes] and be like, ‘I deserve a spot at NXT, I want WWE to train me.’ I wanted to make sure that first off, this was for me and that I liked it and so, before I go move off to Florida or anything, I wanted to make sure I was passionate about it, that my body could handle it, that it was even something I wanted to spend time on and I’ve progressed and gotten out there and so it’s just like, the more I keep the steam behind me, the more passion I get for it and I’ve made a career out of it for the last year-and-a-half.
One individual who is currently with NXT that helped Miranda get started in wrestling is Zoey Stark. Miranda said if there was anybody she could have a match with, it would be Zoey so she could show her how much she has improved.
The same with the new NXT-er Zoey Stark. Yes, Theresa is her real name. She was there my first bump. She helped me for like the first six or seven months of my training so to actually have a match with her would be awesome. That would probably — I would say her the most, just so she can see my progress because I know she’s proud of me now and we’re friends or whatever but just to be able to like, ‘Hey, this is what I did and you helped me get here.’ I think she would be number one on my list.
** Former TNA Knockouts Champion Taryn Terrell’s last match was in 2017. During her appearance on Vickie Guerrero’s podcast, she stated that she is not sure if she would return to the ring because she isn’t sure if she can match the talents of today.
I’m not sure. You know what? I missed so much wrestling. It is — you know how it is. When you’re not in it, it hurts your heart that you’re not a part of it. So, I got this feeling and I don’t know, you tell me if you [Vickie Guerrero] get this feeling too. Right before you’re about to go through the curtain, you’re like, ‘I don’t think I remember everything. Am I okay? Am I gonna do this?’ And it’s just like this panic and then you’re like, ‘I don’t think I know anything’ and then you go out and you do it and it’s like this release of all of that adrenaline and it’s the best feeling. The worst and the best feeling at the same time. So, I missed that. I missed that challenge and just that rush so much so I got that. I was talking. I was just, you know, talking. Just promos so, I got that feeling. I don’t know that I can go the way that these girls go now. I gotta be honest. They’re intense. It is [a different world]. So I don’t — I just don’t know. We’ll see.
Terrell was present at the last set of NWA tapings. She is not signed with the company but is not against the idea of signing a deal. She added that NWA taped eight episodes in three days coming out of their ‘Back for the Attack’ pay-per-view.
Yeah, that’s definitely it. They don’t do — as far as I know, at least in my situation there’s no contract or anything so they film — in three days, we did a pay-per-view and eight episodes which is like one season. Yeah so, everything kind of wraps up in that season so I — it’s all just sort of time-to-time, because I am also in the stunt industry so it’s hard to say will I have a movie then or will I not, you know? So, for now it’s working and we’ll see. I would be open to contracts but we’re, I don’t know. I like to go where life sort of takes me and enjoy the ride.
As the conversation went on, Vickie and Taryn talked about the growth of women’s wrestling over the years. Taryn recalled once getting in a great deal of trouble for doing a superplex with Michelle McCool.
I guess 13 years since I got in the business, what a change happened. So, I like that I have the perspective of that so I can truly appreciate where the women are, what the fight was. I’ll never forget I was doing a superplex with Michelle McCool and we got in so much trouble, so much trouble for doing that and it’s just like — and then you look at the Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa match that just happened and it’s like what!? It’s so crazy. It’s just such a different time and obviously a different company but the girls in WWE like going through tables. That just didn’t happen. So it’s cool. I’m glad that I have the perspective and the appreciation for where everything was and where it is now.
** QT Marshall was welcomed onto the Wrestling Perspective Podcast. QT shared that outside of his in-ring duties, he is AEW’s Director of Creative Coordinator. He recalled telling Tony Khan that he’ll sign a lengthy deal with AEW because he doesn’t want to leave.
Behind the scenes, I don’t ever wanna stop. If there’s something attainable, I want it. In ten years from now, I hope it’s myself and Tony [Khan], you know? And Cody [Rhodes] is off in Hollywood or doing what he’s doing and The Bucks and Kenny [Omega] are doing whatever they’re doing and I’m still there. I told Tony the other day when I got promoted to this Director of Creative Coordination, I told him, he was like, ‘Hey congrats,’ yada, yada and I just told him like, ‘Hey, I’ll sign a contract for the next 100 years. As long as the pay continues to go up, I never wanna leave. I don’t wanna go anywhere.’ This is what I love. I love the passion that Tony has for this industry, especially somebody — I always look at that, right? Somebody that doesn’t need the financial gain, right? Students too like Jade Cargill. She doesn’t need the money and she’s there, beautiful woman, busting her ass, getting kicked in the face and all this stuff. She doesn’t need the money so she must love it, you know what I mean? Or she must have the passion for it so when I see someone like Tony, that’s a guy that I’m like, ‘You know what? I will believe –’ kinda like what they used to say about Paul Heyman. I’ll believe what he’s selling me because he doesn’t need it, so if he’s telling me why he’s doing this, I believe that because he has no reason to try to carny me into believing anything else.
QT and Cody Rhodes run their Nightmare Factory wrestling school. Prior to that, QT had his own school. He stated that he had a chip on his shoulder because WWE did not offer him a coaching tryout in NXT so he created his own school and was determined to make it better than the Performance Center.
Because even before AEW started, I opened a school and I had a chip on my shoulder when I wasn’t offered a job — not a job, a tryout as a coach down in developmental at NXT. I had this chip on my shoulder. Well I’m just gonna open my own school then. I’m gonna open my own schools and I’m gonna make it the greatest school in the world and it’s gonna be better than the Performance Center so I’ve kind of made it my mission to do that so that’s why if you see our student showcase, it’s got lights, everything. I want it to be the greatest show in the world for these kids that pay their money to learn from us.
On AEW programming, The Factory currently consists of QT, Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow. QT feels WWE is “stupid” for not recognizing what they had in Nick Comoroto and added that they never recognize until it is too late.
But at the end of the day too, I think [I’ve] already [won], right? I’ve already won because I think the point has come across now that QT is someone you don’t wanna mess with and he’s got The Factory and it’s highlighting three younger talents that all have tremendous, tremendous potential. I mean Anthony Ogogo, an Olympic boxer who I’ve trained since day one and I wasn’t there when Kurt Angle trained but I was there when Matt Riddle trained and he kind of gives me those vibes. He’s just a natural, he loves wrestling and he’s an athlete. You put those two together and you’re gonna make magic. [Nick] Comoroto, another one. He was in NXT, they let him go because they’re stupid and they didn’t know what they had which they never do anyway so their loss is our gain and then you have Aaron Solow, another guy who has been traveling all over the world for the past ten years and I kind of talked to them and we spoke and they realized, ‘Hey, okay, we’re willing to do this. Let’s make it happen so…’
** The Godfather is going to be a future guest on Broken Skull Sessions with Steve Austin.
** Session Moth Martina joined Cultaholic’s Desert Island Graps show and she was candid about how over the past several months, she disassociated from wrestling because she has not had the chance to wrestle in over a year. Martina admitted that it was starting to weigh on her mentally.
I don’t know if I’ve really stayed sane during it [lockdown]. I’m not gonna lie and say it’s been easy. It definitely hasn’t. I kinda disassociated from wrestling quite a bit the last few months. I’m kinda coming out of it now because I feel like I’m starting to get good news again. Like getting news about that women’s tournament, we have a new wrestling school opening up when we’re allowed so it’s there for me. You know, kind of little bits of hope like restrictions lifting and seeing shows over in England. Whether I get to go or not, I still don’t have full faith, but hoping that I get to do a few shows in England in the coming months. Just the idea that we might actually be on the final stretch now. I’ve kind of been able to open up again and watch wrestling again but I really did have to — I kind of stopped tweeting as much and stayed off my phone because it was just getting — it was very hard sitting and even watching everyone at NXT UK wrestling and doing tapings and I’ve sat at my home for a year kind of just waiting and waiting even for a wrestling school so I could train. So I really had to take a step back from wrestling but in a way, I kind of feel that was a bit of blessing at the same time because I feel if I would have been too focused on wrestling this entire time, I would have got burnt out and resentful and it could’ve put me off completely.
** Tenille Dashwood is the most recent guest on Taylor Wilde’s ‘Wilde On’ podcast. Dashwood opened up about the multitude of surgeries and injuries that she underwent/dealt with while in WWE.
Well, it happened [shoulder injury] there too. It happened again. Yeah, when I was in a big match in — I would say we were on tour in like, what was it? Manchester or somewhere around the UK, we’re on the tour and it was like a tag match and I was wrestling at the time in the ring with Sasha [Banks] and just like an accident. My arm got caught in the rope while she was doing a move and it just tore. So at that point, it was a very bad injury. I was out for — well I tried to not have the surgery because like I said, I’m stubborn and I didn’t wanna have time off and I don’t wanna lose my spot so I was always like, ‘I need to stay on TV and just push through.’ So I tried that and then it just kept dislocating even though I rehabbed for a month straight, intense rehab. So ended up having surgery again and it goes on and on. Then that didn’t fix it properly so I had another surgery. Yeah, and I had one on my back too. I had a big feud with Becky Lynch that was brewing and we had just started it and then, we’re like one or two matches into this feud then herniated disc in my back. I was off for a while for that one too. So that kind of ruined that.
** Daily DDT’s Graham Matthews published his interview with Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. Scott is a former MLW World Heavyweight Champion and on the topic concerning a potential working relationship between WWE and MLW, Swerve said he is game.
I’m all for crossover. If it makes sense and it’s beneficial, I am all for a crossover with a brand… I loved the Bad Bunny match at WrestleMania because it was crossover appeal and he took it seriously. He worked hard and he was passionate and he enjoyed it. He enjoyed what he was doing, so therefore us as viewers enjoyed watching him.
Elsewhere during their conversation, he touched on his time in Lucha Underground. He credited Martin Casaus for bringing out something unique in him.
[Lucha Underground] gave me the confidence to be a performer on TV, especially on a roster that’s stacked as it was. [John] Morrison was the top person with Prince Puma a.k.a Ricochet. You had the Fenixs and the Pentagons. You had the Cages, the Blue Demon Jr.s, the Chavo Guerreros, some of the most athletic human begins you’ve ever seen on planet earth. All on one card. Where do you fit in? There’s a lot of things in the ring I can do. I just don’t do it as good as them. That’s truly what they’re made for and they made a career off it. Jumping in that lane and trying to compete with that would do me a disservice. I had to take a step back, sit all night in my hotel room and think and really think. I just went a different way and got gritty. Honestly, it’s like the Leon Ruff situation: it was the least likely opponent for me that really helped me shine and that was Marty ‘The Moth’ Martinez. He really brought something to the table and I could use a lot and really start getting into my mad scientist lab. ‘I could do this, this and this!’ It really brought out some new elements to me that nobody else was really doing on the show.
** While speaking with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso, Paul Heyman dove into how reluctant he was to do anything with anyone on-screen outside of Brock Lesnar.
I cannot begin to convey how reluctant I was to ever do anything in this industry after the eight years, let alone the 18 years, that I put together with Brock Lesnar. Look at our accomplishments: a 500-day run as champion, multiple world championships, the single biggest, most historic victory in sports entertainment history in the conquering of ‘The Streak.’ There was very little chance of me ever returning on-screen.
** Prior to AEW Blood & Guts, Inside The Ropes caught up with Shawn Spears. He looked back on his moment at the 2017 Royal Rumble event and said that moment will live with him forever.
That moment at 2017 at the Rumble, I’m going to carry that for the rest of my life, not because it was just a cool moment for me to come out in front of 50,000-plus people and have them all, you know, having a great time. It’s because it was about the collective feeling that everybody was in on it, you know what I mean? Like, I haven’t talked about it too much but, as the clock was counting down backstage and I was about to go through the curtain, there was a lot of talent in gorilla at that night at the Royal Rumble and as [the clock ticked] ten, nine… They all started clapping because a lot of them had knew my story and they knew what I’d been through up until that moment. Things like that, I’m going to carry with me forever. Do you know what I mean? So it was just a beautiful moment and a memory that I’m going to hopefully remember when I’m 70.
** Bill Alfonso was one of the two guests on the newest ‘Rewind Recap Relive’ episode. Alfonso shared that one of his biggest paydays in his career was refereeing The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez’s match at WrestleMania IX. He went on to tell the story of Paul Heyman matching that same payout for him after ECW’s 1997 Barely Legal pay-per-view.
WrestleMania 9 daddy, Caesar’s Palace, sold out. That was one of my biggest paydays. That was one of my biggest single paydays in the business. I’ll tell you what I made that night and you wouldn’t believe it, and Paul Heyman, on the first pay-per-view in ECW, Barely Legal, Paul Heyman said, ‘Fonzie, I don’t know what to pay you. You know, we did well on the pay-per-view, we did a good buy rate’ and all that. He said, ‘I don’t know what to pay you.’ I said, ‘Well pay me the same thing Vince [McMahon] paid me at WrestleMania 9.’ He said, ‘Okay, how much was that?’ And I told him and he paid it. Paul Heyman was very generous with me. I love Paul Heyman. He’s still my dear friend.
Rob Van Dam’s WWE Icons documentary premieres on May 16th. Alfonso is going to be a part of it and stated that WWE paid him big money for his appearance.
I talk to [Rob] Van Dam all the time. In fact, they’re shooting a documentary on Van Dam and Vince McMahon flew two camera people, a sound guy and a producer to my home in Tampa, Florida and I did a three-and-a-half-hour shoot and they paid me big money because I was Van Dam’s manager in ECW. Lifetime documentary, he’s a Hall Of Famer so that’s going to be released late May and that’s going to elevate me again.
** While speaking to Steven Muehlhausen of DAZN, Sammy Guevara looked back on the six-man tag match he was a part of at Fight For The Fallen 2019. He shared that he went into the match upset because he felt like the odd man out. The focus of the match was on his partners MJF and Shawn Spears.
I talked about that with some other guys backstage. I always imagined what I would be doing right now [if I wasn’t with Chris Jericho]. I don’t know, personally, I’m where I want to be, but I’d be, but I know I’d be working my ass off to make sure I’m in a good position. Because that’s something with me, I’m never one who’s just happy to be there, and I’m not trying to just collect the checks because I can go collect a check somewhere else. I’m trying to go and grow the brand. I’m trying to actually prove that I belong. At Fight for the Fallen back in 2019, after the match with Kip Sabian, I remember I was pissed off at that match because I remember Kip had a match with Hangman (Adam) Page. I was very happy for Kip. I like Kip.
Him and I have a show together, ‘The Kip and Sammy Show’. But I remember I was like, that’s an excellent opportunity for him. Then I got thrown in a six-man tag, and I remember just being the odd man out in that match. The story was Shawn Spears and MJF, which is funny now that they’re in a team. But I remember I was just this odd man out. I went into that match so pissed off. If you watch it, I made sure I did my absolute best to stand out. I did everything I could. By the end of it, people were talking about Sammy Guevara in a positive light instead of saying like, ‘Who is this random guy’? So I think that would have been my mentality if Chris didn’t put me in The Inner Circle, I would have just been me every single time, and I still do it. Every single opportunity, I’m just trying to prove that I belong here and I belong in a top spot.
** Stephanie Chase chatted with Shawn Spears. Spears gave his thoughts on the recently released WWE talents and said Cassie Lee (Peyton Royce) and Billie Kay (Jessica McKay) already have a number of offers rolling in.
And so for some of the talent that got released recently, as surprised as I was as well as a lot of other people were, those talents, especially a few of them are gonna be just fine. It all really depends on what they wanna do so, for guys like Samoa Joe, for ladies like Cassie Lee [Peyton Royce] and Jess McKay [Billie Kay], uber talented and I’m not just being biased. They just have so much talent that the world is kind of like — they already have people knocking on their door. They get messages and calls almost every day, so I know that when I left recently, WWE, my opportunities expanded massively and so if they expanded that much for me, they’re only gonna go over the top and be as big and crazy as it is for them so I’m actually excited to see what’s gonna happen for those people. But, good things happen to good people and the good people will always land on their feet so I’m excited to see what everybody’s going to do following this up and I have no doubt they’ll do some incredible things, for sure.
The ‘Search For Spears’ challenge was brought up during the interview. Spears says it was done so that AEW could scout talent and it could give independent wrestlers a chance to be spotlighted.
So the Search For Spears was a legitimate thing. That was something that was a brainchild and it was a great way for AEW to see talent when we were traveling to different cities and things like that. It was to give talent, independent talent an opportunity to be seen essentially, so I thought it was a great idea. Of course when the pandemic hit and everything kind of shut down, that had to obviously go away. We couldn’t travel very much. I thought the idea was pretty good. I also think that had anything continued on or had I found a tag partner, then I might not have been in the position to be in The Pinnacle, because I think a couple weeks after that stopped, Max [MJF] and I were sitting at ringside and we started having a conversation so, I think it was a blessing in disguise. I thought it was something to do at the time so, but overall, I’m 100 percent glad I didn’t find a tag partner because now I have five guys on my side and we are head and shoulders above everybody else in AEW and right now with The Inner Circle, this is the hottest angle in professional wrestling today so, I think it was a blessing in disguise to have the Search For Spears come to an abrupt halt.
** POST Wrestling’s own John Pollock caught up with MLW CEO Court Bauer.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7lGRbCz2oY[/embedyt]
** NXT Tag Team Champions MSK (Nash Carter & Wes Lee) guest appeared on Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast. Wes Lee discussed he and Nash’s transition to WWE. He said those in NXT have made it easy for them to get comfortable.
It’s definitely ignited a fire [since we’ve arrived to WWE] with us really getting — I don’t wanna say ‘comfortable’ but more in the flow with how things are working here, and when you’re more comfortable, you’re able to give a little bit more and that’s what happening there. They made it so easy for us to just transition here that it was home immediately and when you feel like you’re at home, you go hard because you wanna represent your home well and that’s kind of like the mind state that we have switched over to that we kind of just amplified and now we have a different understanding of what we do in the ring and how to do it and that has come from just the short time here that we’ve been here at the P.C. and we are extremely excited to see where our minds go as we continue.
** NXT UK’s Rohan Raja (Gursinder Singh) was interviewed by News18. He spoke highly about his time at the U.K. Performance Center thus far and referred to it as the “Harvard” of professional wrestling.
Fast forward to UK and in the Performance Center I am learning from the best – this is like the Harvard of Professional Wrestling. My childhood hero is Shawn Michaels and I am learning from him. I get goosebumps talking about it – I don’t know how you top that. And that’s what I have done, combined all these styles and I made them my own. I have been wrestling for 5 years and am still learning. I feel like every time I am on TV, I will keep getting better.
** This past Monday, Mansoor made his debut on Raw and had singles match against Sheamus. He spoke to TV Insider about his debut and said he did not find out he was appearing on the show until the day of.
I found out the day of. That’s the great thing about being a WWE superstar. When you go to work, you are kept on your toes. It’s exciting. I’ve been coming to the ThunderDome for the last two months doing Main Event. I think people have been taking a look at me and seeing if I’m ready. I was hoping this day would come. A member of the production team on Monday came to me, shook my hand, and said, ‘Hey, welcome to the team.’ I can’t tell you how happy that made me.
Mansoor’s match with Sheamus resulted in a disqualification. Prior to that, Mansoor tallied up 49 wins in a row. He was hoping his streak wouldn’t end anticlimactically.
I was having those matches on 205 Live and felt I was getting momentum. Then someone pointed out [that] if I include the NXT live events in Florida before the pandemic I would be on a 25-match win streak. I had no idea. I didn’t want to put too much attention to it because I didn’t want to brag. I wanted to keep my head down, work, and be humble. Then it got to 45 and people started to report about it. I was hoping it didn’t end anticlimactically. The thing about the undefeated streak I learned was [that] momentum is key. Wins can really build and bring the best out of my opponents.
** New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Yokohama Stadium show on May 15th and their Tokyo Dome show on May 29th are going to air on FITE TV.
** Samoa Joe vs. Cesaro from Ring of Honor’s 2006 Gut Check show:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA_8oyIaVKY[/embedyt]
** Chris Jericho, Evan Husney and Jason Eisener talked to Entertainment Weekly about Dark Side of the Ring’s season three premiere.
** Killer Khan’s store in Japan is being closed. It is not closing down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
** Sportskeeda’s Rich Ucchino interviewed Mansoor.
** Natalya’s latest Calgary Sun column was dedicated to Mother’s Day. She got a comment from Tamina for the article.
** Booker T made the media rounds to promote his WWE/A&E documentary and appeared on KTLA 5.
** Below is the Tony Deppen versus Tracy Williams ROH World TV Title match that recently aired on ROH’s weekly show. Deppen defeated Williams to become champion.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sTXyRd1Nac[/embedyt]
** Matt Cardona and Brian Myers put together a VLOG and documented their respective experiences at IMPACT Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEQV6UzP9VY[/embedyt]
** Hiroshi Tanahashi is doing voiceover work for the ‘Cardfight!! Vanguard’ animated series.
** WrestleZone has an interview with Santana and Ortiz. The duo were also guests on the Battleground Podcast.
** JD Drake did a Q&A with Sports Illustrated.
** The newest episode of Battle of the Brands with Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sOsrPniicY[/embedyt]
** K & S WrestleFest hosted a virtual signing with Jerry Lawler.
** NXT UK’s Piper Niven has a birthday today. Dakota Kai turned 33 on 5/6.
** Drew McIntyre joined The Rich Eisen Show.
** Melina joined GAW TV with Mickie James, Lisa Marie Varon and SoCal Val.
** Brian Myers spoke to Scott Mitchell of Daily DDT.
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.
