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.
** 2021 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Molly Holly is currently on a trial run as a producer for WWE, as first reported by PWInsider. She spoke about the opportunity during her appearance on ‘Shooting The Sh*t UNCESORED!’. Initially, she did not want the opportunity but WWE was able to convince her to give it a chance. Molly clarified that nothing is official and it is just a two-month trial period for now.
So when I went to the Hall Of Fame or maybe it was WrestleMania, anyway, recently I was asked if I would be willing to do like a two-month tryout as a producer to see if it’s something I would wanna do, and at first I was like, ‘No, I just — my life right now is so stress-free. Like I’m just super happy the way things are’ and then, they gave me the hard sell about how I would be such a blessing to the girls that are up and coming that used to watch me when they were little and they look up to me and then I could give a whole fresh perspective and they just gave a lot of reasons as to why I should at least give it a try. So I am in the tryout period and it’s been positive so far. So I haven’t decided, one, if I want to work there full-time and they haven’t decided if they want me full-time. They might say like, ‘Oh, we thought you’d have [brought] this to the table but it turns out you weren’t a good fit,’ something. So that’s why I didn’t want to make a big deal about this producer trial because it might fizzle out and maybe nothing will happen. But so far, it has been a positive experience.
She is enjoying the challenges of being a producer thus far. She brought up how she learned from Vince McMahon by him showing her which camera angles look better on TV.
I think that the challenge, it’s like a new challenge because I didn’t always think about the camera angles and how that would — if I had to do a big maneuver, I’d wanna make sure the camera angles caught it but, each time that I’ve been there, I’ve learned something about how to make the best frame for people to be drawn in. There was one scenario where Vince McMahon wanted a certain thing and I didn’t get what he was talking about. I was like, ‘But we always do it this way. It seems fine’ and then when they switched the camera angle to something that he wanted, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this way is so much better’ and so it got me excited to think like, I didn’t realize how many little things matter and how the people who are more experienced with that eye for the camera shot and see things that — anyway, so I guess it’s like learning a whole new aspect of the business and the fact that I saw something, thought it was fine and I saw the better version and I was like, ‘Whoa’ so that was kind of fun for me.
** Sugar Dunkerton appeared on the Public Enemies Podcast. It was a two-part interview and in part one, Suge D shared that he was supposed to have a spot with the National Wrestling Alliance, but when he came back to the U.S. from the UK, he was told that NWA owner Billy Corgan scratched his name off the talent list.
I came back from England after 18 months and thought I was gonna have a spot with NWA. We had talks for months and I land on a Monday and get a text on a Tuesday, ‘We had your name on the final talent list. Billy Corgan saw it and scratched your name off.’ That’s the story of my career dude. I be like this [close].
As the conversation went on, Suge spoke about his extra work in various wrestling companies. He recalled his exchanges with Kofi Kingston in WWE and Kofi reaching out to Suge to congratulate him on his success over the past year.
I look at somebody like Kofi Kingston for instance, who to me is like a pillar. Shout out to Kofi. When I went to do my first set of extra work, he gave me a lot of just great advice just because and I’ll never forget, when I got the AEW shot and when I got the IMPACT shot way back, I couldn’t believe it, he was one of the first people to text me like, ‘Congratulations,’ and I just thought that was weird because it’s like for all the things he’s got going on, for him to just, ‘Hey man, hope it work out.’ ‘Thanks man.’ He’s a genuine dude.
Suge dove into that 2020 success during part two of the interview. He was spotlighted in All Elite Wrestling as “Pineapple Pete”. Suge feels that there were some people in AEW that did not realize what he had to offer.
I realized by the end of my time there that it’s like — I feel like some people knew what I was capable of but I felt like that company as a whole just didn’t know what was there and that’s fine, because for the stuff that I got to do and the stuff that I was in and I’ll even tag that on myself. My weight was up and down because I was nervous about the opportunity I got and it’d be up and down so there was things like cosmetically about me, like mentally about me that weren’t all the way there and I’m glad I got to come back to the indies because I really got to find what’s working for me, I got to find a flow, I got to do all that. So, it’s back to that brand building again. I feel like there was people that if you know, you know about me, but I wanna be able to step into a room and it’s like, ‘That’s Suge right there. This dude, you need to watch him.’ They know they need to be by the monitor because something’s gonna pop off. So, my thing is I know I wasn’t there yet for them to be like, ‘We need to watch this guy’ and I could tell just based off of certain things and that’s not a slight, they just didn’t see it. It wasn’t there yet. It happens like that and you got all that talent around, you have to do the extra thing to go ahead and stand out. So, if it does come back around, I want it to come back around because, ‘Yo, Suge, he’s doing this match, he’s doing that match.’
Several years ago for the Discovery Wrestling promotion, Suge D and Gene Munny competed in a Zombie Lumberjack match. WWE presented a Zombie Lumberjack match at their WrestleMania Backlash event. Suge is of the mindset that whoever has the most popularity will control history, despite Discovery Wrestling presenting that style of match first.
But myself, Gene Munny and Discovery Wrestling, if we’re talking about for the sake of posterity, yes, we were the first people to do it [Zombie Lumberjack match]. It’s just WWE had more eyes and made more money off of it so who were the real winners? Vince [McMahon], so yeah.
** Vickie Guerrero welcomed KiLynn King onto her podcast. KiLynn has been competing for All Elite Wrestling on their Dynamite, Dark and Elevation shows since May of 2020. KiLynn is currently aligned on-screen with Red Velvet and Big Swole and she commented on the possibility of being signed by AEW. She said it would be the biggest blessing and gift.
Honestly, when I started working with AEW, I was just trying to keep my career and my name alive in wrestling. I didn’t have any expectations. I was just so grateful for the opportunity so I was like, ‘Let me take full advantage of this. Show up, say yes sir, thank you sir’ and just keep working and keep learning and hopefully by the end of this, no matter what happens, I’ll have a name for myself. But AEW has given me so much more than that since I’ve showed up. They’ve given me — it’s not just a place to come work, it’s a place to come grow and just be a part of a family, because everybody there just loves wrestling so much and we just wanna put on the best product and we love our fans and we just want to show up and show out every single week. If AEW took the risk on me — ha, risk, see what I did there? If they took the risk on me and signed me, honestly, it would be the biggest blessing and the biggest gift in the world because honestly, every wrestler, their goal is to get signed somewhere, to be a part of a bigger picture and I just — to be able to grow with the women even more and just to see — I mean, our division has grown so incredibly much from last year so, if I was able to stick around and be a part of that and be a part of that growth and be a part of the reason why people are like, ‘Women’s wrestling is awesome,’ that is the biggest thing for me because I’ve always been a big believer in women’s wrestling.
The trio of King, Velvet and Swole came together through AEW. All three women knew each other from the independent scene and initially, they did not think AEW would keep them together, but it has turned into a consistent thing.
It is really — so it was very ironic how that happened because I know [Red] Velvet from the indies. I got to work with her on a couple different shows and in between all that, we always kept in contact so, that was one of my homegirls. I love her to death. I’ve known her for a few years now, even before AEW and we always joke like, ‘Hey, how fun would it be if we ever got to tag’ because she’s a little girl and I’m a big girl so the combos that we can do together would be really fun and then one day I showed up and they [AEW] were like, ‘Hey, have you and Velvet ever tagged before?’ And I looked at them and I was like, ‘No, but we talked about it’ and they’re like, ‘Okay, I think we’re gonna have you guys tag,’ and I immediately went and found her, I was like, ‘You will not believe what just happened.’ She’s like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so funny.’ I was like, ‘Right?’ So we got the opportunity to do that and then they had her tag with [Big] Swole and I think it was the — it might not have been the same week. I think it was a few weeks later they were like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna have a six-man. We want it to be you, Swole and Velvet’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely’ because again, Swole is another person that I would run into on the indies all the time. I never got booked against her, but we would always be on the same shows or I would show up to a show that she was booked on and anytime I had a match, she would always be there to watch and she would always find me afterwards like, ‘Girl, this was great, work on this.’ That’s why I call her ‘momma Swole’ because even though she barely knew who I was, any time she had the opportunity to help me out and give me feedback, she was right there.
We didn’t know if that was gonna become a thing. We were like, ‘Okay, they’re just playing around, having some fun’ and then it kept happening, they kept booking us, all of us together and whenever it was them two, they’d be like, ‘Okay, you come out with them’ and we were like, ‘Alright, this is something. We’re gonna play with this.’
** Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson covered Kevin Nash’s WWF/E runs on Something to Wrestle with. As the conversation went on, Prichard gave his take on making top talents too relatable to the audience. He feels that top mega stars should not be too relatable because they are supposed to be presented as a step above.
[Jim Ross was] pushing that in order to have a champion people would believe in, you had to give ‘em real things to believe in. You had to tell their real story but not one time would sit there and f*cking take Hulk Hogan, ‘Now tell me Terry, when you were in a band, you played bass, right?’ The f*ck would [I] bring that up and why? Why do you want to? This is — Diesel was a character, Kevin Nash was a person. The audience was in love with the character. They didn’t know the person. You keep the person mysterious and mystique. When he becomes just like your buddy that went to college in East Tennessee and played a year on the team, what’s special about him anymore? ‘I can relate to him.’ You don’t want people to relate to your top mega stars.
Before Kevin Nash and Scott Hall departed WWF for WCW, both men had conversations with Vince McMahon about their next move. Prichard said that Hall was honest about possibly exploring other options, but Nash told McMahon that he was staying with WWF.
And then when the window came time for them to be able to discuss and talk with other groups, they went in and they made their deal. But it was letters of offer and things like that. Not necessarily contract negotiations and sh*t like that-that was going on but at first I heard it was Razor [Ramon] and it was the rumblings about Kevin Nash, because both were asked. Razor stepped up and said, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking about making a move. If you guys can give me a guarantee and I knew what I was making then I would consider it, to stay.’ Kevin said he wasn’t leaving. Kevin had given Vince his word, ‘I’m not leaving.’ That turned out to not be the case.
The nWo was reformed in WWE. Prichard thinks the group did not click and maybe it would have worked better if Eric Bischoff was involved on-screen with the group in WWE.
Boy it did [not work]. It was not — a couple of things: I think that the whole nWo angle in WWE, I think it would’ve been better had [Eric] Bischoff been involved in it and Bischoff be the one to bring them in-in a little bit different way. You know, since J.R. signed everybody from Jack Brisco to Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes and Karl Gotch, that maybe… don’t even know what I’m trying to say here. It was snake bitten is probably the best way to put it. But yeah, couldn’t get Eric in at that time and Eric wasn’t interested in doing it and I think that would have helped it. Maybe that’s a reason. It could be that online gas station that opened up and was selling bad slurpees, just f*cked with people’s minds that they didn’t like it. It was off about three steps, not even just a half-a-step. It was off about three steps. It felt weird, it felt forced.
** Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald spoke to Paul Wight for an interview. Wight ran down a list of names who he thinks he’d have good matches with in AEW such as Kenny Omega, Miro, Lance Archer, Jake Hager, Wardlow and Hangman Adam Page.
There’s a lot of the younger guys in there I see a lot of talent [in]. I mean, if I went to the top, I’d go right to our champion at the top, Kenny Omega. I know for a fact in a situation with Kenny Omega, we could tear the house down. Kenny Omega is that good. He could have a match with anyone, but me working a bigger, giant style with an athlete like Kenny Omega, we could definitely rip the house down, rip it apart. I think Kenny Omega, I think Lance Hoyt [Archer], The Murderhawk, he’s just so big and impressive, ambitious. I’d like to get in the ring with Miro again because Miro has really evolved since the last time that Miro and I worked together. I would love to work with Miro again. He’s so vicious and aggressive and his combative style will mix up really great with me and kind of a good slug fest. Wardlow is another younger talent that’s coming up that has a lot of potential. Jake Hager of course, I’ve battled with him back in the day. I used to break all his trophies. He’s really seasoned up so there’s a lot of guys I would like to get in there and mix it up with again. That’s the thing — Hangman Adam Page is another one.
Mark Henry arrived to AEW at the 2021 Double Or Nothing pay-per-view. He is going to be a commentator for the Rampage program that debuts in August. Paul Wight said he and Mark lied to one another about their respective AEW signings.
No, we both lied to each other. I lied to him [Mark Henry] before I went to AEW and then when he was coming to AEW, he lied to me about coming so, we both — the term in the business is called kayfabe and we’re old timers and we appreciate kayfabe and I mean, he did that years ago when he had on that pink salmon jacket and was gonna retire and dropped his boots at that stage and I was at home watching and I got all emotional and then he turned heel and got me all upset. If I had been there, I would have kicked his butt.
Back on the topic of getting back in the ring, Wight is aware that there are people who may not want to see him back in the ring. He knows the pressure is there but said if he cannot pass on all of his knowledge, he should just retire from in-ring competition.
Oh, the pressure is unreal for that because — and here’s the thing too, you know, I’ve got to look at this too, there’s a lot of incredible young talent out there and I’ve been doing this a long time. So I mean, you’ve got to look at this honestly and say, ‘Hey, maybe nobody wants to see me anymore.’ Maybe they don’t, so I gotta come do this as authentically and sincere as I can and believe that, you know, if you work hard and you put good work out there, people are gonna be receptive to it. There are going to be people that will endorse it, they’re going to be people that won’t endorse it. The only thing I can do is go out there and set the bar, an example of telling good stories, working with guys, getting guys over that I work with and getting myself over and showing people that it can be done. I’ve got all this experience and all this knowledge and if I can’t apply it in a positive way then I should hang up my boots. So yeah, the pressure is there. I probably put that pressure on myself but, I think after my career — my first match was against Hulk Hogan for the world title so I think I’m okay with pressure. I respond well to it so we’ll see.
** That Hashtag Show released their interview with Joey Janela that was recorded during WrestleMania 37 weekend. Janela shared that for next year’s WrestleMania week in Dallas, Texas, he’s hoping to present a two-day Spring Break show.
Next year in Dallas — so he only got it for one year, R.S.P. only got it for one year so next year in Dallas, I think we’re gonna do two days of Spring Break. I think we’re gonna bring back the two-day flow of Spring Break. WrestleMania, they’re doing two days this year. There’s no reason Spring Break can’t do two days again and in Dallas, I hope to get back to the big thousands and bring it back to that level.
** Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with Shayna Baszler. She has been involved in a storyline with Alexa Bliss and it has received mixed reviews from those that have tuned into it. Baszler wants to show that she can be counted on to fill a variety of roles and not just the one she did in NXT.
I need to show that I can be counted on to nail whatever it is I’m being asked to do. It’s easy to be a badass tyrant like I was in NXT. I can totally fit that role. After establishing myself as that, it’s important to show I can cover a wide range of what professional wrestling is today.
It’s like music. Some people like country, some like heavy metal. Not everything is for everyone, so I understand why some people roll their eyes when I do comedy. But I’m established as what I am. All it takes is one sentence from a promo delivered properly. I am a legitimate badass; that’s always there for me. I’m glad I can be on Raw and show a wider range.
Baszler’s holds her late trainer Billy Robinson in the highest regard. She hopes that if were still here that he would understand what she is currently doing on WWE TV.
I always think about Billy when I get in the ring. After he passed away [in 2014], I remember Josh [Barnett] saying, ‘At the end of the day, if Billy would look at it and nod his head, then you’re doing fine.’ I hope Billy would be understanding that I’m trying to do this balancing act between my old-school, pure wrestling style and the way it’s presented on TV today.
** Quetzalli Bulnes welcomed NXT Champion Karrion Kross onto El Brunch de WWE. Kross successfully defended his title at TakeOver: In Your House in a five-way. During the match, he was powerbombed onto the announce table by Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole. Kross said he flashed out for a quick second and was not sure where he was.
There was one point when Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole powerbombed me through the table. I literally thought I broke my back. I flashed out for a second, I wasn’t sure where I was. I came to though.
** AEW President Tony Khan appeared on the ‘Rasslin with Brandon F. Walker podcast. Khan admitted that he was not big on Matt Hardy’s ‘Broken Matt’ character. Hardy debuted in AEW as ‘Broken Matt’ in March of 2020.
I’ll be honest, there’s been good examples of this. I don’t need to belabor them all but a great example I think would be like, I was not a — and he would be totally fine with me saying this because he’s doing great now. I was not as into the Broken Matt Hardy as probably some people and that thing, I’ve said this on [Chris] Jericho’s podcast, the thing where he did the time travel, that is the craziest Dynamite of all time. Other than the Atlanta tapings which we could do hours on.
AEW is getting back on the road within the coming weeks and Daily’s Place will no longer be their permanent home. Khan is planning on running shows at Daily’s on a consistent basis and does have a Homecoming show he is putting together that the venue will host.
I’ve got a Homecoming show planned and we’ll still make a few appearances in Daily’s Place each year and it will still be a part of the Dynamite plan and Rampage also. So I’m excited to have Daily’s Place still be a part of AEW and actually, I will say this, I am planning to go back to Daily’s Place pretty regularly. It’s been great, it’s been great for the fans and I wanna reward the local fans because you [Brandon Walker] were there and you’ve been to the shows and you’ve been down there and seen it.
Khan spoke about Sting’s arrival in AEW. He described Sting as one of the easiest people to work with and does not understand how a company could not utilize him.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know how you could screw it up with Sting because having worked with Sting now for like seven months, this is the easiest, greatest man I have ever known, and he wanted to work and he wasn’t looking for $20 bajillion dollars either. I’m gonna be honest with you, he would be very useful to any wrestling company in the world and he wanted to do stuff. He was looking to come and he’s at TV every week.
** During an interview with Darren Paltrowitz, Eric Young confirmed that Violent By Design will defend the IMPACT Tag Team Championships at Slammiversary on July 17th. Eddie Edwards and Satoshi Kojima are the current #1 contenders for the titles. Elsewhere during their conversation, Eric said if he wanted, he could retire now and be okay. He added that he’s wrestling for IMPACT because he believes in the product.
I’ve said this in other interviews, I don’t have to wrestle anymore. I have been smart and I’ve had a very long career. I mean, not a lot of people could say it but at 41, I could retire and I would be fine. I am not anywhere close to retiring but I could if I wanted to. I’m wrestling at IMPACT Wrestling because I believe in the product, I believe in the people there and it’s where I want to be. It’s my choice. It’s a very interesting thing and it’s a special place to be, to be able to decide because not a lot of people get that in their life and I’m getting that right now and it’s maybe the best time I’ve had in my career. I think I’m doing some of my best, if not my best work I’ve ever done and it’s funny what not being used will motivate you to do, so it’s an interesting place to be.
** IMPACT Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore joined Jade Chung’s ‘See You Next Tuesday’ podcast. D’Amore shared the story of an interaction he had with William Regal while D’Amore worked independent shows in the UK. In short, D’Amore did not want to set up and break down rings and openly expressed that. He then received a phone call from William Regal who was not hesitant to let D’Amore know about himself.
There wasn’t enough work so I knew I had to go work somewhere, so I was able to get to the U.K. and there, I was doing ten shows a week, so you basically — we would do two shows a day, Monday through Friday and we’d have Saturday and Sunday off. So, which is a pretty cool schedule because having two days off for the weekend is kind of nice, it gives you a chance to decompress and relax and everything and do laundry, and then doing two shows a day, it’s like you’re constantly moving and the shows are close, right, they’re close by. It sucks because you’re traveling in a van, you and the other guys and the ring. But it’s a great experience. I was a little egotistical. I remember over there, you travel with the ring, the wrestlers, they’re called ‘holiday camps.’ Like think of — for anyone who doesn’t know what they are, like Butlins and Pontins camps. Think of the movie Dirty Dancing when families go away on vacation and they stay there and these challenges and there’s events there, that’s what these camps are. Old school, British vacation-style camps. That’s where families go. They might go for a week, they might go for a month, they might go for the summer, but that’s what we’re doing. But you set up the ring. Well I was kind of like, ‘I shouldn’t be setting up the ring.’ So I had a bit of an attitude which I know is hard to believe, and so sometimes I got sh*tty about it and was like, ‘F*ck it. These guys can set up. I’m not gonna do it,’ and I remember — because on the off days, I had a friend, Danny Royal, who I met in Germany when he was on the same tournament that I was in-in Hamburg, the year before so I kind of got to know him.
He was younger. I think if I was 21, 22, he was probably like 18, 19. So he still lived at home so on the off days, I got to go down to one of the islands in the South, and we’d be at his parents place and I had my own bedroom and they had satellite TV and his mom wanted to do nothing but cook for us and do my laundry and Danny, Danny was at that age where he’s like, ‘Mom, we don’t need you to do our laundry or cook’ and I’m like, ‘Shut up Danny.’ Like, ‘I want my f*cking laundry done and if you f*ck up [our] pudding [for] tomorrow night, I’m gonna beat the sh*t out of you.’ So, this is awesome.
So I had all Benny Hill, I had HBO, I had a mother who wanted to cook and do my laundry. I don’t even know if I wanna go back on the road. Like, ‘Danny, you’re an idiot. Don’t ever leave here.’ So we do that but anyway, I was getting sh*tty about the ring. So I’m at Danny’s house, I’m in my room and Danny’s mother comes and goes, ‘Scott, you’ve got a phone call.’ I’m like, ‘Who would even know how to get a hold of me here?’ So I answer the phone, it’s Steve Regal, like William Regal. I learned a little bit from WCW. I had reached out to him when I was first going over there and I didn’t get a hold of him. He had — because it’s wrestling and it’s small, he had heard I had a sh*tty attitude and I wasn’t setting up the ring and he was back home. I don’t know if he was visiting family or whatever and he did some of the holiday camps for [Brian] Dixon, for a different promoter. You know, the famous Brian Dixon, and Regal basically called me up and chastised me. [He] said, ‘I don’t know who the f*ck you think you are, but I just finished tearing down the ring from our camp and if you’re too good for this then you get your fat little Canadian ass on a plane, you go the f*ck home,’ and I was kind of like, ‘Yes sir,’ and I hung up the phone and one, I was petrified and two, I was just like, ‘Holy f*ck. Like Steven Regal sets up the ring.’
** NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis chatted with WhatCulture. Aldis brought up his conversations with Edge and how Edge heaped praise onto him for his matches and mic work.
Edge by the way, who, you know, will routinely text me and say, ‘Man I love this promo, I love your match’ and so and so. When he wrestled Randy [Orton] in that Greatest Wrestling Match or whatever they called it, that match felt like an NWA Title match and he paid me a very nice compliment where he said like, ‘Well, you’re the kind of guy — that kind of stuff is the stuff that me and Randy wanna do.’ For me, that’s huge for a guy like me to hear it from Adam because I grew up watching him.
Aldis also shared pieces of a conversation he had with Paul Heyman during which Heyman questioned why Aldis was not utilized on the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard show in 2019.
I spoke to Paul Heyman a while back and first words that came out his mouth were, ‘Why didn’t you wrestle on that Madison Square Garden show?’ He’s like, ‘Who has the NWA Worlds Champion, a guy who’s on such a streak, who has him at their disposal at Madison Square Garden and then doesn’t put them in a match?’ I said, ‘Well… wasn’t my ball to play with.’
** While speaking to talkSPORT, Mansoor shared the story of Shane McMahon catching him using the bathroom in Shane’s locker room. This occurred while WWE was in Saudi Arabia for a show.
We were sort of in a little, small locker room – me and the other Saudi boys. Well actually, it was me, the Saudi boys and the sumo wrestler they had for the Greatest Royal Rumble. We were sharing that and they were like, ‘OK, you’re going to go to that bathroom down there, alright?’ Down the hall. That’s what we used, that’s what all the boys used. So then the next time we were in Saudi for the biggest battle royal, I was going to that bathroom because I knew that was the bathroom that we use, right? That’s the one I go to. So I walk in, go into the stall and I do my business. And it’s one of those automatic flush toilets that I hate. Because I like to adjust, ya know, and every time I move an inch it flushes! So it’s like I’m giving birth in there [laughs]. So that’s happening and then walk out into the small locker room – there’s a few lockers here and three stalls – and who do I see to my right? There’s Shane McMahon. I see him there and he’s got his bags out. I’m like, ‘Hey… hey, how’s it going?’ And he looks at me with the most confused face and says, ‘Hey, man.’ Then I’m looking at my hands like oh, I can’t shake his hand! Obviously. So I go over and wash my hands and I look over at the towels and they’re out. So my hands are wet and I’m like ‘sorry’ and he’s like, ‘No, no, no, it’s OK.’ So then I go to walk out the door and he says, ‘Hey, wait a minute.’ So I stop and freeze in a cold sweat [laughs]. He looks over and says ‘…Who are you?’ And I go, ‘I’m Mansoor.’ And he goes, ‘OK, nice to meet you, man. I’m Shane.’ OK, nice to meet you! And I walked out like God, that was so weird. I totally bungled that interaction. I didn’t shake his hand and I wasn’t respectful and it was all weird. And then I realized, I went back and looked on the side of the door and there’s a piece of paper that says Shane McMahon’s locker room. I’m like, ‘Oh nooooo. I just took a dump in Shane McMahon’s locker room!’ What a start to life in WWE!
** The sixth season of Tough Enough was won by Sara Lee. She spent one year with WWE before being released in 2016. Wesley Blake, husband to Sara, told Jim Varsallone that he believes she can still go in the ring and she was training at Shawn Spears and Tyler Breeze’s wrestling school.
If the opportunity comes, she [Sara Lee] can [return]. She can. You know, between our first and second [child], she started training again, of course with Flatbacks with Tyler Breeze and Shawn Spears and stuff like that and never say never because there’s always a possibility. I think she was great, I think she can still do it. She’s strong enough, she’s athletic enough. She can do it if she puts her mind to it and I would love nothing more than to be a tag partner with her as well.
** Moose talked to Joey G. of Wrestling Headlines and explained how EC3 helped him change his view on wrestling and become more focused:
Oh yeah, definitely. I think that matchup with EC3 kind of changed my view on wrestling. I feel like I was a guy before that feud who wanted to be like his favorite wrestlers and every time you saw me on TV I would pay homage to a different wrestler I liked growing up. The more I did that, the more I went away from who Moose was or who Moose is. I think that feud with EC3 got my head on straight and showed me that I’m the most dominant, most athletic, strongest fastest guy in professional wrestling, and what the hell am I doing paying homage to wrestlers who couldn’t lace up your boots?
** Josiah Williams was a guest on Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast. Williams was released from WWE for the second time several months ago but looks back fondly on his time with NXT. He shared that he created a new theme song for Xia Li that did not get used, but he believes it caught the ear of people in NXT.
I think they understood that NXT was the show that was bringing in a different audience and there was room and possibility to do that so, the first thing was — well actually, let’s go back. I did a track for Xia Li, probably my first few weeks. That never made it out. They showed it just kind of internally and it was fun, it was cool, it really showed off what she can do with just some of her skills and we never had a chance to do anything with it but, I think it caught the eye of a few people.
Josiah spoke about incorporating Hip-Hop into the NXT brand. He recalled conversations he had with Paul “Triple H” Levesque about the bringing a different genre of music into the fold of NXT outside of Metal. Williams then shared his thoughts about Hit Row (Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, A.J. Francis, Briana Brandy & Ashante Thee Adonis) and why their group works on TV.
That was one of the things I told him [Triple H] coming in. I’m like, ‘I know this is your thing. I know that Metal is your baby, I understand that. If you just give me a couple of opportunities to drop a little bit of Hip-Hop in there and to reach –’ of course WWE talks about trying to reach everybody, right? They’re a global, corporate entity. That’s a big thing so I’m like, ‘If you wanna reach everybody, I offer something that Metal may not reach to other demographics of people so let’s try that a little bit,’ and it is cool and even right now, being able to see what Isaiah Swerve Scott, Briana Brandy, A.J. Francis, Ashante Thee Adonis is doing with Hit Row.
It is, it is [the best thing on NXT right now] and I had a chance to talk to them the day of their debut and I’m like, you know, ‘This is something –’ of course we’ve seen John Cena, we’ve seen Cryme Tyme. We’ve seen a bunch of people who embody either rap music or the Hip-Hop culture in general. I think what separates them is that this is much more authentic than some of those things, and that’s of course not taking away from anything that anybody’s done. I’m not that type of person but it’s like, this speaks in a way that nothing else has ever spoke especially in WWE. So I think it’s amazing. It’s gonna be really cool to see what they do moving forward.
It is well known that Josiah created music for NXT but he explained that he was also the individual behind the camera for WWE’s mini documentaries that go up on the WWEPC YouTube channel.
So I had two job titles. I was On-Air Digital Talent, so the easiest way to kind of put that in people’s minds is Cathy Kelley. She was an on-air Digital Talent, McKenzie Mitchell, all the people on The Bump, they’re all on-air digital talents so you find kind of your way to communicate with the WWE universe and whether it’s through interviews, whatever. I tried everything. I did ring announcing a couple times for NXT. I of course created music and fun stuff that they used, even still for commercial breaks and all that so like, how do you communicate on-air and digitally there and then the other side of it was I was a content creator. So at NXT, most times I’m holding a camera, I’m filming behind the scenes. What’s a good example? Bronson Reed goes for the NXT North American Championship, I’m gonna follow him the whole day along with the Content Innovation Lab and we create the packages that are after matches, sometimes before matches that tell that full story. So yeah, there were a few of us in there that did that.
** Wesley Blake is making the media rounds as his 90-day no-compete is set to expire in July. He recently spoke to Inside The Ropes and recounted Lacey Evans being paired with himself, Steve Maclin and Jaxson Ryker on NXT live events. Blake said that was an idea floated out there by creative and they just wanted to see how they all looked together.
I think that was a pitch from creative. I think they just wanted to see how it would look and because at that time, of course, SAnitY was there. So they were just trying to say, ‘This would be a perfect match-up to have The Forgotten Sons with Lacey against SAnitY with Nikki Cross and Wolfe and Damo.’ It was just a pitch on a live event to see if they liked the look and stuff like that, but I think they had other plans for Lacey Evans at that time. So that just got put on the backburner.
** Sportskeeda has an interview with Tony Schiavone. Schiavone shared his thoughts about how Jim Herd, former Executive Vice President of WCW, ran the company. Schiavone said Herd liked chaos and to pit people against one another. He feels that Herd brought Eric Bischoff into WCW as an announcer to make Schiavone and Jim Ross upset.
I don’t know if ‘hate’ is the right word. I think [Jim] Cornette hated him [Jim Herd]. I know Ric Flair didn’t like him and that’s the reason Ric Flair left. Jim Herd liked to rule by chaos. He liked to rule by — he liked to run a company by getting people angry at each other. The perfect example is — and this is not in the book and J.R.’s mentioned this many times, was Eric Bischoff who eventually ran the company and did a hell of a job running the company, was brought in by Jim Herd as the third announcer. Jim Ross was doing Saturday night, I was doing worldwide, one of the syndicated shows. This is after my WWE experience and so they brought in another announcer to do NWA Pro. I think they had Bob Cottle doing it at that time or maybe Lance Russell, somebody. They brought in Eric Bischoff [from] the A.W.A. and this was a very important move in Eric’s career because Eric was really struggling making ends meet with the AWA. So they brought him and do you know why they brought Eric Bischoff in? Not necessarily to be the third announcer, because Eric was so good looking and looked so good on TV, Jim Herd wanted to piss me and J.R. off. That’s why he brought him in and that’s how he ran a company. He ran a company by just pitting people against each other and pissing people off and he pissed off a lot of wrestlers. I mean Ric Flair left our company, took the world title belt to the WWE because of Jim Herd, and so Cornette really hated him and a lot of people disliked him. I didn’t have a problem with him, because I tried to avoid him. I didn’t want to get caught in all that drama so…
** Ring of Honor’s Amy Rose re-signed with the company earlier this year. She told Fightful that there was outside interest from other places but she ultimately decided to stay with ROH.
You know, the first time was amazing. I was so excited. There were other people trying to get their claim on me and I really wanted to be with Ring of Honor and they made the jump for me. They said, ‘We cannot lose you.’ It felt really good. It felt great. Then when we re-signed, that was the most uncertain time for everyone. We were all so nervous, like, ‘What’s gonna happen?’ This pandemic really put a pause on things. They said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ They took care of us and I felt confident. I felt comfortable signing again with this company and it really paid off. I got to do so much stuff since then.
** Bianca Belair and Claudine Lilien, WWE’s Head of Global Sales and Partnerships, appeared during The Female Quotient’s ‘Equality Longue’ session.
** During Great-O-Khan’s Q&A with NJPW1972.com, he offered Kota Ibushi a spot in The United Empire.
** France 24 has a story up about pro wrestling in China.
** Steven Muehlhausen of DAZN spoke to Titus O’Neil about the reaction Terry Bollea received at WrestleMania 37 while they were hosting the show together.
** Calvin Tankman and Savio Vega are set to compete in MLW’s 40-person Battle Riot match.
** Ahmed Johnson did an interview with Lucha Libre Online.
** WWE’s Adam Pearce turned 43-years-old on 6/24.
** Lio Rush vs. Dalton Castle from Ring of Honor’s ‘Reach For The Sky’ show (2016) was uploaded to the company’s YouTube page.
** Chris Jericho did a virtual signing with Highspots Wrestling Network.
** The latest episode of Battle of the Brands with Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze:
** IMPACT X Division Champion Josh Alexander appeared on ‘Sports Guys Talking Wrestling’.
** FOX 17 ran a story about the ‘Independence Pro Wrestling’ promotion.
** Wesley Blake continued to make the media rounds and spoke with Wrestling Inc.
** Lucha Libre Online chatted with Axel Tischer, the former Alexander Wolfe.
** Titus O’Neil talked to the Tampa Bay Times about the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning.
** The following video is from The Bella Twins’ YouTube channel:
** Here’s a clip from John Cena’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon:
** Ring of Honor’s Rey Horus turned 37 on 6/24.
** Jeff Jarrett joined the ‘This Is Wrestling’ podcast.
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
