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.
** Trish Stratus was profiled by Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson on the Something to Wrestle with podcast. As the conversation rolled on, the topic of talents not getting wins in their respective hometowns came up. Specifically, they were discussing Trish not winning the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania 18 in Toronto.
Those people in Toronto. What about the people worldwide, globally? What about the guy in Knoxville, Tennessee? What about the little girl in Germany? It’s a global brand that plays all over the world and wherever we are emanating from sometimes plays a big part but — I just don’t think that, ‘Okay, we’re in someone’s hometown. Well, by God, they’ve gotta win.’
That’s why it was done [WWE booking a show in Texas so Shawn Michaels could win WWF Title at Royal Rumble ‘97]. It’s a completely different story. We didn’t run Toronto because Trish [Stratus] was gonna be in a f*cking Triple-Threat [at WrestleMania 18].
While Trish was getting started in WWF/E, Prichard believes she did have heat backstage coming at her from the male and female sides because of how quickly she ascended up the proverbial ranks.
I think that Trish [Stratus] did have backstage heat. I think there was a little jealousy with Trish coming in. Actually both [men and women], on both sides because she came in from conceivably outside and now all of a sudden, she’s put into storylines and all this other — ‘Well who she’d ever beat?’ She did and that’s again, another reason that when you look at Trish and when you look at everything she did, she fought through all that. She fought through it and became one with everybody in the business so all that much more respect to her and kudos to her for that.
When Stratus first arrived on WWE programming as an on-air talent, she was a valet. Prichard explained that if they wanted to bring her over from Canada as a wrestler, they would’ve had to go through Green Card and immigration processes. It was a smoother process to integrate Trish as a manager and train her in the U.S. as she went.
It was also a way to get her [Trish Stratus] into the mix, because in order to train her, if we wanted to bring her over the States to train her anyway, we would have to go through the Green Card issues and immigration and what have you. To bring her in as a performer and to bring her in as a valet, that got her into the system and got her going a lot faster and the deal was we would introduce her this way and she would train and she did train with Ron Hutchison, and that’s how she learned how to work. It was on-the-job training.
There was a period during Trish’s run when she often worked with Carlito on-screen. Prichard said they were paired together because Carlito had a good rapport with the women’s roster off-screen.
The thinking was-was that every day on the road, Carlito would often times go off with some of the women and go shopping, and he would go to the malls and he would go shopping with a lot of our female talent and Carlito had a great rapport with them and I think he had a pretty good rapport with Trish [Stratus] and there was chemistry there. There was just a chemistry there that you could feel and you could see so, it just kind of made sense. ‘Well, let’s try this.’ So we’ll help Carlito and give Trish something to do as well.
** Fandango was a guest on Rewind Recap Relive and during the chat, he spoke about his future and was asked about the idea of working with All Elite Wrestling. Fandango said he’d be open to working with Chris Jericho or anybody at AEW.
Yeah, I mean, I would like to work with Chris [Jericho] again. I’d like to work with a lot of my friends over there [AEW]. You know, I’ve got some cool stuff coming up and you never know what’s gonna happen, you know? You never know where you’re gonna end up but, yeah, I think it’s cool that Chris is still doing his thing and he just did a freaking deathmatch with Nick Gage so, he’s still doing it so, he loves the business so, hats off to him.
He went on to speak about how he chose to navigate the WWE system. Fandango expressed that he was not big on complaining about his position or airing grievances on social media. He feels that talents should take initiative such as going up to one of the WWE social media team members and filming promos to promote themselves and finding other avenues to get noticed.
Look at the people that have been on TV for years and years and years. It’s because the Christians, the Edges, the Jerichos, because when their role is up and whatever they’re doing is stagnant and stale, they’re thinking of the next thing, you know? And what can I come up with next? What’s the next big hit? And instead of just sitting in the back and b*tching or complaining or, ‘I’m not on TV’ or tweeting about [it] which a lot of people do now. Just grab a [WWE] dot com guy and start cutting promos and be proactive. At least if you get released from the company, you can’t look back at your career and be like, ‘Man, I wish I tried this or I wish I was a little more proactive’ because it’s easy to get stuck in that woe is me bullsh*t. Like, ‘Oh, I’m not on TV. I should be on TV, I’m better than this.’ It’s this weird juggling act of caring but not caring — not caring too much. I don’t know. It’s this weird juggling act. It’s like you don’t wanna sell that you’re not totally happy in your position but, you wanna be proactive to get to where you wanna be.
Elsewhere during the conversation, he spoke about the formation of his ballroom dancer character. He shared that Vince McMahon rented out a ballroom in New York so Fandango could film vignettes but McMahon stopped the operation so he could produce the vignettes himself. McMahon did not like the way Fandango said ‘Fandango’.
We actually filmed a whole — Vince [McMahon] paid to rent out the whole Highline Ballroom, dance ballroom in New York City. We went there and filmed vignettes for a couple days and there’s this super expensive set and he didn’t like the way I said ‘Fandango’, so he scrapped the whole thing and he came and produced the vignettes himself. So me not pronouncing the name the way he thought in his mind actually turned into a gimmick, into a shtick that we did on TV.
That ballroom dancer character was originally going to be current IMPACT Wrestling talent Brian Myers’. Myers pitched that Fandango should get the character and they later had a conversation during which Fandango learned that Myers didn’t want the character anyway.
Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins, they were slated to be — they actually debuted on SmackDown briefly in 2012 as dancers. I don’t know if you remember that. They would come out as firefighters. They’re essentially strippers and… it was brief. I think they briefly debuted in early or mid-Summer of 2012 and Gabe [Gabbi Tuft/Tyler Reks], who’s a friend of mine, Tyler Reks, he left the company so Curt Hawkins was left with the gimmick and then Curt, Brian Myers, Brian Majors went to the office and said, ‘Hey, what about Johnny Curtis?’ He’s not doing anything on TV right now’ and they go, ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea’ and then they came up to me and they go, ‘We’re gonna have you do the dancing gimmick. Hawkins is out.’ I go, ‘Alright’ and then I go up to Hawkins because I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m sorry bro.’ He didn’t really wanna do it anyways, but he’s smart. He grew up around the business. He knows if they have an idea for you, you’re not gonna say no because you can make some money with it but he’s like, ‘Dude don’t worry about it. I didn’t wanna do it that much anyways’ so, they sent me to dance school in Houston for a couple months.
** While speaking to Daily DDT, Preston ‘10’ Vance commented on the idea of another talent coming into the Dark Order and filling that leader role. Vance joked that the only person who should do that is Brodie Lee’s son. Vance went on to add that he thinks Dark Order should remain as it currently is.
The only person that should take it over is Little Brodie in ten years, which is super long-term storytelling. (laughs) That kid is so smart. He FaceTimes me all the time with these ideas, like, ‘Ten years from now, if you’re no longer 10 and then I come back and I give you the mask back.’ I’m like, ‘That’s a really good idea.’ He’s super smart, way smarter than he should be for his age. He’s not just a kid. He’s got the wrestling mindset already, it’s insane. This was Brodie’s vision and we were all like his kids, so we should be the ones to live out his vision. That’s totally my opinion on it. As I said, I just love all the guys in this group so much.
Vance looked back on the beginning of his relationship with Cody Rhodes. Rhodes would make calls to independent promotions and throw Vance’s name out there so he could get booked.
The facility [Nightmare Factory] is state-of-the-art. They train NFL players. It’s so cool. [Cody Rhodes] gave me his whole Rolodex of the indies that he was doing at the time. He would call these promoters himself to book me. Man, if Cody is putting his stamp of approval on me, that’s pretty cool.
** Rocky Romero guest appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to promote the NJPW Resurgence show on August 14th. During the conversation, Rocky explained how the Moose versus Tomohiro Ishii match came to be.
I heard that [Tomohiro] Ishii was coming and somebody asked me to reach out to somebody at IMPACT because they’d like to get a big name and reached out to Scott D’Amore and Scott D’Amore said, ‘Moose really wants to be a part of [NJPW] STRONG and wants to be a part of New Japan U.S.’ so, I said, ‘That sounds like that would be cool to me. Let me ask the office’ and the office said they would love that and there it is and it’s kind of a dream match, especially now.
** WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard conducted an interview with CM Punk. The two parties discussed Punk’s role in the show ‘Heels’. Punk shared that initially, he did not want to give any input when it came to piecing together the wrestling dialogue/in-ring portion of filming. It wasn’t until the showrunner talked to Punk and let him know that his input was wanted.
Well it started small and I didn’t want anything to do with it because my job was to be there to be an actor, you know, but I’ve known Luke Hawx for decades, and then Stephen Amell, obviously being a big wrestling fan and me having a high-level of respect for his acting ability, he has the same high-level of respect for what I did in the wrestling business so, me being brought on, he was like, ‘This is great. We got the guy here. We should pick his brain’ and I was very like, ‘No, no, no. Guys, this is — I didn’t write these words, I didn’t [build] these scenes, I’m not behind the camera, I’m not the director, I’m not the showrunner’ and then the showrunner stepped in, was like, ‘Listen man, you’re the guy, this is your world. If you see anything, if somebody’s dialogue doesn’t seem right, you please let us know. We want this to be as authentic as possible and we need it to be real and we would be fools to not use you because you are here on set’ and then I was like, ‘Alright, okay.’ But there wasn’t much I had to, you know, even suggest to do differently but everybody just helped everybody else out and I thought that was pretty cool. They didn’t need to ask me what I thought of anything, but they did and it’s not because anybody was trying to blow smoke up my ass. It’s because they cared about this project and they wanted it to be the best it could be.
** Roman Reigns appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. Roman discussed his working relationship with Paul Heyman and said his two requests when he returned was to work alongside Heyman and Michael Hayes being the agent for his matches.
I’ve said it before, I don’t think — I’m sure I could do it but I don’t think I would wanna do this without him [Paul Heyman] in my corner, and he’s one of very few, you know? There’s — I had two requests. I wanted to work with Michael Hayes, that’s my guy. He’s been with me from The Shield days and even before that with my family and a lot of the people around me have been in relations and in close contact with my family, even before my time as a performer, back when I was just a kid. So they have a great history with my family and they’ve taken to me like family, like blood and those are two guys who are critically in my process – Michael Hayes and Paul Heyman.
** Renee Paquette welcomed Jungle Boy onto her Oral Sessions podcast. Jungle Boy is looking forward to seeing who is next to join All Elite Wrestling. He mentioned that he would like to have a match in AEW with Jake Atlas, who was recently released from WWE.
I mean, all the big names I would say. Those are guys I used to watch and that would just be super cool. For me, my best friend actually, his name’s Jake Atlas. He just got laid off this last round of layoffs and you know, so far I’ve had some of my best matches of my career with him, a lot of those being on the indies so I think for me it’d be cool to kind of be able to do that again on a bigger stage maybe so, we’ll see, fingers crossed.
Dating back to early June, Jungle Boy has been featured on-screen alongside Christian Cage. He thinks their pairing wasn’t something that was planned and just naturally happened. Jungle Boy went on to speak about what he is learning from Christian:
You know, that kind of just came about organically [pairing with Christian Cage]. That was not really in the books I don’t think. You know, we were both a part of this Battle Royale at Double Or Nothing and I think that was kind of just supposed to be where it ended and then we kind of had this cool kind of connection. I felt — I don’t know. I feel some weird connection to him and he’s a really cool guy. He’s a quiet guy which when he first came around, he didn’t really say a lot and I wasn’t really sure what he thought of the whole thing, and I feel like I’m not always the most talkative guy either so I got that. But over time he’s kind of opened up and we started talking more and now we’ve kind of been put together, it’s really cool because he kind of has all the pieces I feel like I’m missing as a wrestler, in terms of the style that I’ve kind of tried to emulate is a lot more kind of new-school and all that crazy stuff and moves and all that which I love. I’m all about that. But I feel like more with, as you were saying, how he puts his matches together and just the way he thinks about things is so different than kind of everyone in my age range or experience level so it’s cool to be able to get that from him and kind of pair it with what I’m doing.
** East Coast Autograph Auctions hosted a virtual signing with Christy Hemme. The last time she had a sanctioned match was in 2009. Hemme said she will not be wrestling again, but she would if her neck wasn’t giving her trouble.
No [I will not wrestle again]. I would wrestle if I didn’t have a bad neck, because I just have a fiery fight to do it but, the neck has stopped me.
Hemme spent a period of her career with the late Ashley Massaro. She spoke about the energy that Ashley brought to the environment she was in.
I’d have to say every moment with Ashley [Massaro] was good. She was one of those people that truly loved everyone in the room. You know, someone that just flutters around and can touch everything and is connected and easy. She was very approachable. Very approachable person but, it was amazing to watch her with her fans because she was so open and so available and then when she would talk about her daughter, it was like really magical and emotional but, I can’t say I ever had a bad experience with her. She just was a lovely person.
** Muscle & Fitness did a feature story about Levi Muir, who is a member of the NXT UK talent roster. Levi told the story of how his signing to WWE came about. He was asked to do a match in front of fellow talents at the Performance Center in London. Prior to that happening, William Regal told him that he would not be signed to a full-time deal but after the match, Regal alerted Levi that he was being signed full-time.
I had a three-day tryout with WWE in 2019, and it was the toughest thing I’ve ever done. We had four pro athletes leave within 20 minutes of starting the tryout. There were so many drills, and so many burpees. Then I was asked to stay and train with the WWE NXT UK roster for the week as well. I was only 22, and I had grown up watching Noam Dar on Monday Night RAW and now I’m training with him. Wow!
At the end of the week, William Regal came up to me and he said that he wanted me to have a match in front of the wrestlers in attendance in London’s WWE Performance Center. But right before the match, he told me that they weren’t going to sign me [laughs]. He said that they were going to bring me in part-time, and see how I did — kind of like probation. So, then I went and wrestled the match with all this going on in my head, had the match and afterward, he told me that they were really going to sign me and that I did well. And that’s how it all panned out in the end.
** Ahead of challenging Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Championship at NWA EmPower, Melina spoke to ‘Metro’ and discussed the idea of a return to WWE. Melina expressed that she doesn’t feel like she’s missing out on anything and added that if the offer comes, she’d love it but if it doesn’t come, she’s fine with that too.
I feel fulfilled and I feel lucky with everything that comes into my path. If that offer comes back… then of course I’d love it. Of course, because that’s my home. But if it doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen and I’m good with that too. I’ve done so much there that I don’t feel like I have anything to prove, I don’t feel like I have anything to say or do. I’ve done it all, said it all and everything else is just something beautiful to add to my life if I get to have it. If not, it’s OK ’cause I’m doing fine and I’m doing great work with the companies I work with.
I don’t feel like I’m losing anything or there’s a hole in my heart. There’s nothing missing. I’m on this beautiful ride and I’m willing to go wherever with this. I’ve already accomplished so much. I tell everybody how much I care about them and love them every single day. Right now in this moment in time and my life, everything from here on out is just something beautiful that I get to experience and I’m thankful for.
** IMPACT Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo did an interview with Lucha Libre Online. She was asked about the pairing of herself and Drama King Matt Rehwoldt in IMPACT. Purrazzo isn’t aware if there are long-term plans for herself and Rehwoldt but she’d be happy to work with him more going forward.
I think when IMPACT was interested in Matthew Rehwoldt [was when they thought of the pairing]. I think I’m the natural pairing for that. He’s the Drama King, I’m The Virtuosa. I think we have a lot of similarities and a lot of comparisons where we just fit. We’re the perfect match I think so, I was so excited all weekend for his debut and I think fans were really, really receptive to us a team, to Matthew himself and I don’t know how long this partnership is going to last in terms of what future plans are and how we can come together because Homecoming was just a special pay-per-view where there was a little bit of intergender wrestling and things like that. So, but I would be more than happy to have him by my side in the age of The Virtuosa forever.
** The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast welcomed Thom Latimer onto the show. Latimer was candid about the mistakes he has made throughout his career which led to him missing opportunities in WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
I need that pressure, I want that pressure [in the NWA]. You know, in my past sort of ten years, I’ve been given the ball and I’ve thrown it away. I’ve been given the ball, I’ve thrown it away. I had a good push in WWE and I was a drunk and I messed that up. Back to getting NXT Tag Team Championships, messed that up. We were supposed to go up apparently after The Shield to the main roster, messed that up. Then I go to IMPACT and then I’m pushed and I’m used well, but I don’t care and I’m a drunk and I’m an idiot and I throw that away. I get sent for a two-week tour of [Pro Wrestling] NOAH — Japan would definitely and should’ve been a place where I’d have thrived. I think that I would have did really well and I would have really fit in and I get drunk and I mess that up and I get kicked off the tour. You know, and it’s just one thing after the other after the other, arrests and this and that but, I’ve always been put in positions to succeed but I just didn’t care or I was self-sabotaging and like I said, now sober, turning 35, I wish I’d had the same mindset and mentality that I do now, ten years ago because my life would’ve been — obviously there’s lots of things I’d still want like Kailey [Kamille] and whatnot but, what I’m saying is my life would’ve been different had I had a grown up, sensible brain in my head which I didn’t. So when it comes to this time, turning 35, I want the responsibility, I want the ball, I want to run with the ball whereas before like I said, I kicked the ball away. ‘I don’t want it, I don’t care,’ whereas now, I do and I do care. It’s just a shame that it took ten years to get to this point but yeah, I want that pressure and I want to be given the ball because this time I wanna run with it so, yeah of course there’s always pressure but wrestling’s one of these things where it’s pressure no matter what, you know what I mean?
Latimer looked back on his days as a part of FCW. He recalled his friends Danny Burch and NXT UK’s Rampage Brown being signed before him. Latimer stated that those two were almost paired up and sent to the main roster as a team.
2009 is the [year] that I got hired and I nearly didn’t get hired again. It was — they liked me or whatever but you never really hear anything and so, I’m sat at the table and I’ve heard that two of my other friends have [gotten] hired, Rampage Brown and Martin Stone [Danny Burch]. They were thinking about putting them as a tag team and maybe bringing them straight up to the road.
Latimer held the NWA World Tag Team Championships alongside Royce Isaacs, who currently competes on AEW Dark and Elevation along with making appearances on New Japan STRONG. Latimer does believe he and Royce could’ve gelled better as a team, but nonetheless, he’s happy for his former partner’s post-NWA success.
So, we got along outside of the ring and he’s [Royce Isaacs] got — he’s doing bits and bobs with AEW, I’m super proud of him. So, it was kind of — me and Royce I feel like, and he’d probably say [this] too: He’s got another tag partner [Jorel Nelson] and they’ve been tagging for a long time and they’re sort of more intertwined with each other. I was in a tag team in WWE and then I kind of not really done anything like that for a while and we didn’t really have a lot of time to sort of gel or come up with things and, you know, so we just kind of — obviously, he lives in California, I live in Tennessee. So we would just kind of show up and do it and could we have gelled more? I’d think so. I just feel like we’d just kind of — we were thrown together and we knew that and we just kind of tried to make the best of it.
** ‘Metro’ spoke to Trevor Murdoch. He discussed why he believes his time with TNA Wrestling went on the downtick after 2009. Murdoch thinks it had to do with a conversation he had with Taz, who was a backstage producer at the time. Murdoch was not big on having people kick out of his finisher and admitted that he was not willing to budge.
I’m pretty sure the reason why TNA stopped using me at the time was I didn’t have a deal and I was wrestling Rhino. Taz had just come in as a producer, it was his first few matches as producer. We’re putting our match together and Taz asks me, ‘Trevor, what’s your finishing move?’ I go, ‘Well I do a top-rope bulldog.’ He goes, ‘Oh wow! That’s very impressive for a guy your size!’ F**k yeah it is, that’s why I used it as a finisher! He goes, ‘Well, this match tonight, can you hit Rhino with your finisher, cover, he kicks out at two. Then pick him up, shoot him off, ducks your clothesline and gores you, one-two-three.’ I’m pretty stubborn and I was like, ‘Taz, if there’s anything else you want off the top rope – I’ll do a beautiful high crossbody, sh*t, whatever you want me to do.’ But I don’t have a contract here. I said, ‘Legitimately, that’s one of two moves that when people see me, they go, he might do this! And I don’t wanna throw that away, nor do I wanna waste it.’
Taz is in there with Terry, and I proceed to get my ass chewed by Terry Taylor because I’m not a company guy and I’m being difficult. I just – I dunno, WWE let me go so there really wasn’t much anybody business-wise [that] could scare me or [you could] intimidate me with. I just laid it out, I said, ‘Terry, I’m not trying to be rude or disrespectful by any means! But I’ve been here for the last seven weeks and you guys haven’t given me a deal. The only thing that I’ve got is my bulldog, and I don’t see why that’s a big deal for me not to do that.’ I said, ‘I told him that I’d do anything else you wanted, but that.’ They proceeded to s**t on me and tell me I wasn’t a team player. I had a few choice words – one of them was ‘kiss my ass’ – and I walked out the door. I went and had the match with Rhino, we did great business, never got a phone call again from them.
** Xavier Woods, Liv Morgan and Omos joined the Rasslin’ with Brandon F. Walker podcast. Back in October of 2020, Woods returned from his torn Achilles injury that put him on the shelf for a full year. He said not having the fans present for his return made him think about the injury as he was competing.
Definitely a big fear and not having — so I came back during ThunderDome stuff so I didn’t have the actual fan adrenaline there to kind of cover. So it was weird for like the first month maybe, just trying to get around my mental state of babying it or anything like that but it’s been luckily good since then. It’s been alright, but yeah, like again, the fans being back definitely erase all of that.
Last month, Big E won the men’s Money In The Bank ladder match and Woods explained how proud he is of Big E and what it was like for him and Kofi to see E get his moment.
It’s awesome because since we’ve been together, we’ve always kind of been the unit that lifts up the group. Rising tides raises all ships kind of thing. There’s no animosity, there’s none of — it’s only love and it’s one of the few times in my wrestling life where I’ve been able to find that and I think that’s what helps us stay together so long. So watching [Big] E finally get that moment of like being Mr. Money In The Bank after knowing that he deserves to be Mr. Money In The Bank, after knowing that he deserves a title shot, after knowing that he should be champion for so long, it’s very refreshing and almost relieving to know that yes, we know this but I need people in this room to understand it so to know they know [and] understand makes me feel even better for myself, for him, for Kofi [Kingston], for us as a group because it’s just like if one of us does well, we all do well and so we were just back there waiting for him to come through the curtain so we could hug him.
** Daily Star pushed out their chat with Bianca Belair. She told the site how helpful Bayley was during their time working together and Bayley wanting to see her find success.
It was definitely difficult for the whole entire locker room [to lose Bayley to injury], and I think that speaks volumes for Bayley. Bayley is so good at what she does, she makes it look so effortless and easy that sometimes I feel like she doesn’t get the credit she deserves. I always pay homage to Bayley because she was my first feud when I got to SmackDown and she helped introduce me to the WWE Universe. She is someone who goes to the table to eat, but she pulls up a seat alongside her so you can eat, too, and she did that for me. I learned so much from her, so it was definitely a blow for the whole locker room, we were all sad to see Bayley sidelined, especially me. I loved my feuds with her, and I enjoyed it as much as everyone enjoys them when they watch it.
** Jordynne Grace spoke to Steel Chair Magazine and told the publication that she is still interested in challenging for the IMPACT X Division Championship which is currently in Josh Alexander’s possession.
I definitely feel like the X-Division title could belong to a woman, and hopefully, that woman is eventually me. Josh (Alexander) is probably and honestly the best wrestler at IMPACT right now. I’m super happy he’s getting his due and his title reign, but I would definitely love him to challenge for it eventually.
** Tulsa World caught up with Cesaro ahead of WWE’s forthcoming events in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. Cesaro stated that while his mic skills may not be his strongest connection to the fans, he is connected by way of his in-ring work and that’s when he feels most free.
There are a lot of guys that can talk really well and there are a lot of guys that have these crazy characters and that’s awesome, but you also have to deliver when the bell rings. With English being my second language — sorry, my fourth or fifth language — (I still need to connect and communicate) with the WWE Universe all around the world… I feel like my strongest connection has been in the ring once the bell rings, because then I feel the most free. I feel like I can express myself the best and find ways to connect with the audience. Feel good. Feel bad. Cheer me. Boo me. Whatever it may be. That translates everywhere in the world.
** Ryan Satin welcomed Bianca Belair onto his Out of Character show. She was asked if she threw a feeler out there to Megan Thee Stallion about possibly collaborating with WWE. Belair did tell Megan that she has said if she could choose a partner to team with, it would be her.
We [Bianca & Megan Thee Stallion] talked about music and then we talked about WWE and you know, I mentioned that, ‘Yeah, I just did an interview and I was saying like if I could ever tag team with anybody or work, collab with anybody, it would definitely be you’ and she was actually at Rolling Loud but she was there another night that we weren’t there so we didn’t really get to meet that night so I’m glad that we could just definitely meet that day, so, I don’t know. The possibilities are endless. I mean WWE was at Rolling Loud on the same stage as all the top Hip-Hop rappers so who knows what can happen.
** Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy conducted an interview with Zelina Vega and asked Zelina about her return to WWE. She feels that she had “unfinished business” with the company.
I think, more than anything, WWE has always been a place that I felt like I had some kind of unfinished business with. And, for me as a kid, you look and you’re like, ‘I want to be a champion,’ there’s so many things that you want to accomplish and coming back, I set my eyes on the SmackDown Women’s Championship and that’s what I’m focused on the most and seeing where that takes me. After Bianca versus Sasha, who knows, will it be Bianca that remains champion or will it be Sasha? Either one, I’m coming after them and I can’t wait for that opportunity.
** While speaking to Inside The Ropes, Ricky Starks expressed the thought that he feels he was meant to wrestle in front of large crowds, although he doesn’t mind the shows that bring forth a more intimate setting.
I love it. I mentioned this earlier that I think I was meant to wrestle in large crowds. Not that I don’t mind the intimate setting of like the 50, a thousand or the 500, you know, things like that but I think having these people back is such a great thing. I knew that this day would come. I knew that we would have fans back. It was a matter of having the patience for it because sometimes, you go out there and you wrestle in front of other wrestlers and it’s cold and it’s this and it’s that and you don’t always feel it, but that is what it is. It’s an interaction between people who love wrestling and people who want to give the people their money’s worth and that is what I’ve been since day one so, dude, I get goosebumps even just hearing the roar of a crowd before a show because it’s so cool.
** Episode 11 of The Turnbuckle Sessions featured NWA’s Marshe Rockett. He detailed how establishing a working relationship with Billy Corgan while they were both in TNA led to him eventually working for Corgan in the National Wrestling Alliance.
Oh, it’s very exciting [to be in the NWA]. Honestly, when I heard that — because originally, Billy [Corgan] was a part of IMPACT Wrestling and the funny thing is-is that like, Billy was the one to help me get to IMPACT Wrestling and you know, once Billy Corgan had left with IMPACT, I of course stayed around for a bit but then once opportunities seemed to not match up over there, it was almost like a — kind of spinning wheels because it was kind of like, ‘Where am I gonna go now? What am I gonna do?’ That type of scenario because I didn’t wanna go backwards. I wanted to keep using this momentum to keep pushing forward and stuff like that and then it wasn’t too long before news had broke that he had purchased the NWA and so, of course I got on the horn to congratulate him for becoming President because I knew Corgan has one of the best minds and is just so creatively gifted. I give all the credit in the world to Billy because Billy takes something and you know, he can take something that wasn’t meant to be so great and just make it incredible and before you know it, you’re just like, ‘Wow, this started off like not what I thought it was going to be and I love it. I can’t live without it’ and I think he’s done an amazing job with doing that with the NWA.
** There is going to MMA events in West Fargo, North Dakota on August 13th and 14th. Mark Henry, Kelly Kelly and Ken Anderson are doing meet-and-greets.
** Kenta Kobashi & Homicide vs. Samoa Joe & Low-Ki from Ring of Honor ‘Unforgettable’ 2005:
** Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and nZo spoke to the Poughkeepsie Journal about their match for Northeast Wrestling on August 14th.
** R-Truth guest appeared on Steven’s Wrestling Journey.
** UFC has an interview on their official website with Olympic Goldmedalist Gable Steveson.
** Preston ‘10’ Vance appeared on 98 Rock Baltimore.
** Brandi Lauren went live on Twitch with Shotzi Blackheart.
** The Independent published their interview with Finn Balor.
** While speaking to ‘Metro’, Chris Sabin heaped praise onto MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) for the match they put on with Sabin and Alex Shelley at the 2020 IMPACT Slammiversary event.
** A story about Rikishi appearing at WXWC4’s show on August 28th.
** Chelsea Green took part in a Highspots Wrestling Network Sign-It-Live session.
** Jinder Mahal, Veer and Shanky joined WWE India’s Instagram Live session.
** The newest episode of Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze’s Battle of the Brands series:
** TVLine ran their interview with Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig of the ‘Heels’ show.
** Vicente Beltran spoke to Zelina Vega for an interview.
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.
