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.
** ‘Web Is Jericho’ published their interview with Proud and Powerful (Santana & Ortiz). At AEW Fight For The Fallen in 2021, Santana and Ortiz competed against FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler). During the match, Wheeler’s forearm got caught on a hook near the ring rope and the match concluded shortly after. The two teams did not wrestle again until September, but Santana and Ortiz shared that the idea going into that first match was that they were going to have a series of matches with FTR.
Santana: Tully was supposed to get involved, and then Jericho. It was gonna be something where a bunch of people got involved in the finish, and they were gonna score a quick one on us. But we know what happened. It sucked. At that point, the match was going so good, and we were hitting such a good pace. We were feeling the chemistry, and both sides were hyped to finally be doing this match, then that happens. It was a scary moment. At first, I didn’t know what happened. I came to the realization when I rolled out of the ring, and I saw a big puddle of blood. I was just like, ‘Oh no. Something’s really wrong.’
Ortiz: We were originally supposed to have three matches with them. That was the idea. But, that first match, we purposely were like, ‘We know we’re gonna have three. Let’s hold back a little. Let’s chill. We’re gonna turn it up towards the back end.’ Right before Cash got injured, we planned to turn the match up, all this craziness was gonna happen, and then they pull a quick one on us. Which leaves the second match and the third match open to other possibilities. But when that injury happened, it was like a ‘dang’ moment. When someone gets hurt in the ring, it’s like, ‘Oh s*it!’ Testament to Dax (Harwood) and how good he is as a worker. He’s so underrated. It’s insane how he was able to, in the moment, pull it together. It was very quick, and we had to get to it. At that point in the match it was almost like, ‘Screw the match. We don’t know how bad Cash was hurt. Let’s get it over with.’ Dax and Cash are really close, and I could see Dax was a little worried. But his instinct kicked in. Luckily we got to do it again, but I can’t wait to work with them again. They’re some of our favorite people to wrestle. I don’t feel that we’ve unlocked the full potential of that feud yet. We were so giddy to wrestle them and excited, because we know by wrestling guys that good, we’re only gonna get better. I want to work with them again. I wish we could work with them every night for a year, because we would come out as badass mofos!
They both enjoy the range that AEW’s tag team division has. Ortiz mentioned that it is a double-edged sword because they want to wrestle more and that is a downside to not having house shows.
Santana: The range of experience on the roster. There’s guys that just got put together as tag teams that are learning the craft and the art of tag team wrestling. Then there’s guys like us, who have been a tag team forever and have traveled that way. That’s one of the big advantages the division has as a whole is the wide range of experience.
Ortiz: It’s a double-edged sword, our tag division, because there’s so many good tag teams that are just starting or ones that have all the experience in the world, but there’s only so much time to showcase them. I would love to wrestle every tag team on the roster. I think that’s the upside and the downside of not having house shows. If we had house shows, we would get in matches with these guys on random house shows. But the upside is our bodies get to rest more, and we’re not as beat up. I just wish we could wrestle more. I’m a big kid in a man’s body, and I just want to wrestle more. I want the experience. If they’re a newer tag team, we get to lead. If they’re a more experienced tag team, we get to follow or match them. It just keeps us sharp so we can keep doing what we’re doing.
Santana and Ortiz wanted to keep their signature face paint for special occasions, but AEW President Tony Khan convinced them to use it more often. He told them that he wants them to have a Legion of Doom-esque look.
Santana: We did it at Impact. We had a feud with Abyss and Crazzy Steve. They were writing off the group. They had an idea for us to do a funeral for them. I automatically thought it would be cool if we painted our face like (in the movie) ‘Dead Presidents.’ We all have similar taste in movies, so everyone right away got the reference. It got a pretty good reaction. Since then on, we pretty much used it as a war paint. So any time we were gonna do a crazy match or crazy feud, we would bring it out to make the moment more special or more meaningful. Fast forward to AEW, the first time we did it was the parking lot match. It got really over with everyone. Then Tony wanted us to start doing it more often. We both thought if we were doing it constantly, it’s gonna lose that meaning. I guess he convinced us to do it all the time, so there that goes (Laughs).
Ortiz: After ‘Blood and Guts’, the general consensus was everyone thought it looked really cool. So it kind of caught fire then. Initially it was the parking lot match, and then after ‘Blood and Guts,’ Tony was like, ‘I want you guys to go forward and kind of be like a Legion of Doom-type tag team or the Road Warriors.’ To have that kind of look and feel.
** The latest guest on Vickie Guerrero’s ‘Excuse Me’ podcast is IMPACT Knockouts Champion Mickie James. Guerrero and James dove into the conversation of women being in key roles within organizations. Vickie heaped praise onto Gail Kim and Mickie for their respective voices within IMPACT Wrestling and the NWA. Vickie feels that the women in AEW do not have that voice or say-so.
Guerrero: Gail Kim takes care of the Knockouts division in IMPACT and you’re [Mickie James] able to have this other female figure in NWA and with IMPACT too to take care of the women. It’s not very familiar in other promotions. It’s always men’s dominance of, you know, dictating the card and who they hire and stuff so this is really a cool aspect to see you and Gail take on these roles that you know, there’s these females that are gonna be taking care of the female division, have a voice for them because you know, let’s be honest, even in AEW, the women don’t have a lot of voice. You know, we get like one match on a TV show as much as women would like to have three or four matches but you guys are really being the center of saying, ‘This is how the women’s division is gonna be and this is who’s gonna have a match’ and I think it’s really important for the women to see that because there is value in a woman being able to have part in that programming, booking and the elevating [of] that promotion.
When it comes to a second NWA EmPowerrr event, Mickie is hoping to present another one and has talked to NWA owner Billy Corgan about it.
James: It [NWA EmPowerrr] was just special because everybody was there and the energy was, you know, it was a lot of energy and positive energy and I think everybody wanted to see it win. You know, and it did and it won and that was — I hope we can do it every year and find a way because the beauty of it was the balance of every company kind of stepping up and recognizing their women’s division and saying, ‘Okay, this is a cool spotlight and this is something different and unique and it can kind of, you know, empower us all to step up our game’ and it’s just — it was just cool. It was really cool and I’m grateful for it because it took a lot to make it happen and to do it that way.
I’m hoping [to do EmPowerrr in 2022], yeah. I mean because the original — obviously we started the Cup there, you know? The Women’s Invitational and the idea was to do that annually at that pay-per-view so I talked to Billy [Corgan] about it and we definitely want to do — whether it aligns with that Anniversary Show which I felt like made it a really awesome weekend especially for the fans. So I think, yeah, next year — this year I guess. It’s January [Mickie laughed].
** Heading into the 2018 WWE Survivor Series, during the brawl between Raw and SmackDown’s women’s divisions, Nia Jax hit Becky Lynch and gave her concussion which kicked off Lynch’s road to WrestleMania 35. Nia recapped the entire situation while speaking to Renee Paquette on ‘The Sessions’ podcast. Jax recalled Vince McMahon stating that what wrestlers do is not ballet and he was not upset.
So, SmackDown was invading, right? Raw. The producer of that match, won’t name names, basically was like, ‘This needs to look real. Say sorry later’ and we were all like, ‘Okay, cool. Let’s go, let’s have fun,’ whatever and being the larger person, I feel as though people feel, ‘Oh, we can hit the sh*t out of her, she’ll be fine,’ which is true for the most part. I get whaled and whatever, I’m okay. I just remember right when they invaded, I feel as though everybody came after me which is okay but like, I was getting nailed. The back of my head, I’m like, ‘Jeez Louise. Okay, I get it’ and then finally I find Trin [Naomi], f*cking love Trin and Trin says, ‘Let’s just sit in this corner.’ Just talking sh*t in the corner or whatever and I continue to get punched in the back of the fricking head and I was like, ‘Good Lord’ so I just turn around and I really just like go to clear to person. Whatever angles they show, my fist wasn’t closed, I didn’t punch her but it did connect. I didn’t even realize it was Becky [Lynch]. Honestly, I thought it was Lana.
But I was like — so whatever, did that, didn’t realize anything happened, like honestly and then go back to Trin and then we keep going. Then I look around and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s blood everywhere’ and then I look and I’m like, ‘Oh crap, Becky’s down,’ whatever and then we go through the segment, everything happens and I’m like, ‘Sh*t. Was that me?’ Like literally, I didn’t even — I was like, ‘Oh crap.’ Get backstage and she got taken up to medical immediately and I’m like worried about her like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then I’m also freaking out because they’re slow replaying it. Kevin [Dunn] sends a replay to Vince [McMahon] in Gorilla and it’s replaying slow and they’re cutting to every freaking angle and I was like, ‘I’m so screwed.’ So I go to check on her. Of course medical’s like, ‘Everybody out, everybody out, give her some space’ because everybody wanted to make sure she was okay. I go to Vince and I was like, ‘I’m so sorry’ and he’s like laughing, and he was just like, ‘Well, it’s not ballet.’ So then I walk away, I was like, ‘Leave it alone.’ Then I’m like texting Becky and making sure she’s okay, just bugging the sh*t out of her and of course Becky’s like, ‘Oh, it’s fine,’ you know?
Once McMahon was made aware of the reaction that Jax was getting on social media after injuring Becky Lynch, he decided to have Jax be the sole survivor for Team Raw’s women’s team at Survivor Series. McMahon told Jax that all the babyfaces should be thanking her.
I just sent out a tweet like, you know, some stupid, ‘Is anybody gonna ask how my hand’s doing?’ And of course the internet went fricking ablaze and hated my guts and that night, the Survivor Series, somebody else was supposed to go over but it got back to Vince [McMahon] how much the internet was hating me and how — he changed the finish. He was like, ‘Actually, we’re gonna have Nia go over’ because he wanted the heat and then when my music hit, the crowd was booing the sh*t out of me, like it was insane and Vince was like, ‘All those babyfaces should be thanking you’ and I was like, ‘Why?’ And he was like, ‘Because, you got a true, legitimate heel here. You go out there and you point at that fist and you smile’ and then from then on, I just played into the role of like, ‘Okay.’
Before Jon Moxley formally exited WWE, there was a segment when Nia Jax confronted him and they were announced for a singles match at a live event. Jax did not feel comfortable with the situation and Moxley expressed that he did not want to put his hands on her in the ring. Moxley felt that WWE was trying to “get him” by doing that.
So he [Jon Moxley] had already — I think he had just said he wasn’t gonna re-sign. I remember getting the script and they were just like, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna come out.’ So I was like, ‘Wait, am I gonna start wrestling the guys?’ I go, ‘What’s going on here?’ And they’re just like, ‘Yeah, we think this is kind of cool’ and I was like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know’ and then I go to Dean and I was just like, ‘Dude, I don’t feel comfortable with this. Like are you — how are you?’ And he was like, ‘It’s all right!’ You know him. He said like, ‘Whatever. They’re just trying to f*cking get me’ and I was like, ‘I don’t wanna hit you. I think that’s so –’ I just don’t think I should be able to hit somebody and they don’t get to hit me back. I thought it was so weird and I know Jon didn’t feel comfortable. He was like, ‘I don’t wanna hit you.’
They had like advertised us on a live event having a match and I was like, ‘What the heck is going on here?’ I was like, ‘Are we doing this?’ And I thought — at first I was like, it’s kind of cool to do the intergender matches. That would be actually super cool if we could go that route and if anybody who’s amazing and who has an incredible resume, it’s Jon, but I’m like, ‘Does he want to do this? Is this where we’re going?’ And then, I don’t know what happened. Somebody said like the state that we were supposed to be working in didn’t allow intergender matches or some crap like that, I don’t know and then it just went away.
On the August 30th edition of Raw, Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax got into a scuffle during their match. Nia said there was a miscommunication at some point and that’s what led to their in-ring altercation. She and Flair are close friends and they hashed things out after the match.
Obviously, Charlotte [Flair] is just like an insane competitor, right? She is just very — she puts her all into it, very passionate. There was just a miscommunication. I don’t know where it was but, she started laying into me. It happened a few times during the break in that match so not a lot of people saw it on TV but a lot of people, I remember some of the announcers were like, ‘Damn’ and we were just kind of laying into each other and I’m like, ‘What the heck is going on right now?’ And I think at the point when everybody saw on TV, I was just like, ‘F*ck this, dude. You’re laying into me.’ I don’t know what’s going on, so I just gave her kind of like a two-piece back — kind of rocked her back into like, ‘Let’s finish out this match and kind of get sh*t together’ and I didn’t know what was going on and it was definitely intense obviously like with — she’s one of my best friends so it wasn’t like I was sitting there, we were super mad but I don’t know what — it was some sort of miscommunication. We got backstage and I just — I literally was like, ‘What the f*ck?’ And I look at her and I said, ‘Are you good?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, yeah. I just — out there, something went off and I just didn’t feel right’ and I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, no, no’ and I think one of the producers was like, ‘Are you okay?’ And like, ‘Yeah, Nia’s one of my best friends, I swear’ and then literally, we went backstage, I said, ‘Give me a break,’ we walked away from each other for the night and then obviously the internet went crazy so I just hit her up and was just like, ‘We’re fine. Let it go.’ I mean, sh*t happens. Everybody’s emotions and egos get really worked up and stuff happens, but at the end of the day, she’s like one of my best friends and I didn’t wanna — I didn’t want people to think like anything serious really happened because we were fine.
As the conversation rolled on, Jax touched on the idea that she had favor within WWE because of her family lineage. She said whatever family members people think had her back or supported her, did not in any way. When she first arrived to WWE, she did not want anyone to know who she was related to but it became public after Nia and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s mother were involved in a car accident.
Oh yeah, I mean it was like, ‘Oh, she’s not gonna lose her job because she’s related to Rock’ and all this stuff and I mean, you just got everybody under the sun ripping me to shreds about that and it’s funny because that’s so far from the truth. It’s so far from the truth. Vince [McMahon] didn’t have an issue. He knew, he was like, ‘Sh*t happens. We’re gonna make the best of it’ and whatever family members they thought supported me, were opposite. Did not have my back. Trust me, did not have any support with me in this business for a long time.
Yeah, I mean it sucks because, you know, you’re family and it is what it is but I actually didn’t mind it too much because I thought I was creating something of my own. I always paid homage to the family and gosh, we have such an insane lineage, incredible lineage and the legacy will live on forever and I’m sure any legacy person [is] gonna come in and be like, ‘I wanna [be like] Charlotte, Tamina, Nattie.’ We all wanna put our own footprint on it and that’s something I was like, ‘You know what? That’s fine if you don’t wanna have my back or support me or whatever. It’s fine but I kind of want to do this on my own.’ I wanted to be just like everybody else. When I first got signed, I didn’t tell anybody who I was related to and somebody had heard that one of the cousins was there and it was actually like Becky [Lynch] who found out. She’s like, ‘It’s you isn’t it?’ And I was like, ‘Uh…’ and then when I got in the car accident with my aunt, The Rock’s mom, that’s when he kind of let it be known that it was me.
In 2019, Nia competed in the women’s and men’s Royal Rumble matches. She detailed how the opportunity to be in the men’s match came to be and discussed how helpful Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Andrade El Idolo and Rey Mysterio were. She heaped praise onto Mustafa Ali and spoke about how much she enjoyed his company as a colleague.
That — everybody was like, ‘What was your best moment?’ That was probably my favorite moment [competing in the men’s Royal Rumble match]. I will never forget we had Rumble that day and we were also filming Total Divas and we were trying to put the female Rumble, the women’s Rumble together and I was already irritated with certain things there and then we were finishing up our rehearsals because doors were about to open and then we’re walking back and Johnny [Laurinaitis] is like, ‘Hey kid, you’re gonna be in the men’s Rumble too tonight’ and I was like, ‘What!?’ It like floored me but we had — he said the only thing I could rehearse was me beating up [R] Truth for camera angles and that was it and then I had to go be in the women’s Rumble, remember all that which thankfully, it was like towards the end and then I had to run back and the guys were all in this room and it was Rey [Mysterio], it was Dolph [Ziggler], it was Andrade [El Idolo], it was Randy [Orton] and I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on guys’ and of course they’re like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ They literally were like the best, made it so easy, walked through and I just kept saying, kept telling myself, ‘I don’t wanna f*ck up the RKO. I just don’t wanna f*ck it up.’ I was like, ‘I’ve just never taken it.’ He was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. Turn left and just ride with me’ and then [Mustafa] Ali, Ali was just, ah, such a sweetheart. Such a great, great guy. He’s such a good person and I’ve had so many great conversations with him backstage. I just genuinely — he’s such a great human. So he was like, ‘Yeah sis, just toss me over, it’ll be great’ and I was like, ‘I love you. Like you thank you so much.’ The craziest opportunity that I never thought I’d be able to have.
Jax was a part of the Total Divas cast. She was informed by producers that she was too appeasing in a prior season and Jax learned that they wanted her to start drama on the show.
It was good and not good [being a part of the Total Divas cast]. Of course I think you [Renee Paquette] can relate to this, so in the beginning when you first do it, it’s like this whole fantasy glamor world. You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is gonna be great’ and like, you do everything the producer says like, ‘Maybe you should do this, maybe you should do that’ and you do it and then it starts to become this thing where I’m like, ‘Well that’s not real and I don’t wanna do that and that’s not kind of who I am’ and you know, it started to become less fun and more of just a total drag. I hate saying that because I did like the opportunity to have that and then you have certain people on there who like to like amp it up a little bit and they’re made for the reality show, they’re made for it and you’re like, ‘This is for you’ and I remember that last season that we did when Ronda [Rousey] came on — yeah [I did three seasons]. I was told, basically, because I think they had gotten rid of Lana and they’re like, ‘We need some people to be a little bit more controversial and last season, you were too appeasing’ and I was like, ‘So you want me to start drama?’ And I was like, ‘What!?’ I remember before that and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this season’ and they were like, ‘Well we need you for this season.’ I’m like, ‘All right, last season’ and then I’m like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ Even though I think that was the last season as of right now.
** Powerhouse Hobbs guest appeared on Tuesday Wrestling Tuesday with Jonathan Hood. He was asked to further comment on Big Swole’s thoughts concerning diversity and representation in AEW and here is what Hobbs had to say:
I only can speak from my own experience. I don’t know about anybody else’s experience in the company. I can tell you from my experience, everything has been really well. I’ve had ideas that I pitch that work, ideas that I pitched that haven’t worked but overall, the company is very diverse. Like I said before and it’s no secret, it’s out on the internet, Tony Khan has been very fair to me. So I can’t speak on anyone else’s situation. I only can speak on mine.
Same thing can be said with Google, with Facebook, any company [that things can be better diversity and representation-wise]. So, it can be said with any company on this planet and what I said is what I said and that was just from my personal experience and I will back that up 100 percent, one hundred twenty-thousand-million times over and over again.
** Highspots Wrestling Network welcomed Zicky Dice onto their Virtual Gimmick Table show. Zicky shared that he is planning on hosting another ‘Outlandish Paradise’ event and it is in the works.
It [Outlandish Paradise] was a huge success. I mean we created interactive pro wrestling and done right. I mean look at the card, look at the card.
We created the new platform for professional wrestling… I am Twitch, I am the best professional wrestler on Twitch. All the other wrestlers and other streamers, that’s a yawn fest, okay? They should just stream under the ‘just sleeping’ category because that’s what I do when I watch some of these streams, I fall asleep, okay? But not at ‘ZDTV’ and I encourage you to join the fun; Twitch.tv/ZickyDice. We’re live and yes, talk of the town is, ‘Zicky, when’s the next Outlandish Paradise brother? Book me, book me’ and it’s in the works, all right? We’re gonna do it again. We’re gonna do it again. That’s all I can say right here and right now.
** Mickie James, Lisa Marie Varon and SoCal Val welcomed Torrie Wilson onto their GAW TV show. Wilson spoke about her WWE Hall of Fame induction and some of the negative reactions she received from it. She began to judge herself because she was being told on social media that she did not deserve the honor.
Well I mean, again, I think I was in a place of judging myself during that [WWE Hall of Fame honor] and it was like — I actually never even considered the Hall of Fame something that I — in my radar or something that I was like, ‘I hope I have some day’ but then I realized once they offered it to me, how important it was just to feel acknowledged for all of those years that I put in because as you guys know, you leave and you feel like, ‘Does anyone remember? Did I make an impact? Does anyone remember? Does WWE or Vince even appreciate what I did?’ And that was kind of like that pat on the back that like maybe I always wanted. But at the same time, because wrestling has come so far, the women, I felt extra judged, I read some awful things from people saying I didn’t deserve it because I wasn’t, you know, a great wrestler and like this is the part where people need to remember, no matter who you are, you’re prone to this. You’re prone to being judged, you’re prone to that and if you’re feeling vulnerable, it’s gonna mess with you and I had to really talk myself out of that and walk myself through the fact that I did deserve it because I went out there and I gave it my all and I connected to the fans and I did the best I could and I lived that life for ten years, 11 years, whatever it was and everyone deserves a freaking Hall of Fame moment when they have been in this business for that long.
Wilson touched on her days as a full-time on-screen performer and brought up how there would be times when some wrestlers would get upset at her for showing herself off and getting a bigger reaction than what was taking place in the ring.
But you know what’s crazy is like on the flip side of that, there’s a lot of guys that put in a lot of years and go out there and put matches on and people don’t care and it’s kind of crazy how we — I remember some wrestlers getting mad because I’d be in a match with them and I’d shake my ass and pull my pants down a little bit and the place would go crazy and it was like ‘not fair,’ right?
** The current KO-D Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita is aiming for a return to All Elite Wrestling following his stint there in 2021. He told Tokyo Sports that he wants to appear on one of AEW’s televised shows and defend the Openweight Title.
The world is a big place. This year, I’m aiming for the TV show in AEW. I think I can get involved in the top ranks if I have the chance, and I think I can go there as a KO-D champion, so I’m ready to fight for the title in the United States.
He shared that he reached out to AEW on his own at the end of 2020 without informing them ahead of time.
The year 2020 was a tough time for me personally. I was injured a lot. So, at the end of [2020], I decided to make [2021] the year I would move on. So I contacted AEW on my own without telling the company.
He once had interest in WWE, but that was prior to the arrival of AEW. Takeshita explained that his interest level in WWE has waned.
To be honest, my interest in WWE has waned. Because at that time, the only ‘major league’ was WWE. Without a doubt, AEW is probably the most attractive professional [wrestling company] now.
** Daily DDT conducted an interview with Charlie Haas and he told the publication that when he arrived to IMPACT Wrestling, he wanted to be a heel but was surprised by the positive reaction he received. Haas hopes to work with IMPACT again in a coaching role or another behind-the-scenes-related position.
I was very fortunate for D-Lo, Scott D’Amore, and Gail Kim, for letting me go again. I wanted to come out as a heel, but I was pretty taken back because I got cheered a lot. He’s [Josh Alexander] the ultimate pro. He’s everything they say he is. He’s snug, he’s solid and that’s the way I like it. He’s a very solid worker that you believe what he does and is able to talk the talk and walk the walk. I’m not signed with them but I would love to work with them again. I would love to be a coach or work in management and help the younger generation the way people helped me.
** While guest appearing on F4WOnline’s ‘Left My Wallet’ show, Biff Busick f.k.a. Oney Lorcan recapped the lead-up to and the aftermath of his match with The Great Khali on SmackDown in 2010. The match was agented by Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat and Jamie Noble but they did not collaborate on the match structure together. Busick received different instructions from both Steamboat and Noble, but he opted to go with what Steamboat told him. Jamie Noble was not pleased when he saw Busick after the match.
The interesting thing is I’m getting — so I’m getting two agents that aren’t talking to me at the same time. I’m having Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat that’s telling me, ‘I want you to get down in a three-point stance and act like a football player and I want you to give me — because you’re like a football player trying to wrestle this guy’ so I’m like, ‘All right, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat’s telling me to be a football player. I better do whatever the hell Ricky The Dragon Steamboat tells me to do.’ So then I go to the other side of the building and Jamie Noble’s like, ‘All right, we want this to be as real as possible. We want you to go in and lay it into this guy.’ So I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, I got Ricky The Dragon Steamboat telling me to be a football player then I got Jamie Noble telling me to lay it into this guy so I don’t know. I think I’m gonna go with Ricky The Dragon Steamboat.’ So I remember I — well first, I get to the ring and the announcer at the time was Justin Roberts. Literally, I don’t know my ass from my elbow. I’m just going in the ring on TV on SmackDown and he goes up to me right in the middle of the ring, he goes, ‘What’s your name?’ I go, ‘I don’t know what my name is. They just told me to come out’ and he asked for my name, I told him I don’t know… so he just looks me in the eye and then he looks at the hard cam and he goes, ‘The Carolina Panther’ and I was like, ‘Well, that’s my new gimmick I guess.’ He thought quick on his feet to call me The Carolina Panther so then from there, the bell rings, I listen to Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat’s advice, I get in a three-point stance and I end up trying to shoulder tackle The Great Khali and then I proceed to give him the worst punches you’ve ever seen in your life because I just don’t know what I’m doing and then Khali, you know, gives me the double goozle, slams me on the mat and before I knew it, it was over and then I remember, I think I hit my head a little bit on that chokeslam because Khali just tossed me and we get to the back and I’m a little like, ‘What the f*ck?’ And Jamie Noble ends up grabbing me by the scruff of my jersey and he was just like, ‘What the hell was that?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. Ricky Steamboat told me to be a football player.’ He goes, ‘No, you gotta act like it’s real’ and he starts trying to — showing me what to do and he was kind of a little pissed off at me and then he walks away and Ricky Steamboat walks by, he goes, ‘Good job kid’ so I was like — that was my first foray into WWE. I had one guy hot at me, one guy telling me good job so… very confusing but at the end of the day, it was a fun experience.
As Busick was finding his way in the wrestling business and having those internal doubts, it was current WWE broadcaster and former Cruiserweight Champion Funaki who helped Busick along the way and helped him get an enhancement talent spots with WWE.
At that point, I had no money and my brother was kind enough to lend me some dough to get me back on my feet but I didn’t, you know — it was difficult to find work but thankfully, I messaged some promoters and this one promotion down in San Antonio called River City Wrestling, RCW, they were connected with Funaki through the school so I got booked with them. Funaki was like, you know, ‘Why don’t you come train for a little bit at my school?’ And he was a huge help to me. I will never forget, I was at a point in my life there where I was kind of just doubting everything. I was like, ‘Man, I got no money.’ I just said, ‘I don’t know if this is working out.’ I had asked him for advice, so, ‘You think I’m too small to do this?’ So I don’t know what — that’s the question I asked at that point because I had no confidence in myself. I was like, ‘I think I’m too small to make this happen.’ He goes, ‘You’re not too small, look at me.’ I was like, ‘Well, if you can do it, I can do it’ then he ended up helping me a lot. He got me booked as an extra multiple times with WWE, ended up getting me a match too with Brodus Clay [Tyrus]. I got to wrestle a dark with Brodus because of Funaki so he helped me out huge. It’s funny because like, I think a lot of people — wrestling can be a very egotistical, you know, me, me, me type of thing but man, there’s so many people, just as far as my path goes that helped me to where I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything without their help so guys like Lance [Storm], guys like Funaki helped me so much just by being kind and generous and offering to help me or it’s just — it’s something I’ll never forget.
** Sportsnet has a feature story about Bret Hart which includes comments from likes of Sami Zayn, Ricochet, Natalya and TJ Wilson. Zayn said he would like to do a modernized version of what Bret did in 1997 when he was beloved in Canada and would belittle fans in North America.
I would love to do a more modernized version, a bit more of an intellectual approach, a bit more of a factual approach to what Bret did in 1997 because I thought it was revolutionary. It’s never been done before and it’s never been done since. Global hero, despised in one country like that. It was revolutionary, we all remember it, we all rave about it to this day.
** Tokyo Sports caught up with NOAH’s Go Shiozaki as he accepted the publication’s award for Best Match of 2021. Shiozaki was out of action from March 2021 until December so he could recovery from shoulder surgery. He recalled when he discovered he would not be able to continue wrestling until he got the injury taken care of.
As I was defending my belt, I started to feel discomfort and pain in my right shoulder, and I started to lose strength. In my match against Keiji Muto, I couldn’t support myself when I went for the avalanche brain buster and fell in the middle of it. That’s when I thought, ‘I can’t go on like this.’ I felt the possibility of injuring my opponent unexpectedly.
** Prior to the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble, Liv Morgan shared her thoughts about the idea of Ronda Rousey returning to WWE while being interviewed by GiveMeSport. She understands that Rousey being back might take someone else out of their spot, but believes that if one is good enough, they’ll be able to succeed while Rousey is there.
I totally understand that, but the competitor in me is like, ‘Be so good that you’re undeniable’… She’s a huge name and a great performer, she’s great at everything she does. I understand that it might take away a spot from someone else, but also part of me is like, ‘Well, if you were that good and the spot is yours, it’d be yours,’ you know?
** Marina Shafir opened up to the All Real Wrestling Podcast about the stress and pressure that could come with being a mother while pursuing a career in pro wrestling. She credited WWE’s Lacey Evans for being a motivator and continuing to push her forward as she was navigating postpartum.
It’s a lot [that comes with being a mother and pursuing a passion]. People don’t know what moms kind of have to deal with on a daily basis just to get through whatever they’re going into and you know, I’m fortunate enough to have like — I have a really good mom support group. Like really good mom support group and you know, one of the first moms that I met in Orlando, not our nanny but Lacey Evans, f*ck. Oh my — her attitude towards me when I first got there and she found out that I have a kid, I’m just getting back, I was a year postpartum and I was just getting off of breastfeeding and my body was all f*cking wonky, I didn’t know how to be an athlete. I didn’t know how my body like — just her — I needed to like rub some of that mom grit off her and she’s like, ‘Get the f*ck up, do this sh*t again. You know you can do it better’ and this is from somebody who knows what the f*ck I’m going through. This is somebody, in a sense, even if it’s just one person and it’s like I want to deliver. We made a connection and you know, I never actually got to wrestle her and I would love — oh my God, that would be so fun but, she just was a big influence on my attitude towards this sh*t because she was like, ‘I’m not f*cking wasting my time. I am doing this sh*t as efficiently as possible so I don’t have to waste time away from my family to go back and do it again.’ So when you have intention and you’re not bullsh*tting, the product immediately becomes better. Everything you do becomes real, everything you do becomes honest and you’re legit — you’re learning and with being a mom, that’s relative. I need to be a good mom to Troy, I need to bring my best foot forward and there’s some days that I don’t and I end up being so — feeling so guilty and a little hard on myself because he doesn’t ever deserve the short end of the stick so we made a decision that if there’s ever a moment in all of us where I feel like he’s not… he’s getting screwed somehow, anyhow, any percentage, doesn’t matter what. Even if it’s point zero, zero, zero, zero, zero one and I feel like he’s getting screwed somehow with his time, we’re taking time away from him for some bullsh*t, I’m out, it’s that simple. He doesn’t deserve that. I’m not gonna put my kid through that. I want him to know that when I come to work and when I go to train, it’s for something. I’m not trying to waste anybody’s time, especially his.
** To promote AEW Dynamite in Atlantic City, New Jersey on 2/9, Atlantic City Weekly spoke to Chris Harrington, Senior Vice President of Business Strategy for All Elite Wrestling.
** Sports Illustrated has an interview on their site with Nyla Rose.
** TV personality LiLiCo appeared at DDT Pro Wrestling’s January 29th event and formally announced her retirement from pro wrestling. Her last sanctioned match was in 2018. In August of 2020, LiLiCo fractured her patella and that required ten months of treatment. On March 20th of this year, she’ll have her retirement match at DDT’s 25th Anniversary show. She would like to wrestle a male in her last match.
1.30 後楽園大会 LiLiCoさんコメント📢
LiLiCo「最後は勝ちますよ。当然。膝関係でできないこともある。でもそこには目を向けない。最高の試合にします」
――対戦相手の希望は？
LiLiCo「男。オス。できたらハンサムな男。来る勇気あるかな？」#ddtpro #UltimateTagDDT#JudgementDDT pic.twitter.com/5pZs2rlQti
— DDT ProWrestling (@ddtpro) January 30, 2022
🔴 #wrestleUNIVERSE で独占生配信中！
／
Sweet Dreams！2022～Ultimate Tag League 2022開幕戦～
＼“プロレスラー”としてのケジメとして、LiLiCoさんが3・20両国国技館大会で引退試合を行うことが決定！https://t.co/zpytgPBups#UltimateTagDDT #ddtpro pic.twitter.com/Qw0WiM5GMu
— DDT ProWrestling (@ddtpro) January 30, 2022
** Killer Kross recorded an in-character interview with the ‘Vegas Bad Boyz Of Podcasting’.
** Apollo Crews chatted with Wrestling Inc.
** Fightful pushed out their interview with Scott Garland (Scotty 2 Hotty).
** Heath was a guest on Highspots Wrestling Network’s ‘One of One’ show.
** Hakim Zane (Rohit Raju’s) appearance on The AJ Awesome Show:
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.
