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.
** Killer Kross was the focus of a virtual signing that was put together by Captain’s Corner. Sonjay Dutt was who inquired about Kross initially coming to IMPACT Wrestling and at the time, Kross had been fielding interest from both WWE and Lucha Underground. The initial idea that was given to Kross for his IMPACT debut was that he’d be the one to beat EC3 before EC3 joined WWE.
Sonjay Dutt is one of the best people I’ve ever met in this business and he had reached out to me and inquired if I could come in and actually be EC3’s last match before he left to NXT. The original plan was for me to come in and be the one to beat EC3 out of IMPACT. But at the time, I was holding out on some sort of exclusivity with Lucha Underground, so I was about to debut in Lucha and I told him, I was like, ‘Ah, dude’ and then on top of that, WWE, I’ve always had a correspondence with them for a long time. Canyon Ceman, I’ve talked to him for years. Triple H wasn’t the first person I had ever spoken to in WWE. I had a correspondence in Canyon forever, who I loved and WWE and Lucha Underground were fighting over — not ‘fighting’. That’s a bit of a dramatic way to put it but they were offering me work at the same time as IMPACT and I asked Sonjay as professionally and politely as I could, ‘Would you mind if I entertained these two other options?’ And I said, ‘It’s nothing personal. I don’t want that to be a slight towards you guys. I’d love to revisit this if these other two lanes are not something that I would like to do and I don’t mean to put it that way but I just wanted to be honest’ and he was totally cool about it. He’s like, ‘Yeah, absolutely. Go explore your options, make money. Make money for your family, take care of yourself’ and so, I went to a WWE tryout at that time. This is like back in 2017 or ‘18 and I was like, ‘Hmm, okay’ and finished the tryout, it was good. [Austin] Theory and I actually went to the tryout together. That’s where we first met. Then, I went and did Lucha Underground season four which was awesome and then after season four was done, I went about calling Sonjay back and being like, ‘Hey, let’s… if there’s any availability whatsoever to jump in there, let’s do this’ and think I went to IMPACT like two weeks later.
Kross returned to MLW for their SuperFight event on February 26th. He shared that after he was let go from WWE, MLW was one of the first places to contact him. Prior to joining WWE, MLW informed him that he’d always be welcomed back if he chose to return.
I had nothing but a good time in my first… my first trip there to MLW and I made sure to stay in contact with them. They’d let me know if, you know, if I ever decided to leave or I was on the outs with them [WWE], that I’d always be welcomed back and they were one of the first people to contact me when the time was appropriate to return and yeah, I really like the backstage vibe there. Everybody gets along, everybody knows each other. There’s a nice mix of people with a lot of time in who have worked television and a lot of new guys coming up. So, it’s a great place to learn and it’s a great place to perform and entertain. They don’t suffocate the things you wanna create there. They’re not overly concerned with stuff like that. They give you a direction and they allow everyone to kind of paint the picture in the ring because there’s a certain level of trust between the office and the wrestlers and I think that actually produces the best show for the fans, when you operate from that kind of place.
While chatting about receiving gifts from fans such as art and personal messages, Kross said he is in the process of writing a book.
I had a P.O. box for a while and then, so I have a lot — well I have — look, I love my fans. Let me just say that. Without you guys, I would not be doing this. The hardest period of my career was doing this without fans in the building during a pandemic. It was just — I can’t summarize it or compress it. I’m writing a book right now, a lot of people don’t know that. I might — if I feel emotionally stable enough to discuss it, it was a super abysmal period while I was grateful for it. I’ll talk about it in my book but like, when I had that P.O. box, I had a lot of fans that are, you know, women and they started sending me their underwear and naked pictures and stuff like that so I was like — well, Scarlett [Bordeaux’s] cool and stuff. We’re super secure with each other but at the same time, it’s like I just — I know that’s meant well but… you know what I mean? [Kross laughed] You can’t be sending me naked pictures of yourself in your underwear. So I let it go.
** WWE No Way Out 2002 was the focus of the latest Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast. As the conversation rolled on, Prichard commented on The Undertaker’s upcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Never a more [deserving] member of the Hall of Fame [Prichard said about The Undertaker]. Great in many ways man and it’ll be a happy day and very well deserved and very happy for him.
He dove into the topic of fans jumping the guardrail or barricade at shows. Prichard said there’s an adrenaline rush that comes with it that can make the performer involved want to fight back. He added that in those situations, one has to have self-restraint because there are a number of lawsuits that could come about if a wrestler were to put their hands on a fan despite the fan making their way to the stage area.
Panic? No. It’s more of, ‘Get things under control’ and there’s just that adrenaline that kind of flows through you that you wanna beat everybody up [Prichard said when asked about fans jumping the barricade at wrestling events]. You know, here’s the crazy thing about that man is people talk about, ah, how great it was back in the day and riots and all this sh*t. I’ve been in riots. I’ve been in riots. No [it’s not fun]. It’s the sh*ts, it’s the sh*ts. I’ve had my leg cut with a really, really sharp knife by a guy that was trying to stab me and kill me and sh*t and it’s not fun. It’s not something you look back and go, ‘Ah, God, I remember that.’ I go back to I love being hated, I love the heat, I love generating all of that but then when you’re in a fight for your life where you really don’t know where the next kick or punch or knife or anything is coming from, it’s not a fun, enjoyable thing. So when someone enters that sacred area of which you should be safe, all bets are off and there’s just this natural instinct that kicks in and it’s taken me — took me many, many years to try to fight that to let security do their job, to just try to hold people off. You know, if you got a crazy guy, just try and hold him off so that no more damage can be done but if you hit him, there’s so many lawsuit-happy people out there that if you even defend yourself, you’re gonna be drug into court on something. So that’s no fun and plus it’s no fun, you know, it’s entertainment and yes, we do want to elicit every emotion that we can from you, but to jump on beyond those barriers and barricades, not a good thing so yeah, it’s just an adrenaline rush that you wanna rip eyeballs out sometimes and that’s not a good thing, that’s not a good feeling.
In 2002, AJ Styles had a dark match for WWE. Prichard feels that Styles was nowhere near ready to be in the company at the time and he needed more seasoning.
AJ [Styles], you say the company wasn’t ready for AJ. AJ was nowhere near ready at that time. Absolutely it was AJ needed a lot more seasoning at that time.
He went on to speak about former two-time WWE Women’s Champion Jazz. Prichard said Jazz was an incredible talent and person and he always liked her and Rodney Mack, who is Jazz’s husband.
I think Jazz was an incredible talent man. Incredible talent, incredible person. She was a pretty cool gal, still is I’m sure [Prichard laughed]. She was but now she’s really cool. I haven’t seen her in a while but, I’m a big fan of Jazz and Rodney Mack too, her husband. They’re just really good people.
** Eric Angle, brother of Kurt Angle, has been diagnosed with kidney cancer. He is in search of a kidney donor. Kurt was tested, but he is not a match. Here is the link to the donor page.
** When Mark Henry was being interviewed by Lucha Libre Online, he was asked about the diversity in All Elite Wrestling and Big Swole’s past comments were used as a reference point. Henry thinks AEW has done a good job with diversity on-screen and behind the scenes.
Well you can see that there’s a lot of diversity in the way the talents look. Not just the African-American talent but the Spanish talent, the Japanese talent, the Indian and so on and so on. Everybody gets an opportunity to try to rise to the top and in the office, you have Black talent in the office, ethnicity’s in the office at the highest-level including Tony Khan so, any negativity, we try not to dwell on or think about. We only think about the positives and we’re doing a really good job in that department.
Elsewhere during their chat, Henry touched on the success of TBS Champion Jade Cargill. He does not like taking credit for the achievements of talents and added that Jade was willing to make the sacrifice to find the success that she has.
Well I mean, it’s not — I don’t look at it as — they did the work, I just opened the door and I can’t take the credit for people’s success. What I did was I recognized from one conversation if somebody is full of it or they’re telling me the truth and if they’re telling me the truth then I feel like, ‘Okay, they’re willing to work as hard as it’s gonna take’ because I don’t lie. I tell everyone, ‘This is very difficult.’ If you’re married, your spouse is gonna miss you. You’re not gonna be there every day. Your kids, if you have kids, they won’t see you every day. The people that want attention, Valentines, holidays, funerals, wedding, you’re gonna miss it because you have to be there for the work and she [Jade Cargill] was like, ‘I’m willing to sacrifice’ and I said, ‘Okay, well, if you’re willing to sacrifice then let’s go’ and I introduced her to the coaches that I thought would be — the coaches that could get the most out of her and she put the work in and she’s achieved it and that’s what it takes. If you want my help, you’re gonna have to make those commitments and I’ve been very lucky to be able to see who’s been telling the truth and who’s not.
** After spending the first eight years of his pro wrestling career with WWE, Adam Scherr, formerly known as ‘Braun Strowman,’ was released from the company in 2021. He appeared on The Ringer’s ‘MackMania’ podcast and explained why he’s not upset that he’s no longer with the company.
Because at the end of the day, it’s a job man [which is why I’m not upset about the WWE release]. At the end of the day, it’s a job. Everybody, you know, you have your dream job but unfortunately, stuff happens. That’s life man, sh*t happens… It happens and you know, it’s just rolling with the punches. I’m a glass half-full guy, used to be a glass half-empty, you know? My biggest thing in some of the battles that I’ve dealt with in mental health and social anxiety that I picked up because of being in the public limelight, you know, it’s just one of those things, you just gotta roll with the punches and you know, there’s days when life sucks and it’s just remembering that the earth’s gonna keep turning and want you here and no matter [the cards] you’ve been dealt, there’s a way to make it work and it’s always continuing to push yourself forward, to better yourself. The second you live in the past and the anguish and the negativity that happen in your past, you’re gonna sit and you’re gonna dwell on it. You’re never gonna get over it, you’re never gonna be able to better yourself. At the end of the day, as long as you’re bettering yourself every day, driving, pushing to make yourself a better person, you’re gonna win at life. I don’t care what you do, where you come from, what your background is. As long as you don’t give up on yourself, the world won’t give up on you.
Scherr is a part of the Control Your Narrative promotion which has secured its own TV deal. Strowman recalled being present for the first Control Your Narrative show while he was still in WWE. Afterwards, he jokingly said that the day he gets let go from WWE, he’ll be helping put together the next Control Your Narrative event and the following day, Scherr was cut from the company.
Man, in all honestly, a lot of this [Control Your Narrative] really kind of started as a joke just among the group of us of where it’s gotten to now. The crazy hindsight of all this stuff was I was kind of there behind the scenes when they filmed the first one when I was with WWE and stuff like that so you know, hiding in the back, kind of giving my little bit of knowledge that I have of television and stuff so you know, working so closely on all the crazy stunts and all the stuff that we produced with ‘Braun Strowman’ through WWE, gave me an inside look at how things should be shot on camera, getting continuity and being able to tell a story so it was neat to be there and literally, right when they released the one, I was joking around, I was like, ‘Man, you know, the day I get fired, I can’t wait to come over here and help you guys work on this.’ Lo and behold, nine o’clock the next day, at 9 AM the next day, I got the phone call saying that my contract was gonna be terminated so, then we talked this into fruition and you know, it started as an idea and a little joke, a little dream amongst a group of friends that’s blossomed into this wrestling child that we’re growing.
** The ‘All Real Wrestling Podcast’ chatted with Will Ospreay for an in-depth interview and he touched on the topic of his friends signing exclusive deals with companies and not being able to see them anymore. Ospreay expressed that he misses those individuals and specifically talked about Ricochet, who Ospreay feels should’ve been IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
It’s one of those things where just like I was seeing all my friends going and it was almost like I was like the guy on the ship and I was like, ‘Is anyone else here? Who else is here?’ And I’m proud of everyone that has ever done anything when they sign just because, man, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t live in America. It’s just not for me, I’m a homeboy and we’ll probably get into it a little bit later but just like, I miss so many of my friends. Honestly, I miss Ricochet. Like I really miss him. He’s one of my friends. I remember the day that he was leaving, I won the Junior Heavyweight Title and to this day, I always think he should’ve won that belt and we went into a club in Roppongi man and honestly, I just at one point, I just hug him and I was crying because I know he’s going. ‘I know I’m not gonna see you anymore’ and it just happens. It’s that rinse, cycle and repeat. Every time someone gets signed, I’m missing one of my friends and know I’m proud of you and I want you to go and succeed. I miss you.
Ospreay is a part of United Empire with Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare and Great-O-Khan. Ospreay shared that it was O-Khan who came up with the name for the group. He added that there is no leader of United Empire and whomever has the proverbial ‘ball’ at the time, the rest of the group will follow behind.
I mean that’s like a whole trip in itself [United Empire] because once again, that was sprung at me like out of nowhere. That came like completely [out of] left field. That’s why I didn’t really — I had a name for the group that at the time, I think it was very inappropriate and I didn’t want to be making fun of something. I didn’t want it to look like I was making fun of something so like, we went with ‘The Empire’ and then there was a copyright infringement on something so we couldn’t have that. So I was trying to be like, ‘Oh, can we take the ‘I’ out and put a ‘Y’ in?’ Or so we’ll make it into this and then apparently Marvel’s got something called ‘The Empyre’ with a ‘Y’ and I was like, ‘Well, we can’t use that either’ and then — this is why I don’t like saying I’m the leader of the group at all. I hate saying that. I would like to say that we are a unit and whoever’s got the ball, just go behind them and if I was gonna say anyone is the leader of the group, it’s the Great-O-Khan, because he came up with the United Empire. It was his idea. So like, I fully like it. I think it’s cool. It reminds me a lot of football so like, I like stuff like that because it comes from obviously like, I get [my love of football] from my dad and my uncle and like, I quite like the fact that it’s so many guys from different nations representing their culture and I like that about it so, it isn’t a leader but [if] someone’s got the ball, we’re all gonna go behind him.
** René Duprée welcomed Gail Kim onto his Café De René podcast. They went over Gail’s last run with WWE when she chose to eliminate herself from a Battle Royal on TV. Prior to doing that, Gail had been talking with IMPACT and she knew the option of going back to the company was in her back pocket if she went through with leaving WWE in the manner that she did.
There’s a lot of opportunity though, you know? It was about the fight [for women’s wrestling]. Listen, it was about the fight because when I walked into TNA, it wasn’t — it was taking a long time. It was like a year-and-a-half of managing. ‘So when is this girls thing gonna happen?’ Listen, because I started wrestling late. I started — my first bump came at 23-years-old, okay? So everyone kind of starts in their teenage years, at least in today’s landscape I find and so, by the time I came out of WWE and especially that second time, I’m like, I’m in my 30s. My clock is ticking in this wrestling business. I have stuff to accomplish. I need to get the hell out of here, I don’t care and so I set up the contract with IMPACT so the night that I rolled out of the Battle Royal, I knew in my back pocket I had IMPACT in my back pocket, right? So, it was a safety net in a sense because you can’t just — it’s hard to just walk away from.
In Gail’s first televised match, she won the WWE Women’s Title. Although it is an accolade for Gail, she wishes she could change it and adds that she should’ve been built up for a title win. She feels that since she was so new and was starting at the top, the only way to go from there was downhill or coasting along.
So listen, I know that — I’m very grateful now in hindsight that my career is over that-that happened because it’s history. At the same time, if I could do it all over again, that was not the proper way. You know, I should’ve been built because if you start at the top, the only place you’re gonna go is down or coast. So, and being that green, of course I was gonna go downhill and so, yeah. That was my whole experience, grateful for it, I learned a lot but, perhaps not the best way to start.
** A feature story about World of STARDOM Champion Syuri was published by ‘web Sportiva’. She reflected on her early days in wrestling and competing for the independent promotion ‘SMASH’ in Japan. Syuri worked with WWE’s Asuka a handful of times in the promotion and said she is hoping to wrestle her again. Syuri feels that Asuka helped shape her into who she is today.
My experience in SMASH is my treasure chest. In a word, it was a human drama. I was rivals with [Asuka], but because I was with [Asuka], we were able to have good matches and create a world for both of us. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have been able to do that, and because of [Asuka] and SMASH, I am the person I am today. I would like to compete with [Asuka] again someday. I want to shine even brighter so that I can be as good as [Asuka].
** IMPACT Wrestling Co-Head of Talent Relations D’Lo Brown spoke to Chris Van Vliet for an interview. When D’Lo looks back on what he’s been able to accomplish in wrestling, he personally feels he has not done enough to warrant a Hall of Fame induction.
I don’t think I have done enough in the business to warrant a Hall of Fame induction in my opinion. [In just WWE?] I mean it’s their Hall of Fame. I’ve spent more of my career in IMPACT than I have in WWE, twice as long. We are talking 12 years compared to 6 years.
D’Lo also recounted what an IMPACT TV taping day is like for him which includes production meetings, checking for payroll issues and sorting things out with talent.
I wake up, get to the building, sit in a production meeting and go through an agents meeting. I then break off and meet with talent about their match. If I get time, I break out the computer and see if there are any payroll issues that I need to deal with or anything out there that needs to be addressed. I then go back to talent and see if anyone else needs anything, then it’s showtime. So I put on a suit and scream at the top of my lungs for 2 hours.
** It’s My Wrestling Podcast has an interview with Kara Drew, who was known in WWE as ‘Cherry.’ She was a part of the ‘Deuce and Domino’ act. Cherry was let go from WWE in 2008 and she stated that if she was in the company’s position, she would have let herself go as well. She felt that at one point, she was given the ball but lost confidence along the way. She thinks she got in her own head.
Well, and the company was great to me. You know, they had to do what they needed to do [release her] and somebody that wasn’t investing in themselves. So I get it. I didn’t at the time. You know, and I understood — you know, and budget cuts was the reason but looking back on it now, I would have released me too. I have to be honest because I just got so in my own head and I was self-conscious and I wasn’t secure and I was not confident at all. Like, they have a business to run. They’re not there to hold my hand and get me to where I need to be. They’re gonna throw you the ball, if you drop it, moving on, so I get it and I needed to be ready and I was ready initially and I was going for it and then I lost the ball, you know? I lost that confidence so, you know, they’re not there to hold your hand. They hired you to do a job and you know, you need to do it so, I wish I had recognized kind of what I felt mentally, because you don’t necessarily recognize it and I would have made my changes and been different but I totally get where they’re coming from so, I’m not bitter about it now. I wasn’t ever bitter. I was just sad, you know? Because I wanted to be there but then, you know, you gotta take care of yourself too.
** Ella Jay spoke to AEW’s Anna Jay on the SEScoops YouTube channel and discussed the Street Fight she was a part of at New Year’s Smash in December 2021. Going into the match, Anna was dealing with a migraine and stated that she was not feeling well the day prior. (Written version here)
Oh my gosh, yeah, that was a lot of fun [Street Fight at AEW New Year’s Smash]. Definitely nothing like I’ve done before. I think my biggest takeaway too is just even more believing in myself. Like I can do these things that other people can do and I can, you know, do hardcore things which I never thought that I would do and yeah, like I said, I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot and really enjoyed it more than I thought that I would have.
I think really the only preparation was just mentally, just knowing what my body was going to endure and kind of, it’s funny too. I don’t know if I’ve said this before but I actually had a super bad migraine that day before the match and I did not feel good at all. So it was hard for me to really focus on worrying about things if that makes sense so it was kind of like a crazy day but yeah, I would say just mentally, just knowing what I was about to do.
** On March 19th, actress Julia Nagano is going to be making her in-ring debut for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Julia was interviewed by Tokyo Sports and talked about training for her first wrestling match.
Two to three times a week [I’m training]. I participate in Tokyo [Joshi Pro] Women’s practice. The rope work is just too painful… The ropes hurt more than joint techniques, more than passive techniques, more than muscle training, and more than anything else, my back hurts so much the next day.
** Inside The Ropes conducted an interview with The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins). They listed off multiple duos on the NXT 2.0 brand who they are hoping to one day share the ring with.
Ford: Yeah, definitely so many great tag teams [in NXT 2.0]. Definitely Grizzled Young Vets, huge fans of those guys. Definitely MSK. I also love —
Dawkins: Shoutout to my boy Nash [Carter]. Also a Cincinnati Bengals fan.
Ford: So definitely those two teams as well. They bring such a different type of energy and Grizzled Young Veterans, not only are they called ‘Grizzled Young Veterans’ but they maneuver and act like veterans in the ring and I think it’s very exciting. Just, I’m a huge fan of them. Very exciting to see how they move as well and of course, we gotta go with the double ‘m’, the Moustache Mountain man.
Dawkins: I’ll add Imperium to it and I gotta go with… Creed Brothers, yeah.
Ford: Love The Creed Brothers. They’re up and coming, hungry.
Dawkins: I was gonna say Melo and Trick [Williams].
Ford: Melo and Trick as well. Creed Brothers as well coming up. Very strong and amateur backgrounds just like this young man [Angelo Dawkins] himself so we’d love to get in there and just make magic with all of ‘em and let ‘em know that, you know, like you said, [who] the cream of the crop and it don’t stop is.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Hiromu Takahashi is going to be auctioning off an item to support the Positive Living through AIDS Orphan support group. The proceeds will be heading to children who are orphaned as a result of AIDS in Uganda and Kenya.
** Kenny Sargant of SpeedFreaks chatted with Big E ahead of E driving the pace car at the Daytona 500.
** VICE profiled Zamariah Loupe, who was known as ‘ZZ’ during his time on WWE Tough Enough.
** Masahiro Chono will be hosting a tournament under the Pro Wrestling ZERO1 banner. The tournament is going to spotlight young wrestlers and it is set to begin on March 27th and conclude on May 4th. Participating in the tournament are Syouki Kitamura, Tsugutaka Sato, Takumi Baba, Soki Nagao, Junya Matsunaga who are all from ZERO1. Joining the fray from promotions outside of ZERO1 are Kosuke Sato (Big Japan), Daiki Wakamatsu (2AW), Leo Isaka (Marvelous IMPACT), Takashi Suzuki (Wrestling Niigata) and Akira Jumonji (JUST TAP OUT).
** While making the media rounds prior to AEW Revolution, Tony Khan appeared on 1010 XL Primetime.
** Travis Browne was a part of the latest ‘Ronda’s Dojo’ minisode.
** WJTV’s Kayla Thompson caught up with Sonya Deville to promote WWE’s house show on March 12th.
** Vickie Guerrero welcomed Colt Cabana onto her podcast.
** Davey Richards sat down for an interview with MuscleManMalcolm.
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.
