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.
** In late March, NJPW’s Great-O-Khan was presented with a letter of appreciation from the Nakahara police for saving a ten-year-old girl who was in a struggle with an adult male. Yahoo! Japan caught up with O-Khan and he recapped what occurred. Initially, O-Khan thought they were father and daughter, but the girl’s reaction let him know that-that was not the case.
Hmmm…okay. I was going to the restroom at Musashi-Kosugi station after dinner that day when I heard a strange voice behind me. I turned around to see what it was. When I turned around, I saw a man pulling a young child by the shoulders while saying angrily, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’ For a moment, I thought it was a fight between father and child, but then the girl cried out, ‘Please stop! Stop it, stop it!’ And the moment I saw her look me in the eye and say, ‘Help me, please,’ my body moved off its own accord. It’s called a conditioned reflex.
I found myself in between the little girl and the man, holding him by his left side. I have extraordinary reflexes. But when I saw the man, I knew better than to provoke him, so I spoke respectfully to him, ‘What are you doing?’ I spoke to him in an honorific tone. When he did not answer, I asked the child, ‘Is this man your father?’ She replied, ‘No, he is not my father.’ She said, ‘No, my mother is in the bathroom waiting for me.’ Then I realized that she had been targeted.
The guy was still conscious at the time. He was still conscious at the time, and he said, ‘What the hell do you care? Get out of the way!’ He was still trying to get close to the little girl. The little girl was able to move and was saved by running into the women’s restroom, but the old man and I were [tied up] the whole time. It must have been incomprehensible to anyone passing by, because an ugly man and a drunken old man were hugging each other.
Well, I can joke about it now, but the guy says he was too drunk to remember what happened, and I don’t know what he was actually planning to do with the little girl. All I saw was the moment he pulled her by the shoulder, but the little girl also said she was hit. The police who came to the scene later said that it could have turned into a serious incident, so I guess it was all for the best.
** Next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, Deonna Purrazzo is taking on Mercedes Martinez to crown an Undisputed ROH Women’s World Champion. Purrazzo spoke to Bell To Belles about her upcoming AEW debut and what the ROH Women’s Title means to her.
You know, I think I’ve poked a little bit of fun about how an interim title is ridiculous and I’m the reigning and defending, the real Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion but I think that at Supercard of Honor because I unfortunately couldn’t be there, I was already scheduled to wrestle at IMPACT that same night. The logistics just didn’t work out and I had to, you know, I’m contracted to IMPACT so, that had to be my first priority but, you know, I think that Tony [Khan] crowning an interim champion was really essential to defining this new era of Ring of Honor and what it’s gonna be and the Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship is so special to me so the fact that it was showcased, it was this new platform for an old fan base and a new fan base to become aware of, we do have a women’s division. I mean you can never discredit Mercedes Martinez for what she’s done and the legacy that she’s built for herself so I think the interim title is in good hands, however I am the real reigning and defending Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion and I plan to keep it that way Wednesday.
** While speaking to Piers Austin on Shooting The Sh*t UNCENSORED!, Axel Tischer f.k.a. Alexander Wolfe, talked about his time in WWE as a part of SAnitY. They were instructed to wrestle like ‘psychos’ and Tischer remembers Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque becoming frustrated with him because he wrestled in a more traditional way.
I remember at one television taping, Sawyer [Madman Fulton] and I, we got a… not really in trouble but we got kind of pulled to the side and they told us, ‘Hey, you guys have to wrestle like psychos and not like wrestlers, forget the wrestling part,’ because if I remember, Triple H was a bit furious that I wrestled too much and I love wrestling. I’m good in wrestling, doing holds and stuff and transitions and Catch Wrestling, that’s my thing. But, it was kind of like eggs and the wolf, it’s a cycle. Yeah, I would probably take a finger, try to break it but I would not go around and put you down in a nice takedown and just be crisp and clean and smooth and whatever. Basically like grab your nose and pull you down and just knock your, I don’t know, teeth out and just show everybody around that I got something collected. I don’t know, like some psychopath sh*t. So but, I can adjust easily, I did that and then we went.
Tischer exited WWE in 2021. He planned on going full-time with NXT UK before he departed the company. He explained that he wanted to make things easier on his wife, who was by herself a lot of times while they were in the United States. They were thinking about spending six months in Germany and doing the same in the U.S. and continuing that cycle.
I got the call and I knew my contract came up and I was already just feeling out the process of, hey, just to let you know, my contract is coming up so, let’s get together and talk and I was planning to go full-time with NXT UK because I wanted to move back from America to Germany because of my son and my wife is probably like… just to have them grow up with grandparents and also my wife and her friends and family also in Germany and in America, everything was fine for me but, my wife wasn’t that happy because she was, most of the time, by herself and with my son so [her being] in a nice big house is kind of like being the bird in the golden cage but you want to fly. So right now, life is way better and happier for her and for us but in that time, we kind of decided, ‘Hey, let’s move back to Germany’ because also during the pandemic, we had the time just to see how’s the [pandemic] on the German side because we went to Germany and we couldn’t travel back because of travel restrictions and the border closes everything. So we [were] kind of stuck in Germany and we should just build up a second life there and the plan was to travel six months to Florida, six months to Germany. So, but in the end, the plan was move back full-time and also, living is not as expensive as in the States so, you would probably get more for your money.
As Tischer was speaking about his early days in WWE, he talked about what he was able to see from Bill DeMott and DeMott’s training strategy. He then touched on his conversations with Matt Bloom about not wanting to sit around the P.C. and watch beginner’s classes.
I was starting with NXT where now-head coach Matt Bloom was transitioning over to the head coach from Bill DeMott and Bill DeMott had a lot of stupid stuff going on there, from we have to kill the talent for TV days to, hey, catch a whatever — like almost 200 pound heavy bag-crossbody outside where a lot of people got concussed and also, like hey, let’s make them [newer talents] watch because they have to learn to be patient. So, and they had to transition over there and I had a discussion with Matt Bloom and he saw me like, ‘What’s going on? You look so mad.’ I said, ‘Yeah. I do not want to watch beginner’s class anymore. This sucks. So I have some stuff to do so if you don’t mind, I will take care of my living instead of sitting here for three hours. When it’s done, I come to the P.C. for like the weight class and anything but, I know how to wrestle. I do not want to see anybody who learns to do a headlock takeover or whatever.’ Again, no offense to those guys, I had to learn as well. But you know, that’s three hours wasting your time and then he started loosening up with that. We could do the warm-ups, we could do the rolls, and then we had to, you know, we started with like 25 percent then 50 percent and then I just got straight away at the — skipping the beginner’s class and got in with Norman Smiley, great coach.
Tischer went on to clarify that he never trained under DeMott. He was able to watch a few of his training sessions and said it’s nothing personal, but he picked up on the ‘weird vibes’ of those sessions. Tischer later spoke about when higher-ups or sponsors would visit the Performance Center and talents would have to turn up their intensity.
No [I did not train under Bill DeMott]. I met him once when I had my medicals in the States. I got flew into Orlando just to have a tour through the Performance Center, met Triple H there, met Bill DeMott there and you know, had a nice chat with him so nothing serious, nothing major. Then we watched some classes where I could pick up a little bit of his weird vibes but again, nothing personal, don’t know this guy, never trained with him, just you know, and wrestling is a lot of times full of B.S. with those, you know, ‘We have to make them –’ whatever, which is not necessary… no, not ‘quit.’ It’s kind of — a lot of times, we had presentations. We always say, ‘Let’s open up the zoo’ because some sponsors or some other guys came through the Performance Center so we all had to get dressed appropriately in WWE’s training gear and it’s kind of like, ‘All right, they’re coming through so start the training’ and everybody was doing stuff and anything. They came through just like, ‘Oh, that’s nice, that looks impressive.’ Yeah, soon as they went out, ‘All right, stop, go home.’ So, you know, it’s wrestling. It’s like, behind the curtain, let’s make it look as shiny as possible and then when everything’s done, there’s the ‘off’ button.
** Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was interviewed by Jim Varsallone. Back in 2013, Rampage made his pro wrestling in-ring debut for TNA/IMPACT Wrestling in a ten-man tag. Jackson says he was not trained to wrestle and does not want to speak negatively about the organization but doesn’t think he was used to the best of his ability and things may have progressed if he was trained properly.
No. See, that was the problem. I never got trained in pro wrestling and that’s why you didn’t see me a lot. I didn’t want to talk bad about the organization [TNA/IMPACT Wrestling], but I just don’t think they utilized me as much as I feel like they should. I think if I was trained correctly, who knows what could have happened? I probably could have been a big star in pro wrestling, who knows?
Rampage is not sure if he could get back in the ring present day. He touched on the skill level it takes to be a pro wrestler and doesn’t think he can take on a full-time wrestling schedule.
I don’t know [if I would take a pro wrestling opportunity present day]. I figured I’m too old and beat up now because a lot people don’t understand about pro wrestling. They call it fake and everything. I wouldn’t say it’s fake. I would say it’s entertainment but the moves and stuff they do, you got to be a great athlete. So I wouldn’t call it fake. Yeah, it’s entertainment, yeah, it’s probably scripted but the level of skill it takes to be a pro wrestler and those guys, they wrestle like 300 days a year or something like that, it’s crazy. It’s no way I can do that.
He further spoke about his time in the ring and said when he was in high school, he wanted to be a pro wrestler. He added that he did not get the chance to do it as much as he would have liked.
Yeah, I did a little professional wrestling. You know, the only reason why I started wrestling in high school is because I wanted to be a professional wrestler and I had the opportunity to do some wrestling. I had an opportunity to do some wrestling so I jumped at it and it was fun but, I didn’t get the chance to do it as much as I would’ve liked.
** One of the more recent episodes of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast featured former WCW Creative Consultant Bob Mould. Mould said his role was to make sure the continuity of the weekly WCW product flowed. He recounted when Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan and himself came up with the idea to do Bret Hart versus Chris Benoit as a tribute to Owen Hart.
Mould: Well, when we all [Mould, Kevin Nash & Kevin Sullivan] saw Kansas City on the schedule, it was, you know, hard not to think about something. Hard enough not to think about the tragedy with Owen [Hart] and what can we do and you know, we thought that-that [Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit] was a classy way to showcase some professional wrestling in the face of everything that had happened earlier in the year. I mean we even talked about doing things like trying to come back in black and white with Harley [Race] and then going to color after the ring announcements. You know, little things that would make a difference, to make it stand out from everything else that was happening.
In the year 2000, WCW held a ‘Viagra on a Pole’ match with Billy Kidman and Shane Douglas as the participants. Mould recalled being in a booking meeting with Vince Russo and spit balling ideas about how to split up the Nitro Girls. He jokingly brought up doing a ‘Viagra on a Pole’ match and said Russo loved the idea.
Mould: I remember there was one Wednesday when we were doing a booking meeting and I don’t know if I had too much coffee or what, but I just — I think Vince Russo was like, ‘We gotta break up the Nitro girls. We gotta get them –‘ we gotta do something. So I just started coming up with all of these crazy scenarios like fighting in the penalty box, fighting up in the V.I.P. box, blah, blah, blah and I think one of the jokes I said is, ‘You can do something on the pole. Like how about Viagra on a pole?’ And he’s like, ‘I love that! I love it! You’re on fire.’ I’m like, ‘You gotta be kidding. I’m just making sh*t up.’ This is not what I would wanna do [Mould laughed].
Oh no [I’m not taking credit for that]. It was something. I might have thrown something like that out. I’m not taking credit for that, you know? I’ll take the blame.
After wrapping up with the WWE/F, both Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara joined WCW in 1999. Chris Jericho said it was a blow to the locker room in WWE to lose them both. He added that the only people who did not publicly express that sentiment were Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson.
Jericho: I know how it was like in WWE when [Vince] Russo and Ed [Ferrara] left and it was a pretty big blow, at least to the locker room. The only guys that didn’t really sell it were Pat Patterson and Vince McMahon, who were like, ‘You guys have no idea.’ You know, ‘It’s really not as bad as you might think.’
Bob told the story of how the WCW creative team once asked him if he thought they were racist because Juventud Guerrera ended a match with Jushin Thunder Liger by hitting him with a bottle of tequila.
Mould: Spent a lot of time with Mike Tenay. We would sort of talk through stuff. You know, because I think we were both of the same mind about things like, oh! We’re gonna get Jushin Liger. Let’s really try to do something special with him and then you turn around and he’s getting waffled with a tequila bottle by Juvi and the writers are asking me if I think they’re racist and I’m like, ‘Well, not you but that’s sort of a stereotypical finish.’
Earlier in the conversation, Mould detailed how his start with WCW came to be. It began with him meeting pro wrestling journalist Jim Melby which led to him getting connected to Gary Juster and promoter Jim Barnett.
Mould: When I went to the Twin Cities to go to college, in the fall of ‘78, I started going to the AWA house shows at the Civic Center in St. Paul. I got to meet Jim Melby, who was one of the preeminent historians of the wrestling business, worked with Norm Kietzer on those magazines. Got to be friends with Jim and slowly, he brought me around on matches and eventually had me doing ring announcing and you know, sort of explained how the whole business worked, introduced me to Gary Juster who in the fall of ‘99 gave me a call and said, ‘We might have a spot open as a creative consultant at WCW. Would you be interested in coming in?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding? Of course. I don’t know what I can do to help but I’ll try.’ So that’s how I got in.
Well, Gary and I knew each other since ‘86 and I would come down to a lot of the shows in D.C. and Baltimore and down to Atlanta through the 90s and Gary would bring me around to sit with Ole Anderson, with Jim Herd and mostly with Jim Barnett and a lot of times I would sit with Mr. Barnett up in the 200 section of the Baltimore Arena and he would just pick my brain about, ‘How does this look? What do you think? How does this -’ you know? That kind of stuff so, you know, it was — I think it was years and years, a slow accumulation of my mega fandom towards wrestling and you know, sort of getting educated by certain people. So when the spot opened up, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come in’ but you know, when I got there, I was like, oh, okay. I didn’t know how this is how it worked.
Jim Barnett was an owner of the National Wrestling Alliance’s Indianapolis territory, World Championship Wrestling in Australia and Georgia Championship Wrestling. Bob Mould became friends with Barnett and tried to convince Jim to let him write his life story while he was still alive.
Mould: Jim [Barnett] was a real character. Just sort of had amazing stories about the business and sort of a side note, I got close enough with Jim where I tried to convince him to allow me to do his life story while he was still alive. It never came to fruition but… yes, yes, yeah [write a book about his life].
** D-Von Dudley welcomed Matt Rehwoldt onto his Table Talk podcast. For a portion of Rehwoldt’s run in WWE as ‘Aiden English’, he was paired with Miro and would introduce him by doing the ‘Rusev Day’ spiel. There was a point when Rehwoldt would rhyme his words together before transitioning into singing and Vince McMahon requested that he stop doing that.
So were you [D-Von Dudley] there when Vince [McMahon] told me to stop [rhyming the ‘Rusev Day’ intro]? So, the story behind that was I was on the road. I think I was riding by myself a lot at that point for a little bit so I was listening to the Hamilton soundtrack on repeat pretty much so like, I was trying to do — I was like, this is so cool. This musical, it’s so huge, I love this music, I love this kind of sing-songy, Hip-Hop-inspired musical. That’s very cool so I’m like, maybe I can transfer that over. I didn’t wanna straight up… I’m not gonna be like Twista or Eminem, like some super fast. That ain’t happening so I’m like, but maybe if I have a little bit of quick rhyme, Hip-Hop thing into a sing at the end sort of deal, maybe it’ll be cool so I tried it and I kept doing it and nobody really said anything and then, just to show you the way it works sometimes, I did it for like a month straight and then finally, I came back and they were like — Vince is like, ‘What the hell is that? Is he rapping?’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah.’ [He’s] like, ‘Well he’s a singer. Tell him to sing again.’ It’s like, all right. All right, fine. I’ll go back to the O.G. so…
Rehwoldt is one-half of the IMPACT Wrestling commentary team alongside Tom Hannifan. He spoke about their chemistry and Tom being a mentor of sorts to him while they worked together in WWE.
I’m working with another former WWE commentator Tom Hannifan, formerly Tom Phillips who’s fantastic. He was one of my mentors which pisses me off because he’s — I keep forgetting he’s younger than me, but like, he was kind of like my boss at WWE because he was like Michael Cole’s number two. He was kind of my boss for a while and he’s so smart and he’s so good and he taught me so much so you end up having that student-teacher relationship where in your head, ‘This guy’s older than me,’ blah, blah, blah and the guy’s like two years younger than me and so it always makes me mad [Rehwoldt joked]. But no, I get to work with him and he’s so good and he has that role down, he’s such a great play-by-play guy. We have a lot of freedom to operate and I think we bring — it’s nice because I think we bring not only chemistry because we know each other, we’ve worked with each other before. But also, I think for that show, as much as people might rag on WWE sometimes, they get some things right and you know, they’re a very huge, successful company because they get certain key things right and one of the things they’ve done pretty well I think is the commentary. Michael Cole runs a pretty good ship and he gave great tips and everything to guys like Vic [Joseph], guys like Tom who have passed those on to me and so, I think we bring the best of that WWE style, the things — the notes that they hit, the story points to hit; ‘Don’t talk too much. Speak in soundbites,’ things like that. But then we’re also given more freedom of the silly things you’ve heard about. Words, there’s really no off-limit words we can’t say or it’s a little less restrictive on things like that so, we are allowed to bring that kind of freedom.
As a part of The Vaudevillians with Simon Gotch, Rehwoldt was called up to WWE’s main roster in 2016. He feels that he was able to find his groove once he and Gotch went their separate ways.
That’s a tough question [when did he & Simon Gotch feel comfortable on WWE’s main roster]. I mean it’s like… because there’s part of me that’s like, hey, never get comfortable, but that’s a different kind of definition of ‘comfortable’. But when we kind of got used to things, I would say probably by — it took a couple months but by the end of that — we came up in April — by the end of that summer, doing the house shows, did a couple of tours, I remember we did a Japan tour, did a Europe tour. Again, getting our riding buddies, establishing those relationships, who you’re sharing hotels with, who you’re sharing cars with, you know, what’s your gym routine, getting those down. So yeah, took a couple months but after that, I think it was even better once… not saying anything personally but once we ended up splitting off like a year later, I found my groove a lot more after that once I was on my own. I will say that.
** During an interview that was recorded on April 23rd, Valentina Rossi told Jim Varsallone that she was flying out in a ‘few days’ to be a part of the Women of Wrestling tapings in Los Angeles, California. She used the name ‘Adriana Gambino’ in W.O.W. previously.
So, I’m actually flying out in a few days to film a whole new season with W.O.W. in Los Angeles so, stay tuned for that… yes, I had one match there, started off there. ‘Adriana Gambino’ is making a comeback. Let’s go, bada bing, bada boom.
Last summer, Rossi made her All Elite Wrestling debut against KiLynn King. Shawn Spears, who is her trainer was present for her debut and Billy Gunn was there as well trying to ease her nerves. Rossi credited KiLynn for taking care of her.
I was so nervous [before my AEW debut] and I had my coach backstage, Shawn Spears. He just kept trying to be like, ‘I remember my first match’ and be like, ‘You don’t wanna know what happened during my first match’ and Billy Gunn kept walking by because he is at Flatbacks [Wrestling school] sometimes too and he’d be like, ‘Oh, wait until you hear about my first match’ and they kept trying to psych me out because I knew how nervous I was but luckily I was with KiLynn [King] and she just takes care of everyone she works with. It was so easy, so simple. We talked the whole time and she’s just amazing to work with so…
Along with her AEW experiences, Rossi did compete on NXT 2.0 in November. She said being on those stages has given her a glimmer of what her future in wrestling could be like.
Oh my God, it was so nerve-racking the first time [competing for AEW]. Even now, I think I’ve had nine matches at AEW and I still get so nervous every time and like, it just goes by so fast. Like, it’s just crazy ‘cause it’s — you get to see the big picture. This is what I’m working towards. Taking indie bookings, even this [event where the interview was shot], to me is like a big indie show which I don’t know, I don’t wrestle on the indies so, so, so much. So like, getting to have these little opportunities at AEW and I did one match on NXT. Seeing these little glimmers of what it could be like is just so amazing because you can really see what your career is leading up to.
** While speaking to Joey G. of Wrestling Headlines, Moose stated that after losing the IMPACT World Title at Rebellion and losing the rematch on the 4/28 IMPACT on AXS, he’ll share what his next move is at the ‘Under Siege’ special on May 7th.
I don’t know man. What should I do? Should I take some time off? Should I take time off to heal my body? Should I start from the bottom again and build myself to the top? Should I ask for matches against some of the best? I have no idea. There are so many questions out there for me and I don’t know what to do yet, but whatever I decide, you guys will know at Under Siege. So tune in and see what’s next for Moose.
** The following memo was sent out by New Japan Pro-Wrestling as the company wants to continue to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
Thank you for your continued support of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, we are currently banning all contact with wrestlers, including those waiting to leave or enter the venue. For the safety of our guests, wrestlers, and staff, we ask for your understanding and cooperation.
Please refrain from the following acts: Waiting for wrestlers to enter or leave the dojo, match venues and surrounding areas, lodging facilities, public transportation, filming and recording locations, etc. Approaching, touching, or talking to wrestlers. Requesting players to take pictures, sign autographs, shake hands, etc. Giving gifts, presents, fan letters, etc. directly to wrestlers (accepting gifts on behalf of wrestlers is not permitted). Please refrain from talking with other visitors, taking pictures in groups, and other forms of interaction and contact with other visitors.
** World of STARDOM Champion Syuri expressed to Yahoo! Japan that she is glad she chose STARDOM to be her home. Syuri says she hopes to be as good as WWE’s Asuka, who she has credited for shaping her into the wrestler she is today.
I’m glad I chose Stardom. Stardom is gaining momentum right now, and I was able to win the red belt and create my own unit, so I am able to shine in Stardom. I want to be as good as Kana [Asuka].
** Ahead of the Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano fight, Becky Lynch was present in New York City doing press while in the corner of Taylor. ‘SecondsOut’ caught up with Lynch and she discussed her connection to Katie.
Aw man, it’s incredible [to see Katie Taylor at the top of boxing]. So let me explain something to you, I started wrestling when I was 15 years-old. I believe she started boxing around the same time, also 15 years old, both in these tiny little gyms in Bray, County Wicklow. Obviously we were doing very different sports but, everyone knew about Katie Taylor back then. Everyone knew that she was a legend, that she was gonna change the world, that she was gonna bring women’s boxing to new heights and to see it and to get to be here and experience it and feel it, it’s electric and I’m feeling pretty electric. I got goosebumps all over my body thinking about it and I’m so proud to be able to represent her and of everything she’s done. It feels really good to be an Irish woman at this time.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling is promoting that the music group ‘Star Prince’ is scheduled to perform before the Wrestling Dontaku main card begins. One of the group members, Kirino Takashi is the son of Jushin Thunder Liger.
** Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair was interviewed by ‘SecondsOut’ while at the weigh-in for the Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano fight.
** Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman told TMZ that he’d be up for seeing Charlotte Flair wrestling more men in WWE.
** wXw Germany thanked Katja Pilz for her work as Head of Video Production for the promotion. 4/30 is her last day working for wXw.
Vielen Dank Katja Pilz!
Heute ist der letzte Arbeitstag von unserer Head of Video @at_Pilz bei wXw. Dankeschön für sechs tolle Jahre mit dir und alles was du für uns getan hast. Ohne dich wäre wXw nicht das geworden, was es heute ist. 🙏
Pics: @_janice_janice_ pic.twitter.com/9n27d9F9d6
— wXw Germany (@wXwGermany) April 30, 2022
** Adam Cole was a guest on the Wrestle Buddies podcast.
** The Cut Pro Wrestling Podcast had Charlie Haas on the 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.
