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.
** Tokyo Sports has a feature story on their site about people not being able to verbally make noise at wrestling shows in Japan. They received comments from both Hiromu Takahashi and AEW’s Wheeler YUTA on the matter. There’s an excerpt in the piece which reads that YUTA informed the publication of Bryan Danielson’s past comments that he is hesitant to come to Japan until people are allowed to verbally make noise again at shows.
In the U.S. and other countries, the ban on cheering has long since been lifted. According to Wheeler YUTA, who is competing for AEW in the U.S., big-name wrestler Bryan Danielson is also reluctant to come to Japan until the ban on crowd noise is lifted. This shows how important cheering is to wrestlers as well.
Takaaki Kidani, Bushiroad founder and President touched on New Japan possibly lifting the restriction at the Best of the Super Juniors final event on June 3rd.
Kidani: I don’t know whether we will open up the entire venue or just an area [for verbal crowd noise], but if it is possible, I think New Japan could do it at the upcoming Nippon Budokan show (June 3). If it is possible, I would consider introducing it as soon as possible.
** In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Stacy Carter spent time in WWF/E as ‘The Kat’ and ‘Miss Kitty’. D.S. Shin of Ring The Belle caught up with Carter for an in-person interview and they touched on her exit from WWE in 2001. She was let go while in the middle of her storyline with ‘Right to Censor’.
Both Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler have given their recount of why Carter was let go, but she says she does not have an answer to this day. She thinks the storyline with Right to Censor was going to result in her turning heel.
That was gonna be fun [her involvement in the Right to Censor storyline]. You have to ask Vince McMahon. We got to the building that day, one o’clock in the afternoon, you get there at one and they tell you what you’re gonna do when they come out of their writers meeting. They tell you what you’re gonna do and I had like five or six different things going on that day. Like, ‘You’re gonna do this vignette here, you’re gonna do this and you’re gonna do that’ and then Jerry [Lawler] took off and went shopping which he always does. I was getting ready and then Jerry came and knocked on the door and said, ‘We gotta go’ and I go, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Get your stuff’ and I was like, ‘No! I gotta get ready. I got all this stuff to do.’ Your guess is as good as mine. To this day, I don’t have an answer [as to why I was let go]. Some people think they know the answer but Vince McMahon’s the only one that can answer that.
Yeah, it [her involvement with Right to Censor] was gonna go in the direction of they had to force me, like Jerry and the matches and all that kind of stuff and so, I think we were gonna head down the path of that I was maybe gonna turn and they were gonna brainwash me… I know, it would’ve been fun.
At the 1999 Armageddon event, Carter flashed the crowd in attendance and was soon covered up by Sgt. Slaughter. She said her back was supposed to be facing the hard camera and only a section of people were supposed to see what was shown on pay-per-view. She received a standing ovation when she got to the backstage area.
Do you know that I am responsible for the ‘N’ for nudity on every pay-per-view since that night? [when she flashed the crowd at Armageddon 1999]… Let’s go back. So we’re at the very back of the building in the arena back by the stage where the ramp where everybody goes down, away from the ring. So, what was supposed to happen was I was supposed to turn around and where I did it — but the camera was supposed to be to my back and so I would be like this to all the fans and then I would do this and only people way up in the top would see me, and then Sarge was supposed to come in with a towel and when I ran back and he grabbed me and he put the towel around me, I said, ‘Sarge, did that just happen?’ He goes, ‘Yes it did Kitty.’
I got a standing ovation when I went to the back. All the boys stood up. Everybody was cheering. Yes they were [things were different back then].
Carter touched on the progression of women’s wrestling since her full-time wrestling career and she thinks it’s a positive. She also believes that people are still entertained by the women’s wrestling of old and believes there is a place in WWE for a less extreme version of her character.
Well it’s good on both ends [the growth of women’s wrestling]. I feel like tough women, women who wanna wrestle, who want to be in there, people like Ivory back then — those are my references — should be able to do that. That should be good because people wanna see that but people still also wanna see the slapstick stuff, the fun stuff, like the girls pulling each other’s hair and stuff like that.
I think there’s room for a character like that [in WWE today]. Yeah, but just, you won’t go to that extreme.
Before signing with WWF/E, Carter formed a friendship with the late Joan Laurer (Chyna). She shared that it was Chyna who pitched the idea for them to be a duo on-screen.
It was awesome [her relationship with Chyna]. She and I were really good friends. Back before I signed with them [WWF/E], Jerry [Lawler] was there already and so, I would go to the shows. Like if we went to Florida, if we went to Dallas, we went to New York or any of those places, I would go so I already knew everyone before I signed and so, she and I would hang out backstage and in the locker room, she’d invite me to come and hang out in the locker room and stuff like that and so, once the whole Jeff [Jarrett] thing went down, you know, she wrestled Jeff for the Intercontinental Title and all that and then he was one day past his contract. So he held everyone up and so we didn’t have a clue what we were gonna do. Like she and I, the storyline’s gotta end right now. I don’t know what’s happening and so Jeff finally shows up at the end of the day and we went over a match really fast and then we didn’t know what she and I were gonna do. There was nothing left for me so, she came up with the idea of whenever I leave and I walk back up the ramp to leave, she said, ‘You just follow me and you turn around and kind of like give him the thing’ and everybody loved it. So, that’s how our little mini-me thing came to fruition. I know, it was so much fun.
Stacy ‘The Kat’ Carter is a one-time WWF Women’s Champion. She reflected on that reign and said it was a fun time in her life and she’s glad she got to experience it.
Again, they just tell you what’s gonna happen the day of and then you kind of go over it but, honestly, I’m going to be completely honest with everybody. Back then, we had to carry the belts around everywhere we went so we had to go through, we have to carry it on through security and I’m like please, someone else carry this, because I’m tired of it [she laughed]. No, but it was so much fun and it was, you know, a really fun time in my life and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to do it, get to experience the things I got to experience back then.
** Chelsea Green was the most recent guest on The Universal Wrestling Podcast with Nick Deterding and former WWE writer Chris Dunn. Chris went on to share that while Chelsea was with WWE, he pitched an idea for her to be an interviewer which would’ve led to a program with Becky Lynch.
Dunn: I just remember, we kind of, on the main roster we’re all kind of watching your promos that you cut because at the time, [Paul] Heyman was running Raw.
Green: He’s my biggest supporter.
Dunn: Yeah. He was such a big advocate for you and we’re all brainstorming ideas. Like one idea I pitched him was essentially like, you know, back in the day if you look at the 80s, probably like — wrestling is such a — the stories that really do well are relationship stories. You kind of look at the 80s, the best relationship that you could never pay off was [Hulk] Hogan and ‘Mean’ Gene [Okerlund] and at one point I pitched like, do we make Chelsea an interviewer on Raw for like six to nine months as a way to kind of get her into a program with Becky [Lynch]? And that’s one thing I was advocating [in] a big way. Unfortunately, again, everything changed…
Earlier in their discussion, Dunn shared that people were excited to have Chelsea on the main roster and he applauded her for pitching characters and stories that did not all involve her being in the title picture.
Dunn: Your call-up [Chelsea Green] was right around when the pandemic started and you know, at the time, you were gonna come to Raw and everyone’s like so excited to have you because when you have a three hour show, you gotta really fulfill that need that’s important of being able to — somebody who can do character work can really carry a thread throughout the night and unfortunately, the world changed in such a big way where it was like harder to debut people but, you were somebody who everyone was really excited about and after you left, I heard you do a podcast where I wanted to bring something up to you, where you were kind of talking about how you were worried because you were always pitching ideas that you were getting on people’s nerves. In fact, it was the opposite, because like, a lot of times and I think this holds a lot of wrestlers back, they’ll just pitch the old Bob Holly story of like, hey, write where I win the title. You were pitching actual characters and actual stories and very smart things and really kind of saw a lane that I think is really putting you in such a good position today.
** While doing a virtual signing for Golden Ring Collectibles, Chavo Guerrero expressed that there could’ve been a chance that if he did not do the ‘Kerwin White’ character in WWE, he may have been released. Guerrero says he has learned that when Vince McMahon personally presents an idea to a talent and they don’t want to do it, it can leave a sour taste in his mouth.
So, no other company tried to convince me to do that [Kerwin White character] which would be kind of funny to do that again, kind of just doing a throwback. I felt — you know what? When Vince McMahon comes to you with an idea and sits you down personally and tells you about this, I’ve learned in the past that when you don’t wanna do something like that, it puts a very sour taste in their mouth. So you just do what you can to get the show, get the character over, get the idea over and you do it with the best of your abilities. One time, and I just saw him last night at the show but Kevin Sullivan was the booker in WCW and he had this idea. He goes, ‘Hey man, Eddie’s getting beat by the Diamond Cutter with DDP. You’re a crazy character anyways. Why don’t you run in there and turn DDP around like you’re gonna do something but you’re telling him to give you the Diamond Cutter too’ and I was like, ‘Well, I’m not sure if that’s really great with my character stuff’ and Kevin Sullivan got really offended by that. He’s like, ‘You know, I really put a lot of thought into your character, into your storyline’ so I think that was a mistake, me not doing it because no one really would have remembered it. It would have probably been better for my character so I think that was a mistake not doing that so you learn that if I wouldn’t [have] done the ‘Kerwin White’ thing, I probably would have, you know… probably sometimes you just get let go. You know, but you do what you can. We don’t always get to — if it was up to us, we’d all be the champ. We’d all be [John] Cena or Batista or whatever but, it’s not, so, sometimes they throw lemons at you, you make lemonade.
** WRESTHINGS welcomed Will Ospreay in-studio for an extensive interview. While discussing the upcoming AEW x NJPW ‘Forbidden Door’ show, Ospreay said he found out about it through social media. He does not know if he’ll be on the show but if he is, he wants to work with a homegrown AEW talent.
They [New Japan] didn’t even f*cking tell me it [Forbidden Door show] was happening. I found out on the — honestly, this is honestly how I found out: I was sat next to me missus. I was like, ‘… All right… are we doing a show with AEW?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Oh.’ Nice to tell me, nice to tell me. That’s honestly how I found out. They don’t tell me sh*t, so like, for all I know I’m not even on the damn show but, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know but like, stupid if they are because I mean…
I mean the obvious ones are like, the clear obvious [who he’d want to face at Forbidden Door] I think is [CM] Punk and [Bryan] Danielson are my obvious ones but like, I’d like a challenge and what I mean [by] that is I would like a homemade guy. Like someone that didn’t come from NXT, that didn’t come from New Japan. Someone that was like a — because I think that’s the challenge is can I do a sick match with someone that was just born and made in AEW? I think that’s something I’d like to challenge that more.
As they dove into Ospreay’s career, he mentioned that before NJPW, he wanted to go to Dragon Gate because that’s where Ricochet was.
Of course they have [WWE has reached out to Ospreay in the past]. Yeah, they’ve messaged loads of times. It’s just… I’m trying to put this in the right way without sounding like a cunt. It’s just one of those things where like when it all got kind of — because New Japan put in first and I always just wanted Japan. Although, not like New Japan. At first, I wanted to go to Dragon Gate. I just had those — Ricochet was there and I looked at Ricochet like Ricochet’s my big brother in a weird way. I just kind of like, I wanted to follow him and I wanted to do all that and that was kind of the style that I really enjoyed doing. So I wanted to go there and then this opportunity came up and it was almost like a tryout. Like I said, I was just really blessed.
There was a Q&A portion of the interview and The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) were the topic of conversation. The question expressed the thought that Jimmy is holding Jey back. Ospreay would go on to state that he loves the entire Bloodline group and thinks it’s brilliant.
I feel like that’s just — once again, I don’t watch the [WWE] product but just like, why are we trying to split up real good tag teams? Tag team wrestling is like an art form in itself and I think they’ve [The Usos] come a long way from doing the… I think they’ve come a long way from doing that [original Usos gimmick] and everyone thought that’s the only thing they can do to being this fierce. But I love the look they’ve got now and it’s just like they’ve completely next-leveled the game so that’s what I mean about if you can’t be — if you find yourself being complacent or maybe you need to change and I don’t mean the surroundings, I mean maybe you need to change something about yourself and at first, putting on a new pair of shoes, it feels a bit, ‘Oh God. It might be a bit too tight. Oh God, I’ve got a blister from wearing this shoe.’ You gotta keep doing it. After a while, it will subside and you’re like, wow, I actually kind of like wearing these shoes now. So, I feel like in those situations, just why break up people? No one’s holding anyone back. That whole thing, that Bloodline thing, fantastic. Love it, think it’s brilliant.
While discussing his own on-screen character, Ospreay shared that he took inspiration from Jake Paul. He feels that crowds believed he was this ‘vile human being’ so he decided to lean into that.
The character, I won’t lie to you guys, I wanted someone that like — the crowd just didn’t like me anyway because they hear stuff and it’s like all murmur or they love it. They just want me to be — they want me to be this vile human being that they believe that I am. So in that case, I’ll give it to them. But like, the closest thing that I could think of to someone who was kind of in the same category but he owns way more money than me was that Jake Paul. That’s literally — I saw that and I saw everything. He was just getting heat because he was one of these YouTube sensation guys that just made so much money and people were like, ‘F*ck this guy. I could barely pay my f*cking student loan and this guy’s rolling around in every car that I’ve ever dreamed of, wearing all the watches, Versace jackets, all of that. Why am I not him? Why am I not –’ and I sat there and I went, ‘That’s me. That’s that.’ At first, I really looked at Tom Hardy’s portrayal in ‘Legend’ of the Kray Twins which is this — I love that film. It’s one of my favorite films but just, I tried it and it just — the suit didn’t fit. This does [flashy attire], because I don’t mind gassing myself up. I don’t mind talking about all the things that I’ve done and you guys have not. I love — because it comes from [actually] speaking the truth.
** During Ronda Rousey’s Facebook gaming stream on 5/19, she commented on the different title belts that WWE has on hand for TVs and house shows. Rousey then recalled having to use a merchandise belt for a show.
It’s not like that [Rousey responded to a chat user who noted that WWE won’t let her take the SmackDown Women’s Title home]. There’s one that we leave at TV so whenever I’m there, even if I forget it, there’s always one there and there’s one I’m supposed to take home with me to take on the road for live shows and stuff and I haven’t gotten that one yet because I’m sure that Charlotte [Flair] got to keep hers and keep that one because she had been using it for like a year so they probably just wanted to get a new one made so, that’s just my assumption. Maybe they’re just like, I don’t need the belt but if I show up to a live show and I don’t have a belt, they’re gonna be like, ‘Ronda, where’s your belt?…’ Probably end up making me use a merch belt which, I’d be lying if I say I didn’t show up to live shows without my belt. I had to use a merch belt before… and you can tell too in the pictures.
** CyberAgent President Susumu Fujita, who leads the TV streaming service ABEMA, was interviewed by Yahoo! Japan alongside K-1 MMA Executive Committee Chairman, Mitsuru Yabuki. CyberAgent is the advertising company that hosts CyberFight which has Pro Wrestling NOAH, Tokyo Joshi Pro, DDT and Ganbare Pro Wrestling under its banner. Fujita recalled receiving words of support from Yabuki and that encouraged him to continue working with ABEMA which in turn led to him launching CyberFight.
Fujita: Also, that is how we were attracted to the martial arts and at the same time we signed a contract with… DDT and NOAH to bring the pro-wrestling organization under the umbrella of CyberAgent. Those words really stuck with me. When I was a child in Fukui, I myself was crazy about professional wrestling, so it was very persuasive to me.
Yabuki: So that’s how you were able to create CyberFight?
Fujita: That’s right. We really only passed each other on the stairs and talked briefly, but I felt that your words gave me the courage to continue working with ABEMA. And Mr. Yabuki had a big impact on me, and I remember that first meeting very vividly.
** Angelina Love was the focus of a Golden Ring Collectibles virtual signing and she spoke about how surprising it is to her that she and Velvet Sky never won the TNA Knockouts Tag Titles together.
Can you believe Velvet [Sky] and I never won the Knockouts Tag Titles? I had them with Winter and Velvet had them with Madison [Rayne]. So dumb. You know why? Because the reason that we were told because I think Sarita [Sarah Stock] and Taylor Wilde won them first. Vince [Russo] told us that it was because they just wanted the babyfaces to go over and me and Velvet were the heels. So that’s why they didn’t put them on us but then we never had them which is like tragic, we think, because everybody’s like, ‘How? You guys were the tag team in TNA. How did you never have the tag titles?’ And it’s just like well, writing.
TNA went through a large chunk of time where they were just like, babyfaces over no matter what. We just have to have babyfaces go over and we were always heel so, it’s almost like whether it made sense or not, just babyfaces went over.
** Episode #119 of D-Von Dudley’s Table Talk podcast featured Shannon Moore. Moore expressed how much he enjoyed the trio of Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt in AEW and thinks Marko could’ve been AEW’s version of Rey Mysterio.
You know, a smaller guy can look at somebody like Rey [Mysterio] and really take that and it helps them push and chase their dreams but I think Marko Stunt, whenever he was in AEW, I think if they would’ve done that right, he was such a small guy. He could’ve been their version of Rey and I just think he would’ve touched so many people out there man because Rey had that effect on a lot of people and a lot of wrestlers and just probably people that were chasing their dreams but smaller. I loved the Jurassic Express in AEW. Those guys together, you know, they’re pretty awesome and I can just see that being a Disney cartoon one day so I think that could be good, and I’m always an underdog — you know, the guys that probably don’t get the chances that some people get. So like, that’s why a Marko Stunt or the Jurassic Express, I really — it just makes me happy to see them whenever they do get success or you know, I’m always cheering for people like that.
** The reigning FTW Champion Ricky Starks was interviewed by Sports Illustrated. He looked back on his post-match promo after winning the NWA World Television Title at the 2020 ‘Hard Times’ pay-per-view.
That promo signified a lot. I came straight from the ring to do the interview, and Eddie was back there–and my eyes kept darting off to Eddie. I was excited, I was full of adrenaline, and I was mad. My ceiling was already hit in the NWA, and I’d realized that. I was frustrated by that. I wasn’t a big name on the indies, and I haven’t forgot how that felt. Since then, I haven’t lost that hunger. It is all genuine, and it all came out that night during that interview.
** AEW’s Santana became the first LAWE Heavyweight Champion and here’s his post-title win interview with Lucha Libre Online:
** NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Results (5/22/22) Akita, Japan
– Tiger Mask, Alex Zayne, Ace Austin & Clark Connors def. Jado, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, YOH & Ryusuke Taguchi
– Taiji Ishimori & Gedo def. Dick Togo & SHO
– Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi def. TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: Robbie Eagles (4) def. DOUKI (2)
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: El Lindaman (4) def. TJP (2)
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: BUSHI (4) def. Master Wato (0)
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: El Phantasmo (6) def. Titán (0)
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: El Desperado (6) def. Wheeler YUTA (2)
** After defeating ROH Pure Champion Wheeler YUTA in the main event of the 5/22 NJPW Best of the Super Juniors show, El Desperado suggested that maybe he should get a shot at the belt.
** DDT Pro Wrestling Results (5/22/22) Korakuen Hall
– Naomi Yoshimura def. Yuki Ishida
– Danshoku Dino, Yuki Ino & Akito def. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Antonio Honda
– Yuki Ueno def. Kazuki Hirata
– Hardcore Tag Team Match: Akane Fujita & Suzu Suzuki def. Carousel Shun & Elizabeth Toi
– Jun Akiyama, Tetsuya Endo, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku def. El Unicorn, Ilusion, Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya
– KO-D Tag Team Championships: ASUKA & MAO def. Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi (c)
– Vacant KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & MJ Paul def. Hideki Okatani, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi
** Corey Graves and Carmella on their ‘Bare With Us’ podcast.
** ‘Dead Meat’ welcomed Jade Cargill onto the show to chat horror films.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Yuji Nagata is scheduled for GLEAT’s July 1st show. He’ll be taking on Takanori Ito in singles competition.
** May 22nd birthdays: Bryan Danielson.
** Bianca Belair’s recap of how she put together her WrestleMania 38 gear:
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.
