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.
** The focus of an episode of ‘Foley Is Pod’ was the documentary ‘Beyond the Mat’. As the conversation was ongoing, Mick detailed the original finish for the ‘I Quit’ match he had with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson at WWE Royal Rumble 1999. Foley said he was supposed to say ‘I Quit’ when he noticed his children in the audience looking fearful. The concern Foley had was that his children would not appear as such and added that USA Network executives voiced that they did not want that finish.
I’ve said kind of jokingly, if you’re gonna have a worst moment as a dad, it might as well be on film. The match [versus The Rock at Royal Rumble 1999], it got away from us. The original plan and this is something I alluded to I think in our first, maybe our first or second podcast because I wanted people to know, yeah, I am gonna be really honest on this podcast so this is something that I did not even talk about in the book or anywhere else until I divulged that info on your show. That original finish was going to be me looking out to the crowd and seeing the concern and I saw fear in my children’s eyes and I was gonna quit so they would not have to suffer through anymore of that and my main concern was that they would not look concerned because they thought that I was… [Foley laughed] unstoppable and also that I was just playing. So there is that scene [in Beyond the Mat] where The Rock, he had seen the kids, I don’t think he was meeting them and Dewey especially, he idolized The Rock and The Rock has a talk with them about how, you know, he would never do anything to hurt their dad and so I thought, we’re good on that front. If anything, I was concerned they were not gonna register fear. That’d be a flop. But then as I spoke about, we found out that USA Network executives were going to be there. They did not want that finish and I told [Vince] Russo on the phone, I’m like, ‘Man, I’m already busted open which I was not and I do regret that I, you know, looking back on it, that was the one thing. I said I already had a wound and I didn’t describe how I got it but essentially, I got off the phone with Russo; about ten seconds after telling him I did have a pre-existing wound and I created one in a hurry that was larger than it should’ve been or I was intending it to be but man, I was a guy, did a lot of visualization and I didn’t see how we could arrive at that finish without that head wound and so I did create one immediately. A shocking moment right there, right?
At multiple points during the podcast, Foley touched on how Vince McMahon was not fond of ‘Beyond the Mat’. He recalled being told by ‘a McMahon’ that the film’s creator, Barry Blaustein, was not Foley’s friend. Mick said Barry was always a friend and still is, adding that Blaustein has welcomed him into his home multiple times. Foley said he’s never received an invitation to the McMahon household.
Let me just state for the record… [Foley laughed] I was told by a McMahon that Barry [Blaustein] wasn’t my friend, that they were and yet, I’ve never been invited to the McMahon residence and I slept over at the Blaustein house on many occasions. Taken Barry’s kids, years ago, to a theme park so I will say on record, Barry Blaustein was a friend, still is a friend and I’m still waiting for that invitation to the McMahon house that [Chris] Jericho got. I’ve never been there. A lot of WWE superstars have been invited to the McMahon house and I never have.
Despite Vince not being big on Foley promoting the documentary, he wanted him a part of the WrestleMania 2000 main event. When Mick got the call about being involved with the event, he initially thought he’d be hosting a panel or something along those lines.
It’s funny you say that [it was a tough time for Vince McMahon & Mick’s relationship] but I think I said earlier, at a certain point, we just agreed to disagree [about Beyond the Mat] because, ah, man, it was still the phone call I received and I’m thinking, man, I don’t know why this just came to me. I’m thinking I received the call or that I ended up calling J.R. back from my parents house… I think it was right there on the porch, on the stoop where J.R. said, ‘We got some plans for you for WrestleMania’ and I was thinking I was gonna host a panel or something along those lines and then when he brought up the main event at Mania [2000], I was just floored. I said, ‘I just retired six weeks ago.’ I know this is not an episode about that, that pay-per-view but it just shows you that even if I was butting heads with Vince about the movie, he was still putting me in the main event of his biggest show of the year and at that point, every WrestleMania was the biggest WrestleMania so it was the biggest show in WWE history at that point… Most WrestleManias, especially that era were just getting bigger and better and more elaborate.
There’s a scene in Beyond the Mat when Foley is being stitched up in front of his wife and children after the ‘I Quit’ match at Royal Rumble 1999. He stated that Barry came to visit Mick and his family to get a clearer portrayal of what Foley is like as a father. Barry did not think it was fair to just show Mick as a parent who had his children watching him get stitched up after the match he had.
Well let me say, I regret… [Foley laughed] the match got out of hand [at Royal Rumble 1999], hence in front of my children or if not out of hand, it went much further than I thought it was going to go… I regret I did not think it was strange to have a doctor stitching me up in front of my children. But to use the John Candy phraseology from Home Alone where he was talking about leaving his kid in a funeral parlor, he goes, ‘Yeah, kids are resilient. Little guy came around, started talking.’ My kids are actually fine by the time I saw them and that’s a big reason why Barry Blaustein made a separate trip to Florida because he did not want — he felt like viewers seeing that scene without the context of me — looking through my own children’s eyes at it, would give people the unfair sense of who I was as a father and he didn’t think that was fair and that’s why he came… we were living in the Florida Panhandle in Navarre, Florida and they made a trip which wasn’t cheap, out to Florida, essentially so he could show me the footage because he did not want the movie to reflect badly on me as a parent because he did not think that would be accurate.
** Per the Wall Street Journal, the United States is concerned about threats that Iran made to Saudi Arabia. Saudi shared with the U.S.A. that an Iran attack could be ‘imminent’ and focused on ‘the kingdom’. WWE’s Crown Jewel event is scheduled for November 5th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. F4WOnline’s Dave Meltzer noted the following about the situation as it relates to Crown Jewel:
The best term regarding Saudi Arabia would be monitoring the situation. All plans are for the show at this moment but you can’t control the real world.
PWInsider noted that after speaking with several individuals in WWE, the event is still set to take place. The company already has security protocols and emergency contingencies in place for any issues.
** When Joe Hendry arrived to Ring of Honor, he was informed by Cody Rhodes that the company wanted to sign him for sometime but were under the assumption that he was under contract elsewhere. Hendry followed up on that and a week later, he was signed to ROH. As for his debut in a segment with Dalton Castle, he does think it went well and described it as ‘horrible’. He looked back on this while on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore podcast.
Hendry: I’ve said it publicly, Cody [Rhodes] actually pulled me aside and he said, ‘I’m gonna tell you something you don’t wanna hear.’ He’s like, ‘But you need to know’ and I was like, ‘What?’ And he goes, ‘Ring of Honor have wanted to sign you for sometime but they just assumed that you’re under contract’ and I was like, ‘Oh! Well I’m not’ and he was like, ‘Okay, well call this number.’ So I called the number and I had a deal within a week. So then we got the visa, I got out to America. My debut was horrible, horrible. It was, in retrospect, it was just one of these things, you when it doesn’t come together for whatever reason and it just was like, it was the worst feeling in the world. I came back through the curtain and you know, if it even went okay, people would be going, ‘Okay, cool. Nice one.’ Just silence, and I was like, oh man. How am I ever gonna come back from this? And so me and Dalton Castle start teaming, we actually start clawing it back a little bit, getting a little bit of steam and then they said, ‘You know what? We’re actually gonna throw you guys in the tag team picture. You might even win the belts. We’re gonna put you at the anniversary show against The Briscoes in Vegas’ and I’m like, damn, this is it. We’re gonna step up now and I got on the plane. Me, Mark Haskins, Vicky Haskins, we were the U.K. talents at the time. We got on the plane, the world was fine. When the plane landed, the world was not fine. The world was shut down and when we landed, that was it. The shows were shut down, the world was shut down and I had to go back home.
Earlier in the conversation, he detailed how the ‘I Believe in Joe Hendry’ theme came about. Hendry took inspiration from Christian Cage’s ‘Just Close Your Eyes’ theme and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s ‘Hollywood Rock’ theme. He added that the lyrics for the song were created by him and his friends at a bus stop.
Hendry: My entrance, obviously the one that we started at the start of the show [Dreamer’s podcast] is actually structured in a similar way to the ‘Hollywood’ Rock theme, the slow section. So if you listen — so it’s basically two themes that I really liked were Christian’s theme, the one where it’s like, ‘Go!’ It was just right in there and I was like, I want a section like that. But then, to come across as, you know, I’m gonna try and really just portray myself as sort of that main event sound, I love that ‘Hollywood’ Rock, the 2003 entrance and so they’re very similar VPMs and so the two songs — so that was the concept and so when I’m thinking about, right, when do you walk out? Where am I gonna stand? That’s kind of what I based it on and the two songs from popular culture that I brought in for influence was to start is actually, it’s very similar to ‘International Love’ by Pitbull and the end is very much ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen and in terms of just… if it goes slow, how can I keep people moving? Who’s good at that? And Queen were good at that. So that’s how I did that. I actually have a funny story about how the song came about is when I’m playing music with my friends and it was going nowhere, we had all this buzz, then we had none and we were like, ‘You know what? We should just do what Pitbull does and name places’ and we’re standing at a bus stop and we’re going, ‘London and Paris and Tokyo’ and then I just thought, you know that song he used to have? And I just kind of brought it all together and I showed one of my old bandmates. I was like, ‘Yeah, you know that old song that you used to just sing for a laugh on the road? That’s now my entrance’ and it’s funny, the song that we just — were sitting there and I came up with it in 30 seconds to make fun of music is the one that I’m now using so it’s kind of bringing all those influences together.
On the 10/27 episode of IMPACT on AXS, Tommy Dreamer went one-on-one with Chris Bey. Dreamer stated that he is proud of the match but was not pleased with how he looked physically.
Dreamer: I reached my fattest I’ve ever been and I have a recent match you [Joe Hendry] were at against Chris Bey and I will probably never — I love the match. I had to watch it on my screener and I was very, very proud of the match, except for how I looked and I said, I will never look this bad again. My weight hit 322 pounds and I had to go on Prednisone for health but like, you know this, I know this, you also kind of wrestle in trunks. I’m fully covered but still, I was like — I’m 51, you’re younger — but it’s like, you go out there and you wanna, A, have pride in yourself as well as there’s people watching you and you don’t wanna go out there looking like a big slob when you could be in better shape.
** Brody King returned to the PWTCast and talked about his on-screen program with Darby Allin that included them competing in a Coffin match. Brody spoke about getting the ‘here lies Darby Allin’ tattoo. When Darby saw Brody’s new ink, he decided to tattoo his own palm to further add to their feud.
I don’t think it’s any big secret that me and Darby [Allin] are pretty close friends. But I thought it would be a funny, like, homage to the moment and what we were doing. Obviously, this was our first feud in AEW and we had the idea of doing the Zumiez beat down… I flew to f*cking Seattle, Washington from Atlanta, Georgia just to beat him up in a Zumiez for ten seconds and like, then he still had a whole meet-and-greet to do after that so it’s like, all right, what the f*ck am I gonna do for the next five hours? So I hit up Chris [Ayalin] and I was just like, I wanted to go see him and his wife’s vintage shop anyways and I was like, ‘Hey, are you guys open?’ And he’s like, ‘Actually, we’re closed today’ and I was like, ‘Oh f*ck.’ He goes, ‘Well I live down the street if you just wanna come and hang out.’ I was like, ‘Well I wanted to see if you wanted to tattoo me too?’ He was like, ‘Well what do you wanna get?’ I was like, ‘I want a tombstone that says, here lies Darby Allin.’ He’s just like, ‘Oh, dude, 100 percent. Let’s do it’ and I did not tell Darby about it or anything and it’s like, went and got it done and then went back and I was just like — he’s like, ‘Oh, what’d you do?’ I was like, ‘Oh, I went and got tattooed.’ He’s like, ‘What’d you get?’ And I showed him, he’s just like, ‘What the f*ck?’ And that’s why he ended up tattooing the palm of his hand. He’s just like, now, I gotta get a Brody King tattoo, and he had to one-up me because he just tattoos himself on the palm of his hand. I think most of it has fallen out by now but I’m just like, he’s a f*cking psycho but you know, people really genuinely like, ‘Why would you get that tattooed on you?’ It’s like, why not? The same reason someone would pay $500 for whatever on Whatnot. It’s like that time and moment. I’m gonna look at that tattoo and be like, oh yeah, we did this thing. It’s just like, tattoos don’t have to have a deep meaning to it.
** While on Notsam Wrestling, Matt Cardona was asked if he’d rather go back to WWE as his current wrestling incarnation or would he go back as ‘Zack Ryder’. Cardona feels it would be ideal to go back as his current self. He thinks heading there as ‘Ryder’ would be good for a one-night pop from the crowd.
I would love — you know, I would have a conversation [about whether to go back to WWE as Matt Cardona or Zack Ryder]. Not saying we haven’t already… Who’s to say? I think Zack Ryder is dead. Would it be cool? A woo, woo, woo? Would that get a bigger pop maybe for one night as opposed to the, ‘Always ready’? Right, because that’s more familiar with the WWE universe and audience. But, if I were to go back, I think it has to be as Matt Cardona. I say like, Razor Ramon came back as Scott Hall. The Zack Ryder thing, listen, I’m so fortunate for that time as Zack Ryder. It has set me up. When I say WWE was my developmental, that’s not a shot, that’s not anti-WWE. That’s WWE taught me everything. It taught me how to have this run in all these promotions. It taught me how to do these interviews, it taught me how to be a superstar. So I’m forever grateful to WWE for that. But, if I were to ever go back, I think it has to be as me, as Matt Cardona. To go back as Zack Ryder, eh, you know? That’s how I feel.
** The Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast welcomed Alex Kane onto the show for their 608th episode. Kane lost the MLW National Openweight Title to Davey Richards at Battle Riot IV in July. That event is airing on November 3rd on Pro Wrestling TV. Kane wishes MLW would have just released the match seeing as how Richards has been defending the title elsewhere since winning it.
I was definitely a little P.O’d when I first saw it [Davey Richards defending MLW National Openweight Title before his match Kane aired] but then I had to reel myself back in and remind myself that one, it’s business. Two, it’s not personal and three, I mean I guess it gets more eyes on MLW so, that works for them. But I do really wish they would have just released the match… Battle Riot comes out on November 3rd on the Pro Wrestling TV app. Is it Pro Wrestling TV? Yeah, Pro Wrestling TV. But I don’t know if it’s gonna be the full show or if it’s just gonna be the Battle Riot and some matches but, the smart way I think to do it is definitely the Battle Riot or whatever because that’s what people wanna see. But definitely have that match somewhere in that first show… I think it’s gonna be really weird if they try to ask the fans, ‘Who do you think won the match!?’ Some carny sh*t like that. That’d be weird.
** On the newest episode of Teasy’s Table, independent wrestler Janai Kai stated that she is hoping to one day open her own kickboxing gym/studio.
I’m currently working on my — for martial arts, more of like my personal training for martial arts so for example, teaching or training those for kickboxing because I eventually wanna have my own studio-gym, where it’s kickboxing or boxing. I eventually wanna have my own thing so I’m currently working on that. That’s definitely something I need to knock out of the park.
** Bushiroad’s 2023 presentation is scheduled for January 9th in Tokyo, Japan. The group is celebrating their 15th anniversary, heading into their 16th.
** AEW World Champion Jon Moxley will be doing a signing at The Wrestling REVOLVER’s November 12th show.
** There’s an interview with Chris Adonis (Masters) on the Sunday’s Night Main Event podcast feed.
** Johnny Gargano will be present at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game on November 5th. They are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. Gargano is scheduled for a meet-and-greet at the event.
** NJPW Battle Autumn Results (11/1/22) Echizen City AW-I Sports Arena in Echizen, Japan
– DOUKI def. Yuto Nakashima
– Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma def. Alex Zayne & Kosei Fujita
– Ren Narita def. Ryohei Oiwa
– David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano def. United Empire (Gideon Grey, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
– Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) def. House Of Torture (Dick Togo & EVIL)
– Hikuleo, Jado & Master Wato def. BULLET CLUB (Gedo, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori)
– Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA def. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito & Titan) def. United Empire (Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP)
** Eddie Edwards on NBC Sports’ ‘Ten Count’ podcast.
** November 1st birthdays: Billy Gunn, L.A. Knight.
** To promote his book, Dory Funk Jr. appeared on Counted Out With Mike & Tyler.
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.
