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.
** When Maximum Male Models were being established on the SmackDown brand with L.A. Knight (Max Dupri), ma.ce and man.soor, it was being promoted that Knight had a sister coming aboard named ‘Maxxine Dupri’, who was ultimately revealed to be the former ‘Sofia Cromwell’ in NXT. Before the reveal, speculation began that Maxxine could be former NXT UK talent Jinny.
While speaking to Ring The Belle, Jinny said friends of hers contacted her to ask if she was Maxxine. She was still injured at that point, but thought it’d be a fun character to play.
So I would actually get messages from my friends as well saying, ‘Is this you? This is so cool, this is your character, this would suit you down to a T’ and I was like, ‘Nope, I’m still injured’ (she laughed). So, I hadn’t heard anything about it (being Maxxine Dupri) but yes, I do remember seeing the tweets and stuff and being like, it would be a fun character to play but I was like, ‘No, I’m out, I’m injured.’
From the start of NXT UK, Jinny had been part of the brand. She says it was a lot of fun and it gave her the in-ring reps she needed.
I think it was great (NXT UK). You had the best of both worlds, you’re at home in the U.K. and you know, for those coming from mainland Europe, it’s not too far of a journey for them and then you also, at a certain point, you got to wrestle some U.K. indies. So you were having the best of both worlds and for someone like me who when I did get signed, I was only three years in, continuing to work some of the promotions, it was very important because I needed to get reps under my belt. But it was great. It was a great experience because everyone knew everyone. We all worked on the independents together so it was a lot of fun.
For a portion of Jinny’s NXT UK run, she was paired with ‘Alpha Female’ Jazzy Gabert. She recalled being asked to work with Jazzy and figuring out how the dynamic would work because Jinny had always been solo. She went on to share that her promos were always her own and she never had material written for her.
I remember being asked to work with her (‘Alpha Female’ Jazzy Gabert) and it was definitely something different because in NXT UK, I was always a lone wolf. On the indies, I would either be on my own or I would have people with me but in NXT UK, it was just me and our characters, they’re very different so I needed to sort of figure out a way that we could work together and sort of make it work but we don’t want to go down a route that’s already been done. So we played around with a few things and just sort of ran with it. I mean, the good thing with WWE, with me personally, I never had any of my promos written. I got to write my own promos, I got to say what I wanted to say so I sort of got to play around when I introduced her, when (I’d do) promos with her, I got to play around with a few things but, it was fun. It was definitely something different to my (partnership) that I had with Laura Di Matteo in PROGRESS because obviously, Laura and Jazzy are two completely different characters. But yeah, it was fun. Again, and it was just a new challenge.
** As Cody Rhodes was making the media rounds, he sat down with Peter Rosenberg of HOT 97. He mentioned that he has an idea for his weight belt design for an upcoming Premium Live Event (Rhodes confirmed in another interview that it would be for WrestleMania) and wants to list every independent promotion he’s worked for on it.
Small spoiler I guess, I was trying to come up with this idea for a weight belt for a very specific P.L.E. or pay-per-view, whatever you wanna call it where I wrote everybody independent promotion I worked at on it, because that was the most important thing I did was this connection with these fans and getting to know them and grassroots and that became really my bread and butter.
In prior media interviews, Rhodes has shared that he was told he was going to win the Money in the Bank Ladder match during his first go-round in WWE. While speaking about WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rhodes mentioned the 2013 Money in the Bank event which took place in Philadelphia. He revealed that the M.I.T.B. match he was in was referred to as the ‘Losers Club’ version of the match internally.
Would I love to be on top and punch the ticket again at (Lincoln Financial Field) in Philly? One of my favorite wrestling towns and if you’re from Philly, you know why. Because of Money in the Bank where everyone decided to choose me for this ‘Losers Club Money in the Bank’ that they called it internally which was… But, I may not, you know? You may never know.
Earlier in the conversation, he was asked if he feels the vignettes for his recent return, being number #30 in the Royal Rumble and winning it was maybe too much for the fans to take in or did he view it as a hindrance. Rhodes feels there’s power in calling his shot the way he did.
I think that’s a great point of contention, your point (that the vignettes leading up to the Royal Rumble, getting the #30 spot & winning the Rumble could be too much) and really up to the fans to decide. The way I look at it is this, I want fans to know — again, forever, it was, ‘I’m gonna do this.’ ‘No, he can’t do this.’ ‘I’m gonna do this.’ ‘No, they can’t do this.’ I’m telling you now this time, this is what I’m gonna do. I’m telling you. Joe Namath style, I’m calling the shot and I think there’s something that I do like. I really didn’t have an opinion on whether it should be a surprise or not but I do think there’s something about, especially as a character that is being received positively and warmly, hey, I’m gonna tell you what I’m gonna do and you’re gonna take the ride with me but what I’m saying is gonna happen and I think there’s something powerful in that messaging. Again, it’s up to fans, ‘Oh, he should’ve been a surprise’ and maybe it should have been different if it was a surprise or number #30, not number #1? I mean, again, for me, what I think is powerful is calling it and actually executing it. I don’t know if that luck runs out on me because here I am calling what’s going to happen at WrestleMania but for me at this point of my career, entering the prime of my career, having the best education of any wrestler or superstar in the business and finally be able to cash in all those points, I’m confident in calling it and I hope people can — I hope fans of mine and critics as well can go, oh, okay, well (I’ll) watch, I’m gonna follow this and think just having seeing those live events and seeing some of the metrics as far as I’m concerned on the shows, it seems like people are vibing with it. It’s a discussion, but discussion’s the best.
** While Carmelo Hayes was guest appearing on the ‘Out of Character’ podcast, he stated that Trick Williams is underrated. Hayes added that Williams is improving in the ring but just does not get as many chances to show that improvement.
That’s my boy (Hayes excitedly said about Trick Williams). Trick Williams, underrated.
Yes (he’s a great talker) and he’s getting good in the ring. He just doesn’t get a lot of time to show it.
If anything, he tones himself down when he’s with me because I’m not really with the funny stuff all the time. But, I can’t wait for him to do his thing and he just shows — he has to tone himself down with me but he’s got it man.
** For several months, Natalya had been off WWE programming after undergoing nasal surgery. As she was getting chiropractic work done by Dr. Beau Hightower, she commented on adjusting to the WWE schedule again after her time off. Natalya said she was thrown right back into the mix on top of the non-wrestling matters in her life she was sorting out.
I had 11 weeks off (from WWE) to fix my nose and then I was like, wow, this is so great but I had so much stuff going on. Then when I got back to work, it was like, they just dunk you into an ice tank when you go back, and all of a sudden I’m like, oh my God, I’m working seven days a week and not sleeping, and then having to try and take care of all these things in my life.
She spoke about the additions to WWE’s women’s division such as Emma, Valhalla (Sarah Logan) and Tegan Nox. Natalya said it’s great to have Charlotte Flair back as well.
I am excited about… I’m really happy for Tegan Nox, I’m happy for Emma, I’m happy for Sarah Logan, it’s great to have Charlotte (Flair) back. There’s a lot of cool women that are back on the main roster that a lot of them had been fired before and they’re being brought back so it’s cool to see them get some opportunities. But, there’s just a lot of people that need — and SmackDown, the show that I’m on, there’s only so much TV time. So, I’m the type of person I just wanna see everybody involved which it’s hard to do that. It’s hard to please everyone.
** Before WrestleMania 39, A&E is going to air a ‘Biography: WWE Legends’ episode centered around Dusty Rhodes. Cody Rhodes is the Executive Producer for it and he told Robbie Fox on ‘My Mom’s Basement’ that he was maybe too hands-on because initially, he disagreed with the way the director was telling Dusty’s story.
Maybe a little too hands-on (with the Dusty Rhodes A&E documentary). The documentary and I believe it airs on, you know, that ‘Superstar Sunday’ with A&E, I think it airs the week before WrestleMania. Actually, pretty positive. It is incredible and I don’t wanna say I disagreed. I had some trouble with the story the director, the showrunner of this documentary, I had some trouble with how he was telling it and that’s why I said maybe I was a little too hands-on because it’s my dad and people always want to talk to me about wrestling objectively, Dusty objectively and you (interviewer) know this about me, he’s my dad. I don’t wanna have those objective conversations. In this case, I needed to. I’m the Executive Producer, the story has to be told correctly but also, this is who we’ve entrusted to tell the vision. Upon seeing the first cut, he told the right story. He tells the story of Dusty Rhodes through the eyes of his four kids and not (just) the first two but also the last two, me and Teil, and that really rounds it out as far as who he was and there are some secrets in here that aren’t secrets I guess to wrestling insiders but I’m really excited for A&E casual watchers who just catch these things to see how special he was. Not just while he was doing it and being ‘The American Dream’ but that last chapter of his life, kind of the winner of his life with NXT.
** Episode #624 of The Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast featured Kevin Kelly. He weighed in on Jay White being defeated in the ‘Loser Leaves Japan’ match. Kelly questioned what else is there left for Jay to do other than ‘conquer America’ and added that whose to say he won’t do that under the New Japan Pro-Wrestling banner.
I don’t think so (it’s the end of Jay White in NJPW). I think that this is just what he’s doing. What else is there for him to do? Except conquer America and where is that written that he can’t do that under the New Japan banner? I don’t know. We seem to have some operations that are based in the US.
It would work for me (Jay White being the face of NJPW in the USA). Again, put your business hat on and say to yourself, would this work? Well yeah, of course. If he (Tony Khan) had the vision to, well, one thing we need of course is one of the biggest stars in the business. Okay, John Cena, I need six months from you. Here’s 50 million dollars. Come do it. Okay. If he’s got that kind of money, that’s the kind of money that John Cena might be worth. $20 million. Okay. Come on over and wrestle a couple of matches and do your thing. No, I’m not interested. Okay. Then you move on, then you go to the next one. But, you shoot your shot. But yeah, I’d be interested to see what happens with Jay White now.
** The latest guest on the ‘Developmentally Speaking’ podcast is Brad Maddox. The former WWE talent shared a story from his time in FCW when he attempted to be in a match with Titus O’Neil without actually wrestling. It did not go according to plan and Tom Prichard yelled for them to ‘go home’. The following day, Maddox was brought into an office with Dusty Rhodes and Rhodes said they’re going to hold off on Maddox’s character at the time.
(I was taught), opening match, you go out and you put on a show and you don’t do false finishes and you don’t leave the ring and you don’t do anything too spectacular and you do some good technical wrestling and you get the crowd moving and I came out for this show, I don’t know where it was in Florida and my only goal was to not touch Titus O’Neil. I came out with Briley (Ryan Nemeth) as my cameraman and I had another, just big guy, that I had put in like a onesie… put him in a suit and he’s holding the broomstick and we ran some kind of spot where I called Briley up to distract Titus and then I strip the jumper onesie off of the broomstick guy and then I put it on, I’m on the outside of the ring and then I send him in-in his underwear and this was all brilliant in my mind and I took the broom so it’s like I was filming the match then and so I wasn’t even part of the match. ‘Oh, this is brilliant. This is gonna be funny, I’m not gonna touch Titus’ and it took way too long, just way, way too long because he had to take off his jumpsuit, I had to put on this jumpsuit and Briley’s in the ring trying to distract Titus for like a minute and at some point, Dr. Tom (Prichard) stands up and crosses his arms and yells out in front of everyone there, ‘Go home!’ So we quickly wrapped the match up, I took some kind of bump and it hurt and then we got to the back and Tom was already there, cussing me out. ‘What the f*ck was that?’ And cussed me out and then the next day, came in for practice, at FCW and they called me into the office and Dusty (Rhodes) was in there. He’s like, ‘I think we’re gonna take a break on the Bradmatics Reality gimmick for a little while’ and that was the end of that gimmick.
** Several producers in IMPACT Wrestling were praised by Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Taya Valkyrie. She expressed how much she enjoys working with Lance Storm, Tommy Dreamer and Gail Kim while speaking to ‘Counted Out 7’. Valkyrie likes that they’re straightforward and honest.
I absolutely love having Lance (Storm) as an agent because I have known him for 12 years basically, since I started, since I didn’t know anything and him witnessing my first-ever match, we won’t go there but (she laughed), it’s just been really fun having him as an agent because he’s just brutally honest and there’s no bullsh*t, he tells you how it is. Him and Tommy Dreamer, they’re very to the point which I love. I wanna know if there’s something I’m doing wrong, if there’s something you don’t like or you think I could do something better, tell me. That’s the only way to get better. If you just beat around the bush and just want everyone to be happy, that’s not it for me. I like to know what’s going on and I like to know how I can improve and Lance has been really good in helping us with all the tag team matches we’ve been having. Him and Gail (Kim) are phenomenal agents and yeah, we’re just really lucky to have both of them.
** Shingo Takagi is heading back to All Japan Pro Wrestling and he’ll be facing Yuma Anzai on 2/19.
** The press conference for Keiji Muto’s final match event is scheduled for February 15th.
** K & S WrestleFest hosted a virtual signing with Masha Slamovich.
** Danhausen recapped his experience on the Chris Jericho Cruise:
** While on Super Bowl LVII Radio Row, Seth Rollins stopped past The Rich Eisen Show.
** Riki Choshu welcomed Kazuchika Okada onto his YouTube channel for a chat.
** The TJPW Princess Tag Team Championships will be on the line at Enjoy Wrestling’s March 4th show when Max The Impaler and Heidi Howitzer defend against Trish Adora and Jordan Blade.
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.
