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.
** A new Captain’s Corner virtual signing was centered around Konnan and he shared that there’s a veteran wrestler in AAA whose name is going to be given to someone new.
Another guy, we’re gonna be coming out with a new — I can’t say the name yet but it’s a wrestler in AAA that’s very popular who’s been there for about 20 years that we’re gonna be giving his name to somebody new…
As Konnan was recounting his lawsuit against TNA in the early 2000s, he mentioned that after that, he had a commentary tryout for WWE and was praised by Barry Windham. Barry told Konnan that his go at commentary was the best he’d heard at that point.
I called WWE and I even forgot who I talked to and I said, you know, ‘Can I come down there, do a tryout as a commentator?’ So I went in there and Barry (Windham) was in there doing the audition with me, and I remember when I was done, he comes up to me, he goes, ‘Wow, that was really good. That might be the best I’ve heard so far’ and I go, ‘Oh, thank you very much’ and so, when I get out, there was this table full of wrestlers and Chris Benoit gets up and he comes and he hugs me. He goes, ‘I was listening man.’ He goes, ‘That was really good. I think they’re gonna hire you’ which they never did. But, that’s my Barry Windham story.
Speaking about present-day WWE programming, Konnan expressed that he’s happy to see that the L.W.O. is back.
Yeah, I’m so glad they’re doing that (L.W.O.) with Rey (Mysterio) and Fantasma (Santos Escobar) because I spent a lot of time with both in AAA and you know, really happy that they brought that back. That’s what made Eddie Guerrero really — the first time we saw any personality in him.
** To promote his new A&E series, ‘Stone Cold Takes on America’, Steve Austin made the media rounds and spoke to NewsChannel 5 Nashville. He mentioned that there’s a bit of an identity crisis he faces on the show as he tries to navigate the balance between ‘Stone Cold’ and ‘Steve Austin’.
It was easy (to take the offer to do ‘Stone Cold Takes on America’). I wasn’t doing anything and I got offered a job so I took it and that’d be the long story short. But a friend of mine I’ve worked with on several projects in the past pitched me this show. It sounded like a great idea to go out there and do some of the things I missed out on in life because I was so focused on my wrestling career and so I’m happy to have been able to do this and there’s a lot of trials and tribulations in this thing, little bit of an identity crisis as I try to figure out, hey, I’m not really being Stone Cold. That’s the name of the show but I’m living life as Steve Austin so, I get the chance to do things I’ve never done and I get a chance to do things I never thought I’d be doing. But when you take the totality of it, I had a blast riding around in that R.V., driving that R.V. and sleeping in that R.V., living in it and having the time of my life.
** The 75th Café De René livestream was a reunion of La Résistance (René Duprée, Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway). Conway told multiple stories from his time in WWE including his 21 second match against Jeff Hardy on Raw in 2007. Conway said it was the most money he’s ever made from one match and the amount he made was $70,000. Days before, he had surgery for a deviated septum.
When he was ‘fired’ by Vince McMahon after the match, Conway said his deal rolled over and he was supposed to be moved to the SmackDown brand. He was released that May.
Jeff (Hardy) was really easy (to work with). My last match in WWE was against Jeff, and I came out and said I would quit Raw if I didn’t win because I had been losing and what had happened was that I had surgery. Remember you (René Duprée) had somehow hit me with the flag? It went over Ryback’s head and hit me in a Louisville show. Yeah, me and you were in OVW for some reason, after we were on TV and we were like in E-town and we went to hit him with the flag but it wrapped around because he grabbed me and hit me in the face and it didn’t really break my nose or anything but later I found out I had a deviated septum. Christmas time, I had surgery so I could breathe and then they call me on New Year’s Eve or that week and like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna bring you in and have you do this.’ I go, ‘I’m not cleared to wrestle.’ I mean I had that packing in my nose for two days. It’s like eight feet of packing they put in there and they said — I go, ‘I’m not cleared’ and they go, ‘Well we’ll just fly you in, see if our doctors might clear you…’ So I was supposed to cut the promo and we were gonna have like a six-minute match and then they came to us and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna cut the match down to like three minutes’ and I was like, ‘Hey man, I can’t get hit in the face. So, we can cut it down as short as you want.’ So I got with Jeff, I cut the promo, we went to lock up. I beat him up for about 15 seconds. Shot him into the corner, went in, he sunset flipped me; one, two, three. But the funny thing about that is — I mean Jeff was easy to work with. I’m sure he was happy to go 21 seconds. But then Vince (McMahon) came out and fired me and people were like, ‘Man, did you really get fired on TV?’ And I thought, he would never tell someone ahead of time that they were gonna get fired and then go do it on TV because they’re afraid that the person would go crazy, grab the microphone. If you thought you were really gonna lose, they might have went out and just beat Jeff up (he laughed)… That’s why they usually don’t let people go in-person. They do it over the phone.
Wasn’t actually fired. I was supposed to move to SmackDown. So my contract rolled over January 1st so I got paid to sit at home until August. I saw Scotty (2 Hotty) got released and Flash (Funk) got released and I didn’t even know he was under contract at the time and I thought, man, if I were them and I’m not using me and my contract had rolled over so I’m getting full pay each week, I would let me go because what am I gonna do? If they bring me back in three months, am I gonna say no? No. I’d be like, okay… I made more money for that one match than I’ve ever made. That was like a $70,000 match.
When Edge was prepping for his return in 2004, he got reps in at OVW. Before Edge’s television return, he broke his hand in a tag match against Rob Conway and Sylvain Grenier. Conway expressed that he feels terrible about it because the match ended via DQ, but it was his idea to go back in the ring to further excite the crowd and it was then that Edge suffered the injury.
He (Edge) broke his hand in a match against me and Sylvain (Grenier). So what happened was, I think it might’ve been him and Maven. Edge was like 260 pounds and jacked after his neck (injury). He was home for like a year. He came back and he was huge and we did a thing where somehow, I think we either got disqualified but they didn’t hit us with their finish and we powdered out and the crowd was really hot. So me and Sly, we were the main event. We were off TV I think and we slid back in and had them hit us with their finishes. So it was like, beat up, shoot, reverse. Edge speared Sylvain and landed and broke his own hand. But the thing is-is that we could’ve just left, but when we heard the crowd, I’m the one that made the call, ‘Let’s feed back in so we can take their finish and people will pop bigger’ and when he got hurt, man, I felt about this big. When you are a legitimate professional, the last thing you ever wanna do is somebody to get hurt in your match. I would have rather broke my own hand, because I can control that but man, I felt terrible so then he went back to Raw a couple weeks later and started an angle with Kane but he had a big cast on his wrist and he couldn’t work out the same. So he spent all that time building himself up and then, I mean obviously, it worked out for him because he became world champ and all that and really a top guy after that but I felt terrible because I never, ever want someone to get hurt in my match.
In 2005, Conway and Grenier wrestled The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty). They mapped the majority of the match out beforehand and right before going out, Jannetty told Conway he forgot everything. Shortly after, he added that he was joking.
Well first of all, we got to the arena, it was in Atlanta. I usually never remember — I see these guys going, ‘Yeah, we were in Mobile.’ I don’t remember any of these things. I do remember we were in Atlanta and we (Conway & Sylvain Grenier) were like, ‘Who are we working tonight?’ And they told me, he said, ‘You’re going against The Rockers’ and I said, ‘Who the f*ck are The Rockers?’ And they were like, ‘Marty and Shawn.’ I thought it was a new team they were calling The Rockers. Marty (Jannetty) hadn’t been around for 20 years, or at least 15 years and they said, ‘No, Marty and Shawn’ and I still didn’t believe ‘em. ‘Are you kidding me?’ Then Shawn (Michaels) came up with Marty and like, ‘Yeah, we are gonna work.’ So, we put the match together and we talked more about it then we normally would with Shawn because Marty hadn’t been there a little while. ‘He hadn’t been here. He’s never worked with you guys.’ So we went over it, we went over it and we went over it, you know? And then right before we actually walked out, Marty looked at me and goes, ‘What are we doing? I forgot everything’ and I was like, ‘Oh sh*t’ and I went to go tell him what we were doing, he goes, ‘Nah, I’m just joking…’ and then, we went out there and it went really good. It went so good, at the end of it, I think Marty does something to Sly and I’m supposed to come and make the save and Shawn’s gonna superkick me and I’d never worked with Shawn yet so when he superkicked me, I wanted to take such a good bump that I snapped and bumped as hard as I could. I rolled to the floor and I came back from the match and my lip was all bleeding and he looked at me and goes, ‘I didn’t do that’ and I said, ‘No. What happened was when I bumped, I hit myself in the face.’ I rolled out of the ring and then I busted (my own lip) so the next week, I got there and I wrestled Shawn in a singles match that they said was a ‘grudge match’. It was a grudge match because he had superkicked me.
During his time in WWE, Conway had a theme song called ‘Just Look At Me’. There was pushback against Conway because he did not like the theme. He was told that Jim Johnston worked hard on it and Rob had no room to ask for something else. Rob feels it’s a top two worst wrestling theme.
So, I’ve had heat because I didn’t like it (my WWE theme). The first time I heard it, I was getting ready to go to the ring and I think Kerwin White was out there and then my music hit and they were like, ‘That’s your music’ and I was like, ‘What?’ I thought it was his music, like coming back after the match so I walk through the curtain and I never heard it before and I was like, holy sh*t, this is terrible. I’d been working with Ed Koskey on a character and the vision we had and I guess the vision that had got up to the office and that was totally different… And the thing is-is it was kind of one of the flavors. He wrote that song and then Kerwin White’s song was kind of lounge-y and I literally said, ‘Man, it’s not exactly Time to Play the Game is it?’ You could’ve sent Stone Cold when he was The Ringmaster out to that music and people would have, you know, immediately — it just sucked the energy out of the crowd whereas when we were in La Résistance and that ‘Final Force’ music hit, boom… It was like an oven of boos. It’s a catchy song but it’s not entrance music. So I pushed back and was like, ‘Hey, could we make it a little faster?’ And this, that and the other thing then the next thing I know, I’m coming to TV and they’re like, ‘Hey, Jim Johnston wrote all this music and he’s won awards and you’ve got no business trying to get him to change it’ and I was like, ‘Okay.’ If you just hear some music, you immediately think, okay, who’s this guy? And that music was so slow that it sucked the energy out of the crowd. It was turn the channel heat… Some people love it but they didn’t wanna come out to it. But most of the time, it’s like at least top two worst entrance music ever. Probably number one.
** Joining the Public Enemies Podcast was E.J. Nduka. When it comes to dream matches he wants to have, Nduka listed Roman Reigns as one and Ricochet as the other. He feels Ricochet is the best in-ring performer of ‘our time’.
Number one (when it comes to my dream matches), and this is recently, I would definitely like to go with Roman Reigns, no question. I think he’s one of the best storytellers in the game. I just like the energy he brings. He’s the dominant wrestler right now in our industry and he’s just incredible. I’d like to share the ring with him. Number two is easily Ricochet. I think he’s the best in-ring performer of our time. I think he’s a genius. I picked his brain a lot in the early days of me cultivating who The Judge was and a lot of the stuff that he taught me and told me, it kind of resonated too, you know?
For the past several years, Nduka was a member of the MLW talent roster. He spoke about the freedom he had with promos and said not much of anything was ever written for him. He was allowed to take the main talking points and craft a promo how he saw fit.
MLW gave me a platform because at first, I got there… My first two episodes, they had wrote what they wanted me to say all the time like they do everywhere else. But, I found that I would read it and then I, you know, talk to the writers and the producers and I was like, ‘Yo, what are the three major points you want me to get across? What are the major things?’ And I said, ‘Let me do a couple promos how I envision The Judge,’ you know what I’m saying? And we had a crazy team. It was me, Emilio Sparks… We had Biff (Lawson)… and we just got together and made magic, and even my last year, the run in MLW, they didn’t write nothing for me. They would tell me what the points (are). Like, ‘Do what you do because that’s what people like, that’s what’s getting the views so you just keep doing you’ and I just kept going.
** As WWE ring announcer Mike Rome was speaking to Chris Van Vliet about his transition from backstage interviewer to ring announcer, he shared that initially, he was told his current position is temporary. He filled in for Joseann Offerman (JoJo) when she became pregnant.
(Chris) Jericho is (the) only stuff that people really, really remember from that (backstage interviewer days). But I was backstage in 2016 through the time that I took over ring announcing, I think at the beginning of 2019 or 2018. I don’t remember what year it was, it is whatever year JoJo got pregnant. Because I remember getting the call and they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re going back to Raw’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah,’ and they’re like, ‘You’re gonna be ring announcer’ and they’re like, ‘It’s temporary.’ I was like, ‘Okay, cool. It’s just temporary.’ It’s temporary, and I’m still here.
** This past February, Kaito Kiyomiya went one-on-one with Kazuchika Okada at Keiji Muto’s Final Match event. Kiyomiya recounted the match while being interviewed by Rolling Stone Japan. He’s always had it in mind to lead the pro wrestling industry and the match gave him a sense of how far he is from where he wanted to be.
I have always had it in my mind to lead the pro wrestling industry, so that fight (against Kazuchika Okada) gave me a sense of how far I was from where I wanted to be. I think it was such a match that allowed me to move forward.
** While speaking to Jim Varsallone, Jeff Jarrett was asked for his thoughts about Endeavor acquiring WWE and the merger with UFC. Jarrett went on to say that he feels both WWE and AEW will reach new heights in the next one or two years.
You know, there’s so many different ways to look at it (WWE-UFC merger) but, at the end of the day, I have about nine billion reasons to tell you that really says it all in the professional wrestling business. Vince (McMahon), hats off to the guy… Years ago, professional wrestling/sports entertainment, we dip in and out of pop culture and then it was can WrestleMania continue to grow? But when you kind of look at the entire scope of the industry now, it is mainstream in every facet that you can imagine. I truly believe that 12, 24 months from now, I think you’re gonna be looking — and I say this with all due respect, but obviously I’m biased towards the professional wrestling industry, but I believe you’re truly going to see professional wrestling, WWE, AEW, go to another level, because in so many ways, I believe that merger, it’s such a statement. Yes, it’s a financial statement in so many ways. Evaluation and all that. Wall Street worries about that but as far as the D.N.A. of pop culture within a seven-day period, the merger was announced three days after that. We announced Wembley Stadium in London for a summer event. Those are really, really iconic moments. There hasn’t been a wrestling event in Wembley in 30 years. For us to make that statement so, you know, you talk about the Khan family and Jacksonville and all that, look, in business, mergers and acquisitions, that’s what my personal attorney — his specialty is mergers and acquisitions. I’m one of his side clients so to speak but, it’s kind of the nature of the beast. That’s exactly what business does. But when you throw kind of the elements that you’re talking about, it’s big business, it’s obviously big money, big coverage.
** Since December 2022, Jun Akiyama has been reigning as DDT Extreme Champion. He was interviewed by DDT Pro-Wrestling’s official website and said he’s enjoying the reign. He’s doing matches he’s never done before because he’s holding the title.
Yes, I do (have my sights set on a long reign as DDT Extreme Champion). I’m getting more and more interested in extreme. I am doing what each fighter demands. I am doing things that I have never done before, so I think it is good to have the belt.
The 2022 installment of DDT’s ‘D-Oh Grand Prix’ was only for talents under the age of 40. Akiyama did not have an issue with that and will not have an issue with it if that’s the case for this year’s tournament.
I think that’s fine (2022 D-Oh Grand Prix being for talents under the age of 40). There are things that accumulate with age, in places where you can’t see them. So I thought they probably did it that way. It would be different if it was a one-shot tournament, but if it was a league with a series of matches, it would be different. I thought that the company was thinking about it. I didn’t have the idea of don’t limit it by age. I don’t mind (if there’s an age limit for this year’s tournament).
** Ahead of challenging for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Yoshinobu Kanemaru spoke to NJPW1972.com. Kanemaru is a part of ‘Just 5 Guys’ and told the site that when SANADA joined, it boosted group morale.
Hm, I think that came before he (SANADA) took the belt (Kanemaru said about the morale boost of Just 5 Guys). When we came together as the five of us and went, ‘OK, let’s do this.’
** Shinjiro Otani is scheduled to appear at an event promoted by Pro Wrestling ZERO1 on May 6th. He is currently in rehabilitation for a cervical spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. ZERO1 noted that there is no guarantee Otani will appear at the 5/6 event. It depends on his physical condition the day of or if the doctor in charge rules against it. He was originally scheduled to make his first public appearance in late March.
** Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Kenoh is making an ‘important announcement’ on April 27th.
** On his ‘Hall of Fame’ podcast, Booker T spoke about CM Punk being present at the venue for the 4/24 Monday Night Raw in Rosemont, Illinois.
** On May 4th, Mina Shirakawa is defending her newly won Wonder of STARDOM Championship against Natsupoi.
** NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Results (4/25/23) Kochi Pref. Gymnasium in Kochi, Japan
– Yuto Nakajima vs. Boltin Oleg – Time Limit Draw (10:00)
– YOH, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto def. House of Torture (Dick Togo, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL)
– United Empire (Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan) def. Oskar Leube, Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA
– United Empire (Aaron Henare, Jeff Cobb, Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) def. T.M.D.K. (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
– Master Wato, Shota Umino, Tama Tonga & Hikuleo def. BULLET CLUB (Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, KENTA & David Finlay)
– Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada def. Ryohei Oiwa, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki
– DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito)
** AJPW Champion Carnival Results (4/25/23) Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
– Dan Tamura defeats Black Menso-re
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block B: Shotaro Ashino [8] def. Takao Omori [0]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block A: Cyrus [6] def. Yoshitatsu [2]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block B: Suwama [8] def. Hokuto Omori [4]
– Junior Tag Battle Of Glory Tournament: Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [4] def. Oji Shiiba & Ryo Inoue [2]
– Junior Tag Battle Of Glory Tournament: Kaito Ishida & Kotaro Suzuki [4] def. Naoki Tanizaki & Naruki Doi [2]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block A: Jun Saito [4] def. Yuma Aoyagi [6]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block B: Yuma Anzai [6] def. Rei Saito [8]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block A: T-Hawk [8] def. Ryuki Honda [8]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block B: Shuji Ishikawa [8] def. Manabu Soya [6]
– Champion Carnival 2023 Block A: Satoshi Kojima [6] def. Kento Miyahara [8]
** IMPACT World Champion Steve Maclin appeared on Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
** There’s a story on The Guardian about Billy Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins incorporating the NWA into their trip to Australia.
** Mustafa Ali chatted with The National.
** IMPACT Knockouts World Champion Deonna Purrazzo appeared on the Paltrocast.
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.
