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.
** There’s an interview on the Good Karma Wrestling podcast feed with Jeff Jarrett. He explained why he deserves the AEW TV time he gets and chalked it up to his emotional connection to the fans. Jarrett said the moves on display on AEW programming are ‘revolutionary’ but what it all boils down to is that connection to the audience.
Emotional connection with the audience (is why I deserve AEW TV time). It’s just that simple and it’s something that, you know, it goes without saying and the naysayers, ‘Oh, he’s done this, he’s done that.’ All you have to do is listen to the people in the arena. They love me. There’s some kind of ‘F you Jarrett’ that they get going on but I think that’s a term of endearment. They absolutely love me but it’s the emotional connection. That will never go away. The moves will continue to get more and more aggressive and more and more athletic. That’s just the nature of the beast. You look at things that will happen (at AEW in the ring) and I don’t use this word lightly, revolutionary. But at the end of the day, the emotional connection with the audience existed 70 years ago and it’s gonna exist 70 years from now. That’s what entertainment is all about and I don’t care if you’re playing NBA basketball, if you’re playing NFL football or if you’re in a Hollywood blockbuster. It’s all about connecting with your audience.
** While livestreaming on her ‘Limitless Lady’ YouTube channel, Lacey Evans shared that she’s writing a book.
I started writing a book and I don’t wanna tell you the title of it. I’ve been working on it for a while now and I’m just excited so who out there is ready to read my book? It’s not done, obviously because I’m not done.
** On the newest edition of Brian ‘Road Dogg’ James’ ‘Oh…You Didn’t Know’ podcast, he shared that after NXT shows, the show’s current lead writer, Johnny Russo, would receive a phone call from his mother to give him feedback on the program and Russo would relay that feedback to the NXT creative team.
What a wise soul he is to be so much younger than me but he had such a better grasp of reality than I did. Even when I was sober, he helped me so much and this is Johnny Russo we’re talking about. He’s now the lead writer of NXT and I don’t think that’s state secrets or anything so, but just not only a great employee for the company but a great friend and a great guy. His mom would call after NXT and give him feedback on the show (he laughed). He would tell us the next day in the meeting or something. He would say, ‘Well mom called. She likes the guy with the hat.’ She said, ‘Who is that girl on the motorcycle? She likes her…’ I got to know him and he’s a great guy, like I said, great employee…
** The 76th edition of Café De René’s YouTube livestream featured a conversation with Celeste Bonin (Kaitlyn). The former WWE Divas Champion opened about not seeing eye-to-eye with Layla during their time together in WWE. She said things have since been patched up between them.
I struggled a lot with just feeling like I could even talk to a few groups of women… When I first came up and I got this spot on SmackDown, LayCool, they were everything, Layla and Michelle McCool and that was super tough and Barbie (Kelly Kelly) was there and she was always super sweet to me but, it was just weird and it was like my own constructs, you know? My belief in myself whether I should be there or not but so, I struggled to connect with a lot of them that were there before me. But, I think Layla and I had a difficult time kind of seeing eye-to-eye and what’s cool is in these later years, I’ve seen her at different shows. I would come in for WrestleCon and stuff and just different trade shows and the guy that I was doing a bunch of shows with, he started bringing Layla in and so there’s a couple that we were at together and it was like the first time that we talked since I left and then, I know she left after — I don’t even know how it happened but we connected and we exchanged numbers and we just kind of — sh*t was like water under the bridge because, you know, thinking about that stuff, we were just in two totally different spots in our lives. Both really needing and wanting our careers to be something for ourselves individually and really understanding and seeing that in each other, especially now and so, I don’t have any bad blood with anybody. Actually, I have so much love and respect for everybody but there was absolutely difficult times when they were kind of leaders of the locker room. There were things that I don’t think I necessarily agreed with as far as what I consider leadership but again, I wasn’t the leader of my own life… I think it would be really (cool) to have a reunion. I’ve had a couple. I’ve gone to Raw reunions and stuff, but, yeah, so, I didn’t really have anything too tough but, I would say that Layla and I, were the most at odds and now we’ve kind of laid that all to rest and its dope.
Looking back at the time she was part of NXT, Bonin felt there was a disconnect because she did not know much about wrestling.
That’s why I really struggled a lot in NXT with my confidence because I felt like I just didn’t know anything about wrestling. I just didn’t know anything about wrestling and I was so insecure about it and I was so kind of locked up with feeling, how I can wear the right thing? How can I be more confident? How can I be more of a diva? And I never really knew how to take that time to really study wrestling. I was just always so much in my head and so, I always let that just be a really big insecurity for me and be a reason why I didn’t deserve to be there or I didn’t fit in or whatever and I just would let it get to my head a lot so, I definitely looked at that as a big weakness of mine for a long time because I felt everybody was either a veteran or knew so much about wrestling or they were lifelong fans and worked their whole life to get there and I was like, well who am I? You know? And just feeling this feeling of I shouldn’t be here and stuff and I did let that hold me down a lot and the way that I saw myself and the way that I allowed myself to show up and I think that the love, care and attention that I now would have put into understanding and learning wrestling more, the rich history of it and more about the psychology of it which I eventually learned from wrestling, just the performance aspects of it. But, yeah, it’s cool to answer this question this way because I’ve never really said that out loud that I always let that be such a huge insecurity for me, that I was just like, I didn’t watch wrestling as a kid. I wasn’t really into it, you know?
** Hannibal TV has a new interview with former ECW World Tag Team Champion Mustafa Saed. He shared that before WWF/E acquired WCW, he was in talks with John Laurinaitis about getting a dark match/tryout.
You want me to tell you the truth? I was about to get an offer (from WCW). We came to Vegas, we talked to Johnny Ace and Johnny Ace was like, ‘Hey man, give you that dark match, give you that tryout.’ Now I don’t know if he’s trying to blow smoke up my ass but at that time, he seemed serious. We sat there and we talked and things. He said, ‘We’ll give you a shot at it.’ Next thing you know it, Vince (McMahon) bought ‘em out. Vince got a hold of ‘em man and that was the end of that… I don’t feel bad about it, because, the freedom that I had in the business, if some people found out how much freedom I had in the business, they would definitely be jealous or, wow, I wish I could have had that kind of fun. Able to work like that.
Looking back on his pairing with New Jack, Mustafa recalled there being times when the police wanted to arrest them and Tracy Smothers would get them out of those situations.
They wanted to arrest us. But like I said, Tracy Smothers was a lawyer at the time, rest in peace, and Tracy Smothers used to talk to the police for us (Mustafa & New Jack) because they was gonna arrest us before we even got out to the ring.
** While speaking to PWMania, Ninja Mack was asked if he believes Pro Wrestling NOAH can overtake NJPW as the top wrestling promotion in Japan. Here’s what he had to say:
I think the work is cut out (for NOAH to overtake NJPW as the top promotion in Japan). I think we have the right people to do it but, you know, there’s always that change in wind and direction. You need some lucky breaks to happen, you need some things to go your way but I don’t see that it’s not possible. We just put 30,000 people in Tokyo Dome. So, you know, being a NOAH show. I mean New Japan was even there but when is the last time there was a 30,000-person show going like that? So I mean, to be part of that at Tokyo Dome was something phenomenal and just to show what we’re capable of.
** FOX 35 Orlando has a story about 7-year-old Leon Diamond, who placed third in his age group at the Adidas National Wrestling Championship. Diamond trains under former WWE talent Adrian Jaoude a.k.a. Arturo Ruas.
** STARDOM Results (4/30/23) Fukuyama Big Rose in Fukuyama, Japan
– Three Way: Xena def. HANAKO & Aya Sakura
– Waka Tsukiyama & Yuna Mizumori def. Hanan & Saya Iida
– Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe & Saki Kashima def. Utami Hayashishita, Lady C & Miyu Amasaki
– Tam Nakano & Natsupoi def. Starlight Kid & Ruaka
– AZM & Saya Kamitani vs. Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira – (15-Minute Time Limit Draw)
– Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki & Koguma def. Mina Shirakawa, Mariah May & Jessie
– Syuri, Konami, MIRAI & Ami Sohrei def. Giulia, Maika, Thekla & Mai Sakurai
** Gary Gerard Hamilton of the Associated Press conducted an interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
** There is going to be a talk show in Kyoto, Japan that will feature Sareee, Stan Hansen and Manabu Nakanishi.
** NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Results (4/30/23) Grandmesse Kumamoto in Mashiki, Japan
– House of Torture (EVIL, Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO) def. YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, YOH & Ryohei Oiwa
– United Empire (TJP, Francesco Akira & Great-O-Khan) def. Yuto Nakashima, KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight
– United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis & Aaron Henare) def. T.M.D.K. (Kosei Fujita, Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)
– Taiji Ishimori & KENTA def. Jado & Hikuleo
– Master Wato & Tama Tonga def. Gedo & David Finlay
– Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & Tomoaki Honma def. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Oskar Leube
– Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito) def. SANADA, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
** A Q&A with Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf is up on Pro Wrestling NOAH’s official website.
** Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling Results (4/30/23) Plaza Verde in Numazu, Japan
– ISHIN & Diamante def. YAMATO & Kaito Nagano
– Kagetora def. Daiki Yanagiuchi
– Jason Lee & BIGBOSS Shimizu def. Dragon Kid & Ho Ho Lun
– Masaaki, Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda def. Ultimo Dragon, Don Fujii & Genki Horiguchi
– Kota Minoura & B×B Hulk def. Kzy & JACKY ‘FUNKY’ KAMEI
– Dragon Dia, Yuki Yoshioka & Madoka Kikuta def. Shun Skywalker, KAI & H.Y.O
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.
