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.
** At Paul Wight’s Q&A session at For the Love of Wrestling (via Monopoly Events), Wight stated that he’d like to tag with Chris Jericho in AEW. In February 2023, Jericho filed a trademark for ‘Jeri-Show’ which the name of his team with Wight from WWE.
In the future, there’s some great talent in AEW. I’d tell you one guy I’d like to tag with again for sure. It’d be Chris Jericho. I’d love to tag with Jericho again.
Early in Wight’s career, he was able to pull off moonsaults among other feats at his size. On one occasion, he performed a moonsault off-camera and word got around. Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) contacted Wight and told him if he ever did it again, he would not be working with Wight anymore. Paul does feel he was too athletic for his size.
Oh yeah, I’ve done a moonsault. It’s funny. I used to do drop kicks off the top, I’ve done moonsaults. The moonsault thing got killed. The one time I did it, it wasn’t in a live event and it’s before they had cell phone cameras so, there wasn’t any documented evidence of it but, it got around and I got back to my hotel and my hotel phone had a message light and I think I was in Japan and so I called, I picked up the message and it was Hulk (Hogan) who wanted me to call him collect from Japan. Because this is before cell phones so I called Hulk and Hulk told me flat out if I ever did a moonsault again, he’d never work with me again and hung up. ‘Giants don’t do moonsaults.’ When I first started, I was way too athletic for my size and what the industry was used to for a big man and what the industry wanted from me as a giant. I wasn’t as athletic as Undertaker by any means, but I was a giant that was way too athletic than to be a giant so it was a hard struggle early in my career to figure out who I was supposed to be.
In 2011, Paul Wight and Mark Henry met at WWE’s Vengeance pay-per-view. In that match, Henry suplexed Wight off the second rope and the ring collapsed as a result. Wight remembers he was initially going to give the suplex to Henry, but Henry was not big on heights, so they switched roles. Wight added that Vince McMahon tried to convince Henry to take the move as well.
Any funny stories about Mark Henry when we broke the ring? Yeah. Mark was a big chicken for going up on the top rope. Vince (McMahon) and I had to really talk Mark into it and he broke out into a sweat and almost tears because Mark Henry’s afraid of heights and I’m trying to explain to Mark like, ‘Mark, no, it’s only about a four-and-a-half foot drop. It’s not that big.’ ‘No man, but when I’m up there, I look down to the floor. It’s too high. I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared’ so, because originally, I think it was supposed to be me giving Mark the suplex off the top and Mark wouldn’t go on the top rope. He just wouldn’t have it so then I’m like, ‘Okay! I’ll take the bump again. I’ll break the ring again’ so there you go. That’s how it works out. I think I remember that right. Who knows? I’ve been hit in the head with a lot of chairs.
** When Becky Lynch looks back at the rivals she’s had in her WWE career, she thinks Charlotte Flair will go down as her greatest rival. She shared that note on Mark Andrews’ My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast.
I mean I think my greatest rival is probably gonna go down as Charlotte Flair. I think we’ve just had such a storied history and I think that’s always going to be the feud that people come back to and think of as maybe one that changed the game in terms of the story we were telling and for that length of time that we told it. It spanned over years and years and then Bianca Belair is one rival that will go down as one of the stories that I’m most proud of.
There was a conversation about the number of Irish wrestlers who’ve been able to make it to WWE. One of the names Lynch mentioned is NXT’s Lyra Valkyria and said she feels Lyra is going to be a big star.
So proud (of the Irish wrestling scene & how far it’s come) because I think of it, you know, we had Fit (Finlay) and he started the legacy, but really, in terms of the Republic of Ireland, we didn’t really have anything or certainly not that I was aware of growing up, there was nothing so, we’re talking, this all started 21 years ago and to have at least five major stars in WWE that all came from that little Irish scene, you know? We’ve got Sheamus, we’ve got Finn (Bálor), we’ve got myself, we’ve got Jordan (J.D. McDonagh) and now we’ve got Lyra Valkyria, if that’s how you pronounce her name, who’s just phenomenal and is just gonna be a huge star in the future so, coming from the grassroots of where it started, knowing what it looked like in day one, I don’t know if anybody would have predicted it.
** Since 2009, Scott Stanford has worked as a host, personality and commentator for WWE. He was interviewed on the Armbars & Sidebars show and shared that he’s been pitching an idea to WWE about a game show with married couples in the company.
I have an idea. I wanna do a WWE game show called ‘Holy Matrimony’ where it’s a game show where all the married couples in WWE. You (interviewer) might be too young but it’s almost like the old Newlywed Game where the wife has to answer questions about the husband and then the husband comes in and has to see if he matches up the same answers and I thought, boy, wouldn’t it be great if we had Miz and Maryse and Edge and Beth Phoenix and you know, Montez (Ford) and Bianca Belair and people like that? You have them on a game show and you got a lot of trash talk, maybe use some physicality too. But I think that would be something fun that the WWE universe would love so I’m still trying to pitch and again, it’s all very self-centered. It gets me to host a game show though so… I thought Valentine’s Day would be a good day to break it out but I’m still working on it and now you have so many married couples in WWE. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch and Corey (Graves) and Carmella. Johnny (Gargano) and Candice (LeRae). I mean we could certainly have some great game shows with those folks and it writes itself but I’m gonna keep pitching. Persistence is the way to go and I’ll keep pitching it until somebody hears me and we’ll put it on. It’ll be great, it’ll be great. But you can say you heard about it first right here.
There was a point in Stanford’s time in WWE when he was a commentator on the ‘Superstars’ program. He’s interested in getting back on commentary.
Absolutely (I’d consider getting back on commentary for WWE). When I watch the shows now, I’ll actually turn off the sound and I’ll pretend to do the commentary… They know they can call me for anything and I’m ready to roll. If something happened to where not necessarily the analyst, right? I’m not a Corey Graves. I’m more of a play-by-play, set the guy up and throw it to them, let them take it, you come back. But if a Kevin Patrick couldn’t do it or Michael Cole who I think is the best to ever do it along with J.R., if those guys were ever unavailable and they called me on a moment’s notice, I can go and do it in two seconds and then you might say hey, how come this guy hasn’t been doing this for the last 10 years? (He laughed) But listen, this whole business is all about luck, opportunity and timing. Luck, opportunity and timing and if you have a little bit of luck on your side and you have a little bit of timing, that’s when things fall into place and as long as you’re in the game, anything can happen, right? And that’s why I’ve always loved my time at the studio and again, my immediate bosses know they can call me to fill in for anybody and will make it sing and it’ll be seamless and a turnkey operation so, if they know they can count on you, you’re always in good standing and ready to go.
** Guest appearing on Busted Open Radio was Nick Aldis and he expressed his feeling that Mickie James does not get the credit she deserves for the influence she’s had on today’s crop of women’s wrestlers.
She’s an O.G. and a first ballot Hall of Famer whenever that time comes and I think that, maybe this is just me talking but you know, maybe I’m bias but, I don’t think that she’s ever been fully recognized for how much her fingerprints are on this current generation of women who are making boatloads of cash and experiencing tremendous opportunities. I think a lot of the wrestlers that you see today that are part of this movement of women’s wrestling, they were studying Mickie James, as much as anybody because to me, I think she sort of encapsulated the mix of beauty and athleticism and she dedicated herself to the business. She’s one of the boys.
** Joining Aubrey Edwards and Alex Abrahantes on AEW Unrestricted was Satnam Singh. He stated that he would like to add TBS Champion Jade Cargill to his faction that consists of Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt.
Jade Cargill (is who I would like to see join my faction). Yeah, because she’s a basketball player. Also, I’m a basketball player so we have (a) great team, you know? She’s strong, tall and she’s a basketball player so, we have another two wrestlers and be a basketball team. So we have great teammate.
** At the For the Love of Wrestling convention (via Monopoly Events on YouTube), Jungle Boy touched on how Paul Wight has helped him behind the scenes at AEW.
He didn’t necessarily inspire me because I knew I was never gonna be 350 pounds or whatever but The Big Show was a big deal when I was a kid and not only is he here somewhere, I don’t see him but he, at AEW, actually has been a lot of help to me which I wouldn’t really expect because he’s not — we’re not wrestling in the same style and I kind of would’ve thought he would have been inclined to only help bigger guys but he’s actually helped me a lot.
** NJPW1972.com is pushing out interviews with competitors in the 2023 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The newest interview to be released is with ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. He looked back on competing against Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW x IMPACT Multiverse United and called it a ‘life-changing experience’.
Wrestling Hiroshi Tanahashi was absolutely a life-changing experience, if I’m being perfectly honest. I’ve been watching him for years, I know just what he represents and the kind of level at which he wrestles, but it’s honestly shocking just how much he is The Ace. Not just in the ring, but out the ring, the way he carries himself. Everything he does is perfect, and the way it translates to his wrestling is just… impressive. There’s no better word for it, or him, than ‘impressive’.
** There’s a feature story about EFFY on PinkNews.
** Newest edition of Battle of the Brands from the UpUpDownDown crew:
** May 11th birthdays: Robert Roode.
** Joining Busted Open Radio was John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL).
** Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling Results (5/11/23) Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
– Dragon Dia & La Estrella def. Kzy & Jason Lee
– BIGBOSS Shimizu, U-T & JACKY ‘Funky’ Kamei def. Minorita, Kaito Nagano & Daiki Yanagiuchi
– Takashi Yoshida & Punch Tominaga def. Shachihoko Boy & Problem Dragon
– KAI, Daimante, ISHIN & H.Y.O def. Ultimo Dragon, Dragon Kid, Kagetora & Eita
– Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda def. Naruki Doi & Shuji Kondo
– Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki def. YAMATO & B×B Hulk
– Madoka Kikuta, Kota Minoura & Shun Skywalker def. Ben-K, Yuki Yoshioka & Strong Machine J
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.
