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 IMPACT Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view, Moose dropped the IMPACT World Championship to Josh Alexander. Moose told Bobby Fish on The Undisputed Podcast that he feels IMPACT took the belt off him at the right time. He was nervous about the possibility of becoming ‘stale’.
I think IMPACT does a fantastic job because, even with me, when I had the title, personally, I think they took it off me at the right time. My scare was I was gonna get stale being a champion for way too long… And Bobby (Fish) knows this, it’s the same reason why you don’t keep a babyface as a champion for too long because what ends up happening, fans end up turning on him, he ends up being the bad guy. That’s literally what happens.
** The newest episode of Taylor Wilde’s ‘Wilde On’ podcast was a sit-down conversation with her tag partner KiLynn King. They dove into how their pairing came to be and how they did not know the plan until a day or two beforehand. Both were focused on making it appear as if they had chemistry while still figuring it out.
King: Remember it was the first match we ever had together? It was kind of chaotic.
Wilde: It was a sh*t show (she laughed).
King: Oh my God. You said it, not me. I signed the contract and then I had no clue what my role was gonna be once I started. I think we literally got the script for us like a day or two before.
Wilde: Maybe if we’re lucky. Usually, a day before is like a beautiful thing.
King: Yes! So we had to pretend this was planned long in advance and we had this dynamic going on and we had these secrets that I had and it was like, let’s just make them believe that this chemistry is real and I think since then, we’ve really communicated so well to understand what we want this to be. Okay, this was given to us. This is what they need from us right now? How do we make the best of this? And I think we’ve done a really good job in between each match and outing together to really bring that energy and that chemistry to life.
Wilde: I think it’s better. We didn’t know. We were just like, okay, this sounds great. But I actually think our dynamic kind of being born in chaos has actually been a lot better because we had to communicate. We were like a married couple. This is a sh*t show, so we gotta work on communication.
King: It’s like the audience knew this was out of nowhere, so we were able to build off of that natural energy and just be like, this might be out of nowhere but that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna make something out of it and I think we’ve been playing our tricks and figuring it out at the same time so…
** Guest appearing on Mark Andrews’ My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast was Ricochet. Ricochet had been tagging with Braun Strowman, but Strowman is sidelined after undergoing neck fusion surgery. Ricochet hopes to revisit that pairing when Strowman returns.
Right now, I’m tunnel visioned on Money in the Bank but that was a great time and like I said, whenever he (Braun Strowman) shows up, he comes back, hopefully we can get back into that because I think it was catching on. I think the fans and everything, the reception to it I think was really starting to catch fire and I’m focused on that beautiful, green briefcase.
Speaking about his on-screen character, Ricochet feels he gets reset often. He can lose one week and the crowds forget about it the next week. He stated that he does not get the opportunities to talk about his losses or why something happened to him like a Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins or A.J. Styles is able to. Ricochet is looking forward to one day having that defining story.
And for Ricochet, he kind of gets a reset every time he comes out. So whether he lost in five minutes last week, people don’t really remember, because when he comes out, they just know they’re about to see something cool and so I think that’s like a good and bad thing for Ricochet because I don’t really get the opportunity, like for example, like a Seth (Rollins) or an A.J. (Styles) or someone, a Cody (Rhodes) or someone. When they lose a match, the next week on Raw, they get to come out and talk about what happened and why they lost and what’s gonna happen in the future and how they’re gonna change it and Ricochet doesn’t really get that. Ricochet just has to come out and have another match, you know what I mean? Whether he wins or loses, he just comes out and has another match. So, until that comes, until that time comes and I get the opportunity to do the story and get that story which obviously, we all want the Rock-Austin, we all want the Cena-CM Punk. We all want these stories, you know? But I think the most important thing is delivering when it matters, delivering when you can, what you can when it matters. That way, when the time comes and they hand me a microphone, I’m telling everybody, hey, I’m better than your favorite wrestler so, sorry.
** AEW’s Miro was featured in season one of CBS’ New York East television show. He talked to Good Karma Wrestling about the experience and how much he enjoyed it. He added that filming the show turned him around on New York because he initially did not like being there.
He (Richard Kind) was great, he was so good. It was such a great opportunity (being in CBS’ East New York), because it was such a big show and the pilot episode, we got four million views or whatnot and all these guys who’ve been acting forever to just give me the time of day to talk to them, to pick their brains and all the producers, the directors, everybody was so great. I just loved that experience but you know, it wasn’t that long but, I just cherished every single moment and it got me to live in Brooklyn for a couple weeks which I previously hated New York but, being there for a couple weeks, spending, living there like a local Brooklyn there will, I really had a good time, I really had fun times.
** Coming up on June 18th is New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Yuji Nagata’s annual Blue Justice event. Nagata spoke to Proresu-TODAY and told the outlet it was tasking to book the Sakura Civic Gymnasium which is where he had his first wrestling match in high school. Nagata added that the Sakura Wrestling Association helped him and NJPW secure the venue.
I talked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and made a reservation at the Sakura City Gymnasium. Actually, it was quite difficult to make the reservation (for the June 18th event), but the Sakura Wrestling Association cooperated with us and made the date available.
Initially, Nagata thought it’d be good to run the Blue Justice event every two years, but as the popularity of New Japan rose, he began to receive requests to host it yearly, so they made it an annual show starting in 2016.
At first, I thought it would be good if we could do it only once every two years (Nagata/NJPW’s Blue Justice show). But as the popularity of New Japan Pro-Wrestling recovered, we received many requests to do it every year. So we decided to make it an annual event starting in 2016.
** As Ridge Holland was making the media rounds, he told Daily Star how highly he thinks of Ludwig Kaiser and his role in Imperium. He said it takes a lot of self-confidence to do what Kaiser does on-screen.
As a performer, he (Ludwig Kaiser) has spent years refining his act and I think he’s fantastic at what he does. People don’t realize the amount of self-confidence it takes to do what he does. He’s not afraid to take a back seat and put GUNTHER on a pedestal which is exactly what he has done. He is the hype man, but he can go. I’ve had many matches against him and he’s a super talented performer. He knows what he’s doing.
** During the WrestleMania 39 men’s tag team showcase match, Angelo Dawkins ran over Braun Strowman. Dawkins reflected on that moment while on The Ringer Wrestling Show.
So, basically, if you remember, Braun (Strowman) came back (to WWE) and his first time back, it was me, Tez, New Day, Los Lotharios and (Chad) Gable and Otis I believe and he cleaned house, all of us. Put me through the announcers table. I went to go get him. He decided to have eyes in the back of his head that day (he laughed) and I was like, I took a mental note. I was like, alright, okay, cool, bet. I’ma get this dude back. I don’t know when, but I’ma get him back and when I do, it’s gonna be crazy and the fact that we were in SoFi, I was still kind of hot because that was where the Bengals lost the Super Bowl because of a stinking Aaron Donald sack. So, I was mad, I was so pumped for this match. I was like, yo, I’m about to go in-in this match bro. Whoever’s in my way, I’m hitting ‘em. First dude that’s in my way, I’m smacking the crap out him, just to get revenge for Cincinnati. I got the whole city of Cincinnati on my back that night because I was pissed because Aaron Donald got that stupid sack, that 4th down at the end and I was just like, alright, look man, then sure enough, the opportunity presented itself. Braun was running through everybody and I have to give a shoutout to my Viking-Profit brother Erik, you know? For realizing. He saw me. He was like, oh, Dawks is right there. He knows from our times during the pandemic, oh, Dawks is gonna come out of nowhere smacking people and I had to revert back to my football days so Braun was just running roughshod. He’s feeling himself, he’s feeling good because he’s running through everybody and then boom! Y’all heard the thud. Shook the stadium. An earthquake hit in Los Angeles, an earthquake hit in SoFi Stadium. The ground moved, the heavens split open, the sun was shining down and what happened? Yes, yes. I proved to the world that monsters can get derailed too by the one and only Angelo Dawkins, okay? Because I had J.I.D., J. Cole, ‘Stick’ in my head as I was hitting Braun Strowman because I brought the hit stick, I brought the pain. I did what I had to do and I got my revenge on Braun Strowman. That day, I got my revenge for the Cincinnati Bengals. That day, and I had to remind people that your boy did win a National Championship in football so you know…
** Pro Wrestling NOAH released an interview with Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima. Shiozaki spoke about reuniting with Nakajima. He always wanted to do it and thinks it’ll make NOAH more interesting.
I had always wanted to reunite, but when Katsu-san (Katsuhiko Nakajima) made a move, it was a little different to say that I was relieved, but it was something that brought me up. For me, AXIZ is necessary, and I believe it is absolutely necessary for the promotion of NOAH and the promotion of NOAH as a whole. I think this reunion will make NOAH more interesting.
** Hiromu Takahashi and New Japan Pro-Wrestling have released a project with the fashion brand ROLLING CRADLE.
** La Catalina a.k.a. former WWE talent Katrina Cortez is scheduled for NJPW x CMLL Fantasticamania Mexico. She’ll be teaming with Stephanie Vaquer and La Jarochita to take on Zeuxis, Lluvia and Dark Silueta.
** GHC Heavyweight Champion Jake Lee was interviewed by Pro Wrestling NOAH’s website.
** Cultaholic caught up with Ridge Holland.
** Busted Open Radio conducted interviews with Ethan Page and Big Kon.
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.
