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.
** A2D Radio welcomed Tyler Breeze onto the show and as their conversation rolled on, Breeze looked back on his full-time return to NXT in 2019. Before that happened, he spoke with Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and asked to either be released or presented with another option since he was not being used. Levesque asked if he’d want to come back to NXT and Breeze was game. He recalled when Dirty Dango was cleared to return and how excited he was. Dango told Breeze the return moment might’ve been the most fun he’s had just doing something.
I think (Dirty) Dango actually got injured so then I was on my own for a while and I literally just went, ‘Man, okay, what do we do now? What’s the next step?’ And I remember I think I got pretty bitter and that was mostly like personal life and other stuff. It all just added up. Being on the road for a while obviously gets ya. So I just kind of started getting a real bad attitude and just going like, man, what do we do now? What’s the next thing? So, I believe I actually asked Triple H, I said, ‘Look man, clearly you don’t need me here.’ I said, ‘If you don’t need me, either release me or, I don’t know, what’s another option?’ And he goes, ‘Well would you be open to going to NXT? Because I’d really prefer you there’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘That’d be great.’ So I went down there, kind of started having some more fun as myself again and finding my feet and then when Dango was ready, which I think was maybe six-ish months after, he came back to the big return and I remember he’d been a part of NXT when it was a game show or whatever it was. He’d never really gotten the feel of what we’d gotten coming up through the NXT and so when he came back, he came back and we had a little reunion and when we went to the back that night, I remember him looking at me and going, ‘Man, that’s like the best reaction I’ve ever gotten’ and he’s like, ‘I think that was the most fun I’ve ever just had doing something’ and I said, ‘Yeah man. NXT’s fun dude,’ and he got kind of reinvigorated to where he was pumped.
Further discussing his collective time with the ‘black and gold’ version of NXT, Breeze agreed with a chat user that it was the best wrestling product of the last decade.
I’m gonna lean more towards the ‘agree’ on that one (NXT black & gold was the best wrestling product of the last decade) and you know, obviously I could be a little bit bias because I was there and I was a part of it but, the atmosphere at the time and the card top-to-bottom was just full of young, hungry people that were kind of finding themselves and finding the groove that they were hitting all at the exact same time and it kind of just came together to be something really, really cool and I mean, I would put some of those TakeOvers and again, that atmosphere up against anything else. The people that showed up, they wanted to be there and they wanted to be entertained and then the talent that was there, they weren’t really thinking about themselves. We all were but we were very much a part of let’s make this show the coolest show that’s around and so we were all on the same page which is very, very difficult to find because normally, people have their own agendas or once more money comes into it, people are worried about certain things or how they’re booked or all that other stuff so, I think across the board, everybody was just like, this is where you wanna be and this is where you wanna be a part of and if you’re not on the card that day, you’re glued to the curtain watching the whole thing because you love it, you know what I mean?
** The newest episode of Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast is a chat with Seth Rollins. The WWE World Heavyweight Champion told the story of Vince McMahon altering his current theme song when he first got it. McMahon took some of the signature ‘woahs’ out of the song. Rollins said the version he’s using is the one McMahon altered.
Did the song (his new theme) and when I was putting the song together, I kind of had a vision for what I wanted people to do and when we first put that song out, Vince McMahon was actually, he was just hearing it for the first or second time and he actually took a set of the ‘woahs’ out. He didn’t get the woahs. He was like, ‘Ah, that’s not Seth Rollins. That’s not Seth Freakin’ Rollins’ and I’m like, ‘I’m telling you’ and he’s like, ‘No, no, no. Just trust me’ and I’m like, ‘Alright, fine, I’ll trust you. You’ve only been doing this for 80 years’ or whatever so like, he took the woahs out but in the back of my mind, I was like, you just wait, you just wait. No, they never went back in. The version you hear now is still the Vince version but there’s enough of the woahs that it caught on and so, it took a while because I was a heel. No one was singing my song so they didn’t care at first and we weren’t in front of people. It wasn’t until August that the songs debuted in front of people, regularly.
Earlier in the chat, Rollins heaped praise onto Dominik Mysterio’s heel run and said he could see it coming. Seth stated that Dominik is not built to be a babyface because he’s the son of Rey Mysterio and it’s easy to dislike nepotism. He brought up being with Dominik on house shows and said he’s a sponge for information.
I was sitting in a live event not long ago and he (Dominik Mysterio) was getting booed just out of the building and one of our producers, Hurricane Helms, was sitting there with me and he’s like… He’s got a little bit of a lisp (Rollins chuckled). He’s like, ‘If you would’ve told me six months ago he’s gonna be a top heel in the business, would you believe it?’ And I was like, ‘Yes.’ That’s the visionary part. I could see this coming, because he’s not built to be a babyface. He’s Rey Mysterio’s kid. Same thing, people think he’s getting handed everything, being Rey’s kid and it’s so easy to wanna hate nepotistic jerks, right? People digging off their family name, it’s easy to hate that and I’m like, they’re gonna love him at first but eventually, it’s all gonna come back around.
So for him to be able to feel that, take that in and apply it every single week and trust the people around him, telling him exactly what to do, to be able to do that and then turn it into where it is now where he can’t pick up a microphone to say words because they’ll just boo him out of the building dude. It’s fantastic… And it’s so fun to watch and here’s the thing, I’m with him on these live events all the time and he’s a sponge for information so I’ll tell him something, ‘Hey, you should check this out.’ ‘Watch yourself do this. This is maybe a better way to do it’ and he’ll apply it the next day and it works and he’s like, oh, lightbulb and then you could just see the little things that he does every single step of the way start to improve. You gotta remember, he’s still like 23 or something. He’s a very young cat so he’s still growing into his body, he’s learning how to do this thing and trying to fill — again, we talked about Rey Mysterio earlier on, one of the greatest of all time. You can’t fill those shoes dude. You will never be able to. I can’t imagine the pressure that-that puts on you. So for him to be able to develop himself as something completely different from his dad, that’s gotta take so much weight off of his shoulders. He doesn’t have to be his father. He can be his own thing and that’s fantastic.
The topic of moments in wrestling came up and Rollins stressed how important those are. He said he has great matches every week that’ll be forgotten about, but the moments last.
That’s the defining one (cash-in at WrestleMania 31). That’s the one that changed my career. Without that Money in the Bank contract and without that particular cash-in, I’m probably not sitting here having this conversation with y’all so that’s the one that stands out I think. That’s the one that’s gonna live forever I think. I think in this industry, it’s really about moments. I don’t wanna toot my own horn but I have great matches every week all the time and I’m not saying, oh, I’m so great. I’m in a groove. The crowd is with me, we understand each other, it’s a good synergy so I can have a great match and they will be forgotten about in an instant so, the business is really about moments that can last forever. WrestleMania, what’s a moment? How do we splash K.S.I. through a table? How do we put him through a table? What is an audience gonna keep in their mind for more than 24 hours? Because especially in the age of content where everything — and I’ve heard many media executives mention this but everything is competition when it comes to media because it’s all sort of just this one — it’s way saturated and WWE is the king of content. We have so much content and so you have to go, how do we make moments that are gonna last any amount of time? That are gonna register with people for years. The cash-in at WrestleMania is the one where like, I had a guy tell me a few years ago that for him, it was like his generation’s version of (Hulk) Hogan slamming André (the Giant) at WrestleMania III and so I go, that’s cool.
** To promote DDT Wrestle Peter Pan on July 23rd, TOKYO HEADLINE conducted an interview with Chris Brookes, who is challenging for the KO-D Openweight Championship at the event. Brookes dislocated his right shoulder in late May but returned to the ring before his title match. He discussed his recovery and said his doctor was surprised at how quickly he recuperated. Brookes said the spot he’s in feels like fate.
I dislocated my right shoulder, and in my return match on July 7th at Shinjuku FACE, I was focused on checking the condition of my injury, so I only thought about whether it was OK. So I lost right away. But I moved well, and it gave me confidence; I took a little over five weeks off, and for the first three weeks I couldn’t do anything. The doctor said no weight training, no nothing. I went to the hospital and did electrotherapy, diet care. But no training. Went to a rehab hospital. Then I felt good. He said I could train and wrestle. I was only able to train for two weeks for the match in Shinjuku. A dislocated shoulder usually requires surgery, which takes two-to-three months. I went to the rehab hospital three weeks later. No more pain. The doctor was surprised, ‘How can you be so healthy in three weeks?’ But I was able to train at full strength right away. It feels like fate. This was just one of the stories leading up to the challenge… I won a tournament, I dislocated, but that is not the ending story. Even though I dislocated it, I made it to Ryōgoku (for Wrestle Peter Pan), so it’s fate.
** One of the recent pro wrestling-related conversations on the Mike Lewis Podcast was with Anthony Carelli a.k.a. Santino Marella. If Marella was to go into WWE’s Hall of Fame, he would like his daughter, NXT’s Arianna Grace, to do the honor of inducting him. He added that if that he does not go into their Hall of Fame, it is not the be-all end-all.
I would love it, you know? (Marella said about a potential WWE Hall of Fame induction) Especially if my daughter’s there and with the company and you know, if she could induct me or as a thank you for bringing my daughter there who’s gonna be like a mega star (he laughed). I don’t know. But if it doesn’t happen, it’s not gonna erase my career. It would just be a really nice accentuation piece, you know?
Earlier in the conversation, Marella expressed that he knows if he wants to stick around in wrestling as he gets older, he’ll likely have to become a producer and he likes that aspect of the business.
It’s fun to be back on TV and not just to be back on TV but to produce television and to see anything that goes into it, you know? With direction and production and the talent and you know, if I wanna stick around in the business as I get older, I’m sure I’m gonna have to be a producer one day and get in on that side, and I like it. I like the production of television.
** Prior to IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary, Joe Hendry spoke to Jim Varsallone. He feels that he was missing character development during his time in Ring of Honor. Hendry added that IMPACT helped him get the most out of his ideas.
What’s cool though is I think what’s missing from me in Ring of Honor was the character development. So when you get to IMPACT, you start to think, okay, so hyping this theme song and IMPACT had saw what I did in my promos and my in-ring and that’s when you see me backstage at IMPACT Wrestling, I’m crafting and writing songs and such. So I think IMPACT has helped me get the most out of my ideas creatively in a way that I hadn’t been able to do up until this point.
** Joining Mickie James, Lisa Marie Varon and SoCal Val on GAW TV was Allie Katch. She shared that she pitched the idea of facing Mickie at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 6 in 2022. Katch said what secured her the match was how she handled the buildup to the match against Ruby Soho at The Wrld on GCW at Hammerstein Ballroom. Mickie chimed in and said the only reason she took the booking was to wrestle Allie and went on to speak highly of GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale for being nice and professional.
Katch: I’m the one who said, ‘Do we need a big Spring Break match? Mickie James. Please. It would be so amazing and an honor to wrestle Mickie James but I can make that a story. I can make this matter if you give me a chance.’ Same thing, Hammerstein (The Wrld on GCW), I said, ‘I’ll show you why I can make this Ruby Soho match matter’ and then we filmed the vignettes and everything and he (Brett Lauderdale) went, ‘You’re right. I trust you. You can have this Mickie James match after that. You can do this.’
James: Oh, I’m so honored. I will say the only reason why I agreed to do that match is because I was wrestling you… I struggle to watch some of the Game Changer Wrestling just because of the hardcore stuff. I struggle with blood, period, I struggle with MMA if it gets too violent, gets too bloody, I’m just like, ‘Ugh!’ My face does a whole other thing. It’s not attractive. It’s not. But I was like, oh man and then when they said I was wrestling you, I was like, ‘Yes’ because I had wanted to wrestle you, I already heard so much about you and I was like, this could be really, really cool and that’s kind of one of my things if I’m gonna take — I don’t do a lot of independent bookings. I think that’s one of the only — I don’t know that I would consider it an independent but that’s only one of the independents that I’ve taken since going back but I really, really wanted to have that matchup. I thought it would be so fun and I really wanted to wrestle you and I was like, oh my God, this is gonna be so fun but I have to say, Brett was so nice, he was super professional. Everybody was so, so cool and then sitting there watching it, although I had to watch some of it like this (with my hands covering my eyes), watching the whole show, I was like, ‘Dude, this is freaking cool’ and the fans were so into it and it’s clear that you guys have that real — to me, it feels like a new age ECW in a sense of this new — people really feel like they are a part of this company and the growth of all these stars and have now shifted that from just being like, oh yeah, that’s that thing to now everybody’s talking about it. Everybody knows who it is, everybody knows what Game Changer Wrestling is so, it’s been really, really cool to watch that but I was honored to get in there and wrestle with you and thanks for making it with me.
** While appearing on Hitting The Turnbuckle, Axel Tischer detailed how helpful Scotty 2 Hotty was with the presentation of his ‘Alexander Wolfe’ character in WWE.
(NXT) coaching staff for example, I cannot really thank enough a guy like Scotty 2 Hotty who is kind of the guy to speak about characters because he’s not a wrestler’s wrestler. He’s a character guy. He made a silly breakdance move world-famous and he made so much money with that and still to this day, it is one of the coolest things and I am honored I had the chance to do the worm with him in the ring at Wrestle Carnival. He’s the guy who helped me so much with the Alexander character just to find myself and find my inner psychopath which I can proclaim and you’re always looking for things you like which go in that direction and he was pointing out when I do promos for example, how to behave in a weird way that people kind of listen (to) what I have to say, but still being distracted about weird movements… ‘If you put somebody behind a shadow wall, you have to know who it is so if you see somebody who kind of do this, spits water, you know it’s Triple H, right? You kind of see a guy do this, you know it’s H.B.K.,’ yada, yada, yada. ‘So what could you do that people will recognize you just from your shadow? Or what could you do when you speak? How could you speak in a different way? Especially with your German accent.’ Stuff like this so he helped me a lot with that and it was a success story.
** Joining A2D Radio was Rich Swann and he discussed how he never wanted to be on the receiving end of 2 Cold Scorpio’s moonsault leg drop. That time came in December 2022 when Swann took the move at a Battleground Championship Wrestling event.
Trust me, I felt it firsthand in December (2 Cold Scorpio’s moonsault leg drop). I wanna say it was December 8th of 2022. This dude sat on my face with the kiss that don’t miss. 2 Cold Scorpio with that God damn, that backflip moonsault leg drop. Sat right on my face, I was spitting blood for a month (Swann laughed). Yeah, that was at the (2300) Arena. I’ll tell you what man, he’s done that to a couple people. 2 Cold, he done it to Sami Callihan, he done to Goddamn Kenny Dykstra. He’s done it to Eddie Kingston, he’s done it to Chris Hero, he’s done it to a lot of people and Drake Younger and I’ll tell you what, me and my boy Uhaa Nation a.k.a. Apollo Crews in WWE, in Japan, we would rewind over and over and over, him doing that backflip moonsault to Kenny Dykstra being like, ‘Goddamn! I don’t ever wanna end up in this position’ and then December 8th, 2022, I looked up and I’m like, Goddamn! I am in this position. Ahh!! Here comes 2 Cold. But man, I’d probably say him, Sting, Bret Hart, Stone Cold especially, those guys, definitely my inspirations. Love it.
** Newly crowned IMPACT Knockouts World Champion Trinity Fatu was interviewed by Justin Barrasso.
** A feature on NJPW’s Aaron Henare via Te Ao Māori News:
** MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane returned to Straight Talk Wrestling.
** IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA spoke to Tokyo Sports.
** Fox News Digital pushed out the written version of their chat with Ric Flair.
** There’s an interview with The Miz on Comicbook.com.
** Joining the ‘Old School Shooters Podcast’ was Harry Smith.
** Bobby Fish welcomed Karrion Kross onto his Undisputed Podcast.
** Guest appearing on the Stick to Wrestling podcast was Matt Hardy.
** July 18th birthdays: Shahid Khan & Valentina Feroz.
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.
