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 the conclusion of IMPACT Wrestling’s tour of the U.K., company President Scott D’Amore sat down with Cultaholic’s Tom Campbell for an interview. D’Amore shared that in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, after they aired their one-hour ‘Total Nonstop Action’ special on AXS TV, the Head of Broadcasting at Anthem Sports & Entertainment asked if they could do a special like that every week. Content on that show was taped prior to the shutdown.
In early 2020 right as COVID was getting ready to hit, we had planned a one-night event, TNA: There’s No Place Like Home which had quite a good buzz going and we did a one hour special on AXS TV that I just remember the Head of Broadcasting at Anthem calling me up and saying, ‘Hey, did you see this number? Could you do this every week?’ And really, COVID hit in between when we filmed it and when it aired and I was like, ‘No. We’re not even sure how we’re gonna get on our weekly show, yet alone a second show.’ So, it’s always kind of been there in the backburner. That’s why during the COVID era, you saw the idea of Moose being the TNA World Champion coming about and you know, we just looked at things and the timing never felt right really until now.
** As Eddie Kingston was speaking to Adrian Hernandez, he expressed that he’s happy to see L.A. Knight’s success in WWE. He touched on their time together in NWA and looks back fondly on that time period. Kingston shared that he did not want to leave NWA but had to so he could bring money in during the pandemic.
Nah man, of course, of course. I’m so happy for L.A. Knight. That dude busts his ass. We all did, we all did. So to see him getting the love that he’s getting and being able to perform on that big stage, I salute him… That time in NWA, I gotta give it mad love because it was just so much fun and the atmosphere back — I don’t know how it is now. It’s probably still the same. I gotta ask Homicide. We don’t talk about wrestling really. We just talk about life. But when I call Homicide up, I’ll ask him next time, yo, is it like it was back then? Because back then, it was just so much fun. It was like, me, having Homicide there is always great, because he always keeps me calm, believe or not. So he knows how to talk to me and keep me calm like Rocky Romero does here. They know how to talk to me and get my mind clicking where it’s, ‘Eddie, don’t do this’ and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah.’ Not many people can do that. But, we had us, L.A. Knight like you said, Trevor Murdoch, Ricky (Starks) was there, Chelsea (Green), Thunder Rosa, Allysin Kay, my french vanilla, that’s her nickname. Marti Belle was there… And I know I’m missing other people, The Dawsons. I’m missing a lot of other — and I don’t mean no disrespect but, it’s a lot of names and it was a lot of fun, you know what I mean? Then pandemic hit and we all had to make money somehow, and I didn’t wanna leave NWA but it was either stay broke or make money and I had to make money, I had to live. I didn’t wanna move back in with my mother at 38 at the time, you know?
** From July through September 2023, Lance Anoa’i toured with Pro Wrestling NOAH. He told The Shining Wizards podcast that he’ll be back in the promotion but could not reveal any more than that.
I’ll tell you, I will be back in Pro Wrestling NOAH. It is for sure. Do we know when? Can’t release that yet but, you will see Lance Anoa’i back in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
In September, Afa Anoa’i Jr. was hospitalized due to a heart issue. Lance said he talked to him and Afa appears to be in good spirits while recovering.
Afa Jr.’s still going — well right now, he ain’t. He’s off. He’s having health issues. He’s doing okay. Like we all do, we all kick out so, I seen him yesterday so he looked good. He was in good spirits so, just, I told him it was a long road to recovery and don’t rush the comeback and just follow what the doctor say.
Circling back to Lance’s tour with NOAH, he reflected on that experience and said the following:
Man, my time (with NOAH) was unbelievable. It was a dream come true, especially because my whole family, from Yokozuna, my dad, Umaga, everyone wrestled all in Japan and even my uncle Rosey, it’s like, nobody from my family has been or toured Japan since I believe Umaga was the last one to be out there for All Japan. So being the newest and the freshest upcoming member of the family to be able to tour and just see man, it was unbelievable. I cannot wait to go back, I enjoyed it. Everything my dad ever told me, it was true. How good the food is compared to here (he laughed).
** While appearing on René Duprée’s Café De René livestream, Chavo Guerrero Jr. shared that John Laurinaitis once offered him an agent role. At the time, Guerrero Jr. felt he was not ready for it. Before Chavo exited WWE in 2011, he went to Laurinaitis about the agent role and was told that they did not have a spot available.
Before, Johnny Ace had asked if me if I wanted to be an agent and I wasn’t ready yet. Well then at this point now (before I exited WWE in 2011), I’m like, ‘Hey, you know,’ bringing it back up to him. Maybe there’s an agent — he’s like, ‘Oh, we just don’t have a spot.’ Kind of blew me off now and I’m like, oh, oh, that’s the way it’s gonna be? Okay, okay.
** Bill Apter of Sportskeeda WrestleBinge chatted with WWE Hall of Famer Torrie Wilson and she commented on the idea of joining The Judgment Day:
Yeah, I do kind of love them (Judgment Day), and I’d have to turn heel but, sometimes you gotta do that.
** Going into night two of NXT Halloween Havoc, Chris Van Vliet pushed out his interview with Carmelo Hayes. The former NXT Champion shared that he initially suggested his name be spelt ‘Carmelo Haze’, but Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque thought it was too gimmicky so they went with the current spelling of the name.
And I just remember ‘Carmelo’ was just one of many names I threw out (when I joined NXT). The Hayes name was like purple haze. I remember the conversation was with Hunter. He maybe thought it might have been a little bit too, you know, gimmicky with haze, so they changed it to like Michael Hayes. So it was like, you know how that works. And you give them a couple of names. And then they kind of put them together in a name generator, it’s true. But I love my name now.
** Guest appearing on the latest episode of Refin’ It Up was Caleb Konley f.k.a. Kaleb with a K. During the chat, he shared that he would like to one day transition into a producer role.
I feel like I’ve been around and I’ve done things to put me in a good position to fill a producer role at some point so I would love to just keep on doing that and transition right to producing until I can’t do that anymore which hopefully I can do that forever.
Dating back to 2016, Konley has had multiple stints with IMPACT Wrestling. He shared his thoughts on the company reverting to the TNA name.
Honestly man, I don’t know (what to think about IMPACT reverting to TNA). I assume it’s mostly for branding purposes. I heard (that) overseas, they’re still calling it TNA anyways, so I don’t know. I guess, probably from an investor standpoint, maybe it’s better. I don’t know. I do know that right before the pandemic when they brought me back as Suicide, Moose had just started doing the TNA World Championship stuff and I think there was kind of a plan at that point to do either a TNA-IMPACT, almost like Raw-SmackDown roster split or they were talking about changing the name to TNA eventually at that point too and then the pandemic kind of put the halt on that. But, I don’t know that I have an opinion one way or the other. I think the whole reason that it stopped being TNA in the first place was just like the double entendre of tits ‘n ass so I don’t know that in 2023, it’s gonna be any better to call your company tits ‘n ass but, what do I know? I mean, the fans are always gonna call it TNA regardless so I guess maybe just call it TNA.
It seems like it’s a lateral move but I mean, I assume it’s because financial investors or whatever. The brand name holds more water or something but, what do I know?
As Konley was speaking about A.J. Styles and Seth Rollins being two talents he’d like to share the ring with, he added that he’d be open to participating in Ric Flair’s next match if he has one.
It’s kind of cool to see the people that — I mean, A.J. (Styles) was a huge star already by the time I started but like, it’s cool to see people that I’ve been on shows with who are now the top echelon of the business and those two guys (Styles & Seth Rollins) would probably be one and two probably I’d say. Unless I could get a chance for another Ric Flair’s Last match because I would do that too.
** Josh Alexander versus Timothy Thatcher is official for Prestige Wrestling’s Roseland 7 on January 5th, 2024. Thatcher is scheduled to wrestle Chris Hero at West Coast Pro’s November 17th show.
** NJPW Super Jr. Tag League Results (10/31/23) Toyama Industrial Exhibition Hall in Toyama, Japan
– Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan def. Oleg Boltin, Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima
– Shota Umino & Ren Narita def. United Empire (Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan)
– Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI def. HOUSE OF TORTURE (Dick Togo, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi)
– Super Jr. Tag League Tournament Match: YOH & MUSASHI (6) def. The D.K.C. & Ryusuke Taguchi (4)
– Super Jr. Tag League Tournament Match: BUSHI & Titán (8) def. TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI (2)
– Super Jr. Tag League Tournament Match: Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA (8) def. T.M.D.K. (Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita) (6)
– Super Jr. Tag League Tournament Match: HOUSE OF TORTURE (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (10) def. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors) (8)
– Super Jr. Tag League Tournament Match: Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira) (8) def. Master Wato & El Desperado (10)
** Katsuhiko Nakajima launched his online merchandise store.
** Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated’s FanNation section caught up with Tetsuya Naito.
** Bayley, Scarlett and Shotzi visited the Winchester Mystery House:
** All Japan Pro Wrestling Giant Series Results (10/31/23) Imakane Town General Gymnasium ‘i-Cube’ in Imakane, Japan
– Fuminori Abe def. Ryo Inoue
– Three Way: Black Menso-re def. Hokkai Kumagoro and Noriyuki Yoshida
– Takao Omori & Yoshitatsu def. Evolution (Dan Tamura & Suwama)
– Voodoo Murders (Jun Saito & Rei Saito) def. Hikaru Sato & Ren Ayabe
– Hokuto Omori, Jonathan Gresham & Minoru Suzuki def. Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising HAYATO & Shuji Ishikawa
– Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi – Time Limit Draw (30:00)
** The following names have been confirmed for All Japan’s Jr. Battle of Glory tournament: Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura, Rising HAYATO, Ryo Inoue, Hikaru Sato, Naruki Doi, Koji Iwamoto and Fuminori Abe.
** Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling is bringing in Viva Van for shows on 11/26 and 12/1.
** NJPW1972.com pushed out interviews with El Desperado and Master Wato.
** October 31st birthdays: Dragon Dia.
** Battleground Podcast conducted an interview with The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz).
** Austin Theory promotes WWE’s house show on November 5th in Springfield, Massachusetts.
** There’s an interview on Daily DDT’s website with Shotzi. Sports Illustrated’s FanNation section interviewed her as well.
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.
