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.
** Joining Aubrey Edwards and Will Washington to record an episode of AEW Unrestricted was NJPW and AEW Collision commentator, Kevin Kelly. Looking back at his time with Ring of Honor, Kelly remembers The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) being in the company and having a lucrative offer from another company. Kelly told ROH higher-ups to do everything they can to keep Matt and Nick and even overpay if they must.
ROH were able to get two more years of Matt and Nick. Kevin said that two-year stretch was the most money ROH had ever made. Kevin shared that he was present in London, England when The Young Bucks agreed to their new deals.
When The Young Bucks were in Ring of Honor, they had a lucrative offer to join another company. I implored the Business Manager in Ring of Honor to do all they can to sign The Young Bucks. Overpay if we have to because they’re worth it and because they were willing to overpay, we got two years out of The Bucks. In that two years, Ring of Honor made more money than they ever had in any other time in their history and it was the bridge between Matt and Nick getting that first big offer to then realizing that they have this opportunity to start AEW. There were a lot of little moving pieces that all added up. I think a lot of the background of what happened with AEW, not only took place in Reseda, California but also took place in Tokyo, Japan… We were in York Hall in London when he had the sit-down with numbers with Matt and Nick and where the hands were shaking and the deal was constructed and I was like, ‘Oh my God. Good, we’ve got The Young Bucks here for two more years.’ It just all worked out.
Elsewhere during the chat, Kelly claims that NJPW World was created as a shot at the WWE Network. Kelly stated that Bushiroad founder Takaaki Kidani wanted NJPW World to be the same price as the Network.
I got excited because of New Japan World. When President (Takaaki) Kidani started New Japan World, he did it as sort of a shot across the bow at Vince (McMahon) and WWE. He wanted that to be the same price as the Network. 999 yen a month. Hahaha, and he didn’t know what he was gonna do for content. But the biggest thing was how do we get English commentary on this and Yuji Kitano is a name that not many people know, but was one of the most instrumental people in getting English commentary on New Japan World. Now, that’s what it’s for almost.
In June of 2018, Kevin Kelly and Don Callis were on the call for Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at NJPW Dominion. Kelly reflected on that and said the following:
I do remember how the dropkick of (Kazuchika) Okada changed the pattern of the match dramatically (against Kenny Omega at NJPW Dominion 2018). If not twice, then it was three different times. As an announcer and regardless of the sport that you call, I just happen to call wrestling, you look for those trends and I then tee it up for Don (Callis) who was so emotionally invested with Kenny, then the next time that a dropkick is thrown by Okada, Don angrily screams out, ‘Oh God! That Goddamn dropkick!’. I can still hear it in my head, because that’s the story that we were able to tell in that time as we’re watching it and I’m going to him with that because I want his reaction as an analyst, but then he retains it and when he sees the next one, I don’t have to say anything. He just goes because every time Okada hit it, it changed the dynamic of the match. Those were the moments that can’t be planned for, duplicated, you can’t prepare, nothing. It just has to happen in the spur of the moment. You have to be in tune with the product, in tune with who you’re working with, feel that beat, feel that rhythm and there’s music to every wrestling match and sometimes it’s harder to feel that rhythm of the match as it’s going along. But once you get it, once you get the timing of the match… your storytelling flows and your mental direction flows because you can see where these guys are going because you are on with them, you are on beat with them. It’s magic when that happens. Magic and fun.
** As Erick Redbeard was speaking to Chris Van Vliet, he reflected on his SmackDown Tag Team Title run with Bryan Danielson. He mentioned that it felt like an insult for them to be on the 2019 Money in the Bank pre-show as champions. Redbeard said it was most fun when WWE allowed him to get on the microphone.
I mean, we (Redbeard & Bryan Danielson) were on the pre-show as Tag Champions. I mean, what’s that tell you about how they viewed the tag teams at the time? Especially when Daniel Bryan was, you know, just World Heavyweight Champion and the Eco Champion. So to go to trying to make the Tag Titles mean something and then being on the pre-show, it’s kind of like an insult I guess. But, we tried the best we could and at least led some sort of feud, you know what I mean? And then to me, I was happy with the end of it because I finally got to get a microphone and start talking for a few weeks. You know, so, which again, was probably the most fun I’ve had when they’re letting me talk and be a character that I want to be and then the cage stuff happens. But like, you know, I can beat that in the head all I want, but when you go from talking about a microphone and having a story to basically having no direction and being told not to speak, yeah, it’s kind of a creative headache. It’s kind of like being cast in a TV show and every week you got your own backstory. And you’re like, explaining more (of) yourself to the audience at home and people are getting invested. And then all of a sudden, you’re in three episodes in the background. It’s kind of like a deflator.
** Joining The Babyfaces Podcast was Kofi Kingston and he spoke about the opening of the Kofi Kingston Library and Digital Center in Ghana, West Africa.
So my mom and I started the C.L.I.C.K. for Quality Education Foundation and the acronym C.L.I.C.K. stands for Computer Lab and Integrated Centers of Knowledge and essentially, people in different parts of the world, especially in Africa and particularly in Ghana, have never been to a library. They don’t know what a library is. They don’t know what a computer is, they don’t have computers whereas in America, we take a lot of that stuff for granted. If you want some information, you pull up your phone right out of your pocket, you look at it, you know what I mean? You get sucked into Twitter and Instagram and everything and you’re just watching all this technology and you don’t even know that you’re lucky to have that. People in Ghana, especially the kids who are younger, you don’t have those luxuries, especially when it comes to technology and when you get older, you’re still expected to pass all these standardized tests which you’re given on computers so you’re already starting at a disadvantage, at a deficit. So, we’re just trying to bring basic computer skills, basic library skills, critical thinking skills, research skills to kids and try to give them a leg up and give them equal footing with everybody else in the world so, it’s at my mom’s hometown so, it’s really cool to be able to do that, you know? To go back because I was born there in Ghana and my parents had a dream of the American dream. Coming to America and provide a better life for their kids so, that’s exactly what they did. They took a big risk in doing it and now we get to really bring it full circle. My mom retired and she lives back in her hometown and we are able to go there and provide something for the kids so they have an easier time than she did so yeah, it’s a really good feeling to be able to use your celebrity as a catalyst for just the betterment of society and the betterment of the world in general.
** Knockouts and 3 Counts conducted an interview with MLW World Women’s Featherweight Champion Janai Kai. In 2023, Kai competed for both TJPW and GLEAT in Japan. She shared that she was supposed to debut for both earlier than she did but there was a hold up due to visa troubles and scheduling conflicts. Kai added that she checked in with the individual who helped her get booked for TJPW to see if it would be okay to work with GLEAT. She wanted to make sure there was not an issue with her doing both.
They both (TJPW & GLEAT) reached out to me at the same time and I kind of already said yes to TJPW because the first time they reached out to me was October of last year and they originally wanted me to be there for January dates. But a lot went on with the work visa and all of that so, I couldn’t go the first time that they wanted me and so, the second time, they asked for February and then around the same time, GLEAT reached out to me for like March dates. So I was like, ‘No, I already said yes to TJPW,’ whatever. ‘If the offer is still open, I can reach back out to you,’ whatever and they said, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. Just let us know’ and so, yeah, I went ahead and did TJPW first and then after ‘Mania this year when I did the TJPW show that they had in L.A., I asked the person that’s been helping me out with getting booked there if it was okay to go over to GLEAT and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good opportunity. Go for it.’ So I was like, ‘Okay, cool’ because when it comes to cross-promoting and all that in Japan, it’s very shaky. They are very strict about it in certain companies, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t cross any boundaries or anything like that so, I wanna make sure I ask and get the okay so I got the okay and I reached out to GLEAT again and they said, ‘Okay, yeah. We’ll let you know what dates that we have open that we might like for you…’
** Yuji Hino posted a photo on X with Kintaro Kanemura. Kanemura was arrested for a hit-and-run accident on October 14th. The car he was driving belonged to Hino.
** IMPACT Wrestling President Scott D’Amore is continuing to make the media rounds and spoke to PWMania.
** Joining Taylor Wilde on her ‘Wilde On’ podcast was Marina Shafir.
** All Japan Pro Wrestling Giant Series Results (11/2/23) Local Industry Promotion Center in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
– Hikaru Sato def. Kumagoro Hokkai
– Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO def. Black Menso-re & Jonathan Gresham
– Hokuto Omori def. Noriyuki Yoshida
– Takao Omori & Yoshitatsu def. Ren Ayabe & Shuji Ishikawa
– Fuminori Abe, Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi def. Ryo Inoue, Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai
– Voodoo Murders (Jun Saito & Rei Saito) def. Evolution (Dan Tamura & Suwama)
** Good Day Columbus welcomed L.A. Knight onto the show.
** There’s an interview with Alan Angels on MuscleManMalcolm’s YouTube channel.
** La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier & René Duprée) did a live Q&A.
** November 2nd birthdays: Yoshinari Ogawa, Yuma Aoyagi & Cliff Compton (Domino)
** Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated’s FanNation section chatted with Ryan Nemeth.
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.
