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.
** As Mark Henry was doing a virtual signing for K & S WrestleFest, he provided an update on Linda Miles, who went by ‘Shaniqua’ in WWE. Henry stated that she is a principal in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Miles managed former WWE Tag Team Champions The Basham Brothers (Doug Basham & Danny Basham).
I called Linda Miles the other day, yesterday after I — yeah (I still talk to her). She’s a principal in Cincinnati.
Elsewhere during the signing, Henry shared that he’s been working on a book for the last two years.
I’m working on it (a book). I’ve been writing for like two years. It starts like The Jerk. You remember the movie The Jerk? ‘I was a poor Black child.’ That’s how it starts (Henry laughed). Intentionally, just to amuse everybody before it gets so sad that they start crying. Because nobody realizes how poor I grew up.
** An in-depth interview with Brian Gewirtz is up on the Busted Open podcast feed. He confirmed that The Rock and Ronda Rousey versus Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and Stephanie McMahon was penciled in after WrestleMania 31. He added that it all worked out in the end with Kurt Angle tagging with Rousey at WrestleMania 34.
It’s great, I’ve seen it, it’s one of the most eye-opening peaks behind and well, it’s called ‘Behind the Curtain’ and I guess for good reason (Gewirtz said about WrestleMania XL documentary), and it covers a lot of this but, I certainly wouldn’t mind going through — because it’s almost therapeutic to now, alright, it’s over, it was successful. Let’s take a step back and go through the timeline of how this all came to be and I think if you’re gonna do that, you need to give a little nod to WrestleMania — I think it was 31? Wherever it was in San Francisco and I bring that one up because that is when we did a thing with Rock and Ronda Rousey and Triple H and Steph (McMahon) and it was a great segment and the idea behind that segment was eventually to get to a Rock and Ronda versus Triple H and Steph tag match and that’s what was penciled in. The proverbial penciled in. Things change, movie schedules shift, lots of different variables come into play and what was a scheduled match, doesn’t happen and it all works out, Kurt Angle, a few years later ended up teaming with Ronda. It’s a great match.
He looked back at the segment from the 9/15 WWE SmackDown when The Rock returned in a segment with Pat McAfee and Austin Theory. Gewirtz heard about potential layoffs, so he called a friend of his to check on her job status and she was fine. She told him she was at SmackDown in Denver. He did not know WWE would be there at the same time he and Rock would be there for ESPN College GameDay. The Rock made a call to Nick Khan and his appearance was put together.
We had no idea WWE was even in Denver (for 9/15 SmackDown) … A letter had gone out in terms of the possible layoffs at WWE so I texted my friend who works there and asked if she was safe and she was like, ‘Yeah, I’m just in Denver for SmackDown.’ I’m like, ‘You’re in Denver for SmackDown? That’s where we’re going for GameDay.’ So I told Rock, he called Nick Khan. Next thing you know, he’s on the show…
** The match that Ivar had with Kofi Kingston on the 9/18/23 WWE Raw was discussed during Ivar’s sit-down chat with Chris Van Vliet. He thought it would be his last match for a while as Erik was dealing with a neck issue and had to be pulled from their two-out-of-three-falls match against The New Day. Ivar assumed that with Erik out, he’d be out too. He said the singles match with Kofi changed his trajectory.
You know, no (I don’t think Kofi Kingston & I’s in-ring chemistry is good because of our history). I mean, you could say that, but I think it’s because Kofi is an amazing human being. That’s what it comes down to, unselfish, and all the stars aligned that night. It’s what started this whole singles run. It was the night that Erik was taken off TV because they discovered atrophy and he needed the neck thing. So, we were scheduled for a two-out-three-falls match with The New Day. So that match got scrapped and they just decided to put me and Kofi into a singles match instead but, they didn’t cut our time. So we had the same amount of time as we would have had for a two-out-of-three-falls match. I’m like, this is probably my last match because historically, when the one tag guy goes out, both tag guys go out. So I said to Kofi, ‘This is probably my last match. I’ll be out with Ray while he’s getting fixed up.’ It’s like, ‘Alright, let’s just do the match, let’s kill it’ and that’s what we did and after the match, I got called over and say, ‘Hey, Ivar, do you mind sticking around? Doing some singles stuff while Eric’s out?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely!’ Yeah, 100 percent (it changed the trajectory I was on), and part of it is Kofi being like, oh, I get to give him his flowers now. I was very fortunate. I got to be at WrestleMania when he won the title and I got to meet him right through Gorilla afterwards and it was a real special moment… So Kofi just being unselfish and being the great human being that he is and just — because he’s a former world champion. He doesn’t have to do good things for me and he does and he does for everybody. So, it’s because of Kofi.
** The second United Japan Pro-Wrestling: All Together event is set for June 15th in Sapporo. It is locked in that Tetsuya Naito and Jake Lee will go one-on-one at the event. Naito spoke to Tokyo Sports and explained why he thinks the match should be taking place at New Japan Soul on 6/16.
I’m happy to be able to show the Hokkaido audience a Tetsuya Naito singles match (at UJPW All Together), and I’m happy to fight at a big venue in Jake Lee’s hometown, but I don’t know if this match is appropriate for the A.T. concept. I think it should have been held at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling event the next day.
If Jake Lee came to New Japan to sell a fight and I bought it, I think it makes sense to do it in the New Japan ring.
I don’t know about the other matches yet, but if the card is really suitable for A.T, I think my match could be the first one.
** A new interview with Dominik Mysterio was pushed out by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. Mysterio opened up about the tough love he receives from Konnan regarding his on-screen work.
Konnan, man, he’s the tough love I always needed. Especially if you know him, you know he calls it how it is. He doesn’t sugarcoat. Personally, that’s something I needed. I don’t want to say the wrong thing and get in trouble here, but starting off in the business, as the son of Rey Mysterio, you don’t know what’s what. I could have a sh—- match and people would say, ‘That was really good’ just to be on my good side. You don’t know what’s real or not. But then I’d get a call from Konnan. He’d say, ‘Your punches looked like sh*t,’ ‘You need to work on this,’ or, ‘Stop doing the 619 if you’re not going to do it properly.’ Konnan gave me tough love, right from when I started training with him and my dad. He still keeps an eye out on my matches, and I’m a student of the game–so I’m always willing to learn from someone who revolutionized the sport.
** Ahead of his AEW International Title defense against Will Ospreay at Double or Nothing, the champion Roderick Strong joined AEW Unrestricted and commented on his title run:
I wanna say it’s an honor (to be AEW International Champion) but, obviously, seems strange to say but it honestly is. This is the title that immediately when it came about, that was something I had my eye on even when I wasn’t with the company. So to have the opportunity to face someone like Orange Cassidy, as talented as he is, kind of surreal at the moment. Actually, I did a show yesterday and people were talking to me about that. Just how amazing that pay-per-view was overall and just the fact that it was spotlight opportunity and I took advantage of it. So, it was awesome.
It’s meant the world to me and something that was important to me before I won it, when I knew I was gonna win it was the fact that I was gonna make people earn their opportunities to face me. I appreciate what Orange did for a lot of people but, like everything in my career, I had to take the long path so I’m gonna make people take the long path and you see how often people quit? They’re not willing to really sacrifice. They’ll say they will, but when they’re in that situation, they won’t. I mean, to me, next to my wife and my son, it means everything. I’m just excited for Sunday (AEW Double or Nothing). It can’t get here soon enough.
** STARDOM talents watching the ‘Runaway Wrestler’ film which is about the life of Mayu Iwatani.
** Brian R. Solomon pushed out parts one and two of his interview with ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper that was conducted in 2006.
** There is a new podcast hosted by NJPW’s Shota Umino.
** Manabu Nakanishi will be the focus on a talk show on June 16th in Nagoya, Japan.
** New York Post profiled House of Glory.
** May 23rd birthdays: Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt), Kiana James and Sage Chantz.
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.
