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 Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen for a recording of the Broad Ideas podcast was Saraya. While looking back at her start with WWE, she remembers trying out for the company and a Talent Relations representative telling her she was not pretty enough to work there and needed to lose baby weight. She said that individual no longer works at WWE.
I was 18 at the time, I did the (WWE) tryout and they were just like, ‘No,’ and there was a guy at the time that worked as T.R. that pretty much said I wasn’t pretty enough to be there too, which broke my heart… He doesn’t work there anymore. He hasn’t worked there for years but he said, you know, I wasn’t pretty enough to be there and I needed to lose some baby weight and all that kind of stuff. I was a kid and I was like, oh, that’s kind of hard to deal with and I tried to dress like how I thought divas should dress, right? So I wore color, my hair was lighter, I took my piercings out. I had lip rings and gauges and stuff and I took them all out because I was like, ‘No, I have to be a diva’ and so I felt like he saw right through that and I wasn’t being myself so maybe I wasn’t the most beautiful version of myself but you know, because I was trying to be something I wasn’t. So then, I came back like six months later and I was like, ‘F*ck em. If they can’t take me…’ I just wore all black. I wore all black, I kept my piercings in, I had all black hair and I had a little blonde piece right here and I think I have a picture of it somewhere…
At the 2023 AEW All In pay-per-view at Wembley Stadium, Saraya was crowned AEW Women’s World Champion. She learned she was winning the title the day before. Herself, Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm had been mapping out the match for a few days but did not know the finish. They came up with different finishes for each person in the match. Tony Khan then flew in to inform them that Saraya would be winning.
And sometimes they don’t tell you until very last minute too (who’s winning a match). Like, I did Wembley recently and it was the first AEW big show, big massive show. It was like 82,000 people in attendance, in England and it was my first time doing this in front of my home country. I got to walk out with my family again so that’s another story but that was f*cking awesome. Got to walk out with them. Yeah, they got to experience it. But yeah, we were planning this match and there’s four of us in the ring, it was a four-way so we’re all in the ring at the same time and it’s one of the hardest matches to put together because you have to make sure that one body’s out the way for you to do another thing. We were there for a couple of days, we were planning it and we didn’t know what the finish was, right? So we were just like, ‘Okay, if it’s you, this is gonna be the finish. If it’s you… for you, you’ and then Tony (Khan) comes in last-minute because Tony also owns Fulham Football Club and the Jaguars, NFL team. So he was at a Fulham game and flew in, you know, at last-second as we’re about to leave because the show was the next day and he was like, ‘Oh, you’re going over, you’re gonna win’ and I cried… With championships, you’re like, yes, it’s predetermined, right? But they trust in you to be the face of that company but I never thought I would be in this position again because I retired for five years because my neck was f*cked up and they said I would never wrestle again and here I am… back and I’m in England and now I’m gonna be the champ again and I just cried my eyes out and I was like, ‘You don’t realize what you’re doing for me right now. I never thought I would be in this position. It doesn’t matter if I’m getting a championship or not. I just never thought I would do this ever again…’
** Bill Apter of Sportskeeda WrestleBinge conducted an interview with The Hardys (Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy). Jeff mentioned that him and Matt are going to help lead TNA’s Leon Slater into the future. Slater is on the record saying that Jeff is his favorite wrestler of all-time.
Jeff: Well, I had the craziest dream last night. I had a dream that I was back in TNA and there was this guy there (Leon Slater) that does a Swanton 450. Damn! It wasn’t a dream. It’s real. So yeah, we’re gonna help lead him into the future and that’s my belief system.
As the chat rolled on, The Hardys named Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) as a team they wished they could’ve shared the ring with.
Matt: I honestly don’t know if we have that tag team (that we did not get to share the ring with). Maybe one team that would have been cool to have a match against would have been Motor City Machine Guns, because we never worked with those guys.
Jeff: Yeah, very cool.
Matt: But we’ve been pretty blessed, pretty lucky to work with almost everyone.
** While on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast, BLK Jeez discussed how he got started with NWA. He shared that Homicide and Pat Kenney (Director of Talent Relations) recommended him to Billy Corgan.
So, long story, at the time, I was reaching out to a lot of companies. I just wanted to be a part of a bigger platform and I wasn’t getting any responses or anything which happens, you know? But then NWA contacted me, I believe it was in March or April of 2021 and they extended an opportunity and of course I took it… and it was just off (to) the races from the beginning. A lot of that had to do with Homicide, who’s been a mentor of mine for years. Homicide was already working there so, he recommended me. Also, Pat Kenney, fans know him as Simon Diamond and it was those two that pretty much recommended me to Billy Corgan. I was told that Billy Corgan saw a couple of my promos and he was like, ‘Yeah, let’s bring him in’ and it’s been all good since then.
** TJPW Summer Sun Princess Results (7/20/24) from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
– Runa Okubo, Toga & Wakana Uhehara def. Haru Kazashiro, HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki
– Kira Summer def Chika Nananse
– Mei Suruga def. Uta Takami
– Pom Harajuku, Raku & Yuki Aino def. Kaya Toribami, Moeka Haruhi & Yuna Manase
– Yuki Kamifuku def. Kakeru Sekiguchi
– Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita def. Emi Sakura & Mizuki
– Aja Kong def. Shoko Nakajima
– Princess Tag Team Championships: Arisu Endo & Suzume (c) def. Moka Miyamoto & Yuki Arai
– Princess Of Princess Championship: Miu Watanabe (c) def. Rika Tatsumi
** Dream Star Fighting Marigold Results (7/20/24) from Shin-kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
– Nagisa Nozaki def. Komomo Minami
– Bozilla def. Misa Matsui
– Utami Hayashishita def. CHIAKI
– Twinstar Tag Team Title Tournament: MIRAI & Mai Sakurai def. Zayda Steel & Myla Grace
– Kouki Amarei & Chika Goto def. Nanae Takahashi & Rea Seto
– Sareee, Miku Aono & Natsumi Showzuki def. Giulia, Victoria Yuzuki & Kizuna Tanaka
** NXT North American Champion Oba Femi celebrated two years with WWE.
** Team NOAH Limit Break Results (7/20/24) from Radiant Hall in Yokohama, Japan
– Jun Akiyama def. Yu Owada
– Hide Kubota & Yasu Kubota def. Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Takumi Saito
– Yoshitatsu def. Junya Matsunaga
– Koji Iwamoto & Yuto Kikuchi def. Atsushi Kotoge & Kohei Kinoshita
– Hi69, Mohammed Yone & Harutoki def. Masato Tanaka, Takuya Sugawara & Chris Vice
– Go Shiozaki & Kazuyuki Fujita def. Akitoshi Saito & Shuji Ishikawa
** 2001 NJPW G1 Climax final between Yuji Nagata and Keiji Muto:
** Sendai Girls’ Results (7/20/24) from Sendai PIT in Sendai, Japan
– Hiroyo Matsumoto def. YUNA
– Millie McKenzie, Miyuki Takase & Nina Samuels def. Chi Chi, Yura Suzuki & ZONES
– DASH Chisako def. Yurika Oka
– Lena Kross & VENY def. Manami & Ryo Mizunami
– Mika Iwata vs. Mina Shirakawa – Time Limit Draw (15:00)
– Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu def. Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid
** A feature on NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi in Weekly Young Jump magazine.
** Guest appearing on McGuire on Wrestling was D’Lo Brown.
** Ice Ribbon Results (7/20/24) from Ice Ribbon Dojo in Saitama, Japan
– Kirari Wakana & Yuko Sakurai def. Mifu Ashida & Sumika Yanagawa
– Yappy def. Asuka Fujitaki
– Arisa Shinose & Misa Kagura def. Ancham & Saran
– Hamuko Hoshi, Yuuki Mashiro & YuuRI def. Kyuri, Nanae Furukawa & Tsukina Umino
** July 20th birthdays: Evil Uno.
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.
