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.
** Going into AEW All In, Stephanie Chase conducted an interview with Orange Cassidy. He was asked if he feels the trio of himself and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) ran its course and responded that he feels it was cut short.
No (I don’t feel Best Friends ran its course). I think it was cut pretty too short. I mean, since we’re here, last year in Wembley, I think we finally got a good moment with The Best Friends when we were standing tall at the end… After that Stadium Stampede match, all three of us in the ring in front of all those fans. It felt like this is gonna be the start of us on the uprise and it actually had the opposite effect which is a bummer but, never say never…
** As Samoa Joe was fielding questions at Terrificon 2024 (via Fandom Spotlite), he spoke about his signature in-ring walk-off where he’ll sidestep an opponent’s aerial move. Joe said his favorite iteration of the walk-off is when he did it to Christopher Daniels in TNA. He shared that he never told Daniels he was going to do it.
My favorite walk-away? There’s a lot man. There’s a series, I think through my TNA days where I never told Christopher Daniels and he fell for every one, and listen, I love Chris and that was the only reason that I did it, because you have to be pretty close to a guy to keep screwing him over like that (Joe laughed). Anybody like that and yeah, it’s tough to call it because there’s ones that, you know, hey, they may have been in there. There’s other ones where they just kind of were spur of the moment so, yeah, I think if you search 2006, 2007, you’ll find a few in there. You can tell by Chris’ face he wasn’t too happy.
** While sitting down with Chris Van Vliet, Jesse Ventura expressed that he feels he could not do commentary for present-day pro wrestling.
I don’t think I could (do more commentary). I don’t think I could today… Well, you have more confidence (in me than I do) because I don’t think I could today because I don’t like the stuff. You know what else I don’t like today? There ain’t no ‘Mean’ Gene. What do you have today? Oh, they both come walking down these ramps, they stand in the ring and yell and scream at each other and then start cutting meat and beat the sh*t out of each other. It’s so predictable.
** After Josh Alexander and Will Ospreay’s match on the 1/18/24 installment of TNA iMPACT, then-company President Scott D’Amore came out and delivered a speech. Alexander shared on the Johnny I Pro Show that-that was not planned. Alexander and Ospreay wrapped up early and there was time left to fill so it was decided that D’Amore would come out and give a speech on the fly. Alexander stated the speech still gives him goosebumps and said his growth would not have happened without D’Amore.
Okay, a little behind the scenes (of the aftermath of my match against Will Ospreay). That happened because we actually had two to three minutes of extra time in our match and we ended up going home early, and it happened and I was like, ‘It’s okay. I’ll grab the microphone. We’ll do something’ and all of a sudden, Scott’s music comes out. Completely unplanned. What happened was he’s in the back watching this. He goes, ‘We have three minutes of airtime we need to fill.’ Blah, blah. ‘What do we do?’ And he’s not saying this, other people are saying this and I guess — I can’t remember if it was Lance Storm, who’s my agent usually always, or Tommy Dreamer turns to him, he’s like, ‘You gotta go out there and cut a promo’ and he’s like, ‘Uh…’ And he just came out and so, everything Scott said was off the cuff. Nothing was thought about beforehand. That is just his passion for TNA, for pro wrestling in general and to watch it firsthand, I got goosebumps in the ring that night. I get goosebumps now talking about it… The passion thing, after 30 years in wrestling, he’s seen and done everything there is to do. To still have that passion, that’s something that I can’t put over enough and that just embodies what Scott D’Amore is to me, as a boss, as a friend now, as a coworker, as a coach. Somebody who’s helped me and guided me through and made me into the Josh Alexander I am now, who is number nine in the PWIs. That wouldn’t have happened without Scott.
** There’s a lengthy interview that Proresu-TODAY rolled out with Sumie Sakai. She spoke about her friendship with IYO SKY. SKY invited Sakai to sit in the ‘family section’ at both WrestleMania 39 and WrestleMania XL. Sumie said she could not see from the floor section in 2023 so in 2024, she watched IYO from the non-floor section alongside STARDOM talents. Sakai called IYO the best in the world.
Last year, when we went to WrestleMania (39), there were family seats, and I could watch her (IYO SKY’s) match from the first row. She told me to come to the front and watch from the family seats but no, I really couldn’t see it. I was crying so hard. I was so happy (laughs). She invited me to the family seats again this year, but I wanted to see it properly, so I asked my husband to sit in the first row instead, and I watched the matches with the STARDOM girls from normal seats.
I was able to see the match properly this year, and I think she is the best in the world. I say that because I have had the opportunity to compete against her. I think it was inevitable for her to be there as a champion, and I think it means that her ability has been recognized around the world. I kind of cry when I say this.
As the conversation moved along, Sakai shared that when she first ventured to the USA, Fit Finlay and his family helped her mentally. Sakai added that she’s known David Finlay since he was 14 and is proud of his success.
That’s how I got to where I am today (Sakai said about hard work), and I’m grateful to have met EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SHO, YOH, Jay White, and of course many other people who are now in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Also, I have known David Finlay since he was 14 years old. When I was going through a lot of things in the U.S., his father, Dave Finlay, and his family helped me mentally. He was 14 years old at the time, and his younger sister and brother were still small, so they didn’t understand me, and I could only speak a little and didn’t understand English, but they were really kind to me. That’s why David Finlay is special. I am happy for his success now as if it were my own. He also means something else in the same way as IYO-chan. He is still 14 years old in my mind.
** There’s an extensive interview with Akitoshi Saito on the official Pro Wrestling NOAH website. He looked back at the period of his career when he was not a member of NOAH but felt his heart was with the company. He always kept Mitsuharu Misawa in mind so when he did independent shows, he’d inform NOAH of what he was doing. Saito gave Misawa his last move in a pro wrestling ring.
I was happy (to be invited back to be part of NOAH). Until then, when I received offers from Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Choshu to participate in shows, I was not a member of NOAH, but I always reported to NOAH that I would participate in the upcoming shows. Even if I was no longer affiliated with NOAH, I still had Misawa-san in mind, and my heart was in NOAH. Well, it may have been unnecessary, but I was doing it as a kind of distinction within myself. I was very happy to be rehired there, and there was no way I could say no to that…
** Guest appearing on Straight Talk Wrestling was Tessa Blanchard. She’s a regular for CMLL and opened up about the schedule and training sessions for female talents.
I would agree with that (statement that if you can make it in Mexico, you can wrestle anywhere). I mean, our schedule in Consejo is pretty crazy. We have shows Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday are press days and Thursdays are training. The women, we train with Último Guerrero and we’re training in Arena México every Thursday morning. We’re running up and down the arena, just training, training, training and that’s one thing that I’ve always thought was super important is always be a student. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the game. Always be a student, and when I moved there, I knew it was gonna be tough. Kind of starting over from scratch, learning a different style but fully submerged in it and they’ve really accepted me… I feel in-house. I feel like I’m in home and Arena México in Mexico. This country, the culture has such a place in my heart. It’s an incredible feeling… It’s my home away from home but now it’s my home.
** The reigning NWA World Women’s Champion Kenzie Paige appeared on the Hitting The Turnbuckle Podcast. She revealed that at 22 years of age, she’ll be coaching at Ricky Morton’s wrestling school.
So I live off the quote, ‘Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.’ So every day, I train. I train all the time 24/7. Whether it’d be at Dr. Tom’s still, Ricky Morton’s school. Now I’m gonna be training alongside Ricky Morton. I’m gonna be a trainer at his school, and I’m 22 years old, and not to bring this up but I’m also a woman. That’s something you don’t see. How many — really, realistically — 22-year-old woman is gonna be your wrestling trainer? Some people might have a problem with that but when Hall of Fame legend Ricky Morton is the one putting his stamp on you… I mean, yeah. That’s what you have to do. You just have to work hard and literally like you said, be a sponge, take up everything…
** Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling was founded by Emi Sakura in 2012, and the promotion is still up and running. Their events stream on YouTube and Sakura shared with Proresu-TODAY that 70 percent of their viewers are from overseas. In addition to that, their live chatroom is almost exclusively English.
About 70 percent of our customers are from overseas… The chat during our live streams is almost entirely in English, so I think that’s why it feels a bit different… Japanese people still tend to be put off by words that contain English, so I spent the last four years constantly thinking about how to strike that balance.
** Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with Ludwig Kaiser.
** August 27th birthdays: SHO, The Great Khali and Sgt. Slaughter.
** Tokyo Sports rolled out their new interview with Great-O-Khan.
** The Endless Honeymoon Podcast welcomed Ronda Rousey onto their show.
** Ilja Dragunov was interviewed by Daily Star.
** Will Ospreay joined Ed Gamble and James Acaster on their Off Menu show.
** A new interview with ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey is up on PWInsider’s website.
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.
