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 K & S WrestleFest was hosting a virtual signing with MVP, he confirmed that he was supposed to win the IMPACT/TNA World Championship during his time in the company. He suffered a knee injury at an independent show and as a result, Bobby Lashley filled in for him.
I was supposed to be the IMPACT Heavyweight Champion, and I hurt my knee at an independent show the weekend before I was supposed to win it and we had a discussion about bringing in Bobby Lashley as my surprise stand-in and that was the beginning of that whole thing. So, we did the angle where I would say it was our championship. Because I was supposed to get it but Bobby did it for me, therefore it made it our championship… Oh yeah, yeah, yeah (Lashley agreed with me saying that). He was cool with that. We were cool. It was our championship.
** There’s an extensive conversation with Low Ki on the Café de René with René Dupreé YouTube channel. He dove into the backend of his WWE run and explained why he considered shooting on Drew McIntyre in a match.
Well, it was the final day. All they (WWE) had me doing was losing and doing stupid things. So the final day, I actually had one of the writers come up to me before the event began and told me straight-up, he goes, ‘After what I just saw in that office,’ or the production, he goes, ‘As a man, I wouldn’t be mad if you quit,’ or, ‘If you left.’ But he wouldn’t elaborate as to why. So, then they come to us and go, ‘We want you to lose to Drew McIntyre in under 30 seconds,’ and I’m like, ‘That makes no sense. We’ve been doing good matches all over the place. Why do you want that to happen?’ Even Drew was pissed off. He’s like, ‘Why are they doing this? This makes no sense.’ So I was like, ‘Whatever,’ you know? This is what they’re asking and before I went out there, it did cross my mind to just get in the ring and submit Drew because I knew I could do it. But the part of me was, I still gotta be professional because it’s not his doing. He doesn’t want this to happen and if I do something to hurt him, I’m no better than what these guys are trying to do. So, I went through with it…
Elsewhere during the interview, he was asked about the moment when he knocked out Ahtu at an EVOLVE show. Ki stated that he told Ahtu what he needed to do to protect himself from the kick. Ki said he continued the match because the referee did not stop it after being instructed to do so.
I told him exactly what to do to protect himself. What he did (was point directly at his chin as if he was telling me to bring it). ‘Right here, go ahead,’ and the thing was, that wasn’t the end of it. One, I wasn’t trying to knock him out. Two, after he’s in the corner, you can see I took a step or two forward and I look at the referee and the referee puts his hands up like this (as if he didn’t know what to do). I told him to end the match. He was already knocked out. The referee backed away and wouldn’t end the match. Okay… No (that was not a new referee). That’s Mike Keener. Mike Keener was one of the wrestlers from the northeast during the late 90s. I’m treating it like a pro fight. He’s done. End the match. So he didn’t do that. What am I left to do? I gotta go in for the kill if he gets up. So, he got up and even then, me attacking him, I didn’t hurt him. You can see the degree of control. Then, after the pin fall was over, guys tried to slide into the ring and I stepped over him to protect him because I don’t know who these guys are. Then when I look at him, you see I wave with my finger, go get him. So even me knocking this guy out, I was still protecting him. I tried to protect him. The referee failed at his job. But I’m the one who gets all this hate because everyone thinks, oh, he went into business for himself. No. I’m a real pro wrestler. I’m not one of these entertainers or these gimmicks. So even me trying to do the right thing, I still got hated on, I still got punished for it, because others didn’t do their jobs.
Circling back to his time in WWE, he remembers Dave Bautista advocating for him to be hired. Low Ki detailed his first conversation with Vince McMahon. He was asked where he sees himself in the company and his response got him hired. He recounted John Laurinaitis telling Bautista that he did not want to hire Ki if there was no plan for him.
It was (Dave) Bautista who actually set my match up. So Bautista comes to me and he goes, ‘Why aren’t you signed?’ And I go, ‘Not my call.’ So he brings me to (John) Laurinaitis and he goes, ‘Johnny, why the f*ck isn’t this kid signed!?’ And I walked away because I don’t like people trying to intimidate somebody into position. So, I backed off to let them talk. So then Dave comes to me and then Laurinaitis comes to me and goes, ‘Tomorrow, which is the eighth, you have a match.’ So I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ Go home, come back. It was a match against Primo Colón. We wrestled, and we’re scheduled as a dark. When I come out, the fans already know who I am, because I’m still hot from TNA and New Japan. So, I come through the arena and they’re chanting for me, have a match with Eddie or Eddie Colón and it was fine. So, nice and easy, good and fun. We had a good crowd reaction. We go to the back. When we’re going to the back, it’s Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson and Laurinaitis. I go to Michael Hayes, he goes, ‘Good job.’ Arn Anderson goes, ‘Just like I said.’ Laurinaitis goes, ‘Wait here. Vince wants to talk to you.’ So, we wait for Vince. Vince comes up and then, he introduces himself, ‘I’m Vince McMahon.’ I introduce myself. So he starts asking me questions. He’s like, ‘How long have you been wrestling?’ I told him, ‘I’ve been wrestling all over the world.’ At that point in 2008 so 10 years, and he goes, ‘Have you been to Japan?’ And I go, ‘I’m the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion’ and he looks at me and he goes, ‘Okay.’ He goes, ‘Where are you from?’ I go, ‘I’m from Brooklyn’ and he laughs because he goes, ‘F*cking Brooklyn.’ So I’m guessing the guys from Cryme Tyme and (Vladimir) Kozlov, the Russian, he’s from Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. So he just laughed about the guys from Brooklyn because we got an attitude about us. No fear. So he asks me, he goes, ‘Where do you see yourself here?’ And I told him straight-up, I go, ‘You got guys like Punk, Sydal, all these other guys. I can make them look better than they can. Because they’re actually trying to mimic stuff that they can’t do. Me, I do it for real so I can push them to the limit and you don’t have a heel my size. I’m not Rey Mysterio.’ He kind of paused for a second. He looked at Laurinaitis, he goes, ‘We’ll talk some more. Thank you,’ and he shook my hand and that was the end of it. Later on that night, Laurinaitis came to me with a deal and then I told him, ‘I got one match left with the Tokyo Dome’ which was versus Tiger Mask and I closed off my New Japan stint at that time and then the following day, I was a part of WWE.
So, when Laurinaitis first mentioned me getting a match, he did bring up to Bautista, he goes, ‘I don’t wanna hire him if there’s no plans.’ So, Johnny, as much as everyone hates him and as much as everyone wants to say bad things about him because of their experience, he actually was trying to warn me in advance from whatever he knew from Vince and when he explained it at the end (of my time there), ‘You’re not gonna be anywhere you reasonably wanna be anytime soon. So it’s probably best for you to go,’ and what he asked was, ‘Please don’t talk badly about the company’ which I didn’t and he goes, ‘Just say you asked for your release.’ So that’s what I did. Because he actually showed me that respect from the beginning and upheld it towards the end. So, I was getting my severance pay for 90 days. I wasn’t gonna bad-mouth them because they were honoring what they said.
** Returning to The Business of the Business podcast was Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale. He was asked about Matt Cardona often saying that he’s looking to sign to a company. It does not bother him that Cardona says that while working with GCW. He praised his run with the promotion; adding that his legacy is secured there, and he’ll go down in GCW history. Brett said whether it’s WWE or AEW, he just wants Cardona to be happy.
His (Matt Cardona’s) legacy in GCW is secure whether he leaves tomorrow or two years from now. He’ll go down in GCW history and we’ll go down in history together, you know? So, no. It doesn’t bother me one bit (that Cardona talks about signing to another company). I’m actually a Matt Cardona fan and if he wants to be on WrestleMania, then I want him to be on WrestleMania, and whatever. If he wants to be on AEW at Wembley Stadium, then I want him to be at AEW. I just want him to go where he’s happy and well-paid which I know is very important to him and yeah, he’s worked hard, he’s put his time in and he deserves everything.
** It is official that Bret Hart will be in attendance for the WWE Raw season premiere in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan was interviewed by Buzz Bishop to promote the show, and she spoke about Bret’s upcoming appearance.
I’m excited. Are you gonna say it or do you want me to say it? The iconic, legendary, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart is gonna be on Monday Night Raw. What!? Been a long, long time.
Yes, yes. I’ve met him a couple of times and I love Bret Hart. I loved his career, I read his book. Big, big, big, big fan of his book. I remember when I was reading his book, I just kept on texting Nattie like, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I can’t believe this’ or like, ‘How’s this person doing? How’s this person doing…?’ I just kept on reaching out to Nattie, like fact-checking, like wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Yeah, I’m a big fan and I’m excited. I’m excited to see him, I’m excited he’s gonna be back and in his stomping grounds too. What better way to have Monday Night Raw.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Morgan shared that she’d be open to being on Dancing with the Stars.
I’m open to anything really. If there’s one thing I learned through my time in WWE is I love entertainment, I love all forms of entertainment. So I feel like I’m definitely open and that’s something that I’d be willing to do. I think I’d do very well at Dancing with the Stars…
** To commemorate Shingo Takagi’s 20th anniversary since his in-ring debut, NJPW rolled out a video piece about him:
** El Desperado is going to be part of a stage play titled ‘Sentai Daishikkaku The Show.’
** Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling Results (9/7/24) from Hills Sunpia Yamagata in Yamagata, Japan
– JACKY KAMEI, Hyo & Luis Mante def. Shun Skywalker, KAI & Jason Lee
– Dragon Kid & Último Dragón def. Kzy & Punch Tominaga
– Gianni Valletta def. Mochizuki Jr.
– Dragon Dia & Madoka Kikuta def. Susumu Yokosuka & Kagetora
– Ben-K & B×B Hulk def. Kota Minoura & ISHIN
– Open the Triangle Gate Championships: Strong Machine J, BIGBOSS Shimizu & U-T (c) def. Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi & Yasushi Kanda
** Adrian Hernandez released his interview with TNA Wrestling producer Gail Kim.
** Buzz Bishop’s chat with Drew McIntyre.
** There’s an interview on the Calgary Sun’s website with Liv Morgan.
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.
