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.
** While speaking to Inside The Ropes, Bryan Danielson looked back on working with the late Windham Rotunda a.k.a. Bray Wyatt. He said some of his favorite matches in WWE were house show matches against Rotunda.
We (myself & Bray Wyatt) had so much fun together. So yeah, he was just a wonderful, wonderful human being. We had a lot of fun; not wrestling and a lot of fun wrestling too. Some of my favorite matches in WWE were live event matches that I had with Bray Wyatt so yeah.
In 2014, Danielson captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30. He shared that the initial idea was for him just to face Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque at the event. He did not find out about the Triple Threat plans until the week before.
Oh yeah, I mean, I was just excited (when it became clear I would become the focal point of WrestleMania 30). At first, it was just the idea of doing me and Triple H, and not the winner of that match going into a Triple Threat. Maybe they didn’t tell me until like the week before for sure that I was gonna do the Triple Threat. But, I kind of assumed and maybe that was a bad idea. That could have gone really sideways mentally if I would have assumed that that was the case and they’re like, yeah, we’re actually gonna put Hunter in the main. Okay! (He laughed)
** There’s an interview series with Meiko Satomura that is being rolled out by Rizu Kimoto of Tokyo Sports. She expressed her remaining goals in pro wrestling. Satomura is set to retire in April 2025.
For me, the experience at Gaea is a treasure. The fact that I was able to endure those 10 years has made me the person I am today. I joined Gaea in 1994 when women’s professional wrestling was very popular, and I saw it hit rock-bottom when All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling disbanded. I have also experienced the part where they crawled up from there little by little. However, I did not experience the best period when the Crush Gals became a social phenomenon, so I would like to help bring about the heyday of women’s professional wrestling before I die. I can’t die until I’ve scouted a star myself, created a big star, and seen venues like the Budokan packed to capacity. That is my current goal.
** A new sit-down interview with Dave Bautista was conducted by Chris Van Vliet. Looking back at Bautista’s wrestling career, he spoke about the finish to Royal Rumble 2005. He thought he was getting fired on the day of the show. He went to see his mother who lived four hours from the venue. Bautista arrived to the venue late and Vince McMahon was not happy with him. Bautista thought McMahon would end up changing his mind about the Royal Rumble finish.
As far as him and John Cena being eliminated at the same time, Bautista takes the blame for it and Cena has done the same in media interviews. The day after the Rumble, McMahon called Bautista into his office and the multi-time World Champion thought he was about to be fired. He stated that Vince burst out into laughter and expressed how much he enjoyed the finish.
Well, the whole day (of Royal Rumble 2005), I thought I was getting fired. The whole day, it was just a nightmare… No, I knew I was winning. But what happened was — so I think we were in Bakersfield, and I think we were in San Francisco the night before and so I stayed there. I start driving to Bakersfield. I stayed there because my mom lives there and I wanted to stay and I wanted to spend time with my mom so I got up the next day and I drove and I was really late to the show. I was really late to getting there, and I knew that I was supposed to go over that night and it’s like a big deal and I was gonna go to WrestleMania, and Vince (McMahon) thought that I was being super disrespectful by showing up late and he was pissed and I thought he was gonna change his mind or was gonna change the whole storyline, and so I got there and he ringed me out as soon as I got there. But then, the match and it was botched and I totally take blame for it because I went over. I knew what the finish was and I just went over. I just went over and thank God, we landed when we did. At the same time. It was a miracle, and then when I saw Vince coming down, I was like, getting fired (he laughed) … Throughout my career, especially in OVW, I thought any day now, I’m getting fired, I’m getting fired. I was just so happy to be there.
I think later on (is when I learned Vince tore his quads). I didn’t realize during the match. I didn’t know why he was sitting there. I had no idea what was going on and I was just worried about the match. When they got him out of there, I think I found out later on and the funny thing was, so, I can’t remember where we were at the next day. But it was the next day and I got to the building and somebody immediately said, ‘Vince wants to see you in his office’ and I was like, ah, here it comes. So I went and went to his office and my heart is beating. I’m just, in my head, packing my bags, and I walk into his office and he’s sitting and he’s got his crutches beside him. He’s all bandaged up, and he walks in and he just starts laughing. He was laughing, like at the top of his lungs, like, ‘Hahahahaha!’ And I was like, ‘You’re not gonna fire me?’ And he goes, ‘No! I loved it. It was real! It was so great and it was real and nobody would know it was gonna happen’ but he loved it. I think that Vince thrives on chaos. He’s a billionaire. He’s accomplished everything. He’s bought everything that he could ever buy. He has everything. So what’s he have left? Excitement, and I think because that moment was so chaotic, I think it just excited him, it exhilarated him, and so even though it was a total botch, I think he just had so much fun in that exhilarating, exciting moment, that he thrived on it and he forgave me.
He opened up about his time in OVW and Bautista shared that John Laurinaitis wanted to fire him from developmental.
I was an athletic person, I was enormous and I thought, you know, I’d give wrestling a shot and I failed in my first attempt and then I paid someone to teach me how to wrestle. Afa, The Wild Samoan, God rest his soul. It’s so heartbreaking that he’s passed away, and that was kind of it. That’s when my journey started but then even after that, it was a long, long road. A lot of people didn’t believe in me. Even when I was in developmental camp down in OVW, there was people with the WWE, John Laurinaitis, who wanted to fire me (he laughed). But I just kept digging in and digging in and digging in and digging in until I got my first real opportunity with Evolution and I had access to Triple H and Ric Flair. Two of the greatest professional wrestlers ever. I wasn’t gonna blow my shot so, I had blinders on. I put everything else on the backburner and focused on my wrestling career.
Bautista is promoting The Killer’s Game film that also stars WWE’s Drew McIntyre. Dave is hoping the movie becomes his John Wick and explained what he means by that:
It’s pretty complete. I’ve got little pieces of it. I still want people to see me as someone who can carry a — you know, maybe a smaller, independent, dramatic role and not rely on my physicality anymore. I haven’t really completely broken into Rom-com space and I still would like to conquer that which is not, you know, getting easier because I’m not getting younger (he laughed). So no, I don’t know how much people wanna see a guy in his mid-50s in a Rom-com. I hope there’s an audience for that but I don’t know. There’s still a few pieces that I’m trying and… I’m hoping that Killer’s Game turns into my John Wick. Yeah, yeah (multiple films), because I love the world, I love the characters. I love that you can go anywhere with this. It’s a hyperworld. We can go as far as our imagination can let us go.
** Bill Apter of Sportskeeda WrestleBinge rolled out his chat with Willow Nightingale. She reflected on teaming with Adam Copeland on an April edition of AEW Dynamite. Nightingale hopes Copeland is recovering well and said he is missed.
Bananas. Bananas (Nightingale said about teaming with Adam Copeland). I grew up watching him on my television and you know, his wife is another person I admire. So, to be in proximity even to them. When Adam first joined AEW, I was like, ‘This is so cool.’ I had his entrance music stuck in my head for a week. I was going around singing to everyone, everywhere, all the time. I was playing it in my car, and then, that opportunity kind of presented itself. I was like, ‘There’s no way. This isn’t my life.’ But it is. But it’s not just some crazy dream. It is my reality and so, that was very, very cool, and I hope he’s healing on up well because he’s missed.
Yes, yes (I want him back at AEW) … I mean, I have The Conglomeration in my corner. So I do have my friends, you know, in Orange Cassidy and Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, (Tomohiro) Ishii but you know, Adam Copeland is another good friend to have in your back pocket for sure.
** Joining The Undertaker for a recording of his Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway podcast was Glenn ‘Kane’ Jacobs. Jacobs agreed that the Brothers of Destruction should be in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Ooouuu. Yes (I believe Brothers of Destruction should be in the WWE Hall of Fame). I do. Yeah, I do. I mean, I think the niche they carved out was as important as any other tag team and I think that the Attitude Era, to me, was the best and most impactful time for WWE and the Brothers of Destruction were a huge part of that so, yeah, I think so.
** A memorial anniversary service for the late Antonio Inoki:
** Pro Wrestling NOAH expressed their condolences about the passing of Kuniaki Kobayashi.
** Tokyo Sports conducted an interview with Zack Sabre Jr.
** Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts is set to speak about addiction and navigating mental health on September 12th at Saint Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.
** ABC10 welcomed WWE United States Champion L.A. Knight onto the show. He also appeared on KLAS-TV.
** To promote Spongebob Squarepants x Brawl Stars, John Cena spoke to Sports Illustrated.
** September 10th birthdays: Valhalla and Trevor Murdoch.
** NXT’s Oro Mensah in action for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion:
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.
