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.
** The FLAGRANT podcast rolled out a near three-hour chat with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. He spoke about the torn pec injury he suffered in 2022 and added that he could’ve returned sooner. Rhodes said they wanted to wait until the Royal Rumble.
I was told I’m winning the Royal Rumble, and at the time, I was rehabbing my pec. I was gonna be gone. I’d never been injured before and I had the pec injury. I’m out for a full seven. I could have come back at four, I could have come back at five. We really waited until the Royal Rumble for me to come back and try to get in the best possible shape of my career.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Rhodes mentioned that he got his Cross Rhodes finisher from WWE producer Jamie Noble.
No, I just steal my stuff from other guys. Yeah (the Cross Rhodes existed before me). It’s called the Roll of the Dice. Still works for me. It’s called the Roll of the Dice… That’s the thing, I had a lot of the mental, hey, I know the psychology. I was raised in the business. So I had the stuff that people get later ingrained in me but the stuff that people get early, like a physicality to being in great shape, a good moveset. I hate that term but hey, do some cool moves. I didn’t have any of that so WWE was backwards in how they, ‘Hey, try this.’ I remember Jamie Noble gave me Cross Rhodes. ‘Hey, try this…’
While discussing the original ALL IN, Rhodes gave credit to the late Ring of Honor C.O.O. Joe Koff for his role in helping bring the idea of ALL IN to fruition.
Can we go to Ring of Honor for some assistance with financing (ALL IN)? And he just passed away, a wonderful man named Joe Koff. He’s far more instrumental in it than people ever know, because he saw what we were doing and thought, okay, it’s definitely not in your contract but, we can help with production. Here’s the number to call. Here’s Gary Juster’s name…
** During Nick Gage’s appearance on the Blvd Bullies YouTube livestream, he shared that he’s working with his team on possibly presenting MDK-branded independent shows.
I am working on it with one of my guys (Gage responded to idea of doing MDK-branded independent shows). It’s gonna be M.D.K., N.G.F., the Not Guilty Family and we’re working on getting some f*cking shows together and putting some sh*t out there.
** In her latest Moné Mag write-up, Mercedes Moné recounted being at WWE Evolution and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque ensuring her that Women’s Tag Team Titles were going to be brought into the fold. Several months later, the titles were formally introduced.
When I think back to the most memorable tag team matches I’ve fought in, two matches come to mind. The first is a multi-person tag. Me, Natalia, and Bayley vs The Riot Squad at WWE Evolution. The match was so important to me. Bayley and I were fighting so hard to make tag team titles. I remember Hunter coming up to me at Evolution and telling me you know, we are going to get these tag team titles one day. We are going to work for it. It was so important to me, I just wanted to show him and the audience that tag team wrestling was important. I wanted them to see that it mattered, so girls had something to fight for instead of just random Monday Night Raw or Smackdown matches. This match really opened the eyes of the WWE. We wanted tag team titles to be brought into existence. Later that year, I believe in December, Vince McMahon announced that we would get a women’s tag team title, which was so cool.
** Two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Kevin Knight was welcomed onto the Black Rasslin’ Podcast. He talked about his partnership with KUSHIDA and said they have an amazing connection.
Man, KUSHIDA’s been nothing but supportive, on my side. That man is a legend. A legend in the game. I don’t even know if he knows how big he is. He doesn’t even know how much I watch him, how much I pick up from him, just his mind for the game, how he approaches a wrestling match period. How he approaches, how he carries himself. How he warms up, how he takes care of his body. I watch everything and yeah, I just pick up on so many different things and just learn from his mistakes and take his way of doing things, just put it in my flavor, you know what I mean? And we come from two separate, completely different cultures but we still understand each other. So, it’s an amazing connection that we have and the fact that we’ve been doing it for almost two years now, time flies.
** With both WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax and Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan competing against each other at Crown Jewel, Ms. Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton confirmed she’ll be in Saudi Arabia for the PLE. She said the following to Fox News:
I can’t tell you everything’s that gonna happen. But I can tell you I am going to be there (at Crown Jewel), and I’m going to be backstage. And I’m going to have pretty, new and nice gear on. So, you’ll have to just wait and see what happens.
Paul Heyman heaped praise onto Stratton. He said she could be a significant player in the wrestling industry and potentially leading it into the future. Stratton said those words from Heyman gave her a confidence boost.
Coming from someone like Paul Heyman, obviously, that (his praise) means a lot. I don’t think, like, Heyman is saying that just about anybody. So, hearing it from him, especially at the time, it was so reassuring. It really gave me kind of a confidence boost just because he is so well respected in the industry.
** After tagging with Rhea Ripley on the 10/14 Monday Night Raw, Tiffany Stratton told The Takedown on Sports Illustrated that she hopes to do something with Ripley again.
I have no idea, but I would love for it to happen again. I think we have such a cool dynamic. It’s so completely different, and I think people love the idea as well. I see all the people’s memes. I would hope that they do something with me and Rhea (Ripley) again. I think that’d be so fun and so cool and such a different dynamic.
** A local video piece about Seth Rollins and Marek Brave’s Black and Brave Wrestling Academy being a part of WWE’s new independent wrestling development program:
** To promote WWE Crown Jewel, Bronson Reed spoke to News18.
** Episode #89 of Going Ringside featured chats with Shawn Michaels and Tank Ledger.
** Proresu-TODAY’s interview with Syuri.
** MuscleManMalcolm posted a new sit-down chat with Zilla Fatu.
** Guest appearing on The Sick Podcast with Andy McNamara was Kris Statlander.
** Big Japan Pro Wrestling Results (10/31/24) from Shinkiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan
– Daichi Hashimoto def. Jacob Crane
– Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) def. Kosuke Sato & Kota Sekifuda
– Kazumasa Yoshida & Yuya Aoki def. Mari Hana & Rekka
– Street Fight: Dale Patricks & Mad Man Pondo def. Daisuke Sekimoto & So Daimonji
– Deathmatch: Masaya Takahashi def. Kankuro Hoshino
– Light Tube Halloween Night Deathmatch: Daiju Wakamatsu, Hideyoshi Kamitani & Toru Sugiura def. Kazumi Kikuta, Michio Kageyama & Ryuji Ito
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.
