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.
** Ring of Honor’s Kenny King joined Steve Finga Stylz on ‘Da Podcast’ to chat about his wrestling and reality television careers. King spoke about the trio known as The Hurt Business (MVP, Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) and stated that he receives a phone call every so often from a member of The Hurt Business to find out when his contract with Ring of Honor expires.
“I mean, I’m ecstatic about it [The Hurt Business]. Now that doesn’t mean that I’m not like… that doesn’t mean that I don’t get a phone call every two weeks like, ‘When’s your deal up again?’ ‘I just told you when it was. I already told you.’ So, it’s two things, I’m extremely happy for them dudes. Those are my guys so for them to pull Lashley out of the bullsh*t he was doing, put him right where he needs to be because next to [MVP], he’s always a star, and get MVP with a mic in his hand and doing what he does and get Shelton involved, right? So as much as there’s that and I’m super happy, I’m just kinda like, ‘Man…’
And look at those guys, they are doing — it’s natural. They are doing — you can tell they’re having fun and it’s great to watch so the bi-weekly or the monthly, ‘You sure you can’t get out of your deal?’ Those make me itch a little bit but I’m real happy for them dudes.”
While speaking about ROH, Kenny King was asked if the company has plans in place to hold television tapings and King stated that ROH was supposed to tape at the end of July but the COVID-19 spike put those plans on hold.
“We were supposed to do something, a week’s taping in July. This last week of July but it was [the] COVID spike and everything, they postponed it but there is definitely another date on the table that they’re a little more concrete about so I don’t certainly know 100 percent but from what I understand, we all kinda feel the same way. We’re ready to come back.”
** Ariane Andrew and Matt Dillon welcomed Naomi onto their ‘Sippin The Tea’ show on YouTube. To kick off the conversation, Ariane Andrew spoke about her stint with All Elite Wrestling and competing in their Women’s Tag Team Cup. Ariane clarified that she is not with AEW and is still a free agent.
“So since we are spilling tea, I’m gonna keep it 1,000 percent so everyone can hear it right here, right now. I am not with AEW. That was just a little something, something. A little something, something.
I’m a free agent. As excited a people were, people were like, ‘So what does that mean? There’s no Funkadactyl reunion?’ And the thing is, I can’t say anything — not that I can’t say anything but it’s like I don’t wanna spill the tea but I’m spilling the tea right here, right now that it’s not official so there’s still a door. Hello Vince, are you listening? Funkadactyl reunion.”
Naomi spoke about what she has been doing to occupy her time while she is not working with WWE. She touched on Jimmy Uso’s injury and confirmed that he is currently out of action after undergoing successful ACL surgery.
“Also, Jon [Jimmy Uso] is out on an injury. He had surgery on his ACL so, he’s home anyway.”
Naomi then talked about her position on WWE programming. She said she does want to win a championship but for right now, she just wants to have a good TV feud and consistently appear on WWE programming. She also spoke about the trying times that her family has endured over the past several years.
“There’s a lot happening in the division right now. I definitely would like to hold some gold again at some point but, I don’t think that time is now. I definitely just want to be in a good feud and a good story and stay consistently on TV and see where that goes because the last year, I’ve been kind of all over the place. I was gone for a while due to all kind of family issues and health issues and it’s kinda been hard for me to get back on track so I just really wanna focus on that and wherever that takes me in the next couple of years, I’m just gonna ride it and see what happens and see where my creativity and character goes because I still feel like there’s room there. There’s still so much for me to explore as far as character development and involvement and so I’d really like to focus on that and then eventually go and have me about 15, 11 children,” Naomi laughed. “And just enjoy life and appreciate the time we have here on this earth. 2020 has more than any other year just really, I think made us all sit down and reflect and appreciate things that we take for granted. Our family has experienced a lot of death. We’ve had a tragic death a year for the past five years. So, it’s just… losing someone is very traumatic emotionally and the fact that our family has been going through it and having to do funeral after funeral after funeral, it’s just been a lot and it’s really brought me closer to my family and makes me want to be there as much as possible so, I look forward to that but I ain’t done yet.”
** ESPN has a feature story up about the recent purchase of the XFL by Dany Garcia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and their backer, RedBird Capital Partners. Garcia spoke to ESPN for the article and recalled reaching out to Johnson when the news of the XFL going out of business became public.
“I told DJ, ‘We have something really important to do. We want to do this.’ It was so natural. There was a moment in Dwayne’s life when football was going to be his [career]. I’m a professional athlete myself. We do sports. We do entertainment. If you look at our résumés, everything points to this moment and opportunity for us, to work with these athletes and to build this brand.”
It’s noted in the article that Oliver Luck, who’s currently suing former XFL owner Vince McMahon for wrongful termination, will not be a part of the forthcoming version of the league.
Regarding a 2021 season, the XFL built a bubble plan for their eight teams to either be used during the COVID-19 pandemic or as a cost-cutting measure and that bubble plan is a part of the intellectual property that’ll transition over to Garcia, Johnson and the group that now owns the XFL.
Dany Garcia was also heavily involved in Dwayne Johnson’s contract negotiations while he was with the WWE full-time and she knew Vince and Linda McMahon “very well”. The unsecured creditors filed an objection to the sale of the XFL because of the feeling that the sale might not have maximized the value of the league. The committee also expressed concerns about the relationship between Johnson, Garcia and McMahon.
** Former WWE personality and ring announcer of Alberto El Patron, Ricardo Rodriguez was a guest on the ‘Straight Outta The Bodega’ podcast. Ricardo spoke about his departure from WWE and asking to be let go from the company after continuously asking the creative team to work with him on ideas.
“I never got released, I asked for it. Yeah, once they split me up from Alberto and I did my run with RVD and once that came to an end, I was doing the Spanish backstage segments and I was doing the Spanish commentary on the pay-per-views, but I would constantly bug the writers, suggest ideas, I would ask, I would beg, I would wait outside their f*cking office just to speak to somebody so we can think of something. I was going down to FCW and I started getting frustrated because they took me off live events and I wasn’t doing their tryouts anymore, they took me off of those. So then, I was like, ‘F*ck man, I’m not doing anything,’ and then because I was on a different pay system than some other folks, I wasn’t really getting paid much weekly.”
Ricardo further dove into asking for his release. He recalled being so upset with the company’s writing team that he decided to miss his flight to RAW and stay home. He then spoke with WWE E.V.P. Mark Carrano and explained to him why he was done with WWE.
“And I was like, ‘F*ck it, I don’t wanna go anymore.’ It was basically that. ‘I’m not going.’
I didn’t get on the plane. I woke up in the morning on Monday, I called Mark Carrano and then I was like, ‘Hey man, listen, I’m not gonna come in. I think I’m done. I just wanna say thank you so much for the opportunity. Just wanna say thank you to Vince and Paul [Levesque] and Johnny [Laurinaitis],’ and then Mark is like, ‘Where are you?’ I was like, ‘Well I’m still in my bed man. I’m still at home.’ He’s like, ‘Are you sure?’ I’m was like, ‘Yeah, I just wanna say thank you’ and I’ve ran down the whole thing. I was like, ‘I’ve tried talking to you guys, I’ve tried talking to you about my financial situation and we’ve been going over this for about six months and it still hasn’t been fixed. I’ve been pitching ideas to the writers and nobody’s giving me the time of day, and I’ve asked to see if I could work down in FCW or NXT and I’m not getting anything so, I just wanna say thank you but I think I’m done.’ He’s like, ‘Well just stay home, let me talk to Vince and Paul and I’ll give you a call back.’ I was like, ‘Alright,’ so then he called me back on a Wednesday afternoon. It was like 4:30, 5 o’clock in the afternoon and he was like, ‘Hey, I just talked to Vince and Paul and they’re gonna grant your release. Thank you for your time and the door’s always open for you.’ I was like, ‘Yeah whatever,’” Rodriguez jokingly added. “But I was like, ‘Yeah, thank you.’”
** Lance Storm was a guest on the ‘Sitting Ringside with David Penzer’ podcast and Storm told the story of when he was informed that WCW talents were supposed to get involved in the match between Vince and Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 17. According to what Storm was told, they were scheduled to do more than just appear on camera from the press box but due to Shawn Stasiak doing a radio interview and tipping off that WCW talents were being brought to Mania, their initial plans were scrapped and Vince McMahon was not pleased that their appearances had been leaked.
“That first WrestleMania, the Mania 17 where we all sat in the luxury box or whatever and we’re there to support Shane O’Mac. From what I was told, again, it was second-hand but I was told we were originally going to be involved in the match but Shawn Stasiak stooged off that we were gonna be there in a internet interview that he did on the Friday, because we all got called less than a week before. ‘Hey, we’re gonna bring you into WrestleMania.’ We’re like, ‘Mhm, cool!’ And it was Johnny Ace that called me. He was always the liaison guy and he didn’t specifically say, ‘Hey don’t tell anybody, kayfabe this.’ But it’s not my first rodeo. Unless they tell you to promote it, you shut your damn mouth so I’m like, ‘Cool’ and kept it quiet. Well, Shawn Stasiak did an internet radio interview and said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re all being brought into WrestleMania. We’re gonna be at Mania 17’ and I was told Vince [McMahon] lost his sh*t and wanted to just cancel us all and not bring any of us there but tickets were booked, planes were booked, all that stuff and apparently, someone managed to calm him down and still bring us in but we were just sitting in the box, they’re having nothing to do with this and were sort of shunned and I think that was step one of, ‘Man, we’re in trouble.’”
** PWInsider obtained a copy of the official order in the case between Jeff Jarrett/Global Wrestling Entertainment and Anthem Sports & Entertainment and why the case was ruled a mistrial. Here’s the order, as per the site:
ORDER In a July 30, 2020 ruling from the bench, the Court declared a mistrial in this case and a new trial was ordered in accordance with Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because cumulative errors by both the Court and counsel resulted in neither party receiving a fair trial.
This included, but was not limited to:
(1) the Court’s failure to instruct on comparative negligence;
(2) the identity of the wrong entity in the verdict form on the counterfeiting claim;
(3) improper comments by Defendant’s counsel in opening statements; and
(4) improper statements by Plaintiffs’ counsel in closing arguments, all of which were discussed in detail in the Court’s oral ruling.
Accordingly, the jury is hereby DISCHARGED, and the Clerk shall note on the docket that a MISTRIAL has been declared.
A status conference will be held on September 11, 2020 at 9:00 a.m to set a new trial date.
** SPORT1 ran their interview with SmackDown Tag Team Champion Cesaro. Cesaro was asked how much longer does he plan on wrestling as he’s at the age of 39 and Cesaro responded to the question with advice that he received from John Cena concerning the topic:
“I want to get better every day, that’s how I handle my career. If I can’t do it anymore, it’s time to stop. A wise man named John Cena once told me that you are only as good as you were in your last match. I want my last match to be great. When I see that this is no longer possible, you have to stop. I don’t know when that is.”
** Here’s the newest edition of AEW Dark:
** Brian Pillman Jr. will be present and in action at the OVW TV tapings tonight in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
** Bleacher Report Live chatted with Matt Cardona ahead of his AEW Dynamite in-ring debut on 8/5. Cardona stated that his forthcoming match on Dynamite will be the first match that he’s cared about in over a year.
“I mean, I use that hashtag on social media, ‘Always Ready’ but I gotta back it up, right? I’m super excited because it’s my first match in five months but it’s the first match in over a year that I’ve actually cared about, something I’m super pumped for and I’ll be honest, I’m nervous about it because it’s a brand new environment, brand new atmosphere and it’s my chance to make a first impression. I’m sure some people know me, but there might be people who don’t, so this is my first time to show what I got and it’s great that I’m teaming with by best friend.”
While speaking about his AEW debut, Cardona shared that he was nervous and wanted it to be over so he could go back and watch it over.
“Oh my God. First of all, that day, I was so nervous, you know? Because so many reasons. First, it was a brand new environment. I was the new kid in school. Literally got new clothes for the first day of school. I’m meeting all these new people, people that I know but I’ve never really met. I’ve followed their careers, I know them from social media so to see them face-to-face and then of course, I’m gonna be live on Dynamite, on TNT, my return to wrestling so of course I was super nervous, super excited and I just wanted it to be over with in a good way. I just wanted to relax, watch it back and move on.”
** A clip was uploaded to the Reality of Wrestling YouTube channel with Booker T and Brad Gilmore discussing why Booker decided to step away from the WWE in 2007.
“I think it was the right decision at that time to walk away. I had a lot of money in the bank at that time too man. I had a lot of money in the bank and properties and stuff and I tried to make sure that when I did walk away from it, I was gonna be okay and I knew I had my retirement at a certain age. So I’d been planning to actually walk away from it. I didn’t think, there again, that I was gonna go to TNA or anything like that but I just knew I needed — I don’t know if I thought I may have gone back to WWE later. I don’t know what I thought but I just knew at that point in time, I knew at that point in time if I didn’t walk away, I felt like something bad was gonna happen inside. I just had a feeling that if I didn’t walk away right then and there, we may not be having this conversation, honestly, and I just say that because people gotta know when to say when. Not saying that for any other reason. People gotta know when you gotta say, ‘Let me think about me for a second.’”
** Titus O’Neil’s ‘Bullard Foundation’ is partnering with Paddack Mall in Ocala, Florida to put together a ‘Back to School Fest’ on August 8th. At the event, temperature checks will be done and masks are required.
** Comicbook.com spoke with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre ahead of the 8/3/20 edition of Monday Night RAW. While speaking about his current feud with Randy Orton, McIntyre admitted that during his first stint in WWE, he walked on eggshells when he was around Orton in the backstage area.
“I think people can expect a lot of truths. I’ve been around for a long time. I was around Randy Orton back in the day when he wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person. I’m not saying he’s a pleasant person right now, but he certainly wasn’t at one point. I was one of the young kids walking on eggshells around him and I’m certainly going to sound off about exactly how I feel about Randy Orton in the past and in the present and what I plan to do to him at SummerSlam.”
** A new show is coming to the WWE Network this weekend titled ‘WWE Timeline’. In the first episode, the rivalry between The Miz and Daniel Bryan will be spotlighted.
** Andrew Everett has been announced for GCW’s ‘Jimmy Lloyd’s Jersey Shore’ show on August 23rd in Atlantic City.
** When asked about the whereabouts of Austin Theory, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline noted that Theory’s situation is a “unannounced suspension of sorts”.
** Cablefax has an article up about WWE’s ratings decline.
** IMPACT Wrestling is running a two-night special in two weeks titled ‘Emergence’. The shows will air on August 18th and August 25th and the special will air on AXS TV. Night two of the special is going to be headlined by Deonna Purrazzo versus Jordynne Grace for the Knockouts Championship.
** Booker T, CM Punk and Renee Young are going to host a SummerSlam 1992 watch-party on the FOX Sports app and on the WWE on FOX social media channels. The show is airing tonight on FS1 at 9 PM EST.
** The ‘Hench Herbivore’ YouTube channel has an interview up with former NXT Tag Team Champion Pete Dunne.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDDLp9faU1o[/embedyt]
** According to PWInsider, John Duff, who was head of acquisitions at beIN Sports left the organization in July to be the head of programming at MAVTV. Duff was MLW’s biggest advocate and per PWInsider, the move will not have an effect on MLW’s relationship with beIN Sports.
** Pro Wrestling NOAH ‘NOAH Departure’ Results (8/4/20) Korakuen Hall
– Masa Kitamiya def. Akitoshi Saito
– HAYATA & Kinya Okada def. Hao & Nio
– Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi def. Manabu Soya & Yoshiki Inamura
– Daisuke Harada, Tadasuke & YO-HEY def. FULL THROTTLE (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Seiki Yoshioka)
– Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Yoshinari Ogawa def. Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Kotaro Suzuki
– GHC National Championship: Kenou def. Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) by KO
** PROGRESS Wrestling provided another update on the inner-workings of the promotion as they embark on a new regime management-wise.
** Killer Kelly shared a photo of her arm in a cast and jokingly captioned the photo, “I guess it’s gonna be leg day, every day.”
** Dean Malenko turned 60-years old on August 4th. Today is also the birthday of Frankie Kazarian.
** Sasha Banks, Bayley, Angelo Dawkins, Tyler Breeze and Xavier Woods played ‘Trivia Murder Party 2’.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr5KRVoTeLU[/embedyt]
** ‘The Talk’ has two clips up on their YouTube channel from their chat with Dave Bautista.
** The ‘Tenby Observer’ has a story up about a forthcoming documentary about Adrian Street.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling has a video up on their YouTube channel of the participants who’ll be competing in the New Japan Cup USA promoting their respective matches.
** MJF and Enzo Amore guest appeared on Busted Open Radio with Bully Ray and David LaGreca.
** Bleacher Report Live has an interview with AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes.
** Part four of William Colosimo’s interview with Minoru Suzuki is up on TheMMACommunity website. The interview was translated by Taiki Yamamoto.
** Kenny King was the most recent guest on the ROHStrong podcast.
** Below is the latest installment of Ohio Valley Wrestling television:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVIhumk23RA[/embedyt]
** Lana and Natalya hosted a Q&A session on Lana’s YouTube channel.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6rlvO9fweg[/embedyt]
** Joey G. of Wrestling Headlines interviewed MLW’s Richard Holliday. Holliday was asked for his thoughts on the possibility of MLW running events during the COVID-19 pandemic and here are his thoughts on what he believes MLW could do going forward:
“I mean it’s a very delicate subject when you’re dealing with people’s health and you’re dealing with the overall safety. If it were me…I’ve said on a few different interviews that I’m not entirely a huge fan of empty-arena shows. However, I do understand distribution deals and knowing that works do require content in order to fulfill obligations and things of that nature. So it’s much different than just saying, ‘Well we just need to strictly focus on safety.’ There is unfortunately the business end of it, which is kind what is dividing the country non-related to sports entertainment and professional wrestling. Is it business or is it safety? Do you open the economy, do you not? Again you can be on either side of the fence and I think you can make an argument for both ways. What I will say…I do appreciate that MLW is taking its time. That’s not to say that we are not going to run empty arena shows. I don’t know what the future is going to hold. I don’t know what Court Bauer and everybody is going to want to do. What I do know is that even while we have been absent from providing live content…we are still doing tremendous things like providing MLW Underground and giving consumers a taste of the past. We’re still doing Pulp Fusion on a weekly basis and keeping everybody engaged…letting everybody know what we’re doing, and we’re still growing. We’re still signing international partnerships. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, MLW is finding a way to grow, and that is very impressive.”
** Cesaro recently appeared on Mega Ran’s podcast.
** Jey Uso was the latest guest on ‘Superstar Savepoint’ on the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly-eScAl1xk[/embedyt]
** Sasha Banks made the media rounds and did an interview with the ‘GWS Group’ in Saudi Arabia.
** Rusev hit 100,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
** Bad Luck Fale appeared on the ‘Tama’s Island’ podcast.
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.
