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.
** Konnan guest appeared on the ‘Masks, Mats and Mayhem’ show. Konnan dove into his time in Lucha Underground and recalled when the organization offered The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) $250 a piece to sign.
“Here’s why Lucha Underground was — this is the type of sh*t that only Lucha Underground would do. They had some jackoff, yes you are a jackoff, called Tony Jensen. He was the lawyer of the f*cking company. So they had this guy who doesn’t know sh*t about wrestling, doesn’t know how to talk to wrestlers, you know? You gotta be able to talk their language, alright and he calls The Young Bucks and he offers them $250 each. So they basically told me to go f*ck myself and that yeah, they’d sign if they got $2,500 each, and I was like, ‘Bro, Dorian [Roldan], why don’t you let me talk to the wrestlers? I already have a connection, a relationship with a lot of them and I know how to back and forth’ but no, they kept him there.”
** EC3 was the most recent guest on the ROHStrong podcast. Following his release from WWE in April, EC3 put out a shoot-fight-style video that was of similar likeness to what would eventually become RAW Underground. EC3 shared that he sent that same video to WWE not too long before his release from the company. He said he was expecting WWE to convert his idea into their own but not to the lengths that he feels they did.
“I knew it was going to be stolen, so I was prepared for it. I didn’t know it’d go to that length, and I know mine played to a minor bubble of the professional wrestling audience while majority of it saw whatever the hell they put out there. The way I look at it is kind of like I was Wayne’s World. I was producing this show in Aurora, my basement with my buddy Garth. We’ll call him J.C. in this instance, and then Rob Lowe came in, bought us and when I saw Shane McMahon in the ring, not in a real underground, mine was a real underground. [This] manufactured, heartless, desolate studio, I’m looking at Shane and it felt like when Noah was rapping on Wayne’s World after they bought him out. It was just inauthentic and like I said, it had no heart. So I knew something would’ve been taken from it. I didn’t expect the whole aesthetic, and while it upset my friend, J.C. who I worked very hard on with it, at the same time, it’s just a challenge to do something different, better next time which I definitely plan on doing because again, control your narrative, again, Ring of Honor provides freedom. I’m not tied to doing just that. There’s things I want to do in the future and continue that narrative as sort of supplemental content to whatever other places I’m doing things in and I have bold, ambitious views for it. We’ll see if it works out, I think it will.”
Continuing on the topic of his release, EC3 stated that he was planning to ask for his release from the company but the COVID-19 pandemic changed his mind about doing so.
“Pandemic hit, this is post-WrestleMania and there was quote, plans to do something, allegedly, that were started but never saw the light of day, the WrestleMania after RAW. I remember leading up to that WrestleMania I was like, ‘If it wasn’t a pandemic, I was going to ask for a release.’ Whether I would’ve had it or not, I don’t know and it would’ve never been something where I would have forced their hand by taking to social media first. I was just going to have a conversation. The only thing that prevented me was the fact there was a pandemic and I’m like, ‘People are losing jobs, people are losing money. My parents own a restaurant, I might have to be a breadwinner. I can tough it out but I really don’t wanna be here’ and then I got a call and I wasn’t — I’m not gonna say exhilarated and exuberant. It was kind of like, ‘Okay, this is what I wanted, now what can I do?’ The only problem is the fact that it is a pandemic and our occupation is very based on performing in front of people and people aren’t coming, so there was some fear in that but I know I had 90 days to figure out what it is I want to do in this career as far as it continuing and other aspects in profession, in life so, I remember I was doing yoga, quarantined in our apartments…
I got a phone call. I was watching it [yoga] on my phone. I got a phone call from one of my good friends, who was part of those releases, and then I just ignore him, I’m doing yoga and then five seconds later, I get a call from the office and was like, ‘Oh, we’re getting fired today, cool.’ So, have a conversation with him and he had a real tough day that day, having to let so many people go. Sounded like the office was chaos. I didn’t hold him responsible. I was like, ‘It’s okay, it’s fine. Everything is fine, it’s good, whatever. Thank you for everything, not bitter.’ Hang up. Now I remember the first time I was released, how it was piss, fire, brimstone, rage, every emotion that’s like anger-ridden. This time, I finished yoga and I was fine. It was okay. I was very much at peace I guess you can say.”
He also discussed his time as a part of RAW. EC3 said that when he was first called up from NXT, he had an off-feeling about how things were about to go for him in this new venture. He would later clarify after the next quote that vignettes were done for him and the other talents that were called up in that same group.
“The second I got the call, I was having a moment of, ‘Alright, something you’ve always wanted in your life is taking place. This is a good thing’ and I was standing on my patio of my downtown Orlando rooftop pool. Nice place, I have a good life, I’m doing well and I’m looking over at the Amway Center which is Orlando’s main building and I’m looking at it and I’m feeling it and I just got this call and I’m like, ‘This doesn’t feel right.’ It didn’t feel right so, right away.
That was one reason. Two was the product at the time was… people were calling for — I guess they made it seem [like], ‘You want new talent, you’re gonna have it.’ It just seemed very rushed and out of the blue. Though being in NXT, having an awesome time, I know I wasn’t really made for NXT. I was going to be there until something opened up but it just kinda, ‘Oh [you want something new!?] Here ya go. Here’s a bunch of people, have at ‘em.’ There was no foresight, there was no thought, there was no vignettes, there was no character building. It was just presenting it to [a] new audience, this muscle-y, kinda handsome dude who you’re gonna like, even though he’s way better if you don’t like him. It just — nothing seemed right about it.”
** In honor of Jazz announcing her retirement, Trish Stratus put together a photobook of their rivalry on her personal website.
** Sasha Banks was the latest guest on New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast. Banks recounted her upbringing and experiencing being called the n-word and that being used as motivation in a way to propel her out of the situation she was in into a better one.
“So before that [Iowa], I lived in California and around a lot of other cultures and different experiences and hearing people say the n-word but back then, the n-word is something, hey, it’s like a friend. When I hear it back in California, it’s like you say it as a friend. The first time I heard it in such a negative way was when I was living in California and I was walking home from softball practice and this guy on his porch was like screaming at me, ‘Hey n-word, get the f out of here.’ I was just like, ‘What?’ And instantly, I just became so shy and so scared. Next thing you know, I’m watching wrestling like, ‘Woah! This is who I’m going to be. I’m going to be larger than life. I’m going to be someone that I can’t be right now and I have to do this because this is my dream and I have to break this fear.’ So ever since I laid my eyes on wrestling, it was always my mindset. Like this was going to save me, this was going to be my — it was gonna break me away from being this scared little child and being so fearful, but now I’m here breaking so many fears and it’s crazy. It’s all because of my experience, my journey, but you have to go through those things to know where you are now and to grow, and now here I am going back and being like, ‘Okay, because of that, here I am today,’ being the most successful women’s wrestler in history.”
Early on in WWE developmental, Sasha felt that she was going to be cut from the company. She stated that it was Tyler Breeze who helped her improve in several areas of her game and also credited Xavier Woods for being helpful to many people during their time together in NXT.
“It was when I finally got signed, I was like, ‘Damn, did I really get signed? Like what the hell.’ You know when you first get started, you’re just like, ‘Holy… man, this is everything,’ and then you’re there for a while and you’re like, ‘Man, they’re not doing sh*t with me. I’m just losing every single week.’ Damn. Seeing new girls get called up before me, dang it. Seeing new girls get put on TV before me, what the — I thought I was good? I thought I was doing awesome, I thought I was everything. I thought I wanted to be the best. Aren’t you the best? That’s what I said to myself and I was like, ‘Dang, I actually think I might get released.’ I just felt that energy. I felt it around the coaches. I just thought — I felt like I was gonna be on the chopping block but I talked to Tyler Breeze and he really helped me. He made me write down like five different characters. Like you helped him a lot too [Xavier] Woods, making videos and I think I was gonna ask you to help me as well but I did my first promo as The Boss, trying that first character and it clicked, long story short.”
Banks is being featured in the next season of The Mandalorian. Sasha was discovered for that show because of her appearance on ‘Hot Ones’.
“Sarath [Sasha’s husband], he just knows everything that’s cool in the world and he just got that for me and if I can give a little something cool, that’s how I got noticed for Star Wars. Isn’t that cool!? That’s a little secret.”
** In June of 2020, Kris Statlander suffered a torn ACL while attempting a suicide dive on AEW Dynamite. Statlander had surgery shortly thereafter and she recently spoke with Wrestling Inc. and provided an update on how her recovery is coming along.
“I’m doing pretty good. I think from what I’ve heard overall is that I might be a little bit ahead of others where I’m at right now, but I still have a real long way to go before I can re-debut basically and get back in the ring before I’m debuting again obviously, and I’m going to want to be training a little bit before. So I’ll be able to get in the ring before you’ll see me back on TV. It could be another eight months or so.”
As far as the injury itself, Statlander is still puzzled on how it happened via a suicide dive to the outside. She said the recovery process has been more mentally exhausting than physically.
“It’s been more mentally challenging than physically challenging at times because physically, I have the ability to keep pushing myself and to just keep doing everything I need to, and I’ll go harder than I probably should be to try and do my rehab and stuff like that, but mentally, you’re sitting at home all day and you’re alone all day because you can’t go out and go do anything. You can only work out for so long in a day when you’re injured and you just see all your friends, and everyone doing awesomely on TV and you’re just like, ‘Man, I just want to be a part of that so bad, and I just feel like I’m useless to this division.’ So there was a good two-three straight months where I cried every single night because I felt like I had just been failing everybody, and I don’t even know what happened when I got injured.
I just did a suicide dive, and the way I landed, I guess, was not perfectly right. You can actually see the dive on TV when I heard it, but all you see is me quickly grab my leg when I go down, and then the camera’s off of me. But it doesn’t even look like I did anything super insane, or it doesn’t look very noticeable. ‘Oh, she messed up her leg there.’ You cannot tell at all. So I had no idea what happened. I just kind of felt a little ‘pfft’ in my leg. It didn’t even hurt that bad either. I was just like, ‘Oh boy.'”
** James Storm chatted with Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio on 10/19. Storm has stated on several accounts that he has a working agreement with the National Wrestling Alliance that when they need him to come in, he’ll drop the organization’s tag team titles that he holds with Eli Drake. Storm shared that the NWA was planning on running a WrestleMania weekend show and he was going to drop the titles there.
“I talked to Billy Corgan and told him, ‘Whatever you guys need me to do to go out the right way, I’ll do it.’ We actually — they were gonna plan a show around that WrestleMania weekend when all the shows go on and I was gonna drop it down there and just, as they say, [do] good business on the way out the door.”
Storm told Pro Wrestling Sheet in an exclusive interview that there were plans in place for him to return to WWE prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. During his Busted Open Radio appearance, Storm said that he would have liked to be a part of NXT again.
“See, that was one of the things I kinda wanted to do. I wanted to go to NXT because I know a lot of the guys on all the brands, but to be able and go down there and work with those guys, I know the first time I went down there, those guys were just so appreciative and they would just listen to anything you said and they’re not the kind of people that would say, ‘Hey, would you watch my match?’ But then when they come back, they would be like, ‘Well, I was gonna do this.’ They would be like, ‘Well thank you, thank you very much.’ So, and I always tell people, Hunter, he’s just got that thing running on all cylinders.”
** KUSHIDA vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Tommaso Ciampa was added to the 10/21 edition of NXT on the USA Network.
** AEW World Champion Jon Moxley joined The Fight Game Podcast to chat UFC 254. In the midst of their conversation, Moxley reflected on working the Bloodsport event with Chris Dickinson and Moxley stated that he was as safe as possible during the weekend and did not come into contact with anyone who wasn’t tested for COVID.
“I had a ball. That was such a fun, fun experience all around. I stayed in a different hotel than anybody, I had my own dressing room, I didn’t come into contact with anybody that wasn’t tested. Josh Barnett, Erik Hammer, Kal [Jak]. I was basically in and out pretty quickly, you know? So I wasn’t hanging around that whole Collective weekend or anything, although I did watch a lot of it on FITE TV. But, couple hours I was there, it was a great, fun experience. It’s just wrestling man. Just get in there and wrestle, just fun. It was a great atmosphere, great opponent in Chris Dickinson, physicality. Just loved every second of it.”
** In August, it was formally announced that Kimber Lee signed a deal with IMPACT Wrestling. While speaking with Steel Chair Magazine, Kimber discussed how her signing came about and receiving the offer at the Slammiversary pay-per-view.
“What kind of made it possible was just kind of the state our world is in right now, with the shutdowns and everything that kind of happened. Some of the people who would regularly be at IMPACT, some of the regular Knockouts of the time weren’t able to make it into town just because flights weren’t running or different circumstances because of the pandemic, and so an opportunity opened up for some women to come down and fill some of those holes, and I was one of the people who was fortunate enough to get asked to come down. I took the opportunity and left my heart and soul in that ring, and the powers that be noticed. I got asked back again, and then I got asked back for Slammiversary. It was at Slammiversary where they actually offered me a contract, and I really think it happened just because when a door opened, I took the ball and ran with it.”
** SLAM! Wrestling pushed out their interview with Sami Callihan. Sami is the founder of The Wrestling Revolver promotion and he reiterated that he will not be running shows until it’s 100 percent safe to do so.
“There’s nothing better than being able to hold an entire arena of people in the palm of your hand, and being able to manipulate them and get them to react the exact way you want them to react with your story. That’s something that’s really missing in professional wrestling. But, we’re not running live events until it’s completely safe to do so. We don’t want to risk anyone’s health, not the wrestlers, and not the fans.”
One individual that Sami Callihan is looking forward to sharing the ring with is the current IMPACT World Champion Eric Young. Callihan listed off several similarities between himself and Young including how he was supposed to be the leader of SAnitY which Young ended up becoming.
“There’s 100% money on me and Eric Young finally getting in the ring together. I am the guy that was originally supposed to be the leader of Sanity. I left that place and went to Impact Wrestling. He left Impact Wrestling, went to the other place, and became the leader of Sanity. We both use the piledriver as a finish. I think there is so much money in that feud and it’s just a matter of when the trigger is pulled that me and Eric can make major money together.”
** Former longtime WWE official Mike Chioda is joining AdFreeShows.
** Darby Allin teased another segment with Steve-O for the 10/21 episode of AEW Dynamite.
** Entreprenuer.com has a feature story up about Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. The story included a Q&A with The Good Brothers and Gallows expressed that he and Anderson are in no rush to remove themselves from the in-ring portion of wrestling but they’re hoping to have their own LLC and business ventures to push them along financially.
“We are not counting down the days until then,” Gallows said. “We want to be out there when we’re 50 if we can be. There’s a chance our bodies don’t hold up, so we want this brand that we’re creating now to be the thing that carries us into the next thing. I have a ton of respect for guys who had to leave the business before there was social media. With all the platforms we have today, if you can really get out there and express yourself, you can build a brand. Without any internet or anything like that, a guy would get let go or he’d get hurt and drift out of the business, and there was no way to see who he was or what he was doing or for them to build a brand. These poor guys, there was no more wrestling money coming in. So you go work in a car lot or do whatever you have to do to get by, to feed your family. But I think we have a real opportunity in this generation, and for all the guys younger than us, to build your brand while you’re hot, and we’re going to keep pushing, keep grinding.”
** Episode 57 of AEW Dark:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azaKWpfIDss[/embedyt]
** Sam Roberts took to his Notsam Wrestling Podcast to discuss the news that a video version of his podcast will now be on the WWE Network. The first episode of the ‘Swerve City Podcast’ on the WWE Network is premiering on Friday with guest Drew McIntyre.
** Newsday chatted with Brian Myers. Myers talked about reopening the Create A Pro Wrestling school after having to close the academy down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also reflected on being released from WWE in the middle of the pandemic and described it as a “cold move”.
“I felt like it was a pretty cold maneuver. That being said, I don’t care. I’m not going to live in the past. And I’m a true believer that everything happens for a reason.”
** Yahoo! Sports ran their interview with Ken Shamrock to promote Shamrock’s forthcoming induction into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall Of Fame. Shamrock had the following to say about the induction:
“It’s a moment you’re going to cherish for the rest of your life and beyond. You have been recognized by your fans and your peers. Obviously life’s not over, but for a career that you’ve started and that you tried to achieve many goals in, this is a story that comes to a good ending. I’m honored. There’s not enough words to even say.”
** Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze set up a Mario Kart circuit.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u89Mu2ce5MY[/embedyt]
** IMPACT X Division Champion Rohit Raju was a guest on the ‘Sitting Ringside with David Penzer’ podcast ahead of Bound For Glory. Rohit reflected on his X Division Title win and receiving a standing ovation backstage from the locker room.
“It was one of the best moments in my life, because I walked back there and John E. [Bravo], I’ve known Bravo for quite some time. We both came to IMPACT around the same time and we never thought either of us would get as far as we are now. We always worked towards it but we never really thought it was going to be that. So he was the first person back there, gave me a hug and then I saw Sami [Callihan] with a camera and then when I walked back there, everybody was back there and I immediately had to put my head down because I thought I was gonna cry and it just felt so good. It honestly felt — it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had because it’s your peers and it’s a locker room full of people that know how hard you work, coming up to you saying, ‘You deserve this, you deserve this, you deserve this’ and then when I actually won it, people that weren’t even with the company anymore or that I hadn’t seen in a while were reaching out to me saying, ‘Man, it’s about time. I’m so glad they did something with you,’ this, that and the other and that gave me such a good feeling because even though sometimes the fans, they don’t get it, that’s okay or they don’t latch on to you, that’s fine. But when your peers, especially ones that are really higher up that are on top of the mountain and they tell you these things, man that’s a great feeling.”
** Independent wrestler Anthony Belanger did an interview with Newsrama to promote his comic book ‘Mother Trucker’.
** Fightful caught up with Sami Callihan ahead of IMPACT Wrestling’s ‘Bound For Glory’ pay-per-view.
** Comicbook.com spoke with Elias.
** Ring of Honor Pure Title Tournament Results (10/19/20)
– Pure Title Tournament Second Round Match: Tracy Williams def. Fred Yehi
– EC3 cuts a promo in the ring.
– EC3 and Shane Taylor meet face-to-face backstage and The Briscoes (Mark & Jay) interrupt.
– Pure Title Tournament Second Round Match: Josh Woods def. PJ Black
** Lilian Garcia put up a new video on her YouTube channel featuring Paige.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Qas-fJhgs[/embedyt]
** Major League Wrestling extended their partnership with Martial-Arts Advance Research Systems to expand their [MLW] work with their innovation lab.
** Seth Rollins spoke with WWE’s AL AN affiliate and made his picks for an All-Star men’s and women’s Survivor Series team[s].
** Mike Bennett is returning to the UWN’s Prime Time Live show on 10/20 to face J.R. Kratos. Adding to the lineup is Miranda Alize vs. Christi Jaynes.
** PWInsider posted their interview with Heath, the former “Heath Slater”. Heath also did an interview with Darren Paltrowitz.
** NWA counted down the top five promos from NWA Powerrr.
** Zach Stitch, defensive coordinator and editor at the ‘Daily Journal’ wrote a story about an independent wrestling event he attended in North Dakota where two of his football players competed.
** Drake Maverick appeared on the ‘Uncool with Alexa Bliss’ podcast.
** WWE’s 2010 Bragging Rights pay-per-view was the focus of Arn Anderson’s latest podcast.
** Humberto Carrillo turned 25-years old on 10/20.
** Josh Alexander of IMPACT Wrestling chatted with WrestleZone.
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.
