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.
** Former UFC Bantamweight and Flyweight Champion Henry Cejudo joined Chavo Guerrero on his ‘Suplexes and Cervezas’ podcast. Cejudo has been training with Chavo and during their conversation, Cejudo says he’s aiming to do a one-off for AEW or WWE. He isn’t interesting in making it a full-time thing.
Just doing big things man and hopefully we can, you know, I would love to do this, whether it’s AEW, WWE, whomever. I would like to get a one-off man. I think that’s been one of my — I ain’t trying to do the long career like you [Chavo Guerrero], because that sh*t, what you guys do, that’s hard man.
At UFC 249, Henry formally retired from the sport of MMA. Several months later, he teased the idea of a return but as of the podcast recording, he feels he’s in a spot where if he doesn’t return to MMA, he will be okay with that. He added that if he were to return, the money needs to be worth his legacy.
I’m in a stage in my life where I’m happy Chavo [Guerrero] and if I never come back to the sport, I’m okay.
You know what I’m saying? And there’s also a beauty of you leaving on top that I love. I love that too man. It is almost like it better be worth it financially if you want me to come back for some sh*t that — the money better be worth my legacy.
** Chelsea Green guest appeared on the Dave and Creech show. Following her departure from WWE, Chelsea stated that she is eyeing Ring of Honor, IMPACT Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling as potential landing spots.
So, my contract is totally up July 14th. So, hopefully I get some offers [from] other companies. Either Ring of Honor, IMPACT, AEW. Those are kind of the companies I’m always in touch with because I have so many friends in the industry that work in each of those companies. So, those are on my list. I’d like to go there and do those companies and I just, as of today, started a podcast. So that’s kind of my new passion project.
While speaking about her “Hot Mess” character, Chelsea says it is not owned by anyone or any company but she does have the name trademarked. She added that IMPACT was relaxed about her usage of the “Hot Mess” character and she was free to use it in NXT.
So, nobody owns the character. I have worked to get the ‘Hot Mess’ trademarked, and that way, whatever I do with that name, it’s mine. But the good thing was is IMPACT is so relaxed. Even though we made the character in IMPACT, they allowed me to just do it on the independents or if I wanted to try it at NXT or WWE, I was able to. They were very relaxed about that which I really, really appreciated because it’d be kinda sad if I had to leave that character at IMPACT. It’s me.
During a 2017 episode of IMPACT Wrestling, there was a wedding segment with Chelsea Green as the bride and Braxton Sutter (The Blade) as the groom. Chelsea said she was legitimately drunk after the segment because she drank a whole bottle of champagne and then was handed a second bottle. This led to the creation of her ‘Hot Mess’ persona.
Well, Dutch, Dutch Mantel and I, he worked with IMPACT and we started — how did we start it out? So I was drunk for real after the segment of me getting married because I was really drinking champagne and the segment was so long, it was like 20 minutes so I had finished a bottle and had been handed a second bottle and was drinking that while I was crying on stage so when I went to the back, I was like for real drunk, having a great time and they wanted me to film a follow-up segment to go on TV for the next week. So we sat down in a room and they wanted me to mess my hair up a little bit so we did that and Dutch Mantel said, ‘Why don’t you smear your lipstick?’ I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t wanna do that. I wanna be cute, I don’t wanna do that’ and so I just smeared it a little bit and he was like, ‘More’ and I’m like, ‘No!’ So I did it a little more. He said, ‘More.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, fine.’ So I messed up my whole face and did this crazy, ridiculous promo where I sang The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow or something ridiculous.
** SLAM! Wrestling profiled former NXT Tag Team Champion Viktor, member of The Ascension. Viktor and Connor were released from WWE in late 2019 and on the topic of possibly returning to the company, Viktor said that is not happening.
No, never. It’s hard to say never, and I won’t go into why because it only partially has to do with us and our past experience, but my definitive no is a more personal reason. It’s not that I wouldn’t be happy to ever get to call and say, ‘Hey, guys, want to come back?’ But I’m pretty sure that answer will always be no. A line was crossed and it wasn’t crossed to either of us, it was due to a different situation and it caused me to lose complete and utter respect or to ever have any desire to work there again.
Viktor admitted that following his release from WWE, he did not want to wrestle anymore. He added that he and Konnor were miserable towards the end of their stretch with WWE and weren’t in a rush to jump back into things.
I didn’t want to wrestle anymore, honestly. I was very jaded and so clouded, there was nothing but negative that came out of me when I thought about wrestling and I needed to get rid of that before I could even start to do anything again. We were both so miserable at the end of our contracts. We were not in a rush to go call up our friends and be like, ‘Hey, can we have some jobs?’
The duo did establish a relationship with Cody Rhodes while he was portraying the “Stardust” character. Viktor also has history with Don Callis that dates back to their run-ins on the Canadian independent scene. Viktor is just of the thought process that he doesn’t want to call on a friend and ask for a job.
I knew I was going to get asked this because I usually don’t answer this properly or probably looks bad the way I usually answer this question. The best thing I can say is with where we were left in WWE, I’m not calling up a friend to ask for a job. Konnor is on the same page as me. I’ve said to him, ‘If you want me to make a call, I’ll make a call.’ I don’t think either of us want to make the call because we are restarting ourselves more or less.
** A new episode of ‘Casual Conversations with The Classic’ was pushed out and Ethan Page was the featured guest. Page shared that around April of 2020, he began planning to end up in All Elite Wrestling. Page debuted for the company in March of 2021.
We were all kind of waiting to see like if things were gonna get cancelled and once things started just kind of falling to the wayside and everything is just essentially getting shut down, April 3rd was approaching very quickly and I wanted to find a unique way of still giving the fans the show [Body Guy Extravaganza] that I envisioned because in my mind, I was already pre-planning on ending up in AEW so, I didn’t know if this was ever gonna be possible again. I didn’t know if I was ever gonna do a WrestleCon again or work with Highspots again or be able to have like a Ethan Page-branded show again. So, in a selfish way, I wanted to make sure people knew these ideas that I had because I’m so proud of them.
** DDT Pro-Wrestling’s Konosuke Takeshita wrapped up a stint with All Elite Wrestling and has since returned to Japan. There was a press conference held today that was hosted by DDT and Takeshita detailed his excursion to AEW. He said he wanted to regain confidence that he lost and that he did not do anything special in AEW but received great praise, so that gave him the confidence that he’ll be able to receive high praise for doing what he usually does for DDT. (Translated by @ddtpro_eng)
The AEW excursion seemed long but actually felt very short. The reason why I wanted to go despite international travel being difficult was to gain back the confidence I lost in the last year. I didn’t do anything different special while I was there, and it gave me confidence that I was able to get the high praise that I did while doing what I usually do at DDT. I hope to go back again one day, and in the meantime I will avenge myself against Akiyama. There’s also the Ultimate Tag League and CyberFight Festival coming up, so those will be my short-term focus.
** Current WWE producer Jeff Jarrett did an interview with Sportskeeda and he discussed the recent situation involving Mickie James. James was released from WWE on April and some of her belongings were sent to her in a trash bag. This led to a shake up in WWE’s Talent Relations and communications departments. Here was Jarrett’s response to the whole situation:
Obviously I’ve known Mickie her entire career. Incredible talent. You know, that story broke and without knowing all the details, it took in my opinion… how the bag got there. Cosmetically it didn’t sit well with a lot of folks. But also know that there’s a lot of discussion in the world we live in with social media and clicks. I get it. I completely understand it.
But without… look, there’s a lot of things that aren’t always what they truly appear to be. I don’t know who shipped it, how it was shipped, what was in that bag, what was in the contents of that bag. There’s so many questions, what if? But I know one thing, it made great headlines last week and a lot of discussion. But at the end of the day I don’t think either side… Mickie’s a future Hall of Famer without question. But it was a unique situation, difficult for both sides but I think it’s water under the bridge at this point.
** The latest guest on the ROHStrong Podcast was former ROH World Champion Homicide. He returned to Ring of Honor at their 19th Anniversary pay-per-view and formed a group with Brody King, Tony Deppen and Chris Dickinson. Homicide expressed that he thought he’d never be back in Ring of Honor because he had done everything in the company.
I’m still to this day, I’m a little bit surprised of this great comeback because when I left Ring of Honor, I thought I was never gonna come back. Not because of a bad political or business wise, it was just one of those like — I did everything. Now that I see that I’m older right now, I see myself doing more stuff for the company and making it bigger than what it is right now. So I’m just very blessed right now to be able to be part of this group and be part of a new chapter and a new era because back in the days, a lot of fans never saw my work in the old days of Ring of Honor and I raised some hell.
Later in the conversation, Homicide talked about an inside joke that CM Punk and Samoa Joe shared on Twitter following Joe’s release from WWE. Homicide added that Punk still calls him and Punk never forgot where he came from.
And CM Punk, he did that [inside joke on Twitter] with Samoa Joe and that’s one of the guys I was telling you like never forget where you came from. Punk is really like that. He never forgot where he came from. The guy still calls me to this day. So, very, very happy with his success. I hope he does good in the future, let’s see what happens. I hope a unit comes with me and Joe and Punk.
Homicide looked back on his series of matches with Daniel Bryan in Ring of Honor. He feels that he contributed “flavor” to Bryan’s in-ring style as some viewed him as boring. He added that Bryan is one of the best and he proved that he could brawl during their matches together.
Two different styles, but of course a lot of people really don’t know I can do technical styles. But the world of Ring of Honor and the fans’ eyes who doesn’t know, it was two completely different styles and I enjoyed it. I also bring that fire to Daniel Bryan, because Daniel Bryan to me, he reminded me of no flavor in your ice cream. He was just vanilla, no chemistry, no nothing. People say he was boring. He was just pure, great wrestler. He was like Steven Regal without the British accent or whatever or Bob Backlund, you know? So you gotta give him a little flavor. Now put a little color to his craft and I think me and other people, we put that little color on his style and I think it’s more of the confidence and charisma level just come out. I could be wrong but I really think he was very blah and I’m the one that brought that little flavor and more [intensity]. When he wrestled me, it was really one of those like, ‘Okay, I’m wrestling one of the top dogs. I need to step up my game’ and he sure did. He’s one of the greatest guys. He’s another one that should be in the [ROH] Hall Of Fame. But the American Dragon, he’s a phenomenal technical wrestler and he proved to me he could brawl.
** Longtime WWE music composer Jim Johnston was interviewed by Chris Van Vliet. Johnston told the story of when Vince McMahon purchased the company from his father and wanted to implement theme music into the product. Johnston stated that Vince Sr. told his son that he would tank the wrestling business if music was put into the program.
And so one night, I saw this guy I had seen a lot of times and he said, ‘Didn’t you say you write music or something like that?’ And then he explained that he worked for WWE and he was the Art Director for them. He had been asked to put together a video for a [cable TV convention], and he said, ‘I can stumble through and put together a video but I have no clue how to put music to it. If you wanna give it a try’ so I did, met Vince [McMahon], Vince and I inexplicably hit off tremendously well and this is early on when there really wasn’t entrance music. No, not ‘there really wasn’t,’ there wasn’t entrance music. Matter of fact, one of my favorite stories was Vince’s father, when Vince bought the company from his dad and he wanted to put music in and his father told him, ‘If you put music to this program, you will completely kill this business.’ So, big miss by dad right there.
While speaking about the current themes of WWE and AEW, Johnston feels that those themes are all homogenous and mediocre.
I think the music now in WWE and in AEW, I think it’s — sorry. I think it’s all really homogeneous and really mediocre and doesn’t have anything to do with the characters and I think that’s why there are less big stars. I don’t think that there are no potential big stars in the rosters, hiding there. I mean, before Steve Austin was Steve Austin, he was The Ringmaster and there are lots of stories like that is that these people need the right storyline, the right costuming, definitely the right music to lift them up because typically the music is serving multiple masters in a way. It’s entertaining for the audience, it’s a big boot in the ass for the wrestler before they go out and to sort of get them in that headspace of their character and to kind of get them jacked up to do a great performance.
** The Complex Sports Podcast welcomed Pat McAfee onto the show. McAfee last wrestled at NXT TakeOver: WarGames in 2020 and with his current position as a commentator on SmackDown, he does think the angle of setting up a match between an active talent and a commentator is an easy one to map out.
You know, the commentating angle is an easy one to start a run with, you know? Very, very simple. Very, very simple and when done right by the way, awesome, you know? Absolutely awesome. But with that being said, I was so sore after TakeOver XXX and WarGames. So, so sore. I got a chance to find out, ‘Do I think I could have done this full-time if I would’ve committed to it instead of going to college to kick footballs?’ And the answer is still I don’t know because I’m not sure if my body would ever have been tough enough to go through that entire thing. By the way, shoutout to the old reality show Tough Enough. But anyway, I think I would definitely love to get a documented win. That’d be good. To get a dub under my belt at some point. But I’m not 100 percent sure what all my body could or could not handle if were to have a real run if that makes sense to a wrestling fan that’s listening.
** GIVEMESPORT has an in-depth chat on their site with NXT UK’s Sam Gradwell, discussing his journey to WWE. Gradwell recalled receiving the phone call about coming to be a part of a WWE tryout and fantasizing that Vince McMahon would handpick him out of a crop of talents as his next top star.
When I got to that tryout, I thought I was ready. I thought that when I walked down that ramp that Vince McMahon was going to take one look at me and say, ‘There’s my star, come here you, get away from these tryout lot, get here!’ That didn’t happen, but I did strike up a relationship with William Regal that day. He pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re not ready now, but there’s something there and you eventually will be.’ Regal kept in contact with me, whenever WWE were touring the UK he’d bring me in for extra work, let me have tryout matches before the cameras were on. Then, when the WWE UK Championship tournament came around [in 2017], it was about 7:00 AM in the morning and I was sat on the toilet in my nana and grandad’s house and my phone rang – it was William Regal.
** During the latest Keepin It 100 with Konnan podcast, Konnan shared that when Santana and Ortiz were initially brought into LAX, Homicide was not fond of being on the sidelines in a managerial role because he felt he had more to contribute in-ring.
Bro, let me tell you, that same sh*t — the same sh*t happened with Homicide. When we started LAX, Santana and Ortiz were wrestling and he was just ringside with me and he was hot as a motherf*cker. He was like, ‘Yeah, I feel like a cheerleader’ and I go, ‘Bro, right now, let’s just play our role and we’ll bring you in little by little’ I assumed. But they never really brought him in, you know what I’m saying? So, when you can still go, you wanna go. You don’t wanna be out there f*cking spending — you only have so many years, right? You know, f*ck.
** Ahead of her singles match on the 4/27 episode of NXT on USA Network, Daily DDT spoke with Mercedes Martinez. She further spoke about her decision to not be a part of RETRIBUTION and added that she is not against the idea of one day returning to Raw or SmackDown.
The name of the game for me is to get to WrestleMania or win a title there or be a champion. Whether it’s Raw or SmackDown, that’s really the ultimate platform. Would it come in a month or six months? Who knows, but that’s the goal to be there and I want to do it as Mercedes Martinez. I want to do it as the badass version everyone knows and loved and to go there intimidating and kill it like I always do. That’s what my future is. When it happens, I don’t know, but right now, the opportunity is for me to beat Dakota tomorrow and make my statement with Dakota and go on to Raquel at some point and make my mark there.
One name that Mercedes mentioned while discussing who she’s looking forward to sharing the ring with in NXT is Franky Monet, the former Taya Valkyrie.
I’m so excited for her to be a part of this roster. Wherever our paths take us, when you see people who [you] have been on the scene with for so long reach their dreams and their goals too, it’s like, ‘Wow, now we really get to beat each other up on a bigger stage now!’ That’s what I’m looking forward to. I can’t wait to see what she does and I’m really excited for her.
** Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso caught up with Xavier Woods and Woods told the publication that D-Von Dudley was key in him deciding to dive into other work he enjoyed which led to Woods focusing on UpUpDownDown.
D-Von Dudley has served as a mentor and pointed me in the right direction to do work I enjoy. It evolved into this creative plain with UpUpDownDown, a blueprint for excitement.
** America’s Got Talent and ‘I Can See Your Voice’ contestant Samantha Irvin is the new ring announcer for 205 Live.
** Kimber Lee appeared on the Women’s Wrestling Talk podcast and she explained that her transition to being vegan was to help with her deal with Crohn’s disease.
The beginning of this year was my third full year as vegan and it didn’t start as an animal rights thing, it started as a health thing. I have Crohn’s disease. If you look, I’ve talked about it here and there but I don’t talk about it all the time and I just kind of wasn’t listening to my doctors and eating cheese and dairy and whatever I wanted and I just got to a point where I was sick of being sick because it really did affect me because with the Crohn’s disease, was super lactose intolerance and so I finally was like, ‘Look, I’m gonna cut out dairy. I’m just gonna get rid of it’ and then when I was getting ready to do it, I was like, ‘You know what? I think I’m gonna go big or go home. I already don’t eat very much meat. Dairy is gonna be the hard part anyway. Let’s just cut it all out, see what happens’ so I did and I literally went cold turkey. Just one day, went to the grocery store and stopped buying it.
** Part two of Hiromu Takahashi’s Q&A is up on NJPW1972.com. Takahashi was asked if he would redesign the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title and he says it does need to be repaired and the name plates need to be updated.
I think it needs a little repairing, and to have the name plates updated first and foremost!
** Jordynne Grace chatted with Sports Illustrated about her body positivity photoshoot.
** WWE’s Mansoor got engaged. POST Wrestling extends our congratulations to him and his significant other.
** Jessi Kamea and Aliyah are taking on NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart on the 4/27 NXT.
** Prior to IMPACT Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view, Rich Swann spoke to Steel Chair Magazine for an exclusive interview.
** Tenille Dashwood, Kaleb with a K and Jordynne Grace did virtual signings on the IMPACT Wrestling Facebook page.
** Rob Van Dam joined Busted Open Radio with David LaGreca and Tommy Dreamer to chat about his CBD oil products.
** SLAM! Wrestling spoke to Deonna Purrazzo about her merchandise and wrestling memorabilia.
** Melina was a guest on Busted Open Radio.
** ‘The Big Issue’ chatted with Drew McIntyre.
** ABC Action News caught up with Marc Mero.
** Tenille Dashwood and Gail Kim appeared on The Greg Pogue & Jon Burton Show on Nashville SportsRadio.
** WrestleZone ran their interview with Ring of Honor’s Dak Draper.
** Xavier Woods, AJ Styles and Sarath Ton (Mikaze) play JENGA backstage:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzI_a-pOXeM[/embedyt]
** Darren Paltrowitz posted his interview with Rhino.
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.
