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.
** Chase Owens brought KENTA onto his Twitch channel for a Q&A following KENTA’s loss in the G1 Climax A Block final. KENTA expressed that he is much happier in New Japan than he was in WWE.
Yeah, I’m happy now. Much more than when I was in — I forgot the name but WW-something.
He gave his thoughts on moves that he made popular being used by other wrestlers. He said it doesn’t matter and he’s happy to see his moves being used except for when CM Punk does it.
I don’t care, so I’m happy if people want to see my move and then they want to use [it], except CM Punk [KENTA joked].
Earlier this year, KENTA competed on AEW Dynamite and teamed with Kenny Omega to take on Jon Moxley and Lance Archer. He said the experience was fun and brought up the kitchen brawl that he was a part of.
Yeah, that was… all so fun. It was fun. Yeah, I fought in the kitchen. That was so fun.
When asked to name some of his favorite opponents, he mentioned the likes of Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura who he worked with in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
I worked [in] Pro Wrestling NOAH for a long time and so, you know, I worked [Naomichi] Marufuji or [Takashi] Sugiura. We had a lot of match[es], a lot of good match[es] so, I like those guys.
** Pro Wrestling Illustrated sat down with QT Marshall and during their chat, QT said there will never be another AEW Bash At The Beach due to legal reasons. WWE filed for six different WCW pay-per-view names that Cody Rhodes attempted to trademark. Bash At The Beach was one of those names.
The first-ever Bunkhouse, the first-ever Strap match, being on the card for the first-ever Blood and Guts, having Mr. Brodie Lee’s first match in AEW, just certain things that, you know, somehow I’ve been thrust — being in the first-ever Bash At The Beach in AEW and they’ll never be another one due to legal reasons but like, just having those matches, it’s just been an honor and it’s just — I think it comes down to the fact that for the most part, I work really hard, especially backstage and I’m very trustworthy.
QT co-runs the Nightmare Factory school with Cody. QT discussed how he goes about distributing AEW-related opportunities to talents at the school.
But the goal is after those 12 weeks [of training] is to go out and wrestle. That’s what we want. We don’t want wrestling school-lifers that are just gonna wait for that opportunity. Now granted, with AEW, it does help with Dark and Elevation that we can give people opportunities so that’s awesome. But at the same time, some of them have been wrestling 14 weeks so, you know what I mean? To give them an opportunity to get the same job that took me 17 years to get, I’m very picky on who gets those opportunities, how they get them, how they handle them, all that stuff so…
** WWE’s Elias appeared on Brandon Kravitz’s show (interview released in August). The week before the interview, Bray Wyatt had been let go from WWE. Elias and Wyatt were colleagues for multiple years and Elias spoke about how much of a surprise it was to receive word about Wyatt’s departure.
Yeah man, I think everybody’s rocked a little bit any time — it’s just a sad part of the business [WWE releases]. You know, any time any of our friends gotta go separate ways and things like that and sometimes they ask for it, sometimes they don’t, they don’t even see it coming. It’s just a sad part of it man and Bray Wyatt, he is a great guy and I’m absolutely certain whatever he wants to do and put his mind to, the guy’s mind for wrestling is — he’s incredible and I think everybody knows that with The Fiend and Bray Wyatt, everything he’s been through so, yeah, it caught me off guard but I don’t know what the personal situation was going on. But you know, it’s a crazy time in the wrestling world and I am sure that Bray Wyatt, whatever he puts his mind to is gonna be a success.
When Elias’ return to WWE TV was being promoted, in his vignettes, he ridded of his guitar. He mentioned the likes of Drew Gulak and Beth Phoenix who have standout musical talents. Elias has spoken to Beth about putting out music together.
So, yeah, there’s actually a few musically talented superstars [in WWE] and Beth Phoenix is actually an incredible — she can do anything really. She can sing, she can play piano and guitar and me and her having jammed out before and we’ll record some stuff and we even talked about recording stuff and putting it out to the public just because it’s so fun and it sounds great and she’s incredible. Drew Gulak plays a little bit. I got a sound guy, Lance. Every so often, I yell to him when I’m in the crowd if my sound is messing up or I’m in the ring and me and my sound guy will sit there and we’ll jam out, play music together so yeah, quite a few behind the scenes that keep it active.
** Highspots Wrestling Network hosted a virtual signing with CJ Perry (Lana). She gave her thoughts about consistently being slotted into the love interest storylines in WWE. CJ said a lot of people think Vince McMahon was toying with her and Miro by doing that, but she thinks he was just giving them an opportunity.
I think people don’t like when they feel, I don’t know. Especially at WWE, I feel like — and especially with all our stories because we would always be thrown in that love interest, soap opera story which usually always does really well, people love the Mandy [Rose] story and the Otis story because people love relationship stories but I think that a lot of times people thought that maybe Vince [McMahon] was messing with us and that’s why the fans didn’t like it but in reality, he wasn’t messing with us. He was just giving us more television time, you know?
At WrestleMania 35, Perry competed in the Women’s Battle Royal and sported Wonder Woman-themed gear. She was told she could not wear the gear again but questioned how her fellow colleagues were able to have gear that resembled comic book characters and those alike.
When I wore this gear, I got brought into the office, because it would look too Wonder Woman-esque. Apparently, well I guess it was a liability but I don’t know how so many other people get to do [themed gear] and it’s fine. But, I’m glad it made a really good picture and I’m glad I did it. Like I’m so glad I didn’t just ask for permission. I wore it only one time. I wore it at WrestleMania. I thought it was — it was at the Battle Royal, WrestleMania, I wanna say it was New York, 2019 and I’m like, ‘Well how can I stand out the most?’ And I had this gear that I wanted to wear for a long time. I had it for like two years and I was picking the right spot and then actually I was supposed to wear another gear for that WrestleMania and the gear lady didn’t come through, very classic problem we have in wrestling, and so thank God I had this gear I had made like two years before and so, I was like, ‘This is the perfect time. It’ll stand out’ and I’m so glad I did because I was able to take pictures with it and it was WrestleMania and then they told me that I couldn’t wear it again so I was like, ‘At least it was at WrestleMania.’
** To promote the 10/23 AEW Dynamite in Orlando, Florida, Paul Wight appeared on the Brandon Kravitz podcast. Wight said he might be in action on Saturday.
I might be lacing up my boots this Saturday. It’s about that itch, it’s been a little bit so I think I’m bringing my gear bag with me so if you come to the event in Orlando, you just might see my big ass in the ring.
Wight made his return to in-ring competition at the All Out pay-per-view. He scored a win over QT Marshall and he said the hardest part about getting back in the ring was quieting the doubts in his head.
Yes and no [it was difficult to shake the ring rust]. The hard part is just telling your brain to be quiet. It’s not natural to fall down, it’s not natural to take bumps in our business and when you haven’t done it in a while, your brain’s going, ‘I shouldn’t fall down.’ You have to just relax and remember your body knows what to do and your subconscious knows what to do and just have fun and go do it so yes, it’s fun to get back in the ring and have some fun, lace up my boots and get in there and rock and roll a little bit.
** The latest guest to join Chris Denker on ‘Into The Danger Zone’ was Tyler Breeze. Breeze has addressed the WWE-Twitch edict situation in the past. He further dove into it and reiterated that it is a case of talents ruining it for themselves. He understands WWE cracking down on it because talents cannot use WWE’s intellectual property.
So, this is — ah man. This type of stuff is crazy to me because everybody thinks they know but they don’t know, and then sometimes you even tell them and they still won’t believe you. But I’ve said it, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; it is a classic case of the boys will ruin it for the boys. If you give somebody an inch, they will take a mile every single time and it’s happened forever. That’s why that saying exists. But basically what happened was everybody kind of like — so UpUpDownDown comes around and Creed [Xavier Woods] is working his ass off and trying to build this into what it is now which he has done successfully and fortunately, I was a part of a lot of that because any time I was like, ‘Hey man, do you need me to do anything? Can I be on?’ And he was like, ‘Yep. Cool, cool, cool’ so as much — he did — I’m not taking any credit for carrying stuff around and filming and editing it because he did all that for the first little bit and all I did was show up and have fun with him so, I just wanted to do something that like, I see what you’re doing and how can I help become a bigger — I’m not a huge star in WWE, you know what I mean? So how can I help the channel? So one of the ways was, ‘You could stream on Twitch.’ So I went, ‘Okay, cool. I don’t know how to do this but I will learn.’ So I started just off of like a PlayStation, I got the PlayStation camera and you just do it, no template or nothing and honestly, we streamed, kind of streamed for maybe two years before anybody even noticed what Twitch was or streaming and then all of a sudden, people — when you do something, people notice it and they go, ‘Hey man, so you’re doing this thing. Are you making any money at it?’ ‘Yeah. There’s some money there.’ ‘Okay, I’m gonna do it too’ because there’s money there, which unfortunately, when people just do stuff for the money, then, you probably won’t make the money because the content isn’t good because you’re just popping on there to do something for a quick buck because you know other people will, and that’s kind of what happened where one person did then two and three and four and five and six and now everybody’s on there, but, people aren’t doing it properly. Like you said, you have to understand intellectual property. There’s one sheet on that entire [WWE] contract that says what you own and what they own. You cannot use their stuff. They will get mad at it and I think I even started a YouTube channel and it was called ‘Shootin The Breeze which obviously — I think I said ‘Shootin the Breeze with Tyler Breeze’ and within a week they were like, ‘Hey man, you can’t use Tyler Breeze’ and I went, ‘Okay, cool. What can I do?’ And they went, ‘Oh, we can move you to the WWE YouTube channel and it’s like a portion of there’ and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s do that then.’
Because obviously there’s more eyes on it and whatever but in the end, you can’t use what they own and I think people just weren’t — they weren’t being smart with certain things and they were branching out to — because obviously we have a following. We have an advantage over the average joe trying to do things. You can get sponsorship deals, you can get people to endorse you and you just can’t do that with WWE’s property, and some people were doing that and they flew under the radar for a while but then it became too big to where people were making big deals out of sponsorship stuff and third-party stuff and then when it climbs a ladder to where a certain amount is being made or there’s certain people abusing that privilege, then they go, ‘Hold on a second, what’s happening?’ And then, yeah, people go, ‘This, this, this, this, this’ and instead of going, ‘Hey, come here, you can’t do that and also, you come here, you can’t do that.’ But you have a roster of 100 people or whatever. He goes, instead, you get an email that says, ‘Guys, I know what you’re doing, stop doing it. Stop doing what you’re doing because you’re not allowed to do it and I’m not gonna talk to all of you because I don’t have time,’ and yes it sucks but at the same time, as a business owner, can you really blame — you’ve built these superstars and they’re going off on their own with stuff that isn’t theirs. It’s just that simple.
** Episode 108 of the ARN podcast was a Q&A with Arn Anderson. While discussing Cody Rhodes, Arn feels that Cody is the face of All Elite Wrestling and said that is no slight to the fellow AEW EVPs and roster members, but Cody is the person that can thoroughly deliver the message about what AEW is all about.
Now Cody [Rhodes] was always a kid that knew he could step out of his dad’s shadow but he always wanted to embrace who his dad was. A lot of people would say, you know, ‘Okay, he’s riding his dad’s coattails.’ No, he’s not. He’s paved his own way. He left WWE and he was making a ton of money. For guys like you and I, I mean he was making a hell of a living. But he knew that he was gonna bet on himself and go out into the world and see what — if there was any demand for Cody Rhodes and there damn sure was and I’m sure he was in on the ground floor with the company we’re working for now as far as brainstorming and putting that together and having an alternative to WWE and that’s what it is and he is the face of [AEW] and that’s no knock to any of the other EVPs or any of the other talent. He’s just a guy that if you’re gonna explain to me — and I’ve never seen it — what AEW Wrestling is and I need it explained to me where they’re headed and what they’re doing, he’s the guy that can deliver that message. Does that make sense?
Arn wrote a book that was released in 2000 and it was mostly in-character. He’s had offers over the years to write a new book, but he wants his son, Brock Anderson to have tallied up some years in the business so Arn can include that chapter in his new book.
I think I need — I had one book that was like the first part of my career but it was not an autobiography of everything and I think my son [Brock Anderson], when he gets a couple of years in the business and makes more of an impact which I know he’s gonna do. He has a lot of aptitude and a great attitude for this business. I think you guys are going to be proud of him. Once he has established himself and he is in the mix, then I think I will have a more interesting book. I’ve had some offers, obviously I have had some offers but I wanna include him in there because it’s the third chapter of my life. I was a wrestler then I was a producer for 20-something years, producing television and an agent and now I’m going back to this coaching role and helping him break into the business which I think is the third chapter and once that ends, it doesn’t have to be complete but let it be in full swing I think would make for a much better read.
For a great portion of Arn’s tenure as a producer in WWE, he worked with John Cena on his matches. Arn had the following to say about Cena’s return to WWE over the summer:
Well, John [Cena] certainly has pretty much got into Hollywood. He’s pretty much in now I think, but I also think it’s not lost on John that the wrestling industry and wrestling fans and WWE, they gave him the platform to be noticed by Hollywood. So, he is in debt to them and I think he knows that and him coming back, especially after the pandemic, I could see John wanting to do it for his fans which a lot of them are children as we know, and so he wants to give back for everything that you guys have given him and if I asked him that question and him saying, ‘Hey man, you know, I wanna take some time. Fans have been through a rough time with this pandemic. I wanna give something back.’ I can very easily see him saying that and I would believe him 100 percent.
At WrestleMania 18, Arn made an appearance and gave The Undertaker a spinebuster during Undertaker’s match with Ric Flair. Arn said he was not cleared to engage in any physical activity in the ring at the time.
Well to be honest with you and most people don’t know this but I was not cleared to do anything physical with my neck in WCW. The doctor, my doctor that did the surgery said, ‘Hey look –’ I tried to get him to release me and he said, ‘As long as I’m your doctor, you will never wrestle again. There’s just — your neck won’t handle it. You cannot handle it. You don’t have the tools anymore’ so when I did that deal with The Undertaker [at WrestleMania 18], I still had not been cleared. So, we got away with one and it was my WrestleMania moment. I was so honored and thrilled to be in that situation and it worked out well and it was one of those things that you can kind of hang your hat on, but to be honest with you, it was not a consideration [doing anything beyond that] because your body tells you and it wasn’t just the doctor telling me. When your body says you’re done, when a little bitty guy, 140 pounds, kind of smacks you on the back and says, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ And it sends a shock down your body, getting suplexed and slammed and all that is out of the question so you know, unless you’re an idiot, you better listen to your body.
** The ongoing back and forth between WWE and AEW and competition in general is something Drew McIntyre is happy to see. He told Esquire Middle East that he is glad wrestling is in a healthy place and says he views different brands within WWE as competition as well.
They should be part of your mind, but I see competition with everybody. If I’m on Raw, I don’t just see other companies as competition, I see SmackDown as competition. I want to produce the best show possible and keep my eyes on the ratings, etc. It doesn’t matter where I am, the show I’m on.
In my mind, everybody should be thinking we’re competing with literally everyone including the other brands, including NXT, including other companies. And if you’ve got that competitive spirit, it’s going to be better for yourself as a brand and better for the fans.
I’m excited wrestling is healthy once again. When I started, independent wrestling was non-existent. We had to start a Scottish wrestling scene when I was a kid. I helped build up the UK scene, which is amazing now because of NXT UK, but it wasn’t then. I traveled the world and I saw what it was like back then, and independent wrestling was still miniscule. And to see how far it’s evolved, to see how big the talent is, and to see so many superstars and wrestlers across the world have a full-time living in wrestling, it’s just unbelievable. And that’s what it comes down to for me is that wrestling is healthy and a lot of my friends have full time jobs now.
** Hollywood Life ran their interview with Mandy Rose. She told the publication that she’d be fine with staying in NXT or heading back to Raw or SmackDown but added that she wants to stay in NXT for a while longer and take over the show.
I am definitely okay with wherever I go. I feel like I have been on the most brands in the past year or two than any other Superstar. You know I am a draw. I take it as, ‘Oh, they want me at this brand,’ or, ‘Do they want me at this brand?’ It is cool, and everyone wants a piece of the pie, but honestly, I have been having a lot of fun at NXT, and I would like to stay for a little while. I am here to take over, and I think I am going to be the star of the show, to be honest.
** ‘To The Turnbuckle’ welcomed former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm on as a guest. Storm reflected on his memories on and off-screen with the late Joseph Hudson a.k.a Jocephus. Storm recounted their empty arena match that aired on NWA Powerrr and there was a ladder spot during the match that gave Storm neck problems that he is still feeling.
He [Jocephus] was an incredibly talented guy and I don’t mean that necessarily in the ring. He was involved in behind-the-scenes stuff. He did editing, he did sound, he was a music guy, he was a music professor at one point. He worked at a school, a junior college. He was an incredibly smart guy. You know, and I can say this about myself too; he wasn’t the most gifted professional wrestler but he was huge, he had a good look and we did good stuff with him, we did good business together. The stories that we told and a lot of that is how they put those things together with the background leading up. We had an empty arena match that I’m still to this day still feeling and I’m not joking. I think it ruined my neck for life. [That ladder spot], but that’s my fault. I wanted to put that — it wasn’t hitting the ladder that got me. It was landing on the second ladder that I had dropped on the floor and that’s — I did that. But we told a great story in a situation where we went into the IMPACT Zone before a pay-per-view and did an empty arena match that those guys — we got a lot of positive things. I thought the match went really well. I thought the story we told was great, I was very happy with it so, Joseph and I, we had a good relationship, we had an interesting relationship. At every TV taping, we sat right next to each other and it was a very loving, sarcastic relationship. It was like neither one of us could do anything without the other one kind of ripping on ‘em a little bit about something and it was fun. Yeah, that’s tragic. I don’t wanna get into it, I don’t wanna get upset, don’t wanna get emotional but, you know, he was a loving father, he was with his mother and his son and he loved his kid.
Back in 2017, Storm dropped the NWA Worlds Title to Nick Aldis at a CZW show. Storm later found out that there was miscommunication from CZW’s side because it was relayed to some of the CZW regulars that they would be getting a shot at the NWA Title.
I’m not sure I’ve ever told this story but like I said, I’m a truth teller so I’ll just tell it. Whoever it was and I honestly don’t know, that set up on the CZW side, had pitched it to the guys like they’re legitimately gonna give somebody a match for the [NWA] World Title. That was never the case. We [Storm & Nick Aldis] knew what was happening but I found out later that these guys have invested a lot, they thought about their promos, they know what they’re gonna be doing because they believe they’re going to pick somebody, well that was never the case. I felt bad about that later.
Early in his career, Storm did attempt to get into the WCW Power Plant to train. He was told that they weren’t taking in talents over the age of 30.
The first call I made, I made to WCW. What was it? Whatever the name of their school was at the time and — I was gonna say power house. You’re right, Power Plant. I had a good conversation and the first thing the guy said is, ‘You know we don’t take anybody over 30?’ And I said, ‘Well what if I’m really close to 30?’ And he laughed and said, ‘Well you know, just come in-in the best shape of your life’ and what — and again, not dogging anybody. What that really means is we want your money. We’d love to have you come and pay us and I got a call from a friend of mine that I went to church with at the time and he said, ‘Hey, I saw this ad on TV.’ He said, ‘The production quality for this wrestling wasn’t very good but they’re advertising for a wrestling school’ and I was living in Arkansas and I went to a wrestling school in Arkansas, in Paris, Arkansas that turned out to be fantastic for me.
** Bleacher Report pushed out their conversation with Sasha Banks before her title match at WWE Crown Jewel. When asked if she feels the pressure of having to continue doing her part of carrying the women’s evolution in WWE, she said yes and no. Banks wants to make sure that if she’s not in the title picture, more women are in that spot and there are storylines going on outside of the title picture.
I would say yes and no. Yes just because I want to keep the momentum going because I wanted to make sure that if I’m not in the title picture, there are more women in the title picture and there’s two women’s storylines going on at once. I just want more, more, more for the women, and I feel like we’ve been doing that. For me, it’s nothing new. I feel the pressure less and less because they believe in me so much that I don’t have to put pressure on myself anymore.
She was drafted to SmackDown as a part of the 2021 WWE Draft. Banks said SmackDown is the show for her and it’s an easy show to understand.
I absolutely love SmackDown. SmackDown is my home. I was just on Monday Night Raw. I can tell you there’s a big difference. SmackDown is the show to watch every Friday night. Top to bottom, it has the best talent, the best roster and the best matches. It’s just a good, easy show you can understand. It’s two hours. Raw is great, too. It’s nice to have that third hour for more opportunities for more Superstars you probably haven’t seen, but SmackDown is the place for Sasha Banks.
Elsewhere during the interview, Banks heaped praise onto Bianca Belair and SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch who she’ll be sharing the ring with at Crown Jewel.
I think those are two of the most amazing women we have in WWE. With Bianca Belair, she is just taking this place by storm. She is the strongest and the fastest, and she is making so many names and great headlines for herself. I love watching her grow. I love seeing the performer she is today, and she’s going to go down in history as one of the greatest of all time. Becky Lynch, one of my oldest rivals and someone I grew up with in NXT, to see her growth and to see her now better than ever, to come back after having a baby and a 12-pack, it has me feeling some type of way. Do I need to lay off the pizza a bit or just enjoy my life? I don’t know. She is incredible and one of my favorite opponents to be in the ring with.
** Mickie James, Lisa Marie Varon and SoCal Val welcomed Christy Hemme onto GAW TV. Christy was present at IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Knockdown and she appeared on-screen as well. She talked about helping piece together portions of the show with the likes of Gail Kim, Madison Rayne and others.
It was amazing because, you know, I left like six years ago and it was a completely different office. I mean, just so different and so weird like full circle because [SoCal] Val, back when Scott D’Amore was in charge of the girls many years ago and so then to have him in charge of the show and have a whole new team in there but then, a lot — like Eric Tompkins who is like oh my gosh, he has grown so much. He’s in charge of all the TV stuff and he’s producing and all that stuff so it was amazing to see how much the show has developed and it was just a really good backstage environment and I told Mickie [James] this when we were there, I was so emotional at the end of that pay-per-view or I guess it’s not a pay-per-view, it’s a show because it’s on their IMPACT Plus, right? Bar none, my favorite moment of the entire day was when the girls were all sitting in a circle, Mickie. It was Mickie, me, Gail [Kim], Madison [Rayne], Veda [Scott], we were all sitting in a circle making decisions on the show and I was like, ‘When does this happen?’ When do you see a bunch of girls sitting there making important decisions about talking points and all this stuff on the show? I just kind of had to energetically step back a little bit and go, ‘This is progress. This is like major progress’ and there’s so many elements of emotion that got us to [the] show like with Daffney and just everything else, but when you get down to it, it’s like women coming together, women doing something together. It was like that was always the goal so to see that kind of progress, I just energetically stepped back and I was so emotional.
** After AEW President Tony Khan referred to QT Marshall as his “assistant” during an interview, QT spoke to Scott Fishman and clarified his one-on-one work with Tony Khan.
We go back and forth. It’s his show. It has always been his show. I’ve seen it firsthand; everyone pitches ideas. Myself included. He is the be-all and end-all, but he does need someone to put pen to paper. I don’t mind doing it. It was something I saw Cody doing so I took over formatting the show. Even if I formatted it with only the matches that were advertised, he is going to look at it and say, ‘Let’s do this and that.’ We all have our part in it, but it is his show. We do have nights like in Rochester. I got there and got to the hotel, and we were up until 5 or 6 a.m. just going over everything. I think about a lot of his ideas and putting them on paper and timing it out to see if it works. How we can all make sense. People are tweeting at me asking if [being called his assistant] bothers me. Why would it bother me? I’m his assistant. I try to stay in my lane. I don’t want people to say I’m writing the show. I’m physically writing. Typing the format. But creating a show is not what I do.
If Malakai Black is coming in and has this cool entrance idea, I work with him. I work with production. We make it work. When it comes to talent, talent does pitch ideas to me because I guess they feel it’s easier for them to pitch to me. But Tony has an extremely open-door policy. It’s crazy in fact how many people who can walk into his office any day of the week, especially on TV when we’re really busy. He loves it. He is very hands-on. I am the guy that takes a little bit of the load off without overstepping my bounds.
** Rikishi joined John Layfield and Gerald Brisco on their Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw show. Rikishi recalled some of his early memories with the late Edward Fatu (Umaga). Much like his run as Umaga, while he was in high school, Fatu played football barefoot.
Well you know Ecky, Umaga, he was supposed to go play NFL football. So my brother Ecky, he wasn’t raised here in the United States. He was back home, back in the islands and you know, he was a big star playing in high school. He was like — back in the day, he was like 230. This is a sophomore, like 230, 245 and Ecky was like 6’2 but he was playing running back and he used to just — and back home, those days there for some reason he couldn’t run in cleats. Umaga couldn’t run in cleats, so when it came time, he’d be the only one out there running barefooted, like no cleats, you know? And so he became a huge, huge star in football back home.
** Prior to the 10/19 NXT 2.0, Grayson Waller spoke to Sporting News for an interview. Throughout Grayson’s in-ring career, he’s been mentored by IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles. Grayson feels he would not be where he is professionally if it wasn’t for Eagles.
He was actually here the last two weeks, he was wrestling for New Japan Strong…he came in early to come and stay in Orlando to hang out with us. Getting to see Robbie again, he was my day-one coach and the first person I saw when I walked into a wrestling centre. Since then, he has been my number-one mentor and he is the reason that I’m here. He is the reason that when I get to wrestle Roderick Strong, I show that I belong on his level. I genuinely feel that if it wasn’t for Robbie Eagles, I wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be in the position I’m in. Having him here in Orlando the past couple of weeks was really cool, it was kind of like a little dose of home. We kind of had a laugh thinking about how he is the NJPW Junior Heavyweight Champion, and I was wrestling for the Cruiserweight Championship. Imagine if we had the two most prestigious junior heavyweight belts in the world? Unfortunately I couldn’t make that happen, but just the opportunity to be there, it was very crazy for us to think about where we’ve come from.
** This Saturday on AEW Dynamite, Malakai Black is taking on Cody Rhodes in what will be their third match against each another. Black talked to Jay Reddick of the Orlando Sentinel and described his on-screen character:
He’s sadistic, but thoughtful. He isn’t careless. He’s capable of showing respect and emotion, but he’s very particular about it. He gets cheered sometimes, and I think that’s because deep within everybody, we all have a violent nature when we draw more on the negative side of things.
** Sportskeeda caught up with Gerald Brisco and asked him about losing the WWE 24/7 Title to Kelly Kelly at Raw Reunion in 2019.
** Fred Rosser appeared on Wrestling Observer Live.
** Edition #78 of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Ace’s HIGH series is up on NJPW1972.com.
** SEScoops has an interview with Steve Maclin on their YouTube channel.
** Ring of Honor’s Tracy Williams appeared on Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
** Scott Hall turned 63-years-old today.
** WWE’s Sheamus will be doing voiceover work for Will Sliney’s animated series ‘Storytellers’.
** Us Magazine spoke to The Miz about ‘Dancing With the Stars’.
** IMPACT Wrestling’s Moose appeared on Perched On The Top Rope.
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.
