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.
** Joining Sam Roberts and Tommy Dreamer on Busted Open Radio was Cody Rhodes. He was asked for his thoughts about the ‘finish the story’ phrase being used by multiple people and as one of the themes for WWE 2K24. Rhodes thinks Michael Cole was the first person to say it during a broadcast. He said the last thing that spread like this was ‘Bullet Club is fine’.
I love that you give me credit for it (‘finish the story’ phrase) because there’s actually a debate. So, I said ‘finish the story’ in a promo before the Royal Rumble and it was on my weight belt last year. But Michael Cole is the first person I think who said it on broadcast. So I feel like it’s Michael. ‘Finish the story’ might be a Michael Cole (thing) because at some point, we’re gonna start looking for who came up with this. I actually talked to Triple H about this a few weeks ago. When I said the game was using ‘finish the story’ as a theme and I see (Hulk) Hogan talking about his story, Undertaker talking about his story, Steve Austin talking about his story. I felt like, oh, I’ve done something. I think the last thing that felt like it spread like wildfire a little bit was ‘Bullet Club is fine’, and that was a fun, you know… being able to name FTR and those guys. That was a fun deal but this seems to be on a whole other level so…
** Liv Morgan was interviewed by Lucha Libre Online and she talked about eliminating Jade Cargill from the 2024 women’s Royal Rumble:
I mean, Jade (Cargill) is a big star and she’s gonna be an even bigger star but I did eliminate her (from the women’s Royal Rumble). She was not ready for me, she was not prepared for me, she was not expecting me and I showed her exactly why you should never, ever, ever do that. You always have to prepare for Liv because you never know what I’m gonna do.
** Guest appearing on the Battleground Podcast was Shawn Michaels. He discussed the presentation and growth of NXT North American Champion Oba Femi. He feels everyone can look at Femi and see him eventually landing on WWE’s main roster and appearing at a WrestleMania.
I’ll tell you what, one of the things that I think that people can see now that’s been a proven success is the N.I.L. program and obviously, reaching out to these young men and women on a college level and Oba (Femi) is a guy that has, one, not just his background but he’s had a great deal of success in his youth and in his college years, which strangely enough has kind of prepared him for this. It’s amazing how incredibly well-spoken and well-mannered and just, I don’t know. He’s so much more experienced than his age you would think lends itself to. As we all say, he’s a very complete young man and I think everybody sees the promise in him as not just an NXT superstar but a future WWE superstar. You can just see it by the way he carries himself… Again, he would obviously know better than me but, I have to attribute that, a lot of times, to, again, some of the success that they had in college and at the collegiate level that has kind of prepared them and look, a lot of these young men and women, they have been successes at a very young age and people have been sort of courting them and coming after them since they were young in high school and so I think that better prepares them for a world, you know, like NXT and the WWE but I think the future’s incredibly bright for him. But obviously, he’s got the former North American Champion Dragon Lee from SmackDown wanting his title back so, I think that’ll be something, again, that’ll be very exciting to watch this Sunday at Vengeance Day but, I can’t lie when I say Oba Femi has got all those tools that I think everybody could easily look at him and go, oh yeah, I see him being on the main roster someday and easily being a part of a WrestleMania not too far down the line.
** The newest episode of Talk Is Jericho features an interview with Nic Nemeth. Reflecting on his WWE run, Nemeth recounted a time when he was frustrated. He asked Shawn Michaels to watch a dark match of his to see if Michaels saw something that related to Nic not being on TV. Michaels did not see a flaw to point out. Nic did not know if Michaels put in a word, but things began to pick up for him after that.
Then, at that point, Spirit Squad times, I was still nervous to talk to people. I don’t know. There’s scary guys there, and he (Shawn Michaels) was someone like, ‘Hey man –’ there’s no way he was like, this kid’s gonna be great… I was a nice kid trying to learn and pick his brain and ask him things whenever I could and then, eventually, it became a thing where I came one point — it’s years later and I was frustrated at work… I wanna say it’s (Rey) Mysterio and (John) Morrison fighting for the Intercontinental Title or something and I go — I had been stealing the show or doing some things with Kofi (Kingston)… I was like, ‘Hey, I’m busting my ass doing all this stuff and then for some reason, I’m out of here, I’m not doing anything important.’ So, Shawn’s backstage one time and I go, ‘Hey Shawn, I got a dark match with this guy. When I come back, tell me why the f*ck I’m not on TV’ and he goes, ‘… Okay.’ I go and do this match. Six-minute dark match, basic as sh*t but, I kind of stood out and I come back and he goes, ‘Kid, your guess is as good as mine. Sorry. That was f*cking great’ and I’m like, ‘Woah. Holy sh*t. Okay, great’ and maybe he can put a word in, maybe he can do something so I just kept asking him and not even thinking that he would pass a word out but man, something’s gonna give at some point and eventually, I don’t know if he said something or not but, eventually it’s like, okay, I’ve come back. I’m not the guy that I am now where I come back and I throw a case of water and go, ‘Follow that motherf*cker.’ I come back and I go, ‘Why am I here if I’m not doing anything?’ And eventually they go, ‘Alright, here we go’ and I think I got a dark match with M.V.P. and they, like halfway through, switched the finish to catch us off guard or something. Catching us off guard is like, hey, we just added 18 minutes or something or, we just took eight minutes of your nine-minute match. That’s catching me off guard. I was like, switch the finish? Okay. ‘I pin him?’ What’s that like? Alright. So, they switched the finish but as we’re getting to it, they switch it again like, oouuu, here we go. I’m like, okay, cool. I’m not as cool and calm as I am right now but like, ‘Okay, we can fix that’ and then he goes, ‘You got three more minutes’ as MVP’s hitting his finish or last false finish. ‘Three more minutes and make ‘em count’ and I go, ‘Okay.’ So, I readjusted a double down, into something else, called some other thing and then we got to something else, something else. We do two-and-a-half minutes and get to the finish, come to the back and they’re like, ‘That was great.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, what now?’ And then I think it led to a M.S.G. U.S. Title match with Sherri Shepherd in MVP’s corner or something. They made it a big deal. I was like, ‘Oh! It’s cool.’ We got a cool thing and then slowly off and running a little bit.
** GUNTHER appeared on Busted Open Radio. The WWE Intercontinental Champion discussed welcoming his newborn into the world with his wife Jinny.
Obviously, you mentioned it, we (GUNTHER & Jinny) have the baby at home now and everything and that feels like the most rewarding of like, okay, all of that was really worth it because, yeah, we can have that life now.
** To promote Trish Stratus’ Inside The Ropes tour, she spoke with the outlet and looked back on the preparation for her Steel Cage match against Becky Lynch from WWE Payback. Stratus recalled a cage being set up for her at the Performance Center in Florida.
Never been in one (Cage match) before and I mean, people brought it up, I had said in interviews, ‘Man, I would love to go back and do a Cage match’ and I didn’t really think about it, how like, did I just manifest that? It just felt like that feud needed it. It really was the perfect endpoint for that rivalry (with Becky Lynch), where we had brought the story. But preparing for it, I remember… there was a phase where I was just like, I need to put up a cage and step into it. I needed to brainstorm, I needed to think about it, I needed to feel it. It was a new environment. To be in the ring is one thing and don’t forget, at this point, I’ve gotten back in the ring so I’m comfortable now in the ring but I’m like, oh wait, there’s another level, another layer. It’s the cage, you know? And so they did set up the cage for me at the P.C. and I just remember just climbing it, sitting in it, being in it and just all these — being flooded with ideas and just things we could do and I really wanted us to make sure we were — I really wanted to use the cage. Sometimes, there’s a match inside the cage but it’s just a match, it’s not the cage, you know what I mean? They don’t really use the cage necessarily and I thought that I really wanted to tell the story that I am going to get the hell out of this cage when I could and try to climb…
** As The Bob Culture Podcast was speaking to Candice LeRae, she told them that her favorite match of all-time is against IYO SKY from NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019.
Favorite match ever (was against IYO SKY at NXT TakeOver: Toronto). My favorite match.
** The idea of a WWE event taking place at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, Ireland was brought up by J.D. McDonagh during his chat with The Mirror. Croke Park seats over 80,000 people.
Come on, the Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. It’s got to happen. You’ve got Finn Bálor, Becky Lynch. Sheamus, Lyra Valkyria, J.D. McDonough just from our small little corner of the world. Imagine if you got WWE in Croke Park, 80,000 crazy Irish people there. It would be unbelievable.
** There’s an interview with Yuma Aoyagi on Tokyo Sports’ website and he weighed in on Shuji Ishikawa finishing up with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Aoyagi wants to bring back to the AJPW that Ishikawa loves.
It hurts my heart to think about how Ishikawa-san really did not want to leave, so I want to bring back the All Japan that Mr. Ishikawa loves. I believe that the All-Japan that Mr. Ishikawa loves is the All Japan that the fans love.
** United Empire’s Great-O-Khan, TJP & Francesco Akira played TEKKEN 8:
** Ahead of Kazuchika Okada versus Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka, NJPW is profiling their history.
** Thom Fain of Monthly Puroresu interviewed Bryan Keith:
** Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Go Shiozaki and Atsushi Kotoge are going to participate at REAL ZERO1’s February 16th show.
** The Angle Podcast caught up with Maxxine Dupri at the WWE Royal Rumble media junket.
** January 30th birthdays: Becky Lynch & Drake Maverick.
** Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling Results (1/30/24) from LOISIR HOTEL TOYOHASHI in Aichi, Japan
– Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & U-T def. Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tananka
– Gianna Valletta & Yoshiki Kato def. Dragon Kid & Daiki Yanagiuchi
– Punch Tominaga def. Jason Lee
– Ho Ho Lun & JACKY ‘FUNKY’ KAMEI def. YAMATO & Problem Dragon
– Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda vs. Kota Minoura, Ben-K & B×B Hulk results in Double Count Out
– Hyo & Luis Mante def. Shun Skywalker & ISHIN
** NXT’s Amari Miller was interviewed by Lucha Libre Online. The outlet also chatted with Ricochet and Samantha Irvin.
** Sunday Night’s Main Event has an interview with TNA Wrestling’s Cody Deaner.
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.
