Originally published at Allie Katch & Tony Deppen talk 'The WRLD on GCW', their roles in the promotion
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.
** To promote ‘The WRLD on GCW’, the Pro Wrestling Illustrated podcast welcomed Allie Katch and Tony Deppen onto their platform. At the 1/23 Hammerstein Ballroom show, Allie Katch is going one-on-one with Ruby Soho. She discussed how excited she is for the match.
Katch: I’m very, very excited and for GCW, it feels very special.
Allie often recommends different women for GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale to bring into the promotion. She feels that she’s been able to earn her voice within the promotion because she paid her dues there.
Katch: I think I kind of got in on the ground level with GCW and I think that — and so, I like, ‘paid my dues’ as they say which means I get listened to a lot and so, you know, people like Penelope the gatekeeper or something but it’s like I don’t wanna sound like I’m the gatekeeper, keeping women in or out but I am definitely like the one that’s like, ‘All right, bring them in, open the gate. Let’s go. Let’s have more of this and have more of that’ and then hopefully it feels cool because GCW I feel is — we are the tippy top of the indies and so, I wanna hope that other places see that and go, ‘Okay, there is room for women, there is money for women, there is a draw, there is.’ Please use women. Please use women from everywhere, please use women from different generations, etcetera, etcetera. Give new women a shot.
During Tony Deppen’s portion of the conversation, he stated that he will not be on many shows after the Hammerstein show until his child is born in February.
Deppen: And the next month, I probably won’t be on many shows until — because my wife’s due in February so, until that baby comes out of her in February, I probably won’t be on many shows, so, I don’t have much to promote at the moment.
He expanded on his role with GCW. Deppen feels he is the ‘gatekeeper’ because he often wrestles the new faces in GCW and is a test for them in some ways. It is a mixed bag of emotions and thoughts for Deppen to be in that spot but he does want to leave wrestling better than he found it. He added that he’s accepted that he’ll likely be an independent talent until he decides to step away from in-ring competition.
Deppen: I’m kind of indifferent about it , because one thing, it’s, I — basically, I don’t have angles in wrestling or GCW ever so it’s like okay, if I’m on the show, I’m most likely gonna be wrestling the new kid. I barely — I’ll get some matches here and there but all of it’s like okay, here comes the new kid. I made my own character in GCW by being that, by just being the guy that wrestles those new kids and they have to — if they don’t have a good match, you probably don’t see them again. Normally that’s the case. So, I don’t know and then also, those matches take a lot more out of me because the way I like to dictate it, it’s more me taking a lot of moves compared to like a regular match where it’s more 50/50. So but like, those are the bad parts about it. However, I really do love working with the younger kids. I feel like I’ve pretty much accepted my fate in wrestling and I’m just gonna be an independent wrestler for the rest of my life and I guess that’s what it is. But, I’m happy that I’m able to help kids learn and get better because when I do leave, I would like wrestling to be better than what it is. That’s how I always look at it and the fact that I can, you know, not even coach these kids I guess but, you know, guide them and a lot of them still come up to me after our matches and still ask me for advice. Like they’ll be going over a spot and be like, ‘Hey Tony, what do you think about this? What if I do this?’ And I’ll give them my opinion. Like, ‘Oh! That makes so much more sense, thank you.’ It’s like — so I love and I hate it. It’s a mixed bag. I love helping the kids and getting them, you know, their opportunity to shine and a lot of the kids I do work first, go on to do some cool stuff. Like I can see my — not even my friends but people that have worked on TV and I like that. I just don’t like bumping a million times for it.
Deppen is competing in the ‘Grab The Brass Ring’ Ladder match at The WRLD on GCW. He wants to be the show opener.
Deppen: I am really looking forward to that energy of that crowd. I wanna be the first match like, ‘Screw it. Let’s just — let get dropped on our head, even more.’
** Ringsiders Wrestling conducted an interview with BATEMAN. He reflected on the Zoom call during which Ring of Honor informed talents about the company’s hiatus. Prior to the announcement, BATEMAN’s deal was coming up and he was planning on talking to ROH management to potentially begin the negotiation process for a new deal.
I mean, we were on a — if you’ve heard anyone else talk about it .
** Captain’s Corner hosted a signing with AEW’s Serena Deeb. Serena was asked about her WWE P.C. coaching run and she mentioned Kacy Catanzaro’s growth as one of her favorite coaching moments. She helped train Kacy when she had no in-ring experience and was able to see Kacy have her first match and compete in the 2019 women’s Royal Rumble.
Ah man, let’s see, a couple come to mind Rumble the next year and you know, watching someone like that, from day one, knew nothing and then to watch that growth, that was cool but yeah, I remember crying that day because I was really moved by the fact that I could contribute to somebody in that way, like on that level and be such a part of it, you know?
When Serena looks at the landscape of AEW’s women’s division, she sees a handful of talent that could become champion in the company. Deeb heaped praise onto Anna Jay while responding to the question.
I could definitely see Thunder Rosa in there Mercedes Martinez run in there. I think far down the — well not far down the line but I think ultimately, Anna Jay will have her time, you know. I think she’s homegrown talent and she works really hard, she has like so much potential and she’s doing great and you know, I think just — I think she’s definitely somebody that could step up and fill those shoes one day.
Thunder Rosa and Serena have had three matches since 2020. Deeb said those matches with Thunder Rosa are some of her favorite matches of her career. She hopes to work with Rosa this year.
Some of my favorite matches of my career have been with Thunder Rosa. I mean that first Dynamite one is really special because it was my reintroduction in the ring after — I mean if you exclude the two Mae Young Classic matches which were like such a kind of blip on the radar, you know? I hadn’t been in the ring for five years so that was like, you know, my first match in half-a-decade pretty much, excluding the other two. So that match was really special. The NWA Women’s Championship match that we had where I won the championship was also one of my favorite matches. I think that one was — unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t see that match. I wish more people had seen that match because I felt really good about it and I think we have really similar styles and we mesh, we work, it works. Sometimes, two different styles work really well together and then sometimes, very similar just work even better, you know? So I think in that sense, we have that where we vibe with the same type of wrestling. We both like submission and technical wrestling and I think for people that appreciate that type of wrestling — not everybody does — some people like the high-flying and stuff but that’s what vibes with me and that’s what vibes with her and I think it’s made for some really cool matches and there was a third one in there. I know we’ve had three. Oh yeah, there was a third on Dynamite where Britt Baker got involved of course, and felt really great about that one too and you know, we’ve kind of gone in different directions but honestly, one of my biggest hopes of 2022 is that we circle back around because I think we can make magic.
While speaking about her time in WWE, Serena recounted the on-screen interactions she had with The Undertaker. He would ‘Taker walk’ towards Deeb when she managed CM Punk. Undertaker would not stop walking towards her until she ran near the entrance curtain.
Undertaker, we did a lot with Undertaker. Those were always fun because Taker would — if I was on the floor managing, Taker would like, a lot of times get out of the ring and ‘Taker walk’ towards me, but like not stop and I would have to run literally all the way up to the ramp, like to where the entrance starts because he wouldn’t stop until I was all the way up there and then he would walk back to the ring.
** The first 2022 episode of Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore podcast is out and Alisha Edwards guest appeared on the show. Tommy unveiled details about Alisha’s backstage role in IMPACT Wrestling and how she helps the company when not performing on TV.
Dreamer: And for a lot of the fans that don’t know, you that doesn’t go unnoticed and you know, for me, I remember it was I did it in ECW because again, we needed that and it went from just being an in-ring performer to, you know, helping with the merchandise to helping run the company to booking the shows, all that stuff. It just happened so it’s good because nobody gives you sh*t about it, which is cool because you’re basically using your own time instead of just, like you said, sitting in the back being miserable, getting paid. You’re in the back, you know, because if you’re not being used on TV, you’re working for the company and helping them out.
Alisha began working with IMPACT in 2017. She shared that it was Karen Jarrett who pushed for her to be signed and after the Knockouts Knockdown event (2017), she was offered a deal.
Alisha: So, it was 2017. They versus Angel and Davey and what we did in that angle, I guess kind of put the icing on the cake for me to get a contract because that was I think the third time I tried to get booked with them or a contract with them.
She feels she has moved out of Eddie Edwards’ shadow and is no longer viewed as just Eddie’s wife. On IMPACT TV, the ‘Edwards’ has been dropped from her on-screen name and she is referred as ‘Alisha’.
Alisha: I totally agree kind of proved to me that it was validation of I’m actually grateful and humbled that I waited and did it the right way and yeah, I feel like, you know, with the Ultimate X match, it kind just proved to me that now it’s just not Alisha Edwards, I’m Alicia at the end of the day and it took a lot but I mean, I’m here and yeah, I’m just ready for the new year so hopefully we can kind of keep that momentum going.
** Ahead of Summer Rae’s return to WWE as a part of the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble match, she appeared on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast. During their chat, Summer reflected on her on-screen pairing with Dirty Dango (Fandango). Summer was not supposed to be permanently paired with Dango, but the crowd embraced her throughout their stint together. At the time, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque told her that she was brought back into the fold because Twitter was upset she was not with Dango.
The thing that I like about WWE is that because they’re so socially active, they really do take into consideration whatever’s happening on socials. Like when I debuted with Fandango — maybe this is not a story that’s been ever told — but when I debuted with Fandango on Monday Night Raw, it was in London and it was because that backup dancer girl — well first, they were hiring a different girl in every city then that one girl stopped… and so she couldn’t go over there because she wasn’t an employee — well none of us are employees. She’s not like independent contracted by WWE and so she couldn’t go over there so they were like, ‘Cool, bring up Summer, teach her a little dancey-dance.’ I had no rehearsal, nothing. They were like, ‘Okay, let’s just send her and she’ll stay on the tour with Dango the whole time and then she’ll come back and then we’ll replace her.’ So I went up, live events, did Raw, trended like crazy like people thought I debuted, then I went back I think Monday, I think that Monday in America, I even went on TV because it was just like we ended up there in a loop so, ‘Why not have her come on?’
Oh no, no, no ’ and then I remember going up to TV the next week and I remember Hunter being like, ‘Well, you’re here because Twitter threw a fit’ and he was like, ‘And they wanted you to be here’ and I understand why they didn’t want me with him because he is the main attraction in that pairing at the time. It was his big debut and like, me being a name versus a no-name dancer, it would be us and so Hunter was like, ‘It’s very much like Chyna with me. Like looking –’ well, even though she became, you know, such a big entity but like, ‘You looking at him the whole time, don’t look at the camera.’ Like, ‘You valeting, how can you make it about him, him, him? Because that was a worry about having you two up there.’
Summer spent six years with WWE and was released in 2017. She believes that had she not gotten injured, she would have never departed the company if they chose to keep her on board. She feels like it was a sign for her to venture into other projects post-wrestling.
Technically, I was fired but it was with great communication, you know, and it was always knowing that I personally think I probably would have never left if I wasn’t injured. I definitely think, you know, the universe gave me the injury to kind of set me free and make me go do that because there was so many times maybe where I should have left before and I just didn’t because it — and it’s also comfortable and it’s nice to have consistent money now. After the pandemic, you realize how amazing that is. But I’ll tell you what, no one should ever wrestle in front of a crowd. That looked horrible.
Elsewhere during the interview, she mentioned that she would like to have a ‘Total Divas moment’ in the Rumble match. Summer said several fans have brought up the idea of her and Natalya kicking off the match due to their history together.
And WWE posted Nattie and I’s Total Divas fight on a reel the other day. I couldn’t believe it!
It’s crazy because literally, everyone’s tweeting for us to be number one and number two and I’m like, ‘I really wanna come back but not that much.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Can I be eliminated by number nine then?’ Oh my gosh, so yeah, because Nattie was in there one time, wasn’t she, for like 55 minutes?
Nattie, yeah. We’ve just got a lot of years of beef behind us, Nattie and I.
Summer, real name Danielle Moinet, spoke about how excited she is for the match and to perform in front of her loved ones. She said there are currently 15 people who are coming to St. Louis to see her perform. She’s hoping she is in the match for more than 90 seconds but if that’s not the case, she’s grateful either way.
Like five of my friends today, I have to help them find tickets when we get off the phone but they wanna come so I think I almost have 15 people so, it’s pretty cool. So I’m like, ‘Please do not be in there for 90 seconds’ but like, if so, it’ll be fun.
** René Duprée welcomed Mark Jindrak onto his Café De René podcast. Jindrak made his return to in-ring competition in October 2021 after being out of action since 2018. He told René that he’d be interested in taking on more dates and doesn’t see a negative in attempting to go on another run.
Long story short, I took the job here best job ever. Within six weeks, they laid me off, along with 80 people. You know, it was just basically, unfortunately, just a business decision, nothing personal so it sucks and now I’m here in Knoxville. I don’t really know what to do, you know? I mean next, for work or what my — what I wanna go into, you know? Because I’m trying to think, maybe I should just put some time into wrestling and take some dates in wrestling again, you know? So, see if I can, you know — what’s the worst that could happen? Start a comeback and it doesn’t work and I don’t do it, you know? That’s the worst.
After Jindrak exited WWE, he spent the remainder of his career working in Mexico as ‘Marco Corleone’. Along the way, he shared the ring with RUSH and Andrade El Idolo. He believes that both talents would assist him in getting a tryout match or be their opponent in that match if he were to ask. Jindrak spoke highly of their respective in-ring abilities.
You know, I had a lot of good friends from Mexico too that are pretty big players in the game as well like, you know, there’s a guy named RUSH. He’s having knee problems right now. He hurt his knee. He got an operation so he’s rehabbing it kinda still but he’s a solid up-and-comer. Like a lot of people consider him top ten in the world right now in terms of, you know, up-and-coming guys. Him and I, you know, I know if I ever worked an angle with him, he’s a guy that’s really, really intense but , over there in AEW. He’s a — he’s one of the best workers around right now. You now, a lot of guys that I’ve helped along the way and worked with along the way, you know. I’m sure they’d probably help me out, get me some tryout matches or you know, just get me on the dance floor if need be or even work me for that matter. Sometimes it’s not really about how much physical shape you’re in, it’s the guy you’re working, you know? If you’re working with a guy that makes you look good and is a good worker, sometimes it’s the easiest job in the world so, but yeah, right now, it’s just playing things out and see what happens but I relax everyday, play with my son and you know, whatever happens, happens.
Jindrak tallied up five years with WWE. He feels the company failed to capitalize on his athleticism and pointed to a backstage story when he feels he showed impressive athleticism in front of Vince McMahon and a multitude of other people.
The thing about WWE, I felt like they’re idiots when it came to showcasing that was like — even the owner and all the writers right there, you can’t find someone doing that backstage a position? Like a position-position, you know what I’m saying? I always think about that because when I went to Mexico, my jumping made me famous. In Mexico, my jumping made me famous. I was leapfrogging guys to where I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna leapfrog you but don’t even duck under, just run through. Just run.’
** Prior to WWE’s house show in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on 1/16, ‘Argus Leader’ spoke to Shayna Baszler about competing in her hometown. While looking back on her transition from MMA to pro wrestling, Baszler noticed that she was falling out of love with MMA. Her team asked the UFC if she could pursue pro wrestling to keep her busy in between fights. The company did not approve, so Shayna considered venturing into pro wrestling full-time.
I think my coach had recognized and I think, you know, in hindsight, I can admit it, I think I was falling out of love with MMA, I started losing fights I shouldn’t have. I didn’t feel scared anymore. You know what I mean? Like I just didn’t care as much as I did before, when I was younger in the sport. So we asked the UFC, hey, could she do some pro wrestling in between? Just to keep her busy and in shape and keep doing stuff, earn some money and they were like, ‘No.’ And so my coach sat me down and was like, ‘Listen, how about we step away and do this pro wrestling thing and see just a reset?’
When she thinks about some of her favorite moments from her time in WWE thus far, she mentioned her two NXT Title reigns and dropping the title to Rhea Ripley.
I think there’s two and I guess these kind of go hand in hand so obviously winning the NXT title was my first big, big moment. I think that’s it. That’s the one that’s most memorable to me. I’ve had other matches that I think I would rate better. I think on the flip side of that, I think when I lost the title to Rhea Ripley, that match is one of my favorite matches because the way we told the story and it’s so cool because I lose and the crowd, the fans are so happy that the bad guy lost and the good guy won that they stormed the ring.
** K & S WrestleFest hosted a virtual signing with Fred Ottman a.k.a. Tugboat. He spoke about his former tag team partner Goliath and shared that they have a were offered an opportunity to do a podcast together. Ottman went on to tell the story of when Goliath suffered a compound fracture of his ankle.
He’s — was sticking through. I had jumped down on top of his foot so he wouldn’t see it. I didn’t want to put him in shock and then they took him to a — the hospital there in Louisville, Kentucky. Loose ring floor. He hit the ropes and turned and you know, he turned but the foot didn’t turn, you know? Yeah. Awesome guy.
** St. Louis, Missouri outlet KSKD.com has a feature about All Elite Wrestling which includes an interview with AEW President Tony Khan.
** Chris Jericho applied to trademark ‘GFY’. He mentioned ‘GFY’ on TV during a segment with Eddie Kingston.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling is hosting a training camp at the L.A. Dojo on February 21st. Rocky Romero is scheduled to lead the seminars. There are going to be two sessions throughout the day.
** Lucha Libre Online spoke to W. Morrissey.
** Wrestling Inc. has an interview with AJ Gray.
** Sportskeeda ran their interview with Deonna Purrazzo.
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.