POST NEWS UPDATE: Bobby Fish interested in coaching or producing for AEW

Originally published at Bobby Fish interested in coaching or producing for AEW

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.

** The latest guest on the AEW Unrestricted podcast was Bobby Fish. When asked if he’d be interested in a coach/producer role in AEW, Fish said he’s open to any ideas AEW has for him. He says that’s an opportunity that excites him.

I’m interested in anything that AEW might be interested in me for. If there’s something that maybe I don’t necessarily see for myself that they see, I’m open to any and all suggestions. I do see coaching or producing or something in the future if that possibility presents itself, I’m certainly open to it. I mean I think that’s an opportunity that excites me as well. We got so much young talent here, I think it’s the progression in and of itself is exciting to me. To be able to pass on some of what I learned that I haven’t forgotten.

Fish signing with AEW was formally announced on 10/6. He reflected on his experience in the company and said he couldn’t possibly enjoy it more than he has so far.

Yeah, thank you. It’s truly been a pleasure to come to work here. The time’s been brief up to this point but I couldn’t really have enjoyed it more than I have so far. It’s been wonderful.

Since coming into AEW, Bobby Fish has been working as a singles talent. He enjoys being able to showcase his solo abilities but while he was a part of a group/team, he was being asked to give less of himself in the ring.

I love them both . Whichever one you’re doing at that time, you get accustomed to and then you almost forget, at least for me, you almost forget what it’s like to do the other one so you start to think like, ‘Oh, this is what I do and I can’t see myself being other than this.’ But then, like I’ll say now, I’ll put myself three weeks in or however long it’s been with AEW and I’ve done nothing but singles and I couldn’t be enjoying it more and I love the fact that I’m able to bring forth more of myself and I don’t have to shoehorn it in because I have to bring more of myself or else the plate isn’t full, where when I was teaming, whether it was reDRagon or The Undisputed ERA and there was four of us, I was being asked to give less of myself. When you saw a little bit less than what I’m bringing now, it’s not because it wasn’t there or it went away, it’s because that wasn’t my role. I was fitting my role and now my role is to work as a singles competitor so you’re getting all of it.

Bobby went on to speak about his match with Bryan Danielson on Dynamite. Fish told of the story of when he and Danielson would travel together while in Japan working for Pro Wrestling NOAH and establishing an understanding of one another.

Man, it’s been like ten years or more since Bryan and I had a match. Always been a fan. We traveled when I was very young in the industry working for Pro Wrestling NOAH, Bryan and I traveled together a bit in Japan where when you’re traveling there in particular with people, you kind of tend to bond a little bit more I wanna say because it’s so isolating. Bryan and I always got along and it was just this kind of weird chemistry, then we ended up crossing paths on the indies with a company called EVOLVE. Like I said, maybe more than ten years ago. We were very different performers then but, obviously some things are still similar and the same and man was I looking forward to that when I saw that it was announced. I couldn’t be happier with the way things went. So much so that like, I wanna run it back because Bryan’s 2-0 on me right now and that doesn’t sit well. That doesn’t sit well.

** The Front Row Material podcast welcomed Da Pope onto their show. Pope said he wanted to portray ‘Da Pope’ character in WWE. He explained why he was not in agreement with WWE’s vision for the character and shared that they wanted him to feud with Glenn ‘Kane’ Jacobs. During the feud, Pope was going to have a ‘Pope-mobile’ and was going to be set on fire.

I was trying man . But they wanted me to be this televangelist and I’m like, ‘No, the only religious thing about Da Pope is the character –‘ I meant the name. The name is the only thing that’s religious if you wanna go that route but they wanted me to be hell, fire and brimstone and all that other stuff and I’m like, ‘If somebody wanted to go to church, they would go to church. They’re here to be entertained. They don’t wanna hear about that’ and that’s not what I — because I am a religious person as far as my beliefs go. I believe in high power and all of that stuff so I’m not trying to get out there and make fun of that and whatnot but a lil tidbit for you, my first feud was going to be Kane, summertime. Pope-mobile and all, they wanted to set me on fire.

He looked back on his time as a part of TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. Pope says the original plan for Bound For Glory 2010 was a six-man tag with himself, Kevin Nash and Sting versus Terry Bollea, Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett. Bollea undergoing back surgery resulted in the match being changed into a handicap bout.

I was supposed to get — and this is from a fan point of view, alright? This is not who I could have the best match with and all — I’m just talking from a fan point of view because I was supposed to work Hogan at 10/10/10 in Daytona Beach, Florida for TNA’s Bound For Glory. Me, Sting and Kevin Nash against Hogan, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe. Hogan obviously got his back surgery and that just took everything. I was like, ‘Man, why couldn’t you just wait? Why couldn’t you just wait?’ You know, but that’s the one that got away from me. Brother Pope would’ve sold that boot like nothing else man. I would’ve took two flips and Hogan wouldn’t have had to do much. He could’ve just raised it to — he could have raised it to Pope’s mid-section and I would have made it hit my face. I gotcha Hogan.

Elsewhere during the conversation, Pope was asked about not being positioned as a main event player on WWE’s ECW brand. He feels that had he been present at the ‘Vengeance: Night of Champions’ show, he would have been slotted into the vacant ECW Championship match that was originally supposed to be CM Punk versus Chris Benoit.

Your guess is as good as mine. I was there likes to have the face to chase the heel.

** AEW‘s QT Marshall joined the Battleground Podcast. QT was asked about the crowd reactions Cody Rhodes has been receiving as of late. He guesses that Cody was booed during the feud with Malakai Black because Malakai was the fresher face. QT added that Cody can be a bit polarizing and on a surface level, he can be hard to like in the eyes of others.

Well, it depends. I think they were booing him , Malakai’s cool, he’s fresh, he’s from the other place so it’s like, ‘Oh okay. We’re in the honeymoon phase of Malakai’ and so, I do expect that, I did expect that and you know, on top of that, Cody, he is like a very polarizing figure, right? He’s got his own tour bus, the suits, he’s rich, he’s successful. You know, reality show. It is hard on the surface to like him but at the same time, what has he done to deserve to get booed? I don’t know. I punched Arn Anderson in the face so I deserved to get booed. You know, Malakai kicks Arn’s head off, he deserves to get booed. I’m trying to think of one thing that Cody’s done that deserves booing from the fans. At the same time, as long as they’re making noise, I don’t think he really cares one way or the other.

At All Out, QT Marshall versus Paul Wight was the match between CM Punk versus Darby Allin and Christian Cage challenging Kenny Omega for the AEW World Title. Marshall did not have an issue with he and Wight’s placement on the card. He said they were initially supposed to have more than three minutes but things changed.

At the end of the day, it’s all about perspective. I was on one of the biggest pay-per-views in the past — well the biggest in the past 20 years, non-WWF. Yeah, exactly so, I’m never gonna complain about it. The fact that we were put where we were put, you know, obviously, yeah, there has to be some sort of a break in between and I know obviously how much was written on paper, how much time we had, how much we were allotted and stuff and we had more than that. It didn’t go as long, but that’s, you know, neither here nor there. I really loved the build-up to it. I loved telling that story with Tony Schiavone, his son and listen, at the end of the day, you know, this is my first TV run. Real TV run, you know, so, I thought it was as great as it could be. Some people might not have liked it, some people might have loved that I was on the pay-per-view but whatever. Paul Wight, if he wasn’t on the pay-per-view, they would say, ‘Oh, why wasn’t he on the pay-per-view? He’s a big star,’ blah, blah, blah so, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

** Ring of Honor commentator and talent Caprice Coleman took to his weekly blog to write about the latest set of ROH TV tapings. The tapings will take ROH into their Final Battle pay-per-view and after that, the company is going on hiatus until April 2022. Coleman detailed the atmosphere and how other talents and staff felt about the future of ROH:

We’re just coming off our last round of TV tapings for the foreseeable future. Flying in and preparing for this trip was probably the hardest thing I’ve done. I was in no rush.

I didn’t know what to expect from anyone. I tried to find a positive, but I admit I isolated myself for the majority of my first day. All my interactions seemed the same. No one knew what was next.

Some expressed how they would be fine and others expressed that they didn’t know. No matter what I heard, I felt like they had a better grip on the situation than I did.

The first day of tapings started with the same vibe. Then something happened: Once people expressed their uncertainties, they started to express the things they knew for sure. Most of those things were the feelings they had for other people.

In conversations that I had one on one or in groups, we encouraged one another and said how much we believed in and saw potential in each other. These conversations of love, respect, and admiration continued for the rest of the tapings. Adversity has a way of pulling people together.

I don’t remember one negative thing happening. We laughed and cried over great memories we all shared. We were all in this thing together. Uncertain about the future, but certain about how we saw each other and the impact we’ve had on each other’s lives.

** Following IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory, the newly crowned Knockouts Tag Team Champions Jessica McKay and Cassie Lee were a part of their first set of IMPACT TV tapings. They dove into that experience on their ‘Off Her Chops’ podcast and said they felt welcomed from the get-go.

Lee: I will say, so we spent three days at IMPACT last weekend and each day I felt like it just got better.

McKay: Absolutely.

Lee: Like the first day, you know, I’ve got anxiety around new people. I’m shy, it takes me a lot to warm up and open up to people but man, that Knockouts locker room and even the guys locker room and then we were pulled aside by a couple of the guys to say like, ‘Thank you for choosing to come here because –’ they just seemed so appreciative and I was like, ‘Wow! That’s really very nice of you.’

McKay: Yeah, because no one has to say sh*t to us, you know? So that’s why I just appreciate the fact that they have chosen to say something.

Lee: Yeah, not just talk amongst themselves, which is fine.

McKay: I really appreciate that too and yeah, we’re in the same boat, we’re just so similar where we had massive anxiety. I mean we know people but, it’s a whole new work experience for us.

Lee: We’ve been in one environment for six years and then we get put into another one.

McKay: It was very daunting but just for us, socially, that makes sense. Professionally, we were f*cking ready to go.

The IInspiration mentioned that although they may talk some trash about WWE, they are grateful for their time there because they were able to accomplish their dreams.

Lee: I’m very grateful for the opportunity .

McKay: Absolutely.

Lee: Legit. I know we laugh around and sometimes talk a bit of smack. If you don’t wanna get hurt then you better stop! Sorry, that’s a TikTok that you’ve got no idea what the f*ck I’m talking about.

McKay: We accomplished our dreams there and I’ll forever be grateful for that and the world got to see Peyton Royce, Billie Kay. I haven’t heard that said in a while, and I don’t want to forget them.

Lee: Made me feel weird. Just when you said it. It was, ‘Oh, I feel bad for her.’

McKay: Right? It’s like a twin and they’ve left ya.

Lee: Well I felt bad that she just went through that, you know?

McKay: You feel sorry for her.

Lee: Yeah, I feel sorry for Peyton Royce. Cassie Lee is, you know, growth. You know, she’s grown up. Love that. Love that for her. Speaking about myself in third person, hell yeah.

Their first segment on IMPACT programming was a backstage interview that was hosted by Gia Miller. Both McKay and Lee said they’ve never had that much time for a segment or promo before. They said it was refreshing to be trusted by the powers that be.

Lee: I, myself, loved the segment and it was kind of like, ‘Alright, you got two minutes to talk.’

McKay: Which is a lot of time.

Lee: We never had that much time to talk before.

McKay: It’s usually two minutes for a f*cking entrance and get backstage.

Lee: But yes, we weren’t given a script. It was just, ‘You girls are the new champions. What would you like to say?’

McKay: The people we’re working with have that trust in us which is so f*cking refreshing.

Lee: It makes such a difference.

** Before Ring of Honor announced their plans to go on hiatus after Final Battle, they signed Trish Adora. Trish spoke to Bell To Belles about receiving the ROH contract offer and the company wanting her to be herself.

Being signed to Ring of Honor which is so dope. I am so happy and I’m honestly really happy that, maybe this doesn’t happen for everyone that signs somewhere but, I am fortunate enough to sign somewhere that agrees with me, you know what I mean? Me as a person, me as a character, me as Trish Adora. You know, they agree with me and they like the lofty ideas, you know? It doesn’t scare them that I would like to, you know, work for other — they’re allowing me to work with other companies and things like that, and that was something I didn’t wanna give up while I was independent.

** While on the Wrestle Buddies podcast, MLW CEO Court Bauer said he has closed a deal having to do with South Africa and Major League Wrestling. The details have yet to be completely announced.

So that’s kind of what this long, 16 months really was for us full yet but there’s a little teaser but, these things take time.

** Daily DDT pushed out their interview with QT Marshall. He provided an update on how the training of 2015 NBA draftee Satnam Singh is going. QT said the 7’3 Singh is a pleasure to be around and he’s progressing well. Cody Rhodes is working with Satnam on his promo skills.

It’s going very good. He started maybe four weeks ago and we’re in our fourth week of our 12-week camp that we do. He kind of integrated in with some our brand-new students and we also have some advanced guys and girls that come in. We try to accept everybody and that’s because everyone has different goals. There are some people like I said that are more advanced and we try to get him in there with some of those guys as well as myself and our assistant coaches. But he’s a pleasure to be around. He’s also getting paid to train and he’s the one rooting everyone on.

Cody is there, and when Cody’s there, he does a lot of the promo aspect of it. That’s going to be the key. In pro wrestling, if you can’t speak or if you can’t connect with an audience, it’s very difficult. He’s been working with him a lot on that. When it comes to the physical stuff, I’m more of the in-ring guy, and Cody has definitely tried to take him under his wing on the promo aspect.

** Scrump and Stank welcomed Jeff Jarrett onto the PWTCAST. Jarrett said when he went back to WWE on a full-time basis in 2019, there were a handful of people who he worked with throughout the years that were very grateful to him and expressed how much they appreciate him for what he did for their respective careers.

Well for every Jeremy Borash or AJ Styles or Samoa Joe, there’s guys that didn’t make it and we have had those kind of conversations. I won’t name names but when I went back full-time up there in 2019, a number of people came up to me and they were just super gracious and kind and, ‘Thanks for everything you’ve done. I’d never be here,’ blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and I had a very candid, quick response and I just tell them, ‘That’s not really true. That’s not really accurate because the cream always rises to the top’ and I look at it as if, how lucky am I to have had the opportunity for a boy from Moore, Georgia who was landscaping who said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna come up here every Wednesday –’ AJ Styles, or however you slice and dice it so, it makes me feel good. You know, the guys are so successful but when I look back on that time frame and look at just how we were hitting on all cylinders and jelling, it was, from a professional point of view, just a fantastic era of my career.

** Big E is inching closer to two full months as WWE Champion. He is currently overseas with WWE on a tour of the UK. He spoke to ‘Yorkshire Live’ and reflected on his world title run so far. He said he’s trying to live in the moment and feels like he’s in a great place in life.

It’s been a lot of squirming for me because I’m not very good at accepting compliments but I’m trying to get better at it. Everyone’s been so kind. I’m just enjoying the ride and trying my best to stay present but what made the moment special for me was the outpouring of love from my peers, fans, people who I look up to and the people close to me in my life who reached out. It just feels like I’m in a really good place in my life and I’m extremely thankful for it. Gratitude has really been the word of this season of my life because I’m really grateful for all the growth and everything that’s come along with it.

** While speaking to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, EJ Nduka said after his release from WWE, there were places that wanted to sign him although he only had two sanctioned matches while in WWE. MLW was one of those places and EJ added that it’s been a blessing to be a part of MLW.

It happened pretty fast. Of course, I’m at the gym and then I get a message from Joseph. We start talking and things started getting pretty serious. We linked with Court and then we got on a conference call. We let things simmer down a little bit. Then we talked again. I was very interested. They were interested. We made things happen.

A lot of people were ready to sign me sight unseen. MLW signed me sight unseen. I was getting calls the day, the day after. Everything during that time was such a blur because, you know how it is, it was such a huge pivotal moment, everything starts to blur together. But I’m pretty sure it was within a day or two. Then I started talking to other people in the industry and just asking them what their experiences were at certain promotions. That’s where I was. It’s just been a blessing being at MLW. Like I said, being able to showcase your abilities on a platform like that, it doesn’t get any better.

** UFC Hall Of Famer Ken Shamrock joined Rick Bassman’s ‘Talking Tough’ podcast. Shamrock recalled heading to Canada to train with Bret Hart. Hart told Shamrock that he should not try to be a pro wrestler in regard to his in-ring style. Hart expressed to Shamrock that Vince McMahon was bringing him in because he’s a shoot fighter and should present himself as such in a pro wrestling setting.

I had actually went down to Canada first and worked with Bret Hart and started trying to understand, even though I had done it when I was younger, this is a whole new beast and a whole different kind of a machine that you were dealing with. Being there was great and here I was coming in there, hadn’t been in a wrestling ring in five years, six years and now all of a sudden, I’m gonna jump into this thing — actually it was ten years, more like ten years before I jumped into a wrestling ring and so I remember working with him and first thing he told me was make sure that I stopped and listened to what he was gonna say because it was gonna be very important on me listening to what his words were gonna be next and what he said was, ‘Make sure that you don’t be a pro wrestler’ and I looked at him like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And basically what he was telling me is, ‘Vince brought you in here because you’re the World’s Most Dangerous Man. You’re a no holds barred fighter, you’re an MMA fighter. Don’t go out there doing hip tosses and sunset flips and working these programs. You have to go out there, you have to kick, punch, suplex and submit people’ and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Sh*t, that’s just like going in and sparring. I don’t knock ‘em out or hurt ‘em, I’m just going in and spar with ‘em.’

** In issue #14 of Inside The Ropes magazine, Rob Van Dam said he would always feel intimidated and awkward when talking to Vince McMahon early in his career. McMahon would ask RVD how he was doing and RVD did not know how to respond.

I’ve always gotten along with Vince overall. I was always uncomfortable talking to him in a manner of just being intimidated and feeling awkward. He would always go out of his way, if we were walking along the hallway, to shake my hand and say, ‘Hey Rob, how are you doing?’ But then I wouldn’t know what to talk about. It would be like, ‘Well, how’s the weather?’ And it would just be like that. I was just intimidated because he is Vince McMahon, he is the most important man that I am ever going to meet. Then at the same time, what are we going to talk about? Am I going to tell him that I can’t believe they have a girl in a Spiderman outfit in the new series now?

** Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen was interviewed by Ringsiders Wrestling and talked about AEW’s Ruby Soho using the ‘Ruby Soho’ name and song. He said he’s been a fan of Ruby for quite some time and has always seen the potential in her.

The way it’s turned out now that Ruby Soho is using one of Rancid’s — probably the biggest song we’ve ever done as her name and as her entrance music, it’s mind-blowing because I mean, you know, number one, I’ve been a fan of her for a long, long time and I’ve watched her grow and seeing the potential there and I think that watching wrestling over the years, you can kind of tell who’s got it.

** Ahead of Reality of Wrestling’s showcase in Las Vegas, Comicbook.com chatted with promotion owner Booker T. Booker was asked who he could see playing him in a film about WCW and he named Montez Ford. Booker went on to praise Ford and his talent.

That’s really a hard question. I know Montez Ford, man, he’s definitely me.

I don’t know who my brother is right off the head, but Montez Ford, he’s definitely it. He’s always been a guy who’s represented Harlem Heat. Their debut may not have noticed it, but he had the flame zone and it was all representing Harlem Heat. So yeah man, I would give Montez Ford the right to go out and play Booker T. He’s got to work on his legs a little bit.

Hey bro, I’m going to tell you right now, if anybody can do it my craft and it takes really a long time to hone the craft, but you got to be thinking about it at the same time. It’s not something that you can… It’s like great actors. They want to find that ultimate role and playing that ultimate role. And for me, that’s what it was about. And every role was different, but I would always take it and say, ‘Man, let’s see how far we can push this.’ Let’s see how far we can make the fans feel a certain way by watching something like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Booker T in the grocery store. So it’s very simple, but everything is art and it is what we make it.

Booker gave his thoughts about his trainee and current ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C. He hasn’t had the chance to speak to Rok-C since ROH’s announcement about their hiatus, but he knows she will be fine.

I haven’t talked to her since that, but she put out something on Twitter and she was… It is so true what she was saying, she said, from what I taught her with her time at Reality of Wrestling, I could trust her to be okay, no matter what. This is just a hiccup, just a bump in the road. Man, she’s talented, man. It’s like when WCW closed, people ask me, ‘Man, what are you going to do?’ I said, ‘Man, I’m going to WWF. It’s that simple. I’m not thinking about . I’m talent.’ Rok-C man, she is talent. That’s why she’s the youngest Reality of Wrestling champion at 16. That’s why she’s the first ROH Women’s World champion at 19. Man, her destiny man, is solid. So all she got to do is just stay in shape and keep her head on straight, and she’s going to be okay.

** Sam Beale, who has been consistently featured on IMPACT Wrestling TV dating back to March, guest appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Sam does not know who is directly responsible for getting him into IMPACT but he recalled receiving a phone call from Trey Miguel which led to him getting phone calls from the powers that be at IMPACT.

I say this because it’s true but, it’s right place, right time for me and I was picked to enter a storyline with Trey Miguel versus Sami Callihan and I guess I showed them something and they kept bringing me back and bringing me back and I ain’t leaving. I’m not leaving. Like the guy says from Wolf of Wall Street, ‘I’m not leaving!’ But yeah, I guess it’s just the right place, right time and then taking that opportunity and really just rolling and doing the best I can with it. I mean yeah, there’s a lot of pressure and a lot of stress, worry about, ‘Well what if this isn’t great? What if that isn’t?’ I mean all I can do is my best and at the end of the day, I believe that my best will be good enough so, yeah.

To be honest, I have no idea great time. I love it there. IMPACT Wrestling is so amazing. It’s so incredible. Everybody in that locker room is so talented and we could be — I truthfully think that anybody and everybody could be a world champion in that locker room. I think that’s how deep all our roster is.

Along with being a wrestler, Sam is a full-time student at the University of Toledo. He spoke about how he balances school and pro wrestling.

Oh, it is a lot to juggle up in the air the weekends. I think the best thing though for me with managing my time through school and wrestling is just having a great support system behind me, always encouraging me when I feel overwhelmed and stressed. They’re there to like kick my booty in gear, as you would say.

** IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view is taking place on January 8th in Dallas, Texas.

** R-Truth joined D-Von Dudley’s Table Talk podcast.

** WrestleZone conducted an interview with Nyla Rose.

** New Japan Pro-Wrestling launched their Wrestle Kingdom 16 mini-site.

** Renee Paquette hosted an episode of Oral Sessions featuring her podcast producer Emilio Sparks.

** To promote Monday Night Raw in Indianapolis on November 15th, King Xavier Woods sat down with FOX 59.

** Bad Bunny appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and talked about his performance at WrestleMania 37.

** Happy Corbin (Baron Corbin) appeared on ‘All Things BBQ’:

** NJPW Road to Power Struggle Results (11/4) Komatsu, Japan
– Ryohei Oiwa vs. Yuto Nakashima – 10-Minute Time Limit Draw
– El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles
– Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan def. Toru Yano & Yuji Nagata
– BUSHI & SANADA def. Master Wato & Tomoaki Honma
– Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Tiger Mask def. Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Ryusuke Taguchi & Togi Makabe def. Jado, KENTA, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
– Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi def. DOUKI & Zack Sabre Jr.

** Ryan Nemeth is celebrating a birthday today.

** Inside The Ropes published their interview with Paul Wight.

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.