POST NEWS UPDATE: Bruce Prichard comments on Vince McMahon saying the n-word in 2005

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/30/post-news-update-bruce-prichard-comments-on-vince-mcmahon-saying-the-n-word-in-2005/

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.

** WWE’s 2005 Survivor Series pay-per-view was the focus of the latest Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast. The current WWE Executive Director commented on the segment during which Vince McMahon referred to John Cena as his n-word. Prichard was also asked if Booker T and Sharmell Huffman’s thoughts about the segment were factored in as they were a part of it.

“I don’t think it holds up well. Probably so .

Well I think there was people whose opinions were asked and again, it’s just a different time and a different place where you did different things that were not things that hold up and I go back and I’m into the Alfred Hitchcock hour now, taping it every single night. You sit there and you watch some of the things on television of men just basically slapping the sh*t out of women back and forth as if it was just another day at the office and it’s just time has a way of making things cringeworthy.

Again, different time, different place, different mentality.”

Elsewhere during the podcast, Prichard discussed WWE attempting to put a restraining order on Brock Lesnar’s future matches in 2005 when he went to go work for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. As WWE and Lesnar were putting together the documents for his release from the company, it was noted that Lesnar could pursue a career in the NFL but could not compete for another pro wrestling promotion/company until 20 months after his WWE departure.

“Yeah, because again, we made the investment in training him initially and getting him to the popularity that he was at. Brock was unhappy, wanted to do other things. That’s fine, you can try other things. However, we had made the investment in him in the sports-entertainment category and wanted to protect that so, just strictly business.”

Sharmell’s name came back up and Prichard stated that the reason she found herself on TV along with Booker T is because she was consistent in contacting Prichard about ideas to get herself on TV.

“Let me educate you on Ms. Sharmell Huffman. Sharmell was one of the Nitro girls and she had done some valet work or things like that in WCW. But we purchased WCW and what have you and Sharmell wasn’t doing anything. Sharmell would call me practically every single week, and every single week I’d tell Sharmell, ‘Hey Sharmell, I don’t have anything for you right now, but again, this is not a ‘no’, it’s just a not now and keep in touch with me. Something will come up,’ and I’ll be damned if something didn’t come up and it was Sharmell’s persistence and her positive attitude that got her in the position to say, ‘Well, why don’t we try this with Book?’ And they had a relationship, it was gold. There was obviously natural chemistry there, so you felt that and Sharmell is just a natural… just a natural reactor I guess is the best way to say it. I’m not gonna call her an actress even though she is a damn good actress but she was able to react beautifully and the chemistry between her and Booker, you could feel. It was a natural. It was just an absolute natural. But it all just speaks to the persistence and the ‘never quit’ attitude of Sharmell.”

** James Storm was a guest on The Angle Podcast and when asked about the possibility of a Beer Money Inc. reunion with himself and Robert Roode in WWE, Storm expressed that he and Roode would be top merchandise sellers in the company and claimed that Beer Money drew $1 million for TNA in one year.

“You know, I don’t know if we’d be a top team. We’d be one of the top merchandise sellers, I’ll tell you that… because we made TNA like a million dollars in one year just off Beer Money merchandise so, I could only imagine with the WWE machine behind it or whatever. But, that’s hearsay, so we never know until maybe it happens so…”

Storm has made two appearances for IMPACT Wrestling over the past month-and-a-half. He detailed how those appearances came to be.

“It was just Scott D’Amore, you know, messaged me and was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to be in Nashville filming. Just wanted to see if you happen to be available. We’d like for you to come in and be in this Battle Royal, a surprise entry or whatever’ and I was like, ‘Yeah sure. Whatever you guys need or whatever’ and we talked about it and agreed on it and then, when I was up there, they wanted me to come back the next day but I had a tag team with Chris Sabin?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ Number one, it’d be fun and number two, I want to prove to everybody else that I can go out there and still go when I need to and so it was just one of those things. He’s like, ‘Alright, cool.’ So, I landed at 12 o’clock, drove right to the building, got dressed and performed, and did what was asked of me.”

Storm, a former NWA World Tag Team Champion discussed his working relationship with Billy Corgan and David Lagana. Storm was told by both individuals that their goal was to catapult him back to WWE at some point.

“I called David Lagana and Billy . You belong –’ not saying that NWA is not a big stage but, ‘You belong on the bigger stage. That’s where you belong’ and so I always thought that was really cool of Billy and Dave.”

** FloWrestling has an interview with NCAA All American Gable Steveston. Gable made it clear in the past that his goal is to end up in WWE and he reiterated that during this interview. He was asked what it would take for him to remain in amateur wrestling post-college and that led to the following:

“Oh man, it’s gonna be hard to be honest. I mean, I love wrestling but, you guys know my end goal is to make the WWE and be a superstar in that realm. But, to make it past college, I mean, the way I’m doing with my social media and making myself look really presentable, there’s gonna have to be a good outcome for it especially but like I said, not everything is about money. I wanna leave the best legacy I can for my namesake and for my family too. But, for me to get past college wrestling, I don’t know. It’s hard.”

** Chris Jericho chatted with David Penzer on Penzer’s ‘Sitting Ringside’ podcast. The two discussed the career of The Undertaker for a portion of the show and Jericho said that if were to return to WWE in the present time, a match with him and Undertaker would be one of the top programs.

“But other than that, Undertaker was at the top of the top and I was kinda wavering up and down, never in between. If Undertaker was still there and I went back today and challenged him to WrestleMania next year, that would be one of the biggest matches you could have, but that is because of the work I’ve done over the last four years. So, it was never really seen as the main event, even when I was in the main event of WrestleMania against Shawn beat him whatever year that was and I think I was gone at that point, or close to it. So, to go up with The Undertaker, you know you were one of many that was gonna fall so you had to be the right guy because most people knew, ‘Oh, he’s gonna lose anyway’ so it was hard to create a storyline with him and we just never crossed paths at the right time to do that.”

Jericho is scheduled to wrestle Frankie Kazarian at AEW’s ‘Winter Is Coming’ show on 12/2. Jericho believes that Kazarian is the most underrated talent in AEW.

“There’s not a more underrated guy in AEW and maybe even in the wrestling business than Frankie Kazarian. That guy has a great match every week. Doesn’t matter if he’s on Dynamite, if he’s on Dark, if he’s in a singles match or a multi-team match, whatever it may be. He brings it every night so when I saw that, I’m like, ‘Man, I’d really like to have a match with him’ so, that’s kind of how this whole storyline was started and kind of tie in Chris Daniels as well so, it’s always cool when you find guys that have been around for such a long time that you never even touched. It’s like finding this rare piece of gold if you’re coal mining or something where you just can’t believe this has just been there all this time and I’ve never come into contact before so, it’s gonna be a fun couple of weeks for sure.”

While reflecting on the Le Dinner Debonair segment with MJF, Chris Jericho spoke about the troubles that they ran into behind-the-scenes. Those troubles include having to find a different version of the same song because the current group members didn’t want certain members featured and it came to a point when Tony Khan said Jericho and MJF might have to do it live in the ring.

“And the crazy thing was, about an hour before this thing was supposed to air, the people that own the song didn’t like the version we used. They had heat with the guitar player or whatever so we had to scramble to find another version of the same song. They just didn’t want those particular musicians on it so we literally, I think aired at 9:21 and we submitted it and got it downloaded into the truck which people won’t understand. When you get it, you don’t just take it. They gotta download it into the system to be able to put it on the air. It got finished at 9:02 and aired at 9:21 so 19 minutes. Had we been 19 — as Dave like, ‘You guys are gonna have to go to the ring and do it.’ Like f*ck, we don’t know what to do. It’s gonna suck. So if people only knew sometimes what happens when you’re doing live TV, it would blow their mind. Blow their f*cking minds. But we got it on and we got it done and that was history.”

** Jack Jester, Piper Niven (Viper) and ‘Get-Well Gamers UK’ founder James Stewart are partnering up to help homeless men and women during this season of the year.

** There is a Donadora page up for pro wrestler Heavy Boy who is attempting to raise money for his kidney surgery and post-surgery recovery. The funds will also go to his COVID recovery and medical expenses.

** Rhea Ripley was the most recent guest on Lilian Garcia’s ‘Chasing Glory’ podcast. Rhea said during the interview that she thought she was going to be drafted to either RAW or SmackDown as a part of the company’s recent Draft. Ripley went on to list several names who she would like to work with while still in NXT.

“So did I. Yeah, I was waiting for it and then it didn’t happen. I was like, ‘Oh! I got more time in NXT.’

I would like to go to RAW and SmackDown but at the same time, there’s so many people in NXT I haven’t faced yet and I feel like there’s so much more that I could still do. Like I would love to wrestle Candice . We battled each other. It was intense but I would love to face her again. Hell, I would love to do a stipulation match with her. I would love to do a lot of different things. I would love to do WarGames again.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic still going on, Rhea talked about the training schedules that NXT talents have so they can come to the Performance Center and work out. Rhea is a TV-only talent so she does not go to the PC regularly anymore to train.

“I pretty much don’t go in at all. I only go there for TVs. I know that they have a training schedule but because I’m on TVs regularly, I don’t have a training schedule so I pretty much get — especially with COVID, a lot of times I’m off which is fantastic for me.”

Ripley reflected on her WrestleMania 36 match with Charlotte Flair. Coming into the match full of momentum, Ripley feels that she lost a great deal of confidence coming out of the match because she wasn’t portrayed how she was prior to WrestleMania.

“I’m not really too sure . It did feel like that though. I definitely have gone through a stage where I did start losing the confidence in myself, because I just wasn’t portrayed the same way that I was. Like even now, I’m still slowly building myself back up from it. My confidence definitely was tainted a little bit, which sucks because I try and keep it up and do my best all the time. I don’t know if it was something inside my head that just wasn’t getting the picture but like, I don’t know. I got a little bit lost after that. But, right now I feel like I’m getting back on track, especially after doing all the things that I’ve done. Building myself back up has been really, really hard. I’m not gonna lie. It has been very difficult and I’ve been very lost at times but I’ve definitely found my track now and I’m getting back on it.”

** Sports Illustrated caught up with Keith Lee ahead of the 11/30 episode of RAW. Lee discussed his new theme music and stated that he does plan to make a few tweaks to it. He also added that the decision to add a top to his ring gear was not his choice.

“I am very happy with my music. There is one little tweak I intend to make over time, but that’s got to be a timing thing and it’s got to be well done for me to make it work the way I want it to. I have some evolutionary ideas for my current music that just hit. In terms of the song itself, I wrote that myself and a lot of it is very personal. I’m very happy with being able to express myself in that manner. Even the track, the guys that did it are brilliant. I’m extremely happy with the way the track sounds. I’m happy with the music overall, and I look forward to the little tweaks I intend to make down the road.

As far as gear goes, my gear is the same as NXT except I have to wear a top right now. Is that my choice? No. But I do what I need to do in order to also keep the people I work for happy. At some point, I will get so big that it won’t matter what other people want because Keith Lee knows what’s best. Someone will figure that out at some point, and then I won’t be wearing a top anymore. Until then, I have no problem with this.”

Lee arrived on the main roster the night after SummerSlam and engaged in a program with Randy Orton. At the Payback pay-per-view following SummerSlam, Lee defeated Orton. He was asked to rate his time on RAW thus far and here’s what he had to say:

“I think it’s too early. I’m not even half a year into the main roster. There are things I have done that a lot of people have not, in terms of showing up and stepping right up to one of the best that’s ever done this. Those are things that make it stand out, but in terms of trying to rate, it’s too early. I don’t believe in the ratings systems and all the rest of that nonsense, people trying to be some sort of critic, especially for the people that don’t even do this. The way things have been going, it’s been a grind. At the end of the day, that’s all I need.”

The former NXT Champion took a look at the current landscape of the black and yellow brand. He believes his NXT Title reign could’ve been longer, especially with hindsight being 20/20 and seeing the injuries that have hit NXT Champions Finn Balor and Karrion Kross.

“Most definitely. As monumental as it’s been to go to the main roster, I’m not sure it was so important to end that as abruptly as it happened.

I watch NXT, and obviously I have some friends there, and one that I’m fairly close to is Mr. Damian Priest, and I watch often to see how he’s doing. Kross went down in our match, then to have Finn as the new champion and he hurts his jaw, it’s hard. I like those guys, and I feel like I abandoned them. It’s difficult to think about. I’m proud of everything I’ve done, and I’ve hung with the top guys from Raw and some of them from SmackDown, but it’s been difficult to see the injuries.

I don’t know what would have happened if I had stayed a little bit longer. At the end of the day, we’re not always in control of our journey, and that’s just how it goes. The main roster wanted me, and that’s where I ended up. All I can do right now is root those guys on and be there for them in whatever capacity I can be, while still focusing on what I’m doing.”

** Gerry Strauss interviewed Thunder Rosa and during their chat, Rosa spoke about the humbleness of current NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai. While Rosa was in STARDOM, she worked with Io and praised the NXT talent for her work ethic.

“Because there’s nothing worse than when you get feedback and you’re like, ‘I’m done.’ No! We are performers. The best performers in the world, perfect example: She’s in WWE. I’m not saying that because she’s my trainer, but I’m saying that because she was my trainer. Io Shirai, she was the main b*tch at STARDOM. She didn’t have to come to training, she didn’t have to train us. She trained us all the time, she trained all the time, she hasn’t stopped training and she’s one of the best female wrestlers in the world and humble as you have no idea.”

** Lilian Garcia spoke to ‘Metro’ about Shotzi Blackheart opening up during the ‘Chasing Glory’ podcast about the sexual abuse she endured growing up. Garcia expressed how much she appreciates Shotzi for sharing her story and speaking up.

“I really want people to see that episode. They’ll understand what Chasing Glory is all about… I just appreciate her courage for going out and speaking about this. I think that she and others that have done this are giving people permission, I always say – own your story. We all go through something. Don’t hide it, share it, so that we can start healing the world. We have to start healing each other… That’s the only way as people in this world that we can start connecting, no judgement and really make an impact.”

** Ringsiders Wrestling caught up with Brody King for an interview. Brody shared that the reason he signed with Ring of Honor was because of their connection to New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

“I would say he helped me get signed to Ring of Honor, and I signed with Ring of Honor because of their relationship with New Japan. New Japan was always kind of my number one goal. It’s the wrestling that I truly love is Japanese wrestling. So, being able to wrestle there and you know, that was the greatest moment of my life I feel like. I love Japan, I love Japanese culture and nothing competes with Japanese wrestling in my opinion.”

** Sami Zayn tweeted out a video of his cameo appearance in Liv Morgan’s ‘Liv Forever’ documentary on the WWE Network. Sami revealed that while he was doing ‘The Great Liberator’ character on TV, he pitched for Liv to be a part of it with him.

** All Japan’s Zeus tested negative for COVID-19 and he’ll be returning to action on December 13th at Korakuen Hall. Zeus tested positive for the virus in early November.

** Ronda Rousey spoke with Digital Spy.

** A GoFundMe has been set up for Duane “Gillberg” Gill who suffered a heart attack recently. James Ellsworth shared a photo on social media of him visiting Gill who is now out of the hospital.

** Fightful has an interview with Alex Gracia. During their chat, she opened up about working with the late Hana Kimura and how much of a positive figure Hana was for Alex and many others that worked in STARDOM.

“She was considered the gaijin helper because she would always be like, ‘Speak English to me’ and she was just so sweet. There was a night specifically, we were, I think, in Osaka or something, I don’t know if it was the homesickness was getting to some of us or the internet can be cruel, too. We were just all kinda down for some reason that night. She’s like, ‘We’re going to dinner.’ We went to dinner and we just had the best night with her. She’s always so sweet. Even if it’s like, if I wasn’t in their match, she would just come up to me be like, ‘You okay? You feel good?’’ It just felt good to have someone there that you knew genuinely cared, and she was just such a sweet soul. She wanted to learn all these languages and just get better. You could just see that. She was a natural star in and outside of the ring. She was just a presence. She walks in the room and she was that ‘it’ girl. So, yeah, that was horrible and very tough and all that comes with it too is just from the internet. So, just hopefully people start to be aware that, especially, she was so young. It’s hard for anyone to hear those things. But, especially, at that age I couldn’t imagine.”

** Below is AEW’s ‘Road to Winter is Coming’ video:

 

** Davey Boy Smith Jr. versus Low Ki is headlining this week’s episode of MLW FUSION.

** Comedian, actor, singer and artist Noritake Kinashi was named a special guest for Wrestle Kingdom 15. He’ll also be creating the theme song for the two-day event.

** Here’s the newest episode of Being The Elite:

 

** Scott Fishman has an interview up on Wrestling Inc.’s website with Pete Dunne. Dunne listed off several names from the NXT U.K. brand that he thinks would fit well in the U.S. version of NXT.

“I would love to see Trent and Tyler Bate come out here. I will also give you a name that I think people wouldn’t expect. I feel like Wild Boar has really untapped potential. He is someone I’ve wanted here for a long time. I’ve been friends with him for years. I don’t think people have seen what he can fully do yet. It’s only a matter of time before he starts to break out. Hopefully he gets to come over here and show the whole world what he can do.

There are so many guys over there. I’d love to see Mark Andrews come out here. I know he has done a bit on 205 Live. Maybe he can bring something to that show. There is so much talent over there. What is great too is even with what has happened this year with the UK being locked down and coming back for a minute. Now being locked down again. Everyone is still improving. The work rate is fantastic over there. It’s a great roster to be around. Everyone is continuously improving.”

Speaking on RAW and SmackDown being separate entities from NXT, Dunne likes it that way. He feels that one could be overexposed on RAW or SmackDown, although he does like being a part of the Survivor Series and Royal Rumble.

“It’s great to be part of Survivor Series and getting the chance to do that. At the same time I want NXT to stand out on its own. NXT has been great to me. I love being able to wrestle the way I want to wrestle and be who I want to be. NXT is this amazing platform to do that. Raw and SmackDown, main roster, whatever you want to call it. That’s its own thing too.

Whether it’s progression or moving from brand to brand if I ever move to Raw or SmackDown, I want it to feel exciting and interesting. I feel like you can be overexposed there now. That wouldn’t do anything for the brand or myself either. Even though it’s good in pockets. Being in the Royal Rumble is amazing. Being in Survivor Series is the same. But I’m also in no rush. I don’t feel anyone shouldn’t panic when NXT is not involved , especially with the way the world is right now. It’s even more complex than it once was. So having us as separate entities is not bad at all.”

** Ember Moon is joining Shotzi Blackheart’s team at NXT TakeOver: WarGames to take on Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez and Toni Storm.

** A rematch between Blake Christian and Lio Rush is official for GCW ‘Slime Season’ on 12/5. The two last wrestled at GCW’s ‘So Much Fun’ show in early November.

** STARDOM Results (11/29/20) Morioka, Japan
– Riho def. Ruaka
– Bea Priestley def. Saya Kamitani
– Mina Shirakawa, Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka def. Himeka, Maika & Natsupoi
– Giulia & Syuri def. Oedo Tai (Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima)
– Queen’s Quest (AZM, Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita) def. Mayu Iwatani, Saya Iida & Starlight Kid

** Alicia Atout has an interview with Griff Garrison. During their chat, he talked about the comparisons between himself and Jungle Boy and hopes to work with Jungle Boy one day.

“I expected people to just kinda say, ‘Oh, he kind of looks like Jungle Boy. Oh okay’ and just kind of brush it off. But ever since I got a push by Sammy Guevara to do a skit for his vlog, like where he was kind of confusing me and Jungle Boy and then I did a BTE skit with the Dark Order, with John Silver. He approached me and he was like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna do this bit where Brodie confuses you with Jungle Boy’ and ever since then, I’m pretty sure it’s been like a meme or a GIF or whatever so, yeah. That really has blown up. Hopefully we can do something together. Me and him in the future.”

** The Miz, Kofi Kingston and Sheamus did promotional work for Cricket Wireless. The three talents sat down for 20+ minutes to partake in a questionnaire challenge.

** Complex put together an article of the top ten moments on AEW Dynamite thus far. Cody Rhodes, MJF and Darby Allin were interviewed for the piece.

** NJPW World Tag League Results (11/30/20) Korakuen Hall
– Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma def. Yuji Nagata & Yota Tsuji
World Tag League Tournament Match: Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan (4-3) def. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (3-4)
World Tag League Tournament Match: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (4-3) def. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale (2-5)
World Tag League Tournament Match: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii (5-2) def. Toa Henare & Hiroshi Tanahashi (1-6)
World Tag League Tournament Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (4-3) def. Shingo Takagi & SANADA (4-3)
World Tag League Tournament Match: FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) (4-3) def. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (4-3)

** Flatbush Zombies and Peter Roseburg will be on the next episode of the Swerve City Podcast.

** WWE applied to trademark “Austin 3:16” and “Friendship Frog”, which is the puppet that appeared during last week’s episode of Firefly Fun House.

** DDT D-Ou Grand Prix Results (11/29/20) Osaka, Japan
D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Block A: HARASHIMA
– Antonio Honda def. Keigo Nakamura
– HARASHIMA & Toru Owashi def. Danshoku Dino & Kazuki Hirata
D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Block B: Kazusada Higuchi
D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Block B: Jun Akiyama
D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Block B: Tetsuya Endo
D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Block A: MAO
D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Block A: Chris Brookes

** The Young Bucks appeared on the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast.

** Former two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi turned 33-years old on 11/30. Christian turns 47-years old today. ROH’s Flamita has a birthday today as well. Jushin Thunder Liger turned 56.

** Booker T and Brad Gilmore livestreamed on the Reality of Wrestling YouTube channel from a Boost Mobile store in Houston.

 

** Ringside Collectibles posted a clip of Cody Rhodes reacting to he and Dustin Rhodes’ new action figure set.

** Tyler Breeze was back on New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast.

** Sasha Banks chatted with WWE AL AN.

** The latest ‘Canvas 2 Canvas’ episode is based around The Undertaker.

 

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.

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It was 15 not 150 years ago. What a company shill.

OK Boomer Prichard.

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He’s completely wrong about Vince saying that. At the time there was a lot of uproar about it. It’s an even worse look now

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Bruce is a company clown boot licker. His different time, different Bs says a lot about him & the company.

I disagree that it just looks bad now, it definitely looked bad back in 2005.

As far as Bruce saying what he said, I cant criticize anyone for not throwing their boss under the bus publicly. 99% of people that say they would (even if its deserving) are likely full of it.

Damn Bruce really missed an opportunity to claim that Vince was “just a dumb college kid” back in 2005 and has “learned a lot” since then, like the other boomers do when they’re caught dropping N-Bombs or wearing blackface as adults.