Originally published at POST NEWS UPDATE: Jim Ross Gives His Take On PEDs In Wrestling - POST Wrestling | WWE AEW NXT NJPW Podcasts, News, Reviews
POST NEWS UPDATE: Jim Ross Gives His Take On Performance Enhancing Drugs In Wrestling
** On the ‘2004 Armageddon’ edition of Jim Ross’ Grilling J.R. podcast, he and Conrad Thompson talked about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports and when asked if he thinks steroids should be banned in professional wrestling, here’s what J.R. had to say:
“Hell no. Absolutely not. I believe that talents, all talents should get on-going medical exams. In other words, the things that are important to know: more regular blood work than normal perhaps, but certainly every week. Our guys should be checked. I think they are checked every week. But our guys in AEW should be checked every Wednesday. Blood pressure, all that good stuff is what you can do simple. Just checks and balance, and keep a record of it. Any vacillation or change should be noted. But I don’t believe that steroids is a… look, it’s a performance art. It’s not the NFL, and I’m not so sure it makes a sh*t even in the NFL. It has the same negative baggage that marijuana has. It has not been accepted widely, mass appeal… it has not been accepted widely enough to get that, ‘Ok, it’s alright.’ Now the marijuana issues are becoming that way because States are saying that legalized marijuana… and look, there’s a lot of issues that come with that. I get it folks. I get it, but the bottom line as Stone Cold would say is a lot of money is going to the bottom line of these State coffers that need the money for school books and things of that nature. As long as that money is being put to good use for the children and educating our people for one thing and for health care, things of that nature, then hell yeah. Let’s create new money, new revenue.”
** Coming out of the 12/12/19 episode of NXT U.K. on the WWE Network, it was announced that at NXT U.K. TakeOver: Blackpool II on January 12th that Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) will defend their NXT U.K. Tag Titles in a four-way Ladder match involving Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel, Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, and Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson). Also at TakeOver, Kay Lee Ray is defending her NXT U.K. Women’s Championship against Toni Storm and Piper Niven in a three-way match. On the 12/19 episode of NXT UK, Tyler Bate will clash with Noam Dar.
** NWA Powerr commentator Joe Galli joined the Pro Wrestling Boom podcast with Jason Powell. During their conversation, Galli shared his thoughts about Jim Cornette resigning from his role as a commentator for the National Wrestling Alliance:
“I knew as soon as he said it… my first initial thought was, ‘Boy we’re gonna get some angry tweets,’ and we kinda plowed on through and I know that there’s an opportunity to cut things out because obviously it doesn’t broadcast live so I didn’t know what was gonna happen with it, and I knew it was bad and he had made some other crash jokes that people had pointed out before, but this one definitely stepped over the line for a lot of people, and it required a reaction and this is the reaction that it got whether it’s something that you support or you don’t support. It’s something that I feel just had to happen, and it did happen and we’re kind of pressing on forward with what we have and I have to say, I love working with Jim Cornette for a lot of reasons. For a lot of reasons. He is a walking, talking encyclopedia of professional wrestling, especially when it comes to the National Wrestling Alliance and that brand. I feel like there’s probably nobody on planet earth that’s more knowledgeable about professional wrestling than that man, and he actually brought to the table when we were having production meetings before the broadcast, a lot of the stuff that fans really, really liked about our show, came from Jim Cornette or at least slightly influenced by Jim Cornette or things were just adjusted based on things that he brought up based on his experience. So, you have to give the devil their due if you want to use that expression and say that he certainly had an influence on NWA Powerrr.”
** All Elite Wrestling stopped through Garland, Texas for the 12/11/19 editions of AEW: Dynamite and AEW Dark. Vickie Guerrero was on commentary for the latest installment of AEW Dark which will premiere next week on the All Elite Wrestling YouTube channel. Also on next week’s AEW Dark will be S.C.U. (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) taking on Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy), Britt Baker versus Machiko, Kris Statlander versus Bea Priestley, and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) teaming up with Orange Cassidy to take on PAC, Jack Evans & Angelico. Teddy Hart, who was recently released from MLW was in the crowd in Garland, Texas during AEW Dark. Slated for the 12/18 episode of Dynamite in Corpus Christi, Texas is Chris Jericho versus Jungle Boy, S.C.U. (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) defending their AEW World Tag Team Titles against The Young Bucks. Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page are teaming up once again to take on The Lucha Bros. (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix). Also, Britt Baker and Kris Statlander will clash one-on-one to determine the next challenger to the AEW Women’s World Title. During the 12/11/19 episode of Dynamite, MJF said that he will reveal the stipulations for he and Cody’s possible match on January 1st which is where AEW is slated to host the New Year’s Day episode of Dynamite in Jacksonville. Also, All Elite Wrestling announced their ‘Revolution’ pay-per-view for February 29th at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Conrad Thompson noted on Twitter that there will not be Starrcast for this event.
** Angel Garza defeated Lio Rush to capture the NXT Cruiserweight Championship on the December 11th episode of NXT. After celebrating his victory, Garza proposed to his girlfriend in front of the Full Sail faithful:
On next week’s episode of NXT, Shayna Baszler is defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley. There will be a Target special about Rhea and Shayna that’ll air on the WWE Network on December 17th. Also, Adam Cole is defending his NXT Championship against Finn Balor next week. Brandi Lauren who has competed in EVOLVE and Avery Taylor who has competed in SHINE accompanied Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) to the ring during this week’s episode of NXT. Prior to the 12/11 show going live on the USA Network, Roderick Strong defeated Austin Theory, and Shane Thorne defeated Sean Maluta in dark matches.
** According to Showbuzz Daily, the 12/10/19 episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 brought in 127,000 viewers. This week’s show featured CM Punk and an interview with Baron Corbin. Last week’s episode brought in 138,000 viewers. The season nine finale of Total Divas reeled in 229,000 overnight viewers which were down from last week’s show which brought in 247,000.
** Natalya wrote about WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley as the basis of her latest article for the Calgary Sun.
** Ahead of Ring of Honor’s Final Battle pay-per-view, Matt Taven was interviewed by Sporting News. He said now that he’s no longer ROH World Champion, he has gotten back into the mindset of feeling that he has something to prove.
“I always still felt like I had something to prove and now, not being the world champ again, I fell right back to that same spot that drove me to get the title in the first place. That guy with something to prove, that believes he should be the world champion and thinks that there’s no one better than him in Ring of Honor and is just waiting for the opportunity to show everyone that everything that he says is absolutely true.”
With all the news surrounding Ring of Honor, specifically talking about the Kelly Klein situation and how that has unfolded over the past several weeks, Matt Taven is happy with the company. He expressed that Ring of Honor is his home and is grateful for the locker room, company, and the front office.
“I can’t express enough how grateful I am for Ring of Honor as a company, the locker room, the office,” he said. “Everyone that’s been with the company past and present has had such an effect on my life. This is home. This is family. It’s weird to think of being anywhere else. Again, I still feel like I have a lot more to prove. Obviously, since last year, there’s been a lot of talent that has gone to other places. There’s so much going on in wrestling that a lot of attention is being spread and there was a transition time with Ring of Honor that I was proud to carry the torch through some of the toughest times in the company’s history and saw that we still got this. I’m extremely happy being with ROH and I know that the future is extremely bright. Fans are going to be extremely happy and entertained with what 2020 has in store for Ring of Honor.”
** Former 5-time WWE Women’s Champion Melina joined Busted Open Radio with David LaGreca and Mark Henry.
** Major League Wrestling announced that Matt Ryan has joined the promotion. Ryan is a co-founder of the Capitol Wrestling organization and he has done work for Ring of Honor. He’ll be joining MLW as a producer and coordinator.
** Denzel Curry, whose song “Ricky” was used as a theme for NXT TakeOver: WarGames did an interview with Hypebeast and talked about some of his favorite pro wrestlers and growing up watching MMA.
** ROHWrestling.com has an article up about Jay Lethal’s top five greatest victories at Final Battle.
** BT Sport launched a no-contract, all-access package for 25 Euros which includes 30-days of access to all of the channels that the platform has available. BT Sport will be the official home of WWE programming in the U.K. and Ireland beginning in January of 2020.
** Following the 12/11/19 edition of AEW: Dynamite from Garland, Texas, Luchasaurus chatted with fans through the Discord app.
** The newest edition of WWE’s After The Bell podcast with Corey Graves featured The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins), Paige and Charlotte Flair. Ford and Dawkins were the first to join the show and they both talked about who has been helpful to them as they embarked on their journey on Monday Night RAW:
Montez Ford: “Tyler Breeze, Xavier Woods, Booker T, Seth Rollins. Pretty much everybody’s been inviting — Randy Orton, AJ, R-Truth, Mark Henry, Corey Graves,” Ford and Graves laughed. “I think that’s the good thing that’s been helping us too with the transition. We grew up and we’d always hear the horror stories of how some people are secluded and it’s cutthroat and all this stuff. We haven’t experienced that. The overwhelming of helping us out and giving us advice is just like, I don’t know…”
Angelo Dawkins: “I think what helps out the most is pretty much everybody that’s up that’s on RAW and SmackDown at one point was in NXT. Pretty much, so it’s like we already have our relationship but pretty much everybody on each roster .”
Paige then made her way onto the show. She and Corey talked about WWE Backstage on FS1 and Paige expressed that she would like to voice her opinion more often. She added that with CM Punk, he can be a little more off the cuff because he’s only employed by FOX and not by WWE like herself, Renee Young, Booker T, and Christian.
“Honestly I wish I got to have more, because sometimes you get a little pulled back but obviously with Punk at the show now, since he’s working under contract with FOX and not WWE, he can voice a lot more opinion, but I would love to go in a little bit more. I love to talk crap honestly and you know what? I feel like the crap that I talk is what the people say anyway. So it feels good but I wish I got to do it more.”
Paige then began talking about the women’s division in WWE. She feels that there are several women in the company who are not getting screen time who could be helpful to the division. She said she loves the Four Horsewomen (Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Bayley & Charlotte Flair) but also wants to see the likes of Liv Morgan and Lacey Evans take center stage.
“I don’t understand why we don’t have another girls pay-per-view. We had that one-off deal. What the hell was that about? Give us one every year. What the fu*ck? Like that’s the whole purpose. We had a women’s evolution for a reason. I was like, ‘And you know what? F*ck it. Let’s stop talking about the women’s evolution and actually just let the women do what they want’ and I just feel like a lot of the girls are being held back. I love the Four Horsewomen. Do not get me wrong. I love Sasha, I love Charlotte, I love Becky, I love Bayley, I love them all but there’s a lot of women that should be given an opportunity. Like I’m excited for Liv to come back. I’m like, ‘Damn, yes, some fresh faces.’ I love seeing Nattie, I love seeing Lacey. I love it. I love it all so, as much as I love those four, there is other women in the company.”
To close After The Bell, Corey Graves lobbied for former 4-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta to go into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Graves said that there are people in the Hall Of Fame that have never wrestled for WWE and he doesn’t see a reason why Muta shouldn’t receive that honor.
“I would love to see The Great Muta in the WWE Hall Of Fame. Watch any of his classic matches from WCW, from NWA. There’s a series of matches with Ric Flair that are unbelievable. I mean truly great matches. He’s the first guy I ever saw do a moonsault which that blew my mind as a kid, and I think Muta does not get his just-due in the pantheon of all-time greats. Maybe we break that WWE rule again and bring The Great Muta into the fold. We shall see.”
** Blood Hunter versus Sabu has been added to PCW ULTRA’s Anniversary show on January 10th.
** Ahead of their NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship match at ‘Into The Fire’, James Storm and Nick Aldis were a part of a sit-down interview that was conducted inside the Comicbook studios:
** Alicia Atout was the most recent guest on Vickie Guerrero’s podcast.
** NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis appeared on VOC Nation Radio Network’s ‘IN THE ROOM’ podcast. Aldis talked about the timing that the National Wrestling Alliance likes to deliver its content and spoke about the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania seasons along with All Elite Wrestling being fresh in the wrestling world and where the NWA fits into that mix:
“I’m looking for moments where all of the oxygen isn’t going to WWE or AEW. There are going to be certain times of the year where all of the attention is directed to WWE; WrestleMania and Royal Rumble and things like that. There are other moments where typically WWE is less of the conversation. AEW is now the new kid in town. That’s one of the reasons that we have a small team, and a very modern delivery system and stuff like that because it means we can be ready (to deliver content) when there is a lull in between (big) things. Ultimately our strategy long term is to build our own audience with lots of fans.”
Aldis opened up about Jim Cornette’s exit from the NWA. He admitted that he has defended Cornette in the past but feels like Cornette’s podcast persona was starting to bleed into his work at the commentary desk for the NWA.
“Jim has unbelievable passion for the business… He was a little bit involved as far as (behind the scenes), but really more from a consulting point of view. He certainly had no official capacity. I’ll be real: My take on it was that his podcast persona, for lack of a better term, was bleeding into and influencing our show and our audience. That was a problem. I am more than happy for anyone in our audience to have an opinion on anything. What I don’t want, and again this is just me, is so early on to very quickly establish that we are this opinionated promotion with opinionated fans. This is not about Jim’s fans, or AEW fans, or WWE fans. I’m personally really over this divisive culture that we’re in now. There’s more information and opinion available than ever, so people should be more open to opposing views or new information. Instead, we sort of live in the opposite. Everyone is emboldened because they live in echo chambers on social media where you choose to follow people who agree with you and vice versa, and so then your so emboldened by all these people going, ‘You’re right, F everybody else.’ If something is stupid I’ll say it’s stupid, and many times I agreed with Jim on many of his takes on some of the other stuff in the business. We didn’t want the show and the talent to be constantly overshadowed by a controversial commentator. Here’s the problem that I’m seeing; that episode had Trevor Murdoch completely stepping into the light after several years of being away from the spotlight. It was Trevor Murdoch’s coming out party so to speak… and then it’s Melina’s debut, but none of that mattered and no one remembered it because everyone was talking about something else which was totally unnecessary. I want the NWA to be trending for the right reasons. I have defended Jim for stuff that was in my opinion, recreational outrage. It doesn’t come down to that. What it comes down to is being a distraction. We’ve got an hour to make an impression and get everyone talking and wanting to tune in next week. If all everyone is talking about is arguing and wanting a different commentator, it puts us in a difficult spot. We thank Jim for everything he did. Ultimately he can go back to his podcast and say whatever the hell he wants, and we don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
** The ‘Sports Guys Talking Wrestling’ podcast welcomed Cody and Dustin Rhodes onto the show, as well as Ring of Honor’s Joe Hendry.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling will have special seating for female attendees at Wrestle Kingdom 14 at the Tokyo Dome. In those respective sections will be special edition blankets with cartoon-style drawings of New Japan stars on them.
** Milano Collection A.T. led his first practice at the Stardom dojo.
** Ahead of his match at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle pay-per-view, ROH World Television Champion Shane Taylor spoke with Jacksonville.com and explained that he wants to cement his legacy as one of the greatest champions in Ring of Honor history.
“When I started watching Ring of Honor, my one goal was to get here, and my next goal was to be a champion. My next goal is to cement my legacy as being one of the best champs this company has ever seen, and to earn the respect of guys that have made ROH their home. To have them look at me, to know what they helped create, that that guy belongs, he’s one of us, and in any era he would’ve been successful. That’s the legacy I want.”
** Matt Jackson shared on Twitter that Nick Jackson worked the 12/11 episode of AEW: Dynamite with the flu.
** Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight were present at the Milwaukee Bucks versus New Orleans Pelicans game on Wednesday. Friday Night SmackDown is emanating from Milwaukee this week.
** Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins posted a new VLOG to their YouTube channel which takes a look back at their 2019 Survivor Series weekend in Illinois:
** The Mercury News has a story up about the Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion based in California.
** Ring of Honor has their own version of ‘Ride Along’ featuring Quinn McKay and ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe)
** El Lindaman, CIMA and T-Hawk have been added to the lineup for Major League Wrestling’s ‘Fightland’ card on February 1st in Philadelphia.
** Dakota Kai received eight staples in her head after the table bump she took during the 12/11 episode of NXT. PWInsider noted that she is still slated to compete at this weekend’s NXT house shows.
** Immediately following the 12/18 episode of NXT on the USA Network, the WWE 24 special about RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch will air.
** On a recent edition of ‘After 83 Weeks With Christy Olson’, Eric Bischoff talked about the n.W.o. (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman & Hulk Hogan) being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Waltman’s comment that Bischoff should be in the Hall Of Fame was brought up and Bischoff said he appreciates the acknowledgment and would’ve loved to hang out with his friends during WrestleMania weekend.
“That’s nice of him to say, but he’s not calling the shots, so it really doesn’t matter. I wish he was. That would be great. I’d like to hang out with my buddies at WrestleMania. It would’ve been wonderful. But I don’t worry about that. I love those guys, especially Hulk. These are guys that I have deep affection for and respect for. So I couldn’t be happier, and I’m just going to let it go at that.”
** Santana and Ortiz chatted with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert at Starrcast IV and both Inner Circle members talked about coming up with the ‘Proud and Powerful’ name:
Santana: “It’s a collection. It was us and Bodega Bamz, who did our entrance, and he has a crew called The Tanboys. We all represent the same thing; hard dudes coming from New York City representing our Latino culture. It was a collection of ideas.”
Ortiz: “We want to bring a positive light to Latino culture and not just Latino culture. Proud and Powerful, we want to make it more than just Latinos or Puerto Ricans. It’s everyone that doesn’t feel represented. You should represent yourself. Us representing ourselves and our culture is a huge part of our success. That’s what we want to show people. Because we are proud, we became powerful, and now we’re living our dreams.”
** SmackDown Tag Team Champions Big E & Kofi Kingston appeared on FOX 9 Morning Buzz to promote WWE TLC this Sunday from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
** Matt Sydal chatted with WrestlingINC for an interview.
** The National Wrestling Alliance announced that Tasha Steelz will be in action at ‘Into The Fire’ and her opponent on the show will be announced on December 13th.
** PWInsider posted a few notes concerning the WWE Performance Center in Orlando: Former WCW and WWE talent Dave Taylor did some guest coaching there and the P.C. will be closed over the holidays.
** @TashaXXRollins on Twitter who was in attendance for the Gorilla Position’s stage show with Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, recorded a video of Seth responding to the question of if there was ever an issue between himself and Jon Moxley after Moxley did the Jericho podcast and Rollins reacted to Moxley’s comments during his appearance on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. Rollins said there was never any beef and he even texted Moxley recently and wished him well.
“Oh absolutely not. I never had any beef with him for leaving. He marches to the beat of his own drum. We were all kind of talking contract-wise, we knew his stuff was up and he decided he didn’t wanna stay and that had nothing to do with wanting to go somewhere else. He was exhausted because of the process and wrestling 200 matches a year and traveling an extra 100 days on top of that for six-plus years or whatever he did, just was beating him into the ground, and his elbow wasn’t getting better as much as he wanted to. So there was never any beef with him on him leaving at all, at no point. So I think some of the comments that I made after that were misconstrued. I never had a problem with him leaving or anything like that. I thought some of the stuff he said on the Jericho podcast was a little unnecessary and I thought it was one of those things where he couldn’t handle the pressure, and it’s not for everybody at that point, and that’s all I was commenting on. I was commenting on him leaving. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh you betrayed us and left.’ Absolutely not. I sent him a text on his birthday which was a few days ago and wished him well. I hope that he’s good and he seems to be doing great at AEW and New Japan so, I wish nothing but the best for him and his lovely wife.”
** Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald conducted an interview with Mark Haskins.
** Two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair joined Busted Open Radio with David LaGreca and Bully Ray.
** Shannon Moore took to social media to reflect on two years of sobriety.
*****
Café Hangout: Weekends Previews, AEW-NXT Ratings, Phone Calls
John Pollock and Wai Ting open the phone lines all show long and preview a busy weekend of events with WWE TLC, UFC 245, NWA Into the Fire and ROH Final Battle 2019. Plus, we have our first TIE in the AEW-NXT Wednesday Night Wars.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/12/cafe-hangout-weekend-previews-aew-nxt-ratings-phone-calls/
*****
upNXT 12/11/19: In The Arms of an Angel
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman review the December 11th edition of WWE NXT featuring a triple threat number one contenders match between Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Keith Lee, Lio Rush defends his Cruiserweight title against Angel Garza, plus Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai, and much more!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/12/upnxt-12-11-19-in-the-arms-of-an-angel/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 12/11/19: Texas Street Fight, AEW’s next PPV
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite featuring a Texas Street Fight between the Young Bucks against Santana & Ortiz with the winners receiving a tag title match on next week’s show.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/12/rewind-a-dynamite-12-11-19-texas-street-fight-aews-next-ppv/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #51: ECW on TNN (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review ECW on TNN from December 31, 1999, headlined by Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome for the ECW Championship. Plus, unprotected chair shots, WWE Network-edited theme music, how we spent our Y2K and more in this review.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/11/rewind-a-wai-51-ecw-on-tnn-dec-31-1999/
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 12/9/19: Lana-Rusev Divorce, Rollins Gets in the Van
Wai Ting is joined by Nate Milton to review WWE Raw featuring Lana & Rusev’s divorce and Seth Rollins’ big reveal. We also discuss today’s news about the WWE Hall of Fame, Wrestle Kingdom 14 and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/10/rewind-a-raw-12-9-19-lana-rusev-divorce-rollins-gets-in-the-van/
*****
NJPW World Tag League 2019 POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review NJPW World Tag League 2019 Final headlined by EVIL & Sanada vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay and featuring a number of angles building towards Wrestle Kingdom 14. We also discuss WWE’s releases of Luke Harper, Sin Cara and The Ascension.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/09/njpw-world-tag-league-2019-final-post-show/
*****
THUNDERSTRUCK: Jushin Liger vs. Taichi (May 2017)
WH Park and Joel Abraham of the Super J-Cast discuss one of Jushin Liger’s more controversial matches as he takes on Taichi from May 31, 2017, as part of that year’s Best of the Super Juniors.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/08/thunderstruck-7-jushin-liger-vs-taichi-5-31-17-w-joel-abraham/
*****
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