Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/13/post-news-update-mark-andrews-discusses-the-future-of-the-attack-pro-wrestling-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.
** Ruby Riott conducted an interview with NXT U.K.’s Mark Andrews. Andrews is a part of the ownership of the ATTACK! Wrestling promotion in the U.K. along with Pete Dunne and Chris Brookes. Mark talked about ATTACK! being on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but primarily due to the Speaking Out movement. The promotion has a statement on their Twitter account which reads that they are on an indefinite hiatus but Andrews further elaborated on that and mentioned that it could possibly be years before ATTACK! returns.
“Yeah, well I’m not gonna lie, at the moment, we’ve got to go on hiatus and it’s because of everything that happened. Obviously we have lock down, but on top of that there’s been this Speaking Out movement which has happened throughout lock down, and we just thought — I’m sure anybody watching this is probably aware of it. It’s taken over the wrestling industry and rightfully so, and we’ve decided to go on hiatus and a few companies have which is great to hear, but to kind of point out more-so like the hiatus that we’re planning isn’t necessarily a short one. I think we planned a hiatus because we do need things to be better before we can continue running shows, and I think it’s easier for guys — well like us who work for NXT UK to kind of go back to working those shows whenever that’s ready because the company is big enough that we are aware that things will be put in place to make things better. However when it’s a small independent company like ATTACK!, we’re not just willing to go jump straight back into shows anytime soon until we can get all the safeguarding in place to make sure we can do it properly because as I’m sure you know, from the American indies, wrestling is really something which hasn’t been regulated for the last — well I mean, forever I guess. It’s been 15 years I’ve been doing it, it hasn’t ever been regulated. I think now is the time because of all these brave people that have been a part of the Speaking Out movement. Now is the time to regulate it of course so we can prevent any problems happening in the future and from all aspects. It starts with the Speaking Out movement but it can go so much further than that. The professionalism of all the independents need to be increased for the fans, for the workers, for the staff, everyone, and so I think for now, we are gonna take a break but to be honest, with ATTACK!, I’m almost not worried about that because I’d like to think that within the British wrestling scene, ATTACK! became kind of — had a bit of a cult following and I like to think that we made our stamp and even if we were to go away for a few years even, that wouldn’t necessarily be a massive problem because we’re kinda edged in history in a way, you know what I mean? There’s not many places in the wrestling scene that can talk about having Pete Dunne versus Tyler Bate where they’re wrestling in each other’s gears as opposites. I don’t think anyone else in the world can talk about that and so, we’re definitely gonna — we’re edged in history to an extent I like to think so we won’t be forgotten about even if we do take some time away, whether that’s a year or a few years, you know?”
Mark Andrews then discussed he and Flash Morgan Webster’s NXT U.K. Tag Title win at TakeOver: Cardiff. Andrews shared that just a few months prior, Flash Morgan suffered a serious injury that could’ve required surgery and had Morgan needed surgery, they may have not gotten their spotlighted moment at TakeOver: Cardiff.
“Flash did get injured only three or four months beforehand and a serious injury that was potentially gonna need surgery and we were both like, ‘Okay, this might not happen’ and at this point, we didn’t know we were winning the belts, I didn’t know the band was gonna be a theme song but we thought that there was going to be a big match in Cardiff in our home country, and it was this close to not happening. He had to rehab his time off. There was a real big chance it wasn’t going to happen and then luckily, just in the nick of time, it ended up happening perfectly.”
** The National Wrestling Alliance and the United Wrestling Network are partnering up to present a weekly wrestling pay-per-view series on national cable and FITE TV. The show premieres on September 15th and to speak about the partnership and forthcoming series of shows, David Marquez appeared on the ‘This Is The NWA’ Podcast. Marquez spoke on the future of NWA Powerrr and stated that Powerrr is not going anywhere. He added that the weekly pay-per-view series is just an addition to that.
“It’s gonna be a great opportunity for us and the fans. There’s going to be a lot of confusion. One of the biggest pieces I’m seeing right now is, ‘Is there no more NWA Powerrr?’ This just happens to be on Tuesdays. It wasn’t built that way because of NWA Powerrr. It was available on pay-per-view and studio availability. This is additional to NWA Powerrr, when that’s ready to come back. There’s been no talking, no conversations about Powerrr going away at all. This is just a brand new show, additional to. But, for the most part, I think people are excited about it but there’s probably going to be a lot of confusion with dual branding and that’s why it’s not dual branded. It’s United Wrestling Network’s Prime Time Live, and it’s an open door. Anybody can come in. The NWA could come in, MLW could come in, Ring of Honor could come in, New Japan could come in. Anybody could come into this program. That’s how it’s designed. So, you never know who you’re going to see. The people may or may not be promoted and you have to watch the show.”
As far as his Championship Wrestling from Hollywood program goes, Marquez is focused on spotlighting talents so they can be picked up by a WWE or AEW. He mentioned how Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks were able to elevate themselves by way of the NWA Powerrr platform and now they’re both signed to AEW.
“Like on my show now, the Hollywood program, we have Jordan Clearwater, The Golden Boy. Fantastic talent. He actually comes out of Kentucky and Roger Ruffin. I think it’s called Northeastern Alliance, or Federation. I can be completely wrong with that one there, but Karl Anderson sent him to me. He trained him. So now he’s on our program and we’re getting ready to really allow him to spread his wings. Now if he’s on the live program, more eyeballs will be on him and I hope people will say, ‘Damn, that kid’s great,’ which also I hope opens up the WWE to see him and AEW to see him and Ring of Honor to see him, because that’s how it works. There are stepping stones to this and the NWA too, much like Ricky Starks and… boy why did I forget his name. He’s gonna hate me. I forgot his name, but Kingston you know, they used it, now they’re getting taken care of and they’re in another spot. Peter Avalon was with me for 11 years and now he’s The Librarian getting paid fantastic money. So, that’s what I really hope that we find these diamonds, they stick with us for a while, we put them on our programming, they get interactions with maybe dojo boys at the new L.A. Dojo… or they’re hand-in-hand with Caleb Konley or whatever and building all these people together to create this great, hopefully fantastic meal that people are going to want to buy every week.”
** Dakota Kai did an interview with the New Zealand outlet ‘Stuff’ and it’s noted in the article that WWE talents must take their COVID test one day before tapings.
** Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that AEW nearly doubled the amount of fans present for last night’s Dynamite show at Daily’s Place and there were new COVID protocols in place. Per the report, there was security outside of Daily’s Place who were getting people through metal detectors and assisting with temperature checks. The site learned that temperature checks were done through an iPad that scans your face and verifies that you’re wearing a mask. There were 150 spectators in attendance who were seated further away than usual from the people who were tested for COVID-19.
** Brian Myers was the most recent guest on the ‘Sitting Ringside with David Penzer’ podcast. Myers was asked about the amount of money that WWE offered to talents when AEW was finding their footing in the pro wrestling business. Myers stated that it was a running joke in the WWE locker room as talents referred to the new WWE contracts as, ‘Please don’t go to AEW’ contracts.’
“Yeah, absolutely and think it was astronomical and once someone said no, then it went up for everybody and that just kept happening. It wound up being what it was, too good to be true to be honest with you. But yeah, more money than I ever imagined making in this business that I signed for, and like I said, I’d already been a producer. I was kind of like — the big thing for them was the years. Everybody’s contract was five years. That was their big thing, and the boys were all calling them the, ‘Please don’t go to AEW’ contracts but that’s fine because I was like, ‘Okay, I’m very comfortable here, I enjoy it and I’m set up for post in-ring stuff’ so I was like, ‘I’m more than fine signing this.’ At the time it was like, ‘Okay, sure.’”
While reflecting on his time in WWE developmental, Brian Myers feels that if enough talents were gathered and were willing to speak, a Dark Side of the Ring episode could be done on Deep South Wrestling.
“I say this when people ask me about Deep South; I’m eagerly anticipating Dark Side of the Ring: Deep South Wrestling because if they get enough of the boys to open up and talk about it, they’ll have one of their more interesting episodes and for sure, their funniest episode of all-time if they get the good stuff.”
** WTOC 11 has an article up about Lacey Evans visiting residents at the Beaufort Nursing and Rehab home in South Carolina.
** Chris Featherstone hosted a Q&A with JTG on the Sportskeeda Facebook page. JTG revealed that he and Shad Gaspard were slated to win the WWE Unified Tag Team Championships from The Big Show and Chris Jericho at the 2009 SummerSlam pay-per-view. According to JTG, their title win was scrapped because D-Generation X wanted to feud with Jeri-Show.
“I heard we were supposed to win that match against Jeri-Show but things changed last minute because DX wanted to work Jeri-Show and win the titles so, that got nixed. So we were actually supposed to win at SummerSlam and then DX wanted the title so, whatever. But there was another slated time we were supposed to win the titles. I think we were supposed to either win it in Africa or when we came back from Africa at the pay-per-view against Murdoch and this is right before we got fired.”
** Daily Star conducted an interview with Big E to chat about his current singles run in WWE. Big E spoke about the comparisons between what his run could be and Kofi Kingston’s chase for the WWE Championship. While E is grateful for the comparisons, he is slightly bothered by them.
“As hopeful as I am for this run and as appreciative as I am of the support, I always bristle a bit at the Kofi comparisons. He had this run that culminated in a world championship, and all we’ve done is have a promo backstage saying I’m doing singles , and all of a sudden I’m tagged in talks about world championship runs and, ‘Can he be the face of the company?’ So, I’m like, ‘Thank you, I do appreciate you!’, but let’s pop the brakes on a little bit, that’s all! The difference, too, is that Kofi had this organic reaction that pushed him to the heights of this business, and I’m just in this empty P.C. doing the best I can! Kofi had something really special and I would hope to eventually have something that special, but I bristle a little at those comparisons because we’re not even close to that yet. But I’m excited about it and it’s cool that I’ve had so much support.”
As far as where the storyline is heading, Big E said he has been given an idea of where it could go but he’s aware that things change on a dime in WWE.
“I have been told where it may go. Honestly, though, I just go, ‘Right, okay, thanks!’ Because, if you cover WWE you know how chaotic it is and I’m sure it has changed 100 times already without me even knowing. So, I am dismissive of anything until I am there, and I see it.”
** WWE Hall Of Famer Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart passed away two years ago today.
** Deadline is reporting that Major League Wrestling signed a distribution deal with Fubo Sports Network to air their signature ‘FUSION’ series. The show will air weekly on the Fubo network every Thursday at 10 PM EST and an encore of the previous week’s episode will air at 9 PM EST. Head of content strategy and acquisition for fuboTV, Ben Grad had the following to say about the deal with MLW:
“At a time when sports are in high demand we’re thrilled to add Major League Wrestling to our lineup on fubo Sports Network. MLW features some of the best quality fighting out there, and consumers will be able to watch it all for free on fubo Sports Network.”
** David Finlay was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Finlay recounted when WWE did the storyline of Hornswoggle being revealed as the son of Fit Finlay. David shared that his mother informed him that when he went to school the next day, he had to say ‘yes’ to all who asked if Hornswoggle is legitimately his brother to protect the storyline.
“So funny story about this; I think they announced or revealed that Hornswoggle’s my father’s son on RAW, and that night, before RAW came on TV, or when I got home from school that day, my mom — my mom’s never been in the wrestling business… she’s been around like that. They’ve been married for — I don’t know. They’ve been together for a very long time. So she sat me down and she was like — this was after — I was in middle school too. This was like 8th grade. She sat me down, she was like, ‘David, this is what we’re gonna do on TV tonight, which means tomorrow when you go to school, all your friends are gonna be asking if this is your brother. You have to tell them yes.’ I’m like, ‘What!?’ She said, ‘You have to tell them yes.’ Alright, so I go to school, sure enough, ‘Is that your real brother? Is that your brother? Is that your brother?’ And I have to go, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ but then of course, that’s not good enough to my friends, so they’re asking all these follow-up questions like, ‘Well how come he doesn’t live with you?’ So I’m having to like B.S. all my friends on the spot just because my mom told me that I have to tell them that’s my brother.”
** Shotzi Blackheart uploaded a video to her YouTube channel which documents herself and Jake Atlas going to get her items from her car that was stolen several days ago.
** ‘Metro’ spoke with EC3 for an exclusive interview. EC3 told the publication that he fell out of wrestling towards the end of his run in WWE and lost that passion for the sport.
“I would say 100% because of the past few years. I was so unhappy with it that I had to disconnect myself from it – OK this is a job. This isn’t passion, this isn’t love – a lot of people hate their jobs, and it sucks, it’s really hard to do. It’s kinda how it went, but fortunately something captured my attention, and the ability to tell my story.”
** Guilia is off this weekend’s STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix show due to “poor physical condition”.
** Cultaholic welcomed AJ Gray onto the ‘Desert Island Graps’ podcast. AJ Gray recounted how the ‘For The Culture’ show that was scheduled for WrestleMania week came to be and the idea to put a spotlight on many talented black wrestlers.
“It was like me and Brett Lauderdale because it was like, ‘Hey, what do you think about an all-black show? Would people just like sh*t on that?’ Like no. Why the f*ck would they sh*t on that? You can have all these other specific-type shows where there’d be an LGBTQ show or a lucha show. You can have all these different shows where you’re really using one specific type of person. Why the f*ck would it be a f*cking problem? It won’t be a f*cking problem. It really won’t. No one’s gonna think it’s a problem, because really, you’re not trying to capitalize off a group of people. What you’re trying to do is highlight a group of people. It’s not a money grab, especially in this case. It’s not a f*cking money grab. It’s us saying, ‘Hey, we’ve been damn f*cking good. We’re gonna show you we’re damn f*cking good and you know what you’re gonna think after? These motherf*ckers should’ve been up there at the top of every f*cking major card possible. We were just too f*cking blind and ignorant to see it right now.’ That’s really the way I think about it.”
** Inside The Ropes has an interview with Tama Tonga.
** Shaul Guerrero joined her mother, Vickie Guerrero on her podcast. Shaul was candid about her experiences in Florida Championship Wrestling and the immense amount of pressure she felt to live up to her mother and father’s respective careers.
“I think dad, I don’t know mom. This kind of goes with… sorry, this is kinda hard — with how I feel dad might feel about me being in the industry. I wanna say he would be proud but then I feel like there was so much pressure put on me when I was in FCW to be as good as you and as good as dad and that was a lot. That was a lot on me and the fact that I had to earn my name that I already had, I understand where they were coming from. Like, ‘Yeah, we don’t wanna call you by your name because if you suck, we don’t want you to be a disappointment.’
It was just a lot and I remember that happened to me like two months in and I was like, ‘Holy sh*t’ and I was already — like you never put pressure on me. I don’t think the family meant to put pressure on me but like, there was pressure put on me about my body, how it looked, how I needed to look quote unquote feminine. Basically I needed to be the ideal diva that they wanted me to be and I was having such a hard time and the pressure was so much and I don’t know if they meant to put that pressure on me but every rehearsal it was like, ‘Well your dad did it like this. Your dad did it like this,’ and I love that and I look up to dad but, and if I could move like him that’s great. But I think moving forward with me in the wrestling industry today and everything I learned from FCW, I am going to do this my way, I am going to do this for me, I am going to have fun with this and I kinda have to put dad’s legacy, your legacy to the side a little bit. That way I can flourish for me, and so I remember even then, I wasn’t Latina enough, for them, because dad was such an icon for the Latino community which is amazing but I have even like some f*cked up sh*t like I don’t feel proud — I guess I wanna feel more proud that I’m Mexican but I feel like I’m not good enough. Like I’m not Latina enough, I don’t speak Spanish well enough, do all this stuff well enough so, there’s a lot of stuff. I hope dad’s proud of me.”
** In an update on the lawsuit between Jeff Jarrett/Global Wrestling Entertainment and Anthem Sports & Entertainment, PWInsider added that Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. has ordered that Jarrett and Anthem get together for a settlement conference in September. Jarrett’s side requested the settlement conference. The two sides attempted to reach a conclusion to the lawsuit but were unable to meet in the middle and their case was ruled a mistrial.
** Alicia Atout spoke with Brian Cage and Cage talked about the report that emerged that he signed with AEW while he was currently working for IMPACT Wrestling. Cage described what is was like backstage at IMPACT for him as the news emerged. He stated that he signed his AEW contract a few days after the ‘Hard To Kill’ pay-per-view on January 12th of this year.
“And then it came out that I signed with AEW. Literally I walked backstage for my match with RVD and literally, everyone’s looking at me weird and it’s all over the internet. Oh I signed with AEW. I’m still here, what? So it’s super awkward, and IMPACT went from like, ‘Oh, we have a contract in-hand to offer you’ to like, ‘It’s not here, maybe we can email you,’ so I could already start to tell the fishiness. Like God dang it. I was so hot, because I could totally and not have a job anywhere because of this because somebody wants to get up a clickbait freaking lie, and then, I talked to them. I said, ‘Hey, I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem,’ whatever. ‘I’ve had two doctors look at it, I’m waiting to get an MRI. Doesn’t look to need surgery.’ So then they sent me the contract. I looked through all of it, I signed it so I actually signed it a few days after Hard To Kill.”
** Corey Graves welcomed Beth Phoenix onto the After The Bell podcast. Phoenix stated that she’s not against returning to the ring, but only if it’s to help elevate a younger talent.
“But, I will say this; I will never come back to do something that wouldn’t benefit a new talent because I’m at this stage now where my job, my only job working with WWE is to help build the next generation because I love wrestling and I wanna see wrestling continue to succeed. I don’t want that to go away so if I can help in any way, teach or support or highlight anybody else so that they can take that little rub I gave them and move forward, that’s the way to do it. That’s what so many wrestlers did for me and I feel like that’s my job now, as a wrestler in the twilight of my career.”
** Here’s the newest upload to Asuka’s YouTube channel:
** The next portion of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s interview series with NJPW1972.com is up on the site.
** WrestleZone has an interview with Ariane Andrew. She shared that it was Brandi Rhodes who reached out to her about participating in the Women’s Tag Team Cup tournament. Ariane added that she did reach out to Brandi in the Summer of 2019 about possibly working with AEW.
“Brandi though,” Ariane smirked.
** Tyler Breeze and Zelina Vega played ‘Fatal Fury’ for the UpUpDownDown Championship.
** Xavier Woods spoke with Comicbook.com about his aspirations to be a part of the G4 TV team. Woods was asked what would happen to UpUpDownDown if he does become a member of the G4 team along with his duties with WWE. Here’s how he responded:
“No. I don’t think it becomes an issue at all, because UpUpDownDown will always run as UpUpDownDown does. I’ve always been in a situation where I’m doing more than one thing at once. People say they’re burning the candle from both ends. I’m burning the candle from both ends and the middle usually. I feel like if I’m lucky enough to get their attention and to become a host of something, or even just like a correspondent, like when Cons come back, or even just somebody that pokes their head in and then they get interviewed or just be on for like two seconds, I just want to do anything with G4. But I feel like UpUpDownDown, as I said, will run as it has been running, and then I’ll just sleep a little bit less and put everything that I have as well into G4, and everything else that I have as well into wrestling. As for me, this is not like a fluke fly-by-night situation, this is something that I want to do as a profession, and I think that a lot of times in wrestling or any form of entertainment, any form of physical activity, whether it’s football, basketball, baseball, anything, your body can only do it for so long. I don’t want to be stuck in a situation where at the time I’m done wrestling, I don’t know what the next chapter of my life looks like. I’m obsessed with video games. I love them. They’re my happy place. They’re my safe place, and so the fact that I’ve been able to scratch and claw my way into this space I’ve caught up for myself for the past five years makes me feel good because it’s not like a random thing. When I’m done wrestling, I’d rather just be able to make a smooth transition into something I’m already doing rather than have to start from scratch and start finding the bricks to build the house. If the house is already built halfway, then I feel like I’m going to be much better off. I honestly enjoy being busy, and if I get this G4 gig, I’ll be even busier than before, and that makes me happy in a weird way.”
** Last Word On Pro Wrestling has a uniquely written interview piece featuring comments from EC3.
** Anthony Carrelli announced that he’s shutting down his Battle Arts Academy and the last day for training is September 30th. He explained why the academy is closing in a detailed post on Facebook.
** Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT spoke with Big E for an exclusive interview. Big E spoke about the high praise that was heaped onto him by Daniel Bryan in the past and what it means to have Bryan endorse him.
“That’s dope, and I don’t take it lightly. To me that’s one of the highest… I think getting love from your peers is important. And I never strive to get it, but a guy like Bryan, that means a lot. That means a ton from him who I think is a generational talent, one of the best to do it. He’s incredible. I so thoroughly enjoyed the times we’ve been in the ring together and we haven’t .
I’m not a guy that built his name on the indies or is renowned all over the world as one of the best workers there is, but to have respect from a guy like Bryan who has done that and has mastered the in-ring, mastered the character work – he’s become a complete performer. Like, the one reason the KofiMania run is so special is because it’s against Bryan. It wasn’t just him winning the world championship, it was that he beat one of the greatest of all-time. So it means a lot and I’m really humbled by what Bryan said and whatever comes of this singles run, I hope it’s worthy of people’s acclaim. Not like, ‘We wanted this for years!’ then it’s like, ‘Oh. Remember that Big E singles run of 2020? Ughhh’ .”
** Drew McIntyre told the Glasgow Times that he’ll wrestle Tyson Fury if that’s what it takes to get a pay-per-view in the United Kingdom.
** Erick Rowan did an interview over Instagram Live with Sportskeeda. Rowan stated that the original plans for his ‘cage’ gimmick was to have a rodent or a rat on the inside of it that would eventually be killed by the babyface champion.
“No no. Originally it was pitched that it would be a rodent or a rat and it was going to be killed by the babyface Champion to show that I had cared about something and that babyface turned heel, so that didn’t work. Well ok, then I asked them what is it now, then they just kept extending it, extending it and extending it.”
Rowan stated that he wanted to have a slightly larger cage and place a little woman in the cage to be revealed. He got the idea from the ‘Freak Show’ season of American Horror Story.
“I had over the top ideas about it. One was this actress in American Horror Story, the smallest woman of all time. She was in American Horror Story Freak Show. One idea was to build a slightly larger cage and when unveiled, it would be this slightly smaller woman. Me and her would be friends and I would be protecting her from the atrocities of the outside world by locking her in the cage.”
** BT Sport caught up with Daniel Cormier ahead of his UFC Heavyweight Championship bout against Stipe Miocic on August 15th. Cormier was asked about the idea of him being offered the fight against Jon Jones if he wins on the 15th and how that lines up with his retirement plans.
“Right now, I’m pretty certain that this is what it is. I go win the heavyweight championship and I ride off in the sunset. Just saying nothing is possible, I don’t wanna do that because I’d be lying. Everything’s possible, but if you ask me now, 95% that-that wouldn’t even make me wanna fight again, so…
But you also gotta think, I prepared for this one in the midst of a pandemic, so it required me staying away from my family. It required so many different things happening that I don’t know if I’d be willing to do that again. That’s all part of the reason.”
** Alexander Wolfe went live on Instagram with NXT U.K.’s Andy Shepard.
** D-Von Dudley was the latest guest to join New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast. D-Von told the story of how as the Reverend D-Von character, he picked up wins over Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista and Triple H. D-Von was going to mention that be beat Triple H while delivering his Hall Of Fame speech and jokingly mentioned that he didn’t do it out of fear that Levesque would want his win back.
“The funny thing about it was I was gonna bring it up at the Hall Of Fame in the speech because you know, Reverend D-Von did come up. Bubba tried to make a little funny out of it and I just wanted to go, ‘Hey, as Bubba Ray Dudley, who did you beat? I’m sorry, I beat Randy Orton, I beat Batista, John Cena, oh, and don’t forget the man sitting right there in the front row with his beautiful wife Stephanie McMahon. Yeah, Triple H.’ I was gonna say it, but if I would’ve, there would’ve been consequences, just saying. So I was not about to ruin that and have Vince put me back in the ring, courtesy of Hunter,” D-Von laughed.
During the podcast, Xavier Woods talked about his first encounter with D-Von Dudley which was at ECW’s Wrestlepalooza event in 1998. Woods shared that he had a back and forth with D-Von and talked about what led to that moment.
“So, when I was in middle school, me and my buddy Billy Faegan — Billy Faegan’s mom took us to an ECW show in the Cobb County Civic Center,” Woods recalled. “I always mess up. It may have been like a Heatwave or something. I don’t know. Something in like ‘98, maybe? I gotta find out what it was. So, the show’s going great. Billy’s mom has never seen ECW before but we somehow convinced her to take us to this place. After the first match, she was like, ‘We need to leave now! Y’all are in 7th grade. We can not be here,’ and that’s when the Dudley Boyz came out, and they had the mic and they were ripping into everyone in that building. It’s the Civic Center so it’s packed. People are like hanging from the rafters. You know how ECW was. Oh, Wrestlepalooza ‘98, there we go. So, The Dudley Boyz start cutting a promo and we’re sitting in like the first set of rafters on the second level so we’re right next to the edge, and I remember Bubba said, ‘We could kick everybody’s ass in this building. Who wants to fight?’ And the college kids behind us — like we were talking to them about wrestling, how we wanted to be wrestlers when we grew up so they started going, ‘These kids! These kids!’ So we’re like, ‘Yeah!!’ And Bubba said the worst thing ever to Billy’s mom and she was about to leave and take us out of the building. He said something to her that fired her up and she went back and sat down. ‘I wanna see these guys get their asses kicked!’ As a kid, even if a wrestler tells you to shut up, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is so cool.’ But in that situation, it was like a two minute back-and-forth between 7th grade me and D-Von, and so then for it to fast-forward, for him to talk to me in that way and have that conversation and save my wrestling life, and then to fast-forward and we get to see the pyro hit and hear The Dudley Boyz music go, and like you said D-Von, you guys came back, put me through the table, which oddly enough, I did the D-Von table sell.”
** Fightful’s Carlos Toro chatted with Rocky Romero. Romero stated that if he could compete for NJPW’s KOPW Championship, he’d want Jon Moxley in a exploding barbed wire match.
** AEW’s Allie was a guest on the Sports Guys Talking Wrestling radio show.
** U.K. outlet ‘Metro’ spoke with Adam Cole.
** Drew McIntyre spoke with Sun Sport about a potential match against John Cena and his on-going feud with Randy Orton.
** Daily DDT conducted an interview with Bronson Reed ahead of the 8/12/20 episode of NXT. Reed spoke about the North American Championship and believes it’s on the same level as the Intercontinental Championship.
“The North American Championship is on that same level as the Intercontinental Championship in that here’s the belt that’s going to get defended more and the person who has it has to be quite the competent wrestler to do so. I think if I was champion, I’d face as much talent as possible and also defend the belt as many times as possible on TV.”
Just arriving in WWE over a year ago, Reed has always had the goal of one day wrestling Samoa Joe and he feels that now that he’s in WWE, that’s as close as ever to happening.
“I’m such a student of the game that even to this day I’m still constantly watching wrestling. I’ve been inspired and I’ve emulated a lot of wrestlers in my time, but for me personally in-ring, I grew up watching a lot of the big guys like Bam Bam Bigelow and Vader. I never thought I would be a heavyweight wrestler when I got older, but obviously I am. Those guys inspired my style but also Samoa Joe. I was a big fan of Samoa Joe as a teenager, but I still followed him throughout his whole career here in WWE. He’s a big influence on what I do.
a goal of mine and that’s something that I’ve said that he’s my dream opponent. I want to wrestle him someday. Now that I’m closer than ever and now that I’m here in NXT, somewhere down the line it has to happen.”
** Darren Paltrowitz conducted an interview with TJP.
** Black Label Pro announced their ‘Turbo Graps 16’ tournament for October in Indiana.
** In her latest piece for the Calgary Sun, Natalya wrote about an individual named Chase, who lost his fight with cancer. Natalya reconnected with Chase’s family and reflected on his life and their memories with him.
** Brian Pillman Jr. chatted with Stephanie Chase of Sportskeeda and Pillman Jr. told the site why he would choose to go to AEW over WWE.
“I got a whole toolbox full of stuff that would be applicable in either company and in whatever style that either company wants to put me in. But if you ask a lot of people, most people in my generation, a lot of them will say they want to go to AEW. That’s no hard feelings against WWE, WWE is the pinnacle and it’s the top, and it’s not going anywhere. However, at the same time, AEW has given a lot of younger people a lot of opportunities. There are not as many hoops to jump through or ceilings to break through. Basically to put it plainly, it’s good that there are more companies. It’s good that there is competition. I have always been of that renegade rebel sort of guy, I never liked taking orders as a kid. I have been focused and critical of myself and I think AEW might be a better fit because of the creative freedom.”
** UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic chatted with BT Sport.
** Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross joined D-Von Dudley’s Table Talk podcast.
** Rusev hosted a Q&A on his Twitch channel.
** Mickie James, SoCal Val and Lisa Marie Varon recorded a new episode of GAW TV.
** Rocky Romero chatted with Ringsiders Wrestling and during their one-hour conversation, Rocky shared his thoughts about RAW Underground and stated that he’s fairly enjoyed what has been presented thus far and likes that it’s something different.
“I secretly loved it too though. I actually didn’t mind it. It was a little goofy but it was like, I liked the way they presented it at least. At least it was something interesting as opposed to whatever they were doing before and it made me wanna watch at least, you know?”
** IMPACT Wrestling’s Nevaeh was a guest on The Paltrocast.
** The latest installment of Taylor Wilde’s ‘Wilde On’ podcast features the likes of Angelina Love, Natalya, Sarah Stock, Alexia Nicole and Shazza McKenzie sharing their worst travel stories.
** The Pro Wrestling Illustrated Podcast aired their interview with former IMPACT X Division Champion Willie Mack.
** WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard has an interview with Eric Bischoff.
** Here’s KENTA and Seth Rollins’ match from Ring of Honor’s ‘End of an Age’ show:
** Cameron Grimes’ theme song has been uploaded to WWE’s Music channel.
** Shawn Spears guest appeared on Busted Open Radio with Tommy Dreamer and David LaGreca.
** Lacey Evans has a new episode of her ‘American Brain & Brawn’ show on her YouTube channel.
** An Eric Bischoff interview was included in Sports Illustrated’s ‘This Week In Wrestling’ column.
** Daniel Bryan returned to The Bellas Podcast to host the ‘Bella Brains’ segment.
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.