Originally published at Paul London talks Brian Kendrick's past comments, incident in Australia, Royal Rumble '05
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.
** Episode 51 of René Duprée’s Café De René podcast featured Paul London. He dove into where he and Brian Kendrick stand when it comes to their relationship and communication. London recalled Kendrick being removed from a mutual friend’s home for his conspiracy theories as it relates to the Holocaust. London said he and Brian are very different and while he holds no ill will towards him, he has no plans on speaking to him.
That was a real breaking point even though that doesn’t seem like a major thing and so it was extremely disrespectful and basically tossed him out.
Just to wrap up the thing with Brian, I hope he understands the weight of what he’s said, stuff like that but like, at the same time, it’s… it’s a tough day and age where people are gonna wanna dig up old things, you know? But I don’t know. I just haven’t — I haven’t spoken to him in years and years and I have no plans to. I don’t hate the guy. I have no ill will or anything, but I certainly — what bothers me is that the general perception is that we’re one in of the same and we’re not. We really couldn’t be much more different, we’re very, very different and I was usually the one that had the perception of being the crazy one… It’s called good f*cking acting I guess, you know?
There were points during London and Kendrick’s friendship that London questioned if he truly knew who Brian was as a person. He told the story of when two friends of theirs brought them to Australia for a wrestling show they were running. During their match, Kendrick began shouting that the chain wrestling was boring and post-match, as Paul was playing up the cheat-to-win finish, Kendrick grabbed the microphone and berated their opponents at what London described as a ‘kids show’. London said after the match, Brian acted as if nothing happened.
But that kind of stemmed a series of interviews where you know, we kids show and it’s f*cking embarrassing. Go smoke on your f*cking own. Like f*ck that’ and dude, I was pissed and there was a lot of instances where I had to question, are we actually friends or do I even know this guy?
London partook in the 2005 Royal Rumble match and was eliminated by Gene Snitsky. He was clotheslined off the apron and turned himself inside out. Paul said Pat Patterson expressed how impressed he was by the elimination, but Michael Hayes and Shane McMahon did not feel the same. London gathered that some felt he went into business for himself.
They walks by and he was like, ‘Oh! Shane! Did you see that elimination!?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. Yeah, it was, yeah’ and he walked off. I was like, what the f*ck is this? I thought the whole point of this was to make everything spectacular and make this event, the whole thing is based on, as spectacular as possible and I’m literally taking a nothing little spot that y’all gave me — thankful, whatever — and making it as spectacular as I can.
Their thought was that I had gone into business for myself and then that it took away from the other guys left in the match and that it took away from their eliminations.
As the conversation continued, Paul and René Duprée talked about their planned set-up for Duprée’s elimination from the 2005 Rumble. Duprée wanted London to be the set-up man before Chris Jericho eliminated him, but London claims that Jericho stopped that from happening. He described Jericho as a ‘super pain in the ass politic guy.’
I remember at the Royal Rumble that we were both in — I think it was my only Rumble actually, it was.
No, no, no, that’s what I would do in my matches individually had to slip that one in there and you said, ‘Why don’t you slide in, I’ll beat on you, beat on you, beat on you and then I’ll slam you down, do the French Tickler and then when I go to pick you up, why don’t you kick me and then that’ll stun me and then Jericho will come and throw me out’ and again, Jericho made a big stink about it and politicked to where I would — where it eliminated that little kick that I was going to give you. I was like, Jesus Christ. Are you that insecure? Oh, super, super pain in the ass politic guy but like, babyface-you in the back, you’re like, act, whatever but yeah, it was, you know, that was — f*ck all that.
** The topic of Johnny Gargano’s heel run in NXT was discussed during his sit-down interview with The Bob Culture Podcast. Gargano said when he went that route, his character was supposed to take on a more serious tone, but due to the pandemic, Gargano felt there needed to be some levity to the character.
You know, I’m very much so a ‘chip on my shoulder’ guy and I’m always one of those guys that whenever anyone moves the goal post on me or anything I’ve done, I like to kind of try to prove them wrong. I don’t know if it’s like the weird Cleveland, Ohio-ness of me to where I like proving whoever I can wrong about me. But, it was almost like when I started in a tag team. They were like, ‘Okay, he’s just a good tag wrestler’ and then I became a singles guy and then, ‘Okay, he’s just a good singles guy. Can he tell a story?’ Then to me and Tommaso story, they’re like, ‘Okay, well he’s a good wrestler but what’s his character?’ Then I started the whole ‘Johnny Gargano Way’ thing so like, it’s one of those things where I constantly like changing the perception on who I am.
It’s a fun thing too and I was very lucky. I think things turned out the way they were supposed to in the sense where like that was never going to be the way. I don’t mean to use the pun but never going to be the way that character was supposed to be. It was gonna be a lot more serious, but I just kind of felt like with everything going on with the pandemic and COVID and things like that, I felt like NXT just needed a little bit of levity, needed a little bit of funniness, silliness, goofiness and I was happy that I was able to provide that and I just wanted to put smiles on people’s faces during that time.
** On the lead up to Sting versus Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque at WrestleMania 31, there was a segment on Monday Night Raw during which people dressed as Sting were flashed on-screen to intimidate Levesque. One of those individuals was Heath and he detailed the close calls and missed cues from that segment during a virtual signing with Golden Ring Collectibles. He was set up underneath the ring and shared that if he had been just a second early, it might not have gone smoothly.
Brother, it was one of those things when I got to the building and Road Dogg came to me, was like, ‘Hey man, we’re doing this thing with Sting but he ain’t here tonight but we’re gonna do’ this and that, this and that and blah, blah, blah, blah and I’m just like, ‘Okay.’ He’s like, ‘But you’re gonna be the Sting underneath the ring and we need you to time it perfectly to get in the ring with Hunter’ and all this stuff. But what sucked though is every cue was off. Like every cue, because there was supposed to have been a Sting in the middle section, in the top section, in the lower section, on the stage, you know? All this sh*t, but next thing you know, they only got to see like two of the Stings and me, and they said — you know they’re flashing up here but the cue — the camera’s up there. The other Sting guy wasn’t cued to go, so he’s just standing there and you just see a spotlight. They’re like, oh, so he’s trying to walk out and you just see a glimpse, you know? And it’s like, it’s all messed up. The funny thing about it is as soon as I got my cue, I slid out. As soon as I slid in the ring and I stood up and I took one step, soon as I took one step, that light came on to where it was just like, if I was a second early, it would’ve been like, oh, he really f*cked up. But it was one of those stepping in things, light hit, here comes Hunter, he pushes down, all that stuff. But it was so funny. That night man, as soon as it was like — just on there of, ‘Guys, that’s Heath. That’s Heath Slater.’ It wasn’t no — nothing of the fact that anyone thought it was Sting. It was cool, it was cool.
In the 2018 men’s Royal Rumble match, Heath eliminated Sheamus in a matter of seconds. The idea of Heath being beaten down by the newest entrant and then eventually eliminating Sheamus was brought to his attention by Jamie Noble. Heath wanted to stay in the match for a while longer after eliminating Sheamus, but the match producers were set on Bray Wyatt throwing him out shortly after.
Man, it was so funny, that day eliminated me and they booed him. I’m just like, man, y’all should’ve just let it go on for just, you know, six more people or whatnot, who cares?
Earlier in the conversation, Heath looked back on his FCW days and told the story of when FCW President Steve Keirn let an alligator loose in the talent dressing room. The alligator’s mouth was taped shut.
I remember back in FCW, we used to do this show at this place called the ‘Dallas Bull’. I think it was called the ‘Dallas Bull,’ or it was Cowboys or something like that, I forget. It was just a western bar and I remember we’re all upstairs getting ready and getting dressed, show’s about to start and he comes up with like a seven-foot-long alligator and puts it into the dressing room. Thank God it’s mouth was taped, you know? But that thing’s just coming and it’s hissing and stuff. We’re all like, ‘What the hell!?’ He’s over there just laughing his ass off. He thinks it’s the funniest thing. But we all got to pet it and hold it and stuff, but we’re not really holding it, like get next to it. But yeah, he would always do stuff like that.
** Dave LaGreca and Bully Ray spoke about Naomi and Sasha Banks’ decision to leave Monday Night Raw on Busted Open Radio. They welcomed Brian ‘Road Dogg’ James onto the show to discuss the news. James is of the belief that it’s a storyline but in the case that he’s incorrect, he feels that people must remember that pro wrestling is a job and maybe it can be taken too seriously at times.
So again, that’s just my opinion ? You know what I mean? You’re the tag champ. I think it’s a publicity stunt to try to add some heat to the tag titles. But again, that’s just me and I’m a cynical worker who has been in the business or around the business my whole life so I think everything’s a work, you know what I mean? I’m totally guilty of that and I don’t mind saying it.
It’s just phony, bologna wrestling man. Do I love it with all of my heart and all of my being? Hell yes. But also, it’s just wrestling and so you get fake beat by somebody and you drop the fake title to somebody, you know what I mean? I know we hate to use the word ‘fake’ but, man, we gotta keep in mind that this is a job and it’s not real and it’s — sure, you wanna get your character over as possible but, is there life after all that? And how do you face it then? I don’t know man. I think people take this stuff a little seriously sometimes for me.
James agreed with Bully Ray’s comment that it could be a risky move for Naomi solely because of who she’s connected to in WWE.
Yeah. Uso together. But it is risky for her because what’s gonna happen after this? You know what I mean? What’s gonna — maybe she’s done. Maybe she don’t wanna work no more. They gotta be doing well and so, look, I know I was doing well but I wasn’t doing well with my money and so, but it feels like people today are smarter and smarter than I was for ‘dang sure. Surely. Maybe she’s done. Maybe they gotta nest the egg, maybe they wanna hug some babies or something. You never know.
** Last summer, Kylie Rae partook in NWA 73 weekend which included the all-women’s event ‘EmPowerrr’ and Rae wrestled Mickie James at the 73rd Anniversary Show. As she was doing a virtual signing with Captain’s Corner, Rae explained why she has never been a fan of events that are specific to one group. She feels that there should be a place for everyone on any show and would be open to seeing men compete at EmPowerrr 2 if it happens.
In the historical Chase in Missouri, in St. Louis Missouri. Yeah, it was a blast. See like, I — sorry, this is probably gonna be a non-popular opinion but I’m not always a fan of all-women’s shows because I… I just feel like we didn’t like when guys would have all-male shows so isn’t it kind of almost hypocritical to be like, ‘No, we’re gonna make our own all-women’s show’? I believe there’s a place for everyone in wrestling so while I don’t always enjoy — I get what we were trying to do, I get that but I believe in there’s wrestling for everyone, so, while the idea of an all-women’s show I don’t necessarily agree with, that night in particular, it was very emotional and it was awesome seeing a bunch of women coming together and supporting each other and it was really talented women there and not just their talent, but who they are as people because I — again, this is probably an unpopular opinion but I don’t really always care what you can do in the ring. As long as you — no offense, but I’m just like, as long as you work hard and you’re a good person, that’s an A-plus in my book so, it was awesome being in the locker room with so many lovely people and just seeing everybody come together and truly support everyone. That was my favorite part of the night so, yeah.
And have men on the show And they’re like, ‘Well, we’re trying to push it’ so I’m like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I don’t know, but does that make sense? If they’re telling us, ‘No, you’re not allowed’ and then we turn around and we’re like, ‘Well you’re not allowed either,’ it’s like, well why can’t everybody just be allowed? There’s a place for all of us.
Kylie got her start with the NWA in 2021. The opportunity to work with the organization came about via a trainer at Freelance Wrestling Academy being connected to Billy Corgan.
So, one of the people who we train with at Freelance, shout out Freelance Academy. It’s like my home company. So one of the trainers there is like really good friends with Billy Corgan, so that was like kind of like one of the snowball effects. I guess they were like looking for more women to go there and I was like, ‘Oh well, if you need women’ — like all innocent — ‘if you need more women,’ I was like, ‘I’ll come and help set up’ type of thing and then, and it snowballed from there. So yeah, I feel like this wrestling business is a lot about making connections and just, um, I don’t know. Like seeing what opportunities come your way and whatnot, taking the good with the bad and just learning. So yeah, it’s been fun. I enjoy it.
** The most recent guest on Complex Unsanctioned was Big Swole. She shared that after her exit from AEW, she was bedridden due to her battle Crohn’s disease. Swole also touched on how she was able to maneuver through negativity on social media that stemmed from Tony Khan’s tweet about her.
My faith, first and foremost , being there for my daughter, being actively active in their lives because with AEW’s schedule, you’re ripping and running back and forth and stuff, you’re so tired. I felt like I wasn’t a part of her life so, just getting back into that and working on me, helped me guide through all this stuff, especially when people started to get horrible. They started getting like — spewing all that racism stuff at me and being racist and just calling me out of my name, talking about my daughter and stuff. I said my peace on that because look, I ain’t no killer but don’t push me-type mentality but, I’ll say what I said and then I’ll just leave it at that, and then I just let it go. I mean because there’s nothing else to be done after that. I’m not ‘finna give you more of my energy that’s precious to me. I’m not ‘finna give you any type of hold over me. Would I give a—about what somebody got to say about me? Yeah, I’m gonna tell you don’t talk about my child but, I’m just gonna keep it pushing because I know who I am.
Swole commented on her friendship with Cody Rhodes and said Rhodes is aware of the multitude of memes about him online.
Yeah, yeah , I’m like, ‘I know this is Cody Luther. I know it is’ and he’s like, ‘I seen what you said.’ I was like, ‘Bruh.’ Bro, he be on my ass. I’m like, oh my gosh. It’s funny, it’s funny.
The ’3 Strikes’ match between Swole and Diamante that took place on Dark: Elevation was Swole’s idea. She sat on the idea for two months and eventually went to Cody Rhodes who presented it to Tony Khan to get the match approved.
I remember holding onto it for like a month-and-a-half and T.K. loved it and he was like, ‘Let’s do this’ and I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’
** To promote the start of the 2022 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, NJPW1972.com ran their interview with Francesco Akira, who debuted for the company at ‘Hyper Battle’. He reflected on his debut and said it was surreal.
It was just ‘here we go.’ It was pretty surreal; Ryogoku is such an important venue for pro-wrestling and I’d never been there, so there was a lot of nerves, but it was a really cool moment.
Akira is representing The United Empire in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He shared that while he was working with All Japan, Will Ospreay became a mentor of sorts to him and gave him advice which ultimately led to him joining United Empire.
Will is one of my closest friends. When I was in Japan before, I was the only foreigner for two years, because of the pandemic. I’m still trying to learn Japanese, but it’s difficult. I didn’t have any friends here, but Will mentored me, gave me advice and made me feel at home. Even though I was in a different company, he reached out and made that happen.
** ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan was the focus of a virtual signing hosted by Signed By Superstars. Duggan spoke about his friendship with Owen and Bret Hart. He touched the tragic passing of Owen and said it was a stuntman’s job, although he feels the show should have continued as it did.
Owen a good friend of mine. Of course that was a huge tragedy and the deal is we’re wrestlers, we’re not stuntmen and that was more a stuntman — still is to this day — a stuntman’s job. Of course some of the guys are doing it regularly, but back then, that was really a stuntman’s job. But the show should have gone on also I believe.
In 2014, WWE Legends’ House premiered and Duggan roomed with the late Roddy Piper. Duggan feels that he and Piper were put together because production was aware they did not know each well and there was a chance for drama to unfold.
Oh my gosh. I’ll tell ya, well you know, Vince Piper together because Piper and I, we didn’t really know each other so they were expecting to get a big drama out of it, you know? So they put me and Piper together, we ended up becoming best friends. I could pull off any practical joke I wanted to and blame it on Piper. The whole show turned into a comedy man. Yeah, we had some great times. The outtakes were even better.
** ‘Metro’ pushed out the written version of their interview with William Regal. The 54-year-old Regal was asked if he would ever consider getting back in the ring for another match. He said he’s content with his 2013 match with Cesaro being his last, but added that he can still go in the ring. Regal wrestled NXT UK’s Charlie Dempsey (his son) for an hour at the Performance Center in December.
No, never. No. My last official match was against Cesaro. My last few years, I didn’t realize – it’s come out recently, I had a serious neck problem for 20-odd years. It finally caught up with me. All I ever wanted was a 20-year wrestling career when I started – I ended up with a 30-year wrestling career. I couldn’t have asked for any more. If you’re not me and you’re just looking from the outside, ‘Oh, he should have been this, he should have been that’ – no. I was very happy with what I achieved. If I’d have never come to America, I had an incredible career. By the time I was 24, I’d been to 19 countries. In 20 to 24, I’d been to all the best places you could go to, wrestling all the best wrestling. If it’d stopped then, I’d have had an incredible career. Everything after that – everything after leaving Blackpool Pleasure Beach was a bonus for me!
I can get in the ring now and wrestle just as good as I ever did. In fact, people are like, ‘You wanna stop a bit.’ Training, I can get in there and do that. I still train, do all my squats and push-ups that I never thought I’d be able to do. But I look like a 54 year old. I don’t want the memories of me – I can still wrestle just as good as I used to. In fact, better because I’ve got full circulation now after God knows how many years.
I wrestled my son for an hour before Christmas in the PC in Orlando. I can wrestle. I’d rather that match with Cesaro be my final thing. Elvis has left the building. That’s why Colonel Tom Parker never let Elvis do an encore. Don’t ruin it for myself. That was as good as a match as it could ever be for me to finish my career, and 30 years in, it’s somebody else’s turn now. Why ruin it?
** Prior to Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out of the 5/16 Monday Night Raw in Norfolk, Banks sat down with Kevin Hart to record an episode of ‘Cold as Balls’. Banks expressed that she felt like she gets the respect she deserves in WWE.
I feel like I definitely get the respect that I deserve in WWE. To be a woman and to main event, you’re like, wake up. That wouldn’t be possible and now we are out here doing it and to be a part of that is just so incredible.
** Before IMPACT Wrestling’s ‘Under Siege’ show, Lucha Libre Online conducted an interview with Moose. He heaped praise onto IMPACT’s creative team and specifically highlighted Jimmy Jacobs and Robert Evans.
I don’t know if — the thing is with IMPACT which is so great, they — guys like Jimmy Jacobs and R.D. or if R.D. helped me with it or what, or Jimmy helped me with it. But, I can’t take all the credit for it because I’m working with guys like Jimmy and R.D. who are some of the best writers, if not the best writers in professional wrestling.
** 2022 NJPW Best of the Super Juniors participant El Lindaman was interviewed by NJPW’s official website. He stated that he did not find out he was a lock for the tournament until the participants were named at Wrestling Dontaku.
Yes. It was a real surprise for me . I was never contacted directly by New Japan, so I was told that I would have to go through the company to participate in the tournament. However, in our organization, GLEAT, announcements are often made without the players even being notified…
I hadn’t heard about it. However, I thought I heard something about the schedule for May….
** Tokyo Sports published Jushin Thunder Liger’s latest blog post, during which he wrote about the attendance turnout for Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Ryōgoku Sumo Hall shows in late April and New Japan’s Wrestling Dontaku event. Liger feels that COVID can not be used as an excuse when there are baseball games and music events that are selling out.
During this year’s Golden Week, I had many opportunities to watch big matches from the commentary standpoint. First of all, NOAH’s Ryogoku show. This is neither flattery nor anything else. That’s why I have a question. If it’s so interesting, why aren’t there any spectators? We professionals are the only ones who can get the audience to come. We professionals can’t do anything if we don’t have an audience.
What I’m looking forward to knowing is why NOAH ran this venue. Maybe they wanted to use this as a catalyst. There weren’t enough fans. Maybe it was a message from the company saying, ‘This is your power now, so what are you going to do about it?’ I was deeply moved that New Japan held the Fukuoka Dome event in my hometown. But the turnout was the same as Noah’s, and they were struggling. You can’t just say, ‘It’s Corona, so it can’t be helped.’ There were many baseball games and music festivals.
Liger further spoke about Wrestling Dontaku and expressed that he feels Kazuchika Okada versus Tetsuya Naito at the event was the best match of the year so far.
Okada and Tetsuya Naito had a match that I thought was the best bout of the year. I really wanted everyone who came to the event to say, ‘That was a great match,’ and to leave on the way home with a happy feeling in their hearts.
** In late 2015, Sarah Stock accepted a coaching/agent position with WWE and was with the company until 2020. She reflected on the relationships she established with talents while speaking to Sam Leterna. Stock felt she had a good connection with Liv Morgan and they meshed well together.
There’s just such a respect and a love for all those girls , just every single one of them has something special that just, it makes me happy to know I could be there through some of those difficult times and maybe help them understand things in a different way, whether that’s about wrestling or just about life in general or dealing with things on the road or dealing with certain problems in the locker room, the right way to deal with problems or the wrong way to deal with them, things like that. So really, they’re all just really special to me in different ways.
** As WWE made their way through the state of Virginia, Rhea Ripley was interviewed by FOX’s Roanoke affiliate. She discussed the progression of women’s wrestling in WWE and said the women on the roster want to outshine the men’s division.
We’ve all been working so incredibly hard for years and years to be recognized by everyone and it’s finally paying off. The women before me, they worked so hard as well. They weren’t given the opportunities that we’ve been given but they definitely paved the way. They broke the mold for the superstars that you see today. They’re the ones that had to go through so much crap just to get a little bit of recognition, where we’re finally getting it now and I think with the Mae Young Classic and with Evolution, it’s really proved to everyone that the women are just as good as the males. They’re — it’s not a gender thing in wrestling, it really isn’t. We can put on fantastic matches just like them. We can hit just as hard as them, we’re just as athletic as them so I think that it’s just finally getting the eyes on it that it deserves and I’m so excited to see how far women’s wrestling is gonna go in the next five years, in the next ten years because we’re only growing and we’re only getting better and it’s gonna skyrocket and we’re gonna take over WWE and wrestling in general. I think that a lot of the girls working harder and harder every single day because we wanna outshine the boys. We really do so, it’s gonna happen.
** In June, promotions under the CyberFight banner such as Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro, Ganbare Pro and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling are coming together to present CyberFight Festival. Pro Wrestling NOAH Director Arihiro Takeda gave a comment to the press in Japan about the forthcoming show and said an important task is to increase the WRESTLE UNIVERSE subscribers.
One thing I think is necessary is for organizations that don’t normally interact with each other, to get together once a year and work together to create something together. And our most important task is to increase the number of members of WRESTLE UNIVERSE. For that purpose, we need to gather the power of the four organizations.
** NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Results (5/17/22) Sakata, Japan
– Clark Connors, Akio Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa def. Yuta Nakajima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & YOH
– Ace Austin & Tiger Mask def. TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– SHO, Dick Togo & Taiji Ishimori def. Jado, Alex Zayne & Ryusuke Taguchi
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: DOUKI def. El Lindaman
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: El Phantasmo def. BUSHI
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: Robbie Eagles def. Wheeler YUTA
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: TJP def. Master Wato
– Best of the Super Juniors B Block: El Desperado def. Titán
** Wonder of STARDOM Champion Saya Kamitani expressed to the media in Japan that she hopes KAIRI challenges her for her belt.
** Kento Miyahara, All Japan’s Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion told the press about the time he met Stan Hansen as a child. Hansen is scheduled to be in attendance for Miyahara’s match with T-Hawk on 5/29 in Tokyo.
** The latest gaming stream from SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey.
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.