Various: Renee Paquette on Jon Moxley AEW Return Promo & Bully Ray’s Comments, GCW, Indies

Renee Paquette Comments on Jon Moxley’s AEW Return Promo & Bully Ray’s Controversial Comments

A recent episode of the Throwing Down with Renee & Miesha podcast featured co-host Renee Paquette’s thoughts about Jon Moxley’s AEW return and promo at this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite.

“He looked so good. His music hit and I honestly got a little teary-eyed, ‘look at him.’ He’s just doing his thing and he’s so damn good at it and he loves it. I love seeing him do that. I wasn’t sure what he was going to say or what he was going to do. We kind of talked about it at home before he left to go on the road, ‘what are you going to say?’ ‘I don’t know.

It definitely got me a bit emotional, watching him do this, talking about the things. A lot of the stuff that went on was obviously, incredibly personal, and a bunch of people know what happened, they don’t really know anything about it. To see him out there and doing his thing and to know how much the words that he had to say touched so many people. My Twitter was blowing up with so many people that could relate and have been where he’s been or been where I’ve been. It was really cool to see that and have that vulnerability. The guy is a special guy and has such a way with words. He’s obviously an incredible wrestler, but he’s an incredible person and incredible man. I could not be more proud of him or love this guy anymore. To see him out there doing that was so great.”

Paquette also gave her thoughts regarding Bully Ray’s recent controversial comments about Moxley owing an apology to the fans for being away from AEW and wrestling due to his recent alcohol rehab treatment.

“I hate even having to talk about this because it’s stupid and annoying. I don’t even want to pay it any more attention. The whole thing with Bully Ray, I saw it all over my Twitter and was like, ‘do I even want to address this?’ It’s that thing with, people can talk shit about me all day long and whatever, it’s fine. You talk shit about my husband, my family, that become more personal to me and bothers me more. It also bothers me because Bully is somebody who I’ve always really enjoyed and had a good relationship with him, despite other people not having a good relationship with him or him having burned bridges other places and leaving a bad taste in other people’s mouths. I’ve never had that situation with him. To be on the receiving end of it, sucks. I have not talked to him since this has all gone down. He certainly has my phone number and my husband’s phone number. He was at Northeast Wrestling over the weekend with [Moxley]. It sucks.

There could not be a more bullshit, trash take, than that. He took time off to take care of himself. Him being there and having longevity in this business is plenty. The guy put his body through the ring with the job that he does and the style of wrestling he works. He loves wrestling and loves this business. For Bully to think he also needs to apologize on top of that…my first reaction to it was like, I thought it was some shock jock shit where he doesn’t actually think that. There’s no way he actually believes that Jon needs to apologize for taking time off to better himself. Three months is also nothing, in the scope of what wrestling is and the scope of his life. Three months is nothing. For him to go and do the things he needed to do for himself and our family and our daughter, that’s for us and not anybody else. I could not be more proud of him for doing that, in a business that is notorious with addiction issues, we’ve seen the untimely passing of so many wrestlers, it’s been a thing that has affected the business for a long time and it’s a stigma that comes with the business. The fact that Jon is one of those guys, in the spot that he’s in and he’s going against the grain and doing the things he needs to do speaks volumes to the fans. Not just the fans, but people inside the business, the boys and girls in the back, who might be going through a similar thing. It happens to so many people and is unfortunately so common. He went and did what he had to do. No apologies necessary,” she said.

I don’t need Bully to apologize for it. I assure you, Jon couldn’t give a shit …

There’s no payoff. This isn’t an angle. There is no payoff with a match or anything like that. It’s just a shitty take. He’s just being a shit head.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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GCW News & Notes

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that GCW officials never had any plans for FTR to make a surprise appearance as the mystery challengers against The Briscoes for the GCW World Tag Team Championship match at their WRLD on GCW event this past Sunday.

Indie talent Nick Wayne reportedly was pulled from the card of GCW’s The WRLD on GCW event over issues with the New York State Athletic Commission, who refused to allow him to work the event due to him being under 18 years old, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that Joey Janela offered Wayne a match at his upcoming Spring Break 6 event in Dallas, Texas against any opponent of his choosing as a make-up. Wayne reportedly requested Will Ospreay as his choice if possible.

Matt Cardona recently reflected on Twitter about competing at GCW’s The WRLD on GCW event. Cardona stated “I love @GCWrestling_. Everyone involved wants it to succeed so badly. The fans want it to succeed so badly. I couldn’t even get through my timeline last night. So much buzz. So much heart. Some much passion. So much potential. We danced. Now let’s f*cking go!”

This past Sunday’s The WRLD on GCW event reportedly generated the highest ever pay-per-view buys in company history on FITE TV, according to Post Wrestling.

GCW recently announced a new match for the card of their If I Die First event on February 5th in Dallas, Texas:

• Joey Janela vs. Dr. Wagner Jr.

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Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

As noted before, Konnan recently underwent heart surgery due to issues related to COVID-19. During a recent episode of the Keepin It 100 podcast, co-host Konnan provided a health update stating that besides his heart, he is also currently suffering kidneys-related issues from his recent bout with COVID-19 and as a result needs another kidney transplant.

AEW talent Anthony Ogogo reportedly made a surprise appearance and official debut for PROGRESS Wrestling at their Chapter 127 event this past Sunday in London, England, according to the Wrestling Observer.

Impact Wrestling’s recent set of television tapings this past weekend reportedly ran into a lot of issues related to COVID-19, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that a number of talent and staff were absent from the recent set of tapings with one source stating that these issues were the “worst they had seen” in a long time. This same source also stated that a lot of pivots and rewrites were made by Impact officials for their plans over the course of the past week as a result.

Terminus recently announced that Kevin Blackwood and Leon Ruff will be making an appearance for the company at their Terminus II event on February 24th in Atlanta, Georgia.

Indie wrestler “Man Scout” Jake Manning announced on Twitter that he recently signed an official contract with AEW to work in their merchandise department. Manning also announced that besides his new AEW job, he will still be continuing his wrestling career in the indies.

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced that Steve Maclin & Westin Blake (former Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake in WWE), Ruby Soho, and Moose will be making an appearance for the company at their Swerve’s House event on April 16th in Clive, Iowa.

Pro Wrestling Revolver also recently announced a new match for their upcoming Swerve’s House event in Clive, Iowa:

• Shane “Swerve” Strickland vs. Ruby Soho