Various: Claudio Castagnoli on ROH Title Win, Conrad Thompson on Fan Issues Over Ric Flair Event, Indies

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Jul 27, 2022

Claudio Castagnoli Comments on ROH World Championship Victory

This past Saturday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 post-show media scrum featured Claudio Castagnoli among the guest speakers. One of the topics discussed included Castagnoli’s thoughts on winning the ROH World Championship and this past month being a “brass ring month” of his career.

“What is a brass ring moment? If somebody can find that out and explain it to me, that would be amazing. It’s definitely an awesome moment and I feel life and wrestling is all about moments and how you seize them, how you act in them, and how you succeed in the good ones and the bad. That’s the journey. Everything I did in my life and in my career led up to this. If that’s a brass ring…I would say the first month was kind of a brass ring moment because it was ‘okay, how do you replace arguably one of the best wrestlers in history in Bryan Danielson?’ I have to step up. I don’t want people to be like, ‘Well, I kinda wanted…(Danielson).’ To be able to pull that off, then go into Blood & Guts. To me, this is great and a fantastic challenge. If this is the culmination of my brass ring month then it’s a good one.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Conrad Thompson Comments on Online Criticisms Towards Ric Flair Wrestling One More Time

Conrad Thompson held a media call on Tuesday to promote Ric Flair’s Last Match event on July 31st in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the topics discussed included Thompson’s thoughts on the online criticisms towards Ric Flair wrestling another match at his old age.

“I know a lot of wrestling fans, when they first saw this announcement, they said to themselves, ‘Why is Ric Flair doing this?’ I would encourage everyone who is listening to this or reading a recap perhaps, to really ask yourself, try to look at it from a different perspective. Not necessarily what you want to see, not necessarily what you think what should be done, but see it from Ric’s perspective. Ric Flair has entertained us for nearly 50 years in professional wrestling. If this is important to him and he wants to do it one last time, why would we discourage that? Why would we think that we know better than him? This is about h wanting to feel like Ric Flair, ‘The Nature Boy’, one last time. When that whole 2008 retirement happened, that wasn’t his idea. He was dictated to. That was created in a creative meeting, and they said, ‘Hey, you’re having your last match,’ and by the way, it was fabulous. It was ten out of ten. But he wasn’t necessarily ready to do that, which is why he wrestled again. But at this point, he’s been gone for so long, I think everybody understands he’s not gonna wrestle again. This really is it. It if he wants to feel like Ric Flair ‘The Nature Boy’ one last time, having lost his son nearly ten years ago and as you saw in episode one, he said as soon as that happened, he walked across the street to the bar, and he didn’t quit drinking for five years. He nearly lost his life because he was self-medicating, [he] wasn’t taking care of himself. But he’s worked himself back, and Ric Flair is in a better place mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, than I’ve ever known him right now.
This is not a cash grab for Ric Flair. This is not, ‘Ric Flair needs a payday.’ This is about Ric Flair wants the glory and the rush of being in front of a crowd that paid to come see him one last time. Who are we to say that he can’t do that? I understand there are naysayers who have concerns about his health. But they’re not his doctor. His doctor has cleared him for it, and his trainer has told him that he’s ready. I just wanna remind everybody that this, when he steps through the ropes this Sunday night, it won’t be the first time he’s stepped through the ropes. It will be the first time you’ve seen him step through the ropes, but he’s been training almost every other day for months. So if there was a concern about something that could happen with Ric medically, it would have already happened in training, candidly, because he’s already done it. He’s been put through the paces, he’s pushed himself. This is not, ‘He wants to get out there and chop and strut and ‘Woo.’ He wants to go out there and steal the show, and he’s gonna have his work cut out for him following guys from AAA and New Japan and MLW and IMPACT Wrestling and all of these fabulous wrestlers who are here and in the prime of their career. He feels incredible pressure to deliver. Now luckily, his tag team partner is one of the best wrestlers in the world today, no matter what anybody says, and they’re gonna put on one hell of a show this Sunday night.
I would encourage you, if you’ve been negative and you weren’t sure about this, and you didn’t think you liked it and you don’t think he should be doing it, I want you to ask yourself, what about from Ric’s perspective? Can I put myself in his shoes and see it from his perspective? When I see it that way, does it change my opinion?’ Here’s a spoiler, it’s not about you. Not everything in life is about you. You get to decide if you want to watch it or not, but Ric Flair gets to decide what happens in his life. If he wants to wrestle one last time, and his doctor clears him, and his trainer says he’s okay, and his son-in-law’s got his back, Andrade’s gonna be there to take care of him, and I am ready for what happens Sunday night. It’s gonna be a dangerous affair in that main event, but it will probably be dangerous for Jeff Jarrett, not so much Ric Flair.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

The XFL recently announced that their upcoming new season will be starting on February 18, 2023 and will feature eight teams. The teams were announced to be located in Arlington, TX, Houston, TX, Orlando, FL, Las Vegas, NV, San Antonio, TX, Seattle, WA, St. Louis, MO, and Washington, D.C.

2K Games reportedly recently delisted almost all of their WWE series games on Steam, PSN, and Xbox Store, according to EuroGamer.net. It was reported that only WWE 2K Battlegrounds and WWE 2K22 currently remain available for purchase on those platforms.

DDT Pro Wrestling talent Konosuke Takeshita recently announced on Twitter that he will be returning to Japan next month to resume working for DDT but hopes to be able to return to the United States at some point in the future. Takeshita has been on excursion in the U.S. since this past May working for various promotions including AEW.

Dragon Gate talent Kaito Ishida reportedly will be leaving the company, according to the Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer reported that the reason is due to Ishida had grown frustrated over the recent changes within Dragon Gate’s booking.

Conrad Thompson held a media call on Tuesday to promote Starrcast’s Starrcast V convention this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the topics discussed included Thompson stating that he will be giving David Crockett 100% of the ownership of the “Jim Crockett Promotions” trademark following the Ric Flair’s Last Match event on July 31st. The trademark is currently co-owned by Starrcast and Crockett.

Stardom recently announced that they have pulled Thekla from the field of their upcoming 5 STAR Grand Prix 2022 tournament due to her still recovering from a recent injury. It was announced that Momo Kohgo will be replacing Thekla’s spot in the tournament. (English translation via PostWrestling.com)

Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling announced that Mei Suruga recently tested positive for COVID-19 and have pulled her from the card of their upcoming event in Thailand as a result. (English translation via PostWrestling.com)

Tuesday’s episode of NWA Powerrr featured NWA USA co-Managing Director Madusa announcing that the company will be debuting a new NWA Women’s TV Championship within the near future.

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced a new match for the card of their NWA 74 Night 1 event on August 27th in St. Louis, Missouri: