Weekend Roundup: Current WWE Plans for Sami Zayn & Bloodline, WWE India Event, Maria Kanellis, Impact, Konnan Update, Indies

WWE

Indie / Misc

Steve C.

Nov 27, 2022

WWE

WWE reportedly is currently planning for Roman Reigns to defend his WWE Universal Championship against Sami Zayn at next year’s Elimination Chamber event on February 18, 2023 in Zayn’s hometown of Montreal, Canada, according to WrestlingNews.co. It was reported that their sources stated that WWE officials are also currently planning for Reigns to defend his title against Kevin Owens at next year’s Royal Rumble event in San Antonio, Texas. Those same sources reportedly also stated that WWE officials’ current plans for The Usos at next year’s WrestleMania 39 event is for them to defend their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against Zayn and Owens.
Fightful Select reported that those spoken to with WWE stated that the backstage morale has improved significantly since Vince McMahon’s departure and retirement this past July. Several talents spoken to stated that the backstage culture of the company has changed for the better under WWE’s new leadership regime with going to work now being “much more fun and easy going” than under McMahon’s tenure. One person spoken to stated that there is no longer a backstage “perpetual fear of getting fired for things you can’t control” while another person stated that WWE’s creative has improved a lot since this past summer despite some talents still not being used correctly. Those spoken reportedly praised WWE’s creative input and ability to improvise more under the new leadership regime.
WWE recently announced that WWE Hall of Famers Road Dogg, Molly Holly, and Alundra Blayze will be making an appearance at this Tuesday’s NXT show. It was announced that all three will be helping reveal the official competitors for the Men’s and Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge matches at their NXT Deadline event next month.
Saturday’s WWE Survivor Series WarGames event featured a singles match between AJ Styles and Finn Balor, which was won by Styles. WrestleOps reported that this was Styles’ first singles victory at a WWE pay-per-view event since Crown Jewel 2019 in October of 2019 and his first victory in general at a WWE PPV event since Money in the Bank 2021 in July of 2021.
WWE reportedly is currently planning to hold an event in India in January 2023, according to Sportskeeda. It was reported that their sources stated that WWE officials currently have scheduled this upcoming event to take place on January 18, 2023. It was also reported that it is currently not known if this event will be broadcasted. It was also reported that this upcoming event is currently planned to feature a mix of WWE talent and local Indian talents.
During a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast, co-host Kurt Angel gave his thoughts on why he feels WarGames matches are more appealing to watch than traditional Survivor Series style matches. Angel stated “I mean, you know, Survivor Series was always the four-on-four. I do get it, you do want to change it up. I mean, I think that Survivor Series is probably the most unimportant top four pay-per-view of the year and I think because the four-on-four, it’s not that appealing. You know, there’s no World Championship going on in that match. It was just four vs. four, and the WarGames match was from WCW. I thought that was a great idea. It’s a great gimmick match. People love it, you want to do what people love.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
WWE filed a trademark for “The Bloodline” on November 21st for merchandise-related purposes.
During a recent interview with BT Sports’ WWE The Run In show, Finn Balor gave his thoughts about Dominik Mysterio’s work as a member of the Judgement Day. Balor stated “To see Dominik slip into the role so seamlessly. People forget, he debuted about a year before he turned heel and was learning on the job. He wasn’t really doing that much training. I mean that with the greatest amount of respect, but he had a couple months training with Lance (Storm) and a little here and there with his dad and stuff, but not an immense amount of training to be in the deep end on live TV for WWE. He was only kind of adapting to that and then he was thrown this huge curveball where he’s turning on his dad and portraying a completely different character. The way he’s stepped into that character is incredible to watch. I remember that first night when he was going out to do a heel promo and going up to him to try and calm him down a little. ‘Don’t worry, it’s going to be cool.’ He’s like, ‘I’m cool. Don’t worry.’ ‘You know what you’re going to say?’ ‘Nah, I’ll figure it out.’ [laughs]. He went out there super chilled and that’s how he is. I think he’s going to be a huge star for us.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
WWE reportedly had distributed around 5,315 tickets for their Nov. 25th SmackDown show in Providence, RI as of this past Friday morning, according to WrestleTix.
WWE also reportedly had distributed around 2,913 tickets for their Nov. 27th house show event in Portland, ME as of this past Friday morning, according to WrestleTix.
In a recent interview with BT Sport, Austin Theory gave his thoughts about the recent shift in his character becoming more aggressive than before. Theory stated “It’s as wild as it has been for everybody else. You go from being so used to something to a quick switch and pretty much, that quick switch changes everything but, for a good way I feel like because for me, it was a chance for Austin Theory to evolve and go to that next level and you know, I can’t take selfies forever and be a goofball so it’s finding that next chapter and what’s gonna get me to becoming a world champion and I think we’re on the right track.” Theory also gave his thoughts about his failed cash-in for the United States Championship earlier this month. Theory stated “Growing up watching the Money in the Bank matches were exciting and the cash-ins were exciting but I have to say, I never thought I’d have the failed cash-in but I guess I would be one of those guys but I would say for me, that whole process of that day of losing the Money in the Bank contract and kind of, where do I go now? I literally hit rock bottom, so what now? And kind of just to have this revamp of a personality and bring out this different type of energy that people aren’t used to from Austin Theory, it kind of just shifts everything and for me, it’s great and looking at it long term, it can only evolve and get better from here.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
During a recent interview with the SHAK Wrestling podcast, Mia Yim revealed that she had considered the idea of retiring from wrestling following her release from WWE in November of 2021. Yim stated “When that happened, it was very discouraging and disheartening. But it helped that me and my husband, we supported each other, and we had other things to focus on, like the wedding, and we just bought a house, so we were planning on moving right after the wedding. We were very occupied with real-life stuff. It kind of helped me through, and along with just focusing on that aspect, like wrestling kind of took a backseat. It made me realize wrestling isn’t everything. Life still goes on, and to focus on the people you love. I had to really evaluate if I wanted to continue to wrestle because I wasn’t sure if I did. So thankfully I was able to reignite my love for wrestling with the friends of Gail [Kim], Scott [D’Amore], Gisele, being surrounded by great people and being able to go out and kill it, and have that support. At that moment, it was very much like, not only was I not sure if I wanted to do it, but I felt like maybe my time was up, like I’m not as good as I was five, ten years ago. So maybe it’s just time to hang it up.” Yim also stated that her recent stint in Impact Wrestling helped reignite her passion for wrestling. Yim stated “So I just needed to find myself in wrestling and see if I could still go with all these new talent, but also the talent that are killing it now, like can I keep up with them? I was able to, and coming back, it was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I have such high respect for Triple H and what he’s done for NXT that I was like I’m ready to go. When I was told, ‘Hey, the boys want you, think they think you could help them out,’ and the fact that I knew them months prior, and AJ years prior, it’s like hell yeah, let’s go. So it was nice to come back to everybody just welcoming.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Mandy Rose gave her thoughts on her goals for the future of her WWE career. Rose stated “I’m at a point now where, who else can I beat in NXT? I totally don’t mind remaining the champ for a long time, but I think it’s time. I want Gigi and Jacy to be able to experience the main roster. Being up on Raw or SmackDown, I want to get back up there because I’m a whole different person I feel. Whether it’s from the outside looking in it looks like that, I just feel so much more respected now, and that has a lot to do with it. Not that I was scared to like say anything, but I feel I’ve earned the respect over the last 386 days; whatever it’s been, even before I won the title, I earned that respect. I know I belong. I think I have another good run on Raw or SmackDown and I want to prove to people, and I’ve already proven, but I want to showcase myself with my girls, Toxic Attraction. That’s going to be really cool. We’ve shown so much over the last year, we run NXT, and it’s time.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with The Ringer, Roman Reigns gave his thoughts about his belief that he could be a top star in any era of wrestling. Reigns also stated that he questioned if the top wrestling stars of past eras could handle the pressure of today’s era of wrestling. Reigns stated “All those guys that you named off, could they do what they did right now? I know I could do it back then. I know if you sent me to the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, I’m going to be a top guy, I’m going to be a centerpiece. But could they come into this world? Could they handle the burden and the pressure of 2022, of the modern day? I just don’t think they could. And that’s no disrespect to anybody. I had the advantage of looking at all their bodies of work, going through that, learning from it, and then being able to adjust everything as need be, so I can do what I’ve done.”
During the same interview, Reigns also gave his thoughts about if his very lengthy WWE Universal Championship reign is nearing its end. Reigns stated “I’m right in the middle of it. People want these interviews, they want to do these documentaries. But this is the bottom of the third inning to me. We’re in the second quarter of the Super Bowl right now. Just wait, man. We’ve done this in turbulent times, through a pandemic, through the biggest change of all time in this business. And we’ve done it seamlessly. We’ve done it without falter. Down the road, 20 years from now when we start giving out all these crazy details of the inside, inside, there’s just going to be even deeper respect for the performances that we’ve been putting on. Man, it’s been a hell of a journey. But it’s only begun. It’s going to get bigger.“

AEW & ROH

During a recent interview with Just Alyx, Maria Kanellis gave her thoughts on her and Mike Bennett’s recent signing with AEW and if they were interested in returning to WWE. Kanellis stated “I think it always has to be shaken up. I think if you do things a certain way for a certain number of years, then things do need to change. So shaking things up is always a great thing. I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. They wished me luck and congratulations after both of my children were born and sent us gifts. Giant gifts! Like I’m talking baskets that were humongous. It had rockers and other stuff. My daughter loves her rocker. It’s a coyote hollowing at the moon. My daughter’s middle name is Moon. They sent all of these gifts for both of the kids. They gave my husband some great advice about parenting. So, on a personal level, we’ve always liked Stephanie and Triple H. We definitely communicated with Triple H as our contract was coming up with Impact Wrestling. You know, we did that courtesy conversation. It went really well. At the end of the day, I think AEW is the place where we belonged. So we’re really happy about the different relationships we have now in so many different companies.” Kanellis also gave her thoughts on the process that led to herself and Bennett signing with AEW. Kanellis stated “I’ve been talking to Tony Khan since May because of Ring of Honor. I’ve had a really great time conversing back and forth with him about the Ring of Honor Women’s division and Women’s Wrestling Army. I’m not going to give details on everything, but I will say that we’ve really enjoyed our time at AEW and we can’t wait to do more.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, co-host Matt Hardy gave his thoughts on MJF’s AEW World Championship win at Full Gear 2022 this past weekend and his belief that MJF will be the “face of AEW for a long time to come.” Hardy stated “It was an interesting move, for sure, but it is very on brand for the MJF character, I think. I’m really excited about MJF’s run as champion. I’m a big fan of Maxwell Jacob Friedman. So it’s gonna be really interesting to see how the people gravitate towards him as champion, and considering he is gonna be the centerpiece of the promotion, it’s gonna be really interesting to see how it does number-wise, from ratings and buy rates and whatever else. But I feel like more than anyone, MJF is the most home-grown AEW talent, even more than Hangman Page because I feel like Hangman Page was the first real homegrown talent that actually won the title, but he also had a big run in Ring of Honor, and he worked in Japan. This is really MJF’s first run on top, and now he is representing AEW as the champ, and I think it’s a good move. I’m all for it, and I truly believe, deep in my heart, I think MJF is gonna be the face of AEW for a long time to come.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent interview with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Saraya gave her thoughts about AEW’s upcoming debut show in London next year and her goal to have her family work at AEW shows in the city. Saraya stated “I would love, since I have a family of wrestlers, please, we have to get my brother Zak. Zak has never made it and it’s so frustrating, he’s tried so hard. We need to get him on an AEW Dark show or something like that so we can showcase him. He just did New Japan. People loved him, they’re bringing him back again. He got such a great reaction when he walked out. People didn’t know who he was at first and then they said ‘Zak Zodiac’ and everyone was like ‘YESSS!’ It gave me chills. I would love for my brother to eventually be in AEW and my nephew, Ricky Knight Jr, my nephew Patrick. A whole family thing. Going over to the UK, I’m like, ‘Yes, I will plug them and try to get them on the Dark show.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with The Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, Chris Jericho gave his thoughts about experiencing a supernatural event while driving home one time. Jericho stated “I’ve had time displacement. It’s when you can’t account for a certain stretch of time. It’s when you get like abducted. I was driving home on a country road and it should have taken me about an hour to get home, and instead of getting home at 2 AM, I got home at 5 PM. I still don’t know what happened. I don’t know. I wasn’t drinking, I wasn’t doing drugs or anything. There is just a big chunk of time missing. I should probably go to a hypnotist and see what happened, if there was any abduction. I’ve had time displacement.” Jericho also stated that he experienced another supernatural event during the time he was involved in the production of a show called Chris Jericho: Hunting Monsters for Travel Channel. Jericho stated “Here’s another one, I did a show for the travel channel, called Chris Jericho: Hunting Monsters. We went to the Louisiana Bayou to look for a Louisiana Werewolf. When we were there, there was a voodoo priest who put a curse on a town in the 20s. When she put a curse on the town, this is real, a hurricane came and killed 50 people. They have a mass grave in the middle of the swamp. We were out there and I had a machete, I was cutting through the swamp and we got to the mass burial ground. I put the machete in the ground. They had the ghost hunters there with the thing where they scan you and the lights come on if something is attached to you. These guys were scanning me and it was going full-on Defcon green right on my arm. I was like, ‘let me see this thing. Is there a button you’re pushing?’ No, I do it to myself and it’s blinking. Then I started feeling queasy, like I had been on a rollercoaster. ‘This is fucking not good. I have to get out of here, this is really bad.’ I pulled the machete out of the ground and it went away. I’m wondering if maybe when I put that machete in the ground, it made somebody mad that was buried there. I felt some weird shit going on in my body. I talked to a Shaman and they were like, ‘it happens, you get spirits attached to you and you have to be cleansed.’ It’s pretty out there stuff, but when you’re there and it’s three in the morning and you feel something weird going on and you know it’s not normal, it’s hard to explain it.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
In a recent episode of the Grillin JR podcast, co-host Jim Ross gave his thoughts on Jungle Boy’s recent name change to “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry in AEW. Ross stated “He can’t be Jungle Boy forever. This kid has such a bright future, in my opinion, he’s working hard, getting stronger, filling out. He’s young. I had a real nice moment with him, his mom, and his sister after the show. They were fawning over him, as they should, and I told his mom how proud I was of him and I think that meant a lot to them. He does mean a lot to me. I think he’s a nice kid. He was well-raised, good parenting, she has a hell of a talented son.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
As noted before, Cody Rhodes left AEW earlier this year following the expiration of his contract and made his official return to WWE at their WrestleMania 38 event this past April. During a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Dustin Rhodes gave his thoughts on his brother Cody’s departure from AEW and return to WWE. Rhodes stated “Kind of down, a little bit. But Cody, he’s still young. There’s such an age gap, 16 years. He’s kind of in his prime now. But watching him return on WrestleMania was just huge. I’m not gonna miss any of his stuff. He’s on the rise to become a champion, and I really think he’s set the tone for that in his last eight years of work and things that he’s done. He’s very professional. He’s very different than I am. We’re two completely opposite people. He has that creative mind like my dad had, and I’m more grunt, the worker in the family. But he is surpassing everything. He’s doing amazing. But yeah, I wish he was still here.” Co-host Chris Jericho responded stating that he still remains in contact with Cody since his departure from AEW. Jericho stated “I get texts from him, actually quite frequently. He goes, I miss you guys, man. I miss you guys. I do miss having him around. I got much closer with him, for obvious reasons, in AEW, than I ever was in WWE. But I still always had a connection with him in WWE as well. He just always was the type of guy that… I like that guy.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
AEW recently released a new trailer for their upcoming Fight Forever video game for consoles and PC focusing on Jox Moxley’s in-game character.
This past Friday’s AEW Rampage show featured a new match announced for the card of Ring of Honor’s Final Battle 2022 event in Arlington, Texas. This will be a ROH World Championship match of Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Jericho (c). It was also announced that should Castagnoli lose, he must join the Jericho Appreciation Society as the match stip.
In a recent interview with Just Alyx, Maria Kanellis stated that she has not held any recent talks with ROH owner Tony Khan over her goal of wanting to help out with the booking and handling of ROH’s women’s division. Kanellis stated “So we’ve talked in the past about the ROH women’s division and, because there’s no real path moving forward in terms of knowing if there is gonna be a TV or not, we don’t really talk about that anymore. As far as what we’ve been doing on AEW, it’s very much tag team wrestling focused. My goal right now is getting tag team gold on The Kingdom. That’s my main focus. So I don’t really think about anything else because it’s really important to be successful as a tag team.” Kanellis also gave her thoughts about the growth of AEW’s Women’s division over the past several years. Kanellis stated “Well, when any division starts you really don’t know how they’re gonna blend and they have tons of their own self-made stars, you know? Lots of in-house AEW brand exclusive stars. And I think that’s incredible. They have such a strong women’s division and I think they’re starting to really find their groove. Everybody from new faces like Jade Cargill and veterans like Toni Storm. These stories are starting to come out, and it takes time to get there. It takes time to build. I think right now is really one of the best times I’ve seen the AEW women’s division.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Indies & Misc. Wrestling

Pro Wrestling Guerilla recently announced that Masha Slamovich, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, and Shun Skywalker are the next official entrants for next year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament on January 7-8, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Wrestling belt maker Top Rope Belts recently announced that they have created and delivered a new set of championship belts for Impact Wrestling. These new belts keep the same design as Impact’s previous belts but are more shinier in appearance.
During a recent interview with the Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz podcast, Joe Hendry gave his thoughts about his current time in Impact Wrestling and praised Impact’s creative team for being very helpful fleshing out his character in the company. Hendry stated “I’m very fortunate. We’ve got an incredible creative team at IMPACT Wrestling. I’m just a sponge, just soaking up all the information that I can. It feels amazing to collaborate with the creative team. I haven’t really been able to collaborate in this way before, so it’s really fun. I’m learning from that aspect of things all the time. On our creative team, there’s obviously Scott D’Amore, we’ve got Robert Evans, we’ve got Jimmy Jacobs, who are just real sources of knowledge for me. So a lot of the time, what I love is the creative process. Robert and Jimmy have put a lot of effort into helping me take what was kind of like, there was something there, and then let’s build it and put it across on TV as best we can. So that’s been amazing from that perspective.” Hendry also stated that Tommy Dreamer has been very helpful with his advice on how to improve his in-ring work. Hendry stated “Also from an in-ring perspective, I feel like Tommy Dreamer’s kind of taken me under his wing as well, and Tommy’s very good at a lot of the things that I need to work on the most. On the other side of things, the other day I was just kind of discussing move sets and ideas that I had with Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley. It’s one of those things that you don’t want to [leave] people out because it would be like 50 other people I’ve collaborated with in some way. But it’s so cool. I’ll be 10 years in in January, I started training in 2013. There were so many years where it just felt like the same, the same, the same, but whereas now, I just feel like I’m becoming a better performer every day, every show, and it’s very exciting. All I’m focused on is being the best I can be.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During the same interview, Joe Hendry gave his thoughts about his recent Impact Digital Media Championship win over Brian Myers. Hendry stated “The TV [taping] the next day, I don’t know what happened. I’m not questioning it. I genuinely had a moment on the second set of tapings where the show was still going on, I’d just won the belt. Me and Brian Myers were on first. I thought, I just need to take a walk for five minutes and just register what’s happened. No one noticed me taking five minutes to walk out because the fans are all watching the show, they’re pre-occupied with that. I remember just walking through Sam’s Town and I thought you know what, I’ve got my order done at Dunkin’ Donuts. I’d just like a black coffee. I’m walking there, and I’m going, ‘What’s going on? Something’s up.’ It just felt so weird to me. You know the whole Mandela Effect? You just feel like you’ve accidentally drifted into a parallel universe or something like that. I’m walking through the lobby and I was kind of jet lagged as well, and I was walking through the lobby, and I had this moment where I went, I’ve died. That’s what it is. I’ve died. Of course it went this well. That’s how not used to being booked well I am. So I actually thought I may have died and was living out of a simulation. But it turns out this has actually happened, so I’m very excited.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
Wrestling Revolver recently announced a new match for the card of their Season Finale event on December 3rd in Clive, Iowa. This is a singles match of Billie Starkz vs. Marina Shafir.
As noted before, Konnan has been suffering from kidneys-related issues due to complications from a bout he had with COVID-19 earlier this year. During a recent episode of the K100 w/ Konnan & Disco podcast, co-host Konnan provided a health update stating that there are a lot of candidates for a potential new kidney and he is grateful for those willing to donate their kidney to save his life. Konnan stated “I don’t really like to talk about myself or make myself the victim or, poor guy, that’s not me. But, something really nice happened man. I had a lot of, lot of candidates say, ‘Hey, I will donate a kidney to you.’ I’m very touched and so, I haven’t gotten back to anybody yet, but I will and somebody’s gonna save my life bro and that’s a beautiful thing so, it restores my faith in humanity which I have very little left in it. I wanna thank all the people who offered this, it’s a beautiful thing. So, one of the things that I was having problems with and I don’t know if I told you about [it], I haven’t slept in like five or six months… I’ve slept an hour a day, two hours a day. I stay up 50 hours straight, no problem and I found out that the reason was because I was so stressed out that I couldn’t find a kidney and the last few days, I’ve slept three hours but three hours to me is gold bro.” Konnan also revealed that he recently was hospitalized over an illness that was caused by him being outside for a lengthy period of time in “30 below zero” weather during a television taping event for Lucha Libre AAA. (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their January 4, 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan. This is a TJPW International Princess Championship match of Trish Adora vs. Miu Watanabe (c).
All Japan Pro Wrestling announced that they have pulled Shotaro Ashino from the remainder of their on-going Real World Tag League 2022 tournament due to him recently suffering a dislocated right shoulder injury.
New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Super Junior Tag League and World Tag League 2022 Finals on December 14th in Sendai, Japan. This is a Six-Man tag team match of Kazuchika Okada, Tama Tonga, & Master Wato vs. Jay White, Taiji Ishimori, & Gedo.
In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, NJPW talent Kazuchika Okada gave his thoughts about NJPW and Stardom’s recent co-promoted Historic X-Over event and the possibility of future co-promoted events between the two companies. Okada stated “I think it’s a good thing that we have such a large audience. I wonder what the company will do from now on, and maybe it would be better to get involved from time to time. STARDOM wrestlers might bring back New Japan customers, and vice versa. I think it was a good way to go. I think we should fix what is wrong with it… But I don’t think we should do it too often. The Olympics and the World Cup are not interesting if they are held every year. I don’t think anything will change unless it has that kind of value. If we do [it consistently], people will say, ‘It was just like this last year, wasn’t it?’” (English translation via PostWrestling.com)
During a recent episode of the Filthy Four Daily podcast, co-host “Filthy” Tom Lawlor gave his thoughts about his tag team match with Syuri against Zack Sabre Jr. and Giulia at NJPW and Stardom’s Historic X-Over event this past weekend. Lawlor stated “I had a lot of fun I will say [at NJPW x STARDOM Historic X-Over] … Yeah [it was what I was expecting]. I’d have to say I’m happy with it. What a show. I mean really, I was just amazed by the entire show overall and how well it came off and I’ve been in Tokyo since Friday and I’m leaving on Wednesday and I’ve been riding a high since Sunday night and I don’t think it’s gonna stop until probably the next time I get to wrestle again so, I’ve got a few weeks that I’m gonna be quite happy with the way things turned out. Kind of a stressful environment not knowing what you’re getting into. Historically, on Historic X-Over, I will be the first-ever mixed tag match in history between these two companies which is quite amazing when you take a look back and a lot of people go, ‘Ah man, he’s a big STARDOM fan.’ Yeah, but the first match I watched was 18 months ago. Really wasn’t that long of a period and in that time, I have absolutely grown to love that company. It is my favorite company to watch in wrestling and Syuri Kondo is my favorite wrestler in the entire world and to be able to team with her was a highlight of my career so far in MMA, wrestling. I’m pretty sure you can probably tell the amount of admiration that I have for her, her work and not only her but the rest of the STARDOM roster as well and I am just so f*cking happy that the people who watched that show loved it. I could not be filled with more love after seeing the feedback from that entire show so, hats off to STARDOM and New Japan. What a great weekend.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)
CJ Perry, former Lana in WWE, announced on Twitter that she recently had a wrestling training session with Natalya. No other details regarding this recent training session was given by Perry.
During a recent episode of the Wrestling Perspective podcast, Major League Wrestling talent and current MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone gave his thoughts on the future of his wrestling career. Hammerstone stated “If this is the peak of my career, and it’s because the ball was in my hands, and I didn’t run with it, or when the next opportunity came, I don’t capitalize, I won’t be okay with that. I there’s just there’s nothing like, you know, being cemented in the history books and although I’ve done things that are without a doubt going to be in the history books of wrestling, you know, I think I want to leave a bigger footprint left behind, I think there’s still some of those things like, you know, I’m not gonna lie, like, I think every wrestle fantasizes about, you know, wrestling on the WrestleMania stage, things like that. I don’t know exactly what is next for me, you know, and I’m being honest, like, I’m not trying to give you the politically correct answer. I’m not trying to make my boss happy. I really don’t know. Because as a man, it’s hard to really soul search and realize, like, Well, would a couple of extra zeros make you happy? Or do you need to be, you know, making less money, but really doing the character you believe in? Or do you want to be having the matches? Or does it doesn’t need to be something International? I’ve really been doing a lot of soul-searching and trying to figure out what’s going to check all the boxes for me, because what we see way too often in this industry is guys who you ask them, ‘What would make you happy?’ They say, Oh, ‘I just want to provide for my family and then they get signed to a $100,000 contract or a $300,000 contract.’ Then, what are they doing? They’re on Twitter bitching and trying to they’re asking for the release because they’re not happy, and the last thing I want to do is end up miserable in this business because I follow what I think I’m supposed to do. So I’m still very much trying to figure out exactly what the next steps forward are. But I know if it ended all right now, I’m not done.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
During a recent interview with Fightful, Eric Bischoff gave his thoughts on the changes in the wrestling industry since his days in charge of WCW and what aspects of wrestling he feels has suffered the most in today’s era. Bischoff stated “What’s changed? I think the emphasis on physical performance is much greater than it was in the past. Which I think is great. However, character and story have suffered. So there’s so much emphasis put on high flying, super athletic, ‘Holy shit’ or ‘This is awesome,’ trying to get the chant and that’s cool, and I get it and it’s fun. But when you sacrifice story and characters in order to achieve that, I think it hurts the product in the long run. I think that’s one of the things it’s suffering from now. Now, do I get mad about it? I don’t really care. I just notice it. I’m not in the business any more. So I don’t, as we say in the sticks, have a dog in that hunt. But it’s obvious to me.”