Various: Rickey Shane Page on MLW Signing, Tom Hannifan on Commentary Work Changes, Indies

Mar 15, 2023

Rickey Shane Page Comments on His Contract & Backstage Role with MLW

As noted before, indie wrestler Rickey Shane Page signed an official contract with Major League Wrestling this past February.

A recent episode of the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast featured Page as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Page revealing that his contract with MLW is for multiple years in length. Page also stated that besides his work as an in-ring talent, he is also working as a backstage coach for the company.

“It’s a multi-year deal (with MLW). It’s my first-ever contract with any promotion so, really excited about that and yeah, I’m just super pumped and I’m gonna be working backstage as well, agenting with some of the wrestlers so that’s something I’m very interested in is that part of it, you know? Because you can’t wrestle forever, you can’t take bumps forever so, I’m definitely looking to build the résumé on that side of things and I think MLW is the perfect place for me to do that and yeah, I’m super pumped. I can’t wait to get to work. I’m just excited about doing things. I want there to be a show every day so I can just get there and put my nose to the ground and just work hard and make MLW the biggest thing it can be. That’s really my goal. As I said, asses in seats, eyeballs on MLW, that’s my goal. People sleep on MLW for whatever reason and I’m gonna change that. I’m gonna do whatever I can to help elevate them, because they’re great and they’ve been treating me so good. I have no complaints, wonderful, wonderful people run MLW and they really, really treat the wrestlers right which is rare nowadays and I have no complaints.
When they asked me that (to be an agent), I was very pumped… I’ve done it before for other places. For PROGRESS Wrestling, they’ve had me do it a couple of times. I was a bit surprised that they asked me, but, it’s definitely something I have a little bit of experience in and definitely something I’m interested in and I wanna do more. So I was very excited because, you know, doing it on the indies is a bit different than — this is an actual TV product, so it’s a bit more hands-on. It’s not live TV obviously but, I’m just super excited about it because like I said, it’s a skill set that I like and I feel like a lot of the times, I have better ideas for other people than I do for myself so, and I just like working with talent and helping them see things differently that they might not have thought of and just sharing knowledge because I feel like when I was younger, a lot of people didn’t — it was very different back then, it was very much closed off and people were trying to get you out and the few people that did help me, I remember them forever and I always have a positive outlook on those people that did give me advice like, you know, Tracy Smothers is a guy who always, always, always gave everybody advice. He was so nice, he would sit and watch the whole show and come talk to you. He was never mean or vindictive in any sort of way. He was just there to help and that’s really an example I try to live up to because Tracy was one of the best and yeah, it sucks when you get into wrestling and you feel you’re all alone because no one’s telling you and then these kids, they get yelled at or like, oh, they’re bad, they suck and it’s like, no, no one’s telling them, no one’s helping them so, you need that so I like doing that and I’m really excited about that part of it… A little player-coach action.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Tom Hannifan Comments on His Commentary Style Changes Since Joining Impact

VL Media held a recent interview with Impact Wrestling commentator Tom Hannifan. One of the topics discussed included Hannifan’s comments on the changes he has made to his commentary style since joining Impact in January of 2022.

“I do think I have changed the way I do things. The biggest change, I think, is that I don’t have to talk with the WWE verbiage. When you do commentary for WWE, there are certain words, certain phrases, that you are forced to use because that’s how they want to promote their product on the air. Not having those rules at Impact allows me to show more of myself on the air. People don’t hear Tom Phillips anymore, they hear Tom Hannifan. I am really myself at Impact. I think that it allows me to be more authentic on the mic. Then, because of Impact, I can afford to try some things on the air that I couldn’t do at WWE. The fact that our shows are taped helps because we can see what works and what doesn’t. If I try something that doesn’t work, I’ll be able to see it and correct myself. Moreover, if I try something that doesn’t really work, we can always change it in post-production. Those who watched Hard to Kill 2023 could see that I used some pretty crude language for the Full Metal Mayhem match. That’s a style of commentary I could have never done in WWE. I’m grateful for the chance to do that at Impact. When the timing is right, it’s fun to be able to announce matches of our era with an “old school” style of commentary.”

English translation via Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Tuesday’s MLW Underground show featured Samoan Swat Team (Juicy Finau & Lance Anoa’i) defeating Hustle & Power (Calvin Tankman & EJ Nduka) to be crowned the new MLW World Tag Team Champions.

Stardom recently announced that they will be holding a co-promoted event with Pro Wrestling WAVE called Jumbo Forever WAVE x Bushiroad Fight on April 28th in Tokyo, Japan. It was also announced that this upcoming event was made as a special request by Stardom talent Himeka as part of the festivities for her upcoming retirement from wrestling.

Prestige Wrestling recently announced that Penta El Zero M, Daniel Garcia, Miyu Yamashita, Trish Adora, Queen Aminata, and EFFY will be making an appearance for the company at their Roseland 5 event on April 29th in Portland, Oregon.

Prestige Wrestling also recently announced a new match for the card of their Roseland 5 event on April 29th in Portland:

Shawn Spears vs. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor

House of Glory recently announced a new match for the card of their Final Hour event on April 14th in Queens, New York:

HOG Crown Jewel Championship – Lio Rush vs. Charles Mason (c)

Impact Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Sacrifice 2023 event on March 9th in Windsor, Canada:

Gisele Shaw vs. Deonna Purrazzo

WrestleCon recently announced a new match for the card of their Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow 2023 event on March 30th in Los Angeles, California: