WWE: Cody Rhodes on Chelsea Green “Makes The Most Of Everything” & Next Generation Lacking Same Mindset, JBL on “Vince McMahon Saved WWE During Pandemic Era”, More News

Cody Rhodes Comments on Chelsea Green “Makes The Most Of Everything” & Next Generation Lacking Same Mindset

A recent episode of the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast featured Cody Rhodes as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rhodes’ thoughts about his praise of Chelsea Green for making the most of everything she is given in WWE and his belief that the next generation of wrestlers don’t have that same mindset.

“If you come to WWE, here’s a girl named Chelsea Green. She just won the first-ever WWE Women’s US Title. She is somebody who, everything you ever give her, makes the most of it. It seems like the generation that’s coming, and I could be totally wrong, this could just be old-man speak, it doesn’t seem like they have that mindset. I always went into it thinking the biggest I could possibly be. I met a guy, this was during my time away from WWE when I left, I remember him saying to me and my wife in the car, because he was running his own promotion, he said, ‘I don’t know why everybody thinks so big.’ In my mind, I’m like, connecting with Brandi (Rhodes) on a telepathic level. Like, ‘This guy sucks.’ Like, why wouldn’t we think big? Doesn’t mean we’re gonna hit big, but I’d rather go for it all, go all in. Go for it all, and then see where I land.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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JBL Comments on “Vince McMahon Saved WWE During The Pandemic Era”

A recent episode of the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast featured WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield as the guest. One of the topics discussed included JBL’s thoughts about the pandemic era in wrestling and how then WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon had asked him to do some commentary work for the company.

“During COVID, Vince called me, and he goes, ‘I need an old voice on television.’ I was sitting right here on my couch, and Vince McMahon on the phone comes up. I’m like, you gotta be kidding me [laughs]. Because right there, you have no idea what’s happening with COVID. You think the whole world’s about to end. The phone rang, so I answered, I said, ‘This is the only phone call I would answer.’ He goes, ‘Well, are you coming?’ I go, ‘You know I am.’ He goes, ‘We’re in Orlando, we got no audience. I need an old voice to be on commentary, somebody that people recognize.’ So I said okay, I’ll be there.”

JBL also gave his thoughts about his belief that McMahon saved WWE during the pandemic era.

“We’re going down there trying to keep the company alive. I can tell you, almost everybody in the company was against Vince running. Everybody was against it. All the press was against it, everything. ‘How dare he do this?’ Now, when I got down there, Vince said, ‘Ah, it’s just nothing but the flu.’ He said, ‘If I don’t, I lose all my TV contracts,’ and it’s what they’re wanting to do because those TV contracts of live events became worth exponentially more. You thought they were going to be worth exponentially less, is what you thought during COVID because we didn’t know if the world was ending or not. Everybody wanted out of those TV contracts. Well, the way Vince wouldn’t violate it was by running shows without a crowd, and because he did that, and I cannot emphasize enough, everybody was against it, because he did that, he got these billion-dollar TV contracts out of it. Man, he saved the freaking company with that. It was unbelievable, what he did by doing all that. Vince his entire life has constantly been one step ahead of everything and everybody else in wrestling.”

JBL also gave his thoughts about if McMahon was concerned that FOX would have dropped WWE if they could find a way out of their television contract during the pandemic.

“They would’ve. He said it straight up. He said it. If they have a chance to get out of these contracts, they’re gonna get out. He told me that when I done there. He said that, almost exactly what you said. ‘They’ll get out of it if they can. I’m not gonna let them. I’m not gonna let them bankrupt my company by getting out of something and using a pandemic as an excuse.’ Not really an excuse, I get that, but he had a chance to run during it, and by doing that, they couldn’t get out of the contracts, and he ended up getting these billion-dollar TV contracts out of it

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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WWE News & Notes

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured WWE ID talents Kylie Rae, Zayda Steel, Bryce Donovan, Ice Williams, Brad Baylor, GAL, Jordan Osais, Ricky Smokes, Cappuccino Jones, Zara Zakher, and Jackson Drake shown in attendance in the crowd.

Tuesday’s WWE show also featured Oba Femi interrupting the announcement for NXT Male Superstar of the Year award announcement. Following the show, WWE announced on Twitter that Femi was the winner of the award for the 2024 NXT Year End Awards.

Netflix recently added several new WWE-related programming to their service including RAW Vault, SmackDown Vault, and NXT Vault for their international subscribers.

WrestleTix reported that this past December’s 2024 Holiday Tour for WWE drew an average attendance of over 8,800 per event. It was reported that this past year’s overall attendance was up 65% compared to their 2021 Holiday Tour and up 23.3% compared to their 2022 Holiday Tour but down 9% compared to their 2023 Holiday Tour.

WWE recently released three new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was an Open The Freedom Gate Championship match of SHINGO vs. Johnny Gargano (c) from Dragon Gate USA Heat 2013. The second new video was a “The Rock and Hulk Hogan agree to WrestleMania match” from the February 18, 2002 episode of WWE RAW. The third new video was a “Goldberg shocks The Rock in WWE debut” from the March 31, 2003 episode of WWE RAW.

NXT talent Nathan Frazer reflected on Twitter about his 2024 year in wrestling and his tag team partnership with Axiom. Frazer stated “2024… it’s been a year that neither of us could have ever predicted. Somehow we stumbled upon being one of, if not the best tag team in the world right now. And through it all, we’ve legitimately become brothers. Brothers argue. Brothers fight. But brothers always have each other’s back no matter what. ‘Fraxiom is fine’ isn’t just a funny little tagline, it’s real. Here’s to being fine for many more years, amigo.”

NXT talent Giulia also reflected on Twitter about her 2024 year in her wrestling career. Guilia stated “Happy new year‼︎! 2024 was a year full of changes—two moves between promotions, injuries, and relocating to the United States. It was challenging, but every moment made me stronger. I’m thankful for the amazing rivals, new challenges, and everything I’ve learned. Here’s to making 2025 the year of Giulia!“

In a recent episode of the Kliq This podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and co-host Kevin Nash gave his thoughts about why the Kliq were not an actual faction in wrestling. Nash stated “We never wrestled together. It was a backstage political group. I’d say we were a bunch of cutthroat motherfuckers that held a lot of people back. [Smiles] See, I said that with a straight face, and people will buy that. ‘He even said it.’ No, it was five guys that loved the business and had very like psychology, and if you didn’t, we’d beat it into you [laughs].” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)