Mickie James is back with TNA, according to ImpactWrestling.com.
The former Knockouts Champion returned at tonight’s Impact Wrestling tapings from Glasgow, Scotland.
Her return will take place on the February 20th edition of Impact.
Alberto El Patron was a guest on Pro Wrestling Illustrated‘s new podcast this week and spoke in-depth about why WWE wrestlers are “terrified” about rocking the boat. He also explained why he decided to sign with Lucha Underground instead of TNA. Here are the highlights:
Why He Chose Lucha Underground Over TNA:
“I don’t have anything but respect for TNA. They made a really good offer to me, and I’m really grateful for that. The reason I didn’t go there is because those guys at Lucha Underground helped me in all my legal proceedings against WWE. So I owed them that. It was not a matter of not wanting to go to TNA. It’s just that Lucha Underground and AAA, they paid for my legal services. They introduced me to my lawyer. And the reason I’m working right now is because of them.
WWE wanted me to stop working in the United States for a year. And that was going to happen if it wasn’t for these guys. I’m a stand up guy. If you help me, I’ll return the favor one day. That’s what I’m doing with them. Plus, they made me a good offer.”
Why WWE Wrestlers Are Terrified:
“Now everybody’s talking about how passionate I am when I’m doing my promos in Ring of Honor and the House of Hardcore in Philly and all those other places. And all I can say is that you can feel the passion and the love because that’s who I am. That’s me. That’s the real Alberto. In the other place, I never said anything because I wanted to. And if, for some reason, I changed one line, they were all mad and would be fining me. So people need to understand, when you work for that place, you are like a robot. You need to do exactly what they say and how they say it … You could get fined over everything … Everybody is terrified. We all were—or they are—terrified of changing something or trying something new. Of course there are some exceptions who can do and say whatever they want. But that rule doesn’t apply to 90 percent of the wrestlers. ”
Alberto said he’s currently making as much money as he was during “good years” in WWE.
WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan recently spokewith BANG Showbiz regarding the possibility of a return to the ring in WWE.
“I got some advice from a wise man, his name is Vince McMahon and he said, ‘Never, say never,'” said Hogan. “I’m back home in the WWE, this is where I started, I’m home and to end the legacy and put the period on the end of the sentence I am training right now like I’m getting ready for the WWE Championship.
Hogan continued, “You just never know when Hulk Hogan is going to tear the house down. It could be any time, it could be anywhere. I am training and getting ready for my last match, my last run or my retirement match. It’s not over until the fat lady sings and I haven’t put the period at the end of the sentence yet.”
“The Hulkster” also spoke about possibly competing in a match at WrestleMania 31.
“If it happened I would want it to be the greatest match of all time, of course,” said Hogan. “If it’s the end of my career and a huge emotional send-off that would be great, or if it’s the beginning of another huge run for Hulkamania and me chasing the dream of winning the WWE title, that would be brilliant. I’m thinking very positively about getting back in the ring.”
Check out the complete interview at ContactMusic.com.
– When Paul Heyman got a big pop from the fans in Philadelphia during his backstage segment with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view this past Sunday night, the decision was made to not introduce him in the arena before the WWE World Heavyweight Championship triple-threat match.
– The Bunny from Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” group may be gone from WWE. There were plans at one point for a Bunny vs. Adam Rose exchange during the Rumble match, but as seen last Sunday night, that never happened. Additionally, The Bunny hasn’t appeared on WWE television in quite a while.
– The 2015 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view drew an advanced sellout of just under 14,000 fans at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WWE announced during the show that 17,164 fans were in attendance.
(Credit: F4WOnline.com)
– It was announced on this week’s episode of NXT that Sami Zayn’s NXT Championship will be on the line when he battles Kevin Owens at the next live NXT TakeOver special on February 11th. After Kevin Owens refused to sign his contract to fight Zayn because the title was not going to be up for grabs, NXT General Manager William Regal announced that it will be a championship match.
– The NXT #1 Contender’s tournament continued this week, with Baron Corbin defeating Bull Dempsey and Adrian Neville defeating Tyson Kidd to advance. Next week’s episode will feature Neville vs. Corbin and Finn Balor vs. Hideo Itami in the semi-finals. The finals will take place at NXT TakeOver.
– Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake are the new NXT Tag Team Championship after defeating The Lucha Dragons on this week’s show. Murphy and Blake were interviewed after the win:
WWE has confirmed our earlier report that the WWE Network will be #FreeFreeFree for new subscribers in the month of February.
We’ve also received word from several fans in the UK who say their WWE Network billing page says they are getting February free as well.
Here’s the official announcement regarding the free month of February for new subscribers:
WWE® NETWORK FREE IN FEBRUARY
STAMFORD, Conn., January 29, 2015 – Due to the tremendous response from fans to the free November promotion, WWE (NYSE: WWE) will again offer a free month of WWE Network to new subscribers during February in advance of its biggest event of the year, WrestleMania® 31 on Sunday, March 29. During the month of February, subscribers will have access to all of WWE Network’s programming including a live podcast hosted by Stone Cold Steve Austin® this Monday, February 2 featuring Triple H® and the all-new, live pay-per-view event WWE FAST LANE™ on Sunday, February 22.
“Last November we offered a free month of WWE Network to new subscribers with great success, helping us reach the 1 million subscriber milestone,” said Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer. “We are excited to extend the same opportunity in February to those who have not yet subscribed so they can experience all that WWE Network offers right before WrestleMania.”
This past Tuesday, WWE announced that WWE Network had surpassed 1 million subscribers just 11 months after launch, making it the fastest-growing digital subscription service. These results were driven primarily by the successful free November promotion, the launch of the service in the UK and significant additions for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
Like other digital subscription services, such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, fans are able to sign up for WWE Network online by going to WWE.com and can watch WWE Network on their TVs through connected devices such as Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku streaming devices as well as Smart TVs including Sony and Samsung. The U.S. English language version of WWE Network is available direct to consumers in more than 170 countries and territories and recently launched in the UK and Ireland.
WWE Network’s one-of-a-kind programming includes all 12 WWE pay-per-view events LIVE at no additional charge plus groundbreaking original series, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches, exclusive coverage of special events and more than 2,000 titles in its video-on-demand library.
For a complete listing of WWE Network availability by country and device, please click here.
– On the latest edition of WWE Inbox, WWE capitalizes on the “deflate-gate” controversy surrounding the NFL’s New England Patriots, which WWE Superstars and WWE Divas offering advice on how the team can cheat better. Check out the latest WWE Inbox below.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is now taking questions on social media for his upcoming “Stone Cold Podcast” interview with Triple H next Monday night on the WWE Network. Austin recently tweeted the following:
https://twitter.com/steveaustinBSR/status/560607943234953216
– WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie recently noted on social media that she has added Olympic lifting to her Crossfit workouts. Marie says that she’s getting a little bit better at the workouts everyday.
– The Rock recently posted the following photo of himself with pro athlete Donovan Carter and comedian London Brown on the set of his new HBO series, “Ballers.”
G'd up w/ @dcsofly90 @REALLONDONBROWN #OnSet #BALLERS #HBO #Miami #SoulmanInspired Summer 2015. pic.twitter.com/PsNkU9ZJ4C
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) January 29, 2015
– On the latest edition of WWE Fantasy Warfare, which you can watch below, WWE looks at a potential fantasy match between Brock Lesnar and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
– The following are some recent WWE attendance figures:
January 23rd in Trenton, NJ drew 4,500 fans
January 24th in East Rutherford, NJ for the final show at the IZOD Center drew 7,000 fans
January 24th in Starke, FL for NXT drew a sellout of 300 fans
January 25th in Philadelphia, PA for Royal Rumble drew an advanced sellout of 14,000 fans
NXT Champion Sami Zayn recently spoke to The National to promote WWE’s upcoming tour of Abu Dhabi.
Below are highlights from the interview.
On becoming NXT Champion: “It was huge for me on so many levels, professionally and personally. I don’t even know how to begin to put it into words, but it was definitely a career highlight for me.
The match was one of my favourites of my career against one of my all-time best opponents in Adrian Neville, who I have known for years and years, so it is a really huge deal for me to be the NXT champion.
In the interests of full disclosure, from a personal perspective, when I came here, there is a lot of doubts on how are you will do, because I came from an independent wrestling background, and you are not sure what kind of deal you are going to get.
So, for me this is a big symbol of having kind of thrived in this kind of environment in WWE on the NXT level and makes me very confident in that next step forward on to the main roster I think I can do just as well as I have down in NXT. It is very important to me and it means a lot.”
On how important crowd reactions are: “That is a very subjective question and different people are going to give you different answers. Personally, to me, the crowd is the show, that is just me. Someone else will tell you something completely different, it all stems from your background and experience or whatever.
But for the me the crowd is the show and it can make or break the show, and any great memories in wrestling in my life, as a fan, that I remember, that I cling on to, that I think moved me or affected my life or decision to want to become a wrestler or anything like that, if I really stop and think about any one of them, it is all about the crowd at any given moment.
The easiest example is the Rock versus Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8. They are not even moving for the first few minutes but the crowd is dancing. You watch something like that have such a profound affect on these people that it moves you.
So to me the crowd is extremely important and in the case of the night I won the NXT championship I think that is definitely a big factor in why it was so amazing.
Even after the match and all the celebrations, it probably went on for 10 minutes, and they were relentless and just loving it. I could probably watch it back over and over again because I don’t think I will ever get tired of knowing not only was I a part of that reaction, but that I was the cause of it, and that is very powerful to me.”
On rumors of a NXT match at WrestleMania 31: “Obviously it goes without saying that it would be a dream come true to perform at WrestleMania. I really don’t know. I’ve heard rumours, but I put very little stock into them.
But a small part of me feels as great as it would be to be on WrestleMania, you know the likelihood if we were featured in that kind of light, would be probably a five-minute showcase and that is not how you envision your WrestleMania debut.
But listen, a WrestleMania debut is a WrestleMania debut, especially if you are defending a championship at WrestleMania. It would be awesome, it goes without saying. But I would hopefully envision a time when I can be at WrestleMania in a bigger role.”
Check out the complete interview at TheNational.ae.
Who will be stuffed inside a casket? Find out TONIGHT on LIVE #SmackDown at 8/7c on @syfy! http://t.co/GEdILU4oum pic.twitter.com/qzhIzK6Skx
— WWE (@WWE) January 29, 2015
The following is a preview for tonight’s special live episode of WWE SmackDown on Syfy:
– Daniel Bryan will face Kane in a Casket Match.
– How will #1 contender Roman Reigns “embrace the storm” of Royal Rumble backlash?
– Mr. Money In The Bank Seth Rollins is “ready for war”
– The latest from John Cena and Rusev ahead of their first encounter at WWE Fast Lane.
Mr. Money in the Bank Seth Rollins was interviewed by James Delow for TalkSport.com‘s new wrestling podcast, Gorilla Position. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
The Possibility of Wrestling Triple H:
“I wouldn’t mind having a match with Triple H some day, a singles match,” said Rollins. “I know that’s interesting considering our current affiliation, but there doesn’t always have to be an element of hate involved there – it could be a competitive match.
“He’s someone who is a measuring stick, he’s done a lot for me specifically and I’d just like to test the water at some point. I think it would be a really interesting match up.”
Seth continued, “For me, he’s been an incredible mentor. You really can’t ask for a better mentor than The Game himself. If you look at what he’s done in our industry over the last 20 years and his position in the company, It is incredible. He thinks about things so differently too. You may not think that about him – a lot of people may think he’s very vanilla or cut and dry – but man, he thinks about things so differently and he absolutely loves WWE. Just loves it, it is his passion.”
“He’s built for the role he’s in now. It’s an exciting time,” he added.
Ring of Honor:
“They’re a niche product that caters to a different kind of wrestling fan, a hardcore, underground type of fan. But they do such a great job bringing in the best talent on the independent level, because you have no choice but to get better. And if you don’t get better, you’re just going to get shoved back down.”
“So, it is one of those things where if you want to get better and you want to learn, you want to grow as a professional, Ring of Honor is the place to be. I learned so much there in three years, I would never take that back. Even if you said, ‘Let’s go back in time, we can sign you to WWE today and you can skip this Ring of Honor nonsense,’ I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.”
Sin Cara recently spoke with the folks at Whats Up Pub. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On what it’s like to wrestle with a mask on: “It’s awesome, to be honest. For me, it’s been a great experience being able to represent my culture. When I was growing up, I used to see all those masked wrestlers – it was like super heroes to me. In a sense, I feel like a superhero once I put on that mask – like a warrior.”
On who inspired him to become a pro wrestler: “My grandfather was the one who would always take me to the arenas in Juarez to watch wrestling. Ever since I can remember, I just wanted to be a wrestler. It was awesome for me to be able to see Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, all those guys that started in Cd. Juarez, be successful in their careers. That gave me the motivation. If they could do it, I could do it.”
On whether or not there was a time when he thought he could only get so far or felt he should quit: “I went through a lot earlier in my career because of the name (Mistico). I was the first Mistico to ever wrestle under that name, and the name got stolen by a company in Mexico that was using the name and that guy became very famous. I was not able to get a lot of bookings because that company had a lot of power, so I had to change my name to Incognito for a while and went through ups and downs in my career. There were times that I thought, “This is not for me – I just want to quit.” A lot of stuff like that went through my head. I was fortunate enough to have the strength and the faith to keep going and now the tables have changed 360 degrees. Now I’m Sin Cara. I think when you have a lot of faith and you keep working hard anything can happen – I think I’m a testament of that. It’s pretty cool to be able to speak about it now. Everything that I went through, I wouldn’t change, because it’s made me who I am now.”
On what it’s like to be a part of WWE: “It’s a lot of work, man [laughs]. It’s very fun; it’s like a dream come true. We do travel a lot, but I can’t complain. Every time I’m out there, I always think, “This is what I wanted to do when I was a little kid,” so I always take pleasure in everything that I do and have fun with it. I understand that this doesn’t last forever, so I’m trying to do the best that I can while my body can hold up. I always treasure every time I’m out there.”
Check out the complete interview at WhatsUpPub.com.
We reported several weeks ago that WWE was considering inducting wrestling legend “The Crippler” Ray Stevens into the 2015 class of the WWE Hall Of Fame, with his former tag-team partner Pat Patterson being the guy to induct him.
It appears that WWE is going forward with the Stevens induction for later this year at the ceremony during WrestleMania 31 weekend in Santa Clara, California.
WWE recently started putting together material for Stevens’ induction announcement video package, and he is likely going to be the next inductee announced, possibly on next Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
(Credit: PWInsider.com)
As noted, Titus O’Neil’s four second elimination at the WWE Royal Rumble match this past Sunday night was supposed to be a one second elimination to tie Santino Marella as the shortest Rumble reign in history. Due to a timing issue between O’Neil, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, he wasn’t eliminated until the four second mark. Vince McMahon was said to be furious over the mistake, as it was the only spot in the match that was supposed to be timed perfectly.
Speaking of the Rumble match, WWE contacted Chris Jericho on January 19th about being a surprise entrant in the match, however he declined the offer. Jericho is working some non-televised live events for WWE lately, but doesn’t want to return on-camera unless it has meaning and value behind it.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
As noted recently, Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan was rumored to be in the works for WrestleMania 31, however WWE has changed their mind and are expected to go in a different direction.
The recent interaction between Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan is not just social media chatter, as WWE is currently building towards an eventual Ziggler vs. Bryan match for WrestleMania.
Speaking of WrestleMania, another battle royal is expected for this year’s show. There is no definitive word yet as to whether or not the battle royal, which is designed to get as many talents on the card as possible, will be another Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, although there was talk at one point that the match would become a new annual tradition.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
Former UFC contender “The New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni is now training to become a pro wrestler.
Baroni, 38, was a popular fighter during the early Zuffa days of the UFC, known for his rivalry with fighters such as Matt Lindland and Evan Tanner.
Baroni is currently working under Michael Modest, former WWE Superstar D’Lo Brown and TNA Wrestling star Kenny King at the Future Stars of Wrestling gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, with plans of transitioning into the world of pro wrestling.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
For whatever this is worth, there is no longer a restriction on Jeff Jarrett and/or Global Force Wrestling negotiating with Spike TV.
When Jarrett first left TNA, when the promotion was still with Viacom, part of his release stated that he could not negotiate with a network that TNA was on. Now that TNA is on Destination America, Jarrett is free to attempt to negotiate with Spike TV if he chooses to.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– Shawn Michaels has a new religion-oriented book coming out on February 10th called, “Wrestling For My Life: The Legend, The Reality and the Faith of a WWE Superstar.”
– Mexican pro wrestler Laredo Kid had a tryout with WWE last week. Kid told Super Luchas that the tryout went well, and he’s under the impression that he will be brought back in for a lengthier tryout in April.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– 20 men and 20 women tried out for WWE during the past week. Biff Busick was the biggest name on the list of those who were trying out.
– WWE has made a new rule that talent and office people and talent and production people are not allowed to date each other. They do not want talent and staff interaction past a professional level.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
As noted earlier today, one of the main reasons Justin Gabriel quit WWE last week was because he was growing frustrated with his position in the company, being stuck on lower-level shows such as NXT, Superstars and Main Event. He was also the guy under The Bunny costume in Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” group on several occasions.
Gabriel, real name Paul Lloyd Jr., had been looking at other career opportunities outside of the pro wrestling business for some time, one of which may have come through, which made his decision to quit easier.
He had done some acting and modeling prior to signing with WWE in 2008.
Gabriel has already booked some independent wrestling dates, where he will likely use the name P.J. Black, the name he used before signing with WWE. He’s got a booking for Preston City Wrestling against El Ligero on March 13th, and will also appear on some WrestleMania 31 weekend shows on March 26th, 27th and 28th for the Evolve/WWN promotion in San Jose, California. On one of those shows, he is scheduled to work a singles match against Ricochet.
Those close to Gabriel have said he was fed up with the system in WWE and felt that the company was never going to do anything with him.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
Jim Cornette recently spoke with the folks at In Your Head Wrestling Radio about having heat with The Young Bucks tag-team, differences in the South and Northeast wrestling crowds and more.
Below are highlights from the interview.
On having heat with The Young Bucks over their Wrestle Kingdom 9 match: “They blocked me on Twitter!…I’ve never been so insulted. I’ve been in riots, I’ve had a couple of dozen people in their life try to kill me, and The Young Bucks thought they were going to hurt my feelings because they blocked me on Twitter…I gave a review of the show on my podcast…and theirs was the first match, the first one I reviewed…Their match, it was a four-team/eight-man match to open the Wrestle Kingdom show, to give the United States fans that are watching, at least from my perspective, the first look in English language at this great promotion, but nobody really is going to know who any of these guys are except for the hardcores that are going to be watching anyway. You couldn’t tell who was whose partner, nobody got over, it was a mess. They had to go out there in fifteen minutes; eight guys did every move they’d ever known and ever learned to each other; nobody registered it; you couldn’t tell who was on whose side; you couldn’t tell who was going to try to win this thing; it wasn’t even a tag match it was just a mess; and the Bucks also did this move to this guy where one picks him up like he’s going to give him a tombstone piledriver and the other one leaps to the top rope, leaps off the top rope, does a front forward somersault, grabs the guy’s legs, and they give him a spike piledriver. Boom! Cover him 1-2-somebody breaks up the pin, and they all continue the match and the Bucks didn’t even win. And so I made the comment that if somehow two guys had given that move to another guy on a show I was responsible for, and that guy left the arena under his own power, I would fire all three of them…I just gave an opinion; the Bucks got mad; I’m sorry, but it’s true and a lot of people in the business think so. It’s just that they look visually like small children, and they have to make up for it (they think) by doing all this devastating stuff, but the stuff isn’t devastating if you don’t beat people with it. Then you’re just going out there exposing the business because you can do a bunch of moves but you can’t ever actually whip somebody. It’s skewed thinking in my opinion.”
On differences in being a manager in the South versus the Northeast: “Yeah, somewhat, because to be quite honest, and I knew this going in, managers were never put in the place of importance in the WWF as they were down South in terms of the live event and the overall angle/program, because they had the tradition in the Northeast that the managers really just talked for the guys at television and then maybe they’d walk to the ring in the Garden, and down South the managers on the show and the manager with the heel were an intricate part of the whole thing. So, I did basically a lot less. It was a whole lot easier working in the WWF as a manager than it was in the NWA because half the time nobody would even get to me. Literally, in the NWA, in every house show match we had unless it was just something for us to get over the babyfaces were going to get a hold of me, or I was going to take a bump, or I was going to work interfering…and a lot of times with Yokozuna I just walked to the ring and cheered him on and that was it. And I wasn’t going to do stuff they didn’t want me to do, that I wasn’t being told to do, so I just hung out and watched the matches a lot. It was a whole lot easier. It wasn’t as much fun, but it was a whole lot easier.”
Check out the complete interview at IYHWrestling.com.
The following are highlights of Vince Russo’s new interview with Al Snow:
On how long he has been in wrestling: “May 22 will be 33 years since I had my first match in Springfield, Ohio in 1982. I have made a living in the wrestling business for almost 33 years.”
On getting his big break in 1995: “Two things: One – it was a different business… At that time, when I broke in in 1982, it was different in the sense that the locker room that would be full of talent that had been working seven days a week for 10-15 years and that’s all they did for a living… It took a long time to work your way off to get in a spot where you were put in a position to draw… The other reason was timing: I broke in 1982; Vince started the war in 1984 and started buying up all the talent. Vince went around and bought all the workers in the territories.”
On coming up with the “head” gimmick: “Chris Candido was tight with Paul E. I asked him to go to Paul E who then went to Vince McMahon. Bruce Prichard, who was head of talent relations for WWF, rolled my contract for a third year and wouldn’t let me out. I actually asked for my release 90 days ahead of time. Vince put me on loan to Paul E. Paul E. didn’t overproduce you. He had no plans or intentions to me. He was doing this as a favor. It gave me an opportunity to go some place else so somebody would see me on someone else’s TV being a star and I knew I had to do that. I found this styrofoam head in the back and it worked. It caught your (Russo)’s attention and gave me a second opportunity with WWE.”
On whether it took time for “Head” to get over: “It connected pretty quickly…I ended up dislocating my shoulder badly in a match with a wrestler. Paul E. was taking an interest with the head gimmick and was going to get me to do something in the arena with Sandman. Candido went and argued on my behalf to do a vignette. I did a vignette in the locker room where everyone was normal and I was arguing with the head. Paul E. allowed me to do them, he never wrote them or told me what to do or say. He just told me to do these vignettes and film something. I came up with the most ridiculous stuff where everything was normal in a situation and the only thing that was crazy was me interacting and arguing with the head. Thanks to Paul E. for allowing me the freedom to do it, airing it and took advantage of it.”
Russo thought Snow would stay with TNA after doing the guest-referee spot, but he never saw Snow for a long time afterwards. “That thing was the most confusing thing I have ever been involved in. I honest to God have no clue. TNA brought me in. Mick Foley was the special guest referee between Rhino and Kurt Angle. I come out of the crowd out of nowhere, get an enormous reaction, slap Mick which leads to a distraction, allows Rhino to screw Angle. I figured at least the next day at TV I would do a promo or something to explain my actions or something and maybe do a match, since we were there for three days. I could put Mick over and be done with that. I get it. I literally slapped Mick, the finish happens, and Jeff Jarrett asks me to sit in the production meeting, doesn’t talk to me all day. I’m not on TV. Doesn’t talk to me the next day. You (Russo) catch him before I leave and then Jeff talks to me and says ‘I know you’re looking for a job. We’ll figure something out’, said something vague and that was it. To this day, I don’t know what that was about.”
On Grado and British Boot Camp: “I didn’t blow him off. You don’t just get respect in this business. You’re not entitled to anything in this business. You have to earn everything in this business.. I had respect for Grado until he showed up late for an opportunity…Here’s this kid on a TV show, most people would kill just to be on a TV show. To be on a TV show to pursue your dream and get a contract and be a part of an international organization, and a platform to promote yourself. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. You’re asked to come back to work out and you show up late… I’ve been there. You’ve got to have more than a fancy entrance to get me to respect you.”
On Vince Russo’s influence on the business: “…I genuinely have nothing but the utmost respect for you and consider you a friend in this business. I’ll say this and I’ve said this before in other interviews. There are a lot of people, Vince, who owe you for their opportunity and the break they got because if it hadn’t been for you, they would have never gotten it.”
Check out the complete interview at PyroAndBallyhoo.com.
The following are highlights of a new Radio Yorkshire interview with Bobby Lashley:
On being the TNA Champion: “I’m really proud and really happy about the year I’ve been having, just to come back here and win the title before the UK tour, being able to defend it in the UK is a great experience, I really like the opportunity that TNA are giving me.”
On Destination America: “I love the fact we are on Destination America, we were all for it, we knew Dixie would make the right decision and she did, right now since we have worked with Destination America, they have been on our side helping us out with what we do, I think they are trying to build and we are trying to build, I think we will build together.”
On Bobby Roode: “I think we had great matches, moving forward we will have more great matches, I am looking forward to the real Roode vs. Lashley 3.”
On MMA: “I will continue with my career in MMA, I have a contract on the table right now with Ballator, I’m just trying to figure out what I need to do, I just want to make sure it’s right with TNA as well.”
Check out the complete interview above.
Dolph Ziggler continues to campaign for a match against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania.
After the Royal Rumble, Ziggler tweeted Bryan saying, “Yo DB, was pulling for you, brother. but if you really want to steal the show #WrestleMania Im here & angrier.” Bryan simply responded, “I’m in!”
@WWE has since re-tweeted Bryan’s response to Ziggler.
Using the hashtag #DBvsDZ, Ziggler tweeted the following on Wednesday:
“WE signed our lives away… you have no idea, but it’s always been there. introduced as afterthoughts, repeatedly forced to prove why WE belong, told the sky was the limit yet knowing there was no chance… 1 broke through that ceiling after an unprecedented fight, 1 has been banging his head against it for years. 1 is a nice guy with a killer instinct, 1 is not afraid to rub people the wrong way to get what it is his. 1 is thankful & smiles, 1 smirks & says damn right. 2 different, yet legitimate backgrounds. 2 stars who became super purely bc they weren’t supposed to. Stealing the show is a catchphrase. Get over IT! WE sure as hell did! I dare you to take IT away from US! WE already own that RING. WE are the saints…”
Comment below and tell us if you think this is the best possible matchup for both men at WrestleMania.