Triple H recently spoke with NBC Sports to promote NXT Takeover: War Games this Saturday night on the WWE Network. Here are the highlights:

Confidence in The Undisputed Era group:

“I think they’re talented guys. You’re never 100 percent sure with anybody who walks in the door, but there are certain talent that you see come in who have an innate ability right away. Are there things we have to work on with them? Absolutely, they’re learning every day. The one thing I liked about those guys and why I was confident in ‘giving them the ball right off of the bat’ is because when we spoke and talked about things, they absorbed it. They’re sponges. They’re students of this. They want to learn.

“They’re not walking in the door going, ‘I know, I know how to do this.’ They’re walking in the door going ‘Wow, I have this opportunity to work with Shawn Michaels at the Performance Center, or with Terry Taylor, or this person, or that person.’ They can learn TV production from all of these different people. They are wide open to it. To me, that’s what makes you successful. It’s the guys that walk in going ‘ah, I got this’ that make it difficult. When you have someone who just wants to be a student, wants to learn and wants to, no matter how good they are, just take their ability to a whole other level.

“In this business, you constantly have to be willing to morph, grow, and think differently because it’s the nature of the beast. There are guys who have that hunger and desire to constantly evolve and you can see it from the first time you speak to them.”

Bringing back the War Games concept:

“For me WarGames has always been a very viable concept. It wasn’t just a name, it was a branding of a match that was meaningful in WCW. It’s something I’ve always had interest in. I’ve always liked the concept as a fan. As we move forward with NXT, it’s really started to become its own brand. We’ve had opportunities to do different things, whether that is ladder matches, or cage matches. But there was an opportunity that came along, given the weekend with Survivor Series and given the position [NXT] is in to brand something out and create something that NXT could own.

“It seemed like the perfect time to bring it out, so I dusted it off. Throughout the years, I was aware of Vince’s feelings about it. There were some things about that match that he liked and there were some things about the concept that he didn’t necessarily think worked, especially in today’s world. So I brought it back up to him and we walked through the process and I said here’s the way I think we can make this match work for us and he liked it, agreed with it, thought it worked great for NXT and was real happy to do it. So here we are.

“When you do this, the goal is not to go backwards. My goal isn’t to make people go, ‘oh is this as good as it was back then?’ I want to put a slightly different spin on it, so that it begins again and takes a life of its own because it can’t be what it was. I grew up watching it in the Dusty [Rhodes], [Ric] Flair, Four Horseman vs. the world sort of iteration of it and this cannot be that. It has to be today’s version of it. Hopefully it’ll be something that our fan base really enjoys. I think the NXT fans are going to love it. I know the talent is very excited about it. When we announced the match and word began to spread on the Internet, a bunch of main roster talent came to me and said, ‘oh my God, you’re doing WarGames? Anyway I can do something in that?’

“For me, it’s also a cool nod to Dream [‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes]. It’s cool that his vision is able to continue.”

WWE has officially announced that they would be holding upcoming NXT television tapings in Atlanta, GA at Center Stage.

The tapings are slated to take place on January 4th as well as February 1st and February 2nd. Center Stage served as the home of WCW’s Saturday Night TV events from 1989 through 2000.

Drew McIntyre, Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane, Aleister Black, Ember Moon, SAnitY, The Undisputed ERA, Johnny Gargano, Roderick Strong are all advertised for the tapings. Tickets for all three TV tapings will be available starting Friday, Dec. 1, at 10 a.m. ET.

Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks recently spoke with Rolling Stone to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Reasons they are avoiding signing with the WWE:

Nick: That has some to do with it. Other parts, the schedule’s just crazy and there’s a lot of elements to that. There hasn’t been a right situation for us to go there, so that’s why nothing’s ever gotten to the point where we did go there. There’s never been a scenario where they called us or pitched an idea or any of that. The only communications we’ve really only ever had was a few years ago. They wanted us to come in for a tryout and at that time we felt like we were above tryouts, because we felt like we had enough work for them to watch and we didn’t have to go there to do that. That was the last time we really communicated with them about coming to work there, but now I don’t know. It would have to be a situation we’d be comfortable with and a situation we really wanted to do, because like Matt said, we’re in control of our characters now and we’re having a blast and we like our schedule. We’re very happy.

Matt: It’s funny, because when you’re a teenager your goal is to go there, and you don’t care what the circumstances would be, you just want to go there. But now, when you mature as an adult and a performer and you’ve built these characters and personalities for years and you do it yourself like Nick and I have, now we’d have to hand over the keys. And that’s terrifying. It’s like, “Here’s all this hard work that we have done, now please, please don’t ruin it.” That’s difficult and that’s a gamble.

Nick: We have 13 months left on our current contract, and I have no idea what we’re going to be doing in 13 months.

Matt: What’s so funny is that, only in pro wrestling, can a company threaten legal action on you, but then probably offer you a job a year later. Of course [the WWE] is interested. They’d be interested in just taking us just so New Japan and ROH doesn’t have us. In no other business would that be a thing.

Wanting CM Punk in the Bullet Club:

Nick: Matt and I have been saying this a lot lately: We would love to work with CM Punk. I think it’s just a matter of time for him to realize that he’s missed so much. I don’t think he realizes that the fans would just be so happy to see him back. To be able to work with him would help business even more, wherever that would be. It would be huge if we could get him over at Ring of Honor or New Japan and work something out. That would be one of my main goals, to get him back into wrestling

Matt: I talk to him a lot. I bugged him for like, I don’t know, a year or two? I was really aggressive and at one point I realized that I should probably let him make his own decisions. He knows that there’s an offer there and he knows that I’m the first phone call that he should make if he decides to get back into the business. He’s told me that, he says when or if or ever he does decide to possibly get back into it, I’ll be the first guy he calls. It’ll be interesting. Whether or not he plays on our team or an opposing team, it’d be fun. When we’re talking about guys, another guy would be Bryan Danielson [WWE’s Daniel Bryan]. I don’t see him necessarily joining Bullet Club, but he’d be a fun guy to wrestle or to work with or whatever. Just to have him in the ring with us would be incredible.

Raw Tag Team Champion Cesaro recently spoke with The National’s Graham Caygill to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His dental injury at WWE No Mercy:

“Well, I knew I hit my teeth really hard [against the ring post] and I just felt all the blood. There was so much flowing and I couldn’t stop it. But I was full of adrenaline and every time you have a title match on a network special, pardon the pun, it is special, and I just wanted to win those tag titles and get through the match. I feel that if you are a true competitor nothing will stop you and some teeth shoved up my jaw certainly didn’t stop me.”

“They are a lot better. I am still not able to bite anything with my front two teeth. Like I said they went up my gums, and I fractured my jaw bone that is over my teeth and beneath my nose. I fractured that and they had to pull the teeth back down. Now I have lovely braces so to all the kids with braces out there, I feel your pain.”

Teaming with Sheamus:

“It has been a lot of fun. Probably the most fun that I have had in my WWE career. We knew we each other a little bit and were kind of friends. But when we began to tag it began to click and we have become really good friends over time and by now are best of friends. I think the best part for the WWE Universe is they were able to watch the whole journey happen in front of them on WWE TV. As you can see now we are having an absolute blast.”

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada recently spoke with Fox Sports Australia to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His run in TNA where he was given a stereotypical gimmick:

“For me, [it was a] good experience. TNA doesn’t care about [having a] good match. But they taught me about character, for a TV show and for the cameras. So it was good for me to become ‘The Rainmaker.’ So, wrestling, being strong, having good matches? I learned that in New Japan. But as a TV character? TNA was good [for me].”

Chris Jericho coming to NJPW to face Kenny Omega and a potential match with Jericho:

“[I found out at] Power Struggle in Osaka. I didn’t know that news. I was in the locker room watching the show same as the fans. I thought, ‘Woah! What the?’ I’m OK. I just want to enjoy, as a fan, Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho.”

Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff recently spoke with Chuck Carroll of CBS Sports to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

The Young Bucks cease and desist situation with WWE:

“To be really honest with you, that was between them and WWE. I think they handled it perfectly. If they were to ask me my advice, I would probably have advised them to do it the way they did it. This is beyond Ring of Honor. It’s nothing that happened under our watch. We didn’t have anything to do with it. They acted very responsibly. They are very, very good businessmen. Not only are they gifted performers, they are very good businessmen, and they’re smart about how they do business. I think in their minds — I don’t speak for them — it probably wasn’t worth a war.”

Ring of Honor’s new streaming service:

“Yeah, we have an app coming out in the first quarter. It really became developmentally the right time to do it. We saw an opportunity. We had a long discussion about it. We looked at the business model and how it impacts our business. We just felt that this was the time to create our own Ring of Honor stream. … Well we might continue [PPVs on] both. I would like to migrate personally to stream model, because a lot of people are watching on those devices anyway. And the quality is so good. And you know a lot of those boxes are hooked up to big sets and smart TVs and stuff like that. I’m not ruling out traditional pay-per-views, but the world is going that way.”

Former Attitude Era Superstar Pete Gas of the Mean Street Posse recently appeared on X-PAC 12360 to talk about various topics. Here are some of the highlights:

Shane McMahon’s helicopter incident:

“I didn’t even know, I was working and my phone starts blowing up about Shane- you know asking if Shane is okay. I didn’t know what was going on so I hit the news and I see it, so I called him, and I said ‘obviously you’re alright because you’re talking to me’ and he says ‘Yeah, I am fine…’. And the thing is that he won’t sell anything like when he last jumped off the cage against Kevin Owens, he was hurting and I called him, he no-sold me as usual. And then I find out he cracked ribs- so I called him back and I said, ‘Don’t kayfabe me, you always do that.’ And he says ‘Yeah, I cracked a few ribs, I am a little sore, but I’ll be alright.’”

Two things he regrets in his wrestling career:

“There are two regrets in my career that I wish. One, is that we got to work with Hunter and got to learn from him and to me he’s absolutely brilliant. We did vignetts with him and he called me a bucket head; that was fun and stuff but I mean actually working with him in the ring, like actually learning in the ring would have been amazing.The other thing was when we first started we took a stunner from Stone Cold in MSG on a house show. We came out with The Rock, and it was a huge thrill. We got a stunner from Stone Cold, beer poured on us Rock came in and  gave us a double peoples elbow in MSG – Stone cold wasn’t happy the way we took the stunner & unfortunately, I think because of that, we didn’t get to work with him as much, and I don’t think he wanted to work with us. One day on my bucket list I want to apologize and say sorry.”

Moment Vince McMahon said he was proud of him:

After we became involved and got contracts we weren’t allowed to drive with Shane. And Vince and Shane were driving together- and I remember the phone ringing and I was driving and Rodney answered, and Shane said ‘Put me on speaker so Gas can hear.’ And he said, ‘Guys someone here wants to talk to you.’ I get goosebumps every time I say this because it’s the one and only time Vince has ever said this, ‘Boys, the ratings came out, you guys had the highest rated 15 minute segment in wrestling history on cable.’ Then he went on to say, ‘ I’m proud of you.’ We never heard that from him, never heard it again afterwards. That is in my head forever.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a new blog entry over at his official website where he gives his thoughts on various topics. Here are the highlights:

Ric Flair’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary:

“Big week for wrestling themed  documentaries as Tuesday Nov 7 the Ted DiBiase film, The Price of Fame, will debut nationwide in theaters for one day only at 7 pm in all time zones.  Plus the Ric Flair 30 for 30 from the brilliant Rory Karpf premiers at 10 pm ET on ESPN. I’ve seen the Flair docudrama three times and it  is a gripping, raw, honest story from the man himself on his professional life that damn near destroyed his personal life. Rory did an amazing job over two years to get this body of work to our TV’s. I can’t encourage you enough to watch both these amazing bodies of work that will likely stay with you for a long, long time and I say that in the truest sense of the word.”

Sunday’s Bound for Glory PPV:

“Most fans want great execution and logical booking and some things are much better being ‘predictable’ than not. That’s simply my two cents. BFG was a solid show that had its share of booking issues but the look of the show and the looks of the small arena was good. However, like many fans often proclaim, I would have made some tweaks to the card. The goals of any rasslin creative entity should always be to attempt to put the talents in a position that they can best excel based on their skill sets and the overall makeup of the card. The overuse of duplicate or like spots with extensive gimmick use does no one any favors on anyone’s card.”

Chris Jericho facing Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12:

“Just my take but how any of us can complain about Jericho vs Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in January of 2018 is a head scratcher. It was excellent booking and creative and the two Winnipeg natives will rock the Tokyo Dome and sell tickets. This is the best way for them to monetize this window of opportunity without question. It’s been a long time since the Dome went clean on January 4 and this match should certainly help regarding that matter. I read where the NJPW goals  was to sell 30,000 for WK12 which is a tremendous number but  the Dome’s capacity for baseball is 55,000 and obviously a bit more for wrestling. I’m looking forward to calling this match on AXSTV a few days after it originally airs.”

Chad Gable spoke with The Nottingham Post to promote the current WWE European tour. Here are the highlights:

Shelton Benjamin replacing Jason Jordan as his tag team partner:

“I was disappointed in the fact we had a lot more to offer than we showed on Smackdown. We won the tag titles but that didn’t show what we are capable of. I’m very willing to try something new though. It also let me show what I can do as a singles wrestler.

“I hope me and Shelton get a chance to show our personality. The new team is something we’re working on. It so new to us and we have to get to know each other. We share the amateur background and that helps a lot. He’s considered a veteran now. He’s had a lot of success. He’s been stuck with a new kid and that could be frustrating for him, but we’ve had some success and he’s fully on board. I am too. Once we really get on the same page we’ll be formidable.”

Adapting to the WWE style:

“Coming in, I was big fan of technical wrestling but I quickly had to learn that is a small part of what we do. It took me a while to get to grips with that. I credit the Performance Center a lot of that. We had to do a lot of what we call promo classes and I was thrust in there from week one.

“I was thrown in front of 60 people I’d never met and it was just the most gut wrenching thing for me. It killed me every week. It was high and anxiety but like anything else, it gets easier week after week.”

You can read the entire interview here.

The card for New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 event on January 4, 2018 is starting to take shape.  New Japan announced on Monday that ROH World Champion Cody Rhodes will defend his title against Kota Ibushi.

?1.4??????2??????
???Cody??????????“ROH?????”??????https://t.co/OG16ixX79P #njwk12 #njpw pic.twitter.com/Idhbfwbfcp

— ?????????????? (@njpw1972) November 6, 2017

With that match set, here is the updated card for the show:

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Match: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Chris Jericho

IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Jay White

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: Marty Scurll (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kushida vs. Will Ospreay

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

ROH World Championship Match: Cody (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

Johnny Impact, who is set to challenge Eli Drake for the Global Title at this Sunday’s Bound For Glory PPV, recently spoke with The Mirror UK to promote the event. Here are the highlights:

Possible WWE return:

“Yeah, it’s kind of tough to answer that question. Because wrestling is wrestling and you can never say never in wrestling. You never know what is going to happen in the next six months. There’s a ton of people in WWE who I haven’t had the chance to wrestle, who I would love to have matches with. But there’s still a ton of people outside of WWE who I haven’t had the chance to wrestle, who I would love to have matches with. I would love to see Lucha Underground continue to grow and become something bigger than what it is – the same for Impact. It feels rewarding to be a part of something from day one like Lucha Underground and see it grow to what it is now. We had a screening party to celebrate the season finale and we were celebrating that at the same time as building up for Bound for Glory. Then at the same time I had a huge title defence against Dr Wagner for AAA. So it’s a really good time and it’s a fun time and I don’t think I’ve ever been in this business where it felt there was a better time to be an independent wrestler than right now.”

Facing Drake at the event:

“Yeah, I’ve known Eli Drake for years because we both live in Los Angeles, but I had never worked with him prior to coming to Impact. I was really impressed. It’s going to sound like a backhanded compliment, but he really exceeded my expectations. He’s really stepped up his game. That’s the exact thing that Impact needs right now. Unfortunately for him, I can take even bigger steps, so when my game gets stepped up, he’s in trouble!

That’s the exact word, underrated. He has levelled up his ring work, that’s really what I was mentioning just then. He’s always been heralded for his mic skills and they are still there, but he’s really stepped up his ring work, which is cool, because that’s what I feel the champion of a promotion needs to do.”

Former WWE Superstar Sean “X-Pac” Waltman talked about various topics during the latest episode of his podcast, X-Pac 12360. Here are the highlights:

Emma, Darren Young, and Summer Rae being released by WWE:

“I understand a lot more with Summer Rae but I would have given an opportunity for Darren to come back and actually have some matches. I am going to go out on a limb and say he’s not gonna have a hard time getting work in the independent scene, if he chooses. And Emma, I’m bummed out by that , I was kinda rooting for her because there are a ton of girls that are more gifted athletically and what not, but she really goes out there and works her butt off. Here’s the thing, these things are bumps in the road or roadblocks we run into in life or in your career. They are most often timed opportunities in disguise and I believe Emma will do just fine, I believe Darren will be just as fine as well.”

Lio Rush’s tweet about Emma being released:

“I did see the Lio Rush thing , it was a bummer … but it got blown way out of proportion…And I didn’t realize everyone had piled on him when I commented on it. I quoted his tweet, I just said ‘sad to see this from you,’ because I was one of the guys that put in a word for him. All this backlash should be the end of it, that should be the consequence and that’s it.”

Daniel Bryan wanting to return to the ring:

“I just think that a person should do the things that make them happy. I’d hate to see somebody go and cause any more long-term damage health wise. But we have our journeys and he has to take his wherever he feels like taking it. It is more of a risk but here’s the thing, we’re all every single one of us, even the most healthy one of us are one bad bump away from being paralyzed for life, so there’s that way to look at it too. We can adjust and most of us do adjust our styles (In ring) over the years, as our bodies get more beat up. I would assume that Daniel (Bryan) would be mindful of these things before he steps in the ring.”

A new match has been announced for NJPW’s (New Japan Pro Wrestling) Power Struggle event.

Trent Barreta will challenge for Kenny Omega’s IWGP United States Title. The match was officially announced after Barreta challenged Omega at Sunday’s Road to Power Struggle show. This marks the third time that Omega will defend his title since winning it in Long Beach this summer.

Four title matches are set to be featured on the card. The event is slated to take place at the Edion Arena in Osaka this Sunday. Here is the updated card:

— IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Kota Ibushi

— IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Marty Scurll

— IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Trent Barreta

— NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki defending against Toru Yano in a bullrope match

— Sho & Yoh vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH in the finals of the Super Junior Tag Team Tournament

— Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Cody, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

— Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, KUSHIDA & Hirai Kawato vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku

— Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi

— The Young Bucks vs. Dragon Lee & Titan

— David Finlay vs. Katsuya Kitamura

Cesaro recently spoke with The Baltimore Sun to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His match at WWE TLC PPV:

“It was crazy. That’s the one word to sum it up. Starting with Kurt Angle being part of The Shield, to Kurt Angle being back in a WWE ring, being in the same ring as Kurt Angle. Then there were chairs, tables, ladders … garbage trucks. You name it.”

“Selfishly, I was very happy about it. I was a big fan of Kurt Angle when I was growing up. Actually, his book is a big part of the reason that I work out so hard. I thought I was working out pretty hard myself when I was younger, and then I read his book and realized that I needed to step it up, at least a little bit. I knew I may not be able to match his output, but I was going to try my hardest. He had a big influence on me and it was pretty awesome to be in the ring with him in his WWE return.”

Possible one-on-one match with Angle:

“100%. I would love to be in a one-on-one match with him. That’s a dream match for many people, myself included.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Keith Lee recently spoke to ESPN to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His decision to leave Ring of Honor:

“You know, when I made that decision, I was 100 percent comfortable with it then. I felt like I made the right decision. Other people will tell you, ‘Now it’s justified — now I made the right decision.’ No, I made the right decision then, and I’ve been able to capitalize on opportunities given to me. I think that knowing that I was going to get opportunities to push myself and have the matches I believe I’m worthy of, and opportunities to be in a position where I can stand out or have the opportunity to run with the ball, so to speak, meant more to me.”

Working with Matt Riddle:

“Matt Riddle is a very unique competitor. I think more people are trying to emulate his style nowadays, but his style, as a wrestler, is something I enjoy. We’re actually somewhat similar in terms of how we carry ourselves too. I’m a fairly laid-back fellow and I often just enjoy myself in a ring. And Riddle is very much the same. But when he gets pushed to another level he becomes a very intense animal, so to speak. And so getting in a ring with him, automatically, if you are a true talent, it’s going to push you to another level.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Heath Slater recently appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

The success of fellow 3MB members Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre:

“Those two guys are like my brothers and I love them to death and I am so happy for both of them. Jinder is doing great, Drew is doing great, they are both great and all I can say is that I am happy for them. I just need to beat up Brock to become the Universal Champion and we can all unite like Transformers and make that big 3MB comeback again but I am pretty sure that is not going to happen (laughing) so that is like words in the wind. But I am very happy for them and they are awesome dudes and hopefully they get more success.”

His free agent storyline in 2016:

“It was so much fun. I wish they would have kept it going and I just wish that somehow they would have kept it going but winning the tag titles and getting that contract was amazing. But in my mind and what I was thinking was as a free agent on Smackdown and doing all the interruptions and all this stuff it was getting steam and you could feel the energy when you walked in the building and when I would break up stuff and do all that nonsense, it was one of those things that could have gotten me sympathy. If we would have lost that night and if I showed up to RAW the following week and did the same thing on RAW to try and get an opportunity again and to keep it going but they just wanted to end the storyline I guess. It was amazing winning the titles and it was Rhyno’s first time ever winning the tag team titles and was cool because he tagged with guys like Tajiri and Stone Cold Steve Austin and never got the titles and here comes Heath Slater and we win the titles. The story was good, the people were good and it was a lot of fun.”

If he tried to work elsewhere during that time:

“I tried. I tried to do that. I wanted to wrestle in EVOLVE and work with Drew and I wanted to do stuff like that. Guys that I know and worked before that won’t act a fool and go AWOL and be out for themselves, lets have a good match and let people believe this storyline that I am doing and I pitched it but they turned that down real quick.”

You can listen to the entire interview here.

Linda McMahon, who now serves as the administrator of the Small Business Administration under President Donald Trump, recently spoke with The Washington Post to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Lessons she learned in WWE that prepared her for SBA administrator:

“When WWE started, it was primarily the live event business and we expanded it to licensing, to music to publishing to pay-per view and to networks. I created and grew a business. I understand what businesses go through, the ups and downs, the good cycles and the bad cycles. I learned about strict cash management, the impact of regulations and the need for providing health-care insurance to employees. I have walked the walk and talked the talk of our small business communities, so I can really be a strong advocate on their behalf.”

Her favorite sport:

“Well, professional wrestling is an entertainment product. For pure sport as a spectator, I like the pace of basketball.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Former Ring of Honor World Television Champion Marty Scurll recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Wanting Steve Austin to appear with him at Wrestle Kingdom 12 next year:

“I actually have a different wrestling legend in mind for my Wrestle Kingdom entrance,” said Scurll. “One that I have met on a podcast. One who likes to drink a little beer, raise a little hell. Put up the middle finger. But I don’t want to ruin any surprises. My lips are sealed.”

His next major goal:

“More important than headlining the show is shocking the world,” said Scurll. “Giving the people something they would never forget. There’s always talk about Conor McGregor getting involved in wrestling, so why not ROH? Put him in the ring against ‘The Villain’ at Final Battle. Maybe have my pal ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin in my corner. These are the kind of things I want to do for this business. The possibilities for the future captivate me. There’s so much good stuff to come.”

You can read the entire interview here.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a new blog entry over at his official website where he gives his thoughts on various topics. Here are the highlights:

AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor:

“Enjoyed watching WWE TLC on the WWE Network from my home in Norman.  The last two bouts were, as they were designed to be, the proper show closers. AJ vs The Demon was the best match of the night and one that I am somewhat sure that we will see again some day as it’s simply too good to not feature again when it can receive a more structured and timely creative build.”

Rumored Survivor Series card:

“From the rumor mill, IF Rollins/Ambrose face the Usos at Survivor Series in Houston NOV 19, I fully expect that match to blow most of the card away no matter what else is booked. You heard it here first. Those two teams have the ability to re-create the tag team scene in WWE and make tag team wrestling as in vouge as WWE has done with the women grapplers.

Based on what I have heard the Survivor Series card is going to be loaded with RAW vs SDLIve bouts that should facilitate the talents to have some fresh bouts with new people which always seems to make things better.”

Jeff Jarrett being gone from Impact Wrestling:

“Troubling to hear that Impact Wrestling has severed ties with co-founder Jeff Jarrett within the past few hours. Jeff had taken a leave of absence, which generally isn’t a good news sort of thing, and then was permanently separated from Anthem the now parent company of Impact wrestling. I am pulling for Impact, their talents and personnel in a big way but as long as they have a weak USA TV clearance, any success that they may have in the future likely will be limited. If they can create some new stars and produce solid TV shows, who knows in this wacky world of TV with so many options for a company to utilize including digital.  

In the meanwhile, I hope that Jeff Jarrett resurfaces as he’s expected to do. Jeff is a wrestling lifer, like me, and this is what he loves and knows best. Regarding any other issues that may or may not be prevalent, I can only hope that all these issues are remedied in a timely manner for Jeff and all involved.”

Former WWE Divas Champion Brie Bella recently spoke with The Belfast Telegraph to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

WWE signing the women from India and the Middle East:

“I think it’s incredible. I just love when you see how the world is becoming more open, and you’re seeing women in WWE especially breaking these barriers. We’re literally witnessing history. It’s open to any country in the world to now be a part of WWE.”

Women possibly headlining WrestleMania:

“I feel like for women, we’re on the way to main eventing WrestleMania. I feel like we’re on the way to where it won’t even be about the women and the men, but just Superstars. I really love that, and I couldn’t be more proud of the women in WWE.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Petey Williams recently appeared on Interactive Wrestling Radio to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

The reason he decided to return to Impact Wrestling:

“Scott D’Amore just asked me to do that. Kind of! That’s the short story of it. The long story is Scott D’Amore called me because he said my name had been coming up a lot in creative meetings. I said, “I’m just not interested in wrestling again. I’m totally content with my life. I love my family, my wife, my kids, all that kind of stuff.” Scott D’Amore and i are very close. He’s the guy that trained me to be a wrestler and got me into TNA, Impact Wrestling now, and all that kind of stuff. As we were talking, he was like, “How are your kids doing? I thought maybe your kids might want to see what Daddy used to do.” Kind of tugging at my heart strings. (laughs) I actually brought up the question to my wife. I said, “Hey, listen to this ridiculous conversation I just had with Scott D’Amore.” I told her about it rolling my eyes as I go along. She just looked at me dead in the eyes and said, “Do it!” She was a big supporter of me coming back. If she hadn’t had supported it, I would have probably just been content with not wrestling again. But, here we are!”

The status of Impact Wrestling:

“I think it is on the up-swing. Here’s why it is on the up-swing. If you look at right before we got on Spike TV, in 2004, we were FOX Sports Net. Then, in 2005, our contract expired with Fox Sports Net and we were finding a new network, shopping the show, seeing where we were going to go. During that time, our show (Impact) was kind of like, on the Internet until we got our Spike TV deal. The guy writing the show, at that time, was Scott D’Amore and I felt like it was some of the best wrestling writing we ever had on the show. Once we got onto Spike TV, new writers came in and then you had the Vince Russos, whoevers and whatnots. It kind of got saturated and everyone’s different ideas… Whatever! Now it’s back and one of the head writers, one of the guys on the creative team, is Scott D’Amore! He writes what the fans want to see. He doesn’t try to make it super-intricate in detail and hard to follow. Very basic. But, it is the very basic emotions all the wrestling fans feed off of. Scott D’Amore gives that to them. I think that’s good wrestling television. That’s why I think it is on the up-swing. That was part of me coming back too! He told me all the guys on the creative team and these were guys I thought wrote good TV in 2004 and 2005 when we were on our first up-swing.”

Why he retired suddenly in 2014:

“I did everything I wanted to do in wrestling. I kind of escaped the wrestling business without any long term super life threatening injuries. I said, “I’m still young, I can still do whatever I want to do.” I only had one kid at the time. I retired pretty much 1 month before my 2nd daughter was born. I said, “I’m good. I made my mark on wrestling.”

You can listen to the entire interview here.

WWE Mae Young Classic participant Candice LeRae recently appeared on Ring Rust Radio to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights.

Participating in the Mae Young Classic:

“It’s still really insane to me that it even happened. I kind of feel like I did after I got married where I was seeing my name, like this new last name and I realize that I’m married and thinking did this really happen and even though I had all the pictures and stuff. Same thing with the Mae Young Classic. I got all the WWE.com accounts tweeting at me and all this stuff and I just don’t even believe this is actually happening. My husband came home from work the one day and said, “Alright, you ready to watch it? It’s airing tonight.” I said no way this is actually all real. Still to this day it’s insane to me because it is something that I’ve wanted since I was a six-year-old little kid. It’s super cool and I felt like I’ve been preparing my entire career for that. That’s what everything was for so I could have that opportunity. I used to think I got into wrestling at the wrong time and it was never going to happen for me because I was a little different than some of the other girls that I was around when I first started wrestling. I’m starting to realize everything happened as it was supposed to and I got into it at exactly the right time so I am very thankful.”

Possibly signing with WWE on a full-time basis:

“I would love to end up there. I’ve turned down other opportunities just in hopes of the opportunity to come to the WWE someday. Obviously, my dream has always been to wrestle for WWE and have a full-time contract there so I kind of felt if I was going to go anywhere else or do anything else I was cheating myself out of my lifelong dream. It is still to this day my ultimate goal so I’m being very hopeful and taking it day by day and crossing my fingers.”

Allie recently spoke with Sportskeeda to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Jeff Jarrett no longer being with Impact Wrestling:

“Well, I had a really good relationship with Jeff. I knew Jeff when Braxton [Sutter] and I actually worked for Global Force in the UK. We did a tour, and we also did some of his shows around the US, so both Karen and Jeff we knew pretty well. They’ve really been great with us. I’ve had a great relationship with both of them for a while. We haven’t been back at TV, so it’s gonna be different without them, but I know the company is in really good hands, so I’m not too worried.”

Working with Gail Kim:

“Well, I’ve looked up to Gail since before I started wrestling and I actually heard so many stories about her at the school I was training in — Squared Circle Training – Gail also did some training at that school. So, I heard so much about Gail, how athletic she was, how amazing she was. Then to be able to debut for Impact Wrestling against Gail, and now flash forward to Bound For Glory to be able to share the ring with her during her retirement year, it’s kinda like mind-blowing for me and it’s an honor to share the ring with her.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Johnny Mundo recently appeared on X-Pac 12360 to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Facing Eli Drake at Bound For Glory:

“I am really excited about Impact and I got Bound for Glory coming up, it’s me versus Eli Drake for the Impact title…I think that from the first taping in Orlando that I was at, to the last day; I feel like I saw his wrestling evolve. His mic work evolve, his confidence shot through the roof and he’s doing a really good job of carrying the brand of Impact on his shoulders right now. There’s a couple times we hung out and got food after the tapings and he busted his ass in the business for years and years and a lot of people don’t realize that. I can’t say enough good things about Eli Drake.”

Reuniting with Joey Mercury:

“Amazing! First of all, I’m jealous. He’s in better shape than I have…Did you see his abs? I was supposed to be the abs guy in the team. He’s got me beat, it was cool. I think that’s one of the cool things in wrestling. We had such a crazy career, the two of us. We we’re like best friends for 2yrs. We traveled together, we rode together, we wrestled together, like every show for 2yrs. He got let go, I stayed, he came back. We traveled together for a few months and got let go again. He came back as an agent and we had this long-term friendship.  APW,  in San Francisco, was the first time we tagged together in 10 years. It was super fun and it felt like we picked up where we left off. All the MNM references and our timing. It was cool, I look forward working with Mercury.”

Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) spoke with RealSport to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

If they have a dream match:

Fandango: “Earthquake and Typhoon? We pretty much based our entire careers, our whole tag team style, on Earthquake and Typhoon.”

Breeze: “Alright, it’s like, I don’t see the connection there, but okay [laughs].”

How the Fashion Files sets them apart from other Superstars:

Fandango: “I think we’ve obviously had segments and wrestling matches on Raw and SmackDown just being single competitors, but I think doing the Fashion Files weekly right now brings a different entity to the SmackDown show. It’s something different, it’s comedic relief between matches, so it’s kind of something that separates us from the rest of the roster. It’s bringing something different to SmackDown every week, and we take pride in making these skits as funny as possible every week. We really take it seriously. But I think, like, when we’re getting ready to film the Fashion Files every week, we’re just two dudes having fun backstage. And it’s not overly micromanaged, where we have to perfectly hit everything on the script. It’s pretty much us getting some material and just having fun with it and trying to make it our own. I think it really comes across as us just having a good time. The looser it is, the more fun it is, and that’s when the best material comes out.”

You can read the entire interview here.