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:

WWE bringing back Starrcade:

“Love the idea of WWE bringing back the Starrcade theme for a live event coming to Greensboro, N.C. in November.  What point did I apparently miss that has actually made this booking somewhat controversial? Broadcasting Starrcade was a personal thrill for me back in the day.”

Bobby Heenan’s passing:

“Still shaken over the death of my long time friend, and former broadcast partner, Bobby Heenan, this past Sunday after years of suffering and illness that drastically changed his life and affected many of us in a profound way. Bobby Heenan was simply the best to ever combine the diverse skill sets of wrestling, managing, and broadcasting in the history of the pro wrestling game. Arguably the most talented overall performer in the history of the biz was our beloved ‘Weasel.’ Bobby, please say hello wife Jan when you see her, and tell her that I miss her every minute of the day. You always made she and I laugh and that’s always our best medicine.”

Paige preparing for her WWE return:

“Happy to see WWE’s Paige back in the Performance Center getting ready to make her return to the ring on the main roster. The talented, young Brit has too much talent to not be fully invested in the WWE, which can feature her skills better than any promotion on the planet. Plus, earn Paige the most cash.”

Ross also talked about ROH Death Before Dishonor and more. You can read the blog here.

Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion Cody Rhodes spoke with Brian Fritz of Sporting News to promote Friday’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view. Here are the highlights:

Defending the ROH World Title against Minoru Suzuki:

“He’s a maneater,” Cody said of the ROH Title challenger. “He’s a throwback in a sense to an era where you’d go to shows and you know you couldn’t kick that guy’s ass. It’s unlike any match type I’ve ever been faced with and it presents a very well-developed picture for me in the sense that I am a pro wrestler. Minoru Suzuki is a pioneer in the world of mixed martial arts. And he, as a professional wrestler, is an absolute legend.”

His future in pro wrestling:

“I think 2018, we’re (Cody and his wife Brandi) going to make a decision probably between New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor or both,” explained Cody. “Or we’re going to make the decision to go right back on the complete independent brand tour. Who knows. I got my feel of the lay of the land and now I know how I want to approach the next year.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Braun Strowman recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote this Sunday’s WWE No Mercy PPV event. Here are the highlights:

Returning from elbow surgery:

“Six weeks after my surgery, I benched 455 for eight [reps],” said Strowman. “I don’t do a whole lot of heavy squatting stuff anymore because my legs give out really fast and that slows me down in the ring. Mainly, a lot of the stuff I do now is just maintenance. I can’t do the crazy, heavy lifting on top of all the banging around and the travel eventually wears on you, so I just try to look good in the ring. We do this 300 days a year, and it’s a lot on the body, but I am grateful to represent the WWE. This company has given me so many things, and I’ve gone around the world because of them, it’s an honor to be here. You’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to listen, and you’ve got to be tough.”

Advice to UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor:

“McGregor might make it on 205 Live,” said Strowman, before warning, “but he doesn’t want to step in the ring with me.”

Challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Title:

“You’re going to see a new Universal champion crowned when I hold the title over my head,” said Strowman. “I want to be the best at everything that I do in life, and there is only one first place.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Silas Young recently spoke with James Walsh on the most recent episode of Interactive Wrestling Radio to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His Last Man Standing match with Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor:

“Absolutely. Jay Lethal is a guy who has been all around the world, he’s traveled, he’s done a lot! I’m just there to prove that I’m just as good if not better than Jay Lethal. I’m excited to show the fans, the wrestling world, that I’m the guy they should be looking at.

His brief stint in WWE developmental:

“I never was really in the developmental system. I did a week-long thing in OVW when they had a developmental system there. But, I never actually got to join the developmental program because my contract was basically reneged on before I was able to finish the whole hiring process. At the time, OVW had the developmental contract and at the time of signing the paperwork, OVW basically had their developmental contract taken away from them by WWE. I was told, “Sorry, we won’t be following through on your contract.” It was like I had the offer of the opportunity and then had the worst time ever because of them taking it away because of the closing of OVW. Even with that said, the WWE developmental system ahs grown, and grown, and grown over the years. They have the huge performance center, nutritionists, personal trainers, promo rooms…. All these different things, all these good things that I’ve heard about and that guys have told me about. It just seems like they’ve put a lot into the developmental system just letting it grow and grow.”

What makes ROH stand out from the rest:

“That’s a good thing to ask. I don’t know what it is. I think it is the fact of how the company started. It started out as just this pure wrestling company. It started out as just a guy, or a handful of guys, that had an idea and really wanted to bring something back that was special and different. The way it has just grown over the last 15, 16 years… I think that’s what it is! It’s the fact that it wasn’t supposed to be anything and the fans and the wrestling world have taken it over and it has become something big. I think that’s what it is. I think it was something that was not supposed to be #2. But, it grew into that.”

You can listen to the entire interview here.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) recently spoke with Chuck Carroll of CBS Sports to promote this Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV event. Here are the highlights:

Marty Scurll joining the Bullet Club:

Nick: It’s funny though because they just wanted to announce on Twitter that he had joined Bullet Club, and Matt and I right away said there’s no way that could be the case at all. We got a game plan going. Us, Marty and Kenny [Omega] were in the UK at the time. So, we came up with that whole storyline that everyone saw come to life in New York. It was awesome.

Matt: I remember that day we were in the UK, and Marty was panicked because he was like, “we can’t just announce this on Twitter.  That night knew we had to shoot some vignettes. … We knew they had to capitalize on a guy like Marty coming over, because he was getting white hot. … Marty joining was almost a bigger story than Adam [Cole] leaving.

Their goals:

Nick: Oh yeah … It seems like a lot of the guys these days in the WWE talk to us. They ask us questions and want to see how we’re doing, and they see that we’re doing well. So, I think that it opens up their mind like, “hey, there’s life after WWE.” If, for some reason, they get fired or they want to go away, they know there’s a place to go where they can make a good amount of money.

Possibly finding themselves in a situation like The Hardys’ legal battle with Anthem over the Broken gimmick:

Matt: As far as whether Nick and I would ever find ourselves in a situation like that, I don’t think so. We’ve been The Young Bucks for so many years, and we’ve been Matt and Nick Jackson. I have those trademarked so I own those. I own the Super Kick Party trademark. A lot of the stuff we’ve actually legally backed ourselves up. I don’t think that Ring of Honor has the type of pettiness that they would come after us for certain things that we’ve done. We were doing Super Kick Parties long before Ring of Honor. I think we’re in a situation where we’d be okay.

You can read the entire interview here.

Former Ring of Honor World Television Champion Marty Scurll recently spoke with Channel Guide Magazine about various topics. Here are the highlights:

When he found out he would be joining the Bullet Club:

“I only knew a few weeks out. It was a natural fit with myself just about to debut for New Japan, and I had been spending a lot of time with the Young Bucks, who are two of my best friends in the business. I was nervous, but I also love new challenges. My mindset was how can I add to this group? How can I make it better? Rather than what can it do for me. I loved the angle we did for it. That was all down to myself, the Bucks and Kenny. We came up with it all. I wish every PPV we do could end on an amazing cliffhanger. We made Bullet Club the number one trend in the world for a short period. That’s bad ass. That’s what every PPV should aim to do.”

Possibly signing with WWE:

“Right now, I love what I’m doing. I want to conquer ROH and New Japan. I want to continue to push the boundaries and break the mold of what a wrestler without the machine behind them can do. There’s a group of us like minded in that sense, the Bucks, Kenny, Cody, Page etc. In terms of ‘The Villain’ and WWE, I’m pretty sure if they saw opportunity in me to make money, I’m sure they’d let me have a lot of creative freedom. But who knows if they do. I do see a lot of Villain shirts on their programming though. I would love to pick the brain of Vince McMahon. ‘The Villain’ and the ‘Evil Genius’ discussing the business over a steak dinner sounds divine.”

You can read the entire interview here.

GFW World Heavyweight Champion Eli Drake recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to talk about several different topics. Here are the highlights:

Winning the GFW World Title:

“Once I heard the decision was made [to win the world title], I put a lot of extra pressure on myself to not relax or be complacent,” said Drake. “I actually started doubling up my workouts and I was in the ring two or three times a week extra just because I wanted my work in the ring, on the mic, and my conditioning to be second to none. If I’m going to be the face of the company, then I’m going to make sure I can go like nobody else.”

Impact Wrestling competing with Thursday night football:

“I don’t like to use that as an excuse,” he said. “If we’re putting out a compelling product, then we should still have the eyeballs on our product. If you rewind about 20 years, and look at WWE in 1997, they were putting on a great product but nobody knew because WCW made such a loud noise via the NWO. It took WWE another year-and-a-half to make that big comeback, even though they were producing some great stuff with [Steve] Austin and DX.”

You can read the entire interview here. 

Kairi Sane recently spoke with NBC Sports after beating Shayna Baszler in the finals of The Mae Young Classic on Tuesday night on the WWE Network. Here are the highlights:

Winning the first-ever Mae Young Classic:

“I was very proud of myself to be there as one of the finalists. It was surprising that I made it so far. I felt nervous, but it was such a happy day for me.”

Differences between working in front of an American audience as opposed to a Japanese audience:

“I have to say American fans make me happier. I love their reactions. It’s very exciting and fun. It’s as if they’re fighting together with me.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Shelton Benjamin recently spoke with the WWE’s official website about his return to the sports entertainment company. Here are the highlights:

Returning to the company:

“It’s all kind of surreal, and I don’t feel like it’s hit me yet. Since I left the WWE, I moved to improve myself as a performer and come back. I really didn’t expect it to take seven years. So, it’s been a long road and I’m still trying to get used to it. It’s all very surreal. Being back with WWE is an emotional high and a professional high. So far, so good.”

His new tag team partner Chad Gable:

“Without a doubt. Chad is a great athlete, just like Charlie. Before I even get into that, though, Charlie Haas is, to this day, still my best friend. He’s my brother. We talk all the time. WWE created family when they put us together. We worked hard together and he helped push me. When you insert Chad Gable, obviously, there is going to be the comparisons to Charlie. I don’t like to make that comparison because they’re two different people. This isn’t The World’s Greatest Tag Team, this isn’t American Alpha — we are something completely different. But, obviously, there are similarities. They’re both tremendous athletes. They both have great drive, and even in the past couple of weeks I’ve seen Gable show signs of the intensity that Charlie had.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Former Raw Women’s Champion Bayley recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated about various topics including wanting to headline WrestleMania by WrestleMania 35, which takes place in 2019. Here are the highlights:

Her WrestleMania goals:

“I plan on headlining WrestleMania by WrestleMania 35,” said Bayley. “I want a one-on-one match with Sasha Banks. A Fatal Four-Way with Sasha, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte would also be great some day at a WrestleMania.”

Dusty Rhodes helping her in NXT:

“For me, the only way I know how to do this is to be myself,” said Bayley. “I actually learned that from ‘The Dream’ Dusty Rhodes. I was trying to be this wrestler and I was trying to be cool, and Dusty literally told me, ‘You’ve got to be yourself.’ That’s really how Bayley started, and that is what brought me this far.”

Doing CrossFit:

“I started CrossFit before WrestleMania 33, and it’s helped my body get a lot stronger,” said Bayley. “Trying to take care of my separated shoulder is very painful. Going through the pain now is going to help me get in the ring faster, so it’s all worth it. This is what I love to do.”

You can read the entire interview here.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish signing with WWE NXT:

“I’m very happy for reDRagon,” said Nick. “Those guys are so good as a team and I think teaming up with Adam will help the three of them become very comfortable in a WWE setting quickly because they’re really close friends.”

“Bobby and Kyle brought something special out of us,” continued Matt. “We became a better team because of the awesome bouts with them. When conversation comes up about our greatest matches, many of those matches we had with Bobby and Kyle are talked about. Also, they’re two great dudes who I love in real life. I hope nothing but the best for them. They deserve all the success in the world. Seeing them stand tall with that zombie was surreal.”

WWE sending them a cease and desist letter:

“They’re bringing people back from the dead,” said Matt Jackson, referring to the arrival of Adam Cole in NXT. “They’re sending out cease and desists written on toilet paper. And now they’ve taken our dear friend Hangman [Adam Page]. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it felt like they were trying to go to war with us.”

“The WWE apparently can bring people back from the dead,” said Nick Jackson. “That shocked me to my core. I’m very happy for the ghost of Adam Cole though. I hope he makes millions of dollars one day.”

Defending the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Titles at Death to Dishonor:

“The Motor City Machine Guns are probably our greatest rivals ever,” said Matt. “And we look forward to putting these Six Man Titles on the map. Those titles belong to Bullet Club, and we plan to defend them ‘Free Bird Style’. Hangman Page is a young stud who just gets it. He’ll be the talked-about wrestler soon. We have big plans to help with that.”

“Adam Page is so talented and I believe he’s very underrated,” added Nick. “2018 is going to be his year.”

Scott Dawson’s injury:

“I don’t wish injury upon anyone, especially guys trying to provide for their families,” said Matt. “I also love when other teams are creating buzz and making headlines. It makes us strive to be better. But, with all that said, #FTR.”

“I’d actually love to wrestle them one day as a ‘dream match,’” said Nick. “I feel bad for The Revival. I want them to stay healthy and kill it on a huge stage. They deserve a healthy run.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Former NXT Champion Bobby Roode recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His time in NXT:

“NXT brought my passion back. I got the chance to work with all the coaches down at the Performance Center and I was able to pick Triple H’s brain too. Also, working with Shawn Michaels was amazing. He’s been very supportive of me and extremely helpful. This past year was really gratifying on many different levels. To come here with the experiences I’ve had and to have the year I’ve had and be looked upon in the locker room as a leader with people coming to me for advice, it’s still surreal to me. There are so many great minds within this company and I’m learning every day. I truly believe that in this business, you can never learn enough, I’ve been in this business for two decades, but the fun is just about to begin.”

Feeling that he is the future of WWE and his main roster debut:

“This is what I love to do,” said Roode. “I have passion for this, and I’m in the best shape of my life. I’ve been doing this for two decades, but believe me, we’re just getting started.”

You can read the entire interview here.

WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page recently spoke with The Mirror about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:

“It was super powerful. When I gave the phone back to the producer he said ‘what do you think?’ I said ‘what do I think?’ I wish you were f*****g filming him man. What he was saying was amazing’ and he was like ‘oh yeah, we got it’. I said ‘you got what he was saying?’ and he said ‘this is the end of your biopic’. I go ‘oh dude, that’s awesome’, because I had no idea that’s why they put me on the phone with him. I had rung him beforehand. Most people don’t know it was October when he called me and I’d never heard of anybody in the business finding out about going in the Hall of Fame before January. I thought Paul was calling me back. I couldn’t remember what the hell I had wanted to call him about, that’s what I was focusing on. I was like ‘wait a minute, he’s really putting me over’, then the producer said ‘we’ve been trying to find a way to do this, to get the real emotion of the boys when they find out. To do that, we have to stick a camera in their face and then they would know’. He said Paul told him: ‘we’re making the phone call to Dally today’. That was a last minute call by Paul Levesque because he said it just felt right. I’m so happy that can be the ending because it was amazing. Eric Bischoff’s introduction was amazing too.”

Becoming a top star in WCW:

“It’s crazy man. To be in that spot… the best thing that ever happened to me was Sting was going up in the rafters. Now Sting could come down and be the guy, the only guy who really ever saved me. For the guys who have gone in from WCW, of course there is the Four Horsemen, the entire group and of course Naitch going in again by himself. That’s WCW through and through. Of course there is Dusty Rhodes, but he also wrestled in WWE and was already a Hall of Famer. He was at the same level Superstar Billy Graham was, but then The Fabulous Freebirds and Sting, Booker T, even though he was part of us, he had a hell of a run in WWE. But if you really look at it, those and me, to be a part of that group of guys, that means so much. Lex [Luger] deserves to be in there, he deserves his shot and I really hope he gets to be a Hall of Famer and you know of course there are a few other guys too, but that WCW group, is a small group man.”

You can read the entire interview here.

NXT Champion Drew McIntyre recently spoke with The Whig to talk about various topics. Here are the highlights:

Winning the NXT Title at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III:

“The photograph of me there, on my knees looking at the title, that pretty much says it all. All the hard work over the past few years and busting my ass, the physical and mental tol;, that moment, it all felt worth it and the picture just sums up everything I was feeling in that moment.”

His friendship with Jinder Mahal:

“(We took) different journeys. Straight out of the gate, I knew what I was going to do. I had a very clear mission statement. With Jinder, he kind of fell out of it a little bit and he has spoken about his publicly. He wasn’t sure if wrestling, or sports entertainment was in his future. He was getting a little out of shape, he wasn’t quite motivated, but he started pushing, training again, got himself motivated and he got the call to come back to WWE. We kept in contact with each other. Both of us would go back and forth about cutting the negatives out of our lives; both of us cut out the alcohol and the partying, which isn’t productive for an athlete. We started eliminating anything that wasn’t benefiting us, people who weren’t benefiting us, we were just very driven and very focused and we were both on the same page in that sense. Our physiques obviously changed. When you train that hard and try that hard and you’re that driven, pushing each other and pushing each other. It was so cool that our careers started mirroring each other.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Former Global Force Wrestling star Davey Richards recently spoke with USA Today’s For the Win section about various topics. Here are the highlights:

His decision to leave GFW:

“I’ve done a pretty good of trying to juggle the very high demands of wrestling and school, but it’s gotten to the point where my school load would be so much that I couldn’t do both. The last little while, I couldn’t give 100 percent to wrestling or to medicine because I was being pulled in both directions. I didn’t think it was fair to anyone who pays to see me not to be able to give 100 percent. I can still wrestle a part-time schedule, but it’s not really right to expect TNA to pay me a salary with my hopefully being able to commit to a schedule. School needs to come first. That’s the point where I am.”

Demands of his schedule leading to him making a change:

“I’ve always been the kind of wrestler, nine times out of 10, I would take a booking, no matter how much the travel is because I like to wrestle,” Richards said. “I want to get out there, and I want to stay on the top of my game and compete against the best people. The more bookings I take, the more I have to travel. It got to be too much. We’d fly to Seattle to leave David with my mom and then fly to Florida to do tapings and then fly from Florida to Seattle to get David. Then fly back home to St. Louis. Add in my school schedule, and it just became impossible. This is definitely for the best for right now. Maybe when I’m done with school, that will change.”

Becoming an EMT:

“Emergency medicine has always been my main source of interest,” he said. “The adrenaline rush I get from that is in some ways the same that I get from walking through that curtain because you never know what’s going to happen in a match.”

You can read the entire interview here. 

Former Ring of Honor World Television Champion Marty Scurll appeared on the latest episode of X-Pac 12360. Here are the highlights:

Bullet Club merchandise selling in Hot Topic:

“The stuff at Hot Topic has been going really well and every week our T-Shirts have been in the top five. But now it’s got to the point because we have our shirts in there (Hot Topic) and  we are promoting and pushing these shirts (at events). Now we send our fans to Hot Topic looking for the Bullet Club shirts.”

What inspired him to do his Villain character:

“I used to organize kind of a big entrance you know like at Wrestlemania the guys would have different gimmicks for entrances. There was an album cover I saw one day with this plague doctor, and I thought it was cool. So I dressed up as a plague doctor, it was completely out of nowhere it was a lot of stuff I risked. It was the doctors I believe were used back then as the black plague, they would wear these make and a nose to cover up the smell. Dressing up as the plague doctor was only supposed to be a one-time thing.”

What’s next for him:

“I think in recent years to be successful in wrestling, and make tons of money. These days it’s a big part of me is to captivate and exhilarate an audience. – just trying to make wrestling fun again.”

Another title match for Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor XV PPV has been announced. Kushida will defend the ROH World Television Title against Kenny King at the upcoming pay-per-view event, which takes place later this month.

The Death Before Dishonor PPV is set to take place at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 22nd. Several wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) are expected to work the event. Cody will defend the ROH World Heavyweight Title against Minoru Suzuki in the main event.

Tessa Blanchard spoke with the Orlando Sentinel to promote the Mae Young Classic on the WWE Network. Here are the highlights:

Cedric Alexander being instrumental in helping her with training:

“If I ever needed anything, they would help me. After hours, I would train, train, train, six or seven days a week, until 2 or 3 in the morning sometimes. After a long day, Cedric [Alexander] would say, ‘Hey Tessa, let’s get in there and have a 45-minute match and call it on the fly.’ That’s helped turn me into the athlete I am today. I’m so grateful for all of those hardships.”

Advice from former WWE Superstar Carlito:

“I was going through this time where I thought, ‘Why don’t people like me? Why is it so tough right now? Why do people think I’m only here because of [my family ties]?’ Carlito looked at me and he was like, ‘Tessa, you don’t need to apologize for who your dad is, you don’t need to apologize for what family you’re in. You were born that way. But you do need to work hard and you do need to back it up.’ That stuck with me and that’s what I’ve been doing the last four years.”

You can read the full interview here.

WWE Champion Jinder Mahal recently spoke with QC Online to promote Saturday’s SmackDown live event at the iWireless Center in Moline, IL. Mahal is advertised to defend the WWE Title against Randy Orton at the live event. Here are the highlights:

On working with Randy Orton:

“He’s an incredible performer, 13 times champion. Randy is there to ultimately take the WWE championship away from me. It’s my duty to ensure I walk out of Moline the WWE champion.”

Representing India on WWE television:

“It’s a great feeling to be champion, a proud feeling I’m representing India. India is proud to have a WWE champion. It’s very popular there, with a large viewership. Growing up, my uncle was a huge influence on me, and who I go to advice even still now in my current position.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Former WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens recently spoke with the Argus Leader and discussed the possibility of working as a babyface in WWE. 

Owens, one of the best pure heels in the company, says he’s up for the challenge of portraying a ‘good guy’ if the fans get behind him.

“I don’t really know as far as any ideas or plans that anybody would have for that. I think I can make anything work. If I can get people to boo me, then I can get people to cheer for me if I want. I’d be up for the challenge.”

Kevin Owens is also one of the best talkers in WWE and commented on how scripted the promos are.

“I’m sure other performers get different guidelines, and I think it’s a day-by-day scenario of who gets to have more freedom than other people. We always get help with our interviews from our writers, but you learn to find ways to get your own credits instead of using somebody else’s words.”

Not everybody is able to think on their feet and cut a good unscripted promo, but Owens knows he can improvise if given the chance and does incorporate some of his own ideas on the mic.

“Some people are good at it, and other people aren’t as good. But the people who are good at it usually get more leeway of how to speak and what to say because the fact they can carry an interview. I always know where I’m going, and I know what they want me to deliver. But I do get to put my own spin on it most of the time.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Former WWE Champion Batista recently spoke with Uproxx about various topics including coming up with his name in WWE, the storyline with D-Von Dudley, and more. Here are the highlights:

Reflecting on his Deacon Batista storyline with D-Von Dudley:

“Only in WWE. When I first came up, I did this character called Deacon Batista, so it was the same last name, but I was working with this guy named D-Von Dudley and he was doing this televangelist preacher type deal where he was collecting money and I held this big, goofy box and I was a security guard of his money box. So ridiculous. It was horrible.”

Receiving his ring name:

“I actually didn’t. All right, here’s the funny thing about that, because when I was …when I went up, when I was called up from OVW, which was our training facility, they changed my name and changed it to ‘Batista.’ I didn’t realized they changed the spelling of it. Well, I was told the reason they did that was so people would be able to pronounce it easier, and then I was told later by another wrestler, he said, ‘No, you dummy. They did that so they could own it. They just can’t own your name. They changed the spelling, now they own it.’ Which was true. I left WWE without my wrestling name, went back to my real name, and started over.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Zack Sabre Jr. recently spoke with NJPW’s official website about various topics including not signing with WWE, competing in the G1 Climax, his travel schedule and more. Here are some of the highlights:

Competing in the G1 Climax tournament:

“When it comes to the G1, you’re talking about probably the highest quality tournament that I’ve been in. But for four or five years now, I’ve not had any time off. There have been some weeks where I’d wrestle in three countries, in that same week! I’ll have three international flights coming up next week, all within four days. So being in Japan for one month has almost been like a rest for me!”

Not signing with WWE:

“It would be like asking a musician, ‘Why didn’t you sign with the biggest record label?’ I’m just concerned with being the best professional wrestler I can be. …It was really just a personal choice. This is my path.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Triple H recently spoke with Josh Barnett of USA Today’s For The Win to promote the Mae Young Classic. During the interview, he talked about various topics including if the tournament will lead to an all women’s brand and more. Here are the highlights:

If the tournament will lead to an all women’s brand:

“Never say never; you could end up there… We’re experimenting with a lot of different things as far as programming. But the women are a lot different. With the women, you hopefully have opportunities for a lot of these women to beef up the roster on RAW, Smackdown, NXT, and while it’s still a work in progress, we have the intention to be in the United Kingdom as well.

“We want the women to have the same opportunity as the men to be everywhere. You don’t need a separate show, as long as opportunities are everywhere. It makes it feel like less than for them.”

Selecting the competitors:

“We thought we could probably do this with 16 women who were very elite and upper deck. As we started to dig and watch more footage, there were more women. I realized I can do this with 32 who are really solid and high quality. We picked the 32, and it was hard to make the decision of who should go in and who shouldn’t it.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Emma recently spoke with FOX Sports Australia to promote WWE’s upcoming live events in Australia and New Zealand. During the interview, she talked about various topics including her return to action following an injury she suffered earlier this year and more. Here are the highlights:

Her goals in WWE:

“It’s important to have goals and there’s still so much more I want to achieve. I’ve never had a championship. The biggest goal there is, is to be women’s champion. I am the first Australian woman on the WWE roster, that in itself is huge and to kind of broadcast that to the world and put that label on it adds that much more credibility to the title. Things like getting my face on the side of a truck, getting merchandise, there’s all kinds of things I’m yet to accomplish that are on my list.”

Returning from injury:

“I try to go (to the gym) five days a week. I judge it by how my body feels. For instance, I might lift for three days and feel worn out so I’ll do a recovery day the next day and make sure I do some cardio and stretching and sit in the sauna rather than lift heavy. Injuries are always going to happen, it comes with the job but it does remind me to take better care of myself and to rehab even when things start to feel better. The other things like massage or getting stretched out, doing the extra things in the gym to make sure my body is recovering properly.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Triple H recently spoke with Muscle & Fitness about the process of putting together the Mae Young Classic and more. The first four episodes of the tournament have been released via the on-demand section on the WWE Network. Here are the highlights:

WWE naming the tournament after WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young:

“So there [were] a lot of decisions and a lot of names thrown around, and there was a team that went through all that stuff. At the end of the day, we were looking for something that kinda symbolized the transition. And while I think a lot of people would say, like, you know, ‘Why didn’t you name it The [Fabulous] Moolah Classic?’, or ‘Why didn’t you name it after some other female?’ To me, Mae was the one person that, when you look at it, Mae Young started at the very beginning of her life. Got into a men’s-only business and against all conceivable odds stayed in that business and competed much like Moolah did or all these other people. But Mae was one of the only ones that was able to really transition into the modern day.

Mae was able to transition into the entertainment component of the Attitude Era in a way that if you look at the Attitude Era and you look at Mae Young, you can look at Moolah standing next to her. But Moolah was just kinda there in the straight man or straight woman in the equation. Mae was the one that was like, ‘I don’t care. I’ll do it.’ You know, she was half the time suggesting stuff that we’re like, ‘Oh God. Mae, we can’t do that.’ You know?”

If the tournament will lead to a reoccurring event:

‘I do. Not 100% sure what that is. In some ways, I think the Cruiserweights is a different platform that can have its own distinct individual show. I don’t know if the women need that right now. The Cruiserweights, they have a match here or there on RAW, and then they have their own division and their own show on 205. With the women, you have opportunities on RAW, you have opportunities on SmackDown, you have opportunities at NXT. Hopefully, over time you’ll have opportunities in the U.K. You’ll have opportunities in different localized markets. Those are the things, for me, that it begins to spread around.

I would love for the Mae Young to be this recurring yearly, or whatever it is, this recurring thing that is the opportunity for the girls that are out there grinding, for the girls that are out there working at the little armories and the little places and dreaming about that pot of gold to be able to jump on the rainbow and start to take the ride. And for us to scan around the world every year and say, ‘Who do we want to look at this year, and give them that opportunity? Who’s really improved since last year to take this opportunity? Who’s that next level? Who’s that next generation of stars?’ To me, that’s where something like the Mae Young Classic becomes a huge opportunity. And if it’s my decision, yeah it will be exactly that. An opportunity that keeps coming back over and over.”

You can read the entire interview here.