Posts Tagged ‘Elijah Burke’

Former WWE Star Wants To Enter Adam Copeland’s ‘Cope Open’

Adam Copeland is taking his TNT Championship run to the “edge” and he has another veteran with his eyes on Cope’s prize.

Since Copeland secured that TNT Title against Christian Cage at AEW Revolution, ‘The Rated R Superstar’ has fired up the “Cope Open” and have gotten an array of challengers, one being an AEW outsider in Matt Cardona. Copeland came out on top in that battle, but now there’s another veteran looking for such an opportunity.

‘Da Black Pope’ Elijah Burke is very busy this week promoting the Shad Gaspard Memorial Cup, honoring the late star with his Love Alive Charity. Burke is based out of Jacksonville and obviously, that is the home base for AEW. Pope has made his pitch on X to enter the “Cope Open.”

“The TNT open challenge has been a hit, here’s my challenge to Adam Copeland: First time ever matchup Adam Copeland vs. Jacksonville’s Favorite Son “The Pope” at Daily’s Place for AEW Dynamite/Collision. An Experience like no other. Tony Khan make it happen!”

The Shad Gaspard Memorial Cup

Pope has been all around the wrestling industry working for WWE, TNA and NWA, but has been a proactive and positive presence for his Love Alive Charity. The Shad Gaspard Memorial Cup will take place this weekend on April 20 and will feature several stars competing in the tournament including JTG, KC Navarro, Kenny King and Thom Latimer. Also set to appear is Danny Davis and current AEW star, Mark Henry. Information to get tickets are below:

Mark Henry To Attend Inaugural Shad Gaspard Memorial Cup, JTG To Compete

The wrestling world will forever mourn the loss of Shad Gaspard, but Da Pope Elijah Burke has put something very special together to commemorate his late colleague.

The inaugural Shad Gaspard Memorial Cup will take place on April 20 in Jacksonville, FL with eight men competiting in the tournament which includes Gaspard’s Cryme Tyme tag partner JTG. Also competiting in the tournament are the following names:

  • KC Navarro
  • Kenny King
  • Jay Rios
  • T.I.M.
  • Thom Latimer
  • General Obazo
  • 3Prince Agballah

AEW star and WWE Hall of Fame Mark Henry will be in attendance to honor Gaspard.

“We Loved Shad. I loved Shad. I’m there.” 

All proceeds from the event will go towards Burke’s Love-Alive charity, whose mission is to “improve the quality of life to less-advantaged individuals, families and communities through humanitarian effort and charitable donations in Jacksonville, Florida and surrounding areas.” You can donate or purchase tickets at the Love-Alive Charity website.

Shad Gaspard Died A Hero

Gaspard will forever be known to put his son Areyah ahead of himself. On Sunday May 17, 2020, Gaspard and Areyah went to Venice Beach and both were caught in a rip current. When a rescue team came to pull them to safety, Gaspard made certain that Areyah went first telling, rescuers to “take my son.” However, Gaspard got pulled by the current and tragically drowned, with his body being found days later. Gaspard would still wrestle from time to time, but really took a focus on a career in Hollywood, even writing a wrestling television pilot “PinFall” that was getting a lot of eyes on it. He called it a series a tribute that all his fellow wrestlers had gone through.

Shad Gaspard was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2022 being the recepient of the Warrior Award.

The Pope (Elijah Burke) Injury Update

The Pope (Elijah Burke) has released a statement after an injury scare at the NWA Hard Times 2 PPV Saturday night. According to a report from PW Insider, Pope went limp after being thrown into the steel steps during the show-closing angle with Matt Cardona, Mike Knox, and Trevor Murdoch.

As fans were filing out, Burke was still be attended to. He was then taken to hospital with a suspected concussion. He was released from hospital the following morning and is said to be doing okay. NWA has said he won’t be doing anything physical during the NWA Powerrr tapings this week.

Pope released a statement on social media regarding his injury.

“As many of you know I was recently taken by ambulance to a hospital in Atlanta following NWA Hard Times 2. I would like to assure you that all is 100% well with Pope. In wrestling we take our bumps & bruises while continually forging ahead. However, today there are certain protocols in effect to ensure the well being of performers like myself and getting medically evaluated and cleared is one of them,” Pope wrote.

“I’d like to thank the ENTIRE NWA family, many who gave up hours of their own time to ensure Pope’s safety. Thank You ~PHS.”

Ex-WWE Superstar Elijah Burke Forgives Hulk Hogan

The news of Hogan’s WWE Hall of Fame reinduction is a popular topic among the African American wrestling community. Former WWE superstar Elijah Burke is the latest to announce his opinion on the matter.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157555174658976&set=a.282005098975.187278.825768975&type=3&theater

Burke is among many in the African American Wrestling community to forgive Hulk Hogan. Mark Henry and Booker T are among the many African American wrestlers who generally seem to forgive Hogan, but controversy seems to hover over full-timer Titus O’Neil who has gone on record to say that Hogan’s apology wasn’t “genuine”. More on that here.

 

The Pope On Dusty Rhodes Helping Him, His Early Days In OVW & More

https://youtu.be/U7RHHt6RIf4

TNA color-commentator “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke) recently spoke to The Richest podcast about his early career as a boxer and his early days in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On transitioning from being a boxer to a pro wrestler:

“The transition from an amateur boxing background to wrestling was not that difficult, as far as showmanship and the entertainment aspect of it. It wasn’t hard at all because that my main reasoning for boxing was just to entertain. Of course, I trained and did as much as I could to be a good boxer so I could hold my own in the ring. I was more of a tough guy, more of a brawler, a slugger. I grew up fighting, so the boxing part wasn’t hard but my main concern was the fulfillment of that burning desire in me to entertain the masses. However, the only part that was indeed a challenge was restricting myself from throwing actual punches. When I would throw my punches or what not, I would have a hard time pulling it back a bit. So that was the main thing that I actually had to work on, which I did countless times by punching a dummy. I actually learned to throw my first actual wrestling punch from Jim Cornette. One of the ways that I learned to throw fake punches in the wrestling ring, without having legit force that would injure my opponent in the ring, was I would use a light bulb that would hang in the distance and I would do my best to hit that light bulb without damaging it, breaking it or moving it. So if I could throw a good enough punch to a light bulb without causing it to shatter, I think that’s pretty good. I think that as time went on, I felt more comfortable with it and I was able to incorporate my actual boxing strikes in the ring and be safe with it.”

On training and developing in OVW and Dusty Rhodes helping him early in his career:

“Jim Cornette and Danny Davis. Danny Davis is the grandfather, the wizard, of OVW. Those two were very instrumental in helping me develop my character. Jim Cornette said just be you, just do what you do, the people love you. That was basically what it was. On the microphone? On the mic? The gift to gab if you will, that came along with the whole package with Elijah. That’s something that I’ve always done. That’s something that I hadn’t needed to really develop. If there is someone that I would attribute my ability to gab to, I would say my Pastor, Willie May Goodness, from down home southern Jacksonville, Florida. Where I grew up, in church, is where all that came from, The gift of gab and being able to talk on the mic and be comfortable with it.

“If there was anyone that showed me how to convey emotion and allow it to manifest into something more for the viewing audience, then of course that goes to ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes, who I had the privilege and the honor to work with. He was my childhood idol during my time in OVW, prior to my time in ECW. Definitely, it was Dusty who was supportive. Dusty saw me and I went and introduced myself and he stopped me. He said, ‘I already know about you, daddy. You and I we going to have some fun’. I would do my promos and it would be awesome. They would have scripts but he believed in me so much that he would take the script or anything they wanted me to say and he would turn it down. He would say, ‘just do what you going to do, daddy. You let me deal with Stephanie and Vince. You just say what you’re going to say’. That was just so awesome because he believed in me so much. He knew that I could take what they wanted me to do and put it in my own words and hit a home run with it. That’s what we would do all the time.”

Elijah Burke Talks Announcing, Spirit Squad Rumor, & More

Elijah Burke/The Pope was interviewed on the newest edition of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and covered a number of topics. Some of the key quotes:

Transitioning to announcing:

I think a lot of people know that when you are a wrestler and you’ve been doing it for twelve years as an active performer and then all of a sudden things kind of take a shift and the stars align and someone recognizes that your gift can be used in a different aspect. It’s been interesting and it’s been fun. It’s a different type of getting over with the audience. My job right now is to get over a lot of the guys that I’ve wrestled against and I’ve wrestled beside and the transition has been believe it or not, quite easy. It hasn’t been as hard of a transition as many people probably think it would be because the gift of gab is something that I always had.

The importance of the announcers t a show and his ability as a talker:

The night before WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field “Pope” was at an ESPN boxing presentation and was calling the fight alongside Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and once that was over with he looked at me and said how long have you been doing this? When it comes from an analytic stand point it’s not hard at all. What’s hard is the time provided to do so. That is sometimes rough because there is so much that is going on and obviously IMPACT is a fast paced show and often times my partner Josh Mathews who is a jack of all trades and doesn’t get a lot of credit for it but he has so much that he has to cover and so much that he has to get done and you may notice this but throughout the contest when Josh is talking this or that, the Pope has made it my job to bring the action and the focal point back to the two or four people that are in the middle of that ring because that is what wrestling fans want and what wrestling fans are watching so therefore I try to do the boys and the girls credit while they are in that six sided ring.

Why he prefers to call matches without knowing the finishes, which most old-school announcers preferred:

That’s the way “Pope” prefers it. I prefer not to know anything. Therefore, if I am seeing it and looking at it from a fan’s perspective then I can respond and react and say what you are thinking as a casual or regular viewer of the product. That’s what I love to do as a commentator for IMPACT Wrestling, I love to give the focal analysis that the viewer at home is watching as well. I want to translate as my Daddy would say “let me break this down in English so that a child could understand it”. For me it’s always easier and comes across natural, if you know that often times you can tell if something is forced or when a reaction is not a legit or real reaction. Everything that you get from “Pope” is not planned and is real and I’m watching it as if I’m sitting at home on my couch with a good friend of mine and we are back in 1996 watching WCW Nitro and Monday Night RAW.

Is he retired? Where exactly does his in-ring career stand?

I think in due time that “Pope” will have that opportunity. It’s not something right now and don’t think for a second that I don’t miss it, because I do. At the same time I’ve recognized that my job and my role are and I know what it is and that is to be an asset from a commentator standpoint. So I am not focused on anything except bettering my game at the table. I am not worried about anything else but becoming a better and as my partner would say the most “entertaining color commentator” in the business today and that’s what “Pope” wants to be and that’s what I’m setting out to accomplish. Now there will be times in the future and you can take “Pope’s” word for this. There will be times in the future when “Pope” will do a casual appearance inside the ring, I am not retired. Let’s get it out there right now “Pope” is not retired by a long shot I’ve got years left under my belt. I just recognize my role right now and have no problems committing to it and fulfilling it to the best of my abilities.

His thoughts on Samoa Joe, both with regards to their TNA feud and Joe going to NXT:

“Pope’s” feud with Samoa Joe did not receive nor get the type of attention that it should have and I am talking about from a in/out standpoint not from a viewer standpoint. I was openly and to a certain extent let my displeasure be known about it because you have to remember during that time “Pope” had just come off of a feud with Abyss and Immortal and Sting had just left and Kevin Nash walked out so “Pope” was the last guy standing fighting this big fight and I get put in a casket and then all of a sudden “Pope” gets put in a feud with Samoa Joe for no reason at all. However, myself and Samoa Joe made the best of it and had fun with it and that took us to our Lockdown match-up in St. Louis. I had fun with Samoa Joe, it was always great working Samoa Joe and he brought out the best in “Pope” and we definitely did a lot of innovative things. I’ve got to go on record and say how happy I am for Samoa Joe and for him to experience what he is experiencing right now and I wish him nothing but the best of love for him and his family’s sake.

Was he supposed to be in the Spirit Squad?

It’s funny that after all these years, over a decade and only this year I believe I’m answering questions about the Spirit Squad. It’s very true. They wanted me to go up and be in my opinion the “afro-haired chosen black guy” during that time in the group and trust me it was a great opportunity. We sat there and we talked to Vince McMahon himself and Vince said “I want you guys to understand that this is my idea and we are going to make a lot of money”. He said if you are uncomfortable we will send you back down to OVW and we will wait until we get something else for you. I went to Vince and Johnny Ace and said I appreciated the opportunity but with all due respect I don’t feel like I should do anything that I could not live up to in your standards and I don’t want to be a failure and I don’t believe this spot is for me. I was a little worried that I was about to tell the boss that I didn’t want to do it. Either he was going to respect me for it or he was going to punish me for it.

A lot of guys took it to heart that I said no which I never understood because they weren’t in my position or in my shoes and the guys that were going out there were very, very talented and thus when I said no they added Mike Mondo and they added Johnny Jeter and instead of it being four like it was originally going to be it turned out to be five. There was no way that this “big black guy” and 225-230 pounds at the time was going to be running down a ramp, jumping on a trampoline and flipping over the top rope. It was just not going to happen without me screwing up and looking like a fool. I didn’t want to take that chance, I didn’t want to risk that chance and I am happy that I did and kudos to Dolph Ziggler. Just look at him. In my eyes the guy is just a premier performer.

Make sure to listen to th full interview, where he discusses being “New Breed” in the ECW revival, his time in OVW, WrestleMania 23, and more.

Spoiler: Former TNA Star Returns At Impact Wrestling Television Tapings

Former WWE and TNA star “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero will be making his TNA television return on the May 22nd edition of Impact Wrestling, which was taped on Saturday night in Orlando, Florida.

“The Pope” will be joining Josh Mathews on commentary during a six-man X-Division Elimination Match.

It was noted back in March that the former Elijah Burke would soon be returning to the company.

For complete Impact Wrestling spoiler results for the next two weeks, which includes “The Pope’s” return, click here.

Elijah Burke Talks Being In “Django Unchained” Movie, Returning To The Ring & More

Former WWE and TNA star Elijah Burke recently appeared as a guest on The Rack Radio Show. Below are some highlights from the interview.

On his role in the new film “Wounded”: “It’s a really cool, deep, and when I say deep I mean really, really deep film about these five brothers who all have their different struggles after dealing with abuse growing up. I don’t want to give too much away, but each brother dealt with the abuse in their own way. My character, who I play, is named Jeff was lead to alcoholism and was abusive to his wife, went to therapy and everything, well, he went to therapy one time and walked out because it was just too much for him and I think this film is really going to hit home with a lot of people.

It really touched on a subject that a lot of people don’t like to address because we all have, or know someone within our families or maybe friends who have been abused in their own home; kids going to school abused, whether that is physically, sexually, mentally. They’re being abused and this topic, especially amongst men being abused, which we don’t hear about enough, we don’t talk about enough because boys grow up to become men and they always feel that they have to remain solid. To say ‘I’ve been abused’ or ‘I’ve been sexually abused’ or whatnot, to say that in this day and age especially, one would feel like it killed their manhood and credit or vetoes their man card.

So, when I read the script, it sent chills down my body, because like I just said, we all know someone, we are all onlookers if not someone who has been through it themselves so we know about the type of stuff going on. So, once I read it, I was on-board and again the chance to reunite with Matt Goldberg, who by the way did a documentary with The Pope when I was with TNA. I know it’s going to be something real good.”

On what other projects is he a part of: “I am currently working on get involved with, in talk with, a military film that’s coming out; I spoke with some producers about it and we’re trying to see if everything is going to work out because you know Pope’s got a head full of hair on his big head, so I know most military films want you to cut your hair to be clean cropped and we’re just trying to iron out some details and see what’s what and see if it will be worth it and if it’s going to benefit both parties and then it’ll happen.

On if he sees himself getting back in the ring: “Absolutely. A lot of people ask me that all the time and at this point, I feel like (Hulk) Hogan ‘Never say Never, Brother’. I mean, I’m still in my prime, if you will, and I’m ready and, again, it’s all about opportunity presenting itself and it’s about timing. I’ve had some contact made with Triple H and had some words given to and from Triple H as far as returning to WWE and right now it’s about, I assume, timing. So, yes, definitely I want to go back home, home being where I started and I would love to finish up my career there. I’m not finished by a long shot.

For the record, even though I have that sour taste in my mouth as far as the movie goes when I was with TNA, but I had a blast, an absolute blast. Everybody said it at the time as far as putting over TNA and the atmosphere, how great it is; people are always going to say the right thing when they’re under contract, you know? As soon as they leave, they bash the poor people or they talk about the company in so many unflattering ways but I can truly say I had a blast. Yeah, there were bad times as far as un-organization and who is in charge this week and whatever some of the other people have said but when it came to the locker room atmosphere, when it came to that; the family atmosphere and aspect of TNA, it was great. It was really great, be respectful, don’t have anybody walking on eggshells. It was an absolute pleasure. But that year, after a lot of the ups and downs, and the stop-and-goes, my contract came up and I was gracious and I thanked Miss Dixie Carter and that was it.”

On Sting getting his Wrestlemania Moment: “Wrestlemania is huge all by itself, but that was the match I was looking forward to the most. That match had my attention. I worked with Steve(Sting) in TNA for so long, I absolutely love the guy. We are of like mind, we share the same beliefs, as far as our discussions go and everything. I was very excited for him, I remember us having that conversation about that Wrestlemania moment. I am very grateful that this young up and comer, that this young up and comer, year and a half in to my WWE run, that I had an opportunity to wrestle in front of the second largest crowd in Wrestlemania History(at that point). If you watch that match, I just look around and thank the lord for having that opportunity. I remember standing on the ring and Matt Striker is just putting the boots to someone and I am looking around at the audience going wow. I shared that moment with Steve(Sting) and told him you deserve to have it. I was fortunate, I have never taken anything for granted. I was telling him you deserve it, hes probably has had that conversation with everyone. Steve(Sting) was very reluctant for whatever reason, but I am glad he did it, he deserved it. As far as the match goes, I loved it.”

On his Charity, the Love-Alive Charity: “Right now, my main goal, if I may say so, my main goal is to finish the necessities when it comes to my charity, the Love-Alive Charity. That’s something I’ve been working on vigorously all year, me and my partner, she’s wonderful and helps me out with everything basically. It’s been really, really a journey but, I don’t know, I’ll just say that the journey has been something else and I think we’re going to be there by the end of this year, and when I say be there we’re talking about the destination and that’s getting that 501(c)3 down so that we can be solidified; we’re already in as a non-profit but it’s just getting all this paperwork together.

It is just so much and they are relentless as far as all the information that you’ve got to have and every single question has to be answered in page form and I don’t have a committee yet, I just have a few trustees that work with me on this and trust me, me and my partner are working to get it done. We feed people from Burger King every year and I want to make it more than one-time a year and I want to get some investors on board, or sponsors rather, from some huge companies in Jacksonville to make it bigger than it is, and that’s coming.”

On if his work with ‘Wounded’ mean he’s moving from wrestling to acting primarily and what happened between himself, TNA and his part in Django Unchained: “Well, I’d been wanting to do the whole acting thing, and you don’t worry about transition; Pope will follow you wherever you go. You just do what you want to do. I’ve been cutting my teeth for the last couple years or so, 4 or 5 years, even with my last days in TNA and gosh I even hate that it’s was asked because there was this huge film that I was working on when I was absent in my last year of TNA and that was called ‘Django Unchained’.

I was on set for about 3 months, 3 whole months and I don’t know if you saw that movie, because I haven’t, but most of the fighters or mandingos, whatever they were called in the film, they looked rough so I just want you know: imagine how I look, with a head full of hair on my head out looking like Alfalfa, I’m talking a whole lot of hair and all this facial hair. I can’t shave even, I couldn’t have my hair in a neat style for three whole months; I had to go around New Orleans like that. I had go around like that for three whole months.

All of a sudden, I get a call, while I’m on set working for Quintin Tarantino, who is cool by the way and hand-selected me to be Leonardo DiCaprio’s head mandingo, I was supposed to be his guy, one of his prized fighters. I remember reading the script and remember going down and they showed me this wall of 8-16 guys and they showed me the 4 pictures that Quintin Tarantino selected and I was one of them, to be honest, so I was working on the film and I got a call from TNA saying they wanted me back for a Battle Royal for the beginning of the BFG (Bound For Glory) Series and that was on a Thursday Live Impact. Unfortunately, we hadn’t started shooting my face shots yet, my close-ups, my verbiage if I had any; we hadn’t started that yet so, when I was told I had to fly out from New Orleans and fly in for TNA, they decided (TNA) they’d fly be back out as soon as the show was over with so I could make it back for Django.

But, Django’s producers were telling me that we hadn’t filmed in a couple of days, Leonardo’s been out sick, it’s been raining and we may film today and we really need you here today, so, if something happens and you leave and we start to film, we going to have to have back-up take your spot, so just be aware of that. They kept telling me, it’s going to be a big film, it’s Quentin Tarantino, it’s going to be a big film; So, I had to pretty much be loyal to my bread-and-butter, which was TNA and out of loyalty I went back to do it and the very day I was getting prepared for the show and we were going over it with Dixie Carter and I got a phone call saying ‘Elijah, I’m so sorry but we don’t need you anymore; we used our back-up.’ So yeah, it kind of hurt that they decided they were going to film today and we talked about it, so they kinda screwed me out of a good little footstep so far as advancing myself, having a great role and having my name in the credits. I would have been able to appear on the red carpet; it left just kind of a sour taste in my mouth but I felt that I had to be loyal to TNA at the time and that’s what I did. I can’t really say I regret it, but I just wish I had a lot more support and I wish that upper management had understood what this could have meant not just for me but for the company, to have one of their stars involved in this project,; it would have been great. And to this day, I still haven’t watched it.”

Check out the complete interview at RackRadioShow.com.

Elijah Burke Speaks On CM Punk’s Comments About Him, Possible WWE Return

The following are highlights of a new interview with Elijah Burke:

On his WWE departure and a return: “No main reason for departure except with all of the creative changes, writers switching from brand to brand, I kinda got lost in the shuffle. “Black Thursday” came and almost 15 wrestlers got let go. It was their call, I wasn’t in any program or being used as I was in a rebuilding faze. I look forward to returning to the WWE when the time is right for both parties, and hopefully that will be sooner than later.”

On Vince McMahon: “Vince is great. He was one cool cat! Never had a bad experience with him. Anytime you can walk up to boss and say, What’s up dawg and give some him some dap, that should let you know what type of man he is. As a matter of fact, when he came out on ECW with the doorag on after Wrestlemania 23…. Take a wild guess who that doorag belonged to???”

On CM Punk’s comments about him: “Never heard them… People mentioned it to me via social media, but I have no thoughts on it. EVERY thought that I ever had about Phil, he knows them because I told him to his face, and I’d like to think that he’d do the same, but I have no thoughts or comments about what was or may have been said. What would that say about me to say something behind Phil’s back or in an interview where he can’t respond for himself?? I mean, what type of person would do such a thing?? Not I, not Pope.”

On TNA: “I enjoyed my time with TNA as they gave me the ball and allowed me to run with it. What was really awesome was that Pope was NEVER scripted as Vince Russo allowed Pope to be Pope and would literally say, “Nobody knows what Pope would do except you.” I enjoyed working with him and others in TNA.”

Check out the complete interview at PWMania.com.

  • MORE WWE Superstars & Divas To Get FIRED Today — DETAILS HERE!
  • Global Force Announcement Postponed, Update On Talent Signings

    Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling was scheduled to make a big announcement today regarding a talent signing, however Jarrett just tweeted that the announcement has been postponed:

    “Well GFW fans…. Good news, bad news today… Bad news, no announcement today… Good news, it will be made tomorrow! The reason for the one day delay is because of a major Hollywood publication needs one more day for exclusivity purposes.

    There was some buzz over the weekend that New Japan Pro Wrestling tag team Killer Elite Squad (Lance Hoyt & David Hart Smith) signed to the promotion. Global Force tweeted this photo of Global Force founders Jeff and Karen Jarrett, along with Hoyt and former WWE/TNA Superstar Elijah Burke:

    Global Force also tweeted these photos over the weekend with Carlito, Jay Lethal and Mickie James: