Vince McMahon may be crazy, but perhaps craziness is what it takes to reach the heights he has reached, according to one former Superstar.
McMahon re-signed from TKO and WWE last week, following a lawsuit filed by ex-employee Janel Grant. Miss Grant claims that McMahon was sexually abusive to her and that he trafficked her to others in the company, including John Lauriniaits and a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. McMahon has denied the allegations against him and, via a spokesperson, has claimed the lawsuit is rife with “obscene made-up instances that never occurred.”
Justin Gabriel on Vince McMahon
One person who worked under McMahon for years as a WWE Superstar was PJ Black, better known as Justin Gabriel. On a recent edition of the Cafe de Rene podcast, Black was asked by Rene Dupree for when he realized McMahon was “bats**t crazy.”
“From day one. I mean all billionaires, I work with a lot of billionaires and I know a lot of billionaires so you have to be crazy to think on that level, you know? But I mean there’s a fine line between crazy and genius. And at the end of the day he is a genius. Say what you want about him, he’s a genius. He’s a self-made billionaire. Anyone who’s a self-made billionaire is crazy and a genius and comes with a lot of different labels.
“I’ve always had good interactions with him he’s he’s definitely a strange character, yeah. Bats**t crazy is the way to describe him. But you know like I there’s a good way to describe that and a bad way right I only saw the good sides of that so [I was]very fortunate. Very fortunate.”
Justin Gabriel on John Lauriniaitis
Former McMahon confidante John Lauriniaitis is also named in the litigation, though has claimed that he’s a victim in this situation, not a predator. On the show, Black recalled his relationship with ‘Johnny Ace’ and how his brothers once worked for the promotion run by Black’s father.
“He loved me. Because he’s the guy that signed me. He kind of knew who my dad was because his two younger brothers worked for my dad back in the day… they were big stars in South Africa. They looked great and my dad had them come to the ring with motorcycles and they had the badass metal music. They were just so over in South Africa and little did I know I was gonna get signed by their older brother one day.”
After spending time in WWE’s developmental system, PJ Black would burst onto the WWE main roster in a big way. After first taking part in NXT, he would debut alongside other NXT rookies as the Nexus stable.
He would eventually leave WWE in 2015, wrestling around the world and for several companies before signing a deal with Ring Of Honor (ROH).
Formerly known as Justin Gabriel, PJ Black recently sat down with Joey G. from Wrestling Inc. to talk about his past, as well as his future in ROH.
One of the topics of discussion revolved around Black’s decision to not return to NXT, choosing instead to sign with ROH.
“I had an opportunity to go back to NXT. It was the same money for 200 shows more, so really that was a no-brainer for me,” Black said. “I have creative freedom and freedom outside because I do a lot of things outside of wrestling that they let me do whenever. And with creative freedom in wrestling – just to be yourself [is important].”
He points at ROH’s storytelling and the promotion’s Code of Honor as factors that helped his choice.
“I love the storytelling of ROH and the old-school Code of Honor of shaking hands before and after matches. I feel like fans appreciate wrestling different now than they did years ago. …As NXT shows, in-ring performance is very important right now, and that’s what I like about wrestling: it keeps on evolving.”
PJ Black recently aligned himself ROH’s newest stable. This came in the wake of a personal journey, where he decided he didn’t like the person he had become and wanted to make a conscious effort to change, ultimately siding with LifeBlood.
PJ Black (better known as Justin Gabriel) has had a ton of injury woes over the past year.
Last year Black broke his leg and lost a finger in a base jumping accident. It was the third base jumping injury Black had suffered. He previously had broken both his ankles the fall before the incident.
For those who don’t know, base jumping is when one jumps off a cliff or high surface while wearing either a wing-suit or a parachute.
Black recently spoke to Interactive Wrestling Radio about the injury he suffered last year. He was unable to wrestle the entire year and described it as “the hardest year of my life”:
“Oh, bro. It has literally been the hardest year of my life. I was out the whole year. Six months in the hospital… I had to re-learn how to walk. It was literally the toughest year of my life.
“But, this year has been the most rewarding year of my life! I’m back to 100%! I don’t think I’ll ever be back to a full range of motion in my leg but that hasn’t stopped me from doing anything.
“But, right now, I’m great! I’m super happy to be alive, I’m super happy to be working! I’m super happy for the new season of Lucha Underground to be airing!”
Former WWE Superstar PJ Black (a.k.a. Justin Gabriel) was recently a guest on the Pancakes & Powerslams podcast where he talked about his brief appearances on Total Divas. During the interview Gabriel revealed that producers asked him to do his planned breakup with JoJo Offerman on camera so they could use it in the episode. Gabriel named the age gap between he and JoJo as the reason that he decided to call things off:
“I didn’t want to be a part of [Total Divas] at all. They filmed some stuff, and I started talking to JoJo because I thought she was a pretty cool person,” Gabriel said. “I never realized she was so young, I think she was like 18 or 19 at the time. And we kind of went that route [to dating], and they were like, ‘Hey. Do you want to be on the show?’ I was like, ‘Yeah. Sure, what do I have to do?’ They said, ‘nothing, just go on dates,’ and we went on multiple dates.
“They’d take film, which never aired, by the way; we filmed so many cool things,, and I said to the producers, ‘I don’t think I can do this. Like, she’s 19, and I don’t think this is going to work. I’m a 30-year-old man.’ And he was like, ‘Ok. fair enough. Then you have to break up with her on TV.’ And that’s the scene they played.”
Gabriel then went on to say that he didn’t like the way he was perceived on the show during the breakup, as it was made out to be more of a spectacle where he was made out to be the villain:
“And what they did was make me look like this super womanizing heel, they edited everything to make me look like a bad guy. That’s not what happened at all. A lot of it is real, but it’s about 90 percent scripted. That I just couldn’t deal with,” he said. “If it’s a reality show, let me do and say whatever I want. Don’t tell me what to say and what to wear. It wasn’t very organic or spontaneous. So, after I broke up with her, I was like, ‘Yeah. I’m outta here.'”
You can listen to PJ Black’s full interview on the Pancakes & Powerslams podcast by clicking this link here.
PJ Black, who wrestled as Justin Gabriel in WWE, broke both of his ankles on Saturday in a BASE jumping accident in his native South Africa (BASE jumping is parachuting or wingsuit flying from a fixed structure or cliff).
Black was in the country to work a match today against local wrestler Ananzi for World Wrestling Professionals in what was billed as his homecoming. Despite the injury, he still planned on attending the event to meet with fans.
The first-ever Global Force Wrestling title change took place at the WrestleCade Showcase of Champions event in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Friday.
Sonjay Dutt defeated previous champion PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) to become the new NEX*GEN Champion.
Dutt is scheduled to defend the title against John Hennigan (John Morrison) at the WrestleCade event tonight in Winston.
Below are photos of the former and new NEX*GEN Champion.
Following the GFW “Amped” television tapings in Las Vegas, Nevada last Friday, Global Force Wrestling will be heading to Reno, Nevada for another set of television tapings.
The “GFW Grand Slam Tour” continues at Ace’s Ballpark in Reno, Nevada on Saturday, August 22nd.
Below is the advertised lineup for the show:
– Sonjay Dutt vs. Ryan McQueen
– Reno SCUM vs. The Bullet Club
– Christina Von Eerie vs. Amber O’Neal
– Chris Mordetzky (formerly Chris Masters) vs. Nick Aldis (formerly Magnus)
– Virgil Flynn vs. PJ Black (formerly Justin Gabriel)
– JR Kratos vs. Paul Isadora
There will be a VIP meet and greet before the show with GFW co-founder Jeff Jarrett starting at 5:30pm. $41.00 tickets include VIP meet and greet.
You can purchase tickets for the GFW event this weekend at TicketReturn.com.
As reported on Tuesday evening, Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) and Trevor Lee, representing Team GFW, defeated The Wolves to become the new TNA Tag-Team Champions at the TNA Impact Wrestling television tapings in Orlando, Florida. However, that wasn’t the only title change that took place last night.
In addition to the tag-titles, Bobby Roode, representing TNA, defeated PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) to become the new King Of The Mountain Champion.
Another big GFW vs. TNA spoiler from last night’s tapings saw Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett cut “shoot promos” on each other. This led to Carter announcing a “Winner Takes All” Lethal Lockdown match for Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling tapings with the winner taking all of TNA’s shares and controlling the company.
The match will be Team GFW vs. Team TNA’s Bobby Lashley, Drew Galloway and The Wolves.
Josh Modaberi of Cult of Whatever recently interviewed PJ Black (aka Justin Gabriel) about a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights.
On quitting WWE: “I see myself as more of an artist, I don’t really care about how much money I make, for me it’s more about the art of professional wrestling. There are a lot of guys that will just hang around because Vince will give everyone a shot and some guys will just hang around thinking that tomorrow will be their shot and then the next thing you know three years have gone by.
“One year went by and I realized it wasn’t going to happen and I couldn’t wait any longer and that is the reason I quit. There are guys there that will just hang around waiting for their shots, who knows if it’s going to happen, it’s all a timing thing.”
On the WWE Network: “That was another frustrating thing for me, we had a network, we have 24 hour programming and we could fit so many programs on there. We pitched a cruiserweight show, we pitched a hardcore show, we pitched all of these different shows which never came to fruition.”
On returning to WWE: “Quite possibly, in two or three years who knows, I don’t plan that far ahead. Vince actually called me and said he knew I wanted to do my own thing and have more wrestling time so he told me go away for two or three years and go do my thing and possibly comeback.
“Hunter on the other hand didn’t like the way I did it because I quit over the phone and told me he’s going to make me wait ages before I’m allowed to come back to WWE.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer noted on social media on Friday that he is in Orlando, Florida doing promotional work for the upcoming new season of WWE Tough Enough. “The Hulkster” tweeted the following.
Great morning ,totally pumped for press day on Orlando for Tough Enough brother HH
– SEScoops.com reader Danny Warren sent along the following video clip that features former WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel making history as he jumps out of an airplane to discuss his Canadian Wrestling’s Elite debut for the “Fear Factor Tour.” For more on CWE, visit their official website at CWECanada.ca.
You can check out the Gabriel skydiving clip below.
– PJ Black (aka Justin Gabriel) is the guest on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which is available for download right now.
On the latest edition of Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast, former WWE Diva Melina Perez is the special guest.
And finally, WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley is the special guest on the latest edition of Roddy Piper’s “Piper’s Pit” podcast.
You can download all three of these new shows by going to PodcastOne.com.
– On the latest edition of WWE’s “5 Things” web series, which you can check out below, WWE looks at five “phenomenal Undertaker facts.”
Regarding Justin Gabriel quitting WWE a few weeks ago, word is that he made the decision to do so at the final RAW before the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
Gabriel showed up to RAW that day like he would any other, and was once again told that they had nothing for him that evening. At that point, Gabriel made the decision to leave the arena in the middle of the day.
One person informed WWE officials that Gabriel left to go sight-seeing, while another claimed he left the arena to go sky-diving.
Gabriel returned to the building a few hours later and was again told that WWE officials had nothing for him that night. He decided right then and there that he didn’t want to work for WWE any longer.
From there, Gabriel booked his flight home and while he was in between connecting flights, he received a phone call from the WWE head of talent relations, Mark Carrano. Carrano reportedly told him at that point that WWE had booked a segment for him on RAW, but that no one could find him anywhere in the arena to tell him that. It was then that Gabriel made his departure official, as he informed Carano that he had left the building and was quitting the company.
WWE officials were said to be unhappy with the way Gabriel handled the situation, but ultimately a few days later, they granted his release request.
As noted earlier today, one of the main reasons Justin Gabriel quit WWE last week was because he was growing frustrated with his position in the company, being stuck on lower-level shows such as NXT, Superstars and Main Event. He was also the guy under The Bunny costume in Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” group on several occasions.
Gabriel, real name Paul Lloyd Jr., had been looking at other career opportunities outside of the pro wrestling business for some time, one of which may have come through, which made his decision to quit easier.
He had done some acting and modeling prior to signing with WWE in 2008.
Gabriel has already booked some independent wrestling dates, where he will likely use the name P.J. Black, the name he used before signing with WWE. He’s got a booking for Preston City Wrestling against El Ligero on March 13th, and will also appear on some WrestleMania 31 weekend shows on March 26th, 27th and 28th for the Evolve/WWN promotion in San Jose, California. On one of those shows, he is scheduled to work a singles match against Ricochet.
Those close to Gabriel have said he was fed up with the system in WWE and felt that the company was never going to do anything with him.
WWE Superstar quit WWE over the weekend after working for the company since 2008.
Gabriel requested his release because he got fed up with his role, which saw him wrestling mostly on Superstars, Main Event and in NXT. It’s believed that being pulled from the Royal Rumble match was the last straw from the South African native.
Gabriel has wanted a larger role with WWE for a long time and he plans to wrestle on the independent scene under the name PJ Black.
Comment below and tell us if you think WWE could have gotten more out of Justin Gabriel.
– Following reports that Justin Gabriel quit WWE over the weekend, the sports-entertainment organization announced Sunday that he has been released from his contract. Gabriel has plans to continue his wrestling career on the independent circuit as “The Darewolf” PJ Black. Pro Wrestling Syndicate announced Sunday the acquisition of the South African native, who is scheduled for a show on Saturday.
The organization announced on Facebook, “BREAKING NEWS – PWS SIGNS FKA JUSTIN GABRIEL – Taking the injured AR Fox’s spot in The Suicidal Six Way Title Match THIS Saturday Jan 31st at Frozen Fallout in Rahway NJ will be “The Darewolf” PJ Black (fka WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel). Tickets available at ProWrestlingSyndicate.com.”
– Natalya posted this photo of herself hanging out with former TNA Women’s Knockout Champion ODB today in Philadelphia.
– Two episodes of Tuesday Night Titans have been added to the WWE Network (January 17, 1985 and January 24, 1985).
WWE.com has confirmed the release of Justin Gabriel.
The official company website posted the following on Sunday afternoon.
“WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel as of Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015. WWE wishes Justin Gabriel the best in all of his future endeavors.”
For whatever reason, with under 24 hours to go before the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, WWE has pulled Justin Gabriel and Los Matadores from the advertised lineup for the 30-man over-the-top battle royal match. As noted late Saturday night, Gabriel has quit WWE. Why Los Matadores were pulled from the match at the last minute remains to be seen.
Speaking of the Royal Rumble, which takes place on Sunday night, January 25th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, WWE legend The Rock tweeted a photo of himself in Philadelphia late Saturday night.
UPDATE: WWE has now confirmed the release of Justin Gabriel. Read their official statement by clicking here.
Although we don’t have a lot of details at this point, Justin Gabriel quit WWE this weekend.
Gabriel, real name Paul Lloyd, Jr., signed a developmental deal with the promotion in 2008, where he was asigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) promotion, WWE’s developmental territory at the time.
In February of 2010, Gabriel competed in the first season of NXT, finishing third in the competition, before being called up to the main roster in June of 2010, joining “The Nexus” faction. Gabriel is a former three-time WWE Tag-Team Champion.
We will update you as soon as more information becomes available on this story.
– As things stand right now, the plan is for Curtis Axel to appear on more NXT shows and work angles there similar to how Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd and Natalya, other main WWE roster talents, have in the past.
– Brock Lesnar is featured on a nationally televised commercial for the fast-food chain “Harees,” which started airing this week.
– Darren Young made his WWE in-ring return at the live event in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on Saturday night. Young defeated Justin Gabriel in the opening match of the evening, but was then beaten down by Seth Rollins.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Tully Blanchard reportedly suffered a torn biceps at the Pro Wrestling Syndicate event on Saturday night. The injury took place when Blanchard did a run-in after his daughter, Tessa Blanchard’s match.
– Kevin Nash worked as a special referee for a tag-team match between TNA stars The Wolves and The Maddox Brothers. After the match, Nash praised the two teams on Twitter.
Watched some great indy wrestling last night.The Wolf's vs the Maddox Bros. Nice to be a part of it.
– WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel played the heel against Adam Rose in his match at the WWE live event in Leeds on Sunday. Gabriel cut a heel promo before the match and during the match, was hit with “you can’t wrestle” chants and general heel heat from the fans in attendance. After the match, Gabriel joked on Twitter that as a result of the chants, he was leaving Europe earlier and skipping the rest of the shows. For the record, he is not.
Leeds you suck. I'm never coming back to this town. #WWELeeds
The following matches were taped at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee prior to Monday’s post-Night Of Champions edition of RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
WWE Superstars Spoilers (Air date: September 25, 2014)
– Naomi def. Alicia Fox in Divas action to open the show. Naomi picked up the win via submission when Fox tapped out after a few minutes in what was described as a decent little Divas match.
– Kofi Kingston def. Justin Gabriel in the main event of the show in what was said to be a pretty fun match with a lot of high-impact and fast-paced offense. In the end, Kingston nailed Gabriel with his “Trouble in Paradise” finisher for the 1-2-3.
As noted earlier this week, NXT star Sami Zayn has been the wrestler under the Bunny mask in Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” group on television recently. Apparently, Justin Gabriel has portrayed the Bunny a few times in the past few weeks as well.
Speaking of the Bunny, there is currently talk within WWE of having him wrestle a match on the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view “Kickoff Show” this Sunday night.
The following matches were taped on Monday night, September 15, 2014 at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Luke Harper and Erick Rowan def. Los Matadores in tag-team action to open up the show. The finish saw Harper hit a side-walk slam for the pinfall victory.
– Sin Cara def. Justin Gabriel in the main event of the show. This was said to be an exciting, crowd-pleasing, high-flying style of match, the exact type you would expect from these two.
– JoJo Offerman, who was one of the stars of season one of WWE Total Divas, was the ring announcer for NXT Takeover 2 on Thursday night. She also worked as the ring announcer for the NXT television tapings the following night and sang the national anthem before both of the events.
– As noted, Hideo Itami made his official WWE in-ring debut at the aforementioned NXT TV tapings on Friday. Itami’s first match will air on next Thursday’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network. Itami’s first match was against Justin Gabriel. He taped additional matches at the tapings and will be featured in each NXT TV show over the next four weeks.
