Ricochet teamed up with Braun Strowman to compete in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight against Imperium during the December 23rd edition of WWE SmackDown.
The main event featured cameos from a ballerina as well as The New Day\’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods both of which emerged from a gift.
The ending of the bout saw Strowman reviving Ricochet with a kiss from his real life girlfriend Samantha Irwin. The duo then defeated Imperium after Ricochet hit a crossbody off Strowman\’s shoulders.
Ricochet Shows Graphic Injury
While the high-flying star did win the match it was revealed later that he suffered an injury. The former IC champion\’s head was split open during the bout. While he was able to finish the match, the officials checked on him afterward.
The SmackDown star provided an update on his health on Twitter after the pre-taped show. He shared some graphic photos of the injury and revealed that he received six stitches from the cut:
Ricochet has been involved in a feud with Gunther over the IC title recently. He won the SmackDown World Cup to earn a shot at the championship. Though he was unable to capture the title when he faced the Ring General earlier this month.
AEW has matured a lot as a company in 2022 and made a number of key structural changes within the promotion. Jim Ross believes that the next big change for the organization could be the introduction of live events.
The wrestling veteran talked about this possibility on the latest episode of his Grilling JR podcast. He discussed the importance of live events and the various benefits it provides to talents and the company.
JR noted that live events can help younger talents gain experience as well as bring in extra revenue if used strategically. He mentioned the recent hiring of Jeff Jarrett and shared the belief that AEW will expand their schedule in 2023:
\”I believe, I don\’t know this to be a fact but I believe in 2023, that AEW will be in the house show/ live event business to some degree.
\”I just think that it\’s an opportunity that can be capitalised upon if AEW is strategic in their planning. I think that\’s what Jeff Jarrett is working on.\”
– Jim Ross
Jeff Jarrett made his AEW debut in November. He was given the title of Director of Business Development by Tony Khan, indicating that Jarrett will play a key role in the next phase of the company\’s expansion.
Cora Jade angered a lot of fans when she re-created a classic moment from history and threw the NXT Women\’s Championship belt in trash. The heat she received wasn\’t limited to social media either and she actually had a crazy experience on the road.
The 21-year-old recently appeared on the Mark Moses Show. Among other things she also talked about her recreation of the famous moment by Alundra Blayze.
Revealing the reactions to it, Jade recalled how her mom, who had seen the original clip thought that it was really cool. Though the fans didn\’t think the same. When asked if she received heat for the moment, Cora Jade revealed an incident that happened with her during a drive:
\”Definity. I looked at my Twitter and I was like \’I\’m gonna close it\’. As soon as I opened it, [I] closed it. They were pretty mad at me that day. You know what\’s crazy? The other day I was driving and I was stuck in traffic and someone kept honking their horn at me.
I looked up and it was somebody with a Mandy Rose Toxic Attraction sign out the window. They were just booing me. I was just in the front seat of my car and I was like \’Is this actually happening right now?\’ Even on the road they hate me.\”
Alundra Blayze jumped ship from WWF to WCW back in 1995. She was the WWF Women\’s Champion at the time. While the company stripped her of the title upon the switch, she never officially lost the belt. During her WCW debut on Nitro, Blayze threw the title belt into a trash can and was subsequently blacklisted by WWF.
Cora Jade recreated this moment with the NXT Women\’s Tag Team titles during an episode in July. She had won the title with Roxanne Perez but Jade turned on Perez. She then threw the title belt into trash.
Kurt Angle was one of the top stars of TNA. He got to wrestle with some of the best in-ring talent there. This list includes none other than AJ Styles, who Angle credits for making him a better wrestler.
The Olympic Gold Medallist talked about his time in TNA on the latest episode of his podcast. He specifically discussed the Aces & Eights storyline and the problems with it.
Angle was involved in a story with AJ Styles at the time where the two formed a team. Commenting on his experience of sharing the ring with AJ, Kurt said that everyone who gets in the ring with him becomes better:
\”Whether I was alongside him as a tag team or working with him, he made me better. Every time I wrestled with him or against him, he made me better.
That\’s the kind of guy AJ is, that\’s the kind of athlete he is. Everybody he gets in the ring with, he makes the match better and the other person better.\”
-Kurt Angle
The former world champion was involved in a storyline with AJ Styles in mid-2012. They faced each other on a couple of occasions before forming a tag team.
The team of Angle and Styles even held the TNA World Tag Team Championship for a brief period. The two stars then went their separate ways after being unsuccessful in recapturing the titles.
You can check out the full episode of The Kurt Angle Show below:
Jake \’The Snake\’ Roberts is one of the wrestling legends who has had a resurgence in recent times.
The Wrestling Veteran was one of the top stars of the golden era. However, he disappeared from the public eye later on as battled with addiction and other demons. While he kept making sporadic appearances for WWE, the Hall of Famer got a real second chance when AEW brought him in as a TV regular in 2020.
The wrestling legend opened up about his AEW debut on the latest episode of his Snake Pit podcast. Roberts explained that he was blown away by people\’s reactions. When he touched the ropes, he felt like he was at home again:
\”Incredible reaction. If you go back to that picture, you can see that all the fans are standing too.\” said Jake Roberts, \”That doesn\’t happen very often anymore. When I walked out there and that rush hit me – Oh my God.
Then whenever I touched the ring apron. I could just feel it come right back through me, man. I felt like I was at home again. It had been so long. It had been so long. It\’d been 20 years since I\’d been in the ring. To go out there and have that type of ovation happen, to be doing it in the ring with Cody, it couldn\’t have been any better.\”
Jake Roberts made his AEW debut during the March 4, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite. He interrupted a promo of Cody Rhodes. He claimed that he had a client coming to AEW, which turned out to be Lance Archer.
The modern generation of wrestlers have gotten smarter with their career choices. Unlike the older generation, many of the current-era wrestlers have started thinking about their future after retirement. They have started branching out to other professions they can work in after hanging their boots. Dolph Ziggler is one such star who has found an unlikely career in stand-up comedy.
The former world champion originally started it off as a hobby but he has slowly been creeping it up. It has gotten to a point where Ziggler has taken extended periods off from WWE to headline comedy tours.
During a recent appearance on The Archive of B-Sox podcast, the 42-year-old was asked if he plans to transition to a full-time comedy career in the coming time. Ziggler explained that he doesn\’t want to leave the wrestling space but slow it down with time:
You Don\’t Get To Wrestle Forever: Dolph Ziggler
\”It\’s really fun for me to devote half of my week to that kind of stuff. You don\’t get to wrestle forever. I\’ve been very lucky so far. I may be here for 10 nonstop years in a row. who knows?\” said Dolph Ziggler, \”But I like being able to branch out and do some other things. Whether go talk politics somewhere, do an interview, do a one man show do an improv show. Do an audition for something on Broadway.
Everything that gets you on stage, get that presence and just gets the rap going and gets you smoother and comfortable. That helps you as a stand up, but it also helps you in the ring, so [it] makes me a better wrestler. So either way, it\’s a win-win. But I would love in 15 years from now, I\’m showing up at WWE four times a year to wrestle somebody in a big match, and the rest of the year, I\’m bouncing around. Me and Mick Foley are doing a comedy show or something.\”
From uninspired storylines to older stars taking the spots of younger talents, there were a number of factors that led to the downfall of TNA after a historic rise. One such factor was sideling top stars such as Kurt Angle when factions like Aces & Eights dominated the TV programs.
The Olympic Gold Medallist talked about this time in the company\’s history on the latest episode of his podcast. He was asked if the officials ever invited him to be part of the infamous faction. Angle replied negatively saying that he is glad he was never asked to join the group:
\”No. no, they didn\’t. I\’m glad they didn\’t. I don\’t think I would have liked being [a part of it]. I know this – if I would have went in, I wouldn\’t have been one of the top guys. I would have been hanging out in the mid card somewhere so that it wouldn\’t [have] help me at any point in time.\”
-Kurt Angle
\’It Grew Out Of Control\’: Kurt Angle
When Aces & Eights were running roughshod at the TNA roster, top stars such as Kurt Angle and AJ Styles were working a meaningless programs. Speaking about the time, the former TNA champion discussed how they were just trying to stay relevant and figure out what their position in the roster would be once the storyline was over:
\”That was the problem, the Aces & Eights storyline took over TV. It got so big. Same exact thing happened with the nWo in WCW. It was a cool little faction, then all of sudden it grew and out of control. They were just too many. At this point in time, there were a lot of members of Aces & Eights.
We were just treading water just trying to get through the storyline and see where our places were going to be afterward. It\’s really difficult when they\’re doing a storyline [and] they\’re not trying to involve you. You\’re not really involved in the storyline. That\’s the main storyline going on TV and you got your top two guys – AJ Styles and Kurt Angle, that\’s no part of it.\”
Matt Cardona has successfully rebuilt himself after his WWE release in 2020. He is one of the stars that has helped fill the gap in the independent circuit left by people like The Elite and others after they signed exclusive contracts. His advice for anyone wanting to replicate the success is very simple – to get good at the basics and let things breathe.
The former WWE star recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet. Talking about his advice for young talent on the indies, Cardona mentioned how it\’s important to have moments in your match that can go viral. At the same time, you need to get good with the basics and know how to tell a story in a match. The former IC Champion then revealed what he learned during his time in WWE that has helped him get over in the indies:
\”Slow the fuck down. Seriously. You gotta imagine, this is what I tell guys too. Let\’s say you do a move and you\’re both selling and it seems like you\’re selling for eternity but in TV land, the commentators are telling the story, the cameras are going from one facial expression to the other guy. So relax a little bit. [It] doesn\’t have to be like move, move, move, move, move, move move. There\’s a time and a place to go balls to the walls, but you also gotta let the people digest what they just saw.\”
\’People Have Given Up On Impact\’: Matt Cardona
Matt Cardona also talked about his time with Impact Wrestling and said that he doesn\’t know what his future with the company is. The former Digital Media champion put over the promotion for their storylines and roster but agreed with the criticism that their product is hard to find:
\”I think it\’s great. I think that the roster is awesome. I think that [the] actual show if people watch it, it\’s an awesome show, where things make sense in the storylines. They actually have a beginning, middle and end. I just think a lot of people have given up on impact and they don\’t want to give it another chance and it\’s a shame because it\’s a great, great product. It\’s another problem, it\’s fucking impossible to find it. Like I\’m on the goddamn show. I can\’t watch it.\”
You can check out Matt Cardona\’s full interview below:
Drew McIntyre\’s career in WWE started off on a high note. Vince McMahon himself hailed him as \’The Chosen One\’ and he looked all set to be the next star of the company. Things didn\’t go as planned however and after the initial run, McIntyre slowly descended into the card until he reached the very bottom as part of the 3MB stable.
Though, according to the former WWE Champion himself, his inclusion in 3MB wasn\’t meant to be a demotion and instead it was an effort from Vince McMahon to bring some personality out of him.
The WWE star was recently interviewed by Faction 919 where he talked about the different stages and milestones of his career. Speaking about his time in 3MB, Drew mentioned how there were many names suggested for the group but Vince chose him and Jinder Mahal to accompany Heath Slater:
\”Vince McMahon looked at the ideas and went \’these are kind of the obvious ones\’ but he doesn\’t think like everybody else.\” said Drew McIntyre, \”He went \’No, no, I wanna see Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal.\’ The two most serious guys, serious characters who have not shown anything but being serious.
Because he wants to see what we\’ve got and gave us the opportunity [for] our personalities to shine a little more. In WWE, you can\’t just be the same forever. It gets boring. You can\’t just be angry all the time. Even when you\’re winning titles. I was winning titles and just scowling all the time, for some reason, because I just wasn\’t relaxed. I felt like I had to be that badass all the time.\”
\’He Was Trying To Bring Something Out Of Us\’: Drew McIntyre
Drew McIntyre recalled that he was plagued by personal issues at the time and wasn\’t fit to be put in the top position in the company. He revealed that there were bigger plans in place for 3MB that couldn\’t materialize because he got injured:
\”He was trying to bring something out of us while at the same time couldn\’t trust us in a prominent role. But [thought] \’Okay, let\’s see if these guys can come out of their shell a little bit more with Heath\’ and that\’s why 3MB was put together.
I had a broken wrist at the time, didn\’t realize I needed surgery. So he did have bigger plans than ended up materializing, but six weeks after we formed, I had to get wrist surgery. I couldn\’t touch anyone for about six months. So that kind of put the 3MB in the ground before we even started.\”
You can check out Drew McIntyre\’s full interview below:
Apollo Crews is one of the stars that found success very early in his wrestling career. His fearless style of wrestling attracted people and made him a star in indies. Turns out, he took the fearless approach not only inside the ring but outside as well. The NXT star took chances despite his limited resources which helped him get opportunities.
The former US champion recently appeared on Out of Character podcast. During the interview he talked about his run in Japan before his WWE signing. Crews told the story of how he first got the opportunity to wrestle for Dragon Gate Japan:
\”When I did Dragon Gate USA, but we\’re trying out for Dragon Gate Japan. 2011 It was. [It was] AR Fox that convinced me. I was wrestling around in Georgia at the time.\” recalled Apollo Crews, \”He\’s like, \’Man, if you really want to get your name out there, you need to come to this tryout with me this weekend.\’ I had $100 to my name. I\’m like, \’Dude, if I drive to Indianapolis from Atlanta, Georgia. It\’s like 13-14 hours.\’
I was like \’$50 is gonna go to gas, the tryout cost $50, I\’m coming home broke. I don\’t have money to do it.\’ I did it. Best decision I made. I remember Ricochet being in there and I think he wrestled on the show that weekend and Rich Swann is another one. Those guys I just immediately like kind of bonded with them. Then shortly after I got to start traveling into Japan with them.\”
You can check out Apollo Crews\’ full interview below:
Apollo Crews is one of the stars who seemed to have huge potential when he started with WWE but his career didn\’t go as planned. The former IC champion was called up to the main roster in April 2016, less than a year after his NXT debut in August 2015. A lot of people believed that he wasn\’t ready for the main roster run and this was the primary reason why he got lost in the shuffle. This is why Crews took the opportunity to go back to the development territory with open arms earlier this year.
The WWE star recently appeared on Ryan Satin\’s Out of Character podcast. Speaking about his NXT return in June, Apollo discussed how he had been stuck wrestling on Main Event and hadn\’t made a PLE appearance in over a year. So he decided to take a chance and ask about a potential opportunity in NXT:
\”It was weird that nothing was happening [in my career]. It got to the point where it was just like \’man, I don\’t want to be coming here and doing Main Event anymore. I want to be on the main shows. I want to be one of the guys here that\’s a household name, right? I want to be one of those guys.
So like, it wasn\’t coming. So I made an approach and asked if there was any spot down here essentially for me at NXT and the opportunity came about and it happened. There happened to be a spot available. I was like, \’Man, I\’m 100% for it.\’\”
\’I\’m Gonna Control What I Can\’: Apollo Crews
Apollo Crews revealed that the officials asked what kind of run he wanted to have. But for him, it was about taking the full advantage of the opportunity:
\”It was one of those things where it\’s like, \’Is it long term or it\’s gonna be short term?\’ and I was like \’For me honestly. It doesn\’t matter.\’ I\’m gonna control what I can control. You give me this opportunity. I\’m gonna come out here and kill it.
If they bring me back to Raw or Smackdown two weeks later so be it. If they bring me back [in] two months, so be it. But in my head, I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity that I was being presented with because essentially, I was presented with the opportunity to kind of change the trajectory of my career and kind of really start over which not a lot of people get to do.\”
You can check out Apollo Crews\’ full interview below:
Thunder Rosa\’s back injury and her absence from AEW programming has made more headlines than her women\’s title reign did. Though even after recent events, it doesn\’t appear that we will be seeing her back in the near future.
Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline recently provided some update on the former champion\’s recovery. He noted that the female star was hoped to be back in February:
“The last word we’d heard was she hoped to be back in February. There were a lot of people who thought she would be Saraya’s mystery partner against Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter on 1/11 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, but the last word on her return was February.”
Thunder Rosa originally announced back in August that she will be taking time off due to injury. She was the AEW women’s champion at the time.
Since there wasn\’t a solid timetable for her recovery at the time, Tony Khan made the decision to keep the title on her and move forward with an interim champion.
This decision however was reversed last month. It was announced during the November 23 Dynamite that Rosa had relinquished her championship.
The former champion herself also provided some updates on her recovery recently. She revealed that she wasn\’t allowed back in the ring yet which coincides with the belief that the AEW star won\’t be returning before next year.
WWE Producer Jamie Noble laced up his boots one last time to compete in a final match during Sunday\’s Live Event from Charleston, WV.
The former Cruiserweight Champion started his wrestling career back in 1995. He competed for promotions such as WCW, ROH and NJPW before ending up in WWE first as a competitor and later as a backstage producer.
The WWE star spoke to Byron Saxton for an interview before his final outing in the ring. Noble talked about getting back into the squared circle after 7 years and his pet raccoon among other things:
The bout at the WWE Live Event coming from his hometown saw Jamie Noble teaming up with Braun Strowman and The Brawling Brutes (Ridge Holland & Butch) for an eight men tag team match.
This team went up against The Bloodline (The Usos, Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn) in the main event of the show. You can check out some photos and videos of the tag match below:
An emotional night. I’m humbled & honored to have had the privilege of sharing the ring with Jamie Noble tonight in his final match. Very few actually know how much Jamie has contributed to this industry. One of the great minds for the business & an unsung hero at @WWE. Grateful. https://t.co/tkd7AyFtli
This match was set up after The Usos vs. The Brawling Brutes tag team match ended in a no-contest earlier in the night. The ending saw Noble getting the pin over the Honorary Uce after hitting him with a Tiger Driver.
It\’s common to hear wrestling personalities talking about how storylines from the Attitude Era got them hooked on wrestling. However, we have seen the rise of a new generation of talent in recent years which grew up watching the programming of the more recent times. Britt Baker is one such star who actually became a fan of wrestling after watching one of the most popular storylines from the PG era of WWE.
The former AEW Women\’s Champion recently had an interview with The Ringer. She talked about things such as her rivalry with Thunder Rosa, the women\’s division of AEW, and more. Speaking about how she became a fan of wrestling, Britt Baker revealed that Bryan Danielson\’s WrestleMania XXX story was the one that made her obsessed:
“The first story line that made me immensely obsessed with wrestling and gave me the bug to want to do something like this and want to do this because of how the story made me feel, it was the Bryan Danielson storyline at WrestleMania XXX,”
Bryan Danielson defeated Batista and Randy Orton in the main event of WrestleMania XXX to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It was the culmination of the Yes! movement that helped him reach the top of the pro wrestling mountain. Per Britt Baker, it was the coolest thing in the world for her:
\”How the fans really decided the storyline. To me, that was one of the coolest things in the world—that the entire wrestling universe got behind this one wrestler who was a massive underdog and should not have been in the spot he was in, but the fans made sure of it.\”
The AEW star later explained that there is no other sport where fans get to decide which star will go over. So it was really cool to see the effect of fans in leading Bryan to the huge success.
Wrestling fans aren\’t always very welcoming of outside celebrities that cross over to the wrestling world. However, in recent times, we have seen a number of people breaking through and earning the respect of the fans. One such performer is Logan Paul and Shawn Michaels believes that his drive to actually be good at the sport is the reason behind his success.
The Heartbreak Kid recently appeared on Notsam Wrestling podcast. During the interview, he was asked what has helped Logan Paul gain the respect of the community. The former world champion explained that the YouTube star understands the psychology of the fans and he is ready to put in the work:
\”He\’s just got such a real drive. He understands. He\’s a bright kid.\” said Shawn Michaels, \”He understands [that] \’I\’m an outsider. They\’re gonna take me this way. I\’ve got no problem earning my stripes. The best way I could do that is to be good at this. I will give it the time and the effort.\’ Even in the midst of an extremely busy schedule.
He\’s got a lot going on in his life. He\’s another person again, I guess you could arguably say he doesn\’t need to be choosing to do this. But he is and he has a great deal of respect for it. I think that\’s what really helps as well.\”
Logan Paul made his wrestling debut at WrestleMania 38 and he has wrestled only three matches since then. Though he has managed to impress people with his performance. Paul\’s match against Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel has especially helped him gain the respect of the WWE Universe.
You can check out Shawn Michaels\’ full interview below:
The story of Sami Zayn and The Bloodline is one of the top acts of not only WWE but the wrestling world right now. The Miz believes that he is the \’Michael Scott\’ of WWE because a show can easily be built around him.
The former WWE champion recently joined Brian Baumgartner for his Off The Beat podcast. Baumgartner is known for his role of Kevin Malone in the Office series. He asked the WWE star which characters from the series he would compare himself to. The Miz mentioned how he would want to be Michael Scott but it doesn\’t fit his life:
\”I\’d wanna be Michael Scott, to be honest. But here\’s the thing though, I can\’t be Michael Scott. Because I feel like I\’m Jim [Halpert]. Because on Miz and Mrs, which is my reality show on the USA Network, I do the Jim look to the camera almost every episode.
The reason I do that – so I love what Greg Daniels in all your interviews with all the different characters, the crew, the cast, you know, from your makeup people, the casting directors, I loved all those interviews to hear the insights of reasonings on why. I believe the reason that Jim would look at the camera is because it\’s so absurd that someone needs to bring reality to this. \’Is this really happening?\’ kind of look, and Jim would always have that look.
\’I Have To Give That Jim Look\’: The Miz
The Miz continued the explanation saying that absurd things happen in his day-to-day life so he relates to Jim more. As for Michael Scott, the former IC champion compared him to none other than Sami Zayn:
\”So in my reality show, if something so absurd is happening, and trust me, in my real day to day life, absurd things happen that you won\’t believe is happening, but it really is. So I have to give that Jim look to the camera to show \’I\’m in on this with you. I know this is ridiculous, but it\’s really funny.\’ So I kind of stole that from the office because I love the show so much. So I would say I\’m Jim.
Michael Scott is the lead. Every story can revolve around him, right? So I would say gosh, it\’d have to be like Roman Reigns or a John Cena. Granted it\’s not the comedy aspect of [the character], it\’s not the airhead aspect of it. I wouldn\’t call him airhead but you know what I\’m talking about like, he\’s just so absurd. So I would say as a lead actor, you\’d have to have like a Cena or Roman Reigns as your Michael Scott. But with the comedy aspect, I mean Sami Zayn is doing some really funny stuff in WWE. The whole show can revolve around his character, so he could also be that Michael Scott.\”
Shawn Michaels was part of many iconic moments during his wrestling career. From achieving his boyhood dream to his matches with The Undertaker, HBK always knew how to bring out the emotion from the crowd and create a lasting memory. One such moment people still remember to this day is his WrestleMania XXIV match against Ric Flair. Michaels defeated Ric to end his WWE career and the ending of the bout is considered one of the most iconic moments in the history of the business.
The former world champion recently appeared on Notsam Wrestling podcast. Among other things he also talked about this match and revealed that he actually came up with the plans for this bout in the middle of the night:
\”That particular match was something that came to me in the middle of the night. I woke up out of sleep. I think it was like two o\’clock in the morning, [I] got up out of bed, and then just went to the table and started writing. Then I\’m coming down to the end of it. Those thoughts that are in my head and of course, like a movie [I get] a little teardrop. I\’m like \’Oh my goodness. Is this too like namby pamby?\’
I mean, wrestling audience, they can be tough. I just thought, \’oh, I don\’t know.\’ But again, because it was so emotional for me because I knew where Ric was at that time, and I knew how important it was to him. It was genuinely important to me because it was important to him.\”
\’It Was My Chance\’: Shawn Michaels
The WWE Hall of Famer explained that even though he wasn\’t sure about the crowd reaction, he decided to share the idea for the ending. Shawn Michaels revealed how Ric Flair reacted to it and who was the person who helped him perfect it:
\”I wanted this to be really unbelievably special for him. It\’s my chance for him to say of all the great matches he\’s had, my best one was with Shawn Michaels. At whatever age he was at that time 56 or something. So there were a number of reasons I wanted it to go well, but then you\’re looking at this ending and it\’s like, sounds like a love story and that may not really go over well with a tough crowd. But I kept it.
I presented that to Michael Hayes and Ric when we got there to WrestleMania. Ric just patted me on the leg and goes \’Thank you.\’ and I was still waiting, like, does that thank you [mean] it\’s good or is that [not]? Then I ask Michael and he\’s the one that helps. Now he starts to think about framing it and making it what it turned out to be.\”
You can check out Shawn Michaels\’ full interview below:
The Miz is one of those WWE superstars that doesn\’t just stay confined to the wrestling business. He was a reality star even before stepping foot in WWE. The former world champion has continued to make a name outside of the wrestling business even after becoming a WWE superstar and bringing new eyes to the product with different ventures. One such venture where he has found great success is his acting career and it appears that some advice from The Rock helped him with it.
The A Lister recently appeared on Off The Beat with Brian Baumgartner. He talked about things such as his time before WWE, how he got started in wrestling and more. Discussing his start in the movie business, The Miz recalled how he asked The Rock for advice right before his very first shoot:
\”I texted him and said, \’Hey man, I\’m about to start my first movie, getting ready to do my first scene. Is there any advice you can give me\’\” recalled The Miz, \”He called me.
He was like, \’Dude, the best thing that I could tell you and help you out with is just be natural, and it\’s gonna sound so easy and so weird, but once you get there, there\’s gonna be three or four cameras, you\’re gonna have to hit a spot that you can\’t look at, you can\’t look at the spot. You have to be normal and natural. It\’s action and you have to just make it feel [real].\’ It was great advice. Because sometimes you see in acting, you\’ll see a robotic kind of portrayal. I didn\’t want to do that.\”
The confusion over William Regal\’s status with AEW and future in the wrestling world has been the trending topic among fans. AEW star Saraya claims that his decision to leave the promotion is about how he feels.
The former Diva\’s Champion recently had an interview with Metro. Among other things, she also commented on the situation with the former NXT GM.
Saraya mentioned how everyone seems to have an opinion on Regal\’s decision to leave AEW. According to her, it\’s doesn\’t have to do with anything that happened backstage:
“Everyone has an opinion on that. The reality is, it doesn’t have anything to do with anything backstage, it’s to do with how he feels. Us behind the scenes know why, and we’re happy for him!\”
It\’s expected that William Regal would return to WWE once he is free of his AEW contract. While Saraya didn\’t confirm these reports, she mentioned that Regal should be able to do whatever he wants:
\”Whether he’s going there or whatever, it doesn’t matter. We’re just happy with whatever he wants to do with his life.
He’s at the age where he can do whatever he wants to without the internet deep diving into it, or everyone saying this, that and the other about him. Who cares? Let him be happy!”
How do you feel about William Regal potentially returning to WWE in near future? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Booker T had a dream run in WCW. He started off at the bottom as part of the Harlem Heat tag team and worked his way up to the main event scenes, eventually becoming the final WCW champion in the history of the company. Apart from his talent, Booker\’s luck played a big part in his success, including his first singles title in the company.
The wrestling veteran recently appeared on Ryan Satin\’s Out of Character. Talking about WCW, the former world champion mentioned how he got to learn a lot during his time in the company. T then recalled how he won his first singles title because Rick Martel had forgotten to bring his wrestling boots:
\”I miss WCW. I had a great time getting polished up, to cut my teeth in WCW working with a lot of great talent. Just getting a chance more than anything. That\’s the only thing I was looking for in WCW – a chance and an opportunity.\” said Booker T, \”I got several opportunities in that company. Every time I got an opportunity, I pretty much cashed in on it. When I got the Television Championship, it was because Rick Martel had forgotten his boots. He forgot his boots and he was supposed to win the championship that night from Disco Inferno.
He thought he was coming to TV just to do an interview but they still had to get the title off Disco. So they said \’Book, we\’re gonna put the title on you and we\’re gonna give Rick Martel a couple of weeks down the road. When [will] that [be] we\’ll figure that out. We\’re gonna put it on you tonight.\’ I was thinking \’Man you put the title on me, you\’re never gonna get it back. I\’m gonna hold onto that title forever. What are you thinking.\’\”
You can check out Booker T\’s full interview below:
There are some wrestlers who go through a public retirement and get to say goodbye to the fans. However, there are many who just disappear from the public eye for a while and then call it a career. Santino Marella is one such star who never had a proper retirement ceremony and he just settled into the life after WWE. Though, according to the former WWE star himself, he is very content with his run with the company.
The former US champion recently had an interview with The A2theK Wrestling Show. Among other things he was asked what led to his retirement from wrestling. Marella revealed that he had a double cervical fusion surgery. Unfortunately, his neck didn\’t heal as expected, leading to the end of his full time wrestling career:
\”It was my neck surgery. So I had my first cervical fusion. I had a double cervical fusion right off the bat. The goal was to come back and then a few months after, they noticed that one of the screws was coming out. Then at the end, at the three-month mark, one screw had completely come out, and one had come halfway out.
So they had to go back in and take out the titanium. I think going back in the second time, kind of messed things up, cutting through the scared tissue. I just never got well enough to a point where I can come back and wrestle on a full-time basis. I can have a match here and there, but to do it properly, on a full time.\”
\’It Was All Good\’: Santino Marella
After not having made any TV appearances since the previous December, the Canadian Star was released from his WWE contract in May 2016. This marked the unofficial end of his full-time career in wrestling. Though Santino Marella is not bitter about how things ended. He explained that while he did try to rehab his neck for a couple years after his surgery, he is content with how his WWE career turned out to be:
\”To be honest, I was kind of over it. I just wanted to come home a little bit. I opened up Battle Arts Academy in 2013. I actually retired in 2016. So, the last two years was me trying to get back in shape. Not physically, my neck and my back, to get back in shape to be able to come back and perform but it just never happened. It was all good.
I had a very full life before WWE and I\’ve had a very full life after WWE. It was a great chapter. Absolutely an incredible chapter. Up until the point that I retired, it was a quarter of my life, right? It\’s funny, It\’s not even my most recent chapter. Next year, 2023 – Battles Arts is having its 10-year anniversary. Then the last four years I have had this new family. That\’s my most recent chapter. So wrestling\’s kind of a few chapters back now.\”
You can check out Santino Marella\’s full interview in the video below:
AEW\’s insistence on keeping the Women\’s Title on Thunder Rosa despite her prolonged absence has been a matter of debate among people in recent times. Shawn Spears, for one, has made his stand on the matter very clear.
The former Pinnacle member took on his Twitter to comment on the arrangement of interim champions. He shared the belief that you should either be a full-time champion or not be a champion at all:
AEW has always had the policy of crowning an interim champion if any of the belt holders get injured or have to take time off for any reason.
The absence of the AEW Women\’s Champion Thunder Rosa, however, has been a controversial affair since the start. Some female talents of the company have accused her of faking the injury to avoid dropping the title.
She has also been away from the ring the longest among all the reigning champions who have taken a break from the promotion. This is why many fans believe that Rosa should be stripped of the title.
Jamie Hayter became the new Interim Women\’s Champion by defeating Toni Storm at Full Gear. AEW President Tony Khan was asked about striping Rosa of the title during the post show media scrum. He said that he will make a decision once the timeline for Thunder Rosa\’s recovery becomes clearer.
What do you think about AEW\’s decision to keep the women\’s title on Thunder Rosa? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Tony Khan has addressed the Colt Cabana/CM Punk debacle that led to the biggest controversy in AEW history with the All Out Brawl.
The AEW President was asked about it during the post Full Gear media scrum, and he confirmed that the Straight Edge Star never asked Colt Cabana to be removed from AEW programming:
\”No. No, he never asked for that. The first time it came up, I think you asked me on a scrum call and I wasn’t looking at you face to face, it was before Death Before Dishonor, I think. He never asked me that.\”
Addressing Colt Cabana\’s return match against Chris Jericho, TK mentioned how he had been using him as a ROH coach and talent. So it made sense for him to challenge Jericho for the ROH title:
\”I’ve been using Colt Cabana both as a coach and a wrestler in Ring of Honor. I looked at the roster and he’s a very logical challenger because, not only has he held the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship, but he’s also somebody who has been wrestling in the 2022 Ring of Honor, is undefeated, so I thought he would be a logical challenger for Chris. It’s also a good match,\”
It\’s widely believed that Tony Khan decided not to re-sign Colt Cabana due to his issues with CM Punk. After the intervention from The Elite, Khan offered Cabana a position in ROH. This is believed to be one of the major causes of the animosity between the AEW EVPs and Punk, which led to the backstage fight at All Out.
One of the biggest differences in the culture of AEW and WWE has been the treatment of stars. While WWE has historically been known to control the life of people signed to the company, AEW under Tony Khan gives them a lot more freedom. According to Jade Cargill, this quality of the AEW President is what convinced her to join the upstart promotion in 2020, over their rivals.
The TBS champion recently appeared on The Breakfast Club. She talked about many things including her debut storyline with Shaquille O\’Neal. Cargill mentioned how she was going back and forth between WWE and AEW at the time. She gravitated towards the latter once Khan proved that he was willing to listen to her and collaborate:
\”I was actually going between this company and another company at the same time. So I was going back and forth. But we have an owner Tony Khan, who\’s hungry. [He] owns the Jaguars.\” said Jade Cargill, \”He owns a soccer team Fulham in England. The man is a billionaire. I love the fact that he treats us like athletes.
He understands like we need mental health days. We need time off. We have families at home. I have a five-year-old daughter so I want to be there as much as I can for her. That\’s the reason why I chose this company over the other company. They [have] seen something in me and they don\’t treat me like a number. He was willing to listen to my dream and what I wanted and said \’okay, I believe in you, and we\’re gonna make this happen.\’\”
You can check out Jade Cargill\’s full interview below:
It\’s hard to believe that The Rated R Superstar has been back in the wrestling world for more than two years and he is already talking about riding off into the sunset for good. The former World Champion discussed his intention of hanging up his boots during WWE\’s tour of Canada earlier this year in August. He explained to the crowd in Toronto after Raw that he planned on seeing them one more time and \’in a perfect world,\’ say goodbye to the fans after that.
The 49-Year-Old was recently interviewed by The Nation Network. He was asked about his announcement and why he wants to retire in Toronto. Replying to it, Edge explained that he didn\’t come back to win more championships. His goal was always to tell a good story before calling it a career:
\”That\’s the key. The first time I was told, \’You gotta hang it up. That\’s it, you\’re done.\’ It was WrestleMania. I retired world champ, and that sounds Cinderella, but I just didn\’t know. That made it hard to chew on all those years, but I had to accept it and move on with what life is now. [I got to] start an amazing, beautiful family and the acting thing started to kind of take [off] a little but when I had the chance to get this back. The first thing I thought is, \’I want to retire in Toronto.\’\” explained Edge,
He continued: \”Because again, I know the window is not open for long. But if I can do it there, I think then I\’ll be able to go right. I\’m good. That was the last thing to kind of check off. I didn\’t come back to win 4 more championships or anything like that. I really just came back to have fun, try and help teach a new generation of talent that I never got my hands on before. I always say, I call us storytellers. [I always intended to] come back and tell hell of a story for three or four years and then ride off into the sunset.\”
You can check out Edge\’s full interview in the video below:
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