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AEW Reportedly Re-Shot Dynamite Segment Between Chris Jericho And Matt Hardy During The Show

Anutosh Bajpai
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The main event segment of this week’s Dynamite saw Matt Hardy confronting the former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho after his debut on last week’s episode of the show.

During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about this angle and revealed some interesting titbits about whole thing.

According to Meltzer, most of the things on Dynamite were produced live and the confrontation angle was one of the few things to be taped beforehand on Tuesday.

However, Chris Jericho did not like the taped version of the segment and he wanted it to be reshot. Though they could not shoot it in the day time because the difference would have been obvious on TV.

So the company shot the angle again during the Kip Sabian vs. Darby Allin match which was the only bout of the night that had been shot beforehand.

The production team then had just 15 minutes to edit the whole thing before it aired on TV and it’s an impressive feat of achievement considering the fact that AEW has been doing live TV for less than a year.

Chris Jericho also confirmed this story on a Facebook Live Stream, noting that they planned to shoot the angle before Dynamite went on air but they couldn’t do it because the sun had not gone down yet.

Seth Rollins On When His Faction May Get A Name

Anutosh Bajpai
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1

Seth Rollins has been part of groups like the Shield and The Authority during his WWE career and the former Champion has recently formed another faction with AOP and Murphy.

So far this group has not found its name but the former Universal Champion believes that they might get one after this year’s edition of WrestleMania.

Rollins talked about potential names for his group when he appeared on WWE’s The Bump. He revealed that he has some ideas and they might get a name after the Show Of Shows:

“Yeah, I have some ideas [on names]; I’ve had some cool names in the past, so we’ll see where it lands. Maybe, post-WrestleMania. But, I’ve got some things brewing.”

Seth Rollins also talked about his chemistry with the group saying that both AOP and Murphy are very talented but they had been sitting on the sidelines since coming to main roster and they were missing the right guidance.

Though while the Architect is planning the future of his group, latest reports suggest that we can see a major shakeup to his faction in the upcoming time due to Rezar’s injury.

According to the report, WWE does not want to use Akam without his partner and they have no plans for either of the team members to appear on TV in near future.

This will leave Rollins with only Murphy on his side and it would be interesting to see if the company adds more members to his group to continue this storyline.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

The Rock On Who Will Be On His Mount Rushmore Of Wrestling

Anutosh Bajpai
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2

A number of WWE Superstars including Becky Lynch had recently revealed their Mount Rushmore of wrestling and now The Great One, The Rock has joined this list.

The former World Champion recently held a Q&A session on his Instagram account where he talked about things like his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin and more.

When asked who would be on his Mount Rushmore of wrestling, the Rock revealed three names and said that he keeps going back and forth on the last entry:

“My wrestling Mount Rushmore would be ‘The Immortal’ Hulk Hogan, ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair, ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ Steve Austin, that fourth person; I always kind of keep blank because I vacillate back and forth between “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Dusty Rhodes.”

A fan then asked the People’s Champion where he sees himself in the mountain and the former champion said that he is on the back part of it which you can’t see:

“Where am I on Mount Rushmore? I would say I’m on the back of Mount Rushmore, that’s the part you don’t see. I’m on the back all by myself and I’m raising my eyebrow and ‘If you smell!’ and I’m doing all that sh-t. That’s me on the back.”

The Rock also explained the reasoning behind his picks saying that you want to pick people who have had the most impact on the wrestling business and also had the ‘X-factor’

Booker T On Why AEW Needs Guys Like Matt Hardy And Brodie Lee

Anutosh Bajpai
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0

The March 18 episode of AEW Dynamite saw two big debuts as both Brodie Lee and ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy made their presence felt on the show.

On the latest episode of his Hall Of Fame podcast, wrestling veteran Booker T talked about a number of things and he also discussed the debut of both these stars.

Booker first recalled the time he himself jumped ship from WCW to WWE and revealed what Matt Hardy had said about the decision before his WWE departure:

“These guys didn’t waste no time, That’s the way you want to do it too. I remember when I left WCW for WWE, I said I ain’t got time to lose no money. Matt Hardy said it was a huge decision to make, but he thought it was the right decision, less days, more money, less stress. That sounds good to me.”

Booker T continued by expressing the importance of names like Matt Hardy joining the AEW roster and claimed that they are going to need them to build the company:

“You’re gonna need guys like Matt Hardy, you’re gonna need guys like Brodie Lee to build that company, I’m taking nothing away from the young guys that AEW has, but a lot of these guys are really good workers, but are they stars?”

The former World Champion also discussed how Matt Hardy is in the twilight of his career and claimed it was the right move for Hardy as he couldn’t have made the impact he wanted to make as a part-timer in WWE.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Chris Jericho Comments On Making Darby Allin A Star In AEW

Chris Stephens
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6

Chris Jericho and Darby Allin recently took part in an interview with the New York Post. During the discussion, Jericho said that he has been pushing backstage in AEW to make Darby Allin a star.

“If you ask Darby who has been behind the scenes pulling the strings to make him a star, it’s Uncle Jericho,” Jericho said during the interview.

Allin was recently forced to take on both Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara in a 2-on-1 match on Dynamite after the Inner Circle attacked Jon Moxley before the match could begin.

It was also mentioned that Darby was a little apprehensive about using his skateboarding as part of his wrestling persona in AEW but Jericho eventually convinced him to go with it.

“I didn’t want to make it look like I was taking skateboarding and using that as like a marketing thing for wrestling,” Allin said.

Jericho pushed for Allin to ride a skateboard to the ring, however.

“He didn’t want to ride the skateboard down,” Jericho said. “I go, ‘No, you’re riding the f–king skateboard down every night.’ ”

“Then I said, ‘S–t, I really actually skate, so I might as well actually use it,’ ” Allin concluded.

Allin would continue to say during the interview that he is not taking any of his recent success for granted and hopes it continues for as long as possible. He also spoke about his match with Cody at Fyter Fest.

“I felt like walking in there, nobody knew who I was,” Allin said about his match against Cody. “Walking out, everybody is like, ‘This kid is willing to do anything to win and tell a story.’ It’s kind of like what people say about Jeff Hardy.”

The full interview with Chris Jericho and Darby Allin can be read here.

NWA’s Tim Storm Describes Meeting Joe Exotic

Chris Stephens
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0

The Netflix docuseries “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” is currently one of the most popular shows on the streaming service. It tells the story of roadside zoo operator Joe Exotic and his rivalry with others in his industry. Perhaps not surprisingly, Joe Exotic has a history in the wrestling business.

Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion detailed meeting Joe Exotic recently in a video published on the NWA’s YouTube channel.

“One night I’m just kind of scrolling through and one of the features on Netflix is the top-10 current things and #1 on the list was ‘Tiger King’ which probably would not have registered with me except underneath the caption was ‘Joe Exotic’ with a picture and it immediately registered ‘oh my gosh, I know this guy.'”

Storm continued to say Joe was different but he was shocked by the charges he was convicted of.

“I knew Joe and knew that Joe was different. He was very open about his differences,” Storm continued. “When I heard about that, obviously shocked. The documentary goes into great depth about care of the animals and all of those things and then what he’s been not just charged with but convicted of, all of those things I never saw coming.”

Storm then talked about a show he was involved in that served as a fundraiser for Joe Exotic’s zoo.

“So the original contact was ‘would you be willing to come out, defend the North American Championship as a fundraiser to try and raise money to feed these saved animals?” Storm said regarding being contacted by the promoter for NWA Texoma. Storm continued to say that he agreed because he loves animals.

Tim Storm Wrestles On Show To Raise Money For Joe Exotic’s Animals

“Through Robert Langdon and through Joe, Joe started bringing his equipment out to Texoma and airing those episodes streaming, live streaming,” Storm continued.

Storm and Lagana then reiterated and made it clear that Joe Exotic was never a promoter with the National Wrestling Alliance but these NWA Texoma shows did live stream from his YouTube channel. Storm said the two shows he worked for that Joe was involved in were poorly attended.

“There were more ligers watching than there were true fans, I think,” Storm continued.

Storm then continued to talk about the experience of wrestling two of these shows. He also spoke about touring the tiger areas after hours.

The full conversation can be viewed in the player below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBknqM8fZU

The Rock Recalls Main Eventing WrestleMania 3x With Steve Austin

Chris Stephens
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0

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin and the Rock headlined WrestleMania a record number of 3 times. The Rock recently answered some questions for fans on social media and took the time to talk about his rivalry with the Texas Rattlesnake.

“There has been no feud that has been a greater box-office draw and that, in my opinion, and it’s so totally biased, by the way, because it’s me, that actually had more x-factor heat and electricity and sometimes you can’t write it, you can’t put your finger on it, but when it happens it explodes and it is an emotionality that you cannot deny.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Vrm2lchqS5s&feature=emb_logo

The Rock then went on to say that he’d been a big fan of Austin’s even before he came to WWE.

“I’d been a big fan of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin before he was ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin as “Stunning” Steve Austin,” Rock said in the video. “His wrestling days in World Class, his wrestling days in WCW and of course up in ECW with Paul Heyman and that crew before he came over to the WWE.”

He would continue to talk about how when the rivalry started, Rock had just turned heel and was part of the Nation of Domination. He said the first time the Austin character and Rock character interacted on WWE programming felt special. Rock then spoke about facing Austin for the first time at WrestleMania 15.

“Steve had broken his neck and came back from a broken neck so he was very particular about who he wrestled with,” Rock continued.

“He trusted me and there was only a handful of guys that he trusted with his injury and wrestling him at that time. I was so honored.”

The Rock’s comments can be heard in the Instagram post below:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-Slx8XFBBx/?igshid=lui35b6o5n7t

Ric Flair Working With The Rock & WWE On A Movie About His Life

Anutosh Bajpai
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2

Ric Flair is arguably one of the greatest sports entertainers of all time and his journey in the professional wrestling world, including his record 16 world title reigns have been nothing but incredible.

The WWE Hall Of Famer recently appeared on Busted Open Radio alongside Mark Henry and during the conversation; Mark said that he is probably the greatest crossover entertainer in the history of our planet.

In response to the comments from Henry, Flair claimed that he has started to realize that as well. He went on to reveal that he has talked to The Rock and WWE and they are planning to make a movie about his life as soon as things go back to normal:

“I’ve talked to Dwayne [Johnson] and Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia and they’re gonna collaborate for all this stuff and make a movie with the WWE with me with Sue Levinson, who now is with WWE and is doing a fabulous job and Sue’s got a great background.

As soon as everything gets rolling again, I’m going to make that movie. I am looking forward to that because I’ll have a lot of input and I’ve got a TV show coming out again when Hollywood gets going.” said Ric Flair. “This will actually come up first about my life in the 80s.”

The former World Champion also joked that a TV Show about his life might not be suitable for prime time, saying that it will probably be rated XXR and come at 1 in the morning.

There is no word yet on what production stage this planned movie on Ric Flair is but we will likely get a better idea after the situation changes and the world starts recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Cody Explains Why He’s Not Facing Lance Archer Yet

Chris Stephens
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2

Jake “the Snake” Roberts has brought Lance Archer into AEW and they are targetting Cody Rhodes. Archer is scheduled to make his in-ring debut on the upcoming Dynamite but according to Cody, he hasn’t earned a shot at him yet.

Cody took to Twitter and explained why he will not be the one facing the former Killer Elite Squad member on Dynamite this week. He explained that Archer is just making his debut and needs to get some wins under his belt before facing someone in the Top 5 rankings.

Cody tweeted, “I appreciate Lance & his skillset. AEW is glad to have him. I’m not interested in social media angles though. He will debut this week, but not against me. He has zero record with AEW, me wrestling him does a disservice to others climbing into the Top-5. Maybe down the road.”

Despite Cody’s explanation, Roberts and Archer will likely claim he is ducking them.

Jake & Lance Archer Target Cody

Jake “the Snake” Roberts returned to wrestling and confronted Cody on the March 4th edition of Dynamite. He told Cody he was not there to praise him but rather to “slay” him.

Roberts was seen in a backstage vignette this week talking about both Cody and his new client, Lance Archer. Jake “the Snake” Roberts’ promo from last week’s Dynamite can be viewed in the player below:

Roberts recently also explained who helped bring him into AEW in a recent interview.

“My name kept getting brought up by people, but it was actually [Tony] Khan that said ‘I want him in here.’ That’s quite a compliment there. That’s not the way I expected to be brought in, I expected it to be through Dallas or through Dustin [Rhodes], but it wasn’t, it was Khan who wanted me in there.”

Matt Hardy Explains The Secret Behind His “Teleportation” Illusion On Dynamite

Chris Stephens
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2

Matt Hardy’s vessel is currently being used by Damascus, a 3000-year-old being that is able to sense the “essences” of others inside Daily’s Place even when no fans are allowed in attendance. As he told us last week on Dynamite, Chris Jericho recently banned fans from attending live AEW events.

During Hardy and Jericho’s face-to-face segment last week, Hardy appeared to teleport to different places in the empty arena.

Hardy has recently offered up an explanation for how his character appeared to teleport but did so without breaking the rules of physics and reality.

It appears that Vanguard 1, Hardy’s drone, projected images of Hardy all over the arena to confuse Chris Jericho.

Chris Jericho On Segment With Matt Hardy

Jericho recently took to his Facebook account and published a live stream with his thoughts on the angle.

Jericho continued to say that some pre-recorded parts had to be filmed over on Wednesday as he wasn’t happy with how they originally came out. They then had to wait for the sun to go down to film the segments again.

Jericho then went on to answer questions from fans during the stream. You can watch Chris Jericho’s live stream embedded below or at Facebook.com.

https://www.facebook.com/ChrisJericho/videos/2662951647271991/?cft[0]=AZVVbWfQPl7KkFa5YfQPXXwdfxfkG8SXVscgAKFo-sqOJ1MvQVYAxd44GB1GxtsT8n4NrG6rO5-FohVtxNTg_0WQOhyJ13VMPb3c8g_DCrvLIVRb2ze_LsVZYctxWQkC8Nk5s89dHaMK6eIcEO05kqKLXxVf36OJnyCL1IjZ8FM7WV6cyRXS_Lxely9nsJd_Gc4&tn=%2CO%2CP-R

Jim Ross Talks WWE Getting Matt Hardy ‘More Over’ Before He Left

Jake Skudder
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4

AEW commentator Jim ‘JR’ Ross recently discussed new All Elite signing Matt Hardy on the most recent episode of the Grilling Jr podcast.

This week’s episode of the show focused on WrestleMania 9, Jim Ross’ first ever live broadcast for the company. One of the topics brought up during the show was that of ‘burying’ talent as they are leaving the company. This is something that has been a topic of contention in the past with fans, with JR believing that people who are featured on television aren’t being ‘buried’ as they are getting air time.

WWE Writing Matt Hardy off TV

The aforementioned Matt Hardy was a prominent part of the Randy Orton/Edge programme before he left WWE. Before this, Hardy was sparsely used on WWE television, and this high profile feud was the first we had really heard or seen from Hardy on Monday Night RAW.

“Why would you have someone on your payroll…and you’re paying them,” JR began. “And you’re traveling them, you’re putting them on television. If you want their character to die?”

“That’s like when WWE was going to do the last few things with Matt Hardy. That was their intent [WWE], to bury Matt Hardy, right? But for their own mismanagement and lack of attention to detail and lack of common sense, they got Matt Hardy over more on his way out than they did while he was there.”

JR would finish by lambasting WWE for the way that they dealt with Hardy on the way out. “He was doing promos, he was in hot angles. He’s with Randy Orton blah blah blah. So you’re not burying him, you’re getting him over, dumbass. And so now Matt Hardy’s in AEW which is going to be great for us, I think.”

Did WWE ‘Bury’ Hardy?

Traditionally, talents would ‘do the job’ on their way out of a ‘territory.’ Matt Hardy was attacked by Randy Orton brutally with a chair to build up the Edge feud, thus taking him off of television.

In 2020, a lot of fans are well aware of Hardy’s social media/YouTube work and he has been using this to build to his eventual move to AEW. So with WWE putting Hardy on television, it’s arguable that they really didn’t do any damage to his character at all.

Do you feel that WWE ‘buried’ Matt Hardy on his way out of the company? Let us know in the comments

Also Check Out:

Becky Lynch On How Her Relationship With Seth Rollins Started

Anutosh Bajpai
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2

The relationship between Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch has been one of the most discussed topics in recent times and WWE even used their real-life connection in a storyline last year.

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on ESPN MMA, the current Raw Women’s Champion talked about a number of things including her upcoming WrestleMania match with Shayna Baszler and more.

Discussing the start of her relationship with the former Universal Champion, Lynch revealed that they hit it off in the first conversation she ever had with Rollins:

“We’ve been friends for years and years, and just immediately the first conversation that I ever had with him… we just hit it off,” said Becky. “I think I just ended up telling him my life story. And that was it, we were just friends, and there was never really anything. But then, we were both single at the same time, and then we were like, ‘Why not?'”

Seth Rollins is currently scheduled to face Kevin Owens in a one on one match at WrestleMania 36 though it appears that he will be alone in this fight as after AOP, Murphy has also been pulled from the show.

On the other hand, Becky Lynch will be defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Shayna Baszler on the Show Of Shows this year and she believes that she will be competing in the first night of the event on April 4.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

WWE Considering New Format For Empty Arena Shows

Anutosh Bajpai
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13

The fans are a crucial part of any WWE show. However, the company has been forced to produce shows without an audience in attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic and it’s not clear when they will be able to return to their normal format.

The promotion recently completed a major set of TV tapings including WrestleMania 36. They are set to hold another taping on April 10 and it appears that they are considering a different format for the future shows to make things interesting

The company has sent out a survey to fans asking about a potential new format for empty arena shows which might include fans in the broadcast.

In the suggested format as seen below, the company is considering to put live face cams of celebrities such as superstars or sports figures and the fans around the screen in the broadcast of the programm:

“WWE is considering new options for the way that they present show segments within this current environment. This might include hearing and seeing feedback from Superstars, celebrities, sports figures or fans during the show”

Here is a mockup image that WWE sent out out as part of the survey:

EUN tiHWsAEDZmP

Eric Bischoff Details Phone Call That Led To Steve Austin’s Firing From WCW

Anutosh Bajpai
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0

Firing Stone Cold Steve Austin while he was recovering from an injury was arguably one of the biggest mistakes WCW and Eric Bischoff made during the Attitude Era as The Texas Rattle Snake signed with WWE after this. He then went on to become one of the biggest stars in the wrestling history and his battles with Vince McMahon played a crucial part in winning the Monday Night Wars for the company.

On the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff talked about the firing of the former World Champion and revealed how a phone call led to this decision. The former WCW President recalled the time when Austin was in home recovering from a triceps injury but they were still paying him a lot of money due to his guaranteed contract.

So to make sure that Austin’s character stayed alive and it didn’t disappear from TV completely, Bischoff decided to put him in a backstage segment at WCW Staturday Night. He asked Tony Schiavone to give Stone Cold a call to come and shoot the promo but the former Champion didn’t want to come to the phone:

“Tony called Steve and Steve’s wife answered the phone, and the way it was reported back to me from Tony was that Steve’s wife said ‘Hey Steve, Tony Schiavone is on the phone he wants to talk to you’, and Tony could hear Steve yelling back to his wife, ‘Tell them sons of b—–s I’m not here.'” recalled Bischoff. “Well, that’s pretty bulls–t right? That’s bulls–t. He was there; he just didn’t want to have a conversation. He didn’t want to hear anything I had to say, or maybe he was in pain, I don’t know.”

Schiavone then came back to Eric Bischoff and detailed the call which led to him believing that Austin was being dishonest to him. According to the former WCW executive, he becomes irrational once he feels that someone is being dishonest with him and this is the reason why he made the call to let the former Champion go.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Lana On Why She Stopped Posting Family Pictures On Social Media

Anutosh Bajpai
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3

Being a heel in WWE means that you are constantly being targeted by the WWE fans even in today’s age and people go as far as disrespecting your family and friends as well. Lana, who has spent most of her WWE career being a heel, is no stranger to such reactions and she recently revealed that she stopped posting photos of her family because of the same.

The Raw star recently appeared on The Matthew Aaron Show where she recalled an incident which forced her to make the decision to not post photos of her family anymore. Lana recalled that in 2014, they were doing Rocky IV and patriotic people of the United States decided to come to her Instagram:

“Well all of the United States of America decided to come onto my Instagram, and if I would post a picture of my nephew that was like literally three weeks old, they would be like, ‘He’s the ugliest baby in the world! We hope he dies! USA! USA!’. It’s like, oh my God, you are so sick. People are sick, like what is wrong with you.” said Lana. “So I stopped posting anything of my family because… normal people are not as tough as a WWE superstar.”

Lana also talked about heels in the business saying that you cannot have a super good guy or superhero without having a hated villain. She said that you need to be committed to be a good villain and the former NXT star explained that to become a hated villain you have to be selfless and understand that you are going to lose at the end.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Kofi Kingston Says He Wanted His WWE Championship Reign To End Differently

Anutosh Bajpai
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8

A lot of people were infuriated with the way Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign ended and the list of names includes his tag team partner Big E as well.

The former Champion recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated to promote his upcoming Netflix film, The Main Event which will be released on April 10, 2020.

During the interview, Kingston talked about his long title reign and he remembered how he was able to motivate people when he was the champion. Though the former Champion also admitted that he would have liked things to end differently:

“Six months is a very long title reign in this day and age, and I was able to motivate people and push people to be the best version of themselves. At the end of the day, that’s really all I want to do in this industry.

I want to push people to follow their dreams, and I feel like I did a great job of that in that title reign.“ said Kofi Kingston. ”That’s what I focus on. I would have liked for it to end differently, but at the end of the day, you go out and do the job you’re asked to do.”

Elsewhere in the interview the New Day Member recalled his trip to Ghana while being the WWE Champion and said that he takes a lot of pride in it.

Kofi also recalled how he felt the same as others when he found out about the finish of his match with Brock Lesnar and revealed that he had a different version of the story in his mind. You can check out his full interview at this link.

Becky Lynch Among WWE Stars Name Who Would Be On Their Wrestling Mount Rushmore

Andrew Ravens
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On Saturday, the topic of who would be on your Mount Rushmore of wrestling was trending on social media. 

WWE’s YouTube channel put out a video that featured various stars being asked who they would put on their Mount Rushmore of wrestling. 

The likes of WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Jason Jordan, Shayna Baszler, Seth Rollins, and Liv Morgan gave their take about this topic. 

Just like with who is the GOAT (greatest of all-time) in wrestling, it’s an opinionated take as most people have a different list.

Most can agree upon the likes of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock but typically the fourth name is divided. Here’s the list: 

  • Becky Lynch on Superstars – Brock Lesnar, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and John Cena 
  • Lynch on purest wrestlers – Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Kurt Angle.
  • Seth Rollins – Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Vince McMahon.
  • Charlotte – Andrade, herself, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair.
  • Jason Jordan – Kurt Angle, Mr. Perfect, Steve Austin, and Eddie Guerrero. 
  • Shayna Bazler – Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Bruno Sammartino, and Steve Austin.
  • Liv Morgan – herself, Mickie James, Vince McMahon, and Shawn Michaels. 

Do you agree with their list?

Mark Henry Talks Possible Stipulation For Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania

Arn Anderson Names His ‘Most Interesting People In Wrestling’

Chris Stephens
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1

Arn Anderson was recently asked on an episode of his podcast who he thinks is the “most interesting man in the wrestling world.” Anderson was unable to name just one person, however.

Conrad Thompson got the ball rolling by mentioning Paul Ellering and Chris Jericho as particularly interesting people in the world of pro-wrestling.

“Paul Ellering was a completely different kind of cat, you know what I mean?” Anderson said about Ellering. “He trained people for the Iditarod (sled dog race), were you aware of that? That’s pretty heavy, that’s pretty stout. He disappeared up to Alaska and that’s what he did for a while.”

Anderson then spoke about how Jericho has been able to reinvent himself and has done a credible job throughout his career.

Tony Khan was then listed as someone Anderson considers an interesting person in wrestling.

“Tony Khan and his background of where he has came from and just going from being a very successful entrepreneur and wrestling fan to being an owner of a company that, I’ve been saying it, is the future of the wrestling industry.”

Arn Anderson on Billy Corgan & The NWA

Anderson also mentioned Billy Corgan as an interesting person in wrestling.

“I think the guy, the Smashing Pumpkins gentleman that has opened up the NWA is an interesting guy,” Arn continued. “To go from a rocker to the owner of the NWA which has a lot of stroke with me, that name, it totally means something if we make it mean something. The NWA is what I was brought up on, they are carving out a niche for themselves. Their champion is doing a good job and their whole crew.”

Anderson then spoke about how he feels wrestling is in a good place right now due to all the places wrestlers have to work. He mentioned ROH, Impact, the NWA and more.

Chris Jericho Discusses Chris Benoit & Dark Side Of The Ring Docuseries

Chris Stephens
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1

Chris Jericho serves as the narrator for Season 2 of VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring docuseries. The first two episodes of the season focus on the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide tragedy from 2007. Jericho recently spoke to Paste about his involvement in the documentary and the complicated question of Chris Benoit’s legacy in pro-wrestling.

During the interview, Jericho was asked about Benoit’s contribution to pro-wrestling and if it is important to revive the memory of his body of work.

“I don’t know, man. It’s a weird thing,” Jericho responded. “I’m not doing this to glorify a murderer but I’m also not doing this to wash away the things that he did. I think it’s a personal choice. If you were someone that didn’t know Chris Benoit you might want to study his matches because he was one of the greatest of all time. There’s no doubt about that. No matter what he did in the last weekend of his life, as a professional there were none better.”

Jericho said the issue of Benoit’s body of work and its legacy is more difficult for those who were around or following the business in 2007.

“Where it becomes harder is if you knew him, or if you were there or around or involved or a wrestling fan in 2007, when this went down.”

“I would say probably 10, 15 years from now—even now—you’re going to have a whole generation of performers that weren’t really fans back then, or might not have really known the true story, that won’t care as much. They’ll want to watch his matches and just try to learn and see what he did and what he was.”

Chris Jericho On Chris Benoit’s Body of Work In Wrestling

Jericho would then continue to say that he’s not sure if he wants to go back and watch old Benoit matches but understands why others would want to do so.

“I don’t know if I really want to go back and watch those matches even though they’re so connected to me in so many ways. It’s hard to do. But I don’t blame other people for doing it, because those matches are great examples of what perfect pro wrestling is.”

Jericho covers a whole range of topics during the interview. He also spoke about other episodes of the docu-series and how Chavo Guerrero got him involved. The full interview can be found here.

https://youtu.be/XkUsAztC4Xc

Mark Henry Talks Possible Stipulation For Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania

Jake Skudder
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WrestleMania 36 is just a week away. With the current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, WWE has been forced to pre-tape the biggest show of the year.

One of the bigger matches on the card; will see WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch take on Shayna Baszler for the Championship. In a potentially massive slip up, Mark Henry may have revealed the stipulation for the match.

During the most recent episode of Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry was discussing the Roman Reigns and Goldberg situation. Roman Reigns has taken himself off of the WrestleMania card due to health worries, and Henry suggested that Matt Riddle be the replacement opponent for Goldberg at the event. In doing so, he discussed a match stipulation he’d like to see added to the RAW Women’s title match

Henry stated “You know, you got one match in an octagon hopefully. And hopefully you know what they can do with Shana Baszler and Becky Lynch. And then you can turn around and have one more right behind it, or have it before [Goldberg vs Riddle]. Just a tune up.”

“then you can turn around and have one more right behind it”

Mark Henry

The ‘World’s Strongest Man’ would obviously be referring to Riddle and Baszler being former MMA fighters, thus giving the stipulation some merit. However, with Riddle being pure speculation, it’s interesting for Mark Henry to say “you got one match in an octagon, hopefully.”

So, with WrestleMania 36 being behind closed doors and information being sparse; has Mark Henry just slipped that we’re getting an MMA match for Lynch vs Baszler? We have one more episode of RAW before WrestleMania 36 next week, could WWE announce the match stipulation then?

Also Check Out:

Becky Lynch Comments On WrestleMania With No Fans

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Becky Lynch will face Shayna Baszler with her WWE RAW Women’s Championship on the line at WrestleMania. Lynch won the title in a triple threat match at WrestleMania last year when she defeated Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey. This year, however, there will be no fans in attendance when Lynch wrestles on the show.

Lynch spoke to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani about the unique nature of this year’s WrestleMania.

“I’m somebody who has fed off the energy of the crowd so much,” Lynch said. “It’s been my connection with the crowd that’s gotten me to where I am and I know that without those people I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. It’s a different shift in your brain. You have to use a different part of you because you know at the other end of it, there’s millions of people watching. So you have to connect to them differently.”

“You’re not going to get that same gratification that you get when you’re going out there in front of an audience and they are letting you know how well you’re doing or how well you’re not doing but they are responding to you constantly. So it’s a little bit, there’s less self-gratification but more concentration on the nuances and of what your message is, why do I want people to care about why I’m going to mess Shayna Baszler up so much?”

Becky Lynch’s full comments to ESPN can be viewed in the player below:

Jake Roberts Reveals Who Brought Him Into AEW

Anutosh Bajpai
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Jake Roberts has been on a path to recovery from the last few years and the former WWE star even returned to weekly national television recently when he debuted on AEW TV.

During a recent interview with SportsKeeda, the wrestling legend talked about a number of things and also revealed who was responsible for bringing him into the company.

Roberts first mentioned how his name kept getting brought up and later revealed that while he expected people like DDP or Dustin Rhodes to vouch for him, it was actually President Tony Khan who wanted him there:

“My name kept getting brought up by people, but it was actually [Tony] Khan that said “I want him in here.” That’s quite a compliment there. That’s not the way I expected to be brought in, I expected it to be through Dallas or through Dustin [Rhodes], but it wasn’t, it was Khan who wanted me in there.

He’s the one that initiated the “let’s get him.” I did the little card-dealing gimmick I did for them [at Double Or Nothing],” recalled Jake Roberts. “That was just a nice thing to do, But then to get invited to do this angle [with Lance Archer) was much bigger.”

The WWE Hall Of Famer continued by saying that his storyline with Lance Archer is going to be huge and they haven’t really started it yet.

He then mentioned how AEW is doing things the old school way where they are building things up for the long term instead of doing what WWE does. You can check out his full interview at this link.

Teddy Hart Arrested For Assault, Facing Prison Time

Chris Stephens
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Teddy Hart could be looking at significant jail time as a result of new charges he’s facing. Hart was arraigned in Richmond, Virginia on Thursday and is facing charges of strangulation resulting in wounding/bodily harm. The charges are related to an incident involving Hart’s girlfriend Maria Manic.

Hart is facing up to 5 years in prison for the Class 6 felony offense and up to a $2500 fine. His court date is set for April 22nd and he is currently being housed in Richmond City jail without bail.

Independent wrestler Ace Montana took to his Facebook account to say he had to pull a gun on Hart. He went on to detail the assault against Manic. Hart was arrested shortly after the incident took place.

https://www.facebook.com/acie.williams.1/posts/10221095280590181

This is the 3rd time in the last 2 months that Hart has been arrested. He was arrested and charged with possession of a schedule III substance with intent to sell or distribute. On March 4th, he was charged for violating the terms of his bail by not staying under house arrest.

The 40-year-old Hart is a former MLW World Middleweight Champion and held the tag titles along with Davey Boy Smith Jr. He’s also a former JCW World Champion with the Insane Clown Posse’s Juggalo Championship Wrestling.

Ace Montana spoke to Hannibal TV in detail about the incident:

Booker T On What’s Missing In Modern Wrestling

Chris Stephens
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Booker T was recently a guest on Konnan’s “Keepin it 100” podcast. During the conversation, Booker was asked what he feels is missing wrestling today. During the conversation, Konnan asked Booker what he feels is lacking in modern wrestling.

“I think the psychology I think is missing, the stories, not the stories but the storytelling,” Booker said on the show. “Being able to go out there and make the fans say your name and chant your name because they were invested in you, they had an emotional connection. You know, when you are getting beat up real good you might see a kid crying because they want to see you get back in there. I think that part of it has been removed from the business due to it’s a different time there, a different game.”

Booker would continue to say that this type of storytelling still works and you do still see some of it today. He gave Roman Reigns as an example of someone who tells good stories in his matches.

“I like Roman Reigns because he goes out and tells me a story pretty much every time he’s in the ring,” he continued.

“Some guys go out there and they forget about the emotional connection that you’re supposed to make with the fans. I think that is the biggest part that’s missing more than anything.”

Booker’s full comments can be heard in the player below:

Ric Flair Urges Fans To Practice Social Distancing During Coronavirus Pandemic

Steve Russell
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Ric Flair has shared his thoughts on the current coronavirus pandemic affecting the world. The WWE Hall of Famer addressed the situation in a video entitled “Keeping It Real!” which he uploaded to his YouTube channel.

With his wife Wendy next to him, Flair stressed how important it is to maintain social distancing and to self-isolate during this turbulent time. He noted how people worldwide should be doing their part so we can get back to living life sooner rather than later. 

“I am the king of doing what’s wrong in life, self admittedly,” Flair confessed. “I’ve never done anything right, and here I am selfishly thinking that I’m missing WrestleMania—the greatest athletes in the world performing with nobody there, and I’m thinking that that’s making a statement by not going, and to me that’s the last thing.

He continued, “It’s learning right now that we have to social distance, we have to practice hygiene at its highest, we have to learn how to be self-contained. We have to beat this virus, we have to entertain ourselves, be it First Take, be it Get Up, be it Amazon, Netflix, just do it. Please, so that we can get out and enjoy the world. As we have for years.”

Ric Flair Urges Coronavirus Precautions

Ric Flair then emphasized how, if you’re not choosing to take precautions for yourself, then you should be undertaking the necessary social responsibility for your family and other people. 

“If you’re not doing it for yourself, do it for your family. Do it for other people that are lucky enough to be alive. Thanking the doctors, the nurses, and everybody for all you do—the first responders.”

Flair then joked about how in the old days, “they had an electric fence for me to keep me from wandering!” He noted, however, that he is presently happy staying at home as he has found happiness there, urging how “that’s what everybody needs to do.”

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