– Chris Jericho noted on social media recently that his “Talk Is Jericho” podcast has had over 53 million downloads since December 4, 2013.
– The following is the official synopsis for tonight’s edition of WWE Total Divas on E!:
“The future of the Bella Twins is in question after Brie’s admission that she doesn’t use protection; Nattie is forced to work with TJ even though they are separated; and Ariane makes a disastrous attempt to find out why exactly Alicia hates her.”
– Below is a photo of WWE Superstar David Otunga with his fiancee Jennifer Hudson at Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy Awards party on Saturday night.
With production of Th Rock’s new HBO series Ballers well underway, The Rock announced on Facebook that he’s teaming up with HBO Documentary Films for a project titled, “Rock & A Hard Place.” The film will take an inside look at “one of the most hardcore and successful boot camp prisons in the world.”
As somebody who was arrested multiple times as a teen, The Rock will encourage the inmates to break the cycle of destructive life choices and turn their futures around.
Here’s The Rock’s official announcement:
“Officially started production on our new HBO Documentary Films project, “ROCK & A HARD PLACE”. From armed robbery to attempted murder, we’re taking you inside one of the most hard core and successful boot camp prisons in the world. They break these young offenders down, only to build them back up to hopefully make them better human beings once released. $7 Bucks Productions & the producers of “LOCK UP” (44 Blue Prod) will bring you a passion project very close to my heart. With my multiple arrests as a teen, I was once one of these kids — one poor decision after another. I changed my life around, and hopefully along the way.. we can help change a few of their lives around too. Productions begins now. Dade County, Florida. “ROCK & A HARD PLACE”. Coming to you soon on HBO.”
– Triple H will be hosting a media conference call this coming Tuesday to promote the next NXT live special on the WWE Network, NXT TakeOver: Rival, which airs on Wednesday night. Make sure to check back here on Tuesday afternoon for notes from the call.
– WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio did a photo shoot with noted hip-hop artists Rick Ross and French Montana earlier this week. No other details are known as of this writing. Below are a couple of photos of Mysterio with the famous rappers.
– TNA will hold a double-taping of TNA Xplosion matches, along with eight TNA One Night Only pay-per-view tapings in Orlando, Florida from February 12 through February 16th. Three of the One Night Only themes will be Knockouts Knockdown 3, World Cup 3, and Joker’s Wild 3.
– The latest edition of Taz’s “Human Podcast Machine” show, which features former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman, is now available at Play.it. Later this month, Taz will interview Sabu.
– In the following video, TNA announcer Josh Mathews talks about the bad bump that Jeff Hardy took off of the steel cage at the TNA Lockdown show on Friday. He also talks about Matt Hardy appearing on next week’s edition of Impact Wrestling from Glasgow, Scotland.
Former WWE performer Joanie Laurer (aka Chyna) mentioned recently that she recorded an interview with Vince Russo that will drop on PyroAndBallyhoo.com on Monday after WWE RAW. Chyna noted that she talks about topics during the interview that she was told to keep quiet, but she decided not to.
Russo noted on his official website that he received a phone call from Laurer at 11pm and the two discussed her thoughts on what Triple H said about her regarding the WWE Hall Of Fame.
The Chyna-Russo “shoot interview” is being promoted with the following teaser synopsis:
“The conversation lasted almost 2 hours. Triple H could have prevented this. He could have taken the high road—he chose not to. Whatever follows—they have simply brought upon themselves. God said to put others before ourselves . . . .and, I truly believe that.”
In the following video, Chyna explains that she’s had enough and will talk about it more in the interview with Russo that drops on Monday. She said it felt good to speak out on WWE and that she’s needed to get all of this off of her chest for a long time now.
http://youtu.be/UdSg5uRSVj4
Additionally, Russo released the following video defending Chyna.
– Randy Orton and Bo Dallas returned to action at last night’s WWE live event from Salt Lake City, Utah.
Orton defeated Kane with an RKO. A correspondent at the show said Orton showed no signs of ring rust and got a big reaction from the crowd.
Bo Dallas cut a promo before his match and asked for a ‘moment of silence’ from the audience. He said he was out of action for 102 days due to a toe injury. He lost to Sin Cara.
– Hideo Itami revealed on Twitter that he’ll be facing Tyler Breeze at Wednesday’s NXT TakeOver: Rival live special on the WWE Network.
WWE NXT Diva Bayley recently spoke with Jim Varsallone of The Miami Herald. Here are some highlights of what she said about:
Her Character In NXT
“It comes kind of natural being Bayley. Watching wrestling already made me excited. When I was younger, going to live events, I was so into it and just felt something inside me that made me feel driven to do it; so when I go out to the ring, it’s a natural fire for me. I can’t help but smile. Bayley is a dream chaser. She’s grown up watching the product, wrestling, WWE, everything. She knows everyone, from top to bottom, all the history. She’s been motivated since she was 10-years-old and is finally here, trying to pursue the dream, live the dream to the fullest.”
Randy Savage Joining The WWE Hall of Fame:
“I’m a huge Macho Man fan. Him being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year is so cool, and it’s in my hometown [San Jose]. His ring gear is actually what stood out to me when I first saw him. He was the first guy I saw ever in wrestling; so that’s what hooked me to him and what got me into wrestling. I kind of base my gear to being very colorful, different shapes and a little bit of randomness, basing it off him.”
NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte:
“She’s amazing. Sometimes we’ll do stuff training, little warm-ups, and of course, she ups the ante on everything, and it turns out amazing. What she’s done in her past matches…You guys have no idea…She’s going to keep bringing it, and you’ll continue to be surprised and in awe of her. She’s great.”
Read more at
The International Business Times has published an interview with The Bella Twins, which was conducted during Super Bowl 49 weekend in Phoenix, Arizona.
Last summer, Nikki and Brie were embroiled in a heated feud that culminated at SummerSlam with Nikki turning on her sister and siding with Stephanie McMahon and Brie becoming Nikki’s assistant after they wrestled at Hell in a Cell in October. The feud ended abruptly, with the sisters reuniting on television shortly afterwards as if nothing ever happened.
Here’s what they said about it:
Nikki: “I really enjoyed where the story started. There was nothing better than having that turning moment on Brie at SummerSlam against Stephanie McMahon. Brie and her had such a great buildup, they had such a great story and I loved the start of our story. I feel like we didn’t get a chance to end our story. Unfortunately, we didn’t end it, and I wanted to go so much longer with it and I felt like we could do so much more. I truly enjoyed my pay-per-view match against Brie. We have a bond that you just can’t create. We’re born with it and we had this magic in the ring. We had great chemistry, and I wish we could’ve done a lot more. I was really enjoying our feud and the people were. It was hard for some people to watch because it’s like “Nikki’s so mean.” It was just fun and I think why it was hard for people too is because it’s (like) real life. People get interested in moments with their siblings. I wish we went longer, and I wish we could’ve finished the story. I think Brie needed to do something to me because I was just so mean to her.”
Brie: “It was a lot of fun to be working with my sister and to go from Stephanie McMahon to my own sister was great. And the nice thing is we all have a really good friendship with Stephanie. I have one with my sister, and I think you go out and there and you make magic. And after we’d be done in the ring we’d go backstage and whether you’re crying or hugging, you just let it all out and we’re like “OK I didn’t mean that.” So that’s the great thing about having your sister in the story with you.”
There were many other topics discussed, including how Total Divas has affected their careers and how Daniel Bryan and John Cena have helped them improve in the ring.
Bill Apter of 1wrestling.com has published a recent interview with Chris Jericho, which was conducted on the day of the 2015 Royal Rumble. Jericho spoke about the possibility of Reigns winning the Rumble, noting that the only way we’re going to see if fans buy into him is if WWE gets fully behind him. If Reigns isn’t over by WrestleMania, then it’s time to reevaluate.
“We know that Daniel Bryan is a guy that’s super popular but we all know what Vince McMahon thinks. Daniel is not a Vince McMahon prototype wrestler where as Roman Reigns is. I’d like to see Roman win, I’d like to see him win the title at WrestleMania and see what do we really have with this guy. And if that’s the case, then turn Daniel Bryan heel and put those two together, let them feud for the title back and forth.”
Chris Jericho also did some fantasy booking for WrestleMania, laying out the following card he would like to see.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
Sting vs. Triple H
Rusev vs. John Cena
The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
Jericho also said he’s open to writing more books and would like to write something inspirational.
– WWE Diva Tamina Snuka, who has been on the sidelines since June of 2014, has been training with NXT Diva Lina Fanene recently and is expected to return from injury in the near future.
– Below is a clip of the Paul Heyman “Breaking News” segment on Brian Williams on the WWE Network on Friday night.
– The Thursday, February 5th edition of WWE SmackDown scored a 1.76 final rating, down from the previous week’s 2.06 rating. The show averaged 2.441 million viewers, which was also down from last week’s show, which averaged 2.952 million viewers.
– WWE looks at the ten “Funniest Moments” in history on the latest edition of WWE Top 10, which you can view below.
Former WWE performer Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, who is currently in Japan, posted a new video where she speaks about a number of subjects.
Chyna noted that she recently got engaged to a Japanese man, hinting that he was from Osaka, Japan. She said that the man is someone she has known since 2002 that doesn’t speak much English. She said the two will soon get married and he will move to the United States.
Laurer also hinted that she may soon return to the world of pro wrestling, even mentioning Lucha Underground specifically.
She also noted that she recently recorded an interview with Vince Russo that will drop on PyroAndBallyhoo.com on Monday after WWE RAW, mentioning that she talks about topics during the interview that she was told to keep quiet, but that she decided not to.
Below, Chyna talks about her recent talk with Vince Russo and the continued fallout from Triple H’s remarks about her not being a likely candidate for the WWE Hall of Fame.
Former WWE and WCW star Marc Mero recently spoke with Slam Wrestling about his Champions of Choices non-profit organization. Since 2007, Mero has been visiting schools, churches and other groups to talk about Mero’s motivational story of triumphs and tragedy. He’s done 180 events in the past 12 months.
Mero told Slam Wrestling about his decision to star the project shortly after the Chris Benoit tragedy:
“Of course the thing that really catapulted me, unfortunately, was when Chris Benoit killed his wife and his kid and there was such a culture of so many of the guys that were dying. At that time I just wanted to make a difference and help younger people not go through some of the mistakes that I made. I don’t point my fingers at other people, but at what I did wrong, drug and alcohol abuse, broken relationships and broken dreams. I just wanted to help other people so I started the Champion of Choices program eight years ago and it is now taken off to over a thousand schools, churches and corporations around the world.”
With the help of friend Diamond Dallas Page, the embedded video above went viral and has received over 7.5 million views. Mero says he hopes he can work with WWE through his non-profit soon:
“The one thing that I hope comes out of it, and if it doesn’t I’m okay with it as I am busy, I would really like to reconnect with the WWE in a sense of working with them on their school programs. I see their school programs; of course, you put a wrestler in front of kids and they just go crazy, but they don’t really walk out of there changing a life. Sure it is great to see a superstar, but they are not delivering the same message that we are at schools. I would really hope someday that Triple H or someone in the upper echelon would come out and see one of our presentations and see the value of what we’re doing to associate with WWE once again.”
– A special edition of WWE NXT will premiere this Tuesday night at 9pm on the WWE Network. Corey Graves will host the show and look at the events leading up to NXT Takeover: Rival.
– The NXT Takeover: Rival Kickoff Pre-show is now confirmed for 7:30pm EST on the WWE Network on Wednesday night. It will feature Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Jason Albert and Corey Graves.
– On Friday, Daniel Bryan visited the Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis to host a trivia question game show that involved all 12 floors of the hospital. Bryan commented to FOXSports.com:
“My story has probably been a lot easier than what these kids have to deal with. And that’s on a very legitimate level. They have to fight for a lot of things. They do have to fight an uphill battle. They just need to strength to keep going. I’m just probably the luckiest man on Earth.”
– WWE personality Renee Young will be hosting a 30-minute Valentine’s Day special on the WWE Network right after RAW titled, “WWE Crazy Stupid Love Show.” The show description reads:
“Join host Renee Young down the river of love! Also, hear from Superstars and Divas as they discuss the most intimate matters of the heart!”
– WWE.com is teasing that the next WWE Hall of Fame inductee announcement will take place on Monday’s RAW:
“This as-yet-unnamed WWE Legend will join “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Celebrity Inductee Arnold Schwarzenegger in this year’s elite group of icons, to be honored at the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony the night before WrestleMania 31. Will this 2015 WWE Hall of Famer be from WWE’s Attitude Era? Is it a groundbreaking WWE Diva? Or is it perhaps a fan-favorite competitor from ECW, WCW or another classic promotion?”
Wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page announced on Facebook that he’s in the Intensive Care Unit of an Atlanta hospital because of issues with his throat. He’s been diagnosed with Subglottic Stenosis and may require surgery.
Here’s his full statement (expand to read the whole thing):
We’re all familiar with the WWE. It’s the most profitable and prevalent wrestling organization in the world, and the primary focus of our coverage here at SEScoops. However, what about the rest of the wrestling world?
I decided to compile a list of 25 non-WWE wrestling matches that every fan should see. In order to qualify, each match had to meet three conditions:
An organization other than the WWE put on the match.
The full-length match is available on YouTube.
The match is something every wrestling fan should see.
The matches are listed at random and not ranked. The intention here isn’t to inspire debate regarding where a match should be placed on the list, but simply to provide fans with the opportunity to catch up on some classic matches they may have missed over the past few years. Already seen every match on the list? Relive your favorite moments again. Never seen a single one of the matches? You’ve got hours of material at your disposal, so sit back and enjoy.
25. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xy7KkH7NdY
24. Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (Ring of Honor Weekend of Thunder 2004)
23. Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) vs. Davey Richards (NJPW Circuit 2010 New Japan Alive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXyAM9-9gHc
22. Ricochet vs. Kyle O’Reilly (IPW 10th Annual Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament)
21. The American Wolves vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Indypendence Day 2008)
The WWE Network will be airing a special Paul Heyman segment tonight at 7pm EST. Heyman will be addressing the controversy surrounding NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who claimed he was in a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq, a claim that turned out to be untrue.
The official WWE Network Twitter account tweeted the following notice regarding Heyman’s scheduled segment tonight:
BREAKING: @HeymanHustle's take on Newscaster Brian Williams controversy – LIVE on @WWENetwork at 7pm ET.
– After Stardust walked out on Goldust during a match on SmackDown last night, WWE.com is teasing if brothers will be splitting up:
“Whether Gold & Stardust’s recent troubles can be chalked up to a sibling drama, competitive tag team partners frustrated with losing or something deeper, only time will tell if a breakup is written in the stars for the talented tag team partners. Don’t miss Raw this Monday night at 8/7c to see what’s next for Gold & Stardust.”
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett tweeted the following about his new TMZ-inspired “BNZ” segment:
#BNZ. First for gossip, WWE breaking news, and Superstar scandals. Stay tuned.
– Courtesy of WrestlingDVDNews.com, Seth Rollins talks about his FCW feud with former Shield member Dean Ambrose from WWE’s upcoming “Destruction of The Shield” DVD and Blu-ray that comes out on February 17th:
Lucha Underground: Episode 13 Airdate: February 4, 2015
Report by Rudy Cabrera
Lucha Underground opens with a video package recalling the events of past weeks including a recap of Mundo’s issues with Cueto, Puma’s title win, Fong’s debut, and Cage’s mad assault. The show begins with Mariachi El Bronx playing to a ruckus Boyle Heights crowd obviously ready for some Lucha.
Son of Havoc is mid-ring with Ivellise, who is tired of reading derogatory Tweets about her boyfriend on social media. She says if you have a problem with him, you’ve got a problem with her – the baddest b**** in the building. Good promo, Ivellise is super talented and skilled on the microphone. She has a great look and comes off natural and unrehearsed. Angelico makes his entrance and one can’t help but feel the aura of confidence this young man exhibits, more than likely stemming from the fact he was trained initially by Booker T then Ultimo Dragon, Black Terry, and Negro Navarro. He also worked in Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon Mexico promotion and IWRG before coming to AAA. This is going to be a great match.
Son of Havoc vs. Angelico
Striker says that South Africa brought wrestling the Simpson Brothers and Colonel DeBeers and now it has given us Angelico. They exchange some matwork and the result is a beautiful display of chain wrestling. Angelico kicks him down, then hits a sequence of kicks before hitting a flying knee that reminds Vampiro of a UFC fighter. He hits another amazing flying knee on Havoc as he is against the turnbucle and what follows is one of the most unique counters I’ve seen: Angelico attempts a hurricanrana but Havoc turns it into an inverted sit down powerbomb. The crowd is hot for these two. Angelico regains control and eats a somersault senton dive to the floor. Havoc comes back with a backbreaker and gets 2. Angelico goes for a superplex, but Havoc counters and goes for a shooting star press and misses but lands on his feet! Incredible. Angelico sets him up for a crucifix powerbomb and it’s countered into a hurricarana. Counter after counter, this match is exactly what the people came to see. The finish was entertaining as Havoc tried going for a school boy but Angelico kicked him away and into Ivelisse, knocking her off the apron. Angelico then rolled him up for the win. They’re teasing some dissension between Son of Havoc and Ivelisse based on the idea that he never wins and Ivelisse is frustrated with being linked to a loser. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.
WINNER: Angelico at 6:32
Backstage Dario Cueto welcomes Johnny Mundo back. He says he hasn’t seen him since Aztec Warfare and he’s glad they had time to cool off. Mundo, who looks and acts like a legit superstar of the silver screen, agrees and says it’s time for action. Cueto goes on to say that when Johnny Mundo is around they get five star main events so he makes Mundo vs. Cage the main event of the evening. Cueto was at his sleazy best here, trying to set up Mundo so he can get dismembered by Cage. Mundo puts on his glasses and walks out like a boss.
One of the things I truly enjoy about this show is the emphasis the writers place on long term character development. A few weeks back, Mundo punched Cueto’s lights out and ever since then Mundo is the one character that seems to make Cueto nervous whenever he’s around. We see continuation, which is extremely important, evidenced by the fact Cueto is always trying to come up with some underhanded scheme to destroy the guy. This is honestly the best produced wrestling show on the market today.
We return to the Temple and Famous B is introduced mid-ring, leading to Pentagon Jr. coming down. We get a very well made personality profile video for Pentagon Jr right before the match, where he talks about his origins, respecting his predecessors and having no fear, all while beating up a room full of movie villain looking bad guys. Again, character development. He says he represents the purest form of ancient hand-to-hand combat and he’s about to show us why.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Famous B
Famous B dives in for a calf kick which misses and Pentagon quickly capitalizes by punting him right on the head. Let me just say punting is dangerous and not even Randy Orton himself could have executed it more perfectly or safely. Pentagon corners him and asks for silence – gets it, and scores with a loud chest chop. Famous B does a sweet flying armdrag off the second rope, but eats a sick looking superkick. Pentagon sets him up for a running package piledriver that Famous B sells to perfection. Kudos to Famous B for making the move look devastating. Body language is everything in wrestling. Pentagon Jr. locks an armbar and makes Famous B give up for a win via submission. He refuses to break the hold and snaps the arm back, as commentary sells that he may have broken B’s arm. And NO Vampiro, that was not a kimura. Pentagon then proceeds to cut a promo where he once again emphasizes his motto “Zero Fear”.
WINNER: Pentagon Jr at 1:53
We then see Dario Cueto in an undisclosed location looking at his key discussing the mystery woman to a growling entity. He speaks about her need for revenge and says he knows she wants the key. He says he could have given it to her but needed to protect his Temple from Matanza (slaughter). Cueto’s new goal is to prevent her from getting her hands on the key. Drago is mid-ring to start, while Aero Star enters via the crowd.
Drago vs Aerostar
Drago has been established in his feud with King Cuerno and has been impressive thus far. Aerostar wad trained by Gran Apache and Abismo Negro and has earned ther reputation of one AAA’ s best high flyers. They start with a tie-up and push off before an arm wringer. Cross chop misses and leads to an Aerostar hurricanrana. Striker talks about the move being named after Hurican Ramirez. Aerostar gets 2 off a nice looking jumping double stomp. Drago is sent to the corner but drop-toe-holds Aerostar onto the second turnbuckle. Drago gets 2 off a modified Codebreaker. A 619 on the top takes Drago to the floor while Aerostar hops up on the second rope, springboards with one foot and flies over onto Drago – that was as daring as it was exciting! Aerostar gets caught on a leapfrog and goes for a double backflip, but gets dropkicked right in the face. He goes to the floor and takes a corkscrew dive by Drago, a move which Vampiro attributes to the late Hector Garza. Aerostar gets a handspring elbow and a 2 count. Drago gets a back kick and in a thing of beauty hits a running blockbuster/DDT combo for the win. It looked like he was broken in half! Drago picks him up, checks on him and shakes his hand afterwards. Classy. I think he might have been genuinly worried that he broke his neck. Both men won in this match and that is something you rarely see today in the world of wrestling. This was a crazy highlight reel match that is well worth going out of your way to see.
WINNER: Drago at 4:14
Backstage Fenix is training and we see Catrina come up to him. She asks him why the tattoo is on his chest, if it prevents him from having nightmares. “What can scare a man that can’t die” she adds. Then she does the unthinkable and kisses him, telling him to keep it between them because if it gets out, Mil Mascaras will bury them both. I’m digging the suspense. Mundo comes down from the entrance way, and Cage follows wearing the title belt as a necklace. Ladies and gentlemen it is time for our main event.
– WWE recently added the following video to their official YouTube channel, which features Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens talking about their history together leading into next Wednesday’s NXT TakeOver: Rival live special on the WWE Network.
– Speaking of the upcoming Zayn vs. Owens match, Triple H recently commented on the rivalry, calling the two the “future of the business.” You can read his tweet below.
– To get ready for next Wednesday’s NXT special, you can check out the following video from WWE’s YouTube channel, “NXT TakeOver: R Evolution,” which shows the beginning of their NXT rivalry and recaps the most recent NXT live special in just one minute.
Reddit user MetsFan4Ever, a verified WWE insider with a strong track record of breaking news, has posted an update regarding the main event of WWE Fast Lane and more specifically, the rise of Roman Reigns. Here are the main points:
– MetsFan says that it’s “100% confirmed” that Roman Reigns will be defeating Daniel Bryan at WWE Fast Lane. WWE addressed the Rumble controversy and put this obstacle in Reigns’ way as a way to “silence the marks” for a few weeks while they get Reigns over. Regardless of the mixed reactions he’s been getting, ‘Roman is the man and will be headlining WrestleMania and defeating Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship.”
– Daniel Bryan is considered one of the most physical in-ring workers in WWE, which is why he’s been paired with Roman Reigns. WWE wants Reigns to work with Bryan to get him comfortable working stiff matches ahead of his date with the Beast Incarnate.
– The general feeling amongst WWE management is that fans are going to purchase WrestleMania no matter what and the WrestleMania brand is what sells, not specific matches. MetsFan was told in jest that WWE could put Brock Lesnar vs. Doink the Clown and fans would buy it.
– Konnor of The Ascension turns 35 years old today.
– Scott Hall and Kevin Nash have been added to WWE’s Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night live event at Madison Square Garden on February 27th. This will be Hall’s first appearance at MSG since the infamous “Curtain Call” back in 1996.
– Here are the Top 10 moments from this week’s WWE SmackDown:
WWE Top 10 takes you back to this week’s SmackDown to revisit the show’s most thrilling, physical and controversial moments.
WWE Diva Lana and NXT Diva Carmella have been exchanging some trash talk on Twitter, with the ‘Ravishing Russian’ striking the first blow.
Seemingly out of the blue, Lana called out Carmella for her theme music, her fake nails and her “ratchet weave” hairdo. Oh no she didn’t! Carmella fired back in kind, threatening to rip the bun off Lana’s head and send her back to Vladimir Putin. Here’s the full exchange:
