Tag: business

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Family Before Wrestling, Ripping on His Son, When did Wrestlers Become Marks? More!

Russo mentions that he can’t stop thinking about the new Kevin Owens documentary, where Owens was shown backstage after his Universal Title win crying with Sami Zayn, Triple H and others. He talked about this on his show yesterday, and it’s been stuck in his head ever since. He can’t believe that ‘professional’ wrestlers are crying backstage over being scripted to win a fake Title.

Russo informs that he has worked with some of the biggest stars the industry ever produced. King Kong Bundy, Hogan, The Rock, Austin, they were all professionals. They came to work every day, did their job, and went home at the end of the night. They carried themselves perfectly, and they knew that they were working in the entertainment business.

Somewhere along the line, the wrestlers became marks. He knows that this doesn’t apply to all the performers, because he doesn’t picture guys like Braun Strowman or Roman Reigns acting this way. For the most part however, today’s generation of wrestlers are taking themselves and the business so seriously that they forget about the actual important things in life.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Bobby Roode Wants John Cena at WrestleMania

While speaking to Card Subject to Change, Bobby Roode revealed that he would like to face John Cena at WrestleMania. Roode made the following remarks when asked ho he would love to face in the ring, dead or alive:

“One of the main reasons that I got into the business was I’m a huge fan of Curt Hennig, Mr. Perfect. I have like 12 hours of Curt Hennig footage that I watch all the time. So if there’s probably one guy that I would have loved to have just met it would have been Curt Hennig. And if you’re talking about potential matches that I would love to have, that’d probably be John Cena at Wrestlemania.”

You can listen to the podcast here.

Featured Independent NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Randy Orton Explains His “Dive” Tweets

While appearing on Hot 104.1 last week in his hometown of St. Louis, Randy Orton explained why he made his tweets about “dives” on Twitter that got everyone talking. Here is a transcript of what was said:

“I’m putting over AJ [Styles] strong, right? AJ, he has dives. A lot of guys that I work with do dives. I’ve been dived on a lot. I don’t have a problem with dives out of the ring, but when a lot of these guys, who don’t have anything to fall back on, and they’re not making any money doing it, they’re going around town wrestling on these independent shows — which is awesome, by the way. A lot of our guys, like AJ, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins wouldn’t be here without the indie scene. But they’re smart. A lot of these guys are going to go out there and they’re going to break their neck at 23 years old, doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing.

“It’s a display of athleticism, no doubt, but … I’m not going to watch gymnastics. I want to go watch a story, a fight between a good guy and a bad guy. How many flips they do each, I’m not keeping a tally … But do you know who had my back on it? Guys like AJ. Guys that do dives and know what they’re doing … Kurt Angle texted me after that. He didn’t do dives. If he did, he would put it where it should have went … he wouldn’t have done it just to do it …

“If that’s where our business is going, to where it’s just a preconceived, choreographed match with a bunch of acrobatics — back flips, front flips, gainers off the top rope, shooting star presses, moonsaults to the floor — then I don’t want to be a part of it. But I’ll tell you what: I don’t think that’s where it’s going.”

Here is footage of Orton’s appearance on the show:

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Jeff Jarrett Says Impact Owns The Broken Universe

While speaking to White:List, Jeff Jarrett made the following remarks when asked about the on-going legal battle between The Hardy Boyz and Impact Wrestling over the ownership of the Broken Gimmick:

“I always take the high road because there is legal squabbles or potential legal squabbles but I have said this to a couple of outlets, and I say this with very broad strokes – I am from Nashville so I am around music which is intellectual property and I have been in the business 30 years. Intellectual property laws are very simple, there are two sides to it; there are publishers and the writers, then there are the performers as well.”

“Jeff Hardy has been one of my best friends for 20 years, you can look on my social media and their social media, and we take family vacations together but business is business,” Jarrett continued. “So when it relates to IP it’s real simple, there is a publisher who owns the property, there is a writer who gets credit and can monetize it, then there is the performers. There is no question that Broken Matt and Brother Nero’s performances were off the charts good. But when it comes to ownership to me it’s almost a silly squabble, it’s never been in question. Impact are the owners.”

You can check out the full interview here.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Alberto El Patron Says His Match Against Lashley Will Be A Thousand Times Better Than Lesnar vs. Joe

Alberto El Patron recently spoke with Sports Illustrated. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Match With Lashley Topping Lesnar vs. Joe: “Our match is going to be a thousand times better. I have deep respect for Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe, and I know they’ll give the fans an amazing match, but they’ll be limited by the politics in that company. That company won’t let one of them give one-hundred percent to the audience, they’re going to hold them back. Impact Wrestling says, ‘Here is the ring, go do your thing.’”

Facing Bobby Lashley: “When you’re in the ring with Bobby, you feel it. You know you’re competing and performing with a guy that is not just a sports entertainer. He’s a real athlete and a real wrestler. When you combine two wrestlers with the same background and similar styles, you’re going to get magic. That’s what is going to happen at Slammiversary. We’re going to go the extra mile. We’re not afraid, and that’s just the way we were brought up in the business. If I punch him extra hard, and he kicks me extremely hard, then we’re OK with that–that’s part of what we want to offer to the audience.”

Calling Vince McMahon to Resign: “I was in a place where I was not happy. I was waking up every morning and really struggling to go to work. I got to the point where I asked myself if I wanted to continue in the pro wrestling business. I said to myself, ‘I’ve lost the passion and love for the business.’ But I was wrong. I never lost passion for the pro wrestling business. I lost respect for that other company. …I realized that it was not the business, it was the place where I was working. So I decided to call the one that matters in that company and said, ‘I’m sorry, sir. Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for everything, but I’m not happy in this place and I need to move on.’ I am blessed and lucky to find a place like Impact Wrestling. They needed someone like me, and I needed a company like Impact Wrestling. It was perfect timing to start doing business together.”

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Conversation with the Big Guy Recap – CM Punk Gets A Crazy Offer, Lack of Selling in Today’s Product, Booking Inquiry Takes A Strange Turn, More!

Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Buck.

Ryback informs that he had had a brutal week. His Instagram account was locked for four days for some reason that he’s still unsure of, but it was really disappointing given how often he uses that account to promote his business ventures. In a similar vein, Ryback estimates that he has lost roughly $20,000 in sales in the United States alone from the ‘Amazon debacle’ over the last little while.

Ryback discusses the recent report that an indie promoter has offered CM Punk $1,000,000 to come wrestle for his promotion. Ryback says that he knows this promoter and let’s just say he’s not the straightest shooter in the World. Ryback assumes that if Punk accepted this deal he’d somehow find himself locked in a 7-year contract working thousands of shows a year.

The promoter also reportedly said that he’d consider it a victory if Punk even hears about this offer. Ryback says that’s a ‘mark’ comment if he has ever heard one.

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Earl Hebner Says He’ll Probably Never Go Into the WWE Hall of Fame

Earl Hebner recently appeared on Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling, here are the highlights from his appearance:

Did he think after that night in Montreal, the wrestling business would still be talking about the Screwjob 20 years later: “Not at all. Not at all. But it is just one of those things that it is like Hogan and Andre it was shocking to the world and believe me the people in Canada still hate me. I have talked to Bret and we are great friends and we’ve had a couple personal appearances together and hugged me and he hugged my brother (Dave) and we all know the deal. I really don’t want to go into all that because we all know the deal.”

Doing the “You Damn Right I Did” act at shows and who did “screw Bret”: “Whenever I’m around Bret I don’t bring them and truthfully Vince screwed Bret. Earl didn’t screw Bret, Vince screwed Bret. Earl did what he had to do. It was his (Vince’s) command and that is what happened but I think most Americans understand but I don’t think any Canadians will ever forgive me but I hope that they do. If you look at my track record, I’ve been put in a lot of tough spots in my career. Where other referees would not volunteer, Vince knew what I would do and whatever his demands were is what I did. So you can’t put the blame on me, you’ve got to put it on him.”

Will he ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and being inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame: “It an honor and since I’ll probably never go into the WWE Hall of Fame because we still have problems down the road and it doesn’t really matter to me whether I do or I don’t, anybody that knows me will know who I am. If Vince doesn’t ever want to induct me into it that is fine. I really think I should be but the problems that we still have, it is what it is. If I never get in there that is fine and it is no problem to me but people know who I am and I’ll let it be my legend of being a Hebner and I’ll just base it on that.”

Being the “evil twin” referee in Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant’s Main Event title match his first night in the WWE: “I was nervous. They invented this whole program over about I’d say a good three weeks in Connecticut. Bu it was great for me that I was the evil twin (and I’m still evil) and if you look at my past record you can tell I’m evil (laughing), I’m actually not I am a nice guy but it worked great for me that they put me on the goal line of working for somebody and I’m not knocking the NWA but to make a life in this business and to make money. It was so quiet or if you want to say it was kayfabed so long and nobody knew anything until it happened. It was so great. It is the way the business should be but today it isn’t like it was when I first started. What a great opportunity for me and it made me who I am today and is one of the main angles that made me who I am today.”

The injury sustained after Hulk Hogan launched Earl over his intended target of Ted Dibiase, Virgil and Andre: “When he started running and I was in his arms, I was saying to myself that is not the plan. He was supposed to walk to the ropes and throw me in their arms. When he shot me I missed everybody including Andre and when I hit the floor I destroyed my rotator cuff in my right arm. When I hit that floor it just exploded my whole right arm and rotator cuff and I was out for about eight weeks or nine weeks getting it repaired. When I got to the back I was thinking that this is sure a good way to get into the front door because when I hit that concrete floor and it exploded, brother it was horrible.”

Featured NEWS Other ROH TNA WWE

Conversation with the Big Guy Recap – Jinder Mahal’s Run, Wrestling in India, Top 10 Fat Men of all Time, More!

Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Pat Buck.

Ryback informs that he spoke with his good friend Wade Barrett recently, and Barrett believes he still has some gas left in the tank for an in-ring return. Barrett is currently during commentary work right now, but Ryback feels it’s only a matter of time before Barrett returns to in-ring action.

Buck informs that on occasion he receives emails from people wanting to attend his wrestling school who suffer from physical disabilities. He then has to break the bad news to them that they probably don’t have a chance at having an in-ring career. Ryback says that if you’re in that situation and you love the business that much, you can try to get into the business another way.

He says that these individuals can also benefit from attending wrestling school regardless of whether they can actually compete in the ring or not. For example, if they have aspirations of becoming a Manager or a commentator in the business, going through the motions in a wrestling school will help them earn respect from their peers and they will gain a better understanding of the business.