Written by Chris Siggia.

TALK IS JERICHO 04/22/20:  BRITT BAKER

Baker talking to Jericho about her heel character:  “There was a lot of ideas about which direction the character should go.  I wasn’t feeling or connecting with any of those ideas until I cut a quick promo on Riho backstage at the New Year’s Day Show.  Some twitter links had been sent to me about how it resembled Chris Jericho’s WCW self-proclaimed babyface, self-proclaimed role model, condescending.  So, I watched hours of that.  I texted Tony, I think January 3rd, in at an insane hour of the night, and of course he was awake.  I pitched the idea going off your character and he loved it…That’s when I talked to you and asked if this would work or it would be a bust. You said yes, I think you should go for it.  So, I pick your brain every week in some capacity for help to make this succeed.  Cody Rhodes has been a huge help, along with you and Tony to make this heel character click and make it be something that gets over with the fans.”

Baker talking about getting her nose broken on TV and Jericho saying “as blood streams down your face” on commentary.  “With the help of your quote, it became one of the first ever T-Shirt of the week in Pro Wrestling Tees history…I asked Ryan from Pro Wrestling Tees if he thought a shirt with blood would sell or is that weird and people don’t want to see women with blood.  He said, no, I think it would sell…He said he would get it tonight, and he did.  I don’t know who designs what there, but they are so fast.  They have stuff in minutes sometimes.  It was up the next day.  I checked in on him and asked him if it was selling.  He said let me check.  He said holy shit, it’s the top seller right now.”

HALL OF FAME WITH BOOKER T 04/22/20

Booker T talking about hair vs hair match he could have had against Edge at WrestleMania years ago about a shampoo commercial:  “Bruce Prichard came to me and he said, hey Book, what do you think about a hair match.  I said a hair match?  He said, yea, hair for hair, you against Edge at WrestleMania.  I said, is Edge cutting his hair?  Because, I’m not cutting mine.  So, he said ok, well, we will figure something out.  I shut that down immediately.”

GRILLING JR 04/22/20 DARK SIDE OF THE PODCAST:  THE ASSASSINATION OF DINO BRAVO

Jason Eisener describing how he got Dino Bravo’s daughter to be interviewed for the show:  “At first she didn’t want to do it.  We were going to cancel the interview.  Then we went out to dinner with her and her husband to talk. We got to know each other.  She was trying to gage who we were as people and what our motives were for telling this story.  I was expressing to her my admiration for Dino and hearing the story of how her mother is a ballerina and her father was a wrestler and how they are essentially are like two artists who came together…I thought it was a romantic and fascinating that those two people came together in that way.  She (Dino’s daughter) was taken back and never heard it put in that perspective and never heard anybody talk about her father as an artist.  I think she really appreciated that and saw we were approaching this in a way that had love towards her father and wasn’t something that we were just going to delve into the negative aspects of his life, but rather, show who he was as a person.”

The producers explaining why couldn’t interview Rick Martel:  “We saw that shoot interview (with Rick Martel about Dino Bravo).  It wasn’t our preference to show a shoot interview, mainly because we want to film our own interviews and have it look a certain way.  I tried really hard.  I got his contact information.  I got his e-mail and wrote him a full letter, knowing full well he’s basically giving up on wrestling as far as I understand.  He doesn’t want anything to do with wrestling anymore.  He’s retired and has a real estate career and he wants to create that life for himself now.  I knew that going in.  I was basically writing him an e-mail saying the story we are doing about your friend, your former colleague, Dino Bravo, this isn’t a wrestling story. It’s about him, his death and his family.  I was hoping that would be an angle in terms of him wanting to at least get on the phone to talk to me about it…He reiterated his wrestling days are over.  He doesn’t want anything to do with it anymore and doesn’t want to be in the story.”

ARN 04/21/20:  EXTREME RULES 2015

Arn talking about Cesaro:  “The fact is, Cesaro, had he been allowed to continue doing all those things only he can do, because as time wore on, is not a favorite guy, as you know, of the front office.  For whatever reason that is, they are the only reason that is, they are the only ones that know because everybody else across the planet seems to think he is a superstar.  But, he continued to get leaned on to stop doing all that stuff as a heel because it was too flashy.  When you can do things that no one else on the planet can do, why wouldn’t you bring that to our audience?  Aren’t you cheating our audience by not giving it to them?  In that more of that, I don’t give a shit what the audience thinks, you are going to do what I want and you get more of that mentality?  Ok, it gets sickening when you lived it for years and years and years and seen different characters just get pummeled and squashed because I said so.”

Arn talking about Dolph Ziggler:  “Dolph has a set and he doesn’t mind saying what he thinks.  Even though he is right most of the time, that’s the wrong thing to do.  The reality is the company wants blind devotion.  Dolph had an opinion for the longest time 10 years ago.  It was the fact that Dolph, who throws a hell of a superkick, the office did not want him using the superkick because that was Shawn’s finish, but Shawn was retired.  Shawn was gone.  You can’t retire moves.  How many super kicks do you see today for God’s sakes?  Probably one in every single match, in every company.  That was a heated issue years ago.  But Dolph had an opinion.  He would voice it.  The guy was never a question amongst all the producers.  He worked his ass off and once we got to gorilla, no matter if he agreed with what was going on or not, he would go out and give you 100%.  I’m a big fan of Dolph Ziggler.  I think he is one of those guys you may bitch about him when he is on the card.  I’m sure a lot of guys, the higher ups in the office, and certainly the boss got tired of dealing with Dolph.  But, the fact of the matter is, Dolph is right a lot of the time.  He’s been one of those performers that over the years, made everybody better than what they were.  The question as to why he was not one of the top guys, I certainly don’t have it.  It wouldn’t have bothered me at all.  The reality is, and mark my words, but I got a feeling Dolph is frugal.  I have a feeling he made some investments.  He is smart.  One day he will say, oh you want to give me more shit about something else.  You know what?  See ya.  He will thump down the steps, take off his boots, walk out the door and you will never hear from him again.  He will have accomplished what he wanted to in the business, left on his own terms.”

Written by Chris Siggia.

83 WEEKS WITH ERIC BISCHOFF 04/20/20: SPRING STAMPEDE 2000

Bischoff commenting on the older talent that was in WCW: “There was this anti-branding them from WWF coitizing WCW for being old, criticizing Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair and anybody over 40 years old, or 35 years old at the time was considered an old man.  We over reacted to that.  We allowed that internet chatter to affect the creative on this show and that’s how we ended up with New Blood vs. Old Blood.  That battle between older talent and younger talent was not only real inside of the roster and the locker room backstage, but it was certainly a real and robust conversation within the internet and dirt sheet community.  We allowed that to affect us, in my opinion now, twenty some years later, we allowed that to affect us too much.”

Bischoff discussing his contract when he got sent home in 1999 by WCW: “I was still under contract and I had 2 1/2 years left on that contract.  Turner Broadcasting had, and it’s a legal term, paid or played me.  They executed the pay or played provision in the existing contract.  Once a company pulls that trigger, once they advise you, put you on notice that you’ve been paid or played…You’re going to get your 2 1/2 years of compensation, you are going to get your stock options, you are just not going to come back to work.  I am now paid or played.  They can’t hire me back.  They can’t make me come back.  They have to honor the contract as it was when I signed it with no changes whatsoever.  What happened here…they wanted me back.  I went to my agent, and he asked me what do you want out of this?  Just think about yourself.  Don’t think about the company.  What is your wish list?  I said I want 100% of the money they owe me under my current agreement which is close to a million dollars.  I don’t want to be involved in management in any way shape or form.  Brad Seigel wanted me to come back to oversee all of the creative.  I made it clear that I don’t want to have anything to do with Turner Corporate.  I’ll oversee the creative.  I’ll be responsible for that but I don’t want the responsibility for anything else.  I don’t want any meetings.  I don’t want any conversations. I don’t want to be included in any e-mails.  I don’t want any of that.  Oh, by the way, I want a two movie deal out of this.  I ended up getting Turner Broadcasting, TNT in particular to make a commitment as a part of my new contract to guarantee me a minimum of two movies for the TNT network which I can then take and leverage those into other production opportunities over and above my compensation from WCW under my new agreement.”

CHASING GLORY WITH LILIAN GARCIA 04/20/20: DREW MCINTYRE

Lilian Garcia talking about Howard Finkel: “My very first day on the job, August 23 of 1999, I was told to just show up.  It was in Iowa.  I didn’t know yet what the job was going to be.  In my audition I did backstage interviews.  But it wasn’t until that day, Monday, that I was told at 3:30 that afternoon, that was I was taking over Howard Finkel’s job as the brand new ring announcer for Monday Night Raw.  Talk about that moment being so heavy, so scary.  I was emotional too because for replacing such a legend as Howard Finkel, I knew how much he loved that job.  I looked at him, I’ll never forget, I looked at him.  I’m like, how in the world am I going to do this.  He looked right at me and said because you can and you will I’ll be right there to help you.  And that’s exactly what Howard did.  So selfless.  He could have been bitter about that because he had been the announcer there for 20 years.  When you heard the voice of Monday Night Raw, you knew it was Howard Finkel.  You heard those huge Pay Per Views and WrestleManias.  That was Howard Finkel, and here I come along with zero training and I’m supposed to step in those shoes?  It’s crazy because it feels like it was just yesterday.  But Howard and Tony Chimel, both, anytime I had a question, anytime I needed any kind of advice, because I was learning on the job, I could go right to Howard.  I went to him and said I can’t do this alone.  I really need your help. please.  He was right there, every single time, encouraging me, helping me. He mentored me without even knowing he was my mentor.  Throughout the years, we created such a bond and a relationship from one ring announcer to another.  I loved being ring announcer.  I respect the job of being ring announcer so much, which is why I still do it to this day.  When the PFL called me and asked me to be their ring announcer for MMA, I didn’t hesitate.  I was like, absolutely.  I have a man that taught me what being a ring announcer was and how to cherish that position.”

Galloway talking about the circumstances under which he won the WWE title at WrestleMania: “When I found out about it, I was obviously upset.  I was very angry.  But I didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation until I got back home.  I was still feeling down on myself.  I worked so hard to get this moment and it’s all happening the way I imagined, then it’s not going to happen the way I imagined and I couldn’t believe it.  Then I started watching the news and realized what was going on and the WWE was pushing forward with WrestleMania and give everybody an escape.  The fact that I was going to fight Brock in the main event, that was bigger than my selfish reasons and I started thinking this was a positive.  We are going to give everybody an escape.  I can give them a happy ending if they are invested in my story and finally get that happy ending at WrestleMania. That is the biggest thing in the world to me and watching it back, watching it on the couch, feeling like it’s the first time watching it because when I won the title, I hid the title upstairs in a room.  I wasn’t allowed to look at it.  It never happened.  So, I relived the moment on the couch with the wife and the cats, reacting to every move.  She almost got elbowed a few times when I was giving Claymores and taking F-5s so she had to move to the side of the couch.  I had the same reaction as when I won the title.”

THE NEW DAY 04/20/20: FREDDIE PRINCE JR

Prince talking about working in WWE: “I wrote for the WWE in 2007 and then a little bit the following year as well.  The second time was like acting lessons and doing coaching at pay per views and once in a while, TV’s.  My first stint there, it was full on, writer’s room every day to every single TV.  It was crazy.  I was not built for that business, that schedule, that lifestyle.  I couldn’t hack it and eventually I had to tap out.  It was an amazing experience.  I still have relationships with people I worked with to this day.  I definitely enjoyed it a lot more than any job I had in Hollywood in movies and stuff like that.”

Prince talking about the transition from Hollywood to WWE: “I didn’t mind it because I was really done with acting.  I was beyond burnt out.  I had come to this self-realization that I was chasing the ghost of my dad and trying to set right with my family felt was not in order.  Once I did that, I felt I had no direction, but what do you do when you accomplish all your goals before you are 30 and you didn’t have the foresight to plan more goals?  I was really burnt out and I didn’t enjoy the last three acting jobs I did.  This is bad to say, but I’m trying to be honest.  They were legit, like, they are paying me how much?  Yea, that’s a good script.  It was just a check.  I didn’t have passion for it anymore.  When I came to terms with that, I was like, yeah, I can’t do something that I don’t love.  So, I got to stop.  I went to WrestleMania for Flair’s retirement match, because I love Flair.  I’m sitting ringside and I’m watching it.  One of the publicity people in WWE came up to me and started talking about the brand.  I talked to Vince and for the first time in a year and a half, I had passion again creatively”

SITTING RINGSIDE WITH DAVID PENZER 04/20/20: JOEY RYAN

Ryan talking about how the dick flip move became popular: “I did it in Japan.  When that 27 second clip hit the internet, it was crazy.  It went viral.  It was on ESPN, E Entertainment, The Soup, all these different news outlets.  Rolling Stone covered it.  Maxim covered it.  Sports Illustrated covered it, so it was everywhere.  It was hitting a lot of mainstream people…A lot of my wrestling friends were getting it from their friends and family who were not into wrestling.  I decided to run with it.  I honestly thought I would get three months out of it before everybody got tired of it.  But then I tried to get creative with it and do it different ways.  I wasn’t even sure how many wrestlers would go for it, but a lot of them came up with their own creative ways of doing it and a lot of them liked the idea of doing something outside the box and it caught on, became my thing, and I’m here, close to 5 years later and still doing it.  It’s still profitable, making me money, and getting good reactions.”

Ryan talking about Jim Cornette: “My initial beef with the Jim Cornette stuff was he was wishing death upon Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks because of the way they wrestled and his followers were echoing his opinion and I thought that was irresponsible because he has a fan base that will listen to him, like the gospel, and what he says has power and meaning to them.  So now, The Young Bucks, who are fathers and husbands and bread winners for their families are now having people wishing death upon them.  So that was my initial beef with him, even before the penis stuff, me and Cornette, because he’s had his stuff with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega has gone on long before I was involved with that, so I didn’t like the way he did that

TAKING YOU TO SCHOOL WITH TOM PRICHARD 04/20/20: PAUL HEYMAN & ECW

Prichard talking about Paul Heyman’s booking style: “He was a motivator.  He was a booker.  He was a coach.  He knew what nerve to touch and sometimes he would misjudge.  But, more times than not, Paul knew how to talk to his troops and knew how to get them to know themselves, to inspire, empower, drive home, whatever you want to call it.  He knew how to do it then and I believe he knows how to do it now.  He’s just under a different constraint now then he was back then.  He’ll go as far as he can these days, I have no doubt.  I haven’t witnessed it, I can’t say for sure, but I really have no doubt that he still has the same approach.  I believe you really need that with the roster he has now, and certainly with the roster he had then, because he knew, and this is my speculation, he knew what he had on his hands.”

CONVERSATIONS WITH THE BIG GUY RYBACK 04/20/20

Ryback talking about EC3 and the story according to John Moxley that his match with EC3 was supposed to be the match where EC3 was going to get over and the crowd was supposed to turn on Moxley but they didn’t and he got buried after that. Ryback said ” I think the more realistic situation was he tried to file for some trademarks that WWE didn’t like and that played a bigger role with him and why he was demoted.  I feel bad because this was a guy that left and got over, which is not easy to do, and changed everything up and came up with the EC3 character and was very entertaining on the mic. This is to me why, this is where I went the route I went to, and with the injuries.  When you put your eggs in that basket and you are reliant on someone else to book you in that pro wrestling environment, that is the worst thing that can happen. He’s lived it and I feel horribly bad for him.  Because mentally, you leave, you go get yourself over, and then you go back into that environment again that already kind of f’d you, and then they f you even bigger the second time.”

JIM CORNETTE’S DRIVE-THRU 04/20/20

Cornette answering the question if Vince McMahon is cool: “Vince can be fun and entertaining when you are with him on a personal basis, yes…Vince is not anybody that just shoots the shit.  There has to be a reason for the conversation.  He is always working.  He doesn’t shoot shit.  He talks about work and then does work.  Obviously, when you are having conversation when things come up when you are riding in the car for three hours, he can be entertaining in that respect, but it’s not like he is just somebody that hangs out with people.  Some of him is (cool) and some of him is crazy and some of him is an evil asshole.  There’s no way to really describe it except to him, the whole business is business.  He will just say ok, fine, cut him pal, we need to please the stockholders and make the stock look good so fire these guys.  Then, he does good things for people.  Every once in a while you hear of somebody who needs something and he would send them money or he would help them out.  He’s kept a lot of guys that were loyal to his dad.  He’s taking care of the guys who were loyal to his dad better than most of the people who have been loyal to him.”