November 2020 – Page 7

NXT North American Champion Adam Cole recently spoke with WFF while in the U.K. for the two-day WWE U.K. Championship Tournament tapings at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On his thoughts leading up to his NXT debut at the NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III: “Very nervous. So, it’s exciting when you think, ‘Okay, I’m going to make my WWE debut in NXT,’ but in my brain, I was a successful independent wrestler for ten years and I had gotten to wrestle all over the world. But WWE is a whole different animal and in my mind I’m thinking, ‘I really, really hope these people care and they know who I am. I hope they react and make noise when I come out.’ Finally when it did happen and they reacted the way they did, I had such a sense of relief and was just so happy they responded the way they did. It was a big combination of emotions: excitement, nerves, fear, pressure, and all that stuff, but it ended up being one of the best nights of my life.”

On who he would choose to face at WrestleMania if it were up to him: “AJ Styles would be my number one pick. The reason being I wrestled him twice before and I didn’t beat him, either time. On top of that, I think AJ is the best pro wrestler that I’ve ever been in the ring with. I think he’s absolutely number one. His ability is just second to none, so to get the chance to wrestle him on that stage would be really cool and on top of that I can beat him. [Laughs]”

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On whether or not he would drop the title and The Undisputed Era going to the WWE main roster: “I’m very happy where I am, I think anyone who says they don’t want to end up on Raw or SmackDown is kidding themselves. I think eventually that’s the goal, but for right now I’m one-hundred percent focused — Let me put it to you this way. If I had the choice right now and they said, ‘Okay, you lose the North American Championship, you’re done with Undisputed Era, you go right to SmackDown, or, do you wanna stay longer in NXT with the North American Title?’ I would stay, for sure. I really believe in what our group is doing. I think we have something special. I take a lot of pride in being the first North American Champion that’s a very special position to be in as the first champion of anything. And I really believe in this brand too, so I definitely believe in what we’re doing and plan on sticking around for awhile.”

Check out the complete Adam Cole interview above.

Former ROH World Champion and independent mega-star Cody Rhodes recently took part in a media conference call to promote the upcoming NJPW G1 Special on AXS TV. Featured below, courtesy of WrestlingInc.com, are some of the highlights.

On WWE writers and producers having limited utility due to the fact that the performer himself should know his own character best: “I don’t look at it as being in control of my creative. I literally look at it as just knowing myself. I guess knowing my act, knowing what I would do, and what I wouldn’t do, and going out there and trying it out. The fans will tell you if you got it right or if you got it wrong. I think that’s one of the most backwards ass things about [pro] wrestling in the first place is writers. What are you writing? What on Earth are you writing? I have some friends who are writers at WWE and the most thing they could ever offer was, as far as pretapes and backstage interviews, they were there to provide a little bit of direction, a little coaching. But they were there to look at the shot.

“In that vein, they were very valuable, so I see the importance there. But as far as this industry, if people ever say that it’s scripted, I dare you to find me a wrestling script. It doesn’t exist. We’re a rare thing, a rare bird in the world of entertainment, an important bird. Same with producers! I love all those legends. I love them to death. Some of them are like family to me, but how the hell are you going to tell me what to do out there? You don’t! And that was my biggest mistake with WWE is ever listening. There’s a difference between collaboration, and advice, and being told to do this because that’s not how it works. You go out there and you’re the one on TV. You’re the one who gets heat if you suck and you reap the rewards if it’s a grand slam.”

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On the differences between the locker rooms in WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW): “There’s a huge difference in the locker room philosophies between WWE and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. I can tell you, it’s not a knock on WWE, New Japan Pro-Wrestling understands much more how to do their locker room. The individual factions are separated. Chaos has their own locker room. Bullet Club has their own locker room. But there are no outsiders, no celebrities, they can be somewhere else, but they can’t be in the locker room. It’s a real traditional space. You ride on a bus with your crew and no other crew. You don’t stay at the same hotel. It’s a real traditional space. And it’s something just as an old school [pro] wrestling fan, I really value when I go. But I think they have the locker room. I think that’s the philosophy in the locker room as far as company goes, it’s much different.”

On WWE covering The New Day vs. The Bullet Club Street Fighter Arcade Edition showdown at E3: “I thought that was really, I hate using this expression, but good for business.” Cody continued, “that’s something that The New Day, and The Elite, I guess now, The Golden Elite, that cross-promotional element is something that they wanted to do for a long time and [WWE] can’t pretend that people don’t exist anymore. Kenny Omega is a revered star worldwide. He’s the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion and I think it was good for business. I had a nice little banter back-and-forth with some of my friends from the WWE locker room, but I kept saying, ‘hey, you guys are welcome for the rub.’ And then, they kept saying pretty much the same thing back to me. But yeah, no, I’m glad The Elite won regardless of whether Kenny’s my best friend or if I could [not] care less about him. But The Elite, in this case Kenny, defeated Xavier Woods and they put that one to rest. But who knows? I think The New Day/Golden Elite rivalry might just be getting started.”

On whether or not fans can expect to see more cross-promotional opportunities with companies working together more in the future: “That’s tough to say because [pro] wrestling is definitely changing. I mean, it’s already changed. It’s not just changing. It’s already changed. And you can’t hide anymore and exclusivity is starting to seem less and less important. But I think the most important thing, as cliche as it may sound as fans, and their continued support and their continued interest in what we do, and if it’s in the best interest of the fans, then I could see perhaps [more cross-promotion]. I know Triple H wanted to make that. He wanted to bridge between NXT and New Japan around the time he used the legendary Jushin Liger when Liger wrestled Tyler Breeze and I know that was the first step, but I think that more steps need to be made. And I think it’s silly when they’re not. If anything, I’m glad we’re back to this New Day/Elite thing. I’m glad it happened because I’m sure there was some idiot, some just… moron.. in Stamford [Connecticut] on that fourth floor who was thinking, ‘oh no! They’re going to make our guys look bad, blah, blah, blah.’ And no! It’s for the fans! And you have to go with that always. And I could see, because, like I said, wrestling [has] changed, I could see more happening.”

“I don’t consider this an era of competition as much as it an era of choice. Competition, look where it got us. We ran WCW out of business. We destroyed an entire region of the US as far as their love of professional wrestling. And WWE has had to rebuild it. I’m from Georgia. I felt the fallout of a company losing in a competition before, so I don’t think it’s about competition anymore. I think it’s about choice.”

Check out the complete Cody Rhodes media call at Vimeo.com. H/T to WrestlingInc.com for transcribing the above Cody Rhodes quotes from the call.

Welcome, boys and girls, to another episode of the Lawcast. This week we’re bringing you King of the Ring 1998. A show which is about as relevant as a as P. Diddy’s career right up until Mick Foley take one giant leap into history. In one of our longest shows ever, we into crazy detail on a match that lives on forever in the minds of everyone who saw it. For better and for worse.

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But that’s not all! We also have the New Midnight Express, Steve Austin at his very peak, and a truly brilliant main event angle. Come for the mayhem, stay for Steve trying to defend his love of Dan Severn!

Quick Lawcast update: Everything past our last 20 episodes will be on our Youtube channel. Subscribe to iTunes for the new ones, subscribe to Youtube for the old ones. We’ve got you covered both ways.

The Lawcast Youtube Archive

Carmella recently took some time to comment on the viral video going around of a Michael Jackson impersonator hitting Jorel Nelson with a moonwalking DDT at a Future Stars Of Wrestling show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Carmella, who refers to herself as the “moonwalking, trash-talking Princess of Staten Island,” wrote about the viral video on her Twitter page, “Yes, I have seen the moonwalk DDT. No need to keep tagging me in it. And if you’re wondering, I can do it better. So, stay tuned.”

Check out the video and Carmella’s tweet below.

This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened …. #moonwalkddt pic.twitter.com/mWlv4XT0LI

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— RosenbergTelevision (@Rosenbergradio) July 6, 2018

Yes, I have seen the moonwalk DDT. No need to keep tagging me in it. And if you’re wondering, I can do it better. So, stay tuned.

— Smackdown Womens Champion (@CarmellaWWE) July 7, 2018

As he often does, RAW General Manager and WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle took part in a Q&A with his Facebook fans this weekend. Featured below are some of the highlights.

On if he had creative control to book one feud in WWE, who would it involve: “Right at this moment? AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins. They’re both super hot right now. They would burn it down. No pun intended.”

On who his biggest sports idols were growing up and if any of them influenced his pro wrestling persona: “I loved the Steelers and Pirates here in Pittsburgh and wrestlers like Dan Gable. They made me want to become a world class athlete. I never was interested in WWE until I retired from amateur wrestling in 1996. ‘Stone Cold’ was my favorite back then. I fell in love with WWE after that.”

On which matches he’s most looking forward to at this Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view: “Roman vs. Lashley. AJ vs. Rusev. And cage match between Owens [and] Strowman. They should all be great matches.”

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On the reason why his entrance theme was modified when he went to the revamped ECW in 2006: “I have no clue. I think creative wanted it more ‘hardcore.’ I hated it.”

Check out more Kurt Angle Q&A at his official Facebook page by clicking here.

Becky Lynch recently spoke with the folks from Wrestling Compadres to promote the upcoming WWE SummerSlam 2018 pay-per-view next Sunday night in Brooklyn, New York. Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On Dusty Rhodes helping her become more confident in herself: “Dusty Rhodes was a really important part of building up my confidence because even though I felt physically that I had never been an athlete–that is something that I have kind of learned, the athletic part was really hard for me, but the talking ability and the ability of being a character was something that I had studied and that was something that I was constantly working at when I was outside of the pro wrestling world. Without his support I don’t know that I would be here today.”

On how much impact the “My Sacrifice” video packages with Steve Austin and others inspired her during tough times in her life: “Even when it was really tough and i would cry most days, most days I would cry, but it never felt like it was the wrong thing. It was like, this is really hard, and this is the hard that they talk about. Remember those WWE-produced videos of ‘My Sacrifice’ by Creed where ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin would talk about all those sacrifices that he had gone through he wouldn’t give them up for anything because they made him what they were today,” Lynch said. “Those videos were so motivational and inspirational and I would always go back to those videos and say that this is ‘My Sacrifice’ moment where I was poor, cars kept breaking down on me, my teeth needed root canals, and this was when I was in NXT, which is a long story, but one thing kept happening after another and I was broke and I wasn’t good in the ring and I wasn’t able to find a character, but then you keep pushing through and eventually you get there.”

Check out the complete Becky Lynch interview at DragonWagonRadio.com.

Brazil’s political leaders are speaking out against the U.S. government following the latest revelations that the NSA has been indiscriminately collecting the communications of millions of Brazilian citizens.

In a series of statements, Brazilian officials are now demanding answers from the U.S. as well as revamped international safeguards to protect citizens from such abuses of power.

“The Brazilian government is gravely concerned by the news that electronic and telephone communications of Brazilian citizens are the objective of espionage efforts by U.S. intelligence agencies,” a Brazil foreign ministry statement said on Monday.

Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota expressed “deep concern” on Sunday “at the report that electronic and telephone communications of Brazilian citizens are being the object of espionage by organs of American intelligence.”

The Brazilian government “has asked for clarifications” through the U.S. Embassy in Brazil and Brazil’s embassy in Washington, Patriota said.

Patriota also said that the Brazilian government now plans to propose changes to international communications rules administered by the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union to improve communications secrecy, and will present proposals to the United Nations to protect the privacy of electronic communication, Reuters reports.

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Brazilian communications minister Paulo Bernardo, said on Monday that the agency likely intercepted the communications via satellite or by tapping undersea cables—a move he said would breach Brazilian law.

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A new match has been added to this Tuesday’s AEW Dark.

The company announced today that the Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) will face Panda X-Press (Ultimo Panda & Super Panda) in a tag team match.

This will be the seventeenth match added to Tuesday’s card. Fifteen matches were originally announced on Saturday morning. A few hours later, Sammy Guevara vs. Marko Stunt was added to the card.

Here is the updated card for Dark, which streams on YouTube at 7 pm PT:

Sammy Guevara vs. Marko Stunt
Chaos Project vs. Evil Uno & Stu Grayson vs. Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela
Gunn Club vs. Cezar Bononi, KTB, & Seth Gargis
The Acclaimed vs. Alex Chamberlain & Damian Fenrir
Brandon Cutler vs. Adam Priest
Penelope Ford vs. Dreamgirl Ellie
Fuego del Sol vs. Peter Avalon
Ivelisse & Diamante vs. Lady Frost & “Bionic Beast” Jenna
Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Lee Johnson & Aaron Solow
Kilynn King vs. Rache Chanel
Trent vs. Michael Nakazawa
Matt Sydal vs. Alan Angels
The Hybrid2 vs. Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr.
Red Velvet vs. Tesha Price
Big Swole vs. Vipress
Private Party vs. VSK & Baron Black
Jurassic Express vs. Panda X-Press

The State Department is months behind on a request that it explain how a former IT aide’s emails appeared to have disappeared, and Republicans are crying foul.

Documents obtained by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and given to ABC News on Wednesday reportedly show that the State Department has not responded to a July request from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) despite a demand that it do so within 30 days.

The missing emails are from Bryan Pagliano, an IT worker responsible for many aspects of the private email setup Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhite House accuses Biden of pushing ‘conspiracy theories’ with Trump election claim Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness Trayvon Martin’s mother Sybrina Fulton qualifies to run for county commissioner in Florida MORE used during her time as secretary of State.

In May, the State Department said that it did not have Pagliano’s email archive, prompting outrage from the Obama administration’s critics. It’s unclear whether Pagliano deleted his emails or they went missing through some other means.

Despite the missing archive, the department has located some emails that Pagliano sent or received through the email accounts of other government staffers.

The National Archives, which has broad responsibilities for federal record storage, asked the State Department to describe the steps it has taken to recover Pagliano’s emails this summer. So far, officials have not responded.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the department is “still in the process” of responding to the letter.

“As we have publicly explained months ago, the department has searched for Mr. Pagliano’s email pst file and has not located one that covers the time period of Secretary Clinton’s tenure,” Kirby said in a statement, referring to a file type for storing emails. He noted that department employees’ emails are not always stored automatically, “so the absence of this email file does not necessarily indicate that Mr. Pagliano intentionally deleted his emails.”

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus accused the Obama administration of orchestrating a “cover-up” in order to help Clinton.

“The State Department is clearly stonewalling another federal agency’s efforts to recover the emails of the IT staffer who set up Clinton’s illegal server and was granted immunity by the FBI,” Priebus told ABC News. “If this isn’t an Obama administration cover-up to protect Hillary Clinton, I don’t know what is.”

Jason Miller, a spokesman for Republican presidential nominee Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE, said the State Department was “refusing to hand over” the records, which he called “deeply distressing” and said “makes one wonder exactly what they are trying to keep secret.”

“The State Department must release these documents immediately as the American people have a right to know what is contained within those documents before Election Day,” Miller said.

The RNC obtained the correspondence from NARA through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“There is no stonewalling and there is no cover-up,” retorted Kirby in a second statement issued later Wednesday morning.

“I think a little context is important here,” he added, noting that the State Department has turned over nearly 900 pages of Pagliano’s emails. “We are well aware of the workload before us, and we are trying to manage that as best we can. You can take issue with how fast we’re rowing, but not the motivation here at State to keep the oars in the water.”

Pagliano received an immunity deal from the Justice Department in exchange for cooperating with the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s private email setup, which ultimately did not result in any charges.

He has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to questioning from Congress and conservative watchdog Judicial Watch. The House Oversight Committee subsequently voted to hold him in contempt of Congress, but a vote by the full chamber was delayed until after Election Day.

The State Department has struggled with record management issues outside of Clinton’s email issues. In his earlier statement on Wednesday, Kirby noted that the emails of Secretary John KerryJohn Forbes KerryThe Memo: Trump’s troubles deepen as voters see country on wrong path The continuous whipsawing of climate change policy Budowsky: United Democrats and Biden’s New Deal MORE and other senior staffers are being automatically archived.

–This report was updated at 2:46 p.m.

The former WWE Superstar turned Hollywood A-lister once again made the Forbes: Celebrity 100 list, which features the highest-paid entertainers of 2018.

The Rock came in on the list at $124 for this year. It was noted that he earned that amount from June 2017 to June 2018, nearly doubling the earnings he made in 2017 ($65 million).

The Rock and Vince McMahon tweeted the following about him making the Forbes: Celebrity 100 list again this year.

Wow unexpected news.
I don’t have a Harvard MBA, but my business philosophy has been sharpened over time and thru failure. I have one boss I serve and connect with – the world and the people in it. I’m the dude who started w/ $7bucks. I’m awestruck ($124M) grateful & hungry. https://t.co/0VWSn5YU6N

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 17, 2018

Congratulations to @TheRock on becoming the highest-paid actor in @Forbes #Celeb100 history. The hardest working man in show business proving once again that anything is possible through hard work. https://t.co/xJScYQ0jxD

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) July 19, 2018

Adam Cole On Who He'd Like To Face At WrestleMania, Undisputed Era On WWE Main Roster

Cody Rhodes Talks About WWE Covering Bullet Club vs. New Day, NJPW vs. WWE, More