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Talk is Jericho Recap w/ Bo Dallas – Conspiracy Theories, JFK Assassination, Reptilian People, More!

Jericho welcomes Bo Dallas to the show.

Dallas informs that this is his first podcast appearance and the first time fans will hear him talk out of character, so he’s a little concerned with how people with react to how crazy he is. Jericho says he and Dallas bonded on a bus ride during a recent European tour, and he realized that they had a lot of things in common. Dallas says those long trips to Europe are often when people bond with each other.

Dallas says the blind refusal of facts is what really bothers him about various conspiracy theories. The minute you talk about any conspiracy theories, people automatically think you’re crazy and ignore everything you say. People are led by mainstream beliefs and anything outside of that norm is simply wrong, despite how many facts there are to support these theories.

He says that one big conspiracy that he believes in is the ‘Hollow Earth’ theory. This theory states that the Earth is hollow and there is a race of people living there. He says that while scientists claim the centre of the Earth is all molten lava, we’ve never dug to a depth that can prove this.

Simon Gotch Says He Was Unhappy While In WWE

Simon Gotch revealed in an interview with Wrestle List that he was unhappy during his time in WWE. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Leaving WWE: “I was really unhappy. I’d actually been pretty unhappy there for a while. It’s kind of an odd little side story – the previous year, right after the takeover they did in Dallas, which myself and my former tag team partner Aiden English weren’t even on the live special from Dallas. And I’d always been really close with Biff Busick or Oney Lorcan as he’s now known, and he walked by and said ‘Hey man, how are you doing,’ and I just looked at him and said ‘I f–king hate this place. I want to quit,’ and he got this huge grin on his face. If you’ve ever seen Biff smile you know he’s got this very unique sort of half smile does, but it was that thing of really, frustration building up and being really depressed about how we were being used. And you always want to be doing more and when you’re feeling like you’re not being allowed to you’re literally being barred from doing more, it can wear on you a lot.”

Main roster vs. NXT: “The one plus of NXT versus the main roster was in NXT they did the tapings every month or every couple of months. It was kind of like you knew where you were going or weren’t going. If you’re not used on a taping you know you’re not going to do anything for the next six weeks or month. So then you have time to work on stuff on house shows or put together ideas, new pitches – you know whether or not you need to do that. But, on the main roster, because everything’s so day-to-day and week-to-week, there’s very much that feeling of, am I doing anything on TV this week? No? Okay – let me pitch an angle. And next week comes and they tell me they like the angle but they don’t have time to start it yet. And another week goes by and they don’t do anything.”

If he would go back: “I wouldn’t say the door is closed obviously because in wrestling if it’s going to make them money, they’re not going to care about anything else. Serena Deeb was actually just back in the Mae Young Classic and I’m pretty sure everyone thought she was blackballed after she got released and I must have heard she’d retired a couple of years ago. So she’s an example of someone who a lot of people would’ve thought would never be back. Mickie James, Alundra Blayze, Drew McIntyre is probably one that people thought would never come back or Jinder Mahal. For me personally, I think it’s a matter of – I would need to come back under the right circumstances. I wasn’t happy with how I was used when I was there. I wouldn’t want to come back to basically fall into that same trap again.”

Paige Claims Alberto El Patron Never Hit Her

Paige issued the following statement on Twitter regarding the incident at the Orlando airport. In the statement she claims that Alberto El Patron never hit her and she’s never hit him, however admits that she has charges against her for throwing a drink on El Patron.

“Alberto didn’t want me to say full story because he didn’t want people to know and I didn’t want people to know that I threw a drink on him. But the full story is. I had a phone call saying my uncle is in a bad way. I’m crying outside the restaurant. I go in, alberto is hugging me. I’m a little sensitive and we start bickering about something so small. I say I’m leaving and he says something that I won’t write on here but it wasn’t nice and I, even though I shouldn’t have done it. I threw a drink in his face because I was so angry. Again. Shouldn’t have done it. It was in front of a lot of people. I walk out. He follows me a few seconds later and gets the cops and security and a crazy lady decides to leave whatever she’s doing to follow us and invade our privacy in the completely low way. Only low life people would do.

Anyways. It was ME who was being held for battery charges because I threw a drink on him. No. he never touched me and no I never hit him with a glass 3 times like the internet in all their glory is making out. Its completely ridiculous how one story can spiral out of control. Oh and guess what internet. He smelt like beer BECAUSE I THREW A BEER ON HIM. Nothing more. Nothing less. No one got arrested. There’s no mug shots. There’s no charges. Nothing. The horrible, disgusting human being of lady decided she wanted to make money out of our misfortune. I wish, WISH people would give us the privacy we deserve. I know we won’t get it. But I WISH that would happen.

And if you listen to that stupid audio. You will hear him saying he’s pressing charges on ME. We all say stuff when we are mad.

That’s all I will say about the airport situation. Again. Thanks for the privacy at this time.”

Booker T Not Happy With The New Day Mimicking His ‘N-Word’ Botch

Booker T talked about the New Day mimicking his famous “N-Word” botch from WCW on the latest installment of his Heated Conversations podcast. Here are some highlights of what he said:

Not Condoning New Day’s Mimicking: “I just want to make it publicly known that I don’t condone that at all especially coming off of Monday Night. We as a people, we gotta know when it’s time to speak up and when it’s time to shut up. My mother taught me that a long time ago. If you don’t know, it’ll come back and haunt you. [The WCW promo blooper] has haunted me for this many years. You put yourself in a situation for something to happen, just like Mike Tyson did, something can happen. For these young kids to understand and realize and be able to speak up for themselves…you know…then again, I spoke up because I was talent. I spoke up because I knew that I could speak up. I implore these young people out there to know exactly what they’re doing and how they are affecting our young people that are coming up. That’s the most important thing as far as I’m concerned. Me personally, I know I’ve made mistakes. That word that I said on national television in front of the world – I wish I could go back and erase it. I wish that I could take it back. I wish that WWE would never do something like that ever again.”

Not Needing it to Air: “Me personally, I don’t appreciate it. I don’t know if [WWE] knew that the parody was gonna go down because I know those guys do a lot of their own stuff. I don’t think that we as a company need to go that route. I think that parody should not have ever been shown on television because it wasn’t a great moment for us as black people. For us as black people, it was one of our worst moments. Just like the [Lamelo] Ball thing. The kid is 15-years old [and] I don’t blame him or anything like that. It was something that slipped out just like myself [in 1997], it was something that slipped out. For me as a person that’s trying to set an example for us as black people and for me to let so many people down – even the ones that thought it was the cool – even the ones that thought it was an anthem… …I want them to know that it was my worst day that I could have ever had being a black man and letting so many of our people down by calling us that word or saying that word in any realm [or] any form was definitely not right by any means. I wish I could take it right back. That one blemish is the only thing they have over my head that they could put out there to try to make me look bad in any way shape, form, or fashion. Of course, I could put a spin on it… … but does that make it right? No, it doesn’t make it right. It’s still a stain, a blemish, a mark that no surgical procedure could ever repair. So I just want young people to know exactly what they’re saying and when they’re saying it.”

Naomi & Lana’s Feud Continues on Twitter

Naomi’s on-going feud with Lana has shifted from SmackDown Live to Twitter. The two had an exchange after Naomi took a shot at Naomi for her work ethic.

Matt Riddle Claims WWE Isn’t Ready for Someone Like Him

Matt Riddle recently spoke with Total Wrestling Magazine. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Difference between MMA and wrestling: “The difference between MMA and pro wrestling is in MMA, you train a lot more, you train really hard, you train like three times a day, but you only fight three times a year, so you train all that time, and you only get three big shows, three nights of glory. In pro wrestling, I’ve literally been wrestling the last ten days straight, every night,“This is awesome”, crazy chants, “Bro Bro Bro” whatever, getting the crowd on their feet and the reason I got into fighting, wrestling, all of this is so that I can entertain people like I was entertained growing up. That is the biggest difference between MMA training, fighting and pro wrestling training and fighting – pro wrestling is constant, gruelling all the time, but you get the privilege of performing and putting your craft out on the line. MMA is a very high reward, but it’s a very big risk as well – and only get a couple of shows a year, and each show means so much, if you lose, you might not get another. People ask about going back to fighting, I’m like no – because I look back at fight of the night, a slobberknocker, and people would point out that I lost.”

What part of the transition was hardest for him: “Be more of a showman, that was definitely part of it, but selling. It’s funny because people compliment my selling all the time now, but when I first started wrestling, I was like everybody else when they started, when they punch you on your chin, you grab you chin, when they hit your back, you grab your back, it looks fake and corny – when you watch a real fight, when the boxer gets punched in the face, does he grab his eye? When he gets hit in the stomach does he grab his stomach? No, of course not. You have to show the audience you’re getting hit in certain spots, but you can’t be cartoony about it – at least in my world, you can’t be cartoony about it, I like the more realistic approach.”

Relationship with WWE: “WWE hit me up just before my first Mania weekend, not this Mania, the one before and they told me they were gonna take a pass on me and I said that’s perfectly fine. They made me wait almost eight months after the try out, but I was perfectly fine and in the back of my head I was just thinking they didn’t even know what they just did, I felt like there was a weight off my shoulders, less stress. With less people watching me I thought I can be a Chris Hero, I can be a Sami Callahan, I can be a Ricochet I can make my own money on my own terms, work my own schedule, work the way I want to work, work the match I want to work – I don’t have to worry about the WWE style, I can work my style. I was actually happy when I got the news. I think I was holding something back for some reason, to appease the WWE, and once I knew it wasn’t happening, I could be me. Once I was me, the people could see that. The matches were getting better, and I was looser out there, more myself and that was it.”

Not working for WWE: “There was a period where every guy I wrestled, from Tommy End to TJ Perkins, I worked them and then they went to the WWE. It just seemed like a couple of us didn’t and I’m like honestly fine with me, bro. This is a big misconception. I love the WWE, it’s great – it’s what I grew up watching, it’s a great product- I love the WWE. Do I think the WWE fans are ready for someone like me? No. I don’t think they’re ready for Matt Riddle, not right now. I think in a year, the way things are going, they’ll be ready for me. Maybe they’re ready for me now? I just don’t think it’s the time. I’m loving what I’m doing, I’m very content, I don’t have a rough schedule, it’s super easy. I tend to overbook myself because I refuse to hire an agent.”

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Discussing his Restraining Order Against Jim Cornette, Will he Press Charges? More!

Russo was avoiding this discussion and he had no intention of talking about this on his show, but after multiple false reports from wrestling ‘journalists’, he thought he had to clear the air and get the true story out there once and for all.

Speaking about the wrestling ‘journalists’, he points out that not one of them reached out to him to get the actual story after this news broke. Instead, they all took the news and gave their own biased spin on it, which is the polar opposite of respectable journalism. This proved the point that he’s been saying for years, that if you’re paying for the opinions of these guys, you’re wasting your money.

Getting into the heart of the situation, Russo says that he has been ridiculed by Jim Cornette for over two decades. It has been a constant battle between him and Cornette, but in the past couple of weeks Cornette took things to an entirely new level by threatening violence on him and his family.

He says that he only lives roughly two hours from Cornette now, and his wife is often home alone. She was quite upset after Cornette’s recent rant, and Russo felt it was necessary to take matters into his own hands by getting this Order of Protection. Hopefully this allows his wife to relax, and keeps Cornette out of their business for the foreseeable future.

The Taz Show Recap – Money in the Bank Analysis, Mahal Needs A New Finisher, Was the Women’s Ladder Match Historic? More!

Block 1:

Taz gets right into his analysis of last night’s Money in the Bank PPV.

He thought the opening package before the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match was terrific. It did a wonderful job of paying tribute to women who paved the way for today’s performers, while also highlighting each woman who was participating in last night’s ladder match.

He thought all five women worked hard in the match, but in the end, Taz questions whether this match lived up to it’s ‘historic’ nature. Carmella’s victory is tainted by the fact that James Ellsworth physically climbed the ladder and unhooked the briefcase for her. Taz thinks it’s a shame that in the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, a man was the one to retrieve the briefcase.

Taz thinks that WWE needs to address Carmella’s victory on this Tuesday’s episode of Smackdown Live and he truly believes that they will. He suggests that Shane McMahon should appear on RAW tonight to announce a Money in the Bank rematch for tomorrow night’s Smackdown Live. Having Shane appear on the opposing brand to make this announcement will make this feel like a very important moment, and Taz ultimately thinks that Carmella will lose this briefcase one way or another on Tuesday night.

In spite of all the controversy surrounding the finish, Taz thought that these five women earned a lot of people’s respect last night, and they raised the bar for all women entering a WWE ring moving forward.

Lana Shoots Down Rumors of Her Inheriting Eva Marie’s Gimmick

While recent reports would suggest that Lana inherited the gimmick that was originally planned for Eva Marie, Lana is saying otherwise. During an interview with USA Today, she claims that she is still using the “Ravishing Russian” gimmick she previously had while she was managing Rusev.

“I’m the same ‘Ravishing Russian’ that you’ve always known. It’s funny to me when I hear people say that it’s a new character. I embody ‘Ravishing.’ I come out in the most ravishing dress. I have a ravishing entrance. I’m ravishing people’s hearts. I was managing Rusev and wearing a suit because if you’re managing someone or an agent in real life, you are going to wear a suit to work. Right now, I’m the focal point, I’m the one competing. If people know anything about Russians, we do things really over the top. We wear high heels everywhere. We show up in the most extravagant outfits. I am just embodying how I was raised and what I grew up in. Some people might think we’re extra, I just think we’re ravishing. I’m the same woman, I’m just going to be crushing people myself.”

You can check out her full interview at this link.

How Each Money in the Bank Contestant Should Cash In

There are different types of cash-ins when it comes to the Money in the Bank briefcase. Some people do it like Edge and pick up the pieces after a grueling match. There’s also the RVD method, where you announce when and where you will be cashing in. If you’re truly a mad lad, you can do what Seth Rollins did and insert yourself into a match that’s already happening. There’s a decent amount of variety.

Each contestant in the match is different. They have different agendas, different ways of doing their thing. Not everyone will do it the same way. I hope to show the potentially best way for each man to cash in their contract.

6. Dolph Ziggler

I have a higher chance of meeting pretty much anyone on the WWE roster than Dolph Ziggler does of winning Money in the Bank again. Bear in mind, I live on a completely different side of the globe from pretty much everyone in the WWE. What I’m trying to say is this: Dolph Ziggler is not winning.

However, for the purpose of this article, let’s assume he does. It would be hard to top his original cash-in in 2013. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. For the newer fans who wonder why so many people still love him, check out when he won the World Heavyweight Championship.

Right now, Dolph is lacking in the heat department. Lots of people simply don’t care. So if he should win (he won’t, though), he needs to cash in on a beloved babyface. Cashing in on a wounded AJ Styles or Sami Zayn could be the spark to rejuvenate Ziggler’s heel turn.

5. AJ Styles

Honestly, AJ Styles doesn’t need Money in the Bank. He’s done so much for Smackdown that he could just say “Hey Shane, could I have a title match?” and we’d all buy it. We’d eat it up. So in my honest opinion, I do not want AJ Styles to win. And I say this as a fan of the guy.

If Styles does win, I wouldn’t be mad. Not at all. However with Styles now acting as a face, that does limit his options somewhat. However, he is still an arrogant guy, so it makes total sense for him to announce when and where he is going to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.

There are so many great opponents for Styles, because he’s had great matches with almost everyone. Styles v. Orton would be must-see. So would Styles v. Zayn. Hell, imagine the anticipation for Styles v. Nakamura. Even something a bit more out-there like Styles v. Rusev or Styles v. Corbin would be a treat to watch.

If Styles wins, expect him to announce when he’ll have his match, and expect a lot of hype and anticipation.

4. Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens is one of the most fleshed-out characters on the roster today. He’s a heartless psychopath who only wants to do what is best for his family. He will destroy anyone and everyone who gets in the way of that. There are a lot of ways that his cash-in could go down, but there’s one idea in particular that I really love, and I found it on Reddit.

Imagine this. Kevin Owens wins Money in the Bank. A few months later, Sami Zayn becomes the number one contender. Come the pay-per-view, Zayn has the champion pinned. 1, 2, 3! Before Sami Zayn’s music can play, Kevin Owens’ music hits, and he strolls to the ring, laughing like a maniac because he once again gets to dick Sami Zayn over.

Of course, this idea isn’t perfect, as it would require Owens to drop the title back to Zayn in a few months, or Zayn losing to Owens again. Still, the heat from that would be like a thousand suns. It’s such an evil thing to do, which is why Kevin Owens would do it.

Why WWE Should Give Mojo Rawley More Screen Time

This may seem an odd petition to many, but hear me out. WWE, please give Mojo Rawley more screen time. There, I’ve said it.

You may be wondering just why I would request such a thing. After all, who cares about him? Well, I do, apparently. I also believe that with the right circumstances and time, Mojo could turn into a big deal. He has most of the tools needed, and with some improvement, he could be very, very good. But these things will not happen until he gets more screentime.

He Needs to Improve

Right now, Mojo isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, particularly with his move set. Power-based repertoires are hardly the most exciting, but if they are done right, then they look spectacular. Mojo is quite far away from being spectacular.

Was he called up too early? Probably, but he was brought in to bolster the tag team division. He was going to be the hot tag, cleaning up while Zack Ryder wowed the audience with his 450 splashes. However, Ryder got injured. They didn’t want to leave Mojo hanging around like a bum, so they pushed him as a singles star, where his flaws and limitations were exposed.

What’s done is done. However, this can be corrected by giving Rawley more matches, which means he’d be on our televisions more often. It worked for Strowman. He couldn’t wrestle to save his life back before the brand split. Fast forward to not even a whole calendar year, and he’s one of the best parts of Raw. Some people just need to be put in a sink-or-swim scenario. Corbin wasn’t exactly good when he was called up in April. At the end of the year, he had one of the best Chairs matches against Kalisto, had an entertaining match with Jack Swagger, and was in one of the best matches of the year against AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler.

If WWE wants Mojo Jojo to improve, then they’ve got to have him fight more people, even if its jobbers from the city.

Mojo Rawley Is Surprisingly Eloquent

When Mojo first appeared on Talking Smack as a singles guy, I was pleasantly surprised to hear him speak. He was quite well-spoken, a far cry from the man in the ring screaming for hype or whatever. I knew he was the youngest graduate from the University of Maryland or something like that (that’s what the graphics in his entrance told me). Well, I thought to myself, Talking Smack really can make anyone sound good. There’s less scripting, more creativity, etc. Then I heard his backstage promos.

We still came off as an eloquent speaker. He showed he could hang with the likes of Dolph Ziggler, who is no slouch on the mic either. Even with that weird, pointless segment where he gave some kids a tour and told them how hard Andre could kegstand, he sounded very natural. Yeah, the segment kinda sucked, but Mojo did his best.

When I saw/heard his promo on Smackdown with Shane, I genuinely felt for the guy. I’m probably just weak, but he seemed so sincere. He had been a ghost, he had been doing a whole lot of nothing. He just wanted one opportunity.

Then he lost to Jinder. I get it. You can’t have lower card guys beating the champ, and Jinder’s gotta get that Heel Heat™. But still, I felt bad, and I think that’s the most important part.

He Could Become Genuinely Likable

Right now, a lot of people don’t like Mojo Rawley. He’s got a limited move-set, and his hype shtick can rub people the wrong way. I get that. With some time, though, he could really turn some people around. Give him more promo time to show how genuine he is. Give him more matches to improve his move-set. This can be easily fixed.

In a show that runs for a whole year, you can’t tell me there’s no time for Rawley. This is the same company that made Jinder Mahal champion, has shown the Fashion Files for a month now, and had R-Truth challenge for the WWE Championship. These things aren’t bad; they’re just some of the more “out there” things WWE has done.

Lots of people say Mojo is a nice guy, whether it’s because they saw him on Breaking Ground, or because they follow him on Twitter. Give him a chance to show that he could be a big deal. If it fails, then that’s alright. These things happen. However, if it does take off, then you can make damn sure that I will be the conductor of this Hype Train.

Gail Kim Reveals If She Is Returning to Impact Wrestling

Gail Kim recently did an interview with Kevin Eck of Pressbox Online. Here are a couple of highlights from the interview:

Tell me about the nature of your back injury and how you’re feeling now.

“My back was injured just basically from wear and tear over the years. Luckily, Impact has been so good to me in terms of letting me take time off to make sure I’m healthy and never making me feel bad about it. I’ve been ready to come back for a little while but [Impact Wrestling] has had some time off because we film a bunch of shows once a month or once every other month, so that’s the only reason why I haven’t been back in the ring, but I’m going to be back shortly.”

You’re not under contract with at Impact at the moment, correct?

“Technically, no, but I have a contract in hand. I won’t ever go anywhere else. That’s my family.”

Have you given thought to how much longer you’d like to wrestle?

“Those questions have popped in my head. We kind of incorporated it into the storyline, and I guess we teased [retirement]. People really thought I retired because we never really continued it or explained it; I just really got injured and never came back, so people assumed I was retired. I said, “No, you will know when I’m retired. I wouldn’t go away that quietly.”

Click here for the full interview.