Exclusive Ring Rust Radio interview with ECW, WCW and WWE legend Rey Mysterio Jr. as he heads into AAA's Triplemania 23

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – were recently able to speak with pro wrestling legend, Rey Mysterio Jr.! In this interview, they talk with Mysterio about his upcoming match with Myzteziz at AAA’s Triplemania 23, his legacy in the business, his storied career having worked for ECW, WCW and WWE and much more. You can listen to the interview on the YouTube link below or continue past it to read the entire interview here.

Donald Wood: The biggest news for wrestling fans is that you will be main-eventing AAA’s Triplemanía 23 against Myzteziz (formerly Sin Cara) in a dream match on Sunday, August 9th on PPV. For fans watching Triple A for the first time thanks to the English commentary, what can they expect from the show overall and from the main event between you and Myzteziz?

Rey Mysterio: Well that match between us is going to a legacy defining match.  There is a lot of animosity and egos that are going to come into play that night.  I have to point out that this match was made for the fans by the fans.  The fans were the number one critiques on who is better?  Rey Mysterio or Myzteziz.  At one point I left Mexico to continue my career globally and a new star came about.  He is known now as Myzteziz, but back then he was known as Mistico and then Sin Cara when he joined WWE.  I would have to say the fans in their eyes see a lot of similarities between us.  We even tagged at one point in the WWE and now here we are against each other thanks to the fans.

Mike Chiari: You and Myzteziz teamed together in WWE and it seemed as though there were always rumors about the two of you facing each other, and that match possibly happening at WrestleMania. How close did that match come to happening in WWE, and why do you think it never did?

Rey Mysterio: Due to the fact that I had already previous injuries on top of my knee benched me for quite some time.  When I came back we started teaming up and we were heading somewhere.  There wasn’t a concrete story line, but we were going out there and putting on one hell of a show for the fans.  We were barely at the stage of getting the fans acclimated with our style and who Myzteziz was.  His injuries came into play as well and then of course he was released.  Then of course later on my release with me not wanting to re-sign with the WWE so it didn’t happen and we parted ways.  We didn’t give the WWE the time to invest in both names and the product.  Now it is happening at last here in Triple A.

Brandon Galvin: You're often credited by fans as being one of the most influential luchadores in wrestling history, especially when it comes to your impact on pro wrestling in America. I know this was a long time ago, but do you recall getting that sense when you were first working ECW and WCW or do you look back now and feel that you were a pioneer of sorts?

Rey Mysterio: I think I look back now and feel blessed that I was a pioneer for that style.  I want to pause a second and mention the one person that opened the doors for us and that was Eddie Guerrero.  He was the first runner up with ECW and he was having great matches with Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit.  Then of course when Eddie signed with WCW, Pauly talked to Konnan and brought him in, then Konnan brought us in:  Psychosis, Juventud, Parka, and myself.  We kind of replaced Eddie’s style and gave the fans a treat of lucha libre.  Now I go back and think that, “wow, we really opened the eyes of the American audience to what lucha libre is, that it’s not just a style, it’s part of our culture.

Donald Wood: There were plenty of rumors surrounding why and how you departed WWE, including that the company flew you into Buffalo for a special meeting and extended your deal without your approval. Can you address the validity of these reports and why you decided it was time to leave WWE earlier this year?

Rey Mysterio: The initial meeting in Buffalo went well.  Both parties, they agreed to continue to move forward on the Rey Mysterio brand.  There was no rumors, no animosity, no bad feelings between us.  I feel like resigning with the company due to the fact that I had a large amount of injuries on my body.  That was the number one reason why I was on the bench so long.  So when it came around to resigning, they were ok with me wanting to depart and do my own thing.  There was no hard feelings and we departed in an amicable way.  It was my time to think for myself and act upon myself and that was the best thing I had done for myself in years.  I have had time to rest and my body feels a thousand times better.  I’m calling my own shots and doing things I have never been able to do in my career.  I never had the freedom to do them but now I do.

Donald Wood: Would you ever be open to returning to WWE later in your career?

Rey Mysterio: Yes of course.  I think that’s what every wrestler would want, there’s nothing better than dictating your own future and not over working your body.  You can’t keep running on fumes constantly when you are older.  You don’t see the same Rey Mysterio you see when I was 25 years old.  I think it’s good to understand from both ends that I can’t deliver the way I used to when I first signed with the WWE.  To make sure talent last, you have to take care of it.

Mike Chiari: Lucha Underground is a promotion that's picked up a ton of steam over the past year, and it's a company that many fans have naturally linked you to since it has a good working relationship AAA. If and when the second season of Lucha Underground is green lighted, what are the odds we'll see you working with them? What's your level of interest there?

Rey Mysterio: I’m a big fan of their product and I watch it on occasion.  They are doing a wonderful job and I think it’s great that they give an opportunity to the future talent of AAA.  I sit down and think if we had that type of promotion going on when Triple was filled with Psychosis, Juventud, Parka, Pentagon, Konnan, then lucha libre would have been introduced years ago to the United States.  Unfortunately it didn’t happen but I think everything has its time to be exposed and now it has happened for Lucha Underground.  I think if the time is right and I am interested I don’t see why not.  If the opportunity came to come back to the WWE with a 50/50 terms base I would do that as well.  It’s good to know you have options and when the options come I will be the first to jump on it as long as it favors both parties involved.

Brandon Galvin: There's been so many exciting chapters so far in your career, but mine was when you made your debut in WWE and were working with the likes of Kurt Angle, Edge and Eddie Guerrero among others. Was that a special time for you from an in-ring perspective and is there a point in time where you feel like you were having your best matches?

Rey Mysterio: I definitely think that was probably a good phase that I was living.  I had so many great opponents and team mates around me that we were able to perform at a very high level.  I had Eddie, Edge, Kurt Angle, and Triple H was there doing his thing too and the Rock was still around too.  The roster in general for WWE, SmackDown, and Raw was so stacked,  it was definitely the funniest stage in my career and the most memorable stage for giving the best matches I had in me.

Donald Wood: One interesting note is that you worked for Paul Heyman in ECW, Eric Bischoff in WCW and Vince McMahon in WWE, so you’ve seen all different kinds of leadership types. Using your unique perspective, what are some of the differences between the three men and who did you enjoy working for the most?

Rey Mysterio: They all are very different and we left out Antonio Pena, the creator of AAA.  God rest his soul.  He was the first one to see what was behind Rey Mysterio and gave me the opportunity to be nationally known.  With all four of those bosses I have had, they are all very different.  Geniuses were Pena, Pauly, and Vince.  Marketing wise and character wise, they were just on top of their game and I think the fact that it was their company and obligation to take wrestling to another level and they have.  They all did at their time and I feel blessed to have worked with all three of them.  One is no longer around, I don’t know where Eric is, and Pena rest in peace.  I feel honor to have been a part of all four major companies at points in my career.

Mike Chiari: You're obviously one of the most accomplished and popular Superstars in WWE history, but unfortunately one of your last matches in WWE was the 2014 Royal Rumble and you were actually booed as the 30th entrant since fans so badly wanted to see Daniel Bryan. Do you feel like you were unfairly put in a no-win situation? Are there any hard feelings about the way that played out?

Rey Mysterio: No hard feelings at all.  One thing I have learned through the years is I have never been political about certain things and I take things lightly through my whole life.  At the moment, I couldn’t believe or understand what was going on.  After the match I was able to sit down and digest what was going on, and sure enough it was the fact that the fans weren’t given what they wanted.  At one point I remember talking to Konnan about it, thinking if they would of let me walk down to the ring, then when the fans were booing, let me go back into gorilla and give my spot to Daniel Bryan to be number 30.

Brandon Galvin: You've been a massively popular fan favorite throughout your WWE career, but was there ever a time that you wanted to turn heel and see how it would be to play a villain?

Rey Mysterio: I think that actually happened some sort of way after I lost my mask and the Filthy Animals were created.  That was the first time I was able to experiment what it felt like working without the mask.  In a way, it was not being a complete baby face, but somewhere in-between.  A cocky Rey Mysterio, a new stage in his career, no mask, so I was able to play with the fans a little more and interact with the fans in a different way.  I really enjoyed that phase of my life even though I thought working without my mask would have been a heart breaker.

NXT Philly at The Tower Theater results

NXT Philly: Night 1

The first stops on the first NXT Tour were in Upper Darby last Thursday and Friday at The Tower Theater. I saw a wrestling show there before (TNA) and they put the ring on the stage which wasn’t great for the people sitting close to the stage (aka where I was sitting). But NXT’s set up was great – they had some bleachers set up on the stage next to an entrance way with the ring set up on a platform extended out from the stage. People in the balcony had a good view of the action and seats from the floor were even better (I had balcony seats on Thursday and floor seats maybe 10 rows back from the stage on Friday).

The show opened with Enzo and Cass with Carmella taking on Blake and Murphy for the tag team titles. Enzo and Cass got a huge pop from the crowd, one of the biggest of the night. They did their usual “Certified G/Bonafide stud” routine and the whole place chanted along with them.

Blake and Murphy retained with their running suplex/frog splash combo. Afterward, the champs attacked Enzo and took the turnbuckle off a corner but before they can use it, Cass and Carmella stop them and all three take turns forearming Blake (or Murphy, I don’t remember) in the face. Blake and Murphy were really hated, especially because Blake came out with his hair in pigtails.

My view from the balcony wasn't too bad on night one of NXT Philly

Next match was Jason Jordan vs Bull Dempsey. Jordan had new music but the same singlet as always. Bull won the match but I don’t remember how, it was pretty lackluster and the crowd was hating on Bull the entire time. Plus, the biggest reaction Jordan got was taking his straps down like Kurt Angle, which tells you how into this match the crowd was.

Dana Brooke came out next to huge boos. She tagged with Becky Lynch against Bayley and Alexa Bliss. Becky and Bliss got good pops from the crowd but nothing like Bayley – people absolutely loved her. There was a big “We Want Blue Pants” chant during this match and also, I’m pretty sure I saw Danny Doring (ECW original who tagged with Roadkill) in the crowd.

Bayley got the win with a Belly to Bayley. Solid match, nothing too flashy though.

The final match before intermission was a triple threat NXT Championship match between Tyler Breeze, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. The crowd went nuts hearing we were gonna see a title match, as well as three of the most popular guys in NXT. (It’s too bad Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami are hurt because they were the only ones who could’ve maybe gotten a bigger response than these three guys)

Crowd starts a huge “Ole” chant soon as the match starts and Owens immediately heads outside and sits down next to Jojo and Greg Hamilton as Breeze and Balor fight in the ring. Owens retains after Balor hits the Coup de Grace on Breeze and Owens throws Balor out and collects the win.

Afterward, William Regal announces that Balor gets a title match and Balor says he’s bringing the demon!

After intermission, Mick Foley comes to the ring and gets a few cheap pops and he and Joey Styles sit at ringside. The next match is Solomon Crowe taking on Tye Dillinger. Dillinger has a new gimmick where he refers to himself as “The Perfect 10” and carries a sign with him that has a giant 10 on it. Crowe gets the win with a stretch muffler.

Dillinger’s new gimmick got over surprisingly well, even though he was the heel in the match. Crowe got a huge reaction the crowd, getting “Sami” and “CZW” chants for all his time as Sami Callihan in Combat Zone Wrestling.

Baron Corbin came out next to a mixed reaction, which only got way worse as the match went on. He took on ECW vet Rhyno who got a big reaction and lots of “ECW,” “Gore,” and “Rhyno’s gonna kill you” chants.

Corbin was working heel in this match and was really working well as the bad guy, riling up and antagonizing the crowd. Lots of “Corbin sucks” chants to the tune of the “New Day sucks” chants. There were also “Corbin’s gonna bore you” like the “Rhyno’s gonna gore you” chants, but I can’t remember if this was Thursday or Friday.

Their match actually wasn’t too bad and Corbin gets the win with the End of Days. Afterward, he trash talks ECW guys and the crowd was chanting “Shut the f*ck up” at him so loud it was drowning out his promo over the PA system. He talks down to Joey Styles and tells him to bring another ECW original Friday for him to beat.

Before the main even, Triple H came out which was a huge surprise to everyone. He puts over NXT, specifically the women’s division and acknowledges the crowd chanting “Better than Divas” by saying he doesn’t care what you call them because they kick ass.

The main event is Sasha Banks vs Charlotte for the Women’s title, which was just an awesome match, one of the best they’ve ever put on. It was also really cool that the women got to main event the first show.

Sasha gets the win with the Banks Statement, nearly wrenching Charlotte in half, pulling her over a few times to get her away from the ropes.

Overall, the first night of NXT Philly was just a great show from top to bottom. The crowd was into everything and chanting almost the whole time. Plus, The Tower is a pretty good venue for wrestling when it’s set up right and draws a hot crowd.

My only complaints were that the music was really loud and sometimes it kill the crowd’s enthusiasm during some entrances. Also, there were lots of kids and families in attendance and the smarks were sometimes chanting some really vulgar stuff which made participating in some of those chants really awkward. Plus, this felt like just a warm up show for Takeover since so many of those matches are also happening on Wednesday. But still, the matches they put on were really good and they got a lot more time than they usually do on WWE programming.

NXT Philly: Night 2

Greg Hamilton opened Night 2 with a recap of Night 1 and Jojo did a great performance of the national anthem.

The first match saw Enzo and Cass take on Tyler Breeze and a mystery partner, which turned out to be Bull Dempsey. Breeze said he was going to be a champion for them because the Eagles aren’t winning any championships any time soon. He also talks down on cheesesteaks which really got the crowd going. Enzo and Cass came out with cheesesteaks and interrupt Breeze, saying they like their rolls toasted so they hard and aren’t…well, you know.

Lots of comedy spots in this match with Enzo and Cass tempting Bull with a cheesesteak and Breeze stopping him from eating it. Also, Enzo chased Breeze around outside the ring until Bull started chasing Enzo with Breeze, but got winded quickly and Breeze and Enzo lapped him around the ring.

Enzo and Cass got the win with the assisted splash and Bull turns on Breeze and eats one of the cheesesteaks. Also, Tye Dillinger came out after the match and gave it a 3 and points to Bull.

View from my seats night two were even better but unfortunately, most of my pics came out terrible

Next, Alexa Bliss takes on Dana Brooke. Alexa is really over and the crowd still really hates Brooke, giving her “You can’t wrestle” chants, even though she was doing pretty well in the ring. Brooke gets the win with the Samoan Driver. Afterward, Dillinger came out and gave the match a 9, but then turned it over into a 6 after getting booed.

Baron Corbin came out next to huge boos and called out Joey Styles. Lots of loud ECW chants as Styles announces Corbin’s opponent – The Innovator of Violence, Tommy Dreamer!

Fun match with Dreamer taking Corbin around outside the ring, hitting him with a can of soda and a cup of beer. Takes him in the ring and gets a 2 off a DDT but then Corbin takes control and wins with a End of Days. Tye Dillinger comes out and gives Dreamer a 0 and Styles gets in his face. Dillinger grips him up but Styles pushes him into Dreamer and Dreamer DDT him.

Next match is a fatal fourway for the NXT Women’s title between Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Sasha and Charlotte took bumps outside the ring which I thought was nuts because it didn’t sound like there was much padding down. Sasha and Bayley fought off the stage and into the crowd a little too.

There were lots of other cool moments like a big superplex/powerbomb tower of doom spot with all four women and Becky got a “Suplex City” chant after tossing people with a few t-bone suplexes. Bayley hits a Belly to Bayley on Becky but Sasha throws Bayley out to pin Becky. Huge pops for each girl after the match and before they leave, Charlotte, Becky and Bayley raise each other’s hands. Just an awesome, crazy match.

First match after intermission was Jason Jordan and Solomon Crowe taking on Blake and Murphy for the tag team titles. Crowe gets beat down for a while and Jordan gets the hot tag and goes nuts with suplexes and shoulder blocks into the corner on Blake and Murphy. There was also a cool spot where Crowe and Jordan had the stretch muffler and ankle lock applied at the same time but the champs didn’t tap. Jordan and Crowe worked pretty well together despite seeming like an odd pairing.

Main event time – Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor for the NXT Title. Balor enters through the crowd with the demon paint (though it’s the usual paint and not new paint as was reported by the dirtsheets).

Owens runs out of the ring a few times before locking up with Balor and plays the heel really well, despite the crowd wanting to love both guys. There were loud “Cena sucks” chants all night and Owens busted out a You Can’t See Me followed by a 5 Knuckle Shuffle, but Balor dodged it.

Owens picked up the win after a great match by hitting Balor with a chair on the outside. He then tried to powerbomb Balor on the edge of the stage but faces came out to stop him, followed by the heels to start a big brawl to end the show. Great match overall though, honestly, I think the women’s fourway might’ve been better.

Finn Balor's demon makes an appearance at The Tower. (Not my picture)

Both shows were awesome and the turnout for both shows was really good so hopefully WWE and NXT come back to Delco soon.

Exclusive interview with ECW co-founder and current WWE manager Paul Heyman on the upcoming SummerSlam PPV, his latest DVD and more

The Ring Rust Radio team is back with another huge, exclusive interview. Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin were able to speak with Paul Heyman, ECW co-founder and current WWE manager of such stars as CM Punk and Brock Lesnar. Ring Rust Radio gets to talk to Paul Heyman about SummerSlam, the future of WWE, if he would ever consider running a company, like ECW, again as well as the newly released DVD detailing the highlights of his career in professional wrestling entitled, “Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name is Paul Heyman” and more.


Donald Wood: SummerSlam is Sunday, August 17, on the WWE Network. Your client, Brock Lesnar, will be fighting John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. After being behind one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history, what does the duo of Lesnar and Heyman have in store for SummerSlam?

Paul Heyman: The same thing that was in store for The Undertaker at WrestleMania; a beating beyond compare. I don’t need to hype SummerSlam to those who understand the dominance that prevails in the universe that has been conquered by Brock Lesnar. I think the people who need to be sold on this Pay-Per-View are John Cena fans, to which I offer this very quick sales pitch. If you are a fan of John Cena, and if you are there is no accounting for taste, this is your last opportunity to see him. And if you think it’s all hype and hyperbole, here’s something to consider; if you look back on 21 appearances at WrestleMania by The Undertaker, you can rarely find a video clip of someone even getting a two-count on The Undertaker. Brock Lesnar just didn’t beat The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar hospitalized The Undertaker. Brock Lesnar gave The Undertaker such an ass-kicking that The Undertaker has not been seen, nor heard from since. There was no controversy. There was no outside interference. There was no manager distraction. Brock Lesnar stepped into the ring and beat The Undertaker within an inch of his life, and the same fate awaits for John Cena at the Staples Center, on August 17 in Los Angeles at SummerSlam.

Mike Chiari: Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena is the biggest money match WWE has to offer right now, but after SummerSlam what Superstar or Superstars would you like to see Brock face moving forward? Who do you think is ready to and worthy of going up against Brock?

Paul Heyman: I see Brock Lesnar defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against all comers. That could mean Randy Orton, that could mean Seth Rollins, that could mean Roman Reigns, that could mean Dean Ambrose, that could mean Big Show, that could mean Daniel Bryan. If there is anyone that wants to step up and try to take the title away, because that’s the key. You’re not going to just luck a victory over Brock Lesnar. You’re going to have to beat Brock Lesnar in order to take the championship from him. The same way Brock Lesnar is going to hoist John Cena up on his massive shoulders on August 17 at SummerSlam, drive John Cena down to the mat with such ferocity that John Cena will not know what hit him with the F-5 and pin John Cena’s shoulders to the mat 1-2-3 to take from John Cena the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. To strip John Cena of the dignity of being champion.

Brandon Galvin: The running joke among us is that every new promo you cut is a top 10 promo of the year because your delivery and intensity is impeccable and you always incite an emotional reaction from the audience. Is there anybody you've studied during your career, whether they be in wrestling or outside wrestling, to help you evolve into the best promo man in the business?

Paul Heyman: Everyone. I watch everyone. I look to see what everyone does. I watched my father present his case to juries, my father was a personal injury attorney in the Bronx, I watched my father present cases to juries when I was a kid. I look now at the WWE Universe as if they are my jury and I am the advocate for my client. In terms of people that I watch, I watch everybody. There is something to learn from every single person who goes out there and performs because you’re going to be judged up against them. The way they hold their hands, the way they hold the microphone, the way they tilt their head, the way they engage the audience, the way someone cuts their eyes to the right and to the left, the way someone avoids the camera, the way someone looks into the camera, how do they hold their legs, what is their body language, what does anything they do tell you in their desire to convey their message to you. And I study everybody because I’m competing with them in terms of being the best person on the microphone.

Donald Wood: Tuesday marked the release of the new “Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name is Paul Heyman” DVD. As someone who has been around the business for a long time, how does it feel to have a DVD made about you and what’s it like knowing the WWE is behind the production?

Paul Heyman: If you asked me two years ago if the WWE would’ve made a DVD of me, I wouldn’t say yes. I wouldn’t have envisioned this coming and I wasn’t particularly happy when I heard they were going to do it because I didn’t know what stories they were going to tell. I also knew that meant sitting down and reflecting upon my career and my life and I hate looking back. I’m obsessed with looking forward. I’m flattered by all of the positive reviews the DVD has gotten and I’m glad people like the take that was offered. Really, I have nothing to bitch about regarding it.

Brandon Galvin: Was there anything cut from the DVD that you wish made it?

Paul Heyman: I have no idea what was shot for the DVD. My participation in this DVD, besides giving them pictures of my children and a few pictures of my parents to the WWE, was I sat down for an interview, we did it all in one shot, it took about 16 hours. The only request that I had was that we kinda do it like a Charlie Rose interview. I’m sitting at a table because it’s a more relaxed atmosphere. I didn’t want to shoot it in my house. I didn’t want to shoot it in my office. I sat down for 16 hours and we banged it out. I went in with the full intention of just whatever the question was, I’m going to give it a 100 percent honest answer. I don’t know what else was shot. I wasn’t privy to who was being interviewed for it, although I had heard. I don’t know what footage that was shot ever made it, I don’t know which stories were told never made it, which probably means if this documentary goes well there will be a Part II. After doing an interview for 16 hours, I don’t really know what they asked me that didn’t make the cut simply because it was a 16-hour interview and I was glad to be done with it.

Mike Chiari: You were there front and center when Brock Lesnar picked up the biggest win in WrestleMania history against The Undertaker. Knowing what type of condition he was in after that match and knowing everything he’s accomplished over the course of his career, in your opinion do you believe we’ll ever see The Undertaker wrestle another match?

Paul Heyman: I don’t know. I truly don’t know. I don’t know as a human being and I don’t know as a character. I don’t know what he’s thinking and I don’t know what his reaction to this is. I didn’t see The Undertaker after the match. The Undertaker legitimately collapsed five seconds after he walked through that curtain. He never even made it to the Gorilla position. He was in between the set and the curtain that leads to the control room, known as the Gorilla position. He collapsed there. They loaded him into the ambulance down a side ramp from right behind the curtain and was taken straight to the hospital. That’s not a storyline, that’s the way it happened. I don’t know how he feels about it. I don’t know if he feels that once his streak was over, that’s what he had left to give. And I don’t know if he feels that he doesn’t want to go out like that. It’s not something I’m privy to the answer of and nor should I be for that matter. It’s clearly his decision.

Donald Wood: I’d be remiss as a kid from Philadelphia who witnessed the ECW revolution if we didn’t touch on that. You helped build one of the most successful wrestling federations in the history of the sport. With TNA struggling and a wide-open market desperate for a viable alternative, do you ever think about getting back in the saddle as a primary shot caller for a company again?

Paul Heyman: No. No. No. In 2010, after Brock Lesnar choked out Shane Carwin, there was a discussion that I had with TNA that involved Spike TV. Ultimately, because TNA had been trying to get me on the phone from the day I left WWE in 2006 and I never took the phone call. We finally got into a conversation because Spike TV had reached out to make that happen. Ultimately, the story of this is, if I was going to do it, I wanted the Dana White deal. I wanted complete control, I wanted a piece of the company and I wanted the ability to, when the time was right, to take it public. I wanted to do the programming completely different than the way they had been doing it and Spike TV signed off on it. The concept was a very youth-oriented, youth-based, youth-marketed promotion. A complete contrast to the way WWE does things. A complete and utter alternative to WWE at the time. While the ruling family in TNA had no problem with my salary request, my ownership demands, my concepts, etc. etc., they didn’t want to implement as much of a youth-oriented product as I was looking for and I balked at it. I have no regrets about that. At the end of the day, they were happier being a WWE-lite promotion than they were branding themselves something different as TNA. So that was the last flirtation I had with doing my own thing. I do my own thing with my marketing brand and talent agency in New York City called Looking 4 Larry Agency. I’m very proud of the body of work. We have a long list of clients including 2KSports and in the past THQ and EA Sports and a number of different clients. And I get to do my own thing in the mainstream world with a marketing firm right in the heart of New York City. In regard to doing my own thing in sports entertainment, I kinda do my own thing now with Brock Lesnar and I’m very happy doing it. Running a whole show is a 24/7 and 365 commitment, and you would need an enormous amount of financing and very strong distribution set up front to get me to the table to even consider such a task. Otherwise, it’s doomed to fail.

Mike Chiari: During your time at the helm in ECW you became known for your ability and willingness to scour the globe and bring in unique talent. With WWE currently doing the same in the form of Kenta and Prince Devitt specifically how impressed are you with WWE’s efforts to broaden its horizons in a sense?

Paul Heyman: Very. I commend them on this reach out for the best talent on the face of the planet. That obviously includes the two men you just mentioned. We’re getting the cream of the crop and that notes a style change in the WWE. A higher work rate. Higher customer satisfaction in terms of the actual in-ring product. It’s a very exciting future to think about the kind of people who have yet to debut on WWE television.

Indy Minute: Weekly independent wrestling recap

  Welcome back Delco Elbow Drop and Ring Rust Radio fans to another edition of the expanded Indy Minute – all the most important independent wrestling news from the past week. Let’s get right into it!

  Joey Styles commented on Twitter that he would commentate for NXT if asked. He even said it reminded him of ECW. (And this isn’t indy news but I just saw it on Styles’ Twitter – you’ll be able to play as Cody Rhodes’ new character Stardust in the upcoming WWE2K14. I guess this means Stardust is going to be around for quite some time.)

  On Saturday at the former ECW Arena, during the filming of the documentary “Wrestling with Disaster,” The Blue Meanie, Shane Douglas, and The Pitbulls were inducted into the building’s Hardcore Hall of Fame. Al Snow was on hand to personally induct Blue Meanie.

  Documentary is about the hardships and tragedies faced by several professional wrestlers who have competed at every level of the sport. It will also give a backstage peek at how an Indy show is run, lockerroom atmosphere and such.

 

  Harlem Bravado commented on Twitter that TNA reached out to he and his brother but declined them, saying they're happy in Evolve/Dragon Gate USA.

  Larry Legend, occasional ring announcer for CZW, posted some crazy stuff from Tournament of Death 13 this past weekend on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. There was also a Vine video of Jun Kasai winning the tournament, pinning Masada with a splash off scaffolding through a bundle of light tubes, but it’s since been taken down. (I was also thinking about linking some of those videos but decided against it – deathmatches aren’t for everyone.)

  There were rumors before the tournament that TOD 13 might be the last hurrah for the annual deathmatch tournament, with talk of the Delaware State Athletic Commission coming down on CZW for its bloodletting much like PA did over 10 years ago. But I guess we’ll need to wait until next summer to see if the rumors are true or not.

  Twitter user @SenorLARIATO posted a pic of Kevin Steen, Prince Devitt and Bad Luck Fale doing the Too Sweet taunt at a Revolution Pro show in Britain last week. If not for the fact that Devitt is out of New Japan now, I’d say this is perfect dirtsheet bait to get people thinking they’ll see Steen in a Bullet Club shirt any day now. 

 

  SMASH Wrestling  in Toronto, Ontario is offering their latest show, Rival Schools, for free digital download. The show features Matt Cross/MDogg20 defending his championship, Chris Hero taking on Takaaki Watanabe, Michael Elgin versus ACH in Elgin’s final Ontario Indy appearance before his ROH contract takes effect, the Super Smash Bros, Kyle O'Reilly and more.

 

  Ring of Honor Best in the World is this Sunday, the first ROH show to be offered on real deal Pay-Per-View. Adam Cole defends his World Championship against Michael Elgin, The Briscoes take on Matt Hardy and Michael Bennett, reDRagon defends the tag team championships against the returning Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, the team of Bad Influence and much more. There are also rumors that this may be Kevin Steen’s final big ROH show before heading to WWE developmental later this summer.

 

  Drew McIntyre recently started following Dixie Carter on Twitter. Could this be a sign that the former WWE Superstar is headed to TNA in the near future?

  Prince Devitt tweeted a pic from a newspaper of Barack Obama throwing up the Too Sweet taunt. Clearly, Obama is joining Bullet Club.

When you're nWo, you're nWo for life.