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.”