Here is your fight-size update for Thursday, December 31, 2020:
- According to a report by Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, MLW is keeping an eye on is the Broadway industry, feeling their unions won't allow any shows to open prematurely, and if they start to open up and run intimate theaters, that could be a sign it's safer for pro wrestling crowds.
- In an interview with India Today, Hulk Hogan put over Riddle as WWE’s next big thing.
"Right now there’s another guy that’s stumbling into that situation. You know, acting like he doesn’t know what’s going on but he’s smart as hell. That’s the “Bro”, Riddle, who kicks his flip-flops off when he comes into the ring. I’ve been watching him and he’s really got good instincts. He’s really got a good aptitude for understanding what needs to be done, you know. It’s all about instincts and timing. His timing is off a little bit but it’s starting to come each and every week so, I mean, he would be the next one I’d put my money on."
- Kevin Kelly recently spoke to the Two Man Power-Trip Podcast about the "Pillman's got a gun" angle transcription credit courtesy of Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling
"It was nerve racking. It was very — it was unsettling because you had Brian Pillman in his house who had legitimately just undergone major surgery on his ankle for the second time and he was a — he just had a weird look in his eye the whole day. It was just very odd and it was kind of call it as we go along. There wasn’t a lot of prep or preparation. I did my one standup that was outside which was pre-recorded only slightly before RAW went on the air and the rest of it was live, live pal. So, man, and when we got done, it was such a rush, such a relief. My gosh, we did this. We just did satellite broadcasting live from Brian Pillman’s house and holy crap, I’m sure the world is going crazy about that. We weren’t on smart phones back then. We didn’t have Twitter so we couldn’t see like instant audience reaction but when we got back to Stamford, apparently there were a lot of people — but everybody was talking about it. There was some television executives at USA [Network] that weren’t happy. By the way, brandishing a gun on live television, not good, and internationally it was a nightmare because our television partners had different laws, different rules and internationally, everything had to be so covered up that they couldn’t really air any of it.
"It was hard for them to put together the international version of RAW. But again, it’s one of those things that I realized how monumental it was because here we are, so many years removed and people are still talking to me about it. It’s like wow, what a moment in time that you don’t realize at the time will be. You’re just kind of hopeful to get through it all and not screw up and yet so many years later, people remember it like one of their earliest memories from their fandom was like, ‘Oh my God, when Brian Pillman had the gun and Steve Austin was breaking into his house and you’re screaming’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it was real.’ Real gun, real everything. Real emotion, real reaction. You get that type of atmosphere, you’re going to get memorable television every time.It was nerve racking. It was very — it was unsettling because you had Brian Pillman in his house who had legitimately just undergone major surgery on his ankle for the second time and he was a — he just had a weird look in his eye the whole day. It was just very odd and it was kind of call it as we go along. There wasn’t a lot of prep or preparation. I did my one standup that was outside which was pre-recorded only slightly before RAW went on the air and the rest of it was live, live pal. So, man, and when we got done, it was such a rush, such a relief. My gosh, we did this. We just did satellite broadcasting live from Brian Pillman’s house and holy crap, I’m sure the world is going crazy about that. We weren’t on smartphones back then. We didn’t have Twitter so we couldn’t see like instant audience reaction but when we got back to Stamford, apparently there were a lot of people — but everybody was talking about it. There was some television executives at USA [Network] that weren’t happy. By the way, brandishing a gun on live television, not good, and internationally it was a nightmare because our television partners had different laws, different rules and internationally, everything had to be so covered up that they couldn’t really air any of it. It was hard for them to put together the international version of RAW. But again, it’s one of those things that I realized how monumental it was because here we are, so many years removed and people are still talking to me about it. It’s like wow, what a moment in time that you don’t realize at the time will be. You’re just kind of hopeful to get through it all and not screw up and yet so many years later, people remember it like one of their earliest memories from their fandom was like, ‘Oh my God, when Brian Pillman had the gun and Steve Austin was breaking into his house and you’re screaming’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it was real.’ Real gun, real everything. Real emotion, real reaction. You get that type of atmosphere, you’re going to get memorable television every time."
- Check out Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black from NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
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