Damian Priest Got Angry At Cody Rhodes, Rey Mysterio Believed He’d Wrestle Maskless In WWE, Santino Marella Praises TNA-WWE Relationship
During a recent appearance on the “No-Contest Wrestling” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio reflected on his 2002 transition to WWE and the decision to return to wearing his iconic mask. At the time, Mysterio had been wrestling unmasked for two years following a 1999 storyline in WCW that forced him to remove it. Despite that history, WWE embraced the masked version of Mysterio, helping reestablish his signature look for a new audience.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On thinking he would wrestle maskless in WWE: “When the company closed down and WWE picked me up, I’m thinking in my head – ’cause I was already wrestling for two years without the mask — I’m thinking, ‘Okay, I got to figure out what gear I’m going to bring to WWE.”
On WWE wanting him to use the mask again: “Maybe a couple of days before my debut, they were like, ‘What mask are you wearing?’ The office did. I’m like, ‘What do you mean, what mask? I’ve been wrestling without a mask.’ [WWE said] ‘Oh, no, no, Vince wants you to come back with the mask. I was like, ‘Nobody told me anything.’”
On being proud of that moment: “That was kind of at the time a trendsetter because anyone that lost their mask in Lucha Libre, that’s it. They know who you are, you can come back maybe a year later with a different name, [and] mask. Nobody will know who you are. But for me to have lost it, come back with the same name and wear the mask, it became something cool, something new. And I’m kind of proud of that moment.”
During a recent interview with Denise Salcedo, TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella spoke about the ongoing relationship and cross-promotion between TNA Wrestling and WWE, including NXT.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On TNA’s relationship with WWE: “Yeah, I mean, it’s huge to just to see the relationship, and that’s another thing. If it wasn’t for this historic relationship taking place right now, we (he and Arianna Grace) wouldn’t have had a chance to work together. So that’s another one of the factors that lined up. No, it’s awesome, man. It’s really good exposure for some of our top guys.”
On how it’s good exposure for NXT: “It’s really good exposure for the NXT crew, especially if they’re homegrown talent and they’ve never seen anything outside of WWE to come over to our show and just get a different look at what wrestling can be. So it’s the epitome of a win-win situation.”
During a recent episode of the “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, WWE Superstars Cody Rhodes and Damian Priest looked back on their match at ROH Bound by Honor 2018. At the time, Priest was competing under the name Punishment Martinez and faced Rhodes in a losing effort. Priest also recalled the memorable moment when a giant rocking chair was used as a weapon during the bout.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Damian Priest on being hit by a chair in the match: “Yeah, it sucked. First of all, I love that when we got announced that we were gonna work each other, you said, I’d like to do the Ray Trailer spot.’”
On what he remembers about the chair in the match: “Then you tell me about the chair, and I see the clip, and it’s a small folding wooden chair, and they show up with this ginormous rocking chair. The best part is, remember that they were like, ‘Well, this is gonna be hard to break, so maybe, we’ll cut it a little bit to make it easier.’ Did not work, I think they cut the wrong side, so it kinda reinforced it, if anything. Hurt like crazy, and I just turned around. I was like, ’cause you hit me, it didn’t break, you hit me again then it didn’t break, and then you hit me again as I was about to turn, and then I just turned around, like, enough because it was hurting so much.”
(h/t – Fightful)
