The Black Rasslin' Podcast returns for a healthy dose of rasslin'-flavored insight and entertainment! This week, Fam, Mimi, DDm and khal preview NXT Battleground, talk the WWE-TNA-NXT relationship, Mark Henry's post-AEW future, WWE having interest in Penta el Zero Miedo, and much more! (NOTE: Pardon the slight audio issues early on in the cold open. Blame khal.)
You know the routine: you can stream and download this week's episode via SoundCloud, and subscribe via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We also stream live every Thursday at 8:35PM ET on YouTube. We also encourage you to become a member of the BRPatreon,
where you can get even MORE exclusive content (and merch discounts)!
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If you've been paying attention, you should know that The Black Rasslin' Podcast has added Davis aka Davey Boy Drip aka PG-13
to the squad as our resident stat guy. We've been keeping the stats to
the social media posts, but wanted to switch things up a bit and throw
his stats (and some additives) onto the site. Oh, this week's full
episode is live on YouTube. Press play on that and keep this window open
for his stats below; let us know if Davis is on his ish!
BRP So, There’s a PPV This Weekend (LIVE Episode) Stats
NOTE: I did not put timestamps because when we go live, we move from topic to topic too frequently.
Stat of the Week: Twenty-one years ago on September 26, D'Lo Brown defeated Mark Henry to regain the WWF European Championship at Unforgiven. This would be Brown’s fourth and final reign with the title; he shares the record for most titles.
"Charlamagne, are we live?" is a reference to the famous interview that Ray J had on The Breakfast Club back in 2011.
The Rock’s last match was at WrestleMania 32 against Erick Rowan; it lasted six seconds.
Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar has been the main event of two WrestleManias: 31 and 34. They also faced each other two more times in 2018: at Greatest Royal Rumble and at SummerSlam.
The Rock was injured after both of his matches against John Cena at WrestleMania 28 and WrestleMania 29. The injury sustained at WrestleMania 29 did push back the filming of Hercules (2014); since then, The Rock hasn’t been allowed to be fully active in the ring due to insurance purposes.
When we recorded on Thursday, that was the three-year anniversary of John Cena-Roman Reigns at No Mercy 2017. This has been their only one on one match, on both TV and pay-per-view, so we definitely need to see that again.
What killed WCW and what Fam wanted to happen at Clash of Champions during the WWE Universal Title match: the Finger Poke of Doom.
The Samoan Swat Team consisted of Samu and Fatu, the latter went on to be more known as Rikishi, the father of Jimmy and Jey Uso. Recently, Jey said that he would like to reboot the SST.
Road Warrior Animal and Heidenreich—aka not my or anyone else’s Road Warriors—won the WWE Tag Team Titles at Great American Bash 2005, they defeated MNM. (I saw this ppv.)
SGG started appearing on Cheap Heat back in 2015. His famous “The Boy is Mine” story is the greatest moment in the show’s history. I can’t find the link because it was around the time that Grantland was being shut down, but I believe it was around fall of that year. Also that might’ve been the one where Fam’s favorite rapper makes a cameo as well.
Cody won the ROH World Title, the IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title, and the NWA Heavyweight Title in the time between leaving WWE and starting AEW, so he "earned" his current role as a top guy, but the case I was making is that those companies had to do that because of where guys like Cody were previously. SGG makes the case that guys like Miro and Shawn Spears have left WWE to play the same role in AEW, but are complaining about being misused.
Crowbar was a wrestler in WCW, so I highly doubt WWE would use that as a name for a Retribution member. [Ed note: OK, but stranger things have happened.]
Fam, the 49ers were not trying to cheat in SuperBowl XLVII. The Ravens, on the other hand...
Since 2018, aka his first full year in NXT, Kyle O’Reilly’s record is 21-22 in all TV/PPV matches.
Ashante Adonis was formerly known as Tehuti Miles. He is a former MCW Rage Television champion, when he was known as Elijah King.
On July 1, 2018, the Street Profits started appearing on Raw, even though they were still in NXT, they held the NXT Tag Team titles during their Raw segments. They officially drafted to Raw on October 11th of that year.
Damn, this is some devastating news. According to Wrestlezone, Mark Henry, the world's strongest man and two-time world heavyweight champion, announced his retirement on an episode of Table For 3 with Ron Simmons and Charles Wright.
“It’s been 21 years, and as we know, that Father Time is undefeated,” Henry reportedly said. “My time is coming to an end. I’ll go from talent to an employee here in a few months. I’m just looking forward to making that transition, helping these young guys and girls coming in beneath us.”
We're not seeing any official word from the WWE or on Henry's socials, but don't be surprised if something more formal comes through the WWE channels in coming months.Continue Reading
Only a few active members of the current WWE roster have been around as long as The Undertaker (who is in his 26th year). One of them is Mark Henry, who debuted on March 11, 1996 on an episode of Raw to slam Jerry Lawler. That's 21 years, fam.
The WWE decided to share the footage, which you can see below.
Of course, Henry didn't have his first WWE match until September of 1996 at then In Your House: Mind Games pay-per-view, which saw him defeat Lawler.
"Mark Henry's splitting wigs on TIJ! Okay, not really... but he is telling great stories about how he got started at WWE, rooming with "The Rock" during their early days, Sexual Chocolate, dating Mae Young, surviving locker room politics, working out with Vince McMahon, and his favorite Hell In A Cell match! Plus, is he really thinking about retiring one day soon?"
Via F4W: "Mark Henry's WWE status is described as a touch-and-go situation. Henry was supposed to be back a while ago but he is still having shoulder injuries. There have been rumblings of Henry not returning but most expect him to be back before WrestleMania."
Hopefully Mark is back, but who knows if it'll be worth it if his shoulder injury was rougher than we initially knew? Continue Reading
Yup, Mark Henry hit Twitter that he's worked his way down to 405 pounds, with plans to drop another 30 lbs. or so. Why? Who knows. With his shoulder injury/surgery, maybe he wants to be a bit smaller upon his return. Maybe he has silly plans on living longer. Maybe this is something the WWE is looking for. Who knows. Props to anyone who can drop that weight and keep it off. Still no word on when Henry is set to return, but I can't wwait to see how he hits the WWE this next time.Continue Reading
Mark Henry recently gave Hot 93.7 an interview speaking about his #hallofpain run in 2011, his injury, favorite rappers and wrestlers. It's not often we get to hear Mark speaking candidly about a range of topics, so hit the jump and get the motherlode and these points and more. Hurry back, Mark.
After Raw last night, I exchanged a few tweets with Emilio Sparks, speaking on Michael Cole's role as a heel commentator, and my disdain for how he buries talent in that position. I always figured it made more sense for a guy like him, who knows how to talk and isn't afraid of taking a bump, to be more of a Bobby Heenan managerial role - that weasal who not only has the gift of gab and can speak for those who otherwise aren't great on the mic, but always has the right plan and a stable to back him up against a John Cena or whatever opposition are out there. For the time being, I don't see Michael Cole leaving either Raw or Smackdown to manage any superstar, but with the emergence of Abraham Washington as a player within the Raw show, we might have our guy. And he needs to make it.
Many of us assumed Mark Henrywas getting surgery to fix an old groin injury, but the last bit of news I heard was that it was to repair his shoulder. He tweeted earlier today that he's the healthiest he's been in five years and ends with "U haters go to hell to the fans I'm healing great the Hall of Pain! LIVES!!". I have high hopes for this - hell, I started the blackrasslin podcast with a dedication to Mark and the #HALLOFPAIN, but with Big Show seemingly stealing that pissed off big dude with an attitude thing that Mark capitalized on last year, I don't know if there's a home for Old Black Wrestlers. We'll keep you posted on further developments and/or a timeline on his progress, expected time back (although rumors have him back sometime this month/summer).
Following Raw last night, Mark Henrywas tweeting that he's going under the knife today, apparently to repair that groin injury from earlier this year. The fear is that if he's not 100%, he might consider retirement. That'll suck, but his last run was so worth it. If he retires, I might need to cop another shirt. Damn. Send up a prayer for Mark.
