Fightful Wrestling Weekly (4/6): Raw Script, Shoot Interviews, Stevie Ray, Arolucha, Fightful Select
AroLucha
Fightful.com have sarcastically invested in AroLucha. We made an investment of $240 (more like Jimmy Van did) after using the promotion as podcast fodder for several weeks. The CEO of AroLucha got in an argument with Fightful's David Bixenspan last week, who criticized the employ of alleged neo nazis The Harris Brothers.
As far as AroLucha scoops go, we can confirm that Vince Russo isn't actually signed by the company, although they seemed interested in such. Russo was brought in for the pilot taping, and got along well with everyone involved, including former foe Shane Helms. Russo has said that he'd be interested in joining the company if they were able to land a television deal.
Raw Script
I've been getting ahold of Raw formats weekly and sharing some of the findings accordingly. The rundowns are rather vague and are mainly used for the production side of things to help cue commercials and let the teams know the order of segments and when videos air. They also list the producers and referees for each individual match, but don't necessarily disclose any details of major angles. For instance, there was nothing in this week's Raw script that mentioned whether or not Undertaker would answer John Cena's challenge, and it didn't detail the brawl that would end that evening's show. Some of the previous scripts (usually Smackdown Live) that I've been able to get didn't list the agent or working referee for the match.,
Some of the things that it did include were kind of funny. For the Braun Strowman angle where he revealed "Brains" Strowman, the script specifically called for Strowman to not wear Dudley Boyz style glasses. For whatever reason, that happened anyway.
I was also sent a script that I may upload to Fightful Select from January for the episode of WWE Raw that aired the night after the WWE Royal Rumble. It revealed that Michael Hayes produced the Kane vs. Braun Strowman Last Man Standing match that wrote Kane off of TV for a while. Jamie Noble, Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson and D-Von Dudley also did work producing matches on that show. It's worth noting that for some reason, there was no producer listed for the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks match. The spot was left blank with only a referee listed.
When I posted that Tyson Kidd produced the Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor match from WWE Raw, it gained a lot of attention on social media. This isn't a new spot for him. He's been in it for months, and produced the Elias vs. Matt Hardy Elimination Chamber qualifying match on that January show.
The full script is available now at Fightful Select.
Ahead of this week's WrestleMania show, I've decided to unload several shoot interviews that I'd conducted for various features and List and Ya Boy filmings since last summer. One with NWA's Dave Lagana will run this weekend, and is a great, introspective, near-hour long look at the inside process of rebooting the NWA with Billy Corgan. Lagana has been instrumental in the "Ten Pounds of Gold" series, and was a big part of my "From Old To Gold" feature I did on the NWA and Tim Storm gaining buzz in 2017. You may hear a segment of this interview on an upcoming List & Ya Boy show.
Also a part of my "From Old to Gold" feature was longtime wrestler and current Ring of Honor announcer Colt Cabana. Cabana was involved with "Seven Levels of Hate" with Adam Pearce, yet another effort to restore some prestige to the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. I spoke with him about NWA's newest efforts, and called back to his Wrestling Road Diaries series. Cabana also recently appeared on an episode of Wikipedia Fact Check for Fightful.
A 2017 interview that I conducted with former WWE Superstar Alex Riley is also set for full release. Riley appeared on last year's season of GLOW as "Steel Horse" and ended up beating out some other wrestlers for the spot. He talks to me about the process, wrestling again, and several other topics. This was done in the video interview format that List & Ya Boy was conducted in.
I interviewed Harlem Heat's Stevie Ray last week to promote his WrestleCon appearance during WrestleMania weekend. We ended up talking about his plans, a possible return, his brother, politics, and got a filming in for Making A Finsher that will air later this year (but will be available soon to Fightful Select subscribers).
In the interview, I talk to Stevie about his Harlem Heat tag team, and why they opted to go with that name instead of Houston, where he and his brother are from. He told me that originally Dusty Rhodes wanted them to be a Chicago-based team, but that they pitched the idea of being from Harlem instead. When I asked about whether or not Booker T reached out to him on advice when getting into broadcasting, Stevie said he didn't, because they actually used to practice on the road when they traveled together.
Stevie also gets extremely political during the interview, something that I generally try to stay away from. However, to be frank, Stevie Ray doesn't really give a shit. He's not a fan of mainstream media, or 'idiots' either apparently. When a list of names were given to me for possible interviews, he was one of the first that I jumped at the chance to talk to. If you've ever checked out his podcast on Title Match Wrestling, you know that he doesn't pull any punches.
On Monday, we launched our Fightful Select service. We have a weekly Fightful Weekender show (talking non-Raw/SD shows), two Q&A shows, a Members Only Podcast monthly and a monthly retro podcast to kick things off, in addition to several other pieces. . I'm also considering doing a short video discussion about these Fightful Wrestling Weekly columns in order to add new content. We are also open to suggestion as we work on new ideas.
