Date: 04/08	11:00 PM
Views: 653

Thurs. #2 is HERE. To help out the site subscribe to Mistah MegaManFan or support us on Patreon. Don't miss SmackDown highlights when available! With the cheap plugs out of the way here's Friday's latest wrestling news.

Speaking to WrestleTalk, Rhea Ripley talks about her match with Asuka at WrestleMania: "I'm still super excited because she's someone that I've wanted to wrestle for a long long time. I actually saw a match of her's in Japan when I was there at 17-years-old, we were on the same show, and I remember just like watching her and I'm like 'she's amazing, this chick is crazy and badass and just amazing, you know, just fully amazing', and then it's funny to come full circle and now I get to wrestle her at WrestleMania, so it's definitely a dream match of mine, and I've very very glad that it's coming true."

In this interview Io Shirai talks about being influenced by Rey Mysterio: "I watched Rey Mysterio compete against bigger superstars when I was young and always came away impressed with how he overcame his smaller stature with his quickness. If I am able to do the same with Raquel, I will be able to inspire a lot of people just like I was inspired by Rey. I get a lot of satisfaction when I defeat any great competitors, and Raquel would be no different."

New WWE related videos including NXT Takeover highlights are below.

John Pollock reports that Ray Rougeau and Jean Brassard are no longer the French commentary team for WWE due to "restructuring within Peacock."

Here Jimmy Korderas talks about the WrestleMania 37 triple threat: "Normally, I'm not a fan of a three-way matches especially for the main title. But this one is telling a nice story and is making it possible that Reigns comes out looking good from this. He's in a sweet spot right now, and hitting on all cylinders. He's on fire. How do you keep the title on him without hurting Edge? You insert Daniel Bryan, because you know it will also improve the match. Now, you've got three guys who can go tell a heck of a story. And you can find a creative way of keeping the title on Reigns. Or if you're taking it off of him, he doesn't have to be pinned. A lot of options here."

In this interview Brian Myers (f/k/a Curt Hawkins) says he loves Impact Wrestling: "I'm having fun and in almost a carefree setting for the first time in my career. No restrictions and just letting it all go. It's been such a freakin' blast. I work three days a month. I can't beat it. That, and, too I've spent all this time with my family, watching my kids grow up and I'm literally only gone three days a month. It's the safest, best way to film that product. Obviously those three days we work hard and long hours getting all that content in, but I've loved it. I love all the opportunities to talk, cut promos and stuff. Which I never really had a chance to do in WWE almost ever. So, it's just been a blast. My friends are there. Gallows and Anderson, now Cardona, Swoggle, Ethan Page when they were there. So, I've just had a blast. I don't have a complaint in the world about it, you know?"

Here Sasha Banks talks about facing Bianca Belair in the WrestleMania 37 night one main event: "I've been crying all morning. It's Monday, WrestleMania is on Saturday. I can't believe this 10-year-old girl is about to live her dream and main event WrestleMania, I truly believe that. To see someone like Bianca Belair, who is brand new and just came into the game. She won the Royal Rumble, she's so athletic and so incredible. She is the future of WWE, and so am I, I'm younger, don't forget. At WrestleMania, we will be main eventing. This is my first singles match at WrestleMania and it's the first time it's two African-American women will be headlining WrestleMania. This is crazy because it's bigger than me. The beautiful thing is, everything I've done with WWE, not only has it been for me, but it's been bigger than me because of the impact it's made on so many amazing people all over the world of every color and race. I'm letting it all sink in. I've been calling my friend Bayley all morning, 'Oh my God, I'm freaking out.' I'm so thankful."

Here Kevin Owens talks about Logan Paul being Sami Zayn's guest at WrestleMania: "I don't think it's going to take anything away from our match. It adds something to our match. We had so many, that it will be a way to differentiate it, to have more eyes on the match. But I'm not worried at all and I'm sure that at the end of the match people will be happy. We are also always careful not to play the same games. So we are sure that the match will deliver. I think the fans are really excited for our match and it makes me feel really good!"

Speaking of WrestleMania 37, the WWE store is now open on the West side of Raymond James Stadium. The hours are 10 AM - 7 PM local time Friday, and 9 AM - 4 PM on Saturday and Sunday. (PWI)

Season three of Dark Side of the Ring debuts on VICE May 6th.

On their final week of going head to head on Wednesday night, NXT (thanks to Takeover: Stand & Deliver night one) managed a rare win over the AEW Dynamite broadcast. NXT on USA did 768,000 viewers, up from 654,000 last week. The 18-49 demo was 0.22, only up slightly from 0.21. AEW on TNT did 688,000, only their second time under 700K in 2021 and their third straight week of decreased viewership. They DID win the 18-49 demo though by doing a 0.28, up from last week's 0.26. (SBD)

Court Bauer says MLW's new TV deal is "signed" but is refusing to offer any other details right now. (PWI)

In this interview Adam Pearce talks about training Bad Bunny: "When you take your first steps in any journey, you're going to goof up. And that happened. I wanted to look him in the eye and see how he was going to react to that kind of thing. He's competitive with himself. But he never quits. He always says, 'Let's do it again.' He's all in. You can't teach that."

Two matches have been announced for NXT UK next week. (WWE)

* Amir Jordan vs. Kenny Williams
* Nathan Frazer vs. Saxon Huxley

Here JTG talks about working with 2 Cold Scorpio: "I wrestled him last month, and that was an honor. I had his action figure in my toy box. It's still in my toy box in my mom's house. My mom didn't throw away my toys. And I was able to wrestle him, and I learned so much. I think that was the first time I ever let - well, he's a veteran, so I trusted him, but I let someone completely call the match in the ring. We had some things planned. I didn't know where he was going to put it. He was like, 'Can you do this? We might do this. We might do that,' because I'm used to working with planning out the structure of the match a certain way, but he's old school. He was the quarterback, and I just listened and it was a great match."

In this interview Mark Henry talks about why Daniel Bryan's size never mattered: "I knew he was really good. Sometimes when you're really good it don't matter what your size is. And he was one of those guys that I just knew. I was like 'man this guy is a really really excellent wrestler, excellent psychologist.' He was already wrestling. They didn't have to show him how to do anything, they didn't have to wait a long time. And he was able to get it done."

Here's a new Konnor http://pwinsider.com/article.php?id=145593&p=1 formerly of The Ascension interview and http://fightful.com/wrestling/titus-o-neil-says-winning-warrior-award-came-out-left-field one with Titus O'Neil.

No Peace Underground results from Fightful.com are below.

* No Ring Death Match: Parrow def. Manders
* No Ring Death Match: Kit Osbourne def. Tye Hill
* No Ring Death Match: Sawyer Wreck def. Kennedi Copeland
* No Ring Death Match: The Hallowed (Lord Crewe & Otis Cogar) def. Bam Sullivan & G-Raver
* No Ring Death Match: Atticus Cogar def. Jamie Senegal
* NPU Championship No Ring Death Match: Eric Ryan def. Nolan Edward to retain
* No Ring Death Match: John Wayne Murdoch def. Matthew Justice

Here's a rare non-WWE interview this week - an AEW interview featuring Leyla Hirsch.

Acid Cup 3 results from Fightful.com are below.

* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Calvin Tankman def. Colby Corino
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Laredo Kid def. Brayden Lee
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Dragon Bane def. KTB
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Jordan Oliver def. Edith Surreal
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Lee Moriarty def. JJ Garrett
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Arez def. Aramis
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: Cole Radrick def. Jimmy Lloyd and Ellis Taylor
* Acid Cup 3 Tournament First Round Match: AJ Gray def. "Spyder" Nate Webb

Taylor Wilde's return was teased on Impact Wrestling last night.