Tag: Under the Ring

Matt Cardona loves that NWA has no script

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Matt Cardona joined the Under the Ring Podcast to talk about what he loves about NWA and how he keeps grinding at a furious pace.

When NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Matt Cardona made his first NWA appearance, it wasn’t exactly a match made in heaven between wrestler and promotion.

In fact, as Cardona explained as the guest on this week’s episode of Under the Ring with Phil Strum (recorded prior to his recent injury), he did the opposite of endearing himself to the locker room when he first arrived.

“I was saying things like, ‘I thought NWA sucked as a kid,’ I thought it was old and dated and boring then, and I was saying I still think it sucks now,” Cardona said. “It’s still old and dated and boring, and I could tell a lot of people were not happy about that.”

Things have improved since then, with Cardona noting that as he’s now the top champ in the promotion, “I’m doing something right.”

One of the things Cardona says suits him best about NWA is that no one is telling him what to say.

“What I love about NWA, there is no script,” he said. “There are no writers, there wasn’t even an outline. It was, ‘OK, Matt, you’re going to talk in this segment … go!'”

Listen to the entire episode above to hear Cardona talk about:

  • What’s helped his career longevity, and why he thinks he’s better than ever today
  • Why the constant travel is actually “the easy part” of his fast-paced life
  • How he changed his future when he was unhappy with his place in WWE by figuring out how to use the internet to his advantage

Under the Ring drops new episodes every Monday, as Strum uses the connections he’s made from decades covering pro wrestling to speak with a different but always fascinating personality from the industry. Recent guests have included WWE Superstar Sonya Deville, as well as AEW star Serena Deeb and AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa.

Subscribe to Under the Ring via Apple Music or your favorite podcast provider, or check out Strum’s interviews in video form on the Under the Ring YouTube channel.

Sonya Deville ‘feels like I’m home’ with return to ring

Under the Ring spoke with WWE Superstar Sonya Deville about her return to in-ring competition and being an example to the LGBTQ+ community.

Sonya Deville was a WWE Superstar, then an on-screen authority figure. Now she’s back to solely concentrating on in-ring competition again.

And that’s just fine with her.

Deville was this week’s guest on the Under the Ring podcast with Phil Strum, and made it clear she’s psyched about returning to her roots.

“It feels like I’m home,” Deville said. “I embraced my role, and I really enjoyed my role as a WWE official. I think I’m a natural leader, and I think Superstars naturally wanted to kind of follow my guide and be represented by me. But I’m a fighter, and I’m a competitor at heart and I’ve been since day one, since I entered WWE. So I feel like I’m home and I’m ready to take over, like this is my time.”

As one of the most visible openly gay wrestlers performing today, Deville also talked about the importance of “strength in unity and strength in representation” and the importance of having allies who aren’t a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

“There’s a lot of your favorite WWE Superstars that are strong allies that are represented in that photo shoot,” Deville said of a WWE photo shoot to celebrate Pride Month in June. “So it’s going to be really cool and really powerful, I think.”

You can listen to Deville’s complete conversation above.

Under the Ring shines the spotlight on a different personality from the world of pro wrestling each week, from WWE and AEW to the numerous other promotions across the U.S. Other recent guests have included AEW women’s division stars Serena Deeb and current champion Thunder Rosa, as well as our own managing editor, Nick Tylwalk.

To make sure you don’t miss an episode, subscribe to Under the Ring on Apple Music or your favorite podcast provider, or check out Strum’s interviews in video form on the show’s YouTube channel.

Please wipe your feet before you get in Serena Deeb’s ring

No. 1 contender to the AEW Women’s World Championship Serena Deeb joined the Under the Ring podcast to talk about respect, her match with Thunder Rosa, and much more.

It’s probably not surprising that someone known as “The Professor” likes to keep things respectful in her workplace. It just so happens that for Serena Deeb, her workplace is an AEW wrestling ring.

Ahead of her AEW Double or Nothing title match against Thunder Rosa, Deeb stopped by the Under the Ring podcast to chat with host Phil Strum. One of the questions she answered was about her wrestling syllabus: As a teacher of the art, what does she think are the most important thing for her students to learn?

First and foremost was to keep the ring clean, as a sign of respect to your fellow wrestlers and the people who work hard behind the scenes.

“Wipe your feet,” Deeb said. “It’s a respect thing. The ring crew does a lot to take care of the ring and those canvases can get ruined really quickly, and it’s such a pet peeve of mine when I see people just getting in the ring with dirty shoes and all of that. So every time I have an entrance and I get in the ring, I always wipe my feet because it’s a respect to the ring, it’s a respect to the people that put in a lot of work to care for those very expensive rings.”

Deeb also addressed her unique career journey, the upcoming match against Thunder Rosa, the state of the AEW women’s division, and much more. You can check out the entire episode below.

Under the Ring releases new episodes every Monday on Apple Music and wherever great podcasts are served up. Each one features a straightforward, insightful conversation between Strum and one of the many fascinating personalities from throughout the world of pro wrestling. Other recent episodes have included Thunder Rosa herself, veteran grappler Tony Devito, and our own managing editor, Nick Tylwalk.

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Want more insight on Wrestling Junkie? Our managing editor goes Under the Ring

Wrestling Junkie managing editor Nick Tylwalk joined the Under the Ring podcast to talk about why this is a perfect time to launch a pro wrestling site.

The latest episode of Under the Ring doesn’t get up close and personal with a top wrestler or pro wrestling industry personality, but we have a vested interest in hoping you’ll check it out anyway.

That’s because the guest this week is our own managing editor, Nick Tylwalk. Host Phil Strum invited Nick on the show to talk more about this very site: How Wrestling Junkie came to be, why this is the perfect time to launch a site about pro wrestling on the USA Today Network, and what audience it hopes to reach.

Other topics Phil and Nick discuss:

  • Lapsed wrestling fans: How all of us know them, exactly when Nick was a lapsed fan himself, and why Phil never went through his own lapse
  • Why pro wrestling journalism matters, even in — or maybe especially in — the age of social media
  • The experience of living through pro wrestling’s peak era of mainstream cultural acceptance in the late 1990s and early 2000s

Nick also shares his story about the first time he interviewed WWE talent at WrestleMania 24, which led to one of his favorite articles: Randy Orton, then expecting his first child in a matter of months, naming Rey Mysterio as someone he looked up to for balancing being a great wrestler and a great father, and Mysterio’s response to that praise.

You can listen to the entire conversation between Phil and Nick below.

New episodes of Under the Ring drop every Monday, with Phil speaking to a different guest from the entire spectrum of pro wrestling for straightforward, enlightening discussions. Recent guests have included AEW women’s champion Thunder Rosa, The Acclaimed’s Anthony Bowens, and NWA President Billy Corgan.

Be sure to subscribe via Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider, or check out the conversations in video form on the Under the Ring YouTube channel.

If you run into Thunder Rosa at Walmart, she may have her AEW Women’s World Championship with her

AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa joined the Under the Ring podcast to discuss what it means to be champion, how she defines herself and much more.

If you run into AEW World Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa when you’re out shopping, don’t be surprised if she has a very noticeable piece of gold with her.

Rosa said she was still getting used to having the title with her “at Walmart and at the court house” when she appeared as this week’s guest on the Under the Ring podcast with Phil Strum. The 35-year-old Rosa, who became champion when she defeated Britt Baker in a Steel Cage Match on the March 16 episode of AEW Dynamite, told Strum that she’s still wrapping her head around what it really means to be champion and how she can make her reign meaningful.

“It’s very, very special,” Rosa said. “It’s such a wonderful tool that I can utilize, not only to elevate myself as a wrestler, as a woman, as an entrepreneur, but also to elevate other women that want to be at the same level as I am right now.”

Other topics Rosa discusses on this episode include:

  • Her journey to define herself as a wrestler, which took her back and forth from Japan to the U.S.
  • What attracted her to pro wrestling to start training at the relatively late age of 28 — and which one of her current AEW colleagues inspired her to take the leap
  • The influences and thought that go into her ring gear
  • What drove her to start her own women’s wrestling promotion, Mission Pro Wrestling

You can check out the entire episode with Thunder Rosa below.

Under the Ring drops new episodes every Monday, with Strum interviewing different guests from the entire spectrum of pro wrestling each week. Other recent guests have included veteran wrestler Tony Devito, AEW star and one half of The Acclaimed, Anthony Bowens, and Impact Wrestling’s Matt Taven.

Be sure to subscribe via Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider, or check out the conversations in video form on the Under the Ring YouTube channel.

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Under the Ring podcast gets you up close with the personalities driving pro wrestling

Wrestling Junkie is proud to be teaming with Under the Ring to bring you even closer to the world of pro wrestling, and will be showcasing new episodes every Monday.

Looking for insightful conversations with the stars of pro wrestling and the most important players behind the scenes? The Under the Ring podcast is exactly what you seek.

Under the Ring is the brainchild of Phil Strum, longtime sports reporter, editor and producer for the Poughkeepsie Journal and digital manager for lohud.com. Currently, Phil is the NY Team Leader for digital and print planning for the USA TODAY Network. Over the course of his journalism career, Strum had the opportunity to cover one of his true passions, pro wrestling, making numerous connections with promotions of all sizes.

After years of telling print, blog and video stories about the interesting personalities across wrestling, Strum figured he could bring those same tales to life in podcast form as well — and Under the Ring was born.

“I’ve been wanting to work on a project like this for a long time,” Strum said. “With the connections I’ve made over the years, plus the reach of the USA TODAY Network, it seemed like something that was natural and something I’d be able to pull off. I wanted it to be something unique with conversations with some of the most interesting people I can find — turns out most of the most interesting people are in pro wrestling.”

The first nine episodes of Under the Ring showcase the wide range of guests listeners can expect going forward. Strum has already welcomed WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley, AEW wrestlers Matt Hardy and Anthony Bowens, Impact’s Matt Taven, NWA President (and legendary Smashing Pumpkins frontman) Billy Corgan, and MLW CEO Cort Bauer.

“I’m open to any conversation the fans are interested in hearing,” Strum said. “I don’t have a forbidden door. My door is always slightly ajar.”

Wrestling Junkie is proud to be teaming with Under the Ring to bring you even closer to the world of pro wrestling, and will be showcasing new episodes every Monday. To make sure you don’t miss an episode of Under the Ring, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform, or check out Strum’s interviews in video form on the Under the Ring YouTube channel.