Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
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Hey Sean! As someone who has done wrestling and MMA, what are the pros and cons to wearing gloves while competing? Every time I see AJ Styles with his gloves, it always makes me think about it. Do you know why he wears them as well? Thanks!
I can't speak to why AJ Styles wears gloves. Those look like more for grip than anything, like receiver gloves in football. I've never personally worn those. I wore MMA gloves once for a wrestling match because our fight team was doing a uniform look, and I hated it. It just didn't make a lot of sense. If you're doing a Bloodsport, UWF-i style match that's one thing, but I was not a fan of gloves the one time I wore them. It was a nuisance. When I asked people close to him, they said it was visual.
Who do you have winning the men's and women's rumble matches
I would have Liv Morgan win the women's. She's back in the fold, her direction is up in the air on-screen, she's got two Judgment Day members to play off of. She's always been the bridesmaid in Royal Rumble matches, and I think it's time for her to be the bride there. She's proven herself as a main event women's talent as well.
On the men's side, here are my scenarios.
Bron Breakker, if he doesn't win the world title.
Roman Reigns or CM Punk if Breakker does win the title.
Oba Femi is a solid choice regardless.
Have you heard if there is interest in Ethan Page on the main roster I know you reported Chelsea has been pushing for him
Not enough for him to be brought up full-time yet, but Chelsea Green has still been pushing for him, even since she mentioned it. He's been at Smackdown a number of times and made good impressions based on what I've been told. I know it's important to NXT and CW Network for that brand to have veterans, especially wrestlers with television experience.
2025-12-22 16:44:02 +0000 UTC
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Hey guys! Get your questions in for the Wrestlevotes LIVE show at 3 PM ET!
The link will be here for the live show shortly.
Due to Christmas, Wrestlevotes Radio will take place Friday
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/fGerZKqttX8
2025-12-22 14:19:09 +0000 UTC
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Danhausen’s contracthausen is finally almost up.
In the summer of 2025, Fightful Select reported that Danhausen’s contract was slated to expire. However, AEW ended up extending the contract due to injury time. Danhausen was not used whatsoever after this, and Danhausen actually wanted the company to let the deal lapse so he’d have more freedom with merchandising and bookings.
Well, he’ll have that freedom relatively soon, barring some unforeseen contract extension that wouldn’t make much sense. Fightful Select has confirmed that Danhausen’s contract with AEW expires (perhaps for real this time) in February of 2026, at least per All Elite Wrestling sources.
AEW sources that we’ve spoken to claim he hasn’t been backstage in ages, and hasn’t been factored in to any creative plans.
2025-12-21 23:30:05 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
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Hi, is there any news on Danhausen's contract now, if he goes to WWE, can he participate Royal Rumble 2026?
Barring some trickery, I don't think he would be able to do the 2026 Royal Rumble. I think it's a bad mark on AEW that they extended his contract due to injury time with absolutely no plans to use him, and with him wanting to be let go. What purpose does that serve? Just let the guy go. It's just a waste of money. If he doesn't want to be there and you don't want to use him, cut him loose. Him getting an AEW release is about the only way that could happen, which honestly isn't out of the realm of possibility.
Good morning, SRS. With Athena mentioning Thunder Rosa and Nyla Rose on RoH last night, can we hope that Nyla shows back up. As Nyla is funny as fuck and would provide a good foil for Athena. Thunder Rosa too, once her injuries heal up. Thank you.
I'm not even sure Nyla Rose knows why she's been off TV for a full year. Nobody I've spoken to knows either. She's not injured, she doesn't have any heat, everyone pretty well likes her. It's just one of those issues AEW has about benching someone and completely forgetting about them for a year at a time. I don't get it.
We've all been talking about a Chris Jericho retirement story next year, but does anyone know if Chris Jericho is actually looking to retire imminently? And if he didn't want to retire or have a retirement story, would that prevent WWE from bringing him back?
Chris Jericho has had no major injuries or surgeries, and wants to continue to wrestle. He's on his longest physical break in years, and has not told anyone that I've spoken to that he's looking to wrap things up. I can't speak to plans for WWE, but I do think that's the right place for him at this moment. I think the crowd will react the way WWE wants them to for this tour, assuming it happens.
2025-12-21 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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In 2005, fresh off a not-so-scintillating run in WWE, Goldberg decided to try his hand at slasher villaining.
He starred as the titular character in SANTA'S SLAY, which takes the joke of "Satan and Santa are spelled with the same letters in a different order" and stretches that out into a full length movie.
Only one old man knows that Santa and Satan are actually the same guy, and it's up to his grandson and his girlfriend (CLAIRE FROM "LOST" (how 2005 is THAT?) to take down Santa before his kills everyone on earth. I think? The movie really doesn't make this clear,
I do know one thing. Without this movie being made, Goldberg's return to WWE in 2016 probably never happens. How do I know this?
You'll have to tune in to find out.
It's a CHRISTMAS SPECIAL edition of THIS IS CINEMA, starring your favorite holiday goofballs, Alex and Kate.
WATCH ON YOUTUBE HERE: https://youtu.be/ORxI5BiXSOU
2025-12-21 16:53:28 +0000 UTC
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TNA has signed a series of short term deals, but a couple of major players are not among them…yet!
In speaking to TNA sources about who has signed new contracts, we ended up finding out more of who hasn’t officially signed. Including Matt and Jeff Hardy of the Hardy Boys. The current TNA World Tag Team Champions were a major part of attracting AMC to doing the new TV deal with TNA.
A deal is expected to be done very soon, and sources in TNA claim that they were hoping to sign the duo to a long term deal. When TNA President Carlos Silva tweeted that he “looked forward to working with the Hardys for years to come,” it was specified by a TNA source that they had not signed new deals as of then, and haven't as of now, though they're expected to within the next few weeks.
It has been heavily speculated within TNA that Matt and Jeff Hardy are the highest paid talent on the roster.
2025-12-21 01:05:16 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
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Hey SRS do you know how the women are going to perform in the women's rumble in those ridiculous bodysuits? I get why they have to do it but it honestly sucks they have to wear those especially the one(s) who's going to be the iron woman of the women's rumble.
I think you're way more bothered by it than they are. These are athletes. Many of whom have worn body suits in the past. The venue is air conditioned. It's not like they're performing in squalor or anything. They prepare for it, and in many cases take great pride in the gear created. It's not ideal, but I've never heard anyone dread it.
What is up with the complete burial of LA Knight yeah?
Man, I just don't get this. He was booked to go to the finals of the John Cena tournament, and beat Jey Uso along the way. I can't speak to his future outside of him having years left on his contract, but I don't see it as a burial. Not everyone can be the world champion at the same time. I think this is the type of reaction WWE wants to conjure up, and I've been saying that since August. He's off until 2026 at least.
How long do the young bucks & Kenny omega have left on their contract and can you see them jumping to WWE?
Kenny Omega signed a four-year contract extension in Summer of 2023, and there's a ton of injury time that could be added if that is a clause in his deal. I do not see him ever going to WWE unless it's a part time or one off. He knows his matches are limited at this point. The Young Bucks deals are at least through 2027. I'm not even sure if they have their EVP duties anymore, but there's a far more likely possibility of them doing a WWE run.
2025-12-20 17:00:12 +0000 UTC
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Sean Ross Sapp answers your questions!!!
2025-12-19 23:32:17 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to the Fightful Friday tradition -- THE DEBUNKATHON! This week's loaded news update includes:
Welcome to the Fightful Friday tradition -- THE DEBUNKATHON! This week's loaded news update includes:
Reaction to the Thea Hail/Blake Monroe ref
NWA contracts
TNA contracts
AEW plans
Will Ospreay
Why AEW didn't air live.
Top downloaded Fightful interviews in 2025.
Raquel Rodriguez
Austin Theory
MORE!
We had originally heard that NXT referee Felix Fernandez got props backstage for counting the Thea Hail vs. Blake Monroe match as a shoot and doing the title change. However, this was pushed back on heavily, with some claiming he got heat for not checking on Blake Monroe when she was hurt.
NXT sources confirmed people had to physically come back to the venue to re-tape materials after the Thea Hail/Blake Monroe match.
Kerry Morton announced that he's extended his deal with NWA for two years. The deal had originally been set to expire at the end of the year. NWA had been trying to get Morton to stop working GCW and JCW dates, but we're not sure if that ended up happening.
Raquel Rodriguez was legitimately banged up after her segment with Nikki Bella on WWE Raw. She was checked on and cleared quickly.
Austin Theory had been planned as the masked man on WWE Raw since the start, and has been discussed as being involved with the Vision for months. Wrestling Observer had reported this quite a while back.
After Todd Grisham's story on Chris Van Vliet's show about Vince McMahon planning an interaction with him all weekend, we had numerous people connected to McMahon that claimed McMahon did that quite often.
The plan for an AEW Worlds End four-way match has been in effect at least for well over a month.
Will Ospreay was backstage at AEW Dynamite this past week.
There was a report about a number of short-term TNA contracts that were signed. We can confirm despite being reported, a couple of those are not true as of now.
For those asking why AEW Dynamite did not air live despite it being in the UK, Warner Bros Discovery has the first live rights to AEW programming.
AEW Dark is not back permanently, but the company has talked about doing special Dark episodes for quite some time. We're told they're open to doing them again in the future.
Fightful spoke to Mike Santana, Killer Kross and others for new interviews
The Fightful Holiday HUMPATHON is taking place Tuesday at 2 PM ET, featuring the Fightful Staff.
A reminder, if you have changes to your Fightful Awards voting, just message us the changes and we'll make them!
DEBUNKATHON
FIghtful's top downloaded interviews:
For those that give a heck or a hoot, here are our top 30 downloaded interviews of 2025. All of these interviews can be found on Youtube.com/Fightful.
MJF at Wrestlecade
Toni Storm Breaks!
Toni Storm Australia
Muhammad Hassan
Abyss on WWE 2K25
Usos at WrestlePalooza
Bryan Danielson in Australia
PCO after destroying a TNA title
Good Brothers after WWE release
Bryan Danielson in Dallas
Buddy Matthews in Australia
Chelsea Green at Royal Rumble
Cope in Austraila
IYO Sky in Indianapolis
Isla Dawn interview after leaving WWE
Stephanie Vaquer at WrestlePalooza
Nattie Neidhart talks her book
Shawne Merriman
Shazza Mckenzie
Izzy Moreno
Roxanne Perez
Sol Ruca
Sareee
Deonna Purrazzo
Zilla Fatu
Kyle Fletcher
Wheeler Yuta
Jamie Hayter
Evil Uno
Gabe Kidd
Note: Steven Flowe released in the last two weeks of 2024. It would have ranked 18th if released this year.
2025-12-19 23:30:49 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
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How do companies like MLW & NWA make a profit when their shows are not behind a paywall of a service ?
Well, sometimes they don't. MLW does good ticket sales, and getting a huge settlement from WWE is also helpful. The reality is, neither of them have run that often of late. NWA was airing television they taped three months before. MLW has a more spaced out schedule these days, but when they were on weekly, they usually had a television deal of some sort. Sponsors also help out!
Any chances of Brie Bella coming back to reform the Bella Twins sometimes next year? Seems like the only reasons why she has yet to come back is WWE’s problem with Bryan and the “yes” chants.
Yes. There's certainly a chance of that happening. She's open to it, Nikki Bella is open to it, and Brie has said those are the circumstances that she wants a return. I don't think the chants matter. WWE has felt like they own those chants anyway. Get over any way you can. As long as people are into it and making noise, more power to them.
RJ city seemingly ending a number of his projects, Have you heard why? Is he a taking a larger role within AEW perhaps?
RJ City's contract is not expiring, and he's still working with AEW. They had been planning for the end of Hey! EW for quite some time. He just felt like ending his long running coffee series at the same time was a nice clean sweep. He's still working in all of his other duties and will keep contributing ideas. It was made very clear to me that there was an exit planned for this for a while. He's been a part of some major ideas, and I would expect him to continue in creative and also work on some new content.
2025-12-19 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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TNA is working to sign a number of talent to new deals, but not all of them are set as believed.
Fightful Select reported in the last week that TNA is working on a number of short-term deals. Over a dozen TNA contracts were set to expire, and the company has offered what we're told are three-month contracts to several talent.
Four talent were specifically reported this week, but we're told at least two of those are untrue. As of December 19, Jake Something has not signed a new contract with the company. In addition, Zachary Wentz has also not signed a new deal at this point.
It is believed that Steve Maclin and AJ Francis have agreed, but Francis hasn't signed as of yet. We're working to confirm those.
2025-12-19 16:50:00 +0000 UTC
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The last time is.....last Saturday, but you're going to be able to re-live it.
John Cena had his retirement match on December 13. tapping out go Gunther (like a bitch!, his words, not ours!), but we haven't quite seen the last of him. He revealed he signed a five year ambassador deal with WWE, and Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp reported he was going to be making appearances on and off camera for that.
In addition, Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select has confirmed that John Cena will be the subject of an upcoming documentary on his retirement. There were documentary crews on hand for a production that is tentatively targeted for a mid-2026 release. Peacock is the rumored landing point, but that isn't confirmed as of yet.
When aggregating this story, we ask that you credit "Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select." We will be posting newsworthy stories from this show on Select -- linking and tagging is preferred.
2025-12-19 01:31:00 +0000 UTC
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We have an update on the next WWE-AAA show.
Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select has learned the date for next year's AAA Rey De Reyes show. The event is currently planned for Saturday, March 14. It is set for Puebla, Mexico at the Auditorio GNP Seguros.
WWE acquired AAA in 2025.
When aggregating this story, we ask that you credit "Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select." We will be posting newsworthy stories from this show on Select -- linking and tagging is preferred.
2025-12-19 01:30:58 +0000 UTC
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WWE has a big crossover coming soon.
WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select reported on this week's episode, that WWE is set for an upcoming crossover promotion with Stranger Things. WWE Raw is a Netflix brand, and the new episodes of Stranger Things are out this month.
Stranger Things has been a juggernaut for Netflix, even launching Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" up the charts in recent years. The song was covered by a band called Placebo, and used on one of the most famed video packages of all time for Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker in their second WrestleMania match.
When aggregating this story, we ask that you credit "Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select." We will be posting newsworthy stories from this show on Select -- linking and tagging is preferred.
2025-12-19 01:28:01 +0000 UTC
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Wrestlevotes is back to talk the week following John Cena's retirement and much more.
John Cena retires
WWE/AAA news
WWE headed for an interesting crossover
Upcoming WWE documentary
Thea Hail's botch title win
Mick Foley leaving WWE
Nattie's future
Austin Theory masked man.
When aggregating this show, we ask that you credit "Wrestlevotes Radio on Fightful Select." We will be posting newsworthy stories from this show on Select. We ask aggregators to wait until those stories are published.
2025-12-19 01:17:14 +0000 UTC
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Join Phil and Righteous Reg as they answer questions!
Watch the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzs1GCB_yLo
2025-12-18 18:00:44 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
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There were posts claiming the TNA deal was for $30 Million. Is there any validity to that? Is it $30 Million or possibly $10 Million a year for 3 years. Thanks
I do not have definite numbers for this deal, but if it was $30 Million, it would almost certainly be for $10 million a year for three years. If it were for $30 million, there would be some serious plays for free agents. I'm just not seeing that right now. I'd be more inclined to believe it's in the 10M per year range, which is still major for TNA.
Any updates on Piper Niven or Jacob Fatu? I think I saw Piper posted a photo recently and she was in recovery? Good signs she may be able to return in the future?!
I know that initially there was a lot of concern for Piper Niven, but people close to her didn't think that it was going to end her career. The word from Bodyslam.net upon Jacob Fatu's injury was that it was dental related. I wouldn't expect him to be out too much longer.
Do you think any of the TNA talent that has their contracts expiring sign with WWE next
No, I don't think so. I do think they should be looking at Steve Maclin as a wrestler and a potential future coach and producer, but he has a lot left in the ring. The Rascalz aren't going to WWE right after Dezmond Xavier just got cut. I could definitely see Killer Kelly and Myron Reed collectively on NXT, but I've not heard of any offers.
2025-12-18 17:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Hey guys! SRS here. get your questions in!
2025-12-18 13:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Fightful Select spoke to MJF for his first interview in months at Wrestlecade.
MJF returned to AEW tonight, and has his eyes focused on the AEW Title. He made it clear during our interview that's what he's aiming for, and will become world champion again
When we asked MJF about Bret Hart recently saying "WHO?" about him, he told a story about how Bret liked his 2019 promo on him. He believes that Bret Hart is a great, effective troll, and blames Bill Goldberg for any of Bret Hart's memory loss issues. He said that Bret Hart knows how to get under people's skin, and says even though he and Sheamus don't see eye to eye, he has great punches.
He said that traveling as much as he did in the Spring and Summer of 2025 was important to him because the people he looked up to being traveling champions.
He said that he still speaks with Adam Sandler and facetimed with him the week prior to our interview. He calls Sandler the nicest guy in the world. He said Sandler is a wrestling fan, but that's not how he landed on Sandler's radar. He got an audition to play one of the evil golfers, and Sandler liked it, and he was given the opportunity to audition as Happy Gilmore's son. That went well and MJF landed the role. He also said Julie Bowen was like a mother to him on the set. He said he will wrestle while filming movies if producers are cool with it, and so far he's been able to quite a bit. He said that he does have the acing bug and is really enjoying i.
We spoke to MJF about the Adam Cole storyline, which he reminds people was a top draw in the company. He said "that pussy" Adam Cole broke his ankle like a complete dork and ruined the storyline. MJF was battling through hip and shoulder injuries, and says he was in a very dark place. He said that he should have been more angry at himself than the fans for turning on him and the angle itself. He knows that the same reasons people love him could be the same reasons people hate him.
He mentioned that Bloodline's WWE story may go down as the greatest long-term storyline.
He also said he got paid $35,000 for one indie match.
The interview is available for early access subscribers and Youtube members now, and will be public on Thursday. We ask that aggregators hold off until gaining the full context of his words.
2025-12-18 03:38:40 +0000 UTC
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The Thea Hail NXT North American Title win has caused some major changes in NXT.
Thea Hail beat Blake Monroe on the December 16 NXT in an unplanned finish.
One NXT staff member told Fightful Select that the situation happened at the worst possible time, as the brand was finishing up filming for the year so talent could go home for a Christmas break. As a result, weeks of creative had already been finalized and filmed. After the title change happened, there was a pretty frantic rush to try to correct things that had already been filmed in order to make sense of them. There was actually an error on WWE's website briefly, indicating Blake Monroe had won.
The belief internally was that Blake Monroe had the wind knocked out of her prior to what was supposed to be the kickout attempt, but that wasn't confirmed as the case.
The decision was quickly made to lean into it, with it being blasted all over social media and graphics being made. WWE had obviously not planned the segment that ran with Thea Hail being confronted by Blake Monroe after the match. That was done on short notice and added.
One NXT higher up said that this was going to cause some heavy shifting in policy among talent, with wrestlers booked being required to stay until the end of tapings moving forward. Pretapes are often done on Mondays in NXT, and even talent that do that are likely to be required to stay through the following day's show.
We're told that a rematch is already being discussed internally. Many we've spoken to expect it for NXT New Year's Evil, but that hasn't been confirmed.
This situation isn't unheard of. Men on A Mission, Mickie James, Razor Ramon, Hardcore Holly, Kevin Owens among others have won titles in WWE that were not planned.
2025-12-17 18:45:30 +0000 UTC
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WWE Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia has a start time.
Wrestlevotes on Fightful Select has learned that after some internal back and forth, WWE have officially decided on a 2 PM ET start time for the 2026 Royal Rumble.
Paid subscribers get access to the WrestleVotes LIVE Q&A every Monday at 3 PM ET, as well as Wrestlevotes Radio, their news show every Thursday.
2025-12-17 18:17:12 +0000 UTC
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Fightful Select has confirmed a tag team match for SuperPower Slam!
Fightful was provided the following:
Orange Crush is proud to present SuperPower Slam in partnership with @GCWWrestling_ and @JerseyCW on Sunday, Feb 1st at The Melrose Ballroom in NYC! SuperPower Slam is a benefit event for the neurodivergent community. Proceeds go to the Little Oaks Center for Neurodevelopmentmore:
littleoakscenter.org
2025-12-17 17:29:59 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
***
was Leon slater the first person to do a 450 swanton. if it wasn't him who was
He's the first one I know to do it. I reached out to Stephen Jensen and David Bixenspan to see if they had heard or seen of anyone else doing it before him, and they couldn't think of anyone. Jensen said that he's seen Slater do it for years.
When FTR referred to Juice Robinson as mr. Toni Storm, was that a mistake? Is there relationship acknowledged in AEW Kayfabe?
It wasn't a mistake, just a nod to people who know. It's almost never acknowledged on AEW TV, but it's not exactly a secret. Toni Storm is pretty clearly in a kayfabe relationship with Mina Shirakawa on TV, which is repeatedly referenced. It wasn't a mistake, though. I think AEW just expects that a majority of their audience already know, and it's a nice easter egg to throw in there. I'm sure it wasn't an accident though.
One of my favorite characters from Lucha Underground used to be Marty the Moth (Martin Casaus). Figured after LU, he'd end up in WWE, ROH or TNA, but he never showed up anywhere. Did he decide to go into a different career path? Thanks.
He was on Tough Enough back in the day, but never got a real WWE look after that. He did get a look from TNA/Impact back in 2018 and 2019. He worked a number of matches in AEW in 2021, and then one in ROH in 2023, so AEW has used him a few times. These days, he pretty well just wrestles on Rocky Mountain Pro. He also worked the Ring Warriors company that was on WGN in 2018. To say he went in a different career path is an understatement -- he's in Power Slap now. He was actually beat Zicky Dice a few months ago.
2025-12-17 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Thea Hail became NXT North American Champion, but was not meant to be.
On the December 16 episode of NXT, Thea Hail pinned Blake Monroe to become the NXT North American Champion. Confusion ensued, as Blake Monroe got a hand but not a shoulder up before the three. There was a heavy delay before Thea Hail's music ended up hitting.
Fightful Select confirmed with NXT sources that this was not intentional, and that Blake Monroe was set to retain her title. There was said to have been a scramble backstage when the botch happened, and immediately following it. We're told that it specifically caused issues because there was creative specifically in place with Thea Hail not being the champion. We're told that was immediately being changed to adjust. This ended up affecting multiple people's creative that was set for the next couple of weeks. We'll work to find out what else has changed.
It was communicated to Fightful Select that there would be steps taken as early as tonight to make those creative adjustments. We weren't told immediately who got the blame for the situation, as most involved were just working to quickly make changes to what needed to be changed.
2025-12-17 02:30:15 +0000 UTC
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It’s STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE
Steve Borden, the son of Sting, debuted for AEW on December 10, working a dark match ahead of the show.
Fightful reached out to Tony Khan himself who said “I THOUGHT HE WAS EXCELLENT. He’s doing a great job. Very exciting in my opinion.”
Another longtime member of AEW staff said that they thought Borden did great, and put over his physique, saying they’d sacrifice years of their NFL team winning to look like him. His physical look was among the most common responses we heard back from.
One source in AEW expected him to be under AEW contract before long if he’s not already.
He worked against Kiran Grey, who Borden also faced in his DEFY indie debut.
2025-12-16 23:00:12 +0000 UTC
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A series of vignettes have made a good impression in WWE and among fans.
Over the last couple of weeks on WWE Raw, we’ve seen vignettes featuring Intercontinental Champion Maxxine Dupri and her tag team partner Nattie Neidhart. They’re montages used to underscore Maxxine’s improvement in the ring.
We’re told that WWE Director of Character Development Rob Fee has been responsible for shooting the videos. We heard a lot of positive feedback regarding the videos. One men’s talent said that a number of people were happy to see the company doing something with both of the wrestlers, who are thought highly of by their peers on a personal level.
They are also being used as a way to introduce the Nattie character, which she's pushed for quite some time.
2025-12-16 21:38:29 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
***
Not to start any kind of political discourse but given the somewhat political climate and WWEs affiliation with the current administration. Are you somewhat surprised that Becky is given as much rope as she has with basically a mocking of Donald Trump gimmick that she has going? I personally think it’s hilarious what she’s doing but I was just curious
I'm very surprised, but what are they gonna do? The character is so ridiculous that if you sell being bothered by it, you reinforce the ridiculousness of the source material. It's why people rarely go at South Park for their portrayals. It's not cool to go after them, because you have to be pretty wild to hit their radar anyway.
I’ve heard it said that the Timeless Toni gimmick was a Tony Khan invention, but she plays the role so well it’s almost hard to believe it. So when Toni cuts a promo, how much of that is just Toni being Toni and how much of that is “written”? For lack of a better term
The original All About Eve storyline with Toni Storm and Mariah May was something that Tony Khan had i mind and wanted to execute before Mariah May was there. RJ City also heavily contributes to the Timeless Toni Storm character, but it's not a character that just anyone can do. I can tell you from doing media with Toni Storm that even unscripted, she does a lot of that herself. The promos themselves seem to be collaborative efforts.
Can you answer more questions as John Cena? lol.
Whether or not I answer more questions as John Cena is an issue of perception. Personally, I don't see myself answering questions as John Cena. I see myself answering questions in a format in which conjures thought. If I answered questions as John Cena previously, I will choose to not live in the past. All I can control is the present, and then I can look back on what is currently the present, in the future, when it becomes the past.
2025-12-16 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Welp.
They don't have any plans for Gunther after he retired John Cena.
Nikki Bella just won't go away.
Maxine Dupri won another match.
Austin Theory is the masked man.
And Kate still isn't medically cleared to podcast on Monday Nights.
Everything sucks. Let's talk about it.
WATCH ON YOUTUBE HERE: https://youtu.be/lH0zF_mpQW4
2025-12-16 03:20:59 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.
When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.
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I've noticed recently that a lot of the camera work that Lee Fitting started doing early in his tenure is being used less or not at all. Is there a reason for this?
I asked about this during the summer, and I was told that it's a matter of people finding their preferences, and things not standing out as much as they did before. The original changes of crazy zooms and camera cuts have been abandoned. People that work under the current regime have claimed that it's a much more relaxed, and "easier" scenario to work under than with Kevin Dunn.
Hey Sean, have you heard anything about the future of NJPW's Battle in the Valley in San Jose? Seems like it's not happening this year as it was announced in October last year.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has greatly scaled back their US ventures. They're doing less dates in the United States. They weren't good draws and didn't promote them well. They got rid of the STRONG brand, and have let deals lapse on a ton of the talent that were there on that brand too. They aren't paying crazy prices for contracts, and have trouble competing with the money offered by WWE and AEW.
With David Otunga expressing his (Idk what to call it) disapproval of John cena for things he did to him in the past, do you think we hear more from wrestlers from that time period talking their issues with John? Or has cena been a good guy for the most part backstage?
When someone works in wrestling for 25 years, it's highly unlikely that there will be unanimously positive stories about them. We've heard about him pushing for Nexus to lose, we've heard the Otunga thing, years ago it was that Gabbi Tuft was told to make a finishing move change. He's widely considered a good dude, but naturally some stories like that will emerge about him.
2025-12-16 00:20:31 +0000 UTC
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RJ City is not jobless.
RJ City's popular HEY! EW show has concluded, but he's not leaving All Elite Wrestling.
Fightful fielded a number of questions about him ending that show, as well as his "RJ City Makes Coffee In His Underwear" series that featured the likes of Steve Austin.
It was confirmed to Fightful Select that RJ City is not departing AEW, his contract isn't ending, but they knew they were wrapping up the show for quite some time. The Eddie Kingston bit at the end of Hey! EW was filmed at WrestleDream, and by then, a decision had been made to end the show. They cranked out as many interviews as they could in the time that took to edit. RJ City made the choice to end the Coffee series at the same time for a clean sweep.
RJ City will still be hosting the Zero Hour with Renee Paquette, in addition to contributing creatively, with the possibility of doing new content.
RJ City and HEY! EW won two Fightful Awards, which we're pretty sure was what he was going for the whole time.
2025-12-15 21:26:16 +0000 UTC
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