WrestleZone Radio released the latest episode of WZ Weekly yesterday. It featured Spotlight Interviews with WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle and Welterweight Wrestling owner Joe Dombrowski.
You can find some of Joe’s comments regarding why he decided to launch his own promotion transcribed below.
Welterweight Wrestling’s debut show goes down this Sunday at 5 pm EST and will be live streamed on Fite.tv.
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JD: I thought it was time for something new. I watched the Cruiserweight Classic and the UK Tournament last year and I really enjoyed how those endeavors were able to create something so big that felt so special and new off of a specific niche. Which isn’t something that somebody had done in prior years. That kind of got things sparked in my brain. Then when I watch 205 Live I see all of these great athletes but, to me, cruiserweights aren’t this generations version of passed over stars. I watch Tony Nese and Austin Aries who are 205 pounds and they have to play in the cruiserweight kiddie pool but guys like Seth Rollins and AJ Styles, who are about 215, in the main event doing a lot of similar things stylistically. I think cruiserweight wrestling worked in the 90s because you had Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko wrestling with one another because they weren’t going to be compatible with Roddy Piper, Bill Goldberg and Hulk Hogan. It was something different and fresh. In 2017 cruiserweights have a home and I am happy that they have a home. I love TJ Perkins. I love Drew Gulak, Rich Swann and other guys I have worked with who I have nothing but positive things to say about. To me their size isn’t an issue for them anymore. I still see a lot of guys on the independent scene that are 160, 170 or 180 pounds who are hustling and working hard. They have a built up underground fan base. They’ve traveled every weekend 300-600 miles down the road to make their name and the business hasn’t put their finger on them yet. The business hasn’t discovered them yet and given them the chance to break out like a lot of guys have in WWE, Impact and Ring of Honor. My thought was, “What if we get these guys all together and just give them a platform?” Let’s do for them what will come to be known as the welterweight style. Just like guys like Jerry Lynn and the Lightening Kid, Brian Pillman and guys like that did for heavyweights, cruiserweights and junior heavyweights in the 90s. Let’s just see what happens.
This week’s episode of WZ Weekly is hosted by Nick Hausman and features SHINE ring announcer Kid Cadet as his co-host.
Throughout the show they discuss many of the top stories from pro wrestling this past week including:
- The fallout from WWE Payback
- Brock Lesnar defending the WWE Universal Championship next at WWE Great Balls of Fire
- Vince McMahon getting final say over the final “Pandemonium” script
- Chris Jericho’s WWE schedule coming to an end
- Rumors that WWE is already considering bringing back Mauro Ranallo
- Billy Corgan purchasing the NWA
- More…
Nick & Kid also dive into more topics in the “back page”.
This week’s episode also includes two Spotlight Interviews. The first features WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle discussing:
- Why he decided to partner with Dr. Jonas on the Anglestrong app
- What WWE’s reaction has been to his work on Anglestrong
- What led to his return to WWE
- His WWE Hall of Fame speech and what WWE didn’t let him do
- DDP’s work with people dealing with recovery and their recent conversations
- What the transition into the role of RAW GM has been like
- Who on the current WWE roster he’s enjoyed working with
- His history with Finn Balor
- What fans can expect from Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt
- His potential future as an in-ring competitor for WWE
- More…
The second Spotlight Interview features Joe Dombrowski discussing his new pro wrestling promotion, Welterweight Wrestling. Joe chats with Nick about why he chose to launch his own promotion, what he hopes to achieve and gives a full preview of WW’s first show going down this Sunday night on Fite.tv
Check out Welterweight Wrestling’s official website
You can listen to more pro wrestling audio from WrestleZone Radio in the embedded audio player below:
