Saturday, May 4, 2024

Raw Redux (October 11th, 2010): Lay-Cool and The Bearded Lady

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After the frustrating mess that was the Divas action on Raw last, WWE decided to forgo a match altogether this week and have Natalya and Lay-Cool cut a promo in the ring. Will they be able to deliver on the mic or will we be just as upset as last week? Check out the segment below and be the judge:

The segment begins with Natalya in the ring, mic in tow and she calls out Lay-Cool on their cheap win (and shoes) at Hell in a Cell. Natalya goes on to say that she will be facing one of them at Bragging Rights and that she’ll be leaving as champion. However, before Natalya can say anything else, she’s cut off by that familiar music we know so well: “You’re not enough for me. Woah-ooh-ooh” (Where’s Matt Striker when you need him?)

Lay-Cool strut down the ramp (in matching outfits, no less), and tell Natalya that all they’re hearing is: ‘Blah, Blah, Blah’. They even go as far as to say she’s inherited her father’s facial hair gene. They even bust out a special photo of Nattie sporting Anvil’s beard. How rude! Natalya laughs all this off, and brings up the ‘headset debacle’ from last week, saying that Lay-Cool proved that their IQ was smaller than their waist size.

The Flawless Ones take this as a compliment, saying Natalya is just jealous of them. They go on to say that they’re: “…the best there is, was, and ever will be.” Did they just go there?! I believe they did. The duo finish off by saying all the Divas not only respect them, but LOVE them. REAL TALK!

Michelle and Layla head to the back, but are cut off by The Bella Twins, Eve, Gail Kim and Melina. The champs try to escape but the Divas jump all over them. Michelle manages to get away, Layla isn’t as lucky; Natalya’s reinforcements toss Layla into the ring and Nattie slaps on a Sharpshooter. Before Natalya can fully apply the hold, Michelle rescues her and the tandem escapes through the crowd to end the segment.

Like I said on last night’s Post-Raw Show, I really enjoyed this segment. I felt Natalya was a little too squeaky clean and a bit still during her part of the promo, but besides that, all the Divas involved did their jobs perfectly. I’m not usually a fan of a no match night, but I think that if a promo is done well enough, it can be just as enjoyable as a match. This was one of these times. I’m not advocating promos only for the Divas by any means, but this was an enjoyable change of pace. Hopefully, WWE can build upon this Natalya/Lay-Cool rivalry for the next two weeks and give us a great payoff at Bragging Rights.

In Video: Footage of JWoww’s TNA Impact Appearance Posted Online

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Eager to ride the publicity wave, TNA is not waiting till Thursday to air footage of JWoww‘s appearance at the Impact Zone last night, as they have released a preview clip of her in-ring confrontation with Cookie online. Check out the clip below:

TNA Wants More JWoww

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Could this week’s Impact be just the beginning? Jersey Shore star, JWoww, who will appear in a catfight with Cookie aka Becky Bayless on Thursday night’s episode, is reportedly being courted for a longer storyline.

JWoww, real name Jenni Farley, was paid $15,000 for the appearance but according to TMZ, TNA are now negotiating with JWoww on a longer deal, presumably to keep her feuding with Cookie and Robbie E.

Already, JWoww’s one-shot appearance has scored TNA massive mainstream press including in other countries, so imagine if they booked JWoww vs Cookie as a pay per view match?

This angle doesn’t seem to be imposing on the regular Knockouts Championship storyline, rather co-existing in addition to that, so I’m all for it. I hope TNA can hash out a longer deal.

– Click here for pictures from JWoww’s appearance

TNA Interested in Former WWE Diva, Window Closes for Another

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Having already snapped up five-time WWE Women’s Champion, Mickie James, TNA is interested in another former WWE Diva, we can reveal.

Former Straight Edge Society Diva, Serena Deeb‘s name has been brought up, a reliable source tells me. I’m told that Serena will be seen by TNA officials once her 90 day no-compete clause ends with WWE.

This perhaps comes of little surprise considering two of her friends (Becky Bayless aka Cookie and Mickie James) have just debuted for TNA.

By all accounts (including those of other DD team members who met her at SHIMMER), Serena is a great talent and great person who genuinely lives for the business, so I’m happy to hear TNA may offer her a second chance.

As for fellow former Diva, Katie Lea aka Kat Waters who received a tryout in August, I’m told that the ‘window has closed’ on her going to TNA — at least for now.

The company didn’t offer Kat a deal following her tryout and she has since moved from Florida (where TNA tapes) to California to pursue an acting career.

Good luck to Kat!

WWE Reportedly High on Two NXT Rookies

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WWE are reportedly backing Kaitlyn and Naomi on the current season of WWE NXT, according to the latest issue of Figure Four Weekly.

Kaitlyn, who has been one of WWE’s favorites since the season began, is said to have impressed management in her match with Vickie Guerrero last week.

Meanwhile, Naomi, who was the early standout in week one, is said to be the most athletic of the bunch which works in her favor.

The newsletter adds that WWE has ‘tentative plans’ for both after the season ends, which means they’ll both likely stay on the main roster.

Thoughts: Despite being a ‘favorite’, I feel Naomi has been downplayed in the past few weeks with more of the focus falling on Kaitlyn and AJ. That’s my take, anyway. In my opinion, every girl should have equal screen time and equal opportunity given that it’s a reality competition, but due to the show being script-based as well as competition-based, it seems WWE is more inclined to write more for certain girls which can seem like they are pushing the fans to vote for them.

Mia Yim is Wrestlicious

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Independent star and Diva Dirt LIVE co-host, Mia Yim is boarding Wrestlicious for an upcoming live event.

Mia will play ‘sexy North Korean spy’, Kim Thieu Soon (yes, really!) at the show.

From what I understand this is just a live event and is not being taped, however if all goes well, Mia could be invited to join the second season of Wrestlicious TakeDown.

Mia’s career has really gained traction in the past few months: she was chosen as Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s One to Watch in the November 2010 issue, she had a strong showing on SHIMMER pre-show SPARKLE last month and has worked several independent matches with veteran, Mickie James. Great to watch her blossom.

TNA Bound for Glory in Review: Tara Takes it All

At Bound for Glory, Knockout fans would see the culmination of the feud that has been building for the past few weeks. The insertion of the newest Knockout, Mickie James, as the special referee was a wild card added on just last Thursday. Would the match really be more of a tag team effort (as the Beautiful People have led us to believe), or will fragile alliances break under the pressure (how deep is Tara‘s loyalty to Madison really?) as the Knockouts Championship is on the line? And where would Mickie fall in all of this? Lets find out…

We open with Christy Hemme backstage with Madison Rayne and Tara. Madison proceeds to shred Christy verbally, unloading on the poor redhead her frustrations and fury. The promo is actually pretty hilarious and well done, with Tara providing the straight face in the background. Words can’t do it justice, you should have a listen for yourself. I’m loving Madison on the mic!

Once the interview is done, we see a video package detailing how this feud came to be, with several of the past interviews from each woman spliced in. Also included is how Miss Tessmacher came to be the Knockouts Division supervisor – something she has done a particularly good job at so far. The “Tale of the Tape” brings us up to speed before we fade back into the arena.

“HARDCORE COUNTRY!” blares over the speakers (I’m sorry, I can’t take that music seriously…how cheesy can you get?) and out skips Mickie James, who gets a loud welcome from the crowd. She looks fantastic in her referee shirt, hair done up properly. She feels genuinely enthusiastic to be there. After her entrance into the ring, new music plays and out come Madison Rayne and Tara, guiding the motorbike down the ramp instead of coming through the crowd. Very nice bike!

In Pictures: Jersey Shore’s JWoww Does TNA Impact

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It was Cookie vs JWoww last night at the Impact Zone when TNA brought in one of the stars of MTV’s hit reality show, Jersey Shore for the night to film a scene with their own ‘juice heads’.

TNA’s publicity stunt garnered a lot of mainstream press with many media outlets on hand along with real life paparazzi (not the Melina kind!), for last night’s taping. You can check out some pictures of JWoww posing with one of the Knockouts Tag Titles, Cookie (Becky Bayless) and the segment below!

JWoww’s Impact cameo will air Thursday at 9pm ET on Spike TV.

[nggallery id=435]

EDIT: More pictures can be found here.

Mickie James Dismisses Rumor of Backstage Issues at Bound for Glory

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TNA Knockout, Mickie James has dismissed Internet rumors that she was peeved backstage at Sunday’s Bound for Glory pay per view after her patented logo was not sewn onto her referee’s shirt.

Taking to her Twitter page, Mickie wrote:

I usually don’t even bother to entertain ignorance. But to report blatant lies is quite humorous… Anyone who knows me… Knows I would never behave like that… And they also know I respect & appreciate everyone as we all work hard as a team to make an incredible product. Fact! The seamstress already knew she was putting the logo on the shirt Thursday. Fact. I bought a ref shirt to make but when Earl gave me one of his official TNA shirts I couldn’t resist. Fact. Post match I gave the shirt to the trading card company to be cut up and added to the new cards coming soon. =)

Fact… To feed lies to the internet with the intent of maliciously harming someone’s reputation obviously says a lot about ones character & own insecurities… I pity them.. And send them love anyway… Fact! To report a blatant lie is not only bad journalism… But unprofessional. But hey… I guess that’s why they’re called dirt sheets… Lmao… I just wanted to clear that up gang! Much love.. And goodnight! Muah!

The original reports began circulating following the Bound for Glory pay per view. Not sure why/how this rumor began, but I definitely question the timing considering Mickie has just begun her new career with TNA.

Divas Championship Rematch Added to Bragging Rights

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Third-generation Diva, Natalya will receive another championship opportunity against Lay-Cool at Bragging Rights in two weeks time, it has been announced.

The bout will be a rematch from from Natalya’s initial title shot against Michelle McCool at Hell in a Cell. However, that match ended in controversy after Layla threw her shoe in the ring, meaning Natalya wasn’t given a fair shake at the belt.

The question is which member of Lay-Cool will face Natalya this time?

Bragging Rights will air on October 24th on pay per view.

Raw Response: October 11th, 2010

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Get your Monday night Divas fix by tuning in to Raw tonight at 9pm ET on the USA Network.

Be sure to tune in to the Post-Raw Show LIVE at 11pm ET following Raw!

Discuss the show in the comments!

TNA Xplosion Spoilers – Mickie James’ In-Ring Debut

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Upcoming Xplosion spoilers below:

Spoiler
* Sarita vs. Mickie James. Winner via standing tornado DDT, Mickie James. (Source: Wrestling News World)

WWE Superstars Spoilers: October 14th, 2010

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Spoilers for Thursday’s episode of Superstars below:

Spoiler

TNA Impact Spoilers for Thursday Night (October 14th) ft. JWoww from Jersey Shore

Spoilers for Thursday’s episode of Impact featuring JWoww from Jersey Shore below:

Spoiler
* Madison Rayne comes out with a referee in tow. She gets on the mic and says Sunday night was the biggest night in wrestling. She had a plan and that was for her to become three-time TNA Knockout Women’s Champion. That plan didn’t happen because the belt is around Tara‘s waist. The same Tara she made into a big deal again. She demands Tara come down and give her a shot at the title. Tara comes out and Madison says she must’ve forgotten everything she’s done for her.
Madison said they had a deal and Tara owes her. She told her to do the right thing. She agrees and we have…

* For the TNA Knockout Women’s Championship, Tara vs. Madison Rayne. Tara lays down and let’s Madison pin her. Winner and new TNA Knockouts champion, Madison Rayne. She celebrates afterwards and begins to thank Tara when Mickie James‘ music hits. Mickie asks if she calls herself a champion. She finds what happened disgraceful to her and any other champion. Mickie said she came here to make history and sees no better time than right now. She hits the ring and Tara attacks. Mickie knocks her out pf the ring. Madison takes off and Mickie celebrates with the belt.

* The Beautiful People are shown in their dressing room. JWoww shows up and says hi to them. She said she’s here because she heard Cookie is talking s—. They all leave the dressing room together.

* The Shore hits the ring. Robbie says bro, you want to hear something crazy? They’re bigger than the Jersey Shore now. After debuting nobody wants to watch the fakes. They want to see them. Cookie says no one wants to see anymore of Snookie, the Situation or that skank JCow. JWoww and The Beautiful People come to the ring. Cookie says look who decided to show up. That faker JCow. She tells her to take her fake weave, fake weave and those dime store fun bags and get lost. JWoww attacks Cookie and has a cat fight. The Beautiful People low blow Robbie. Cookie finally gets away after taking a beating. The Beautiful People and JWoww embrace and celebrate in the ring then leave. (Source: Wrestling News World)

Linda McMahon, WWE Slammed for Treatment of Women

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For those that have been following Linda McMahon‘s bid to become a US Senator in Connecticut, you’ll know it’s definitely been a hot news story in both wrestling circles and outside. We haven’t covered this too much, but I felt this was an interesting enough story…

One thing that keeps coming back to haunt Linda and her former company, WWE, is that infamous segment between Vince McMahon and Trish Stratus in which the 7-time Women’s Champion is seen on all fours and told to bark like a dog.

That segment reared its head again this morning and was the center of discussion on MSNBC’s Morning Joe where the panel slammed McMahon and the WWE for profiting from violence against women. Watch below:

While I am always one of the first to question WWE’s treatment of its female talents, in this instance, it seems the hosts are misunderstood and act as though that 9-year old clip is something that is recent and can be seen by children on today’s WWE programming. I couldn’t say whether WWE has profited from violence against women — objectification, maybe.

Do you think WWE has profited from violence against women?

No TNA Tryout for Brittney Savage

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Reports claiming that WSU Spirit Champion Brittney Savage is to receive a tryout with TNA in November are false, Diva Dirt can confirm.

There is no tryout on the radar for Savage, sources confirm to me.

Furthermore, I’m told Brittney, who was one of our Five to Watch last month, is still under contract to MTV2’s Lucha Libre USA promotion.

Savage will, however, be part of WSU’s first ever iPPV on November 6th.

JWoww to Appear at Impact Zone Tonight for TNA Impact Taping

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Jersey Shore star, JWoww will be in Orlando, FL tonight to film her appearance for Thursday’s episode of TNA Impact. Spike TV released an official press release, confirming JWoww’s appearance. TNA will be filming the post-Bound for Glory episode tonight. Stay tuned for spoilers.

“JERSEY SHORE’S” J-WOWW GETS INTO THE ACTION ON SPIKE TV’S “TNA iMPACT!”

Orlando, Florida (October 11, 2010) – Jenni Farley (aka “J-Woww”), one of the breakout stars from MTV’s hit series, “The Jersey Shore,” will be visiting Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling’s “iMPACT Zone” Monday, October 11, for the taping of this Thursday’s “TNA iMPACT” episode on Spike TV.

J-Woww, who has shown her beauty as well as her brawn on the wildly popular series, will join the biggest names in professional wrestling, including Hulk Hogan, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson, Hardcore Legend Mick Foley, “The Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and “The Icon” Sting.

o This special episode of “TNA iMPACT” airs on Spike TV Thursday, October 14 at 9:00pm ET/PT.

o Spike TV’s highly-rated, two-hour weekly series emanates from the “TNA iMPACT! Zone” at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

In Video: Clip of New New Diva Vicky Skeeles in FCW

Here’s a clip of new WWE signing, British Diva Vicky Skeeles aka Verity Thomas working as one of the ring announcers at a recent FCW event. This is the first footage that has surfaced of Vicky in WWE since we broke the news of her signing two weeks ago.

Jersey Shore’s J-Woww Coming to TNA

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One of the stars of MTV’s blockbuster reality hit, J-Woww will appear on this Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact, reports TMZ.

J-Woww will presumably be used in a segment with TNA’s resident ‘juice heads’, Robbie E and Cookie who made their debuts last week.

It’s reported that J-Woww will earn $15,000 for her one time appearance, which is probably more than TNA’s long suffering Knockouts make in months.

Still, Jersey Shore is at the front of pop culture right now with mega ratings for its second season so it’s probably a wiser investment than Jenna Morasca.

It should also be noted that Spike TV, which airs Impact, and MTV fall under the same umbrella under Viacom.

Tara Wins Knockouts Title At Bound For Glory

Moments ago at Bound For Glory, Tara earned her fourth TNA Knockouts Championship after pinning Velvet Sky in a Four-Way Dance match that also included former Knockouts Champions, Madison Rayne and Angelina Love. Post-match Madison and Tara got into an altercation, which led to special guest referee Mickie James, laying Madison Rayne out, sending a message to the new champion.

This is outcome is shocking, as most believed that Madison Rayne would come out on top, leading to a program between her and Mickie. However, Tara and Mickie have met before in WWE and put on some great matches, so it seems to be in TNA’s best interest to put these two into a feud with each other. In any case, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out this week on Impact.

TNA Bound for Glory 2010 Discussion Post

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Tonight, the Knockouts Championship is on the line as Angelina Love defends against Madison Rayne, Tara and Velvet Sky in a four-way match. But that’s not all — Mickie James makes her TNA PPV debut as the special guest referee.

Who will be Bound for Glory and will Mickie be an impartial ref?

Discuss in the comments!

PPV Predictions: TNA Bound for Glory 2010

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TNA presents its biggest pay per view of the year tonight — Bound for Glory, featuring a fatal four-way for the Knockouts Championship. Who will come out on top? The Diva Dirt team weigh in…

Cryssi: You know, logic dictates that TNA will crown a new champion at this pay-per-view but who will that champion be? Angelina is the quote-unquote “golden girl” of the company and it would be fitting that she keeps the championship and goes on to feud with Mickie James over the next month. However, on TNA Reaction, Mickie spoke about the championship and apparently she’s under the assumption that Madison is the champion. It would not shock me to see TNA give Madison the title back just to make Mickie look like less of an idiot. In reality there is no way to fix her blunder, but TNA will think they can and give it back to Madison. Then there’s Tara. She’s the TNA queen of pointless, transitional title reigns so giving the belt to Tara not only gives some drama to the relationship of Madison/Tara but it gives Mickie a familiar, comfortable person to feud with in what’s sure to be her first TNA storyline. All these scenarios make sense, right? There’s holes in all of them but that doesn’t matter. Even the most virgin wrestling fan could handle all of those. So what will happen at Bound For Glory? Velvet Sky will win of course. And that will make this Alabama beauty a very happy camper. GO VEL VEL! It’s your time and you deserve it.

Eric: I am tempted to simply write “Who Cares” and move on. This is a result of the poor promotion and buzz that this match has been able to generate in the Internet wrestling community. On paper, this feud looks amazing. Will Vel Vel face off against Angelina? Will Tara give Madison the Widow’s Peak? These are the questions that usually get fans buzzing about such matches. However, as Mickie James’ abortion of a promo showed us, TNA has no interest in making this match anything other than Madison vs. Angelina. As Mickie was randomly telling Madison that she was coming after the belt (didn’t she see Angelina with the strap? Does she need contacts?) Velvet and Tara made gestures that their friend and tag partner would be the one walking away with the strap.

These two gestures proved to me that this match would be ridiculous and pointless. Whereas WWE’s Fatal 4-Way a few months ago had an air of mystery, this match has none. Despite this match holding the opportunity for Velvet Sky to accomplish the biggest achievement of her career, she would rather help Angelina keep the belt.

I expect this match to be a less than ten minute affair. Given that Mickie is insistent on Madison being Knockout champion, my guess is Madison steals the win (wouldn’t it be awkward if Angelina won and Mickie still thought Madison was champion?). Think about the way Alicia won the title at Fatal 4-Way. Velvet and Tara will mostly exist to take the beating from Madison and Angelina respectively and have little impact in this match. As soon as Madison wins, expect Mickie James to lay her out with the Mickie DDT. Expect me to roll my eyes.

In Video: Angelina Love Asked About Lay-Cool Similarities, Says She Hasn’t Seen Them on TV

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TNA Knockouts Champion, Angelina Love was interviewed by Brian Fritz of Fanhouse.com as part of the media blitz going into tonight’s big Bound for Glory pay per view. Fritz asked Love about WWE having a similar group to the Beautiful People, though not naming Lay-Cool. Angelina, refraining from going into detail simply said, “I haven’t seen it. I’ve only heard about it,” quickly ushering the interview along.

You can check out the full interview below:

Obviously, that will be the most buzz-worthy part of the interview, but on the whole, I really enjoyed the interview.

I nearly forgot that tonight marks the third anniversary of the Knockouts division, which was born on this night three years ago when Gail Kim became the first ever Knockouts Champion. Happy birthday, Knockouts division!

The Fabulous Moolah Featured on ‘Top 50 Superstars’ DVD Cover

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WWE Hall of Famer, The Fabulous Moolah is one of the featured wrestlers on the cover of WWE’s upcoming ‘The Top 50 Superstars of All Time’ DVD, which means it’s likely that she’ll be one of the 50 Superstars featured.

This is obviously a great mark of respect to one of the all time greats. Nice job by WWE.

The full DVD artwork can be seen here.

Thanks to Norma for the tip.

What’s Next for Melina?

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Barring injury, it’s been a good two years for Melina dating back to her first comeback from injury in November 2008. The three-time Women’s Champion and two-time Divas Champion has spent most, if not all, of her run between November ’08 till Night of Champions last month at the top of the Divas division. That is, of course, excluding the 7 months Melina spent on the shelf between January and July this year.

A brief history lesson: Returning from her injury suffered in June 2008, Melina returned triumphant in November of that year, and chased Beth Phoenix for the Women’s Championship, putting the exclamation point on her comeback by winning the belt at Royal Rumble 2009. Next, Melina moved to SmackDown and began a months-long feud with Michelle McCool over the belt, including that Match of the Year winning bout at Night of Champions 2009. Traded back to Raw in October, Melina became the Divas Champion on her first night back and held the belt till her ACL injury in December. Returning in time for SummerSlam, she regained the Divas Championship only to lose it a month later in that high profile title unification match — and now here we are.

It’s not often that a Diva can command the spotlight for so long, so it seemed inevitable that the A-List Diva would join the queue of fellow former champions turned ‘another face in the crowd’ along with Eve, Alicia etc. following her loss against Michelle McCool at Night of Champions. That ‘face in the crowd’ status was further cemented by her and Gail Kim filling the usual Bella Twins spot of schmoozing with the guest host on Raw last Monday. But while it’s a breath of fresh air to see the likes of Natalya get a chance to shine, I can’t help but question… what is next for Melina?

Bull Nakano Returning to Wrestling After 13 Years of Retirement

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Former WWE Women’s Champion, Bull Nakano is returning to the ring after retiring in 1997. Bull, real name Keiko Nakano, is featured in a ‘Whatever Happened to…?’ piece in the latest issue of Inside Wrestling.

Nakano tells interviewer and friend of Diva Dirt, Mike Lano: “I’m not making a comeback, I’m just doing a little freelance work. It’s in my blood and always will be. I don’t see wrestling in my long-term future plans though.”

The article also notes that Nakano is looking to open a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.

The piece can be found in Volume 36 of Inside Wrestling magazine, which is on sale now. It’s a great article, which I would recommend checking out. There’s also a recent picture of Nakano in the magazine (a quick snapshot of which you can see above — sorry for the bad quality!).