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411’s WWE Backstage Report: Batista & More Remember Shad Gaspard, Seth Rollins on Becoming a Father, More

May 27, 2020 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
WWE Backstage Batista

-Welcome to your weekly WWE Backstage Report as this is another midnight madness episode and since it started at midnight (well, 12:14 because of NASCAR running long), I got to ring in my 39th birthday while watching this show. Thanks to everyone for the comments and feedback on Main Event and 205 Live reviews. As for this show we are still on social distancing orders, but Seth Rollins and Jeff Jarret are on tap as guests this week. Let’s get to it!

-Show Opening!

-Renee Young welcomes us to WWE Backstage and hypes that Jeff Jarrett will be joining the show later. Renee is joined by her co-host, Booker T and Seth Rollins is here as well. They immediately congratulate Seth on the news that he is going to be a father. He mentions all the support outside of a few weirdos out there (wonder if that was a shot at Cornette?). He is kind of blown away that in 8 months he is going to be responsible for the well being of someone else. He talks how wrestling is a selfish business and now he has to put someone else first. Booker asks if the idea of having a child on the way is going to change Seth’s in ring style. Seth mentions the thought first crossed his mind after the match with Drew as he thought about wanting to be healthy enough to play with his son or daughter.

-They switch gears as Booker brings up becoming King Booker and a light bulb going off for him. Seth has had that moment with his Messiah character and says he has been in tune with it the last few months. He doesn’t know if it’s because of the way the shows have been produced, but everything has clicked and has become easy for him. He compares it to hitting a runner’s high as it has been smooth sailing. Renee asks about the difference with no fans compared to what we got last night with PC students as fans. Seth says he has gotten in a groove and used to no fans as people have been hanging on every word. He felt a little weird last night as he got booed when his music hit and he forgot what that was like. It did make things feel like wrestling again and gave everyone a bit of normalcy.

-Booker brings up Seth being in a great faction previously and wants to know what he has now with Murphy and Fury. Rollins says he is open to suggestions from fans on what to call the group. He brings up he has been in The Shield where they were all equals and then The Authority where he learned under HHH, Orton, and Kane. In this case he has 2 young guys under him and can help them learn. Renee asks if he has an eye on anyone else to add and Seth says there is someone out there close to him he thinks would make a great addition, but he is keeping that to himself.

-Renee asks about FCW sine that was the lead in to this show. Seth says that was his first experience with the hierarchy of the way the business works. It was a different animal than the Indys. He doesn’t want to dump on FCW, but it wasn’t anything like they get now with the PC. He felt he took a step back in his mind when he went to FCW. He was in ROH working with Nigel and Bryan, so he was good in the ring, but FCW showed him the backstage side to the business.

-They cover the suggestions for a gender reveal from last week and Seth likes the Steve Austin one as it would be cool to drink and smash some beers with him again. Renee sends her best to Becky as we take our first commercial break.

-Commercials!

-CM Punk returns next week and we are back to our normal 11 PM slot.

-Renee brings in the rest of the panel as joining in with Booker and Renee is Jeff Jarrett and Mark Henry.

-Week in Review: AJ is traded to SmackDown and advances in the IC Title. Jeff Hardy also advances while Braun gets Miz/Morrison next. On RAW Drew and Lashley continue their sweet feud as they want to beat the piss out of each other, Nia is next for Asuka and Apollo wins the US Title.

-They start with Apollo winning the US Title and Mark is happy for him, but now he has to prove he can stay a champion. Booker says Apollo checks all the boxes and can defy gravity at his size. He thinks Apollo needs to find an edge and hopes winning a title will do that for him. He and Mark want to see some nasty and Booker says Apollo from the Rocky movies was a bad dude. Jeff talks about the WWE being a place of moments and Apollo needs to string moments together and needs some great matches and title defenses. Booker mentions it is easy to get the women to like you, but it is hard to get the man to like you so you need to show some toughness.

-Back to SmackDown where AJ beats Nakamura and Hardy knocks off Sheamus in the IC Tournament. The semis are set with Bryan vs Hardy and Elias vs AJ. JJ brings up Jeff’s story of redemption and feels he needs the win. He knows Hardy is a first ballot Hall of Famer, but needs this right now. Renee feels the fans would jump on that bandwagon quickly. Mark says he is going to be different as everyone wants AJ vs Daniel, but he wants Elias vs Jeff Hardy. Booker brings up Hardy’s redemption story, but he doesn’t know if he will be there in the big moment. Booker wants AJ Styles because he is the guy that will hop a plane and fly across the world to do business. Renee brings up that nobody picked Daniel Bryan and Mark admits that if you go by best wrestler, Daniel Bryan is the guy. JJ says that AJ would have a different opinion on who is the best wrestler.

-Commercials!

-WCW Bash at The Beach 2000: JJ lays down for Hogan (and cool to hear local Pittsburgh radio star Mark Madden on WWF TV) and Hogan calls it bullshit. Russo then shoots on Hogan (and WCW got sued for that one) and makes Booker vs JJ for the WCW Title. That leads to a watch along as Renee joins in as JJ, and Booker watch their Main Event match from that show.

-This is the first time they have watched the match back which has Renee baffled. Booker says that he was a fan watching the Hogan/Russo/JJ stuff and he had no idea what was going to happen. He remembers how much energy he had getting in that ring and brings up that he had worked earlier in the night (against Kanyon). Renee wants one of Jeff’s “Slap Nuts” tank tops and he says he has a few still. He says that Hogan’s “bullshit like this” line was prophetic. He felt it was an unfortunate situation for the fans, and says it was total chaos. It’s cool now to be talking about this match 20 years later. Man, I am getting old….well, I guess yeah, as it is my birthday now.

-Booker calls JJ a true, ultimate professional and they had no time to prepare. JJ just told him that they were going to go out there and work. He followed Jeff’s lead and they were able to bring the fans into the match. JJ brings up how the air was out of the building when the Hogan deal happened but the fans were with them when the match started. He knew they were off to the races! Booker says it all unfolded before his eyes and the WCW Title didn’t mean all that much to him. He just wanted to take his boots off and go home. He just didn’t really know if it was going to happen even after Russo told him.

-Renee asks about the vibe backstage and JJ says he doesn’t remember a thing about what anyone else thought. He says calling it confusion doesn’t even do it justice. He says it was the opposite of the WWE as here you know where the bucks stops and there you had all kinds of people who felt they were in charge. They made chicken shit out of chicken salad. Booker brings up that he started at the bottom in WCW and 8 1/2 years later he was going for the WCW World Title. The boys were pulling for him that night as they wanted to see him break the glass ceiling. He gives credit to JJ and also to Vince Russo who went to bat for him. He says if it wasn’t for Russo he doesn’t believe he would ever get to be World Champion. He calls it the Good Old Boy System and he didn’t know if the fans were going to cheer for him. Jeff says he knew the fans were going to be there for Booker. He calls it a real moment for him as we see him get the win and World Title. It was a great moment as Booker calls it a dream come true that he never had. Renee catches on the raw emotion from both Booker and the crowd. Booker calls JJ a pro as he is still selling the ending of the match. JJ says it had to be Booker and Booker says none of that happens without Jeff Jarret. He learned a lot that night as JJ was a general in the ring and made everything come to fruition.

-Commercials!

-Back as they show the ending to the Booker/Jarrett match again and Renee is fired up as she mentions she misses the fans. Mark Henry is back and is asked what he thought about the moment being he was in the WWF. He was happy that Booker was getting that chance, but they were also deep in the Monday Night Wars. Mark mentions they won the war, but lost a lot of battles. He mentions there was no beef between the boys because they just wanted to see everyone do well and put on good matches. He calls Booker his boy and they would watch what he was doing and then he would tell D-Lo they needed to change some things to try to keep up. JJ brings up that Mark quickly forgets he gave him the European Title and Mark laughs as he says Jeff is his man. JJ says that the WWE was well ahead by this point, but it was a great moment. He says the Hogan/Russo stuff did go sideways and it was a blackeye on the industry, but they made something great out of it.

-Commercials!

-Back as they show the amazing tweet from Arnold Schwarzenegger as he paid his respects to Shad Gaspard. Arnold stopped at the memorial set up for Shad and his tweet was just first class stuff.

-Next is a video from Batista as he gets emotional talking about Shad.

-Renee goes over how Shad lost his life in making sure his son was safe and is a hero. She had a chance to catch up with Kofi Kingston. Kofi tells a story of being in FCW and getting a chance to work a bit in the ring with Shad who was on the main roster. Shad went out of way to put Kofi over without ever knowing him or his story. He has so much love for Shad and Renee brings up that Shad left a positive impact on all those he touched. They show still shots of Shad’s memorial at Venice Beach and Kofi brings up that he visited and it dawned on him the impact Shad had on the world. He mentions that people need to live their life with passion and kindness.

-In Memory of Shad Gaspard: 1981-2020

-Commercials!

-Next week on FS1 they are replaying WrestleMania 31 as the lead in to Backstage at 11 PM.

-May 26, 2006: Booker is crowned as King of the Ring and King Booker is born. JJ and Mark geek out and want the accent and pinky brought back. They all put pinkies up for Booker and we are out for this week.

-This won was a winner the minute they brought out a WCW match for a watch along. JJ was a lot of fun and I hope he is added to the rotating panel. Seth’s thoughts on becoming a father were interesting and his thoughts are basically what everyone things when it happens for the first time. This was just a great episode that blew by and the Shad tribute towards the end was the icing in the cake and well done. Kofi’s words of living life with passion and kindness are something to remember and definitely needed after the week we have had in the wrestling community. Thanks as always for reading!

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WWE Backstage, Robert Leighty Jr.