EXCLUSIVES

Just under two years ago, Raquel Rodriguez claimed her first singles championship in WWE, capturing the NXT Women’s Championship from Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver. Just days later, Rodriguez – then known as Raquel Gonzalez – made her first live appearance as champion on the post-WrestleMania edition of NXT. In a heartwarming moment, Rodriguez was surprised by two fellow brand-new champions in Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. Both Ripley and Belair had captured their own respective championships at WrestleMania 37, and fittingly, all three women celebrated their title wins together.

Rodriguez, in an interview with Love Wrestling prior to Elimination Chamber, revealed that the reunion was far from an intricately-planned affair.

“Honestly, there was not a lot of planning from that!” Rodriguez laughed. “It was kind of just a moment, I think where everyone realized three girls that kind of came up in NXT together, they trained together, they’ve worked together, they’ve kind of all been on like the same system, in a sense. Now, all three of them are champions. Oh my god, we got to make a moment out of it! That’s what it felt like to me! Then, even in the moment that it was happening, because I showed up that day after winning the NXT Women’s Championship, and then watching Rhea win, in person, her Women’s Championship and Bianca, too, coming with her SmackDown Women’s Championship, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, all three of us are champions right now!’ When we all have that moment in the ring, and we look back at a picture of us tagging together, we’re just like, ‘wow, that was like, years ago!

Now look at us!’ It’s just so serendipitous to kind of see.”

The photo in question, pictured below, was a surprise to all of the competitors, said Rodriguez.

“No, I don’t think anybody knew [about the photo],” stated the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion. “What’s funny is that that was just literally one weekend we had, maybe years, maybe a year or two ahead of when we all won the title. For us, it was a weekend that we were out on the road. We were working these road loops that we do every weekend, and we didn’t put two and two together that oh my god, one day, this tag team that we have formed this weekend could potentially be the women’s champions of WWE, the triple threat!

“

“Just being associated with them in that scenario, and especially just getting to be a part of that group: Bianca Belair, the EST, Rhea Ripley, Mami, who’s just indestructible. It’s just really cool to know that I fit into that category with two powerful women like them.

“

Tune in to the full-length interview on Love Wrestling. Please credit Spencer Love with any of the above transcribed quotes.

With appearances for the WWE, All Elite Wrestling, and the NWA under her belt, Jazmin Allure has quickly become one of the hottest prospects in all of professional wrestling. Last year, the now-23-year-old independent star signed her first contract in pro wrestling, choosing to commit to Women of Wrestling for the foreseeable future. Since signing with the promotion, Allure, known in W.O.W as Jennifer “Jen-Z” Florez, has had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in professional wrestling, including WWE legend AJ Mendez, formerly known as AJ Lee. In a recent interview with Love Wrestling, Allure gave some insight into her relationship with the wrestling legend, and her decision to sign with W.O.W as a whole.

“When I heard they were coming back, and I heard AJ was a part of it, I was like, ‘wow, this is gonna be really good,'” Allure stated when asked about her mentor. “I, at first, was kind of like, oh my god, they’re very character [based] and like, gimmicky and all that stuff, and I’m kind of not. I’, more of a wrestler-wrestler.

But, when AJ contacted me, she was like, ‘I think you’d be great for this.’ I was like, ‘I can’t say no to her!

‘ “

Not only was Mendez a deciding factor in Allure’s decision to sign with Women of Wrestling, but has become a mentor of sorts for the 23-year-old star.

“My godmother, I call her,” laughed Allure. “She’s my godmother because she made my dream come true! She gave me the first contract. She brought me to W.O.W. But she’s like a mother to me. She tells me when she sees me training, she’s like, where are your elbow pads? Wear your elbow pads, you don’t want to have that elbows like me! The first training she saw me, my elbow started bleeding from the mat burn. She’s like, ‘What did I tell you? Wear your elbow [pads]! She’s just like a mother, and she gives great advice.

When we’re at W.O.W., she watches my matches and afterward, she’ll give me critiques and stuff like that.”

Tune in to the full interview below for more from Allure on her training with Thunder Rosa, appearances for AEW, WWE, the NWA, and more!

There simply isn’t a wrestling program out there quite like Dark Side of the Ring. For the uninitiated, DSOTR touches on the controversial, peculiar, and most relevant to this article, the heart-wrenching throughout the world of professional wrestling. In the series third season, Dark Side looked at the life and career of Tommy Billington, more famously known as the Dynamite Kid. Though not without his controversies and issues, Dynamite has influenced generations of professional wrestlers through his incredible athleticism and hard-hitting style.

I recently had the good fortune to chat with the Dynamite Kid’s eldest daughter, Bronwyne Billington. When we chatted, I was curious to get her thoughts on the episode, which she of course was interviewed for.

“Obviously, the episode was very emotional, and it was very well done in a lot of opinions,” I began. “What was maybe your overall thought? Then, just to dig a little deeper with it, what was the process of filming like? Was it come in for a day of interviews or a couple of different things, or how did that process work for you?”

“It was, of course, during the pandemic too,” Billington commented on the difficulties of filming. “It was really strict at the time. The first day, I think it was a Thursday, my sister and I filmed together. They had to rent all different houses for everyone to film at different houses so they weren’t in all in one house. Well, I guess different scenes, too. Usually, they would use our houses, but because of COVID, they had to rent houses.

“They did my sister and I first and then the Friday was my mom. My mom filmed for like four straight hours, they actually ran out a tape, because she can talk, and she’s got a lot of amazing stories. So, they had to wrap it up real quick.”

“But yeah, it was really great experience filming,” she continued. The crew was wonderful, really professional. [It was] kind of overwhelming, of course, because the camera is so close in your face, and the dim lighting. I was nervous, of course. I wasn’t sure if I got my message across, or if I said everything I needed to say, so I was a little bit nervous.”

“We didn’t get to see the finished product for six months or so, and when I finally saw it, I was like, ‘Okay, I need to think about it for a while.'” Billington admitted. “I wasn’t really too sure how I felt. It’s so surreal seeing your life and your family’s life and your father’s life portrayed on television. I had to think about it for 24 hours, and then we watched it again and I was like, ‘Okay, this, this is a really well-done piece,’ and we were really happy with it overall.”

“That’s awesome to hear,” I replied.

She agreed. “My mom was initially right away extremely happy with it. She really ended it at the end of the episode [with] the message she wanted to get across. They ended it really solid, and it couldn’t really ask for any more than that.”

The Softer Side of Dynamite

As Bronwyne had alluded to, a major part of her nervousness was simply the hope that her love for her Dad shone through in the episode.

“Do you feel you got your message across?” I asked. “Again, it was very obvious the love you had for your dad and all of that, but do you feel you got that across in the way you wanted to?”

Billington nodded.

“I think I did,” she affirmed. “I still, even to this day, have people reaching out to me that they watched the episode. Maybe they had a parent that they lost connection with, and they could relate and they said, ‘thank you for telling your story. You’re so brave.’ I think I did get the message across that I was wanting to. I wanted to show a softer side of my dad, and that’s always my goal because I know him in such a different way than most people might remember him. The way they acted out the reenactment of my father and I was beautiful. I love that I have that piece forever now.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotes. Tune in to our full interview with Bronwyne Billington here!

Indie darling….Vince McMahon?

It sounds surreal, but for one night in 2007, that’s exactly what the Chairman of the Board was. In fact, it wasn’t just McMahon that made an appearance for Chaotic Wrestling that fateful night, but so did the then-WWE Champion, John Cena. The Leader of the Cenation was a special guest referee for the evening’s main event,, and shockingly, McMahon not only appeared inside the ring, but raised the hand of one Brian Milonas that evening.

Of course, when we recently chatted for Love Wrestling, you know I had to ask the Kingpin about the experience .

“You Didn’t Know?!”

“What was it like having your hand raised by Vincent Kennedy McMahon?” I asked to close our interview.

“Surreal. Weird. Bizarre. [It] felt like a fever dream,” Milonas laughed. “Even to this day, sometimes people will see the picture for the first time and they think it’s photoshopped. I didn’t know what’s happening. I turn around the ring, and there’s Vince McMahon!”

“Oh, man, I would have thought that would have been a fully coordinated, ‘this, this, and this is happening,’ with an individual like that!” I laughed.

“Well, it was by them. It was by them. I think the only people in the building that knew were John Cena, John Cena’s dad, [and] the owner of Chaotic, Jamie, I think we’re probably the only people that knew what was going on. So John had actually laid out the entire finish of the match meticulously with us, but I didn’t think it was unusual at the time. I mean, this guy’s a WWE champ.

He may just want things a certain way to protect himself from injury or whatever. I didn’t think twice about it when he laid out the finish so, so meticulously. It just never crossed my mind. Then, that happens. I’m like, ‘Oh, well, that makes sense. That’s why he laid that out so meticulously!”

“Yeah, I had no clue until I turned around and Vince was in the ring,” he said, circling back. “Absolutely no clue. That’s why my mouth is like agape. I’m not even selling it like I’m a cool heel. I’m just like, What the hell was going on!”

“I was gonna say you’re a hell of an actor if that was fake, then!”

“I legitimately had no clue what the hell was going on,” Milonas laughed. “Like, he goes ‘are you the heel or the babyface?’ I go ‘I’m the heel,’ and he just grabs my arm and raises it! I’m like, ‘well, this is a thing!’ I go, ‘what’s next,’ and he says, ‘I’m gonna slap Cena, I’m taking an FU, and I’m getting the hell out of here.’ That’s what he did, and he was gone as fast as he appeared.”

A Second Encounter

Of course, every great story deserves a follow-up, and I was hoping that Milonas had the opportunity to reflect on the experience with the man himself.

“Have you ever had the opportunity to chat with Vince since, or reminisce on that with him or anything of that sort?” I asked.

“So two weeks after that – I think it was, it was either the next week or two weeks – I was booked as an extra for TV in Boston, Mass,” the Kingpin began. “I’m like ‘I’m going to talk to him. I have an in to talk with Vince!”

“There’s kind of one hallway at the TD Garden that sort of leads out to the back of the building,” he explained. “Everybody coming in or going out has to go through this hallway to go out to get to where the cars and the parking is. I just kind of parked myself in that hallway. Then, here comes Vince! I just kind of go ‘Mr. McMahon?’ You can kind of see him look at me like ‘who the hell is [this]?’ So I go ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but we were in the ring together at the independent show a couple weeks ago, and I just want to say thank you. That was really awesome. It really meant a lot to me.’ He kind of cocks his head and he looks at me and goes ‘well, you’re welcome!'”

Now, he walked away normally,” Milonas laughed. “But in my mind, it was the whole eggagerated strut!”

“As ‘No Chance in Hell’ echoes in the back of your head!” I roared.

Milonas continued to laugh. “As my dreams of him saying, ‘Yes, I remember you! Of course, I want to sign you to a contract on the spot! We’re gonna put you on SmackDown this week!

“

“Of course, I didn’t necessarily think something was gonna come of it. It was just like, I have an in to talk with Vince McMahon, and stranger friggin’ things have happened.

Maybe he remembers it and is like, ‘hey, maybe there’s something here.’ I don’t know, I didn’t necessarily think it would happen other than I had an in to talk with Vince McMahon, so I took it!”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotes. Tune in to our full interview with “Kingpin” Brian Milonas on Love Wrestling’s YouTube channel.