*Scrolls down at the news feed* a billionaire said something stupid. Monday Night RAW is still duh and uninspired. Mass release of talent by WWE.
So……. Same old sh*t? Figures.
For those unaware (pretty much everybody), The 5 News Week is where I showcase 5 major or minor news of the week that I don't have the time to do separately.
Without further ado, here are the 5 News Week.
An Interview With Musician John Kiernan.
I kick things off with an interview from a guy that I'm hoping (as a musician) appreciates Brie Bella's theme song because my music tastes suck, musician John Kiernan.
If the name sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you’re listening to a podcast that loves shouting out the names John “loose cannon” Lopez and ‘Beast Mode” Brock Joseph at the beginning.
Kiernan has composed and straight-up killed it in the pro wrestling music space for over a decade in major promotions like AEW, Impact Wrestling, Ring Of Honor and more.
My first question is where John gets his inspiration from creating theme songs aka the "Pinterest" for graphic designers.
"YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, really any directory that has access to music."
There's no denying that music and professional wrestling are interlinked with each other kinda like Kenny Omega and 5-star ratings.
I asked John why music plays a vital role as a storytelling device:
"I’ve always viewed wrestlers as their own individual movies where they’re the main character.
The music helps sonically set a mood for what’s to come. When you see Fred Rosser come to the ring to “No Days Off” in NJPW, you hear the song of a guy who’s never going to give up and will fight to the end.
When you hear Masha Slamovich come out to “Art Of Violence”, you know that she’s bringing pain and fury with her to the match. Theme music and music in hype packages should always give the audience a sense of what’s to come and what they can expect."
Music isn't really music without its genres, right? So, I followed up with some of his favourite genres to experiment with:
"I’m a child of more modern metal, but I love all styles. Currently, symphonic metal and country music hold my heart. From Nightwish and Amaranthe to Brad Paisley and Brent Mason, that’s what my current favorite genres are.
As far as what I’d like to experiment with…I very much love the dark, delta blues-esque vibes, so I’d love to dive into more of those styles."
Theme song mashups are older than pretty much all of Stan Twitter.
While they're currently calling white people "aging at the speed of white", I'm here asking John on how mashups are influenced the music creation process:
"From an experimental perspective, it’s cool to say “Hey, what if…”. I heard one recently which took Undisputed Era’s NXT theme and mixed it with Adam Cole’s AEW theme. It was pretty cool (and luckily, each song was in a key that was close to the other). Used in the pro wrestling world, however, I think it’s a bit lazy. If two people team up (long or short term) and their theme is just part of person A’s and part of person B’s hodgepodged together, it doesn’t do anything to benefit the wrestlers, the story, or the promotion."
If you've peeped at his Twitter @jkiernanguitar, you'll know that he and recent AEW signee, Mercedes Martinez, have interacted quite a bit. My last question is who was the wrestler that impressed John Kiernan on their music knowledge:
"First and foremost, Mercedes is the best and has been a pleasure to work with! I’ve worked with over 100 wrestlers to date and I’d have to say that the majority of them know their character and where they want to take it.
Chris Dickinson of NJPW/UWN/ROH fame is actually a musician, so when I worked on his theme, his critiques were pretty on point from a musician’s perspective. Hearing a wrestler say “This theme’s dope, but do you think we can double time this part and bring in the snare on the 2?” isn’t something I hear a lot, but it was totally welcome!"
Janai Kai On Representation In Professional Wrestling.
Moving on from one interview to another (this time conducted by someone else). Andrew Thompson of Post Wrestling spoke with Janai Kai and during the discussion, the performer mentioned balancing her Afro-Latina roots and the ways to represent her ethnicity (gotta credit Andrew once again):
"I mean it pops up all the time when it comes to Black women’s wrestlers or just Black athletes in wrestling in general and I’ve been really trying to take a look at myself and who I am and what I represent and I thought about it and other people have mentioned this to me, there’s not a lot of people that look like me and there’s a lot of people that can’t really figure me out and what I am and I am Afro-Latina and to other people, they can’t really see it but at the same time, I am representing Black [people], I do have that background but I also have that Latina side so I’m really trying to figure out how I can represent it really well and I think I’m doing okay with it.
I’m just trying to learn a little bit more about how I can represent it even more and still trying to learn more about the history of just being an Afro-Latina so, I’m working on it myself and I’m trying to learn from others and others in the wrestling industry who are representing it really well and following their lead and I think what helps is just, you know, being around them, being part of these shows and really learn more about myself in that way."
All of this. Just all of it.
Tony Schiavone Stays With AEW Till When Exactly!?
Mid 2024 according to his What Happened When podcast. BOOM! Can your favourite websites do that!? I don't think so, honey!
Bayley Returning in MARCH!?
She is, if you believe what Dave "I pissed people off for the millionth time" Meltzer said on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In it, he also noted that Michael Cole's bestie could return as early as next month.
To use the obvious line here, "will see what happens".
WWE Hates The Rock Concert Now!?
Not exactly (aka you just got JEBAITED). WWE has removed The Rock Concert (yes, the concert that got Jerry Lawler uncomfortably giddity) from the March 24, 2003 episode of RAW at least that's what Cageside Seats have noticed.
The same website that linked the Peacock app instead of the episode itself.
You mean to tell me that I could just embed YouTube.com for specific video interviews that I'm referring to? GENIUS!
I guess this is a way for WWE to get into The Rock for not showing up at last year's Survivor Series PPV.
What do you think about the news I just reported and follow me on the tweets @omartheplayaguy? Anyways, stay safe smarks.