SELECT Portions: WWE News, Vinny Pacifico, More (Patreon)

- We’re told that several of the wrestlers have been given more flexibility in their promos in recent weeks. Karrion Kross and Shinsuke Nakamura’s program was pointed to as an example.

- Fightful is working on a new monthly series for Select that goes behind some of the stories and events we’ve covered.

- Jimmy Van will be doing a Fightful Select Q&A in June while SRS is in London.

- We'll have some early access content for you from NJPW Resurgence media.

- Dolph Ziggler, who is listed as a free agent by WWE, is in town doing a company related meet and greet ahead of Raw.

- With the finals of the World Heavyweight Title Tournament set, WWE had planned to continue featuring the new belt ringside as in previous weeks.

- The last we heard, WWE hadn't brought in a ton of extras for tonight like had been commonplace over the past couple of months.

Vinny Pacifico Interview Notes: Learning from William Regal for a day at NXT to shaking hands with Bryan Danielson in AEW.

Vinny Pacifico joined Sean Ross Sapp for an exclusive interview for FightfulSelect.com. Vinny spoke on numerous topics.

Vinny would discuss how he ended up being booked by AEW. He said he was in Orlando and had already booked two other shows, but because of COVID, they were canceled. He said he let AEW know that he was down in the area.

He said he was at Universal Studios when he got an email from AEW telling him to be at Daily’s Place for a COVID test. So Vinny and his fiancee drove up from Orlando and rented an AIR B&B; the rest was history. Vinny said he enjoyed working with AEW.

Vinny would tell Fightful about his bookings against Powerhouse Hobbs. He said his future Mother-in-Law was in the hospital at Thanksgiving, and while hospitalized, he told her he got booked for AEW’s first show in 2023 in Seattle. Unfortunately, she passed away three days before his flight to Seattle. Vinny said it was very rough. He put her initials on his wrist tape and dedicated his match to her.

Vinny said it was good to be out there because he got to see Matt Taven and is also a fan of the Northwest Wrestling Independent scene. Sean brought up the point that Bryan Danielson was a significant influence on Vinny; Vinny mentioned that he did get to shake Bryan Danielson’s hand in Seattle and had the chance to tell him about the impact he had on him, but ended up not saying anything because he figured he hears it quite a bit.

Vinny said he met Bryan Danielson at a meet and greet (Daniel Bryan at the time) and told him that he wanted to be a wrestler. Vinny said Bryan told him “to go for it.” Vinny would mention that Danielson is the best and say nobody compares.

When talking about the name Adam Harding, Harding was the name he was given in NXT when he faced Joe Gacy on the November 30th, 2021, episode of NXT. Vinny said the experience in NXT was great. He did not know he would be named Adam Harding until a week later. He said he got to learn and be around William Regal; Vinny said Regal’s mind for wrestling is “bar-none the best.” He talked about working out with EC3 before his booking for NXT. He said it was a great time and that leg day with EC3 was one of the craziest experiences in his life.

Vinny told us about some of his ROH experiences and working out of the ROH Dojo. He said he was so grateful that Cheeseburger helped train him. Vinny also said Cheeseburger is one of the smoothest people you will ever wrestle.