During a recent appearance on “The Masked Man Show” podcast, Oba Femi discussed the coaches he works with in WWE developmental and praised Ivar as an excellent instructor of a Big Man Class at the WWE Performance Center.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the coaches he works with in WWE NXT: “Rubbed off on me the most, I would say coach (Matt) Bloom because he’s the most direct access that I have. He is also a fellow big man and worked the big man style, so he’s passed on so much knowledge in that field. I’ve worked with Ivar a lot. I had the privilege of wrestling Ivar also, which is one of my better matches. Ivar comes around and gets in the ring with us. We helped him get ready for his return since he was out for some months. Of course, Shawn (Michaels), the big boss. Those are the ones who have played a part in my development.”
On Ivar being a great teacher for a big man class at the WWE Performance Center: “Ivar is phenomenal. He’s a great teacher. Him not working big man, doesn’t mean he’s never worked big man. As we know, Ivar is a big man. His current appeal is that he is a big man with athleticism. In the past, in his 20 years in wrestling, he’s definitely worked big man. Even though he might not have worked it as much, his infinite knowledge is enough to teach us younger guys.”
On how Ivar teaches his class: “He is great. He comes in, gets in the ring with us, coaches us and watches us wrestle. There are certain ways a big man would sell and moves a big man wouldn’t do. A big man doesn’t arm drag anyone. No big man is doing a hurricanrana. Just reinforcing those good big man habits to sell strong and stay on your feet. It’s a lot of work. Sometimes, when you take certain moves, you have to come right back up because that is the style. No matter how winded you are, you have to get up, that’s the big man way. Ivar has so much knowledge and experience. I am lucky to be under his learning tree.”
‘The People vs. GCW’ event at the Hammerstein Ballroom is already successful, as Brett Lauderdale has announced that the January 19th event has reached a six-figure gate.
During a recent edition of “Game Changer Weekly,” Lauderdale commented on the show’s success. He said,
“The numbers today, whether one person watches this show on Triller or not, the numbers are, they’re okay. I never talk business or real numbers, but I can tell you, the gate of this show, the ticket sales, I know everybody thinks, ‘Oh, they gave away X amount of tickets,’ there was a couple of tickets given away, but I can tell you that the gate for this show is in six figures, there’s over $100,000 worth of tickets sold, which is more than any independent wrestling show will sell this year, next year, last year, the year before, five years from now, the year after. So will this show be as successful as 2021 from a business standpoint? No because that would be virtually impossible, but I can tell you this is a history-making show in its own right.“
