I mean, he's excited so it's a pretty formidable group at this table and we're excited to accomplish big things with this man who I will introduce right now to you, King Mo. Welcome King.
Muhammed Lawal: Well this is a dream come true, you know, for me. I don't know, I mean, I'm pretty much speechless because now, you know, I've been thinking about it.
Had a hard time sleeping and now I'm - I came to the realization that I get to knock people out in the cage and hit people with chairs in the ring. So both ways I'm winning, you know, and let's get this whole thing going now.
I'm ready for, you know, what, you know, what the future has to offer. And it's looking bright right now and it's going to be bright throughout the whole riding ordeal.
David Schwarz: All right, let's open it up for questions.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your touch-tone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure that your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again star 1 for any questions at this time. And we'll pause for just one moment.
We'll go first to Dave Meltzer with Wrestling Observer.
Dave Meltzer: Hey, I've got kind of questions for everyone, but Mo I just want to congratulate you on the deal. But what kind of plans do you have as far as - for Mo as far as like training, and how much training have you done for pro wrestling?
I know you've been thinking about this your whole life, but have you done a lot of training and how long before - and this is sort of for Dixie as well. How long before you kind of - we kind of see him on television and figure we can get him in the ring?
Dixie Carter: You want to answer?
Muhammed Lawal: Well my experience - really I'm not that experienced just yet. I've studied it, watched it, had a WWE tryout and I - when I went to OVW. And I was there for a week and I got a chance to work with Tom Pritchard, and I learned a lot from there and I actually still remember a lot from there.
And I watched, you know, guys like Scotty 2 Hotty The Worm and worked with Mark Henry and John Morrison out there. So, you know, I picked up things to do and I watched guys that were terrible like Nathan Jones.
Not to bash him but, you know, he's awful. You know, he's hurting people in there and I know what to do and I know what not to do. So - and I'm open to learning.
Dixie Carter: Well I think for us we're, you know, he's committed to training and doing what it takes. He's going to spend some time at OVW. Our top talent are committed to working with him and bringing him along.
You know, we have the only, you know, Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, Kurt Angle, who has made the biggest jump to professional wrestling who is very excited about him.
Everybody really is so I think, you know, it'll be a combination of time at OVW, time working with our guys on the road and I know he's very, very committed to it so it'll be great.
Dave Meltzer: Now in - going forward to next year I would presume that, you know, Mo would probably want to -- and maybe I'm wrong and I spoke kind of for Bjorn and Mo -- enter like a light heavyweight tournament and get a shot at the championship there.
You know, if he's going to be doing three fights in three months and then lead into a championship match, how much professional wrestling would you be able to do?
I mean, would you have to take three months off or would - what's kind of like your mentality going forward? And also for Mo how is your knee doing right now?
Muhammed Lawal: Well as far as the tournament I will enter the tournament and I'll win the tournament and I'm going to get that belt. You know, that's what I'm going to do.
And as far as everything my knee's healing up - doing rehab. And as far as, you know, as far as the whole wrestling or fighting I'm - whatever, you know, Dixie and Bjorn is open to do I'm - I'll do.
You know, I'm not, you know, I'm a workhorse. Whatever, you know, whatever needs to be done I'm down to do.
Dave Meltzer: And do you have a time period like when you're going to go to Louisville? Are you going soon or are you going in like two months, or do you kind of know?
Muhammed Lawal: Not at the moment but when I find out I'll shoot you an email.
Dave Meltzer: Okay cool. All right.
Operator: We'll take our next question from Dann Stupp with mmajunkie.com.
Dann Stupp: I had a question for Bjorn. For whatever reason obviously some MMA fans - they have been unhappy when fighters such as Brock Lesnar are associated with pro wrestling. Did those feelings play into your decision at all or is it just something you ignored?
Bjorn Rebney: No. It's just, you know, Dann you and I talked about it a bunch of times. I mean, I look at our MMA fan base. I mean, you know, it - the demo that follows mixed martial arts that watch it on Spike network, I mean, it's an evolved, technologically savvy demo that lives online and is following everything on Twitter and is getting information in bytes that are happening in the second.
And I have an amazing amount of trust in the MMA fan base because I'm one of them. I mean, I'm a hard core, and in their ability to realize what mixed martial arts is and realize what professional wrestling is, and understand that we found a guy in Mo who's able to transcend, you know, both of those different environments simultaneously, who's able to play in both of them.
And I think when fans see what's going to come out vis-à-vis Spike, and when they see what Mo's going to do at IMPACT and what Mo's going to do at Bellator, and the fact that it's going to happen at the same time.
It's... (Continues on next page)
Reporter's Link:
100% LINK (*PICS*): The Undertaker As A Kid & Teenager!!