POST IT NOTES
**We have a big show posted on the main page with “The Best of 2017 Show” as Wai Ting and I welcome Jason Agnew and Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski. The four of us share our picks for all of the major categories. The show can be downloaded at https://www.postwrestling.com/2017/12/30/the-best-of-2017-show/ (or you can subscribe to POST Wrestling on your device of choice). Below are all of the categories covered on the show:
BEST WRESTLER (Male)
BEST WRESTLER (Female)
BEST TAG TEAM
BEST ON THE MIC
BEST ANNOUNCER
BEST NON-WRESTLING PERFORMER
MOST IMPROVED
BEST COMEBACK
BEST GIMMICK
MATCH OF THE YEAR
FEUD OF THE YEAR
BEST ANGLE
BEST PAY-PER-VIEW (Wrestling)
BEST MMA FIGHT CARD
BEST PROMOTION
BEST TELEVISION SHOW
BEST MEDIA (Book/Digital series/WWE Network show)
BEST MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST
BEST MMA FIGHT
BIGGEST STORY OF 2017
**Next Sunday, we will welcome Agnew and Mouth back for the “The Worst of 2017 Show”.
**We have a huge week coming up at POST Wrestling with Wrestle Kingdom happening on Thursday. Below is the schedule of shows we have coming out:
*Monday – Rewind-A-Raw (free show)
*Tuesday – Wrestle Kingdom 12 Preview Show & New Japan primer for newer viewers (free show)
*Wednesday – Rewind-A-SmackDown (free show)
*Friday – (Patreon Exclusive for POST Wrestling Café members) – Wrestle Kingdom 12 review with John Pollock & Wai Ting
**With the launch of the POST Wrestling site, I want to encourage any readers that attend live shows to send us any correspondence regarding shows they attend. We are looking for results, attendance estimate and any notes that you find newsworthy. You will receive full credit on the main page and we’ll be happy to plug your Twitter or social media of choice. You can send them to me at [email protected] and this goes for any news items that you feel would be relevant for us.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Braun Strowman was sent home early from the WWE live event tour due to illness. Strowman was sent home on Thursday and has been off the shows since. It is unknown what his status is for Raw on Monday night in Miami although he is still being advertised by the WWE for Monday’s show.
**On the Chris Jericho podcast story, an incredible offer from Westwood One is what is believed to be the key factor in his decision to leave Podcast One. It shows the amount of leverage Jericho had when initially signing with Podcast One that he was able to retain the name of his show, retain his library, move the entire network, and promote his Westwood One transition on his final Podcast One show.
**A non-title match between A.J. Styles and Sami Zayn has been announced for this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Orlando, Florida.
**The WWE had their second instance this week of a match being abruptly ended. During a singles match between Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe in Toronto on Saturday night at the Ricoh Coliseum, Joe suffered a cut above his left eye and was bleeding significantly to the point that the match was stopped. Reigns and Joe are scheduled for a match on Monday’s episode of Raw in Miami. The other example from the past week came during a six-woman tag in Long Island where Paige took a kick from Sasha Banks, resulting in an injury that was thought to be serious enough for the match to be called off. Paige was taken off the remainder of the shows this week and it is not yet known if she will be at Raw on Monday night in Miami.
**Based on photos from the show, the Ricoh Coliseum appeared to be full for the Raw event in Toronto, translating to approximately 9,000 in attendance.
**Sid (Sid Eudy) was unable to make his scheduled appearance for the AIW promotion this past Friday in Cleveland, Ohio. Sid, the major name advertised on the show, alerted promoter John Thorne that he was not able to leave his state due to an outstanding legal issue. A phone call between Thorne and Sid was posted by AIW, where Sid explained that he has had trouble receiving a driver’s license for the past seven years and felt said legal issue was behind him, but was instructed he couldn’t leave the state when he attempted to, on top of the fact that he couldn’t produce his passport. A flight had been booked by AIW through American Airlines. Sid assumed that it was an outstanding parking ticket coupled with new travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration that left him without a way to make it to the event. As a way to make light of the situation, Ethan Carter III dressed up as Sid at the AIW event and signed Sid’s 8×10 photos for the fans in attendance.
It is worth noting that there was a 2011 incident where Sid was pulled over for not wearing his seatbelt and an officer discovered that he was in possession of marijuana and could not produce a driver’s license. He was charged and released on a $1,000 bond, according to the story at the time from TMZ.
The full audio of the conversation between Thorne and Sid can be heard below:
**In the show report we were sent for the PROGRESS event at the Electric Ballroom, the correspondent listed the capacity of the venue at 400. We were told by several people that the Ballroom actually holds 700. Their next show is on January 10th at The Dome in Tufnell Park followed by a sold-out January 14th event in Birmingham at the O2 Academy. They return to the Electric Ballroom on January 28th with tickets on sale this Wednesday.
MMA NEWS
**Here are the results from the UFC 219 card held on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in front of 13,561 with a gate announced at $1,760,628.74:
*Tim Elliott def. Mark De La Rosa by anaconda choke at 1:41 of Round 2:
Elliott performed under the most trying of circumstances following the recent death of his coach Robert Follis. Elliott quickly thanked Follis during his post-fight interview and was on the verge of tears.
*Matheus Nicolau def. Louis Smolka by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26):
Nicolau destroyed Smolka with his striking in the opening round and dropped him three different times. Nicolau’s lead left was baffling all fight long for Smolka, resulting in a clear victory for Nicolau.
*Marvin Vettori and Omari Akhmedov fought to a majority draw (28-28, 29-28, 28-28)
*Myles Jury def. Rick Glenn by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Khalil Rountree by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Neil Magny def. Carlos Condit by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28):
The size of Magny was a big difference as he frequently lifted and slammed Condit down while controlling him against the cage with strikes throughout. Condit looked like a fighter that had not fought since the summer of 2016. Given that his last fight against Demian Maia was so quick, the last performance you can judge Condit on was the war with Robbie Lawler that many felt Condit won. It was a fight that probably took a lot out of him. We’ll see what is next for Condit as he had largely retired but seemed to get bored before deciding to come back.
*Carla Esparza def. Cynthia Calvillo by unanimous decision (29-28 all):
I scored the fight the same as the judges with Esparza winning the second and third rounds. Calvillo clearly won the first and Esparza clearly won the third, so it came down a very close second round. I picked Esparza to win but felt it would be due to her wrestling. Instead, it was her striking that was key in this fight with Calvillo being the one to take Esparza down in the opening round. This was the first loss of Calvillo’s career and her fifth fight in 2017.
*Dan Hooker def. Marc Diakiese by guillotine choke at 0:42 of Round 3:
Diakiese shot in for a very sloppy takedown and just handed his head on a platter to Hooker, who locked on an air-tight power guillotine that forced Diakiese to furiously tap.
*Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Edson Barboza by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-24):
Utter domination from Nurmagomedov throughout every minute of this fight. These are both top five lightweights and Nurmagomedov was on another planet in terms of grappling, control with unbelievable top game pressure. I scored it 30-25 for Nurmagomedov although a 30-24 is completely justifiable in this one. Nurmagomedov felt like the best lightweight in the world and would have to be favoured over Conor McGregor or Tony Ferguson, with the latter being the more realistic option for his next fight.
*Cris “Cyborg” Justino def. Holly Holm by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) to retain the UFC featherweight title:
I had it 50-45 for Justino. At best, you could award the second round to Holm but I didn’t think this was anywhere close to how two of the judges scored it. Justino was the better striker and didn’t tire throughout the fight. Holm was just trying to keep up by the third round and beyond. Justino mentioned fighting Megan Anderson in Australia in February.
**The Fight of the Night bonus went to Cris “Cyborg” Justino vs. Holly Holm and performance bonuses were handed out to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tim Elliott with all four receiving $50,000.
**I rarely go out to watch a UFC event at a bar but I did Saturday night and it was interesting to see the interest level for this show through a small sample size. The bar was packed but I would say 70% were there to specifically watch the card. The biggest stars to the those watching were Holly Holm and Khabib Nurmagomedov. The entire bar applauded at the conclusion of the women’s main event as well as Nurmagomedov’s win over Edson Barboza. There was a decent amount showing up mid-way through the prelims and then a big influx of people in time for the start of the pay-per-view. It was hardly the biggest show of the year but it received marginally more interest than I assumed in the setting I was in. The bar was also close by to the Ricoh Coliseum and a number of people attending the WWE event trickled in for the main event.
**The UFC also aired a promo on Saturday for next month’s UFC 220 pay-per-view in Boston. The promo is largely built around Francis Ngannou and his recent knockout of Alistair Overeem, including a disturbing image of Overeem landing on the canvas with his eyes rolling back. It was one of the more disturbing images I have ever seen in a UFC promotional piece. That card in Boston is going to be the litmus test on Ngannou as a pay-per-view draw as the success of the show has to be attributed mainly to him. The card also features a light heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Volkan Oezdemir.
**The UFC’s next card is a Sunday night show on January 14th in St. Louis, Missouri that is headlined by featherweights Jeremy Stephens and Dooho Choi.
*****
POST WRESTLING’s “Best of 2017 Show” with John Pollock, Wai Ting, Jason Agnew and Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski
https://www.postwrestling.com/2017/12/30/the-best-of-2017-show/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI – WWE Survivor Series – Patron-Only Show
(John Pollock & Wai Ting present the inaugural edition of Rewind-A-Wai with a review of the WWE’s Survivor Series card from 2005 with a brand-new intro. Sign up today at POST Wrestling Café and receive this show immediately by clicking the link below.)
https://www.patreon.com/POSTwrestling
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 12/27/17: Rusev Day in Chicago, U.S. Title Tournament
https://www.postwrestling.com/2017/12/27/smackdown-review-12-26-17-rusev-day-in-chicago-us-title-tournament-shane-costs-styles-victory/
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 12/25/17: Rollins & Jordan Win tag Titles, Cena Returns, Commercial Free
https://www.postwrestling.com/2017/12/26/raw-review-12-25-17-rollins-jordan-win-tag-titles-cena-returns-commercial-free/
*****
THE POST WRESTLING CHRISTMAS SHOW 2017
https://www.postwrestling.com/2017/12/23/the-post-wrestling-christmas-show-2017/
*****
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