POST IT NOTES
**On the site today, we have the annual MMA Prediction Show for 2019 with Ariel Helwani of ESPN. This is the seventh annual show as we recap Helwani’s predictions made for 2018 and then play a new game of “Likely or Unlikely” for the new year. This is always a fun and popular show for us, so we hope you enjoy it.
**Wai Ting and I are back tonight with Rewind-A-Raw chatting the show in Memphis, the news from the weekend, and taking your feedback.
**On the site this week, we will be launching a new show called The Rocky Maivia Picture Show that will be hosted by Nate Milton. On each show, Nate will review a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and this Friday’s debut will feature Brian Mann stopping by to chat “The Scorpion King” from 2002. This show will be released bi-weekly on the main POST Wrestling feed.
POST WRESTLING SCHEDULE
*Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw with John Pollock and Wai Ting
*Tuesday: Rewind-A-SmackDown
*Wednesday: The Double Shot – reviews of the Nigel McGuinness documentary, Mean Gene Okerlund special, Season 4 premiere of Total Bellas (Patreon)
*Thursday: Café Hangout (Live at 3 pm ET for Double Double + Café members, free the next day)
*Thursday: upNXT with Braden Herrington and Davie Portman
*Friday: Rewind-A-Wai #27 on NXT TakeOver: Dallas from April 2016 (Patreon)
*Friday: The debut of “The Rocky Maivia Picture Show” hosted by Nate Milton with a review of The Scorpion King with guest Brian Mann
*Saturday: UFC on ESPN+ POST Show with John Pollock and Phil Chertok
WRESTLING NEWS
**The WWE’s deal with Disney Streaming Services (previously known as BAMTech) expired at the end of 2018 with the WWE leaving the group for Endeavor Streaming. BAMTech had been the engine running the WWE Network since its launch in February 2014 and was purchased by Disney in 2017. Variety reports that the WWE opted to walk away from a new deal with the tech giant. Endeavor Streaming incorporates Endeavor’s in-house video platform technology along with the NeuLion’s digital streaming service they bought in March 2018 for $250 million with the name NeuLion being dropped. This deal means that the WWE Network and UFC Fight Pass will be under the same umbrella with Endeavor Streaming. Will Staeger, who is the President of Business Operations for Endeavor Streaming, previously worked in the WWE from 2012-14 as the Executive Vice President of TV Production before going to Endeavor.
**On Jerry Lawler’s Dinner with the King podcast that came out Monday, he announced that he has signed a new two-year contract. His last deal expired on January 10th and said he received a raise. He added that there was no contact from All Elite Wrestling and was happy to stay with the WWE. He also noted that he will be calling the men’s Royal Rumble match at Chase Field on January 27th in Phoenix, Arizona with Michael Cole and JBL.
**The WWE will be holding Raw from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee tonight and is the second-to-last Raw before the Royal Rumble. John Cena is advertised for tonight’s show along with the following matches:
*Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley for the Intercontinental title
*Ronda Rousey and Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax and Tamina
**We have learned that there is an angle scheduled for tonight that will affect one of the main matches at the Royal Rumble.
**The WWE Network will be premiering a special on the late “Mean” Gene Okerlund at 11 pm Eastern following Raw tonight.
**Ring of Honor held their second show of the year in Concord, North Carolina on Sunday night. The show was headlined by Jay Lethal defeating Dalton Castle to retain the ROH title. They both worked a solid match and Castle seemed way more mobile than previous outings because of his litany of injuries. Castle did have a brace on his lower back but didn’t impede his performance. They had some excellent sequences based around the Lethal Injection and Bang-a-rang with Lethal winning after hitting his second Lethal Injection.
The six-man tag featured Marty Scurll, PCO, and Brody King defeating The Briscoe Brothers and Silas Young. This match was insane and PCO had no reservations with some frightening moments. This included Young delivering a Canadian Destroyer to PCO on the edge of the apron that nearly did destroy the Canadian. Honestly, I felt this was too dangerous. I understand PCO has gained a following for his stunts and helped land him a huge contract, but he can’t be doing this style of performance routinely. That said, he was the most popular performer in the match and pinned Jay Briscoe, who rarely loses clean, and was positioned as the star of the match.
PCO was okay after the match and was said to have avoided any injuries.
Flip Gordon suffered a knee injury earlier in the show during his match with Tracy Williams. Gordon went for a running dropkick to the corner and immediately began favoring the knee after landing it. He followed with a springboard spear off the middle rope and rolled to the floor. Todd Sinclair checked on Gordon and waved off the match. We were told he was hobbling backstage but stuck around until the end of the show.
Ring of Honor’s General Manager Greg Gilleland provided the following update to POST Wrestling regarding the injury to Flip Gordon and a separate knee injury that Chris Sabin sustained on Saturday’s card in Atlanta:
Unfortunately, Ring of Honor can confirm that both Flip Gordon and Chris Sabin suffered knee injuries during this past weekend’s events that left them each in significant pain. The severity for each injury will not be known until further tests are concluded, but we wish them a speedy recovery and hope they can return to the ROH ring soon.
Sabin sent out a tweet Monday that stated, “I’ll be back.”
**The following has been announced for Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown in Birmingham, Alabama:
*Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade Cien Almas
*Sonya Deville vs. Carmella
*The Miz hosts a birthday bash for Shane McMahon
**The WWE has announced their return to Toronto for a house show on Friday, March 8th at the Coca-Cola Coliseum (formerly the Ricoh Coliseum). The show will be a Raw-branded house show and they are advertising Ronda Rousey, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, and Sasha Banks. Tickets for the event go on sale this Friday.
**The latest episode of Being the Elite recaps the rally in Jacksonville, Florida from last Tuesday.
**The WWE stock closed at $80.94 on Monday.
**AAW is running their next card on January 26th called “The Final Stand”. They are promoting the show as the final appearances for ACH and Trevor Lee with the group.
**Here is Mike Mooneyham’s story on the career of “Mean” Gene Okerlund for the Post and Courier.
**DEFY Wrestling will be holding their second-anniversary card this Saturday at Washington Hall in Seattle. The card is headlined by DEFY world champion Artemis Spencer taking on Dezmond Xavier, and a six-man tag with Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky vs. Shane Strickland, Randy Myers, and SCHAFF. The promotion will also be running the Hawthorne Theatre in Portland on February 9th and return to Washington Hall on March 8th.
**The WWE Network isn’t listing a new episode of NXT UK this Wednesday. They just taped television on Sunday from the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool.
**MLW has announced that Simon Gotch will take on Ace Romero at their SuperFight card on Saturday, February 2nd at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
**ECCW out of British Columbia ran two events over the past weekend billed as Ballroom Brawl. On the first night, Artemis Spencer won the ECCW championship from El Phantasmo and Chase Owens defeat6ed Rey Horus. On the second night, they billed the Frankie Kazarian match with Chase Owens as the “first ever AEW vs. NJPW match” with Kazarian pinning Owens. The second night also featured Artemis Spencer defeating Rey Horus, El Phantasmo, and Eddie Osbourne to become both the ECCW and Canadian champion. ECCW’s Jeff Duncan sent out a release Monday stating that Friday night’s show drew 700 people and Saturday’s show was a sellout with 800 in attendance.
**Defiant Wrestling has the full episode from this past weekend online for free featuring David Starr taking on PAC:
POLL RESULT
Feedback to NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool:
Thumbs Up: 74%
Thumbs in the Middle: 21%
Thumbs Down: 5%
MMA NEWS
**UFC fighter Cat Zingano has filed an appeal to the California State Athletic Commission in an attempt to have her loss to Megan Anderson at UFC 232 changed to a no contest. The featherweight was stopped in the first round when Anderson threw a head kick and her toe caught Zingano in the eye. Zingano turned her back and was unable to defend and led to the fight being stopped and Anderson being awarded the TKO victory. Zingano’s side is arguing that the language in the rules is not clear and seeking clarification if toes can be used to administer an illegal eye poke. I don’t see this case resulting in any change in the result. The reason feet are not included is that you can close your fists but you cannot close your foot to avoid an accident like this.
**It was expected that Dwight Grant would be replacing Randy Brown on this Saturday’s UFC card in Brooklyn, but Grant will not be licensed for the fight. The New York State Athletic Commission was unable to clear Grant after he signed his bout agreement. ESPN reports that it was an “eye issue” that caused Grant to be denied the fight against Chance Rencountre this weekend.
**Former UFC fighter Tom Lawlor will be part of the broadcast team at this Saturday’s CES MMA card streaming on UFC Fight Pass at 3 pm Eastern. The card takes place from Lincoln, Rhode Island and will feature Nate Andrews taking on Bryce Logan for the promotion’s lightweight title, Tony Gravely defending the bantamweight title against Kris Moutinho and former UFC fighter Eric Spicely (who recently took part in a WWE tryout at the Performance Center) fighting Stephen Regman. It’s the first card CES MMA has run on Fight Pass after leaving AXS TV.
*****
THE 2019 MMA PREDICTION SHOW
John Pollock welcomes ESPN’s Ariel Helwani for the 7th Annual MMA Prediction Show. They will re-visit the predictions made for 2018 and then a new edition of “Likely” or “Unlikely” for 2019
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/13/the-2019-mma-prediction-show-feat-ariel-helwani/
*****
NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool POST Show
Martin & Benno are joined by Joe Lemon from Spotlight on The Indy Corner to review the first-ever NXT UK TakeOver from Blackpool, England. They talk their favorite moments from the show, what worked and what didn’t.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/12/nxt-uk-takeover-blackpool-post-show-w-martin-bushby-benno-joe-lemon/
*****
Café Hangout Live 1/10/19: AEW, Tony Khan, NXT UK TakeOver
John Pollock and Wai Ting are joined by a number of callers discussing All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan, Saturday’s NXT UK TakeOver, WWE’s Worlds Collide Tournament, and MJfromNJ tells us how we did in our Elite-themed Likely/Unlikely game.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/11/all-elite-wrestling-tony-khan-nxt-uk-takeover-cafe-hangout-live-1-10-19/
*****
POST MOVIE REVIEW: The Avengers (2012)
John Pollock, Wai Ting, and special guest Brent Chittenden review the sixth Marvel Cinematic Universe film, The Avengers (2012). We discuss the culmination of Marvel’s Phase One with a look back at its most ambitious crossover at the time, helmed by writer/director Joss Whedon.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/23904584
*****
upNXT 1/10/19: Johnny Want the Smoke?
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman chat this week’s episode of NXT featuring Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Belair and EC3 vs. Adam Cole, and a fantastic opening segment between Gargano, Ricochet, Ciampa & Black. Davie brings back his review of 205 Live.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/10/upnxt-1-10-19-johnny-want-the-smoke/
*****
BWE 1/9/19: Progress Unboxing 3, NXT UK TakeOver, Brits in Japan
Martin & Benno are back to review Progress Chapter 82: Unboxing Live! 3 (Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate) and preview this weekend’s NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool show.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/09/bwe-1-9-19-progress-unboxing-3-nxt-uk-takeover-brits-in-japan/
*****
DOUBLE SHOT 1/9/19: Being the Elite, MLW Fusion, Priscilla Kelly clip
John Pollock & Wai Ting return with bonus discussions on Ep. 133 of Being the Elite “After Wrestle Kingdom”, the latest MLW Fusion show, and the Priscilla Kelly clip debate.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/23857991
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 1/8/19: AEW Rally & News, Merchandise controversy, SmackDown review
John Pollock and Wai Ting review SmackDown and discuss all the news from the All Elite Wrestling rally, both taking place in Jacksonville, FL. We’ll also be joined by Graham, a fan who was turned away from attending SmackDown for wearing an AEW t-shirt.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/09/rasd-1-8-19-aew-rally-news-merchandise-controversy-smackdown-review/
*****
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