POST IT NOTES
**We have a new edition of upNXT posted with Braden Herrington and Davie Portman reviewing this week’s NXT. The show featured Keith Lee taking on Kassius Ohno in the main event, Shayna Baszler and Bianca Belair promoting their match for TakeOver, Johnny Gargano vs. Humberto Carrillo, and the return of JC & Chris Metro. You can subscribe to upNXT on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.
**Nate Milton’s new show, The Rocky Maivia Picture Show premieres Friday on the main feed. This new monthly show will feature Nate reviewing Dwayne Johnson’s past movies and kicks it off with guest Brian Mann to review The Scorpion King from 2002.
**A new edition of Rewind-A-Wai drops Friday for all members of the POST Wrestling Café. Wai Ting and I will be reviewing NXT TakeOver: Dallas from April 2016 with the debut of Shinsuke Nakamura as he took on Sami Zayn. We will go through the whole show, the major news going on at the time, where certain performers went after being called up, the cameos in the crowd, and lots of other notes. This show was selected by Tyler Crane, who is this week’s Espresso Executive Producer.
**The audio version of the Café Hangout will be out Friday. If you are a Double Double, Iced Capp or Espresso member of the Café, you can watch this show now by logging in.
POST WRESTLING SCHEDULE
*Friday: Rewind-A-Wai #28 on NXT TakeOver: Dallas (April 2016)
*Friday: The Rocky Maivia Picture Show with Nate Milton and guest Brian Mann reviewing The Scorpion King (2002)
*Saturday: UFC on ESPN+ POST Show with John Pollock and Phil Chertok
WRESTLING NEWS
**On Wednesday, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com was the first to report on the tenuous status of The Revival with the WWE. The site stated that the company was worried they would be finishing up with the company. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter confirmed that the duo requested their release Monday following their match against Kalisto and Gran Metalik on Raw. There is no word whether they will be granted their release or what the remaining length of their contracts is.
The last notable example of a WWE talent wanting out of their deal was PAC, who sat out most of 2018 until being released. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have been in the WWE’s system since 2014, being paired together in NXT as The Mechanics and later renamed The Revival. They won the NXT tag titles twice having some of the best tag matches in the industry with American Alpha and DIY. They debuted on Raw in April 2017 on the night after WrestleMania but both were hampered by injuries throughout their first year on the main roster.
**I wanted to mention the passing of independent wrestler Chris Sims, who performed as Dr. Rex Bacchus after battling cancer. Sims had been working with MLW since the promotion’s re-launch in October 2017. Sims helped manager the ring crew and worked in the arena operations end and did enhancement work, as well. Sims recently entered hospice care and was very popular among those who worked with him. Court Bauer put out the following statement on Sims:
I’m very sad to share that Chris Sims, a member of our @MLW family has passed away. Chris loved wrestling. It helped keep him going during his battle with cancer. My thoughts are with Chris and his loved ones. Rest in power, Dr Rex. You are sorely missed.
**Kenny Omega attended the Tokyo Sports awards ceremony to accept his award for match of the year with Kazuchika Okada at Dominion. Omega gave a speech and said he may not be on this stage next year and wanted to have the match of the year on the international stage as he continues to hint that he will not be signing a new contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling. It is believed his deal with New Japan expires January 31st.
**Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet adds that Mike and Maria Kanellis have requested their releases from the WWE. The two left Impact Wrestling and signed with the WWE in 2017 and both are currently members of the 205 Live roster. They are in the same boat as The Revival where it is unknown if they will be granted their releases from the company.
In response to people online, Maria Kanellis wrote the following on Twitter:
Everyone thinks they know everything. Hahahahaha…. it’s social media not an autobiography.
Social Media Fact Check: Mike NEVER went to rehap ANYWHERE. He was on the road with me rehabbing. We were on house shows. He never took time off to rehab. He worked through it.
Social Media Fact Check: I worked for WWE for 6 years before I got pregnant. I worked in sports entertainment for 14 years before having a baby.
Social Media Fact Check: WWE has been SUPER supportive of me being a mother and a superstar!
**New Japan’s next Fantasticamania on New Japan World streams live Friday from Korakuen Hall at 4:30 am Eastern with Mistico and Dragon Lee vs. Sanson and Cuatrero in the main event. The card also features Barbaro Cavernario taking on Soberano Jr., Caristico & Namajague vs. Volador Jr. & Flyer, and Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero in the top matches.
**Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live averaged 2,143,000 viewers on the USA Network. The show was promoted around Shane McMahon’s birthday and Rey Mysterio facing Andrade.
**Ronda Rousey will be voicing the character of Sonya Blade in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 game.
**Matt Sydal has announced he is set for surgery for torn cartilage in his knee next week. Sydal announced that he will have the procedure next Thursday and is hopeful of returning to the ring in March or April. Sydal has been wrestling for Impact Wrestling for the past two years and had recently been linked with Ethan Page on television.
**A point that was made clear on WWE programming this week was the direction of sexualizing certain female performers. They had begun this direction with the Mandy Rose angle with Jimmy Uso and went further this week with the hotel segment and presenting Rose in lingerie. This followed the tonally-awkward bit on Raw where a production assistant walked in on a topless Alexa Bliss.
The segments have drawn debate with criticism due to the rebranding of the women’s division the past few years and getting away from these portrayals while others have pointed to the YouTube numbers as justification that there is a larger audience that wants this element of the show. I felt that the Bliss segment was more off-putting as Bliss has never been a character that been presented in a sexualized way, the segment has no connection anything else on the show and was only done for the moment that made it feel very tacky.
The viewership next week may give a further indication if this is something people will tune in for, or not. You wouldn’t have known in advance they were doing these segments this week, but I feel the message came across that this will be part of the show.
**Cody, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, and Brandi Rhodes appeared at Wednesday’s Bar Wrestling show in Los Angeles, which is run by Joey Ryan. The group posted separate tweets during the day that read, “See ya in Los Angeles” when put together and Bar Wrestling retweeted it. The group appeared during the SCU Open Challenge, including Cody doing a dive to the floor despite his knee. They did a bit where Cody hired the fans to join AEW and then the Bucks and Brandi had to fire them and told the audience they couldn’t cheer for any other group for the next 90 days.
**The WWE’s fourth-quarter and 2018 year-end earnings results will be released Thursday, February 7th.
**Dakota Kai confirmed that she tore her ACL last month and was set for surgery on Thursday. Kai suffered the injury during a six-woman tag at an NXT live event in Green Bay on December 7th. The match featured Kai teaming with Kairi Sane and Candice LeRae taking on Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir.
**The WWE has announced that Rusev will defend the United States title against Shinsuke Nakamura at the Royal Rumble next weekend at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
**The rematch between Matt Riddle and Kassius Ohno is official for the NXT TakeOver: Phoenix card next weekend. Here is the full card for the show that will air at 7 pm Eastern on Saturday, January 26th:
*Tommaso Ciampa vs. Aleister Black for the NXT title
*Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano for the North American title
*The Undisputed Era vs. War Raiders for the NXT tag titles
*Shayna Baszler vs. Bianca Belair for the NXT women’s title
*Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno
**The first entrant into the Clusterfuck Battle Royal at Joey Janela’s Spring Break is Mantaur. The battle royal takes place on the second night of the event on Saturday, April 6th at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City.
**MLW has announced a television deal in Israel with Ego Total. MLW Fusion will premiere on the network beginning next Tuesday at 6:10 pm local time. Ego Total is a digital cable channel, owned by Ananey Communications and was launched in 2002.
**Brandon Howard at Fightful writes about WWE co-president George Barrios.
**McAloon Productions has announced that Pentagon Jr. and Fenix will face Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian at their “Hell or High Water” card on Friday, February 1st in Atlanta at the Espacio Discotheque.
**WrestleCon has announced that Pentagon Jr. and Fenix will face Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie at the Joey Ryan Penis Party event on Friday, April 5th at the New York City Hilton Midtown Hotel.
**The WWE stock closed at $81.65 on Thursday.
*****
upNXT 1/17/19: JC & Chris Lightning, Kassius Ohno vs. Keith Lee
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman chat this week’s episode of NXT featuring Keith Lee vs Kassius Ohno, Johnny Gargano vs Humberto Carrillo, and the MUCH anticipated return of… JC & Chris!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/17/upnxt-1-17-19-jc-chris-lightning-kassius-ohno-vs-keith-lee/
*****
DOUBLE SHOT 1/16: Nigel McGuinness & Gene Okerlund specials, Total Bellas Season 4
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the recent WWE Network specials on Nigel McGuinness and Mean Gene Okerlund, a review of the season premiere of Total Bellas and Being the Elite.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/24012991
*****
RASD 1/15: Shane’s Birthday Bash, USO-tel Room, Rush signs with ROH
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown from Birmingham, Alabama featuring a Birthday Bash for Shane McMahon, a huge debate about the Jimmy Uso hotel segment with Mandy Rose, more cameos from the NXT call-ups, and a great television match between Rey Mysterio and Andrade, just Andrade
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/16/rasd-1-15-19-shanes-birthday-bash-uso-tel-room-rush-signs-with-roh/
*****
RAR 1/14/19: Braun Strowman replaced at Rumble, New IC champion
John Pollock and Wai Ting return to review WWE Raw from Memphis, Tennessee featuring changes to the Royal Rumble with Braun Strowman taken out of the Universal title match, a four-way to decide the new challenger, Nikki Cross wrestles on Raw, EC3, Lacey Evans and Heavy Machinery making cameos, and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/15/rar-1-14-19-braun-strowman-replaced-at-rumble-new-ic-champion/
*****
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
*****
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