POST IT NOTES
**We have a new Rewind-A-Wai out today with Wai Ting and I reviewing the WWF No Way Out card from February 2000. The show is headlined by a Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and Cactus Jack for the WWF title with Mick Foley’s career on the line. We will review the show, discuss the major news from that week in history, what led to Foley’s quick return five weeks later at WrestleMania, the original plan for Edge and Christian to split up with Terri involved, the call from Jim Ross in the main event and his farewell to Foley, and lots more. Plus, we are joined by Espresso Executive Producer Ryan Charkow to share his thoughts on this show. This is available for all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**We also have the latest Café Hangout available in audio and video on our YouTube channel. On this week’s show, we discussed the departure of Hideo Itami from the WWE, the New Japan cards this weekend, Ian Riccaboni’s new deal with Ring of Honor, and we take your phone calls.
**A new edition of POST Puroresu will be out late tonight with WH Park and I chatting lots of news, previews of the upcoming New Beginning shows in Sapporo and Osaka, the Giant Baba Memorial card, the sale of Pro Wrestling NOAH, and tons more.
**Wai Ting and I will have a bonus show out Sunday for members of the POST Wrestling Café reviewing both New Beginning cards from Sapporo this weekend.
**Braden Herrington and Davie Portman will have a bonus edition of upNXT coming out Sunday night with a recap of the Halftime Heat special from the WWE Performance Center.
WRESTLING NEWS
**The Toyota Center in Houston is advertising that Ronda Rousey will be on the Elimination Chamber event on February 17th. Dave Meltzer reported Thursday night that Rousey is scheduled to be on the card at the pay-per-view.
**Kevin Owens wrote Friday that he had a match with Adam Cole in front of one other person. Owens has been out of action since October after undergoing surgery on both knees.
**Kaito Kiyomiya retained the GHC title over Masa Kitamiya on today’s NOAH card at Korakuen Hall. Naomichi Marufuji challenged Kiyomiya after the match for a future title match, although Marufuji lost in a six-man tag on the undercard. On the same show, Mohammed Yone and Quiet Storm won the GHC tag titles from Maybach Taniguchi and Yuji Hino. After the tag title match, Atsushi Kotoge challenged the new champions and his partner for the title match will be Eddie Edwards.
**New Japan Pro Wrestling is running shows events in the U.S. and Japan this weekend with cards in Charlotte and Nashville and the two New Beginning cards in Sapporo. Below is the lineup for tonight’s U.S. card in Charlotte at the Grady Cole Center:
*Karl Fredericks vs. Clark Connors
*Lance Archer and Shane Taylor vs. Colt Cabana and John Skyler
*The Great O-Kharn (Tomoyuki Oka) vs. Tracer X
*Jeff Cobb and Jonathan Gresham vs. Brody King and Marty Scurll
*Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Alex Coughlin
*Chuckie T. and Beretta vs. David Finlay and Tracy Williams
*Juice Robinson vs. Beretta for the IWGP United States title
The U.S. crew will finish up with a show in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday at the War Memorial Auditorium with a six-man tag main event of Juice Robinson, David Finlay, and Tracy Williams vs. Chuckie T., Beretta, and Rocky Romero. It has been reported that Chuckie T. and Beretta are finishing up with New Japan on these shows.
**The first of two New Beginning cards in Sapporo goes down Saturday morning at 4 am Eastern on New Japan World. Kevin Kelly and Andy Simmons will be providing English commentary on the card with the following line up:
*Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura
*Manabu Nakanishi and Toa Henare vs. Shota Umino and Ayato Yoshida
*Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tiger Mask vs. Takashi Iizuka and Taka Michinoku
*Guerrillas of Destiny, Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro and Chase Owens vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi and Bushi vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado
*Minoru Suzuki vs. Sanada
*EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White and Bad Luck Fale
The top three matches are the highlights of the card with the major focus on building to the larger matches among the top stars. Tanahashi should be selling his knee heavily after the angle with Jay White after the match with KUSHIDA. Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. are challenging EVIL and Sanada for the tag titles on Sunday and both singles matches have great potential. I’d expect a huge focus on Taichi in the eight-man tag to set up his Intercontinental title match with Tetsuya Naito on Sunday as he’s the biggest priority on this show to headline the next night. The opener with Ren Narita and Yuya Uemura should be solid as the current young lions’ group is on fire with so much talent with any combination.
**McAloon Productions is running “Come Hell or High Water” in Atlanta tonight and streaming on Fite TV. They are teasing that Cody and The Young Bucks will be showing up with the Bucks stating they bought plane tickets to Atlanta. The card is headlined by Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs. Pentagon Jr. and Fenix. The card also features former MMA fighter Vernon “Tiger” White facing Mil Muertes and Casanova Valentine in a three-way match.
**Here are the matches for tonight’s episode of New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV at 8 pm Eastern with matches from New Year Dash:
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, and Gedo
*Guerrillas of Destiny and Taiji Ishimori vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano for the NEVER six-man tag titles
*Yujiro and Chase Owens vs. Tomoaki Honma and Toa Henare
**Below are the matches on WOW: Women of Wrestling at 9 pm on AXS:
*The Beast vs. Faith the Lioness
*The Disciplinarian vs. Fire (Kiera Hogan)
*Chantilly Chella vs. Fury
*Khloe Hertz vs. Abilene Maverick
**Here are the matches for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling at 10 pm Eastern on the Pursuit Network, Twitch and Fight Network in Canada tonight:
*Johnny Impact and Brian Cage vs. Killer Kross and Moose
*LAX and Daga vs. Pentagon Jr., Fenix, and Taurus
*Jordynne Grace and Kiera Hogan vs. Allie and Su Yung
*The Rascalz vs. Eddie Edwards and Eli Drake
**MLW is running their live special on beIN Sports on Saturday night at 8 pm Eastern from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. They are promoting two matches for the special with Low Ki defending the MLW title against Tom Lawlor and the tag titles being defended by Pentagon and Fenix against Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr. The following matches are taking place on Saturday to air over the coming weeks on Fusion:
*Low Ki vs. Tom Lawlor for the MLW title – this has been built for months on television since Lawlor won the Battle Riot battle royal
*Pentagon Jr. and Fenix vs. The Hart Foundation for the MLW tag titles
*Rey Horus vs. Aerostar
*Ace Romero vs. Simon Gotch
*Tommy Dreamer and TBA vs. Brian Pillman Jr. and TBA
*Puma King vs. Gringo Loco
*Rich Swann vs. Ace Austin
*Ricky Martinez vs. Kotto Brazil
*DJ Z vs. Myron Reed
*Mance Warner makes his MLW debut
There is expected to be a large presence of GoDaddy at the MLW card as they are on board as a major sponsor for the group.
**The WWE Raw crew is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan tonight with Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose vs. Elias advertised. The Raw crew heads to Regina on Saturday with SmackDown running Vancouver on Saturday night and Spokane, Washington Sunday afternoon before the Super Bowl. Monday’s episode of Raw takes place from Portland, Oregon at the Moda Center.
**The WWE’s Worlds Collide tournament will begin streaming opening round matches at Noon Eastern Saturday on WWE.com, the WWE app, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The rest of the tournament will air at 8 pm on the WWE Network tomorrow night.
**New Japan announcer Kevin Kelly had recently launched a podcast series on the Place 2 Be Nation outlet. The idea was to produce daily five-minute shows but after the first few were released this week, the podcast has been shelved, according to Kelly.
I am disappointed to announce that my 5 Minute Podcast and the Podcast League has to come to an end. I want to thank the gang at @Place2BeNation for all their hard work (sorry it was for naught) and to all who listened, subscribed, rated and discussed. My apologies to everyone.
We were told this was not a decision by Kelly or the podcast network but was described as resistance from New Japan regarding Kelly doing the podcast. Kelly had noted last week when launching the show that it was “completely unaffiliated with New Japan Pro Wrestling. They don’t endorse this podcast at all and provide no material for it.” The Place 2 Be Nation Twitter account has retweeted some comments from listeners complaining the show is gone with one blaming New Japan.
**Canyon Ceman, the WWE’s Director of Talent Development spoke to Times Now News in India about the WWE’s recruiting process in India and their television distribution deal that they are expected to announce for India this year.
**Legendary wrestler and former two-time NWA champion Jack Brisco died on this date in 2010 at age 68. Brisco essentially held the title from July 1973 until December 1975 except for a one-week title reign by Giant Baba in December 1974 when Brisco was on tour in Japan.
**Ronda Rousey turns 32 years old today.
**Jerry Lawler shared a story on his podcast from this past weekend’s Royal Rumble. During the kickoff show, Lawler received a phone call from Vince McMahon with the instruction to move his crown from the right side of him to the left.
**EVOLVE has announced that Angelo Dawkins of the Street Profits will take on Eddie Kingston at EVOLVE 122 on February 16th in Charlotte, North Carolina.
**NXT is sending Ricochet to EVOLVE for the March 15th event in Melrose, Massachusetts and March 16th in Queens, New York.
**The trailer for Dwayne Johnson’s next film, Hobbs & Shaw, has been released. The spinoff to the Fast & Furious series will be released August 2nd and features Roman Reigns with a part in the film as Johnson’s brother.
**The Alliance of American Football, which is run by Charlie Ebersol and Bill Polian, has announced a deal with Turner Sports. The deal calls for weekly games to stream on the B/R Live streaming service with games available on demand along with one regular season and one playoff game to air on TNT.
This is not an exclusive deal as the AAF previously announced a deal with CBS with the network carrying games on opening week along with one playoff game and the championship final. CBS Sports Network will be airing weekly games from the league, which launches on Saturday, February 9th.
The ten-week season will lead to four teams qualifying for the playoffs on April 20th and 21st with the championship final on April 27th. An interesting note is that both playoff games and the championship final will be airing at 9 am Eastern on those dates.
**The WWE stock closed at $82.23 on Friday.
MMA NEWS
**The UFC’s second event on ESPN+ goes down Saturday night from Fortaleza, Brazil with the preliminary card at 5 pm Eastern and the main card at 8. The weigh-ins took place on Friday with two fighters missing weight. Sarah Frota came in at 123 pounds for her strawweight fight with Livinha Souza and was fined 40% of her pay, according to MMA Junkie. Magomed Bibulatov missed the flyweight limit by one pound coming in at 127 and was fined 20%. Below is the card and results from the weigh-ins:
MAIN CARD (8 pm Eastern on ESPN+, TSN 5 in Canada)
*Raphael Assuncao (136) vs. Marlon Moraes (135)
*Jose Aldo (146) vs. Renato Moicano (145.5)
*Demian Maia (170.5) vs. Lyman Good (170.5)
*Charles Oliveira (154.5) vs. David Teymur (156)
*Justin Ledet (205) vs. Johnny Walker (205)
*Sarah Frota (123*) vs. Livinha Souza (115.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (5 pm on ESPN+, TSN 5 in Canada)
*Anthony Hernandez (184.5) vs. Markus Perez (185.5)
*Talia Santos (125) vs. Mara Romero Borella (125)
*Thiago Alves (170.5) vs. Max Griffin (170)
*Junior Albini (265.5) vs. Jair Rozenstruik (241.5)
*Geraldo de Freitas Jr. (145.5) vs. Felipe Dias Colares (145)
*Said Nurmagomedov (135) vs. Ricardo Ramos (135.5)
*Magomed Bibulatov (127*) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (124.5)
**LFA 59 is tonight from Phoenix, Arizona with David Michaud taking on Christian Aguilera in the main event on AXS TV at 10 pm Eastern.
**The UFC held a press conference Thursday in Las Vegas for the UFC 235 card on March 2nd. UFC president Dana White, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, Anthony Smith, Kamaru Usman, Ben Askren, Robbie Lawler, Cody Garbrandt, and Pedro Munhoz were in attendance.
There was little said by Jones about his hearing in Nevada this week other than he went into the hearing confident he would receive the license but did get worried as the hearing hit the three-hour mark. Jones stated he was not underestimating Smith, who is a major underdog, citing the first fight with Alexander Gustafsson and underestimating him and nearly being beat at UFC 165 in 2013.
The stars of the press conference were Woodley, Usman, and Askren. Woodley and Usman went back-and-forth for five minutes and added a lot of buzz for their fight and is a big challenge for Woodley. Askren was very funny explaining he wanted to fight Darren Till because “he’s an idiot”, he ran down Colby Covington and tried to get a fight with Usman but he’s fighting Lawler, who he admits is a bad stylistic fight for him. The funniest moment was Munhoz being asked to say something he didn’t like about his opponent Garbrandt and he had nothing bad to say, so Jones made a sign that he’s going to kill the pay-per-view with that answer.
**Dana White stated at the press conference that the fight between Holly Holm and Aspen Ladd for the March 2nd card is off. He didn’t add details, but Holm’s manager Lenny Fresquez issued the following statement to Brett Okamoto at ESPN:
We’re in negotiations on a contract extension right now. Holly was looking forward to this fight, she was looking forward to fighting Aspen Ladd. She’s very disappointed this fight is not happening, but she understands this is a business. We’re in the middle of those negotiations right now, and everybody thought it would be best to get through that.
Ladd apparently heard the news along with everyone else and wrote:
I signed to fight Holly Holm on 12/27/18. I’m ready to go, and am finding out this information, just now, like everyone else. I don’t know why Holly and her team have now backed out. Sorry everyone, this sucks, hopefully I have some good news to share soon.
**Marc Raimondi at MMA Fighting reported on the actual fight night weights of the fighters from last Saturday’s Bellator 214 event in Inglewood, California. Henry Corrales was the most prominent fighter that gained more than the allowable limit of 10% of their weight after the weigh-ins. Corrales weighed in at 145.7 for his featherweight fight with Aaron Pico but walked into the cage at 167.6 and increased his weight by 14.8%. This means Corrales will need clearance from a physician to allow him to compete at featherweight in his next fight. The largest gain was by David Pacheco on the preliminary card who ballooned from 155.6 to 184.7 pounds (18.4%), followed by Weber Almeida from 136.8 to 157.4 (15.7%), and Ryan Lilley from 135.8 to 153.2 (12.6%).
**Ross Pearson is set to fight Desmond Green on March 30th at the UFC Fight Night event on ESPN from Philadelphia. Pearson has lost five of six going back to July 2016 and last fought in July of last year dropping a decision to John Makdessi. Green has lost three of his last four and is looking to rebound from a decision loss to Mairbek Taisumov last September.
*****
Café Hangout: Hideo Itami, NXT Alternate Finishes & Calls
John Pollock and Wai Ting take your calls and chat about the week in wrestling news including Dean Ambrose and Hideo Itami requesting their WWE releases. Plus, NXT tapes multiple finishes for Velveteen Dream vs. Johnny Gargano, NXT TakeOver: Phoenix thoughts, Ring of Honor, Impact, MLW, and a preview of this weekend’s NJPW New Beginning.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/02/01/dean-ambrose-hideo-itami-nxt-alternate-finishes-cafe-hangout-live-1-31-19/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #29: WWF No Way Out (2000)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWF No Way Out 2000 featuring a title vs. career Hell In A Cell match between Triple H and Cactus Jack. We discuss the angles that led up to this event, why Mick Foley’s retirement lasted only weeks following this perfect sendoff, X-Pac stealing Kane’s girlfriend, and lots more from the year 2000.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/02/01/rewind-a-wai-29-wwf-no-way-out-2000/
*****
upNXT 1/31/19: Sky Pirates
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman chat this week’s WWE NXT including all the fallout from TakeOver: Phoenix, Kairi Sane & Io Shirai vs. Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir, The Street Profits vs. The Forgotten Sons, and a bunch of backstage interviews.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/31/upnxt-1-31-19-sky-pirates/
*****
DOUBLE SHOT 1/30/19: WWE Chronicle, WWE 24, Raw from Feb. 2000, BTE, Total Bellas
John Pollock & Wai Ting review episodes of WWE Chronicle on Paige and WWE 24 covering WrestleMania from New Orleans, the latest Being the Elite & Total Bellas, plus Raw is War from Feb. 21, 2000.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/24320109
*****
RASD 1/29/19: TOKE-n Champion, Dean Ambrose leaving, Jon Jones’ hearing
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown from Phoenix, Arizona featuring the unveiling of Daniel Bryan’s new environmentally friendly championship. We also discuss WWE’s confirmation of Dean Ambrose’s departure from the company in April.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/30/rasd-1-29-19-toke-n-champion-dean-ambrose-leaving-jon-jones-hearing/
*****
RAR 1/28/19: Royal Rumble fallout, Becky Lynch picks opponent, Jeff Jarrett
John & Wai discuss Raw after last night’s Royal Rumble with the main matches at WrestleMania 35 taking form, Becky Lynch selects the champion she will challenge, Jeff Jarrett and Road Dogg perform “With My Baby Tonight”, and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/29/rar-1-28-19-rumble-fallout-becky-picks-opponent-jeff-jarrett/
*****
WWE Royal Rumble 2019 POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Royal Rumble 2019 from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. They breakdown the entire card and discuss the winners of the Royal Rumble matches, which matches delivered and which didn’t click, the handling of John Cena’s absence and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/28/wwe-royal-rumble-2019-post-show-w-john-pollock-wai-ting/
*****
NXT TAKEOVER: PHOENIX POST SHOW
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman have a full review of the NXT TakeOver: Phoenix card going through all the matches, title changes, and future directions.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/01/27/nxt-takeover-phoenix-post-show/
*****
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