POST IT NOTES
**Friday night on the site, Mike Murray will be back as he joins me for the ROH 17th Anniversary POST Show. Mike and I will go through the entire card from Las Vegas, a look towards the MSG card and how the promotion is faring in 2019. We will also be taking feedback from the POST Wrestling Forum.
**A new edition of The Rocky Maivia Picture Show will be out Saturday with host Nate Milton joined by Garrett Martin of Paste Magazine and Kris Ealy (“Kris from L.A”) to review “Walking Tall” starring Dwayne Johnson.
**We have a bunch of new shows up on the site today, including an interview with Ian Riccaboni chatting about tonight’s Ring of Honor pay-per-view. Ian began as the lead voice on ROH two years ago and we discuss his promotion to that spot, opting to re-sign with ROH earlier this year, the departure of Cody, The Young Bucks & Hangman Page, new talent coming, the Madison Square Garden card and more.
**The newest edition of Rewind-A-Wai is up with Wai Ting and I reviewing WrestleMania 26, which was the result of our first listeners’ poll from Espresso Executive Producer Chad Olsen. On this show, Wai and I dive into 2010, discuss our documentary “Survival of the Hitman” on Bret Hart leading into this show, our trip to Calgary, Shawn Michaels’ retirement, the Bret vs. Vince McMahon match, UFC presenting a huge show the night prior, the business ‘Mania did, Raw vs. Impact head-to-head and your feedback. The show is available for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**If you are a Double Double, Iced Capp or Espresso member of the Café, you will have access to the video version of this week’s Rewind-A-Wai.
**Cody Saftic joined me Thursday to chat all the latest news going on in MMA, including Conor McGregor’s arrest, this Saturday’s card from London with Darren Till vs. Jorge Masvidal, the state of the UFC’s heavyweight division, what Tyron Woodley does next, the legacy of Georges St-Pierre and more.
**The latest edition of upNXT is on the site with Braden Herrington and Davie Portman reviewing this week’s show, including the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
**We will have a bonus show up Sunday on the POST Wrestling Café.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Ring of Honor returns to pay-per-view tonight from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada at 9 pm Eastern. Below is the card:
*Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven for the ROH title – This has been teased for quite some time with the dueling world titles, culminating with Lethal destroying Taven’s version on this week’s episode. Lethal is very consistent in these main event style matches. Taven has grown into an effective heel, although everyone expects Lethal to win this one to set up his match with Scurll at The Garden.
*The Briscoes vs. PCO and Brody King for the ROH tag titles – Brody King suffered a broken hand in Australia last week and is planning to work through it with a cast on. That probably means PCO doing the major spots in the match, which sounds scary. PCO is killing himself in these matches and has set the bar high for himself. All his matches are getting rave reviews but it’s a tough standard he’s set for himself. I see the Briscoes retaining and keeping the double title match with the G.O.D. together for The Garden.
*Bandido vs. Rush – This should be a huge match for Bandido and ultimately will come down to the audience. Rush is a phenomenal personality and is very good at heating up crowds, although it doesn’t always come through on these pay-per-view broadcasts when a crowd is into a match. I feel Bandido was a major signing by ROH and stands to have a blow away year in 2019. It’s an interesting match to book considering both are fresh to the promotion. The hope should be they have a hot match. It seems inevitable that Rush will be reunited with his LIJ stablemates on a future show involving New Japan, it’s only a question of how fast they get to that.
*Marty Scurll vs. Kenny King – Scurll won the Survival of the Fittest tournament and therefore he has the title match at The Garden, but he recently lost to Kenny King. This seems simple enough where Scurll gets his win back and goes into The Garden strong. They should have a face-off at the end of the night with Scurll and the ROH champion.
*Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein for the Women of Honor championship – This is a rematch after Klein lost the title to Iwatani recently. I’m a fan of Klein’s and think she’s a good heel for the division but I’d leave the title on Iwatani. She adds interest to a Women of Honor division that has been lacking a lot. I feel Iwatani will be one of the big stars of tonight’s show and gets over big.
*Jeff Cobb vs. Shane Taylor for the ROH Television title – Cobb has been excellent since joining ROH and just had a good television match with Silas Young last weekend. It looks like the idea is that Cobb doesn’t have the size advantage and the match builds to him lifting Taylor and hitting the Tour of the Islands for the impressive visual of that move on a larger man.
*Silas Young vs. Jonathan Gresham – This was added earlier in the week. Gresham is a special talent and I’m hopeful that 2019 is a breakthrough for him as a pushed star in the promotion. Young has a great character and can afford loses without any issue, so I’m looking for Gresham to win. He would be a great pick for the Best of the Super Juniors tournament this spring.
*Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams vs. Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan – This was another late addition to the card. It looks good on paper and I see the Lifeblood teammates getting the win. It would seem likely that Marseglia and O’Ryan are involved in the main event with Taven.
**Due to Colt Cabana touring with New Japan, Ian Riccaboni will be calling tonight’s show with Nick Aldis and Caprice Coleman.
**The New Japan Cup continues with second-round matches at Korakuen Hall on Saturday and Sunday. The following tournament matches are scheduled:
*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (Saturday)
*Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Saturday)
*Toru Yano vs. Colt Cabana (Sunday)
*Minoru Suzuki vs. Sanada (Sunday)
Tanahashi seems like a lock to advance and I’d be stunned if he didn’t. Ibushi just came back and I pegged him to go late into the tournament, so I’m picking Ibushi. Zack Sabre Jr. has never lost in the New Japan Cup after winning last year. Ibushi has beaten Sabre at the last two G1 tournaments, although Sabre submitted Ibushi in last year’s New Japan Cup. With Tanahashi advancing, you will either get a rematch of last year’s New Japan Cup final with Sabre or a rematch of last year’s G1 final with Ibushi.
On the other end, I see Yano advancing over Cabana and it’s a coin flip between Suzuki and Sanada. Suzuki has the longstanding program with Yano that I can see that happening. I’d also love to see Ibushi and Suzuki if each advanced.
**EVOLVE has a pair of events this weekend with WWE sending Velveteen Dream to wrestle. These shows originally featured Ricochet, but he was pulled a few weeks back from wrestling but is still appearing at both events for meet-and-greets. Tonight’s card takes place from Melrose, Massachusetts and will be streaming at Club WWN at 8 pm Eastern with the following matches:
*Velveteen Dream vs. Orange Cassidy
*The Street Profits vs. Two members of The Unwanted (Eddie Kingston, Shane Strickland, Joe Gacy, and Colby Corino)
*Austin Theory vs. John Silver for the EVOLVE title
*Darby Allin vs. Josh Briggs
*JD Drake and Anthony Henry vs. AR Fox and Leon Ruff
**EVOLVE is in Queens, New York on Saturday at 6 pm Eastern with Velveteen Dream and The Street Profits taking on Eddie Kingston, Shane Strickland, and Joe Gacy, plus JD Drake vs. Austin Theory for the WWN championship.
**Here are the matches for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling at 10 pm Eastern on Pursuit, Twitch and the Fight Network in Canada:
*Johnny Impact vs. Brian Cage for the Impact title
*Tessa Blanchard vs. Jordynne Grace in a #1 contender’s match
*Sami Callihan and oVe vs. Rich Swann, Tommy Dreamer, and Willie Mack
*Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards vs. Desi Hit Squad
*KM and Fallah Bahh vs. Reno Scum (Reno Scum will also be working the ROH television tapings in Las Vegas on Saturday)
**The Raw crew has a house show in Edmonton, Alberta tonight with Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin promoted locally as the main event. On Saturday, the Raw crew is in Milwaukee with Ronda Rousey advertised for that show. The SmackDown crew begins Saturday night in Dubuque, Iowa with AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton and Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair announced.
**NOVA Pro Wrestling has announced that their WrestleMania Weekend card as part of “The Collective” at the White Eagle Hall in Jersey City is off. The Saturday at Noon timeslot is going to be picked up by Game Changer Wrestling and they will be honoring the tickets sold to the Nova card.
The big match Nova was promoting for that show between Shinjiro Otani and Jonathan Gresham will still be happening at the new show in its place. The promotion has announced it is going on hiatus after their March 30th card following a swarm of messages online this week regarding talent not being paid. It is unknown if any of the other matches that were booked for ‘Mania weekend will be salvaged. Talent booked for the Nova card in Jersey City included Jordynne Grace, Saraya Knight (Paige’s mother), Puma King, Session Moth Martina, Faye Jackson, Shazza McKenzie, Jimmy Yuta, and Chris Brookes among others.
**This Saturday night, OTT presents ScrapperMania 5 from Dublin National Stadium and the long-awaited rematch between Walter and Jordan Devlin for the OTT championship. Editor Shaun Ryan hit it out of the park again with the following promotional video, which was released earlier this week:
**The WWE has officially added Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles to the WrestleMania 35 card on Sunday, April 7th at MetLife Stadium. Below are the matches officially announced:
*Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch for the Raw women’s title
*Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal title
*Triple H vs. Batista
*Shane McMahon vs. The Miz
*Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
*Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander OR Tony Nese for the Cruiserweight title
**Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live averaged 2,198,000 viewers on the USA Network following the Fastlane show. It was SmackDown’s second-highest number of 2019.
**It’s now official that Shayna Baszler will defend the NXT women’s title against Bianca Belair, Kairi Sane, and Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver: New York on Friday, April 5th at the Barclays Center.
**Arn Anderson will be appearing at Starrcast this May and will be on stage for one of their big events, although they have not released specifics of what Anderson will be doing. The convention will be taking place at both the Tuscany Casino and Suites and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from May 23-26th.
**The WWE stock had a good week and closed at $92.37 on Friday. This is the highest the stock has traded at since last October. The stock got a favorable review from Wolfe Research earlier this week, who have adjusted their price target of the stock price from $105 to $157 with the average price among analysts pegged at $100.
**Chinlock Wrestling is holding a huge charity event in Kingston, Ontario this June. The promotion is holding a wrestling card at the Leon’s Centre along with a “Chinlock for Charity” Legends Convention the same day. This week, they announced Bret Hart as the headliner for the convention with Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Mark Henry, Hornswoggle, Billy Gunn, Typhoon, Tommy Dreamer, and Jimmy Hart announced for the convention as well.
**Chelsea Green suffered a broken wrist in the middle of her match with Jessie Elaban at the NXT tapings Wednesday night at Full Sail University. Green underwent surgery on Thursday morning but did not indicate how long she is expected to be out. Green was part of Tough Enough in 2015 and then wrestled as Laurel Van Ness for Impact Wrestling for two years. She was signed by the WWE last summer.
**AXS TV will be running a special two-hour edition of New Japan Pro Wrestling tonight at 8 pm Eastern featuring matches from the 47th Anniversary card earlier this month with the following airing:
*Jay White vs. Will Ospreay in a non-title match
*Taiji Ishimori vs. Jushin Thunder Liger for the IWGP junior heavyweight title
*Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & Sanada vs. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto
*Shingo Takagi and Bushi vs. Roppongi 3K for the IWGP junior heavyweight tag titles
**Warrior Wrestling has a big show tonight in Chicago Heights, Illinois at 7:30 pm with a stacked card consisting of: SCU vs. Sami Callihan & oVe, Jordynne Grace vs. Lisa Marie Varon, L.A. Park vs. Sam Adonis, Eddie Edwards vs. Austin Aries, Dr. Britt Baker vs. Kylie Rae, Rich Swann vs. Ace Austin vs. Gringo Loco vs. Isaiah Velasquez vs. Matt Knicks vs. Andrew Everett, Brian Cage vs. Trey Miguel vs. Dezmond Xavier vs. Zachary Wentz, Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Robert Anthony, Moose vs. Wardlow, Space Pirates & TBA vs. Kongo Kong, Jungle Boy & Hornswoggle. There will also be a raffle at the show for two VIP floor seats to “Double or Nothing” in Las Vegas.
**Pro Wrestling NOAH will be holding their final show from Hakata Star Lanes on Sunday, which will be streaming on their YouTube channel. Below is the card:
*Kaito Kiyomiya and Kenoh vs. Mohammed Yone and Quiet Storm
*Go Shiosaki vs. Takashi Sugiura
*Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
*Katsuhiko Nakajima, Akitoshi Saito, Maybach Taniguchi & Masao Inoue vs. Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada
*Minoru Tanaka and Hi69 vs. Kotaro Suzuki and Yo-Hey
*Hajime Ohara, Junji Tanaka & Hitoshi Kumano vs. Daisuke Harada, Hayata & Tadasuke
**MLW has announced a match between Gringo Loco and Hijo de L.A. Park for Thursday, April 4th, at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York.
**Progress Wrestling has announced that Darby Allin has been added to the Super Strong Style 16 tournament in May.
**There will be a premium VIP signing with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Axxess on Monday, April 8th at Brooklyn Pier 12. This is the first time that Axxess is being extended to the day after WrestleMania. There will also be a premium VIP signing that day with AJ Styles at Noon.
**There is a great promo by Chris Jericho on Cody’s voicemail at the end of this week’s Road to Double or Nothing.
**wXw has posted the surprise appearance by Alexander Wolfe at last weekend’s 16 Carat Gold tournament when Marius Al-Ani made an open challenge.
MMA NEWS
**The 22-year old fan that approached Conor McGregor this past Monday in Florida and had his phone stomped on and taken by McGregor, has filed a civil suit against the UFC fighter. Ahmed Abdirzak is seeking $15,000 and is accusing McGregor of battery, assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. McGregor was arrested following this incident on Monday night and is facing two felony charges for strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief. McGregor was released Monday night on $12,500 bail and will have his arraignment hearing April 10th.
**TMZ has also released video of the cell phone incident from Monday:
**MMA Junkie was the first to report that Cristina Ferguson, the wife of UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson, has filed for a temporary restraining order. The Orange County Superior Court is scheduled to have a domestic violence prevention services investigation next week on March 22nd and a hearing on April 5th. Cristina Ferguson issued the following statement regarding the matter:
Tony Ferguson is a good husband and good father to our son. The current legal proceedings are a part of a process to ensure that Tony will receive the help necessary to continue being the best possible, as well as to pursue his passion and career as a UFC champion fighter. All positive well wishes are sincerely appreciated and I hope our privacy will be respected.
MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi reports that there were several incident reports filed by police in Santa Ana, California regarding domestic disturbances at Ferguson’s home over the past 14 months. There were several examples of erratic behavior displayed by Tony Ferguson, such as tearing his home apart after it was stated he had not slept for three days and believed that someone had placed a computer chip in his leg and that was someone was inside the walls of their home. The last report came on March 8th where Tony is believed to have changed the locks when his wife was out, and Tony was with the couples’ two-year-old son. The report stated that Cristina was not concerned about the child’s safety while being with the child’s father and no arrests were made or charges filed throughout these disturbances.
**MMA Fighting reports that Arnold Berdon, the husband of UFC fighter Rachael Ostovich, pleaded no contest on Thursday in his court appearance after being accused of domestic assault. The no contest means Berdon will not contest the case, although is not admitting guilt. His plea is for a second-degree felony assault charge and will be sentenced on May 16th. He is facing a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Ostovich received a restraining order after alleging that Berdon attacked her last November and was not the first time he did so. She has also filed for divorce
**The weigh-ins for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card in London took place earlier today. The only fighter to miss the mark was Jack Marshman, who came in at 188 pounds for his middleweight fight with John Phillips. The fight will remain on the card, although Marshman will forfeit 20% of his purse. Below is the card and the weigh-in results:
MAIN CARD (4 pm Eastern on ESPN+)
*Darren Till (171) vs. Jorge Masvidal (171)
*Leon Edwards (170) vs. Gunnar Nelson (170.5)
*Volkan Oezdemir (205) vs. Dominick Reyes (206)
*Jose Quinonez (135.5) vs. Nathaniel Wood (135.5)
*Danny Roberts (170) vs. Claudio Silva (170)
*Jack Marshman (188*) vs. John Phillips (185)
PRELIMINARY CARD (1 pm Eastern on ESPN+)
*Arnold Allen (145) vs. Jordan Rinaldi (145)
*Joseph Duffy (155) vs. Marc Diakiese (155)
*Nicolae Negumereanu (204) vs. Saparbeg Safarov (205)
*Tom Breese (186) vs. Ian Heinisch (186)
*Dan Ige (146) vs. Danny Henry (146)
*Molly McCann (126) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (125)
*Mike Grundy (145) vs. Nad Narimani (145.5)
*****
POST INTERVIEW: Ring of Honor’s Ian Riccaboni
John Pollock chats with ROH’s Ian Riccaboni ahead of their 17th Anniversary card and discuss the roster changes, re-signing with the promotion, MSG & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/15/post-interview-ring-of-honors-ian-riccaboni/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #32: WrestleMania 26 (Patreon)
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WrestleMania 26 from March 2010 with The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/15/rewind-a-wai-32-wwe-wrestlemania-26/
*****
upNXT 3/14/19: I Don’t Read Ahead
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman are back to review this week’s WWE NXT with the semi-finals of the Dusty Classic Tag Team Tournament & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/14/upnxt-3-14-19-i-dont-read-ahead/
*****
POST INTERVIEW: MMA analyst Cody Saftic
John Pollock is joined by MMA analyst Cody Saftic to chat Conor McGregor’s future, the legacy of Georges St-Pierre, the UFC’s heavyweight division, Jon Jones & lots more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/14/interview-cody-saftic-on-conor-mcgregor-till-masvidal-gsp/
*****
DOUBLE SHOT: Total Bellas, Being the Elite, Retrospective: Chris Parks, Kazeem Famuyide interview
This week’s reviews include Total Bellas with Brie Bella’s retirement, an interview with Chris “Abyss” Parks from Fight Network’s Retrospective, Being the Elite as MJF has dinner with Brandi Rhodes, and former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide speaks.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/13/double-shot-3-13-19-brie-bella-retires-abyss-former-wwe-writer-speaks-bte/
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 3/12/19: Kofi’s Choice
A review of the post-Fastlane edition of the show with Shane McMahon’s explanation for his attack on The Miz and confirmation of their match at WrestleMania, Randy Orton drops a “Dixie Carter” reference & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/13/rasd-3-12-19-kofis-choice-tanning-with-dixie-carter-shane-miz-set-for-mania/
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 3/11/19: Carny Con Artists, Hunter-Batista set, Conor McGregor arrested
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring a face-to-face involving Triple H and Dave Batista, Kurt Angle announces his retirement plans, Ronda Rousey annihilates Dana Brooke and a farewell address from The Shield.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/12/rar-3-11-19-carny-con-artists-hunter-batista-set-conor-mcgregor-arrested/
*****
WWE FASTLANE 2019 POST SHOW
Roman Reigns returns to in-ring action as The Shield teams up for one last time, Vince McMahon toys around with Kofi Kingston’s dreams of becoming WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens vs. ??? steals the show despite an unfavorable set-up, and the latest chapter in the Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte vs. Ronda Rousey feud leaves many viewers dissatisfied.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/03/11/wwe-fastlane-2019-post-show/
*****
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