POST IT NOTES
**Nate Milton will be joining me tonight for our Impact Wrestling Rebellion POST Show. We will have a complete review of the pay-per-view and taking your feedback to the show.
**Nate also has the latest edition of The Rocky Maivia Picture Show with guest Brent Chittenden to review the 2005 film “Be Cool” and did a great review of the film.
**WH Park has put out a list of match recommendations for the Champion Carnival with his ratings of the top matches.
**Wai Ting and I will be back on Monday night with Rewind-A-Raw.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Tonight, is Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view from the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto. On paper, this looks to be a very good show and the audience in Toronto was a great crowd for the Slammiversary show last July. They are running back-to-back nights at the venue with the television tapings on Monday night. Later this week, the promotion will be running two nights at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, which are both television tapings. Here is the card for tonight’s show at 8 pm Eastern on Fite TV and traditional pay-per-view:
*Johnny Impact vs. Brian Cage for the Impact title with Lance Storm as the special referee – It’s a rematch from Homecoming and has been a well put together program that has made sense and been built for three months. It feels like the right time to switch the title onto Cage with the involvement of Lance Storm and establish him as the authority in the match.
*Pentagon Jr. and Fenix vs. LAX in a Full Metal Mayhem match for the Impact tag titles – This should be insane, and the consensus pick for match of the night heading into the show. It’s been designed as the blow-off to the program and therefore, Konnan should have a role in the match or post-match. It seems like LAX should be the ones to have their hands raised as Impact’s franchise tag team. The four guys are going to kill themselves in this match and cap off a solid program.
*Tessa Blanchard vs. Gail Kim – Personally, I think this has been the best-promoted feud of the matches taking place. Kim is coming out of retirement for one more match in her hometown. Blanchard has been excellent throughout this program, is a fantastic heel and is going to be one of the top stars in the industry for years to come. It will be interesting how Blanchard is handled, and she should win the match, and then they could do the mutual respect finish with Blanchard turning or keep her as the top heel. With Taya Valkyrie turning, she needs a babyface challenger and Blanchard in that spot could be the answer, although Blanchard is such a great villain that it feels early to turn her. I expect the match to be very good and Kim receiving a better send off than the previous one.
*Rich Swann vs. Sami Callihan for the X Division title – This hasn’t been the top story on Impact but it’s been really good if you’ve followed the television as they slowly outlined the history between the two. It’s hinting towards the two aligning after the feud with the idea they used to be as close as brothers, had a falling out, and miss the other. They will probably have interference from the Crist brothers and Madman Fulton to assist with Callihan.
*Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace for the Knockout’s title – It hasn’t had a major focus on television, and they shot an angle on the show this week where Taya attacked her in the gym. Both are solid performers and there are plenty of directions to go for the Knockout’s division. One idea could be Impact and Taya both losing their titles and disappear for a while and Grace could be programmed with Blanchard, which is a natural direction.
*Moose, Ethan Page & Josh Alexander vs. The Rascalz – This was added on Friday’s episode and could be a sleeper on the show. Alexander has tremendous upside and his pairing with Page is a great introduction for him before breaking out on his own. Moose has done fantastic character work with The Rascalz, who are all talented and this should be a great 12 or 13-minute match.
**They have just added a match between Scarlett Bordeaux and Rohit Raju to the pay-per-view.
**The NWA held its Crockett Cup event on Saturday night from the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina. The show was highlighted by a great main event between Nick Aldis and Marty Scurll, including Aldis bleeding as much as Veta Arteaga on the Bellator card. After the match, Scurll congratulated Aldis and they hugged. There were a lot of strong points to the show, among them was the terrific job they did with the legends in attendance with the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express participating in the tournament, an appearance by Dennis Condrey, Bobby Eaton, and Stan Lane together, Magnum T.A., and Nikita Koloff. The audience really got into the nostalgia and the promotion did a great job with the production elements and transforming the canvas to replicate a Jim Crockett Promotions event. I also felt the commentary was tremendous with Ian Riccaboni, Jim Cornette, and Joe Galli as I never felt the show dragged, even though there were a lot of matches on the card. The number of teams in the tournament led to a lot of matches and they had to rush to get through so many, plus several non-wrestling segments. We will have a full review of the show on the Double Shot this Wednesday.
**Jake Lee won the B Block of All Japan’s Champion Carnival tournament on Sunday and will face Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara at Korakuen Hall on Monday in the final. The final day of the B Block ended with Lee and Naoya Nomura tied with 10 points each and forced them to have a tiebreaker match, which Lee won. It would seem like the logical ending is Lee defeating Miyahara in the final and challenging for the title next. Below are the final standings of the tournament:
A BLOCK: Kento Miyahara (10 points), Dylan James (9), Yuji Okabayashi (9), Shuji Ishikawa (9), Zeus (8), Atsushi Aoki (8), Ryoji Sai (7), Yuma Aoyahgi (6), Gianni Valletta (6)
B BLOCK: Jake Lee (10), Naoya Nomura (10), Suwama (8), Yoshitatsu (8), Joe Doering (8), Daichi Hashimoto (8), Takashi Yoshida (8), Joel Redman (6), Sam Adonis (6)
**Pro Wrestling NOAH is airing the final night of the Global Tag League this Tuesday on their YouTube channel.
**The Raw tapings will be in Lexington, Kentucky on Monday night. There will be a Moment of Bliss segment with Alexa Bliss announcing the Raw participants for the men and women’s Money in the Bank Ladder matches for the pay-per-view on May 19th. The SmackDown and 205 Live tapings are Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio.
**Seth Rollins made a surprise appearance at an SCU Pro card on Saturday night in Walcott, Iowa:
MMA NEWS
**The UFC held their Fight Night card in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday night in front of 12,754 with a gate of $1.21 million and the following results:
*Dhiego Lima def. Court McGee by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
*Angela Hill def. Jodie Esquibel by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Jim Miller def. Jason Gonzalez by rear-naked choke at 2:12 of Round 1
*Gilbert Burns def. Mike Davis by rear-naked choke at 4:15 of Round 2
*Carla Esparza def. Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Augusto Sakai def. Andrei Arlovski by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Takashi Sato def. Ben Saunders by TKO at 1:18 of Round 2
*Roosevelt Roberts def. Thomas Gifford by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Cory Sandhagen def. John Lineker by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Glover Teixeira def. Ion Cutelaba by rear-naked choke at 3:37 of Round 2
*Mike Perry def. Alex Oliveira by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Greg Hardy def. Dmitrii Smoliakov by TKO at 2:15 of Round 1
*Jack Hermansson def. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
The Fight of the Night bonus went to Mike Perry and Alex Oliveira and the two Performance of the Night bonuses went to Glover Teixeira and Jim Miller for $50,000 each.
**The Bellator 220 card went down at the SAP Center in San Jose, California and streamed on DAZN, below are the main card results:
*Gaston Bolanos def. Nathan Stolen by TKO at 2:21 of Round 1
*Phil Davis def. Liam McGeary by TKO at 4:11 of Round 3
*Benson Henderson def. Adam Piccolotti by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Ilima-Lei Macfarlane def. Veta Arteaga by TKO (doctor’s stoppage) at 1:50 of Round 3
*Rory MacDonald and Jon Fitch fought to a majority draw (48-46 Fitch, 47-47, 47-47)
**Because of the tournament format, MacDonald advances as he retains his title with a majority draw and is tentatively scheduled to fight Neiman Gracie on June 14th at Bellator 222 at Madison Square Garden. MacDonald spoke very honestly in the cage after the fight about his relationship to God, being tentative in his fights and unsure if he has the desire to hurt people. It was one of the more open discussions a fighter will have moments after a fight and gave pause to the idea of MacDonald returning to fight in seven weeks. After the event, MacDonald spoke to the media and didn’t outright say he would be fighting Gracie but somewhat downplayed the comments in the cage. For MacDonald and Bellator, they will have to figure this out immediately as MacDonald would have to jump into another camp right away and Bellator would need to figure out a replacement, if MacDonald were unable to fight, which also adds the confusion of what would happen with the welterweight title.
**For the fight itself, I scored it 48-47 for MacDonald. I had Rounds 1, 2 and 4 for MacDonald and 3 and 5 for Fitch, all 10-9 rounds. All three judges scored the third round 10-8 for Fitch, which I didn’t go, but many people did. To me, the closest round was Round 4 where MacDonald did a lot of damage in the beginning of the round but was taken down and controlled for the duration. To me, the strikes were the key elements of the round and did significant damage.
**Jon Fitch said it was a good chance that it was the last fight of his career. He said after the fight, he made a promise to himself to retire after his next loss and he technically didn’t lose the fight to Rory MacDonald. He would be open to rejoining the tournament if MacDonald wasn’t ready to fight on June 14th. He said he is on the fence about retiring
*****
TRMPS #4: Be Cool (2005) w/ Brent Chittenden
On this edition of The Rocky Maivia Picture Show, Nate Milton welcomes Brent Chittenden (the “True North Nerds” podcast) into the theater to review 2005’s Be Cool!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/04/27/trmps-4-be-cool-2004-w-brent-chittenden/
*****
Café Hangout: WWE Q1 Financials with guest Brandon Howard
John Pollock and Wai Ting welcome Brandon Howard Thurston (Wrestlenomics, Fightful) to break down WWE’s First Quarter 2019 Earnings report. We discuss the company’s net loss of $8.4 million for the quarter, plus whether “superstar absences” may have truly contributed to WWE’s live event and ratings decrease.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/04/26/wwe-reports-8-4-million-net-loss-brandon-thurston-on-q1-2019-results-cafe-hangout-4-25-19/
*****
POST MOVIE REVIEW: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
John Pollock & Wai Ting review the tenth Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). On the week of Endgame’s release, we discuss Marvel’s first deep dive into its cosmic side as we learn more about the Infinity Stones and the world of Thanos.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/26368750
*****
upNXT 4/25/19: Disputed Era
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review this week’s edition of WWE NXT featuring Johnny Gargano vs. Roderick Strong (and the possible break-up of The Undisputed Era?), War Raiders vs. Street Profits for the NXT tag titles, Candice LeRae & Kacy Catanzaro in action, Kassius Ohno shows up… and more!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/04/25/upnxt-4-25-19-disputed-era/
*****
DOUBLE SHOT: The Killing of Bruiser Brody, BTE, Ten Pounds of Gold & more
John Pollock & Wai Ting review Dark Side of the Ring on ‘The Killing of Bruiser Brody’, Being the Elite, Ten Pounds of Gold, MLW Fusion, Road to Double or Nothing & more.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/26345863
*****
*****
RASD 4/23/19: Turn Owens Turn, Starrcast removals, BOSJ lineup
John Pollock and Wai Ting review Tuesday’s episode of WWE SmackDown as Kofi Kingston took on Shinsuke Nakamura with a big angle closing the show to set up Kingston’s next program, Charlotte Flair took on Bayley in a #1 contender’s match, Roman Reigns was not fired for attacking Vince McMahon, and we played Memento with Finn Balor and Andrade going right back to where they started last week.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/04/24/rasd-4-23-19-turn-owens-turn-starrcast-removals-bosj-lineup/
*****
RAR 4/22/19: Never Rest & Never Rust, MITB title match, Firefly Fun House
The mysterious Superstar Shakeup continued with more roster moves reflected on the show, a pair of three-way matches took place with the winners facing off to determine Seth Rollins’ next challenger for the Universal title, an insane re-introduction of Bray Wyatt, the transformation of Bobby to Robert Roode & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/04/23/rar-4-22-19-never-rest-never-rust-mitb-title-match-firefly-fun-house/
*****
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