POST IT NOTES
**Tonight, Wai Ting and I are back with Rewind-A-SmackDown as we review the show from San Antonio, Texas and take your feedback. We will also chat about the latest news, the Kevin Owens interview with Lilian Garcia, and more.
**We have Rewind-A-Raw posted on the site with Wai Ting and I going through Monday’s episode from Dallas and a discussion on the changes, a breakdown of the opening segment and how it was produced, how the commercial breaks were handled, the tone and pacing of the show, and lots more. Plus, your feedback and questions and a preview of the week ahead at POST Wrestling.
**On Wednesday, WH Park will join Wai and I to preview the G1 Climax with an extensive primer on the tournament. We will go through the blocks, key matches, predictions, and much more. This show will be released Wednesday evening in place of The Double Shot, which will return after the G1 this summer.
**The deadline to enter our G1 Climax contest with your picks is Thursday night at Midnight Eastern and it’s free to enter. The top three will receive an Iced Capp prize pack from POST Wrestling that includes our ultra-rare CASSETTE.
POST SCHEDULE
*Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting
*Wednesday: G1 Climax Primer with John Pollock, Wai Ting & WH Park
*Thursday: Café Hangout with Damian Abraham LIVE in-studio (3 pm ET for Double Double+ subscribers)
*Thursday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
*Thursday: UFC 239 Preview with John Pollock & Cody Saftic
*Friday: ASK-A-WAI mailbag show (Patreon)
*Saturday: Cruel Summer “2001” with WH Park & Wai Ting (Keiji Mutoh vs. Yuji Nagata)
*Saturday: G1 Climax Night 1 POST Show with John Pollock & Wai Ting (Live for Double Double+)
*Sunday: Cruel Summer “2002” with WH Park & Dylan Fox (Masahiro Chono vs. Yoshihiro Takayama)
*Sunday: Impact Slammiversary POST Show with John Pollock & Nate Milton
WRESTLING NEWS
**WWE fans in Glasgow, Scotland who had purchased tickets to a live edition of Raw this November at the SSE Hydro have been informed the event is being changed to a house show. An email alert went out Tuesday announcing that the show will no longer be televised but the lineup of talent from Raw will stay intact. There was no reason given for the change and refunds are available until July 28th. The show is set to take place Monday, November 11th during the promotion’s European tour. This follows several dates on the tour being canceled recently. It has been speculated on that this could be a conflict with the next show in Saudi Arabia. The events have been taking place on Friday afternoon since the deal began last year but the problem with November is that SmackDown will be airing live on Fox the same day.
**Monday’s Raw was a drastically different show and it had to. With the publicity and attention that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff’s new roles received, it had to be a show where you went outside the usual lines of programming to capture people tuning in out of curiosity. After the show, I was told that the production meeting was the usual set up with Vince McMahon and Raw head writer Ed Koskey running it and should be the same scenario tonight with McMahon and Ryan Ward. Those looking for clues regarding Paul Heyman’s fingerprints could see many on the show, but it is still McMahon in the role of showrunner that has the final say but has an incentive to be more open-minded to different ideas. Two items on the show that were pointed out to me from someone in the company as signs of Heyman was the angle with Mike & Maria Kanellis and the use of the Street Profits. The turn involving AJ Styles had the seeds planted over the past few weeks and was not a spur of the moment decision. It’s a good role for Styles in the heel skin and a lifeboat for Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. Whatever you want to say about the Kanellis’ pregnancy angle, it gave a big spotlight to Maria, who should have a more prominent role. The opening segment was very effective, and I liked many of the elements, including the aerial view of the carnage that looked different and if a viewer was flipping channels, would stop to see what you had stumbled upon. By the end of the show, it felt like a program where they were not going to blow everything up as WCW did with Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff. Instead, it felt like a show where all new ideas were welcomed but they were going to play in the existing sandbox of characters and storylines but with obvious latitude to feel new and different. Regardless of how much was Heyman specifically, he comes out of this as the big winner as he’ll be attributed with the positivity surrounding Raw.
**Tonight’s SmackDown and 205 Live tapings take place from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. There was nothing promoted ahead of time for SmackDown other than Kofi Kingston and Samoa Joe being there. Later in the day, they announced a match between Big E. and Daniel Bryan for SmackDown.
Dave Meltzer has reported that Eric Bischoff is expected to be in San Antonio, although his first ‘official’ show isn’t expected to be until the Tuesday after Extreme Rules.
205 Live will feature a Tornado tag match between The Lucha House Party and The Singhs and a six-man tag with Drew Gulak, Mike Kanellis & Ariya Daivari vs. Tony Nese, Oney Lorcan & Jack Gallagher.
**It was revealed on the latest edition of 83 Weeks that Bischoff is moving to Stamford, Connecticut with his wife for the new role as Executive Director of SmackDown.
**Jacques Rougeau Sr. passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89. Johnny was the father of Jacques Jr., Raymond, and Armand and the brother of legendary fixture Johnny Rougeau. Jacques stepped away from wrestling while his brother was able to run the territory after Eddie Quinn left Montreal. Johnny would help usher in a boom period for the province of Quebec and led to Jacques Sr. returning. Jacques Sr. won the IWA International heavyweight title five times in Montreal and tag titles once with partner Gino Brito. He also wrestled for Pedro Martinez’s NWF promotion in New York and became their heavyweight champion in January 1973 when he defeated Waldo Von Erich in a tournament final after Johnny Valentine vacated the championship. We have a bio on the site that was submitted by Montreal historian Pat Laprade.
**Kevin Owens was a guest on Lilian Garcia’s ‘Chasing Glory’ podcast earlier this week and it was an interesting discussing regarding Owens’ plight in WWE. The tone is one of frustration that Owens projects more on himself than the company. He explained that he has constantly overachieved at wrestling, including his first two years on the main roster where he came in and beat John Cena out of the gate and would become Universal champion in September 2016. He spoke about Vince McMahon’s reaction to his match with Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 33 in 2017 and how things spiraled after that point. While the WWE film crew was following Owens around for his ‘365’ special on the WWE Network, they caught Owens going up to McMahon after the match in gorilla and he was furious. Later, Jericho spoke about McMahon’s reaction and that he thought their match was ‘one of the worst in WrestleMania history’, which was preposterous but no sense debating because it’s Vince McMahon’s show and if that’s what he thinks it matters little what the overall reaction to the match was. Owens acknowledged in the interview that he has problems enjoying the moment and being happy on a professional level stating that he never took the time to appreciate what he accomplished when he became Universal champion. Unlike a lot of WWE’s documentaries that present a struggle and have the feel-good ending, Owens is still having his struggles with his role. In terms of honesty, I place Owens very high as someone introspective and who bears his feelings – good and bad. I’d recommend listening to the interview to get a sense of the insecurities that talent deal with at WWE where the usual rules of just getting over don’t always apply and you’re given a playbook that you have to decode before you can run the plays.
**The full card for EVOLVE 131 has been released for the card that will stream live on the WWE Network on Saturday, July 13th at 8 pm Eastern from Philadelphia:
*Adam Cole vs. Akira Tozawa for the NXT title
*Austin Theory vs. JD Drake in a ‘Winner Take All’ match for the EVOLVE and WWN titles
*Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy vs. AR Fox & Leon Ruff for the EVOLVE tag titles
*Drew Gulak vs. Matt Riddle in a non-title match
*Arturo Ruas vs. Anthony Henry
*Babatunde vs. Colby Corino
*Curt Stallion vs. Harlem Bravado vs. Sean Maluta vs. Stephen Wolf
*Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Greene
**AAA held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the matches for TripleMania on Saturday, August 3rd at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City. The show is scheduled to stream live on Twitch with English and Spanish commentary and will air on TV Azteca. Below is the current line up, including the professional wrestling debut of former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and members of AEW working the show:
*Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. in a Mask vs. Hair match
*The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix & Laredo Kid (a rematch from Fyter Fest)
*Cain Velasquez, Cody Rhodes & Psycho Clown vs. Texano Jr., Taurus & TBA
*Lady Shani vs. Taya Valkyrie vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Faby Apache vs. La Hiedra vs. Chik Tormenta vs. Keyra
*LA Parka vs. Pagano vs. Puma King vs. Aerostar vs. Drago
*El Hijo del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. & Golden Magic vs. Mocho Cota Jr., Carta Brava Jr. & Tito Santana vs. Pimpinela Escarlata, Mamba & Maximo
*Nino Hamburguesa & Big Mami vs. Sammy Guevara & Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Australian Suicide & Vanilla vs. Lady Maravilla & Villano III Jr.
**Diamond Dallas Page posted a note that his former sidekick Max Muscle (John Czawlytko) passed away last Thursday at the age of 56. He was a bodybuilder that got into wrestling in 1992 and signed with WCW the following year. He wrestled as ‘Big Bad John’ and later was given the ‘Max Muscle’ moniker. He was paired with Page as his bodyguard and is the role he is most remembered for. He worked for the company until 1997 and would wrestle sporadically after leaving. He made a return in October 2009 and wrestled twice for the Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence promotion in Fort Worth, Texas.
**Former Olympic wrestler and pro wrestling standout Yoshiaki Yatsu had the lower portion of his right leg amputated last week. The 62-year old suffers from diabetes, which he was diagnosed with when he was 35. The amputation was required after bacteria had entered his bloodstream. Yatsu represented Japan in the 1976 Olympic games in Montreal and missed the 1980 games due to Japan boycotting with the Americans. He transitioned to professional wrestling with New Japan and later jumped to All Japan in 1984. Yatsu was part of successful tag teams with Riki Choshu and Jumbo Tsuruta with Yatsu becoming one of the top wrestlers in the world during the mid-80s. As late as age 45, he worked for PRIDE doing a pair of fights with Gary Goodridge in October 2000 and a rematch in September 2001, which Goodridge won by TKO in both fights. Yatsu wrestled for DDT last month in Ehime in a multi-man tag. Yatsu teamed with DDT owner Sanshiro Takagi, Yukio Naya & Rising Hayato and lost to Tatsumi Fujinami, Konsuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata.
**Seth Rollins issued an apology on Tuesday to Will Ospreay for bringing up his bank account in comparison to Ospreay’s last week. The two engaged in a back-and-forth and Rollins acknowledged his statement about their bank accounts was an error:
After a few days to sit on it, I’d like to apologize to @WillOspreay for the tweet I sent his way about comparing bank accounts. It was dumb of me & not in line with my values. The moment I pressed the send button I knew it was trash, but I’m too stubborn for my own good.
**Tony Khan spoke to the media after Fyter Fest and of the interviews he has done, it was the most insightful regarding his philosophies and attitude toward the product. First off, I think the decision to go in front of the media and offer a sense of transparency is a small element that will set AEW apart. It is done with New Japan but typically in character and an extension of the show while this is more of a scrum with the media like you would see after a major sporting event. From the standpoint of AEW, it sends reporters home with stories and content that ultimately drive the discussion of AEW much like MMA sites would get out of a Dana White scrum when he still did them after cards. Below are some of the items from the scrum:
-Khan started the scrum with an update on Cody that he received several staples to the back of his head but did not have a concussion.
-He said they were not planning to do intergender matches and stated the two moments at ‘All In’ he didn’t enjoy was Jordynne Grace being struck in the face during the Over the Budget Battle Royal and the Penis Druids. He noted that intergender wrestling was a complex subject but said he wasn’t a fan of the Grace spot and how it came off. Regarding the penis druids, he said that was the memory people came away with and forgot that Hangman Page had won the match against Joey Janela. When pressed about how seriously AEW pursued Joey Ryan, he wouldn’t comment but said he likes Ryan and he’s featured on Being the Elite.
-The usage of thumb tacks, blood, cursing, etc. will not be part of the TNT show but could be seen on future pay-per-view events.
**MLW has announced the following matches and segments for Saturday’s live special on beIN Sports at 9 pm Eastern from Cicero Stadium and goes head-to-head with the G1 Climax card and UFC 239:
*Tom Lawlor vs. Jacob Fatu for the MLW title
*Open challenge for Alex Hammerstone’s National title
*Rey Horus vs. Myron Reed
*The Jim Cornette Experience with guest Salina de la Renta
**Today is Bret Hart’s 62nd birthday.
**PWG has announced that the first entrant into this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament is A-Kid. The tournament begins Thursday, September 19th with the remaining tournament taking place Friday and Sunday that weekend from The Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.
**The Dallas News has a story on this Saturday’s G1 Climax card at the American Airlines Center in Dallas with comments from Mark Cuban, Andrew Simon of AXS TV, Dave Meltzer, and Lance Hoyt.
REVIEWS
AEW Fyter Fest
-The presentation was a major league production and had that feeling from the moment the show began.
-On the pre-show, it was carried by the three-way tag match and had a great start to the show. SCU is tremendous as the opening match act that is over to the crowd and allows them to chant the catchphrase out of the gate. They used Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian to open the pre-show and Christopher Daniels to open the main show.
-It was interesting to watch The Young Bucks try a ‘Being the Elite’ bit on the pre-show with the documentary-style interviews to mock Fyre Fest. This didn’t land and it was the tonal change of the YouTube series versus a live show atmosphere. It’s a lesson for the television show in the fall and understanding the medium and audience. There is room for comedy on the weekly series and I wouldn’t encourage they shy away from it but it’s a different vibe than the DIY YouTube series versus a show with slick production values and a high budget presentation.
-I’m sure Alex Jebailey is a wonderful guy, but I failed to understand the point of his involvement beyond him engaging in wrestler fantasy camp at the expense of the audience. He obviously worked hard at having a real match, but this is supposed to be the major league level of wrestling. I understand the CEO involvement but if I attend a concert, I don’t need to see the event promoter get on stage and sing a song with the group I paid to see. On the other hand, The Golden Boy made a seamless transition into the broadcast with Jim Ross and Excalibur and was a welcome addition to the show.
-Riho and Yuka Sakazaki stood out for me in the women’s three-way. They both have superstar level charisma as babyfaces and are fresh faces to the North American audience. Nyla Rose was better suited for a match where she can serve as a base and be the dominant heel whereas that uniqueness of her size was mitigated when Awesome Kong was added at Double or Nothing.
-It’s a broken record but MJF is going to be a breakout star once he is on TNT weekly. He fills a void that is sorely needed in wrestling and is among the best talkers anywhere in the industry with a level of confidence that is incredible to see from a 23-year old.
-They established time limits on the show with a 20-minute limit mentioned throughout the night, including updates from Justin Roberts as they do in New Japan and other promotions. It added drama to the end of the Cody Rhodes (the last name being included when Justin Roberts introduced him) vs. Darby Allin match and was a moral win for Allin that he lasted with one of the top guys. I could go several lifetimes without seeing a Coffin Drop onto the edge of the apron again. When someone like Lance Storm says he would be more willing to take an unprotected chair shot than that bump, it speaks volumes to its danger and residual effects. I went over the chair shot spot on Rewind-A-Raw and I hated it for multiple reasons.
-The final two matches were solid with the six-man an excellent showcase of the talent and tore down the house. The main event was a violent spectacle to distance Jon Moxley from Dean Ambrose for those that didn’t see his match with Juice Robinson. There was no reference to Moxley winning the United States title nor did he wear it. It did a lot for Janela as the underdog willing to put his body through extreme pain. It was interesting going in how they would differentiate this match with the Cody and Darby Allin match because you could have done the violence with Allin but not with the main event like this. In the end, I think it enhanced both Janela and Allin while Cody and Moxley are the big guns. The show-closing brawl involving Kenny Omega and Moxley was great and they pointed you in numerous directions up and down the card.
ROH Best in the World
-Heading into the show, I thought they needed a home run show that everyone would be talking about the next day and they didn’t hit that. For better or worse, the image of ROH is the company that used to have Cody and The Young Bucks and now they don’t. There is lots of talent on the roster but also questionable additions to the roster and it’s such a wide variety that it’s hard to define what ROH is and what separates them from the myriad options out there.
-I was disappointed in the main event that was lackluster and ended flat. Matt Taven hit The Climax twice and Cobb stayed down after the second one as he goes into the G1 Climax without any showcase from his home promotion. I wrote on Friday the argument in favor of Cobb winning the title and going into the G1 as champion but Taven is the guy and they are running with him. I don’t blame the time for the match failing because I’m sure Cobb is going to have numerous matches over the summer that are roughly the same length and much better than this. It ended the show on a down note.
-The ROH six-man tag title match was strong and was a great outing from Brody King, who looked great. PCO is among the more popular acts they have and maybe at the top of the list in Ring of Honor. It was a fun match and one of the better ones on the show.
-Flip Gordon joined Villain Enterprises after teasing he would accept Lifeblood’s invitation. They attacked Lifeblood and ended with Gordon doing a 450 splash off the top to Tracy Williams on a table on the floor. Gordon crashed badly.
-Some people didn’t enjoy the Pure Rules match between Jonathan Gresham and Silas Young, but I liked it. They each hit their maximum number of rope breaks and ended with Gresham kicking Young low and applying the Octopus submission that Young couldn’t escape with a rope break. It was Gresham’s turn and he’s among my favorite people to watch.
-Bandido looked fantastic with Shane Taylor, the latter has improved dramatically since he was teaming with Keith Lee. The spot where Taylor went for a high cross off the turnbuckle and Bandido caught him may have been the best spot of the night.
-Overall, it was an average show and average isn’t cutting it today. This weekend alone there was an AEW show, two New Japan cards in Australia, CMLL, Impact, and MLW’s weekly programming and there is great wrestling spread throughout. ROH lacks buzz and it’s tough to reverse that without major changes to how you present your product. The pieces are there but it will take a few steps back to assess the larger picture before they can move forward with a defined identity and what you are providing that others are not doing as effectively.
MMA NEWS
**This past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night on ESPN averaged 1,091,000 viewers for the main card headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. Junior dos Santos. The preliminary portion also ran on ESPN and averaged 553,000 viewers with Ricardo Ramos vs. Journey Newson in the featured prelim fight.
**Below are the first two episodes of UFC Embedded for this Saturday’s pay-per-view card:
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 7/1/19: Raw E. Dangerously
After last week’s news that Paul Heyman has been named the Executive Director of WWE Raw, John Pollock and Wai Ting review Monday’s show to see what changes, if any, would be evident.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/02/rar-7-1-19-raw-e-dangerously/
*****
CRUEL SUMMER #10: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (2000)
WH Park is joined by JP Houlihan of the GRAPPL Spotlight podcast to discuss the finals of NJPW’s tenth annual G1 Climax tournament: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kensuke Sasaki from August 13, 2000.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/30/cruel-summer-10-manabu-nakanishi-vs-kensuke-sasaki-2000-w-jp-houlihan/
*****
AEW FYTER FEST POST SHOW
Wai Ting & Davie Portman review AEW Fyter Fest from Daytona Beach, FL headlined by Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela in an Unsanctioned Match.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/30/aew-fyter-fest-post-show/
*****
NJPW SOUTHERN SHOWDOWN POST SHOW
WH Park and Chris Thunder review NJPW’s Southern Showdown event from Melbourne, Australia featuring Will Ospreay vs. Robbie Eagles for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/29/njpw-southern-showdown-post-show-w-wh-park-chris-thunder/
*****
CRUEL SUMMER #9: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Keiji Mutoh (1999)
WH Park and the returning Matt McEwen come together again to talk about the finals of NJPW’s ninth G1 Climax tournament: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Keiji Mutoh from August 15, 1999.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/29/cruel-summer-9-manabu-nakanishi-vs-keiji-mutoh-1999-w-matt-mcewen/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #39: WWF In Your House ‘Canadian Stampede’
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede (1997) from Calgary, Alberta featuring The Hart Foundation vs. Team Austin in one of the most acclaimed PPVs in WWF/E history.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/27959134
*****
upNXT MOVIE REVIEW: Logan (2017)
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman are back with their own Marvel Review as they look at the greatest movie in th X-Men franchise, Logan (2017).
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/28/upnxt-movie-review-logan-2017/
*****
Café Hangout feat. Brian Mann & Damian Abraham
Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff are named WWE Executive Directors. Ex-WWE writer Brian Mann joins us to discuss the story. Damian Abraham discusses The Wrestlers’ profiles of DDT Wrestling and Canada’s CWF.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/27/paul-heyman-eric-bischoff-named-wwe-exec-directors-ddt-cafe-hangout/
*****
upNXT 6/27/19: “The Evil Genius (of the Sky)”
The BDE chat all about the June 26th Edition of WWE NXT including Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler in a steel cage match, Joaquin Wilde vs. Angel Garza from the NXT Breakout Tournament, and Keith Lee in action.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/06/27/upnxt-6-27-19-the-evil-genius-of-the-sky/
*****
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