POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I have our latest G1 Climax reviews available for members of the POST Wrestling Café. We have a review of Friday’s show from Korakuen Hall with the B Block tournament matches led by Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii in the main event, a rundown of the five tournament matches, undercard highlights, updated standings, and the leaders in the POST Wrestling G1 contest.
**Wai Ting and I will be back Saturday with another G1 show reviewing the final Korakuen Hall show with the A Block matches. These shows are available to members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**On this week’s edition of the Café Hangout, Wai Ting and I ran through a busy day of news discussing CM Punk’s appearance at Starrcast III and lots more. Our first guest is James Lynch of The Score to discuss his move to the outlet, his MMA coverage, many media members finding new homes over the past year, video content, live coverage on the road & more. Plus, Ontario independent wrestler Buck Gunderson stopped by to chat the upcoming OWE cards in Toronto during SummerSlam week, wrestling in China, the difficulties of Canadian talent working in the U.S., the Pillow Fight League & more. The Hangout streams live each Thursday at 3 pm Eastern for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**WH Park will have two editions of Cruel Summer out this weekend. On Saturday, WH will be joined by Davis Storm to review the 2005 G1 Climax final between Masahiro Chono and Kazuyuki Fujita. Then, on Sunday WH will be chatting with Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski about the 2006 final between Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
**I wanted to announce that on Monday, August 12th, POST Wrestling will be holding a screening of Raw at O’Grady’s Tap and Grill in downtown Toronto at 171 College Street. For long-time listeners, you will remember that we previously did Raw screenings at this location when we were with The LAW and for one night only, we will be holding this event. It is free to attend, and we will speak about it on our upcoming shows. If you are planning to attend, we ask that you RSVP on our Facebook event page and we hope to see you that night.
WRESTLING NEWS
**On his show this week, Colt Cabana announced he will be winding down his popular ‘Art of Wrestling’ podcast after nine years of weekly shows. Cabana will continue with shows for the next few weeks while he is Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has contractual obligations with sponsors to do one show per month through the end of 2019, which will conclude with a Q&A show in December on the show’s history. Cabana entered the podcast space in the early stages of professional wrestlers hosting their own shows and it helped Cabana’s career immensely through his relationships with fellow wrestlers and perfecting the long-form interview within the genre.
Of course, the podcast was both a blessing and curse, as his most famous shows were interviews with CM Punk in 2014 that have taken an enormous toll from a legal and personal perspective. Since 2015, Cabana has been in one form of litigation or another with the Dr. Chris Amman suit immediately followed by lawsuits filed back-and-forth between Cabana and Punk that continue to this day.
Cabana has said he is planning to launch a Patreon to access his archive of interviews for $4 per month. He has not completely shut the door on the podcast and many wrestlers sent out messages of support for Cabana and the impact the podcast has had in sharing their stories and being a platform for them to speak openly.
**New Japan wraps up their third straight night at Korakuen Hall with the A Block on Saturday. The show will be streaming live at 5:30 am Eastern on New Japan World with the following card:
*Kazuchika Okada (3-0) vs. Will Ospreay (2-1)
*Kota Ibushi (1-2) vs. Sanada (1-2)
*KENTA (3-0) vs. EVIL (2-1)
*Hiroshi Tanahashi (1-2) vs. Lance Archer (2-1)
*Bad Luck Fale (1-2) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (0-3)
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi & Ren Narita
*Jay White, Yujiro & Chase Owens vs. Jeff Cobb, Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare
*Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano & Yuya Uemura vs. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
*Jon Moxley & Shota Umino vs. Juice Robinson & Yota Tsuji
**Following Saturday’s show, the G1 will have a quiet week with one show on Wednesday in Hiroshima and then off until next Saturday. Wednesday’s B Block is headlined by Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito.
**Over the past two shows at Korakuen Hall, the main events of each show are must-see. Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay from Thursday’s card and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jon Moxley from Friday were among the best matches of 2019 and were my top two matches of the tournament, so far.
**Jushin Thunder Liger’s final appearance at Arena Mexico takes place tonight as he will be wrestling Negro Casas, Caristico, and Ultimo Guerrero on CMLL’s Friday night card from the arena.
**WWE has announced that Drew Gulak will take on NXT’s Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott (formerly Shane Strickland) on next Tuesday’s episode of 205 Live from Miami. Next week’s show will also feature a contract signing between Mike Kanellis and Drake Maverick for their upcoming match.
**WWE is promoting a special for the WWE Network on Saturday, July 27th called ‘Smackville’ that will feature matches from that night’s SmackDown live event in Nashville, Tennessee. They are promoting a triple threat match with Kofi Kingston defending the WWE title against Samoa Joe and Dolph Ziggler along with Shinsuke Nakamura defending the Intercontinental title against Finn Balor and a live performance from Elias. The WWE Network will begin streaming the show at 9 pm Eastern next Saturday night.
**It was officially announced this week that Adam Cole will defend the NXT title against Johnny Gargano in the main event of TakeOver on Saturday, August 10th in Toronto. The match will be two-of-three falls with each choosing a stipulation and if it reaches the third fall, William Regal will pick the stipulation. It will be their third TakeOver main event of 2019.
**Shawn Michaels will be doing guest commentary on next Tuesday’s edition of SmackDown from Miami, Florida.
**Melina is one of the many additional names that will be part of the Raw Reunion show this Monday in Tampa, Florida.
**The Raw crew starts their weekend with a show in Reading, Pennsylvania tonight advertising Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin in a Street Fight and Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans for the Raw women’s title (unless they opt to enforce the stipulation from Extreme Rules that eliminates Evans from competing for the title). On Saturday, the Raw crew is in Wildwood, New Jersey and the SmackDown crew is advertising Kofi Kingston, Bayley, Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair, and Dolph Ziggler as the top talent in Columbus, Georgia on Saturday.
**WWE performer Braun Strowman (Adam Scherr) announced this week that he has signed on a new four-year with the company. Scherr competed in strongman competitions before he was signed by WWE in 2013 and trained from scratch with his first match taking place on December 2014. By the end of summer 2015, he was already on the main roster as a member of The Wyatt Family. He received his first major push one year later when the brand split began, and he was placed on Raw and would become a main event performer in a short amount of time.
**The story involving Chris Charlton appears to be resolved with his increased role over the past two nights at Korakuen Hall. Dave Meltzer reported this week that after receiving complaints on his reduced role on the broadcast, the decision was made to include him more on the broadcasts. It is still Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero calling most of the show, but Charlton spoke significantly more this week than the two shows at Ota Ward Gymnasium last weekend.
**Here are the matches scheduled for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling at 10 pm Eastern:
*Taya Valkyrie vs. Jessicka Havok vs. Madison Rayne for the Knockout’s title
*Tessa Blanchard & Sami Callihan vs. Dave Crist & Trey in the Mash-Up Tournament
*Eddie Edwards & Moose vs. Rohit Raju & Cody Deaner in the Mash-Up Tournament
*Rich Swann & Madman Fulton vs. Wentz & Jake Crist in the Mash-Up Tournament
*Michael Elgin & Willie Mack vs. TBA in the Mash-Up Tournament
**Ring of Honor has two shows this weekend with the Manhattan Mayhem television tapings Saturday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom and Mass Hysteria on Sunday in Lowell, Massachusetts. This is the first set of tapings where matches will be streamed live on Honor Club for subscribers. Saturday’s card will feature Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH title, Dragon Lee vs. Jonathan Gresham, Guerrillas of Destiny vs. The Briscoes for the ROH tag titles, and LifeBlood & PJ Black vs. Villain Enterprises in an eight-man tag.
**Kelly Klein will defend the Women of Honor championship against Tasha Steelz at ROH’s Summer Supercard event on Friday, August 9th at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. The card will be headlined by Alex Shelley challenging either Matt Taven or Jay Lethal for the ROH title after they have their title match tomorrow night at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
**MLW has added Zenshi vs. El Hijo de L.A. Park to the Never Say Never tapings next Thursday at the Melrose Ballroom in New York City.
**A match between Timothy Thatcher and Yuki Ishikawa has been added to wXw’s card on Friday, August 9th in Toronto at the Midtown Event Center.
**The first match officially announced for the NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff event is Toni Storm defending the women’s title against Kay Lee Ray. The show will air live on Saturday, August 31 on the WWE Network on the same day as New Japan’s Royal Quest event at the Copper Box Arena in London and the AEW All Out show later that night.
**The latest announcements for PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament are Brody King, Joey Janela, and Lucky Kid. They join A-Kid, Jonathan Gresham, Darby Allin, Artemis Spencer, Orange Cassidy, Mick Moretti, Bandido, Caveman Ugg, Rey Fenix, Tony Deppen, and Jake Atlas. It is worth noting that they have been able to bring in AEW and ROH talent for the tournament.
**Ring of Honor has announced three dates for the UK in October. They will be running York Hall in London on October 25th, the Newport Center in Newport on October 26th, and Bolton Whites Hotel in Bolton on October 27th. Tickets go on sale next Wednesday for Honor Club members and Friday to the public.
**Matt Taven recently spoke with Brian Fritz at The Sporting News on his ROH title at Supercard of Honor, criticism of himself and the promotion, and this week’s shows in Lowell and New York City.
**The WWE stock closed at $70.30 on Friday. The company’s second-quarter report will be out next Thursday and will cover the WrestleMania period. It should be an interesting earnings call given the potential subjects that could be asked, the BT Sport deal, Paul Heyman & Eric Bischoff if there is investor concern regarding live events, AEW’s television deal & more.
MMA NEWS
**A big lightweight fight has been announced for the UFC’s return to Vancouver, British Columbia on September 14th. It was first reported by Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports that Donald Cerrone will meet Justin Gaethje in a five-round main event pitting two of the promotion’s top action fighters. Since returning to lightweight, Cerrone has gone 2-1 with wins over Alexander Hernandez and Al Iaquinta this year and is coming off a TKO loss to Tony Ferguson at UFC 238 this past June. Gaethje debuted in the UFC with a 17-0 record and has had five incredible fights during that stretch. After losses to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier, he has won his last two by knockout over James Vick and Edson Barboza. The fight will take place one week after UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi where lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will defend the title against Poirier.
**The UFC will be in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday with a card airing on ESPN beginning with the prelims at 6 pm Eastern. There are several good fights on the show, headlined by Rafael dos Anjos and Leon Edwards in a battle of forgotten welterweights among the deep division. Andrei Arlovski and Ben Rothwell will have a rematch almost 11 years to the day of their fight for Affliction on July 19, 2008, where Arlovski knocked out Rothwell in the third round. Greg Hardy will have his third UFC fight and has received minimal coverage this time around as compared to his last two fights. Below is the full card and results from Friday’s weigh-in:
MAIN CARD (9 pm Eastern on ESPN, TSN 2 in Canada)
*Rafael dos Anjos (171) vs. Leon Edwards (171)
*Walt Harris (256) vs. Aleksei Oleinik (236)
*Greg Hardy (266) vs. Juan Adams (266)
*Dan Hooker (155) vs. James Vick (156)
*Alexander Hernandez (155) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (156)
*Ben Rothwell (265) vs. Andrei Arlovski (246)
PRELIMINARY CARD (6 pm on ESPN, TSN 2 in Canada)
*Alex Caceres (146) vs. Steven Peterson (145)
*Raquel Pennington (136) vs. Irene Aldana (135)
*Klidson Abreu (205) vs. Sam Alvey (205)
*Jennifer Maia (129*) vs. Roxanne Modafferi (125) – Maia missed weight and was fined
*Ray Borg (136) vs. Gabriel Silva (134)
*Jin Soo Son (136) vs. Mario Bautista (136)
*Felipe Colares (136) vs. Domingo Pilarte (136)
**Former UFC fighter Abel Trujillo is facing charges of sexual exploitation of a child and obscenity to a minor with arraignment set for September. The news was first reported by Aaron Bronsteter at TSN with additional details from Steven Marrocco at MMA Junkie. In Morrocco’s reporting, Trujillo allegedly sent pictures of his genitalia and lewd videos to a 16-year old girl through Instagram and Snapchat beginning in March 2018. Trujillo had been in custody since June 16th and posted a $10,000 bond this past Wednesday and was released from the Douglas County jail in Colorado. After obtaining a search warrant, police were able to seize Trujillo’s phone and found dozens of photos of “nude young women” according to an affidavit that MMA Junkie obtained in their reporting. Trujillo began fighting for the UFC in 2012 and last fought for the organization on December 16, 2017, losing his last two fights and had been released earlier this year.
**Brett Okamoto at ESPN is reporting that visa issues will force the UFC to move a light heavyweight fight between Volkan Oezdemir and Ilir Latifi back a week. The two were set to fight on August 3rd in Newark, New Jersey but continued visa issues affecting Oezdemir are going to move the fight to August 10th in Uruguay.
G1 REVIEWS
Night 1: https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/07/g1-climax-29-post-show-opening-night-okada-vs-tanahashi-free-preview/ (Tanahashi vs. Okada) – FREE SHOW
Night 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28351982 (White vs. Goto)
Night 3: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28374580 (Tanahashi vs. KENTA)
Night 4: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28403937 (Naito vs. Taichi)
Night 5: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28475091 (Ospreay vs. Ibushi)
Night 6: https://www.patreon.com/posts/28495477 (Moxley vs. Ishii)
*****
Café Hangout – July 18, 2019
On this week’s Café Hangout, John Pollock and Wai Ting chat news involving CM Punk appearing at Starrcast III, James Lynch from The Score discusses MMA media, Buck Gunderson chats OWE’s Canadian debut.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/19/cm-punk-at-starrcast-james-lynch-buck-gunderson-cafe-hangout/
*****
upNXT 7/18/19: Dain, Pain, and Automobiles
The BDE chat all about the July 17th edition of WWE NXT including Matt Riddle vs. Arturo Ruas, the re-debut of Killian Dain, Kushida vs. Apollo Crews, and a huge angle between Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/18/upnxt-7-18-19-dain-pain-and-automobiles/
*****
RASD 7/16/19: SmackTown Hall, Bayley’s SummerSlam Opponent
John Pollock and Wai Ting review Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown featuring Shane McMahon’s Town Hall with the SmackDown locker room.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/16/rasd-7-16-19-smacktown-hall-bayleys-summerslam-opponent/
*****
RAR 7/15/19: The Cross-Branded All-Star Top 10 Battle Royal
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring an All-Star Top 10 Battle Royal to determine Brock Lesnar’s opponent for the Universal title at SummerSlam.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/16/rar-7-15-19-the-cross-branded-all-star-top-10-battle-royal/
*****
WWE EXTREME RULES POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Extreme Rules headlined by Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch defending their championships against Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/15/wwe-extreme-rules-2019-post-show/
*****
CRUEL SUMMER: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (2004)
WH Park and Joey Bay discuss the finals of NJPW’s 14th annual G1 Climax tournament: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi from August 15, 2004.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/14/cruel-summer-14-hiroyoshi-tenzan-vs-hiroshi-tanahashi-2004-w-joey-bay/
*****
AEW FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Fight for the Fallen from Jacksonville, FL headlined by The Young Bucks vs. Cody & Dustin Rhodes.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/14/aew-fight-for-the-fallen-post-show/
*****
EVOLVE 131: 10TH ANNIVERSARY POST SHOW
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman are back with a very special episode of upNXT! The BDE chat all about EVOLVE 131: 10th Anniversary from Philadelphia.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/14/evolve-131-10th-anniversary-post-show/
*****
CRUEL SUMMER: HIROYOSHI TENZAN VS. JUN AKIYAMA (2003)
WH Park reunites with his former Japanese Audio Wrestling co-host, JoJo Remy to discuss one of their favorite G1 Climax finals, Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Jun Akiyama from August 17, 2003.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/07/13/cruel-summer-13-hiroyoshi-tenzan-vs-jun-akiyama-2003-w-jojo-remy/
*****
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