POST IT NOTES
**Monday’s edition of Rewind-A-Raw is up on the site with Wai Ting and I reviewing Raw from Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to Raw, we also chatted about the top two matches from the New Japan Destruction in Kagoshima card with Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA and El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles. Plus, a breakdown of Paul Levesque’s media call, the Big Cass story from over the weekend, AEW’s latest announcements, Laredo Kid off BOLA, and AXS TV airing the AAA card from the Hulu Theatre.
**Wai Ting and I are back tonight with Rewind-A-SmackDown to review the show from Atlanta, Georgia and discuss all the latest news.
**Braden Herrington is a guest on this week’s edition of the PWT Cast and was interviewed by Scrump. Wai Ting and I were also recent guests on the podcast.
**We have a book review from Brandon Sears on the site covering the latest edition of The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series by Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson. The latest release looks at “The Storytellers” and is a fascinating historical look at some many aspects of the industry. We’re hoping to have Greg Oliver on the show in the coming weeks to discuss the book.
**Wednesday at POST Wrestling will feature the following shows:
*British Wrestling Experience – Martin Bushby, Benno & Jamesie will chat all the latest news and welcome Daniel Makabe to the show
*The Double Shot (Patreon) – Reviews of the final two episodes of GLOW Season 3, Wai reviews Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport II and the WWE Chronicle special on Sasha Banks
*upNXT – Braden Herrington & Davie Portman will have a show up late Wednesday reviewing the first episode of NXT on the USA Network
POST WRESTLING ON YOUTUBE
WRESTLING NEWS
**Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live takes place from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. They have announced that Shane McMahon will be on the show to continue the angle with Kevin Owens after his firing, a sit-down interview with Erick Rowan, and there will be a coronation for Baron Corbin as the King of the Ring winner. The only match announced for tonight is a six-man tag with New Day vs. Randy Orton & The Revival.
**While the Hell in the Cell pay-per-view is the next major show, the bigger night is October 4th when the program launches on Fox. With two matches confirmed for Hell in a Cell that show has its attractions and now you can focus on the Fox debut and building towards it. Thus far, they have announced the 20th-anniversary show with names including Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus, Bill Goldberg, Ric Flair, Sting, Booker T., Mark Henry, and Lita.
They are also promoting Brock Lesnar for the debut on Fox at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The idea of bringing the legends back has run its course as a novelty as evidenced with the Raw Reunion in July. That show did Raw’s highest viewership of 2019 but was also down 31% compared to the 25th Anniversary of Raw in January 2018.
The launch on Fox needs a big angle or match heading into it and a reason for all these people coming back beyond cameo appearances. I expected the push for NXT premiering on the USA Network to be a much bigger deal on Raw and if they’re saving the big promotional push for October 2nd (for obvious reasons), it puts them in a corner to heavily promote two different shows that week with the Fox launch two nights later.
The biggest benefit SmackDown has is the promotional machine of Fox putting their top programming behind this move and getting big attention through the NFL broadcasts on the network. I also feel the draft will be a strong hook to bring people back for the second week.
**Big Cass (William Morrissey) released a statement regarding the series of incidents from this past Saturday’s WrestlePro event in Rahway, New Jersey that led to Cass being removed from the building:
To my fans & all concerned,
I have been very honest with my past struggles, and it has been an ongoing battle. On Saturday night, I obviously let my demons get the better of me and I ruined an important night for a really great guy in an unfortunate series of events. I have worked incredibly hard to get where I am, and even harder to overcome my ongoing battle with depression. But I will work my absolute hardest to right the wrongs of Saturday night and apologize to Kevin Mathews, Pat Buck, Joey Janela, the entire WrestlePro locker room and all parties involved from the bottom of my heart. I’m getting help from family and friends as we speak and will be getting professional help in the near future and ask all to please respect my privacy in the meantime.
When & if I reemerge as a public figure it will be in good faith and I hope to inspire those who struggle with the same mental health issues I do to seek the help they need. If Tyson Fury can do it….so can I. Remember….I ain’t dead yet. And neither are you.
Peace and love,
William Patrick Morrissey III
**There are two Hell in a Cell matches set for the October 6th pay-per-view in Sacramento, California. Seth Rollins will defend the Universal title against The Fiend and Becky Lynch will defend the Raw women’s title against Sasha Banks with both scheduled to be cell matches.
**The Ringer’s Kenny Herzog has a big piece on MLW, their future, and placement within the industry going into 2020. Herzog spoke at length with MLW CEO Court Bauer, as well as Konnan, Jacob Fatu, Alex Hammerstone, David Lagana, and Jim Ross for the article. Bauer hesitates to call the group independent and they delve into the backers that are financing the group. The conclusion in the piece is that MLW will ultimately need to thrive with a major deal that offsets the losses in running a promotion at this level where talent is under contact, shows are taking place all over the United States and they have created their own spot as a niche but how viable is a niche product among the big players, WWE and AEW?
The promotion is an interesting test case of how viable a non-WWE promotion can be, and every other group is attempting to answer that. AEW is best served given a short but strong track record as a live event business and taking the next step with their TNT debut in two weeks. They are in it for the long game and scoring a massive media rights deal once they have a proven track record on TNT. Impact Wrestling has stable footing after Anthem’s purchase of majority control of AXS TV and therefore they have the platform but not the television rights deal that is propelling WWE to record levels of revenue, and that AEW is ultimately banking on for long-term profitability and stability.
I continue to look at DAZN and what their appetite is for professional wrestling given their heavy reliance on boxing and mixed martial arts to attract subscribers. WWE did sign a multi-year deal with DAZN in Japan back in 2017 but on a worldwide basis, DAZN has not gone the pro wrestling route. If a group like MLW, Impact, the NWA, or Game Changer Wrestling landed a deal anywhere in the ballpark of what DAZN is paying Bellator, it would be massive for either group. MLW’s next experiment is with a live pay-per-view on November 2nd that has clearance on traditional carriers and will stream through Fite TV.
It’s a very tough night of competition given the news that Saul Canelo Alvarez is fighting Sergey Kovalev and it’s the same night as UFC 244 that has a big fight between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal. MLW is similar to Impact that the television is compelling and well put together, so the fans following the product should be enticed to order the pay-per-view, but it comes down to scale and if there are enough to make it viable.
**MLW has officially announced that the main event of the Saturday Super Fight pay-per-view will feature Jacob Fatu defending the MLW title against LA Park at Cicero Stadium.
**New Japan’s Road to Destruction card takes place from Shimane on Wednesday headlined by Tetsuya Naito & Bushi vs. Jay White & Gedo. The Young Lion’s Cup matches feature Alex Coughlin vs. Clark Connors and Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura.
**The NWA has announced that Nick Aldis will defend the NWA championship against Tim Storm on the first night of tapings in Atlanta on September 30th. The NWA will tape on back-to-back nights at GPB Studios on September 30th and October 1st.
**Ring of Honor has announced a match between Jeff Cobb and Brody King for the pre-show of the Death Before Dishonor card on Friday, September 27th in Las Vegas. The pre-show will stream free on YouTube and Facebook at 8:30 pm Eastern leading into the pay-per-view at 9.
**Impact Wrestling has announced that Michael Elgin will face Naomichi Marufuji at Bound for Glory on October 20th in Villa Park, Illinois. The card will also feature Brian Cage defending the Impact title against Sami Callihan and Moose taking on Ken Shamrock.
**MJF will have his final independent match for the time being this Sunday against Josh Briggs for Beyond Wrestling. The show takes place at Paddy’s Beach Club in Westerly, Rhode Island at 3 pm. After Sunday, MJF appears to be working exclusively for AEW and MLW.
**Minoru Suzuki cut one of the best promos of the year this past weekend setting up his eventual match with Jushin Thunder Liger.
**On Monday’s NOAH card in Osaka, Kenou won the N-1 Victory tournament defeating Takashi Sugiura in the final. Kenoh won the B Block with six points followed by Shuhei Taniguchi (5), Masaaki Mochizuki (4), Katsuhiko Nakajima (3), and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. (2). Sugiura won the A Block with eight points followed by Go Shiosaki (4), Masa Kitamiya (4), Alex Hammerstone (4) and Naomichi Marufuji (0).
**NOAH is going to run cards at Korakuen Hall on January 4th and 5th on the same days of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome cards next year.
**Lenny Leonard, who is one of the best commentators in the industry is going to Japan in November to call the next major Dragon Gate card. Leonard and Larry Dallas will be calling the Gate of Destiny card on November 4th in Osaka.
**Victory Journal has posted the lengthy profile that David Bixenspan wrote about Nick Gage, which is definitely the most in-depth story I have seen written on Gage.
**Kenny Omega recently posted a photo at the headquarters of ONE Championship in Asia. Both ONE and All Elite Wrestling have deals with TNT and would make sense to have a relationship between the two entities.
**Tom Prichard was visiting at Raw on Monday in Knoxville, Tennessee.
**The WWE stock was up over 2% on Tuesday and closed ay $75.91.
**Dalton Castle and RJ City will be wrestling each other at the next Destiny Wrestling card on Sunday, October 13th at the Don Kolov Arena in Mississauga, Ontario. The next night they are going to do a comedy show together called “Eye Contact and Anxiety” at Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street West) in Toronto at 9 pm.
**A behind-the-scenes video on the first week of Pat McAfee’s new show on DAZN and Westwood One.
**Aaren Wilde, who was the referee injured at Rev Pro’s Summer Sizzler card last month, spoke about the incidents with Sha Samuels and Josh Bodom on the card to the A.C.E. Podcast Nation:
MMA NEWS
**Endeavor, the parent company of the UFC, is taking its company public this fall with an expectation of raising $620 million in capital through its initial public offering. The company will be offering 19.4 million shares along with another 2.9 million shares for those underwriting the IPO. Variety reports that Endeavor plans to use $500 million of the raised capital on its debt they are accrued and $46.8 million for “working capital and general corporate purposes” and potential acquisitions. Endeavor owners Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell are expected to own 18.7% each after the IPO. Partners at Silver Lake will also have voting shares.
**MMA Junkie’s John Morgan and Mike Bohn reported that Robbie Lawler and Santiago Ponzinibbio are scheduled to fight at UFC 245 on Saturday, December 14th in Las Vegas. At 37, Lawler has lost his last three fights to Rafael dos Anjos, Ben Askren, and most recently to Colby Covington this past August. The former welterweight champion will seek his first win since 2017 against Ponzinibbio, who has won his last seven fights dating to December 2015. Since November 2013, Ponzibinnio has amassed a record of 8-2 in the UFC.
**The UFC will be holding a press conference with Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal on Thursday night in New York City at The Rooftop at Pier 17. The presser will be streamed on ESPN+ promoting the UFC 244 card headlined by the two welterweights on Saturday, November 2nd.
**ESPN reports that the featherweight fight between Zabit Magomedsharipov and Calvin Kattar has been delayed three weeks and is now set for the November 9th card in Moscow, Russia. They were scheduled to fight on October 18th in Boston but Magomedsharipov sustained an injury and they moved to the fight to the card in Moscow. This is an important fight in the division with Magomedsharipov 17-1 and is 5-0 in the UFC, including a win over Jeremy Stephens in his last fight. Kattar is 20-3 with a record of 4-1 since entering the UFC in 2017 and is coming off wins over Chris Fishgold and a knockout win over Ricardo Lamas.
**UFC Fight Pass has announced a deal with CES Boxing to carry their three remaining cards of the year. They will stream the events on Friday, October 11th in Hartford, Saturday, November 23rd in Lincoln, Rhode Island, and Saturday, December 7th in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
**Melissa Cervantes a.k.a. professional wrestler Thunder Rosa has signed a deal with Combate Americas. Cervantes wrestled as Kobra Moon in Lucha Underground and held the Trios championship with Jeremiah Snake/Sami Callihan and Daga when the series last aired. Cervantes is scheduled to fight for the MMA outfit on November 9th, but no opponent has been named. Cervantes joins Dulce Garcia a.k.a. Sexy Star, who is also under contract to Combate Americas.
**The UFC returns to Mexico City this Saturday and has a strong featherweight main event set between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens. It’s Rodriguez’s first fight since his unbelievable knockout of Chan Sung Jung last November where he landed an elbow strike stopped Jung with one second remaining their five-round fight. It was the Knockout of the Year and one of the best of all-time. Stephens had his first UFC fight in May 2007 and was on a strong run until his last two fights where he was stopped by former champion Jose Aldo last July and dropped a decision to surging talent Zabit Magomedsharipov. This could be a phenomenal fight. The card is on ESPN+ with the prelims at 5 pm Eastern and the main card at 8.
*****
RAR 9/16/19: Rusev Bae, KOTR Final, Paul Levesque’s Media Call
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring a Maria and Mike Kanellis’ Gender Reveal Party and Kane’s return. We also discuss Big Cass, NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima, and Paul Levesque’s media call about NXT and 205 Live.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/09/17/rar-9-16-19-rusev-bae-kotr-final-paul-levesques-media-call/
*****
WWE CLASH OF CHAMPIONS 2019 POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Clash of Champions 2019 headlined by Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman for the WWE Universal Championship and Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/09/16/wwe-clash-of-champions-2019-post-show/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #44: WWE Royal Rumble 2017
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Royal Rumble 2017 headlined by John Cena vs. AJ Styles for the WWE Championship and the annual 30-man Royal Rumble match. To celebrate 10 years of reviews, The Archivist counts down his Top 10 Review-A-Wai episodes.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/29930429
*****
CAFE HANGOUT – Sept. 12, 2019
John Pollock and Wai Ting are joined by former WWE referee / Aftermath co-host Jimmy Korderas to discuss a recent incident involving a RevPro referee getting injured in a controversial unplanned spot. Plus, Jimmy helps us preview Sunday’s WWE Clash of Champions PPV.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/09/12/jimmy-korderas-talks-revpro-ref-injury-clash-of-champions-preview-cafe-hangout/
*****
upNXT 9/12/19: 4-Life
Braden Herrington & Davie Portman are back to chat this week’s WWE NXT featuring Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley, Johnny Gargano reveals his fate, Pete Dunne vs. Angel Garza, more match announcements for next week’s first LIVE edition of NXT… and more!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/09/12/upnxt-9-12-19-4-life/
*****
DOUBLE SHOT: GLOW S3 Ep. 7 & 8, Road to AEW on TNT, Pollock’s ??? Review
On this edition of the Double Shot, John and Wai review Episodes 7 & 8 of GLOW Season 3, Road to AEW on TNT Ep. 2, and a special surprise review from John that fans of 90’s nostalgia will love.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/09/12/double-shot-glow-s3-ep-7-8-road-to-aew-on-tnt-pollocks-review/
*****
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