POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I will have two shows coming out Monday with an afternoon show reviewing the NJPW King of Pro Wrestling card for members of the POST Wrestling Café. Monday night, we have Rewind-A-Raw going through the second night of the WWE Draft from Denver, Colorado and discussing all the news from the day.
**Our chat with NWA Vice President David Lagana is on the site and available on our free feed. The 44-minute discussion covers all the details behind the launch of NWA Power, the reception the show received, designing the set, what they look for in performers, past talks with WWE, the long-term viability of this series, and lots more.
**Davie Portman and Jesse from the 6 have a bonus edition of upNXT out reviewing the EVOLVE 137 & 138 shows from this past weekend in Atlanta and Concord, North Carolina.
**We have this month’s edition of POST Puroresu out with WH Park and I previewing the King of Pro Wrestling card, upcoming cards from Stardom, All Japan & NOAH’s Sumo Hall show next month, a run-through of the Japanese candidates on the ballot for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, Dragon Lee left off the Super Junior Tag League, and more.
**Finally, Rewind-A-SmackDown is out for members of the Café with Wai and I reviewing the first night of the WWE Draft.
WRESTLING NEWS
**New Japan Pro Wrestling will hold its King of Pro Wrestling card at Sumo Hall early Monday morning at 4 am eastern streaming on New Japan World. It will be the final IWGP title match of 2019 and we should have one of the Tokyo Dome main events locked in after Monday’s show. This is a deep show with a huge level of interest in the Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Minoru Suzuki match, which is among the top feuds of the year and coming off a heated angle with Liger morphing into Kishin Liger and adding that component to this mix.
Here is the full card that will feature Kevin Kelly, Gino Gambino, and Chris Charlton on English commentary:
*Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada for the IWGP heavyweight title – They have had great matches in the past and are coming off a phenomenal match in the G1 with Sanada finally beating Okada. There is no chance Okada is losing the title, so they have that obstacle in getting Sanada over as a threat. This is all in the presentation as it isn’t the time to beat Sanada but if it tears the house show it’s not going to hurt him long-term.
*Kota Ibushi vs. EVIL with Ibushi’s title shot at stake – This should also be great but like the main event, the winner seems set in stone.
*Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson in a No DQ match for the IWGP United States title – It’s likely Robinson wins the title back as Moxley is deep in his commitments to AEW. The question is whether Moxley is programmed for a match at one of the Tokyo Dome shows or if this is his swansong with New Japan. Their match in June was fantastic and set the tone for Moxley’s post-WWE run. He gutted through the back half of the G1 when he probably shouldn’t have been anywhere near a wrestling ring. The stipulation will allow them lots of leeway.
*Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo for the IWGP junior heavyweight title – On a loaded card, this could be the best match of the card. This is as much a can’t-miss match as you can schedule.
*Minoru Suzuki vs. Jushin Thunder Liger – From a dramatic standpoint, this should be at a high level. It’s been built effectively, and I expect a rabid reception for Liger. This would appear to be Liger’s chance to avenge the Pancrase loss and propel him into his retirement program for the Tokyo Dome.
*Jay White, KENTA & Yujiro vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer & Taichi
*Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Togi Makabe & Toru Yano
*Ryusuke Taguchi & Roppongi 3K vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Douki
**WWE has announced additional draft picks following Friday’s episode of SmackDown involving leftover talent from the pool in the first night:
To Raw:
*EC3, Eric Young, and Sin Cara
To SmackDown:
*Apollo Crews, Drew Gulak, Heath Slater, Tamina, The B-Team
**The draft continues on Raw from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado with the second pool of talent. Becky Lynch (Raw) will take on Sasha Banks (SmackDown) with the winning brand receiving the first pick on Monday. The announcement would indicate that Banks’ injury from the Hell in a Cell match was not too serious after having the week off. Banks did not wrestle on the WWE live event on Saturday night in Odessa, Texas as Bayley teamed with Tamina against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.
**The talent pool for Raw’s draft features Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair, Shinsuke Nakamura, Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler, Asuka & Kairi Sane, Titus O’Neil, New Day, Daniel Bryan, Bayley, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, The Miz, Ali, King Corbin, Elias, Samoa Joe, Rusev, Cedric Alexander, Rey Mysterio, R-Truth, Carmella, Authors of Pain, Apollo Crews, Andrade, Liv Morgan, Jinder Mahal, Buddy Murphy, Mojo Rawley, No Way Jose, Dana Brooke, Shelton Benjamin, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, The IIconics, Sarah Logan, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, and Drake Maverick.
**There was a screw-up with the list of talent available for Friday’s draft. It was told to us at POST Wrestling that the WWE.com side was supposed to list the available talent in alphabetical order but instead, the list went according to the actual picks for the first half of the draft. It was also said to us that the WWE.com site didn’t use the final version.
**Taz will be appearing as a guest broadcaster on next Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark that drops October 22nd on YouTube. (CORRECTION: We had originally listed Taz’s appearance for this Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark but he will be a guest broadcaster the following week).
**There will be a one-hour kickoff show prior to the WWE Crown Jewel event at Noon eastern on Thursday, October 31st.
**Casey Michael at Squared Circle Sirens was the first to report that Shotzi Blackheart (Ashley Urbanski) has signed with WWE. Blackheart was coy about the signing online (but never denied it). It was revealed on Friday’s EVOLVE 137 card where Blackheart defeated Aja Perera and William Regal came out to sign her. Blackheart will finish out her independent dates over the next three weeks with the final two dates listed for November 2nd and 3rd for SHIMMER.
**Seth Rollins and The Fiend Bray Wyatt headlined the WWE live event on Saturday in Odessa, Texas. It ended in a DQ win for Rollins and was Wyatt’s first match since Hell in a Cell last Sunday. Wyatt suffered a minor injury last weekend in the match and initially wasn’t cleared but did a run-in during the dark match after Monday’s episode of Raw. I was told that if he was sent out for a spot in the dark match that meant he would have received clearance at some point that day.
**On Saturday’s ROH Glory by Honor show, the semi-finals and final of the number one contender’s tournament took place. In the semi-finals, PCO defeated Dalton Castle and Marty Scurll defeated Jay Lethal. In the night’s main event, PCO defeated Scurll and will challenge ROH champion Rush at Final Battle on Friday, December 13th in Baltimore, Maryland.
**On Impact Wrestling this weekend, it was revealed that Dr. Wagner Jr’s partners at Bound for Glory will be Black Taurus and Aerostar. They will be taking on The Rascalz of Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, and Trey Miguel. Below is the updated card for next weekend’s pay-per-view at The Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois:
*Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan for the Impact title
*Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
*Naomichi Marufuji vs. Michael Elgin
*The North vs. Rob Van Dam & Rhino vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack for the Impact tag titles
*Jake Crist vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Daga vs. Ace Austin vs. TBA in a Ladder match for the X Division title
*Taya Valkyrie vs. Tenille Dashwood for the Knockout’s title
*The Rascalz vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., Black Taurus & Aerostar
*Call Your Shot Gauntlet match for a future title shot
**Stardom has a show Monday from Korakuen Hall with the following lineup that includes two title matches:
*Bea Priestley vs. Hana Kimura for the World of Stardom title
*Arisa Hoshiki vs. Kagetsu for the Wonder of Stardom title
*Mayu Iwatani & Saki Kashima vs. AZM & Momo Watanabe in Goddesses of Stardom Tag League tournament
*Natsu Sumire & Session Moth Martina vs. Bobbi Tyler & Zoe Lucas Watanabe in Goddesses of Stardom Tag League tournament
*Gauntlet match featuring Hazuki & Natsuko Tora, Andras Miyagi & Jamie Hayter, Konami & Death Yama-san, Starlight Kid & Saya Iida, Hina & Leo Onozaki
*Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano
REWIND
NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2018
Monday, October 8 at Sumo Hall
*El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask to retain the IWGP junior heavyweight tag titles
*Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma over Juice Robinson & Toa Henare
*Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori & Guerrillas of Destiny over The Young Bucks, Hangman Page & Chase Owens
*Will Ospreay, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto over Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Takashi Iizuka
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Sanada & Bushi over Kazuchika Okada, Roppongi 3K & Toru Yano
*EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ended in a no contest
*Kushida over Marty Scurll to win the vacant IWGP junior heavyweight title
*Hiroshi Tanahashi over Jay White
*Kenny Omega over Kota Ibushi and Cody to retain the IWGP heavyweight title
MMA NEWS
**Eric Marcotte has a great rundown of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card from Tampa, Florida. In the main event, Joanna Jedrzejczyk defeated Michelle Waterson with a solid decision in her favor. Waterson has always been small for the division and it’s a credit she has competed at this high a level at 115 pounds when 105 would be optimal. With Jedrzejczyk’s performance, it renews her life at strawweight and could set up a championship with Weili Zhang in 2020. It is the type of fight that Zhang needs against a higher profile opponent as Zhang represents a major superstar for the Chinese market.
**Michael Fiedel at The Body Lock has done extensive research into the relationship over the years with Dominance MMA manager Ali Abdel-Aziz and the PFL (which was formerly the World Series of Fighting). The story comes from the high concentration of Dominance fighters utilized in the ongoing tournaments that PFL runs along with past ties Abdel-Aziz had with the company with the notion of whether a conflict of interest exists. The research was well-done in this piece to put in perspective just the sheer number of fighters represented by Dominance.
**On that same note, MMA Junkie was the first to report of a backstage incident during Friday’s PFL event in Las Vegas involving Ali Abdel-Aziz and manager Abe Kawa of First Round Management. It was serious enough that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were involved and told MMA Junkie that they were involved with a “brief physical altercation where a battery was committed”. The police added that one subject was detained and was cooperative, there were no significant injuries and that “no enforcement action was taken regarding the second subject, who was also cooperative.”
**ONE Championship held its Century event to marks the promotion’s 100th event, a portion of which aired on TNT in the United States. The Sumo Hall show was broken up into two parts and was a marathon-length event. The first half featured Christian Lee winning the Lightweight Grand Prix with a decision win over Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev, Demetrious Johnson won the Flyweight Grand Prix defeating Danny Kingad by unanimous decision and Angela Lee retained the ONE atomweight title by submitting Jing Nan Xiong in the fifth round with 12 seconds left in the fight.
The second half of the show included Bibiano Fernandes submitting Kevin Belingon at 2:16 of Round 2 to retain the ONE bantamweight title, Shinya Aoki submitted Honorio Banario in the 54 seconds, and Aung La N Sang retained the ONE light heavyweight title defeating Brandon Vera by TKO at 3:23 of Round 2.
**Bellator held an event in Milan, Italy on Saturday that was broken up into two MMA cards and a Bellator Kickboxing card. Below are the MMA results from the show:
*Walter Pugliesi def. Andrea Fusi by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
*Kirill Sidelnikov def. Domingos Barros by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
*Dragos Zubco def. Hesdy Gerges by unanimous decision (29-28 all)
*Vadim Nemkov def. Rafael Carvalho by rear-naked choke at 3:56 of Round 2
*Rafael Macedo def. Kane Mousah by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
*Melvin Manhoef def. Yannick Bahati by TKO at 2:29 of Round 1
*Stefano Paterno def. Ashley Reece by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-27)
*Alessio Sakara def. Canaan Grigsby by TKO at 0:23 of Round 1
**The UFC has a Friday night card this week, so they will go against the second hour of Friday Night SmackDown. It’s a strong main card headlined by Chris Weidman moving to light heavyweight and fighting Dominick Reyes and the winner would be the frontrunner to fight Jon Jones next year for the title. Weidman winning would be the best outcome for the UFC because he’d be a big name for Jones to fight and he desperately needs some with star power. Reyes is 11-0 and unbeaten in the UFC after five fights, so Weidman is hardly getting a pushover and is the favorite against the former middleweight champion. This Friday’s show in Boston also features the rematch between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens, which was re-booked immediately after their no contest in Mexico City a few weeks back. I’m also very interested to see Maycee Barber’s fight with Gillian Robertson as Barber could be a big star at 115 pounds and Robertson is a great test to see where Barber is at. Greg Hardy is also fighting on the main card portion against 7-2 Ben Sosoli.
VIDEO
Media scrums from the WWE’s Crown Jewel press conference in Las Vegas on Friday:
*****
upNXT 10/13/19: EVOLVE 137 & 138
Davie Portman and Jesse from the 6 chat all about this weekend’s two EVOLVE cards taking place from Atlanta and Concord, North Carolina.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/13/upnxt-10-13-19-evolve-137-138-post-show/
*****
THE POST INTERVIEW: David Lagana
John Pollock speaks with David Lagana about the launch of NWA “Powerrr”, the concept behind the show, what they are seeking, past talks with WWE, long-term goals & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/13/the-post-interview-nwa-vice-president-david-lagana/
*****
POST PURORESU: King of Pro Wrestling Preview, WON HOF Candidates
John Pollock & WH Park preview the NJPW King of Pro Wrestling card, Stardom & All Japan’s upcoming show, Dragon Lee off Jr. Tag League, WON HOF candidates & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/12/post-puroresu-king-of-pro-wrestling-preview-won-hall-of-fame-candidates/
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the second edition of Friday Night SmackDown on Fox featuring night one of the WWE Draft. Plus, notes from WWE’s Crown Jewel press conference in Las Vegas.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/12/rewind-a-smackdown-10-11-19-wwe-draft-night-one/
*****
Café Hangout: AEW vs. NXT Week 2
John Pollock and Wai Ting take your calls on Week 2 of the AEW vs. NXT “Wednesday Night War” and react to show ratings at the end of the broadcast.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/10/cafe-hangout-aew-vs-nxt-week-2-nwa-powerrr-wwe-draft/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 10/9/19: Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the second episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT featuring Chris Jericho’s introduction of his new faction, The Inner Circle.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/10/rewind-a-dynamite-10-9-19-chris-jerichos-inner-circle/
*****
upNXT 10/9/19: Daddy’s Home
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman are back to chat all about this week’s WWE NXT featuring KUSHIDA vs WALTER, Lio Rush vs Drew Gulak for the NXT Cruiserweight title & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/10/upnxt-10-09-19-daddys-home/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #46: WWF Royal Rumble 1994 (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWF Royal Rumble 1994 headlined by a 30-Man Royal Rumble Match resulting in a controversial draw between Bret Hart and Lex Luger, Yokozuna faces his fears against The Undertaker in a Casket Match, and Owen Hart finally breaks out of Bret’s shadow.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/08/rewind-a-wai-46-wwf-royal-rumble-1994/
*****
RAR 10/7/19: Fast and Fury, Hell in a Cell Fallout
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw following Hell in a Cell featuring Tyson Fury demanding an apology from Braun Strowman. Plus, the latest in Rusev and Lana’s ongoing marital issues.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/10/08/rar-10-7-19-fast-and-fury-hell-in-a-cell-fallout/
*****
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