POST IT NOTES
**Monday’s edition of Rewind-A-Raw features Wai Ting and Nate Milton going through Monday’s show from Greenville, South Carolina featuring the Rusev and Lana divorce segment, Seth Rollins alignment with AOP, Humberto Carrillo’s match with Andrade, more matches added to TLC, and more. Plus, they chat about WWE’s Hall of Fame announcements, the cards for Wrestle Kingdom next month, and WWE’s releases over the weekend.
**Wai Ting and I will have a new Rewind-A-Wai late tonight on the site. On #51, we are reviewing ECW on TNN from New Year’s Eve 1999 from tapings in White Plains, New York. This show featured a rematch from the Nashville taping the week prior with Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome for the ECW title along with Raven vs. Mikey Whipwreck and Super Crazy vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri. Robert Brockie is our Espresso Executive Producer and will stop by to chat about this show and we will also look at some of the major headlines from this week in history. The show will be available to all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**We have several interviews coming out later this week, beginning with Andrew Thompson chatting with Melina on Thursday ahead of the NWA Into the Fire pay-per-view. On Friday, Jamesie will release a two-hour interview he conducted with David Starr, and the same day we’ll have an interview Andrew conducted with ROH Television champion Shane Taylor prior to Final Battle.
POST SCHEDULE
*Tonight: Rewind-A-Wai #51 – ECW on TNN from Dec. 31, 1999 (Patreon)
*Wednesday: Rewind-A-Dynamite with John Pollock & Wai Ting
*Wednesday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
*Thursday: Café Hangout – previews of ROH, NWA, UFC 245, WWE TLC (LIVE at 3 pm ET for all Café members)
*Friday: British Wrestling Experience – Jamesie interviews David Starr
*Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown including a review of ROH Final Battle (Patreon)
*Saturday: UFC 245 POST Show with John Pollock & Phil Chertok
*Sunday: Thunderstruck with WH Park & guest Sarah Flann (Liger vs. Tyler Breeze from NXT TakeOver Aug. 2015)
*Sunday: WWE TLC POST Show with John Pollock, Wai Ting & Mike Murray (LIVE for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso Café members)
WRESTLING NEWS
**WWE has confirmed that Robert Roode and Primo Colon (Eddie Colon) have each been suspended for 30-days following violations of the company’s Wellness Policy. News of the suspensions was first reported by Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet. The company did not specify what substance was found in either’s system. In the company’s statement, they said the suspensions are effective immediately and therefore, would be eligible to return on January 9th, 2020.
**Seth Rollins referenced his hand injury on Monday’s edition of Raw and it is a legitimate injury. Mike Johnson reported on Tuesday that Rollins broke his pinky finger during a match with Erick Rowan on Sunday in Augusta, Georgia. He did not wrestle on Monday night but is expected to be cleared for this weekend.
**Braun Strowman is also dealing with a minor injury. Dave Meltzer reported that Strowman is dealing with either a back or hip injury and caused him to miss this past weekend’s house shows. Meltzer added that they are hopeful of adding a match between Strowman and Shinsuke Nakamura for the TLC card and that the angle was supposed to be shot on last week’s show. We were told that Strowman was supposed to be on last week’s SmackDown and was removed as a precaution because of the injury.
**Friday Night SmackDown from this past week finished with 2,452,000 viewers on Fox. They did a 0.7 among the 18-49 demo and a 0.4 with 18-34s. They were second for the night among network programming following ABC’s college football.
**Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa won All Japan’s Real-World Tag League on Monday at Korakuen Hall. They defeated Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura in the main event that placed them each with 12 points and Suwama & Ishikawa getting past on the tiebreaker. It is their second Tag League victory together after winning in 2017.
**TV Insider spoke with Renee Young about her role on WWE Backstage, the addition of CM Punk, and also discussed the kind of coverage fans can expect on the show. One of the criticisms is that the show is not going to cover serious issues within the industry and WWE at large. In the past month, the show has had its opportunities and there will always be that conflict. The show is much more geared as a promotional vehicle for WWE that works in concert with the company than an objective news enterprise, which Backstage was never going to be. Young gave the following answer about how they walk that line:
We want to do a service to WWE and FOX. Obviously, we keep our fans in mind with all of it. We want to cover as much as we can, but we bounce stuff off WWE as well to see what they are comfortable with us talking about. I’ve worked there for so long I know exactly what that line is always going to be anyway. We’re still developing the show and listening to what fans want.
**WWE Backstage will feature CM Punk returning to the show along with an interview with King Corbin at 11 pm Eastern on FS 1.
**The season-finale of Total Divas airs tonight at 10 pm Eastern on E!
**Below are the matches for AEW Dark streaming at 7 pm Eastern tonight from last week’s tapings in Champaign, Illinois
*Kenny Omega vs. Kip Sabian
*Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds
*Scorpio Sky vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Peter Avalon
**Here are the matches for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling at 8 pm Eastern on AXS TV and Fight Network in Canada:
*Tessa Blanchard vs. Madman Fulton
*Sami Callihan vs. Ken Shamrock
*Rob Van Dam vs. Rhino with Tommy Dreamer as the referee
*Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs. Dez & Wentz vs. Reno Scum vs. oVe in a Tag Team Open for a shot at the tag titles at Hard to Kill
*Moose vs. Acey Romero
**The WWE stock closed at $61.66 on Tuesday.
**LA Park will return to MLW at the February 1st Fightland television taping at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
**MLW has moved their Intimidation Games television taping at Cicero Stadium to a later date in 2020. The taping was initially scheduled for Saturday, February 29th, and has been moved to Saturday, April 18th.
**WWE is putting tickets on sale this Friday for the Elimination Chamber event on Sunday, March 8th. The pay-per-view will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
**WWE will also be putting tickets on sale this Friday at Noon Eastern for the WWE Hall of Fame, Friday Night SmackDown, NXT TakeOver, and Raw at the Amalie Arena in Tampa over WrestleMania week.
**Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) has announced that Scott Hall will appear at their show on Saturday, February 22nd at the Tadmor Shrine in Akron, Ohio.
**Jimmy Jacobs recently spoke with Jordan Garber on his role with Impact Wrestling, joining WWE in 2015, and sharing this answer about his attitude toward Vince McMahon and how it changed during his tenure on the creative staff that ended with his firing in October 2017:
When I first got to WWE, I wasn’t scared of Vince. I just thought. “He’s a dude” maybe a billionaire but a “billionaire dude” and everybody was scared of him so I was asking why everybody was scared of Vince? After working there for a month or two, I see why everybody is scared of him, so I spent the majority of my time there basically scared of Vince and ultimately afraid of losing my job. It wasn’t until the last couple of months of my time there where I was so sick of feeling just tied and boxed up that I wasn’t scared of getting fired anymore. Which I spent most of my time doing. Maybe I would last longer if I wasn’t scared of Vince. It’s his sandbox… He’s just letting you play in it
**MLW will return to the Melrose Ballroom next summer with the ‘Never Say Never’ tapings on Thursday, July 16th. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday.
**Last week on the Café Hangout, we had a caller that mentioned Bandido being removed from an independent show this past year. The promotion was ECCW and co-owner Jeff Duncan reached out to us this past weekend to clarify the circumstances regarding Bandido being unable to wrestle at the two Ballroom Brawl shows this past January. The company had removed him in December following his signing with Ring of Honor, which did have a TV taping the same weekend in January:
Avid listener. Heard the Café Hangout and felt I should weigh in. Bruce Lord made the comment of not going to a local wrestling event with Bandido due to the bait and switch the company used last January. That company happened to the one I part own, ECCW.
What actually happened is that we booked him to work for us when he was unsigned. ROH then signed him (and PCO) and didn’t let either one of them make their final commitments as it conflicted with their TV. It was of no fault of either performer.
Wanted to clear that up, as Ballroom Brawl 13 in January will be a massive weekend for the company and we are very happy to have Bandido on the show, as well as Jeff Cobb, Tony Deppen, Alex Zayne, Douglas James, Nicole Matthews, Artemis Spencer and more.
REVIEW
Table for 3 with Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles & Sting
-The theme of the show was TNA as the three reminisced about their time with the company but largely carried by Jarrett and Styles. Sting does have a great memory when it comes to dates and specifics but perked up when it came to the Joker character he portrayed. Sting loved that character and admitted it was a risk and some hated it, but he was very proud of that character.
-Styles shared this great story about his first meeting with Jarrett that he had never shared. In January 2000, Styles played an EMT on Monday Nitro that Jarrett attacked, and Jarrett had never heard this before. His reaction was priceless, and its amazing Styles never shared his story in all the years they worked together in TNA.
-Jarrett was a proponent of the six-sided ring while Sting hated it. Jarrett explained it made them different and took the idea from AAA and cited something that retailers were interested in selling. Styles liked the ring because it looked like an octagon and separated themselves. For me, it was never positive or negative. It didn’t enhance your ability to get into a match or detract you, but you did hear when guys would come in about the adjustment and ultimately, it should have been the talent deciding if it helped or hurt.
-Jarrett said that the pay-per-view that drew the most buys for TNA was the Bound for Glory show in October 2006. That show featured Jarrett vs. Sting in a Title vs. Career match, but the bigger draw was Kurt Angle appearing as the guest referee when the company had an enormous buzz from his arrival. Jarrett did clarify that there were other shows that grossed more money but that show had the most buys.
-Styles acknowledged he was outspoken at times and learned to mature while in the company. He said he would probably shake his head looking back at his X division matches in the company. This led to a debate about the division that Jarrett said his father ‘hated’ and that Vince Russo didn’t care for either. Jarrett said he encouraged the guys to go out there and do that style because that’s what they were hired to do and didn’t want them to slow down. He believed what made TNA different from WWE was having four distinct divisions with the heavyweights, their tag teams, the X division, and the Knockouts. The X division absolutely carried them during the Asylum years and into the Spike era. When the knockouts were added in 2007, the emergence of Gail Kim and Awesome Kong were distinct as WWE wasn’t do anything with their women’s division after Trish Stratus retired. The tag division went in ups and downs but the teams like Chris Harris & James Storm and later Beer Money, Triple X, Styles & Christopher Daniels, and LAX led to the tag division being a solid part of the mid-card when you had the hot teams attached to it. With the heavyweights, I would say the Jarrett run on top from 2002-06 was a major criticism because of the types of matches that headlined with dozens of run-ins, weapons, and a presentation that didn’t work for most.
-Sting repeated his story of Jerry Jarrett taking a chance on him and Jim Hellwig when they were breaking in. The two sent out photos and promotional packets to various territories and Jarrett was the only one to show interest in them. He later sent them to Mid-South to work with Bill Watts and Sting always respected Jarrett. So, when they called him to come in for the first time for TNA in 2003, he agreed out of loyalty to the Jarrett family.
-Jarrett was the highlight of the show and it would be a fantastic interview for him to dive into the TNA period.
MMA NEWS
**Saturday’s UFC on ESPN card averaged 1,071,000 viewers featuring Jairzinho Rozenstruik knocking out Alistair Overeem with four seconds remaining in their five-round fight. The show did a 0.46 with adults 18-49, which was fourth on the night on cable behind College Gameday, an airing of Thor Ragnarok on TBS, and Live PD on A&E. There was a lot of college football that night on CBS and ABC.
It was a long main card that started at 9 pm Eastern and didn’t finish until 1 am. The prelims also aired on ESPN from 7-9 pm and averaged 696,000 viewers and a 0.24 with 18-49s.
**LFA will hold its first card of the new year on Friday, January 17th at Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The card is headlined by Steve Garcia taking on Jose Mariscal and will feature the return of Damacio Page. The show will stream that night on UFC Fight Pass at 10 pm Eastern.
**Here are the first two episodes of UFC Embedded prior to Saturday’s UFC 245 event in Las Vegas:
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 12/9/19: Lana-Rusev Divorce, Rollins Gets in the Van
Wai Ting is joined by Nate Milton to review WWE Raw featuring Lana & Rusev’s divorce and Seth Rollins’ big reveal. We also discuss today’s news about the WWE Hall of Fame, Wrestle Kingdom 14 and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/10/rewind-a-raw-12-9-19-lana-rusev-divorce-rollins-gets-in-the-van/
*****
NJPW World Tag League 2019 POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review NJPW World Tag League 2019 Final headlined by EVIL & Sanada vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay and featuring a number of angles building towards Wrestle Kingdom 14. We also discuss WWE’s releases of Luke Harper, Sin Cara and The Ascension.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/09/njpw-world-tag-league-2019-final-post-show/
*****
THUNDERSTRUCK: Jushin Liger vs. Taichi (May 2017)
WH Park and Joel Abraham of the Super J-Cast discuss one of Jushin Liger’s more controversial matches as he takes on Taichi from May 31, 2017, as part of that year’s Best of the Super Juniors.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/08/thunderstruck-7-jushin-liger-vs-taichi-5-31-17-w-joel-abraham/
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 12/6/19: It’s Reigning Cats and Dogs
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown as King Corbin set out to HUMILIATE Roman Reigns after his main event match with Dolph Ziggler using Dog Food.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/07/rewind-a-smackdown-12-6-19-its-reigning-cats-and-dogs/
*****
Cafe Hangout
John Pollock and Wai Ting are joined by veteran wrestling writer Greg Oliver to discuss his latest book, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Storytellers. We also discuss the closest week of AEW-NXT ratings yet.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/05/live-link-for-todays-cafe-hangout-3pm-et/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 12/4/19: Le Champaign, Illinois
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite featuring Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela. We also discuss WWE Raw ratings, Seth Rollins on WWE Backstage and this week’s NWA Powerrr.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/05/rewind-a-dynamite-12-4-19-le-champaign-illinois/
*****
upNXT 12/4/19: My Eyes Are Up Here
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman are back to chat all about this week’s episode of NXT featuring a six-man tag main event between Undisputed Era and Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/05/upnxt-12-4-19-my-eyes-are-up-here/
*****
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