POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Wai #62 is out with Wai Ting and I reviewing WrestleMania 31 from March 2015. In this show, we breakdown the entire card and go through many big news stories around the event and that weekend including:
-WrestleMania 31 business notes
-The mammoth audience for Raw the night after
-UFC’s response to the idea of Ronda Rousey doing a match after her angle
-NXT running a pivotal show in its history that weekend
-ROH’s Supercard of Honor card in Redwood City featuring Samoa Joe
-TNA signs a Canadian television deal
-Future New Japan star leaves WWE
-Jimmy Jacobs heading to WWE
-Tommaso Ciampa leaving Ring of Honor & lots more
This show was selected by Espresso Executive Producer David Porges, who covered this event for an outlet in Israel and speaks about his experience that weekend in Santa Clara, California.
**Wai Ting and I are back with Rewind-A-Dynamite tonight discussing the show from Daily’s Place, chat all the news, and take your feedback. We will also give away a shirt from the POST Wrestling Forum with a random draw involving all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Braden Herrington & Davie Portman will be going live with upNXT at 10:30 pm Eastern on their YouTube channel and the show will be posted later tonight.
**The deadline for the POST Puroresu theme song contest is Thursday at 3 pm Eastern. You can post your submissions in the thread on the POST Wrestling Forum.
**On Thursday evening, the British Wrestling Experience releases its latest episode with a special “mixtape” as they watch the following matches on their playlist:
*Owen Hart vs. Marty Jones
*Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*Akira Tozawa vs. El Ligero
*Chris Hero vs. Tyler Bate
*Jonny Storm vs. Jody Fleisch
*Jack Gallagher vs. Davey Richards
*Chris Masters vs. Kris Travis
*David Graves vs. Kevin Lloyd
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Dynamite with John & Wai
Tonight: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
Thursday: British Wrestling Experience with Martin Bushby, Jamesie & Benno
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (LIVE for all Patrons w/ calls)
Sunday: POST Puroresu with John Pollock & WH Park
WRESTLING NEWS
**The Bump featured a tremendous tribute for the late Shad Gaspard on today’s episode. It featured comments and memories from MVP, New Day, Tyson Kidd, Natalya, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, referee John Cone, and John Morrison.
**Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a message about Shad Gaspard after visiting a memorial site and wrote the following:
On my bike ride today I stopped to pay respects to Shad Gaspard. He was such a positive force in the gym and the world. He was a hero in bodybuilding, a hero in wrestling, and the moment he told lifeguards to save his son first, the ultimate hero. My thoughts are with his family.
**Coming out this past weekend’s tragedy involving Hana Kimura, the ‘Terrace House’ reality series she was a part of has said it will not air any new episodes of the current season. Production has already been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic but on Wednesday they stated that the current season is canceled. It has not been made official that the series is completely done:
Regarding “TERRACE HOUSE TOKYO 2019-2020”, we have decided to cancel the production. We take this issue very seriously and would like to continue to earnestly respond to it.
A Twitter account that follows the series is reporting that the series has not been canceled outright and thus far, it is the current season that has been canceled:
Terrace House Tokyo 2019 – 2020 has been cancelled. No new episodes will be released or produced. There’s speculation that this means Terrace House in general has been cancelled, but at this time, it’s only been announced that it’s the current season which has cancelled and won’t be continuing.
**The Japan Times has a story on the news regarding Terrace House and the fallout from Kimura’s death that is believed to have been a result of her committing suicide. Kimura’s death has led to discussions in the Japanese government regarding cyberbullying laws being implemented, which many have pointed to as a leading cause of Kimura’s death.
**The latest issue of Weekly Pro Wrestling features Hana Kimura on the cover:
Got the last copies in Numazu for me and 2 friends. pic.twitter.com/ZFB00LdEOa
— WH PARK 🇰🇷 🇨🇦 🇯🇵 (@whpark9) May 27, 2020
**AEW Dynamite is back tonight with a new episode from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville coming off Double or Nothing. There was a lot of buzz following Saturday’s show and tonight will feature an appearance by Mike Tyson, which may lead to a better viewership figure than normal during the empty arena era. Below are the matches and segments advertised for tonight’s show at 8 pm Eastern on TNT and TSN2 in Canada:
*Battle Royal with the winner receiving a TNT title shot next week
*The Young Bucks & Matt Hardy vs. Joey Janela & Private Party
*Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc
*The Inner Circle’s Pep Rally
*Hikaru Shida in action
*Mike Tyson appears
*Jon Moxley appears
*Britt Baker addresses her injury
**Here is what has been advertised for NXT tonight at 8 pm Eastern on the USA Network:
*Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher in a Cage Match with Kurt Angle as the special referee
*Charlotte Flair & TBA vs. Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley
*Drake Maverick vs. Jake Atlas vs. KUSHIDA – winner faces El Hijo del Fantasma in the finals of the Interim Cruiserweight title tournament
*A “live negotiation” between Adam Cole and William Regal
**WarnerMedia launched its HBO Max streaming platform on Wednesday with several ads running of AEW talent promoting the service. The platform is available for $14.99 per month in the U.S. with over 10,000 hours of content at launch. The idea is that HBO Max will replace HBO Now, which is an existing service with 8 million subscribers that features only HBO content – HBO Max includes content from all WarnerMedia properties including HBO. The price point of HBO Max has been debated as they have priced themselves above the industry leaders in Netflix and Disney+.
**Friday Night SmackDown finished with 2,044,000 viewers and a 1.31 rating on Fox last Friday, which was basically identical to the week prior. On the overnight figure, they were on pace to do 0.6 in the 18-49 demo but finished with 0.5 and 707,000 viewers. That was still aa victory as SmackDown was the top network program in the demo on Friday night, which they have not been for a long time. That comes with the disclaimer that all their competitors were airing reruns but adds value to SmackDown that not only didn’t stop during the pandemic but will have new episodes all summer.
**Fightful Select reported on Tuesday that WWE performer Kairi Sane suffered a cut during Tuesday’s taping of Raw. The injury occurred during a match with Nia Jax, presumably for next week’s episode that saw Sane thrown into the stairs and cut open and led to the match being paused before Sane finished the match.
**Chris Jericho is going ahead with his annual Rock ‘N’ Rager at Sea next February. On Wednesday, he announced that they will sail from Miami to Grand Bahama Island from February 1st to 5th, 2021. They are advertising wrestling matches from AEW, three shows by Fozzy, games, and have listed Ted DiBiase, Jim Duggan, Bully Ray, and Candice Michelle among those set to appear. While the first two cruises were a success, this one will be a big test of the public’s willingness to travel and being enclosed on a cruise ship for four days in the post-COVID-19 world.
**Matt Riddle is set to begin on the main roster with reports out that he is slated for the SmackDown brand, which is the indication I have been given. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that he was working this past Monday at the Performance Center, which would mean he could be on this Friday’s episode. Riddle is going to be the latest test case of a performer that has every tool you would envision to be a thriving talent, but the proof will be in the pudding if he can reach that potential or become the latest Ricochet.
My gut says Riddle will be able to succeed because of his natural charisma and get material over in his unique way. If this was regular circumstances, his debut and reactions out of the gate would likely be strong and he’ll be appearing in front of a few dozen NXT trainees and wrestlers instead. SmackDown needs a shot in the arm with new main event stars and there seems to be minimal value in bringing Riddle up to just waiver in the middle. I have no idea how he will be introduced but making his debut with a flash knockout win over someone like King Corbin (which avenges the Survivor Series loss) immediately establishes him as a player.
While it’s the antithesis of how WWE books, getting him into a prime position and going so far as to win the title within two months would reignite interest in SmackDown because he’d be fresh and can have solid matches while also having a personality that stands out. There isn’t any middle ground on this one, he’ll either be a major addition to the brand and become a key player or he’ll be viewed as a wasted opportunity and be the most debated and scrutinized call-up in recent memory.
**WWE ended up shifting around its taping schedule this past week. Instead of taping two episodes of Raw on Monday and two SmackDowns on Tuesday, they did one of each on those days. NXT tapes today with tonight’s episode and next week’s show. The crew doesn’t return for tapings until Monday, June 8th after today.
**AEW’s Countdown to Double or Nothing special last Friday averaged 344,000 viewers and a 0.10 in the demo.
**Last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite did 337,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo and a 0.42 rating overall with 702,000 viewers.
**WWE Backstage returns to its normal slot at 11 pm Eastern on FS1 next week featuring CM Punk on the panel. FS1 will be airing WrestleMania 31 from 8-11 pm Eastern as a lead-in. On Tuesday, June 9th FS1 will be airing the Evolution pay-per-view from October 2018.
**Deonna Purrazzo is heading to Impact Wrestling with a promo running on Tuesday’s episode. The NXT releases in April were all believed to have 30-day non-competes compared to 90 days for the main roster cuts. Purrazzo is the latest addition to a strong women’s division that Impact has accumulated joining Jordynne Grace, Taya Valkyrie, Tenille Dashwood, Kiera Hogan, Kylie Rae, Su Yung, Rosemary, Havok, Tasha Steelz, Kimber Lee, as well as their current Impact champion Tessa Blanchard.
**JTG will be a guest on ‘The Bump’ next Wednesday on the WWE Network to discuss the life of Shad Gaspard.
**Natalya (Nattie Neidhart) turns 38 today.
ON THIS DATE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIFsS-35MD0
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #62: WrestleMania 31 (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE WrestleMania 31 (2015) from Santa Clara, CA as Seth Rollins cashes-in his MITB briefcase during Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns to win the WWE Championship.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/37567520
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 5/25/20: Standing Room Only, Last Ride Chapter 3
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring the return of an audience as NXT performers are utilized as stand-ins for an absent crowd. Plus, Undertaker: The Last Ride Chapter 3 and the day’s news.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/26/rewind-a-raw-5-25-20-standing-room-only-last-ride-chapter-3/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #62: WrestleMania 31 (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE WrestleMania 31 (2015) from Santa Clara, CA as Seth Rollins cashes-in his MITB briefcase during Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns to win the WWE Championship.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/37567520
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 5/25/20: Standing Room Only, Last Ride Chapter 3
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring the return of an audience as NXT performers are utilized as stand-ins for an absent crowd. Plus, Undertaker: The Last Ride Chapter 3 and the day’s news.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/26/rewind-a-raw-5-25-20-standing-room-only-last-ride-chapter-3/
*****
POST INTERVIEW: Jonathan Snowden
John Pollock is joined by author Jonathan Snowden to discuss his latest release Shamrock: The World’s Most Dangerous Man that documents the tumultuous and impact life & career of MMA pioneer Ken Shamrock.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/24/post-interview-jonathan-snowden-shamrock-the-worlds-most-dangerous-man/
*****
AEW Double or Nothing POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Double or Nothing 2020 featuring The Elite vs. The Inner Circle in a Stadium Stampede match. WH Park joins us to discuss the passing of Hana Kimura
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/24/aew-double-or-nothing-2020-post-show/
*****
RASD 5/22/20: Hana Kimura Passes Away, Dark Side on Owen Hart
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss breaking news of the tragic passing of Stardom’s Hana Kimura at the age of 22. [NOTE: The rest of our podcast including our SmackDown and Dark Side of the Ring: “The Final Days of Owen Hart” reviews were recorded prior and are presented as originally recorded.]
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/23/rasd-5-22-20-hana-kimura-passes-away-dark-side-on-owen-hart/
*****
Café Hangout: David Bixenspan talks Owen Hart
On today’s Hangout, John Pollock and Wai Ting welcome wrestling journalist David Bixenspan to discuss his recent research into the death of Owen Hart and his thoughts on the season finale of Dark Side of the Ring.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/21/cafe-hangout-3pm-et-david-bixenspan-talks-owen-hart-your-calls/
*****
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