POST IT NOTES
**Wai Ting and I will present Rewind-A-SmackDown LIVE tonight at 10:15 pm Eastern right after SmackDown ends. This is a new format for the show we are going with for the time being. Wai & I will go through the day’s news, review SmackDown, and provide our thoughts on NXT from Wednesday while opening the phone lines to take calls for the duration of the show. All members of the POST Wrestling Café will be able to watch and listen LIVE.
**On Sunday, we have a packed edition of POST Puroresu with WH Park and I choosing the winner of the theme song contest, a look at the 20-year history of Pro Wrestling NOAH, Japan removing its state of emergency restrictions in certain areas, All Japan going forward with the Champion Carnival, and other news from the past few days. We will also speak about the tragic death of Hana Kimura last weekend and the coverage it has received in Japan and worldwide.
**The British Wrestling Experience has released its unique ‘Mixtape’ show reviewing a list of matches they have made a playlist for. They also broke down the results of the Big Euro Transfer Window, discussed the ongoing Drake Maverick angle on NXT, wXw bringing back Shotgun & more with Martin Bushby, Jamesie, Benno & Andy Ogden.
**We have a special Q&A on the site with wXw CEO Felix Kohlenberg on the re-launch of their Shotgun series. The company recently shot and produced ten episodes, which is the first content they have produced since the shutdown. Kohlenberg discussed the safety measures in place for the shows, the impact of the pandemic, and how the talent responded to the idea of shooting the shows. The first episode of the ten-episode season is up now on wXwNOW.com.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown – LIVE at 10:15 pm ET (Live for all Patrons)
Sunday: POST Puroresu with John Pollock & WH Park
Monday: Rewind-A-Raw with John & Wai
WRESTLING NEWS
**Friday Night SmackDown will include the semi-final matches of the Intercontinental title tournament. Last week, going against reruns on the other networks, SmackDown won the night among the 18-49 demographic. Here are the matches for tonight’s show at 8 pm Eastern on Fox:
*Jeff Hardy vs. Daniel Bryan in the semi-finals
*AJ Styles vs. Elias in the semi-finals
*Lacey Evans vs. Sonya Deville
*Moment of Bliss with the New Day
**Chris Jericho spoke to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi on this past Wednesday’s show-closing angle on Dynamite with Mike Tyson. They discussed the nature of building upon the knockout spot from Raw in January 2010 and knowing the type of personality Tyson is for Jericho to work off whatever he does in front of the camera:
Obviously, the idea is to do something more. That’s the thought process, I think between both parties. What that is at this moment, we’re thinking and discussing. Look, Chris Jericho versus Mike Tyson in a wrestling match, in a street fight, in a boxing match, would be big.
But to me it’s the buildup and the angle and all the things we can do. That’s what wrestling is all about — the storyline. The match is the cherry on top. But it’s the build that’s really the most entertaining part, and the part that gets people really involved. So whatever it is that we decide to do as we move forward, it’ll be great. You have one of the most iconic boxers — and most iconic personalities — of all time against one of the greatest pro wrestlers and personalities of all time. It writes itself.
Jericho also spoke on the Stadium Stampede match that was shot over nine hours from Friday night to Saturday morning before it was edited to air that night. Jericho mentions it in the answer, but it’s not appreciated enough what they pulled off at that level in the timeframe they took to shoot that. It literally was a 40-minute movie that was done in half a day with the majority of people believing it was the highlight of the pay-per-view and one of the best things AEW has done in its history:
When you film a movie, there’s weeks, months of filming, weeks, and months of editing. All that different stuff. We filmed the entire Stadium Stampede in nine hours. From 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday night to Saturday morning. And we had three hours to edit it before we had to take it to the truck. What we created in that time frame is monumental. We literally should win an Emmy for that.
**In this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it reports that Nigel McGuinness was furloughed last month and would explain his absence from NXT television since then. McGuinness joined the company in 2016 as part of the launch of the UK brand working its first two shows featuring a tournament to crown the first United Kingdom champion. Since then, he became an indispensable broadcaster spread across numerous shows including NXT on Wednesday nights. The WWE Network released a documentary on McGuinness in 2019 going through his career with a heavy emphasis on Ring of Honor and transitioning out of the ring due to injuries.
**A service was held Thursday for Shad Gaspard. Al Snow posted a photo that included John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Chavo Guerrero, Carlito, Lilian Garcia, Victoria, Mickie James, Chris Mordetsky, JTG, MVP, Josh Barnett, Kenny King, and Chuck Liddell.
**Congratulations to Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) and JoJo Offerman, who had their second child together. The baby’s name is Hyrie Von Rotunda.
**An update on EVOLVE, the company is not planning to run any shows imminently when contacted by POST Wrestling regarding any plans.
**Total Bellas had 447,000 viewers on Thursday for their ninth episode of the season. It did 0.21 in the 18-49 demographic with the viewership being the second-lowest of the season.
**John Ourand of Sports Business Journal spoke with Richard Deitsch of The Athletic about the state of the ad market among sports programming and the long road they have mapped out with 2020 largely being thrown out due to the effects of the shutdowns:
It’s an impossible question to answer about what that market is going to look like in October or what that market is going to look like in November. But, just in talking to various TV executives, they’re not viewing this as, sort of like, a six-month sort of setback, this is like a three-year plan to try to get back to whole or a 2-3 year plan to get back to whole. So, if you look at the ad market from this year alone, nobody is doing that. They are trying to broaden it out to a bigger 2-3-year plan to try and recoup some of those losses.
**Chris Harrington of AEW posted the following message coming out of AEW’s past two weeks stationed in Jacksonville, Florida:
Wow. It’s been a very memorable two weeks. As always, I want to especially thank all the wrestlers, coaches, backstage team, production crew, building support, caterers, medical team, security, hotel staff, drivers, refs and many others who made #DoubleOrNothing 2020 possible. There’s an enormous number of talented artists who are involved in so many intricate details whenever @AEWrestling puts on a show. The stadium stampede was an all-night affair and required enormous amount of coordination, props, stunts, editing and vision.
For every person in the ring, there’s about two people behind the scenes doing everything from makeup and hair to designing labels for breakaway bottles to shooting pre-tapes to cooking safely to treating injuries to booking flights to ensuring we have safe pyro.
On a moment’s notice, plans can change and evolve. We’re all proud of the part we play in delivering weekly television & especially putting together a successful PPV. We had live English, Spanish, German and French commentary- more than 100 countries worldwide purchased DON2020.
I hope everyone has a safe and great weekend. Thanks to fans for supporting @AEWrestling. Thanks especially to our team BTS, partners for selling & marketing the PPV, wrestlers who put on a hell of a show in the ring, and production team, especially camera guys, who are tireless.
**Abraham Riesman has signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books for a biography on Vince McMahon. Riesman wrote ‘True Believe: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee’, which is set for release in September. The Vince McMahon book deal was just finalized and there is no firm target yet for a release. Riesman has written for many outlets including New York magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Vice, and others.
**Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics spoke with SI’s John Wall Street outlet on WWE’s financial picture for 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Thurston has done extensive research and believes that with WWE being paid its television rights fees then they should have a record year in operating income with an estimate of $280 million coming in this year. This comes with escalators in the new deals with Fox and the USA Network as well as their new five-year deal with Sony Pictures Networks India, which will be recognized in the next quarterly report.
**FS1’s airing of the FCW documentary this past Tuesday did 206,000 viewers while WWE Backstage did 125,000 viewers, which started after Midnight Eastern.
**CBC News interviewed Vampiro (Ian Hodgkinson) on his plans to wrestle in Thunder Bay, Ontario this November for the Canadian Wrestling Elite group. He said that his body is broken citing chronic arthritis and dealing with brain trauma but is going to continue to wrestle.
**The NWA has released an episode of Girl Powerrr discussing the passing of Hana Kimura, the impact of cyberbullying, and mental health issues as it pertains to professional wrestlers. The episode featured Thunder Rosa, who had a deep connection with Hana and her family when working in Japan, sharing her memories and called Hana ‘a little sister’. It also features Allysin Kay, Marti Belle, Kamille, May Valentine, and Ashley Vox.
**This weekend’s MLW Anthology series focuses on Low Ki and will air on beIN Sports Saturday night at 10 pm Eastern. It will feature Low Ki vs. Homicide from 2004 when Low Ki made his MLW debut, and Low Ki vs. Shane Strickland when Strickland held the MLW title.
**Daniel Bryan will be a guest on WWE Backstage next Tuesday when the show returns to its 11 pm Eastern timeslot on FS1. Bryan will be on with panelist CM Punk.
**The WWE stock closed at $46.28 on Friday.
**The following matches have been announced for AEW Dark next Tuesday: Billy Gunn vs. John Skyler, Clutch Adams vs. Shawn Spears, Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall vs. Brandon Cutler & Peter Avalon, The Butcher & The Blade vs. Jon Cruz & Joe Alonzo, and Santana & Ortiz vs. Big Game Leroy & EJ Lewis.
**On the season finale of Last Stop Penn Station, Cary Silkin, and Ian Riccaboni discuss the G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden from April 2019 and Silkin’s memories of The Garden.
**Steve Corino turns 47 today.
**This Sunday, the WWE Network will release ‘Sting: The Lost Tape’ featuring behind-the-scenes footage of Sting while in character preparing for a match in the mid-90s in WCW:
You’ve never seen @Sting like this.
🦂 The Lost Tape premieres this Sunday! pic.twitter.com/LOkH1ekPPv
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) May 29, 2020
**MLW releases its first edition of Pulp Fusion and done in the style of ECW’s popular collection of promos:
ON THIS DATE
*****
BRITISH WRESTLING EXPERIENCE: The BWE Mixtape Vol. 1
Martin, Benno & Jamesie are once again joined by Andy Ogden of Graps & Claps Audio in a special mixtape episode looking back at classic matches from European wrestling. Those include Owen Hart vs. Marty Jones, Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr., and Chris Hero vs. Tyler Bate.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/28/bwe-5-29-20-the-bwe-mixtape/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 5/27/20: Mike Tyson’s Outer Circle
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite following the Double or Nothing pay-per-view with a big angle involving Mike Tyson and Chris Jericho. Plus, today’s news on Chris Jericho’s cruise, UFC in Nevada and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/28/rewind-a-dynamite-5-27-20-mike-tysons-outer-circle/
*****
upNXT 5/27/20: Fight Pit
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the May 27th edition of WWE NXT featuring Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle (with Kurt Angle as the Special Guest Referee) in the first ever FIGHT PIT match!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/05/28/upnxt-5-27-20-fight-pit/
*****
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/
*****
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