POST IT NOTES
**We have released our latest POST Movie Review with a review of ROCKY IV starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren from 1985. On this review, we are joined by film reviewer Ed Boxler to chat with Wai Ting and I about the film, the death of Apollo Creed, the heavy politics embedded in the film, how the franchise has changed by the mid-’80s, and Ivan Drago as the villain of the film. Plus, we take your feedback, a story from when I interviewed Lundgren, and lots more on this show. It is available now for all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Wai Ting will be joined by Bruce Lord for Rewind-A-Dynamite tonight and I’ll be back on Friday’s edition of Rewind-A-SmackDown. The two will be reviewing Dynamite and previewing the Full Gear pay-per-view this Saturday. Braden Herrington & Davie Portman will have a new edition of upNXT tonight.
**Earlier this week, I was joined by David Bixenspan to discuss his recent feature for Business Insider covering the WWF’s ring boy scandal from the early ‘90s. We have received a lot of compliments for the show, which is a very uncomfortable subject matter giving the nature of the allegations. I do encourage those to check out Bixenspan’s feature, which outlines the allegations during that time as we discuss the people involved, the media coverage, and the fallout for the World Wrestling Federation.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Dynamite with Wai Ting & Bruce Lord
Tonight: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John & Wai (LIVE at 10:15 pm ET for Café members)
Saturday: NJPW Power Struggle POST Show w/ John Pollock & WH Park (Patreon)
Saturday: AEW Full Gear POST Show w/ Wai Ting, Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
WRESTLING NEWS
**AEW has announced that Scorpio Sky is off tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite as a precaution. The promotion issued a statement that Sky was exposed to someone with COVID-19 over the past two weeks. Sky took a test and it came back negative for the virus but AEW has opted to cancel his match with Shawn Spears on tonight’s episode at Daily’s Place.
**In its place, AEW has added a tag match with The Young Bucks taking on Private Party tonight. It is a rematch from the October 9, 2019, edition of Dynamite where Private Party beat The Bucks in the opening round of the AEW tag title tournament.
**AEW president Tony Khan spoke with Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com to promote this Saturday’s Full Gear pay-per-view and spoke on several subjects. It was during this interview that Khan confirmed the signings of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, who will be teaming together as “The Acclaimed”. Khan added that they are hopeful of Leyla Hirsch working with the company and hinted that she may have options in terms of deals being offered. Hirsch made a tremendous impression last week with her match against Hikaru Shida on AEW Dark and against Serena Deeb that aired on last week’s Dynamite episode.
On Le Dinner Debonair:
I expected it to be a very polarizing segment and it was very polarizing and I expected it would create a lot of conversation and then the next week, those guys would pull a big number and that’s what happened. I think it worked out well to do the Town Hall segment coming off it because the Town Hall segment was probably more in the context of what people have come to expect from Max and Chris. so I thought the Town Hall was more conventional and probably that’s why I thought it was, you know…obviously it did a really strong number but also made more sense to go closer to the pay per view for the next show.
Khan was asked about the recent incident where Alex Reynolds was knocked out during the four-way tag match and how AEW is assessing their protocols for handling such situations:
Yeah, you know, we’ve been recently doing everything we can to work on our protocols and make this as safe as possible work environment. I’ve added another independent neurologist to the staff. We’ve added an independent doctor at all the shows in addition to our staff medical team and we’re adding extra support. I’ve added a two-way feature where the referees can talk back to us if there are injuries so that the referee, you know, not all communication is going one way, and I’ve encouraged the referees to let us know what’s going on.
Speaking of Chris (Nowinski) – Chris is actually coming back this weekend, so Chris will be at Full Gear and I’m going to have Chris talk to all the staff and all the talent and me. It’s been over a year since Chris came and saw us last and I think it’s probably overdue for Chris to come in and give us his thoughts and his critiques and it’s important that we listen to that. So I’m excited to have Chris come back because I think he’s the world’s leading expert on head trauma. As to other injuries outside of head trauma, I think we oughta do our best there too but I think that’s probably the area we’re the most concerned about, being…make sure we’re doing everything safe.
Khan also spoke about the increasing length of AEW Dark and the potential of splitting it into two programs, which was a suggestion proposed by Johnson. Khan said if that were to happen, it would be as a streaming option and would have nothing to do with the added hour they are expected to launch on linear television with WarnerMedia.
**Tonight’s wrestling programs are expected to be hit by the enormous news coverage coming out of Tuesday’s U.S. Election. For NXT, they are coming off one of their best weeks of the year with Halloween Havoc and has often been less affected by outside events. Here is the current line-up advertised for tonight’s show at 8 pm Eastern on the USA Network:
*Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream
*Dakota Kai vs. Ember Moon
*Toni Storm vs. Shotzi Blackheart
*KUSHIDA vs. Cameron Grimes
AEW presents its go-home episode for Full Gear this Saturday. Prior to All Out in September, Tony Khan stated that four times per year Dynamite is centered around building the pay-per-view and the other 48 weeks of the year are about solid in-ring action, although he left it open about playing with that philosophy. It’s not to say you can’t deliver a great in-ring show and promote the pay-per-view, but tonight’s show should lean on promos and driving home the key programs.
The feud that has been scrutinized most is the FTR and Young Bucks match, which also had the largest expectations. In hindsight, the heavy push of The Bucks going heel, even with their internal justification, didn’t resonate and it’s turned the focus away from a program that was ready-made for its audience to embrace. The best option for this match is to forget all the heel attacks by The Young Bucks and just push this as the match that has been “years in the making” and settling which team is the best. You had that dynamic on day one when FTR showed up at Daily’s Place and delaying the match so long took it off course where the match felt stronger in June than it does in November.
Below is the card for tonight’s episode of Dynamite at 8 pm Eastern on TNT and TSN 2 in Canada:
*MJF & Wardlow vs. Ortiz & Sammy Guevara
*The Young Bucks vs. Private Party
*Nyla Rose vs. Red Velvet
*Miro vs. Trent
*Cody & The Gunn Club vs. Colt Cabana, John Silver & Ten
*Face-to-face segment with Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston
*Chris Jericho on commentary
On paper, it’s one of the weaker line-ups Dynamite has advertised, but again, tonight is about pushing the pay-per-view first and foremost. The face-to-face segment between Moxley and Kingston should be a strong segment with two of the best speakers in the industry and a feud that has peaked well for Saturday. Of the key matches at Full Gear, I feel Hangman Page and Kenny Omega could benefit from a sit-down interview with Jim Ross or something akin to that presentation to drive home the battle of the former champions and friends.
**Sean Ross Sapp at Fightful reported today that only WWE main roster talent has had to stop streaming on Twitch with NXT talent is exempt for now, which explains why Adam Cole, Jessamyn Duke, and others can continue. Several main roster performers announced last week that they were suspending their Twitch streams or left it up in the air when they would return including AJ Styles, Cesaro, Aleister Black & Zelina Vega. This comes after the edict handed down by WWE in September that talent would have to stop participating with third-party outlets including Twitch, where talent can supplement income. The performer most closely tied to this story is Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis), who was very emotional discussing the decision she has been tasked with making and unlike the others, her in-ring days with WWE are over because of her neck problems.
**Friday Night SmackDown finished with a 1.36 rating and 2,286,000 viewers on Fox. In the 18-49 demographic, they did a 0.7 that translates to 849,000 viewers.
**Miro was a guest on Talk is Jericho Wednesday discussing his time in WWE, moving to AEW, and the contrast of the two companies. Some of the highlights included:
*Noting that people were concerned to be going to work in WWE at the start of the pandemic
*He was pitched on the storyline involving Lana and Bobby Lashley by Paul Heyman and told it would be “one of the main events at WrestleMania”, which you can’t fault Miro for not being an eternal optimist
*It is difficult with Lana being in a different company because they are used to being together all the time
*Jericho noted that when the WWE cuts occurred in April, he asked Tony Khan his thoughts on any of the available talents with Miro/Rusev being the one he named
*He confirmed that WWE was furious when photos leaked in 2014 that he and Lana were engaged at the same time they were doing the storyline where Lana was with Dolph Ziggler and Rusev was with Summer Rae. Miro claimed Lana shared the photos with some friends and the photos were leaked and he had been scheduled to win the Intercontinental title and they dropped the storyline.
*Miro said he had offers to go elsewhere after WWE, he had no concerns when he got the news he was being cut but said he did get a lot off his chest when he was called and told the news by a WWE official
**MLW has confirmed that Lio Rush will be working for the company once they resume episodes later this month. Since leaving WWE, Rush has worked a handful of shows for Game Changer Wrestling and appeared on Tuesday’s night’s edition of UWM’s Primetime Live beating Fidel Bravo. MLW resumes episodes of Fusion on Wednesday, November 18th on Fubo Sports and their YouTube channel and airs Saturday nights on beIN Sports.
**The latest episode of The Masked Wrestler streams on IWTV & Fite TV tonight at 10 pm Eastern and features the final opening round matches of the tournament. The concept of the series is two masked wrestlers competing and the loser reveals their identity at the end.
**IMPACT Wrestling is holdings its Turning Point special on Saturday, November 14th on Impact Plus with the following matches announced:
*Rich Swann vs. Sami Callihan for the IMPACT championship
*Su Yung vs. Deonna Purrazzo in an Anything Goes Match for the Knockouts title
*The North vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for the IMPACT tag titles
*Moose vs. Willie Mack
*Brian Myers vs. Swoggle
**James Romero has a new book coming out on November 29th covering Dwayne Johnson. The book is called Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: The People’s Champion – From WWE to Hollywood and covers his wrestling career and transition to films.
**The WWE stock closed at $39.10 on Wednesday.
MMA NEWS
**Coming out of Tuesday’s election, Tito Ortiz won one of three open seats on the city council in Huntington Beach, California. Bloody Elbow’s Karim Zidan has an article looking at the campaign Ortiz ran where the fighter sold QAnon shirts on his website (which have been removed), spread erroneous conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus, and attached himself to the Donald Trump platform.
**UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz spoke with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani with an update on the proposed fight with Israel Adesanya. This past weekend, UFC president Dana White stated Adesanya would challenge Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title next. Blachowicz is willing to fight Adesanya but not until March citing his wife giving birth to their child in December and the rising number of COVID-19 cases in his home country of Poland.
I can fight in March with anybody. It’s no problem for me. But I cannot fight any earlier than March. If Israel wants to wait, no problem.
In Poland right now, the situation is not so good, and we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. Right now we train normally, but nobody knows what our government is preparing for. We’ll see what’s going to happen later.
**Dana White’s Contender Series returns tonight from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, and moves back to Tuesday night next week. Below is the card streaming at 8 pm Eastern on ESPN+ and airing on TSN 5 in Canada:
*Bruno Oliveira (8-1) vs. Carlos Ulberg (2-0) – Light heavyweight
*Ignacio Bahamondes (10-3) vs. Edson Gomez (6-1) – Welterweight
*Luis Saldana (13-6) vs. Vince Murdock (12-3) – Featherweight
*Harry Hunsucker (6-2) vs. Jared Vanderaa (-10-4) – Heavyweight
**Jon Anik and Michael Bisping are calling Dana White’s Contender Series tonight. Anik noted he got the short notice call that he was needed for the show. Original host Brendan Fitzgerald stated he was under the weather on Tuesday and feeling better today but couldn’t take the risk of being around others. Fitzgerald took a COVID test and it came back negative.
**Former WWE developmental wrestler Terrance Jean-Jacques has withdrawn from his fight tomorrow night at Bellator 251 with Gustavo Trujillo for unknown reasons. Trujillo still weighed in on Wednesday and will serve as a back-up fighter.
**Below are the weigh-in results for Bellator 251 airing Thursday night in Uncasville, Connecticut:
MAIN CARD (7 pm ET on CBS Sports Network & DAZN)
*Melvin Manhoef (204.2) vs. Corey Anderson (205)
*Tyrell Fortune (256.7) vs. Said Sowma (243)
*Austin Vanderford (184.8) vs. Vinicius De Jesus (185.5)
*Derek Anderson (170) vs. Killys Mota (169.4)
PRELIMINARY CARD (4:45 pm on Bellator’s YouTube channel)
*Georgi Karakhanyan (155.8) vs. Bryce Logan (155.2)
*Alex Polizzi (203.6) vs. Julius Anglickas (205.8)
*Janay Harding (145.7) vs. Jessy Miele (145.7)
*Ali Zebian (155.7) vs. Piankhi Zimmerman (155)
*Joe Supino (136) vs. Jaylon Bates (134.8)
*Sumiko Inaba (125) vs. Jessica Ruiz (123.5)
**ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that Tim Means has been booked to fight Mike Perry at UFC 255 later this month on November 21st. Means is taking the spot of Robbie Lawler, who withdrew from the fight. Means last competed in August earning a decision win against Laureano Staropoli while Perry is coming off a decision win against Mickey Gall this past June. Recently, Perry’s ex-wife Danielle Nickerson spoke about past instances of physical abuse by Perry when speaking to MMA Junkie. Perry has denied putting his hands on Nickerson at any point during their marriage.
ON THIS DATE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7RynINNZ-g
*****
POST MOVIE REVIEW: Rocky IV (1985)
John Pollock & Wai Ting welcome film critic/friend Ed Boxler to review Rocky IV (1985) as Rocky Balboa travels to the USSR to face his greatest challenge yet: Communism.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/04/post-movie-review-rocky-iv-1985/
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 11/2/20: Preview-A-Merica, RAW review with Nate Milton
John Pollock is joined by guest co-host Nate Milton to review WWE Raw, and we present Preview-A-Merica ahead of the U.S. Election.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/03/rar-11-2-20-preview-a-merica-raw-review-with-nate-milton/
*****
POST INTERVIEW: David Bixenspan
John Pollock is joined by journalist David Bixenspan to speak about his latest feature covering the early ‘90s ring boy scandal in the WWF.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/02/post-interview-david-bixenspan/
*****
THE LONG & WINDING ROAD
WH Park and upNXT’s Davie Portman walk down the Long & Winding Royal Road to talk about Kenta Kobashi vs. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams from August 31, 1993.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/01/lwrr-5-kenta-kobashi-vs-steve-williams-8-31-93-w-davie-portman/
*****
THE ROCKY MAIVIA PICTURE SHOW #22: Hercules (2014)
This month on The Rocky Maivia Picture Show, Nate Milton welcomes Classical History/Greek Mythology expert Gen Chittenden (True North Nerds) into the theater to review The Rock’s return to the “sword & sandals” genre in 2014’s “Hercules”!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/10/31/trmps-22-hercules-2014-w-gen-chittenden/
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 10/30/20: “Back Stabbing Bitches”, WWE-Twitch
John Pollock and Wai Ting chat about Friday Night SmackDown with the fallout from Hell in a Cell, plus we discuss certain WWE talent suspending Twitch accounts, WWE’s Q3 earnings report, and AEW/NXT ratings.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/10/31/rewind-a-smackdown-10-30-20-back-stabbing-bitches-wwe-twitch/
*****
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