POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Raw is LIVE tonight at 11:15 p.m. ET as Wai Ting and I will be reviewing WWE Raw. We will also chat about the fallout of All Out, the latest news from the weekend, and take your feedback with a preview of the upcoming week’s schedule. This show is live for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Thanks to everyone that joined us live on Sunday after the pay-per-view. If you missed our All Out POST Show, it can be downloaded or streamed wherever you listen to your podcasts. We are live for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the Café after every pay-per-view, Raw, and Dynamite and live for all Patrons on Friday nights.
**We also have a bonus show covering the NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam events from Saturday & Sunday. Wai Ting and I went through both cards, the atmosphere at the MetLife Dome, the G1 blocks, the announcement of three Wrestle Kingdom cards next January, and the overall state of New Japan heading into its biggest season of the year. This show is available for all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**On Tuesday, Wai Ting and WH Park will have a special review of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings available for all members of the POST Wrestling Café.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw with John & Wai (Live at 11:15 p.m. ET)
Tuesday: MCU L8R – Shang-Chi review with Wai Ting & WH Park (Patreon)
Tuesday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
Wednesday: Shot in the Dark with John Siino
Wednesday: Rewind-A-Dynamite (10:15 p.m. ET)
Thursday: MCU L8R with Wai Ting & WH Park – What If? Episode 5 (Patreon)
Thursday: The British Wrestling Experience with Martin Bushby & Benno
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (Live at 11:15 p.m. ET for all Patrons)
Sunday: The NWA Podcast with Nate Milton, Kris Ealy & Andrew Thompson
AEW ALL OUT
The night of September 5, 2021, is going to be remembered as one of the all-time classic pay-per-view events as AEW presented All Out.
It was a night where AEW delivered a stellar event including a legendary steel cage match between The Lucha Brothers and The Young Bucks that will be cited and discussed for years to come with some pegging it among the greatest cage matches, ever. It’s in that conversation. For me, the top contenders for the match of the year had been Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay, Utami Hayashishita vs. Syuri, and Takagi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. This one could top it for the sheer drama involved and overall presentation that made it one of the legendary matches in the short history of the promotion and it’s not a stretch to call it the greatest match in AEW history.
The headlines included the arrivals of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole to close the show and sending the audience into a state of euphoria with AEW riding its greatest wave of momentum to date.
All the pieces are in place for the company to emerge from this event and climb its next mountain. There is no doubt that this week’s Dynamite number should be through the roof and poses the greatest threat to the Dynamite premiere in October 2019 that averaged 1.4 million viewers.
The awareness of the product is at an all-time high after a summer of strong television viewership and a successful launch of Rampage on Friday nights. Now, it is time to see what level the shows can settle at and the growth these acquisitions provide.
A clear message has arisen where this is the promotion all the fan’s favorite wrestlers want to be a part of and it’s a promotion where the handcuffs are off and they will be presented in a more authentic manner both in physicality and the personality quotient.
While a lot of parallels can be drawn to the arrival of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in WCW in 1996, this has a feel of 1984 in the WWF where the company was expanding nationally. In doing so, Vince McMahon brought in the top territorial stars to create an all-star team.
While no one can compare the numbers watching today to those of the Attitude Era, with fewer overall viewers there is way more money to be made off those audiences than in the late ‘90s. The long game for AEW is when their rights come due and what the market assesses its viability if Dynamite and Rampage remain top cable properties. Nick Khan has gone on record believing that the fallout of the pandemic will see the prestige leagues go unphased when their television rights come due but that it’s the middle class that will be squeezed. AEW is not of that top tier nor are they the top wrestling brand but it’s a growth property that is putting all its chips on the table with the recent additions to find the ceiling of their potential and hope to expand it further.
September is a major month for AEW with the September 15th date at the Prudential Center and September 22nd at Arthur Ashe Stadium along with this week’s show in Cincinnati that suddenly features a monster edition of Dynamite. It’s also noteworthy that they will be making a big splash in the Northeast U.S. and are doing so with many recognizable faces that media will gravitate to and it should place AEW under a major spotlight in the coming weeks as the rising contender to the incumbent. All of this combines with the fact that Monday Night Football returns next Monday and thus, putting Raw at a disadvantage where the obvious comparisons will be made weekly between Raw and Dynamite in the 18-49 demographic, which could become competitive.
When a big show is presented you want it to deliver on the night, but you also want to leave your audience wanting more and craving what’s next. In that regard, All Out was a grand slam. On its own, it was a classic show. In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll have a better understanding of its historical significance to the growth of AEW.
WRESTLING NEWS
**I wanted to send my condolences regarding the passing of Seth Hanson, who was a wrestling historian and died at the age of 37 on Thursday due to respiratory failure. His Twitter account was a treasure trove of historical data and was a great account to follow if you were a fan of learning the history of the business. Unfortunately, Twitter has suspended his account and hopefully, it will be reactivated because of all the work he put into it and the history he covered. Rest in Peace, Seth.
**Bryan Danielson spoke to the media after All Out and noted that it was a very difficult decision to leave WWE and constantly noted his love of working there and having a great relationship with Vince McMahon. He was deeply moved by the Brodie Lee tribute show last December, which was the most emotional program I’ve ever witnessed. Bryan said that other factors that contributed to his decision was McMahon being “overprotective” of him at times and he wants to push his limits as well as noting the buzz attached to the AEW product and wanting to be here. He said he wants to wrestle in New Japan and Mexico but he can’t quarantine for two weeks and go wrestle in Japan with a family given the current state of the world, and going to Mexico may not be the safest option at present so he is focused on AEW. He seemed unsure of his ability to use the “Yes” phrase and noted he doesn’t want to cause an issue if it’s WWE’s intellectual property, which Tony Khan interrupted and said that it might not be their IP, so that seems to be a decision yet to be determined. Danielson was put in a trailer backstage and loved the show, noting the fans were into all the matches and thanked them during his post-show promo inside the ring. He added that it was tough leaving WWE noting that he literally has family members (not only Brie being with the company, but his father-in-law is John Laurinaitis). Danielson added that WWE gave him a very generous offer and was going to allow him to do “some other stuff on the outside.”
**CM Punk appeared with Tony Khan for the post-show media scrum to reflect on his first match with AEW. Punk said he felt happy and was ecstatic about the additions of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole. Punk repeated the impact that the handling of Brodie Lee’s passing played on his decision to come to AEW and the fact his condition was kept confidential. He said wrestling Sting is a “bucket list” item and expects to team with him. When comparing the recent additions to AEW to Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to WCW in 1996, he said, “this is bigger”. Punk said no one else but Tony Khan could have signed him. Punk said that after the match with Darby Allin, Sting compared it to what Ric Flair did for him in 1988 at the first Clash of the Champions when they had the 45-minute draw in the match that made Sting.
**Adam Cole appeared with Tony Khan in front of the media after the show and Cole noted it was a bit of a surprise for him that his WWE contract was up in July. Cole initially thought it didn’t expire until December and it sounded like it was a total shock. Although Cole met with Vince McMahon and shared a positive experience from the meeting, he said it wasn’t a hard decision to make and it appeared AEW felt like his destination for a while and had been around the crew many times through Britt Baker. He called it “an excellent four-year experience” on his time in WWE and had no negative sentiment for his tenure there. He signed a short-term extension out of respect to Kyle O’Reilly and finishing up their program at the last TakeOver. Khan said it came together “very quickly” with Cole. Cole said the debut on Sunday was probably his favorite moment of all time and said he was shaking from the excitement. He said Jungle Boy, Darby Allin, and MJF are among the performers he would love to work with. Khan ended by stating Adam Cole was the guy that struck fear in him on the NXT side and credited Cole with the week AEW lost in the demo (it was the December 18, 2019 episode which was headlined by Rhea Ripley defeating Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship but it also featured Cole defending the NXT Championship against Finn Balor, so he does deserve some of the credit for that win).
**While the discussion may get lost in the buzz surrounding his debut, the case study of Adam Cole’s WWE run is one to take a lot of lessons from. If there is a glaring issue with WWE it’s the lack of stars under the age of 30 that are typically the lifeblood of a thriving promotion and setting up your future. This is not for lack of trying as WWE has created a developmental system complete with a Performance Center for this very reason and the results are still mixed. Cole came into the company at the age of 28 and after four years, decided the alternative was a better avenue for his career. There are caveats to that WWE path because NXT greatly changed from 2017 when he arrived and in 2019 when they got on the USA Network and Cole was a top star on the brand. The fact Cole, and The Undisputed Era, didn’t become an act on the main roster can easily be looked at as an indictment of the system and there was no greater example than Cole of a ready-made talent for Raw or SmackDown. NXT found itself in a war, but it quickly became apparent what the outcome would be and once AEW got its renewal in January 2020, it was effectively over in terms of stopping AEW before it got off the ground. While Cole probably had a much more enjoyable experience being kept at the NXT level, that’s not a ringing endorsement for the prospects of someone like Cole on the main roster, who had far greater tools than many of the projects that have made it out of NXT. The present form of NXT is clearly a different initiative and one designed to find talent, make stars, and funnel them to the main roster. It’s a very loud message when Cole, in the prime years of his career, left a place that he called “his dream” as a 9-year old and it’s one that many are going to hear.
**Tony Khan stated that All Out was the most-watched AEW pay-per-view ever:
Thank you to everyone who’s ordered #AEWAllOut & made it the most watched
@AEW PPV ever! Thank you everyone who attended the show! If you haven’t seen it, please consider ordering the ppv; it’s ignited the passion of wrestling fans worldwide! Thank you all for making it possible!
**The Bunny paid tribute to the late Shannon Spruill a.k.a. Daffney in the Casino Battle Royale.
**According to WrestleTix, the final count for tickets at All Out was 10,164.
**New Japan Pro Wrestling announced attendances of 2,095 for Saturday at the MetLife Dome and 2,780 for Sunday’s Wrestle Grand Slam in the same venue.
**Don West shared some incredible news over the weekend that his cancer is in remission. He went through eight weeks of chemotherapy with 13 radiation treatments and is hopeful of getting back on the radio.
**WWE Raw takes place from the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida tonight with WrestleTix reporting that approximately 6,000 tickets are out with only a few hundred remaining as of Monday morning. WWE has advertised a lot of matches for tonight including a rematch of last week’s disastrous match between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax, which is going to have a ton of curiosity tonight for that reason. Here are the matches advertised for tonight:
*Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (champion) vs. Nia Jax
*Tag Team Turmoil #1 Contenders Match: AJ Styles & Omos vs. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Viking Raiders vs. Jinder Mahal & Veer vs. Mustafa Ali & Mansoor vs. Lucha House Party vs. T-Bar & Mace
*U.S. Championship #1 Contenders Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus (winner will face Damian Priest at Extreme Rules)
*Natalya & Tamina vs. Rhea Ripley & Nikki A.S.H.
*24/7 Championship: Reggie (champion) vs. Akira Tozawa
**AEW is moving the “Full Gear” pay-per-view to Saturday, November 13th to avoid UFC 268 and Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant on November 6th. Tony Khan did not confirm if the pay-per-view would still be in St. Louis when he was asked during the media scrum but stated that Rampage is still scheduled at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis on November 5th. As of right now, they don’t have a listing for the locations of the November 3rd or November 10th editions of Dynamite on the AEW Tix site. The move was necessary given the competition that night in an already crowded part of the season where AEW goes against college football on Saturdays.
**Bryan Danielson’s AEW theme was produced by musician Elliott Taylor and has been uploaded with the inclusion of the chant, “You’re gonna get your fu**in’ head kicked in”.
**Lenny Leonard shared a story about the amount of money the band Europe was seeking in 2007 when Ring of Honor wanted to license “The Final Countdown” for Bryan Danielson.
**SmackDown interviewer Megan Morant was married over the weekend. McKenzie Mitchell filled in for Morant on this past Friday’s episode.
**Stardom held a card at Korakuen Hall on Monday in front of 471 fans with eight matches in the 5* Grand Prix. After Monday’s show, here are the updated point totals:
Red Block: Starlight Kid (7 points), May Iwatani (6), Giulia (6), Momo Watanabe (6), Natsupoi (5), Mina Shirakawa (4), Koguma (4), Himeka (4), Saki Kashima (2), and Fukigen Death (2)
Blue Block: Konami (8 points), Maika (7), Tam Nakano (6), Saya Kamitani (6), Unagi Sayaka (5), Syuri (5), Utami Hayashishita (5), Takumi Iroha (4), AZM (2), and Ruaka (0)
**Utami Hayashishita and Syuri had their highly anticipated rematch on Saturday’s card at Belle Salle Shinjuku Grand and wrestled to a 20-minute draw, which naturally sets up another one down the road. I have not seen the match yet, but it’s received great reviews from those that have. The match is available on Stardom World.
**Monday’s edition of Being the Elite featured a séance to bring Adam Cole back from the dead and the closing moments before Cole and Bryan Danielson walked into the arena at the close of the pay-per-view.
*****
AEW ALL OUT POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Double or Nothing 2021 featuring the debuts of Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Ruby Soho, CM Punk vs. Darby Allin, Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage, and The Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros. inside a steel cage.
*****
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review both nights of NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome featuring the return of Kota Ibushi, major title bouts, STARDOM matches, and the announcements of a 3-night Wrestle Kingdom and this year’s G1 Climax 31 participants.
*****
THE LONG & WINDING ROYAL ROAD
WH Park and Joey Bay jump one year ahead to April 20, 1996 and that year’s Champion Carnival Final with the returning Akira Taue and his opponent, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams.
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN: Daffney, AEW Rampage, Reigns vs. Balor
John Pollock & Wai Ting discuss the passing of Shannon “Daffney” Spruill, the final AEW Rampage before All Out, and Roman Reigns defending the Universal Championship against Finn Balor.
*****
THE WELLNESS POLICY: Modern Dating
Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman invite upNXT’s Braden Herrington on a three-way date episode of The Wellness Policy. Dating Profile Consultant Erica Lambart joins to help listeners navigate the treacherous waters of online dating.
*****
MCU L8R: What If…Ep. 4 “Doctor Strange Loses His Heart”
Wai Ting & WH Park review What If…? Episode 4: “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” Plus, Wai shares his spoiler-free immediate reactions following his viewing of Shang-Chi.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite from the NOW Arena with the final week of promotion for All Out, CM Punk delivers a GTS in an AEW ring and we go through all the news.
*****
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