POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-SmackDown will be live tonight at 11:15 p.m. ET with Kate from Montreal joining me for the entire show. The two of us will be discussing Thursday’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring followed by reviews of Friday Night SmackDown and AEW Rampage. In the end, we’ll reserve time for calls as we head into the weekend. The show is live for all members of the POST Wrestling Café and will be available to download late tonight for Patrons.
**WH Park is joined by Scrump & Stank from the PWT Cast on the latest MCU L8R for all Patrons.
**Our annual G1 Climax coverage begins Saturday where I’ll be doing a solo show reviewing the first night in Osaka featuring the A Block matches. Mark Buckeldee will have a review of the show on the site and will cover all the A Block events while Bruce Lord covers the B Block. The G1 podcasts will be available for POST Wrestling Café members.
**This weekend, Jon Pine will have a report on the GCW Highest in the Room event from L.A, Mark Buckeldee and Bruce Lord will be covering the G1 Climax shows, Eric Marcotte will have a report on the UFC Fight Night event, and John Siino will be covering the IMPACT Victory Road special on Saturday night.
**The deadline to enter our G1 Climax Picks Contest is tonight at 11:59 p.m. ET. It is free to join at http://www.postwrestling.com/g1.
THE PLANE RIDE FROM HELL
Dark Side of the Ring resumed its third season on Thursday night with a chilling account of the May 2002 “Plane Ride from Hell”.
While the events of the flight led to a 2004 lawsuit being filed by flight attendants Heidi Doyle and Taralyn Cappellano, it appears that few were familiar with the grimier details of the flight.
The episode focused on Doyle, who ultimately reached a settlement with WWE and has never spoken publicly about the charges against Ric Flair. In the documentary, it was outlined that Flair exposed himself to Doyle while wearing his robe and cornered her in the back area of the plane and alleging that the performer took her hand and placed it on his penis.
Flair will likely respond to this story as he indicated when the subject was broached on Renee Paquette’s podcast last week:
We’ll see how it plays out, because I was there and I don’t care whose name I gotta drop if the heat falls on me. I know who was where and what and who and what took place. I know the whole story.
Doyle spoke of being subjected to harassment by Scott Hall, who believed he had been drugged on the flight, and grabbed Doyle by the blouse, and proceeded to lick her.
The lawsuit also alleged that Dustin Rhodes harassed and groped the other flight attendant, although she was not part of the episode.
The retelling of the events and post-traumatic effects were harrowing to hear and ones that have clearly affected Doyle and probably played a major factor in speaking about them all these years later with the idea that “sunlight is the greatest disinfectant” to prevent future behaviors from occurring.
There are so many layers to this episode of Dark Side of the Ring and serves as an expose on the culture of the industry both in terms of what was normalized behavior coupled with today’s mentality of protecting the business at all cost.
It was shameful to hear the accounts from Terri Runnels acknowledging that if she took legal action for every infraction she was subject to, she would be in court for the rest of her life. It was a culture of “don’t sell it”, which meant “don’t rock the boat” and left such discretions unchecked.
It was always, “don’t sell it, don’t let them see you cry, you are lucky to be here, boys being boys, it’s funny, etc etc…” all lies to hide the grossness of it all. It was a culture that some people still try and uphold today. “Back in my day…” is part of that lie. https://t.co/jRWx2GUm9z
— MariaKanellisBennett (@MariaLKanellis) September 17, 2021
It was a surreal moment to hear Jim Ross, given his management capacity at the time, having no adequate reason for Flair’s lack of punishment for the 2002 flight and that “he got a pass”.
To understand the history of pro wrestling culture is an understanding that the rules in the real world don’t always apply. These stories and events are dressed up with glittery terms like “Rock ‘N Roll lifestyle”, “partying”, and “the boys being the boys”. In present-day society, we’re finally breaking down these terms and it’s a harsh exercise in decoding what contributes to these vague descriptions.
The stories struck an emotional chord for several reasons – you had Heidi Doyle’s firsthand account presented on the record, corroboration from others on board the plane, and not too far removed in relative terms to WWE’s history. This was in 2002 when the company was already a publicly-traded one, with figures on the plane that are still players in the industry today including one of the biggest names in the history of the industry.
Tommy Dreamer did not come off well trying to justify it as a joke and downplaying the obvious effects it had on Doyle. I would hope after watching the episode and hearing Doyle’s words for himself that Dreamer would have a different outlook today. But his defense of the situation goes back to “protecting the business at all cost” even when it’s indefensible.
It really irked me on the “cancel culture” theme that was brought up by Dreamer specific to this story. It has become a catch-all buzz term to excuse the most egregious actions knowing that the term will spark an emotion in a certain fanbase that wants to preserve its heroes and ignore reality. The facts are, something like the “Plane Ride from Hell” would never happen today because of both internal and external measures – and that’s a good thing. This is not a perfect industry, but the accountability is far greater and that should be applauded, not dismissed as “cancel culture”.
We are also just a year removed from the countless Speaking Out allegations and cannot lose sight of the fact that the modern scene has been rife with issues, as well.
What is sad is that us women in the wrestling business all heard the same excuses. And yes, things got a lot better… But it is still far from being good.
Love you @MariaLKanellis !! 💜 https://t.co/UV9D17hiM4
— LuFisto (@LuFisto) September 17, 2021
Jim Ross, to his credit, placed himself in the line of fire on this episode by accepting the responsibility for this occurring under his watch. His explanation for Flair’s lack of punishment was an instance of a question where he could have made up some BS excuse (which WWE would never contradict for its own accountability) and instead, laid it bare that Flair was “a made man”.
I saw this episode on Thursday morning through an advance screener and knew it was going to be horrifying for others to watch and hear. It stuck with me throughout the day and I feel this is the type of episode that should stick with you because to ignore it would be the exact method that contributed to this repeated behavior continuing for generations.
We must be equipped to discuss these complicated subjects because ignoring them is a disservice to those willing to step forward and speak up. I also implore those to view this type of story not through the lens of your favorite wrestler but through the viewpoint of Heidi Doyle, and then imagine someone close to you being in her shoes on that same flight.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Following Dark Side of the Ring, Tommy Dreamer has been suspended indefinitely by IMPACT Wrestling with a statement issued to POST Wrestling on the matter. On Friday’s edition of Busted Open Radio, host Dave LaGreca said they are taking the situation seriously and they don’t condone the behavior displayed on the episode. They added they are taking the situation seriously. Dreamer is a regular co-host on the show with LaGreca, Mark Henry, and Bully Ray. (NOTE: We previously wrote that the hosts stated they did not want to take calls on the segment. In listening back, Mark Henry asked that the listeners be respectful and didn’t want to hang up on anyone but he would and didn’t want to be the judge on what happened on the Dark Side episode. They noted they were not shying away from the subject.)
**The 31st G1 Climax begins Saturday and will run over the next month with a depleted roster than previous incarnations of the tournament, which has traditionally showcased the best wrestling of the year. The G1 kicks off with back-to-back nights at Edion Arena in Osaka with the A Block show on Saturday at 4 a.m. ET headlined by Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii and the B Block event on Sunday at 1 a.m. with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada.
The A Block is the superior one with depth of talent as Takagi, Ishii, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, and Zack Sabre Jr. will provide excellent combinations with the hope of a few breakout performers between the blocks. Overall, there is a sense of redundancy for New Japan as it’s been greatly impacted by the pandemic, a depleted roster, and booking that has been uninspired for a good portion of this period.
The B Block features two of the promotion’s pillars in Tanahashi and Okada with all eyes on Jeff Cobb to have a huge tournament. To a lesser degree, EVIL, Taichi and SANADA are in positions where they need to overdeliver in a big way and Hirooki Goto could sneak his way into a tremendous G1 when expectations are low for the side of the block.
Here is the line-up for the first two nights and we will have reviews of both shows on each day for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
Saturday at 4 a.m. ET in Osaka:
*Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
*Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*KENTA vs. Toru Yano
*Great O-Khan vs. Tanga Loa
*Kota Ibushi vs. Yujiro
*Non-tournament: SHO vs. Ryohei Oiwa
Sunday at 1 a.m. ET in Osaka (late Saturday night)
*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (their first singles match since the opening night of the G1 in Dallas in July 2019)
*Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto
*SANADA vs. Tama Tonga
*Chase Owens vs. Jeff Cobb
*EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI
*Non-tournament: SHO vs. Kosei Fujita
**Friday Night SmackDown takes place from the Boling-Thompson Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is the hometown of Bianca Belair and will feature a celebration for the SmackDown performer. With the announcement of the Crown Jewel main event between Reigns and Brock Lesnar, it really makes the Extreme Rules pay-per-view feel like a lame duck match when all focus will be on the bigger match next month nor have a shred of doubt regarding the outcome with Balor.
**AEW Rampage is a taped edition from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey airing at 10 p.m. ET tonight on TNT with the following scheduled:
*TNT Championship: Miro (champion) vs. Fuego Del Sol
*The Bunny vs. Anna Jay
*AEW Tag Team Championship: The Lucha Brothers (champions) vs. The Butcher & The Blade
*Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson speak
*Face-to-face with Dr. Britt Baker and Ruby Soho
**IMPACT Wrestling is holding tapings over the next three days beginning tonight at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to the regular television episodes, they are also filming the Knockouts Knockdown special that will air on October 9th, and the Christian Cage vs. Ace Austin match (being taped tonight) that will air Saturday night as part of the Victory Road special.
**WWE has stated that MVP is out indefinitely after taking the RKO from Randy Orton. MVP has intimated that he will be taking care of his injured knee, which he has been dealing with for months.
**Game Changer Wrestling has its “Highest in the Room” event streaming on Fite TV tonight at 11 p.m. ET from the Ukrainian Culture Center in Los Angeles. The event is highlighted by Minoru Suzuki wrestling Jonathan Gresham, which should be a spectacular match and kicks off a series of matches for Suzuki with GCW over the next month. Below is the line-up, which looks outstanding:
*Minoru Suzuki vs. Jonathan Gresham
*Tony Deppen vs. Ron Funches – this has received a lot of attention in the L.A. market and will be Funches’ first wrestling match
*Jacob Fatu vs. Chris Dickinson
*Atticus Cogar vs. Ninja Mack
*2 Cold Scorpio vs. Effy
*Alex Colon vs. G-Raver
*Alex Zayne vs. Jordan Oliver
*AJ Gray, Mance Warner & Matthew Justice vs. Lucas Riley, Nick Wayne & Starboy Charlie
**New Japan Strong moves to Saturday nights beginning this weekend at 8 p.m. ET with matches from the recent taping in Long Beach, California. These are bolstered line-ups given the New Japan talent that was in the U.S. for the Resurgence event and stuck around for the tapings. The following matches will air on Saturday night:
*Hikuleo vs. Juice Robinson
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks vs. Barrett Brown, Misterioso & Bateman
*Tomohiro Ishii vs. Alex Coughlin
**Here is the card for Saturday night’s Victory Road special that will stream on IMPACT Plus at 8 p.m. ET:
*IMPACT Championship: Christian Cage (champion) vs. Ace Austin
*X Division Championship: Josh Alexander (champion) vs. Chris Sabin
*Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Rosemary & Havok (champions) vs. Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans
*IMPACT Tag Team Championship: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (champions) vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack
*Eddie Edwards & Sami Callihan vs. Moose & W. Morrissey
*Hikuleo & Chris Bey vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
*Matt Cardona vs. Rohit Raju
*Tenille Dashwood vs. Taylor Wilde
*Steve Maclin vs. TJP vs. Petey Williams
**This Monday’s competition for Raw will be the Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. This should be a better indication of the level of audience Raw will be against throughout the season. This past Monday’s game was a monster with approximately 15.3 million viewers with the game simulcast on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN 2. Of course, AEW is presenting one of its biggest episodes ever and probably the biggest match it’s ever put on television, so its viewership should be sizable next Wednesday.
**MLW has added a match between Nicole Savoy and Holidead for its Fightland card on Saturday, October 2nd at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. On Friday, it was reported that a one-hour version of the event will air that week on VICE TV.
**An autobiography on the late Chavo Guerrero Sr. was recently released by Kirk Buchner, who worked on the project with Guerrero prior to his passing in 2017 and received permission from the family to move forward with it. Guerrero was initially interviewed by Buchner and later asked him to write his autobiography. Buchner worked with author Kenny Casanova to complete the book and was released a few weeks ago.
**The WWE stock closed at $55.10 on Friday.
**Bobby “The Brain” Heenan died on this date in 2017 at the age of 72.
**Daniel Garcia turns 23 years old today.
MMA NEWS
**Former WEC welterweight champion and UFC interim champion Carlos Condit has retired. The news was reported on Thursday and confirmed by his manager Malki Kawa to ESPN. Condit, 37, has been fighting professionally for nineteen years with his first pro bout in September 2002 when he was 18 years old. In an amazing stat, his first seventeen fights ended in the first round where he went 15-2 during that stretch and included fights for King of the Cage, Ring of Fire, Pancrase, and Rumble on the Rock. From January to June 2006, he fought an unreal list of Renato Verissimo, Frank Trigg, Jake Shields, and Pat Healy in consecutive fights including Trigg and Shields on the same night. He won the vacant WEC 170-pound title in January 2007 by submitting Kyle Jensen and defended it three times before the division was absorbed by the Zuffa, which purchased the WEC in late 2006. Condit went to the UFC in April 2009 losing to Martin Kampmann in his debut by split decision and would avenge that loss in a 2013 rematch.
Condit was an incredible action fighter and went on a run after the Kampmann loss by defeating Jake Ellenberger, Rory MacDonald, Dan Hardy, Dong Hyun Kim, and Nick Diaz (which was a hotly debated fight that Condit won by unanimous decision and that I agreed with). The win over Diaz crowned Condit as the interim champion while Georges St-Pierre was out with a significant knee injury and wouldn’t return until November 2012.
Condit fought St-Pierre at UFC 154 with Condit landing a head kick during the fight that was an all-time memorable moment and a rare instance of St-Pierre being vulnerable. St-Pierre won the fight definitively.
Condit worked his way back to a championship fight against new champion Robbie Lawler in January 2016 where Lawler won by split decision and was even more debated than the Diaz fight. It was many people’s pick for the best fight of the year and was a razor-close decision that most felt Condit won. Condit lost his next four fights to Demian Maia, Neil Magny, Alex Oliveira, and Michael Chiesa.
After more than 18 months off, he returned in October 2020 and defeated Court McGee followed by a decision win over Matt Brown this past January before losing to Max Griffin this past July at UFC 264 by unanimous decision.
He retires with a record of 32-14 with a 3-1 kickboxing record and 0-1 in pro boxing.
**Bellator 266 takes place Saturday night from the SAP Center in San Jose, California with the main card airing on Showtime. The card features the promotional debut of 44-year old Yoel Romero, who has not fought since his March 2020 loss to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Romero is coming up to light heavyweight in Bellator (a division he has not competed at since 2011) and was initially scheduled to debut this past May in the Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix but was not cleared due to an issue with his eye.
His opponent Phil Davis is coming off a loss to current 205-pound champion Vadim Nemkov in the first round of the Grand Prix, which was his second loss to Nemkov in his career and the only man to beat Davis since 2017.
Below are the main card fights for Saturday night airing on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET:
*Yoel Romero (13-5) vs. Phil Davis (22-6, 1 NC)
*Neiman Gracie (10-2) vs. Mark Lemminger (12-3)
*DeAnna Bennett (10-7-1) vs. Alejandra Lara (9-4)
*Georgi Karakhanyan (31-11-1, 1 NC) vs. Saul Rogers (14-4)
*Christian Edwards (5-0) vs. Ben Parrish (4-1)
**The UFC Fight Night event on Saturday takes place from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card begins at 7 p.m. ET, so the card should be over by the time the Bellator main card begins. It is not a loaded card by any stretch with a light heavyweight main event between Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann where a win for Spann would dramatically increase his standing at 205 pounds and is the biggest fight of his pro career. Smith is coming off wins against Devin Clark and Jimmy Crute while Spann is 5-1 in the UFC since coming off Dana White’s Contender Series and the lone loss was to Johnny Walker one year ago. In his last fight, Spann stopped Misha Cirkunov in the first round.
Below is the line-up:
MAIN CARD (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Anthony Smith (35-16) vs. Ryan Spann (19-6)
*Devin Clark (12-5) vs. Ion Cutelaba (15-6-1)
*Ariane Lipski (13-7) vs. Mandy Bohm (7-0)
*Christos Giagos (19-8) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (16-2)
*Tony Gravely (21-6) vs. Nate Maness (13-1)
*Antonio Arroyo (9-4) vs. Joaquin Buckley (12-4)
PRELIMINARY CARD (4 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Tafon Nchukwi (5-1) vs. Mike Rodriguez (11-6)
*Raquel Pennington (11-8) vs. Pannie Kianzad (14-5)
*Rong Zhu (17-4) vs. Brandon Jenkins (15-7)
*JP Buys (9-3) vs. Montel Jackson (10-2)
*Sarah Alpar (9-5) vs. Erin Blanchfield (6-1)
*Impa Kasanganay (9-1) vs. Carlston Harris (16-4)
*Heili Alateng (14-8-1) vs. Gustavo Lopez (12-6)
*Emily Whitmire (4-4) vs. Hannah Goldy (5-2)
ON THIS DATE
Jun Akiyama made his professional wrestling debut against Kenta Kobashi on this date in 1992:
Trish Stratus ended her full-time run as a WWE performer in 2006 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto after defeating Lita. Stratus would make several comebacks over the years including a multi-person tag at WrestleMania 27 in 2011 and her last match taking place in Toronto against Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019:
*****
MCU L8R: What If…? Ep. 6 “Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?”
WH Park is joined by PWTcast’s Scrump & Stank to review What If…? Episode 6: “What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?” Scrump & Stank also discuss their thoughts on Shang-Chi and the recently released trailer for Disney+’s Hawkeye.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 9/15/21: Omega vs. Danielson in Queens
John Pollock & guest co-host John Siino review AEW Dynamite from the Prudential Center in Newark featuring Adam Cole’s first match in AEW, plus thoughts on NXT 2.0 & more.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK 9/15/21
John Siino reviews this week’s editions of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, NXT UK, 205 Live, NJPW Strong, NWA Powerrr, Ring of Honor, and Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
*****
upNXT 9/14/21: NXT 2.0 – A True Love Story
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman talk about the beginning of a new era of NXT… “NXT 2.0”.
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #94: WWE SmackDown (April 15, 2004)
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown from April 15, 2004 as General Manager Kurt Angle falls victim to an outburst from The Big Show following a high-stakes loss to WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 9/13/21: Big E. Wins WWE Championship
John Pollock is joined by Andrew Thompson to chat Raw from Boston where Big E. cashed in his MITB contract to become the new WWE Champion.
*****
ROH Death Before Dishonor POST Show w/ John Pollock
John Pollock is solo tonight with a review of the ROH Death Before Dishonor card from Philadelphia.
*****
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