POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Dynamite is live at 10:05 p.m. ET tonight as Wai Ting and I review the first night of Fyter Fest. We will be streaming live at YouTube.com/POSTwrestling.com and taking feedback from the POST Wrestling Forum.
**The latest Rewind-A-Wai is out for POST Wrestling Café members covering the first three episodes from season one of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive”. Wai and I have been chatting about F1 for a while on our shows and this was a chance to dedicate a whole podcast to it, starting with the first three episodes of the series that has spawned a massive boom for F1. Thus far, we have received a lot of compliments for the show and it seemed to have a lot of interest from our listeners. For this show, we went over the start of our interest in the series, a primer for those unfamiliar, who the key drivers and teams are, highlights of the first three episodes, and why this series has clicked to the degree it has. The show is posted and available for all POST Wrestling Café members.
**On Thursday night, MCU L8R reviews the season finale of Ms. Marvel. Wai Ting & WH Park will be joined by Nate Milton and previous guest Ahmad Butt to chat about the finale and the success of the series. This show will be available to POST Wrestling Café members.
**POST’s G1 Climax contest is open and free to join at www.postwrestling.com/g1 by making selections for all the tournament matches and compete against fellow POST listeners. We will be providing updates throughout our G1 Climax podcasts and crowning a winner at the end. The deadline to enter is this Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
POST DAILY NEWS SHOW
– WWE announces three-day tryout during SummerSlam week
– Does Nick Khan do any interviews around SummerSlam?
– Cora Jade turns on Roxanne Perez on NXT 2.0
– WWE on A&E, WWE Raw ratings
– Chris Jericho addresses his health scare from last year
– AEW Fyter Fest preview
Audio version for POST Wrestling Café members.
POST SCHEDULE
*Tonight: Rewind-A-Dynamite with John & Wai (10:05 p.m. ET)
*Thursday: MCU L8R – Ms. Marvel Ep. 6 with Wai Ting, WH Park, Nate Milton & Ahmad Butt (Patreon)
*Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown/Rampage with John & Wai (11 p.m. ET)
*Saturday: G1 Climax – Night 1 w/ Wai Ting & Karen Peterson (Patreon)
*Sunday: Wrestlenomics Radio with Brandon Thurston & Chris Gullo
*Sunday: G1 Climax – Night 2 w/ Wai Ting & WH Park (Patreon)
G1 CLIMAX – A & B BLOCK PREVIEW
The 32nd G1 Climax tournament kicks off this Saturday with this year’s tournament expanded to its largest field with 28 participants spread over four blocks.
Today, we will look at the A and B Block line-ups and preview the rest in Friday’s news update.
The A Block consists of three-time winner Kazuchika Okada, Lance Archer, Toru Yano, Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Cobb, and first-time G1 participants JONAH & Tom Lawlor.
Okada will be the heavily favored member to win the block with the potential of a surprise in Cobb, who faces Okada on the opening night where Cobb winning would start the tournament with a major victory after falling to Okada a year ago.
Archer is representing AEW and has had some tremendous performances in past G1 tournaments. I would see him starting strong and fade as the tournament winds down.
JONAH has the potential of having a breakthrough in his career with a quality line-up of matches over the next month including Okada, Cobb, Lawlor, and Archer. He is a fresh monster and appears to be in a tailor-made setting for his style to get over with the audience. I have high expectations for JONAH.
Lawlor is a multi-faceted performer that can have hard-hitting and athletic matches with the usual suspects in the block and also exercise his comedic elements with Toru Yano – or have a competitive wrestling match with Yano to draw on Yano’s background and present a match people aren’t expecting. It is unlikely Lawlor will be a player near the end in points but it is the biggest stage of his career and a feel-good story given his hardships leaving the UFC in 2018 and reinventing himself.
The final round-robin matches in the A Block at Budokan Hall on August 16th include Okada vs. Archer and JONAH vs. Fale for what that’s worth. I could see JONAH being alive until the final days and competing with Okada for the spot.
The B Block is an odd assortment with IWGP world champion Jay White, Taichi, Tama Tonga, Tomohiro Ishii, Sanada, Great O-Khan & Chase Owens.
White is a near lock to win the B Block as I can’t see the IWGP champion not being involved in the final four. The question is how many losses White has to set up future title matches as Ishii, O-Khan, and Sanada come up as potential challengers this fall.
Ishii is 45 years old and has been as consistent a performer in the G1 as anyone and often the tournament MVP. He will be relied on to get some big matches out of the field but there is always the question of when Ishii will begin to show his age and slow down, although Ishii at a reduced gear is still going to be at a high quality.
Tama Tonga is in a fresh role as a babyface but lost steam losing the NEVER Openweight championship to Karl Anderson last month. He was the only person to beat Okada in last year’s tournament but has not leaped to the next level over the past year, so this could be a big tournament if he can gain momentum.
The B Block is a mixed bag with the arguably the top performer in the block, a heavy favorite in White to win, lots of Bullet Club involvement between White, Owens, and Tonga’s past connection, and the question mark of Sanada, who is at the make-or-break stage of whether he is going to ascend any higher in New Japan’s hierarchy.
I sense Great O-Khan being a much higher priority than Sanada this year and he should rake up a lot of wins and be alive late in the G1.
The final round-robin matches at Budokan Hall are Jay White vs. Tama Tonga and Tomohiro Ishii vs. SANADA.
I cannot imagine White losing this block.
WRESTLING NEWS
**The next two weeks of AEW’s programming will be themed under the “Fyter Fest” branding on Dynamite and Rampage. Tonight’s show takes place from the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. For the second week in a row, they are promoting two title matches on the show with The Young Bucks defending the tag titles in a three-way match and Wardlow’s first defense of the TNT championship. The most interesting match is a non-title one between Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita – the latter has consistently delivered during this extended stay while on loan from DDT. The idea of Takeshita winning the match would be a surprise to the audience that isn’t trained to see the top guys lose on television and sets up a major match for the summer lull between AEW pay-per-views, or perhaps a title match for Battle of the Belts III next month.
In the absence of its own television outlet, AEW programming will be the vehicle to promote the Ring of Honor pay-per-view, although most of the focused programs for the pay-per-view have been reserved for Rampage.
Here is the current lineup for Fyter Fest – Part 1 tonight at 8 p.m. ET on TBS and TSN 2 in Canada:
*AEW Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks (champions) vs. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland
*TNT Championship: Wardlow (champion) vs. Orange Cassidy
*Non-Title Match: Jon Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita
*Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jake Hager
*Serena Deeb vs. Anna Jay
*Luchasaurus vs. TBA
*Chris Jericho speaks
**WrestleTix reports that SummerSlam has surpassed 30,000 tickets distributed for the July 30th event in Nashville. The current set-up at Nissan Stadium is set at 36,259 with the outlet reporting that 30,161 tickets have been distributed. There has been a decent movement over the past few weeks since the announcement of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar and the rest of the card taking shape. Nissan Stadium is where the Tennessee Titans play and can fit significantly more than the capacity WWE has set for the show, so there is always the possibility of expanding capacity if the demand is there.
**I want to issue a correction from Monday’s WWE Raw viewership report. I incorrectly mixed up the first and third-hour numbers. So, instead of Raw growing by two percent throughout the show in total viewers, it dropped two percent while the 18-49 audience went from 0.43 in hour one to 0.46 in hour two and 0.44 in the third hour. The biggest switch is that the adult 50+ rating decreased from 0.89 to 0.82 from hour one to hour three and I had mistakenly had it the opposite way and didn’t realize the error until double-checking today. From the first to the third hour, there was growth in P18-49, P18-34, P12-34, and P25-54 while P50+ dropped. (Showbuzz Daily)
**The viewership figures for Sunday’s WWE block of programming on A&E are out. The two-hour documentary on The Undertaker averaged 582,000 viewers and 0.14 in the 18-49. Compared to last year’s eight-episode run of biographies, The Undertaker bio would have been the second lowest in terms of overall viewers and the lowest among the 18-49 demo. In 2021, the eight episodes of Biography (Steve Austin, Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Booker T., Shawn Michaels, Ultimate Warrior, Mick Foley, and Bret Hart) averaged 731,000 viewers and 0.27 in 18-49. The most-watched episode last year was the first one with Steve Austin which did 1,062,000 and 0.38 while the lowest was Mick Foley at 518,000 and 0.20 (but also aired head-to-head with an AEW pay-per-view).
The debut of WWE Rivals which chronicled the feud between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels averaged 368,000 and 0.10 in the 18-49 demo. The Smack Talk panel show that aired at 11 p.m. ET averaged 222,000 viewers and 0.07 in the demo.
**This Sunday’s A&E programming will begin with a two-hour edition of Biography on Bill Goldberg, WWE Rivals will cover The Undertaker vs. Kane, and Eric Bischoff will be a guest on Smack Talk.
**WWE will be holding another talent tryout over SummerSlam weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. The tryouts feature over 50 athletes with varying sporting backgrounds including football, basketball, track, wrestling, volleyball, cheer and dance, and gymnastics, according to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi. Big E. spoke to the outlet and noted he would be assisting with the tryouts alongside Paul Levesque and James Kimball (SVP of Global Talent Strategy & Development and was previously the VP of Operations at the UFC’s Performance Institute).
**In the interview with ESPN, Big. E stated there were no hard feelings with Ridge Holland after suffering a broken neck back in March while taking a belly-to-belly suplex from Holland:
I have no issue whatsoever with Ridge. He’s reached out and said some very kind things. … What we do is dangerous, and there are inherent dangers. And to that degree, we all kind of know what we sign up for and it was unfortunate that it went down that way. But I’m not dead. I’m alive. I’m doing well.
**NXT 2.0 featured a show-long story involving Roxanne Perez, who was attacked by a mystery assailant and left her championship match against Mandy Rose in doubt. Toxic Attraction came out for the match and was interrupted by Cora Jade, who was ready to take her partner’s spot in the match when Perez made the valiant return and accepted the match while injured. It climaxed with Perez on the floor and Jade attacking her with the women’s tag team championship belt and costing Perez the match. Jade continued her attack with an errant spot using the skateboard that literally broke in Jade’s hands before contact with Perez. Jade had been the long-term babyface project since the inception of NXT 2.0 but since debuting, Perez seems to be the more viable top babyface of the brand. It takes both women out of the title picture temporarily and the two still hold the tag titles together with both having a big spotlight on the show for this feud and a chance to elevate each other’s standing on the brand.
**Next week’s edition of NXT 2.0 has several matches announced with Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen defending the NXT U.K tag titles against Pretty Deadly, Cameron Grimes vs. JD McDonagh (formerly Jordan Devlin), and the debut of Axiom.
**IMPACT Wrestling is holding television tapings in Louisville, Kentucky this Friday & Saturday at the Old Forester’s Paristown Hall. For Friday, they are advertising Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley, KUSHIDA vs. Rich Swann, Jordynne Grace & Mia Yim vs. Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green, and Mike Bennett & Matt Taven against Ace Austin & Chris Bey. Saturday has Speedball Mike Bailey against Rocky Romero, Deaner & Joe Doering vs. Motor City Machine Guns, and Doc Gallows vs. PCO.
**Justin Barrasso of SI.com spoke with Claudio Castagnoli before tonight’s match with Jake Hager on Dynamite.
**The Wall Street Journal has a report on the growth of adults over the age of 50 on streaming platforms. The WSJ finds that those aged 50 and above account for 39 percent of streaming watch time as of this past May, which is outpacing all other demographics on streaming platforms.
**Brandon Thurston & Jesse Collings spoke with John Carlan, who previously worked as WWE’s video on-demand director & producer from 1998 to 2020. The interview includes Carlan’s role in preparing content for the WWE Network and the earlier 24/7 VOD service, the handling of Chris Benoit on the network, the presence of certain tape libraries and omission of others, editing ECW content with commercial music, and discussing the legacy of the WWE Network after it launched eight years ago.
**Nikki & Brie Bella spoke to People Magazine about the process of developing their episode of A&E Biography, which airs on July 24th.
**NJPW Strong’s High Alert taping has added Dax Harwood vs. Rocky Romero, KUSHIDA & Ren Narita vs. Anthony Henry & JD Drake, John Skyler vs. Lucky Ali, and JR Kratos vs. Drew Alder. The tapings will take place at the Grady Cole Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday, July 24th.
**AEW’s Road to Savannah feature previews the match between Claudio Castagnoli and Jake Hager with references to the past tag team in WWE. The video also features a strong promo from Ricky Starks at the end promoting the “Triple or Nothing” tag title match on Dynamite.
**Terminus has announced that Ian Riccaboni and Dave Prazak will be calling next Thursday’s show from the Oasis Event Center in Atlanta and streaming on Fite TV. The card will include Jonathan Gresham vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Masha Slamovich vs. Queen Aminata, Mike Bennett vs. Invictus Khash, Jay Lethal vs. Baron Black, QT Marshall & Aaron Solo vs. C4, Will Ferrara vs. Adam Priest in a grappling match, and an open challenge issued by Kaun from the Gates of Agony.
**AEW will be holding two taping sessions for Dark this Saturday at Universal Studios on Soundstage 19. The afternoon session tapes at 2 p.m. ET and they return at 7 p.m. for the second taping. The advertising material includes Wheeler Yuta, Dante Martin, The Acclaimed, Powerhouse Hobbs, Satnam Singh, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, The Factory, and Abadon.
**Karen Peterson interviewed KENOH to promote his match against Satoshi Kojima this Saturday at Nippon Budokan for the GHC heavyweight championship and spoke about his goals:
I thought it was a chance for me to accomplish my goal of being in the main event of Nippon Budokan show. Now the GHC Heavyweight Championship is officially confirmed, I will be in the main event, but this is not my only goal. I want to be the last person to enter the main event of our big show at the Nippon Budokan [in January 2023]. In order to do so, I need to be champion and that’s what I am going to be.
**Fite TV is releasing the first of three episodes tonight at 6 p.m. ET profiling Ric Flair ahead of his last match on July 31st in Nashville.
**Nate Diaz appeared on The MMA Hour on Tuesday with Ariel Helwani to make his plea to end his tenure with the UFC that goes back to 2007 when he won the Ultimate Fighter. Diaz confirmed he has one fight remaining on his deal but stated UFC is adamant about him signing a new deal before granting him another fight. Diaz has made proposals to fight Tony Ferguson, Vicente Luque, and others but on the provision that he completes this existing deal and leaves the UFC. Diaz said a fight with rising star Khamzat Chimaev was offered to Diaz for UFC 276, which the Stockton native declined. Diaz believes the promotion wants to match up with Conor McGregor to complete their trilogy once McGregor is healthy, but Diaz said their timetables don’t align. Diaz also shared his side of a meeting with Dana White and executive Hunter Campbell at the UFC headquarters regarding his next fight and all the options required Diaz to sign a new deal, and he declined. Diaz alleged that White and Campbell left Diaz in their office and took off, which Diaz said prompted him to urinate outside the offices. Many believe that if Diaz was contractually free, that he would be a prime candidate to box Jake Paul. Diaz last fought in June 2021 where he lost by decision to Leon Edwards, although Diaz won the third round after rocking Edwards, who will challenge 170-pound champion Kamaru Usman next month.
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POST DAILY NEWS: Jericho talks health scare, Cora Jade turns on Roxanne Perez
John Pollock & Wai Ting are back to discuss the latest wrestling news including WWE tryouts set for SummerSlam weekend, Cora Jade’s heel turn on NXT 2.0, and Chris Jericho’s details about his 2021 health scare.
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REWIND-A-WAI #114: Formula 1 – Drive to Survive
John Pollock & Wai Ting discuss Netflix’s popular sports reality series, Formula 1: Drive to Survive and F1’s recent rise in North American popularity.
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upNXT: “She Said See Ya L8r Girl”
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review NXT 2.0 from July 12th, 2022 headlined by Mandy Rose vs Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship.
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G1 CLIMAX 32 PREVIEW
John Pollock & Karen Peterson preview this year’s G1 Climax 32 tournament
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REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Raw featuring the return of Brock Lesnar. Plus: Judgment Day keeps trying to recruit Dominik Mysterio.
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WRESTLENOMICS: More allegations of misconduct against Vince McMahon
Brandon Thurston and Chris Gullo are joined by Jesse Collings to talk about the latest on the Vince McMahon scandal as well as New Japan’s business strategy presentation.
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L&WRR: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (10/21/92)
Brandon Thurston and Chris Gullo are joined by Jesse Collings to talk about the latest on the Vince McMahon scandal as well as New Japan’s business strategy presentation.
*****
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