POST IT NOTES
**Today was what we called the “season finale” of the POST Daily News Show and we addressed it at the end of the show regarding our summer schedule. In terms of the news show, from the time we launched POST Wrestling, I had the idea of a daily show in mind and didn’t know how to properly execute it until Wai suggested we just do it and launched it last November. The original idea was for each of us to do a few of the shows per week but due to timing, schedules, and logistics it often was left for Wai and I to do the show 4-5 times per week along with our other duties on the site and other shows. It’s been an incredible undertaking and I sincerely thank everyone that has made the news show a part of their daily routine whether it be watching along live and contributing in the chat or listening afterward. We wanted to create a “go-to” show from POST at the same time each day and incorporate news, guests, discussions, and making it a flagship at the site. After nearly nine months, I was really happy we pulled this off and this is a needed “pause” for several reasons. With the G1 Climax shows, it’s a major part of our calendar to produce those shows for the Café and it would be impossible to do both. In August, Wai will be taking time off when his child arrives and frankly, I would be unable to balance the show solo and handle my other duties. We are unsure what the fall lineup is going to look like because of many unknown factors but we are both going to determine the best schedule for us and assess all of our shows and output. From the opening graphics package from Dickie Bird, the many guests that joined us live, the production elements from Wai throughout the show, and all of you that contributed with chats, feedback or just listening, I am very proud of this show and how much it helped expand our profile and hopefully, found new listeners and viewers along the way. We are not closing the door on the show.
**Rewind-A-SmackDown is LIVE tonight at 11 p.m. ET for POST Wrestling Café members as Wai & I review SmackDown and Rampage. After the reviews, we will open the phone lines and discuss any topics you’d like to chat about. Café members will have access to download the show right after we finish.
**The G1 Climax podcasts begin this weekend. Wai Ting and Karen Peterson will review the opening night on Saturday. On Sunday, Wai and WH Park will review that day’s show with all the G1 podcasts available for POST Wrestling Café members throughout the tournament, which concludes August 18th.
**We have a ten-minute preview of Thursday’s MCU L8R with Wai Ting, WH Park, Nate Milton & Ahmad Butt discussing the season finale of Ms. Marvel. The full edition of the show is available for POST Wrestling Café and is over two hours in length.
**The deadline to enter POST’s G1 Climax contest is tonight at 11:59 p.m. ET.
**All of the information for Martin Bushby & Benno’s 24-hour live stream that begins on Saturday at 12 p.m. BST:
TOMMOROW. The 24 hour live stream raising money for @CHSurgeryFund . Myself and Benno joined by tons of guests. 12pm-12pm BST
Listen:https://t.co/hlSoseNYCY
Donate:https://t.co/88X7zGMMjt pic.twitter.com/IyxfUhSXMl
— Martin Bushby (@bushby01) July 15, 2022
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John & Wai (Patreon)
Saturday: G1 Climax – Night 1 with Wai & Karen Peterson (Patreon)
Sunday: G1 Climax – Night 2 with Wai & WH Park (Patreon)
Sunday: Wrestlenomics Radio with Brandon Thurston & Chris Gullo
WRESTLING NEWS
**Tickets for AEW All Out and preceding episodes of Dynamite & Rampage went on sale to the public on Friday following Thursday’s pre-sale. WrestleTix noted AEW’s strategy for these events with a higher amount of combo packs grouping tickets for all three nights together. For All Out, all the single tickets put on sale were distributed on Friday but WrestleTix noted that 1,719 combo packs remain ranging from $135 to $285 in price. For those wanting to go to All Out, they have to determine if they want to pay for two extra nights that they might be unable to attend (especially for travelers who are unlikely to be arriving by Wednesday or even by Friday, so they’d have to eat the cost of the other nights to ensure tickets for the pay-per-view). Based on the individual tickets all being gobbled up today, the demand was high for All Out and that speaks to the precedence of the company delivering on pay-per-view as this comes at a time when several major stars are hurt and their status for the show is unknown, including the CM Punk who would be the biggest driver for these shows in Chicago.
All Out update:
1,719 combo package tickets remain. Prices range from $135 to $285 depending on where you sit. The individual ticket event sold out very fast this morning (as expected). pic.twitter.com/dGnQuGLDku
— WrestleTix (@WrestleTix) July 15, 2022
**The 32nd G1 Climax begins Saturday morning with back-to-back cards in Sapporo over the weekend. The opening night will stream live at 4 a.m. ET for free to New Japan World with the following card:
*A BLOCK: Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
*B BLOCK: Jay White vs. SANADA
*C BLOCK: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Aaron Henare
*D BLOCK: Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo
*Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
*Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer, Taichi & Taka Michinoku vs. KENTA, Juice Robinson, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
*Tama Tonga, David Finlay & Jado vs. EVIL, Yujiro & SHO
*JONAH & Bad Dude Tito vs. Toru Yano & Ryohei Oiwa
*Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs vs. Kosei Fujita & Yuto Nakashima
The focus of Cobb’s speech at the press conference this week was setting out to avenge his loss to Okada in last year’s G1 and seems like a prime candidate for an early upset. I would favor Okada to win the block and therefore, losing early isn’t a detriment and helps solidify Cobb as a contender to win the block. Unlike previous years, with fewer round-robin matches, it limits the number of losses for the major players going from nine matches to six. The first night also has Jay White against SANADA and White seems like a lock to win the B Block. His only losses should be reserved for those challenging for the title before the end of the year and it’s not a big list of “name challengers” in the block. Aaron Henare is in his first G1 and I can’t see him beating Tanahashi even with Tanahashi being phased down in previous tournaments. Ospreay and El Phantasmo should be a terrific match and one where ELP gets over with his performance rather than needing a win but I have high hopes for that one.
The second night of the G1 airs late Saturday/early Sunday morning at 1 a.m. ET (also streaming free on New Japan World) and features:
*A BLOCK: Toru Yano vs. JONAH
*B BLOCK: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi
*C BLOCK: KENTA vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*D BLOCK: Shingo Takagi vs. Juice Robinson
*Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
*Jay White & Chase Owens vs. Tama Tonga & Jado
*Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare vs. EVIL, Yujiro, SHO & Dick Togo
*El Phantasmo & Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer & Taka Michinoku
*Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs vs. YOSHI-HASHI & David Finlay
Takagi and Robinson have the potential to be great and I’m open to the idea of Robinson winning this one after he just turned and needs to be established as a credible threat. KENTA just returned from injury and this is going to be a tough tournament for him given the inactivity, being a year older, and the heavy demand even with a lightened match count. Ishii and Taichi should be very good, although Ishii is coming off a knee injury and I’m always waiting for that day that Ishii shows up as a human for one of these tournaments, but after all these years, he has been a match-making machine and has to be a favorite as tournament MVP. JONAH is in his first G1 and shouldn’t be losing to Yano right away, although a loss to Yano is almost a rite of passage for the top guys and doesn’t hurt in the big picture. JONAH could have a breakthrough in his career over the next month and is paired with some great talent in the A Block, which I feel is the most intriguing block.
**Earlier this week, I broke down the A & B Blocks and today will look at the C & D Blocks.
C BLOCK: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, Hirooki Goto, Zack Sabre Jr., KENTA, and Aaron Henare
This block has a lot of historical rivalries with Tanahashi renewing past issues with Naito, ZSJ, Goto, and KENTA. Tanahashi has won the tournament three times including in 2018 but has only finished with eight points over the past three years. This year feels similar where he will have a respectable showing but should lose key matches to those they are strongly behind. It feels like Naito’s year to win the block and possibly the entire thing and go for the championship in January. There is the natural story of Naito being legitimately injured in last year’s G1 against Zack and forcing Naito to withdraw right away. KENTA recently returned after injuring himself in the hardcore match with Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom. Zack should be a player right until the end. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Naito and Zack don’t wrestle until August 16th at Budokan and will probably determine who advances. The other C Block match at Budokan is Hirooki Goto against EVIL. I don’t see Goto being a major force and with fewer matches, should have few points when it’s said and done. EVIL feels like an afterthought and doesn’t have much going for him, his booking in this block will tell the tale of his standing as a main player. Aaron Henare is in his first G1 and should pick up a win or two, although I’d be stunned if he beat Tanahashi this weekend even though that would make Henare’s tournament with that win alone.
D BLOCK: Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi, Juice Robinson, YOSHI-HASHI, El Phantasmo, Yujiro, and David Finlay
What a mix of performers. Immediately, you have a candidate for match-of-the-year between Ospreay and Takagi that takes place in Osaka on August 6th. Ospreay and Takagi are the toss-ups to win the block, although in breaking down the matches I have Takagi winning it and would allow for a rare match between Naito and Takagi in the semi-final, which was supposed to happen in the round-robin portion last year until Naito was injured. I expect Juice Robinson to get several big wins to cement his heel status and standing in the Bullet Club as it’s fresh and he needs to look strong. El Phantasmo, YOSHI-HASHI & David Finlay probably won’t gain lots of points but could stand out with strong performances while Ospreay and Takagi have their two-man race for dominance in the block. Yujiro is just there and adds nothing and all I can say is it’s three fewer matches he’ll be involved in. For me, he’s occupying a spot that would have been better filled by anyone from NJPW Strong, IMPACT, a freelancer, or a mysterious man under a mask for a month.
My prediction for the final four is Kazuchika Okada, Jay White, Tetsuya Naito, and Shingo Takagi. Earlier this week, Karen Peterson and I did a preview of the entire tournament.
**Friday Night SmackDown takes place from the Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida tonight with the following matches advertised:
*Championship Contenders Match: Liv Morgan vs. Natalya
*Jimmy Uso vs. Angelo Dawkins
*Madcap Moss vs. Theory
*Special referee to be named for The Usos vs. Street Profits at SummerSlam
**Roman Reigns is not advertised for tonight’s show on the WWE event page nor is he listed for any of the live events this weekend in Florida.
**WWE has live events on Saturday in Fort Myers and Tallahassee, Florida. On Sunday, they will be in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale. As of two days ago, the advance for the Raw house show in Daytona Beach was under 1,500, according to WrestleTix.
**AEW Rampage airs at 10 p.m. ET tonight on TNT with matches taped earlier this week in Savannah, Georgia. Below are the matches scheduled:
*Malakai Black & Brody King vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds
*ROH Championship: Jonathan Gresham (champion) vs. Lee Moriarty
*Athena & Kris Statlander vs. Charlette & Robyn Renegade
*The Lucha Brothers vs. Private Party
**AEW hosted a face-to-face sit-down with FTR and The Briscoes hosted by Caprice Coleman to promote the rematch at Death Before Dishonor on July 23rd.
**Earlier this week, it was confirmed that WWE NIL recruit AJ Ferrari has been removed from the Oklahoma State wrestling team. Ferrari is being investigated by the Stillwater Police Department after being accused of unwanted sexual contact by a woman who obtained a protective order against Ferrari earlier this month. The police department confirmed that Ferrari was accused of sexual assault after receiving a report on July 2nd. It’s being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Unit with the findings to be shared with the Payne County District Attorney’s Office to determine if charges will be filed. As of now, Ferrari has not been charged and his representative Derek Chance issued a statement on behalf of his client:
“The allegations against AJ are false. It is unfortunate that a student athlete can become a target, primarily because of their status as an elite athlete. AJ is cooperating with law enforcement and is confident the truth will come out. He appreciated his time at Okla State, but he and the University mutually agreed a change was appropriate.”
Ferrari was the 2021 NCAA champion at 197 pounds at Oklahoma State and was part of WWE’s inaugural NIL (Next in Line) class. Seth Duckworth of the Pistols Firing blog first reported that his removal from the wrestling team was due to an “accumulation of issues”.
**On the first episode of his new podcast, Kevin Nash shared his final hours around Scott Hall before he passed away in March. Nash detailed a fall that Hall sustained while alone at his home in Smyrna, Georgia that led to his hip breaking and would be hospitalized. While in hospital, he suffered three heart attacks and that was when Nash received a call from Paul Levesque alerting him of what happened. The members of the Kliq got on speakerphone to speak with Hall in his final hours. Nash also shared how difficult it was for Hall during the pandemic and being stuck in his home.
**NXT Level Up at 10 p.m. ET tonight has Ikemen Jiro vs. Quincy Elliott, Kiana James vs. Sol Ruca (Calyx Hampton, who was part of the acrobatics & tumbling team at the University of Oregon and was part of the WWE Performance Center class introduced earlier this year), and Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward vs. Javier Bernal & Myles Borne airing on Peacock & WWE Network.
**Game Changer Wrestling presents ‘No Signal in the Hills 2’ tonight in Los Angeles and streaming at 11 p.m. ET on Fite TV. The card includes Joey Janela vs. Kevin Blackwood, Blake Christian vs. Starboy Charlie, Cole Radrick vs. Dark Sheik, Nick Wayne & Jordan Oliver vs. Ciclope & Miedo Extremo, Effy & Allie Katch vs. Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas, Rocky Romero vs. Gringo Loco, Tony Deppen vs. Komander, and Alex Zayne vs. Titus Alexander.
Rocky Romero is replacing John Hennigan on the card after Hennigan sustained an injury. Hennigan apologized for the change but said he would still be attending the show and meeting with fans.
**New Japan World has released its 33-minute documentary on The Forbidden Door.
**Shaun Ryan, who was the editor for OTT’s promotional videos and later worked for WWE, is working on the countdown series for Ric Flair’s Final Match that are streaming on Fite TV.
**Jaychele Nicole of SEscoops recently spoke with Wheeler Yuta about wrestling Jon Moxley, joining the Blackpool Combat Club, his history with Daniel Garcia and moving to AEW from the independents over the past year.
**The WWE stock closed at $63.63 on Friday.
MMA NEWS
**Disney and ESPN are raising the subscription price of ESPN+ by 43 percent next month. Bloomberg reports that the monthly cost for the streaming service will be raised from $6.99 to $9.99 and the yearly plan will escalate from $69.99 to $99.99. For UFC consumers, you have to pay the monthly subscription just to have the ability to buy the monthly pay-per-views priced at $74.99 U.S. per card. Shaheen Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting noted that when the UFC deal with ESPN+ began that the monthly cost was $4.99 for the service and $59.99 for the pay-per-views. So, the annual cost for a fan has risen by 40 percent if you are ordering all 13 pay-per-views per year.
The increase goes into effect on August 23rd with Bloomberg adding that it’s a measure to make the streaming service profitable and offset soaring rights fees for live sports content. Over the past year, ESPN+ has grown to 22.3 million subscribers.
**The UFC Fight Night card will air on ABC on Saturday afternoon from the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York (where AEW has staged two big editions of Dynamite since November built around MJF). The main event between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez could be one of the best fights of the year given their styles.
Miesha Tate is making her debut at 125 pounds against former title challenger Lauren Murphy. The fight was pushed back multiple times after originally being booked for May and then moved to UFC 276 a few weeks ago but Murphy contracted COVID and was moved to this card. If Tate wins, she likely is fast-tracked to a title fight against Valentina Shevchenko, who desperately needs a marquee opponent and Tate would be that person. Murphy is a quality opponent and fought for the title last year, so it’s not even a controversial move to have Tate fight for the title after one win in the division. A loss for Tate will bring about questions regarding her future and far away a title fight becomes if she can’t beat Murphy.
Here is a preview of the fights with the main card airing on ABC at 2 p.m. ET:
MAIN CARD (2 p.m. ET on ABC & ESPN+)
*Brian Ortega (15-2) vs. Yair Rodriguez (13-3) – Both have had wars throughout the years with Ortega coming off a loss to current 145-champion Alexander Volkanovski and has only fought twice since a violent loss to Max Holloway in December 2018. The time off for Ortega did him well as he showed significant advancements when he returned in 2020 and beat Chan Sung Jung. Rodriguez has an incredible action-first approach and missed two years between 2019-2021 when he returned last November and fought Holloway for five rounds and lost the fight. Style-wise, this could be a phenomenal fight and both have presented finishing ability late in fights, so this could be all over the place and end at any moment.
*Michelle Waterson (18-9) vs. Amanda Lemos (11-2-1) – Waterson is now 36 years old and has lost three of her last four with losses to Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Carla Esparza, and Marina Rodriguez and has been involved in eight consecutive fights that went the distance including five rounders in her last two. Lemos is 35 and was on a nice run until she was submitted by Jessica Andrade in April in her last fight. It’s a crossroads fight for Waterson to stay above water among the contenders in the division and it’s tough to imagine any title aspirations when she holds a loss to the current champion.
*Li Jingliang (18-7) vs. Muslim Salikhov (18-2) – Jingliang is trying to rebound from a loss to Khamzat Chimaev last fall and will be tested against Salikhov, who has won five in a row. Salikhov has only fought twice over the past two years.
*Matt Schnell (15-7) vs. Su Mudaerji (14-4) – Schnell only has one win since 2019 and was submitted in his last fight against Brandon Royval in May. Mudaerji was submitted in his first UFC fight and has won three in a row since that loss. His last fight was in January 2021 where he beat Zarrukh Adashev by decision.
*Shane Burgos (14-3) vs. Charles Jourdain (13-4-1) – On paper, this is another candidate for ‘Fight of the Night’. Burgos has fought some of the toughest guys in the division including wins against Kurt Holobaugh, Cub Swanson, and Makwan Amirkhani but has lost big ones against Calvin Kattar, Josh Emmett, and Edson Barboza. He’s coming off a decision win over Billy Quarantillo last November. There are many high hopes for Jourdain as a breakout Canadian fighter, who is 4-3-1 since entering the UFC. He won his last two fights against Andre Ewell and Landa Vannata.
*Miesha Tate (19-8) vs. Lauren Murphy (15-5) – Tate makes her flyweight debut and it is high stakes as a win likely gets her a title fight and a loss will derail those championship hopes. Since coming out of retirement, her boxing seems to have improved rapidly and she is in tremendous condition after a five-year layoff. In her last fight, she lost by decision to Ketlen Vieira and made the decision to drop in weight. Murphy is playing the role of spoiler as she’s coming off a TKO loss to Valentina Shevchenko last September after winning five straight fights. It’s hard to imagine her fighting for another title in her career but can still compete against contenders in the division and is a good litmus test for Tate’s ability in the weight class.
PRELIMINARY CARD (11 a.m. ET on ESPN & ESPN+)
*Puna Soriano (4-0) vs. Dalcha Lungiambula (11-4)
*Jack Shore (16-0) vs. Ricky Simon (19-3)
*Herbert Burns (11-3) vs. Bill Algeo (15-6)
*Dustin Jacoby (17-5-1) vs. Da-un Jung (15-2-1)
*Dustin Stoltzfus (13-4) vs. Dwight Grant (11-5)
*Emily Ducote (11-6) vs. Jessica Penne (14-5)
**The UFC released a video following broadcaster Megan Olivi throughout International Fight Week and how the broadcasters prepare for the events of the week.
*****
POST DAILY NEWS: WWE Raw TV-14, Rita Chatterton, POST Summer Schedule
Before POST Daily News goes on hiatus next week, John Pollock & Wai Ting return for a double-sized finale discussing the latest on the WWE Raw/TV-14 story, Rita Chatterton’s comments about NY Mag’s article, a preview of this weekend’s G1 matches, and upcoming changes to POST’s summer schedule.
*****
MCU L8R: Ms. Marvel Episode 6 (Finale)
Wai Ting & WH Park are joined by Nate Milton & Ahmad Butt to discuss the season finale of Ms. Marvel, Episode 6: “No Normal”
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Week 1 featuring a Triple or Nothing tag match for the AEW Tag Team Championship between The Young Bucks, Swerve In Our Glory and Starks/Hobbs.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK
John Siino reviews this week’s editions of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, NXT UK, IMPACT Wrestling, NXT Level Up, NJPW Strong, NWA USA, NWA Powerrr, and WWE Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
*****
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.
*****
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.
*****
G1 CLIMAX 32 PREVIEW
John Pollock & Karen Peterson preview this year’s G1 Climax 32 tournament
*****
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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