POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Dynamite is live at 10:05 p.m. ET tonight. Wai Ting and I will be reviewing AEW’s Fight for the Fallen episode and we will discuss the WWE Raw & NXT 2.0 ratings, WrestleMania going to Philadelphia, the change to the SummerSlam card, and all the latest news off the top. We will be live on the POST Wrestling YouTube channel.
**The ASK-A-WAI Mailbag Show will be airing live on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET for POST Wrestling Café members. You can still submit questions on the POST Wrestling Forum.
**The next POST G1 Climax show will be released on Sunday night with Karen Peterson and I reviewing the two weekend cards from Nagoya.
**All of our G1 Climax podcasts covering the first seven nights of the tournament are available here for POST Wrestling Café members.
**The latest edition of upNXT featuring Braden Herrington and Davie Portman reviewing Tuesday night’s show and chatting about Vince McMahon.
G1 CLIMAX 32 PODCASTS (POST Wrestling Café)
Day 7 (Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tama Tonga)
Day 6 (David Finlay vs. Juice Robinson)
Day 4 & 5 (White vs. Ishii, Naito vs. Tanahashi)
Day 3 (Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito)
Day 2 (Shingo Takagi vs. Juice Robinson)
Day 1 (Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb) – FREE
WRESTLING NEWS
**AEW presents its Fight for the Fallen edition of Dynamite from the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts tonight. The card is highlighted by Bryan Danielson’s first match since Double or Nothing in May in a rematch against Daniel Garcia from the February 23rd edition of the show. Danielson is a needed boost to the star power and in-ring quotient returning while key talent remains on the sidelines this summer. The show also sees Jon Moxley defending the interim championship against Rush in the latter’s biggest match with the company, to date. While there are still plenty of weeks before All Out, there have been no hints regarding Moxley’s opponent for the pay-per-view unless they are confident CM Punk can return, which has repeatedly been stated would be a match to unify the belts. On paper, this looks like a strong show.
Here is the lineup for the show airing at 8 p.m. ET on TBS and TSN 2 in Canada:
*AEW Interim Championship: Jon Moxley (champion) vs. Rush
*AEW Women’s Championship: Thunder Rosa (champion) vs. Miyu Yamashita
*FTW Championship: Ricky Starks (champion) vs. Danhausen
*Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia
*Handicap Match: Swerve Strickland vs. Tony Nese & Mark Sterling
*Sammy Guevara vs. Dante Martin
*Jungle Boy speaks
**The WWE stock closed at $68.16 on Wednesday, which fell 1.7 percent during the day. It fell throughout the afternoon after trading as high as $69.70 in the morning.
**Seth Rollins sent out a tweet apologizing for being removed from the SummerSlam card this weekend. Rollins and Riddle were scheduled to have a match, which was removed from the card on Wednesday with WWE using the attack by Rollins at the end of Raw to explain why Riddle is “medically disqualified” as they described it:
For anyone who purchased a ticket to #SummerSlam hoping to see me in action, I apologize. I did everything I could over the last 6 months to earn my spot on this show, but some things are out of my control. Thank you for always singing my song. They’ll hear ya someday.
— Seth “Freakin’” Rollins (@WWERollins) July 27, 2022
**ESPN has a feature on Ric Flair going into this Sunday’s match, which is being promoted as his last. Flair will team with Andrade El Idolo against Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. In the feature, it mentioned that Flair wanted to do a dive off the top to the floor but that one was shot down by his daughter, Ashley a.k.a. Charlotte Flair, who will be attending the event. The ESPN feature noted that Flair saw fifteen doctors in the lead-up to the match:
Flair said he’s spoken to about 15 doctors about this comeback match and most have told him something like, “Oh, Jesus. Do you have to?” To which Flair said he replies that he does. His favorite doctor, though, has cleared him, which Flair said is all he needs.
“No,” Flair said on whether he has concerns regarding his health. “But I’ve been dead. Fourteen days. Life support.”
His pacemaker, Flair said, doesn’t have a defibrillator, so that won’t affect him with a jolt during the match. He did say that the pacemaker could become unplugged on a bump in the ring, but it wouldn’t be difficult to fix it afterward, and “it wouldn’t kill me.”
The allegations against Flair by former flight attendant Heidi Doyle on Dark Side of the Ring last year were mentioned in the piece but didn’t go into the specifics of what Doyle alleged nor did Flair comment on them for the piece. It stated that the civil case was settled out of court in 2004.
**Ric Flair spoke with Chris Van Vliet and stated this would be his last match despite some big money offers for follow-ups: (Transcribed by Joseph Lee at 411 Mania):
It has to be. I get that question asked a lot, but it has to be. Even if I do well, I can’t go back on my word to the people that have given me all this respect, time, and bought tickets. I have been offered 10 matches at 50 grand a piece, and I think in Europe someone offered me 100 grand. But this will be the last one. I can manage somebody and be in the ring, but it will be my last match.
**Big E. spoke with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour to promote SummerSlam and the tryouts in Nashville this week. He said he was back in the gym fifteen days after breaking his neck and is working out six times per week. There is no update since his last announcement that the bone was not ossifying properly, and he will be evaluated at the one-year mark from the injury next March. Throughout this entire injury, he has conveyed a tremendous outlook telling Helwani he will be at peace with whatever happens including the end of his in-ring career. He said he has a very different mindset at 36 years of age compared to 23. He said at that age, he was prepared if he died in the ring that it was a price he was willing to pay, and today, that he wants to be healthy for the next stages of his life.
**Regarding Vince McMahon’s exit, Big E. focused more on Paul Levesque and said he’s had a positive relationship and thinks it’s an exciting time in WWE. When asked about the reaction in the locker room to Vince’s departure, he noted he’s not there but does get texts and just said he’s not going to say anything to get in trouble but that everyone has opinions.
**Tony Khan appeared on Busted Open Radio for his weekly appearance and commented on the contracts of two individuals as examples of people that are locked up long-term. Khan took issue with comments about people on the AEW roster potentially going to WWE with the changes over the past week and how that will affect their talent scouting and signings in the future:
People think that it’s just going to magically change the landscape. Like, some of these accounts – Twitter can be a very fun place to follow but some of the narratives I’ve seen every day for the past week are really amusing to me. Like, I’ve got people signed here for five years and people think just because the guy – the CEO, the chairman, the head of creative – those positions change in the competition, people I have five-year contracts with are just going to magically switch teams? Good luck with that. Like, Adam Cole is signed into about 2027 now. I wouldn’t expect to see him going anywhere any time soon. Malakai Black has almost five years left on his deal; I wouldn’t expect to see him going anywhere any time soon. So, just because these guys had some success under a previous administration somewhere else, they’re not going to magically be going anywhere.
Clearly, no one with a contract is just leaving AEW mid-deal but the point is whether WWE has a larger interest today when an AEW talent’s contract comes due than they did six months ago? If the mindset of who can become a star has expanded where WWE believes a star doesn’t need to be 6-foot-5 or 270 pounds, then it benefits talent that is hoping to have a bidding war for their services – once they are contractually free. Unless Tony Khan has every single performer under a minimum five-year deal then it’s a very relevant subject. A wrestler whose deal is up in the next year has to be looking at the removal of Vince McMahon as a potential positive if in fact, Paul Levesque comes to the table with a wider view of who can be a star and who is worth going after. Levesque’s track record while overseeing NXT certainly suggests his vision isn’t as narrow.
**John Ourand of Sports Business Journal is very bullish on the bidders that would emerge if WWE is truly for sale. Ourand commented on the viability of a sale for the company on his weekly podcast with co-host Andrew Marchand:
If the WWE truly is for sale – as is rumored – a glut of companies would line up to buy it.
Listen to the Marchand & Ourand Sports Media podcast here:
Apple: https://t.co/YOIJ3eApWn
Spotify: https://t.co/vflW5pqmeR
Google: https://t.co/cFsRNRpkhy pic.twitter.com/LHPkjx8sMg— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) July 27, 2022
**NXT 2.0 will hold a special called Heatwave on Tuesday, August 16th with Bron Breakker vs. JD McDonagh for the NXT championship and Mandy Rose vs. Zoey Stark for the NXT women’s championship. It’s the first time the company is using that title for an event, which was an annual show for ECW until 2000. The next premium live event from NXT will be Sunday, September 4th, although no start time is known yet. That news was first reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics with multiple sources confirming the date to POST. It will take place on the same day as AEW All Out and would seem like a bad idea to run head-to-head with the pay-per-view as opposed to an afternoon slot. The show is scheduled for Orlando that weekend and will take place the day after Clash at the Castle in Wales.
**WWE tryouts began on Wednesday in Nashville and will take place over three days in the SummerSlam host city.
**The G1 Climax takes a break until Saturday when they run back-to-back nights at Dolphin’s Arena in Nagoya. Saturday’s card will be headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr., which should be at their usual high standard. The other tournament matches that night include SANADA vs. Great O-Khan, Tom Lawlor vs. JONAH, and Shingo Takagi vs. David Finlay, so that looks like a strong show. Sunday is headlined by Tetsuya Naito against EVIL in the C Block with Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale, Jay White vs. Chase Owens, Juice Robinson vs. YOSHI-HASHI, and Lance Archer vs. Jeff Cobb.
**Wednesday’s G1 Climax show at Korakuen Hall drew 1,323, which is a strong figure given it was the second night in a row inside the arena after drawing 1,312 on Tuesday. It is an encouraging sign given that both nights didn’t have the biggest names in the main events with Juice Robinson vs. David Finlay and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tama Tonga headlining the two nights.
**Jesse Collings attended the ROH Death Before Dishonor event to cover the show for Wrestlenomics. He has written a piece on his experience covering the event and attending the post-show press conference and with impressions from a media standpoint.
**For IMPACT Wrestling on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on AXS TV:
*KUSHIDA vs. Rich Swann
*Josh Alexander vs. Mahabali Shera
*Eddie Edwards vs. Ace Austin
*Laredo Kid & Trey Miguel vs. Johnny Swinger & Zicky Dice
*Before the Impact: Vincent vs. Bhupinder Gujjar
**Paul Levesque turns 53 years old today.
*****
upNXT: Vince Swimming With The Fishes
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review NXT 2.0 headlined by Diamond Mine vs The D’Angelo Family! The Lads also talk about the retirement of Vince McMahon and what it means for the future of NXT.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE Raw from Madison Square Garden featuring Rey Mysterio’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, The Bloodline vs. Riddle & Street Profits, and Logan Paul’s “Impaulsive TV”.
*****
POST INTERVIEW: Dave Meltzer on Vince McMahon’s exit
John Pollock is joined by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter to speak about Vince McMahon’s departure from WWE.
*****
WRESTLENOMICS: Pro wrestling after Vince McMahon; ROH PPV
More on the fallout of Vince McMahon’s retirement following a sexual misconduct investigation by WWE’s board of directors. Plus, Jesse Collings was in-person at ROH Death Before Dishonor.
*****
The N.W.A. Podcast: “The End Of An Error”
Brandon Thurston (Wrestlenomics) joins Nate, Kris & Andrew to discuss Vince McMahon’s resignation, Sasha Banks & Naomi’s future, Titus O’Neal and more.
*****
ROH Death Before Dishonor POST Show
Wai Ting & Kate from MTL review ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 featuring FTR vs. The Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
*****
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