POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Dynamite is live at 10:05 p.m. ET tonight as Bruce Lord joins me for a review of the show from Cleveland, Ohio. We will be streaming live on the POST YouTube channel and the podcast version will be available right after we finish. You can post your feedback and questions in the POST Wrestling Forum, which we’ll read at the end.
**On Thursday, MCU L8R returns with WH Park and Rich Fann reviewing episode two of She-Hulk for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**Next Monday, we’ll be doing a special retrospective show on the match between Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith from SummerSlam 1992. Monday marks the thirtieth anniversary of the match from Wembley Stadium in London.
POST SCHEDULE
*Tonight: Rewind-A-Dynamite with John Pollock & Bruce Lord (10:05 p.m. ET)
*Thursday: MCU L8R with Rich Fann & WH Park – She-Hulk Ep. 2 (Patreon)
*Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John & Kate from Montreal
*Sunday: Wrestlenomics Radio
*Monday: SummerSlam 1992 revisited
WRESTLING NEWS
**One of the biggest matches in Dynamite’s history will take place tonight as CM Punk defends the AEW title against Jon Moxley, two weeks before their previously announced match at All Out.
Dynamite has not done a 0.40 in the 18-49 demo since June 1st, which was the Dynamite following Double or Nothing at The Forum in California. This show falling below that mark would be disappointing but over the past six episodes they haven’t gone above 0.33 and that included a big title match between Moxley and Chris Jericho. This week’s number will be analyzed to death because it will give us a sense of the ceiling AEW is hitting with this being among the biggest matches they can put on television and Punk is unquestionably their biggest star. There are plenty of options from a finish that sets up the automatic rematch, a time limit draw (which would be incredibly ambitious for Punk’s first match since June), or a rare DQ or count-out that naturally forces the rematch. Many have speculated on an MJF return, which could cause a DQ, but the audience would feel satisfied because of his return and that’s a surprise worthy of sacrificing a clean finish. The challenge is creating a scenario to enhance the main event for All Out as they already a strong “option A” in Punk vs. Moxley as it had been building prior to tonight’s match.
The handling of the Hangman Page will be interesting tonight and see if it’s addressed and they run with it. It was addressed on Being the Elite where they shot a scene where Page was alerted in the locker room, he was being called out by Punk but was busy with the Dark Order. Page has his own story ongoing with Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Dark Order but the call-out by Punk almost necessitates some type of acknowledgment.
Here is the lineup for tonight’s show at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio and airing at 8 p.m. ET on TBS and TSN 2 in Canada:
*AEW Championship: CM Punk (champion) vs. Jon Moxley (interim champion)
*Trios Tournament: Will Ospreay & Aussie Open vs. Death Triangle
*Dr. Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King
*Jay Lethal vs. Dax Harwood
*Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn
*Face-to-face segment involving Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia
*Ricky Starks speaks
**Fightful Select is reporting that a mandatory talent meeting is being held at today’s tapings in Cleveland with Tony Khan expected to be present for the meeting.
**We have a story on the site regarding the passing of Howard Brody.
**Tony Khan was on Busted Open Radio and was asked about Punk’s comments directed at Hangman Page on Dynamite last week and said: (Transcribed by Josh Nason at Wrestling Observer.com)
It’s unresolved anger, I think, from the World title match at Double or Nothing. We haven’t really tied up all those issues. There was clearly some stuff that didn’t get resolved at Double or Nothing.
**NXT 2.0 averaged 678,000 viewers and 0.14 in the 18-49 demographic, ranking tenth among cable originals on Tuesday. It was down from last week’s Heatwave special, although that was a given after Heatwave posted such a strong number. The main thing this week was that Adults 50+ held up above usual levels and the 18-34 demo didn’t drop a lot. The show dropped 6% in overall viewers but fell 23% in 18-49 from last week. Because of the 50+ audience, it was still the third most-watched NXT episode of the year behind Heatwave and New Year’s Evil in January and this week wasn’t a themed show and the only hook was the Lights Out match between Tiffany Stratton and Wendy Choo and follow-up to the NXT UK talent that appeared last week. In the 18-49 demo, the male audience fell 26% and women dropped by 17.5%. Adults 35-49 were down 32.5%. In Canada, the show averaged approximately 51,000 viewers and 27,000 in the 25-54 demo on Sportsnet 360 with the show ranking #9 among sports programs in the country. (U.S. numbers courtesy of Brandon Thurston and Showbuzz Daily).
**Tuesday’s episode of NXT 2.0 topped last Friday’s edition of AEW Rampage in 18-49 (0.14 to 0.12), 18-34 (0.10 to 0.08), 25-54 (0.18 to 0.16), and 50+ (0.39 to 0.23). The programs were equal among females 18-49 (0.10) while NXT was ahead in males 18-49 (0.18 to 0.15).
**Edge commented on the past week, which included his A&E documentary airing and his first match in Toronto since 2011:
What. A. Week. This week was a goooooood week. From having an A&E documentary air on Sunday, to coming home for the first time in 3 years and main event a sold out Raw, wrestle in Toronto for the first time in 12 years? AND have a co branded Maple Leafs/Edge shirt? Heading back to the Leafs dressing room and maybe having a sip of peaty scotch with my good bud, our trainer, @lheck_atc after the show in a Tim Hortons cup(does it get it more Canadian)? C’mon!!!! Best of all was getting to see my family. See my little cousins react to seeing me perform live for the first time. Hell even Rhea Ripley getting me down under(get it?) couldn’t stop this weekend. Well also because I have a Glamazon for a wife who wasn’t havin any of that. Thank you to all involved for an amazing weekend and a show and an experience that I will never forget and take with me to the grave. What. A. Blast.
**Vince McMahon’s birthday is today as he turns 77 years old.
**They did an angle on Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark where KiLynn King defeated Mafiosa in the main event and was interviewed by Tony Schiavone. King cut a great promo about working hard for a spot in AEW during the pandemic but there wasn’t a spot for her and had to return to the independents, now she is back and had a match with Toni Storm on Dynamite last week and another with Britt Baker this week in her hometown while insulting Pittsburgh. Baker came out and cut a promo on King and ended the show with a pull-apart brawl. I really liked the idea of doing an angle on Dark to enhance the match for Wednesday and King cut a great promo before the interruption.
**Long-time broadcaster Lenny Leonard stated that he is stepping away from professional wrestling citing the sale of EVOLVE to WWE and the pandemic contributing to this decision. Leonard had previously worked at Ring of Honor and returned last year for the women’s title tournament and had been working with Game Changer Wrestling, Terminus, and Women’s Wrestling Army over the past year. Leonard has a full-time job and hadn’t been able to work on the recent Terminus events because of conflicts in his schedule and thought it was the right time to step away. Leonard has called such a wide variety of wrestling over the years and was among the most universally praised figures when it came to calling shows and elevating a broadcast. It’s really unfortunate he never got that big break because he had the talent and was an asset wherever he worked.
**Cody Rhodes responded to a tweet regarding the importance he and Brandi Rhodes had in AEW:
Facts are all out there to see…without Brandi or I it wouldn’t exist. Look no further than some of the infrastructure in place or even half the names of the events. Tony, Bucks, Kenny, Jericho, Dana, Hang…pioneers. I’ve moved on to the next stage for me, but beautiful memories.
**Brandon Ross of LightShed spoke with CNBC last week about the changes at WWE and a potential sale.
**TNT champion Wardlow spoke on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland.
**Superkick’d Live in Toronto has released the full match from last week’s show with House of Black taking on Kris Chambers, Mark Wheeler & Jessie V.
**Below is the lineup for IMPACT Wrestling on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on AXS TV:
*Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA vs. Violent by Design
*Knockouts Tag Team Championships: VXT vs. Mia Yim & Jordynne Grace
*Non-Title Match: Josh Alexander vs. Vincent
*Karl Anderson vs. Mike Bennett
*Bhunpinder Gujjar vs. Jason Hotch
*Before the Impact: Johnny Swinger & Zicky Dice vs. Ace Austin & Hikuleo
**AXS will be airing the incredible G1 match between Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi on Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET after IMPACT.
**Wednesday’s GLEAT card is available on YouTube from Korakuen Hall featuring El Lindaman defending the G-REX title against DOUKI in the main event along with T-Hawk & CIMA vs. Ryuichi Kawakami & Kazma Sakamoto, and Kento Miyahara vs. Tetsuya Izuchi in the top matches.
**The WWE stock closed at $68.85 on Wednesday.
MMA NEWS
**Dana White commented on the expected rematch between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman for a big event in England. White said they are exploring all options in England, not just London, and believes it will be big for all of Europe. Unlike UFC 204 in Manchester when Michael Bisping defended the middleweight title, White said they would run the card in prime time in the U.K whereas UFC 204 began the pay-per-view portion at 3 a.m. local time, to avoid interrupting the traditional pay-per-view start time in North America. It would mean airing the pay-per-view in the afternoon, which UFC has done for several of the cards from Abu Dhabi over the past few years. There was no timetable disclosed for the rematch, but White had said over the weekend they are booked up through the end of the year, so the likely target would be early 2023 at the earliest.
**It was revealed that Luke Rockhold was removed from the UFC roster page with MMA Fighting confirming that he has notified UFC of his retirement. Rockhold lost to Paulo Costa by unanimous decision this past Saturday at UFC 278 where both were exhausted throughout the fight. Rockhold told Joe Rogan after the fight that he couldn’t do this anymore and indicated he was retiring.
**The UFC has confirmed a middleweight main event between Jared Cannonier (15-6) and Sean Strickland (25-4) for its Fight Night card on October 15th. Cannonier lost it middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in his last outing at UFC 276 last month. Strickland fought on the same card and was knocked out by Alex Pereira.
**UFC contracts were awarded to all five winners on Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night at the Apex:
*Michael Parkin def. Eduardo Neves by rear-naked choke at 1:57 of Round 1
*Darrius Flowers def. Amiran Gogoladze by TKO at 1:13 of Round 1
*Jesus Santos Aguilar def. Erisson Ferreira by guillotine choke at 1:56 of Round 3
*Cameron Saaiman def. Josh Wang-Kim by KO at 2:52 of Round 3
*Denise Gomes def. Rayanne Amanda by unanimous decision (30-27 all)
ON THIS DATE
SummerSlam took place in Phoenix in 2003 with Triple H retaining the World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match involving Bill Goldberg, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, and Kevin Nash. The Goldberg experiment had not gotten off to a good start after he arrived in March but his handling in this match showcased his strengths and was used in short, explosive moments that were his specialty. Then, he came up short and was pinned by Hunter to set up the singles match the following month. Originally, SummerSlam was to be the singles match but Hunter had an injury that led to the six-person match. Goldberg would win the title at Unforgiven but only held it for three months as they played out the remainder of his one-year deal and they went their separate ways, ending a less than memorable working arrangement for that year.
The Dudley Boyz returned to WWE on this date in 2015 at the Barclays Center on the night after SummerSlam. It was their first appearance in WWE since the One Night Stand card ten years prior with their contracts not being renewed, which led to the two going to TNA.
*****
upNXT: InDex Forever
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the August 23rd, 2022 edition of NXT 2.0 headlined by Wendy Choo vs Tiffany Stratton in a Lights Out Match!
*****
REWIND-A-RAW: Edge vs. Priest, Johnny Gargano returns
John Pollock & Braden Herrington review WWE Raw from Toronto featuring Edge vs. Damian Priest, the return of Johnny Gargano, and Trish Stratus appears.
*****
WRESTLENOMICS: WWE Q2 2022 results; NXT UK shutdown
WWE’s Board’s investigation into wrongdoing by Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and the company culture is “substantially complete”. The NXT UK brand is being discontinued as WWE announces it will launch NXT Europe in 2023.
*****
The N.W.A. Podcast: “Game Recognize Game”
The Advocates are back to break down August’s biggest news stories including the regime change in the WWE, the true strength of Bobby Lashley, Amari Miller’s comments regarding Sasha Banks, and more.
*****
UFC 278 POST SHOW: Usman vs. Edwards 2
John Pollock and Phil Chertok review UFC 278 card featuring Leon Edwards knocking out Kamaru Usman, Paulo Costa & Luke Rockhold have a wild fight, and more.
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN
John Pollock & Kate from Montreal review SmackDown & AEW Rampage and discuss CM Punk & Hangman Page, NXT UK cuts, and Dynamite ratings.
*****
MCU L8R: She-Hulk Episode 1 Review [FREE]
In this free episode from the POST Café, WH Park & Rich Fann (PW Torch) are joined by Rich’s wife Melissa Fann – an attorney and a patient comic show watcher – to review the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
*****
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