POST IT NOTES
**POST Wrestling is launching a hotline, which will further expand our ability to get your feedback and hear your voices on our shows. It is free to submit a voice message and our first project is asking our listeners to call in with a favorite memory of POST Wrestling over the past five years as we get set for our 5-Year Anniversary Show next month. Leave us a brief message and these will be played over the next month on our podcasts.
**Rewind-A-Wai #118 has been released with a review of the October 17, 1983, WWF card at Madison Square Garden feat. Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka in a steel cage match. This is a famous match in the company’s history, and we spent a lot of time on the presentation of the match, the incredible promos beforehand, and why this match was so impactful on the career of Mick Foley (who was in attendance). We also take a big look at the state of the WWF in 1983 after Vince McMahon Jr. took ownership of the territory from his father and business partners, their television penetration, the expansion era, Bob Backlund’s multi-year title run about to end, and many notes from 1983. The card also features Backlund defending the title against Masked Superstar, Andre the Giant vs. Afa, Rocky Johnson vs. Sika, Tito Santana vs. Iron Mike Sharpe, and much more. This edition of Rewind-A-Wai is available now for POST Wrestling Café subscribers.
**Rich Fann and WH Park are live tonight with a special edition of MCU L8R as they did a one-off review of “Werewolf by Night” for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
**On Friday night, Wai Ting and I will be live at 11 p.m. ET for POST Wrestling Café members to review SmackDown, Rampage, and we’ll discuss all the latest news from the past few days.
**Eric Marcotte and I will be live this Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on the POST YouTube channel for our UFC 280 POST Show. It’s an afternoon pay-per-view card from UFC with the main card airing at 2 p.m.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: MCU L8R – “Werewolf by Night” with Rich Fann & WH Park (Patreon)
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (Patreon)
Saturday: NXT Halloween Havoc POST Show with Braden Herrington & Andrew Thompson
Saturday: UFC 280 POST Show with John Pollock & Eric Marcotte (8 p.m. ET on POST YouTube)
Sunday: Wrestlenomics Radio with Brandon Thurston, Chris Gullo & Jesse Collings
WRESTLING NEWS
**First off, I want to extend my condolences to the families of Brian Muster and Tristen Nash. Two terribly tragic stories to write about today involving these two passing away at young ages. Muster leaves behind a wife and two children and had been working with AEW for the past three years as its lead video engineer. Nash, the son of former wrestler Kevin Nash, was only 26 years of age and the circumstances of his passing are unknown. Tristen was working on his father’s podcast that launched over the summer with host Sean Oliver and had spoken on the most recent episode promoting a concert festival he was set to perform at this weekend. My thoughts are with both families.
**Comedian Dan Soder was featured on Barstool Sports’ KFC Radio and spoke about an animated project he and writing partner Dan St. Germain developed with Stone Cold Steve Austin and sold to Peacock, but has encountered problems over the past year and a half. Soder stated that the holdup on the series is due to WWE, who has allegedly stated they want to be “creatively involved” and Soder is adamant that he and St. Germain write the series because WWE will make it “corny”. Soder said the project has been on the sidelines for the last seventeen months and he kept it quiet but is opting to speak publicly about it to try and get audiences to push WWE and Peacock to get past these issues.
**The Tuesday night head-to-head battle between AEW and NXT saw Dynamite come out on top in both the 18-49 demographic and overall viewership. AEW produced a show built around four championship matches including a several-week promotion for the AEW title match between Jon Moxley and Hangman Page. NXT countered with a loaded-up edition featuring many main roster talents appearing in either matches or appearances, ending with a segment hosted by Kevin Owens to promote Saturday’s NXT title match at Halloween Havoc.
Wrestlenomics has the quarter-hour performances for each show with the following notes:
*AEW won every quarter in 18-49, although NXT won two quarters in overall viewership.
*AEW had a big lead-in from the post-game show after the Yankees vs. Guardians game with the first quarter of Dynamite doing a show-high 1,062,000 viewers and 427,000 in 18-49 but dropped 22% in viewers and 19% in 18-49 in the second quarter. Excluding segment one, the highest segment would have been the William Regal and MJF promo, which grew by 4% in viewers and 14% in 18-49 from the previous quarter.
*NXT peaked in overall viewers in the second quarter while 18-49 was highest in the opening fifteen minutes of the show.
*NXT had a seven-minute overrun without opposition from Dynamite and saw a gain of 14% viewership when Dynamite went off the air.
*NXT did very well among females where they beat AEW in women 18-49 for the night
*In the 50+ demo, NXT only managed to squeak past AEW (0.34 to 0.33), which was a demo that NXT dominated throughout the entire head-to-head period right until the end in April 2021.
Both shows were heavily hyped up and they had legitimate competition to contend with between the MLB playoffs, the opening night of the NBA season and to a lesser degree, an NHL game on ESPN. AEW fared well given those factors and was the show that had to move its audience to an unfamiliar night of the week. NXT threw a lot of names against the wall with the idea of “who is going to show up next?” and tried to have a main roster member in a segment throughout the show. It was clear that none of the main roster stars were going to lose and they tried their best to protect Roxanne Perez by involving Dominik in the finish and having Perez attack Jade later in the show. It would have been too much to see Raquel Rodriguez beat Cora Jade, so they did a DQ, which was really weak but done for a reason to get a name on the show without beating one of your top heels. The biggest star on the show was Kevin Owens (who wasn’t announced until earlier that day online), who was saved for the final segment but didn’t do much and was another example of trying to get as many stars on the show as possible. While NXT didn’t top AEW, the show did score its highest 18-49 audience since the Heatwave special in August and that was against a lot of competition on Tuesday night.
While both shows would likely have done much better without the sports lineup, I am convinced that each show is much better off having its own night of the week.
**Tony Khan appeared in-studio on News 4 Jax to promote Friday’s live edition of Rampage at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville.
**WrestleTix reports that the final attendance figure for TripleMania XXX this past Saturday was 14,100 at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City.
**A scary situation closed Tuesday’s edition of Dynamite where fans went off the air concerned over the status of Hangman Page. The performer took a big lariat from Jon Moxley, rotating before landing, and appeared motionless on the mat. This immediately caught the attention of referee Paul Turner, who signaled to Doc Sampson at ringside for assistance, and the match was waved off with approximately nine minutes left on the air. The concern displayed by the announcers was evident and were the ones tasked with quarterbacking the broadcast as time stood still and the cameras avoided showing Page as he was being tended to at ringside. They did not a stretcher was being brought out and later, reports from those in the building shared that Page did send a ‘thumbs up’ inside the arena as he left.
#Hangman @theAdamPage Medical Update pic.twitter.com/NAFnfzFhEL
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 19, 2022
While it’s never good news to hear about someone sustaining a concussion, there was relief hours later when AEW issued an update confirming that was the diagnosis as opposed to anything worse. While there have been times when someone has been seriously hurt and the match continues, or “get to the finish” becomes the priority, this was handled as professionally and properly as one could ask for under the pressure of a live television broadcast and an angle still to come with MJF to set up the next month’s pay-per-view. None of that mattered at the moment and instead, they waved off the match. This should not require extra attention to applaud but instead, the industry norm when a party is compromised and cannot physically continue. With Page diagnosed with a concussion, it’s unknown what the timetable will be as concussions are unpredictable.
**Here are the matches set to air on Impact tonight at 8 p.m. ET on AXS TV from the recent tapings in Albany, New York:
*IMPACT Tag Championships: Mike Bennett & Matt Taven (champions) vs. Rhino & Heath
*Eric Young vs. Rich Swann
*Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer vs. Ace Austin & Chris Bey
*Mia Yim vs. Taylor Wilde
*Joe Hendry vs. Jason Hotch
*Frankie Kazarian relinquishes the X Division title to invoke Option C
*Before the Impact: Johnny Swinger vs. Dirty Dango
**Shun Skywalker will defend the MLW World Middleweight Championship against Lince Dorado at MLW’s Fightland on 10/30 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
**Demand Lucha has a show in Toronto tonight called “Boom Shaka Lucha” with Komander & Gringo Loco taking on ASF & Arez, plus Lince Dorado vs. Seraphis, Carter Mason’s open challenge, Los Medicos vs. Level X, Zak Patterson (who just worked AEW Dark Elevation) vs. Space Monkey, FTM vs. Freddie Mercurio, and Jody Threat (who was also on the AEW tapings) vs. Jackson Stone. It is an all-ages show at 8 p.m. at Parkdale Hall (1605 Queen Street West).
**Bobby Lashley did an interview discussing why he left WWE in 2008 and denying that it had to do with what he was being paid. He also spoke about the differences between his current with the company and the first one that saw him called up in 2005 from OVW.
**Game Changer Wrestling has added Leon Slater to its 11/20 event “Aura” at the Fete Music Hall in Providence, Rhode Island.
**New Japan’s Battle Autumn tour continues in Iwate on Friday with the main event of Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, BUSHI & Titan against Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan, Aaron Henare, TJP & Francesco Akira. The tour goes to Akita on Saturday and Aomori on Sunday. Next week features two events at Korakuen Hall, which will allow fans to cheer inside the building.
**NJPW Strong will be holding tapings on 11/20 at the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles with tickets going on sale this Friday. They are listing Jay White, Fred Rosser, David Finlay, and Hikuleo among those scheduled to appear.
**IMPACT Plus has added all the episodes of its flagship program from June 2009 to the streaming service.
**The WWE stock closed at $76.42 on Thursday.
MMA NEWS
**Saturday’s fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev is a huge one for the UFC as the vacant lightweight title will be awarded to the winner. It’s vacant because Oliveira missed weight in his last fight earlier this year, but still beat Justin Gaethje, so many still consider him the champion as he never lost. Oliveira has won 11 fights in a row, which is incredible given the level of competition he has faced and breaking through to the next level in his career and building a championship campaign. Oliveira’s stats since debuting in the UFC in 2010:
*Most finishes in UFC history (19)
*Most submissions wins in UFC history (16)
*Tied for most fight night bonuses with Donald Cerrone (18)
*30 fights in the UFC (9th place)
*21 wins in the promotion (5th place behind Jim Miller, Andrei Arlovski/Donald Cerrone, and Demian Maia)
Makhachev has not lost since October 2015 when he was stopped by Adriano Martins and has won his last ten fights. This is the biggest opposition Makhachev has fought with his recent wins coming against Bobby Green, Dan Hooker, and Thiago Moises.
UFC stats list Oliveira at 3.53 strikes landed per minute compared to 2.27 for Makhachev, but the bigger stat is Oliveira absorbing 3.18 per minute and Makhachev absorbing only 0.84 per minute.
Oliveira is among the most exciting fighters in UFC history but part of that is because he gets hit a lot and there are many fights that have seen him in trouble but can rally from behind and finish a fight in a compelling fashion. It’s a style that is fun to watch but one that you know won’t work forever and you can only make so many major recoveries in these big fights. That said, he has an astonishing winning streak at a very intense weight division given the risk-reward ratio he showcases in his fights that will test Makhachev’s resolve.
For Makhachev, he has been groomed for this lightweight title shot for years as the eventual successor to teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov, who retired undefeated two years ago and will go down for many as the best lightweight of all time. Makhachev is not the same fighter as Nurmagomedov but we are going to learn a lot in this fight because it’s the deepest water he has entered with the credentials and resume of Oliveira.
It’s an afternoon card and it’s hard to say how the card will perform on pay-per-view. Oliveira is as exciting as it comes but he hasn’t transformed himself into a mainstream commodity or a major pay-per-view attraction since he became champion. Nurmagomedov had tremendous worldwide appeal and if some of that is transferred to Makhachev, it will elevate the business of this card.
Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is in Abu Dhabi and will be the backup fighter in case Oliveira and Makhachev cannot fight on Saturday. Volkanovski appears to be in line to fight the winner for the lightweight title at some point in 2023. Oliveira has proposed fighting Volkanovski for the 155-pound title in Brazil in January and then having a rematch a month later in Australia for the 145-pound title. Volkanovski said he was down with that idea if it could get done. It has virtually no chance of happening with a month between fights and the concern of Oliveira cutting down to a weight he had lots of problems with.
The main card is arguably the best of the year, with Aljamain Sterling defending the bantamweight title against T.J. Dillashaw in a crossroads fight of Dillashaw’s career. The 36-year-old came off his USADA suspension in July 2021 to beat Cory Sandhagen in a close fight but injured his knee early on which kept him out of action until now. It is hard to imagine Dillashaw having another title opportunity in his career if he can’t win this fight on Saturday. Sterling has shut up a lot of critics after his title defense against Petr Yan earlier this year, which he won by split decision to quell the anger over his title win the previous year, which was the result of a disqualification and an illegal knee by Yan costing him the title.
The other major fight on the card pits former 135-pound champion Petr Yan against Sean O’Malley. Yan is ranked #1 while O’Malley is #12 and it’s very rare you see a fight like this come together given the risk for Yan and how badly this will set him back if he loses. O’Malley is 27 years old and can withstand a loss especially if he’s very competitive with Yan. If O’Malley were to pull off the victory, it would catapult him to the top of the division and would probably be fast-tracked to a title fight against either Sterling or Dillashaw next year. O’Malley has always had superstar potential since winning on Contender Series five years ago and has become a star in the promotion, but this is the biggest test of his career with an enormous platform and high-quality opponent to put on his record.
**The UFC 280 press conference took place earlier today in Abu Dhabi. At the stare-down afterward, Petr Yan shoved Sean O’Malley.
**Episode 4 of UFC Embedded.
**The PFL and DAZN have entered into an agreement to create PFL Europe which will launch next year. In addition, the two groups have entered a multi-year media rights deal for PFL’s global events with a focus on the European market.
DAZN becomes a founding partner of PFL Europe, which will feature the top emerging European MMA fighters, and will be broadcast during prime local hours with all events staged in Europe. PFL Europe will build on the respected PFL brand and proven PFL global infrastructure to be the leading MMA organization in Europe. Separately and beginning in 2023, DAZN also becomes the exclusive home of PFL global events in 53 international markets, including the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. DAZN also becomes a partner in the new PFL PPV Super Fight Division and will promote and distribute those highly anticipated events in international territories outside of the United States and Canada.
**The PFL will hold its final card of 2022 on 11/25 from The Hulu Theatre in New York featuring six championship finals with the main card airing on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
**John Lineker was stripped of the ONE Championship bantamweight title on Thursday after missing weight by 0.75 pounds for his fight against Fabricio Andrade. In ONE, bantamweight is contested at 145 pounds and Lineker weighed 145.5 pounds on his first attempt and 145.75 on his second attempt and had to relinquish the belt. The two will still fight at the ONE on Prime Video 3 event on Friday but only Andrade will be eligible to win the vacant title. Lineker missed weight five times in the UFC while competing at flyweight and later in the bantamweight division. He joined ONE in 2019 and moved up to 145 pounds when he entered the promotion. Lineker won the ONE title earlier this year by knocking out Bibiano Fernandes in March.
**A vote was held on Tuesday where the Nevada State Athletic Commission has approved Dana White’s Power Slap League and will oversee the new venture. The ownership of the group includes White and long-time friend and associate Lorenzo Fertitta, producer Craig Piligian, UFC executive Hunter Campbell, Endeavor, and hedge fund group Zeke Capital with hopes of a major broadcast partner by the end of 2022. Hunter Campbell spoke to Marc Raimondi of ESPN and shared the group’s plans when it comes to changing certain aspects of the sport, which has received great scrutiny since Tuesday’s announcement given the inherent damage inflicted during these contests where defense is not an option:
Campbell said Power Slap League wants to eliminate some of the more archaic aspects of the sport that exist on the lower levels, like two opponents with vastly different weights and matches that last many rounds. The rules will address fouls, permitted areas to slap and safety requirements like mouthguards and earplugs. It will be scored using the 10-point must system used in boxing and MMA by commission judges, per Campbell.
**Erik Magraken at Combat Sports Law reached out to the Nevada commission for further details on their decision to sanction this sport and the issues it raises.
ON THIS DATE
WWF presents its first ‘Buried Alive’ match between The Undertaker and Mankind at the In Your House event in Indianapolis in 1996:
A Hell in a Cell match between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker for the WWE title in North Little Rock, Arkansas at the No Mercy pay-per-view in 2002:
Bill Goldberg defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Shawn Michaels on Raw in 2003:
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #118: WWF at MSG 10/17/1983 (Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka)
John Pollock & Wai Ting travel back to October 17, 1983 to review WWF at Madison Square Garden featuring Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco’s legendary steel cage match.
*****
SHOT IN THE DARK
John Siino reviews this week’s editions of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation, IMPACT Wrestling, Women of Wrestling, NXT Level Up, NJPW Strong, NWA USA, NWA Powerrr, and WWE Main Event in under 15 minutes on Shot In The Dark.
*****
upNXT: NXT Pick Your Poison / AEW Title Tuesday
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman chat all about WWE NXT & AEW Dynamite from October 18, 2022.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting are back for a Tuesday night edition chatting AEW Dynamite featuring Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page, Chris Jericho signs an extension with AEW & WWE Raw ratings are out.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw from Oklahoma City featuring Brock Lesnar, and Seth Rollins vs. Matt Riddle for the U.S. title. Plus, all the latest news & your feedback.
*****
WRESTLENOMICS RADIO
Brandon Thurston, Jesse Collings & Chris Gullo discuss exclusive news about WWE’s Day 1 premium live event, TV ratings and attendance for Bray Wyatt’s first SmackDown appearance, and more.
*****
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