POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-SmackDown is live at 11 p.m. ET tonight for all POST Wrestling Café members. We will have a review of Friday Night SmackDown and AEW Rampage, a round-up of the news from the past few days, plus your calls & feedback.
**David Meyers and Bruce Lord will have this month’s edition of POSTmarks coming out on Saturday with guest Martin Bushby. This will be available free on the POST Wrestling Café feed.
**On Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, the UFC 284 POST Show will be live on the POST YouTube channel with Eric Marcotte and I reviewing the card from the night before that features Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski in the main event.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (11 p.m. ET on Patreon)
Saturday: POSTmarks with David Meyers & Bruce Lord and guest Martin Bushby
Sunday: UFC 284 POST Show with John Pollock & Eric Marcotte (1 p.m. ET on YouTube)
Sunday: Wrestlenomics Radio
WRESTLING NEWS
**Pat McAfee is being sued by Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre regarding comments made about Favre in relation to the Mississippi welfare scandal. Fabre filed suits on Thursday for defamation against McAfee, FS 1 analyst Shannon Sharpe, and state auditor Shad White for their public comments about Favre and connecting him to the welfare scandal. The suit alleges that White made “egregiously false and defamatory statements accursing Favre of ‘stealing taxpayer funds’ and knowingly misusing funds ‘designed to serve poor folks’”.
From the ESPN story:
Favre became involved in the public fraud case in 2020 after investigators in White’s office discovered that at least $77 million in public money from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds, earmarked for the neediest families in the state, instead was used to line the pockets of rich and powerful Mississippians.
According to a state audit and civil lawsuit in which Favre and dozens of others are named as defendants, Favre was paid $1.1 million in TANF funds for speeches White has said Favre never made. Favre eventually paid the money back, but the state auditor demanded Favre also pay $228,000 in interest.
The athletic foundation at Favre’s alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, also received $5 million in TANF funds, according to a state audit. Text messages show Favre pushed state officials for funding for a new volleyball facility on campus during the time his daughter was on the team.
McAfee is accused of calling Favre “a thief” who was “stealing from poor people in Mississippi” on his program and on Twitter.
Among those accused of benefiting from the funds include members of the DiBiase family.
**The major card this weekend is New Japan Pro Wrestling’s New Beginning in Osaka as it returns to Edion Arena with a strong show headlined by Kazuchika Okada and Shingo Takagi. It is the deepest of the three New Beginning offerings and has the intrigue behind the outcome of Jay White and Hikuelo’s Loser Leaves Japan match with speculation surrounding both regarding their future. Over the coming days, we should get the finalized lineup for the Battle in the Valley next weekend in San Jose and probably the news of the participants for the New Japan Cup that begins on 3/5. Okada is still pushing the fact that he has not agreed to face Kaito Kiyomiya at the Tokyo Dome on 2/21 and they should not be promoting his match, so that will likely play itself out soon. The restrictions are lifted, so this is the first time they’ll have a full cheering crowd at Edion Arena with New Japan stating that the building is sold out.
The card streams early Saturday morning at 3 a.m. ET on New Japan World with the following:
*IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada © vs. Shingo Takagi
*NEVER Openweight Championship: Tama Tonga © vs. El Phantasmo
*Loser Leaves Japan: Jay White vs. Hikuleo
*NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles: EVIL, SHO & Yujiro © vs. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Ren Narita
*Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA
*Taiji Ishimori vs. Master Wato
*Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi
*Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare vs. Toru Yano & Oskar Leube
**Friday Night SmackDown is in Uncasville, Connecticut tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena with the following matches advertised:
*Undisputed Tag Team Championships: The Usos © vs. Braun Strowman & Ricochet
*#1 Contenders Match for Intercontinental Title: Santos Escobar vs. Karrion Kross vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Madcap Moss
**Below are the matches and segments announced for AEW Rampage at 10 p.m. ET on TNT, taped in El Paso this week:
*All-Atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy © vs. Lee Moriarty
*Jack Perry vs. Ryan Nemeth
*Ruby Soho vs. Marina Shafir
*Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. Kip Sabian, The Butcher & The Blade
*Mark Briscoe, Dustin Rhodes to speak
**Seth Rollins was a guest on Fox Sports Radio on location in Arizona for the Super Bowl this Sunday. Rollins continued to speak about CM Punk noting that he did a lot for his career and it pained him to speak badly about him but feels Punk has been in a different headspace the last few years and is all about taking from the industry, instead of giving back (which I’m sure will have parties on both sides of that assertion based on their own dealings with Punk over his AEW run). He also lumped Punk with Logan Paul, who Rollins is clearly working towards a program with based on how the Royal Rumble was booked and follow-up on television.
**The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that MLW on REELZ did an additional 25,000 viewers and 17,000 in the 18-49 demographic for the west coast airing of Underground Wrestling this past Tuesday as REELZ has a staggered feed. It brings the cumulative average between both airings to 104,000 viewers and 54,000 in the key demo. The east coast airing ranked #132 among cable originals on Tuesday. The combined figures are slightly above IMPACT’s average viewership thus far in 2023 but MLW did a significantly higher 18-49 audience than IMPACT for its debut episode on the new network. REELZ is available in 37.9 million homes while AXS TV is in 35 million homes. Next week’s edition of MLW will feature a street fight between Mance Warner and Real1 from the Fightland taping last October.
**Pro Wrestling NOAH has its own card at Edion Arena this Sunday including three title matches. In the main event, Kaito Kiyomiya defends the GHC heavyweight title against Jack Morris, and takes place nine days after they return to the Tokyo Dome for Keiji Muto’s retirement match. The Osaka event streams early Sunday morning at 2 a.m. ET on Wrestle Universe with the following:
*GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kaito Kiyomiya © vs. Jack Morris
*GHC Tag Team Championship: Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima © vs. Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba
*Atsushi Kotoge vs. Dralistico
*GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita © vs. Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro
*Kenoh & Manabu Soya vs. Jake Lee & Anthony Greene
*Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., AMAKUSA & Ninja Mack vs. Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Shuji Kondo & Hi69
*Kazuyuki Fujita, Hideki Suzuki & Timothy Thatcher vs. Masato Tanaka, Masaaki Mochizuki & Yoshiki Inamura
*El Desperado & NOSAWA Rongai vs. YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka
*Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara vs. Chris Ridgeway & Daga
*Mohammed Yone, Akitoshi Saito & Super Crazy vs. Kinya Okada, Yasutaka Yano & Taishi Ozawa
**The trailer for FAST X has been released featuring John Cena reprising his role as Jakob Toretto among the cast members. The latest installment of the series will be released on May 19, 2023.
**The Jersey J-Cup takes place on Saturday from Jersey City with the afternoon and evening sessions streaming on Fite+. The opening round matches include Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham, Arez cs. Komander, Blake Christian vs. Alec Price, and a scramble match involving Marcus Mathers, Dante Leon, Cole Radrick, Yoya, Jack Cartwheel, and Dyln McKay. On the other side of the bracket, it’s Charles Mason vs. Billie Starkz, Alex Shelley vs. Jordan Oliver, Joey Janela vs. Starboy Charlie, and Tony Deppen vs. Lio Rush. The afternoon session is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and the evening session at 8 p.m.
**The Multiverse United card from IMPACT and NJPW is taking the place of New Japan’s previously announced Strong Style Evolved card in Los Angeles over WrestleMania Weekend. The Multiverse United show is scheduled for Thursday, March 30 with Will Ospreay taking on Speedball Mike Bailey among the featured matches. Bailey is poised to be the star of the weekend with matches scheduled against Ospreay, El Hijo del Vikingo (Spring Break), and Kota Ibushi (Bloodsport).
**Marc Maron interviewed several AEW personalities when the promotion was in L.A. last month for the show at the Kia Forum. AEW has posted the interviews with Chris Jericho and Tony Khan. The other chats with MJF, Colt Cabana, Eddie Kingston, and Bryce Remsburg are available on the WTF feed.
MMA NEWS
**John Nash and Anton Tabuena of Bloody Elbow have uncovered details and changes that have been seen in recent UFC contracts that would indicate further restrictions placed on fighters signing deals with the updated language. Beginning in 2017, the UFC contracts had begun to incorporate sunset clauses, which allowed for a deadline for a contract’s expiration and alleviated the UFC’s ability to let deals roll over continuously beyond an 18-month window and was most effective in Francis Ngannou’s ability to be free of his contract even though he was UFC heavyweight champion. The new language indicates that the 18-month maximum for a rollover has been removed and that if a fighter is suspended and/or has their license revoked, the suspension period doesn’t count against the term limit of their deal. As well, the term limit doesn’t go into effect until the first fight on the deal is fought (so, for example, if you signed a contract today but didn’t fight until August, the length of the contract starts ticking in August).
In addition, the UFC appears to have protected itself against future litigation from fighters in court. The new deals have language that any disputes would be heard through an arbitrator with fighters unable to sue the company nor participate in a class-action lawsuit, which has led to the suits filed against the UFC in 2014 and a more recent one covering fighters that fought for the promotion after June 30, 2017. The arbitration process would be private and the findings unknown to the public and wouldn’t be a case of all fighters benefiting from a ruling in favor of the fighter launching a complaint.
**While not commercially the largest, the UFC has one of its most intriguing main events of the year at UFC 284. Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will make his first title defense against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who comes up in weight and was many people’s choice for fighter of the year in 2022. Makhachev is a sizable favorite (-380 on DraftKings) with the belief his grappling is so superior, especially in a five-round contest. Combined, the two only have two losses throughout their careers and Volkanovski has won his last 22 fights including 12-0 since entering the UFC with three wins against Max Holloway. Makhachev became the heir apparent to Khabib Nurmagomedov within the division after the undefeated fighter retired and has won his last 11 fights since 2015. The striking bears out a discrepancy as Volkanovski lands an average of 6.79 strikes per minute compared to 2.37 for Makhachev, however, Volkanovski absorbs 3.53 strikes per minute while Makhachev is only hit 0.95 times per minute and completes more takedowns than Volkanovski per fight. It is a fascinating fight and I’m expecting a close fight that could last the duration but its imperative Volkanovski establishes his striking game and doesn’t allow this to become a grappling match because he will be worn out off his back with the unrelenting pressure by the lightweight champion. While it won’t be nearly as successful as upcoming fights this year, it’s an excellent fight and a strong argument that this will determine who the best fighter in the world is right now.
Below is the full card for UFC 284 on Saturday night from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia:
MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view)
*UFC Lightweight Championship: Islam Makhachev © vs. Alexander Volkanovski
*Interim Featherweight Championship: Josh Emmett vs. Yair Rodriguez
*Jack Della Maddalena vs. Randy Brown
*Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter
*Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
PRELIMINARY CARD (8 p.m. on ESPN & ESPN+)
*Modestas Bukauskas vs. Tyson Pedro
*Josh Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
*Kleydson Rodrigues vs. Shannon Ross
*Jamie Mullarkey vs. Francisco Prado
EARLY PRELIMS (6 p.m. on ESPN+)
*Don Shainis vs. Jack Jenkins
*Loma Lookboonmee vs. Elise Reed
*Shane Young vs. Blake Bilder
*Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Elves Brenner
**The boxing fight between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury is scheduled for 2/26 at 2 p.m. ET from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will be available in the U.S. on ESPN+ for $49.99. The Sunday afternoon card will be available in Canada through FITE TV and DAZN and across Europe on FITE TV (except for the U.K. and Ireland where it will be available through BT Sport Box Office) (MMA Fighting)
**Episode 5 of UFC Embedded for UFC 284 on Saturday night.
ON THIS DATE
Curt Hennig passed away on this date in 2003 at the age of 44 with the cause of death ruled as cocaine intoxication. It was one year after his return to the WWF as a participant in the Royal Rumble where he lasted until the final four and ended as one of the highlights of the match. After his fight with Brock Lesnar on a flight, he was released from the company in May and had a run with TNA with his last match taking place a month before his passing. The son of Larry Hennig, he was a tremendous athlete and was evident at a young age from his work in Portland and the AWA where he was thought to be a big star early on before going to the WWF for his first run. As “Mr. Perfect”, he immediately became one of the best workers in the company with a great gimmick complimented by some memorable vignettes. He had a big run with Hulk Hogan after smashing his championship belt on Saturday Night’s Main Event with a hammer and feuding with Hogan throughout 1990. Hennig became Intercontinental champion that year and traded the belt with Kerry Von Erich before losing it to Bret Hart at the following year’s SummerSlam. Due to a severe back injury, it was thought his career was over, but he returned in late 1992 as a replacement for the Ultimate Warrior at the Survivor Series. In 1997, he went to WCW and joined the New World Order after turning on the Four Horsemen but was never as over as his WWF tenure, although had a fun run as a member of the West Texas Rednecks and the “Rap is Crap” song that got actual play on the radio and was a cult hit in 1999. He was slated to be one of the top stars of Jimmy Hart’s XWF in 2001 when he was snatched up by the WWF and announced for the Rumble in 2002. He was posthumously inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2007 with his son, Joe, joining the company years later to wrestle as Michael McGillicutty and Curtis Axel.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite from El Paso with The Elite defending the Trios Championships. Plus, the latest on Jerry Lawler, SummerSlam in Detroit & MLW debuts on REELZ.
*****
upNXT: Toxic Attraction Break Up
Braden Herrington and John Siino review WWE NXT featuring Vengeance Day fallout and Toxic Attraction on Bayley’s “Ding Dong, Hello!”
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REWIND-A-WAI #125: Monday Night Raw (Feb. 15 & 22, 1993)
John Pollock & Wai Ting travel back to February 1993 to look back at two editions of WWF Monday Night Raw highlighted by Hulk Hogan’s return ahead of WrestleMania IX.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw from Orlando with a steel cage match between Becky Lynch and Bayley.
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WRESTLENOMICS: WWE could be sold in 3 months…or not
Brandon Thurston, Chris Gullo, and Jesse Collings talk about Nick Khan’s assurance that Vince McMahon will accept a deal that keeps him out of WWE.
*****
upNXT
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman talk all about WWE NXT Vengeance Day 2023 from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
*****
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