WRESTLING NEWS
**Friday Night SmackDown takes place from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh tonight with nearly 9,000 tickets distributed, per WrestleTix. The following matches have been announced:
*#1 Contenders Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross vs. Sheamus vs. LA Knight vs. Xavier Woods (replacing Kofi Kingston)
*Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman & Ricochet
*Jey Uso to appear
**AEW Rampage airs at 10 p.m. ET tonight with the taped edition from Sacramento and the following matches airing on TNT:
*Sammy Guevara vs. Action Andretti
*Nyla Rose vs. Riho
*Konosuke Takeshita vs. Preston Vance
*The Acclaimed vs. Starboy Charlie & Jack Cartwheel (Cartwheel had a pair of great matches with Takeshita and Brian Cage over the past week)
*Jungle Boy speaks
**Mick Foley revealed on ‘Foley is Pod’ that he was recently asked to induct someone into the WWE Hall of Fame this year but did not state who the person was. Foley said he was contacted, and agreed to induct them, and it was relayed back to WWE and he is waiting to hear if it’s been approved. WWE has yet to announce any of the inductees for the 3/31 ceremony, which will air immediately following Friday Night SmackDown at the Crypto.com Arena. Below are Foley’s comments about the exchange: (Transcribed by WrestlingNews.co)
I received a text message from someone I’d had no contact with in a while, years and years, asking if I would induct them into the WWE Hall of Fame. As this plays out, we will see. There’s always a chance that request will be denied, but I know this person responded back to WWE that I was in. As of this moment, I’m counting on being there at the Hall of Fame to induct this person. I’m not going to tell you who it is, but we will all find out together or if it’s ixnayed. I’ll let you know at that juncture in time. I’ll let you know after the Hall of Fame who it was that asked me, but it was a daymaker for sure. Someone who had many different options and asked me, so I was really flattered, readily accepted, and we will see how that comes to pass, if it comes to pass.
**Fite TV CEO Mike Weber was a guest on The Business of the Business podcast speaking about the service and launch of Fite+. He noted the recent price increase from $4.99 to $6.99 per month and comparing it to the price points of other services like DAZN and ESPN+ that it is still a value (it’s an incredible deal for WrestleMania Weekend for all the GCW shows including Spring Break and Bloodsport for that price). As expected, GCW seems to be the big draw for Fite+ among the promotions available on the subscription model. Weber said they have zero interest in launching their own pro wrestling event as it would alienate them from other promotions and are happy working with as many companies as they can. They have had talks with MLW, but it has to be a deal that makes sense for each side. MLW Underground is currently airing on REELZ in the U.S. but doesn’t have international distribution, which is a benefit to being on Fite. On the topic of ever working with WWE to air its live events providing Peacock isn’t interested, he doesn’t see it happening as WWE doesn’t want something to look inferior to its on-screen product and wouldn’t make sense to increase the budget for its live events for that purpose. Weber was high on the success of Bareknuckle Fighting on the service and called them well-produced shows that move quickly and are not bogged down by too much content between fights.
**A&E will be airing two one-hour episodes of ‘Biography’ on 3/19, instead of a two-hour version on one figure. From 8-9 p.m. ET it will be on Jerry Lawler, and from 9-10 it will be on Paige (Saraya Jade-Bevis). Immediately after, a new edition of Rivals will cover Trish Stratus vs. Lita. This Sunday night’s subjects are Kane followed by Rivals on Triple H vs. Batista.
**The TNT schedule is listing an 11:30 p.m. ET start time for next Friday’s episode of Rampage due to coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament.
**NXT Level Up at 10 p.m. ET tonight will feature Odyssey Jones vs. Von Wagner, Indi Hartwell vs. Jakara Jackson, and Quincy Elliott vs. Scrypts.
**WWE has a live event in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday with Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, Drew McIntyre, and The Usos advertised. The big event of the weekend is the company’s return to Madison Square Garden this Sunday with Austin Theory vs. Seth Rollins in a steel cage match, Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa, Charlotte Flair vs. Sonya Deville, Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight in a ‘Lights Out Street Fight’, and a 20-man battle royal for a shot at Gunther’s Intercontinental title.
**Shane Brown, who was a producer at The Score in Canada (now Sportsnet 360) died this past Tuesday. Arda Ocal posted about Brown, who worked as the network’s producer for all WWE-related programming with The Score holding the Canadian rights. Brown also worked on the Aftermath program, which was hosted by Ocal, Jimmy Korderas, and Renee Paquette. Later, Brown worked at TSN and Global News.
**The New Japan Cup continues on Saturday with a show at Dolphin’s Arena in Nagoya and streaming at 3 a.m. ET with the following card:
*New Japan Cup – Round 2: SANADA vs. KENTA
*New Japan Cup – Round 2: Tetsuya Naito vs. Chase Owens
*Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ren Narita & Shota Umino
*Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomoaki Honma vs. Will Ospreay & Aussie Open
*Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Lio Rush & YOH
*EVIL, SHO, Yujiro & Dick Togo vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI & Taka Michinoku
*Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita vs. El Phantasmo & David Finlay
*Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare vs. Tama Tonga, Toru Yano & Oskar Leube
**GCW has a joint show with IWS in Montreal this Saturday at 7 p.m. ET with back-to-back weekends in Canada for Game Changer Wrestling. Saturday’s show will stream on Fite+ with Benjamin Tull vs. Tony Deppen for the IWS heavyweight title, Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Gringo Loco, LuFisto vs. Sawyer Wreck, Mance Warner & Rina Yamashita vs. Sexxxy Eddy & Green Phantom, 1 Called Manders vs. Matt Falco, Melanie Havok vs. Allie Katch for the IWS women’s title, Nick Wayne & Jordan Oliver vs. Junior Benito & Macrae Martin, TDT vs. Ciclope & Miedo Extremo, and Team GCW (Cole Radrick, John Wayne Murdoch, Dyln McKay & Marcus Mathers) vs. Team IWS (JT Producer, Shayne Hawke, Black Dynamite & Karl Jepson).
**OTT has announced PAC vs. Davey Richards vs. Leon Slater vs. Robbie X for next Saturday’s Scrappermania card at National Stadium in Dublin. PAC is wrestling on both nights of Scrappermania with a previously announced match against Big Damo next Friday in Wolverhampton.
**Shigehiro Irie has been added to MLW’s Battle Riot match on 4/8 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
**Bayley is interviewed by Dr. Beau Hightower at the WWE Performance Center.
**BetOnline has released odds for the two matches announced at NXT Stand & Deliver. Carmelo Hayes is the favorite at -180 to beat Bron Breakker at +140. Meanwhile, Johnny Gargano is a -160 favorite against Grayson Waller at +120.
**A segment from a UPN affiliate in 2000 covering Road Dogg during his peak in the WWF including an interview with Brian James.
**The WWE stock closed at $81.15 on Friday and sits on a market cap of $6.04 billion.
**WWE will be releasing a ‘24’ documentary covering WrestleMania 38 from Texas on 3/27 and will be streaming on Peacock and the WWE Network.
MMA NEWS
**The eight-episode season of Power Slap wrapped up on TBS this week with the show doing its lowest number of the season with 205,000 viewers and 0.05 in the 18-49 demographic and #106 among cable originals. The eight episodes averaged 292,000 viewers and 0.09 in the demo with Dynamite as its lead-in. Dana White appeared on Pat McAfee’s show this week and said that there is a term sheet in place for the next two seasons of Power Slap to air on the free Rumble streaming site (which is where the finale will air on Saturday night after originally being scheduled as a pay-per-view on ESPN+). White said the deal with Rumble would include eight cards and is looking to film the next season in Abu Dhabi.
**Regarding the story in the Associated Press on Thursday where former Nevada commission chairman Stephen J. Cloobeck said he made a mistake by sanctioning Power Slap, Dana White told The Spun by Sports Illustrated:
As far as Cloobeck, he’s not on the commission anymore. But why wouldn’t you want it to be regulated? We’re taking a lot of the risk out of combat sports. Regulation isn’t about personal taste or preference. Athletic commissions are tasked with protecting adults who are knowingly and willfully choosing to engage in an unarmed combat sport. A key function of their duty is to make sure the athletes are medically fit to compete. We already caught a guy who has an aneurysm who shouldn’t be competing. They also have the responsibility to show that the promoters and the events are held to the highest standard of safety. Without regulation, any Joe can put on an event, and that’s when people get hurt.
**There were huge weight misses at Friday’s UFC weigh-in and one fight is off the card. Ricardo Ramos missed the featherweight limit by nine pounds at 154 pounds and his bout against Austin Lingo has been removed from the card. Jared Gooden came in at 177 pounds for his welterweight fight against Carlston Harris. Gooden will forfeit 30 percent of his purse but the fight will still take place at the catchweight.
Below is the card for Saturday’s Fight Night event in Las Vegas at the Theatre at the Virgin Hotels:
MAIN CARD (6 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Petr Yan (136) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (134.5)
*Alexandr Romanov (264.5) vs. Alexander Volkov (258)
*Ryan Spann (213) vs. Nikita Krylov (213) – this fight was set to headline two weeks ago and was canceled hours before the fight due to illness to Krylov. Because of the two-week delay, they are fighting at a 215-pound catchweight
*Jonathan Martinez (135.5) vs. Said Nurmagomedov (136)
*Anton Turkalj (205) vs. Vitor Petrino (204)
PRELIMINARY CARD (3 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Lukasz Brzeski (245) vs. Karl Williams (240.5)
*Davey Grant (136) vs. Raphael Assuncao (136)
*Sedriques Dumas (184.5) vs. Josh Fremd (186)
*Guido Cannetti (136) vs. Mario Bautista (136)
*Tony Gravely (136) vs. Victor Henry (136)
*Ariane Lipski (125.5) vs. Tyson Nam (125.5)
*Jared Gooden (177) vs. Carlston Harris (169.5)
**Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili had an incident at the weigh-ins. As they posed for the media, Yan shoved Dvalishvili but did not escalate beyond that with both fighters leaving in separate directions. The two have had a back-and-forth all week prior to Saturday’s main event.
Petr Yan was FED UP with Merab Dvalishvili's talking during the faceoff and jolted him in the neck before being separated. 😳#UFCLasVegas | Full story: https://t.co/gofReqMKqN pic.twitter.com/699I5ztscv
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 10, 2023
**Bellator 292 is tonight on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET and is available on YouTube for those in Canada. The card is highlighted by the first two fights in the opening round of the World Lightweight Grand Prix. Lightweight Champion Usman Nurmagomedov defends the title in his first-round fight against former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. All Grand Prix fights will be five rounds. Below is the main card lineup from the SAP Center in San Jose, California:
*Lightweight Championship, Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Usman Nurmagomedov (16-0) vs. Benson Henderson (30-11)
*Lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Tofiq Musaev (19-4) vs. Alexander Shabily (22-3)
*Valentin Moldavsky (11-1) vs. Linton Vissell (23-8)
*Goiti Yamauchi (28-5) vs. Michael “Venom” Page (20-2)
**Former UFC fighter Mike Swick has confirmed that he is cancer free. Swick was diagnosed with stage four leukemia and showed a side-by-side comparison from January 2022 and this month. Swick had fallen to 151 pounds and is now up to 205. Swick, 43, was part of the first season of Ultimate Fighter and was submitted by Stephan Bonnar in the tournament. Swick signed with the UFC and went 9-1 before losing to Dan Hardy in an eliminator to determine who would fight Georges St-Pierre for the title. After the decision loss to Hardy, he went 1-3 in the last four fights of his career with the UFC and last competed at UFC 189 in July 2015. Swick now runs an AKA-affiliated gym in Thailand.
POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-SmackDown is live at 11 p.m. ET tonight following SmackDown & AEW Rampage. Wai Ting and I will go through both shows and discuss today’s news including the latest on the WWE legalized gambling story, the comments from Lachlan Murdoch on the SmackDown deal, and more. The show will be live and available to download for all POST Wrestling Café members.
**Thursday’s Drive to Survive review is available for all Café members and is a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more courtesy of our guest JC Pittman, who covers and writes about motorsports. On the show, we reviewed Ep. 4-6 of season five with the highs and lows of Haas, Fernando Alonso bolting from Alpine, the drama involving Oscar Piastri and subsequent problems between Alpine and McLaren, and discussing the breakthrough character of the season – Otmar Szafnauer.
**David Meyers and Bruce Lord will release this month’s edition of POSTmarks on Saturday with guest John Siino joining them.
*****
F1: Drive to Survive Season 5, Ep. 4-6
John Pollock & Wai Ting are joined by motorsports writer RaceyJaycee (JC Pittman) to discuss Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season 5, Episodes 4-6.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite coming out of Revolution with Wardlow vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, plus all the news of the day.
*****
NXT Roadblock POST Show
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT Roadblock featuring Roxanne Perez vs Meiko Satomura for the NXT Women’s Championship.
*****
ASK-A-WAI Mailbag Show
John Pollock and Wai Ting answer their patrons’ questions about anything and everything in the March 2023 edition of Ask-A-Wai.
*****
POST ROAD DIARY: Montreal
John Pollock & Wai Ting travel from Toronto to Montreal to cover the WWE Elimination Chamber event at the Bell Centre.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw with the return of John Cena, an appearance by Logan Paul, and Sami Zayn takes on Jimmy Uso in Boston.
*****
AEW REVOLUTION POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review AEW Revolution with MJF defending the AEW Championship against Bryan Danielson in a 60-minute Ironman match.
*****
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