POST IT NOTES
**Rewind-A-Raw is live at 11 p.m. ET tonight with Wai Ting & John Pollock reviewing the show from Quebec City. They will chat about the WrestleMania 40 ticket sales, Cash Wheeler, All In this Sunday, John Cena in India & more. For those that download Rewind-A-Raw, you will also receive an interview with Pollock recently conducted with Maxxine Dupri of WWE. Tune in live tonight on the POST YouTube channel.
**For the next several weeks, John Siino and B Detroit will be filling in for Davie Portman & Braden Herrington on upNXT. The two will be going live on Wednesday mornings at 11 a.m. ET on the POST YouTube channel beginning with a review of Heatwave this week.
**UFC 292 review with John Pollock & Eric Marcotte and a breakdown of the entire card from Boston.
**This Thursday on Rewind-A-Wai, we are covering the WWE Royal Rumble 2008 featuring John Cena’s surprise return from a torn pec injury, Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair’s career on the line, and Edge vs. Rey Mysterio from Madison Square Garden. You can leave your questions, feedback & memories on the POST Forum.
**On Friday, we will re-release our review of the first All In event, which we attended live in September 2018.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw with John Pollock & Wai Ting
Tuesday: The Wellness Policy with Wai Ting, Jordan Goodman & Neal Flanagan (3 p.m. ET)
Wednesday: upNXT with John Siino & B Detroit (11 a.m. ET)
Wednesday: Pollock & Thurston (3 p.m. ET)
Wednesday: Rewind-A-Dynamite
Thursday: Rewind-A-Wai #137 – WWE Royal Rumble 2008 (POST Wrestling Café)
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (POST Wrestling Café)
Friday: All In 2018 Review (Re-Release)
Saturday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal (POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: AEW All In Review with John Pollock & Wai Ting (LIVE immediately after)
WRESTLING NEWS
**Shortly after FOX Sports reported that John Cena would be appearing on SmackDown and the Superstar Spectacle in India, Cena chimed in to confirm the appearances while adding that he will be wrestling in India. It will be Cena’s first-time wrestling in India and first match since losing to Austin Theory at WrestleMania 39 this past April at SoFi Stadium in California.
Cannot wait to reunite with the @WWE family live on #Smackdown! Especially excited to meet the #WWE Universe in India and wrestle for the FIRST TIME EVER in 🇮🇳!
The time is NOW…. C U all VERY soon!!! @WWE @WWEIndia https://t.co/ZtvpIBlgAm— John Cena (@JohnCena) August 21, 2023
**All In Week begins as AEW embarks on its largest show in history and will be among the biggest wrestling shows ever staged. By Sunday, they could have the record of the most people in attendance for pro wrestling of verified crowds for pro wrestling. The latest figure from WrestleTix lists 80,846 tickets distributed (a combination of paid and comp tickets) as of Saturday. It’s unknown what the final week of promotion will generate and whether there is a strong walk-up given all the hype and historical significance attached. Typically, being a part of history has led to incredible demand throughout AEW’s history, and going back to the first All In where it was the idea of the show that sold out the Sears Centre instantly and not any matches attached, the same with ROH & NJPW running Madison Square Garden for the first non-McMahon event at the venue since November 1960, and AEW’s enormous demand during its infancy. From a live event perspective, it couldn’t be larger for AEW – whether that translates to a big number on pay-per-view is up in the air along with the impact All In has on the next weekend’s pay-per-view in Chicago. It feels like the “X” factor is how much MJF vs. Adam Cole has connected this summer as their segments indicate it’s the strongest program going and promises to be a great match with an unbelievable atmosphere. For me, it feels like 80,000+ people are the draw itself and that you’re watching AEW’s version of WrestleMania 3 that will be reflected on for years to come and one of the “where were you when” type of moments.
**WWE Raw has another big crowd tonight with WrestleTix reporting 10,583 tickets out for the show at Centre Videotron in Quebec City tonight. It is the first time WWE has held Raw from the city and it should be an excellent crowd. The following is advertised for tonight’s show:
*Intercontinental Championship: Gunther © vs. Chad Gable
*New Day vs. Drew McIntyre & Matt Riddle
*Shinsuke Nakamura’s secret he whispered to Seth Rollins is revealed
**New Japan Pro Wrestling’s cards at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia over the weekend drew 672 on Saturday for the All-Star Jr. Festival and 665 for Sunday’s Multiverse United 2 card with IMPACT Wrestling. While neither was loaded up NJPW cards, the attendance figures still outline where the company rests among U.S. audiences and the power of AXS TV in the grand scheme of creating ticket-buying fans. The IMPACT talent was heavily showcased on Sunday’s show including Alex Shelley pinning Hiroshi Tanahashi clean, Lio Rush & Trey Miguel over Hiromu Takahashi & Speedball Mike Bailey with Rush pinning Hiromu (there was a purpose behind this as Rush issued a challenge to Hiromu for a rematch for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title after the two had a phenomenal match earlier this year), Sami Callihan over DOUKI in a Street Fight, Eddie Edwards & Moose over Zack Sabre Jr. & Shane Haste, and Chris Sabin winning an eight-man scramble match. Josh Alexander wrestled in the 12-man tag between The Bullet Club and ‘The World’ in his first match back since tearing his triceps earlier this year. Lio Rush wrestled on both nights and were his first ones back since injuring his shoulder last month.
**IMPACT returns with two shows this weekend in Toronto with Emergence on Sunday and television tapings the following night at the Rebel Complex. Emergence will be available on FITE+ for $9.99 U.S.
**Tony Khan is holding a call with members of the media on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET.
**The NXT Heatwave special on Tuesday night will see Carmelo Hayes vs. Wes Lee for the NXT Championship, Dominik Mysterio & Rhea Ripley vs. Dragon Lee & Lyra Valkyria, Nathan Frazer vs. Noam Dar for the Heritage Cup, Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams, Baron Corbin vs. Von Wagner, and Ivy Nile vs. Ava (Ava’s third televised match and first singles match on TV).
**AEW will be running a Tuesday night Dynamite/Rampage taping on October 10 at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri. The company has added Dynamite & Rampage dates for October 18 (back on Wednesday) in Rosenberg, Texas at the Ford Bend Epicenter, and October 25 at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. Collision has October dates in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 7 at the Maverik Center and October 14 in Toledo, Ohio at the Huntington Center.
**The WWE stock closed at $113.88 on Monday.
**Being the Elite: Ep. 361: “Who The Ef Is This Guy?”
**LA Knight did an in-studio interview with Sid Seixeiro on Breakfast Television in Toronto this past Friday.
MMA NEWS
**The UFC announced a live gate of $7,247,654.86 at the TD Garden for UFC 292 with 18,293 in attendance. In several weeks, we should have the audited figures from Pollstar but this was enormously successful for a card headlined by Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley and outside of Las Vegas, New York, and London. Dana White said it was the most successful pay-per-view card ever headlined by bantamweights and was a strong endorsement of O’Malley’s crossover appeal and drawing power. UFC is attaching all its promotional resources behind O’Malley and took the unique opportunity to post the entire second round, including the TKO ending on YouTube which has over six million views since Saturday night. The key opponents for O’Malley include the rematch with Marlon Vera (who beat O’Malley), Merab Dvalishvili (who is Sterling’s teammate and probably the toughest opponent), and Cory Sandhagen (who is injured) along with a rematch with Sterling, although I don’t see them going to that one next. O’Malley has mentioned fighting again in December and would favor Vera for the quick turnaround with both fighting on Saturday night. Sandhagen has a win against Vera but with his injury, it would rule out a possible fight in December. For Sterling, he’s in a tough spot as he was nearly positive he would move up to featherweight after this fight but admitted to second-guessing that choice when seeing what O’Malley did to him at 135 pounds and comparing it with a potential fight with Alexander Volkanovski. Coming off a loss, he isn’t going to get a title fight at a new weight class and if he stays at bantamweight, it creates a dilemma with his teammate Dvalishvili and which one is going to fight for the title as they’ve both said they won’t fight each other.
**Brad Katona and Cody Gibson had a fight of the year candidate at UFC 292 with Katona winning by unanimous decision and becoming the UFC’s first two-time TUF winner. The first round was very close and Katona won the next two rounds, but the output was wild, and this was just as good, if not better than Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar’s finale fight in 2005. Dana White said they would keep Cody Gibson despite the loss.
**Chris Weidman’s back is against the wall after his latest loss to Brad Tavares and injuring his knee in the process. Tavares chopped away with 41 leg kicks over three rounds and forced Weidman to change stance and struggle throughout the fight. When Weidman closed the distance, he had success with his striking but constantly went for takedowns and was unsuccessful, going 0/8 throughout the fight. Weidman suffered an unspecified knee injury and depending if he requires surgery, would keep him out of action for months. It was Weidman’s first fight since shattering his leg in April 2021 and went through a hellacious recovery process. He turned 39 in June and said he is still planning to continue fighting. Dana White said he loves Weidman but thinks he should retire. You cannot fault the matchmaking as Tavares was an unranked opponent but skilled enough to give an honest assessment of where Weidman is, and Tavares outclassed him. It is really hard to match Weidman unless it’s to feed a young upcoming star and use Weidman in that role.
**Kai Kara-France has been forced to withdraw from his fight at UFC 293 next month against Manel Kape. The flyweight posted on Instagram that he could not compete on the September 9 card due to suffering a concussion while training over the weekend. It is unknown if Kape will remain on the card. The UFC 293 show in Sydney, Australia will be headlined by Israel Adesanya defending the UFC Middleweight Championship against Sean Strickland.
**Jessica Andrade has agreed to her fifth fight of the year when she meets Mackenzie Dern at UFC 295 on November 11. Andrade (24-12) started off the year with a decision win against Lauren Murphy in January but has lost her last three fights to Erin Blanchfield in February, Yan Xiaonan in May, and was submitted by Tatiana Suarez earlier this month. Dern (13-3) is coming off a decision win against Angela Hill in May and is 2-2 in her last four fights.
**Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET will feature Josefine Knutsson (5-0) vs. Isis Verbeek (4-1), Zach Reese (0-0) vs. Eli Aronov (4-0), Luis Pajuelo (7-1) vs. Robbie Ring (6-0), and Kaik Brito (16-4) vs. Oban Elliott (7-2) from the Apex in Las Vegas. A flyweight fight between Luciana Pereira (13-1) and Felipe Dos Santos (7-0) was canceled due to a medical issue involving Pereira, according to MMA Junkie.
**This Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card is an early morning show from Kallang, Singapore with a strong main card for television. The main event features former featherweight champion Max Holloway (24-7) against ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung (17-7). The prelims begin at 5 a.m. ET and the main card starts at 8 a.m. on ESPN+ and Fight Pass for international viewers.
*****
THE N.W.A. PODCAST: The Misedgeucation of Adam Copeland
Nate Milton and Kris Ealy are joined by “10-Day” Ray Williams to discuss Edge’s WWE legacy and future business prospects, Cash Wheeler’s legal issues, the latest news surrounding The Muffin Man, and AEW’s All In.
*****
UFC 292 REVIEW
John Pollock and Eric Marcotte review the UFC 289 card with Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley and Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos in the two title fights from Boston.
*****
COLLISION COURSE
John Siino & Kate From MTL review AEW Collision: Fight for the Fallen featuring Darby Allin vs. Christian Cage.
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN
Wai Ting & Kate from MTL review WWE SmackDown featuring Edge’s 25-Year Celebration in Toronto as he faces Sheamus for the first time.
*****
POLLOCK & TING: TALK (Car Cast Edition)
John Pollock & Wai Ting make the long drive back from Detroit to Toronto after SummerSlam Weekend as they catch each other up about their recent experiences as parents, colleagues and friends.
*****
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