POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: WWE Fastlane review with Wai Ting & John Siino
Saturday: Collision Course with Kate from Montreal & Bruce Lord (POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: MCU L8R – Loki Season 2 premiere with WH Park & Rich Fann
We have a really fun review of the 1987 film Predator on this week’s Rewind-A-Wai with a look into the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, how big this role was for Jesse Ventura, the premise of the film, how it performed, Vince McMahon & Dick Ebserol pitching Schwarzenegger on a role, and lots of notes from the film. Plus, a really great chat with Espresso Executive Producer Sean La Vigne.
WH Park & Karen Peterson have a new edition of POST Puroresu catching up on all the recent news including Katsuhiko Nakajima’s pending departure from NOAH, Suzu Suzuki winning the 5 Star Grand Prix, the future for Yuya Uemura, and a preview of New Japan’s cards this month.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Legendary NFL linebacker and Hall of Famer Dick Butkus has died at the age of 80. He, along with Russ Francis who also died this past week, were part of the WrestleMania 2 battle royal in Chicago. Butkus served as the special referee for the match in April 1986. Butkus played his entire career with the Chicago Bears from 1965 until 1973 and played in eight Pro Bowl games, was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and was named to the NFL’s All-Decade team in both the ‘60s and ‘70s with his number retired by the Bears. When Vince McMahon and NBC launched the first iteration of the XFL in 2001, Butkus coached the Chicago Enforcers before being replaced and named the league’s director of competition for the remainder of the lone season before it shut down.
**Friday Night SmackDown is at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis with WrestleTix reports nearly 10,000 tickets distributed as of this morning. Multiple appearances are scheduled with John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Finn Balor & Damian Priest advertised. The following matches have been announced:
*Austin Theory vs. Dragon Lee
*IYO SKY & Bayley vs. Asuka & Charlotte Flair
*Rey Mysterio vs. Bobby Lashley (this will be Lashley’s first match since June 25)
**Suzette Ramirez-Carr will be leaving her position as WWE’s chief human resources officer in November. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics reports that an email was sent by company president Nick Khan alerting staff of her departure effective November 3. Suzette-Carr joined the company in May 2022 after previous experience at United Talent Agency (UTA), Beautycounter, and Oaktree Capital. When she was brought on board, she reported directly to Vince McMahon.
**AEW Rampage airs at 10 p.m. ET on TNT tonight with the following matches taped in Stockton:
*Komander vs. Johnny TV vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Lince Dorado (Winner challenges Eddie Kingston for the ROH Championship)
*The Hardys & Best Friends vs. Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, Jake Hager & Daniel Garcia
*Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir
*Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. Levi Shapiro & Colt Stevens
**IMPACT Wrestling averaged 110,000 viewers and 0.01 in the 18-49 demographic on AXS TV on Thursday night. The Thursday Night game on Amazon averaged 11,716,000 viewers and 4.29 in the demo. Last week’s IMPACT episode had 126,000 and 0.03. (Sports TV Ratings)
**TNT is moving AEW Collision up by an hour this Saturday with a 7 p.m. ET start time. This will allow Collision to have one hour unopposed by WWE Fastlane, which begins at 8 p.m. The WWE premium live events have been the largest difference-maker in Collision’s performance including last weekend’s No Mercy event leading to Collision’s lowest viewership ever. The live Collision from Salt Lake City will include an appearance by Adam Copeland, FTR defending the AEW tag titles against Ricky Starks & Big Bill, and Toni Storm vs. Kiera Hogan. The TNT schedule lists Collision back at its regular start time on October 14.
**Maven Huffman spoke about an offer he received years ago from John Laurinaitis to return to WWE. The Tough Enough Season 1 winner was released in 2005 and was largely out of the industry working in television hosting roles that included the Home Shopping Network. After relocating to Florida for the HSN job, he started attending FCW shows which led to a discussion about returning but ultimately, stuck with the steady work that HSN was providing but said he regrets turning the offer down. He said he was offered either $150,000 or $175,000 as his downside to return, which was the same base pay he was making during his prior run with the company from 2001 until 2005. Huffman is running his own YouTube channel and speaking openly about his wrestling career including contracts, steroid use, and locker room experiences.
**AEW Dynamite averaged 118,500 viewers and 55,800 in the 25-54 demographic on Wednesday on TSN 2. The show ranked #6 among sports programming that day behind the MLB playoff games and shoulder programming, which was led by Game 2 of the Toronto Blue Jays vs. Minnesota Twins averaged 1,523,000 viewers for a 4:40 p.m. ET start.
**Warrior Wrestling streams its card on FITE+ tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET from South Bend, Indiana. The card includes KC Navarro vs. Encore Moore for the Warrior Wrestling title, Konosuke Takeshita vs. Storm Grayson, Rachel Armstrong vs. Missa Kate, Jordan Kross vs. Jack Vaughn, Koda Hernandez vs. Sabin Gauge, Skye Blue vs. Trevor Outlaw, and Mike Santana vs. Bryan Keith (who received high praise from Bryan Danielson after his match with Hangman Page last month on Rampage).
**Wrestling Revolver presents its Women’s Grand Prix event on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FITE+. Renee Paquette will be hosting the event with a tournament involving Billie Starkz, Marina Shafir, Allysin Kay, Janai Kai, Rachel Armstrong, Emi Sakura, Trish Adora, and Vertvixen. There will also be a non-tournament tag match with Jordynne Grace & Killer Kelly vs. Jessicka & Nevaeh. Later that night at 8 p.m. ET, Wrestling Revolver runs its show with Jon Moxley vs. Gringo Loco in a Lucha Street Fight, Jake Crist vs. Ortiz for the Revolver World Title, Kaito Kiyomiya of Pro Wrestling NOAH vs. JT Dunn, Second Gear Crew vs. Rickey Shane Page & Alex Colon for the Revolver tag titles, The Rascalz & Myron Reed vs. The Death Dollz, Ace Romero vs. Zoey Skye, Alan Angels vs. Rich Swann and Moose vs. Fulton.
**GCW is running The Showboat in Atlantic City on Saturday & Sunday with the shows streaming on FITE+. The first night has a War Games match with Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki, Masashi Takeda, Toru Sugiura & Violento Jack taking on Nick Gage, Rina Yamashita, Miedo Extremo, Ciclope & John Wayne Murdoch along with Blake Christian vs. Jimmy Lloyd for the GCW Championship. Sunday’s card featured a Death Match between Jun Kasai and Matt Tremont.
**AEW will be going to Erie, Pennsylvania for the first time on Saturday, December 2 for a live edition of Collision at the Erie Insurance Arena. Tickets for the show go on sale next Friday at 12 p.m. ET.
**The TKO stock closed at $81.99 on Friday.
MMA NEWS
**Conor McGregor is stating that he has initiated the process of re-entering the USADA testing pool to get the ball rolling for an eventual fight. McGregor posted to Instagram that he “submitted my stuff to (Jeff) Novitsky. Ball rolling.” The protocol for a retired fighter is to enter the testing pool for a six-month period before the fighter can return to fight, although UFC is able to make exemptions. McGregor has not competed since July 2021 when he shattered his leg in his third fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. McGregor and Michael Chandler filmed a season of The Ultimate Fighter this year and Chandler has been idle awaiting McGregor’s return, so the two can have their fight.
**Bellator 300 goes down on Saturday night from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California at a period with the future of the promotion is in flux. Rumors of the company’s sale have been widespread for months coupled with a recent report that Showtime could be significantly altering its boxing programming next year, and what that could mean for its future with MMA. Bellator has another card on the books for November 17 in Chicago after this weekend. Saturday’s card initially saw four championship fights scheduled but Linton Vassell withdrew from his heavyweight title fight with Ryan Bader earlier this week. Corey Anderson stated he was willing to step in and Bader said he was willing, as well. However, Bader addressed the fight being pulled and wrote in the comment section:
We told Bellator we are good with anything. And it looks like Viacom doesn’t want to pay. They are out Oct and this falling through saves them money.
Therefore, he is not fighting. The following championship fights are set for the main card at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime:
*Bellator Lightweight Championship: Usman Nurmagomedov (17-0) vs. Brent Primus (12-3)
*Bellator Featherweight Championship: Cris Cyborg (26-,2, 1 NC) vs. Cat Zingano (14-4)
*Bellator Flyweight Championship: Liz Carmouche (19-7) vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (13-2)*
*Ilima-Lei Macfarlane missed weight for the championship fight after two attempts and she only got to 126.6 pounds. Therefore, the fight will still take place but if Macfarlane wins, she doesn’t become the champion and it would mean the title is vacant.
**There are thirteen prelim fights airing on the Bellator YouTube and Pluto platforms earlier that night including Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann fighting Leah McCourt and Henry Corrales vs. Kai Kamaka III as the standouts.
**The UFC Fight Night card on Saturday streams on ESPN+ from the Apex in Las Vegas after having one week off. By Fight Night standards, it’s a better card than most with several intriguing matchups.
MAIN CARD (7 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Grant Dawson (20-1-1) vs. Bobby Green (30-14-1, 1 NC) – Dawson is among the most underrated in the promotion with a record of 8-0-1 since winning on the Contender Series in 2017. He’s coming off wins over Jared Gordon, Mark Madsen, and Damir Ismagulov and this is his first main event. This is Green’s third fight this year after a no-contest with Jared Gordon and beating Tony Ferguson in July at UFC 291.
*Joe Pyfer (11-2) vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan (12-5) – Pyfer, 27, came off the Contender Series last summer and scored wins against Alen Amedovski and Gerald Meerschaert in his two fights so far with the promotion. Alhassan, 38, is 6-5 in the UFC and last competed in February when he stopped Claudio Ribeiro.
*Alex Morono (23-8, 1 NC) vs. Joaquin Buckley (16-6) – Morono, 33, has won five of his last six fights with victories against Donald Cerrone, Mickey Gall and Tim Means during that stretch. Buckley scored one of the top knockouts in UFC history in 2020 against Impa Kasanganay. He lost fights to Nassourdine Imavov and Chris Curtis last year but came back with a TKO win against Andre Fialho in May.
*Ricky Glenn (22-7-2) vs. Drew Dober (26-12, 1 NC) – Dober is 12-8 with 1 NC over the past decade with the UFC. Dober had a three-fight win streak snapped in his last outing where he was stopped by Matt Frevola in May. Glenn, 34, is 4-4-1 in his UFC tenure and is coming off a KO loss to Christos Giagos in April.
*Alexander Hernandez (14-6) vs. Bill Algeo (17-7) – Hernandez is 6-5 in the UFC. After back-to-back losses to Renato Moicano and Billy Quarantillo last year, he came back with a decision win against Jim Miller this past February. Algeo is coming off a Fight of the Night with T.J. Brown in April where Algeo won by submission.
PRELIMINARY CARD (4 p.m. on ESPN+)
*Philipe Lins (17-5) vs. Ion Cutelaba (17-9-1, 1 NC) – Lins won the PFL heavyweight tournament in 2018 but came to the UFC and lost two fights before moving down to light heavyweight. He is 3-0 at the new weight class and is coming off a decision win against Maxim Grishin. Cutelaba is 2-5-1 since Feb. 2020. He lost three consecutive fights in 2022 but scored a TKO win against Tanner Boser this past April.
*Karolina Kowalkiewicz (15-7) vs. Diana Belbiţă (15-7) – Kowalkiewicz has had a roller-coaster career in UFC, fighting for the strawweight title in November 2016 and lost by decision to former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Between 2018 and 2021, she lost five fights in a row but has come back and won her last three including a decision win against Vanessa Demopoulos in her last fight in May.
*Aori Qileng (24-10) vs. Johnny Muñoz Jr. (12-3)
*Vanessa Demopoulos (9-5) vs. Kanaka Murata (12-2)
*Nate Maness (14-3) vs. Mateus Mendonça (10-1)
*JJ Aldrich (12-6) vs. Montana De La Rosa (12-8-1)
*****
POST PURORESU
Karen Peterson joins WH Park to speak about NJPW’s October schedule, Suzu Suzuki winning the Stardom 5 Star Grand Prix, Katsuhiko Nakajima’s future, Yuya Uemura & more.
******
REWIND-A-WAI #140: Predator (1987 film)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the 1987 sci-fi action film Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura as soldiers trapped in a rainforest who attempt to survive a mysterious and very violent alien threat.
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock & Wai Ting review the fourth-anniversary edition of AEW Dynamite with Adam Copeland addressing the audience and Rey Fenix vs. Nick Jackson.
*****
POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston are joined by Brandon Ross of LightShed Partners to assess the early results of the TKO merger, SmackDown’s TV deal, and AEW’s TV rights.
*****
upNXT
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT from October 3rd, 2023 featuring Trick Williams vs. Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Championship.
*****
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw with Gunther vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the Intercontinental Championship and the return of Johnny Gargano.
*****
AEW WrestleDream Review
John Pollock and John Siino review AEW WrestleDream 2023 from Seattle, WA featuring Christian Cage vs. Darby Allin in the main event for the TNT title.
*****
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