POST IT NOTES
**We have a loaded weekend of shows coming your way beginning with Rewind-A-SmackDown tonight at 10 p.m. ET on the POST Wrestling Café along with Collision Course on Saturday at 10 p.m. with John Siino & Kate from Montreal. Wai and I will be doing free shows immediately after King and Queen of the Ring on Saturday and Sunday night after Double or Nothing.
**Rewind-A-Wai #157 is available for POST Wrestling Café members as we review WWE Extreme Rules 2012. The show is highlighted by Brock Lesnar’s first match in WWE in eight years as he faces John Cena with an outcome that is still puzzling twelve years later. We chat about the handling of Lesnar, the alternative ending, CM Punk returns to Chicago, an excellent two-of-three falls match between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, and some forgettable undercard matches. Plus, we look at the headlines from that week including interviews involving Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan, a WWE Wellness Policy violation, and more.
**On this past week’s edition of The N.W.A. Podcast, the hosts had a really engaging discussion about Tiffany Stratton’s Instagram story post last week, which generated a lot of criticism Stratton re-posted a fan-made video of Stratton striking Jade Cargill during a match from several weeks ago with an audio clip from a rapper using the term, “Black Bitch” as Stratton struck Cargill. Stratton removed the story but did not address it beyond that.
**Jack Wannan has a story on our interview with Bradley Hope from this past week’s Pollock & Thurston. Hope is the co-author of Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power. Hope shared his perspective on the growing influence of Saudi Arabia on a worldwide level, its usage of sport, why he disagrees with the term “Sportswashing”, and the divide among citizens when it comes to advancements in social rights but heavy restrictions toward political protest.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-SmackDown with John Pollock & Wai Ting (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: WWE King and Queen of the Ring
Saturday: Collision Course with John Siino & Kate from Montreal (POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: AEW Double or Nothing
WRESTLING NEWS
**Friday Night SmackDown airs at its regular time of 8 p.m. ET on a several-hour tape delay. It is the first televised broadcast of the show from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia rather than taping the show a week in advance as handled previously. The following matches will air on the broadcast including the semi-finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments:
*King of the Ring – Semi-Final: Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga
*Queen of the Ring – Semi-Final: Bianca Belair vs. Nia Jax
*Non-Title Match: Bayley vs. Chelsea Green
*A-Town Down Under & Carmelo Hayes vs. Street Profits & LA Knight
**AEW Rampage has an early start time of 6 p.m. ET on TNT due to the NBA playoffs on the network. Rampage was taped this past Wednesday in Bakersfield with the following matches:
*PAC vs. Rocky Romero
*Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander vs. Anna Jay & Alex Windsor
*Rush vs. Isiah Kassidy
*Samoa Joe vs. Dom Kubrick
**After Rampage, TNT will air the Countdown to Double or Nothing special at 7 p.m. ET.
**Heath McCoy, who wrote the excellent Pain and Passion book, has a feature in the Calgary Herald on Owen Hart’s passing. Thursday marked twenty-five years since Hart’s death following a stunt gone wrong at the Over the Edge pay-per-view in Kansas City. McCory spoke with Martha Hart about the wave of emotions around this date each year and what it represents all these years removed along with the launch of the Owen Hart Foundation in his memory after a 2000 settlement with WWE. McCoy also spoke with Bret Hart, who is still pushing for Martha to allow WWE to honor Owen and release his matches, but Martha states she will not work with WWE under any circumstances. The fact is, all of Owen’s matches are accessible on the WWE Network not to mention his non-WWE work that exists on YouTube and other platforms. For Hart to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame it would be impossible to do so without Martha’s blessing and she is completely justified in her refusal. Martha has worked hard to preserve his legacy with the OHF, and with AEW over the past several years and willingly participated when Hart was inducted into the George Tragos and Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling of Fame in 2018.
**In the Calgary Herald piece, it noted that the finals of this year’s Owen Hart Cup will take place on July 10 when AEW holds a Dynamite and Collision taping at the Saddledome in Calgary. The past winners of the Owen Hart Cup include Dr. Britt Baker, Adam Cole, Willow Nightingale, and Ricky Starks.
**Jim Ross was admitted to hospital on Thursday in Norman, Oklahoma due to a shortness of breath. Later in the day, he posted an update from his hospital bed with his two daughters. It was reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this will preclude Ross from attending Double or Nothing this weekend in Las Vegas. The report added that Ross was dealing with Class A flu and raised heart enzymes, but Ross expects to be ‘fine’ within several days. The 72-year-old has been actively promoting his latest book ‘Business is About to Pick Up’ and had just appeared on Busted Open Radio earlier this week. We wish Ross a speedy recovery.
**WWE will host a pre-show before King and Queen of the Ring at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday. There is one match currently scheduled for the pre-show, which will be announced on SmackDown tonight.
**DAZN will be offering Double or Nothing and Forbidden Door on a worldwide basis (excluding Australia, Afghanistan, India, Japan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Maldives) with a $49.99 price in the U.S., $39.99 U.S. in Canada & Puerto Rico, and $24.99 U.S. in other regions.
**The Best of the Super Juniors tournament resumes on Sunday at Yoyogi National Stadium. DOUKI will automatically receive two points due to a forfeit by Francesco Akira, who is out of the tournament due to a knee injury. There will be nine matches on Sunday’s show, which streams at 5 a.m. ET:
*B BLOCK: KUSHIDA (8) vs. Ninja Mack (4)
*A BLOCK: HAYATA (8) vs. Kosei Fujita (4)
*B BLOCK: SHO (8) vs. Dragon Dia (0)
*A BLOCK: Blake Christian (8) vs. BUSHI (6)
*B BLOCK: Drilla Moloney (8) vs. Taiji Ishimori (8)
*A BLOCK: Titan (10) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4)
*A BLOCK: Kevin Knight (6) vs. Clark Connors (8)
*B BLOCK: Hiromu Takahashi (8) vs. Robbie Eagles (10)
*A BLOCK: El Desperado (10) vs. TJP (6)
**GCW has added a match between Joey Janela and Gabe Kidd for its ‘Worst Behavior’ card on July 5 at the Opera House in Toronto. The promotion is advertising Nick Gage, Speedball Mike Bailey, Matt Cardona, Gringo Loco, The Bollywood Boyz, Galeno Del Mal, Kerry Morton, Green Phantom, Effy & Allie Katch among the talent scheduled to appear.
**House of Glory streams The War Within at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight on TrillerTV+. Mike Santana defends the HOG Heavyweight title against Matt Riddle, KC Navarro defends the Cruiserweight belt against Gringo Loco, Carlos Ramirez faces Nolo Kitano for the Crown Jewel title, and AJ Francis teams with Cashflow Inc. against Encore & TBA in a six-man tag in the top matches.
**C*4 Wrestling is back at the Preston Event Centre in Ottawa, Ontario tonight for Striking Distance which streams on IWTV next Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Michael Oku is in Canada this weekend and faces Kevin Blackwood on the C*4 show along with Stu Grayson vs. Jody Threat vs. Myung Jae Lee vs. Jordan Oliver, Pretty Ricky Wild & Puf defend the tag titles against Gabriel Fuerza & Vaughn Vertigo, and Kevin Ku faces London Lightning.
**GCW presents Take a Picture on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET from Thalia Hall in Chicago. The lineup features Violence is Forever defending the GCW tag titles against Arez & Latigo, Nick Gage & Zilla Fatu vs. John Wayne Murdoch & Reed Bentley, Broski Jimmy vs. Microman, Gringo Loco vs. Dralistico, Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Danhausen, Joey Janela vs. Arik Cannon, Mance Warner vs. Cole Radrick, Kylie Rae vs. Dark Sheik, and Allie Katch vs. Megan Bayne.
**BetOnline has released the following lines for AEW Double or Nothing:
*Swerve Strickland (-1500) vs. Christian Cage (+600)
*The Elite (-450) vs. Team AEW (+275) in Anarchy in the Arena
*Timeless Toni Storm (-700) vs. Serena Deeb (+400)
*Adam Copeland (-325) vs. Malakai Black (+215)
*Jon Moxley (-250) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (+170)
*Will Ospreay (-1000) vs. Roderick Strong (+550)
*Mercedes Mone (-400) vs. Willow Nightingale (+250)
*Chris Jericho (-425) vs. HOOK (+275) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (+1200)
*Bang Bang Gang (-500) vs. Death Triangle (+300)
*Trent Beretta (-225) vs. Orange Cassidy (+160)
**The TKO stock closed at $107.49 on Friday.
MMA NEWS
**UFC president Dana White has announced that Ian Machado Garry will fight Michael “Venom” Page on the UFC 303 card on June 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada on the same card as Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler. The promotion is holding a UFC 303 press conference on June 3 at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland with McGregor and Chandler.
LIVE and FREE @TheNotoriousMMA vs @MikeChandlerMMA press conference!!! June 3rd at the 3 Arena, Dublin Ireland #UFC303 pic.twitter.com/gMarpzFLum
— danawhite (@danawhite) May 24, 2024
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #157: WWE Extreme Rules 2012
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Extreme Rules (2012) from Chicago, IL as Brock Lesnar returns from the UFC to face John Cena in an Extreme Rules match.
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MCU L8R: X-Men Days of Future Past (2014)
Ahead of Deadpool & Wolverine’s release, Rich Fann & WH Park are joined by Sam McCoy to discuss X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock and Wai Ting review the go-home AEW Dynamite before Double or Nothing. Featuring Bryan Danielson vs. Satnam Singh.
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POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston cover TKO extending its relationship with Saudi Arabia as WWE prepares for its latest show in the country.
*****
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